Chapter 2 - Keyweilder

Chapter 7: The Keywielder



Chapter 7: The KeywielderChapter 7: The KeywielderDuke moaned and sat up slowly. The air was strangely cool. He opened his eyes, startled, and looked down at himself. Duke rubbed his hands over his bare chest and realized he was wearing nothing but a rather skimpy loincloth.

A cool breeze hit him again and Duke stood slowly to look at his surroundings, lit by the silvery light of an enormous blue full moon in a starry sky. The moon appeared as large as Duke's own arm span, as if he could reach up and hug it from the sky. Duke felt his feet sink into the soft sand of the violet beach he was on. A dark body of water lay to his right stretching out into blackness but reflecting the moonlight and stars perfectly, without even a ripple.

The violet beach was littered with conk shells of a deeper purple, and it stretched on as far as his eye could see, curving slightly to his right. A monstrous cliff wall that also ran as far as Duke could see in the light of the giant blue moon bordered the beach. The cliff wall sparkled as tiny gleaming gems and other larger crystals protruded from the face. Duke was awestruck at the sight.

Duke was not sure if he should move, but he began to walk anyway. Slowly Duke began to remember where he had been. He thought of the battle, the sudden alien attack, the odd hovertank as it had fired on the one he was in, and he remembered the pain of loss . . .




“I must be dead,” muttered Duke to himself.

The wind shifted, and on it Duke swore he heard a female alto voice giggle.

Duke spun one eighty.

“Hello!” Duke called.

There was no answer. Just the soft breeze blowing that somehow did not disturb the water. He was completely alone.

Duke walked down to the waterfront. The sand became damper, and he bent over to look at his reflection in the moonlight. He peered thoughtfully at the reflection.

To it he said, “Will we see them again soon, pal?”

To Duke's utter surprise, his reflection smiled back at him and winked, but Duke was not smiling. Duke gasped and fell backwards onto the sand.

What was going on here? What was this place?

Duke forced himself to relax, and noticed that his footprints from before in the sand were rapidly disappearing. He sat there for several moments, contemplating this strangely beautiful place. He pinched himself, trying to determine if he was awake.

Duke looked up at the moon again, its strange features were unfamiliar. Looking closely, Duke could make out a spiral pattern in a darker gray hue working its way out of the center of the moon.

“I guess I'm stuck here,” Duke muttered.

The laughter that Duke had heard earlier rang out again, only this time crisper, and more directional. Out over the dark placid sea a white light appeared. It was headed towards him, and as it grew larger Duke could make out the figure of a person. This person was emitting the light.




The figure approached to within a hundred yards, and it became clear that the figure bathed in an aura of light was a woman. Duke could not help but stare as he stood slowly. As he did so, the sand fell from his body neatly back into place without sticking to him. Duke was barely aware of this because he was even more amazed when it occurred to him that the woman was walking on the water. Her footsteps made single light splashes on the water, but no ripples appeared outward from her feet.

Duke blushed as he realized the woman was completely nude, the only modesty provided by the pure white curls of her hair falling neatly over her breasts. From ten feet away Duke could tell the woman was about a head taller than he was, with bronzed skin and piercing silver-blue eyes that glinted in the moonlight. The woman wore a coy smile as she approached, and Duke heard himself stammer for a greeting.

Duke manage one a single syllable “helk!” sound as the woman gracefully bounded in three floating leaps of a master ballerina on the balls of her feet, and then kissed Duke full on the mouth as she pressed her body to his. Her arms clutched gently around his waste and pulled him onto his toes so she would not have to stoop to deepen the kiss.

Duke had to admit that woman was firm yet curved in all the right places, and as he forced himself to breathe Duke caught the faintest scent of honeydew in the air. Duke was stunned and confused, but finally he found the presence of mind to push away, and he staggered backward.

“Hey!” He gasped. Listen you're hot and all but this is a bit fast for me.

The woman merely smiled playfully and strode toward him again.




“Now I know I'm dreaming,” said Duke. “Girls are never this interested in my just by looking at me.”

The same alto laugh rang out on the wind, and then it physically came from the woman who was now twirling herself around behind Duke. The woman embraced Duke from behind, palming his chest with both hands and giggling.

“It's no dream, love,” purred a voice in Duke's ear that made his spine tingle.

The woman kissed Duke's neck softly, and Duke immediately grabbed her hands and freed himself from the embrace. He turned to face the girl, holding her hands to keep her at arms length.

“Listen,” Duke said. “Dream or not I'm not ready for this, you see I just . . .”

The woman giggled again, cutting Duke off.

“You seem ready enough to me,” the woman said with a laugh, her eyes and smile indicating the place where Duke's loincloth was no longer hiding his excitement.

“That's not fair!” Duke said with an embarrassed whine as he turned away and tried to cover himself. “How do I dream me up some clothes?”

“I said this is no dream,” purred the woman again. “We have called you here.”

“And I'm not dead either,” said Duke matter of fact-ly.

The woman shook her head and smiled. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Then, where am I? What is this place? Who are you?”

As Duke asked this, the woman pushed towards him again, with a mischievous glint in her eye. Duke matched her by stepping backwards.

“Why so many questions?” cooed the girl. “All will be answered in time, and here we have all the time we need. Let us enjoy this time, love.”




She flipped her arms over and stepped back all at once. Duke felt himself be drawn onto the tips of his toes, and he began to fall forward towards the woman. As he fell, Duke let his left knee relax, and he regained his balance at a forty-five degree angle to the girl instead of falling on her. This movement pushed the woman back on her heels. The woman astonished Duke when, instead of taking a step backwards, as Duke wanted, she pivoted on the balls of her feet and rotated her hips into Duke.

Duke would have fallen flat on his face, but instead fell forward and lowered his left arm and shoulder into a roll. Duke came neatly to his feet and faced the girl, who was already walking toward him.

“You've trained in Aikido?” Duke asked curiously.

The woman giggled. “No but you have.”

“Well of course I have!” said Duke exasperated as the woman bounded forward, her hand brushing down his stomach and searching.

Duke pivoted backward like a swinging gate, drawing the woman forward a step. Duke placed his arm behind the girls and continued her motion forward as he said, “but what does that have to do with what you know?”

The woman recovered her balance after several stutter steps. The woman made no move to continue toward Duke. She merely regarded him with a mischievous glint in her eye. “You have a fascinating mind dear Duke,' the woman said. “Among other things”

The woman licked her lips slowly, and then she sighed and shook her head in resignation. Yet the lustful glint in her eyes remained as she scanned Duke's body.

“Very well,” the woman said. “We are within what would best translate as a Time Seal.”




“Translate?” Duke asked, furrowing his brow.

The woman nodded. “I am not of your world, love,” she explained. “We are connected within your mind for purposes of communication, but this place is beyond telepathy. You see, we are in an extremely small instant in your mind. The instant is so small that in this place, time has in effect stopped. The technology that allows me to be here holds open that space between our dreams and reality.”

Duke nodded, thoughtfully. “So then where are you really? Who are you really? You probably don't look like . . . like . . .” Duke gestured at the woman with a sweep of his hand. “This. Do you?”

The woman laughed a genuine laugh, no longer the playful giggle. She raised her gaze to the moon thoughtfully.

“Our language is a bit musical in nature, love,” the woman said after a moment, “but you can call me Luna. Yes, I think I would like that.”

She gazed at the giant silver orb of the moon for a moment longer, before looking back at Duke.

“And I do look like this, for the most part. You share my mind after all, just as I share yours. In fact, this place is from my mind. But you are correct in a way; I have been hiding something. Please forgive the deception, but your people have a tendency to mistake us for religious figures. I will show you now.”

The woman spread her arms straight out to the side palm down and tucked her chin in with her eyes closed. Nothing happened for many moments, but the breeze began to blow heavier than Duke had ever felt it before.




Slowly something unfolded from Luna's back to either side of her, and it took Duke a moment to realize he was looking at wings. They were beautifully feathered in white and streaked in glittering silver, and as the unfurled completely they reached about meter and a half to either side of Luna. She folded them gently around her body, demonstrating flexibility and control.

Luna flung them open with a snap, and with a mighty flap took to the air. She hovered in front of Duke, then glided around him in a slow circle.

“You are staring,” remarked Luna. “Do you like what you see?”

For emphasis, Luna caressed herself seductively from her waist to her breasts as she floated lower above Duke.

Duke averted his eyes and turned away, embarrassed.

“I've seen a lot of things recently I never dreamed of,” replied Duke softly. “But you didn't call me to this . . . place . . . just to give me a show. Did you?”

Duke shaded his eyes with one hand and turned slightly back toward Luna to speak as directly to her as possible.

“I mean . . . really . . . would it have hurt to let me wear some more cloths? Now is not exactly the best time for hanky-panky, even with stopping time and all, or, err, whatever.”

When after a short moment there was no answer, except for some heavier breathing, Duke risked a glance up at the strange immodest woman.

Luna had floated higher, and had apparently decided not to stop touching herself at her breasts. She had her eyes closed and was biting her lip. She was giving no indication that she was paying Duke any attention at all.




Duke tried very hard to be annoyed, and cleared his throat loudly.

“Excuse me!” Duke said loudly. “Do you mind?”

Luna's eyes flew open with a start.

“My apologies, love,” Luna said as she floated herself back to the ground. “I am not used to such rejection, and I often try to ignore the fact that your kind does have that strange affinity for clothing.”

“It's not really rejection,” Duke began. “It's just that . . .”

Luna had folded her wings in front of her for a moment and tucked her chin to her chest. Presently as she unfurled her wings she revealed she was now wearing an impossibly tight shimmering silver body suit. The suit opened just below her navel to expose her bare abdomen. A cris-cross pattern of thin silver was enough to barely cover her nipples.

There was no way she would not be popping out of that suit as she moved, thought Duke. Yet as Luna folded her wings behind her and walked a few steps toward Duke, the material clung to her body without being disturbed.

“Is this better, love?” Luna asked casually.

“Well . . .” Duke hesitated. In a way it was almost worse, inviting a little too much imagination, but he just nodded.

“What about me?” asked Duke.

“It's as you suspected, love” Luna answered. “Just dream you up something. We are in your mind. Simply be in what you wish to wear, and you shall be.”

It was easiest for Duke to return himself to the flight suit he had been in, only clean and crisp and not covered with the grime of battle.




Luna frowned and shook her head slowly.

“Hmm, Pity.” She pouted. “A great many women of your world proclaim such love for men in garments such as this. I still do not understand.”

“About our world,” Duke gently changed the subject. “I get the feeling you brought me here to let me know what the hell was happening to it.”

Luna nodded.

“I have come to tell you that you are in great danger, love”

“No kidding. Thanks a bunch,” Duke remarked dryly.

“You were chosen for a great responsibility,” Luna continued ignoring Duke's sarcasm. “Your enemies will mark you soon as a special target of interest, if they have not done so already.”

“Chosen?” Duke asked. “Listen, if you mean the thing that alien gave me it sort of fell on me by accident, I certainly wasn't chosen!”

“Yet you were chosen. It was a great risk that pilot took to crash his ship on your world. Her people observed your fight in the air, and with little time available to them, chose you as a keywielder.”

“Right,” said Duke, who was beginning to feel more and more confused as the conversation went on. “I'm a keywielder now. Got it. What's so special about that?”

“There are secrets that have been kept hidden on your world,” said Luna. “Many secrets that were not supposed to be kept, and some that were. I can not reveal them to you now. You hold the power as a keyweilder to unlock those secrets, and perhaps save your people.”




“What do you mean you can't reveal them to me?” Duke asked, feeling almost insulted. “Couldn't you just save me a world of trouble?”

“I am forbidden by our own laws,” Luna replied. “The peoples of this galaxy have agreed upon laws based on the level of advancement of civilization. We are far too advanced to be directly involved in this conflict without consequence.”

“Whatever,” huffed Duke. “Those creeps attacking our world are obviously way more advanced than us. So much for the law.”

“I speak not of a few hundred years difference,” replied Luna. “but thousands or even millions of years difference. It is regrettable that your world has been caught in the middle of a conflict between the Drag'oos and the Gnesis. We can not interfere directly, but we have interest in your people's survival. Therefore, I have been authorized to warn you, and serve as your guide.”

Now Duke really was starting to get annoyed. Even angry. He had not expected to be still alive, let alone met in this strangely beautiful place. Yet this Luna seemed to be just wasting his time with more riddles than answers .

“Alright,” said Duke. “So I'm in great danger and the thing I'm carrying is a key to unlock secrets. None of this is really new to me. Unless you can help me destroy the Dragoons or the knee-sees or whatever took everything form me, I'll just thank you for your time and be on my way. And in case you hadn't noticed, my way is about to be very dead very soon, so all of this is pretty much for nothing anyway, isn't it!”

A look of true sympathy on Luna's face made Duke realize he was shouting, and began to take some deep breaths to control his breathing.




“Your friends will not let you die here as you has planned,” Luna said solomnly. Luna stepped toward Duke, her face more urgent.

“And you must please realize how important you have now become, and

you must not give up! More is at stake than can possibly be understood by you at this point, but in time, you too will come to understand. I ask for you to trust me for the time being.”

As she said this, Luna had stepped forward and placed her hands on Duke's shoulders. Duke had only stared back, unblinking. After several moments, Duke sighed and smiled at Luna.

“I suppose you do look trustworthy enough,” commented Duke. “But it would be nice to know something about how to fight these aliens.”

“There are more threats than the Drag'oos, the ones who attack your world for its power. Watch the shadows, love, for there is more at work on your world than it seems. Avoid using satellite communication. Your enemy can exploit this, and has left you your satellites in hopes of doing so. Your destination is correct, but I would advise traveling by vehicle as little as possible. This is all I can tell you for now. I will contact you again when the time is right. Do be careful love”

“Hold on,” Duke said quickly as Luna began to back away.

“Where are you really? Why are you really helping me?”

Luna smiled and waved, ignoring Duke. “One more thing, love. Try not to be so upset about what you have lost. Weapons such as the Drag'oos used tend to not just destroy but transport things elsewhere.”

Duke stopped, furrowing his brow. “What are you trying to say?

“I am saying that all may not be lost for you, love,” Luna said with a smile.

With that Luna spun and vanished. Soon after, the sand began to blow, and the waves rolled in. The crystal violet world collapsed back into darkness for Duke

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