Chapter 14

“I said that I have been to the valley, not the entire landscape.” Uncle Victor glanced behind him and then kept walking.

“Okay, but no one mentioned the three-hour walk,” Abe smirked at his father’s whining tone.

“It hasn’t been three hours,” Victor told him.

“Tell that to my feet.”

Bastian stopped and looked at Abe, “any idea where this well is?”

Abe stopped and looked around. Trees, endless miles of trees, were all he could see. “It’s changed, I can’t be sure which area it was in.”

“It’s trees, they don’t change, just get bigger.” Quinton stopped and looked around. “Was there anything other than trees?”

Abe closed his eyes, trying to find the images that were related to this area. So many of them were. “I’ve been here a lot, I mean years, a lot.”

“What does that mean?” His dad came over and got in his face, just like Abe knew was going to happen when he found out. “How can you have all of these memories—or whatever they are all of a sudden?”

Abe sighed and glanced at his Uncle Quinton. His expression reflected his own thoughts that this wasn’t the time for a lengthy discussion. “It’s not all of a sudden. It’s been for my entire long adult life.” He hoped this would be enough to satisfy his father.

“Why am I just finding out now?”

“Perhaps you could discuss this at a greater length at another time?” Victor turned around and looked at his brother and then at Abe.

His dad heaved a loud sigh, “Yes. Fine.” The look he gave him reminded Abe of when he was younger and did something that would be considered stupid in his father’s opinion.

“His soul isn’t reborn. It remembers.” Bastian shrugged and then started walking again.

“I don’t know what that means.” His father walked faster and caught up to him.

Bastian sent Abe a look that told him he owed him one and then quietly started to explain what he’d meant.

Abe took a deep breath and then started walking again. He hadn’t gone ten feet when a scene flashed in his mind causing him to stop. He didn’t know how he knew, but something told him. “It’s this way.”

“Excellent.” Bastian pivoted and came back. “Did you see the well?”

Abe shook his head, “it’s not really seeing. It’s more of a feeling this time.”

“Those work too.” Bastian made a sweeping motion with his arm, “Lead the way, omniscient one.” He smirked.

Ignoring him, Abe started going in that direction. He studied every tree, trying to sort out what was here and what was in the past. He’d accepted they were right, and he was remembering from another lifetime. Living over two hundred years seemed like too long some days, but now he had a soul that had lived much longer. The dream he’d had came back to him. If he wasn’t mistaken, he—or the body the soul had been in had been a prehistoric man. Rubbing his hand over his forehead, he blew out a breath. That was unbelievable and incredible all at once. He glanced back at Bastian and wondered if he was that old. He’d caught some of a conversation Aunt Crissy had with Paisley, and the Solrelm residents lived longer than Alterealm ones. That would be phenomenal if he hadn’t also heard how long the Fa Terra residents lived. Then there were humans. Their lives were mere seconds compared to all of the other realms. Why was that? Why did some live incredibly long and then some a handful of decades?

“Hey.”

He stopped and looked back at his Uncle Quinton. He needed to stop getting lost in his head when he was with others.

“I think we’re here.” He motioned to a slight knoll ten feet to his left.

Abe quirked an eyebrow and went over to the manmade stonework. It was covered in growth and barely visible until you were standing over it. It was just tall enough that the growth covered it, but it would prevent you from falling in.

“How do you know it’s the right place?” Emil started walking toward him.

“It looks like a well, and it’s in the middle of nothing.” Abe looked around, “I don’t see any evidence of any buildings ever being near here.

Victor came over and looked down into it. “Wells don’t have ladders built into the side of them.”

“This has never held water.” Quinton looked around, “I wonder if it’s visible to everyone or just some.”

“Somewhat?” His dad pulled a sword from his back and then pointed it at the well, “who wants to go down first?”

Bastian snorted, “I can go down and take a look.”

“That’s brave of you.” His father stated.

Bastian grinned, “bravery has nothing to do with it,” he shrugged and then disappeared from sight.

Abe didn’t like that there was a race out there that could go completely invisible. He understood the need for it, so the souls they were bound to watch over could be monitored without freaking out the human host, but he wasn’t comfortable with it. He wondered if, at any point in his life, he’d been right beside one of them and not known.

Abe pulled both his swords free when he reached the bottom. Bastian said the tunnel was dark and went about thirty feet before it branched out. There were many doors, according to him, and Abe planned to be prepared for anything coming out of one of those doors. They had no idea who was down here. Bastian hadn’t gone on the ‘extended tour’ he’d said.

He followed behind Victor and glanced back to see his father was at the end, watching their backs. He’d fought in more than one war with his dad, and he trusted no one the way he did to have his back if things went south.

“Someone is coming.” Victor moved to the corner and paused there.

Abe moved up and stood at the corner, covering that direction. He could hear the echo of footfall in the hollowed-out corridor.

“…it’s crazy. She’s royalty, and I found her.”

Abe exchanged a look with his uncle. They had Liri.

“Well, the method you went about it wasn’t very…”

They rounded the corner at the same time and met the tip of his uncle’s sword. Abe moved to stand at his shoulder in case they tried anything. He paused to see two average size males standing there. Neither was armed that he could see.

One of them screeched a deafening sound, stumbled backward, and landed on his ass on the stone.

“Booohdi,” the other one bellowed, “Bohdi, come quick. I think Liri’s friends are here.”

The sound of many boots on the stone echoed. Abe was braced for battle when a small group was running toward them.

Running beside the very large man was a woman with dark red hair. If this moment were one of those sappy chick flicks he watched with Aunt Bethany, the gorgeous woman with miles of red hair would be moving in slow motion, with some happily-ever-after heartthrob music would be playing. She was a vision right until she stopped and glared at him.

“It’s about time. Do you have Bastian’s number in your phone?”

Abe was still trying to remember how to speak when Bastian pushed past him.

“He did one better and brought me, dear cousin.”

She darted forward and hugged him briefly, “this is the Interealm headquarters.” She spun around and motioned to the large man, “This is Bohdi, their leader.”

Uncle Quinton was now standing beside him, “how did you end up here.”

“Uh,” the man that had fallen was being pulled to his feet, “that would be my fault.” He brushed off his backside, “She was being followed by Solrelm people, but they seemed to be avoiding her seeing them. I thought she was in danger, so I brought her here with the phaser.” He cleared his throat, “I didn’t know that if you used it that it fried all electronics and that you couldn’t port or phase for two days without risking your insides turning to mush…”

“What?” Liri spun around and glared at him, “no one said anything about mushy insides.”

Bastian glanced at Abe, “Always an adventure with this realm.” He grinned and then sobered again. “I’m Price Bastian from Solrelm, and these gentle giants are some of the Alterealm royal family.”

The big man stepped forward and extended his hand, “no one from the other realms has been here in my lifetime.”

“I didn’t know there was still a headquarters over here.” Victor took his hand.

“When the other realms vanished, my great-great-grandfather Hiram decided things would still be run as normal here until they came back, or we were needed to intercede anywhere.”

Abe realized he was still holding his swords. He quickly put them back in the straps on his back. He really had to find out who to thank for those, it was simple to do, and he wasn’t fumbling around like an amateur. Blinking, that feeling came over him again. The one he’d been somewhere before. It was like that a lot lately, being somewhere and just knowing it was somewhere he’d been—but he knew the physically hadn’t. “I know this place.”

Everyone turned and looked at him.

“I’m fairly certain I’d know if you’d been here.”

Uncle Victor cleared his throat, “he has lived more than two centuries; however, he also has a soul that has never been reborn…” he glanced at Bastian, who nodded his agreement to his explanation.

“That’s,” Bohdi rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and smirked, “well, I’m not sure what to say to that, but if you were here in the past, then maybe you can give us a hand with the port platform and the communications room because I’d say we’re going to be a functioning headquarters again.”

“Yes, and I can help as a representative of Solrelm.” Liri grinned.

Bastian laughed, “Anything to avoid going home.”

“I can’t port, or my insides will turn to mush, or did you miss that.” She sent him a look that clearly stated how annoyed she was. “You need to see this place, Bas. It’s brilliant.”

Abe looked in the other direction. A memory flashed in his mind, and he could see where the one tunnel was still being dug out. Images of injured people and rocks falling came back to him. “I’ve definitely been here before.” He said it quietly, more or less just talking to himself. “Mind if I look around?”

Bohdi shook his head, “Spencer will show you around.” He smirked, “I don’t need another misplaced royal.”

“Seeing as I’m stuck here for two days, I’d love to.” The man that had fallen shrugged.

Abe motioned for him to go. When he walked by Liri, she gave him a very focused stare. He felt his fang tips come out and clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t know what that was about, it wasn’t like he was a kid trying to get the hang of it. Shaking his head, he followed quickly to catch up to Spencer.