Time of the Chosen

By Kimberly Sue Iverson

Gia Gordon expects her day to be like any other day. Until she encounters an object on her kitchen counter that changes her entire world . . . and her DNA.

 

When numbers and languages begin to flow through her and around her, giving her a world of knowledge she'd never known existed, her entire world begins to realign itself.

 

A Narrisoari from Nori appears to take her to Darlayna for the main trials. Main trials she only just learned about from the object she found, but only . . . if she can pass what comes next.

 

Note - This title was previously published under the shortened version of my name in 2018 - Kim Iverson. Previously published under the title - The Culling Cycle. The story remains the same, only the title, author name, and cover changed. Republished in 2021 under Kimberly Sue Iverson as Time of the Chosen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kimberly Sue Iverson
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201184339

Kimberly Sue Iverson

Kimberly Sue Iverson is a multi-genre author born and raised in Washington State. She’s written over 45 stories, including the paranormal romance world Dark Moon Dynasty Universe which has its own website, and The Guardian of Life world, which combines science fiction, fantasy, and a touch of horror. A fantasy adventure world for adults is currently in progress under the title Chronicles of the Sorceress Maeve – Fortunes of Magic. Current prediction for the world is at least 5 novels but may be more. One short for the world is already published under, A Granddaughter’s Magical Curfew. She’s written novels such as Savage Lands and Anora; many different short stories such as Story of Her Career, and The Boy with the Lighter. She spends her days tending house, cooking, and filling time with a never-ending list of studies that grab her fancy. If you get to know her for any length of time, you will figure out what the name Kona means to her, and that she loves asking questions. Find me, follow me, discover some of my current favorites! https://kimberlysueiverson.com/linkcave/ Sign up for Kimberly’s newsletter to receive news when something goes bump in the night. Or a book is released. https://www.subscribepage.com/kimiversonbooknews Even then newsletters may be hiding in the corner, afraid to come out. Subscribe for blog updates at her website to receive far more frequent musings of the quirky deep mind of author, Kimberly Sue Iverson. Throw her a hello and she may pop out of the darkness to respond. You never know.

Book preview

One

It’s appearance didn’t bother her.

Living in a single-floored ranch house for years, things just randomly appeared. A random sock happened to say hello from under the bed when on the search for another item.

Opening a drawer revealed the battery that’d been missing for ages. A thingmajig popped up on the desk or a pokieproddie under the foot on the one day shoes weren’t there for protection.

That was the thing with houses. Random objects appeared and weren’t thought too much about. More so when it appeared on the terra cotta tiled kitchen counter and the metallic grey black outer body reflected the counter beneath. Even more so when it happened to look far too similar to the cordless phone it lay near.

So Gia Gordon (GG to some) couldn’t be blamed for walking into her kitchen intent on making herself a cup of coffee and not noticing the object dead center on the counter to her right. She moved past the counter and went straight into the kitchen to the large farm style double porcelain sink. The object’s placement as though she’d dropped it there earlier on her cleaning walk, which is what she was doing on that happy day. But she decided to take an afternoon break to get coffee.

Once at the sink, Gia grabbed her cup from the dish rack in the left sink where she’d left it drying from the morning. She then retraced her steps to the left of the doorway—when she entered the kitchen it was on the left, that was—to the fridge and opened the right door to get the bottle of hazelnut creamer she liked to flavor oatmeal with.

I need the sugar right now, she justified to herself as she removed the bottle. Elbowing the door shut, a flash of the counter and the new object swept past her vision, but her brain was on one thing alone and didn’t yet process anything amiss. Coffee was more important so her thought trail was tied to that alone. Nothing would cut that string of thought. Not when it came to her coffee she so desperately needed to get the brain functioning once more.

Normally, Gia would’ve drank the coffee black. More so since the creamer was strictly for her oatmeal in the morning. Sugar in hot coffee? No thanks. Sugar belongs in cold, Gia would tell you.

But today she felt she could use the sugar. One random rare day in a random weird week of strangeness, including strange dreams. Dreams of people—or things—in her home, causing her to wake, only to never find anything there. I need a dog, she decided just that very same morning. Protection. A large one that even the very sight of it would deter potential home invaders and no good evildoers.

Just in case, those dreams weren’t dreams. But then again they hadn’t seemed like people so she wasn’t too sure a dog would do much good. Still, better safe than sorry.

Gia hummed a private little tune to herself as she spun clockwise about, maneuvering her hips in a private dance to shimmy twist twirl around the counter with ease. Once more missing the new object which more than likely would have liked to wave a large flag at this point to get her attention. After all, most would’ve noticed the new object by now, surely.

It wasn’t that she was ditzy or unintelligent by any means. In fact, many considered her intelligence level fairly up there. It was simply that she was scatterbrained when she focused on her passion. Gia was working on a new illustration for a piece of artwork in her mind. Drawing out the curves, figuring out where to place the colors, and molding an image out of thin air, into her invisible canvas.

The majority of her brain was focused there, other parts on her cleaning she still had to do, and the rest on performing that very basic task of keeping her from harm while she was oblivious to all around her. Keeping Gia alive in other words, while she was in her own private little world.

Gia followed the counter to her right, past the island and cupboards to her left, to the coffee pot not a few feet from the object. Her free hand waving along a current of air only she knew about, sketching, feeling, seeing something in her mind’s eye that had yet to be created, but soon would be. No doubt beautiful once done. That was the point when it could no longer remain in the brain and she was forced to get it down on paper.

She couldn’t be blamed for not noticing the object on the counter then either, really. It wasn’t much larger than her hand. Not even that large. Behind it and against the wall on that same corner of the counter was her cordless phone, similar in color. It was actually so fairly similar in overall appearance that her brain may have just felt it was the cordless phone. In her distracted state her brain most likely thought: just the phone not on the charger, no reason to take that in.

Gia grabbed the pot of coffee and filled her cup, still sketching, still humming, still completely distracted from most of life around her. She kept the pot on that side of the counter in case she had guests and they used the dining room. Not that she had many. When one was frequently lost in their heads, it made social life a bit difficult.

Don’t bother to ask her about her dating life. She’d huff and tell you she sought a love that even the gods were envious of. Gia sought a place to unpack her heart for this lifetime and all the rest. To know it was safe to. Someone who’d do the same. She’d yet to find that fantasy within her, which felt like home. Who allowed her to truly be naked and vulnerable, who did the same with her, and who made her feel safe.

Instead she’d found only those seeking to keep her at a distance, not really wanting to know her soul, her thoughts, or who valued her presence. They’d taken her for granted and she was a soul who could not be taken for granted. After a while, because of her constant distraction, they faded away when in reality she simply wanted someone to talk to day in and day out, discuss the thoughts in her brain, which she often pondered. Discuss the thoughts they pondered, and to know them just as deeply.

She reserved herself now for the man who saw her. Who truly saw her and craved her the way she would see him. It would take just a look. Recently she’d determined as such. Just a look and the connection would form, unbreakable, formidable, and forever. She craved the beast who never allowed her to get too far away as so many had. It wasn’t people she craved or popularity.

It was connection.

On those rare occasions she had someone over, she found it was far easier to make a cup of coffee for guests in the living room or the dining room—even the back porch, when the pot was fairly central in its location. And it kept everything for the pot, the cups, varying teas, coffees, and cocoa, out of the way as well, in its private little nook. She loved to dote on her guests, and anyone else in her life, so she kept quite a selection of items near the pot for their choosing for that purpose.

Gia filled her cup, replaced the pot. Her attention caught something out of the corner of her eye, making her go, Huh?

She focused on the object that grabbed her attention, scrunching her nose. Weird. Where’d that come from? Gia reached up, and grabbed the lock of dark brown hair that swung into her face. Rolling her eyes at her own goofy self for not noticing it earlier, she removed the fleck of lint her hair must’ve made friends with when she was crawling under her bed earlier. Then with a puff of breath, sent it flying away from the coffee she’d just poured.

Holding her hair up to remove the dust was the exact position her face needed to find itself in to notice something strangely new and oddly beautiful, directly in her line of sight. She dropped her hair and really took it in. The object had finally been noticed. At this point more than likely caused said object to breathe a sigh of relief and jump for joy, thought it had yet to be turned on by one such Gia Gordon (GG to some).

Gia’s entire world paused and realigned itself.

Two

––––––––

Now where’d that come from? she said aloud. It was just a few inches long, very smooth in appearance, almost like a large kidney bean. Only a futuristic silvery black kidney bean. And one that most definitely didn’t appear edible.

Weird, she murmured, oblivious of the fact that she was talking to herself.

Gia picked it up, forgetting all about the coffee she poured. Even the artwork she’d been visualizing was now forgotten with a little cloud of poof in her brain. Turning the object over on itself, she checked the kitchen as if that would answer all the unasked questions she didn’t even know she had. Which, of course, yielded no answers as to what the object was, or where it came from. Nothing was revealed but a landscaped backyard that she’d worked on for over a year, with porch and small fruit trees here and there.

She couldn’t recall having seen the object before, what it may be for, or what it was.

With another check around the Tuscan Italian cozy kitchen she’d designed herself, she shook her head. It must’ve been something she picked up from some random location in the small ranch home she’d lived in nearly all her life. Her plan was probably to put it somewhere and had laid it down, only to forget about it.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

After her parents died, she moved back in the house and redesigned in creams, neutrals, spikes of green from live plants, and basically used the kitchen as her main theme. She even went so far as to paint various scenes along walls in the home to make it appear larger, give it her own flair, and show off her love of Italy’s countryside. Well, her own interpretation of it. No books, just images she’d thought up.

Along the dining room wall she painted an outdoor seating area to reflect a café. In the living room when she came in the front door, she now had a view of French double doors which opened in their painted state to take her to a concrete columned patio, and beyond that rolling hills of an Italian countryside. Which also carried along the hallways and escorted her down the squishy cream carpet, carrying her newfound object.

She wasn’t sure why she went cozy Italian cottage scenes inside and out, but for now Gia embraced what made the home feel lively. Those happened to be images she’d been seeing in her head all her life.

Down the hall and past the first full bath on her right, Gia carried her new object past a guest bedroom on her left. Then she continued on past the second door to her right—a small closet, so fancy—and turned her back to her full size bedroom with new bathroom. And finally past the other closet at the end of the hall and to her immediate right, she turned into her art studio, which was the final door on the right of the hallway.

It was once her parent’s room, but she’d converted, flipped, and switcherooed things about. She hadn’t liked the idea of using their bedroom as her own. Plus, there was a set of doors in the room which led out back and an extra closet. Even on stormy days when the rain battered the backyard, thunder rolled and the cold wind blew her things about, Gia enjoyed having the back doors open to enjoy the light and air. She didn’t fear storms. The wind and current in the atmosphere called to her. In a way she didn’t understand, she felt attuned to the Earth, but never really connected with it.

Gia hummed along as she moved into the room. No particular tune really, just her own little world of music. But as she entered the room, intent on putting the object in the closet to her right—along with some other knick knacks—she stopped just inside the doorway and the tune died in her throat.

The kidney bean shimmered. She didn’t even know how to describe it. It was as if a wave passed through the outer skin. As though it had an outer skin. But the wave was more like a ripple in the atmosphere. The way the road appeared to be shimmering from far off in the distance when the heat was great. It was a layer above the kidney bean and yet it was the kidney bean.

Weirder and weirder, she mumbled not really thinking twice about it. She was fairly tired. Not as if she wasn’t also open-minded. It still hadn’t really fazed her. Too many movies in her lifetime maybe, or a sense of familiarity that seemed to conjure up as if seeing this object come to life was exactly what should be happening.

Until she noticed the sliver. Really the only way to describe it. It was a tiny piece, maybe only a few millimeters wide and twice as long. As she took another step toward the closet, the small sliver from the completely smooth kidney bean weirdness slid off and fell directly onto the skin along the underside of her forearm. It wasn’t near a vein thank goodness, but it almost seemed to know exactly where to fall . . . and embed itself in her flesh.

But that was when the weirdness got even weirder. It wasn’t a smooth rectangle after all. It was an arrow. A metallic purple, tiny arrow which held the appearance of a microchip or computer motherboard with all the tiny circuitry along the flat part.

So when the chip fell off, it embedded itself halfway into her flesh, without her feeling a thing. She only noticed because of that weird shimmer which caused her to look down. The circuitry came to life along that sliver thingy. Flashing currents zipped through the vein-like elements.

Unless it was activating. But that was an odd thought to have. Still, it happened after she held it.

That’s not good, she mumbled to herself as she reached over to pluck the chip from her flesh with her fingernails. Which is when it sunk beneath her skin. It didn’t even give her time. Her forehead scrunched.

Except to notice it. It paused . . . until I saw it.

Which is the thought that finally made her heart skip a beat and caused anxiety to make itself at home in her chest, tightening her muscles, making it difficult to take a deep breath. What was it? What was that thing that just went into her flesh?!

As if in answer, the bean in her hand did that wavy thing once again, and suddenly more than she bargained for came to Gia Gordon, changing her entire existence. Her skin tingled to life along with it. The hair on her scalp prickled.

The flesh over the activation module—her purple sliver—brightened to reveal its presence just beneath her flesh. It sparked to life as the transmitters connected to the synapses in her brain; they communicated, and her personalized beacon—her kidney bean—came to life.

The kidney bean brightened to a dark grey with warm golden symbols, codes, lines of information, smaller than the human naked eye could see. At first they were within the bean as continuous lines of data and answers to all questions she hadn’t yet formed were answered. The lines flowed up and out of the beacon, circling Gia as they spun faster and faster, giving her everything she needed—mostly—for what was to come, but mostly working with her and her alone, under a control she didn’t realize she held.

Under control she didn’t know she possessed, under control she somehow learned from what little information the activation module was programmed to give. Her mind was spinning and she felt a migraine building with the familiar dizziness, nausea, and pressure in the frontal lobe of her brain.

In the span of one minute in which it all took place, Gia snapped her eyes shut to tune it all out and get her bearings.

What her little sliver told her—as it was programmed to do—was that it was also a tracker and should she try to remove it on her own, it would explode and she would die. Uh, fun? But that she was part of a very select group of humans—mostly female—set to receive the implant, which was altering her DNA, advancing it as she stood there. The group would start with quite a large number of humans and slowly that number would dwindle as the trials went on.

First, the implant had to go in by choice. Second, the human host had to survive the implant and activation. Most didn’t. Third, the connection to the brain. Again, most didn’t survive even that phase.

Funny part was there was no knowledge about the signs and symbols. No little information kit on what happened just now with the kidney bean. Or how to control what all just happened. Absolutely none of that was mentioned. Just the basics so she didn’t flip out and start clawing at the thing in her arm, which apparently some tried and resulted in boom.

Lovely.

It mentioned there would be a group of Narrisoari coming from the planet Nori . . . she’d just stick with individuals for now, who’d appear shortly and assist further, answer questions. Help her out in any way they could. Eventually she would be taken to the main city of Darlayna where the main trials would commence.

From the information Gia gathered, the majority of them weren’t there necessarily for her protection, but to ensure she came. Period. Oh sure, if she needed it they’d protect, but it didn’t seem she entirely had a choice as to whether to go or not.

They’d been doing this for millennia. Ever since the world began. It was the only way to populate their existence because when existence began, the males and females weren’t compatible in many ways. To which they didn’t produce offspring which survived the planet, or birth itself.

In ancient cultures it was believed to be an honor and this was celebrated. Then as time went on, people let the information go by the wayside and people forgot about it, but alien abductions were still a thing on Gia’s planet, Earth.

Everything had changed. It wasn’t celebrated, but feared. To the Narrisoari, it was vital to their existence. To their planet, which survived because of these abductions. Advanced life forms and planet worked in harmony to co-exist and survive. One needed the other. Being that too many different forms of life came together on the planet, few could produce children together, which was life for the planet as well.

To the Narrisoari, they didn’t think twice about doing it. It was an advancement of the human race, and the others. They’d been doing it since time began with no real repercussions, so why wouldn’t they continue? It wasn’t just females they always took. Occasionally some males were taken too.

There seemed something else about a man making his choice of the finals or something. A major player of some sort, sort of King-ish in a