Cat's World Chapter 1: Welcome to Annuli
My newest series, I had hoped it would turn out good and to my utter dismay it did turn out the way I wanted it to, decided to put something together involving cats and a new world, had often dreamed of going to new worlds, so it is what gave me the thought process on creating this story, please enjoy.
Cats World Written by Chris Sharkson
Prologue "Hey, James, you sure you attached the ground circuit to the 240 volt outlet?" asked my work mate, Matt who was my second year apprentice electrician as I was a qualified electrician, and ran my own electrician business. I looked down at him from standing on the ninth rung of the ladder, as I installed a ninety watt down light. "Hm, Hm, I'm sure of it Matt, I checked it twice, you should know that." I said as I fiddled with the last few remaining screws, then slotting the wiring in to each corresponding plug.
After that wiring ordeal, I slotted the light into its hole in the ceiling and clipping it into position. "Oi, Matt, hit that switch there." I said as I pointed to the wall-switch. He walked to the wall, as he stopped mounting the designer lights that the clients had bought for their living room. He flicked the switch on and six LED down lights snapped on. "Bloody brilliant they work; you can switch them off now." I said as I made my way down the ladder then back onto solid ground.
He nodded appreciatively. "Glad to see we're not using those expensive halogen bulbs anymore that get hot, thank god for LED technology." He commented. "Too, right, mate." I reply. I give my hands a dust off and slide my screwdrivers into my tools belt. "Is that the final job, Matt, or we have plenty more to do?" I ask him. "We have three ceiling fans to install, not to mention the air conditioning unit, plus the solar panels." He replied.
"Ceiling fans, piece of cake, air con unit, that'll be a pain in the arse....what model, is it?" "Ah..." he brought up his smart phone, "It is a split system, Mitsubishi Electric," he replies. "Fuck, big pain in the arse, the solar panels, they can wait, the solar guys should be here tomorrow, we'll give em' a hand installing them."
He nodded, I glanced at my watch: 5:00pm. "Almost quitin' time, let's say we knock off one more job than call it a day." I mention to him, "Sounds good to me." He replies. "That heat lamp is ready to go in the bathroom." Commented Matt. I nod, "I will get the ladder," I said as I walk and pick it up taking it to the fancy bathroom. Matt had already cut out a hole for the four-heat lamp exhaust fan and had installed the switch for it, all that was needed to do is wire it up and slot it in. I climbed the ladder, having my shins lean against the rungs, whilst Matt hands me up the big light, slipping out a screw driver out of my tools belt, I slot the wires into their corresponding inlets, tightening the screws, then slotting the light in place, with the clips attached to it.
"Give it a run, mate" I said to Matt. He flicked the switches that said Heat, the heat lamps snapped on, I shielded my eyes as they were incredibly bright, he tried Light, the light turned on, then Fan the exhaust fan hummed into action. "Great, all works, job done." I said as I made my way down the ladder. "What about the fluorescent lights for the alfresco?"Asked Matt. I waved at hand at him, "They can wait till tomorrow, we have like four of em' to install don't we?" "Ah, yes four to install, a ceiling fan for the outdoor area and two floodlights." He replies.
I nodded, "Too easy," I say. "Right, let's pack up and get out of here." I said, picking up most of my tools, followed by Matt. We exited the house, which was only just and still getting built. I made my way to my work van, which had 'James Danaher Data & Electrical Contractors' imprinted on it. I neatly packed away my tools into their corresponding storage devices and compartments, I had everything from every hand tool, to mostly every power tool and heaps of wiring and supplies in the back of my van, and I do know that I remember that I spent at least $15,000 on tools alone, a big fortune, I slid off my tools belt and hanged it on a dedicated rack inside my van.
Matt had packed his tools up and flung open his four wheel drive's door, as I slam shut the doors at the back of my work van. "Right Matt, good work today, see you same time tomorrow." I said. "You got it, James, take it easy." He said, getting into his four wheel drive. "Will do," I say open the door to my work van and hop in. I gave a yawn as I inserted the key and fired the engine up. Matt was the first to leave the construction site, followed by me as I stopped, got out and closed the hired fencing and locking a chain and pad lock around it, to keep any intruders out. Matt, was long gone as I got in and drove out into the neighbourhood, the sun was by now setting as it turned to evening, as it was starting to get dark, as it was winter.
I drove down one of the main streets of the familiar neighbourhood, as I drove past a public park; I saw flashes of bright white light mixed with blue. "Ah, shits don't tell me it's a blown floodlight." I said. The public facilities had one thousand watt floodlights that were very bright to illuminate the whole area for convenience I do know they cost a fortune and make one hell of attention when blown, I had done a few jobs involving such lights as these in previous occasions, while, I, being a qualified electrician will inspect the problem and try to fix it if possible.
I parked my work van in the nearby car-park located to the right of the public park; I get out and walk towards the unusual fluttering of bright light. As I neared the source of the light, I couldn't believe that no one in this neighbourhood had taken any notice of it. As I past a couple drinking fountains and BBQ facilities, I saw it, but it wasn't what I was expecting, it wasn't a blown floodlight, in the middle of two trees was a circular motion of light, swirling in a clock-wise motion, with sparks giving off every now and then. I think I should get my volt metre and test if this thing is high voltage or not, I ain't touching it if it could zap me in one hit and kill me.
I inched closer to this unusual fluster of light, as I got nearer I could feel it having a pulling effect on me, like it had been waiting for me at this very moment. It was very intriguing to me; I approached it slowly, taking each step with caution. I got mere inches to it, I slowly reached a hand out to touch it, not knowing what to expect, to either live or die. With my hand in a way as if I'm offering something, I let the tips of my fingers touch it, but with that in a split second, it started pulling me into its depths, I tried to reach for anything that will stop me, but its pull was too strong, I grabbed a nearby branch to stop me but it was too much for me to take, the branch snapped and I got pulled into the vast white depths of this unknown light source.
I was freaking out like mad, as all I could see was flashes of white and blue light, surround me. After what seemed like an eternity, as time seemed to slow down, I saw the light open revealing trees and a grassy field as I get thrown out of the light source onto the ground, I hit the ground hard with a thud as I rolled, hitting my head against a tree stump, I tried to get up, but to no avail I couldn't, my head felt heavy and I slumped back losing consciousness.
***
Chapter 1: Welcome to Annuli
I awoke as my eyes fluttered open, my head hurt, it felt like someone had a 350 Chevy engine running in my head at full-throttle, but as I leant up and propped myself on my elbows, my headache migrated to a Lamborghini. I looked around, as my vision became clear, I saw I was in a bed, very odd, the bed itself looked like it had to been of old fashioned material, it had that antique look to it, the bed sheets were of white cotton and different coloured silk, it more looked like it was from the 1800's, the bed was of queen size, with a antique oak finish to the frame. 'This is beyond a joke, first I finished work then I'm in a public park in the dead of night, then now I'm in a bed after going through some magical light thing, some dumbass probably spiked my drink, but only to realize I didn't even make a trip to the bar tonight, so that rules that thought out' I thought.
I peak under the sheets and notice I was in my underwear, "Shit, where are my clothes? My work clothes?" I mutter to myself, but only to realize they are neatly sitting nearby on a table. I do a good glance around and take in everything around me, the room had to be of old fashioned elegance, the era of not having technology so to speak, as the glimpses of lanterns and candles displaced in different locations around the room giving the hint.
The door opens to the room on the right, I highly alert now with adrenaline pumping through my veins as I put my hands up and clenched them into fists, in a boxers kind of stance, prepared for anything or if I have to defend myself to the would-be attacker as I think such thoughts of panic and distortion, slowly in walks an anthropomorphic cat woman, a panther wearing what had to be clothing, she was also bare foot, her eyes were a piercing green mixed with a bit of yellow also with slitted pupils, while her two cat's ears peaked out of the top of her long slender black hair that gracefully went down to her shoulders, her body is a mixture between human and feline, with skeletal and muscle structure being very similar to our own. Several long and slender whiskers extend from either side of her furry muzzle, as her thin lips are drawn back slightly in an almost imperceptible little smile.
Her greenish-yellow eyes, whose pupils are elliptical, yet are much wider than normal cats, somewhat approximating human eyes, observe me in a somewhat detached manner as if she is waiting to see what I'll do next. Another feature which further is reminiscent of a human is her slightly wavy, jet-black hair, trimmed neatly at the bangs and flowing freely backward, coming down a few inches below her shoulders. Her pointed feline ears stick out from beneath her hair, and flick once or twice as she continues to observe me.
Her fur is jet black, like a panthers, but what was highly unusual is her fur was dotted liberally with blue spots, making an amazing vivid contrast, but at the moment, I am in no position to acknowledge this. Also from the tips of her four-fingered hands, to about halfway to her elbows, the fur there is of a lighter shade of black. She stands there calmly watching me, with a questionable smile and her long, thick tail twitching lightly around her feet. As my eyes look over her, I ponder as to why she has those mysterious blue markings on her and I wanted to ask her how she got them, but now's not the time to ask questions of that sort.
I just stare at her in awe, shock and nervousness as well as dumbfound amazement, as I lower my fighting stance. She was carrying a tray of hot soup and a glass of what had to be of fruit juice placed next to it. After the long brief observation of her studying me and me studying of her, she placed the tray gracefully in front of me, without taking her eyes off of me. She stands above me, near my head, dressed in a pair of what had to be Earth's equivalent of cargo shorts and akin to what had to be a polo t-shirt. Her legs are another area where her body structure physically demonstrates the differs from that of a human's. Her feet are like that of a cat's, but highly unusual for a cat to have is the fact that her feet are very similar and exactly the shape as to what human feet would look like, she has four toes with retractable sharp claws that would be her toe-nails, in a sense, her foot had the elegant shape of a humans, she had an arch that ran the length of both of her feet as would a human's, she had a lighter shade of black fur running from the arches of her feet going to her heels, whilst she had pink padding on the underside of her toes and the planum area of her forefoot. Her legs are slightly thicker than that of a human's, with the muscles being well-developed, and it appears that her thick tail acts as a counter balance to keep her stable.
'Is this where panic mode comes in or do I just stay calm?' I thought to myself, 'Okay James, stay calm, don't panic you've been in worse situations than this, I've been zapped a few times from high voltage wiring and had a few bar fights, that hurt like a bitch but I think this beats it by far' I thought as I continued my mental conversation with myself.
She then walks to a nearby dresser and picks something up off it and then casually walks back to me as I eyed her carefully, her bare feet softly tapping the hard-wood floor, carrying a necklace with a blue glowing diamond among the links of the chain.
She then hands it out to me in a graceful manner letting it dangle between her furry fingers; with the look in her eyes she wants me to take it from her, I cautiously reach up and slowly take the necklace out of her hand, letting the chain slide threw her fingers, I give the necklace a once over, it looked old fashioned, with a hint of eighteenth century glimmer to it, it was gold, with silver links that dotted around the necklace in an evenly pattern, I didn't know if it was real gold or silver, but with the weight of the necklace, I had a feeling it was of real gold, as gold has a lot of weight to it so that I've read and heard, after the inspection of the necklace, looking at it, as I looked up at her for some clarification.
She tries to talk to me in her native language, but all I hear is growls, meows and hisses, basically what a cat sounds like back home. I give her a look of confusion, she understanding my facial expression, she then bringing her furry hand up and giving her chest a tap just under her neck. She was telling me to put the necklace around my neck. I comply by unhooking the links, then lacing it around my neck, attaching the link clip. I see the diamond glow brighter, and then dims to a low glow, a wash of unusual feelings over whelm me, it feels like a prickling sensation, then dies down.
"Can you understand me now?" she asks in what has to be in perfect English. "Y...Y...yes I can," I stutter out, not knowing exactly on what to say or how to feel. So I decided to speak the first things that came to mind. "What is going on? Who are you and where am I?" I ask blankly, as my heart rate went much higher than it already was. She looks at me with an understanding look of compassion. I just look wide eyed at her.
"Let me explain everything to you," she began as she walked closer to the bed, but I interrupted her with sheer frustration and a hint of nervousness. "Explain? Of course you have to explain, you have a lot of explaining to do, whoever you are, I finish work, encounter some unusual phenomenon of god knows proportions, smack my head on something and wind up where ever the hell I am, this sure as hell isn't a hallucination as I don't do drugs, unless you decided to drug me up with some alien form of LSD to trick my mind into being somewhere where it's not and you want to explain to me what is going on, I can clearly see what is going on, I see that this is all fake and not real!" I said allowing my frustration take the better of me.
She gives me a look of annoyance then she lifts her hand up towards me and with a flick of her hand, she sends out a visible form electricity, blue streaks of pure energy that emanated from her hand then flows it through me, not in a lethal way but it felt tingly and calming, I started to panic at how she was doing this which on for us humans, this is no way real, not even the greatest of minds would dream up something of this proportion and I don't have a great mind, in a sense, I had to get out of here, I have to make a run for it, then I feel my eyes getting droopy and heavy, then I slump back on the bed and fall into a deep sleep.
I open my eyes slowly, allowing my vision to adjust and become clearer, I felt I was in a bed; a nice big comfortable bed was I home? Was this all a dream? Then the memories came flooding back to me, the light show, the anthro cat woman, being somewhere else in an instant, I bolt upright in the bed remembering where I am, I scan the room slowly with my eyes, then I see the anthropomorphic panther woman sitting in a chair carefully watching me, it startled me at first, she merely stands up out of the chair and strolls over to the bed then right beside me, looking down at me, her gaze softens a little as she speaks to me in a soft voice, with an ever so light purr to it and a thick accent. "I realize this is hard for you to comprehend, but you've got to stay calm so I can explain everything to you. I promise that I will not harm you. If I was going to do that, I would have done so already. I have brought you here because I need your help"
"What did you do to me?" I stutter out.
"What I did was representations of my powers that I used on you to calm you, intently making you fall asleep," she replied. "Okay, you gotta be kidding me? Powers, really? Whatever your name is, power is a form of energy, it's a high concentration of negatively charged particles with positively charged particles that is if you want to go into the deep sciences of power, one can simply not have power inside them let alone produce their own power like some sort of science fiction super hero," I say with a hint of anxiety.
She gives me a frown, "I assure you I am not kidding," she replies. ", and if you'd let me explain to you why you're here, things would be much easier for you." I give my hands out, "I'm all ears," I say as I sit there in her bed. "What does that mean?" she asks. "It's a human expression meaning I am willing to listen," I reply. She gives me a nod, "Thank you," she then grabs a nearby chair, drags it closer to the bed and sits near the bed, a mere inches from me, it did make me feel a bit uncomfortable.
"What you stumbled across was a portal to my world," she began, "a gateway, that allowed you to enter my world, leaving yours behind, I went on my morning walk and I found you laying slumped against a tree unconscious, as I don't live far from here, my house being a walking distance away, I decided to attend to you and take you back to my house, where I placed you in my bed and let you rest until you regained consciousness," she explained.
"Crikey! Another world! I'm on another world?" I exclaim, eyeing her intently. "Yes, you are, you're in another world, you are on my world." She replies. She gives a sigh and moves closer to me, "Let me explain more in detail," "Well, my drink getting spiked theory can be put aside now, oh yeah I didn't even make a trip to the bar tonight." I say interrupting her. She gives me a look of pure annoyance. "My bad," I said putting my hands up in a defensive manner, "Go on," I say.
"As by now, you know that you're no longer are on your world, in fact you have been transported to my world, which we refer to as Annuli, I have been observing you for some time now and have decided that you would be the one." "The one for what?" I ask with concern. "I will be honest with you, that I'm not being very truthful with you," she says, "What do you mean you're not telling the truth? About what?" I ask somewhat hesitantly. She sighs, "I purposely put that portal there on your world for you to find, so you could enter my world, as I need your help, I chose you to be the one to help me," she replies. "To help you with what?" I ask again, somewhat with control and a hint of annoyance, I don't like the idea of going through a portal to some other world god knows where in the universe that I have no clue about, to find out it was purposely placed there for me to find, "And how is it that you can speak English?, Your accent on my world would be referred to as American, your words are pronounced more differently than mine."
"Okay, it's obvious that I need start from the beginning," she says with a slight friendly smile on her lips. "First of all, I'm not speaking English; you are speaking my native tongue." Noticing my obvious state of confusion, she continues, "The necklace I gave you, it has powers embedded in its diamond, one of which is a translation power, enabling you to speak my language and I speak my language back to you, vice-versa, what it appears to be English, is your human consciousness thinking so, yes my lips and mouth may look as if they're moving correctly to pronounce English words, but they aren't, the diamond with power in itself has the ability to convert your mind thinking that I'm pronouncing the words in your language."
I was about to reply, but she puts a finger to my lips, hushing me, "As for what you said earlier, this isn't a hallucination, it is real, I am real and no I have not given you LSD whatever that is, you can continue to think all you want that this is not real, but it will only just make it harder not only for yourself, but myself included and if you continue to think this is not real, I can send you back to your world and find someone else, another human who is willing to accept my offer of help, which so happens will prove to me that you weren't the right choice."
She eyes me curiously, waiting for me to reply to her statement. I sit up and prop myself against the headboard, giving my aching head a rub as I massaged my temples, I give a sigh, "Okay, I believe you," I say as I gave out my hands, "This is real, you're real, your world is real, I believe you, I just hope you have a big explanation for all this." I say as I give her a glassy stare. She gives me a frowned look, "We do have a lot to discuss, let's get started, shall we?" With that she pulls her chair closer to the bed, as I sat up more against the headboard to listen to what she had to say.
I wince at the pain of my headache, she notices this, "Oh, I'm so sorry, going through the portal puts a lot of strain on your biological systems in your body, which intently caused your head to hurt, I can fix it for you," With that she gently reaches out and touches the hand I still I have on my head, turning my head slowly toward her. Bringing my hand down, she gently lays a palm on my forehead as I watched her, confused and still a little scared. Almost in an instant, I feel the pain dissipate and go away, I feel....amazing, like I had a good night's sleep. She withdraws her hand and looks at me as I gaze back at her in amazement. "H...H...How did you do that?" I stutter as I ask. "Are you some sort of god?" I ask her in puzzlement. She gives her version of a laugh with a slight purr to it. "No, silly, I have powers, special powers that only a select few of my species have." She replies. "So you have magic powers?" I ask. "No, I wouldn't call it magic; they are an ability manifested in one's self, we are born with it, the select few who possess it, we can use it anyway we want to, to heal, to harm, to do good, to fight, in most cases it's a vital thing we have as a gift, but you on the other hand, you have something much more." She replies.
I look at her with a confused look, "Wait, I have powers like you?" She slowly nods her head, "Yes, you do, I can sense it, that's why I chose you, I've been watching you for a long time." "You expect me to believe that?" I say in a confronting tone. "Yes, I expect you to and you should, as I'm telling the truth, I have been watching you this whole time." She replied. I give a sigh, "Alright, I believe you, but I want you to clarify what powers I have, as you're saying I have the same abilities as you so I've been told." She nodded, "Very well, that's what we're going to discuss and you being here in the first place," she replies. "Thank you for making me feel better," I say in a calm manner, as I should relax and give her the respect she deserves, after all she did take me in her home and looking after me with her hospitality. Smiling at me, "You're very welcome; but now we really must get a move on, for there is much for you to hear and learn, as it is getting late in the morning. First of all, let me introduce myself, my name is Vanessa, and as I have explained and demonstrated, I have powers, on the world of Annuli."
As my mind went blank for the accumulation of an answer, I just replied with, "Well, Vanessa, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm James, James Danaher, I'm a born and bred Australian, that's the place you had me leave for you to so happen to know, as you can tell I talk and sound funny, I had a great life until you came along and did this to me, lure me to a portal and now I'm on a different world having to believe this, as there's no choice, and by the looks of it all, it is real and this cannot be possible." "I understand James, I really do, I'm sorry I had to do it that way and take you away from your own life against your will, but I felt it was necessary, and I hope when I explain things to you, you'll agree with me. As I've told you and demonstrated now twice, I posses powers, this ability is incredibly rare on my world, only a select few have it, and those who have it can control it in many ways, these powers involved are a mix of many other powers as such, they are telepathy, super fast healing, mind over matter, controlling other persons' emotions they are just a few of the examples of what my powers can do. The others can perform simple tasks, but only a select few including me, can fully take advantage of their powers and use them in the many ways possible."
"I was one of the lucky ones," she continues, "my powers became more powerful the older I got and I was able to channel it and control it, it took me from my adolescence to learn how to control my powers, but I got the grasp of it, learning what my future awaited for me, I chose that path and provide noble services to the city folk, with the services I did and still do, I made a living out of it, living happily on what I could afford. Only a few weeks ago I found out that I can have more potential in my powers, I just have to find out how, so with the research I had done, I found another power user in my home city which is a two days trek from here, I haven't met him or her yet, but only they will be able to show me my true source of power and hopefully yours too once I teach you how to use it."
"Whoa, slow down, I am in no position to learn powers of such and to find out that I have powers that I never knew existed, this sounds pretty farfetched to me, you drag me from my world half way across the universe, just so you can find your true source of power? I don't see how any of this has got to do with me." I say in apprehension. She gives me a glare of annoyance, quieting me, then returns back to her calm and peaceful demeanour, "If you'd let me finish, I can explain where you fit in, you have powers simular to me, they are just not as powerful and you haven't discovered them yet. They are deep within you hidden waiting for you to learn how to use them, with my help I can show you how to use your powers and control them."
I try my best in the grasps of taking this all in and understanding it all. "Question, if I had such powers as you say, wouldn't I have discovered them long ago?" I ask her puzzled. She looks at me with a indifferent look, "You see James, your species, humans, do not believe in such things, they think it's all a fantasy and its all make believe, a true fairy tale of wisdom, but its real, your species just haven't discovered the realms of having powers, its hidden in your species, forgotten long ago, put aside like a lost memory, your species just hasn't awoken it yet, that's why you have had the inability to discover your own powers."
I sat up a bit more and gave her a confident look, "Teach me, I want to learn." I say. She gives me a belligerent smile, "Gladly," she replies, and then leans in as she puts her hand on my chest, it startles me at first, "Relax, James, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm going to use my own powers to help you, by channelling some of my powers through you, as you're inexperienced at this and need my help, now with your right hand, hold it out with your palm flat as if you're giving something." She instructs me. I hold my hand out with my palm flat, as she told me. "Now you will feel different as I do this, but do not be alarmed it's completely normal as this is your first time experiencing your own powers, now I want you to close your eyes and concentrate as I tell you to, okay?" she says. I nod, "Okay, I'm ready." I reply as I close my eyes and relax, letting my mind focus. I feel her channel her power in through her hand and into my chest, having it proposition itself through my whole body, as it felt like a tingling sensation, akin to pins and needles as one sits on a limb for a long period of time. I concentrated hard, I could feel something beginning to conjure in the palm of my hand, as I open my eyes I see a glowing swirl of white and blue light, it was of pure energy, electricity at its finest, in a physical form.
I being used to working with electricity on a daily basis and qualified to handle it, am marvelled and beyond loss of words of this amazing experience, having to find out that I have powers such as this hidden deep within me, it's left me baffled. By the look of the expression plastered over my face, Vanessa grins at me and says, "You weren't expecting this, James?" she asks. I look up at her, as the swirling vortex of energy continued in the palm of my hand. "I'm speechless, Vanessa, back on my world, my job is working with energy on a daily basis, but knowing I have it inside of me as a physical aspect, it's hard for me to take it all in." I reply. She gives me a look of compassion, "With the more training we do and I teaching you, it will come naturally to you, and soon you will not require my help in order for you to control your powers." She withdraws her hand from my chest and the vortex of energy in my palm dissipates and fades away, I retrieve my hand back. I gave my hand a look over, still shocked and awed at such an experience of being able to do that and knowing this whole time I had powers deep within me that I never knew about, I felt energized and powerful, like I was well rested.
I was about to speak, but Vanessa hush's me, "I'm not finished yet, there's more to discuss," she says as she waves her hand at me. I simply nod, "The past few weeks I have had visions, the visions as such are happening to me more commonly, they are also connected to the nightmares I have been having the past week, the visions and nightmares are giving me a message, hinting to me that there's a powerful force emanating from my home town, I chose you to come along with me to investigate it as you have the same powers as I do." I give her a bemused look, "Okay, first things first, let's get things straightened out here, you have me come to your world purposely to investigate some out of the ordinary phenomenon that has something to do with the disturbed visions and nightmares you have been having these past few weeks, I apologize Vanessa, I have nothing to do with such thing, you're an adult, I'm plenty sure you can find the vague source all by yourself, I don't see why you need my help, I'm a human, Vanessa, from a different planet, I shouldn't be doing this, in fact I shouldn't be here in the first place, you want to know why? Oh, I will tell you why, because this place should not even exist, now give me an honest to god explanation, why do you need me for?"
She is beginning to get slightly annoyed with me, but only lets it show briefly. After letting out an aspirated sigh, she continues. "Okay James, I'm getting there, please try and be a little more patient. I was hoping you'd be a little more interested in the whole situation, with super-powers and a whole another world and all." "Well, I will admit it does intrigue me quite a bit, I'm having trouble enjoying such experience as you brought me here, when I had a perfectly fine going life back on Earth and everything was going great until you came along and did this, so I'm sorry if my enthusiasm is not over the top and beaming because of this whole situation."
She flashes me the briefest of glares, but it's enough to get her point across. She is getting tired of my interruptions and wishes me to be a bit more cooperative. Seeing that I've read her message clearly, she continues yet again. "Okay, first let me explain about how you got here and the concepts of going to different worlds, you see James, us power-users of my world have the ability to create portals and travel to different worlds, power-users have been exploring them for quite some time now, as these are gateways to other worlds, they are open for only certain periods of time for each world, I've explored many worlds, but the research I had done on them, nothing turned out the way I wanted it to be until I found your world, I discovered your world a little less than a year ago, I have been observing your world and then you in particular on several occasions of the gateway opening to your world. By looking into your subconsciousness I have been able to learn much about your world."
"Travelling between worlds through portals isn't done too often, since it is hard to discover open gateways, and it is usually not known for how long they will remain open. I was lucky with your world. Not only does the portal open at a regular interval, but it is open for many hours at a time, which gave me plenty of time to learn about your world and then specifically you. What drew me to you was that I recognized the talent within you which you aren't even aware of. What I discovered by observing you in your own world was that you have the strong ability to use powers locked deep within you and you don't even realize it. At first this intrigued me, and I wondered if I could subtly prompt you to discover your talent, but then after being refused help from my colleagues when I went to them for assistance in finding the true source of power, I decided in a last ditch attempt to try you."
I put my hands up in defence, "Okay this is sounding overly farfetched to me and somewhat ridiculous, plus what do you mean you thought you would try me? No! This cannot be happening this isn't real, you drag me half way across the galaxy to where ever the hell your world is located in the solar system and then you try and tell me I have super-powers like some sort of super hero, I can't take this anymore, and can you please take me back home now?" She looks slightly hurt after my outburst, and I realize that I must have said too much and let my anger take the better of me, and now I feel bad and guilty for speaking to her like that, after all she has provided me with care, compassion and her own hospitality, then again she did purposely place that portal in the middle of a public park right at the time I was finishing work for me to find.
Speaking a little softer to me with a light purr, she rests one of her hands on my shoulders, which manages to somewhat comfort me and put me at ease, either by her powers or by a simple caring touch. "I'm sorry, James, try and understand this, I didn't mean to harm you either physically or emotionally. In scanning your mind several times, I was able to pick up a glimmer of your personality and realize that you're getting stressed with your work and the countless of hours you had to do and your recent divorce with your wife," she says with a soft look. I look up at her with a shocked expression, "How do you know about that?" I ask her giving my gold ring on my ring-finger a twitch using my thumb, I decided to keep it as a souvenir, to remind me that my love life at least had some prospect to it and that I had the ability to love again.
"James I can read your thoughts and inner emotions, I have a form of telepathy that is connected to my powers, and I can find a lot about you just by reading your thoughts and hidden memories." She says as she takes notice of my gold ring. "Thanks, that's very assuring," I say in a somewhat dry tone of voice. "James, do not be alarmed, I will ask of you if you want me to read your thoughts to find something about you that I don't know, with your permission of course," she says as she assured me. "Good luck," I say looking at the bed, "All you will find is pain and anguish," "Not what I have found in your thought process, I detected some of you're longing for adventure, something new to experience, to get away from the human way of life. I had hoped that this would be an interesting and exciting change for you." She was right and had a point. My work was getting to me, even though I had been doing it for six years and had the experience, the work was stressful plus when I had clients on my back nagging me when their house is going to be all wired up for them to put electricity on.
The pay was good, enough to get me a nice car and a decent house, but the repetitive process of each day was getting to me, always the same thing, same problems, same issues, same clients, same financial problems, I just would usually drift off in my own world, when relaxing in my man-cave while downing an ice cold beer, imagining a fantasy world where I would be free of all the human issues, in my early twenties I had read stories of fantasy and science fiction involving anthropomorphic animals and always wished that somewhere deep in our universe or another quadrant that such world would exist and that I could travel to such exotic new worlds, I just wasn't prepared for my idle day dreams to be real and true.
After a great deal of thought, "Yes, Vanessa," I reply much more calmly, "I have often thought of taking an adventure such as this, plus I had vacation time built up, but those were just initial fantasies of my own perplexed thoughts. I never once had a possible inclination to believe such thing was possible, now that it's actually happened I'm rather surprised and uneasy, as well as pretty scared too. Also, I need to get back to work, I have a business to run, I have bills to pay, I have friends and family, no doubt they will file a report to the police as a missing person, I was hoping to get some much needed relaxation time this weekend and then go back to work on Monday. I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, but I really can't stay too long. I'll need to leave by the tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Maybe when I'm on leave, I can come back and spend a decent amount of time here, to get a feel for it." Looking at me with a compassionate expression on her face, she pauses for a moment, before she breaks the bone jarring bad news to me. "James, I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way. I said that the portal to your world was open for several hours, but that time has passed while you were asleep. You are stuck here until the next time it opens." Then pausing for what seems much longer than a standard moment, she finally adds, "and that won't be for almost a month."
"A month?! No, no, no!" I exclaim, more out of surprise than with anger. "I cannot stay here simply for a month, which is not possible. I've got a career; I have bills to pay, the police will find out that I'm missing and do a missing person's search and that costs a lot of money. If I just vanish without a trace, there's no telling on how much shit I am in, not to mention with overdue bills, fees, my clients wanting their houses finished, I'm gonna have a lot of pissed off clients wanting their money back." She briefly squeezes my shoulder, and this time I'm sure of her powers, as I feel another wave of calm rapidly spread through me, like an ocean wave hitting the shore. "It's not that bad, James, it will be ideal for you, let me explain," she says giving me a reassuring look.
"Another interesting theory with the portals between worlds is although they are open, time flows at the same place for both worlds, when they are closed, the time frames for both worlds progress at separate paces, sometimes being drastically different, in a sense. Therefore is it possible that the next time the portal is opens to that world, while only a few days have passed here, weeks, months or even years may have passed on the other side. It is for that reason that little exploration of the other worlds has been done, since nobody wants to get stuck on some alien world for some incredibly long period of time with no way to get back." "I can vouch for that," I simply say. She gives me a glare, I get the message she is giving and I keep my mouth shut. "For your world however," she continues, "the opposite is true. While a month may go by here, it seems that barely more than a day passes for you. Therefore, when the next portal opens up, you will be able to return in plenty of time to get back to your busy life. Think of this as a vacation and an adventure." With that she gives me a warm smile which I return, feeling much more at ease.
This whole situation is beginning to remind me of the Back To The Future™ series, time travelling and all but the only difference is I'm not going to my past or future, I have gone to another exotic world which so happens to be inhabited by anthropomorphic cats and I don't have a Delorean at my disposal. "Now, I realize," she begins waking me up from my own trail of thought, "that you still might not be interested in investigating the source of power and visions that I've described to you. I am disturbed by them, yes I admit, but also somewhat curious about where they originate from and what they mean. I have an idea of the general location of their source and the source of power, don't ask me how, I just have this almost distinctive feeling, and it is about a two day hike from here. I am planning on making that travels with or without you; I had just hoped that you would come with me. With your talent, you would be extremely helpful."
"Still if you chose not to accompany me, I understand. You can stay here in my house while I'm gone and I can have the other power user come and teach you how to use your gift. When the portal to your world opens up again, he will be able to send you back to the life you had on your world. However, if I can tempt you just a little with a bit of headway, let me just say that if you chose to join me, the journey to our destination will certainly be an adventure. It will probably have some danger in it, and will not be all fun and excitement as I make it out to be, but for you it is defiantly a chance of a lifetime and you may not forgive yourself if you pass it up." Thinking things over in a heavy thought process, I have to admit the idea is somewhat seductive as well as a little scary; also it is intriguing to me. Having let the fact the next month will be essentially free time and holiday pay, oh wait I won't be getting paid, or will I? Here defiantly not, back home possibly not if I'm classified as a missing person, and having no thoughts on when I will be returning home sink in, I find myself being swayed by the promise of adventure. "I don't know, Vanessa," I reply. "The idea does somewhat intrigue me, now that I realize this is somewhat of a well-needed vacation for me, but it also frightens me a little. I'll need to think about it before I take such a big step into another realm of another world. Also, you say that the trek there is two days? What will we do for the remainder of the month I'm here?" I ask somewhat curiously.
"Who knows, we will find many things that will peak our interests to occupy our time, we will just have to wait and see that is of course after your long thought process of wanting to go or not." "I will think about it long and hard, it will take a bit to reach a conclusion, as you showed me and had said that I have a talent for powers, but I'm wondering if you're confused or wrong. You mention that a certain percentage of your population has this talent, but as far as I know, nobody from my world can perform such feats, let alone have super-powers, it's all science fiction to them." "That's because in your world, like some others, the use of powers has been abandoned for some reason and is now long forgotten. This does not mean that it no longer exists. Power exists in all worlds, at least all of the worlds we've made contact with; it's just that in your world it lies dormant. Within you is the ability to call forth your super powers, it's just that your people haven't used it for so long that it no longer manifests itself spontaneously like on our world. I believe that I will be able to awaken your talent and then will be able to instruct you in its use."
I stare back at her, now trusting her, as she showed me my true talent earlier; I want a feel for it again. "Teach me again, I'm ready to learn," I say with confidence. She nods slowly but although somewhat enthusiastically. "Give me your hand," she gently instructs. Even though we did this earlier, I'm still nervous and uneasy of such an experience. After a moment's hesitation, I hold out my right hand out to her. She takes my hand in hers, holding it palm upwards. Giving me a confident and warm look, she then places her other hand flat in the middle of my chest as I look back at her with nervousness and somewhat an uneasy look on my face.
Observing my uneasiness, she softly reassures me, "don't be afraid James. You've felt my powers before, and you know it doesn't hurt. It will feel a little strange as it did earlier and still be scary at first, but I'll be here to help you bring it out okay. I need you to trust me, trust is a vital key for this to take place and for this to work, and you need to be calm and relaxed. Let go of your fear and your doubt, and open yourself up to the possibilities of what I've said." "I believe that you can do this, and when you do, it will be an extraordinary experience for you. Once you get a taste of what you're capable of, your mind will awaken to the full possibilities and we can begin your real training, I don't know how powerful you will become, you might even become more powerful than me, but we will see once your training commences." Giving me a warm and assuring smile, she waits a moment and then instructs me to close my eyes. Then in a softer voice she continues with a light purr to it, "okay James, first in order to help you get into the correct frame of mind, I'm going to use my calming power on you. You've felt it before earlier when you awakened and know it poses no threat to you physically or mentally, so you know what to expect. Are you ready?" I nod quietly, and then feel the familiar wave of serenity spreading through me as my mind and body drains of tension and doubt. "Good, I can feel you opening up and relaxing. Now you're truly ready to begin. Super powers are a form of energy James, an energy that flows through everything and everyone, but only selected few of us are able to use such powers and channel it. You have the same talent that I do, and once you learn to control that energy, you will be able to rise to my level of proficiency, perhaps becoming stronger and more powerful. I have felt the power flowing strongly in you, and I'm going to help you feel it and bring it out as a more powerful physical force." She briefly hesitates once again, as I feel a strange sensation that seems to emanate from where her hand touches my chest, akin to a when a loud sound is felt in your stomach. It starts off with a small tingling , but then grows somewhat drastically, spreading out until my body feels like it is charged with electricity, I have felt this before, but in a bad way, never play with live wires. In a shocked sense of despair, I see the swirling vortex of energy appear in the palm of my hand once again, colours of blue, white and green, swirling together in an essence of pure energy.
This time the vortex of energy in the palm of my hand, was much bigger and more powerful, with an electrifying noise to go with it. Sensing as my breathing becomes slightly abroad and my pulse quickens to the outcome of doing such thing, she is quick to serene me as I feel another wave of relaxation washing over me. "It's okay James. You're feeling what we all feel when we use our powers. I know it feels so strange and a little terrifying, but you'll get used to it. You don't need to be frightened, nothing will hurt you and I'm here to help you through this. Just try to relax and let the power flow through you." "Now, with my help, I'm going to show you what you're capable of doing." With that, she moves her hand lying on my chest so that it navigates over to my shoulder and part way down the inside of my arm to my elbow. "What we're going to do now is direct this power that has formed in your hand and throw it at that candle sitting just there on the cupboard igniting it." Moving her hand very slowly down my arm I can feel her soft touch, the feel of her warm, furry fingertips on my bare skin is so wonderful, as is the effect of her movements are having with the energy charged within me. "Now, I've given you a slight increase of power, with the help of my powers, now I want you to throw your vortex of energy at that candle, lighting it." She says. I look at the candle sitting there motionless atop of the cupboard from where I'm laying; it is a fair distance away to throw a form of energy at an object, even for a novice like me.
I reel my arm to the side, with her furry fingertips still touching my arm, I squint my eyes and concentrated hard, with a swing of my arm and a flick of my hand, I send the swirling vortex of energy at the candle, it shot out of my hand fast, literately like a bullet, it engulfed the candle in a blue glow, then the glow dissipated rapidly and the candle ignited. All I'm able to vocalize is a somewhat weak "Did I do that?" as I gasp with wonder and such surprise, astonished I could actually succumb that kind of ability. "You certainly did" she replies, smiling at me, delighted in my performance and obviously glad at how this is affecting me. "Your performance was outstanding and very achievable. Congratulations James, you've passed the first test that is given to anyone showing the talent and you've defiantly demonstrated your power. Now that you've seen what you can do, would you like to learn more?" she asks in a slightly playfully teasing manner. "Yes I would," I stammer out, still not quite believing the current situation I am in. "Thank you for showing me this, Vanessa, teach me everything I need to know, I want to learn more."
"You're welcome James, and of course I will teach you the ways of your talent, that's why I was so interested in you in the first place. You've demonstrated a significant prospect for the gift, and I think you will pick it up somewhat quickly, now that I have awakened it within you." I then feel all the power drain out of me, like I was a twelve volt car battery hooked up to an apartment complex, getting sucked dry of energy. "What just happened," I exclaim, "I am no longer feeling the power within me anymore, like I've lost the will to produce such talent, did you do that or was it just me?" "No it's not like that. The power was flowing through you with my help, but it was your doing. Remember that you're a novice when it comes to this and don't have any real control over it or any upper hand of embracing such powers. Without me there to act as a conduit, you didn't have the ability or concentration to maintain the power and hold it as it dissipated from your body. With a few more lessons, you'll gain more control of it and won't need my help to maintain your powers."
I feel a little guilty for questioning her like that, it's just that I'd seen so much in the past hour or so that I was really having trouble coming to terms with it all. The anguish must have show on my face, for again she gives me an understanding look of compassion and answers my silent apology. "I know this is tough for you to understand. You've seen so much in such a short period of time that it's all overwhelming for you, no other human has ever experienced this, you are the first. Give it time and things will come into place though, I promise." Pausing for a few minutes she then adds, "it's getting late in the morning. We need to start preparing for our trek to the city, which is if you're coming. I don't want to force you into this, you can take all day to contemplate if you want to, but we do need to talk about this more, but I'll let you get bathed and dress into a change of clothes first."
She then stands up and then waits for me to pull back the bed sheets and get out of her bed, dressed in my underwear or boxer shorts. Leading me to a dresser at the end of the room, I'm surprised to see familiar clothing neatly stacked in a small pile. "Hm, how did you do that?" I ask her as I point to the neat pile of clothes that so happened to be my own. "When I lead you here, the portal was still open for a few more hours, with the help of scanning your mind, I was able to find where you lived, I entered your house, found what clothes would best suit our climate and I was also able to bring some of your clothes along too. I have also brought your footwear of such varieties, as we will be trekking a great distance, you will need comfortable footwear to proceed in." "You entered my house without my permission? You do realize my house has a sophisticated alarm system and will alert the police, I don't know why I am saying that as you don't know what any of that means" I say with a confused conjured expression on my face.
"Ah yes, that was tricky, never knew what it was as I don't know much about your technology, but it certainly did give me a big fright, but with the help of my razor sharp claws I was able to tear the structure off the wall, silencing whatever it was," she replies with a hint of glee in her voice. I look at her indifferently, "You destroyed my alarm system? The code is fourteen fifteen," I say. "What's a code and a alarm system?" she asks. I have no choice to smile at her, as her not knowing demeanour did enlighten me and make me laugh inwardly of how bad it is for her to understand human technology. I give her a wave of my hand, "Never mind, Vanessa, you did well, I appreciate the vanguard of laundry at my disposal that you chose to get for me." "You better have not broken anything else inside my house," I say as I give her a stern look. "Don't be silly James, I would never do that, much of the stuff in your house is just weird and don't know what most of it was, I was in and out fast with your clothes and footwear." She replies.
Looking at the clothes she has brought along enough to go about a week in between washings, if only she had a washing machine, but that was not her era, if I change shorts every other day and everything else daily. I also note that most of the clothes she has chosen are of summer clothes, with only a couple of cooler weather garments, including my work clothes that were included in the pile. I reason that it must be summer here on their world. I'm rather surprised that she was able to bring my clothes here too, but then given the fact that she seemingly effortlessly pulled me across the cosmos, why shouldn't she be able to bring other objects along the same path, I wouldn't be surprised if she could bring along my four-door sedan XR8 Ford Falcon. Still, even though I've witnessed her powers, and some of my own, the whole prospect of it is certainly amazing.
I rummage through my work clothes, extremely surprised to find that my mobile phone is still in my right pocket, including my car keys, wallet and a forty pack of Winfield cigarettes in the blue, yes I smoke, it's a bad habit, and I told myself I would quit, but I said that five years ago. She interrupts my notion of thoughts by instructing, "The bathroom is in there," pointing to a door near the corner to the left. "You can take your morning bath and then get dressed and meet me down in the kitchen. While you're doing that, I'll fix us something for brunch and then we can continue our discussion." With that she turns and leaves through the door on the opposite side of the room. I watch her leave and then walk to the bathroom getting ready to start the first morning of what will surely be a definitive interesting month, beats the very vacation I had planned to go to Hawaii.