Maliuth: The Reborn Read online

  Maliuth

  A Reborn Novel

  By

  Stormy McKnight

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Copyright pending, Stormy McKnight

  Cover Art by Brandi Doane McCann

  Published by Stormy McKnight

  http://www.stormymcknight.com/

  Maliuth is the first book in The Reborn series.

  Maliuth is a work of fiction and the characters, events, and dialogue found within the story are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, either living or deceased, is completely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including but not limited to digital copying, file sharing, audio recording, email and printing without the permission in writing from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  In the Universal Nether three days earlier

  Other Titles available:

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  One minute she was driving along, minding her own business and the next thing…wham! She was being pulled into a bright light. Alea Wyatt was killed in a motor vehicle accident. Her energy left sitting in the void waiting for something she didn’t even know existed.

  She couldn’t see her surroundings, but there wasn’t a sense of panic or fear going through her, so that was a good thing. All she felt was peace and calm. Into her mind popped the realization that she was dead. The knowledge didn’t cause her pain or despair, it was just a fact that she accepted. Her first thought beyond that was…why wasn’t she freaking out? She was only thirty-eight years old. She had a long life left ahead of her still. There must be something calming in this void to be keeping her from screaming and ranting. She didn’t know how long she hovered there in the stillness before she finally heard a voice.

  “Do you have unfinished business?” The question boomed out of nowhere with a hint of impatience.

  “I don’t think so.” Taking a moment to think she had asked, “I guess that would depend on what you consider ‘unfinished’…I mean there are a lot of things I would like to see—”

  There was a resounding sigh then the voice came back, “That’s right you are Terran or as you call yourself…human.” She was suddenly flying through the light and landed with a thud in a seat. “Is this better?”

  Alea opened her eyes to see that she was in some kind of DMV hell. There were thousands of small tables with paperwork on them as far as the eye could see. She was shocked to note that not all of the occupants of the room and their various seats were human. She noticed a large counting digital wheel with the words “Now serving number” over it. The thing was spinning faster than she could keep up with and the number displayed was so large her mind couldn’t fathom it.

  Turning to face the “woman” in front of her, she realized that although she appeared humanoid, this creature wasn’t human. She had an elongated face, with large luminescent eyes. Her hair was platinum blond and in a tight bun at the back of her head. Perhaps to fit into this vision, she was wearing a feminine, gray business suit. The color of her clothes almost matched the color of her skin exactly. The effect was un-nerving.

  “Well. Is this better?” She could hear the woman’s words but the mouth didn’t move.

  “Sure. Yes.” Alea had never been one to question authority or rock the boat. If her food wasn’t prepared correctly, she ate it anyway. If someone asked to take cuts in front of her in line, she always politely let them. Even if that one person ended up being a family of twenty. She had always tried to do the right thing. Therefore, even though this room was totally overwhelming and hearing voices talking in her head wasn’t normal…she just said yes.

  With a knowing smile, the creature held out a form, “I am your Universally Appointed Afterlife Social Worker. I need you to sign here.” With a pointy finger along the pages the woman instructed, “and initial here…here…and here.”

  “What am I signing?” Alea didn’t want to be rude, but she had always read the fine print before signing anything. It was out of habit that she had blurted the question and when her social worker looked exasperated, she almost just started signing.

  “It is the release of our energy, currently in your possession, back into the system for re-cycling.”

  “Your energy? You mean this form of my body. Back into the system to become what?”

  “To become what it is meant to become.” The woman said cryptically.

  “What if I don’t want to sign?” she was stalling for time as her mind processed what was happening.

  “You don’t really want to know.” Upon giving that warning, everything went away. Alea knew this was what hell would be like. No sound, no hint of light…just a blank canvas of nothing.

  “Okay.” She whispered frantically, “I get it.” Then she was able to see again and gave a sigh of relief.

  “It works every time.” The voice held a hint of gloating and Alea wasn’t amused. Before she could react, there was a flash and a wild looking male stood there. He was tall and gangly with messy black hair falling across his oversized eyeglasses.

  With a quick look at his clipboard he muttered, “Flaura. We have a huge bottleneck of Earth human’s and not one of them has learned anything. How hard is it to use their limited time wisely?” He looked Alea over with disinterest, “The universe is clamoring for energy. Why are you sitting here with that one?” He waved a hand at her. “Does she meet minimum requirements or not?”

  “I don’t know Florian. She is so…meek.” Before Alea could defend herself Flaura went on as if she hadn’t just insulted her, “Don’t you have some Neutisians to process. I hear their star went supernova.” Flaura gave a longing look at Florian. “I would be happy to help with them.”

  “They are going fast. You know how advanced Neutisians were. Their energy is a prime commodity and all of the good sectors are acting fast.” Seeing the dejected look on Flaura’s face he relented, “Give this one her three days and then come help. They are truly wonderful to process and your sector could use their energy.”

  Grabbing the pen, Flaura pressed it into her hand.

  “Why are the ‘Nutisans’ so great?” Alea held the pen absently in her hand.

  “Neutisians,” Flaura corrected, “were almost to energy level ten.” She replied as if that explained everything. At Alea’s blank stare, she just sighed and added. “Most Earth humans are at a level three at the highest, if that gives you any indication of the different levels of advancement. Where Earth humans are prone to violence and closed-minded. The Neutisians were…well, the opposite. I have only ever gotten a few level ten’s in my sector, and none of those were ever wasted on Earth.”

  Alea stared at the papers and at Flaura’s pointed look started signing and initialing where the woman had requested. “There. I’ve done what you asked.” She felt tears stinging in her eyes.

  “Don’t go all weepy on me.” The woman held out some type of tissue. “I forget how hard Earth humans are to process sometimes.” Alea noticed the tissue she was using had gone from white to
purple where she had blown her nose. For some reason this was amusing and she started laughing. This woman was going to have a purple snotty tissue to remember her by. She bet a fancy Neutisian couldn’t do that.

  “That’s the spirit. You have a few days to say good-bye and get any unfinished business out of the way. Look for your next assignment sometime before the three days are up. If you are needed before that, you will have to go early.” Giving her a stern look Flaura leaned closer. “This part is important, so listen carefully!” Alea turned her full attention to what Flaura was saying. Emphasizing each word her social worker said, “Whatever you do…do not miss your window! If you do…you will become a lost particle and who knows how long that will take to retrieve you.”

  “What is a lost particle?” Alea couldn’t help asking.

  “What you would call ghosts or spirits. They failed to go through their window and if enough time passes, start to think they are still alive. In most cases we find them, but sometimes the energy fades to the point where they are stuck in the black void.”

  Alea bit back a terrified gasp, “How will I know what I am looking for?” She would do anything to avoid that black hell!

  “You will. Just keep your eyes and mind open.” Flaura gave her a small smile, “You held it together pretty well. For an Earth human you aren’t so bad.” With a flourish, she stamped the papers Alea had signed. There was a flash of light and she swore she heard the faint sound of laughter as the room she had been sitting in disappeared.

  Chapter Two

  The nice thing about being present at your own funeral is that you can see what kind of turn out you got. Alea had to admit that she got a pretty good send off. All of her family and friends attended, and even though there were a lot of tears…there was a lot of laughter too. She had to hand it to her husband…make that her former husband. He was holding up pretty well.

  After Flaura had stamped her papers and the room disappeared, she had landed at her funeral services. She had three days according to her afterlife social worker to say good-bye, but how was she supposed to do that? Running to her husband Jeff, she had thrown herself against him…then slid straight through. Now you would think that wasn’t so bad, right? Wrong. She got to see every cell in Jeff’s skin and blood. She absorbed his feelings and tasted his emotions. She flew out the other side and hit her knees. The taste of pain was almost worse than the feeling of it.

  Taking deep breaths, she managed to get to her feet again only to realize that hours must have passed. She was alone now and had no idea how to get home. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as hard as she could on the home she had shared with Jeff. When she opened her eyes, she saw with relief that she was in her favorite spot. The window seat at the front of the house.

  Shifting to get more comfortable, she sighed and the sound seemed to echo around the room. This had been her favorite place to sit. She spent many an evening and weekend reading in the sun, waiting for Jeff to come home from work. Looking up she realized that someone was about to sit on her. She hurried to move herself out of the way. She wasn’t in a hurry to go through that again. Scooting away, she turned toward the sound of talking in the living room.

  Before she could take a few steps, Alea realized that the house was dark. How had time passed so quickly? She had been about to go into the living room and suddenly it was hours later? She would never figure out what to do for closure before three days was up. It had already been one. Knowing that Jeff had to be in the bedroom, she made her way into the hallway. Before her was the bedroom door, but there was a darkness across it that gave her pause. She didn’t sense any danger coming from the shadow, yet she was scared all the same.

  “Alea.” A male voice called to her, “I know you can feel me. It is time…” Alea backpedaled away from the door. She couldn’t deal with the way she felt when that voice had called out to her. She got butterflies in her stomach and her heart rate increased. She thought she had been happily married, so how could another man’s words cause those emotions so easily in her…and it was a stranger she didn’t even know doing it.

  “Go away.” She called out. Her voice was weak with what she hoped was fear, not longing.

  “Alea…”

  Alea turned and ran back toward the living room and was shocked to find Jeff sitting with their friends on the couch. They were talking softly and she heard “Disneyland” a few times. She laughed as the memories flooded over her. They had gone to that amusement park many times as a group. In fact, Jeff had taken her for a surprise anniversary gift a few years ago. The souvenirs from that trip were spread all over the house. The framed picture of them in their mouse ears. The hoodie jackets were hanging in the closet. The swirly suckers were in a drawer in the kitchen.

  Alea had an idea and ran to the kitchen. Willing with all of her might she got the drawer open. Take that amateurs! She was only dead for two days and she was opening things with the power of her mind. Seeing the swirly suckers right where she had left them, she willed the words…I love you more to appear as if written by sharpie across one sucker’s wrapping. That should give Jeff a good laugh. They were always competing to see who could say it last before falling asleep. It seems that she got to say it last after all.

  Turning toward the living room, she came up short again. Was that a dark shadow in the room? The hair on her neck and arms was standing on end. Alea slowly went to move around it when her body felt like she had touched a live wire. “Alea.” Her skin burned at the sound of that voice. “Alea, come to me.” For some reason she wanted to. What was wrong with her?

  “Leave me alone.” Alea shrieked and stumbled back. She was shaking and her knees felt like they wouldn’t hold her up much longer. Looking around frantically she realized it was darkening in the house again. How much time had she lost?

  “Jeff. I need to know what you want done with Alea’s clothes.” Her best friend Molly called from the bedroom. Turning that direction, she found her friend in the closet piling clothes on the floor. Alea laughed at the useless amount of junk she had saved. She hadn’t been able to wear two-thirds of those clothes. She had only kept them because the diet she wasn’t on would work any day and she would be able to fit in them soon. Only soon had passed into years, and now would never come. It could all be taken to goodwill.

  “Just box it up for goodwill.” Jeff appeared haggard in the doorway. His dark hair was unkempt and his face unshaven. Jeff never went a day without shaving. When he tried to let his facial hair grow, he thought he looked like a fuzzy peached teenager instead of a grown man. The clothes he was wearing were not up to his usual standard either. She didn’t even know he owned a t-shirt and jeans. His work attire was a three-piece suit, and weekend casual was a nice sweater and slacks. Alea was mollified on some level that at least he was mourning her a little bit to slip this far.

  “Alea never could throw anything away. I don’t know how many times I asked her to clean out her side of the closet.” Jeff reached on the top shelf and Alea stiffened. There were some t-shirts she had kept when they had tried to have a baby. It seemed all their friends and his sisters had gifted them with joke shirts. They had sayings like, “womb with a view”, and “hands off the bump”, and “baby loading”. Another one had an umbilical cord telephone calling in an order of pickles and ice cream. Seeing those shirts would only hurt Jeff, so again she focused with all her might and changed them. She erased the pregnancy messages and made the shirts plain. “I wonder why she kept these.” He laughed a hollow sound and threw the shirts into the goodwill pile. “Nothing makes sense.”

  Molly moved and put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “It will Jeff, give yourself time.”

  Turning from the closet, Alea realized it was fully light again. She was running out of time and she didn’t know what else she was supposed to do. When she heard voices in the family room, she hurried that direction. Jeff was sitting in the middle of the couch surrounded by friends and his family. She suddenly had the image of him as the years
passed and knew it was going to be okay. Jeff would find someone new to spend his life with. He would have children to raise and then grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her chest tightened with pain at the thought of someone else making him happy. It struck her like lightning. It wasn’t something she was supposed to do for Jeff in her three days. It was seeing that he was going to be happy that she needed to learn.

  Turning from the couch, she froze. Standing before her was a shadowy figure. “Alea…” his voice was husky and thick. “I have come for you. I can feel your uncertainty and pain, but it is time. I need you in my world…” Alea sensed the fatigue behind the words and knew that the effort to talk to her was immense.

  “I don’t know.” She was so unsure about what to do.

  “I am Maliuth Stonarch. I swear to you that if you come to me, I will protect you and find a way to make you happy. In this world or the next.” His voice rang with conviction and Alea couldn’t help the responding rise in her heartrate. “Our time is running out Alea. You have to decide.”

  Alea stood between the couch and the dark figure, her mind whirling with doubt. How would she get the courage to leave her husband? Yet Flaura had warned her that this was a chance to say good-bye…not stay. If she didn’t take her window, she would end up a lost particle if she did. What were her choices? Returning to that black void or staying here and haunting the man she had loved as some kind of lost soul. Neither of those things were the answer. She had seen that Jeff was going to move on. It was time for her to do the same.

  Stepping tentatively toward the darkness she held out her hand. It was now or never. When her fingers started to disappear, she was pleasantly surprised. She had been expecting cold or fear to overwhelm her. Instead, she was feeling warmth and happiness. She was making the right decision. Just as her body was enveloped in shadow, she gave one last good-bye to the life she was leaving behind.