Aetheria Arising : Relic of Time Wars- Missing centuries story.

sabotage

The Oracle Daisy was working on the final system for the power plant as she hummed an old song about time, 'You say go slow, I fall behind, the second hand unwinds.'

She almost laughed as the words murmured from her lips. She was never one to go slow or fall behind, but she had been lost and when she looked she found a world she never expected. She found Kaleth waiting for her, even though the expanse of time, and every time she fell, he caught her, even when they fell into the Divide Ravine. She stopped singing suddenly when she burped unexpectedly. She felt ill; morning sickness didn't respect the time of day. It had only been a few hours since she ate, and she was both starved and nauseous again.

Daisy swallowed hard and willed her stomach to settle, only seventeen more months to go. She was horrified to discover Aetherian pregnancies lasted twenty-one months, a lot longer than the nine months of a human pregnancy. She almost groaned aloud. Her last pregnancy with her twins had meant she had morning sickness for the entire nine months and even two weeks after she gave birth, the thought of so many more months of it was awful. She was overjoyed to be carrying Kaleth's child, in spite of the way it had happened though magic. Sex would just have to wait until they were married to try the normal way. Aetherians had very strict traditions concerning courtships, especially for a Royal like High Lord Kaleth of the House of Adamos.

She missed him. She hated that they needed to stay apart, she hadn't even gotten to hold his hand in a tenday, let alone kiss him and be held in his arms. He made her feel so safe and so sane and so different from everything she had ever known. Karstien told her, tha his father would love only her until the day he died. It was a devotion and a commitment she was still trying to get used to because she had been left by everyone who had ever promised to love her. She suddenly missed her twin sons and ached that they would never know their sister. She blinked back her tears and forced herself to focus; she hated how emotional she got when she was pregnant. Focusing on her task, she worked to get one last set of circuits to place for the emergency shut down system. She steadied her mind and finished the panel then she heard footfalls on the stairs.

"Oracle Daisy?" a familiar voice called.

Colby was one of Kaleth's most dedicated young guardsmen, and unconditionally loyal to the Princess as his mother had been. Lady Corathenia, or Cora as Allura called her, had been the last teacher in old Aetheria. Damien had her murdered her when she refused to stop teaching Aetheria's children. Colby and his twin had only been barely in their 120s, not even teenagers when Lady Cora's death had shattered their family between those who opposed Damien and those who supported him, which included Colby's own father. He had spent most of his time after her death with his mother's half-sister Della and Rolf.

"In here, Colby," Daisy answered, squirming out of the crawl space under the console. She was glad she was so small and not tall like the Aetherians. He held his hand out to her and pulled her up to her feet.

"Auntie Della sent you some mint tea and your favorite sweet bread," he smiled. His striking emerald eyes dancing as he poured her a cup of tea. It was perfect as always and helped calm her stomach. His aunt took such good care of her.

"Your aunt is my angel," Daisy said, nibbling on a sweet bread.

"Everyone says that." He grinned, nodding. "How is it going?" he asked, looking around at the control room.

"I will be finished in an hour," she smiled.

"May I help? I'm studying the tech manuals," he offered.

It made Daisy happy that the young Aetherians were so driven to learn everything. It was a joy to teach them, so she began teaching him the power plant controls and how it worked on electro-magnetic to push the water, generating a renewable source of energy with a stored ten-day supply of power, should the plant fail or need to be taken offline. It was all based on innovations she had hope to one day use on her home world, but Neimad Global had destroyed that dream. However, Damien wasn't here on this world to stop her, and Aetheria's first city Atlanthea would be the most efficient, environmentally safe, and integrated ever built.