Valmont Series - Inheritance Code

Chapter 1.4 - The Descent

Aria blinked. "Milestone?"

"It's a formality." She didn't mention what the milestone was. Neither twin thought to ask.

William simply looked ahead. "Be sharp. Be silent. Watch and listen more than you speak"

"I usually do," Aiden replied.

The twins walked toward the second aircraft. Its door opened on its own—soundless.

No announcements. No welcome crew.

Just destiny on autopilot.

The jet door slid open without a sound.

No boarding ramp. No greeting. Just an angled shift in the aircraft's smooth side, revealing a glowing entrance—white, soft, silent. It didn't open like a vehicle. It opened like a secret.

Aria hesitated. Her designer boots paused on the edge of the unknown. She still carried the heavy remnants of frustration, confusion, and the distinct humiliation of being torn from her world with zero warning.

But then she stepped in.

And the world flipped.

The cabin didn't look like anything she expected. It wasn't a plane. It was art. A future showroom. A floating whisper of unspeakable luxury.

The space was curved and seamless, all pale creams and gentle golds, with no visible seams or lines—like the interior had been sculpted from a single piece of thought. OLED walls stretched from floor to ceiling, displaying stars outside like the galaxy was a wallpaper installation.

Aria's anger didn't vanish, not exactly. It just... wavered.

Her heels clicked as she walked further in, but the floor swallowed the sound, soft and responsive. She dropped onto one of the lounge-style seats, and it instantly reshaped to her posture, her temperature, even her mood. She didn't want to like it. But she did.

"This isn't a plane," she said quietly, eyes scanning the invisible tech. "It's a floating fashion magazine... designed by aliens."

Aiden had said nothing the whole walk from the hangar, but now he was awake in a different way. Electrified.

He touched the console embedded beside his seat, and it blinked alive—projecting a menu that shifted with his eye movement. Sleep cycles, gravity stabilization, live 3D data mapping, pulse scans. "This... this is sci-fi. But real. It's like the classified stealth tech dream from that MIT research leak, only prettier."

He leaned back, still wide-eyed. "I don't even care if we're being kidnapped. This is worth it."

Aria rolled her eyes but gave a reluctant laugh. The first genuine one in hours.

Above them, soft amber lighting shifted overhead like candlelight. The kind of luxury that didn't try. It just was.

"Estimated travel time: 1 hour and 4 minutes," came a voice from everywhere and nowhere. Smooth. Feminine. Human-ish. "Please enjoy your journey. Avalon welcomes you."

Aria's stomach fluttered—not from nerves, but something else. A twinge of wonder. That name again. Avalon.

She turned to the windowless wall beside her, where the OLED panels displayed the shrinking landscape below. The earth fell away in graceful silence. No engines. No vibrations. Just perfect motion through air.

Anger was still there. But something bigger was crawling up from beneath it—awe. Curiosity. The thrill of not knowing.

Maybe, Aria thought, this wasn't exile. Maybe this was an entrance.