Kellan and I are both silent as we come face-to-face with Sgya. There’s no tower to alert, so I descend into the thin atmosphere. It’s so clear that the single landmass looks like it’s floating in space. The transport shakes, rattling everything within as I grip the controls tightly. I flick on the homing beacon for the tracking devices, hoping we catch a signal.
“Kellan, keep an eye out for any heat signals or transport beacons. We need to locate them quickly,” I instruct as I scan the terrain below.
The planet looks unlike anything I have ever encountered before. The surface seems bright, suggesting it’s mid-morning down there. The landmass is strange, resembling a gigantic, elongated ring of land intertwined with lush forests and sparkling lakes, surrounded by the various blues of the ocean on either side. The ground is blanketed with towering, bioluminescent trees, their trunks pulsing with veins of light. The valleys, however, are terrifyingly deep, with nothing but darkness, and according to our scanner, they plunge thousands of feet deep.
Our search for Raea’s team will be nearly impossible unless we can pick up a signal guiding us closer. As I lower us above the thick canopy, I engage the transport’s mapping system to help with topographical mapping functions.
“Anything yet?” I glance at Kellan.
He shakes his head, allowing his stress to crease his brows andpull at his mouth. I grind my molars and face back to front as we continue our search. I can see Kellan’s screen displayed on the console, and the creatures we pass are not normal forest creatures. The beasts below are the size of the trees, some with wingspans over twenty feet across. I also notice that the trees pulse with a rhythmic glow synchronizing with my heartbeat.
If I focus hard enough, I can feel the planet’s pulse coursing through me, just like I feel on all of our planets—but here, it’s stronger, wilder. We glide past another deep valley, its walls so steep that nothing grows on them, and then over a lake that catches the sunlight like a mirror. The water glitters like a pool of quicksilver.
“There!” Kellan exclaims, pointing at the screen.
My heart races as I see two small heat signals shaped like humans flickering near the ocean’s edge below us. I lower the transport further, scanning the environment for a viable place to land. Unfortunately, the trees are too dense and too tall, their trunks intertwined, making it challenging to find a spot to set down. The desperation in my chest mounts as we navigate further from them.
I locate a small field not far from their heat signatures, just barely big enough for the transport. I grab the medkit as I exit and make my way toward the shore.
“Do you think we need to be careful of the creatures here?” Kellan whispers.
“I think we need to be wary of everything here,” I reply. “What do you know about Sgya?”
I feel the pulse in the ground beneath my boots. It’s a thousand times stronger than anything I’ve experienced on other planets. Usually, it feels like a slight tremor, but this is different. I can feel the hum and vibration in my bones as though I’m somehow connected to it.
“Sgya is the home of the gods. We aren’t supposed to be here—that sums up my knowledge,” he answers with a shrug.
My feet move quickly over the thick moss-covered ground, my eyes scanning the horizon for the quickest path and for any lurking dangers.
I keep my free hand near my holster as I scan the forest ahead. “The gods created Sgya, taking on mortal form, but their energy is too much for humans; that’s why Einvald was the seat of power, not here. Be wary of every step, every sound,” I say. We find a path along a rock formation leading us to a beach.
Moments later, the thick moss gives way to fine, grainy sand that shifts under the weight of our steps. A few yards away, two figures emerge from the chaos of the beach, sprinting towards us with desperation.
“Thank the gods,” Ciara gasps, reaching us first.
Her appearance is jarring. Scrapes and bruises cover her skin, and her clothing consists of nothing more than a tattered oversized shirt, revealing her undergarments below. The sight of her makes my gut clench. She looks like she has been dragged through the mud and has been here much longer than a day or two. It makes me wonder how long a day on Sgya is, especially if all seven suns are rotating around it.
Tate approaches as well, his expression mirroring my own dread. My heart almost stalls when I realize that Raea and Trysten are nowhere to be seen. Panic threads through my thoughts like a fraying rope.
“What happened?” I demand, clenching my fists. “Where are they?”
Ciara’s face crumples. “They went in search of water yesterday morning, or I think yesterday morning. The hours are different here. I–I don’t know what happened to them. We tried to find them but couldn’t. Something happened to our transport. We lost control, and then we crashed…”
Before she can finish, a chilling, blood-curdling scream pierces the air, coming from the dark, tangled forest beside us. The sound reverberates through the trees as the four of us instinctively turn toward the gnarled branches and begin to run.
For a moment, I allow my eyes to close. Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, I can sense her through our Bond and somehow follow those iridescent waves right to her. Just then, another hauntingscream echoes. Without another thought, I launch into the dark forest. Kellan is a few steps behind me, and Tate and Ciara are drifting further and further behind. I don’t have time to ask why they’ve stopped when another shrill scream pierces the air.
“Raea,” I call out above the cacophony of snapping twigs and gasps of air.
I force myself to focus on our Bond, wrestling down the overwhelming fear that I won’t reach her in time. As I navigate the tangled roots and slippery moss beneath my feet, I slow just a bit, knowing that if we aren’t careful, we’ll easily get lost in the labyrinth of twists and turns. Branches reach out for us like skeletal hands, pulses of light flickering with each thrum of the planet.
twenty-eight
. . .
raea - the day before
As I lienext to Trysten, the hours stretch on, and sleep continues to evade me. My mind races with a whirlwind of thoughts, particularly on the texts I have mentally scattered across my study.
