Red Horizon Light

This is the second story in the Red Horizon Light series. Reading the first will help you make sense of some parts of this one.

She worked without hurry, unhurried, slow. Nothing was left of the old Exa — the one who used to go rushing along, who could barely glance back over her shoulder while calling out, "I'll make it to the cave." Now, in defiance of everything she'd lived through, she moved slowly. She dropped the fish she'd pulled from the enormous river into her basket and cast her net back out. There were so many fish in the river that the net filled the moment it touched the water; when she hauled it in, she'd realize she couldn't possibly fit that many into her basket, and throw the rest back. If she'd hurried to fill her basket, it would have been full in no time, and she'd have had to head back — with no chance left to drink in the beauty of this place. She had sworn to take her revenge on the past, and she was determined, down to the last drop, to savor this new planet she'd arrived on.

This planet, under the authority of the High Council, had once been used by students for botanical research. But after the great uprising shut the schools down, the students abandoned it, and it was left to its own devices. Not long after the last humans withdrew, the wild animal population surged, and the balance of nature tipped decisively in their favor.

Brushing past leaves along the narrow forest path, Exa has only just noticed the sky darkening, and is making her way home. She knows she's running late, and worries her friends might send out a whole search party for her — so she quickens her pace.

Pushing her way through the trees, she comes face to face with an enormous creature. There's supposed to be nothing living out this way — and its sudden appearance terrifies her utterly. The creature looks like every fear she's ever carried, given a single body. It stands nearly twice her height. Its dark brown hide is scored with gashes and old wounds. Its bright red eyes burn with fury. Its huge, fanged mouth is razor-sharp. Its long, jagged claws make her feel as though her heart is about to be torn straight out of her chest. Its voice, guttural and terrible, claws at her ears.

Exa's heart starts pounding. She's frozen where she stands. Fearing for her life, she stares at the creature — and then, all at once, watches it drop to the ground. As she stares in disbelief at its fall, her head begins to spin, and through swimming vision she can just make out a figure approaching her.

"And who are you?"

"Don't be afraid. I was only trying to protect you."

Before Exa can make out who's approaching, her eyes go dull and she drops to the ground. She has fainted.

---

Some time after the incident with Exa and her inability to reach her enigmatic hero, Tarık arrived before the girls, torn between worry and thrill, to deliver the long-awaited news.

"I come to you today with different news. They've reached out to us about the shuttle you brought. They want it back, from the other dimension — and just a little while ago, someone landed on our planet. As it turns out, the one who came is the daughter of a close friend of our master's. Your age, too. I hope you get along."

Someone their master knows from the other dimension has arrived, wanting to collect the pilotless shuttle that came to the planet they'd just settled on and take it back. Believing they're the ones who brought it here in the first place, the girls feel a mix of fear and excitement.

The shuttle has been brought to the planet they'd only just moved to, and they head, excited, toward the site. As they approach it, someone from the other dimension is waiting there beside it.

The person from the other dimension is Alkım. She smiles, mysteriously, and steps toward Exa. "Hello, Exa. I've heard your name before. There's something important I need to tell you," she says. Exa listens, stunned, as Alkım explains that the planet she'd lived on before was, in fact, a place where people from Earth's dimension had once been settled. Exa listens in utter disbelief.

"So we — we actually came from the Earth in your dimension?" she says.

Alkım smiles and nods.

"Yes, Exa. Not you yourselves, but your ancestors — they came from an Earth exploration ship. They were brought here years ago, and your generation has never known a thing about where you come from. If you want, I can take you back to Earth right now."

Exa is overjoyed at the news. She calls her friend Akuji over and tells her everything. Akuji wants to go to Earth too — both of them are desperate to know where their ancestors came from. Tarık, once he hears, gives them his blessing, helping them seize a chance that might never come around again in their lifetimes. Alkım leads Exa and Akuji toward the shuttle. As it lifts slowly into the sky, the two of them set off, buzzing with excitement, toward Earth.

As they draw closer to Earth, Exa finds herself thinking about the planet she'd only just come to know, and had now left behind. She wonders if she's made a mistake — the natural beauty of the planet she'd just left puts Earth's to shame, by every measure. According to what Alkım has told her, the merciless wars her ancestors waged, and the collapse of the planet's natural balance that followed, forced the survivors to scatter across other worlds. That's how the people of Alkım's dimension came to spread across their own galaxy, make contact with life in other galaxies, and, eventually, open communication with other dimensions entirely.

When they arrive, Exa — who had pictured towering megacities — is bitterly disappointed. After passing through one round of security after another, they finally reach Earth's surface, landing inside a magnetic dome that shields against the radioactive fallout left over from the old wars. The structures inside are one and two stories tall; according to Alkım, they also make use of buildings built into the ocean floor.

Alkım leaves Exa and Akuji to carry out an assignment of her own, heading off to another planet. Settled into a mobile shuttle-container to stay in, the two of them are eager to explore Earth. Every settlement protected by one of the magnetic domes is called a "city" — though, from what Exa has learned of Earth's history, these places are really no different from villages.

Stepping out of the shuttle, they administer a few drops each of the protective solution they'd been given on arrival. Though these places are called villages, the buildings — only one or two stories above ground — extend down through many levels below the surface. Back when the environment was collapsing, people had decided underground construction would be safer, and built accordingly. According to Alkım, new construction has stopped entirely; with most people leaving for other planets and space platforms, there's simply no need for it anymore. Those who remain on Earth are, for the most part, people who don't want to leave — one reason being that anyone who departs is fitted with a chip. As fate would have it, Exa and Akuji's own ancestors had agreed to be chipped and left Earth behind; and yet their descendants, despite carrying no chip in their bodies at all, still live as though one were there, thanks to the virus passed down through their ancestors' chips.

To let them get around different parts of Earth, Alkım has given them a shuttle-container of their own rather than settling them into any of the buildings. Setting out hopeful to explore, the two friends find that the whole city amounts to little more than a handful of café-style places to eat and drink — nothing else to see at all. The drinks served in these cafés are below average, and since what they have on the shuttle is better, they take to flying between cities instead.

Wandering in and out of whatever they can find in each new city, they pass the time — until the unexpected happens. Brutal killings have begun breaking out, and one of them unfolds right in front of their eyes. Watching the crowd in a city square, they see two people, right across from them, break into an argument — and one shoots the other dead. Bringing or carrying weapons on this planet is forbidden. As the killer tries to flee, he opens fire wildly on the people around him; several die, and many more are wounded.

The Earth of her ancestors' stories flashes through Exa's mind — the shining one. This was nothing like it. She grabs Akuji's hand and holds on tight; neither of them manages a single word as they flee the square, not stopping until they find themselves in another city entirely.

But the chain of disasters doesn't let up — in this city too, a fight breaks out and people are killed. Running into the same nightmare in city after city leaves both of them wanting nothing more than to get off this planet. But there's nowhere for them to run.

Having drifted through so many cities in so little time, Exa and Akuji draw the attention of the authorities, and are soon wanted as potential suspects in the killings. It doesn't take long before they're caught and thrown in prison.

Trapped in that prison, Exa and Akuji are overcome with despair. In their cold cell, they've never felt so far from home. What began as a search for their ancestors' trail has left them not even knowing how to survive on Earth. In their hopelessness, they decide to reach out to Darcy. Falling asleep in their cells, they reach her and ask for help. The moment Darcy gets their message, she springs into action and crosses into the Earth of the other dimension. Drawing on abilities only just beginning to bloom in her, she cuts straight through the prison's tangled security systems. Cracking computers and electronic locks is child's play for Darcy. Once she's freed Exa and Akuji, the three of them head straight for Alkım. When they reach her, they start telling her everything strange that's happened to them.

After hearing the three of them out, Alkım realizes convincing the authorities of any of this will take time. Because Darcy, with abilities she'd only just gained, had broken her friends out of prison — and that was a problem the authorities would struggle to accept, to put it mildly.

Explaining to them how a young girl had strolled straight through the security of a maximum-security prison and walked her friends out — that, as far as they were concerned, might just turn out to be the hardest thing Alkım had ever had to argue in her life.

So instead, it makes far more sense to her to take them back to her own planet, the one where she lives and trains to fight. Exa feels the ache of leaving Earth without ever finding her ancestors' trail, but she can tell Akuji feels the same, and admits to herself that leaving this place, for now, is the right call. Alkım and her two new friends leave Earth before long, setting off toward her home planet.

To be continued.