TA Chapter 7 The Stars
Luthor Dugavu(POV)
The night sky had various lights, like the stars, twinkling within my gaze. The single moon that orbited our planet was out in all its glory tonight, bathing the balcony within its silvery light. The night breeze that occasionally played with my coat was cool and felt just right upon my skin, and within my lungs as I took a deep breath.
I had specifically ordered for the balcony to be devoid of any light fixtures this night. My heart swelled as I gazed at the sphere above, beaming down it's cold light at the planet. It was simply too beautiful! The tiny wrinkle in this beauty was the occasional cacophony of sounds carried into my ears by the breeze from below.
I settled my elbows onto the railing, my gaze moving to the lights below that sprawled all the way into the distance where even more powerful lights crawled along the walls of the fortress, turning night into day at that location. I had told them they could switch off the inner facing lights since there would be no attacks, but it seemed that soldiers' fears would take a while to vanish.
I turned away from the lights and leaned my back against the railing, raised my glass and took a sip of the liquid within. A sweat taste danced among my taste buds before my throat endured the scorch after the liquid slid down into my stomach, which also became warm, temporarily banishing the night chill.
My mind traveled to the past, to the time when the night had had yet to envelop the land in its blanket of darkness. I had thought that the speeches would be short, yet Dan Mpologoma had gone on to ramble on until Snow had saved us. There had been many times I had wanted to stand up and shove the microphone up his ass but, I was both a coward and patient when things didn't concern me directly.
I took another sip from the glass and gazed at the tall glass frames before me. The curtains were down, but the sounds of conversation and piano music still made their way into my ears, even if muffled.
I was supposed to enter inside, chat and listen to those people. The experience of welcoming some of those inside was still fresh within my mind. It was something I didn't want to go through another time, yet it was something that couldn't be ignored. Even if 99% of the people inside would simply be uttering nonsensical flatteries and asking for things I couldn't give, there was the 1% that needed my attention, the people I needed because of what they could bring to the table, and those that had great proposals needing my attention.
I raised my glass to take another sip yet liquid failed to slide into my mouth, prompting me to take a look only to find that the glass was empty. I could go back inside and refill it from one of the tables, but I still wanted to avoid my responsibilities, even if only for a few seconds.
I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and held it in, trying to feel the dark energy that was supposed to be ubiquitous. This wasn't the first time I had tried, nor would it be the last. I was very certain of that. Beasts could sense and use it, yet we humans couldn't even feel it unless it became attuned and only if it was thick enough to be visible. And even then, contact with it was detrimental to the human body.
I exhaled and opened my eyes before I started pacing from one side to the other upon the tiled floor of the spacious balcony.
It had been proven that beasts and us shared the same origins yet for some reason, we had diverged into a species that couldn't absorb dark energy. It was as puzzling as it was frustrating.
Sometimes I envied the simple minded folk among us. They didn't have to worry about the same problems I did. Apparently, it was the curse of knowledge, so I had been told.
Most felt that weapons were enough to handle them. There was nothing wrong with that idea as we were still nascent in dark energy usage. Technology based on dark energy was a budding field and yet we had already defeated the beasts on our continent. But it still gnawed at me that we couldn't absorb it into our bodies!
I had dissected so many beasts and plants. I had seen the advantages of dark energy. It sped up evolution and created new traits that wouldn't exist in a universe without it. Then there was the life extension. A mere bean plant had a lifespan of about three months yet could last for an entire year when dark energy entered the equation. It wasn't just about increasing the age. The pods would get bigger and the plant would become lush. Some flowering plants had even reached a level where the longer the fruit stayed unharvested, the better it's effects and nutrients. Of course, that was only relative to the beasts. Past a certain threshold, it would be poisonous to us humans.
My steps stopped echoing against the tiles when I reached the western end of the balcony. I simply stood there and crossed my arms on my chest.
What made me the most envious of the various fauna and flora was simply the fact that their evolution had so far shown that it was limitless... In plants, that was somewhat manageable, but in beasts... That was terrifying!
I shivered at the cold that radiated from within. So far, no one else apart from those in my research team had noticed that fact. Or maybe they had, just that they chose to ignore the implications, because then, they would have to confront the cold cold reality of the situation and ask the question that everyone else seemed to be avoiding...
'Could humanity handle an invasion from the seas?'
Before I could delve further into my mind, my overthinking was abruptly cut short when the creaking of hinges entered my ears. My gaze abruptly snapped to the two long glass doors. A headfull of shiny hair peeked out, turning, scanning the balcony before those eyes locked into mine.
Since this had been so unexpected, I did what every overthinker did when the unexpected happened, I lagged. I froze! This had been supposed to be my private alcove!
The door opened wider and the rest of the person's body stepped out fully, mesmerizing my eyes with the shimmer of her dress as it caught the light from the moon.
I coughed into my palm when my brain finally managed to thaw itself.
'It seems like I will have to interact with her. Mmmmm... How should I go about this? I need to appear polite, yet also distant.'
Though, there was something familiar about her features. The moonlight wasn't doing any favors for my vision but I was starting to suspect that her hair was golden.
"M-Mr. Luthor! I-I is an honor to meet you. I-I am sorry if I interrupted you. I can leave..." she stuttered out. Her mouth had moved, yet her steps appeared to be glued in place, her gaze holding hope, and her hands fidgeting with her dress. Was she nervous?
"Oh! There is no interruption. I had been wondering how long it would take for someone to stumble upon this place. And it seems, I won the bet against myself!" I chuckled, though didn't feel it really, just wanted to try and lighten the mood as clearly, the girl would faint if I stayed silent.
"What's your name?" I asked after a few seconds had elapsed since her nervous laugh in response to my lighten-the-atmosphere attempt.
"R-Ril Milena."
"Ah! Ravena's daughter! I do believe I got a look at you earlier during the speeches." I said while my legs carried me over to the long railing. She had inherited all of her mother's signature features except for her beauty. She was a plain face that would quickly be drowned in a crowd if it weren't for the golden hair and pupils.
I felt her hesitant steps before she joined me, gazing into the jungle of lights below.
"Wow! This-This is beautiful!" she exclaimed loudly.
"The stars and the moon are even better." I said, pointing to the sky while my eyes shifted to her.
"Beautiful! Do you see that collection of stars there? One of them is the Muliro galaxy, the closest one to ours."
I followed her fingers to a triangle of stars, one of them brighter than the other two.
"What is a galaxy?" the term was unfamiliar.
"A galaxy is a collection of Star systems revolving around an unknown mass in the center." she explained, and I felt my jaw unhinge itself.
"A-And how many star systems can one galaxy have?"
"Millions!"
I inhaled deeply at that answer. She had actually confirmed that there were thousands of Star systems around us! And all of them, including ours, were rotating around an unknown mass?! How large was the universe?!
"That's odd! That star shouldn't exist!" she exclaimed, and I followed her gaze to a star, just like all the others. Though, I didn't refute her. She was the expert after all.