The Irangel | Prequel Story |

Chapter 11 ~ The Glass Building

Ten months passed since they've been together. Tori waited until the day she chose as her last day to be human before she finally decided to tell Nate her Iredescent secret. It was the end of summer, with fall on the approach. Sunlight flowed through the forest, the trees vibrant and green. The glass building was entirely invisible due to Iredescent invisibility camouflage technology, but Tori knew exactly where it was and had no trouble finding it. She used that Iredescent technology to hide the glass building and part of her German mansion where the stolen ship was hidden.

Nate stared at the glass building, touching it for the first time. Tori showed him the main entrance from the ceiling of a storage room, telling him it'll become the main entrance once she becomes an Iredescent. For now, there was a hidden glass side door on the office side of the building. She planned to seal it in sometime after her transformation.

Tori showed him the secret file with Tereza Rejkavik. She showed him her documented flight path with footage of her space travel, how she evaded the massive floating trash, and a rare glimpse of breaking through Iredescent atmosphere before the Iredescents cut off the feed. She told him of the Iredescents and how she wanted so much to become one. She showed him the two dead Iredescents, the stolen Iredescent ship, the cylinders, all her work built from her hopes and dreams.

Nate stood in shocked silence for a while. He was utterly stunned and unable to say a word. The sight of real aliens shocked him the most. He found it incredibly hard to believe that the sweet fun beautiful woman he loved had sparkly dead aliens hidden in the basement room of a glass building specifically designed for her secret research and study of Iredescent. What was more unnerving was that she killed them herself and freely admitted to doing so.

He stared numbly at her notes, her plans for becoming the first human to turn into an Iredescent. He couldn't understand her passionate desire to become one; wings and sparkly skin didn't intrigue him the way it intrigued Tori. What did intrigue him was how Tori managed to go into space, travel towards a foreign planet, actually see the planet in person and even talk with the human-like aliens, somehow being able to understand them, then returning safely back to Earth, accomplishing everything by herself.

She's the most dedicated woman I've ever met, Nate thought in profound amazement. Down to how many burlap sacks of apples lay beneath the storage room entrance, the carefully implemented use of Iredescent invisibility camouflage technology, to the exterior part of the glass building, the well-preserved golden caskets, the making of the cylinders and materials, the passion evident in her work.

Everything was ready; there was just one request, spoken with unfathomable desire.

"You want me to turn you into an Iredescent?" Nate asked in a mixture of confusion and astonishment.

Tori nodded eagerly. "Yes, Nate. You're the only one I trust."

Nate ran a hand through his hair, thinking about it. "What if it goes wrong?" he finally asked.

"Then I'll know at least we tried," Tori said in response. Seeing Nate's doubts, she added, "My whole life, I dreamed of being able to accomplish more than I ever could in my lifetime. Becoming someone powerful like an Iredescent will help me achieve my dreams. Ever since I was a child, I've always wanted to fly. I searched for a way and I finally found it. Help me fly, Nate."

Nate slowly wrapped Tori in an embrace, holding her for a long time. "I don't want anything to happen to you," he said, worried.

"The only thing that'll happen to me is becoming an Iredescent," Tori said, kissing him. "I made sure the process is safe. I'll be unconscious for a while, but when I wake up, I'll still be me. The only difference is I'll have wings and sparkly skin. The process is safe; it's just never been tested."