Voltiana

Chapter Six: Homeland

The "boat" took off across the water. It was like a speeding bullet, moving so fast that Dachii had to roll down the window to throw up almost a dozen times. Even Marachii was on the floor. He noted they would have to be traveling at over a thousand miles per hour. But that couldn't be possible, could it?

And if it was, they should have all been dead. Kia didn't look too fazed, just had the same conflicted and troubled look she'd had the entire ride. She didn't seem to be surprised in the slightest by this entire trip. She stared at the window, watching as the entire coastline of Estrium disappeared. It was just water. Pure ocean for miles and miles.

Dachii had just thrown up for the 14th time. The seatbelts they wore kept them from flying out the window, but it didn't ease his car sickness. While he hurled out the rest of his lunch, Marachii had to practically yell to state his question.

"Grandfather! What is this? What is going on?"

After Dachii finished vomiting, Morino rolled up the window so he could speak clearly. "My favorite whip! Got alotta gadgets in this baby, and alotta speed." Almost as if to emphasize his point, he hit a button on the newly transformed dashboard and the car kicked into overdrive, doubling its speed.

"Oh gosh! Roll the window down!" As Dachii leaned out the window once more, Marachii looked all around them. The waters seemed calm, the sky was clear, and they hadn't even encountered a single shark.

While the thought of being in a weird "Super-Boat/Super-Car" was out of the ordinary, nothing else seemed to be too far-fetched. In just an hour, they were making good progress, and their grandfather let them know. "Halfway there, kids!"

And their journey continued. The vehicle sped across the waves faster than any manmade object could. While Dachii repeatedly fainted, and Kia kept staring into space, Marachii began to take mental notes of what he dubbed "a technological marvel." He wanted to know how, why, and when this thing was made.

As the skies darkened, they eventually saw, land? Giant trees that were much taller than any normal tree came into view. They stretched as far as Marachii could see, and they were so close together he couldn't see anything beyond them. Dachii began to recover as the (boat?) slowed down.

Kia groaned as they touched land, and one button press from Morino had the boat shifting back into a car. Not the same car as before, but a futuristic version, like the boat. Dachii squinted to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Big ass trees..." he muttered to himself.

The car began to smoothly drive on the sand. Just another weird function it had. Kia started to mutter to herself, no doubt negative things about their surroundings. Dachii watched her, and decided not to pry, but Marachii saw too, and curiosity got the better of him.

"Mom, have you been here before?" She perked her head up to look back, giving a sad look to her kids.

"Yes. I wish I didn't." The boys sat up, wanting to know more. "Really? When? What'd you see? What's beyond the trees?"

She put her head back down on the dash. "This place is hell. I wish I'd never had to bring you two here. You were never supposed to see any of this." This quieted them down, and even Morino seemed a little sad for her. Whatever was going on, these two seemed to know. Were there really wild animals roaming these parts?

The car drove parallel to the trees until there was a path in between them. Morino hit a sharp turn and raced along the path, and Dachii peeked between the massive trees that surrounded them. There wasn't much but leaves and branches, but at some point, he thought he saw a little house built into one of the trees.

"First that hood guy, now this? Yeah, I think something is wrong with my head," he thought.

He dismissed the sight as they got farther along the path. Marachii continued to take a mental note of the area, and Kia just looked up at the trees with a look that made it seem like she couldn't care less. Not too long after, the trees spilt open to reveal an extraordinary sight: In the distance, a massive (kingdom? city? mega city?) was towering over them.