Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4)

Alternate Places: Book Four

Shield of
Innocence

P.S. Power

Orange Cat
Publishing

Copyright 2015

"I simply must get to the
market! This isn't my place. I'm sure you won't mind?" The man who was
speaking was a heavy set individual. Which was a polite way to say morbidly
obese. Short for his kind, according to his inner shadow self. Insistent as
well, but not angry about it, as far as Zack could tell. He just had things to
do, and honestly expected the Line-Walker, who was a friend of his, after a
fashion, to help him out. Even if the situation was a little bit strange.

The problem there was that Zack
had never met the fellow before. Not even in passing as far as he knew. The
man's inner self was certain of his position that way however. After all, Zack
had taken him to Lesser Shia himself. Then the new boy, Christopher, who was a
demon that the man had never met before, had brought him back to the mall.

This information bombarded Zack's
mind, the man nearly gibbering in his terror. The problem, it seemed was that
he'd ended up in the wrong place. In a pretty major fashion.

Holding up his hand, Zack let his
brow furrow.

"Um... Hold on a second
here. Who are you? I don't want to be rude, but we haven't met yet. Have
we?"

The man, hiding his inner
distress pretty well, brushed at his blond hair, which was in a short,
professional business cut. His body was large, as in very heavy. Not just
plump, but the kind of thing that showed both a love for food, and certain
biological problems combining into a nearly crippling condition that would have
left a normal man bed ridden. If he wasn't at least six hundred pounds, Zack
didn't understand mass in the slightest. In a way it spoke to his inner will
and strength, that he got out of bed to walk the lands of normal people.

"I am Yavvel S'tress
Condiceit. The Ettarian Ambassador to the Westfield complex?" There was a
slightly frightened, watery expression to his smile. A forced thing that was
hanging on by no more than the finest thread at the moment. "Which
isn't
this place."

His breath was starting to come
more rapidly, as the whole thing hit him. That was understandable, really, Zack
had to figure, getting the basic idea from the man's inner self.

"Ah. So, it
isn't
Underwood
Mall. Except that it is? You don't know
me
, but a different Zack the
Line-Walker? And... He's been taken by a demon?" That wasn't great news
really. Demons were kind of evil, even if a few of them weren't all that bad.

It was hard for Zack to wrap his
head around even now, after finding out that the man that had sexually abused
him, raped him, and passed him around to others for their pleasure as a child
was an arch-demon, not
really
a demon. It had been so hard for him to
change his mind about that kind of person, who interacted with people only by
possessing others. To hear that
he
, in a different reality, was that
kind of being... It wasn't good.

There was a head shake then, the
man indicating that he was reading his mind, his eyes going wide.

"No, no... It's different
than that. He's a Greater Demon. It's... Basically it means that he's like you,
I think? He walks the lines. At any rate, this isn't my place. If I can get
back to the grand Market, at Lesser Shia, I can perhaps find him and be
returned to my rightful land? I don't have funds. Not here. I could send for
some, after I return? If that's possible." He didn't know that it was, and
that left the heavy man feeling out of place on a grand level.

Zack made a considering face,
then shrugged.

"If Chris got you here, we
can get you back. That shouldn't be a problem at all. I've never run into
another me before, so that's strange, but not anything to worry about." He
wanted to ask how bad he was, that other, evil version of himself. A
demon
.
Just thinking about it shook him, on a level that he hadn't thought could
happen anymore. The other man smiled at him, and chuckled, clearly relieved.

"Zack Hartley is a
good
being. He has aided many over the last years. I... Am I understanding that
you'll help me? Even without proper funds?"

"Sure? Why not? We should
probably go straight back to your mall though. That way I can take the location
of it from your mind directly. Is that all right, do you think?"

"Ah! Yes, that would be most
excellent. Is the way through the back of the candle shop here? Amazing. There
were some issues with the mages at Westfield, and they rather kicked young Zack
out a few years back. He moved to a different location. It's a gift basket
place here? Something Wonderful? At the other place it's a book store and node
location now. I was... Rather shocked to find it missing. Thankfully I met a
young woman I recognized here, who helped me find you. Calley Hale? Only she
claimed her name as Libby here. Wonderful person, in both worlds. Do you know
her?" The man meant on a personal level, it was clear. He was just being
polite however, and was way more concerned with getting home rather than making
nice with the natives. Zack nodded at that one since he would have been doing
that too if it were him, but didn't respond out loud, walking past the tidy
rows of candles and incense. They had some souvenirs too, including t-shirts.
Those were new, and caused him to wince as he walked past.

Most of them said,
'I heart
Hartley'
on them. The heart was red, and the words a deep and impressive
black. It was embarrassing but Kaitlyn, his fellow line walker, had insisted
they get them in. Worse, people actually bought them. Yavvel, very kindly,
picked up on all of that and didn't mention it, even as his inner self
snickered a little at the concept.

Outwardly the man just pushed his
great mass into following along as quickly as he could, so that Zack, this
strange one that looked like a
younger
version of the real line-walkers
old self, wouldn't have time to change his mind. He could only pray that it was
possible to return to his own place. The fear that he wouldn't be able to was
buried though. Deep down, under his surface politeness. He was an Ambassador,
after all. There was a good chance that this land could be a good place to open
up, if they were peaceful. So far everyone had been kind to him, which boded
well as far as that went.

The big man behind him, Zack
ducked his head into the office as he passed.

"Hey, Lisa? I'm going to take
the Ettarian Ambassador back home? Apparently..." He stopped, looking at
the woman. She was blonde, in a slightly dingy kind of way, and in good shape.
She looked to be about thirty-five, and had a wonderful smile. He knew that
because she looked up from her computer, and smiled at him lovingly.

"Ettarian? I don't have that
one on my schedule..." Her mind scrambled wondering if she'd messed
something up, as she saw the man. Trying to work out if she'd made a mistake or
possibly been rude to the being, who looked human to her. Normal, if a bit too
fat for his own health.

Zack shrugged, then winced. He'd
been trying to break that move as a habit, and for all his mental prowess in
other areas, that one just didn't come to him. Not easily. Why that was, he didn't
know for certain, but it was still there. Probably because it wasn't that big
of a deal, when he got down to the base of the thing. He didn't really have a
drive
to do it, so it didn't come as easily.

"Yavvel S'tress Condiceit.
Ettarian Ambassador. Chris brought him here, instead of taking him home. If I
have it right, that's actually an alternate version of here? Which is really
cool, don't you think? I'm going to get him home, and maybe see if we all have
evil twins living there. I won't be too long. Unless we get lost in time and
space. Then, you know, it
might
be a while." He was joking, or
trying too, but both Lisa and the man behind him seemed horribly worried about
that.

Which wasn't a real thing for
him. Zack always knew where he was, so getting lost wasn't a problem. He
reached out and took the big man's arm, and started walking again. He was about
to explain what was needed, but Yavvel was a telepath as it turned out, so
simply sent everything he could about where he was from, exactly, with a good
bit of power. More than Zack really needed.

"Got it! Ouch. That was a
bit loud." He smiled though, meaning it. A lot of people had more problems
than this man was having getting the idea of place that was needed. As it
stood, Zack kind of felt like he'd been to the other place before already,
thanks to what Yavvel had just done.

The node point in the back of the
shop was inside a silver inlaid pattern in the floor. That was meant to keep
demons from using it magically, and seemed to work pretty well. They'd never
had any real trouble with them coming in unannounced at any rate. He waved at
the empty space in the middle of the back room. There was brick tile all over
the place, in a rust red color that was very tidy, since it was the main
transfer point that they used still.

"You've done this before, so
it won't be that different, I don't think. Just follow along with me?" He
looked at the man, who nodded. The only strange thing was that he tried to hop
a little, working hard to move his bulk, as they actually got to the right
place.

Why that was Zack didn't know,
but getting them into the void was as easy as it always was. The sense of utter
darkness, and nothingness, enveloped them both. It could have been both scary
and oppressive, but it was, more than anyplace else, where Zack felt most
comfortable. After all, he'd lived there almost all of his entire life. He was,
in the outer places, the real world, about twenty-four or so. The rest of his
long life had been in this nearly timeless place. Meaning that he was tens of
thousands of years old, if he were going to be honest about it.

He didn't let himself linger,
wrapping this new being inside of himself, to prevent his dissolution. It was
possible, for some, to learn how to do that for themselves, but it normally
took about a decade of concentrated practice to really master very well. If he
moved fast enough, this man wouldn't even realize that anything in particular
had happened other than what seemed like a blink that went on a bit too long.

The instructions that he'd gotten
from Yavvel was really solid, and
only
led to one space. To Zack it
seemed pretty obvious. Chris however was younger than he was, and probably
hadn't checked, just taking the man where he
thought
he needed to go. It
was fair enough, since he would have done the same thing, he knew. When a
person came and asked for a return to the mall, from Lesser Shia, they all
would have done that. The idea of another place being so similar was just
strange.

There was one big difference
however, that he could tell right off the top. Yavvel had indicated that they
needed to go into the back of Something Wonderful, not Candles and More. To be
more exact, it was a much bigger place, and filled with books, and a better
than decent cafe.

There was no one in the way at
the node point, so Zack stepped them through into the empty space, and then
blinked. Looking around, taking in the carved patterns on the walls, done in
dark stained wood, and the marble floors, he had to resist whistling. Not that
he was good at that. This place kind of deserved the admiration, so he nearly
tried anyway.

Still, he smiled, looking back at
Yavvel.

"Wow. This place is
much
nicer than where I work. Is the whole mall like this?"

Before his new friend, and Zack
had to guess they were on good terms, more or less, could speak, a man walked
out of a small office space at the very back. He was about the same basic size
that Zack was himself, being slightly on the thin side, and about five-nine. A
bit
more muscular, perhaps. The colors were about the same too, except that this
man looked a bit better. Part Japanese, too, which was different. His clothing
was nice, though dressy casual, which, oddly, was exactly the same as how he
was dressed that day. A dark blue button up, a black belt, similar colored
slacks, and shiny black shoes. Like they were twins.

Rather than yell, or act
frightened, the man just tilted his head a little, and then looked at Yavvel.

"Ambassador! I wasn't
expecting you. Especially through the node like this. I..." He looked at
Zack closely and then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not certain I know you.
I can see that you look like Xenses, if a bit younger and friendlier seeming,
but he's dead. I
thought
so at least. Given that Yavvel here isn't being
defiled that could still work. So, one of the others?" He seemed to be
trying to figure it out, his inner self worried about it all.

Zack smiled, trying to put the
man at ease.

"Zack Hartley. Um, before it
gets confusing, Yavvel here accidently got taken to the wrong reality by one of
my apprentices. So I'm just getting him back. I hope you don't mind me using
your place here? This is...
Really
nice. I work out of the back of
Candles and More, back home."

Instead of calling him a liar,
the man looked at him very closely, then Yavvel, and after a moment, nodded.
Like it all simply made sense to him.

"
Neat
. I... This
might seem strange to you, or not, but I can get a reading from you, your
entire life, by shaking your hand. Would that be all right with you? I'm not
totally certain this isn't a trick. It would let me feel better about it."
His inner self smiled about it, but didn't scream about him being a liar, or
hint at an attack, so Zack nodded. Interestingly, the shadow looked a lot more
like he did than the part Asian man.