Saga of a New World - (Audiobook Available)

1. Dusk of the Old World

Astrid takes a deep breath, leans against the window, and turns her attention to the passing landscape. Oak, spruce, beech, and bushes are a single wall of green that's occasionally broken by a yellow ray of sunlight.

She squirms in her seat. The position itself is comfortable, but as soon as the young woman places her head on the cold glass, she feels the vibrations of the vehicle. The droning in her skull quickly becomes unbearable. Astrid straightens her spine once more and nestles her head against the black fabric of the backrest. Her little brother Elijah is sitting to her left. Bright colors reflect off his eyes. With headphones jacked in, he's focused on the movie playing on his phone. Kilian is sitting at the other window. Her older brother is pressing his long legs against the back of the driver's seat, and with them, he supports a red paperback book.

Her father occupies the driver's seat. Stiff and completely focused, he has his eyes on the empty country road in front of them and his foot firmly on the accelerator, so the speedometer stays well above the speed limit at all times. His eyes jump to the dashboard, then back.

In the passenger seat, Astrid's mother slowly wraps her long brown hair around her index finger and hums along with the radio. A song is playing that Astrid doesn't know and, as she just decided, doesn't like either.

"I want to love you..." A cold, artificial voice interrupts the music. "In one kilometer, please turn left," says the navigation system in an emotionless, feminine tone. After a short pause, the song continues.

Astrid's mother unravels her hair from her finger. "We should have stayed on the highway."

The driver doesn't answer. He just gives the navigation system a quick look. The detour may have spared them the traffic jam, but change the arrival time calculated by the computer, it has not.

The song on the radio continues to play and Astrid tries to decide whether she wants to pull out her smartphone or annoy one of her brothers. Kilian turns a page in his book.

A short flash of light from Elijah's cell phone draws Astrid's eyes to the small device. The screen reflects some sunlight, but she can still see that two characters are fighting each other. Maybe she should pull her phone out too, but unlike her little brother, she didn't have the foresight to download her series and the mobile network is too bad to stream.

Her mother finally stops playing with her hair and turns to the three in the backseat with a smile on her face. "I still can't believe my little girl is an adult."

Astrid smiles. "Come on, Mom. It's been almost two months since the last day of school."

"What? It just feels kinda weird that my kids are finishing school one by one." She leans back in her seat and puts her arms on the armrest.

Elijah pretends he didn't hear what she said through the headphones, but grimaces and grinds his teeth – something his big brother, who just looked up from his book, notices.

With a smile on his face, Kilian lowers his paperback and gives Elijah a push. "You still have a long way to go til you get to enjoy the sweet taste of never going to school again."

Elijah is pushed around in his seat but tries to ignore his brother at first. It takes a few seconds before he looks up from his cell phone. "Wait a second. Kilian, you still go to school."

"Pff. Police academy isn't school. I haven't had to do a real math problem in years... and I get to shoot guns," he replies somewhat theatrically.

"I want to—" The song on the radio stops mid-sentence and for a second, there is silence. Then the beep starts. The high-pitched sound is louder than the song and pierces their ears. Astrid starts, Kilian almost drops his book and Elijah looks up from his smartphone with a blink. The shrill noise is followed by a pause and then the voice of a male moderator: "We interrupt this program. This is an emergency." The man sounds like he's about to have a heart attack but is doing his best to keep his voice as monotonous and mechanical as that of the navigation. Another loud beep.