Chapter 2: Across the Void
The world on the other side of the portal was nothing like Evelyn had expected.
As she stepped through, she was immediately greeted by an overwhelming sense of weightlessness. The ground beneath her feet felt unstable, like she was standing on a bridge made of mist. The air was thick, heavy, and yet somehow alive, pulsing with an energy she couldn’t understand. The colors were unlike anything she had seen on Earth—vivid hues that shimmered in the atmosphere, swirling together in a way that made her head spin.
For a moment, she stood still, breathing deeply, trying to grasp the enormity of what she had just done. She had crossed dimensions—gone beyond the fabric of reality she knew. This was not just science. This was something ancient, something beyond her comprehension.
“Evelyn!” Max’s voice called out from behind her, sharp and panicked. “Come back! We don’t know what’s out there. This is too dangerous!”
But Evelyn didn’t move. She couldn’t. Something was pulling her forward, something insistent and compelling. She felt a tug in her chest, as if the very core of her being was being drawn to the unknown.
As she took another step forward, her eyes scanned the landscape around her. It was a strange world—vast and unrecognizable, filled with floating orbs and what appeared to be distant structures hanging in midair. The sky above her was an ethereal shade of violet, streaked with silver lines, like the veins of some enormous cosmic creature. There were no clouds, no sun. Only light, emanating from the heart of this alien world, filling the space with an otherworldly glow.
A low hum vibrated through the air, and for a split second, Evelyn thought she heard voices—faint whispers, like an ancient language too soft to understand.
“Max, get in here,” she called over her shoulder, her voice echoing in the strange atmosphere. “You need to see this.”
Max hesitated. She could hear his steps growing closer, but the urgency in his movements was clear. He was not ready for this.
When he finally joined her, his eyes were wide, mouth agape. “Evelyn, this—this can’t be real. How are we even breathing? This place—it’s… impossible.”
“I don’t know,” she replied, her voice distant, her gaze fixed on the horizon. “But we’re here. And I think… I think we’re meant to be here.”
The wind around them picked up, swirling through the air, carrying with it an unusual scent—like a mix of metal and something floral. It was intoxicating, yet foreign. Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to breathe it in. There was a deep sense of longing, as if something in her was waking up, something she hadn’t known was dormant before. She could feel it in her bones, like a quiet hum inside her that matched the energy of this world.
“Look,” she whispered, pointing toward a cluster of structures in the distance. They were unlike anything she had ever seen—angular, geometric, and made of materials that shifted in the light, shimmering in iridescent colors. At first glance, they looked like massive obelisks, but as she looked closer, she realized they were more than that. They were alive.
The shapes seemed to pulse, growing and retracting like breathing organisms, their surfaces rippling with translucent light. They were not stone or metal. They were something else entirely.
Max swallowed, his voice shaky. “Are those… buildings? Are we even supposed to be here?”
Evelyn’s thoughts were a swirl of confusion and wonder. She had no answers. No guide. No manual for how to navigate a place like this.
Then, as if sensing their presence, one of the shapes moved, slowly at first, and then with a sudden, graceful fluidity. The ground beneath their feet trembled as the structure seemed to come alive, shifting in response to their intrusion.
Out of the structure, a figure emerged.
It was humanoid in shape but completely alien in appearance. It was tall, with elongated limbs and translucent skin that shimmered with a soft blue glow. Its face was smooth, featureless, save for two glowing eyes that pierced through the dim atmosphere, locking onto Evelyn with an intensity that made her heart race.
Max stepped back instinctively, but Evelyn stood frozen. The figure didn’t move, didn’t speak. It simply watched them, as though assessing them with a mixture of curiosity and caution.
For several long seconds, there was nothing but silence between them and the alien being. Evelyn’s mind raced, trying to process what was happening. Was this being hostile? Was it a guardian of this realm, tasked with keeping out intruders?
The alien’s eyes shifted, moving from Evelyn to Max, and then back to her. Finally, it spoke, its voice a low, melodic hum that resonated in her chest.
“Why are you here?”
The words came in perfect English, though Evelyn could hear the faintest echo of something else in the sound, as though the voice was reaching across dimensions. The alien being’s tone was calm, curious, but there was an underlying power to it that made Evelyn’s breath catch.
“We… we didn’t mean to intrude,” Evelyn stammered, her voice suddenly small and uncertain. “We were just—”
“You are not from this world,” the being interrupted, its eyes narrowing. “Your presence disrupts the balance.”
Max stepped forward now, his face pale. “We’re scientists. We—”
The alien raised one hand, and the air around them seemed to warp. The ground trembled again, and a ripple passed through the landscape as though the very fabric of reality was being stretched thin.
“Enough,” it said, its voice ringing out like a thunderclap. “You have opened a door. A door that should have remained closed.”
Evelyn’s heart pounded. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Was the creature threatening them? Or warning them?
Before she could react, the being moved closer, its eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her feel as though it could see straight into her soul.
“You are not just visitors,” it said softly, its voice almost a whisper now. “You are part of something greater. Something far beyond the scope of your understanding.”
Evelyn opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The alien’s gaze was all-encompassing, and in that moment, she knew that whatever this being was, whatever this world was, it had already marked her. She was no longer just a scientist. She was an intruder in a reality that she had no hope of understanding—at least not yet.
And as the alien continued to gaze at her, Evelyn realized something else: she wasn’t just here by accident. There was a reason she had stepped through that portal, a reason that was yet to be revealed.
But what could it be?
