Advent of the Dragon - Book 1: Destiny's Call

Chapter 13: The Space Chase

I walked through the portal and into what was almost instant death.

I took a step through, bracing myself for either a huge fall into the next dimension like before, or perhaps something new like a trap or some treacherous ground that I would unknowingly step into. What I got was neither.

There was no trap. There was no treacherous ground with dangerous conditions. There was no massive fall that would hurt or even kill us. There wasn't even an enemy there waiting for us. In fact, there wasn't even a setting! There wasn't any kind of object or scenery anywhere—just pure darkness. No ground, no atmosphere, no gravity. It was just a big black vacuum.

I was floating just in front of Kevin and Zoey, completely still, in the middle of nowhere. At first, we didn't know what was going on or what Rallix was planning.

Not until one of us dared to take a breath.

Then we realized exactly where we were; it was Outer Space! Where there wasn't any kind of atmosphere or air within a several hundred light-year radius! As soon as Kevin tried to breathe, I could see the sudden shock and terror in his eyes as he failed to absorb any air and grabbed his throat in desperation for it.

Already we were running out of breath!

Oh man, this is it! Rallix isn't kidding this time! He's zapped us straight into outer space, and there's no air for us to breathe for God knows how far! I don't see how we can get out of this. We're done for!

Ugh, I should've known. He's had the power to do this all along. If he really wanted to quit toying with us, he could've done that any time he wanted. We never had a chance.

No. This can't be it! There's got to be a way out of this. There has to be a way…

There has to…

My time was nearly up. I could already see Kevin and Zoey's consciousness giving way, while my vision started to fade as well. I could feel my lungs tightening to the point where I felt as though my chest would implode. I could feel the blood slowing to a stop inside my body. Soon, I could feel my consciousness giving way as well. At this point, I knew it was hopeless. This was the end.

POOF!

Suddenly, our entire atmosphere changed around us! The vast cosmos we had just found ourselves in was no more, and we were suddenly in a place with gravity and oxygen! It wasn't until all three of us hit the ground with a THUD, gasping for breath and laying there on all fours, that we eventually saw what it was.

"Okay…" Kevin began, "Were we just—"

"In space," Zoey confirmed, "Yes."

"Man!" said Kevin, "No wonder we couldn't breathe! Rallix definitely isn't fucking around this time."

"Okay," I said, "So if he tried to kill us by doing THAT, then where are we now, and why?"

Zoey was the first to look up.

"I think we're still in space."

"What?" I said, confused, "But—"

"Just look."

I stood up as well. All it took was a split second to realize what had really happened. We hadn't gone to a different place. A different place had come to us. It was a spaceship!

"So this spaceship just … appeared around us?" I said, "Why would Rallix do that? He just had us."

"He wouldn't," she said, "Like we both said before, someone out there has been helping us."

"And you're saying THAT person just saved our lives by giving us this ship?" said Kevin.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."