Soul Bound

By Belinda Weikel

My name is Hannah Shaw and much to my surprise, I am the heir to the Priestess of the Salphin. I was once just an ordinary, hard working woman with no real purpose in life. Now I’m Soul Bound to a man I barely know and the key to finding balance on a world called Ildune that I never knew existed.

The human races are the descendants of what was once a people called the Salphin. To save themselves from extinction on Ildune they traveled to Earth through magical portals giving up much of who they once were.

The powers that be, have decided that the time has come for some of us to return and reclaim our ancient home. It is up to a small number of us to fight for the freedom and balance that so many seek and correct the damage that was done.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Belinda Weikel
• Release date: Sep 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452443904

Belinda Weikel

I am a single Mother of three bright children. I work a day job and I write when I have time. For me, writing is a way to relax and have fun. I hope anyone who reads my novels will enjoy them as much as I have.

Book preview

Soul Bound

Published By Belinda M. Weikel at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Belinda M. Weikel

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Thank you to my kids Holly, Malachi, and Zane for being a strong family. Love and thanks to my parents for supporting my endeavors. Also, thanks to Stephanie Pecua for reading this book and giving me excellent feedback.

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Chapter One

Work was grueling today, and I seriously needed the night out with my friends to relax. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me as I walked through the door of my friend’s bathroom. One minute there was all of her white tile in front of me and then, nothing at all as I stared at the inside of my eyelids. My mind just keeps drawing blanks as I try to figure out what just happened. I can honestly say that this has never occurred before. I’ve had my share of brain farts but blacking out entirely in the middle of walking somewhere just doesn’t happen to me.

I put everything I have into forcing my eyes open and when I finally get them to do what I want, I find that my vision is way too blurry. Nausea takes hold of me, and the fear rises up that maybe I passed out and hit my head on all that hard tile in Lisa’s bathroom. I just hoped I wasn’t bleeding all over her nice, clean floors. That’s just like me, worrying about making things harder on someone else when I could be laying here bleeding to death. My ears are ringing a little, and my head does hurt some, but it doesn’t feel like I banged it on anything. Then again I don’t know what that feels like; it’s not something I’ve ever had the experience of doing before.

I’m lying here trying to figure out my next move only to hear voices nearby that aren’t familiar to me. Maybe Lisa found me, and it’s the paramedics that I’m hearing? Someone starts a coughing fit and my thoughts make leaps in several directions. Why aren’t they helping me? Why does the air smell wrong and who the hell are these people? Maybe I didn’t fall. Did these people have something to do with my ending up like this? Oh man, I hope Lisa’s alright. Did these people kidnap me? It’s not like I have any money or power, and I don’t have any access to money or power through family or friends. It just doesn’t make any sense.

My vision may be blurry, and my head is throbbing, but my mother didn’t raise an idiot. So, I force myself to keep calm and still with my eyes closed to quell the nausea and listen to my surroundings a while. I need to get my bearings straight. As I listen, I realize that some of the others here sound like victims, as well. There are distinct sounds of fear and confusion from at least two of them. There is one other woman and male voices some distance behind me from the sound of it. I won’t be too sure of anything until I can verify things visually though.

Man I seriously hope I can see again soon and get some answers. Other than the voices from the other people around me, I can hear the sounds of nature including water running somewhere nearby. There are some strange sounding birds chirping above me and insect sounds; at least I think that’s what it is. These bugs don’t sound like anything I know but that doesn’t mean much. The smells of this place are those of somewhere old and unused. It has a definite outdoors scent, but echoes a little like we were inside; maybe a cave. The ground where I am laying feels mossy, cool, and damp. I can feel the dampness on my face, and soaking into my shirt and jeans on my left side. I clearly wasn’t in Lisa’s bathroom anymore.

Slowly I open my eyes again and make myself try to focus on something. The nausea comes back but not quite as strong this time; I think because I’m expecting it. I notice some movement a few feet in front of me, and I set my blurry vision on that movement. It’s a small furry animal, and the longer I stare at it the more detail I can see. My focus returns and I notice that it seems to be a cat, only it’s not like any cat I’ve ever seen before. After a few minutes of blinking and staring intently at the creature, my vision begins to clear up significantly.

The animal’s fur, if you can call it fur, is thick, smooth, and mossy green, of all colors. As far as I know, there is no such thing as a green cat. I find myself entranced by it and continue to stare into its peculiar face. It just stares back at me unafraid; I think just as entranced with me as I am of it. It has the most intriguing large green eyes that take up a significant amount of its face. Its paws are large and somewhat intimidating for its size with slightly longer more finger-like appendages, and its tail is like that of the monkeys I used to see at the zoo. It’s very cat like and yet not. It has the head and body of a slightly larger than normal house cat. Her ears; I’m assuming it’s a girl; are like the ones I saw on a bobcat in a picture once. They had the little tufts of hair at the points.

After a few moments longer of staring at each other, the creature starts to approach me, but only makes a few steps before its head lifts to look behind me. Moments later I see a rock hitting the ground were the animal had just been. It moved quickly and was now climbing and swinging up into the tree a short distance in front of me. I wished they hadn’t thrown the rock at it, since it didn’t seem dangerous but then again you never know when it comes to things you’ve never seen before.

Now that, I could see a little more clearly, I rolled over onto my back and sat up slowly taking into account that nothing was damaged or broken. Other than a few scrapes and some bruising everything seems to be intact. The nausea is still there but manageable. There are several people here that I can see. One woman was awake and looked like she was still having trouble with her own eyes. She was dressed in a professional looking dark blue business suit with heels and not at all happy. She’d been one of the ones I heard that sounded panicked. Her red hair was falling out of a strict bun and not looking quite so strict anymore.

I noticed a young woman and a young man who were sitting against a crumbling wall not too far away from the business suit lady. They looked as though they could be brother and sister. They couldn’t be out of their teens yet and stayed close to each other. The teens were both fairly attractive and of Latino decent. The girl was wearing a high school sports team suit with her hair pulled back in a tight French braid. She couldn’t be older than fifteen or sixteen, and the boy beside her wasn’t much older than that. They weren’t making any sounds, but I could see the fear in their faces as their eyes darted from one person to the other.

I turned slowly trying not to have an embarrassing spell of dry heaves and looked in the direction that the rock came from. I got a quick nod from a burly man who was currently shaving wood off the edge of a thick branch. He was making a spear out of it with a pocket knife he must’ve had on him. Another older white man was sitting beside him doing the same thing. I’m going to take a wild guess that one of these two rough and tumble looking guys threw the rock.

A few feet away from them a young black man who was dressed in some expensive name brand clothing was looking on unimpressed. He was doing his best to look like none of this was bothering him. The only thing that did seem to be bothering him at all was the man huddling in the corner behind me. His cool facade would break from time to time as he glanced in his direction. The huddling man was rocking back and forth holding and talking to himself in a whispering high pitched voice you would use for a child or something. His short, spiked blonde hair was messed up and he kept darting glances around at everyone and everything. It was a clear indication that he wasn’t quite stable at the moment. I guess I could not really blame him.

I took some time to check out our surroundings next and hoped the nausea would go away all together. I hate feeling sick to my stomach. This place was pretty impressive and extremely old. It wasn’t a cave, at least not a natural one. We were in the center of a decidedly old stone building that must have been abandoned for some time. Most of the roof was gone except for some thick rotting wood framework, and towering trees were growing up through the stone flooring, towering above us through the open ceiling. The walls were crumbling away in several places, and designs on the floor gave the impression of a temple or a church.

These designs were of circles and symbols that didn’t make any sense to me. Of course, most of the designs and symbols were fading away because of their age so who knows what they meant. They could have been in perfect English, and I still wouldn’t have been able to read them. Those of us who were still coming around were inside the main circle in the center of the building.

I was focusing on the trees looking for a sign of the cat creature when the business suit lady stood up quickly and started panicking extremely loudly. Who are you people and where have you taken me? How did you get me out of my office?Her voice got higher pitched as she went on. Do you realize how much trouble you are in? There are going to be people looking for me, and they won’t stop until they find me. When they do you’re all…..

There are probably people looking for all of us right now lady The young black man interrupted her. We all woke up here just like you with no clue how it all happened. So chill the hell out. Panicking ain’t going to fix nothing for nobody. Just sit down and cool it.He wasn’t trying to be rude, but his words came out that way because of his own frustrations. Her panicking wasn’t helping him to keep his appearance of being unaffected by all of this.

Business suit lady’s face was turning as red as her curly hair, but she sat down and shut up. She would have kept up her tirade, if she were not still feeling the effects of whatever had happened to us. This was one woman who was used to getting her way, and was probably a pain in the ass to her coworkers. She made sure to keep a particularly close eye on everyone there as she sat fuming.

I felt the need to speak up and change the mood a little, so I did. Well considering the green monkey-cat I saw earlier, it’s safe to say we aren’t in Kansas anymore or my friend Lisa’s bathroom.Then I stood up and brushed the moss and dirt off of my clothes; my favorite jeans, button up work shirt and white tank top.

While I did this I introduced myself to the group, By the way, my name is Hannah Shaw, and the last thing I remember before waking up here was walking into the bathroom at my friends’ house. I’d just gotten off work and went to her house to get ready to go out for the night. I went to the bathroom to wash up a little and then, I remember nothing. It’s all a complete blank to me. I’ve never done drugs before, and we hadn’t even gone out to drink yet, so I know I can say that isn’t what caused this hangover I’m having.I was hoping that this would get everyone talking and maybe get some answers or at least guesses about what was happening to all of us. At least discussing things would help people calm down and maybe get them thinking enough to remember something useful.

The young black man responded first, My name’s James and my story is pretty much the same thing as yours. I was just chillin at my girls’ house on the couch one minute, and the next thing I know I’m waking up here feeling like I just woke up after a night out on the town with my boys. I can’t say I haven’t done drugs, but it’s been awhile since I have. I’ve seen some weird shit since I woke up; things that can’t possibly exist. I saw that unusual looking cat you were talking about and a large ass beetle earlier when I first woke up. It was as large as my head, man. None of this shit is normal, and your opinion is as good mine as to how we got here, like this. Like you, I just keep getting a blank spot when I try to remember anything else.He waved his hands up by his head to emphasize his point.

Spear carver numero uno spoke up next, taking a break from his carving, Yeah, I was the first one to wake up and get moving around here and all I can say is this is some weird stuff alright. I’ve hunted damn near everything you could hunt in the U.S., and some of the critters I have seen running around here are so different from what I know. I have no explanation for it, but I got a decent look at our surroundings while I was exploring. The things I saw in my brief exploration, pretty much says it all. I can’t quite explain it; I will just have to show you. One was still down there the last time I checked.

He got up and waved for us to join him, carrying his new spear. We all got up; even the man rocking in the corner; and followed spear man. He walked out through a decent sized hole in the stone wall closest to us and stopped at what looked like what was left of an old stone terrace. Some of the others followed him onto this ledge, but heights tend to be a problem for me, so I stopped at the wall instead.

I could still clearly see what he wanted to show us from my vantage point. Screw Kansas we weren’t even on the same planet anymore. We were up high somewhere and looking down on a wilderness of trees that just did not exist on Earth. They were gigantic and looked like something from prehistoric times; like they could have existed on Earth at one time but not anymore. It was made pretty clear to all of us by the large creature flying over the forest that looked like a cross between a dragon-fly and a peacock. The bird had a long body with wings like a dragon-fly and long, colorful feathers flowing out behind it. Its head was more buzzard like and scary looking. It was a considerable distance away from us, but now I knew why the two men were carving spears. Seeing that cat creature earlier and now this, who knows what else is lurking around here.

What is going on here? How can this be happening?Business suit lady sounded a little calmer now that she knew none of us could be involved in her kidnapping. What is that thing? It’s enormous.

Looking at these surroundings the only thing I could think of at the moment was how she was going to get around in those heels. Well I would have been wondering that back home too; heels just aren’t my thing. Her nylons were already ripped in a few places. I always hated those things too; so uncomfortable to wear. The few times I ever had to wear pantyhose, they ended up sliding down. I spent most of the time pulling the things back up again, and they always ended up ripped. It just seemed like such a waste of money to me.

James interrupted my meandering thoughts with his own comments, Lady you know as much as we do about all of this. I don’t see any way that we could’ve got here or any way to get back to where we all started either.

My name is Diana, not lady, thank you very much.She turned to the burly spear carver and asked him heatedly. How long have you been awake? I mean who knows how long we’ve all been unconscious, but you said you woke up first, right? Did you see anyone else around; anything at all that might help? I know that giant bird makes this all unusual but something has to explain it.

I’ve been up and moving around about two hours or so now. I can’t say for sure since my watch stopped working, but that would be my guess. It’s been long enough to get a decent look around the immediate area, and start carving some kind of weapon. When I looked out here earlier, there were two of them things flying around down there. The bugs I’ve seen are all pretty darn big, and I don’t know what to think about that green cat I chased away from the girl.

He nodded in my general direction. I just know we need to be prepared for anything. Your guess is as good as mine as to how we all got here, but I don’t see a way back and no signs of current civilization. So I think we all need to start figuring something out about food and shelter, at least for now. We need to make sure we’re going to be as safe as possible while we all come to our senses and think things through; maybe come up with a plan.

He pointed at himself and then his spear carving friend smiling real big then said, You can call me Burt and he’s Ernie. Ernie’s my older brother and he doesn’t say much.He looked at me and continued, You said your name was Hannah….Then he turned to James and the red headed suit lady.…and your names are James and Diana. That’s a start; doesn’t hurt to know who we’re all stuck here with.

A teenage voice from behind me spoke up then, I’m Juan, and this is my sister Maggie. I picked her up from soccer practice at school, and we were on our way home in the car. Then we were waking up here sick and dizzy. I don’t remember having an accident, or anything like that so this isn’t the afterlife, is it? I mean we’re not dead and in heaven or worse, are we?

I’m not too sure what to think of all that’s happened, but to clear up some confusion; I walk right over and pinch Juan hard on the arm.

Ouch! What was that for?He grabbed the spot I pinched and rubbed it to get rid of the pain of it.

Well you know if you feel pain it can’t be a dream and usually feeling pain means you’re not dead either. I’m pretty sure heaven is supposed to be like, well heaven, not just more struggle, which is what this is turning out to be. Also, pretty sure it’s not hell. No more talk of being dead, or crap like that. That can just bring on more panic for some of us.I looked and nodded my head to the corner where the stressed out guy had gone back too, to indicate my meaning. It’s just a fact that we were all; who knows; zapped here from different places. I’m guessing you’re not all from Ohio are you?There were several denials at this question.We don’t know how or why we ended up here and there probably isn’t a way to get back; we’ve all generally agreed on this.

I pointed at the markings on the floor and tried to brush away some moss with my foot as I said, I’m pretty sure, unless someone tells me otherwise, that we all arrived here unconscious inside this main circle. I don’t know what the symbols mean, and it’s probably safe to say that these markings are too far faded to be readable. This place has most certainly been abandoned for a long time, but it does tell us that intelligent people once existed here. For all we know, they may still exist somewhere else in this vast forest. I’m also guessing we’re not on the Earth anymore; hard to believe, I know. Anyway, just wanted to get that all out so everyone knows what I think. I’m a bit of a Sy-Fy buff and as surprising as this all is, I have had dreams like this to some extent.

I threw my hand up towards another crumbling hole in a different wall. I’m going to look around a little more and see what else I can find. Maybe I’ll see something you haven’t. You can all keep discussing it, but for me, survival is the next thing to think about.

So much for having a relaxing night out with the girls and I so needed it. I pulled my long dark hair up into a high ponytail using one of the hair bands I keep on my wrist. I know I was glad to have my work clothes on. It was undoubtedly going to be more comfortable for me than Diana’s heels and suit.

Once my hair was secure Ernie handed me his spear saying, Just in case, take it. I made another one, and I’m going to start working on some more; better safe than sorry.

He wasn’t a bad looking guy, just a bit too scruffy for my taste. My friends would say that there was always something that was a bit too much for my taste. I was just extra picky about the kind of guys I wanted to date. How is that a bad trait to have? I took the spear and thanked him.

I watched Ernie walk back to his rock seat beside his brother, who wasn’t even looking at me now. Juan was gathering up broken sticks and branches with his sister probably for a fire; not sure how they’re going to get one started. Then I turned and carefully walked through the hole in the wall. There were a lot of tall grasses and brush around. My steel toed boots that I still had on from working should keep my feet safe from anything like a snake back home. That doesn’t assure much for here, but it’s a start.

I was only a few feet outside of the opening in the wall when the view opened up a little in front of me. Wish it was a little clearer, but the vegetation is still pretty thick. At least I can see over the top of the tall grasses now; they reach up to about chest high instead of over my head. The water doesn’t sound too far away either. I figure water is the most valuable thing to find right now, and head off to find it or at least get a general idea of where it is. These tall grasses make it hard to see what I am walking on, and I know that I’m going to have to find some higher vantage point to get a better look around. I dread the possibility of stepping in a hole or on an animal and try to take each step carefully. Then I hear footsteps and sounds of grass moving behind me.

I turned to see who or what followed me out here. James is waving at me and smiling as he walks up to me. He’d been running to catch up and had to take a few breaths before he started talking. "I couldn’t just let you go off by yourself out here. For safety reasons, I think we should all try not to go anywhere alone. Things aren’t exactly familiar or