Chapter 1:
Just Part of the Universe: verse 1


“Excuse me? What did you just say?” The kid said in a very aghast voice. A large man was standing in front of him. The man is huge, about 6’2” tall and had a very muscular build. He was wearing some sort of weird white and green clothing. It seemed almost Asian. Like ancient Asian cloths from Japan and China. Every part of his body was cloaked in the cloths except for his face. He had large green eyes and bushy eyebrows with his black hair pulled back and braided at the ends. The man opened his mouth to speak.
“I shall repeat,” he said in a sort of monotone voice, “You are part of my race of beings, The Thule race.” Saying that, the boy just looked at him with a questionable look then put his hands on his face.
“So what your saying is,” he said; his voice being muffled by his hands, “that I’m one of you guys? ME!? I’M AN ALIEN!?” he yelled now jumping to his feat.
“Sort of.” the giant said taking a step back.
“Sort of?” the boy said mockingly. “It’s either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer here guy… personally, I think you’re out your goddamn mind.”
“I am in no way ‘out of my mind’ in this case. You are part Thusian and part Earthling. We have taken…”  
“More like kidnapped.” The boy quipped.
“…You from your foster planet and are taking you back to your home planet.”
The boy looked and stared at the man; completely bewildered, he was at a loss for words. It was such a short time ago that he was a 17 year old boy living in North Jersey, an arrogant little dipshit, with no other worries than when mom going to make the next meal. He can vividly remember when he was walking up the little path towards his house when an odd light came into view. He got more nervous as it got closer and he ran toward his house. The light of this mysterious craft was concentrated on him as he ran. He just about made it when his parents came out. The boy looked totally confused as the light was now fully concentrated on him. The ground started to shake and the wind picked up blown the trees around like in a hurricane.  He started to feel weightless as he began to be pulled toward the craft which can now be seen. It looked soft…soft and smooth. With a protruding line starting partly above the nose of the craft and extending all the way toward the two rather large sails at the back. Windows can be seen, but barely. The noise it emits was loud and sharp. It sounded like reverberations in the sounds giving it an echo effect. The boy was being pulled aboard it, screaming, he turned to look at his parents who were now waving, his dad barely able to stand up. He is then sucked into the ship which then leads to this point.
“So, what you are saying is that I’m a so called ‘Thusian,” he says making quotation marks with his fingers, “and I’m going back to my ‘home planet.’ Okay…but why?”
“Because it is almost the time for your Solaris.” The man told him. The boy face palmed himself again.
“Okay…I’m probably going to end up regretting this but, what is a ‘Solaris?”
“Solaris is the time a Thusian boy or girl meets with the ‘Tree of Elders.”
“What happens at that time?” he asked regretfully.
“Well, to be short, each of us is given a ‘Miracle Tree’ which will become our ship. Also our Thusian blood will be activated when we drink from the water around the Tree of Elders.”
“Were given a tree? Why a tree?” he asked the man. The man looked down at the boy.
“Thusian’s are bound to trees by blood. Each Thusian have a tree which gives us life-force and gives us extended life. You see Thusians live longer than earthlings, much, much longer. By having a tree Thusians are able to remain in a stable form as Thusians grow older. It also becomes a vessel for travel. Thusian ships are of the one of the highest class ships in the universe.”
“And you’re sure that you got the right guy? I really can’t be one of these ‘Thusians’ can I.” he said. The large man ruffled around under his cloths and brought out I little metal tube like object. He pressed on it and a screen made of light formed right above it.
“Alex Rattell-
Hieght-6’2”
Wieght-210 lbs
Appearance- dark brown hair with green eyes; tall with medium build
Personality type- arrogant, massive ego, asks a lot of dumb questions despite high knowledge level, most likely just to annoy people.
Yes I do believe I got the right person.”
“You smart assed alien freak” Alex said under his breath. “Well, since you know SO much about me, how about I know something about you?” He asked the man. The man stood up straight.
“My name is Aktuu. I am a Seroullian; an immortal servant to the Thuse dynasty.” Aktuu said that with a sort of arrogance in his voice that pissed Alex off a little bit.
“So you’re a slave.” Alex said. Aktuu was quite taken back by this.
“I am in no way a ‘slave,’ I am a mere servant to the Thuse dynasty. I, personally, am the Empress’s errand runner.” Aktuu said again with arrogance. He looked down at Alex to try and see his face of contempt, but there was a face of confusion instead. It didn’t seem like Alex could see the difference. The room was heavy in silence for a moment until Alex broke spoke.
“So…you’re a slave.” Alex said in a slightly confused voice. Aktuu just ignored this and continued to stare at him. During the silence Alex took the time to study his surroundings. The room was white, almost a pure white. He was sitting on a rather comfy bed. There is a plate window on the window to his side; he could see all the stars of the galaxy move across the deep black horizon of space. Other than that this room was bare commodities. Now sweating with the awkwardness of having some huge ass alien man staring at you Alex wished something would happen. By some weird coincidence Aktuu jerked his head up and started mumbling. He then turned away from Alex and started to mumble loudly. Alex, who was watching rather pertinently, took advantage of this and decided to make his way to the door.
Yes, you probably guessed right, he couldn’t figure out how to open the door. He tried waving his arms at it, pushing on it, tapping on it, silently yelling at it, for some reason dancing at it…and caressing it. Each time he looked back to see if Aktuu had noticed, which he didn’t. Almost makes it too easy. Alex now exhausted from his futile attempts to open the door, starts talking to himself, “Oh, come on, I tried everything here and the damn thing isn’t budging.” He sighs at the door and thinks of something else to do, “Huh, I guess it won’t hurt to try that; not like it’s going to work anyway. It would be way too ridiculous.” Alex raised his hands at the door and says, “OPEN SESAME!” and to Alex’s utter horror, the door opens. “Wow, that’s really annoying.”  Alex says with an air of mortification. He bears with the pain and wonders into the hallway, or at least something he thought would be a hallway. Instead he walked into a lush green meadow that stretched as far as he could see. The deep blackness and cold of space had completely disappeared. Alex became speechless. In the center of this meadow was a gigantic tree that shot into the sky and looked like it went on for forever. Alex walked the green grass, looked at flowers, and took in the warmth of the light. Is this a ship? He kept wondering to himself. It was like nothing he had ever seen. He could see a waterfall at the end of a large river whose water glowed in the sunlight. Without thinking he spoke out loud, “How is this possible?”
“It’s due to warped space.” A very cool voice said. Alex, shocked, spun around to see who was talking, but no one was there. The voice came out again, “I’m up here boy, look up.” Alex looked up and saw a man in a floating flat platform. His eyes widened in surprise. “Well…looks like you found me.” This man had a much friendlier air than Aktuu. He was a little shorter than Alex with lofty jet black hair and red eyes. He had a sharp nose with a flat chin and he was wearing the same sort of clothes like Aktuu but with less fortitude. Instead of a long drape like cover, there was merely a small cape covering him shoulder length down to about his elbow and it crossed in the middle attaching to the rest of his cloths. Nothing about his cloths was extraordinary except for his belt that wrapped around his waist up to the bottom of his breast. Also his boots weren’t what you would call boots, more like heavy wraps around his lower leg and foot. Everything looks predominantly Asian. “Dun staring now, huh?” he said as the disk like platform lowered him onto the ground. It didn’t touch, so he hopped off. “Man, you sure gave Aktuu a scare didn’t you?” he said with a laugh.
“Well I do try my hardest.” Alex said in a bored voice.
“You don’t have to worry, it’s not like you’re a prisoner.”
“Really? That sure acted like I was.”
“Oh, that’s just Aktuu,” he said with flipping his hands forward at Alex, “the guy is just really stuck up, he hates failing missions so he tries too hard.” He whispered to Alex like it was a secret. “He always scares the crap out of passengers, it’s hilarious.” He noted with a half chuckle.” Alex seemed pretty amused by him.
“So, who are you, another one of those servant drones?” Alex asked lightly.
“Eh, I guess so, a good ol’ servant of this hunk of space junk.” He said thumbing towards the large tree. “My name’s Rif, no surname, leads to plenty of awkward moments at roll call, so that’s makes up for it.” Rif said laughing and smiling widely back at Alex.
“Why no last name?” Alex asks.
“Well, when I was born my parents named me Rif, and then I guess something really exciting happened and they just plain forgot to give me a last name, I say” Rif said rubbing his chin and looking into the sky. He stayed like that for a minute as Alex jerked his eyes around wondering if this was a joke. Rif unfroze and clapped his hand, almost startling Alex. “Well, it doesn’t matter because my name’s Rif, your name’s Alex, and the Captain wants me to bring you to the bridge or I will get a size 13 foot up my size 1 ass. So come on lets go, it’s like an adventure, an adventure to freedom and wonderfulness!” Rif said very loudly and excitedly. Alex now completely perplexed by the current situation only had this as a thought. An idiot, this guy is an idiot; I’m stuck with an idiot.
Rif jumped back on to the disk very cheerfully. He motioned for Alex to jump on as well with a very broad wave of his arms. Alex stepped on the disk with a weird look on his face.
“I’d brace myself if I were you, I would.” Rif whispered to Alex, which made him a little more worried. How the hell could this thing move, he said to himself, but before he could brace himself Rif tapped on the metallic disk twice and it shot up into the sky. Alex lost his balanced and tumbled on the now very high flying disk, but he managed to grasp onto the edge of it, meanwhile Rif was doing nothing to help the matter.
“Well what are you doing down there, I ask.” Rif says while leaning over the edge looking down at the violently swinging Alex.
“OH I THOUGHT I WOULD GET SOME EXCERSIZE-WOULD YOU JUST GET ME UP GOD DAMN IT!!!” Alex screamed back up at Rif.
“Well not with that attitude I won’t.” Rif said with a hint of offence. “You need to learn how to be more polite Alex, I say”
“D-damn it,” Alex says quietly, “of course I have to be stuck with a wise ass.” He looks up at Rif to see if he was joking and it didn’t look that way. He hated dong it but it looked like he had no other choice. “W-will you please help me up?” Alex said diverting his eyes in embarrassment. Rif’s face immediately shot to being happy once more.
“Okay then, I say.” Rif said with a joyful voice. He grasped Alex’s hand and helped help him to his feet on the flying disk. Alex stood up looking awfully pissed at the sight of Rif’s stupidly grinning face. It looks like Rif wants Alex to say something, which only pisses him off even more. Alex grabs Rif by his little shirt and brings him face to face with himself.
“You got some balls if you think I’m going to thank you. There’s more of a chance of me breaking your knees than that happing, understand?” Alex said very menacingly. Rif kept smiling through the whole thing, but a drop of sweat ran down his forehead. Rif was obviously surprised be Alex’s strength.
“S-sure thing, I say.” Rif managed to squeak out with a shaky voice.
“Good.” Alex said back at him. He released Rif from his grip and he stepped back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Alex looked around and saw that the tree had gotten much closer. Wow, he thought to himself as they got closer to it, allowing him to see the tree to its full extent. Around the tree travelled, like satellites around the Earth, five layers of these large shields that got progressively smaller as they went up the tree. They shined in the sunlight as if they were mirrors. They passed one on the way toward the massive tree, a large humming accord when they passed it. Now the disk started moving upward. Alex saw that the tree was like a giant city. He could see people walking around and working. He could not see them for long though because the disk was about to go into the large outstretched branches, which looked the same size as those large underground tunnels. The managed to dodge the foliage and got to the top of the tree. When they did, the sunlight hap vanished and the darkness of space had returned. Alex was quite surprised by this as he looked around. He saw at the very top, over the tree, a large floating structure.
“That’s the bridge, I say.” Rif told Alex. Alex nodded as they were brought closer to the oval like structure.
“Oh, it looks like they got a lock on us.” Rif mentioned
“A lock,” Alex asked, “what do you…” before Alex could finish speaking everything became distorted into a tunnel, then it all went white. Just as Alex could wrap his mind around what had just happened they were already inside a large room. He was now breathing heavy and was really dizzy. He was about to fall when he was grabbed on the shoulder by someone. He looked around to see who it was expecting to see Rif, but it was not him. Instead it’s a rather rugged looking woman with short dirty blond hair; she had a slightly manly face with a scar that stretched from her lower right cheek to the top of her forehead, traveling through her right eye, which looked pale and murky. Her other eye, though, was a deep shade of green. She had no make-up on at all. She was, also, no taller than the average women, about 5’9” I’d say. Her clothes were covered by a large blue cape that extended down to her ankle. He saw that she was wearing those heavy wraps instead of boots.
“Are you okay?” she said in a deep, feminine voice. She looks as though she has said that thousands of times before.
“Yeah…I think I am.” Alex said lightly, holding his head and trying his hardest not to fall again.
“Don’t worry,” the woman said, “what you are feeling is only the side effects of the warp. They should dissipate in a couple of minutes. All first timers go through that. You should get used to it rather quickly.” She stated to Alex patting him on the back. She has immense strength.
“O-okay…thanks?” Alex said, his head was now becoming clearer and the dizziness went away. “What was that?” he asked the woman.
“That? Oh…the warp. Basically we brought you through a mini-wormhole, that’s what it is at a basic level anyway.” She explained it rather plainly, probably doesn’t like to explain things that have to do with science. Alex looked rather intrigued though.
“May I ask who you are then?” Alex asked politely. He seems to act politer to women than he does to men.
“Ah, I am Stilessa Marossa; I am the captain of this ship, The Continental.” She said very proudly. Alex looked very surprised.
“You’re the captain, you?” Alex said with a very surprised look on his face…I said he is politer to women, I never said he wasn’t a misogynist. He saw Rif violently shaking his head and some of the crew member sunk into their seats. The captain did not seem to enjoy that little question.
“Oh, looks like you don’t approve of me being captain does it?” Stilessa says with a very ominous tone to her voice. Alex becomes very worried for his life at that moment; he starts to sweat a bit.
“No, no,” he says with a shaky weak voice, “I was just surprised is all. That’s all it was. I swear.” He said hoping to god she doesn’t kill him.
“Hmph, reduced to a beggar at once I see. Very well then, your life has been spared…” She said angrily. Alex gives a sigh of relief. “…For now.” She said immediately. Alex choked on some of his spit.
“Unless you have more of anything incite full to say, I will warn you now, I will not hesitate to send you to the brig. We don’t treat people in the brig so nicely.” She said with a dark tone to her voice. Alex tensed up.
“O-okay.” He managed to get out of his mouth. “S-so where are we exactly.” He said stressing the point to change subjects.
“We are on our way to Thusia, the Thusian home world.” She said.
“Oh yeah, I have to go through that Solaris thing don’t I?” Alex said to himself. He is still getting used to all this. “Hold on a sec.” he just came to a realization.” How come everyone is talking in English? Shouldn’t everyone be speaking in their native language?” He asked in an questionable like tone. Stilessa looked Confused.
“English; what are you going on about? Did that warp mess with your head?” she asked confused by Alex’s words.
“Uh…never mind then.” Alex said. Che, damn author, too damn lazy to explain that crap. He thought angrily bent over clenching his fists. Stilessa looked at Alex perplexed. Wow, I heard of them before but Earthlings certainly are weird creatures. She thought to herself. She clears her throat which gets Alex’s attention.
“You are a lucky one though, Earthling. Not many people are allowed up on the bridge of this ship. Care for the tour?” She says to Alex, relaxes and takes her up on her offer.
He saw that except for the ceiling and the floor everything else was transparent. There were no consoles where computers were attached instead floating screens were in front of where the crew were sitting. In the center of the Bridge was a large circular stand that looked to fold in itself. Above it was a large holographic display of the Milkyway Galaxy. Alex could see three large pulsating dots on the Holograph; one was moving, which most likely represented the ship, while two didn’t, one most likely represented Thusia while the other one he couldn’t say. He looked around at the crew members who were all dressed the same as Rif, It was mixed gender. The people at the floating screens were typing into a black rectangle that floating just below their fingers. When they pressed on it, a little square lit up in a bright white and then faded back to black. Where Alex and the Captain were seemed to be floating just above the crewmembers, there was a set of unattached blocks that floated separately from each other and acted as stairs. A lot of the crew greeted him as they walked by while some didn’t because they were too hard at work.
“Well that’s all there really is here. What do you think?” she asks Alex with great interest.
“I don’t really know what to say. This is my first time being in a spaceship, but I do have one question.” Alex says politely.
“And what is that question, Earthling?” She asks Alex.
“Well…on that holographic screen. There are Tree dots. I know what two of them are but what is the third one? The one closest to us.” Alex asks Stilessa poignantly and scratching his head. Stilessa thinks for a moment.
“Oh, you mean that one?” she asks pointing toward the third pulsating dot on the screen. “That is Gravitational Relay Point or GRP for short.”
“GRP? What does it do?” Alex asks looking very interested in the subject matter.
“To put it in short terms,” she says looking upward and thinking, “It basically is a warp center for large masses, like ships or cargo.” She said stressing the point. Alex nodded his head listening inventively.
“What does it look like?” He asks the captain with great interest.
“Looks like huh? It looks like…well actually; you should be able to see it in a second. We’re just coming up on it now.  “She tells Alex lightly.
As soon as she says that Alex spots a large object out in the distance. It was obvious in the bleak darkness of space that it is a bright metallic color. As they got closer Alex can see more features of it. The whole thing is immense; it is probably the size of the moon. The structure itself looked to be two parts. The center part is a large red hot looking core with huge metal poles jutting outward. Alex can see the huge electric discharges near the center penetrating the black of space. Some were so big that they extended to the large floating, angled reflectors. There are two sets of those. The large ones on the upper tier rotated clockwise, while the smaller ones rotated counter-clockwise. They were held at point by the gravity produced by the core. The second part of the whole thing is the large circle that they were headed for. It was as large as the red center. It didn’t look like anything special, just a halo floating in space.
“We’re going into that?” Alex asked Stilessa who was busy relaying an order to one of the female crew members.
“What…oh, yeah, well, not exactly going into it per say.” She said quite absently.
“A gateway forms in the halo.” Says a deep monotone voice that makes Alex freeze, he turns around to see an annoyed Aktuu right behind him. He grasps Alex’s shoulder with his hand, very tightly. Alex gives a broken chuckle.
“Hey~, Aktuu, how’s it going?” Alex said wincing from the pain of his grip.
“I am doing quite well, except for the fact that it took me two hours to find you.” Aktuu said lowering his head to the level of Alex’s.
“So what do you mean by ‘gate?’” Alex asks quickly trying to change the subject. He tried futilely to pry Aktuu’s hand from his shoulder.
“I mean that, that halo in front of us will collect a great deal of power from that core reactor. When it activates it will distort space with an incredible amount of gravity creating a gate to our home.” Aktuu said unexcitedly; he released Alex from his grip. Alex sighed and rubbed his shoulder. Thank god he took the bait he said to himself. He noticed that the bridge was getting brighter. He looked up and a wall of light extended from the reactor to the halo. The light is an immense amount of electricity. The halo started to glow red just like the core. All of a sudden the halo split into hundreds of pieces rotating around a center mass. The space in the middle of all the pieces began to distort, then they could see a planet that looked a lot like the earth in it. Stilessa gave the order to go through the gate and everything became tunnel vision, this time the white out lasted a lot longer and Alex could feel himself throwing up and collapsing to his knees. His breathing became labored and he was become increasingly dizzy. He could feel his consciousness slipping away to the point where everything went black.
Alex opened his eyes. He saw that he was on grass. He lifted his head and his eyes regained focus. All he could see is the murky blue of the air and a structure beneath him. It felt like highly polished wood. Standing up he could see that it was not grass but instead a green light coming up from a very elaborate structure like threads floating in the wind. There was water moving between the pieces of the structure as they rotated in different directions. In the center looked to be a very large Bonsai Tree, it was the same size as a normal tree. Interested, Alex walked toward the center hopping from one block to the next. He reached the center and came closer to the tree. He put his hand on the tree, lightly feeling the treads and indentations of it. Then the tree started to glow. Light came out of the foliage like laser beams, hitting the water and reflecting upwards. Alex, amazed, looked up to see where they were going. He then felt weird, as though he could sense something was coming. He looked around but there was nothing was there. But behind him spread a bright light. He turned around and became blinded by it; he covered his eyes with his arm. Then the light vanished, he noticed a figure beyond his arm when his blindness left him. He lowered his arm but his eyes widened. Before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her perfect blue hair, and her green eyes that shined like polished emeralds in the sun. She was completely feminine from head to toe. She smiled at him, and he blushed. She seems like a ghost with a slight blue haze covering her.
“Who are you?” Alex asked the strikingly beautiful woman with a slight squeaky voice, trying not to make eye contact with her.
“I am Wave.” She said in a soft, elegant voice smiling back at Alex.
“Wave huh?” Alex said with a weak laugh.
“Yes.” Wave said back at Alex still giving that radiant smile.
“S-so, uh, how exactly did you get here?” Alex said immediately regretting his words. What are you doing Alex you idiot, how exactly did you get here? Oh yeah great one, Is what he thought to himself. Rightly so, that was not one of his smoothest moments.
“I have always been here, Alex. Since the birth of this Universe I have been here.” She said answering Alex’s stupid question.
“Oh…wait, how do you know my name?” he said while still yelling at himself in his head.
“I have the ability to process others’ thoughts.” Wave said with no harm intended. Alex became really worried.
“L-like mind reading?” Alex asked hoping for a misunderstanding.
“In laments terms, yes.” She said still smiling.
Alex’s stomach turned into an endless pit of self hatred; he became frozen like a statue. He wanted to throw up from the embarrassment as he collapsed to his knees, his upper lip twitching.
“Do not worry; I cannot here ones complex thoughts only simple ones.” Wave said looking rather amused at Alex. He turned his head up to face Wave’s.
“Meaning?” Alex asked sounding very downtrodden.
“Meaning I cannot hear any thoughts going on in someone else’s head, I can only see bits of information.” She said in a very upbeat manner. Alex immediately sprung up, clearing his throat as he stood, no longer feeling suicidal. The immediacy of his revival surprised Wave a little bit. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Okay, so, why am I here?” he asked with a renewed vigor.
“That, I do not know.” She said to Alex.
“You don’t know why?” Alex said skeptically.
“Yes, I do not know, but it is probably because you have some connection with me.” She said thinking about it. Alex’s eyes opened as wide as they could go.
“Wait, you’re saying that I have some connection with you.” He said grasping her dainty shoulders.
“Yes.” She says delightfully. Alex just stared at her, completely speechless. He silently yells at the top of his lungs inside his head.
“Most likely though,” she adds, “It is just a mistake.” She says smiling at Alex, who upon hearing that sunk into disbelief.
“Damn it, all you women are pros at drowning men’s’ hopes and dreams.” Alex says to himself putting his hand on his face.
“I don’t think it is though.” She says seriously. Alex lowered his hand from his face and looked at her. “Alex, this is the first time someone has ever entered my realm of being. It’s normally impossible because beings of a lower form cannot handle the stresses of the dimension. They would die the second they step in here.” She said ominously, Alex was now giving her his full intention as he looked slightly worried. “This should be impossible,” she says holding her chin, she stays like that for a few seconds then her eyes widen, “unless…yes that must be it.” She said to herself.
“What, what is it?” Alex asked also wondering how it could be. Wave looks at Alex worryingly. “What’s with that look? Is it something bad?” he says worried.
“No, but it is not time for you to know, if you did something bad could happen. That is all I can say.” She tells Alex.
Alex becomes slightly annoyed, “Wait! What do you…” but before he could finish his body begins to burn. He collapses as his body becomes hotter, he tries to speak but he cannot, the pain dulls his thoughts. He feels like he is on fire. Wave comes closer towards Alex and leans over him.
“Do not worry Alex; this is just your body being brought back to the third dimensional shell.” She looks at Alex who is grunting in pain. “We will meet again, that is how destinies work, Alex, you cannot stop it, so you can do nothing but go with the tide.” She says very gently. To Alex, everything was fading into a white fog Wave’s figure was fading, and then everything blanked out.
Back on the ship The Continental, Alex is laying lifeless on a table. People are coming in droves in and out of the room trying to revive him. Someone brought in an old machine that forced electricity into the body. As the volts went in, Alex’s body jumped up, but his heart would not start. Many people were trying furiously to get him back to life. One more time the man put volts into his body. This time though, it worked. Alex’s eyes opened as he gasps for breath, looking for anything to grab his grasps the shirt of someone next to him. In the corner of the room Captain Marossa gives a little chuckle. She walks up to the now steadily breathing Alex, pushing through her subordinates.
“Have a good rest?” she jokingly asks him as she pushes more people out of the way.
“Oh yeah, it was like sleeping on a bed of spikes.” He said sarcastically. Stilessa let out a loud laugh.
“Well, I would let you rest up, but you got to many important things to do here.” She says to Alex, making him confused.
“Here? What do you mean?” he asks.
“I mean Thusia. We finally got here, but you freakin’ died on us for a couple of minutes, you’d be lucky if there is no permanent damage to your already swollen brain.” She says lightly.
“Oh, nice crack about my ego, good one.” He says to her.
I could explain how they get out of the ship but that would really boring and it would take too long for me to explain, let’s just skip forward a little bit.
The door of the ship opens into the new world. Green petals soar through the doorway as light penetrates the darkness of exit room. Alex takes a step outside and breathes the fresh air of this strange planet. This place is huge; a space ort is what the Captain called it. Two huge decks that extended over a deep white stoned cliff. The air was salty; Alex looked down from the deck to see an ocean of blue and green, the green petals still floating around in the air like their playing with each other. The port was busy. He sees ships in the air looking for a place to land, the sounds of their engines echoing through the landscape. Not one looked the same, some were very smooth looking while others looked jagged and had many extruding parts. Native Thusians were running around carrying cargo and other materials. Alex is almost knocked down by a hovering vehicle that looked strangely like a regular fork-lift. People were yelling and giving orders. Someone, who Alex thinks was carrying a case of some sort of fruit, had tripped and most of it had fallen of the deck. A superior came and started yelling. Large hovering cranes were taking huge amounts of cargo of one of the ships next to The Continental. Alec couldn’t stay for long though as he was being motioned to move by Stilessa. She and Aktuu had moved on ahead to secure some sort of transportation device. It looked like an open air carriage usually pulled by horses, but there wasn’t an animal in sight. It looked to be made out of wood, but much more elaborately. The wood itself wasn’t cut, but instead just placed together forming this folded pattern. It hovered just above the ground, Alex saw, as he stepped on following Aktuu, Stilessa followed and sat next to Alex. The door, which seemed to float right above the hood, jumped up, aligned itself with the side of the carriage and snapped into place. Now closed, Stilessa searched through her cloths looking for something. She found it and pulled out a piece of carved wood that seemed to fit perfectly in her hand. She gripped it and the little crystal on top of it glowed, Alex looked confused.
“It is a Thusian controller.” Aktuu said to Alex noticing his look of confusion.
“A Thusian controller?” Alex asked, just becoming more confused. Aktuu gave out am annoyed sigh and kept on speaking.
“It is how we Thusians control everything on our home. The trees here live with us, share this world with us. That crystal on top of the rod allows us to communicate with the trees. It allows us to give them orders.” He says in his usual monotone style. Alex takes a moment to think about it.
“So,” Alex starts to say, still thinking about it, “The trees are like your slaves.” He says. Aktuu looks sharply at Alex looking incredibly offended.
“Watch your insolence boy,” he states in a very angry, non-monotone voice, “That is nowhere near the case. We merely work together with the trees. They are the ones that allow us to live with them. To be among them is a great honor for everyone on this planet, especially for you Earthling.” He says sounding with great contempt for the last part. Alex had the distinct feeling that he had just been insulted, he wanted to say some witty retort, but Stilessa leaned over and said something before he could.
“Quick acting like a baby, Aktuu, do you really expect the kid to understand everything without being told?” she says with a hint of anger toward Aktuu. “He just got here remember? I mean you basically kidnapped the poor kid.” She told him as she went back to activating the carriage. She seems t be having a lot of trouble with. You can hear her curse at the thing.
Aktuu sits mumbling to himself, shooting dirty looks at Stilessa. It doesn’t look like he wants to look at anyone now, which is fine for Alex. All of a sudden the carriage shoots up into the sky, jolting the passengers into their seats. Alex managed to get a look at Stilessa before being thrusted in his seat and she looked relieved.
The air lost the saltiness it had by the ocean and had a fresh pleasant smell to it. Below them was nothing but the deepest green grass Alex had ever seen. The tall grass moved like waves when the wind blew causing some blades to fly upward. Trees were scattered here and there in the grass plains. Mountains shot up in the distance, the snowy peaks glistened in the light of the nearby star. Aktuu had managed to switch seats with Stilessa who had trouble with her hair that was dancing in front of her face. She tapped on Alex’s shoulder and pointed down the way a little bit. Alex looked and spotted that a forest was coming up. The mix of green and brown reminded him of the forests of the Northeast part of America. It looked like home. That, though, was not what she was pointing at. She was pointing at the massive tree that broke the horizon. It must be about two miles high; Alex could do nothing but stare in disbelief at it. As they got closer, the bigger it got. The trunk of it has to be at least a mile to a mile and a half wide. The branches were huge; they jutted out into the air covering a massive area in complete shade. Only through the massive cracks of the braches the light was able to pass through. Clouds formed around the tree and travelled past it. The wind flow that was diverted upward made the clouds around the tree look circular in shape. Around the base of it was a city of white.
“That’s the Holy Tree!” Stilessa yelled, trying to make her voice louder than the howling wind. Aktuu just sat their silently ignoring the two others.
“Well, it certainly is big enough!” Alex managed to yell back. “Are we going to stop at that city!?”
“No!” Stilessa yelled at Alex. “We’re going to the Thuse Temple at the base of the Holy Tree! That’s where the Solaris ritual takes place!” she yelled.
“Oh Yeah,” Alex remembered, “What exactly is this Solaris anyway!?” Alex yelled. Stilessa thought for a second.
“I’ll leave that explanation to the people you’re about to meet!” she yelled at Alex.
“Who am I going to meet!?” Alex yelled.
“All you have to know is that they are very important people in this society.” Stilessa managed to yell at Alex who gave an ‘Oh Well’ shrug with his shoulders. They were now close enough to see the Temple as the carriage descends lower. The temple looked molded into the tree itself, albeit only a small section of the trunk. It looked like the only way of getting to it was by flying; there were no stairs leading to the deck that they were heading for. The deck itself was inside the tree, it didn’t look carved out, and it mainly looked as though that whole was just naturally there. They landed on the wood deck and got out. Aktuu immediately walked over to a person a little ways into the opening. They greet each other by bowing to each other. Alex and Stilessa catch up and the man bows toward Stilessa. She bows back with a low bow. The man then bows down to Alex who then gives a half-assed bow right back to him, feeling pretty silly about it. The man is as tall as Aktuu, but less muscular. He has no hair and thin eyebrows and brown eyes. There is a triangular mark on his forehead that points down toward his chin. He seems to be dressed in the same manner as Aktuu, with a large cape covering his cloths. He motions toward Alex who looks around confused.
“Greetings to you, young master.” The man says to Alex, who gives a ‘what did he just say’ kind of look. “It is an honor to have you here once again.” He says. Now both Alex and Stilessa looked confused, they both shoot a look at Aktuu who clears his throat.
“Vermi…this is not the place for this.” He tells the man, who obliges.
“I see,” he says looking at Alex who still has that dumfounded look on his face, “All things will be explained in due time. We should get moving, there are people awaiting your arrival.” Vermi says motioning them to the center of the deck opening.
“What the hell is going on here?” Alex leans over and asks Stilessa. “What is with this ‘master’ crap?”
“You got me boy.” She says looking as estranged as Alex. “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”  She says while following Vermi and Aktuu toward the center where they stop. All of a sudden the floor below them shines where a circular line is located around them. The disk they are standing on starts to float upward, which surprises Alex. They are taken into a large hall. It was long and rather empty except for the large rug, which extended along to the door at the end of the hallway, and pillars along both sides of the walls. As Alex looked colder, though, he can see then figures that look to be molded into the wall. They walk silently toward the perfectly flat door. Vermi places his hands on it as the floor starts to shake as it slides open revealing a large room decorated with lavish style. At all sides of the room were banners that held strange symbols. Two rows of ivory white pillars stretched down all the way to where a thrown stood.
“Whoa,” said Alex, “Talk about gaudy.” He said as he looked around the room, no one else seemed to be surprised, though.
“Look ahead, young master,” Vermi told Alex, “You are to be greeted by the Royal Family.” This turned Alex into immediate panic.
“What!” Alex exclaimed quite loudly. “What do yo…” but before Alex could finish his sentence he is overcome by this crushing sensation. He has been tackled; well it seemed like it anyway, by a woman. The woman pulled back but kept a firm hold on his shoulders. She looked into his eyes, tears forming in her own. She has bright green eyes and light brown hair, which is put into a very lavish ponytail like set up. Her thin eyebrows seem to touch as she has the look of repressed happiness on her face. She continued looking into Alex’s lightly frightened and confused face for a minute, as to see if he was the real thing.
“Oh my,” the woman started with tears still forming in her eyes, “It’s so good to see you again. It’s been so long. I barely recognized you.” She said with a choked up feminine voice. Alex’s cheek quivered in confusion.
“Do…do I know you?” he asked trying to free himself from her grip. The woman looked almost pale now, but her color returned as she released him to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“Oh, I almost forgot, of course you wouldn’t know me; you were never told of any of this were you.” She said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She looked down at her feet then back up at Alex’s face. “I’m sorry; I forgot what happened to your parents.” She said, the look of confusion on Alex’s face fell off at the mention of his parents.
“You know what happened to my parents?” Alex asked with a pale voice and widely opened eyes.
The woman looked worried for a second, but seemed to shake that away so she could answer. “I do…I was, well…still am, your mothers Sister.” She said to Alex who now looks like he’s seen a ghost. Stilessa, who has been watching inventively for a while now, looked just as surprised.
“What did you just say?” Alex said with anger in his voice, “Do you think this is some sort of joke?” He said raising his voice a few octaves. The woman looked into his eyes, almost like pleading for his forgiveness. Alex looked at her, he wanted to be angry, and the expression on her face was not that of deception but of sadness. He can’t figure what to say to her. Luckily before the air became too awkward they were interrupted.
“Is this the boy Alies?” Said a man in a deep and powerful voice, he walked up to behind Alies almost undetected, Alex never knew he was there until he spoke. “Is this the son of that stupid woman?” the last words of what he said hurt Alex down to the core. He knew who he was talking about. It was his mother he was insulting. He clenched his fist in hatred.
“Andros!” Alies silently yelled with a sharp glare toward him. “Do NOT say that!” She looks back at Alex whose face was wrenched with the look of hate. Andros looked on cool and collected with his chin held high. “Alex, I’m sorry for my husband’s rudeness,” she said giving Andros a deadly glare, “It has been long since he has had to entertain a guest.” But Alex didn’t hear her; he was too concentrated on the face of Andros. It sickened him how he looked to carry no remorse for what he just said. It stayed silent for a while as Alies tried to figure out what to say. Stilessa and Co. just stood back and kept watch.
“You have no right to call my dead mother a stupid woman.” Alex said, grinding his teeth. Androse walked up to Alex with his chest out. His golden tether chain danced in front of Alex’s face. He stroked his heavy beard with his hand; he splits his red cape with his other, revealing a decorated wooden rod. It looked to be much larger than Stilessa’s.
“I have every right to call a stupid woman stupid, boy.” Andros said that with a rather nasty gleam in his sapphire eyes. Alex walked closer to him, still grinding his teeth. You could almost cut the tension in the air with a knife, but a loud roar rand though the hall.
“ENOUGH!” Alies roared with all her might. She stepped between the two, well…more like she forced herself between, stunned men and turned and faced Andros. “ANDROSE,” she roared, his face coward in fear for a split second as she yelled at him, “YOU WILL NOT MAKE A MOCKERY OF HIS RETURN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?” Andros took a step back, but didn’t say a word; he only nodded, as to not provoke any further rowing.  
“I shall take my leave then.” He said not making eye contact with his wife, who still looked rather pissed off. It took all of him leaving the throne room just to make Alies relax. She turned around to face Alex when she knew Andros was no longer in the room.
“I am sorry Alex.” She said with a quiet sadness in her voice. “I didn’t mean to antagonize this meeting.”
“I…it’s not your fault,” he said rather unsure of himself. He mainly just didn’t want to restart the rather loud yelling again. He didn’t know what to say though, his mind was to full of painful memories. He at least would try to change the subject. “So…you’re my mom’s sister?” Alies managed to wipe some of the haziness from her eyes.
“Yes, I am…oh how do you Earthlings say it…your Aunt.” She said sounding almost cheered up.
“So you have met me before?” Alex said still looking unsure about where this conversation will go.
“Yes,” Alies replied, “I was there when you were born…I swear, I had never seen my sister happier in her entire life.” She said remembering a happy memory, she almost glowed. “I was, also, the one who gave you up to your foster parents, but you were only around three years old then; there’s no way you would have remembered.” She said getting a little depressed, but she rang up with surprise. “But you seem awfully calm hearing about this.” She said sounding slightly surprised.
“Huh?” Alex jutted, raising his eyebrow.
“I mean, you seem pretty calm for having just been told of your relation to us.” She said.
“Oh…” Alex said quite pleasantly, “Well, I just made the connection is all. When I first heard that I was half Thusian, I just figured that is was from my mother.”
“But how did you make that connection?”
“I use to have a picture of both mom and dad when I was younger. I remember dad looking completely normal, mom was the one that seemed a little strange. She looked like she didn’t belong there, like she wasn’t from Earth.” He said rather lightly. Alies, meanwhile, let out a small giggle.
“You definitely get your smarts from your father.” She said pleasantly. She looked up and smiled at Alex, who in return, gave a half smile; but Alies understood it’s meaning all too well. “Well, don’t just stand there; you have to meet the rest of your family.” She said grabbing a hold of Alex’s arm and dragging him with her.
“Wait…there’s more of you guys?” he said while fumbling in his steps and almost falling down.
“Uh-huh!” Alies said with a joyful air to her voice and a big deep smile. She keeps dragging him as they leave the room. Meanwhile, Stilessa, Vermi, and Aktuu are left standing at attention, feeling that they have just seen something rather odd.
“I,” Stilessa says openly to Vermi and Aktuu, “I feel that we have been left out of something amazing.” Vermi and Aktuu both nod their head in agreement.