“Zyre.” His gaze fixated on my rainbow hair. “It doesn’t have a unique meaning like yours.”
“So... Zyre,” I drawled as I watched him play with my hair, twisting the strands as if studying the ombré effect of my recent dye job. “Are you going to explain what’s going on now that I’m covered?”
“I’m not sure how else I’m supposed to explain things to you when you don’t believe what I’ve already told you,” he muttered as his glowing teal eyes met mine. “It’s pointless for me to keep talking in circles until you believe what I say.”
“I believe your name is Zyre,” I teased, raising an eyebrow, daring him to disagree.
“But nothing else,” he huffed, dropping my hair as his gaze was drawn to something behind me. “What if I can back up my claims?”
“How will you prove it?”
“Do you trust me?”
Was he trustworthy? He’d given no reason not to be. It was everything else around us that I was having a hard time believing. Nothing made sense. My life was so muddled between reality and simulation that I couldn’t tell which was which.
For all I knew, I could be high in the middle of a tropical paradise... But none of that explained why I needed to fight for my life earlier. Or this biotech hometree.
“For the time being.” My chin jerked up. “But if you think you can persuade me that what you’re trying to explain is true, go ahead. I will follow you without question.”
“Then let’s get moving.” As he turned toward the spiral stairwell, he grinned and grabbed my hand. “I hope you’re not afraid of heights, because I’ve got a view for you.”
“You’re in luck.” I giggled nervously as I willingly let him lead me while I tried to figure out why I felt so strongly about him. Was he someone I knew in real life? Was that the reason why his voice was so familiar? “I enjoy eating at restaurants on the tops of skyscrapers and towers.”
“Then you’ll enjoy this.” He smiled as he looked over his shoulder. “I come up here now and then to think or to check the weather.”
He hurriedly led us up the long spiral stairwell. Some of his vines arched behind us, as if he were trying to prevent me from slipping and falling by keeping them close by to catch me if I tripped. Almost every time we completed a full circle, I would look over the vine railing to see how far we’d climbed.
I had to pause every few circles to catch my breath from all the stairs; by the time we got to the top, my legs were burning. This was another workout that I didn’t request but ended up doing unexpectedly. The farther we went, the narrower it became, and the sudden closeness of the walls created a brighter atmosphere from the bioluminescence on the walls.
I tried to figure out what the glowing rune-like designs meant as we passed through floors with a single arched door blocked by vines, which reminded me of the hippie beads people used to replace their closet doors with. If I had the chance, I would choose this option because the vines were more beautiful and elegant with their shimmering leaves and tiny flowers.
“Why are there so many floors?” I inquired as we passed another. They were becoming less frequent as we climbed higher. “Does anyone else live here?”
“Not quite yet.” He gave me a longing look. “The majority are empty and waiting to be filled, while the ones on the lower floors are community rooms with plenty of storage for the future. I’ve saved the rooms higher up here for you, myluwaeri.”
“Me?” His words were heavy—permanent—certain. “I don’t know who you are. Why would you maintain this for me?”
“I understand that your species may not have fated mates—the perfect match given to you by your cosmic being,” he explained as we approached the spiral stairwell’s landing. The space was cramped, with barely enough room to stand beside Zyre in front of a large archway that could’ve held double doors instead of thick vines. “My job is to provide my mate with a healthy hometree that contains everything they and our future offspring will require.”
It would be ideal to have enough space for any daughters to stay for an extended period of time after maturing until they found their mate with a suitable hometree to call their own.”
He gently lifted a vine away from the others by touching it with the tip of his pointy finger. Suddenly, the vine curtain parted, revealing a room fit for a princess—a queen—that would make a child jealous.
My jaw dropped open in awe as I followed his lead and crossed the threshold.
The shape of the room followed the curvature of the hometree, resulting in one long arch wall that covered about two-thirds of the floor we were on, with its entrance and stair landing covering the remaining third. Across from the threshold was another doorway that matched the entrance, filled with thick vines and tiny flowers, but it was framed by two large petal-like windows. The windows were made of many thin flower petals sealed together with tendril-like vines, reminiscent of stained-glass art in palaces and old churches.
A large swinging circular bed was on one side of the room, with an elegant canopy nest made of golden vines and tiny pulsating pink flowers. On the other side, there was a large pool with a cascading waterfall coming out of the corner. The lavender-colored water was surrounded by peach-colored sand and bioluminescent tropic plants, creating a private beach-like atmosphere... on top of a tree.
How was I supposed to believe this wasn’t a simulation?
“What do you think?” Zyre asked, glancing down at our clasped hands and suddenly acting shy after everything. “I wanted to create the perfect room, bringing some beautiful aspects from outside to the inside, away from all the danger that’s been lurking lately.”
“Are you referring to the pafeldae?” A shiver ran down my spine from remembering that horrible monster.
“Correct.” He nodded, his gaze drawn to the petal-framed window. “Sadly, there are worse things out there.
“Pafeldaes are the most common and have recently become more daring when it comes to trespassing on other people’s land. My neighbors and I have been working together to defeat anything that threatens our collective region, knowing that if we allow creatures to terrorize one of us, they will quickly turn on the others.”
