Eyes of the Galaxy---Aelore Tomes Book 1

Chapter 1

      Thousands of stars permeated her vision. They twinkled like the familiarity of long lost friends. To her, it felt as if it had been ages since she last saw any stars, and never this many among the night sky. 

    The stars seemed to dance and pulse with a life long since extinct, singing their ancient songs along the radiant amethyst and indigo hues of the silent void called the Milky Way. She saw the planets in their silent parade around the dying star of the sun.

As she floated weightlessly, in awe of the splendor, she willed her body to move forward. Something deep inside her yearned to be among the starry galaxy. To lose herself. To be as one with it. To join the silent, starry dancers.

Her body was pulled towards those stars by an unknown force. Her eyes welled up with tears as the majesty of the stars got closer inch by inch. "Who are you?"Echoed a strange voice coming from all around her, breaking through the vast silence. Though it had a voice, it seemed to be made up of hundreds of different voices echoing the same question into her mind. Before she could respond, two pairs of eyes appeared in front of her, one a deep amethyst and the other a deep indigo, seemingly made of millions of the dying stars, boring into her soul and through her as if she did not exist.

"Who are you?" It begged the question again, though this time only with a single voice.

      Tera Ward's eyes snapped open, heart pounding so loud it resounded in her ears like echoes of war drums. Her body trembled as if electrified, and her lungs and throat burned as she gasped for air. Drenched in sweat, her eyes frantically darted about the room to find something familiar. Anything. The darkness in the room surrounded her, but the question still resounded in her mind like echoes of a canyon.

"Who are you?" A small voice seemed to whisper through the darkness.

      Heart still racing, she reached out and pulled the cord. With a click, the lamp on the nightstand beside her bed snapped on, illuminating the room, the almost barren, square coffin-like room, that in that moment felt like a familiar friend. The room was sparsely furnished, just like the other rooms in the colony.

"More of these weird dreams. At least they are consistent with their strangeness." Tera said to herself, slowly calming her breathing.

Continuing to take steady, deep breaths, she ran her still-shaky hands through her long, dark hair, still matted from sleep. Sitting up on her tiny cot, she stared at the wall for a moment, longing for just a simple night of good sleep; one with no dreams. She only knew one way to get that, and it wasn't time yet. He would meet her soon. As her body began to relax, her pulse slowed, and she felt sleep whispering its sweet song to her, like a lullaby, and she began to drift again.

Tera stood in a place that looked like it was made entirely of marble, except for a door. The door looked as if it was carved from pure gold. It was radiant and almost glowed in stark contrast to the rest of the room. The door boasted the most splendid and intricate designs, unlike anything Tera had ever seen in her life. A thick, frothy mist churned near the floor, rolling over her ankles, and across the floor of the room.

The room was empty, except for the mist, herself, and the one big, golden door. The walls of sleek marble protected the nearly windowless circular room. Above, a skylight let in gentle shimmers, and a soft glow of indigo and amethyst that illuminated the room. Tera found it a magnificent sight. The ceiling looked as if it were meticulously carved out of the marble, the skylight spanning the entirety of the room. Through the skylight shone the galaxy in all its glory.