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<12/01/2011 - 18:19 | 1010 Link Street, Marietta, GA, USA>

I made sure to prepare anything and everything I would need for this moment, packing over a gallon of water to my room and eating dinner early. I had the additional luck of my parents both being stuck out at work later, though I made sure to barricade everything up as requested. I still had to wait for my signal. The connection was still phased out, and Lumina needed to be the one to phase it back in. I don't know how complicated it was to fly a spaceship around nearly empty orbit, but she didn't go out of her way to insinuate it was easy.

Before long, I sat down in my chair, making myself as comfortable as possible. Despite what I was told earlier about the noise, I did put on some of my mood music in the background at low volume, as it actually helped me concentrate better. Before long, I was hearing her voice again from the comfort of my own room.

"Hey Reed. Is everything good to go on your side?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"We just finished docking and priming the airlocks. From this moment on, we can stay connected again. Before I leave the ship, I'm going to execute my ability. Are you ready for this?"

"Yes, I am." Still uncertain of what ability Lumina was about to unleash into our own telepathy, I had no choice but to sit and wait. The inside of my own room was a bit chilly; I made it colder on purpose to further support a strong connection.

Without another word, Lumina left her seat and walked into the main room. With a deep breath, she then went straight for the mirror, resting her forearms against the dresser below it. "Okay. I know that you don't usually prefer talking with your mind over your physical voice, but you should really rely on it this time, because it can break your focus if you default to your actual voice."

"Okay Lumina. Let it rip."

"Okay... Here goes something..." Lumina braced herself for what she was about to do, making the both of us fairly nervous. She then started to concentrate and project at the same time, keeping her eyes completely open while staring directly into them using the mirror. After a few alarming seconds of intense feedback, her cyan eyes started to glow brightly, the side-effect she mentioned when using a lot more psionic energy than what was normal for her.

As amazing as it was for to see her eyes glowing this way, I had something new to panic over on my side. With the connection already in a powerful state, I was seeing through to Lumina's world just fine, despite the high transparency of her visual senses. When she executed her ability however, every detail I noticed around me suddenly became more opaque and defined. All the world around me, which I counted on from my peripheral vision suddenly became the transparent world, while Lumina's surroundings overrode the map directly to my retinas. "Whoa!" I audibly gasped with my eyes wide open, seeing the world anew.

I knew instantly that this was just a stronger form of telepathic amplification. That said, I've never seen anything like it! I could see all in front of me and around me in a fairly narrow field of view, but the world I was seeing through her eyes was totally solid! Without my ability to explain it, all I could see now had enhanced in visual quality and in detail. No static, no speck of dust or floating spot of visual damage messed with my field of view. It was as if I just put on the world's best HD re-render and reshade glasses; such detail was unreal and beyond the human's capability of insightful capture.

"How is it?"

With the same field of view, I was looking directly at Lumina's face in the open mirror. Her eyes had stopped glowing by now, but I noticed several specific features about her I didn't recall seeing earlier. Her hair was a bit shinier, her eyelashes were slightly longer while curving up, and her skin had this glossy kind of effect. Lumina certainly performed some kind of visual touch-up on herself for the main event, but I counted myself happier to see her face so close and so perfectly; it's like I'm freaking there!

"I..." I took a minute before answering her. I tried to look around myself, to glance away from Lumina in the mirror. I wasn't able to totally shift my focus of vision. In fact, I wasn't able to move through her body at all; Lumina still controlled that much. As a result, I got the effective illusion of being paralyzed everywhere else, even though I wasn't. Lumina took the liberty of glancing down at herself for me, revealing the rest of her body for my eyes, so that I would understand how it works. I could choose which angle of view to focus my sight on, enhancing it further, but I couldn't move Lumina's eyeballs for her, nor could I control a single part of her body. If I wanted to see something, I was at the mercy of her choice of where exactly to look. With all that however, I was still too stunned by the amazing detail around me. It really felt like I was standing inside of Lumina's body. I could feel the very air on her skin, and hear the ambient noises of the ship through the steel frames. "I..."

"It will take a minute of getting used to."

"It's like I'm you!" This is what it's been like for her all this time, seeing through my eyes? There may be limitations to telepathy, but this is still amazing! I'm jealous of her eyesight too. How did she managed to enhance it this well?

"You won't be able to control any part of me, but you will experience every sensation I would, as if you were trapped inside my body. You'll see and hear everything I do in real time only. That means, anyone wanting to speak to you will have to directly address me. You see this hand sign?" Lumina lifted up her left hand in front of her field of view, allowing me to see directly what she was about to demonstrate. Lumina then made a gentle fist excluding her thumb and index finger, holding it apart slightly. "I'll have to keep informing others about it, but whenever I make this hand signal while speaking to anyone else, it will be my way of directly relaying your exact words through my voice. Nobody else can hear you even with how I set things up. If anyone speaks directly to you, they'll just have to copy my hand signal or get creative."

I kept close attention on her hand signal, even though I wouldn't need to be the one using it. It was actually a brilliant strategy, but strange too. Nobody on my planet knows Lumina even exists, and to those I tell, don't believe she exists, so the hand signal would do me no good anyway. What got to me more was the idea that nobody from her world can hear my voice for themselves, since telepathy just doesn't work that way. It reminded me so much about how it is for me, how no human around me can hear her voice. It was suddenly a lot to swallow.

"Anytime you want to directly talk to someone, I'll raise my hand sign and resonate what you're saying through my own telepathic noise to that other person."

"But I thought you couldn't be telepathically linked to me and to other Altiri at the same time."

"No, you're thinking of three-way telepathy, which all involves one single connection pathway. I can handle our pathway, plus many other separate telepathic connections too, so long as they're between other Altiri."

It was now I remembered that the Altiri main superpower is of all things, telepathy. Lumina must have one incredible brain to be able to handle all of that traffic at once. "This... This is so freaking amazing! Lumina! This is awesome! I'm totally in your world!" Whatever chair I was sitting in, whatever space surrounded my physical body didn't matter anymore, because it was all gone! In all the connections I've ever had with Lumina, never were they this immersive. She should learn to invoke this skill more often.

"I thought you might get excited by this. Anyway, we're good to go for the overlay refresh test. Go ahead now and take a good long sip of your water."

"O— Okay." I didn't know what words she was using now, but I tried to do as she asked. Since it takes actual brain allocation to move my own body, the very moment I tried to move my arms and legs in my seat to pick up the water bottle I left on my carpet, despite not seeing where my hands were, all of Lumina's entire world suddenly vanished and dissolved away from my view. In an instant, I was back in my room, while the visual of Lumina's world was entirely absent in every way. "What the?"

"Just drink the water."

I did as she asked, calm only because she seemed to expect what just happened. "But what happened?" The moment I tried to move or do anything back in my world, all of that amazing immersion disappeared.

Lumina only answered me after my next drink. "Just sit perfectly still, clear your mind, and concentrate on my senses. Give it a moment."

I had to give it more than a brief moment. It took about fifty long seconds to notice any visual change again. Then suddenly, all of Lumina's entire world overlapped onto my own while becoming all of my primary perceptions, just like before. Lumina didn't even have to try anything taxing that time, and my senses were fully synchronized with hers again. "Whoa."

"Mind blowing huh? I needed to demonstrate this to you so you would understand the consequences of getting distracted. I also wanted to make sure it would work myself. Now, I know it's important not to get distracted, and this will be annoying, but you are going to have to constantly dip out and back in to keep up on your water supply. It is very important that you and I remain as hydrated as physically possible."

So that's how it works? If something from my world gets my attention, I'll be back in my room, all of my senses anyway. If I stay focused, I get to reside my senses in Lumina's body and see through her eyes into her world directly. At the same time, I'm forced to keep hydrated, so minimal disruptions are expected. "Good thing I already drank a ton of water before this started."

"Good. I trust that you also let in some of the outside cold into your room to boost the connection further?"

"Yes. I thought to take every precaution, done everything I needed to do."

"Good. Just keep focusing on me, and this will all be smooth."

"We've got this Lumina. Don't worry so much."

"Hey Lumina? Come on! The airlock is ready."

"That was Junko." I know I'm not mistaken. That was Junko I just heard. Even in a normal connection, it's difficult if not impossible for me to hear from Lumina's physical ears when any of her sisters speak directly to her, but that time, I could make out exactly what direction and angle the noise came from, all so clearly.

"I'm heading over there now Junko." Lumina went away from her mirror, leaving the main room to head over to the primary docking bay.

"So this is actually happening! This is so awesome! I never imagined it would be this cool!" Forget Santa Clause and Christmas presents; even as a kid I was never this excited before.

With a faint giggle, Lumina replied, "You're easily excited."

"Yeah! Aren't you?"

"I'm just so happy that you're really going to marry me."

Unable to fight back a hidden blush, I bathed in the solace of the reminder, aware of two distinct sensations of happiness mixing together. "I love you Lumina. I am serious about all this."

"So, let's go into this together."

I wanted to be there beside her, holding Lumina's hand, but I was okay with this scenario too. Here I am, a passive observer in Lumina's body as she controls everything. In a strange new way, I am doing this with her, right here beside her.

Lumina entered the airlock with Junko, neither of which were wearing any space helmets or any other gear. Before I could ask, the other door opened while the previous one was shut long enough to recycle the air between two sides. Despite what Lumina told me earlier about no cool sliding metal doors, the ones in front of her did just that with the amazing, seething whooshing sound. I nearly jumped back in reaction, only to realize that the other side of the air lock was not connected to anything dangerous. It was another sight entirely.

As soon as Lumina crept into the massive triangular tunnel of crystal, she closed the airlock doors behind her, while I dawned in the amazement of something impossible! The tunnel Lumina and Junko were standing in was made entirely out of some kind of transparent tinted glass, stretching to a colossal structure surrounded by two giant obelisks quite a far walk away. The tunnel itself supplied its own source of air from the connected temple, and the view of the distant stars and the tiny rocks floating around the edge proved that the other side of the glass led to the depths of outer space. The tunnel spanned so high upwards, even a mighty Altiri could not jump up to reach it, but both sides of the walls curved upwards at an acute angle to meet the top edge, shaping the tunnel into a very deep triangular prism. The glassy material was also fairly reflective from the inside, allowing Lumina and myself to see her own reflection while looking straight down or at the wall.

Words escaped me. I couldn't say anything to ruin a moment like no other. I've never seen anything like this before, not in any video game, nor in any movie. Lumina turned around to address the others that would be joining her. The wall on the other side of the tunnel was much closer, but far away enough to give other ships the ability to dock into special zones connecting the tunnel. So, all of Lumina's sisters of the Cy-Star aggressor group were in the tunnel as well. The amount of detailed visual information begun to overload my own mind, but I remained calm and convinced myself it was all totally normal, as well as it was too amazing for words.

"This is the docking chamber between here and the entrance to the Altiri Temple."

"What is this amazing tunnel? It's like it's made out of some kind of crystal or glass."

"That would be the Trynoximerizoid glass. That's what the material is made of, so that no sudden impact or radiation can get through."

I've heard of this crystal material before, but it's been long enough for me to forget how amazing it was, and what a mouthful it was to pronounce. "Trinoxim— Tri... What now?"

"You know already. It's that special crystalized compound that we have here. It's used to make the strongest kind of reinforced glass available."

"Where was this lesson when I was bored in class today?"

"Come on." Shrugging off my joking complaint, Lumina rallied with her sisters, and then led the walk all the way through the tunnel towards the Altiri entrance.

I was so amazed that it felt wrong to let myself forget a single instance of detail. However, after a dozen more seconds, I knew it was going to take at least a few more minutes for Lumina to reach the entrance, given how long the tunnel was. None of them seemed interested in walking too fast or running with their super-capable speeds, probably for safety purposes. It seemed then to me like the perfect moment to break concentration on purpose, for the sake of another drink of water, as well as a very quick trip to the bathroom.

When I got back in my seat and synchronized with Lumina again, she still wasn't inside the temple yet, though my timing landed us right outside the massive cathedral doors. I waited patiently as Lumina went through the entrance, feeling every bit of stimulus she did.

With what was a very short walk from there, Lumina and her sisters entered another large room, strangely configured with frozen seats, a reception counter with glass halfway down to the counter, and two small exits, one with some kind of toll gate or something. Lumina walked right in, addressing the lady behind the counter, who looked bored up until this very moment.

"Julara!" Lumina greeted vocally. "We're here and ready for the ceremony." She continued walking closer, until Lumina was face to face with Julara. Both seemed happy to see each other, and I took the assumption that Julara was the receptionist here, for logging, checking appointments, and whatnot.

"Already? The time felt faster for me today. Oh! Is he inside there right now? How exciting!" Julara held her bottom arms up in excited gesture, and I knew instantly that she was talking about me, being inside Lumina, or her senses anyway.

"Of course. Say hi Reed."

I'm supposed to speak now? I'm not ready! "Uh, hi Julara... Can she hear me?"

Right as I was talking, Lumina lifted up her hand sign while vocally repeating everything I was saying. "Uh, hi Julara... Can she hear me?" Lumina's synchronous timing of replay couldn't possibly be exact, but she repeated my words, inflection, and tone quickly and precisely.

You didn't have to make me sound like that! Oh, wait, please don't relay that!

Lumina started cracking up in front of everyone, laughing at me of course, but at least she didn't relay my total nervousness to Julara. How embarrassing! "It's okay Reed. That was a practice run. Next time though, I will relay everything exactly. It's only fair."

"Oh, I get it now." Julara lightened up when she realized Lumina's intent. "That's the signal you use when you're speaking on Reed's behalf... Girl, it must be so unusual to share all of your senses with someone like that. It probably takes a lot of getting used to."

"That's one way of putting it." I didn't know what side-thoughts Lumina had with that statement, but I kept my interest in the current moment, preparing myself to speak properly next time.

"You're all free to step inside. The other aggressor groups are waiting for you."

"They got here before us huh? We better head on in and go see them." Lumina slightly bowed before turning to walk towards the smaller entrance. The walkway had a tiny little toll arm, but with the flick of a button, Julara remotely lifted that arm up at a right degree angle, for Lumina and her sisters to all pass through. She wound up in a narrow and bleak corridor, hinting to me that it would take a brief moment before reaching the main throne room of the temple.

"So, who are these other aggressor groups? I wasn't aware you were in communication with any others."

"There are restrictions on all aggressor group fleets regarding external telepathic communications between each other. Those rules aren't strictly enforced however, though we ensure to keep communications brief, and not about any particularly heavy topic. The thing is, those restrictions are more severely focused on aggressor groups who are currently active in a purge case, like us. But the Stryders and Radion have always been our closest friends for the longest time. We're also the closest fleets to each other at corral position."

"Cool."

Without warning, Talor skipped right in front of Lumina's right side. Lumina didn't seem to physically react, trusting that her own sister would not bump into her, but Talor was now right up in our face. "I'm impressed Reed. I had some doubts before, but you really are taking this pretty well."

Lumina answered that for me, before I could even speak for myself. "I told you. Reed can adapt to a variety of situations. It's probably because he never really panics too much when something new happens." Since she said more than enough, I decided to just let it be.

Lumina was right after all; I've adapted fairly well to the situation, all things considered. It's hard to believe now, that all those months ago when she and I first met, I was an inch away from shooing Lumina off and declaring myself as an insane lunatic. It was strange what she said about me panicking less than other people do. The truth is, it's worse than that. I seem to delay anything I feel if it's intense, be it incredible anger, incredible sadness, or incredible fear. I don't know why it takes me so long to get upset when I should be, and it certainly has its downsides. On the flip side however, it allows me to attain a constant state of calm. I'm sure someone could hold me up at gunpoint and I wouldn't flinch; but give it about a day or two, and I'll finally be freaked out that it happened at all.

At last, Lumina rounded the last turn, leading to the massive and most impressive room I've ever seen before. This is the throne room to the Altiri Temple, the same room where the Altiri Queen makes all of her executive decisions, including the meetings she has with all active aggressor groups all-year round. The place was stunning, with beautiful displays of panned glass and an incredible configuration of metal rods wedged in between a large round opening above the throne room master seat. These rods lined up with other pieces in their artwork to draw out and resemble the official mark of the Altiri, a symbol to The Unity. Somehow, someway, they got the rods to glow with a constant cyan glow. It was like the eye of The Unity was watching out over everything.

That was just one section of the massive room. The place was so spacious, and there were all kinds of curious assets built into the floors and walls of the facility, including a circular platform tucked towards the back. The flooring wasn't an impressive texture beyond the solid steel, but plenty of professional markings of artwork took care of this aspect of the view as well. The very air itself was also visible in this space. I could see some kind of fog or mist slowly moving about in every corner of the room, presuming this to be the effect of the air conditioning system. One thing I wasn't able to feel in Lumina's body was the extreme coldness of her world, which would instantly freeze and kill a human.

Finally, Lumina turned aside, showing me the cluster of people she was referring to earlier. They were all standing pretty close to the wall, but were spaced out enough to stay comfortable. All of them were talking amongst themselves, until Lumina got close enough to a particular Altiri woman to lighten the buzz.

"Lumina! Hello! Glad you could make it. Is everything active?"

"Yes," Lumina spoke with the most excited smile. "Reed is with me right now. You can communicate with him by directly addressing me."

"Hi everyone. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Though Lumina was not expecting my immediate input, she still relayed what I had to say. Only this time, instead of using her voice to do so, she projected the voice I had echoed inside her head back out to the crowd in front of her, while simultaneously altering the pitch, effective tones, and inflections so that the projected voice would still sound exactly like me in every way. "Hi everyone. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." The advantage made it easy for everyone to distinguish my voice from Lumina's telepathic voice, while also allowing her to extend her range of telepathic bouncing to everyone at once. So, it was like I was standing in her place, speaking loudly to everybody instead of one person at a time. Lumina of course used her hand signal for extra hinted assurance, but I found the moment to be most impressive.

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Really, I wasn't expecting Lumina to make further upgrades to an already impressive system. I found it weird that she could actually project her own voice in a way that matched my tone enough to sound exactly like me, but I was reminded how possible it was, that day when Lumina and I made a bunch of stupid animal noises to each other. With the new speech setup vastly improved, Lumina's friend sounded off about how amazing it was, while the others started rushing in closer with raw excitement.

"So cool! I can hear his voice bounced from your thoughts as an echo. I didn't realize you had it in you Lumina."

"Yes, well, it's the best I can do for now... Reed? Meet Sierra."

"Hello!" Sierra waved first at me, at Lumina, at us both to formally introduce herself, and I found the experience too incredible to think about anything else. Every dozens of thoughts I had were dedicated to the here and now, too interested to find any other tangent of distraction.

Lumina told me one more thing before I could return the gesture to Sierra. "Sierra is the leader of her aggressor group, the Stryders."

"The Stryders? I'm guessing that's why all these people are almost standing as two separate groups?" After I spoke, I could hear Lumina echoing my own manly voice back out again to everyone, even though she wasn't supposed to. While I'm glad I didn't say anything stupid, it was a nervous reminder to be on my best manners no matter what.

"Yes. The other group beside them make up the Radion."

Then, another woman who wore a decorated sticky badge on her chest stood right beside Sierra and introduced herself next. "It's so awesome that you're getting married to him Lumina. I'm surprised it's even allowed."

"Reed? This is Blissera, the leader of the Radion aggressor group."

"Hello..." There was so much on my mind at once, and at last, I started devolving back to my old self, the part of me that never knows what to say, like I had been fully withdrawn from the world. If I say anything, if I think anything loudly enough, they will all hear it. While that's not a problem for me, this whole setup Lumina has is like talking to people in the flesh. Physical proximity, even while simulated changes everything.

"Kind of shy, huh? I would be too with everything going on. Reed? I'd like you to meet everyone here individually. I'll let them know to speak directly to Lumina in order to talk to you. That's how you wanted it, right Lumina?"

"Of course." Lumina waited for Blissera to talk to the others and get them ready for all of us to meet officially.

"They're all... They're all other Altiri people." I don't why I was suddenly mesmerized to see them. Maybe it's because, in all the time I've known Lumina, I've never properly got to see, let alone speak face to face with any other Altiri people. I got to meet her sisters once, but it was always a bit limited compared to how this is now. Seeing this many Altiri people at once right in front of me is quite amazing.

This time, Lumina did not echo out what I thought loudly, and she made sure to address me personally and privately for one specific instruction. "Watch what you say around them. I won't filter your words after this."

"I will. They're all just so amazing and beautiful... Uh, but not as much as you Lumina."

"I'm just gonna let that one slide for now."

Glad I was off the hook. I really meant what I said though. I don't know if it's because I'm used to the Altiri, or if it's because I love Lumina so much that I'm fond of her own people too, but the Altiri race are such wonderful, well-mannered, incredible looking people. For some reason, I suddenly felt like I belonged here.

Soon after Lumina's word of warning, an entire single-file line formed in front of Blissera and Sierra, comprising all the members of the Radion aggressor group and the Stryders aggressor group. The first one walked up to Lumina calmly and confidently, shaking her hand, which effectively meant she was shaking mine. "I'm Emily."

"Emily is in the Stryders, and she is Sierra's second in command and co-pilot."

"Right. It's usually pilot and co-pilot for every ship. Anyway, good to meet you Emily."

"Thank you," she replied. "Good luck with the wedding by the way." Emily stepped away shortly after, remaining nearby while giving the next woman the chance to greet me in person. Because of the pattern forming, I was uniquely ready for the next response.

"I'm Malica of the Stryders. It's really interesting that you're prepared to marry the same person who purged you."

Don't say it! Don't say it! This is now the third Malica I've met in person. It must be a common name, but at least she looks nothing like the other two. "What else can I say? I fell in love with Lumina after learning so much about our worlds. Lumina and I make a great team."

The woman behind Malica then rushed to her turn, shaking Lumina's hand as if she were a celebrity, even getting Malica's curious attention. "I'm Malica's co-pilot, Heather. It's so awesome that we get to meet like this. And after all that's been said about your reputation."

Is she being passive aggressive, or am I just missing something? It took me an extra second to remember how famous I was in this world for being the first ever male human to be purged, one who by our standards is not a heathen in any sense of the meaning. Based on what she just said, the rumors going around about me must still favor on the idea that I am some disgusting low-life pile of trash with no respect for women. "I suppose I can understand. Look, this obviously means that Lumina found someone who merits the exceptions of heathenistic influence despite my gender. Still, I have to guard myself as well and ensure I never demonstrate any form of hostility."

"It's fine Reed. Don't feel overly obligated to prove yourself to anybody else." I sensed the hint of disdain in Lumina's voice, afraid that I might see some unexpected fighting after all.

"Oh, please no. I'm sorry if it sounded like I was suggesting there was any value to those rumors. I spoke of no intended offense or delusion." Heather really did look apologetic. If she were human, I would still doubt her integrity after seeing so many manipulative women fake their emotions on others. But since she was Altiri, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"See Lumina? We can relax. Everyone here is cool."

"It's fine Heather. We both knew you meant no ill will."

The next pilot took her turn without bumping into anybody else, and those who did already meet me gave us some space. "You haven't met everyone yet, but it's nice of you to say that about everyone here." For the split-moment, I realized she was talking about the very last thing I said, which was transmitted to them without me realizing it. "My name is Brighter, of the Stryders."

"Brighter, good to meet you... I like her voice." She spoke in such a soft and firm manner, not too delicate, not too loud.

"Oh thank you! I don't ever get the chance to hear such compliments outside my own aggressor group."

"They really should let everyone communicate a little more."

"Hi..." The next new pilot addressed us afterwards, but she seemed a bit more timid than the others.

"Hello. You're Brighter's co-pilot, aren't you?"

"Why yes. How did you guess?"

"I figured there was a pattern being followed here." Aside from the two leaders of their aggressor groups, I had yet to meet a single pilot from the Radion group, which told me all of the Stryders were coming first, then team Radion. In addition to this, they lined up by exact rank instead of some random arrangement, similarly to how the Cy-Stars were ranked. Lumina goes with her co-pilot, Junko, and Talor with her co-pilot, Hurma, and so on. It wasn't too hard to figure out... That said, I still don't have her name.

"Right. I'm Leanne, Brighter's co-pilot for the Stryders."

"It's good to meet you Leanne."

Leanne perked up quickly with a happier mood. "Thank you Reed. I'll show you Kristina, one of my sisters and best friends." Leanne grabbed the one behind her, Kristina, and brought her forward to us.

"Hey there. Kristina's the name... Reed? It's really amazing that you're marrying the leader of the Cy-Stars, but it's even more heartwarming to see for ourselves how nice and wonderful of a person you are."

"Thanks Kristina."

After Lumina thanked her for the compliment, it really had me wondering why us getting married was such a huge deal to the other Altiri. I mean, humans get married all the time and— Oh, of course. Altiri people don't ever get married because they're probably all straight and not looking for love, considering their hatred to other heathens... Lumina did tell me this would be the first Altiri marriage to take place in their world, as in the only one so far. It must be big news by now. "Thanks for coming to our wedding. I've never known how this would work until now." It felt so amazing and exciting just to say that! Announcing out loud that I have a real wedding made me feel more grown up and lucky at the same time, the glory of it all!

"Oh, neither did we," Kristina remarked. "It's not as if Altiri get married every day. This is literally a first in our history."

"Enough praising Kristina." The shorter woman pushed Kristina aside impatiently, daring me not to laugh at their reactions. "I'm sure they just want to meet everyone and get on with the ceremony. I'm Tabitha by the way, Kristina's co-pilot."

"Tabitha? There's honestly no big rush. It's really awesome that we all get to be here right now. By the way, the decorations you all worked on are incredible!"

"Well, thank you Reed." Tabitha suddenly seemed somewhat flustered, like she wasn't expecting any further compliments from me.

After she stepped side, the next two in line suddenly squished up closer together with abrupt excitement. "I'm Tracy—"

"And I'm Regenia of the Stryders."

In an alluring display, the two sisters demonstrated how well they got along, speaking together at the same time as if they were performers. "It's nice to meet you both!"

"That's awesome. Tracy? Regenia? Good to meet you."

Regenia slouched ever so slightly with a naughty smile on her face, staring into our eyes directly, though she was really addressing Lumina. "Lumina? It's been too long. But what an occasion to bring us together again. So tell me, how surprised were you when your boyfriend proposed?"

"That's—"

"Oh, you should have seen the look on her face. I've never seen such shock turn to comfort life that, but she must have been blushing from ear to ear."

"Hey!" Lumina interrupted. "You were just as surprised when you heard my answer."

Regenia and Tracy erupted in laughter, patting themselves as they happily strode away to let the others get their turn, but the moment clearly embarrassed the heck out of Lumina.

At the risk of being a dead man, I fought as hard as I could to hold my laughter in. I saw an opportunity to humiliate her in front of her friends, and I took it... She would do it to me if our roles were reversed. I'm sure Regenia was just waiting for the opportunity get a rise out of Lumina. Oh, it's so much fun, and to think she didn't have the chance to mute me out before I said all of it.

"Don't think I'm going to let this one slide Reed."

"Uh oh."

"I'll exact punishment on you after this is all over."

"That's what the honeymoon is for after all."

"Wha— Would you— Why did—"

"My-my! Looks like quite the party between you too. Is it always like this?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

She started laughing in front of us, and I wasn't able to hold it in anymore either. With Lumina finally defeated at last, she just sighed while Amanda entered her cue. "Greetings Reed. I'm from the Radion aggressor group, and I'm Blissera's co-pilot."

"Good to meet you."

The next two took their turns together quickly. "Alice. I'm also from the Radion. And here beside me is Linda, my sister."

I always never know which meaning they use when they say that. I think Lumina once mentioned to me that actual siblings in this world call each other blood-sisters. Otherwise, it's like everybody else, a sister as a family, without any biological relation. "Linda? Alice? It's awesome that we can meet each other like this. And thank you for attending our wedding."

"Don't sweat it." The couple behind Linda and Alice replied for them, speeding up the total pace of this formal greeting exercise. Her partner introduced herself second to the new face speaking to us.

"That's Nora, and I'm Judith."

"I don't bite, unless you ask me to."

I really want to know if Nora is serious about that fun fact, and I'm hoping everybody here is relaxed enough to be themselves. "Nora. Judith. It's good to meet you. I see you're from the Radion as well." Every other pilot I've not yet met is from Radion too, based on the pattern I correctly guessed earlier.

"Right, but the wedding is what's more interesting if you ask me. It's fairly brave that you're willing to do this for Lumina. But I suppose you two could always have some fun in a few other ways too..." Nora bounced her eyebrows while gently poking Lumina with her elbow; I of course saw all of it.

"Save it for later Nora." Sounding only mildly annoyed, Lumina carried her hands behind her back, waiting for the others to take their turns.

"Okay," she agreed. "But only if you tell me all the juicy and funny details in the near future. Don't forget Reed; you have a full honeymoon after this."

After Nora winked, I wasn't able to say anymore. I was blushing too much to react... I knew this already, that people who get married have a honeymoon after, but when I agreed to that even in my own head, I was mostly joking. How else was I to make that work when we're trillions of light-years away? Did Nora know something I didn't? Is there some way for Lumina and I to have that kind of fun? If so, she has to tell me!

"Forgive her lewd behavior."

"Are you kidding? I welcome it Lumina."

"..."

I wondered why Lumina was silent, until I saw some of the others whispering to each other, while Nora gave us a smile that let her teeth show combined with two thumbs up. "Uh, sorry. That wasn't intentional."

"It's okay. I suppose I should have expected this one day. But do you think you can save the adult thoughts for after the wedding?" "Come on now, let's finish this up." Lumina tried to move things along as damage control, but it was a bit too late. Any hope of trampling any ideas that Lumina and I were becoming sexually attracted to each other became ever fleeting thanks to Nora. Still, the other members of Radion continued as if nothing had happened.

"Hi, I'm Erica."

"Reiki, Erica's second pilot. Nice to meet you." Reiki shook my hand too, trying to be as professional about this as possible. As a result, the final two pilots I had yet to meet took their turns together with Erica and Reiki.

"Nataliee."

"And I'm Urrie."

I didn't bother trying to bring up the other stuff again. It was fun to embarrass and humiliate Lumina; I found she was cuter in those moments anyway. But, I don't think every situation makes it right. This time, I could feel some of her dread, and I was too desperate for us both to return to the moods we had on earlier when we entered the room. "It's wonderful to meet all of you."

To my surprise, Lumina's co-pilot, Junko stepped into our field of view to talk to us. "I'm so glad you're all getting well acquainted. I'm going to ask when the ceremony will take place."

"There is no need for aimless inquiries." Everybody including Lumina turned around at once, except for the many who were already facing the woman with a smooth voice.

As I saw through Lumina's own eyes, even I was amazed at the sight before me. Even though I've never met this person before, based on the intense display of attire with Altiri symbols everywhere, as well as her stature and modestly visible age, I knew this lady could be none other than the Altiri Queen, Lady Q as she used to be known. Where did she come from? I didn't see her earlier; she must have snuck up on everybody here.

Before I knew what was going on, Lumina bowed with one arm crossing her chest. I quickly got a sense for what was going on only then. "My great queen. It's wonderful to have you here with us, and I can't thank you enough for allowing us to set up the formalities for a wonderful ceremony."

They seem to love the term ceremony instead of wedding... Must be an Altiri thing.

"Think nothing of it Lumina. You and your sisters have been through a lot since the initial purge. And besides..." As the queen paused her sentence, Lumina lifted her head up while opening her eyes once more, allowing us both to see each other so clearly. The queen was staring directly through Lumina's face, so certainly that I could feel her targeted gaze reaching into the depths of my own soul. "Your fiancé and myself must keep to the expectations required of our principles, left behind by our ancestors, be us here or a universe away."

Is she implying that our ancestors of humans and Altiri are one and the same? Or she is simply respecting both our races for being intelligent individual beings? It's the Altiri Queen, so I knew I couldn't indulge my curiosity here. Taking a page from Lumina's book, I stuck out my strongest respect for her. "Lady Queen. It— It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Crap, I stuttered just a little. She's still a stranger to me, despite her importance in the world.

The Queen allowed Lumina to stand up completely, but she wasn't done talking to me just yet. The way she looked at us as she spoke indicated an incredible amount of intelligence I've never sensed in anyone else before. "Well of course it is Reed. When Lumina first purged you, everybody outside of the Cy-Stars including myself had serious doubts about the future of the woman you are synchronizing with today. Even after everything that has transpired since, I still question the integrity and flexibility of all our emotions, mixed with the strange events and experiences that share you two anew."

I could barely keep up with the language of the queen, but Lumina honored her appraisal before I was cornered into a reply. "Your words are kind, my great queen, as is your offering to make our marriage official, where it would not be anywhere else."

The queen held both her arms and hands together in link, still keen on talking with both of us at the same time. "The marriage set before you two is a ceremony never practiced in reality before now. However, we did envision the rare possibility long ago, and so, a protocol for such an event has already been established. Though I still do withstand shallow fear of sympathy - that in one instance or another, the direction and aim you hope to achieve may end up hurting Lumina."

"It won't... This is for the best of us both." Lumina wouldn't let it show, but being linked to her, I could feel her fighting something. Whatever it was would soon cause her arms and legs to wobble with doubt, her eyes to ripple with the saddening fear that her queen might speak of a truth too horrible to repeat.

"L— Lumina. May I speak?" I knew my words were already reaching the others anyway from Lumina's passive ability, but I wanted to be certain she wouldn't shut it off for any reason. The queen's words were deep, but I understood the basics of what she was saying given the context clues. She speaks of fear and doubt, about the possibility that our marriage might not last, as it is with many other couples. At last, I know exactly what to say to this so called queen.

"Please invoke a response of your own, Reed. The concern was directed towards you, after all. It is a valid thought that many have on their minds tonight, dare I even mention the lack of sentiment be shared, even among Lumina's own sisters. With as many uncertainties surrounding you two, are you prepared for any eventuality, including one where you and Lumina do not remain together forever?"

"I understand why you're asking me this, and I understand why some of Lumina's sisters still don't fully trust me yet. After letting such hatred for men fester for a hundred thousand years, I'm not surprised, and I sure as well won't blame a single soul for harboring such feelings, even if they are directed at me. You're all probably wondering what crazy things could happen next. It's all very new to me, while the purge isn't new to you Altiri. However, plenty of unusual and crazy things have happened here already. I got purged out of the blue without your permission beforehand. On top of that ice, I turned out to be a male, thought to be one of the Altiri's top enemies. Then came the surprise, at least so some convinced, that I'm not really a bloodsucking monster out to cause mayhem, which leaves the same possibility open for other human men, rare as it may be. Then to add even more spice into this world, everyone gets wind of the same pair wanting to get married here, right in this temple."

"So then you clearly see the cause of such upset. Right or wrong, you and Lumina are talk of the planet this year. Speaking unapologetically, you two are waltzing forever deep into uncharted territory."

"So what? Lumina and I have been through this thought process before, together as a team. The questions still linger. What will happen to us and our states of mind years from now, should we maximize our commitment, even given the physical limitations of our existing connection? Would the fear of failure in this route be any less painful than the alternate choice of us parting ways, never to see each other again? Well great queen, I've decided that Lumina is a full part of my life now, and I will be devoted to her completely. I know that Lumina has already come to the same conclusion as well; that we may not properly live our lives unless with full and total devotion to each other, less it tear us apart instantly and bring about pain too unbearable to breathe. Though the obstacles in place of our physical relationship limit us, they never lesson the love Lumina and I share between each other, for it shall always grow stronger with each passing moment. For that reason, we have nothing to fear, so all doubts are meaningless."

"... Yeah. That's right Reed." She lightened up, Lumina's mood and confidence instantly restored.

I didn't mean to go on for that long, but I knew I would need to address this harrowing concern with everything I am. I don't care what adversities await us; I will never stop loving Lumina!

"I am very pleased to hear your heartfelt response, and I built with confidence that you can instantly apply your honest feelings to anyone without so any hesitation... Hah! I never thought I would see the day where Lumina might actually learn something from a human. Forgive me now Reed, Lumina. It is now my understanding that I along with countless others have unfairly misjudged you in all the time leading up to this moment, especially considering we had no merit to act upon such fallacies."

She wants to talk with a bunch of big words and elegance, huh? I can do the same now, thanks to all the practice I've gotten in reading and writing books, and thanks to the accelerated learning I got from all the conversations I had with Lumina. "I feel as if your caution was well where it needed to be..." Yeah, now that I think about it, I misjudged the queen too. The fact that she was willing to admit what she thought of us and apologize about it in public absolved her of all the misappropriations I associated her with. "After learning about the dark Altiri history, I understand why there is such strong disposition against all males of any society. It took me a while to understand their pain. I've been trying not to think about heathens for a while now, since I couldn't care less about the ones surrounding me and my life, but I still keep my mind on the subject. I want to be the advocate of proving not all men in the universe are mindless pricks desiring to enslave woman and explode everything for fun. I know that I'm not like that at all, and I trust in Lumina's objective evaluation of me in that regard. I'm not going to defend the other men who make fools of themselves. Even with everything I just said, it's any Altiri person's right to still feel so strongly against any male they want. Legasso was the worst after all. Though it could be unwise to apply such hatred to 100% of the male population prematurely. I mean, look at me. Lumina spotted me in a crowd of millions, saw the subtle differences in me before I even had the chance to grow up and notice them for myself. She knew who I was deep down inside, and she acted on that premise... It saved me you know. There's no telling where I'd be without her interventions."

"Those are some excellent viewpoints you have Reed. I'm especially impressed with the level of honor and faith you are demonstrating to me now. I would like you to have high allegiance for The Unity, though such can never be forced. It's ironic that you believe Lumina is the one who saved you back then Reed. There was a period of time, Lumina told me this herself, in which she claimed you saved her."

"That's real sweet of her... I guess in a way, we saved each other. Lumina and I are here for each other, always. As for the allegiance thing, I wouldn't mind having more of it. I don't always agree with each and every protocol you keep at law, particularly the one restricting all forms of communication between other aggressor groups. However, I still must respect that which you have employed in process, for my place in such a decision is far below yours."

"Hm..." Clearly intrigued by my response, the queen gave us both a moment to reflect on them. I was honestly amazed I had it in me to sound half as elegant as her royal greatness; so long as I spoke with all my emotion, it came through so naturally. As for her, I had to assume the queen was merely impressed with my ability to keep up, after possibly comparing me previously to a half-wit.

"You know, this is the first time you have both spoken to each other in person." While Lumina only meant for me to hear her, the voice was easily readable by the queen given her passive ability to snoop minds.

"And yet, your man has become mannered in such high strain of grace. His intelligence has grown faster and further beyond my previous expectations. His self-grown confidence never oversteps a potential misunderstanding of foreign affairs. But most impressively, all this time, you've been able to completely resist and reject all heathen behaviors and influence, proving most of all to me that you are indeed, not a heathen. Lumina? It seems you made the correct choice after all. Reed? You should know that you have my full blessing on this occasion of your soon-to-be marriage."

"Thank you my great queen." Lumina fought the urge to jump up and down for joy, and I struggled with the same temptation.

"Thank you my great queen. This really is a wonderful thing you've done. Everyone I've met here is really nice. I know that it took a lot of teamwork to help decorate the temple this way; the decorations are amazing beyond any of my expected conceptions."

"Very well Reed. In that case, I will now set up the platform." The queen pointed her gaze to the circular platform in the back of the room I saw earlier. "This will only take me five minutes or less, so be prepared to present yourselves with the vows that you must both entrust to each other." The queen then took her leave of us, heading over to that area to set things up. In all, I was fairly satisfied with the way that just went down, if not totally exhausted.

Even Lumina let out a rough sigh once the queen was too far away to hear her exasperated breath, though I wasn't expecting it. "Well, that was something."

What was she expecting? All Lumina had to do was learn how to properly speak her own heart. She could have said all the same things I did in her own way. "I could sense that you were tense about the whole situation, but I don't understand why."

"Neither am I able to understand how you were not. I was worried at first that you might accidentally say something offensive. But then the queen's conversation started to remind me that she may have a strong dislike to you as a person, since you are still male and all."

"No sweat," I said, just as the sweat from my pours started seeping into my physical body back on Earth. See? Even when I should be nervous, it doesn't hit me right away. There's always a delay. I have nothing to worry about anymore, thankfully. "I understood from the start of our conversation that the queen was judging me based on my character, to see how far off it aligns with any heathen behavior. I assumed she would try that since it was my first time meeting her. But you should have realized that the queen already gave us her permission to get married here anyway, regardless of what she might have concluded instead. There's enough proof already that she trusts us both enough to make our own decisions. There's no harm in assuring someone else how strong our trust and faith in each other is, which is why I knew I wasn't offending her when I presented my arguments. At the end of the day, I really do respect your queen for everything she has done for us. And I therefore think that absolute honesty is a requirement when speaking to her."

"I thought you weren't fond of her before today."

"I wasn't too happy, but then I realized that the queen could have incarcerated you and your entire team for purging me in the first place. She didn't. The queen could have tried a number of things to sabotage your ability to spend time with me. She didn't. She could have used her own words and intelligence maliciously to destroy your confidence in wanting to be with me. She didn't. And here we are on our day of unbreakable marriage; something that required her direct permission. She could have denied us or canceled the event out right. But she didn't. If your queen is cool enough to give you a chance to prove yourself Lumina, then I figure I could give her a chance to earn our honor and respect too."

"Well you certainly surprised me a little. I didn't realize you had such an amazing reply prepared."

"I didn't prepare anything Lumina. All I did was speak from the heart. Everything I felt came flowing through."

"And yet, you sounded so much more intelligent than an ordinary human should be for this generation. It's times like these I refuse to believe you're still fifteen."

"I blame you. All of that noble and proper language you Altiri use must be rubbing off on me somehow."

"Let's just get ready for this. Make sure you take a moment to drink plenty of water." Lumina sure sounded most satisfied with how we handled ourselves, and I took that moment to follow her lead.

"On it."

I didn't drag the time trying to prepare. Knowing how long it's been since I had a fresh drink of water made me feed the crave of thirst I've had in the past few minutes. It was also kind of relaxing this time to have all of Lumina's surroundings suddenly vanish and whirl away, but I reminded myself that time did not pause for either of us. After preparing myself physically and mentally, I waited for Lumina's passive skill to bring me back into her world, so that I may tie the final knot securing our love for eternity.