Author Romeru
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Chapter 67: Love and Daemons
🕑 Added 2024-11-27 16:44:12 +0000 UTC“This… feels so extra?”
When they were told they would be escorted, Ellie initially thought Victoria would simply guide them—but it turned out to be an entire convoy. Of course, that wasn’t even the most extravagant part.
A literal red carpet was rolled out, leading them to their vehicle.
“Doesn’t it feel like… we’re celebrities?” Ellie whispered, hesitating to even step on the carpet. “Well, I know you’re some kind of celebrity now… but if I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve worn something more formal than a short dress.”
“I think you look beautiful, Ellie.”
“Thank—Hey!” Ellie lightly pushed Julian away, but her soft giggle betrayed her playful irritation. She quickly looped her arm around his, pulling him close.
“But that car…” Ellie narrowed her eyes as they approached the vehicle. Its design was sleek, its surface reflecting the sky so perfectly that it appeared almost invisible. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind before.”
“I wasn’t aware you knew a lot about cars,” Julian whispered.
“Uh!? I used to have a car, remember? I can at least recognize the cars I’ve seen in the air!”
Ellie’s hesitance lingered as they neared the luxurious vehicle. Victoria, noticing this, stepped ahead and gestured for them to proceed.
“And you would be right, Ms. Summers,” Victoria said with a polite smile. “This is Humanity Engineering’s company vehicle—both capable of atmospheric and interstellar travel.”
The car doors opened automatically as she spoke, revealing an interior that made even the lavish hotel they had stayed in pale in comparison. It was more like stepping into a private suite than a vehicle.
Ellie’s eyes lit up at the sight, and she wasted no time pulling Julian inside. She gently helped him settle into one of the plush seats before her gaze darted around the interior as she marveled at every detail.
“It… really feels like we’re VIPs, Julian,” she whispered.
Victoria, clearly overhearing her, smiled as the car doors began to close. “It is because you are, Ms. Summers—you are a category 3 person, and Mr. Winters is a category 5.”
“Category what now?” Ellie leaned forward, peering at Victoria in confusion, but the doors had already closed, leaving her question unanswered.
“What’s… with that?” Ellie narrowed her eyes as she moved closer to Julian, “They put people in categories? I’ve heard a lot of bad things about Humanity Engineering on the net… maybe they’re actually true?”
Julian did not really know how to respond to that at all, and Ellie just once again chuckled as she relaxed in her seat and started fiddling with everything. She did, however, stop when the previously fully tinted windows and moonroof uncovered the world outside… and they had actually already left Earth.
“I… didn’t even feel it.” Ellie gasped as she looked outside. But while she wasn’t feeling anything, Julian was feeling it all; his senses were picking up on every minute motion, causing him to just sit still.
“Hmn…” Ellie, of course, noticed that immediately as she returned to his side, placing his arms around her so that he would stop tapping it on his knee, “We’re already in space...is MEGAN describing you what we’re seeing now?”
“Yes.” Julian started to relax as the sound of Ellie’s heart beating drummed, he felt it resounding through his entire body even more so than her warmth, “And I somewhat have an image in my mind of what you’re seeing—I saw flowers very much like it.”
“Flowers…?” Ellie’s voice started to become quiet, “That… sounds romantic. Did you see it in the Otherworld?”
“Hm.” Julian hummed as he brushed his fingers across Ellie’s hair.
“...I wonder if I could also join you there someday.” Ellie sighed as she rested her head on his chest, “I want you to see me.”
“I see you, Ellie. You’re already all I see.”
“Hmn…” Ellie closed her eyes as she tightened her fingers around Julian’s thick and dense arm.
[I would appreciate it if you did not try to have sexual intercourse inside the car.] This solemn and peaceful moment, however, was interrupted by Victoria’s voice,
[Might I suggest that you look at the sights instead, Ms. Summers?]
“Wha—” Ellie immediately pulled herself away, her face turning red with embarrassment. She opened her mouth to respond, but her words were stolen as her gaze locked onto the window displaying the colorful planet they were passing by. Her breath caught, her earlier fluster forgotten.
“...We’re already passing Mars?”
Due to Martian land laws, the nature and wildlife of the planet have been preserved from the time it was fully terraformed—it was humanity’s first attempt, and it held a very special place in history.
The real estate was also much higher, and most of the people who buy land there also prefer to keep it one with nature, unlike Earth which has already completely integrated technology into its roots, quite literally.
“You know… I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if we were born on Mars.” Ellie sighed.
“You… were born on Mars.”
“You know what I mean.” Ellie groaned, “My parents had to move to Earth when they had me and all that stuff.”
“Hm…” Julian hummed, “Your life might have been better if you stayed on Mars.”
“Pft, no. Not a chance.” Ellie violently shook her head as she once again rested her entire body on Julian, “Then I wouldn’t have met you. I would take all the suffering and heartaches as long as I can be with you, Julian. And I know… I know that you can never love me the way I want you to love me, and that’s okay. That’s fine…
…I will love enough for the both of us.”
Julian did not really respond, and instead just rested his cheek on Ellie’s head; the two of them, just letting the sound of their hearts speak for them.
After several more minutes of this silence, another gasp escaped Ellie’s lips as she stared outside. How could she not, when the previously vast emptiness of space suddenly gave way to an enormous—no, to a colossal structure?
It was a ring that seemed to stretch endlessly. Lights and energy pulsated across its surface like veins, but that was not what made Ellie gasp, it was what was inside the ring.
“Is that… the Radiant Gate?” Ellie leaned forward in her seat.
[Yes,] Victoria’s voice once again hovered inside the cabin, [One of humanity’s greatest achievements, constructed in the last quarter of the 7th Millennium—it has allowed humanity to travel the cosmos, making a distance of hundreds of thousands of lightyears of travel in a single second.]
“Huh…” Ellie’s awe deepened. “I’ve only seen it in documentaries. We were supposed to visit it back in school but it was canceled.”
The Radiant Gate shimmered, and Julian felt the subtle vibrations that were seeping from it even though it was still tens of thousands of kilometers away from their vehicle. And as they got closer and closer, MEGAN, who had been keeping quiet the entire time, popped up from the car’s holographic display.
[Victoria here also forgot to mention that the invention of the Radiant Gates also led to the surfacing of the Daemons,] MEGAN said while raising a finger, [It is believed that the daemons have detected Earth and humanity due to the energy signatures it emitted.]
[Because that has not been proven.] Victoria followed up.
[You are only saying that because Humanity Engineering can be connected to the company that developed the Radiant Gates.] MEGAN scoffed.
[I will not participate in this debate.]
[That’s righ—]
[Mr. Winters, Ms. Summers.] Victoria did not let MEGAN speak again, the volume of her voice rising as she addressed Julian and Ellie instead, [You will feel a brief shift in gravity—and since I have been made aware that this is your first time passing through the Radiant Gate, you will feel slightly disoriented.]
As they got even closer to the Radiant Gate, the vehicle slowed and everything began to vibrate. There were other ships there, some even larger than the buildings back on Earth—but no matter how big they were, as soon as they passed through the inside of the ring, they disappeared.
The inside of the Radiant Gate did not seem special at all, it just felt and looked like a black hole. Well, not necessarily a black hole, but a void…
…very much similar to the one that just appeared on Earth.
***
Back in the DCC, the chaos that had once plagued it was now almost non-existent. Well, that is if you only look at them—if one were to actually listen with their ears, one would hear how loud everyone was breathing.
And everyone’s breaths were stuttered, and most of their feet were tapping the floor in either anticipation, fear… or both.
The monitors which were previously showing different feeds were now all synchronized to just show one single feed—its point of view, the circular void where the daemons were coming from.
Of course, unlike the Radiant Gate, there was a twirling vortex of… something dancing along the portal’s silhouette; faint streaks of violet and crimson, perhaps a visual representation of how ominous the inside would be.
“T-minus 1 minute,” a technician reported, his voice slightly trembling as he watched the portal grow closer and closer. And as the screen was filled with nothing but black, everyone held their breaths.
The screen distorted momentarily, a violent static crackling as the drone finally passed through the portal. And for a very brief moment, everyone was truly, completely silent.
None of them really knew if this was going to work, or if they were even going to see something inside. They’ve already attached several wires to the drone since their wireless feed might not work at all, but they were still unsure if it would actually survive in the first place.
But soon, the screen lit up again, revealing a barren, and alien landscape. Alien—that was really the only thing they could describe it as.
Even with humanity’s experience with space travel, even with the millions of planets they have landed on—the place they were seeing on the screen right now was completely alien.
“Releasing Survey Drone.” The technician broke the silence. And soon, at the very center of the DCC, a holographic map of the surrounding area lit up… and everyone just stared at it.
“What… is this place?”
Jagged rocks were jutted from the ground, almost like the spines of a colossal beast—and maybe it was? But that wasn’t what made everyone just freeze and stare in awe, no. It was the mass of rocks and debris floating in the air.
From the data they were receiving from their drone, the gravity of the plane was higher than Earth’s… and yet boulders as large as cars were floating in the air?
“And once again, humanity discovers change.” Dr. Heinz stared from above, “What do you think about this, Dr. Ling? Uh… Dr. Ling?”
Dr. Heinz looked around for his partner, only to see her down the control area along with the other scientists and technicians.
“Where…” Dr. Ling’s voice trembled, “...Where are the daemons who keep emerging from the Portal? Where are the daemons!?”
Dr. Ling then changed one of the monitors back to the outside, only for everyone to see daemons still crawling and flying out of the portal—and yet it was relatively peaceful on the other side.
“Uhm… the survey drone is picking up a weird energy signature.” The technician announced.
“Pull it up. Quick!”
The map of the mysterious plane zoomed in on a sort of…
“Is that… a tower?” Dr. Ling blinked a couple of times as she stared at the structure, “That’s… that’s a building. That would mean that… did the daemons build it? But they’re supposed to be mindless creatures. Wait… just…”
“Calm down.” And finally, Dr. Heinz also left the observation deck overseeing the entire DCC, placing his hand on Dr. Ling’s shoulder to calm her down, “We don’t know anything yet.”
“And that’s what’s scary.” Dr. Ling smiled nervously, “Can we get a read on the tower? We need more data on this, it—”
And before Dr. Ling could finish her words, the screen turned black and the hologram disappeared.
“What happened!?”
“A daemon swiped the drone!” The technician roared, “We lost the connection!”
“Then send in more drones! We—no…” Dr. Ling’s voice suddenly lowered as she glanced at her partner, “...Drones won’t be enough, we need a human inside the portal. I’ll go in.”
“What?” Dr. Heinz’s eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists, “Are you crazy?”
“I won’t be going alone!” Dr. Ling removed her coat as she just rushed away,
“I’ll… take one of the Exterminator teams with me!”
[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]
AUTHOR NOTES
You know, though... Julian and Ellie could either be the most toxic couple, or the sweetest one. lol. There's no in between the two.
And also, do holler up if you notice any mistake!
Comments
Korrasis
“This is Humanity Engineering’s company vehicle—both capable of atmospheric and interstellar travel.” should be "capable of both".
Manpapper
Thanks for the chapter
IdolTrust
It would be funny if the real Erin is alive and she is the head of Humanity Engineering. Because it seems shadow blacksmiths can forge reality at the cost of being consumed by the very material they use to create with.
Rommel Sabido
Muehehe. Something exciting happening in the background.
TLF
TFTC! That's an evil set of cliff hangers to leave the chapter on lmao
Rommel Sabido
Yeah, still 50/50 on these Humanity Engineering guys. lol
Maquiavelis
TFTC here's to hoping he gets the vip treatment all the way and they don't switch it to the lab rat treatment Halfway lol
