A.D.2167 - Space Era(S.E.) 85.
The solemn toll of grief echoed through the House of Thors as the death of Aelyzabeth's father was proclaimed. A fleeting moment—an automobile accident shrouded in mystery had carved a wound so deep that it shook the family to its core.
At merely eight years of age, Aelyzabeth shed no tears. She did not collapse in despair as any child might. Instead, she sat quietly by the window, her emerald eyes gazing upon the sky crowded with vessels that ferried between the stars. In her lap rested a massive tome—The Million-Year History of Earth—its pages turned with a calm hand, as though she had long prepared her heart for the truth that death is inescapable.
Yet others responded with bitterness. Colonel Rudolf von Escheinsein, her cousin of twenty-eight years, sneered coldly as he watched the sorrow of his kin."Your father is dead, Aelyzabeth… and you do not mourn?"But the child did not stir; his words passed her by like the whisper of a hollow wind.
The discord did not cease there. Margaret, her elder sister of twenty years, drunkenly confessed during a feast with careless arrogance: "If our mother dies… the inheritance shall be mine—and mine alone, not theirs!"
The words struck Aelyzabeth like a brand upon the soul. She sat in silence, yet her eyes flared crimson, as though a flame had kindled in their depths. For the first time, Aelaera—her cousin and sworn sister—sensed something profoundly amiss. Fear tightened her chest.
"Grandfather… Aelyzabeth has changed!" she whispered urgently to Field Marshal Otto von Escheinsein, the aged patriarch whose gaze pierced illusions with the weight of decades.
Otto's sigh was long and grave. He recognized at once the lingering shadow of the Blue HERB that coursed within her veins. If left unchecked, that power could one day turn her against her own blood.
"You must both depart," he commanded, his voice stern, brooking no argument. "Go to Earth, to my birthplace—the city of Ostalingern, in the Rhineland of Germany."
Thus, Aelyzabeth and Aelaera began their voyage, bearing Otto's own passport instead of their own. For days, their vessel traversed the silent gulfs of space until at last Earth rose before them.
What met their eyes was a world unlike New Hope. Earth remained vast, magnificent—but scarred. Its air was hotter, heavier, oppressive. Towering spires pierced the clouds, and streams of skyborne traffic cut through the heavens in restless veins. Technology flourished, yet the stench of refuse and decay clung to every district.
The wealthy dwelt in cities aloft—gleaming and pristine. The middle classes survived in rural industries and provincial towns. Yet over a billion of the destitute languished in suffocating slums. Humanity on Earth had swollen to ten billion souls, a burden unimaginable on New Hope.
And for Earth's people, the arrival of two children from New Hope reopened old scars. Their worlds had clashed in war not long past. Cold stares, biting words, and veiled hostility followed them everywhere.
Aelyzabeth paid no heed. With a steel pen and sharp hand, she inscribed her thoughts in a small leather-bound book:"Earth is not our home… but a museum of mankind's folly and perpetual conflict."
At last, they arrived at the Escheinsein estate in Ostalingern. The manor, like an ancient fortress, endured the centuries—but warmth was absent from its halls.
The descendants of Oliver von Escheinsein, the former President of Earth and Otto's estranged twin, greeted them with icy disdain. Their eyes betrayed loathing, as though the "blood of New Hope" tainted the sanctity of their lineage.
Oliver himself, aged like his brother, received them grudgingly. Though estranged from Otto, he extended his hand with reluctant duty."You are the grandchildren of Otto… then remain here for a time."It was not love, but it sufficed to open his gates.
For twenty days, Aelyzabeth and Aelaera traversed the Rhineland. They wandered through museums, recorded the relics of Earth's wars—World War I, World War II, and the Space Age. Every record confirmed what Aelyzabeth already knew: Earth was the cradle of grandeur… and the grave of its ruin.
When their twentieth day came, farewells were cold, their hosts unchanged in their disdain. As the vessel rose once more into the starry void, Aelyzabeth stood before the window. The blue sphere shrank behind her. Her hand clenched, and her gaze grew ever colder.
"Earth… I despise you utterly."
End of Chapter A-III