Convergent Realms

II

Her brother came to wake her first.

Oliver was soft in doing it, trying to get her up quickly but without much discomfort. His efforts were rewarded, and Sandra was awake in a matter of minutes. Her eyes had to adjust to the dimly lit cottage, but she could tell something wasn't right. Oliver's face was twisted into something unreadable, which would only happen if he wanted her to see something for herself.

"C'mon Sandra, you have to see this!" he said, and she was less worried now that she could see he was excited about it. He led them both out the door of their small home, and she could immediately see what happened. The view from the mountains, the final Step, was beautiful normally, with anyone living there being able to see all of the land, but tonight it was obstructed by an eyesore, to understate it.

At the edge of the forest, at the very bottom of the world, a small fire had broken out. That was the least of it, it seemed, as there was also a large object lodged into the ground where a cluster of trees would normally be. The object itself had to be huge, as it was easily visible (once your eyes adjusted) from all the way over here. The fire was spreading, but she couldn't make out if people were down there.

Uncontrollably, and without any warning, she started sobbing. Oliver's expression turned into something much more readable, and he came over to comfort her, although he was sure over what, the explosion looked really cool! He wrapped his arms around her, and although he was much smaller, he did manage to get his arms all the way around her. They stood there for what seemed like forever, hugging as the sun rose over a broken world.

Eventually, they really had no choice but to wake up their mom, who questioned why they were even out of bed to begin with. A barrage of excuses came her way, their mom just waved them off and started to get up and see what all the commotion was about. Another five minutes went by, and all three of them were out there with the sunrise, marveling at the new scenery. Yes, it was exactly what they didn't need at the worst possible time, but it looked quite pretty.

They stood there for what could only have been a few minutes until they saw a figure running at them in the distance. "It's Dad!" Oliver exclaimed, and it was indeed Dad. He ran faster than any other time Sandra had seen him, which concerned her, but she and the rest of the family were soon enveloped by a large hug and her worries melted away. It was explained by him that since he worked the night shift at the quarry, he saw the object as it landed.

"Everyone was wishing on it like it was a star, then it came into better view, and no one spoke." he gushed, obviously happy that his entire family was safe. They all knew this would mean horrible, horrible things for anyone living near the forest when it happened, and anyone who tried to save them, however selfish as it was, they were simply happy that they were safe.

When the hug was over, they stood there for several moments longer. The parents both kept the smiles they had on their faces from the hug, but they stopped being genuine and simply existed to give Sandra and Oliver comfort. Sandra couldn't blame them, after all, how do you break the news to your kids that the world is going to plunge into chaos? Especially with Oliver being ten and her being fourteen. Sure, she was starting to really get the gravity of the situation that they were in, but she still had a bit of idealization.

Something felt wrong though. Oh, ten and a half! She thought. Oliver always annoying clarified that he was ten and a half when she would call him ten. Such a fun little kid. She didn't want to see him grow up. Yeah, she wanted someone she could relate to more, for sure, but she had friends for that. Oliver was different.

Her thoughts trailed away from that, and then she realized that everyone else had gone in. It was just her, the rising sun, and flames on the horizon. Her parents had probably put Oliver back to bed and decided that it would be easier to let Sandra have her own choice. They were probably talking about how horrible things were going to get after all this. Yes, every race needed each other, but people still did stupid things. Orves didn't really have the advantage either. Sure, stone was a better building material than stone, so they didn't trade for wood all that much, but they still needed water, and humans were known to be reluctant about that since they probably had the most useful resource.

It was all a big mess, but everyone was co-dependent, so it would all work out, right? Sandra's only consolation was that the Orves had the strongest army, in case it really got that bad. But still, they wouldn't let women join, and that seriously handicapped them. For people who were supposedly wise, why are the Orves so ignorant?

Who even started that rumor? Where are all of these wise Orves? Are they diplomats? That would make sense, wouldn't it? Well, if the diplomats were wise, then we wouldn't have to worry about this whole crisis. But Mom and dad are still worried!

Sandra watched as the sun rose over the beautiful steps, three sections of nature that all of the worlds inhabit. At least overpopulation wouldn't be a problem anytime soon. But wait, what even is that thing? It isn't a meteor, those are round.

This thing is more square-ish in shape, but not a square. And it's got all these jagged things that stick out on way, and it's got parts that aren't metal. That was pretty much all she could see from there. She made a vow that she would make her way to that thing, no matter how long it took.

Then she went to bed.