Children of Chaos

Chapter 20

As soon as we escape Haran's atmosphere, Almnerixi comes back into view, and my breath is taken away as it grows bigger in our approach. Alexis breathes a soft "wow" at the sight of soft green land masses and swirling violet clouds covering the surface. Massive oceans caress the land, and currents of vivid turquoise, green, and blue swirl in tandem with the clouds. The planet shines like a crystal, with small warm lights sparkling from cities like sunlight reflecting off a diamond, or light through glass creating a rainbow.

"Why would you ever leave this place?" Alexis whispers. Evana directs our attention to the first giant land mass on the dark side of the planet, that stretches from the north to south poles. In the center, there's a large pale region of what looks like desert.

"This is the historical region of Tybara. Today the United Diamond Realms recognizes it as Western Almnerixi, and the population is not as segregated as it used to be. You will find many alien species living in the cities all over Western Almnerixi, but in the rural areas, there are mostly Tybarans," Evana explains.

We fly on, circling the planet to the east, until we find the next large land mass. "This is Noxia, or Eastern Almnerixi to the Realms. We have our base here."

"Aren't the Tybarans following us?" Bekah asks.

"Given recent events, it is likely that not only the Tybarans but the Diamond Forces are already on their way," Keptana says, "but we have a safe place to go. We'll be there shortly."

As he speaks, we begin our descent into Almnerixi's atmosphere, and the nerves grow in my stomach. Despite Keptana's advice to conserve my energy, my hands are still sparkling with static electricity. I focus on a design on the ceiling of the ship, which is another rendition of the shrine of the Protectors found both in my mother's memories, and in our original ship's dining hall.

"Evana, what's the story of Inar and Jeexa? And how do they relate to the Protectors?" I ask, shoving my hands into my armpits. Keptana shakes his head, interrupting before Evana can respond.

"Adrianna, there will be-"

"- time for questions later, I know," I say. "You always say there will be time for questions later and here we are, much later, with no answers." Keptana and Evana are silent, so I push on. "One of the crew members said I was controlled by Inar, and Shona mentioned both Inar and Jeexa. And I don't know about you guys, but I haven't been able to stop shaking since the moment we entered the Realms, and it's throwing my powers out of control."

"You already were out of control," Bekah says.

"No, I have the same feeling. It's like the air around us is vibrating. I thought it was the impact of going through the wormhole but it hasn't stopped, even when we were in Shona's house," Willow says, locking eyes with me. It's the first time we've been able to talk about it since coming through the wormhole, and I'm relieved to know I'm not alone in feeling it. Keptana turns to us, a deep frown on his face.

"I've never heard of the vibrations. Evana, did you feel this?" he asks.

"I did physically feel my powers returning, as we went through the wormhole, but now I feel normal," Evana replies.

"Interesting..." Keptana says, becoming lost in thought. He quickly opens up his tablet, tapping down notes. Willow and I share a look.

"What's interesting?" I ask.

Keptana doesn't look up. "Despite the genetic theory being the most supported theory of magic, it's not everything. There may be an environmental or atmospheric quality that is needed for magic. It's not fully supported because it's highly improbable that there is a single physical quality on ten planets throughout nine star systems including throughout the vacuum of space that contributes to the use of magic. The answer is clearly complex, because us losing our magic in Earth's system supported the atmospheric theory, but the five of you developing magic on Earth refuted it. Your claims that you physically felt a change coming into the Realms supports it again. The answer must be right in front of our faces, but we can't see it because we're so used to it..." Keptana trails off and finishes typing.