Mónica entered the luminous membrane, which stretched until it broke and she crossed a dark space before reaching another membrane and passing through it.
As she exited the portal, her ship began to implode, causing Monica's eyes to widen in surprise, and she turned into mist, quickly exiting her ship.
Monica couldn't help but make a sad face as she saw her beloved ship turn into a metal ball.
Looking around carefully, she was surprised to find that there was no sky in this place. Whether she looked up or down, there was only land.
Moving towards one side, Monica floated at a low altitude while observing the lush forests and different creatures.
Taking a deep breath, she noticed that the amount of magic in the air was very high. It was as if the surface was a desert, but down here it was full of life.
The whole place was illuminated by a large ball of light that I could see at the end of the horizon, due to the angle of illumination it created many shadows and the places behind the mountains may never have seen the light.
Monica looked at the glowing ball with curiosity, wondering what it was.
At that moment, a creature with the appearance of a giant snake approached. It measured over 100 meters in length and had a pair of wings. Its body was covered with plates that seemed very durable.
Monica simply stood still, happily gazing at the creature. This proved that all this time she wasn't chasing fantasies. They truly exist, but they no longer live on the surface, probably due to the lack of magic.
Suddenly, the creature sniffed and detected Monica, so it began to approach her. The large amount of magic within Monica was like a delicacy for any monster.
Monica chuckled lightly at its attempt to eat her, and she simply jumped on its head before hitting it with force, causing the creature to shake its head in a daze.
At that moment, Monica stealthily moved away while continuing to observe the place. She didn't want to kill any creatures, as they might even be on the brink of extinction after so many years.
After covering a great distance, Monica spotted all kinds of fascinating creatures that didn't exist in the Savage Lands. At the same time, she wondered if these two places had any connection.
Finally, Monica reached the top of a mountain before lying down and gazing at the landscape in front of her. It was truly incredible to behold.
...
Damian had already returned home after visiting Tony, and everyone had spent a pleasant day.
Suddenly, everyone except the three little ones looked in one direction, a bit surprised.
A great magical pulse passed through them, catching their attention.
"That's Monica," Damian said, furrowing his brow as he quickly searched for his daughter.
His expression couldn't help but worsen when he couldn't sense her anywhere on Earth.
"I'll be right back," Damian said, his eyes shining more than usual and wearing a terrifying expression.
Seeing his expression, everyone suspected that something had happened, so they stayed together in the room, alert for any situation.
Damian appeared at the location where his daughter sent the magic pulse. He was surprised to see a sort of portal, but at the same time, he felt relieved as it didn't seem like an attack had occurred.
At that moment, an orange circle opened before Jen came out and quickly enveloped them in the mirror dimension.
"You could have at least created a bubble or something," Jen said, all wet.
Damian opened his mouth to tease her, telling her that it was not like her hair could get wet anyway, but he ultimately decided not to do it since the mood wasn't right.
"Do you know what this is?" Damian asked, although he already had a good guess considering what Monica was looking for.
"I have no idea," Jen said, shaking her head.
"Do you want to go?" Damian asked, looking at the portal.
"You go first. It's not like you can die," Jen said, patting Damian's shoulder and urging him to enter.
"I'll let you know if your weak body can handle it," Damian teased before entering the portal.
Damian was as surprised as Monica to see that what he thought was a portal turned out to be a membrane that stretched before leading him into a dark space.
Once again, he was surprised to feel that this membrane was like a wormhole. The place quickly accelerated him, and he continued to fall until he passed through another membrane that led him into a cave.
As soon as he exited the membrane, he immediately felt a great pressure on his body as gravity reversed in an instant.
His body could withstand it without much trouble before his acceleration ended, and he started to fall again.
Damian didn't let himself fall and simply floated in the air while looking around, a little amazed despite all the things he had seen.
The landscape before his eyes was truly surreal.
Damian didn't get lost in the scenery for too long and quickly arrived in front of Monica, He had detected her as soon as he left the portal.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
At the same time, he didn't forget to send a message to Jen, telling her not to enter. She could die since only her body wouldn't be able to withstand the gravitational inversion, and maybe she would have to use some spell, but Damian didn't want to risk the possibility of something happening to her.
Jen, who was thousands of kilometers away, simply opened a portal and returned to Kamar-Taj. Damian had promised to explain everything later, so she would wait. At the same time, she made sure to reassure everyone since they felt the strong magic pulse.
"Enjoying the view, sweetheart?" Damian asked, smiling at Monica.
"Hm," Monica said, nodding and smiling while patting the spot next to her.
Damian smiled before lying down next to his daughter as they looked at the other side of the Earth.
"Dad, my ship broke," Monica said, hugging Damian and looking at him with pity.
"I'll fix it," Damian said, smiling at her while stroking her blue hair.
"This place is really amazing," Monica said with a happy smile. After all, she had spent over a year exploring the depths of the ocean.
"You wanted to write a book about your travels, right? Now you can create something really cool," Damian said, smiling happily.
"How about 'The Progenitor's Daughter's Travels'?" joked Damian with a laugh.
"Or 'The Adventures of Damian's Daughter',"
"Even better—" Damian was interrupted by his daughter, who put her hand on his mouth, preventing him from speaking while giving him an expressionless look.
Damian licked Monica's hand while laughing at seeing her quickly remove it.
"Dad!" Monica complained, laughing as she also wiped her hand on her clothes.
"What do you want to do?" Damian asked, smiling.
"Bring me everything I need to camp here, along with notebooks. I want to document what I see," Monica said, smiling at Damian.
"Sure, I'll bring you the things," Damian said, nodding.
Damian disappeared and returned in a few minutes with several bags containing everything they needed.
"Do you want food, or are you going to hunt?" Damian asked.
"Hm, I'll see," Monica said, shrugging.
"All right, have this. Crush it if you need me, and I'll come right away," Damian said, handing her a small red gem.
"Thank you," Monica said, smiling.
"Then I think I'll go back. Your mothers must be nervous since I only reassured them and told them I would explain everything when I returned," Damian said, stroking Monica's head.
"Wait, one last thing. What is that?" Monica said, pointing to the artificial sun.
"Hm, better not get too close to that, okay? Trust me, darling," Damian said, tousling Monica's hair.
"Fine," Monica said reluctantly.
"I love you, sweetheart. Remember to use what I gave you, even if you just want to talk or have a meal with me," Damian said, kissing Monica's cheek before disappearing.
Monica touched her cheek as her lips inevitably curved into a smile.
Suddenly, she realized that all the bags were scattered, and her father hadn't helped her pack.
Monica could only start taking out the items while following the instructions and began to assemble what would be her home for quite some time.
...
Damian returned home and saw that everyone was still in the living room as if they didn't want to part until they knew everything was okay.
Damian smiled ironically since it was his fault for reacting so suddenly.
"I already told you everything is fine. It's just that Monica is out of my senses," Damian said, calming them down as he took his daughters into his arms, who seemed to have sensed something strange in the atmosphere.
"You should've seen your expression," Carol said, looking disdainfully at Damian for reacting so dramatically.
"Yes, I almost had a heart attack," Ophelia said, smiling at Damian.
"She finally found what she was looking for?" Sophia asked, referring to Monica.
"Yes," Damian said, happily smiling that his daughter had succeeded and achieved her goals.
"She won't come back?" Ana asked curiously.
"No, a long time will likely pass before she returns," Damian said, smiling helplessly, though he also understood that Monica was filled with curiosity about the new world she discovered.
"Well, I'm sorry for scaring you all. Let's go to sleep," Damian said, smiling at everyone.
They all nodded and stood up before going to do their nighttime routines.
...
Maria was getting ready to leave work and go to sleep when her secretary called her and told her the president was on the line.
She couldn't help but sigh in annoyance, assuming it would be a long conversation.
With the phone to her ear, Maria waited as her fingers tapped lightly on her desk.
"Director Rambou," the President said, picking up the phone.
"Mr. President," Maria said calmly.
"I would like to hear the recent events directly from you and your opinion on what we should do," the President said to Maria.
Maria nodded before she began.
"We did indeed have contact with extraterrestrials, but we couldn't say it was a conflict between civilizations since it was the actions of an individual. These beings, upon being defeated in combat, decided to detonate themselves due to a cultural matter."
"So, we really couldn't retrieve anything. The extraterrestrials that arrived later simply paid their respects to Steve for defeating him."
"As I said, their culture is really hard for us to understand, but there's really no threat of invasion," Maria said straightforwardly, as she assumed that was their biggest concern.
"As for what to do, we really don't have to do anything. We have no way of detecting when they will arrive, so it's best to be vigilant for this kind of killing, and we can suspect that one of them is on the planet."
"Very well, I will instruct them to inform you immediately if a similar case occurs," the President said, nodding slowly. They really didn't have many options.
"I will increase SWORD's budget, and you feel free to increase the number of agents. I feel that after a first visit, a second one will likely follow, and so on," the President said, sighing.
"Yes, sir," Maria said calmly.
After hanging up, Maria leaned her head against her chair as she thought about the irony of life. When she was a soldier so many years ago, she would have felt excited or even honored to speak with the president.
Her patriotism and eagerness to do good had worn down over time, not only because she was a vampire and gradually saw the world differently, but also because upon reaching the top of an organization, it was normal to learn that the nation wasn't as clean as one would like to believe.
In her position, she could access a lot of information, and it was really disappointing to see the amount of corruption that could exist in a country. The very people she thought worked for the people were the ones causing the most harm.
The worst part was that they all protected each other. Constantly seeing these kinds of situations had made her lose some of her passion.
Only in Ross's case last year, it was clear he was guilty and dozens of people died, in addition to the material damage. Yet, he was only scolded and didn't even lose his position.
Anyway, she used to be very naive.
Stretching gently, she began to walk to the adjacent room, which was where she usually stayed.
She quickly took a shower before lying down and grabbing her phone, searching for her daughter's contact before dialing and waiting for her to answer.
The call was immediately cut off, indicating that communication couldn't be established.
Maria immediately furrowed her brow as that was nearly impossible.
She couldn't help but sit on her bed while continuing to dial. Rationally, she thought it was unlikely that something had happened to her daughter since she was incredibly powerful, and there was also Damian, who was even more powerful.
She quickly started sending messages to Damian, asking him what was going on. It was almost a ritual to talk to her daughter before sleeping, and many times it was her daughter who called her to stop working.
Damian told her to calm down, and that everything was fine, but that didn't make Monica calm down, and she continued to pester Damian until he gave her a satisfactory explanation.
Maria set her phone aside and thought about her daughter. She had constant communication with her, but she couldn't help but think that because of work, she hadn't been with her daughter as much as she would have liked.
She fell asleep wondering if it was really worth being away from her daughter, her parents, and the family she has with Damian, Carol, and the others.