The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
Faced with an unstoppable indestructible Amanojuko in their home, Alexand appeals to Inajda, to help get out of this impossible situation. (Re: Longsheng, See Issue 299 The Unbound Box part 4, Issue 300 The Unbound Box Part 5 and Issue 326 The Search for Filius Anderson Part 8)
After leaving Farokh’s desecrated grave, Inajda showed Alexand more horrific crimes conducted by the Amanojuko. Posing as tourists with different pseudonyms they are back inside the walls surrounding Russia, outside a child breaking centre for Lord Anderson’s Haernyara army. (Featuring Ichitumbu Jalhavi. See Issue 34 Amanojuko part 2)
Two months have passed since Alexand decided to live away from Jarad in the military base, after their house was found to be bugged. He visits her each week, stays the night occasionally, but always retreats back to his shack in the woods. The military base is no place for a family, and he has come to talk with Alexand and try to convince her to come back home.
The Guild Master’s General and Katherine have been phased between matter and energy, and followed Eric Mehmed through the convent cloisters, to where Sister Ancille showed him to his room. (This story is dedicated to David Prosser, who has supported these stories for almost a decade. You can visit David’s blog The Buthidars here)
The strange couple continued to talk with Eric as he drank his tea and ate his croissant, but as he turned his head towards a commotion down the road, he saw an angry woman marching towards the café, along with a national guard.
Eric emerges from the café, glad to see that the couple he has helped are still waiting for him outside by their table.
The Guild Master’s General had transported Katherine from the cart, and both of them watch from a distance, phased between matter and energy, so that Xan and Edith, and the unsuspecting Eric cannot see they are witnesses to Eric’s poisoning.
Eric made his way to a café as soon as he arrived in Kolkata and sat on a table with a cup of tea, watching the people walk past.
The cart starts and Katherine and the Guild Master’s General watch Alexand’s father walk towards the convent where he will soon die.
The Guild Master’s General and Katherine arrive in Kolkata, along with Eric Mehmed. It has taken them four days, and in that time, Katherine got to know Alexand’s father much better than she had with the stories Alexand had told about him.
Generals Edith MehXian and Xan Medani have travelled back in time to complete a mission to uphold time’s continuity, and to prevent their own world from unravelling.
Alexand has been attempting to find out more about her father’s killers, from Sister Ancille.
The Guild Master’s General has had the audacity to take Katherine with him on the very same cart ride that Alexand’s father is on. Neither of them is phased out of focus and are corporeal. The Guild Masters General has replaced his balaclava with a Stetson hat, and his sunglasses have clear lenses, so they look like ordinary glasses. They are both a few seats behind Eric Mehmed. Thankfully Eric doesn’t recognise Katherine as they had never met, although Alexand told her father a lot about the woman she fell in love with, so Katherine has insisted that the Guild Master’s General call her by her middle name, Anastasia.
The Guild Master’s General is still attempting to show Katherine how flimsy the fabric of time’s continuity can be, and before he returns her to the Kyuunansen (after educating her about the dangers of meeting Alexand) he has a few final events to show her. (India 3987) This story marks the 10th anniversary of Unbound Boxes Limping Gods on WordPress. Thank you to everyone who has read these stories over the past decade.
Alexand, as the orchestrator of the Katherine’s Bullet Care Centres, has security clearance to enter the medical dome, which Georges De Somme’s money has privately funded. She goes in search of Sister Ancille, with the intention of questioning her about her father’s death.
Alexand has travelled to Kolkata and materialised outside the convent of the Handmaids of Mary, to visit her friend, sister Ancille. It is eight o’clock at night and there are few people around to witness her arrival.
With the disturbing news that Lord Filius Anderson is interested in the genetics of her late husband’s family, Inajda’s thoughts immediately settled on the safety of her daughters, Heyem and Alexand. She left the Prison of Souls, reached the base of the mountain in Antarctica and transported herself to Saskatoon, to meet Alexand, to speak with and warn her daughter about the Amanojuko threat.
Helga Ritter travelled to Kolkata, to the convent Eric Mehmed was reported to have died, to gather further information about who killed him. She knocks on the convent door, of the order of Handmaids of Mary, feeling an overwhelming repulsion.
After three more weeks on Christmas Island, recovering, Alexand is now fit for duty, and has returned to her army base in Saskatoon, India.
Alex has a writer full of potential cures, and needs to get her group out of the facility, unnoticed by the guard. This means remaining with the socialites for a few hours longer, to avoid suspicion. (A note from the author: Fight fascism. Never give up on hope and love and a future where everyone is treated with respect, dignity and equality.)
It is finally the fourteenth of May, and The Guild Master’s General has been watching over Katherine as she sleeps. He fades between energy and matter, making himself invisible to Katherine’s nurse as she injects a dose of adrenaline into Katherine’s bloodstream, to wake her up.
Katherine has been in a self induced coma for five days, and in all that time, the Guild Master’s General has made sure he watches over her, guarding her from Amanojuko agents.
Katherine woke up the day after her birthday, and made her way down to her laboratory to continue with her analysis of Juba Apfvarzian’s blood. When she arrived there, all of the samples had gone. There was no trace of her findings, and her research over the past few weeks has vanished.
Ajeeta Kothari has spent weeks wracked with guilt about what she saw in the Amanojuko headquarters. She is having second thoughts about wanting immortality for her son and husband, and materialises a force field around herself and Katherine so that Lord Filius Anderson does not overhear her.
Katherine, although getting very weak, has spent most of her remaining time in her laboratory, despite having to share it with the encroaching Dr Kothari.
Abouna has been listening to Inajda and Katherine’s conversation, from the corridor outside the living room.
Katherine is woken from a dream by a familiar voice.
Katherine attempted to buy a lift back home to Saskatoon military base, but was turned away, due to her illness. The driver told her she shouldn’t be out in public spreading her disease about. She was left standing in the rain, as the first part of the monsoon winds hit. The local landlords also refused her a bed to stay. She found a place to shelter, in a tree house, built for local children. Dripping wet and freezing cold, she sat inside, attempting to shelter from the rains. This issue is dedicated to Fayesal Siddiqui, who has been a great support to me throughout the course of sharing these stories. You’re welcome to read “A Fellow Blogger,” with his thoughts on Unbound Boxes, on his website, “Ho-Hum … well we’re going to die anyway!” Thank you, Fayesal. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Katherine walked to her bathroom, hoping that Farokh would leave by the time she’d finished having a shower. She locked the door and dumped all her vomit-covered clothes on the floor, still confused and slightly traumatised by her collapse. Her short-term memory is starting to become affected by her illness, and she is missing Alex very badly, wishing her writer hadn’t been taken. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
The night before Alexand has to leave for Australia, the Guild Master’s General sneaks into Katherine and Alexand’s bedroom whilst they’re asleep. He has one more task to complete, and he’s not very proud of himself. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
After another restless night, Alexand was woken by what she believes to be the ghost of her friend Baio-Yujia Sun. Unable to sleep, she retreats to the one person (Katherine De Somme) she hopes could help her find out the cause of the apparent haunting, or at lease empathise with her nightmares. This story is dedicated to everyone who has followed, supported me, commented on, shared thoughts, liked, read this series, critiqued, re-blogged, awarded, made friends (and on occasion fallen in love) with the characters, over the past three years. Without you I’d be writing to and drawing at imaginary people. You help to keep these stories alive and encourage me to one day get the first manuscript published. Thank you, without you, my characters are ghosts inside my head, scribbled on paper. (This story follows Baio-Yujia’s Ghost Part 1.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Toreth Rek-cho is an astronomer, and spends most of her time in an observatory she built, in the Sahyādri Mountains, India. (She is the eldest child of Antun Rekaya, Inajda’s brother and is Alexand and Heyem Merek’s first cousin.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Six year old Lali De Somme has escaped to play in the woods with her elder sister, Katherine. Their father Georges doesn’t let them play outside the grounds of their mansion, as he fears the poor local children will distract them from their important studies. Georges has been away for a week, at a conference in Denmark and isn’t due back until tomorrow. His daughters have taken advantage of his absence, supported by their sympathetic mother, Kavita. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
After an acid attack caused Samira’s twenty year old daughter to commit suicide, Samira went out looking for revenge. (Featured in this issue is President Asenath Bomani, leader of The Kyo-ashita. An ancient warrior race.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Alexand left the sick bay, after promising Katherine she wouldn’t tell a soul about Ichitumbu Jalhavi. Katherine attempts to negotiate with her American contact, Professor Anesidor Sumian. (Note: The Writer is a device, which allows its user to quickly travel anywhere around the world. It’s also used for communications and storage. It was developed by Anesidor Sumian, and smuggled from America for the resistance in India by Alexand’s mother, Inajda Rekaya, on command of her superior officer, Abouna Panak, who has established links with the American resistance.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Georges De Somme lost his youngest daughter, Lali, in a horrible accident, which he blamed his elder daughter, Katherine for. (See Katherine’s story Issue # 6) This is the night he left Katherine in a military correction facility, as punishment, and never returned. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Eric Mehmed is a farmer, but dreams about making musical instruments. He has brought up his twin daughters Alexand and Heyem and his son Farokh without his wife, Inajda (As Inajda is in the military). Eric is very passionate about his children’s futures, especially that of Alexand, who shares his obsession for music. For her fifteenth birthday Eric made his daughter a left handed piano. (As he thought this may enable her to play with her strongest hand) Six months after this, the family’s struggle to find food forced Alexand and Heyem to go to India to attempt to find their mother. They took their friends Jarad Vijay and Baio-Yujia Sun with them. Unfortunately the teenagers ended up taking drugs and crashing a stolen military tank into a tree. Alexand was driving, Baio-Yujia died and the children were sentenced to serve in military correction. Eric was devastated. This story features his regrets. He reflects about what life could have been like. He wishes Alexand and Heyem had the same opportunities that his own mother, Edith MehXian had. (She was an opera singer in The Chinese Hall of Excellence.) The future looks bleak for his daughters. (Eric’s story is dedicated to my own father, who was also called, Eric.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
The Guild Master’s General is a mysterious man, who appears throughout time and place. Not much is known about him, apart from the fact he has created a lot of chaos in the lives of many. This story also features, Alexand Merek. CLICK HERE for next chronological story. A Spanish version is now available, translated by Hernán Jara Droguett.
Inajda Rekaya (Ee-n-eye-da) is seventeen years old, but has joined the army to support her husband, Eric and twin Daughters, Alexand and Heyem. She doesn’t realise that her decision will not just save their lives, but change the future of her family. Special Thanks to Imran Malik for helping me with translating English to Hindi. (The Hindi reads, “It’s open!”) This story also features, Katherine De Somme. CLICK HERE for next chronological story. A Spanish version is now available, translated by Hernán Jara Droguett.
Katherine De Somme is thirteen years old and has been forced to join the army, (by her father Georges) after accidentally killing her younger sister, Lali, in a chemical explosion. Her parents had high expectations of her, but her need to live up to their high standards has resulted in devastation for everyone. Katherine loses everything and everyone, in one horrible night. (A Spanish translation is now available, by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Jarad Vijay has spent the past four years, bringing up his son alone, after his wife, Alexand, was taken and placed in an asylum for crimes against the military. Once released she woke from a catatonic state. Six months have passed since she woke. Jarad hoped her recovery would enable him to rebuild their lives as a family. Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple. (Jarad and Alexand grew up together as children. They were forced into the military at a young age. Jarad left, but Alexand remained a soldier. Their lives drifted apart until a series of events brought them back together. They were married after Alexand was widowed. Jarad believes she is still grieving for her dead wife, Katherine De Somme. He is very much in love with her, but this further separation in the form of Alexand’s imprisonment, has done little for their relationship. Alexand is very traumatised by her ordeal inside the asylum and Jarad doesn’t know if he can help her recover from it.) Trivia: Why has Alexand got metal fingers? Answer: Her fingers were severed by a samurai sword, during a mission as a young woman. (See issue 9:) The sword bearer was a man dressed in a black balaclava. He appears throughout time and place. People come to know him as The Guild Master’s General, but know little about him. (A Spanish translation is now available, by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Alexand Merek has been released from a floating asylum. She has just woken from catatonia. This story is set fifty years before her first appearance in my series of novels. (A Spanish translation is now available, by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Images, story and characters, © Cheryl Moore
