When Alien had returned, after his experience in the awakened world, he had several specific goals in mind. The main one was to quickly earn enough money and influence to protect himself from Dallion and the emperor, should they ever come after him. Using the skills he had obtained, that wasn’t particularly difficult. Anyone who’d spent decades learning to cast and create complex spells would find computer coding easy beyond belief. It was thus no issue for him to find himself a job in any prospective field. The mage’s big break, however, came when he found that he still had the ability to create echoes. They weren’t anywhere as sophisticated as the ones in the other world; even children would have been able to deal with them effortlessly. Still, the people of Earth were weaker than children.

Soon enough, Alien had a few million to spare and was also on his way to the top of the ULA. It was at that point that he whispered the idea of the moon exploration program. He knew, as everyone, that humanity had been on the moon before, and he wished it to happen again, only this time with him involved. Achieving it would almost feel like being archmage of the Academy again, and a lot easier to achieve.

Sadly, just as he was starting to gain momentum, he was issued a warning—one that only an awakened would notice. It was very subtle, but clear: don’t cause any ripples or you’ll have trouble. A few weeks of research and investigation later, Alien saw that the threat was real. An organization far stronger and wider than he could imagine was already in existence. They didn’t seem to be interested in power or to drive the world in any particular direction. The only goal of their existence was to ensure that no other awakened would. Mages, it seemed, were at the top of the list.

Since then, Alien had been forced to drop out of society, staying locked up in his own fortress of illusions, doing everything to ensure that no one unwanted would come near. With his disappearance, the drive of the moon exploration program quickly faded, left to move forward solely on inertia. In all likelihood, it seemed that it would never occur. Dates were pushed back, new concerns emerged, along with the bureaucracy that needed to be addressed. Standard flights were replaced with test flights in a never-ending process that dragged on for eternity. That was, until Dallion’s revelation was made.

The two didn’t like each other. Alien only feared the boy a bit less than the emperor himself. And yet, he could see the opportunity. The old spark that he thought extinguished years ago was now rekindled.

Emails containing music commands were sent to the appropriate people, people of significance had echoes placed within them, even a celebrity campaign emerged, creating enthusiasm for the concept of space exploration. Most importantly, all the time, everything was done subtly enough so that the watcher organization couldn’t find out.

“The watchers are fighting us for the Scotland facility,” Jenna shared with the group. “Losing the Star remains a sore spot for them.”

“That’s one way of keeping them occupied,” Dallion said as he kept examining the space suit he’d be wearing. Even after spending hours chatting with its guardian, it remained more cumbersome than he would have liked. “They’re not the problem, though.”

A short distance away, Alien and Katka were working on creating a spell that would assume control of the spacecraft once in orbit, changing its trajectory. It was a complicated process, which earned a lot of comments and criticism from Jeremy non-stop.

“You never did grasp the concept of efficiency,” the former emperor said while jogging on a treadmill nearby. “Industrial strength magnets aren’t Moonstones.”

“It’ll work, sir!” Alien grumbled beneath his breath, though still unable to make himself face the other’s gaze. “It just needs a bit more optimization,” he conceded the point.

“It better. I’ve spent a lot of money on this.”

No one mentioned the obvious threat that might come from the Blue Moon. There had been some talk on what the consequences might be should Dallion return to the awakened world, but no one had openly asked what might happen to the people that remained. They, too, knew the secret and remained entirely at Astreza’s mercy.

“Any chance I can get a better model?” Dallion asked. “No offense, suit.”

“That’s the only model!” Alien all but shouted, while readjusting dozens of magic threads. “And you better hope your firebird’s as good as you hope. You’ll only have oxygen for half the trip.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just hold my breath.”

Dallion glanced over at Jeremy’s mobile phone on the table. It had been a while since Kraisten had called. Out of everyone, he was the only family man, so he had to do his part from New York. The saying went that no news meant good news, but in this particular case, there was reason for concern. With Jenna keeping track of the watchers, Kraisten’s job—along with Jeremy—was to be ready to counter any possible interference from Astreza. For that, he had to be in Florida for the launch.

“Any changes in the weather pattern?” Dallion asked.

“No. Everything seems good,” Jenna replied, after which she promptly checked on her phone. “Yep, nothing unexpected as far as I can see.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way for two more days.”

“I doubt that Astreza will make it so obvious,” Jeremy said. “You’ve seen him. You know he’s an in-the-last-moment kind of guy.”

Dallion didn’t say anything. He knew the Moon all too well, just as he knew that no one could defeat him unless he let them. In that respect, letting Dallion get so far could be treated as a form of approval, although there was no guarantee. Too many people had warned him there could be consequences for there not to be.

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“I’m going to sleep.” Dallion stepped away from the spacesuit.

“What about all this?” Alien shouted. “You must learn how to cast it and—”

“I’ll learn it on the plane.”

Without further explanations, he went directly to the guest room assigned to him. Changing into a pair of pajamas, he lied down.

“Time to sleep,” he whispered and closed his eyes.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

The rectangle flashed, visible through Dallion’s eyelids. He ignored it, keeping his eyes shut. Every instinct urged him to open his eyes and do something. Instead, he ignored it, humming a tune aimed at making him sleepy.

Seconds passed. Dallion kept on humming until at one point, he no longer felt the need.

“Long day?” a familiar voice asked.

Instantly, Dallion opened his eyes. Eury was sitting beside him, wearing her sun gold armor. That was more than alarming.

“Why are you in armor?” Dallion asked.

“Eight years since you created the new world,” the gorgon replied. “They still mark the occasion. Early enthusiasm, I’d call it. In our time, we didn’t celebrate dates at all.”

That’s because he didn’t have the right date to celebrate. No one remembered when the world had been leveled up last, so there was no way to know when to celebrate, even if people had a reason to do so.

“I found a way back,” he said. “Everything is set. I’ll be on my way in two days. With luck, I’ll be back in a week.”

“And if you’re not lucky?”

Dallion didn’t reply. Both of them knew the alternative: continue a long-distance dream relationship. They knew it wouldn’t work, of course. Something similar had happened with Jiroh once she had returned to her world. At first, she’d pop up in their dreams for a chat quite often, asking how things were going, occasionally sharing some news of her own. With time, the visits became less and less until they stopped altogether.

“I’ll make my own luck,” Dallion said. “You just be there.”

“Where else can I go?” The snakes on Euryale’s head moved about. “There used to be horizons when we used to chat in realms,” she said, looking at the endless whiteness of the realm. There was no sun, no Moons, just fabric as far as the eye could see. “I want to do that again.”

“I will.”

Dallion was about to add more when the gorgon suddenly vanished. A moment later, so did the realm. Due to no fault of his own, Dallion was back in Jeremy’s mansion, lying on the bed.

Had he just been ejected from the realm?

Concentrating, he went inside again. The realm remained there, as was the guardian. Everything seemed to be in perfect order. Only Eury was missing.

“Did you do this, Astreza?” Dallion asked. “Is this your subtle way of warning me?”

No one replied.

“If you didn’t want me to try this, you could have just taken me back there.” Dallion paused. “You still can.”

It was all but certain that the Blue Moon could hear him, as it could hear everyone else on the planet. Yet, it refused to react.

“Rocket-flight it is, then. Remember, I didn’t ask for this. You did this to me, knowing that I’ll never sit still.”

That was as much an amicable conversation with a Moon that Dallion could muster right now. If there was one Moon he was thankful to, it was Felygn. If all went well, he might have a chat with him again.

Now, time to get some actual sleep.

The night passed in the blink of an eye. Dallion didn’t feel any calmer or more refreshed, despite having slept for over ten hours. The rest of the group seemed no different. Alien had become an open wreck to the point that even Katka was trying to calm him down. Everyone else put up a brave front, but had trouble keeping their emotions in check.

“Everything set?” Dallion asked.

“Ready when you are,” Jeremy replied. “You two can stay here if you want,” he turned to the pair of mages. “I can teach him the spell. Just don’t burn the place down or I’ll find you.”

Droplets of sweat formed on Alien’s forehead.

“I’ll be joining you, sir,” he said, almost shivering as he did.

“Oh?” Jeremy sounded amused.

“Even if this ends up being the biggest fuckup since creation, it’ll be historic. I want to be part of it, not keep hiding in some bunker. I know I’m worth crap, but I can still do something. And I want to be there.”

Slowly, Jeremy made his way up to the mage. The contrast couldn’t be more apparent if someone tried. Jeremy was the epitome of health and success. Even without his awakened powers, there was a good chance he’d succeed. While Alien would remain the geek that helped in the background.

“After all this time, you finally grew a bit of a spine,” the emperor said. “Better get ready, then. I’m not taking you on my jet smelling like that.”

With that, the final phase of the plan began. After a few final preparations, everyone was off for the meeting point in Florida. Kraisten had finally called, letting them know that he had booked a flight as well and should arrive well before the flight was scheduled. Technically, he didn’t have to be anywhere near the launchpad, although Dallion would have preferred to see him before he set off.

Aqui, Dallion thought. Do you have enough for another zap?

You want to do that now? The dragon complained.

I can’t do anything while waiting. If I’m going to faint, better it happen now.

Don’t blame me if things go wrong…

Dallion felt a sharp pain in his leg, as if an arrow had pierced his thigh. A moment later he could hear the extremely expensive bonsai tree that Jeremy had in his jet hum a tune. It was amusing, though not Dallion’s first choice. Even so, he had learned two things: he was getting better at reacting to the pain of re-learning, and also there was one skill remaining before he had the full set again.

Thanks, Aqui, he said. Get some rest. I’ll need the last one before I get to launch.