“I’ll be honest. It’s their thirst for adventure that really sealed the deal for me regarding this mission,” Derek said, looking at us. “I know you’ll take it as a great challenge, given your expertise.”
“You’re both anthropologists, right?” Amal asked. “You study history, cultures, in general. Different civilizations.”
“Yes. Though to be honest we learned more from our travels than we did from our studies,” Tristan said.
“Being here is an honor,” I added, smiling at Derek and Sofia. “We’re both grateful to you. Extending this invitation was like making a wild dream come true. I’ve always wondered what else we’d find in the Earthly Dimension. I guess we’re getting our answers, soon enough.”
“I know your heritage plays a part in this as well,” Derek replied, sadness briefly shadowing his blue eyes. “Anna and Kyle were amazing people. I know she would’ve wanted to become a vampire as well, so she could enjoy you both for as long as she could.”
“Not to mention your cousins, your parents and uncles,” Sofia added. “They left a wonderful family behind.”
I sighed deeply, having wished for the same more than once while growing up. “I guess, in a way, we’re honoring them like this.”
“They’d be proud of you,” Derek replied.
All Tristan and I had to do was rise to the occasion. The challenge had been laid out before us. We were headed toward an unknown civilization, who had something we badly wanted. Like Derek had said, it put all of our skills into play, including diplomacy and resourcefulness. We just needed to gear up and give it our best.
Tristan
The voyage was extraordinary. The trips Esme and I had taken into the Supernatural Dimension and the In-Between had mostly been done through the portals or the interplanetary travel spell, so this was our first time literally out in space.
My blood rushed frantically as I soaked in every minute of the ride, trying to remember as much as I could from what I was seeing. I felt tiny. Like a minuscule blip in the universe.
The Earthly Dimension was truly astonishing, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the view through the windshield. Thousands of planets and stars lingered against the blackness. Comets and asteroids wandered across the empty space. I remembered photos I’d seen from interplanetary travels through the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension. I’d been dazed by the swirling streams of pink and orange stardust, the spectacular purple asteroid fields, the amber and yellow and bright orange planets that circled massive, reddish stars…
By comparison, the Earthly Dimension was less dazzling and sparkling, but it was gorgeous in its brutal simplicity. From where we were, it all looked suspended in the void of time and space—perfectly polished marbles with white streaks, revealing a multitude of muted greens and blues as they turned; twinkling stars that grew into blazing white suns as we approached them; asteroid clusters that were dark gray and lumpy, weird and dangerous and extraordinary at the same time.
No, this was truly a sight to behold.
These were planets hurled through space at ridiculous speeds, wandering comets with fiery green tails, stars imploding and collapsing in on themselves… black holes powering entire galaxies! The universe here was wild and untamed, subject to violence, clashes, and explosions the likes of which many people wouldn’t even see in their lifetimes.
Compared to the ethereal colors of Eritopia, for example, our Milky Way was savage. Like a lioness prowling in the darkness, roaring and slashing at everything within its reach. I was floored and speechless, having completely tuned out of the conversation. I didn’t even hear my sister calling out to me.
“Tristan. Tristan!”
Finally, I reacted, my head snapping back to her. “Yes. Sorry. This is all just… mesmerizing.”
“I know. You’re entranced.” She giggled. “We’re getting close.”
“Close to where?”
My mind was a hilarious blank. I’d basically forgotten where we were going. It made her laugh. “Trexus-2, nimrod. Look over there!”
She pointed at a solar system not far from our position. It had a big sun, perhaps larger than our own. Fifteen planets spun around it, small marbles in soft shades of gray, blue, and orange. It didn’t take long to identify the three we knew were inhabited.
The strange haze that had prevented us from getting more detailed views of the three Trexus planets was more visible, as well. It only spanned around them, without affecting the others in the system.
“That mist thing is weird,” I said. “What is that, exactly?”
“We were never able to figure it out from afar,” Derek replied. “Hopefully we’ll understand it better once we get there. It’s like a shapeless filter of sorts, blurring our telescope imagery.”
By now, our necks were stretching as we leaned closer to Derek and Sofia so we could get a better view. It looked so quiet. So peaceful. Filled with secrets waiting to be discovered. Threads to be pulled. Curtains to be drawn. My limbs tingled with excitement. If there was one thing my sister and I would never tire of, it was this feeling, right here—the thrill of discovery, the bewilderment, the thousands of questions that filled my head, beckoning me to answer each and every one of them, making sure I’d leave no stone unturned.
Esme and I looked at each other for a brief moment. As if reading each other’s minds, we both smiled. It wasn’t a grin. It was a hopeful, timid curve of the lips. It was a thought that we dared not put into words, for it might crumble and vanish before we could make it into a reality.
“That’s Trexus-1, closer to the sun,” Derek said, drawing our attention.
The three Trexus planets were right next to each other, easily within reach if there were methods of space flight readily available for their people. The one we’d called 1 was reddish in color, and it was the smallest. “It’s mostly deserts and rocks, isn’t it?” I asked, remembering some of the data we’d skimmed through from the telescopic observations. The haze wasn’t as obstructive from this distance, as opposed to what we’d seen through the telescopes.
“Yes. And quarries. We noticed a lot of settlements around them. My guess is they’re exploiting the resources. But the oceans are small and few,” Derek replied. “Chances are there’s not a big population.”
“Look at Trexus-3,” Sofia added, moving our focus to the slightly bigger, blue-and-white planet on the other side of 2. “Given its distance from the sun, it’s mostly ice and snow. There’s plenty of water, but it’s permanent winter out there.”
“That would probably mean even fewer people. We did find structures and settlements there, though, didn’t we?” Esme asked, her brow furrowed. I knew she was already digging through the memory of what she’d read from Dmitri and Phoenix’s observations on the topic.
“Exactly. It’s inhabited, we just don’t know how many of them are there, given the haze,” Derek replied. “But it’s Trexus-2, our destination, that is the most fascinating.”
Indeed, the closer we got to it, the more beautiful it seemed. Its patches of green and blue reminded me of Earth. It had the perfect conditions for life. The atmosphere, the right distance from the sun to allow for a healthy climate and changing seasons… My heart was already racing as I wondered what kind of people lived there. I’d been wondering from the moment we’d first been told about the mission.
It was also the biggest of the three, though still slightly smaller than Earth. It had two moons, to my surprise. One was almost half its size, a monstrous white marble, while the other was merely a pebble, crimson in color. They seemed close to one another, and perhaps someday they might even collide. I knew the white one would win that battle rather quickly.
“Imagine what that big-ass moon looks like at night!” Esme exclaimed, her eyes wide and twinkling. “It’s got to cover half the sky…”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Sofia replied, smiling broadly as our interplanetary spell began its descent toward Trexus-2.
We finally passed through the thin layer of mist, and we were now able to see much more. My breath left me as I stared through the windshield.
If the journey itself had been full of wonder and awe, our approach was loaded with adrenaline—not because of the ride, but because of the anticipation that was building up in each of us. Our destination was truly the crown jewel of this solar system.
Its waters were deep and blue, tourmaline velvet stretching for thousands of miles, and filled with who-knew-what kind of marine creatures. The continents were wide strips that had broken off from the whole a long time ago, scattered across the planet, with oceans swelling between them. I could see the green patches of woods, the rocky mountain clusters, the deserts. White clouds threaded above. The eye of a storm looked right at us from the dark side. I did not want us to be down there, only imagining what sorts of calamities it might let loose.
“Preparing for atmospheric entry,” Derek said, flipping various switches on.
The control panel blinked in a plethora of colorful lights as the shuttle responded to his commands. Sofia pulled one of the levers to her right, and the entire vessel roared to life. Behind us, neatly tucked against the wall, the serium batteries’ blue glow intensified as the engines were kicked into motion.
“As soon as we reach it, the interplanetary spell will likely disintegrate,” Nethissis warned us. “It’s one of the risks we calculated from using just a handful of proteins in a blood droplet from you, Derek. Had we had a pebble, at least, from Trexus-2, we wouldn’t have had an issue.”
“That’s okay, Nethi. We prepared for this,” Derek replied.
“One minute,” Sofia warned us.
The world ahead expanded, and we could see the mountain ranges better, snaking through fields of emerald green. We were away from the storm, thank heavens. We had clear skies, and we’d agreed on a certain set of coordinates, using the shuttle’s navigation system. They were supposed to lead us straight to the largest settlement we’d observed through the modified telescopes.
Esme took my hand, squeezing gently. I gave her a reassuring smile. “We’re okay. It’ll be okay,” I whispered, knowing she sometimes needed my support. She was one of the bravest creatures I knew, but even Esme had her weak spot. She was a walking contradiction, my sister. Thrilled and scared of new adventures, at the same time. It made everything more exciting.
“Twenty seconds,” Sofia said.
I counted the rest in the back of my head as the interplanetary spell bubble began to shake, forcing its way through what seemed like a sturdy, dense atmosphere. The magic buzzed around us, the sound nearly scratching my brain with its sharpness.
