Aurora Dawson's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

The entity waited above the jewel. Aurora's hand still hovered in the glowing cave. She lowered it. "You asked why I want this," she said. "I'll tell you the truth. We came from far away." The shimmer pulsed. *Then speak.* Aurora took a breath. "Our sun was dying. It swelled into a red giant. Our ancestors left home to find another one. The trip took thousands of years. Ark IV is the fourth world discovered with environments people could live on." Dominic stood close, listening. "We're not from here," he added quietly. "We're strangers to your world." The entity's glow dimmed, then brightened. *Aliens, like the ones who exiled me.* The voice grew heavy. *My people were exiled long ago. Before they scattered, they hid relics in the cruelest places on this world. Ice. Fire. Deep water. When combined can give the power to create or destroy.* The shape leaned toward Aurora. *This jewel is one of many.* Aurora's pulse jumped. "Where are the others?" *Hidden where the world is harshest,* the entity said. *You would need to search, and to survive.* It pulsed once more, softer now. *You came to understand. That is enough. Take the jewel. Carry the warning with it.* The shape thinned and vanished. The cave went dark except for the green stone. Aurora lifted the jewel from the ledge. It was warm. Nothing struck her down. Dominic let out a shaky laugh. "It let you have it." They climbed back into the pod on the glidefin's back. The clear shell sealed with a hiss. The creature dove, then rose, and broke the surface into daylight. Above them the orbital shuttle circled low, its polished body catching the sun. The radio on Aurora's belt crackled. "There you are," Cole said. "You were down twenty minutes. I was about to send help." A second voice cut in, brisk and warm. "He means he panicked." That was Laezah, his copilot, sharp-tongued and steady when Cole was not. "Glad you surfaced. He's been chewing the controls." The shuttle set down back at the colony. Laezah dropped from the hatch first, long brown hair whipping in the wind. She spotted the jewel in Aurora's grip and stopped. "That's what was down there?" Aurora held it up. Green light played across Laezah's green eyes. "It's shaped like the Green Sea," Laezah said. "How is that possible?" Aurora told them everything. The exiled makers. The relics hidden in ice and fire and deep water. The power to create or destroy. Cole's smile faded. Laezah crossed her arms. "So this planet has more of these," she said. "In places that could kill us." "Yes," Aurora said. She turned the jewel over in her hands. She loved a hard climb, a deep dive, an unmapped edge. Now the whole world had become one. "We have to find them before someone else does. I want to go after the next one." Laezah studied her, then nodded slowly. The search had a map now, and it pointed somewhere dangerous.