Elizabeth was roused from her first dreamless sleep in many years by a smatter of arguing voices. She sat up in puzzlement, since her parents were relatively well-tempered and rarely fought.

She cocked her head and listened more intently. Was this about her missing sister? But after a while, the voices grew clearer and Elizabeth was aware that the two voices were actually one of a man’s and another of a younger boy, though not in the railroad car she was in.

“There is a reason for the rules we set, Cerin!” The sterner, older voice said.

“But, Father, I had to understand! How could I watch over someone I barely knew?”

A pause.

“You would be exiled.”

“These are stupid rules!” The boy shouted, obviously furious.

Elizabeth flinched at the sound of a slap.

“Never.” The father’s tone was deathly calm. “Never say the Rules are less than important.”

“I did it, you know.” The boy said after a short second, his voice filled with pain and hollow anger.

“You-what?” The man faltered, seeming unsure of himself for the first time.

“I looked into the star’s memories. I found the girl whom I protected. A Star Hunter, Emiliana.”

Elizabeth staggered out of the foreign bed, her ears ringing at the name. Emiliana. She stumbled out of the room, much to the surprise of the father and son.

“Where is she?” She cried hoarsely, reaching for the boy’s arm. “Are you talking about my Emiliana… Emiliana Chosa?”

“What’s this?” The boy yanked his hand out of her grasp and regarded her with unnerving amber eyes.

The slanted pupils were those of a feline’s, nothing like a human. His hair was a shock of white, framing his angular face and features, which were symmetrically perfect.

“Uh…” Elizabeth stuttered, withdrawing her hand. Who - what was he?

“The human.” The man gave her a curt nod. “Welcome to Cosmos.”

He was an older version of the boy, with a slightly wrinkled face and disheveled hair. They were both clad in divine, flowing robes of white, with golden edges and tassels that hung from their chests loosely. The man also held a staff with sparkling gems that lit up the tip of the carved wood.

Elizabeth was speechless. She knew without a doubt that the people in front of her were not human, even though they spoke her language. And Cosmos? There was no town, city, nor country that was called Cosmos. Where, exactly, was she?

“Wuh?” She blurted.

The two males continued to stare at her, causing her cheeks to burn deeper crimson. She took a breath and tried for a full sentence.

“Where am I?”

The man smiled, but somehow his face remained stone cold.

“Cosmos.” He repeated slowly, as if Elizabeth was a dull creature. “I shall deal with this later. Cerin, see that she gets into no trouble. The Astros must be informed of your reckless deed.”

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With a weary sigh, the man spun around and exited the room. That was when something struck Elizabeth. The room - no, it wasn’t even a room - was tilted at a confusing angle, and now she knew why. The door from which the man had just left was a half-opened train door. And that meant...

She looked outside. The obsidian sky was sprinkled with thousands of stars, which seemed to look bigger and brighter than she’d ever seen before. There was only one explanation.

This train was suspended in space.

Elizabeth’s stomach flipped, and her legs turned to jelly again.

“I think… I need to sit down.” She groaned and fell against the wooden benches, the only things still familiar in this strange world.

The boy made no move to help her, observing her with an air of condescension.

Elizabeth suppressed a shiver. Those unblinking eyes unsettled her more than anything else.

“Ugh. I don’t feel so good.” Elizabeth mumbled, then blanched.

“Do you know her?” The boy - Cerin asked out of the blue.

Elizabeth glanced up again, swallowing down the bile rising up in her throat. “Know who?”

“Emiliana.” Cerin said this tentatively, as if it were a sacred word.

Amidst her nausea, Elizabeth still felt her heart leap. Could it be possible- were they talking about the same person? She could only dare to hope.

“Are we talking about Emiliana Chosa?” Elizabeth managed a weak smile. “Because if so, I don’t just know her. She’s my sister.”

CERIN WINCED, HIS EXPRESSION SOFTENING EVER SO LITTLE.

“Yes, I should’ve realized. You two look alike, especially your hair.”

Elizabeth just cringed and nodded. She raised a pale, trembling hand to smooth down the locks of her hair. A memory floated unbidden to her mind, of her and Emiliana, braiding each other’s strands of light yellow in turn.

“Do you… do you want to go see her?”

As soon as the last word left Cerin’s mouth, Elizabeth sprang up from her seat, all discomfort forgotten. “You know where she is?”

Despite her confusion, Elizabeth made herself focus her gaze on the stranger before her. How could he have found Emiliana? Had Emmie come to this Cosmos place? And what was that about Emmie’s star? Theories swirled in her head, almost threatening to make her sick again.

“Yes. Come on.” For the first time, Cerin’s lips curved with the hint of a smile, his feline irises glimmering with amusement. With that, he stepped out of the train.

If you overlooked the eeriness, Elizabeth noticed, his eyes were actually kind of… intriguing, in some way.

The thought surprised Elizabeth, but she couldn’t register more shock after the baffling past hour. All these months, and she was finally closer to figuring out where her sister went. She looked around for the dreamcatcher but it was gone. That made her panic momentarily, then she pulled herself together. Her sister was more important right now.

She took a quick breath to calm herself and followed Cerin.

“So where are we- Eek!”

Elizabeth let out a small shriek when she noticed the sheer plummet that awaited her at the edge. Heartbeat spiking to a frantic rate, her hand scrambled for the train door instinctively,

Stretching far below her was an infinite sea of burning stars and asteroids, and below that was a pitch-black void of nothingness, with a few sparse bursts of light that led all the way down to… to wherever that went, Elizabeth thought with a gulp, I’d rather not find out.

Once again, she felt faint. She swooned slightly, prompting Cerin to reach out a hand to steady her.

“Careful.” He warned.

His eyes grew wide at the sudden jolt of electricity that sparked when his fingers came into contact with her skin. Startled, he drew his hand back, but Elizabeth continued to gape at him open-mouthed.

“What?” He asked self-consciously. Had she felt what he had too?

“You… you’re… floating.”

Cerin closed his eyes briefly, more to hide his discomfort than to show annoyance. “Yeah, so? You can too.”

Elizabeth stared down at the abyss, her stomach giving another lurch of protest.

“Look, do you want to see your sister or not?”

Without waiting for a reply, Cerin took her hand reluctantly, bracing himself for the frizzle of energy that only he seemed to feel.

Then he gave her hand a small tug. Almost without any effort, the stars appeared to fly past them.

Gradually the lights sped up, blurring into streaks and lines, becoming the only sign that proved Cerin and Elizabeth were moving forward.