index


Message-ID: <34271asstr$1009228203@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: mandil_k@hotmail.com (mandil)
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
NNTP-Posting-Date: 24 Dec 2001 16:39:03 GMT
Subject: {ASSM} Masters of the Arches  chapter 1
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 16:10:03 -0500
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Masters of the Arches
                        by Mandil



                         Chapter 1



 

Money had always been the main preoccupation in Vincent Manning's
life. How to earn money, how to make more money and of course how to
keep it, which is sometime more difficult than making it.

Ever since he was young, every thing he did or thought about had to do
with his goal of becoming a millionaire before he was forty. When he
had chosen to attend university and get a degree in administration, it
had been in his mind that such a degree would greatly increase his
chances of earning that first million.

He had started his own business in the import-export sector soon after
he graduated and women had no place in his life since he was much too
busy taking care of his growing business.

It was therefore a tremendous shock to him when he found himself
completely ruined one day. Before that fatal day things were going
very well, he had twelve employees working for his company and he was
almost half way to his first million dollars. Beside the fact that he
owned a big mansion in a well-to-do district of Montcalm, he had a
country cottage in the Adirondack Mountains. Of course, he didn't go
there very often since it meant being away from his business, but when
he did, it was mostly for hunting and fishing. Since his summerhouse
was over 150 miles from Montcalm, when he went there to rest, it was
for a few days at a time. Vincent did enjoy living in nature; he
especially loved the tall trees of all kind on his land. Had it been
at all possible for him to live in his cottage while at the same time
being able to take care of his business, he would have gladly done so.
But his export-import business had to be situated in the city since
the money there ; he therefore had no choice on the matter of where he
had to live.


Before the incident that took away his business, he had a very high
profile in Montcalm. He was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce
and he also sat on the board of directors of the Montcalm's General
Hospital.

Yes life had been sweet for Vincent until that day when they found
over two pounds of cocaine in some of his imported furniture. From
that day on, his luck changed for the worse. In less than six months
he lost everything he owned except for his cottage and a few thousands
dollars in the bank. Even then, he had barely managed to escape from
serving time in prison. It was only because of the fact that he had
hired the best lawyer and that he also paid the stiff fine, that kept
him from spending a few years in jail.

Of course, he knew nothing about the drugs. But still someone or a
group of persons had been using his business to get the stuff into the
country without any risk to themselves. Being the sole owner of the
company, he had been held responsible for the trafficking and also he
was suspect number one.

When everything was finally settled, and after paying the hefty fine
plus the court and lawyers fees, he was left with five thousand
dollars and his country cottage. Everything else he had owned was now
gone.

On the verge of depression and broken in spirit, he packed his used
car with foodstuff and the few possessions he still owned and he drove
north to his cottage in the Adirondack Mountains.

The stone house was situated three quarters up the crest of a tall
peak and to get there he had to travel on an old gravel road for five
miles after the getting off the paved road. There were no neighbours
for at least five miles and he had refused to pay for the installation
of the phone poles since it would have cost over ten thousand dollars.
Even his cell phone did not work there since he was too far from any
large town. As for electricity, well the electric line did not go that
far into the wildness so he had installed a generator and he was happy
with that arrangement. Once a year he would have the fuel truck drive
there and fill his five hundred gallon tank with fuel for his
generator as well as heating oil for his furnace. Whenever he was
there he felt like a different man. In other words, he was in his
"milieu", and he often wished that he could remain there forever.

He had been living as a hermit in his cottage now for over a week and
he was still very depressed. Whereas before the unfortunate incident
that had ruined him, his only goal in life was to get rich very fast,
he no longer had such aim. The events of the last six months had
taught him the futility and fragility of his old ambitions.

So, it was while he was in his usual depressed state of mind that one
day he went for his daily walk on his three hundred acre property.
Upon returning to the cottage that day, he observed a fox running into
a bush at the foot of a vertical rock formation not far from his
house. The rock wall was part of an extremely large bolder; such a
rock wall was very common in that part of the mountain.

He was an expert hunter and even though he was not in a frame of mind
to engage into such a sport at that moment, curiosity got the better
of him. Therefore, he went to investigate the bushes where he had last
seen the fox only a moment before.

As he approached the spot where it had last been seen, he saw the grey
animal dive away on its right and run away into the edge of the wood,
but at the same time he noticed a small opening or crack-like fissure
in the rock wall. After stepping on the lower growth and bending a few
saplings, which were growing everywhere and were still hiding much of
the hole, he was soon standing next to an almost circular opening
through the rock.

He bent over and touched the edge with his hand. It was a hole indeed
but judging by the discoloration of its sides and also by the moss
growing over the rock all around it, he could tell that it had been
there undisturbed for a very long time. No animals were living in
there since the constant rubbing against the side would have scraped
away the moss and there also would be a visible trail leading to it.

He got on his knees and he looked inside. He couldn't see much except
that it went into a sort of cave-like opening. He threw a small rock
inside, judging by the sounds it made, and also from its echo, he was
able to tell that there was a large cavity inside the rock wall.

Having nothing better to do, he went into the house and got a
flashlight. When he sent the beam of light into the hole, he was able
to see the interior of a large cavern and where the light fell on the
opposite wall, the beam was reflected on something very shinny. He
could tell that it was something either metallic or even made of
glass.

Judging from the reflection of his light beam, it was a half-circular
band of polished material embedded into the rock wall. It was about
seven feet in diameter and didn't seem to have been affected by the
humidity inside since Vincent couldn't detect any sign of rust on it.

There was no way for him to enter through the hole since it was much
too small for his body to squeeze through. The following day, he
returned with a metal bar and he began to chip at the rock to enlarge
the hole. He was able to break away a few small rocks at the base but
still the entrance was not wide enough to let his body through. With
another hour of hard work, he managed to dislodge and roll away a
large stone that was part of the circular hole. Once it was well off
the side of the opening, he was finally able to squeeze himself
inside.

The interior of the cavern was cool and very damp. He immediately went
to investigate the cause of the circular reflection that fascinated
him so much. It was some kind of archway that had been smoothly cut
from the stone. Deep into the rock and going all around it, was
imbedded the circular band about three inches wide and made of a
silver-like metal. The metal band went from the rock floor on one side
in an almost circular pattern back to the floor again with a height of
at least seven feet in the middle

Someone and taken great care to carve the rock wall for a depth of
about two feet past the silver band of the portal. For from all
evidence it was a portal.

Where could it lead? Nowhere it seemed, since after a depth of a
couple of feet there was the rock wall. The same rock that made up the
rest of the cave.

Who would go into that much trouble to built an archway leading to a
flat wall? Though Vincent.

On closer inspection, he discovered that the floor under - and also a
few inches in front of the arch - was some kind of synthetic material.
It had all the appearance of hard rock but when he actually placed his
hand on the smooth surface, it felt like some kind of hard rubber.

After deciding that it would indeed support his weight, he stepped on
the rubber-like material so as to get a better look at the flat stone
wall, which made up the wall of the arch.

The instant that his feet touched the floor plate, he felt a numb
sensation throughout his body and the next instant the wall in front
of him was gone. He was now facing a doorway where just a few seconds
earlier was the wall of the cave.

Of course, he remained frozen on his feet for a time. His mind had
great difficulty adjusting to the impossible feedback that his eyes
were registering. What was happening to him was something impossible.
The flat wall of the cave that had been just a few feet ahead of him
was now gone and in its place was an opening. He could not believe
what his eyes were telling him.

As soon as the initial shock was over, he began to look beyond the
newly created opening. He could tell that there was another cave on
the other side of the opening, a cave much larger than the one he had
been in just a few seconds earlier. Straight ahead, into this larger
cave, he could also see daylight filtering through some kind of break
in the far wall. Partly covering the break, he saw plants growing
there, there were vines and small trees also and the light from
outside was filtering through the abundant leaves.

He was still greatly shaken by what had just happened but still
without thinking any further, he stepped ahead and entered into the
large cave. After walking straight ahead until he reached the spot
where he saw the daylight, he pushed the vines aside and he looked
outside.

He was stunned and frighten at the same time with the sight before his
eyes.

 From his position, he could tell that he was high above a
grass-covered valley. Far below on his left he could see a river that
curved here and there until it disappeared in a luscious forest of
tall looking trees. There was no river on his land and furthermore the
closest river was at least fifty miles away. Vincent kept telling
himself that he was dreaming and that at any moment he was going to
come out into reality.

But after many long minutes examining the scenery below him, he
finally had to admit to himself that he was not dreaming and the
landscape below him was quite real. Still, this was not the land
around his cottage and that grass valley didn't belong in the
Adirondack. Where was he? More important still, how did he get here?

These thoughts soon made him panic and he ran back into the large
cave. The silver half-circle on the archway was still there and the
rock wall blocking the way he had walked into the larger cave was also
there. His way back was now blocked.

His fear began to increase and in desperation, he once again stepped
on the rubber-looking plate under the archway. Again, there was the
same numb sensation throughout his body, next he found himself facing
the small hole, which was the entrance of the smaller cave. The same
hole he had work on for over an hour to enlarge so that he could get
into the cave.

The familiarity of his surrounding didn't help a great deal to calm
him down and he got on his hands and knees and crawled out into fresh
air. As soon as he was on his feet again he hurried to the cottage and
he poured himself a large drink. Then as he sat in his favourite
armchair, he reviewed in his mind the events of the last hour.

He remained in the house for the rest of the day while the events of
the morning went on playing back again and again in his mind. Still,
the more he thought about it the more he felt himself the victim of
his imagination. For one thing there was absolutely no explanation
whatsoever to justify what had happened. Worse still, even if there
was a possibility for him to accept what he had witnessed it meant
that there was practically no possible limit to what could be out
there.

The following morning, even though he had slept just a few hours
during the night, he finally made up his mind to prove to himself that
he was not going crazy. He still had a lot of doubts about what he had
seen and in the back of his mind, he partly believed that the
tremendous strain of the loss of his company was responsible for the
visions he had seen the previous day.

When he squeezed himself back into the hole early that morning, his
eyes rested on the same silvery metal band and he was both relieved
and a little distressed at the same time. The fact that he was once
again seeing the same things as the previous day meant that he was not
going out of his mind. But at the same time accepting what his eyes
were registering implied such a gigantic possibility that it was
scaring him.

More than once, as he stood there in front of the arch, he came close
to leaving and forgetting the whole matter. But curiosity plus the
fact that he wanted to prove to himself that he was not going crazy
drove him on and he finally stepped again on the circular plate of the
arch.

There was that same numb feeling for a few seconds and as he expected,
as soon as he opened his eyes he was facing the entrance of the larger
cave. Even though he was not as shaken as the previous day, he was
still reluctant to step off the plate. It seemed as if his mind didn't
want to accept what his eyes were registering as facts. At last, after
willing himself to step off the plate, he slowly walked toward the
daylight which he could see coming through the dense vegetation partly
shielding his way to the outside world.

With his heart was beating very fast, he stopped just behind the
curtain of vines and small trees that were hiding the entrance. He
pulled aside the vines as he had done the previous day but this time
he noticed that on them were hanging great quantities of big green
grapes. Never before in his life had he seen grapes of thit size. They
were as big as golf balls.

He did pluck one and he took a small bite in it, being ready at the
same time to spit the content of his mouth out if it turned out to
taste bad. The grape tasted a little sweeter than he expected but it
was delicious. So he took another bite and soon he had eaten half of
it.

With the grape still in one hand, he pushed the vine further aside
until he had enough room to step out into the open. Once again, he
examined the winding river on his left and the rich plain slopping
down toward the river. Everything was as he remembered from the
previous day, it was quite evident that what he was seeing was not the
product of his imagination.

Because of the series of strange events that had just occured, his
legs began to shake and he went to sit on a rock that was on his left
just outside the entrance. He remained there a long time, thinking and
looking around. It became clear to him now that all of this was very
real even though his mind couldn't explain any of it. One minute he
had been standing in a cave near his home and the next minute he was
somewhere else. Some place that he couldn't even begin to guess where
it was. The mental pressure on his mind - which had to accept the
inexplicable - was once again getting to him and it was also sapping
his physical strength.

When he felt strong enough, he got up and went inside. Without any
hesitation whatsoever he stepped on the plate and he was soon in
familiar surrounding within the small cave near his cottage. He slowly
walked back to his house, walking without thinking. Then as he entered
the house it occurred to him that he had used the power of the arch to
get back to his own world without any second thought. He now knew what
stepping on the plate implied and there was no use in trying to
explain to himself how it could be done. Vincent had used the power of
the arch as it had probably been done for countless years before this
day.

That night while in bed he once again thought about the events of the
day. He came to the conclusion that the plate and the arch were some
kind of transportation device. A doorway to another part of the world
or more probably to a completely different world. The latter was
probably the case because of the existence of the large grapes he had
found there and also because of the strange landscape, which he felt
sure, was no part of his world. Nowhere on earth were there grapes as
big as those he had seen in front of the entrance, of that he was
certain. As for the river, the tall grass plains on both side and the
dense forest farther back were too exotic to be sceneries on Earth. He
had never seen the like of those before either on television or in
magazines.

Once again, he was back in the cave the following morning. He crossed
over to the other world with no hesitation whatsoever, as if it was
the most natural thing to do. How surprising he told himself - as he
stepped on the plate - that he wasn't afraid in the least now.

Much to his surprise, he found himself in complete darkness. With the
help of his flashlight, he got out of the cave. It was just beginning
to get brighter in the sky on his right, so he sat on the same rock he
had sat on the previous day, and he waited. While he sat there he
examined the stars overhead and he tried to identify some of them. But
they all looked strange to him and even the constellations were
unfamiliar as each and every formation of stars was new and unknown to
him. This only helped to reinforce his theory that he was not on
Earth.

As soon as the first rays of light began to fall on the valley, he got
up and proceeded to look around once more. After a couple minutes of
carefully examining his immediate surroundings, he noticed a path
leading downward and away from the ledge on which he now stood. The
trail-like pathway was covered with all kinds of growth but if he was
careful enough he could easily walk on the five-foot wide trail. He
thus slowly began his decend down into the valley. The trail went
winding downward and the further down he decended the less steep it
was. Finally, after almost two hours of descending he was standing at
the foot of the mountain peak from which he had arrived.

The land ahead of him was still slopping down but it was grassland now
and there were no more rocks to be seen anywhere. He was standing
about half a mile from the river and he was exausted. Having not done
much exercise in the last couple of years, his body was not in the
best of condition, he had to sit in the tall grass so as to catch his
breath. Except for the twice a year hunting trips that he went on, he
had been most of the time sitting behind his desk, being in his early
forties he no longer had the vitality of his youth. Beside he was at
least twenty pounds overweight and even though he was still in fairly
good health, he certainly was no longer the young man he used to be.

The river was wider than it had appeared when he had examined it from
the ledge in front of the cave. As far as he could tell it was about
four to five hundred feet wide on the average and the flow of its
water seemed fairly slow. It took Vincent another twenty minutes
before he reached the closest bank, and once he stood on the shore of
the river he noticed that the water was extremely clear and deep. On
closer inspection, he was able to see a few fish swimming in it, some
small and some quite big.

He raised his eyes toward the horizon and he saw on his left the end
of the grassland and the edge of the dark forest. He did some quick
calculation in his mind and he figured that he could walk to the
forest and then return back home without putting too much strain on
the muscles of his legs. Of course he had to get back to his home
before nightfall since he had no intention of spending the night in
this strange place. Even though he hadn't seen any animal life yet,
there was no way for him to know what kinds of predators were living
in these fertile grasslands. Without a rifle to defend himself, if he
were to encounter something like a cougar or a bear he would have no
chance at all.

He was too much of an expert hunter to take things for granted, and
spending the night on this plain could lead to all sort of unpleasant
surprises. Had he been armed it would have been different, but when he
had crossed over that morning, it had only been his intention to have
a closer look at the base of the solitary peak.

Walking was now relatively easy in the knee high grass. When he was a
few hundred yards from the first trees, he suddenly heard shouting and
strange squealing noises coming from the direction of the forest ahead
of him. He couldn't understand any of the words neither was he able to
see anything, but prudence told him to hide himself in the high grass
and to wait. He remained lying flat on his belly for a couple of
minutes then he made up his mind to turn back and not let his
curiosity control his actions.

As he walked back toward the solitary high peek, he had the feeling of
being followed. Then he was once again standing on the bank of the
river. Suddenly he heard the voice of a woman. He turned just in time
to see her. She was almost naked and she had both of her arms waving
high over her head trying to attract his attention. The cause of her
great agitation then became clear to him. She was trying to warn him
about the charge of a strange animal that was coming straight at him.

Vincent remained frozen for a few seconds as he watched the beast
running straight at him. It seemed to be a cross between a pig and a
rhino and although it was running on short legs, its speed was
incredibly fast for its great mass. It must have come out of the grass
somewhere between him and the woman, and for some reason that he could
not understand she must have been following him after he had turned
back at the edge of the forest.

At last, the urgency of the situation hit him. He looked on his right
and on his left for a place to run. On his right was the strange
mountain, which was his way back home, but there was no way for him to
outrun the beast coming after him. On his left was the river while
straight ahead was the mile long bank of the river.

He looked again at the woman; he saw her running straight into the
river. Could it be that she was trying to tell him where to go? Could
it be that this rhino-pig beast would not follow him in the river?
There was no more time to debate, he accelerated as fast as he could
and he threw himself into the river just as the beast reached the spot
he had been standing just a second before.

The water felt very cold as he swam away from shore. At last, after a
couple of minutes during which time he did manage to swim to a good
distance from the bank, he looked behind him and he saw the rhino-pig
animal still on the bank of the river and watching him in anger. Its
pink eyes kept staring at him and he could see the long teeth and
dripping saliva from its mouth as it watched its meal escape in the
river. It was much bigger than he had first judged it to be and he was
now most grateful for the warning of the woman.

Now his thoughts returned to the woman, he began searching for her.
There were no signs of her, not in the river and neither on its shore.
It was as if she had never been there.

The water felt very cold and he remained in it long after he saw the
creature turn around and walk away. As soon as he was back on the
embankment of the river, when he felt safe enough to walk again, he
began to look for signs of the woman. But nowhere could he see her.
Carefully he went to the spot he had last seen her and when he looked
in the wet clay of the bank, her naked footprint were very visible.

It was getting late now judging by the height of the sun in the sky
and he decided to continue to walk back home, he wanted to get to the
cave before it got dark. It took him over three hours to climb back to
the ledge at the top of the peek and when he entered back into the
cave it was almost completely dark outside. He came out of the cave in
his own world and it was after midnight there. After a good meal - he
hadn't eaten for the whole day - he sat in his favourite chair again
so as to think. After much reflection on the matter, he promised
himself that he would return back and try to find the girl that had
saved his life.

              ( end of chapter 1 )

        <http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/mandil/www/>

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com> |
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html>  Moderator: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Archive: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org> Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository |
|<http://www.asstr-mirror.org>, an entity supported entirely by donations.         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


  index