A Piece of the Pie (Chapters 15-16)

Chapter 15 – A King the Crown Does Not Make

Did that seriously happen? Am I losing my mind or something? I have to talk to Holli, but that's a bit of a problem, seeing as my phone, along with her number, was crushed by some freakish alternate-dimensional being.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I said out loud to myself once I was fully awake. I know it was a test and Feo was happy with the result, but I'm still mad at myself for forgetting Holli for a moment. I know she's not even my girlfriend or anything, but c'mon Dim, you're trying to be a better person.

"Well, for one thing, you drink too much."

"And you've never been able to beat me in a game of SKATE."

Mouk and Jake stood in the doorway to my room, eating some toast and laughing. I threw my pillow at them and asked where Sam was at.

"Still asleep. I think the whole trans-dimensional travel thing is hitting him pretty hard."

"Let's go wake him up," I said as I climbed out of bed and into the tan shorts the girls gave us yesterday.

"Yo, Sammy!" we opened up his door. Sam was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

"Dmitri, where are we?" he said in a small voice, looking at the light fixture like it had a vendetta against him.

"In a city in an alternate dimension on the dark side of the Moon."

"That's what I thought," Sam jumped up and pulled his t-shirt on backwards, "I need something to eat."

We headed out of our corridor, on a mission for breakfast. Coming into a big hallway, a little kid approached us. He didn't look any older than ten, "the king would like to meet with you," the kid said, pointing up another set of stone steps, "big wooden door on the right."

"Cool," we headed up there and knocked on the big wooden door, using a knocker shaped like the head of a triceratops, set in bronze. I'm assuming, I don't actually know a lot about metals.

"Come in," boomed the king's deep voice. We entered, and what we saw kind of surprised us. On one of the stone walls was a row of wide arched windows with the morning light shining through. Scattered about the floor were a number of bamboo-like mats, the king himself sat cross-legged on one of these – he had apparently been meditating.

As we walked in he stood up. He looked a lot healthier than when we first met him imprisoned underground last night – they must have a killer healthcare system here. He stepped towards us and shook each of our hands as we introduced ourselves.

The man stood about six-eight or six-nine, with thick dark dreadlocks that hung regally past his shoulders. He wore just a pair of light shorts, and was etched all over in enigmatic tattoos – one large and directly in the centre of his chest. The same peace sign that Feo had... It looked pretty siick – the light ink glowed against his dark skin even in the brightness of the early day, so that the symbol stood out on his chest. I noticed that half of the symbol was made up of a crescent moon. He looked proud, strong, and immovable.

This man looked exactly how kings are meant to look.

"Your majesty, thank you for letting us stay at your castle –"

The king cut Mouk off mid-sentence, "no need for majesties, this palace is not mine – it belongs to all of us. My name is Almeht Frisza Strahare, but everyone usually calls me Strad," he flashed a grin out of the corner of his mouth.

Strad quickly moved on to explain to us that the castle was ours to roam about freely, as was the town. There were no thrones and no crowns, the city focused on pitching in and getting along together – everyone works hard. Strad never refers to himself as The King. In fact, there was nothing that set him apart from any other citizen – apart from the fact that he is a formidable mountain of a man. And he has the noble look of a leader, someone who would do anything to help his people and give them a good life. Not only does he have that look, but I had the feeling it's actually how he acts too.

"Let me tell you a story, one that has been passed down through our generations. Hopefully I can shed some light on why you might be here..."

We sat on the bamboo mats and listened in wonder to the king's tale... 

Chapter 16 – Echoes from a Distant Time

"Millennia ago – when God was still busy with this solar system – is where my story begins..."

"Wait, there really is a God?" Sam cut in after the first sentence of the story.

"I believe. Some believe that there are a great many gods, known by many different names. This one I believe is one of the names used on your Earth, correct?"

"Yeah that's one of 'em. So, did God actually create the Earth?"

"That... I am not sure. I have heard a rumour that the Earth was built on commission as part of some sort of grand experiment."

The four of us just sat with our mouths hanging open slightly.

Strad just laughed, "I may not be able to say for sure, and it may not be my place, but for the purposes of this tale, let's believe God created the Earth."

I wiped a little drool from my lip as the king continued his story.

"After the creation of the Earth is when my ancestors first came to this galaxy – from where I am not sure, but we are essentially like you, just from somewhere else. They took up residence in this land, in a dimension just next to your own. From here my ancestors sometimes traveled to your planet and met with its early peoples. We can still reach Earth, though we cannot see it from our vantage here, and I am unsure as to how my ancestors first discovered it. The knowledge of and method to reach your planet has been passed down for a very long time. From Earth you cannot see or reach us easily without our own intervention, you just see what you know as the Moon, which some have speculated was originally meant to be a part of Earth. Our peoples formed a friendly alliance, and my people agreed to be the first line of defence and warning against any dangers from our space, and would try and keep a lookout for any from yours."

"I've got another quick question."

"Go ahead Sam."

"How do you know all this about your ancestors – how has it been passed down for millennia?"

"Really I'm not a hundred percent sure who my ancestors were or how they lived, I'm using the term rather loosely here for dramatic effect," the king chuckled as we stared wide-eyed at him.

"We've found some artifacts out in the desert, and the only thing we know for sure is that we are connected with your planet somehow."

"Fair enough bro. It's a great story so far, by the way."

We all nodded in agreement with Sam. To me it seemed about as logical as we could get, based off where we were. So why not, right?

"Thank you," Strad smiled and continued his sweeping tale.

"Over time, the people of Earth began to forget about us, and we have not had to protect it from any external threat for some time. There have been a number of visitors to your planet whom your people I believe would refer to as aliens. But they have been harmless and most Earth people have taken no notice of them. Those who have are habitually written off as clinically insane. You have had some visitors even from this very city."

"But now we are threatened by these beings who we only know as shapeshifters, and I fear there is greater darkness hidden elsewhere behind this, which poses danger immediately to our land, as well as very possibly yours. That is why I have had you brought here. There was a bit of a mix-up, you were supposed to arrive right in the city, but when I was captured plans fell by the wayside – thankfully it was our own who found you first in the fields. To get to the point – we need your help."

"You need our help?" I asked. "Sure, but we're... there's nothing special about us –"

"Recall what I told you before, everyone has an important role. Remember that. You have come into our lives for a reason..."

At this moment, Vera, Uly, and Feo walked in. I tried my hardest to stare out the window at a particularly interesting blur in the bright light, but Feo caught my eye anyway and gave me a little smile.

"Now you have been introduced to these ladies already. My daughters Vera and Feo. And Uly of course," Strad smiled fatherly – you know the look, all proud, amazed how much you've grown. Not to be confused with the more common do-you-have-a-job-yet? look I've received on more than one occasion.

The girls nodded and each gave a little wave.

"I found Feo out in the desert when she couldn't have been more than half a yellow cycle old, and took her in as sister to Vera. Uly and her family moved to the city when she was all of three yellow cycles," Strad smiled again.

"What's a yellow cycle?" I asked.

"Ah yes, I'm sorry, on Earth you judge time by the rotation of the planet around your Sun. The yellow star you see in our sky is very similar to your own, yet it shares some power with the blue and silver, and the gravity from the combined three causes us to rotate about a central axis in a fairly predictable manner. A yellow cycle we base off the yellow star, and it is essentially equivalent to an Earth year. I'm sure you'll find other small differences in the ways we do things, but nothing you won't get used to. I'm sure off in space things get really complicated," he said with a grin. "Now, why don't we get something to eat?"