Luna, shortly after 6 AM.
The electric blue sun peeked over the horizon and the megastructures from the city, painting the sky a light purple-blue hue and casting blue rays over the suburbs.
White clouds occasionally passed by overhead. The morning had come, although many people were still sleeping. There was almost no activity, aside from the occasional hum of near soundless vehicles passing by overhead.
However, there was person that was still awake. In fact, she was awake for the entire night.
She was Samantha Wright, and she had patiently but anxiously waited for the Dreamlander's to come down the stairs to tell her the news. Though, they never came. All she was met with was silence and the messy house that reminded her of Johnathan's mental deterioration.
This was made worse when she saw that the sun was finally beginning to show its face through the windows of her house.
"It's the morning already…" Samantha said while scrolling through her phone thoughtlessly, her body shaking slightly. "Tim has to get ready for school…"
She quickly threw her phone to the side as she got up slowly. It looked like she wanted to fall to the ground, but she regained her footing as she attempted to walk towards the staircase.
Her eyes were heavy and the dark areas under her eyes were visible. To her, almost everything looked blurry. All that was on her mind was Timothy going to school, and Johnathan finally being cured.
"I hope those policemen didn't sneak out…" She said as she stepped up on the stairs, her body nearly wobbling. "I'd never forgive them. I'd sue them immediately…" she muttered.
After half a minute, she finally approached the door to the room that belonged to Johnathan and herself. Using her mind—which took a few seconds—the door slid open with a soft mechanical sound.
Whoosh…
Immediately, she recognized the usual. The desk, the bed, the window…all of it seemed normal.
Until, she noticed a white outline of a circular symbol on the ground. Her tired eyes widened in shock as she lifted her head up, and turned it to her right.
There, she saw Johnathan standing up, leaning forward as his eyes scanned words on a violet hologram. He wore his classic starry clothes, and his hair was messy.
But most importantly, his tired, heavy eyes had completely disappeared. They looked like they were filled with life and vibrant youth.
"Johnathan…" Samantha whispered as her world narrowed for a moment. "Are you really fine?"
Recognizing his wife's tired voice, he slowly looked over to his right.
He saw Samantha in a midnight gown with a messy bun, her eyes tired and heavy.
"Samantha!" He rushed towards her, not pondering about her shocked eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he placed two of his hands on her shoulders. "You look so tired…"
Samantha didn't respond for a few seconds. All sorts of emotions whirled within her. Shock, joy, amazement…
Then, suddenly, water began to well up in her eyes as they began to narrow.
"You're really alright…you finally came back…"
Upon hearing those words, Johnathan's mouth widened for a moment. Only after a second did he finally come to a realization.
"Yes. I'm finally okay. I'm so sorry for whatever I did, I don't even remember. I should've never gone to that stupid event…"
"But I really have to thank the Dreamlanders. They really do come from God…"
"Do you want to see what they wrote?" He asked, his eyes still locking onto Samantha's.
Samantha forgot her tiredness as a large smile immediately began to form on her face.
"Yeah." She replied.
They both stared at each other for a few seconds, despite Samantha agreeing to check the message. It was like they never wanted to stop looking at each other, especially after everything they had gone through.
Taking a soft inhale, Johnathan moved first as he closed his eyes. Composing herself for only a second, Samantha wiped her eyes as she followed her husband.
Then, they both stood side by side in front of the violet hologram to read it.
It read:
"By the Grace of God and your family's devotion, your curing was a complete success. It was a pleasure to talk with you and your family and we pray that such situations will never happen again."
"Though, it is always best to prevent such cases whenever possible. So, make sure to remember these points:"
"1. Never go outside of Luna without governmental or official supervision."
"2. Always avoid anything shady that doesn't involve the official organizations. If you're not sure, always ask the Dominion."
"3. If you see anyone violating these two rules above, do not hesitate to call the police."
"There will be a compensation of 100 Veylars for any further rehabilitation. Just go to your local bank and give this number: 22281791 in order to receive the Veylars."
"If there are any further issues, do not hesitate to call us. Our contact is already built within your phone systems, so you just have to search for it."
"Once again, we thank you for your devotion to the Lord."
"Signed, Dreamlanders Division, Lunan Police."
As Samantha read, her eyes increasingly got redder and redder.
When she finished, tears flowed down her eyes like a waterfall.
"The Lord…is so good…" She said, with each word being accompanied by a sniffle.
"Yes," Johnathan replied as he stared back at his sobbing wife. "God truly is good. This just gives us more reason to praise 'Him'." Raising his hand up, he held Samantha by her waist as he brought her closer to him.
"Oh…!" Surprised, she stopped sobbing for a moment due to the sudden embrace.
"Why don't you rest while I get ready for work and drop Tim to school?" Johnathan said as he positioned Samantha so that her entire body was facing him.
"…No." With a sniffle, she muttered as she began to wipe her tears, leaving behind heavy, red eyes.
"You're…you're not working today."
Johnathan's eyebrows raised for a second. Then, as if he came back to his senses, he softened his expression.
"Okay. I'll call in sick for today while I drop Tim off to school. You should rest."
Without waiting for Samantha to respond, he wrapped his arms around her waist as he grabbed her tightly. He pulled her in closer, like he wanted her to be one with him.
Samantha's heavy eyes gradually softened as she allowed herself to be devoured by Johnathan's desire.
And, without a word, they embraced each other until they physically couldn't any more.
…
In the office that appeared as if Astra was in outer space, she appeared to sit on nothing as violet holograms illuminated the space in front of her.
"Looks like there are no Anomalies for today…thank goodness." She murmured as she exhaled greatly.
Just as she was about to get up to get ready for the additional classes with Kaelyn, Astra's eyebrows perked up as she saw a notification pop up suddenly.
It was sent from the Dominion, but the writers were outlined clearly at the top of the notification:
The Wrights.
It read:
Thank you so much for your work! We cannot thank you enough. You truly are servants of God. Bless you and your families!
Astra stared at the notification for a while, longer than what she'd normally look at a sudden pop up for. She had an almost dazed expression, but emotions had stirred up within her.
Then, her demeanor softened as a subtle smile crept up on her face.
"They still tried to appreciate us…" Astra muttered, later thinking about Aurora's words before they left.
…
In the soundless, subconscious chamber that held a mystical classroom.
Wearing side swept bangs, a black blazer and dark glossed lips, Kaelyn sat on nothing in front of the lecturer's desk. She said with some incredulity in her voice, "It looks like you've covered all of the basics with the main languages…you can even be considered fluent…"
"I'm pretty sure the average time for Dreamers to learn this information is around three to five months!"
Astra held a poker face as she responded in her head. "Well, it's not hard to learn the official languages once you understand the patterns behind the structure and the grammar. Then, it's easier once you can connect it to languages you already know…"
"For example, while Dreamurian and Sentaic don't appear to follow the same phylogeny as the Indo-European tree, you would have to play some tricks to separate the Indian part to see an almost perfect reflection. Dreamurian follows a more modern European language structure, while Sentaic is like an older, medieval mix of Dreamurian and European. They're similar to the point where they can even be combined to form a singular language tree: Dreamurian-Sentaic. This is expected, since I figured that the third and fourth dimensions already have some sort of connection."
"However, Entheris most definitely mirrors the 'Indo-' part. The only problem is that it is in a separate tree from Dreamurian and Sentaic, despite sharing some similar roots. Did the Dimension of Energy break off from the Dimension of Consciousness and the Dimension of Subconsciousness at some point?"
"Nytheric is like a fascinating amalgamation of the Tibetan and Austronesian languages, while Zarethian mixes Sino and Japonic, splitting off from the Tibetan…"
"Oneris is the only language that apparently doesn't derive from the language trees from the previous Earth. Though, it still shares some similarities to American English, with certain letters being replaced by y, x, and z. It's expected, considering how its culture centers around math—specifically statistics."
"Combining this information with memorizing the words for each language, it's not hard to become fluent."
"Regardless, the connection between this world and the previous one goes down to even the languages…it truly surprised me when I first figured this out. Though I won't be surprised if this world is an alternate timeline…"
While having these thoughts within a second, Astra's lips curled up softly as she simply responded to Kaelyn's 'average time' comment, "You seem to really love using statistics."
Kaelyn nodded as she smiled back in kind.
"Yes. It's a tradition in my family." She said with a soft voice. "We record everything, we calculate everything…some people think it's tedious, but it's actually fun. They just don't understand us."
Keeping a subtle smile, Astra thought to herself, "That sounds a lot like OCD…"
"Anyway, it helps me with my refinement." Kaelyn said as her voice got softer.
"I've always wanted to become a Statistician after I become a Dreamweaver."
"But, by the grace of the Goddess, I pray that it is the most likely path in my life."
Astra's eyebrows raised.
"The Goddess…yet she prayed to the God of Dreams at the beginning of the lesson. I guess it's protocol?"
She thought, but then she later asked a question.
"Why did you join the Dreamlanders, then?"
Kaelyn sighed as she tried her best not to frown.
"My family lives in a minor country."
Astra's expression immediately softened as she knew exactly what Kaelyn meant. And, seeing her sudden but subtle expression of emotion, Astra had an almost uncontrollable tendency to completely dismiss her being an insider.
But still, she had to be vigilant and cautious. She only thought back to Kayla's words on how horrifying the Celestial world is.
"Anyway, let's get back on track." Kaelyn said with a hurried tone.
Knowing that this meant that Kaelyn wished not to talk about it anymore, Astra just placed her hand on her lap, waiting for Kaelyn's instructions.
"Let's go over the ancient languages and rituals, shall we?"