Well Beyond the World

"Chief Kukane!" You hear a cry from the trees. Peering up, you see two lithe young men, dark in skin and coloring, crouched in a tree above you. They drop down to the jungle floor.

Michael opens his arms wide. "Look at this fine fish I caught! She tried to wriggle free but no one escapes me." He gives a big grin.

"We were worried that the Pearl Divers had taken you by surprise." One of them says, cautious and skeptical. The other one lights up when he sees you.

"Fatafata!" shouts Paol, pointing. "Good to see you again!" He laughs and you self-consciously fold an arm in front of your breasts.

"Come, let's go to the village and you can tell me all that has happened while I have been away." says Michael. The two young men exchange a look.

"Well?" asks Michael. "What has happened?"

"Uh . . I think it is easier if we just show you."

###

By the time you reach the village, the moon is near the horizon and the hanging vine lanterns have simmered down to their red coals. Paol and his friend Lanka lead you along the rope ladders and steps, weaving their way through the trees towards the Chief's house. Lanka, for his part, speaks very little and gives you barely a glance. Paol tries to strike up a conversation with you and when that falters, spends the remainder of the walk positioned so that he can watch your butt as you ascend into the branches of the giant arching trees.

Finally you reach the Chief's hut - you remember the sloping roof that you climbed on a few nights ago. From inside, you hear moaning, throaty, lustful moaning. You are at once tense, wishing you had your bone knife as Lanka pulls aside the reeds of the door so that Michael, and you, may peek in.

Inside, the low light of the flickering lanterns illuminate a tangle of dark bodies on the furs. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can make out Caroline riding a young man fiercely. He is sprawled out on the floor, head rolled back as Caroline hunches over his body, pounding her hips down on his hard cock. Behind her, a second young man is thrusting into Caroline, his smaller cock sliding in and out of her asshole, his arms reaching around and groping her breasts.

They move as one, thrusting into each other. The one semi-standing rails into Caroline who arches her back and moans, thrashing between the two of them in the midst of orgasmic pleasure. She turns and kisses him, open mouthed and blind, feeling nothing but sensation. His whole body goes rigid as he pumps a white sticky load deep into her.

"AAAHHHHH!!!" She groans, fingering herself just for a moment as her own orgasm sweeps from her head to her toes, clamping down on the hard cock still within her sex. The man beneath her moans listlessly as she flops forward on top of him.

She takes a deep breath and slides out between the two young men.

"Bahano, take your cousin, I think he passed out." Caroline says tenderly, exchanging a quick kiss with the young man still standing. "You did well, you lasted most of the night. You are welcome to join me the day after tomorrow if you like."

He gives a curt bow, "Yes my Queen." and helps the other lad to their feet as Caroline turns to splash herself with water from a cistern. The two young men stumble towards the door - only now become aware of your presence.

"Chief Kukane!" Bahano says, dropping his cousin in alarm. Michael gestures him out and he quickly recovers from the surprise and hauls himself and his cousin out the door.

Michael turns to Paol and Lanka. "I see. I will handle this." Lanka looks relieved but Paol disappointed, however both turn and leave. As soon as they are out of earshot, you rush inside.

"Caroline!" You exclaim. She whirls around. "Brenna!"

She sweeps you up in her arms and gives you a kiss that leaves you breathless.

"I was so worried"

". . .so worried!" you both say at once and then dissolve into a fit of laughter.

"What happened to you?" You ask. She smiles.

"I convinced them I was their Queen." says Caroline, matter of factly.

"How?" Michael is incredulous. Caroline looks him up and down and then shoots you a questioning look.

"Caroline, meet Michael. He built the brazier at the center of the Hotel Murano back in 1932, and Kalchik stabbed him for it. He's been here ever since. And, he was in our vision in the Cabin."

Caroline squints. "The guy you banged in the construction trailer or the guy who had sex with you in the hedge maze?"

"Both." Michael blushes. Caroline gives him a bit of a leer. "I can see why you keep him around."

Turning back to you. "How did I convince them? With my magic pussy! That's right." Michael stares blankly while you cover a laugh with a cough.

"That first night, I showed the boys what a difference it can make to have a willing participant." She wriggled her hips lewdly. "They liked it so much, they were ready to start stabbing each other for a turn in my bed. Luckily, I've got stamina to spare and convinced them of a more sensible solution. Let me decide!"

You grin. "And once you were picking which one of them got luckily, I imagine it was easy to talk them into just about anything you want, am I right?" She laughed.

"I'm not saying that men are dumb, because they aren't, but young men? They are pretty straightforward." She splashes a little more water on her chest, distracting Michael for a moment, before sliding into the remains of her old shirt and pants.

She pats the furs next to her on the bed. "Now come, both of you, curl up with mama Cass and tell me everything."

###

By the time the sun has illuminated the sky into its sapphire blue and the birds were singing their full chorus, you had reached the base of the mountain. Giant stone steps had been carved into the side of the embankment, each step as tall as your chest, forcing you to pull yourself up like you were climbing onto a bunk bed without a ladder.

When you awoke after a brief rest in the hut, the bruises from your fight with Queen Ona had completely vanished and your stomach was beginning to take on a little bit of definition, accentuating your hourglass figure underneath your tunic and shell skirt. Michael had brought you fresh fruit and coconut meat at first light and the three of you had set off for the mountain before the tribe had arisen from their hammocks.

Now, as the tropical heat pressed in from above and the warm stones beneath your body, you thought longingly of the breezy cove of the pearl divers.

As the three of you made your ascent, scrambling up the giant steps, Michael was never far from your side. Ready with a hand to help you up, steadying your hips as you balance, his kind hands were there, a constant reassurance as you made your way into a fold in the mountain face. You almost wish Caroline was not there, so that you could enjoy the feel of his lips, his skin, his cock, but you knew that your friends were waiting so you pressed on.

Finally, you rounded the curve of the stairs and that's when you saw it. Kai had called it the Great Mother, and you could see why. Standing nearly fifty feet tall, a woman's face had been carved into the mountain - the eyes holes into the tunnels, the mouth a gaping entrance.

"Is that . . . " Caroline began.

"Yes . . . that's Pixie's face."

###

The three of you stare - stunned.

"So I have questions . . ." Caroline starts and then trails off.

"I don't even know where to begin." You answer. Distantly, you hear a sound, like air through billows. Glancing down, you see the broken bits of rock at your feet bouncing and dancing on the ground.

"Uh . . . guys?"

The python strikes. Its head as large as a BMW bug flies past you, it's jaws open wide. You leap, tackling Michael to the ground, knocking him out of the way. Caroline whirls, brandishing the bamboo spear she brought from the village. The python rears up, snapping this way and that, coiling his hallway-sized body in loops underneath the raised head.

You and Michael scramble to your feet. The snake snaps at Caroline and shimmies its body closer to her. She dances backwards.

"Caroline! It's not venomous - it's a constrictor!" You shout above the hissing. Michael draws his bone knife and slashes at the side of the snake but it has already looped a coil around Caroline's legs as she struggles to climb out.

You race around and haul her out, her feet churning on the slick snake skin. It snaps towards you and all three of you take off at a dead run for the mouth of the temple. With a last, desperate burst of energy, you explode into the dark cavern.

The python snaps its jaws behind you, it's head unable to fully fit inside with it's mouth open. The three of you scramble deeper into the temple as the snake turns, trying to find a way inside. Finally, it turns and slides back down the stairs.

"It's not venomous - it's a constrictor?" Caroline asks incredulously.

"Sorry! My kiddo, Silas, had a class project about snakes." Michael gives a big laugh, echoing on the cut stone walls of the temple.

"Hello?" You hear from deeper down in the temple. "Aaron? Pixie?" you call out and just like that, you round the corner into a large antechamber. A wave of heat washes over you as a reddish hue lights the space.

It is as large as a high school gymnasium, with three stone columns rising from the carved floor to arches supporting the ceiling. In the center of the chamber is a flat altar table, as wide as a queen bed, before a huge obelisk of polished bronze. Behind this was a bubbling pool of lava and standing in front of the altar table is Aaron, Kai and Jonuez. Pixie is over examining the carvings on one of the pillars but as you three enter, they all swarm around you with hugs and relief.

Back together again. Thank the gods. For Aaron and Kai, it had been three days. Long enough for them to explore the temple. Pixie and Jonuez arrived last night - they had to avoid a pterodactyl attack, and all of them had a difficult time getting past the snake.

After introductions and a brief snack, Aaron set about explaining what is going on.

"There are a few more alcoves in this temple but I'll save you the time - this is the only place with anything more than rocks and bugs."

"The three columns here," He gestures towards where Pixie was working, "they have all this writing on them, which we are assuming is instructions of some sort."

"Not necessarily." says Pixie. "They could be prayers or history or names of people who have been here before. The hieroglyphics found in Egyptian temples served more as an extended obituary than any sort of instructional guide."

"Okay, fair point. But they also have this." He points out a whole, about ten inches in diameter at shoulder height on each piller. He reaches in and there's a click. "There's a little handle in there but we can't pull it out or move it. And we've tried."

"Aaron, show them the sparks!" Kai leads you back to the altar table in front of the bronze obelisk.

"Check this out." He presses his palm flat onto the alter table. The obelisk flickers, and you see a handful of sparks go trickling up from the bottom to the top, reflected in the surface.

"We haven't been able to get it to do much more than that, but it's a start." He looks at you expectantly.

"Okay. Oookay." you take a deep breath.

"Is no one going to talk about?!" Caroline shouts. Everyone looks at her.

"Why the fuck does the temple look like Pixie?!" Pixie blanches.

"I don't know! I really don't. We've been wracking our brains to try and figure it out." Pixie turns to Kai who has folded herself under Aaron's arm.

"Look, Kai, how long have they been doing the initiation ceremonies up here?" Pixie asks.

"Since before I was born." Kai answers confidently.

"And has it always been this way?" Pixie asks. Kai nods.

"I mean, I haven't been up here, this place is forbidden. But they always referred to it as the Great Mother."

"Right, and I've only been here a few years. How could someone carve all this in only a few years?"

"There's the statue too." Caroline interrupts. You pick up the thread.

"That's right! We came across some ruins in the jungle, it had a statue of you carved out of marble. It had offerings and everything."

Kai perks up. "There are several holy sites to the Great Mother here on the island. We maintain them when we are out foraging in the jungle."

"Why?" Michael asks.

"Because . . . they are sacred?" Kai asks, questioningly. "We always have."

"Always have! How can they be modeled after me? Some weird freaky coincidence?" Pixie shoots back.

Jonuez steps between her and the rest. "No one is accusing anyone of anything."

"Well, we have to look at all the clues," Aaron starts.

"Clues? This isn't a freaking video game. We're stuck here!" says Pixie.

You pace back and forth. So many pieces. You run your hands over the carvings on the wall. The stone pillars. The stone floor. The bronze obelisk. No metal. None of the creatures - why?

The lava. You wander over towards the pool of lava on the other side of the temple. It is hot but you are able to walk right up to the edge of the bubbling pool. That is very odd - you are pretty sure you cannot do that in real life. The heat that would melt rocks would melt you long before you got close.

What is this place?

"It's a prison." Everyone stops arguing and looks over. You hadn't realized you had spoken aloud.

"All of this - the whole island. It's a gilded cage."

"What do you mean?" asks Michael.

"Look, when I was in the pirate ship, the aliens tried to explain." Jonuez gives a fond smile but you ignore him.

"Their planet was doomed, they were in a spaceship or they were the spaceship or something but they were trying to find a new home."

"Like Kal-El." he whispers softly to himself.

"What?" whispers Kai.

"They crashed into Earth, which is where those pirates scooped them up. The meteorite. And it got melted down to ingots by your italian iron merchants," you gesture at Michael, "and brought to Tacoma."

Pixie looks cross.. "And that's where Kalchik comes in, he uses them to build the hotel, yadda, yadda, we know!'

"Not just a hotel, what did he make with it?" You point to Michael. "What did you turn the metal into?"

"A brazier." He answers simply. "A furnace really - when I was making it, it rather reminded me of those old iron lamps down in Tucson where my father grew up. They have them on street corners as they light fires in them on cold nights for folks who don't have anywhere to go - keep them warm from the cold desert nights." You could have kissed him right there.

"Yes! A light for them to gather around, to take care of them. To keep them warm. That's what the brazier is for the aliens. They are all being fed by the brazier."

Caroline picks up the thread. "And they feed on sex magick! When you were there at the hotel last time, you said it got hot when people were having sex. It flared up."

"Everything these creatures do seems tied to it." Pixie rubs the back of her neck in irritation. "Keeping us sustained on the vision quest in the cabin . . . "

"Or the way I can create a key." said Jonuez. Everyone turns and faces the quiet, tattooed giant. Jonuez looks down at his feet, accidentally causing his horns to jut out a little bit, nearly poking Aaron next to him.

"Yes. That's their everything. Sex must be what is feeding them." you agree.

"So Kalchik . . . is the good guy? He's their caretaker?" Caroline says.

"I'm not so sure. Remember, he was turning down the heat at Dan's wedding. Keeping it at a simmer. Maybe it's more like a chef keeping a well-stocked lobster tank." You shudder at the metaphor.

"Plus he stabbed me." Michael jokes.

"Me too." Jonuez agreed. "Except he shot me. But yeah. Bad dude."

"Okay, so if this is where the aliens are kept and fed, where are they?" asks Kai. One by one, the realization dawns on your friends faces as they turn to Kai.

"Oh shit." Aaron whispered.

"Are you saying that I'm an alien?" she squeeked. "But I'm not an alien, I was born right here on the island."

"Dude." Aaron whispers softly to himself. He turns to Kai, "You said that things have 'always been' like this. Of course they have, this is all your people know. Kai, I think Brenna's right." She claps a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry.

"That's not a bad thing." Aaron offers, uselessly. She pushes away his arm and walks over to a corner of the chamber, tears in her eyes. The rest of you look at Aaron expectantly.

"Yeah, I'll be right back." He jogs over to her, "Hey babe . . ." whispering comforts.

"Wait - what about me? Or Jonuez?" Michael asks."I mean, we're human right? Even though he's got horns and I don't?"

"I think so. You both remember your lives before this." You ask, Jonuez and Michael nod. "I think Kalichik just wanted you out of the way, so he dumped you in here."

"And wiped your memories, don't forget that part." Pixie interjects.

"Yes for Michael but no - Jonuez, you are something more." You gaze at him, partially because he is good to look at, horns and tattoo giving him a Pan vibe.

"A janitor!" Caroline shouts. Aaron and Kai look over confused. "Jonuez is the janitor! Who else has a whole shit ton of keys? A janitor! I should know, I've made good money as a janitor."

Pixie turns to her lover. "That's why you have the Unyielding Pit! A world within a world, a place to fix things or remove things that mess things up on the island. A janitor's closet. Until I woke you up, that is."

Caroline continues. "Okay, if this island is the fish bowl, and Kai's the goldfish, what is all this?" She gestures towards the obelisk and pillars.

"A relay station? A guard tower? If this is a cage, there's got to be some way to come down, and look at the prisoners. This is well guarded, at the center of the island, it makes sense."

You lean over and whisper softly to Michael. He takes a few steps away from you and towards the columns.

Caroline continues to muse, staring up at the Obelisk. "What would that look like? You think there's just a big eye staring out of this. Like Sauron style? You know, fucking Eye of Sauron shit?" You shake your head.

"No, I think it looks like the triangles on your back." You turn towards Pixie. She looks wild-eyed and then turns to dash for the door but Michael is right there, snatching her up in her arms. She twists, kicking and struggling tossing Michael backwards as that smack into the pillar. She kicks at his knee and wriggles free.

Jonuez closelines her with one swift move, sending her flat to the ground, knocking the air from her lungs.

"Sorry Jen. But I want to get home." You race forward, sweeping Michael up in your arms looking for blood. He gently rebuffs you and helps drag an uncooperative Pixie back to the altar.

"What's going on?" Aaron asks, jogging over with Kai.

"Pixie is secretly a spy for Kalchik. Or is Kalchik. We think." Caroline answers. "What are we going to do with her?"

"I think we need to get in touch with whomever is pulling her strings, and that means lighting her up. And there's only one way to do that."

You, Caroline and Aaron take the writhing Pixie over to the altar table.

"Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare!" She snaps. You pray you are doing the right thing.

Jonuez, with one large hand, pushes her down, pressing her chest flat against the altar table. You reach in and touch her in her most sensitive of spots. She yelps but is already dripping wet. All the struggling and fighting clearly has got her running hot. As you work her sexy from behind, stroking her clitoris from the inside, sparks start to shoot up the bronze obelisk. It glows, just as the three diamond shapes on Pixie's back begin to pulse a faint red.

You urge Jonuez forward, his eyes glued to her firm buttocks, bouncing this way and that as she tries to wriggle free. With one large hand, he steadies her back and slides his engorged cock inside of her.