月亮播放器

Chapter 101: Serolia Awaits

“Of course,” Rea answered with a yawn. “I always wake up when I say I will, unlike you.”

“Yeah, well…” Raya scratched her head. “Your room is always turned upside down, so it’s surprising to see you able to do something that requires some willpower.”

“The room just gets messed up again anyways.” Rea rubbed her tired eyes. “I don’t have control over the room, but I have control over myself, and when I wake up.”

“That makes… No sense.”

“Anyways, we can’t see Serolia yet, but our scanners can probably detect it. I have to check the atmospheric conditions and all.” Rea stretched her arms up, before heading towards the command room.

The rest of the crewmates followed her.

As soon as Rea entered the room, the Commander sighed and stood up.

“How is it?”

“Stressful.” Roka answered honestly. “I only know the basics, so anything out of the ordinary happening would have been a problem.”

“You know more than the basics.” Rea took back her usual seat. “A beginner taught by me is better than the average Navigator.”

“Sure, if you say so.”

…

“I’d like to get a view of Serolia’s surface as we land, but I can’t leave you here during landing… Especially with how frightened you were by take-off.”

The Paru scratched his chin for a bit, and the female Granilith let her head hang to the side.

“It should probably be fine though.” He shrugged and extended a hand towards her, which she quickly took.

Soon, both were out of the vault.

As they walked towards the command room, the female Granilith kept turning around again and again.

“Oh…”

The Paru noticed that the female Granilith was passing the tip of her left hand’s index finger over her right palm.

“Drawing a map over your palm? I guess that means you really like it, huh? I’m glad.”

Moments later, they arrived at the command room and,

“Finally.” Roka sighed.

“Hello!” Kris waved.

None showed a strong reaction to their appearance except,

“W-W-What is she doing here?” Jay was almost shouting “This isn’t what we agreed on-”

“Shut up about it.” Roka interrupted as she turned towards the Navigator. “Everything looks good?”

“Yep.” Rea answered without turning around, her knees on her seat. “We’ll need to get closer so that I can find the spot with the least turbulence. I’ll try to land us somewhere close to our… Lost ship. Maybe we can recover it like we did the machinery on Tyl.”

“That would be helpful.” Roka muttered, holding a hand to her chin.

It was unlikely though.

Dozens of minutes passed and,

‘Holy shit…’

As the spaceship drew closer to Serolia, the Planet could be seen a bit more clearly with each passing second.

The spaceship had been, by many times, decreased.

The Paru’s eyes widened as a formidable and frightening sight unfolded in front of him.

A vast expanse of thick, dark clouds engulfed the whole Planet of Serolia, obscuring any view of the surface, not allowing for even a glimpse of it to peer through.

Beyond the dense and dark fog, flashes of light sporadically appeared in different areas of Serolia, at different times.

The dark and gloomy clouds flashed, for a moment, blue.

In a different area, they were red.

Lightning bolts of all colors struck, piercing through the darkness, before rapidly being swallowed by it.

Gulp-

The surface that the Paru had wanted to gaze at was nowhere to be seen, hidden by the dark veil that was its thick and turbulent atmosphere.

With every flash, the male Workas felt their bodies shrivel while the female Workas felt their resolve shake.

‘This view…’ Liz clenched her fists.

‘Once again.’ Roka’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Serolia, the goal of their mission.

Win or lose.

Win, and become Heroes.

Lose, and become corpses.

There were no other choices.

Seeing that ominous spectacle for a second time, the Workas couldn’t help but remember images of their first time on that hellish planet.

The emotions of excitement and passion towards accomplishing their duty and goal that they felt the first time around were long gone. All that remained was desperation. Win, or die… Just like the rest of their comrades had.

“I can detect the signal.” Rea muttered suddenly, having located their lost ship. “Time to go through that barrier.”

Gulp-

The crewmates immediately took their usual seats, while the Paru and female Granilith filled random ones, sitting side-by-side.

Tremble- Grasp- Shake- Gulp-

Each reacted to the dark veil approaching differently.

But one thing was common between all of them, and that was holding onto their seat’s armrest with all their strength.

It truly felt like they were about to sink into pure darkness. They prepared for pushback, as if they were about to hit the surface of a black ocean.

While most closed their eyes, including the female Granilith, the Paru kept them wide open.

A gate to a new world. That’s what the immense darkness felt to him.

And, in a way, it was exactly that.

Those who had closed their eyes wouldn’t open them until the spaceship landed on the surface.

Turbulence.

They felt their bodies be rocked in every direction. They tightened their grips over their armrests as they whispered.

The female Granilith let go of her armrest and reached for the Paru’s hand, which she held for dear life as whimpers exited her mouth.

The Paru held her hand tightly, but didn’t turn towards her.

Green and red lights flashed through the darkness as they passed through the clouds.

A series of buttons were pushed by Rea in quick succession.

The spaceship started rotating, and the passengers felt the pull of gravity change directions.

And then, it was revealed.

“Wow…” Awe-struck, the Paru couldn’t help but mutter.

The Planet emerged from the darkness as the spaceship did.

He almost felt the need to squint.

Blinding lights of every color assaulted the Paru’s eyes.

Even the tiniest rays of light passing through the clouds would be reflected and refracted by the Crystals that covered the earth countless times, illuminating the land by amplifying those rays.

‘Amazing…!’

The ultimate light, shrouded and protected by the ultimate darkness.

Serolia awaits.