Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

Storn’s brows lowered, coming together beneath his horns, and for the first time Sylvan thought that they might be formidable weapons. And doubtless, so were his sharp black hooves.

“Bonding with a Monstrum Kindred has nothing to do with ‘bestiality’ he said, glaring around the Council table. “Though we bear characteristics that you may consider animalistic, we are sentient at all times. Even those of us who shift into wilder forms are always in clear command of their thoughts and faculties. To say otherwise is to exhibit the kind of prejudice that my people find abhorrent.”

“You dare to call this Council prejudiced?” one of the other Council members called out.

“No, of course not,” Storn said, frowning. “As long as you do not hold the views your leader mentioned.”

“I never said that the Kindred of the Mother Ship would consider your union with human brides taboo or wrong,” Sylvan said quickly. “But humans can be…narrow minded. They were not a space faring race when we found them and even now, they are mostly confined to their own planet. They are the ones I fear could not accept you.”

“But should they not at least be given a chance to try?” Storn asked, lifting his eyebrows.

“Perhaps so, but that is not a decision to be taken lightly, or to be made today,” Sylvan said firmly. “We must consider your proposal and your warning and in the meantime, we must send pilots to check the perimeters of this solar system and make certain no other gashes that lead to other universes have opened near us.”

“What in the Seven Hells is causing these gashes, anyway?” Baird demanded. “They look a little bit like the fold we make in space when we go from one part of our universe to another, except when we fold space, the cut in space is horizontal and the color is red.”

“It’s a good thing we can tell them apart, anyway,” Sylvan murmured. “We’ll be warned at once if a portal to another universe appears. As for what is causing them…?” He looked at Storn and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“According to the message we received from the Goddess, through one of our priestesses, the gashes are caused by the motion of the ‘verses,” the Satyr Kindred said. “You see, they are like disks or…or hot cakes, all stacked atop each other.”

He used his hands—at least those looked humanoid, Sylvan thought—to illustrate disks stacking on top of each other.

“The disks, or ‘verses’ are always in motion,” Storn continued. “And each has places where they used to fit together as one big Pani-verse, before they were broken apart into the Multiverse we know now.”

Sylvan looked at him, startled.

“I did not know that the Multiverse used to be one solid piece!”

“Nor did we, before the Goddess told us,” Storn assured him. “At any rate, they all move in different rhythms and at different speeds. But once in a great while—something like every hundred thousand millennia, they click into place and go back to the configuration they were in before they were separated into many unique verses. At that point, those places where they used to fit together catch and hold for a short time—like puzzle blocks fitting into place.”

“So the green gashes in space are those places?” Sylvan demanded. “And they let creatures from one universe invade another?”

“Exactly.” Storn nodded.

“But you said it’s only for a short time, right?” Baird asked.

“Well…in this case, I’m afraid that time is relative,” the Satyr Kindred said reluctantly. “We are talking of spans of time much greater than any of us is used to. For instance, to the Goddess, a thousand years is as a day. That kind of thing.”

“So you’re saying this gash that has appeared in our universe could last for centuries, is that it?” Sylvan asked.

“Or for only a few solar days or months or weeks.” Storn shrugged. “It’s impossible to know. All I do know is that the Goddess herself opened the gash between our two universes so that the Monstrum Kindred and the Kindred of your ‘verse could work together.”

“So you say,” Commander Frowns, a Twin Kindred member of the Council said, frowning. He was a Dark Twin and thus more skeptical than his Light Twin brother, who sat beside him. “But how do we know it’s the truth? You could come here and say that the Goddess said anything at all, and we’re just supposed to believe you?”

Suddenly, the High Priestess—who was also a member of the Council—stood in her place, at the far end of the semicircular table.

Sylvan looked up at her in surprise. She was an older woman, with graying hair that had the green streaks in it which marked her as a rare Kindred female. Her eyes were green-within-green—with the whites being a lighter green while her irises were a pure, deep emerald. This special eye coloration was a sign that she had served the Goddess for many years.