War of Thera

Lee stared at the ground, her legs swinging as she sat on an old tree stump in her backyard on the warm, slightly breezy summer afternoon.

The phone sounded from the inside. Lee almost forgot she was the only one home before she made a bee-line for the foyer.

Making it to the phone by the fifth ring, she took in a deep breath and answered.

“Hello?” No one answered.

Silence.

“Oookay,” she mumbled, going to hang up the phone.

“I’ve been watching you, Miss Lee,” a deep, husky voice spoke.

“Wh-what?”

“You have the amulet, Miss Lee,”

Her hand gripped the phone tightly. “Who are you?!” she yelled.

“The amulet is the key,”

“What are you- that’s it! I’m calling the police!”

“Look in the pocket of your bag,”

“What are you talking about? Hello! Hello?” But unbeknownst to her, the mysterious male caller had already hung up the phone.

Stomping up the stairs, Lee went to her room and closed the door, locking it and sitting on her bed.

She stared at her bag hanging on her door but shook her head.

Lee shot up from her seated position and briskly walked to her bag. Unzipping her front pocket she dug in her bag. She felt a cool metal. The longer she held it in her hand, it got warmer. Quickly pulling it out to look at it, she saw that it was a silver heart-shaped locket, with a large and glowing amethyst in the front. Her eyes widened and she screamed, dropping the necklace on the floor.

“This can’t be happening!”

As if on cue, the phone rang. Lee already knew who it was.

Picking up the phone, she just listened.

“You have found the amulet and you’ve felt only a small fraction of the magic it holds. Read the note on your desk.” He hung up again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the amethyst glow on the floor.

‘…read the note on your desk’

“Hold the fu-,” Lee rushed to her window to check the locks.

They hadn’t been touched.

She turned around to look under her bed. Just her storage boxes, a few pairs of shoes and dust bunnies.

She peered over at her desk and saw the small envelope, noticing it was neatly addressed to her.

Hopefully this holds answers to my questions…

Miss Lee,

I know you may have some concerns, as it is expected. Hopefully, this note will clear things up for you. I will try to keep this as short and simple as possible, though there is much to explain.

I will start off with my name.

I am Cooley Russet, detective and your personal guide.

As you can probably tell, I am not ordinary. In fact, I’m not of the human Earth realm. I am from Thera, an alternate universe, if you will, of Earth.

I have the ability to travel across different realms; however, Earth does not allow me to stay for long before I start to deteriorate. Your air seems to rust my metal.

Nevertheless, my task is to bring you to Thera to prepare you for what is coming your way.

An imminent danger, Miss Lee.

I know you may be asking yourself “Why me?” And to that I cannot give you an answer.

It was the Creators that chose you to lead us in the right direction.

What I am able to tell you, from observance, is that you have a remarkable amount of strength and fight in you, Miss Lee, on a level only comparable to the most powerful of Gods.

Your insight and creative mind is innovative. You were not mistaken when the Creators chose you.

Please do not be deterred by our asking you to join us as you will not be alone. There are others like you that will come together to lead us in this revolutionary fight.

You will know when the time has come to leave for Thera. Your amulet will glow significantly, hypnotically.

Your body will reach for the amulet and place it around your neck. You will hold it with your left hand, the hand that will lead straight to the heart. This is how you will arrive in Thera, and I will be there to meet you.

You hold the key to our future, Miss Lee.

I will see you soon,

Cooley Russet

Lee placed the note on her desk, sighing.

‘You will know when the time comes to leave for Thera.’

Lee held her head in her hands, slightly pulling at her hair. She looked down at the amulet in front of her.

The amethyst blazed bewitchingly, hypnotizing Lee. She grabbed the necklace placing it around her neck and held the pendant in her left hand as she was instructed.

From the inside out, Lee’s body glowed similarly to her amulet, encircling the whole room. Lee felt her body lift from the ground as she was being transported cross-realm.

Lee looked at her surroundings, knowing now how Dorothy felt when she landed in Oz.

Nope, this definitely isn’t Georgia anymore.

She took a few steps backwards, only to bump into something. Not knowing how else to react, she screamed, hitting at whatever it was.

“Ow! Ow! Will you quit it?” A male voice said.

Lee gasped, opening her eyes. “Wait…you sound familiar. You’re that Cooley character that has been stalking me, aren’t you?”

“Ok, now that’s a little much. Stalking? Really?”

“Yes. How else would you know my name or where I live?”

“I’m a detective, Miss Lee. It’s my job to know,”

Lee looked at him from the side of her eye, still skeptical. “Where are the others? You said I wouldn’t be alone,”

“Follow me,”

Lee looked around at the city around her, a metallic and deep emerald-colored metropolis. Looking up she saw large train cars flying, being trailed by steam.

“Watch your step,” Cooley warned her.

However, she wasn’t prepared for her feet to start gliding forward. Lee held onto Cooley for dear life, as he chuckled at her reaction to her foreign surroundings.

“Shut up, this isn’t funny! Usually when someone tells me to watch my step I have to worry about tripping on stairs or something,” She straightened herself up, holding her nose up, side-eyeing Cooley once more.

“Watch your step again, Miss Lee”

“What?” Before she knew it, she tripped off the gliding ground, almost landing face first onto static ground if it wasn’t for Cooley catching her.

“You’ll get used to it,” the detective smirked.

Cooley led Lee to a large wooden door with a proportionately large bronze door knocker.

Cooley rapped the knocker against the door loud enough for whoever was behind the door to hear from the other side of the house.

A copper plate slid open, revealing a pair of eyes. Widening in recognition, the plate slid closed and the door was quickly unlocked and opened.

“Good, you’re here! Follow me,”

Cooley led Lee in, placing his hand at the small of her back.

The two followed the lanky male down a spiral staircase, down a narrow cobblestone corridor, illuminated with gas lamps.

At the end of the corridor, there was a clearing that led to yet another large door. Pushing it open, the lanky male led us inside a laboratory.

“Welcome, Miss Lee. My name is Jasper,”

“Nice to meet you, Jasper, but why am I here and how do you know my name already?”

Jasper glanced at Cooley with a raised eyebrow before looking back at Lee. “I will be creating your armor, ma’am,”

“Wait, wait, wait. Pause. What will I need armor for?” Both Lee and Jasper looked to Cooley to explain.

“I’ll explain everything to you as you get measured for your armor. Please just lie down on the table,”

Lee followed Cooley’s order, lying down on the wooden table. The detective stood over her as Jasper took out different instruments to measure her.

“Earthlings and Therian people have been in contact with each other for centuries. Our realms have greatly depended on each other. However, we have been stuck here for hundreds of years. Yes, we have been able to modify and perfect the use of steam-power; however, we lack new ideas. We need to defeat the higher powers that control us and beat in our heads that we don’t need new ideas, as a new way of life. The truth is they are scared. With you and the other pioneers, we will finally be able to come together and make this change. We risk the fusion of our realm and Earth if we lose. Our machinery can and will be the cause of the loss of Earth’s humanity. Machines will take over the universe. This armor that we are making for you is not only your disguise as a Therian but also for protection against the elements that you will encounter. The accumulation of air particles emitted from the heavy machinery is dangerous to human skin,”

“Who are we up against?”

“The Futurist Party. You will be up against their army of machines,”

Lee shot up from her lying position. “But I am human! I’m not immortal!”

Cooley placed a hand on her arm, squeezing it reassuringly. “But it is because you are human that you are able to defeat these mechanical forces!”

“You were not chosen for no reason, Miss Lee,” Jasper interjected. “If you don’t mind, will you remove your shirt so we can start building? It won’t take much longer, I promise,”

Lee agreed to the request and lied back down on the table and Jasper pushed a button on the machine next to him. The gears cranked as they were finally being worked. A whir of metal pieces surrounded her. They looked to be little dragonflies. She marveled at the clockwork creations, capable of independent movement, yet fit together, molding like puzzle pieces once they touched her body.

Moments later the process was finished.

Lee sat up and walked over to a mirror, staring in awe at her new second skin. Her whole arm was golden, the metal moving effortlessly as she wiggled her fingers. On her face was a matching gold half-mask, covering the right side of her face. Lee couldn’t lie, she looked pretty damn badass.

Cooley and Jasper stood at either side of her looking at the girl, admiring their handiwork with small smiles on their faces.

“Come now, we have to take you to grab the rest of your costume and get you battle ready.”

They walked to a clearing in the nearby forest but they soon found that they were not alone.

“You think you can take us over?” The group stopped in their tracks, turning around to find guns in their faces. “We knew you were up to something, Detective and you even brought other human’s in on the party? This will not do,”

“Kill them.”

The group ran their separate ways to try to evade execution by the hands of the guards. Lee heard the gunshots and screams of pain from her team. She grabbed her locket in hopes of it being able to take her back home. But the glow wasn’t there. Tripping over a log in the darkness, she fell to the ground. The guard that was following her soon caught up with her.

“Goodbye, Earthling,” The last gunshot sounded.

•‡•

Lee shot up from her bed, waking up with a sweat.

She ran to her bathroom and turned on the light, staring at herself in the mirror. She felt her face and her arm for the armor but it wasn’t there.

But it felt so real.