The Bonding Ritual Ch. 01-05

Either that, or I would be the one that ended up on the wrong side of that wicked-looking blade.

I braced myself as I swung the backpack in an arc to deflect the blade away from her target, sending it off course from the intended target. I spun around in the hopes that I could get out of the way.

It was at that moment that I saw an opening. I grabbed the hilt of the sword and wrenched it from her grasp. The cold steel felt strange in my hand, almost humming, as I used my momentum to throw the blonde backward, away from the other woman.

Attack or defend echoed in my head, but it wasn't my voice, it felt cold and foreign.

"Give that back, thrall," she spat, her anger now directed at me.

Attack or defend again, the words echoed in my head. I thought perhaps I was going crazy.

"What is your problem? You can't just cut down people like this," I replied, keeping myself between the two women and pointing the blade toward the blonde. I'd never held a sword in my life. I just hoped that keeping the weapon between us would deter her from making any further rash decisions and diffuse the situation.

"This is none of your business. I won't let you get in my way, now drop the sword or die," unbridled rage infused every word as she dropped down into a crouch. I had no idea what this woman was capable of since I'd seen some crazy shit already this evening.

Attack or defend, echoed in my head, this time a little more urgently along with what felt like images of me slashing things to pieces or holding things off with some sort of shield.

I was more likely to cut myself than do anything that would help in this situation.

"Look lady, I don't know what your problem is, but I'm not just going to let you kill an unarmed woman in cold blood," I held my ground, fueled by everything that I'd gone through today. I wasn't going to let this happen.

"Fine," she said, a glint of metal flashed into her hand lightning fast as she lunged forward.

I did the only thing I could possibly think. I held the blade out in front of me awkwardly and screamed "Defend!"

I felt a warmth encompass my entire body as the blade morphed into a shield in front of me just in time to block the small dagger the blonde held in her hand. It clanged loudly against the metal with a resounding noise.

Not only that, but a blast emanated from the shield outward, sending the blonde flying into a stack of boxes several feet away. I had no idea what happened or if she was alright, but she seemed to be lying there unconscious. I needed to get out of here fast.

This shield was going to be hard to move with. As I thought the words, it morphed again, into a bracer on my right arm. I stared at it for a moment but didn't have time to ponder what the hell this thing even was.

I turned toward the other woman who was crouched behind me, having not said a word this entire time. She looked to be in shock, which was no surprise.

"We've gotta get out of here, can you run?" she shook her head. It looked as though maybe her ankle was sprained during the encounter.

I held out my hand to help her up. She took it and I lifted her up. I could see the pain on her face as she winced. Looking over, I noticed the blonde starting to shift. She was also between us and the main road, so it looked like we'd be going back through the factory. I was hoping we would be able to lose her within the maze.

The dark-haired girl wasn't going to be moving fast enough though, so I did the only thing I could think of and swept her up into my arms. She instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck. Thankfully, she was light, or maybe it was like one of those life-or-death stories where people have superhuman strength during times of crisis. Whatever it was, I didn't think much about it as I ran as fast as I could toward the door.

With my free hand, I threw the door open and stepped in. The factory floor was dark except for the glow of the moon illuminating the space through the high windows. I fumbled for my phone to switch on the light, which I would need to navigate the maze of hallways. Unfortunately, no battery left, just great. The lights never worked in this factory, so I'd have to navigate by memory. I wasn't planning on exiting to the other side just in case the crazy woman decided to circle around to cut us off instead.

Through my extensive time exploring this place, I knew there were a couple of rooms unlocked. Most of them didn't contain anything, but there was one with some abandoned furniture in it.

I could feel the woman in my arms still shaking as she clung to me tightly.

"Don't worry, I know this place, I won't let her find us," I was also trying to reassure myself as much as her. Thankfully, her grip loosened a bit.

I crossed the room, flinging open the door and hoping my eyes would adjust quickly to the darkness. I was surprised when at the end of the hall, a light flickered just above the door I was planning on taking.

How are the lights on? I thought to myself briefly as I made my way toward the door. I didn't have time to contemplate the mystery. As I opened the door to the next hallway, the light behind us turned off and another one flickered in the distance down another hallway.

I was grateful for the help, but what was going on? This place shouldn't be connected to the electrical grid. It'd been years since this place was used.

Just then, I heard the distant slam of a metal door. I picked up the pace and sped down the hall. I also heard glass shattering along with a high-pitched pitch scream. What the hell is happening back there? I thought, but I made turn after turn, following the strange flickering lights like some trail of breadcrumbs.

The lights led us straight to the small room I hoped we could hide in until the blonde gave up. Unfortunately, there was no light in this room, but I set the woman down on the floor, my arms grateful for the rest. She clung to my arm desperate to stay connected to me though.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm just going to barricade the door," the woman loosened her grip, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them in the corner.

I quickly began shifting one of the chairs in place against the door, wedging it in place. Even if she got this far in, it would seem like just another locked door I hoped.

I felt fatigued as I crossed the room to where the woman sat. I slumped against the wall and sat down next to her. As soon as I sat down, I felt her shift closer, resting against me.

The cement floor was cold, but I was just relieved to have a moment to relax. I checked my backpack to see if anything was damaged. Thankfully, everything was still intact.

"I've got a sandwich if you'd like something to eat and some water," I said in a whisper, handing the woman the small bag that contained the sandwich and the bottle of water. She eagerly took it, ripping open the bag and tearing into the food. I tore open one of the snack bars, eating it in about two bites. We feasted on the meager meal in silence, afraid our voices would be heard by our attacker.

While I was eating, I looked down at the strange bracer that now encompassed my right arm. I ran my fingers across the metal, looking for some way to remove it, but it was perfectly shaped to my arm with no hinge. Thankfully, it seemed incredibly light and comfortable.

Thanks back there, you saved my life I thought back, not knowing what it was. A warmth emanated in my mind, but nothing more.

The woman finished her sandwich and drank the water quickly. Before I knew it, she slid closer to me, resting her head against my shoulder. I became extremely aware of the buxom beauty's soft curves as they pressed against me. I could feel her warm breath against my neck as it slowed down and she finally started to relax. There was a calm serenity as exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.

I wrapped the hoodie I had around the woman next to me, hoping it would help to keep her warm and allow her to get some rest.

I kept watch just in case the blonde managed to find our spot. At one point, I could hear footsteps and the sound of rattling doorknobs, but those sounds faded away. For me, the night was long as I remained vigilant against the woman hunting us.

Chapter 5

After what seemed like several hours, the woman resting against me finally stirred, shifting and stretching her arms. The blanket slipped away from her, reforming into the bracer on my arm.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?" I asked, hoping to maybe get some answers today and a bonus would be no one tries to kill me.

She groaned and yawned, "A little bit better. I'm so sorry about last night." she said apologetically. Even though we'd slept together, it was the first time I'd heard her voice. There was a melodic quality to it that was as seductive as her body.

"What are you sorry about? This isn't your fault," I said, hoping to reassure her.

"I know, but you got caught in the middle of it. I wasn't expecting The Order to be waiting for me. I was told it would be safe," she said with an anxious tone.

More information to unpack later, but I wanted to get out of here and somewhere safe, "Well, we're safe for now. My name is James by the way, what is yours?"

"Thank you, James," she squeezed my hand and then leaned forward until I could feel her breath against my ear, pressing her curves against my forearm. She whispered seductively into my ear, "I'm forever in your debt for saving my life." She pressed her plump lips delicately against my cheek, lingering in her kiss for several moments before pulling away.

I was glad that the room was still bathed in darkness as I felt my cheeks flush. There was a slight tingling sensation left behind where she had planted her lips. I was left speechless for a moment as my heart raced. I was glad to see that she was feeling better, but now that we weren't in as much danger, I could feel my usual nerves kicking in from her flirting.

"My name is Isadora, but you can call me Isa," she leaned back, her hand still holding mine.

"Such a pretty name, it's nice to meet you Isa," I tried to remain calm and act normal. After taking a few breaths to recenter myself, I asked "Let's get out of here, I'm tired of this place."

"Lead the way, my hero," She reminded me a little bit of April with her teasing.

I stood up, helping Isadora to her feet. She winced from her sprained ankle but it didn't seem too bad. She leaned against me for support and I wrapped my arm around her waist to help. I quickly moved the makeshift barricade from the door and quietly opened it.

No one was waiting in the hall, so we made our way toward the exit. Thankfully, I knew how to get to the other side. We would head toward the side with Sam's shop since that was the least likely direction to get ambushed. The street was busier at this time of day with students walking toward school.

The walk was uneventful, but we remained on alert as we quietly moved from hallway to hallway. Both of us were relieved to see daylight as I opened the final door, the sound of morning traffic a welcome relief.

I looked to my right where Isadora clung to me. This was the first time I had the chance to see her. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with her dark eyes, soft red lips, high cheekbones with the faintest rose color, and the most beautiful smile. As we looked into each other's eyes, I saw the tip of her tongue peek out, wetting her lush lips ever so slightly. I felt indescribably drawn toward her as if nothing else existed.

Her grip on my arm tightened, pressing the length of my right arm between her breasts, which threatened to burst from the tight black top she wore. A pendent I hadn't noticed before rested within her cleavage. It looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I'd seen it before.

The sound of a large construction truck barreling down the road, honking finally broke us from the moment. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, hoping she hadn't noticed me staring. "Erm," was about all I could say at first until my stomach rumbled, "I know a place close by we can get a bite to eat, are you hungry?"

"Starving," was all she said as we stepped out onto the main road.

I looked over at Sam's shop briefly and noticed it was still closed. Judging by the sun, it was too early for him to be in just yet.

As we walked, I saw Isadora take in her surroundings as if she was experiencing the city for the first time, watching the cars zoom by and people rushing along the sidewalk to get to work. It brought back to mind the many questions I had about everything that occurred.

There was a small diner on the corner that always had delicious food. I pushed the door open for Isadora and led her in. It wasn't too busy right now, so I chose a spot at the back of the restaurant in a corner booth where we could get some privacy.

I helped Isadora into her seat and sat down across from her. She seemed a bit nervous to let go of me, but as soon as I sat down across from her, I felt her foot idly brush against my leg, which seemed to cause her to relax. It was rather distracting sitting face-to-face with the beauty in front of me. Looking directly into her eyes, I felt myself getting lost in her beauty, but I was too afraid of letting my gaze drop too far down. The way she sat caused her breasts to stretch the fabric of her top, displaying her impressive cleavage.

The waitress dropped some menus and water at our table and left us in peace.

"What would you like?" I had been here several times, so I already knew what I would order.

"I'll have whatever you are having," she quickly drank the glass of water in front of her.

The waitress came and I ordered two fully stacked omelets with a side of hash browns. I hoped Isa liked it. As the waitress walked away, we finally had a few moments to talk over some things.

"So..." I began, trying to collect my thoughts, a million questions burning through me, but where to begin, maybe just let her explain her side of things first, "What exactly happened last night?"

Isadora tapped her nails against the table nervously, "I'll try to explain, but it's complicated."

"That's alright, take your time," for some reason I reached across the table and rested my hand on top of hers. I could visibly see her relax, her shoulders dropping slightly. Her delicate fingers intertwined with mine, which felt nice.

"Just so you know, where I'm from, I could get in a lot of trouble telling you some of the things I'm about to say," she looked around, pausing for a bit before continuing.

"My world is a parallel world to yours in a different dimension. It is the same planet, but my world evolved much differently from yours," she paused, a look of trepidation as she waited for my reaction.

Twenty-four hours ago, I probably would've laughed what she said off as a practical joke. However, I saw some pretty crazy stuff. I looked down at the bracer on my arm, which was just one mystery that obviously defied any known technology in the way it reshaped itself. Not to mention the woman in front of me, who literally appeared out of thin air. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, or at least hear her story for now, "ok, so you're saying the multiverse theory is real and you come from one of those alternate dimensions?"

"Yes, in my world, we discovered what we call the language of the multiverse, which allowed us to communicate, learn from, and eventually visit different dimensions. We spent decades exploring and making technical advances that allowed our society to flourish and expand exponentially. What would have taken us centuries to learn only took a few years. It was a golden age for our world."

"Unfortunately, on one journey to a new dimension, something went wrong. A nanotechnology that we were interested in learning about for medical purposes managed to breach the dimensional gate. The nanites were faulty and when they infiltrated our world, they began analyzing our genome. For some reason, they decided that the Y chromosome was faulty in our species and proceeded to make some adjustments. What happened was that every child born from then on was female."

That would be devastating. Within a little over a hundred years, all human life would become extinct if that happened, "So how much time does your planet have before losing its male population?"

She looked at me somberly, "You are the first male I've ever encountered in my entire life."

"Wha- how is that possible?" I asked.

"The last male on my planet died over ten thousand years ago," she said, looking down at the water in front of her. "There was a great stockpile of viable embryos that were extracted and frozen at first, but it wasn't enough."

"About one thousand years ago, a new program started one where young women were sent to various dimensions to propagate the species. Once they were pregnant, they would return home to deliver the baby. Most women would do this three or four times in their life before returning home and retiring. It is considered the most important occupation in our world."

"That sounds so dangerous. Traveling to unknown worlds to get impregnated before returning home," I could only imagine how frightening that must be.

"Yes, although we are trained extensively on the cultures of the planet we will be visiting. We filter out some based on danger or other factors we deem potentially problematic," she started explaining. "Originally, we would communicate with similar dimensions that were highly advanced like ours, hoping to mitigate many of the problems. We had a pretty good relationship with several dimensions for a few thousand years."

Her face grew darker, "However, we ran across a rather fanatical group in one particular dimension. They viewed us as dangerous, saying it was our sins that caused God to punish us and that we were meant to be wiped out completely."

"Our problem also caused us to become very open-minded about sex. I don't know if it was driven by the need to propagate or if we had a natural proclivity toward having a higher sex drive, but this group we called 'The Order' decided to brand us as demons and heretics."

"Unfortunately, they had also developed a technology to travel between dimensions. It wasn't quite the same as how we traveled, but their theology and beliefs began to spread to different dimensions. Women from my homeworld would just disappear, never to return."

"You don't know where they disappeared to?" It was sad to think that this parallel universe had to resort to jumping into the unknown just to survive, "so why don't you search for men to bring back to your homeworld, wouldn't that be safer?"

"No, we don't know where they disappear to, they just vanish without a trace or any evidence left behind," she frowned. "To answer your other question, yes, in the beginning, we tried to bring other males back to our homeworld. Unfortunately, ever since the initial cataclysm, no male can cross the barrier into my homeworld. We can't even transport semen or embryos back through the portal. Our only option is to be impregnated in another world, and only when the embryo has matured enough, cross back over for the delivery."

I sat there pondering the situation and absorbing everything Isadora was telling me. She sat there, holding my hand in hers, letting me digest all of this information. I barely noticed the waitress drop our plates on the table. Both of us were starving, so we took a moment to dive into the plate of food in front of us.

I noticed that while Isadora reluctantly let go of my hand, her foot was sliding up and down the inside of my leg.

I finished my plate, scraping the last bit of egg off with a side of toast and washing it down with another refreshing glass of water before coming back to the problem at hand.