Gaea

  Dear Mother,

  There is something I must tell you, and I am too afraid to say it, not to mention I know that you would stop me. So . . . I am leaving you one final letter instead. I have decided to go. I cannot say if I will be back, so I will make no promises. Know that I love you more than all of Mani. But you know that this is more important than you or I or even this silver shell we call home. And so, I must go. I must. I will see you again, whether in this world, in the other, or in the afterlife.

  Goodbye — Kallyn

  Post Script: Please take care of Mydia. Perhaps someday when she is older, you can explain to her why I had to leave Mani.

  (Planet Gaea—Gatewatch Isle

  Koii 14, 2336)

  I awoke in a strange world with a blazing headache.

  “Mother,” I murmured, unsure of why I said it. The word came out as little more than a moan. My vision swam as I tried to sit up, but a strong hand held me back. The effort of sitting up was so much greater than I expected. Was I really that weak? Well, I had just survived an . . . explosion? A flash of light and an explosion . . .

  The Archlord. He had ruined everything and destroyed the Gate of Mani—probably killed my friends, too. Somehow, I must have made it through the Gate. Dimly, I wondered if it was even still there.

  A voice spoke to me, a deep male voice in an unrecognizable tongue. No . . . I recognized it, I just didn’t understand it. I shook myself and looked up to see the man who held my shoulder. He wasn’t holding me down, I realized, but just steadying me. It seemed to be dawn here, and the only light I had to see by came from some lights shining from somewhere overhead. I couldn’t see his face clearly, because he wore some sort of helmet with a dark glass shield over his eyes. It enveloped the sides of his head, crafted from a glistening metal of the strangest design . . . in fact, he wore a whole suit that was strange. White and dull, with plates almost like armor over his chest and shoulder. Instruments that I did not recognize were placed at his belt and on his chest.

  The man spoke again, and I just shook my head, shrugging. Again, the effort it took was surprising. I wasn’t so weak, I thought, it just . . . took more effort. The man, seeing that I could not understand him, raised his head and spoke something in the same foreign language to another man.

  Looking around for the first time from my crablike position, I realized that there were three of them standing over me, all tall men of large build wearing identical suits and helmets. Overhead loomed an arch just like the one that the orb’s explosion had destroyed, which could only be the Gate of Gaea, and far overhead in the sky loomed a distant planet, much like how we had viewed Gaea from the face of Mani. But it was . . . much smaller, and silvery-white, not blue. Gaea must be far larger than the other world. The stars twinkled faintly beyond it. Neither cast much light, but on one horizon, buried beneath long clouds, the sun was beginning to rise.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I was on some kind of island. The air was damp, as though next to a large body of water—in fact, I could hear it—and moss grew on stones around me. Moss and vines ran up the side of the arch.

  “Is this . . . Gaea?” I asked. I groaned and rose to my feet with effort, shaking off the hand of the suited man. From my standing position, I could see over the rocks around me to discover that we stood on a small island. An ocean of water reached as far as the eye could see. An ocean. Not a river, not a lake . . . this was a true ocean.

  Some hundred feet away, down a small incline, sat a large metal vehicle. I assumed that was what it was, though its design was completely foreign to me, and very . . . advanced. It had wings, and looked to be a flying machine. Between the flying vehicle and the devices on the men’s suits, I could tell that these people’s society was far more advanced in technology than any on Mani. What kind of world is this . . . ? I wondered with a rising sense of panic.

  The man who had previously held me was eyeing me up with a wary posture. He spoke again, and somehow I could grasp the meaning without recognizing the words: Who are you?

  I could tell by the way that they regarded both me and the archway, which must have just opened, that they were nervous but had an inkling of what was going on. Why were they here on this small, deserted island? Were they . . . guarding the Gate?

  I drew in a deep, steadying breath, putting out my hands in a gesture that I hoped would look friendly. Or at least not menacing. Great auroras, it was a struggle even to stand. I was right—Gaea’s gravity was much stronger than Mani’s. It would take some getting used to. “I am Lynchazel. I mean you no harm.” I pointed upward at the moon hanging in the sky, and then at the Gate. “I come from Mani. I came through the doorway.”

  The man, obviously the leader, spoke again in a harsher tone, pointing. I could tell what he was getting at: Are more people coming through? Are we under attack?

  “No, no. It has been destroyed,” I said, making as clear of gestures as I could. “No one can come through. The Gate, it’s destroyed. No one will ever be coming again.” Hopefully they understood at least somewhat.

  The leader looked at his companions and spoke a couple of quiet words. Then he reached up and pressed a switch that caused his helmet to disassemble and retract almost like a hood, revealing his face. His features were strong, his neck thick. He was bald, with hard eyes and a large nose. His expression softened as he looked at me, uttering what was probably a welcome. Pointing at himself, he spoke one word, a name: “Zent.” His next words and gestures gave the clear indication that they were going to take me into custody.

  I sighed. I didn’t care at this point. These men didn’t seem overly hostile, and I certainly wasn’t going to fight them. I let them lead me down a rocky path to the flat point where their flying metal ship stood. I looked down to see that the hill steepened and dropped off into a cliff. We were actually high above the water. I squinted, gazing over the breathtaking sea that stretched endlessly below us. More water than I could ever have dreamed of—water enough to fill even the Sea of Emptiness. What other kinds of wonders did this world hold? What kind of terrors?

  Deep inside, between the dizziness and bewilderment evoked by even standing up on this heavy world, my heart ached for my lost friends. Perhaps they had made it out alive somehow . . . I could only hope.

  But I would never see them again.

  ??

  And that’s . . . that’s it. That’s how I got here. There’s more to tell, of course. If you were paying attention, there’s a missing chunk at the end there, where I got imprisoned by the Senate for the crime of being born, but I think I’m just going to wait for now and tell it in my next record—that of my journey here on Gaea. We’ll see how, um . . . how it all plays out. Hopefully, Zent will be back soon. I’m trying not to even think about what happened to my friends.

  But I’m pretty sure I’m here for the long haul. Without the Gate, there is no escape from Gaea.

  ??