Winter Fire

Ch. 36 [The Fourth Question]

Winter Fire
Ch. 36
The Fourth Question

It didn't faze me when the beautiful desolate city suddenly appeared before us, but Aidan gasped and jolted upwards in his seat. His crystal green eyes lit up and he pressed his cheek to the window.

"W-what? How?" He breathed.

Sophia glanced across me towards him. She stared at him for a moment, then glanced at me.

"It's a kind of energy field. I don't know how it works. I doubt any of us do anymore. All I know is it's a type of optical illusion. You can see it if you know it's there, but if not, it's nearly invisible. It blocks sound as well as sight."

Which would explain what happened all those days ago, with Avery and the bank, back before I'd even known aliens existed. I'd almost forgotten about it entirely, about every time I'd seen a glimpse of this air that looks like a distorted mirror, but now I knew. Avery had a device that could create optical illusions and sound barriers out of thin air. And if he could do that so easily, it made me almost afraid to know what else he could do, what else they all could do.

Aidan took in a sharp breath. "Amazing."

Sophia glanced down. "It should be."

I frowned at her words, but she didn't bother explaining herself. Aidan watched the city like a child discovering a new animal. He barely blinked.

The city was the same as I remembered, glittering like diamonds, a million colors so unearthly they made my head spin. Roads like snow, spiral stairs, gravity doing whatever the heck it wants. It stole my breath again, even more so now that I understood. I understood the wonder, the tragedy, the greatness, and the pain. Now that I understood the history and the future.

We drove much deeper into the city than we had last time, stopping in front of a large, dominating building. It was clearly designed to impress, looming far above us, an upside down balcony handing over our heads, glittering diamond-shaped pillars holding up its corners, decorating the walkway leading up to the two tall shimmering silver doors. And though the place had lost much of its original shine and glamor, it still exuded an air of awe and superiority.

We made our way inside, through the hallways exquisitely decorated with paintings and trinkets and tables with empty vases, down three flights of stairs, through another hallway, though this one dark and empty, and finally into a circular room at its end.

Gadgets lined the walls, desks and chairs circled the layers of technology then a walkway, and another inner circle of gadgets and desks and again and again the spiral continued. I'd never seen technology like this before. It wasn't shining metal and sparking wires. It was transparent tubes of liquid, fountains of crystal-like water, circles of diamonds and gems intertwined with strands of what looked like gold. Cylinders of the shimmering liquid had been planted strategically around the desks and tubes stretched out of it to every corner of the room.

The room had no windows, but the liquid glowed in the dark, a dim shimmering blue. Aidan stepped forward first, trailing his fingers over everything his could reach. Sophia followed, but cut straight to middle. Avery and Elias followed directly behind her. I stayed by the door, stepping forward, then back, then forward again, too stunned to explore, too curious to stay still.

Then suddenly the room lit up, the liquid in the tubes began to flow and every crystal started to sparkle. Aidan gasped and I gasped, both of our eyes meeting for a fleeting second before returning to the room. Elias had sat down at the console in the center, Avery and Sophia peering over his shoulders. I moved towards them, watching out of the corner of my eyes as Aidan rounded the spiral again and again his eyes practically glittering. Elias was staring down at a little pool of the liquid settled in the desk. He rippled the liquid with a single touch and suddenly silver characters began to appear, scrawling bottom to top, right to left, forming a circle of words in another language. Sophia seemed to struggle deciphering it, but Elias practically devoured it all. His fingers skid along the surface of the pool, switching words, changing letters, redirecting dimensions. Then once he was satisfied he swiftly swiped his fingers over the pool and instantly it all dissolved. Elias sat back.