There are a lot of things I love about Seraph, but I'll tell you this right now: it's boring as hell. A place where everyone knows everyone else's business, where "family reputation" means "do what you're told" and "act like a lady." Don't even get me started on "family legacy" speeches, Honestly if I hear one more word about my "responsibilities," I might just take up screaming as a new hobby.
And then there's my grandfather. Oh, the old man is nuts. That's not my opinion; it's more of a fact. We're talking about a guy who tried to make Seraph a mobile planet because, apparently, he got bored with it just floating there. He'd rant about "redirecting cosmic energy" and "harnessing stellar power" as though he were trying to sell you some kind of ancient, intergalactic juicer.
My father as you can imagine was not a fan of the old man. He says it's "forbidden" to speak about Grandpa and his "failed experiments." But the truth is I kind of like the old man. Sure, there's the teensy fact that he's completely bonkers , but he's…well, he's fun. He's been missing for, what, six, seven years now? Maybe longer. And while no one's said it out loud, I know for a fact that Dad's enjoying every minute of his absence. There's one less "lunatic" to mess with his perfect, proper vision for Seraph.
Anyway, Grandpa's been gone a while, but his lab's still around, locked up tight like the treasure vaults of Duroa Prime. But it's hardly a vault now, since I have a key.
Today was one of those "maintenance" days where I sneak in, poke around, and maybe try to keep the place from going entirely to dust. Grandpa's lab looks like a collection of half-finished plans, weird instruments, and strange notes scribbled on anything and everything he could find ,walls, floors, the ceiling. A museum of madness, basically.
So there I was, cleaning, (kind of). Well, more like rearranging the dust so it looked "organized." And that's when I saw a book lying there, propped open. Old, leather-bound, scuffed from what looked like years of travel across the galaxy , How hadn't i noticed this book before ?. The title was some technical jargon I barely understood. I don't know why, but it pulled me in.
And right there, written in his messy scrawl, were numbers. Coordinates, I realized. The last known location he'd scribbled down before he vanished. Somewhere way out there, far beyond Seraph's orbit.
I don't know why, but seeing those coordinates felt like an invitation kind of like a message in a bottle, just waiting for someone mad enough to follow it. And let's be honest, I'm probably the only person on this planet who's just mad enough.
The timing was perfect, too, since my dear, loving parents had recently dropped the bombshell of an arranged marriage on me. And no, before you ask, I didn't have any say in it. Some "brilliant" match to unite Seraph's oldest houses, blah blah blah. As if they hadn't tried to shove me into dresses, salons, and "etiquette" lessons for years. I'm about as much a "lady" as a three-headed space viper.
The more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. I could practically hear my father's reaction: "You what?!" The horror, the disbelief, it was enough motivation.
Without a second thought, I grabbed the coordinates book, stuffed it into a pack, and headed straight for the old lab's warp pool. Grandpa's notes were clear enough , just enough to work out the settings, prime the controls, and point me in the general direction of the coordinates.
I hesitated only for a second, looking at that warp pool with its glimmering, eerie lights swirling beneath the surface. No guarantees of survival, probably unstable, and no clue where I'd end up? Perfect.
With a grin, I took a running start and leapt in.
My first thought was that maybe I'd already died. Or was dying. It felt like being shoved through a blender of lights and colors, all moving at hyperspeed. But then, suddenly, I was hurtling toward a planet that looked like it had been dipped in wine you know , the whole thing, swirling with deep purples and reds.
"Not good," I muttered, clinging to any sense of direction as gravity started to pull me down faster. "Really, really not good!"
The warp bubble around me splintered, and that's when I saw it—the world below, growing larger every second, lights blazing through the clouds like molten rivers. Oh, and I was falling. Falling fast.
"Oh NO, no, no, no, NO…..!"
Fire erupted around the ship. Somewhere, I could hear alarms screeching and metal straining, as if it were on the edge of ripping itself apart. I must've hit the atmosphere." I think ive arrived at the location of Grandpa's great mysterious, and I was coming in hot.
I tried to steer, but at this point, all I could do was watch as the landscape grew closer, closer, oh stars save me, this was it.
The final impact was, a little hazy. What I do remember is a blinding flash, a mountain of smoke, and the distant sound of cheers.