Unlikely Love

17

I floated there in the vast vacuum of space, suspended in the void’s familiar emptiness. It was strangely comforting, the quiet hum of nothingness wrapping around me like a blanket. I wasn’t sure how long I stayed there—probably a day or so—waiting for that fuzzy, unsettling feeling in my stomach to disappear. Time seemed meaningless here.

Eventually, I curled into a ball, drawing my wings close around me, their soft glow offering the only light in the dark expanse. I covered my ears with my hands, as though I could block out the silence that pressed down on me. The void was empty, yet my mind wasn’t. The anxiety, the confusion—all of it lingered. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shake off the feeling that clung to me, seeking some sense of peace in the vastness.

amidst the quiet of the void, I felt a gentle yet persistent tug around my ankle. It was soft at first, like the brush of a feather, but steady enough to pull me from my floating position. The sensation was almost soothing, wrapping around me with a guiding pull, like a tether slowly reeling me back to reality. I barely registered it, half asleep, letting the void cradle me as the pull grew stronger.

Without fully waking, I was gently guided toward a portal that appeared out of nowhere. The transition was seamless—one moment I was drifting in the comforting darkness of the void, and the next, I was being pulled through the portal. The softness of the tug made it easy to surrender to sleep again, my mind too tired to fight.

When I finally woke, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar space. The room around me was stark and clean—white walls with accents of red, a drastic contrast to the endless blackness I had just left behind. The brightness of it all disoriented me, as if my eyes couldn’t adjust quickly enough from the void’s comforting dark to the overwhelming whiteness of my brother's guest bedroom. I blinked a few times, trying to shake off the confusion, the shift from void to server jarring in its abruptness.

My brother must have pulled me out, sensing that I had spent enough time in isolation. But the contrast between the worlds was dizzying. I took a deep breath, the crisp, sterile air of the room filling my lungs, still trying to adjust to the sudden shift.

The air was still thin, my lungs having grown used to the void's weightlessness, which was a sure sign I was in my brother's base. I glanced out the window and saw it was late, the soft glow of the server's nighttime settling over the landscape. Carefully, I rose from the bed, my limbs still stiff from the transition, and made my way to the door. I needed water—something grounding after my time in the void.

Padding down the hallway, I quietly entered the kitchen, but something caught my eye in the living room. My brother was there, encased in his familiar translucent green admin bubble, hard at work. The glow of the bubble’s surface softly illuminated the space, casting an eerie, greenish hue on the walls. I knew from experience that those bubbles were soundproof—perfect for the concentration he needed for admin tasks.

On the sofa nearby, there was a sleeping figure, half-covered by a blanket. I couldn’t make out who it was, but I instinctively moved more quietly, not wanting to disturb them. The gentle rise and fall of their breathing was the only sound in the otherwise still room. Whoever it was, they were deep in sleep, and I wasn’t about to be the one to wake them.

I made my way to the kitchen as silently as possible, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water, the coolness of the glass offering some comfort. The rhythmic sound of the water filling the glass was oddly soothing, a stark contrast to the quietness of the void and now the stillness of my brother's base.

As I stood there, sipping the cool water, I heard the soft shuffle of blankets coming from the sofa. My ears perked up, and I paused for a moment, listening closely. There was some faint mumbling—indistinct but enough for me to catch the tone. It was groggy and low, barely breaking the quiet of the room. Whoever it was shifted slightly before falling back into sleep, their breathing steady once again.