Why Is There An Alien Princess In My Room? (ONC 2023 - Alien Romance - Complete)

7: Tristan Gets A Lesson In Astronomy

In an instant, a whole world was inside Tristan's brain.

A blue sun warmed a faraway planet with its humid rays.

Emerald green waves undulated toward barren lands.

Seven golden moons traveled a sky dotted with black stars.

Cities hung like icicles under silver clouds.

Glittering beings with meticulously shaped hair walked halls illuminated by vibrating light.

The scenes were more fantastical than the scenery of any movie he'd ever watched. Even Avatar. And Tristan had watched Avatar more times than he could count. It had been his comfort watch when he was a kid and his parents fought downstairs, escaping into a magical world when his own became too much. But even all those times accumulated couldn't compare to his wonder about the world Vyrsa allowed him to gaze upon. It was stunning. It was overwhelming. It was... alien. So alien that no mere earth dweller could imagine it. This world was past the capabilities of imagination.

"Wow..." he marveled as a fanged tiger floated by in the atmosphere. When it roared at him, making the air flutter, it felt like he was there. In another world. So far from his simple dorm room, filled with piles of homework and dirty dishes.

Moments later, the extraterrestrial world faded away and Tristan once again found himself sitting on the worn living room couch, stained with beer from when Brody invited his hockey buddies over. Everything about his home looked so dull in comparison to the world he'd just experienced, although to be fair, if he compared the home of one of the aliens to the Grand Canyon it would probably also come up short.

The woman in front of him was definitely not dull though. Vyrsa sparkled in all the unfamiliar shades of her home world, and her eyes made promises of mysteries yet to be discovered.

And her lips... they appeared as lush as the sand dunes leaning into bright green water. He fought an urge to press his own lips against them to find out if they tasted like those faraway oceans.

Tristan blinked, attempting to chase away the improper thoughts. Sure, she'd kissed him before, but that had only been to soothe him into slumber. He'd realized that while he drifted away the night before. Besides, who knew what her kind's customs regarding romance even were? Or if romance even existed in their realm?

The philosophical quandaries distracted him for long enough to remember how to behave in a proper manner, at least according to Earth's standards.

"So..." he mumbled, unsure how to even address what she'd just shown him by simply tapping her radiating fingernail to his temple. That was definitely a nifty trick. He wondered if it worked for Astronomy homework as well. That could have come in handy about an hour ago. "Is that your home planet?"

"Yes," she confirmed, warmth mixing with sadness in her eyes. She must miss the sheen of the blue sun. "That's Isola."

"It's... beautiful," Tristan said, unable to find the words to properly describe what he'd just seen. Every word he knew seemed trite and inadequate. "Where is it?"

Not knowing much about the universe, because he doubted his Astronomy 101 facts could stand up to Vyrsa's first-hand experience of interstellar travels, he realized it was kind of a dumb question.

"That way," Vyrsa pointed toward the kitchen, or well, past the kitchen. Way past it. "About twelve hundred light-years or so."

That was definitely far. Even Tristan could comprehend that. Far enough to require travel at impossible speeds to reach.

"So how did you end up here?" he asked, meaning not just on earth but in his bedroom of all places.

"The Portal of Wishes," she whispered, curling up with her arms around her legs as she spoke. She looked less alien when sitting like that, just a girl far away from her home trying to calm herself. "I should have known better than to trust it but I did. And it failed me."