Otherland (24 page)

CHAPTER 40

The Dark souls fled, now without a leader. Aliyah returned to her body to feel the fleeting remains of human life, but instead, she felt perfectly fine. She sat up and looked and patted all around her body, looking for the wounds, but there weren’t any. Then why …? She’d felt it. She’d felt the punctures, the pain, everything, but her human form was so far from dying.

Jacob!
She must have felt his pain. The love of her life. The only man-soul she had ever loved.

She grabbed the knife lying on the ground and pushed her weighted, human body to stand and run to him. She pulled him onto his back, and pressed her face to his chest.

The beat of his heart almost couldn’t be felt, but it was still there. There was still time. She pressed the blue-emerald on the knife against his wounds.
Preservation. Purification.
Holding tightly onto him, they quickly journeyed to Otherland, directly to the High master’s court.

She’d had to carry him, as he was nearly unconscious. She placed his flickering body gently down in the middle of the golden and white court.

“Please. Save him. … Father,” her voice so full of agony, of pleading, she hardly recognized it.

“Do you hear me? Save
him
! Please!” she shouted. “He’s done nothing but serve you his entire existence. He sacrificed his entire human life to be able to serve you. Reward him in return. Save him! He has no more memories. He is an innocent now. Let him finally live the life he’s never had.” Aliyah’s sobs echoed throughout the globed-room. Nothing to respond to her but for her own heart-wrenching pleas.

“You said I’m never alone. I’ve spent my life feeling unworthy of asking you for any favors, praying to you continuously like others do, asking for this, this, that, and everything else under the sun, acting like you’re nothing more than a genie that grants people’s wishes. I’ve rarely burdened you with human requests, human prayers. I ask you, no, I beg of you now, save him! Please … please,” and her final plea came out only as a whisper as she dropped her head in resignation.

“Everything is as it was meant to be,” the voice finally came, echoing throughout the court, demanding one’s respect and awe. But not Aliyah’s.

“Another cliché, are you serious? Is that all you ever speak in? You’re the High master. Can’t you do anything?!”

“You’ve always questioned me, Aliyah.”

“You’re right. I’ve never trusted you. You’ve spent your eternity up there, away from everyone else, looking into your crystal balls or whatever, watching things go on and allowing it all to happen, but Jacob? Jacob never questioned you. He always trusted you. He always believed. Up until his ending. And instead of rewarding him, you’re just going to let him die, so that then he can be your eternal Light slave. How fair is that? Don’t you even dare use another cliché and tell me life’s not fair. You see, you’re not the only one who knows things.”

“Oh, God, he’s dying,” she moaned. “And you’re just going to let it happen.”

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do, so she lifted her face, and said resolutely, “Take me instead. Let me die. That’s what I deserve. Not him, not him. He’s too good. He’s just too damn good, and I’m … not. And I know that, so just … please, if you have any mercy at all. Let his human body live, and take me instead. I can’t survive knowing he sacrificed his entire life and died for nothing. I can’t –,” she gasped with the clutching pain and a new onset of tears, “I can’t live without him.”

“You won’t have to,”
He
said.

Aliyah looked up with a brilliant smile into the blinding white, and began to giggle in her happiness, “You mean you’ll save him? Thank you. This means so much to me. I will never ever doubt or question you at all. Thank you!”

She waited for her Light knight’s eyes to open. Waited for his body to stop flickering. But when it did stop flickering, it wasn’t to return to human form. His body was gone. The Light Knight’s soul with its brilliant blue eyes floated into a standing position, while she remained kneeled on the floor.

“Wait, I don’t understand. You said – . You said you’d save him.”

“No, Aliyah, that’s what you heard. I said you wouldn’t have to live without him. Light knight, you have always served me well. You know now what you are to do.”

Aliyah looked up at his spiritual form as he beckoned her to stand.

“Jacob?” she whispered, while trying to stand on wobbly-legs.

The Light soul looked at her fondly, so much love in its eyes, then stepped toward her and into her. Aliyah fell to the floor, feeling pain – a fusion of what she couldn’t understand. At first, she resisted it, but then, for the first time in her life, she chose to stop fighting. She chose to give in. She chose to accept, and with that acceptance came peace, restful, quiet peace.

Her body became still as she just laid there, staring up into the brilliant light, her eyelids closing for longer periods of time every time she blinked.

“Sleep, little one. Joy comes with the morning,” were
his
final words she heard spoken.

***

“You need to rest. Then you will wake up with all the understanding you need. I love you,” she heard whispered in her ear.

“Jacob?” Aliyah said groggily, opening her eyes and finding herself lying on the cold, hard ground. She saw him beside her. “Jacob?”

She reached to touch his body, but it was as cold as the ground. A peaceful smile touched his lifeless lips. At least he hadn’t suffered in his death. At least, he’d found peace, she consoled herself.

Exhaustedly, she walked. Her body felt like a lead weight, and it was only will that kept her feet moving to the only place she wanted to be at the moment. With her family. Even though it was 2 in the morning, the lights were still on, welcoming, and even before she’d reached the door, it was being opened for her.

“Aliyah, you’re still alive. I’ve been so worried.”

“Mama, you called me Aliyah,” she said.

“Yes, that is who you are now. My grieving for Savannah has passed. I accept you and love you for who and what you are now.”

“Oh, thank God. I didn’t have the heart to tell you that I’m no longer her, and that I can never be her again.”

“We’ve been waiting for you. I kept the stove going all night. I can see in your eyes that you’ve been through something terrible. But I can also see a lightness in your eyes that wasn’t there when you were here earlier. That tells me something good happened, as well. You don’t have to talk about it right now. Get something to eat. Take a shower. Your bed’s all ready for you,” her mother’s voice soothed her.

“Mama, I appreciate all of this. I really do. But let the others have my old room. I can sleep on the couch.”

“Oh, honey, it may have been over 30 years that you were gone, but it doesn’t mean I ever stopped being your mother and paying attention to your needs. We’ve been quite busy today. Savannah’s room is gone, and it’s now my own. Your room – .”

“You mean I get to sleep in the big bed?” Aliyah said excitedly, like she was no more than a child.

Her mother laughed. “Yes, it is now yours, for you to stay in as long as you want. Jasper’s sleeping in there now, safe and sound, with three people at the door watching over him. We’ve been taking shifts.”

Aliyah grabbed her mother up in a hug. “Mama, you’re the best. Thank you,” she said tearfully.

CHAPTER 41

Aliyah woke up smiling, feeling completely comforted, and filled with contented and pampered feelings of being the most loved in all the world. With eyes still closed, she threw her arm around where Jacob was, and it plopped disappointingly onto the mattress.

Only then did she open her eyes to look at the empty space of where he should have been. For a moment, she felt the pain of his loss.

But only for a moment, as she heard in her head, “Rise and Shine, beautiful. Today’s a big day for us. We’ve got worlds to save and duties that only you and I can fulfill.”

This time, she didn’t grimace at the word duty. Instead, it made her feel good, like she had a purpose. She inhaled the sweet aromas of breakfast and coffee, which convinced her completely to pull herself away from the comfort of the bed and face the day, because there was no way she was missing breakfast.

Jasper felt the same, as he laid there, brilliant green eyes wide-open, waiting. He rewarded her with a huge smile when she peered over the bassinet. “Yeah, you and I are on the same page, love. We want the same thing. Food. I don’t know how you went without it for nearly 12 years. In this world, it’s heaven. At least, it will be when you can finally get off of that yucky formula that stinks like sweaty feet.”

Aliyah entered the bustling kitchen, carrying Jasper.

“Good morning, sweetheart. I hope you slept well. Have a seat.”

“Mama, I’m a big girl. I can get my own coffee and breakfast. I don’t need people catering to me.”

“Oh, hush, it’s the least we can do. When you’ve got a daughter and family member responsible for great things in the world, it’s a true honor to be a part of that. The rest of us in this family have to do what we’re good at, even if it means serving you and letting you gather your strength for what you’re up against. Sit,” her mother demanded while handing her Jasper’s bottle.

She’d hardly finished feeding him when another family member was grabbing him up so that Aliyah could fully savor her breakfast. She’d had so little time to share with her son since she’d returned him here. It had surprised her how much she had enjoyed watching him suck down his bottle, while never taking his eyes off of her. Something so simple, yet so deeply satisfying.

Aliyah felt different. Lighter. Whereas normally she would have been filled with anxiety, bitterness, and the normal attitude of having to deal with things that normal people didn’t have to, and hating every moment of it, she felt at peace, settled.

Normally she would have run out the door, ready to battle, just to get it over with in hopes that eventually she’d be able to have a regular life. Instead, she treasured and cherished this time that she had with her family, her son, and even took some time to enjoy a second cup of coffee. She even found herself humming while luxuriating in the soothing warmth of the shower massaging sore muscles.

When she felt the summons, she didn’t hesitate to respond, even though she felt the Dark souls coming toward her family home. She trusted that they’d be able to protect themselves and her son while she took care of business. It was the three Light elders that she arrived to.

“Thank you for answering our summons so promptly. We didn’t think you’d actually come, to be honest with you. We need your help.”

“What can I do for you, Light elders?” she asked respectfully.

“We know that the Dark souls are trying to take over your world, but we’ve bigger problems here. The Nothingness is taking over our world in all directions. We can neither stop them, fight them, or slow them down. Our Bylaws have always maintained that we keep the worlds separate, but if our world ends, it will only spread more into yours. They say you can walk both the Lightness and the Darkness.”

“I can,” she said.

“They say you spent a period of time in the Nothingness, but didn’t become fully lost.”

“Obviously, I’m still here.”

“The Prophecy says that you may be able to conquer the Nothingness and the Darkness, and return to us our world.”

“Conquer? And by whom do you mean when you say
our
world,” she questioned, as the Prophecy Jacob had told her and the translation she was hearing were two completely different things.

“The Lights.”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Pink Eye.”

“Excuse me? Have you forgotten who we are? You must mind your elders.”

“I love the fact that you’re so good and selfless-serving, but you’re not really all that smart, are you?” Aliyah pointed out.

“We thought you were Light and were on our side? Were we mistaken?”

“In a way, yes, sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I’m from New York City, and people can fight people with bad intentions on a daily basis, and hope to eventually win, while so many others lose. A mugger one day doesn’t stop the bank robber the next day which doesn’t stop the person roaming the streets looking for someone to control the day thereafter.

“And you can lock up that mugger, lock up that bank robber, lock up the sadist, but more will follow, and you can’t imprison them all. Do you know how many repeat offenders we have? They get locked up for their crimes, serve their time, and when they walk free, instead of thinking that it’s time for change and time to be a better person, they’d only been biding their time to get their next fix. I will travel into the Darkness. I will do as you’ve asked, but it won’t be to conquer, I assure you that.”

The elders looked at one another and must have been convening in their unspoken communication, as they all seemed to become weary when they turned back to her.

“I thought – I don’t understand. The Prophecy said that
you
were the one. There must be some kind of error. We must consult with the High master. Please come with us and we’ll get this all sorted out.”

“Are you questioning the High master?” Aliyah stood firmly, her chin pointed upward. Something the Light knight would do.

“No, never. We would never question
him.
It’s just possible that –. There are so many Aliyah’s in the human world, and you weren’t even born and come into human life with that name. Perhaps – .”

“You don’t have to explain. Go and do whatever makes you feel better. I, on the other hand, have a duty to uphold, and right now you’re just wasting my time,” she said brusquely.

She walked ten steps, saw the black spot no bigger than a pencil dot, and fanned her arm to the right, opening to her the Darkness. She stepped into it, confronting a line, like the immigration borders, except with Dark souls.

“I told you she would come,” the smaller Dark elder cowered behind the other two. “Now what will we do?”

“You of so little faith.” The one headlining the role of Dark lord quickly cast him into the barrier of the Nothingness separating they from Aliyah.

“Summon your spirits from the human world!” she shouted above the moans of all the Lost souls.

The Dark elder cackled, “Why should I? Otherland may be coming to an end, but your world remains quite fruitful. Of course, things like this take time, and some of you humans are sickly self-sacrificing, but we will win this in the end, and there’s nothing you can do, Aliyah. We will have that eternal darkness that the world has never known. You cannot defeat us in both worlds.”

“I have no intention of defeating you,” she said. “Nor do I plan to fight you. I understand why you are doing what you’re doing, and I don’t want to stop you.”

“This is very surprising indeed. Does this mean you have finally turned Dark and you’re on our side? With that the case, you’d be the greatest ally we’ve ever known,” he said appreciatively. “I’d even take you as my wife, if you would have me. My eternal partner, you and I, side by side. I have never had anything but admiration for you, Aliyah. The way you handled your Dark soul guardian, I couldn’t have done a better job.”

The one remaining Dark elder looked at his Dark lord in the first remnants of distrust.

“I’m not on either side. I’m neutral,” she said.

“You can’t be. We’ve all of us had to choose a side, and that’s how it’s been for eternity, and that’s how it will be for eternity.”

“Can you and the other Dark elders enter the Lightness, Dark elder.”

“No.”

“Can the Light elders enter the Darkness?”

“Never.”

“Then why can I do both without a Light or Dark escort?”

“You’re the Prophecy, a child born and raised of both light and dark that would be able to freely travel between them.”

“Correct, but there’s a reason for why I can do that, and it’s not just magic I happened to be born with in order to live the Prophecy. That’s just dumb. Watch.”

Aliyah left her body. They instantly shielded their dark forms from her light, but when they realized they weren’t burning, they finally looked at her. She had the right Light side of her body facing away from them. The left side, though, was not light. It was Dark, like them.

“How is that possible?” the Dark elder roared. “How can you be both?”

“Because I chose both, that’s why. I didn’t want to be all Light or all Dark. I wanted, no, needed, to be both. And I’m far from being the only one that couldn’t choose between being one or the other. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” the Dark elder barked.

“Nothing,” she said.

Only then did they recognize the silence. The Lost ones were no longer moaning and screaming in their pitiful cries. They were no longer destroying and continuing to expand the Nothingness. Rather, they were finally still, finally quiet, no longer restless, as they looked upon and listened to Aliyah.

“How did you do that?” the Dark elder continued to yell. “We used threats, force, punishment, rewards, promises, everything to contain them, and they would not stop. What did you do to them?”

“I gave them hope, just as I will give to you. You want a New World, and I completely agree with you, but it won’t be in the human world; it will be here. It has never been fair to have to choose one or the other, when both of them come at steep prices.

“It never should have been good against evil, as everyone has lived up to its name, spending their lives believing they had to battle one or the other, become one or the other. Good people are just as capable of doing bad things as bad people are at doing good things. Someone who chooses good shouldn’t have to sacrifice their lives or the lives of their families in honoring that, and someone who chooses bad or is made to feel like they’re bad shouldn’t have to spend their lives actively playing that role, just to live up to it.

“The Lost souls are more than Otherland and the Human World combined, because they were neither all light or all dark, neither all bad or all good. So when it came to their crossing to Lightness or Darkness and having to choose, they knew they couldn’t go to either one, so they remained in the in-between. Lost. Hopeless in the human world and hopeless once deceased. The only thing they could live off of was the hope of others, before that, too, was destroyed. I can free you. I can free all of you,” she said to the Lost souls.

“Then you would go against the High master, and side with us after all,” the other Dark elder said.

“Not at all. These were his plans all along. He just had to wait for everything to line up just right for all of this to occur without impacting free will. It wasn’t
he
that chose your eternal Darkness, that you should never be able to walk in the light again. It was the decision that you agreed to with the Light elders to attempt peace. Neither one of you believed that you could walk freely amongst one another, so you agreed to separate Otherland into Lightness and Darkness.”

“The Lights and Darks mixing,” he said, as though having thought about it for the first time. “The Light elders would never go for it.”

“If I can get the Light elders to agree, will you summon the Dark souls to return to Otherland?” Aliyah negotiated.

“Half of it has fallen to the Nothingness. Otherland is destroyed.”

“Sometimes it takes something to fall before it can be rebuilt again. Now that the Lost souls have hope for a place they can belong, they will rebuild, and this world will be full and plentiful again. Even better than it was before.”

“Fine, Dark Light one,
if
you can get the Light elders to agree to share all of Otherland so that we aren’t bound to the Darkness for eternity, I will call them back.”

“But Dark lord, you said we were thriving in the human world,” the last Dark elder said.

“Silence! If we remain banished, then even in the human world we are bound to the Darkness as souls unless we spend eternity in possession of humans with all their disgustingness and limitations,” he snarled.

“Hello? Human here,” Aliyah sang, returning to her body. She swiped her hand at the white dot, opening the Lightness, and easily passed through.

“Is it done, Aliyah? Has everything returned to the way it was?” the pink-eyed Light elder asked.

Suddenly, a Light soul with black eyes appeared to tackle Aliyah, managing instead to go through her.