Memories of Sandra Anderson - A Cosmic Explorer, Book III (stories twenty ‒ twenty-eight)

Featuring the fantasy stories of space adventurer, Sandra Anderson.

Download Book 1 (stories one - eleven)
Download Book 2 (stories twelve - nineteen)

Story Twenty (Sexcaged): After being informed that prince Venor of Yrkania has landed on planet Gonast, Sandra decides to go there and find out what an Yrkanian prince is looking for on a planet of Amazons.

Story Twenty-One (Stray Beyond Sunset): This time Sandra comes to the primitive planet of Rystadel and makes inquiries about an unspeakable form of evil that terrorizes the population, making them more and more submissive to a certain “divine” power.

Story Twenty-Two (The Forsaken Lands): Sandra and Peter travel to the Forsaken Lands, an abandoned world where there is a source of infinite power. They have to secure this source, before Venor lays his hands on it an messes up everything in the universe.

Story Twenty-Three (The Rise of the Mystic): This time Sandra is abducted by a renowned wizard who considers her responsible for the loss of an utmost valuable and dangerous book of magic.

Story Twenty-Four (The City of Gold): While looking for new adventures, Sandra gets a mysterious message that urges her to land on an uninhabited planet and explore the ruins of the legendary City of Gold. Pretty soon, however, she finds out she is not the only one who roams its splendid temples.

Story Twenty-Five (Reminiscence): This time Sandra Anderson remembers her very first adventure: A hazardous exploration in the mysterious Realms of the Long Night, that helped discover her real self and her destiny in life.

Story Twenty-Six (Descent to the Nether Zone): Sandra Anderson follows her beloved Peter of the Stars into the nightmarish Nether Zone, in search of a holy gem that can save worlds - in this case, Peter's world.

Story Twenty-Seven (The Sect of the Solar Crown): Sandra gets hired by the governor of planet Zinra, so as to find his only son who disappeared after he had joined the Sect of the Solar Crown. Sandra becomes a member of the sect and finds out a lot more than the governor's son.

Story Twenty-Eight (Distant Planet): Peter of the Stars is in great trouble, since a very dangerous sorceress claims the throne of Eldyla. So, he and Sandra set off for a frozen planet, in search of an ancient item which provides extraordinary spiritual abilities; that's where the situation gets even more complicated…

Excerpt from Stray Beyond Sunset:

It all started as one of those astral trips that promised unforgettable experiences and unprecedented feelings of bliss and fulfillment.

I soared in thick, endless haze for an indefinable span of time, immersed in a weird sense of eternity and nothingness. Then I perceived certain forms being shaped on the white, smoke-like substance known as the astral fluid – the primeval, subtle matter of which all universes are made of. At first all forms were white, vague outgrowths in the immense space where the ''sky'' had not been separated from the ''earth'' yet. My impatience almost ruined the experience, but I eventually calmed down and let it develop.

Next moment I, Sandra Anderson, was fleetingly admiring an idyllic rainbow rising over shiny, dark crystal rocks. There were ethereal, winged creatures thriving in that magical world, some of them watching an extraordinary event taking place among the rocky formations.

I was taking part in a very special fight which excited their interest, for my rival was no other than Peter of the Stars. It had already proved to be too hard for me to take on him, as he kept on moving around fast, with incredible flexibility, dodging all my blows, just waiting for the right moment to overwhelm me. I would certainly hate to lose that battle of prevalence...

Therefore, I hesitated no longer: I jumped aside, grasped my escrima stick from the ground and split it in two bastons with a sharp motion.

“Let's play a little harder, Peter!” I shouted at him.

“We had agreed on a hand-to-hand fight, Sandra!” he protested. “Now, this is going to cost you!”

Next moment he drew his sword, ready to defend his precious pride. A skillful stroke of his gold blade almost disarmed me; however, I managed to parry all his blows with continuous circular movements of my bastons, intending to end this fight as soon as possible.

The fairy creatures with the colorful wings kept watching the duel, either standing on rocks or flying around. Fascinating in their inborn deviousness, they giggled and laughed considering the whole incident as a funny game. It had begun as such in the first place...
Moment by moment Peter got more and more aggressive, determined to win no matter what; my double sticks could barely hold the vehemence of his sword.

“Peter... stop this... you don't have to...” I stammered, trying to talk some sense into him.

Nevertheless, he went on attacking wilder and wilder, making me retreat all the way back to the edge of the precipice.

Peter of the Stars is an excellent fighter and an incredible fencer; therefore, I should have been prepared for a defeat from the very first moment this had started. I twisted and twirled my sticks again and again and against him, but I was still retreating constantly. Stumbling back on a sharp boulder, I lost balance and fell on my back, while Peter was brandishing his gold blade before my face.

“So, here is where it ends, Sandra!” he cried and lifted his deadly weapon, as if he were going to deliver the final blow.

“No!”

My cry of fear made him waver for an instant. A light expression of regret came to his smart face; at that moment he was vulnerable.

Within a second I seized my bastons again, sprang up and assaulted him with a set of weaving movements that took him by surprise. Soon he was injured on the right shoulder; the sword slipped off his hand and he collapsed on the ground stunned.

“Do you surrender?” I asked at last.

“I... I do...” he stuttered in a feeble voice, blushing in shame for his defeat. “You didn't need to be so wild”, he added then, touching his hurt shoulder with his left hand.
“I know, Peter; you should have won this fight”, I admitted and helped him stand up.
I asked for his lips as an act of apology; Peter chuckled and responded eagerly. We hugged and kissed under the sparkling rainbow among the crystal rocks, all fairies rejoicing around us. His shiny, red hair felt like silk in my hands; a precious treasure my Peter was, a very rare jewel to safeguard and cherish...

* * * * *

Return to reality usually proves to be a painful experience, especially when there is nothing but trouble to expect in the following days.

This time the information given to me by Peter of the Stars had led me on a primitive planet called Rystadel, at the furthest end of the ''cursed'' constellation of Yades. My ongoing inquiries had finally brought me to an isolated, mountainous village called Aradark. The houses were made of stone and tiled roofs, their gardens full of colourful flowers. The narrow streets were cobbled, joined with picturesque bridges; and nature was thriving all around. Yet, behind all this rural beauty, I could often sense an unspeakable, tangible evil lurking in the air.

A couple of days had lapsed without any disturbances, save some lingering rumours about the newly arrived, terrible Archangel Assar, ''who always lies in wait'' for his victims in the dark. People disappeared and were often found burnt all over; yet, their clothes and surroundings were always intact, just like on incidences of spontaneous combustion. Such occurrences were always attributed to the Archangel, a supposedly godsent entity who had come down on the planet in order to give the iniquitous a deserved punishment. As a result, more and more people turned into a new kind of religion, worshiping the Archangel Assar as their God.

There was also a lot of talk about a gigantic statue of that ''God'', which was said to have been miraculously built ''at the top of the world'' within a night by ''God'' himself. None of the people I had known so far had ever actually seen it, but it was supposed to survey the whole planet continually with its vigilant eyes, promptly punishing the sinners with an ''inner fire''. I doubt whether any of them knew that Assar is the ancestral name of the Yrkanian royalty...

In all probability, the statue of the ''Archangel'' was an intricate weapon of the Assars, secretly being tested on the primitive population of Rystadel. I had to find and destroy it the sooner the better, but so far I hadn't figured out where it could be exactly.
However, it is common knowledge that ''the top of the world'' is usually the most northern part of a planet...

* * * * *

The fresh breeze of dawn was coming through the half-open window of my attic when I got up and looked out, to the immaculate countryside that spread to the horizon. I admired the view for some carefree moments; then, I suddenly shivered as if from a bad premonition.
Pretty soon there was agitation in the street below; I watched carefully and saw there was a small crowd coming down the cobbled street. As the sun was rising slowly, I could make out a pretty young lady being followed by a group of admirers; she was one of those who are wont to going around half-naked for the pleasure of men. At a moment she paused and bent her body forth in a quite provocative manner, leaving in common view her naked hips under the flimsy, short skirt. However, instead of excitement, there was instant horror, as the young woman had suddenly become abnormally stiff in that posture. Next moment I was shocked to realize that her whole body had just been carbonized.

I stood up at once and craned my neck out of the open window. Mass madness had broken out in just a few minutes; two of the men grabbed the burnt body and threw it on top of other charred corpses by the edge of the street. How is it possible that sooner or later evil eventually contaminates every aspect of good? I wondered. Then, some of the men looked up and saw me standing by the window. I felt the blood freeze in my veins, and I wished to get away from there at once. Yet, on second thoughts, I decided I had better stay put; trying to escape would only drive them even crazier. Besides, I had not come here to escape from evil; I had come to eliminate it.

I slowly moved away from the window, so that the crowd could no longer see me, although I felt rather insecure as I had no idea what would happen or what I would do next.

“Where do you think you are going?” a man's voice resounded stern in my room.

I turned round and recognized...

“Xavier! How did you find me?”

“Silly question!”

That was Xavier, Venor's younger brother, and his presence never boded any good. He was well-built and haughty, maybe even more arrogant than his older brother. His long, black hair with the dyed red tufts by his temples waved slightly in the breeze coming through the open window. Four Yrkanian warriors were standing behind him, all armed and ready to fire.

“What are you doing here, Xavier?” I asked immediately.

“I was going to ask you the same”, he replied grim.

“How do you cause all these spontaneous combustions?” I asked bluntly.

“Enough talk! So long, Sandra!” uttered Xavier and his green eyes shone maliciously.

He sought to fire his laser weapon at me right away, but my reaction was immediate and accurate: After disarming the enemy with a strong flying kick, I sprang back and performed a backward somersault on air; my hands touched the window sill and in a split second I was down on the street, barely dodging all those laser beams being aimed at me through the open window. I only hoped that...

Peter of the Stars had arrived right on time, driving an impressive ground vehicle. That type of automobile was quite common in the cities of Rystadel, but not in the cobbled streets of Aradark.

“Go, go, go, Peter!” I shouted at him, rushing in the co-driver's seat at once.
The automobile increased speed immediately, and then it swerved and disappeared around the corner, leaving behind a thick cloud of dust.

Xavier and his men had just rushed out of the house, swearing bad and firing in vain.