Linked Worlds | Other Dimensions #1

Four - Sequana

© 2021 Calliope Night. All rights reserved.

"How bad could it possibly get?"

***

Sia was halfway through drawing the letters when a loud thud made her jump. Before she had time to react, her older sister, Hemera, started yelling "SIA! LEMME IN!"

"NO! JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT," Sia yelled as she made her way over to the door.

"Come down to my stretch of the beach in ten minutes."

"Why should I?"

"Because I told you to?" Hemera said in a 'duh' tone.

"Hmmm, let me think about it," Sia dragged out, "No, I don't think I will."

"Actually I think you will."

"Why? What're you going to do huh?"

"Because if you don't, you're going to miss the chance to fly my new FDH1028 drone."

"Mera, are you serious?!" She asked as she flung the door open.

"I'll see you at the beach in 10!" Hemera said before running away.

"Wait what?"

"If you don't come you don't get to fly it!"

Sia sighed as she slammed the door shut. Sometimes she wondered who the older sibling was. Hemera was always extremely hyperactive and annoying. Not that Sia didn't love her, just that she could be exceptionally infuriating if she tried, and she tried. Very hard.

Sia really wanted to stay and finish translating the letters. However, the urge to fly the drone was even greater. She knew that Hemera would never let up the chance to put her through the tourture of exercise, but it was mid-summer, and she promised not to ruin her summer.

How bad could it possibly get?

***

It was an absolute nightmare.

Yes, Sia got to fly the drone, and that part was amazing for her. Hemera's main goal was to get Sia to take a video of her surfing using the drone. That being said, the seemingly never-ending laps, among other things, in the scorching sun were awful. Sia was expecting a medium-light workout at worst, not an entire endurance routine! Just so she could fly the drone.

As soon as she got back to her room, she showered and slipped on a t-shirt and some shorts. Feeling a little energised, she decided to go re-read one of the books she had scanned the previous night. She picked up her tablet and sat by the bay window before she began to read.

Sia's eyes snapped open when she heard a loud buzzing sound, it was dinner time, she had dozed off halfway through the book. When she got to her feet, still a bit drowsy, she made her way down to eat. Dinner was her favorite, alfredo pasta, and a few sausages, with a baked apple rose for dessert.

Once she was done eating, she felt more awake than ever. She rushed back to her room to continue what she was doing.

One hour and fourteen tiring minutes later, she was done. Curious and, for some reason nervous, she took a deep breath and fed the image to the translator. The output was almost immediately received:

A premonition sent by the archaic so one can envisage...
...The foursome of obscure guardians come forth to prevent this crime
And now one can meet...

It was cut off at the end. Sia frowned as she looked at the image, sure enough, she hadn't taken the picture properly and left part of the script out. After a moment of thought, she decided to just take the translator with her when she went into the tunnels. It would be easier to have the machine just directly scan the part that was left out.

***

The clock struck midnight, Lucy started beeping, Sia stopped the sound, threw the caplet on over her comfy lavender tank top and black leggings, and put on the same sandals. Making her way over to the library and, with the help of the map on Lucy, she tried to figure out which way to go. She silently cursed herself for not marking the place where she found the engraving on the map she had for the tunnels.

Seven wrong turns and six dead-ends later, she finally found the engraving. Carefully, she set the scanner down and let it do its job. Another two minutes and finally the entire thing was translated. Picking up the translator, she read out the last line:

"-Now one will meet holders of magic, those whose abilities depend on the bloodline"

As soon as the last word was out of her mouth, there was a blinding light and the world started spinning. Sia snapped her eyes shut and attempted to steady herself by grabbing onto a wall when all of a sudden, she couldn't feel the ground under her feet. Just as she was about to panic, her feet hit the ground, making her knees buckle. She felt like she fell from a height when the ceiling was only right above her.

She waited for the dizziness to go away before she opened her eyes, only to be greeted with darkness. She picked up Maria, whose faint glow was the only thing she could make out. Then it struck her, the walls in the tunnels were pretty reflective, even Maria's nearly unnoticeable glow was enough to light a good chunk of space up. That meant the walls around her were different.

Sia used Maria's locator to find Lucy, the torch that was built into it provided enough light for her to be able to see clearly. As she took in her surroundings, she noticed that there were cobwebs and dust everywhere. She realized she definitely wasn't in the same part of the tunnels before.

She had an ominous feeling but she brushed it off. Wanting to explore more, she just created a new map on Lucy deciding that she could link it to the other one once she made her way there. It's not like anything could possibly go wrong, after all, I'm still under my house.