"Sigh…" An exaggerated sigh was let out. It accompanied the sound of the mechanical hum of a door sliding open, leading into the large bedroom.
Coming out of the opening was a female figure dressed in a fully clothed nanotech bodysuit that wrapped around her thin body like cloth. Electric green streaks of light streamed vertically across her body and onto her black helmet—a brown ponytail piercing through the back of it.
The entire suit was wet, as if she had been swimming.
Tap. Tap.
Soft, quiet steps reverberated throughout the hall that led to the bedroom. She stopped at the boundary between the afternoon blue sunlight and the shadow it casted on the wall.
She used her right hand to 'swipe' her face, which led the nanotech helmet to disappear holographically from the top down as if it followed the movement of her hand.
The woman had a soft, cute face. She had caucasian skin, and her emerald eyes shimmered lightly in the afternoon sunlight. Her straight, brown hair was put into a ponytail as it cascaded down to her lower neck.
This was none other than Aria Brown.
"Still studying?" She asked, her voice carrying traces of exhaustion. She stared at Xavier, who was sitting near the picture windows that showcased a magnificent forest. He had his laptop open, and he was wearing a white shirt and black shorts. His medium-length brown hair was put down, making bangs streak across his forehead. The rays from the blue sunlight casted a shine on the silver band that was on his right wrist.
"Oh, you're back." Xavier said, his platinum eyes never leaving the laptop. "Also, yes. I'm still studying. This is going to help with the training Vael gave us. How was swimming?"
"Don't talk about it." She said, almost mockingly. "I almost died trying to catch some weird looking fish."
"Surely you're exaggerating," Xavier replied nonchalantly. "Either way, that job is going to help your physical attributes when you're able to use Ethereon."
"How can you say that I was exaggerating and later say that it's going to help me? How shameless!" Aria raised an eyebrow as she prepared to go to the bathroom.
"Emilia already left by the way." Xavier ignored her retort as he informed her of Emilia's whereabouts, although his tone didn't show much interest.
"I see..." She replied in a slightly worried tone. "I almost feel bad for her, she has the worst job out of all of us…"
"Right…ghost watching is a tough job. Though, she has Vael with her so it cancels out."
"I'm going to stay in the bathroom for a couple hours. I'm tired." Aria said shamelessly.
"Okay." Xavier shrugged his shoulders as he reclined back into the sofa.
As he heard the technological sounds of the bathroom door closing, he thought back on the past week and a half.
After Vael had given them their immigrant bands and informed them on their jobs, they had to wait a few days before actually clocking in. During that time, they had started to take classes that were available on the internet, begun meditative practices, and proceeded with various physical activities. They were also beginning to adopt some religious teachings from the official Second Dimension.
At the same time, they were slowly getting accustomed to the fantastical yet futuristic nature of the new world they were in. Emilia Rose was naturally a lot slower at this.
Once they got their jobs, they had to start a training course that had varying times for each. For Xavier, who was planning on being an engineer, he needed to do 18 months. For Aria, who had started training for dealing with sea life, she needed to do 12 months. For Emilia, who was given the task of being a Night Ghostwatcher, she had only needed to do 4 months.
In their training courses, they had finally left Vael's house for the first time. In order to get to their jobs, they had travelled to smaller cities and towns in the countryside, which still looked comparable to the large cities on Earth. Strangely, unlike those cities back at home, these countryside cities in Sentaia had all sorts of life teeming through it—making it look almost like an abandoned sci-fi ghost town…except it had no lack of human activity.
Despite it being a strange sight, this had helped them adjust to their circumstances.
"Once we're finished with our job training, and once we have a strong enough mind and body, we'll finally get to use Ethereon." Xavier said to himself as he sighed afterwards.
"I can understand why Vael didn't mention it earlier. It's almost horrifying to even get it." Xavier's eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen that showed all sorts of new scientific knowledge—such as robotic consciousness and quantum artificial intelligence that resembled every part of the human psyche.
"But we need it to get stronger, and we need it to find our families and to get back…"
Xavier then put his hand to his chin, deep in thought.
"I wonder why he just told us about it now though and didn't keep it secret. Is it because of the event that brought our people to this Earth?"
"Or was it to further mentally prepare ourselves?"
"Whatever, I won't think about it further."
Xavier scrolled through the laptop without using his hands, since the laptop's controls were accessible via his mind.
Ting!
A few minutes later, a white hologram resembling an alarm shot up from near the laptop. It signified that Xavier's study time was over.
He closed the laptop and got up from the sofa. He was going to scroll social media for a while, further accustoming himself to the strange, novel and absurd sense of humor from this new world.
Later, he was going to play some games with Aria until they both went to sleep. If he was feeling it, perhaps he would have studied the Sentaic language more, along with Dreamurian, Entheris, Zarethian and the like.
…
It was a Saturday morning, so the trio didn't have to go to work that day. Because of this, Vael had decided to take them to Neura to visit the intercity.
It was a sunny day, the electric blue sun piercing through the clouds as it painted the atmosphere with a slightly violet, but very much blue hue. There were lovely green fields and flower fields that stretched out indefinitely, with the occasional hill, cliff, lakes and rivers adding to the landscape of nature.
Vael had sat in the front seat of a flying car that flew above the clouds, although it can be more aptly described as a cockpit. It was a new and fairly advanced flying car, even for the futuristic standards of the new Earth.
His short pink and silver hair was let down as bangs streaked across his forehead. His face was shaven, revealing his sharp jawline that gave off a serious sense of maturity. His purple eyes were locked onto the airway. Blue digital lines of text that showcased all sorts of information about the car, weather forecasts and the like were placed in the corner of his eye. He wore a simple leather jacket and white shirt with navy blue jeans.
Xavier, Aria and Emilia sat in the back of the car, which looked more like the inside of a fancy limousine. The cold air from the air conditioning had a faint rhythmic glow that wrapped everyone inside like a nice blanket, giving off an enchanting ambient atmosphere.
Aria was watching a science fiction romantic movie that was projecting on a floating platform in the middle of the fancy space. It was relayed to her ears directly, so Xavier and Emilia couldn't hear it. Her brown hair flowed like a smooth river. She had worn a comfortable green sleeved shirt with a mid length black pleated skirt.
Xavier was seated near the augmented rectangular windows of the space, his platinum eyes staring out the window. He wore a casual and reserved outfit—a white hoodie with black sweatpants. His brown hair was slightly ruffled.
Emilia was on the opposite end, her black eyes also staring out of the window. She wore tight but comfortable black jeans as a black sweater was adorned on her upper body. Her soft black hair was put into a bun, and her lips were coated with a deep gothic lipstick.
All three of them had their respective immigrant bands.
Both Xavier and Emilia were observing the foggy scenery as they flew through the white fluffy clouds. They occasionally saw other flying cars zoom past them, with some even coming out of the clouds—a steamy white line of vapor following them afterwards.
As they came out of the cloud, Xavier raised his eyebrows as he saw a small collection of houses that looked as if they were made out of logs. They were decently sized, so he could've seen them. They didn't look old or out of shape—quite the contrary. They appeared to be well maintained as people came out of the houses, stepping on the stone ground to tend to the animals outside.
Children were playing with other children in enclosed spaces—which appeared to be a school. People were walking in and out of certain buildings. Others were swimming in a nearby lake that looked pristine and beautiful. They were greeted by certain animals that Xavier and Emilia didn't recognize. At least they seemed friendly.
Not only that, there were certain enclosures that resembled farms, gardens and other forms of food cultivation.
"That's interesting." Xavier remarked, his eyebrows still raised. "This is the smallest town I've seen. Is this a village?" He later asked.
"Yes, it's a village." Vael's voice came out of a holographic screen that appeared in front of Xavier.
He chuckled, continuing, "It's certainly interesting. Despite not being as well off as those in the major cities, they aren't poor and they certainly aren't unhappy. I can attribute that to them not having to pay taxes, mostly."
"They don't have to pay taxes?" Aria paused her movie as she asked with a shocked expression. Even Emilia raised an eyebrow, turning her head.
Vael laughed.
"Haha! All of you are so shocked, yet you three also don't pay taxes."
"Isn't that because we're immigrants?" Emilia asked.
"Yes. But these guys don't have to pay for a different reason." Vael replied, his eyes still fixed on the airway leading to Neura.
"Sometime back, a few hundred years back, a new Sentaic administration wanted to focus more on certain cultural practices rather than just embrace the pure technological aspects that had continued to advance the world. This was because an increasingly large portion of the Sentaisian population had believed that to get closer to the Second Dimension, there needed to not only be a foundation of life, but also a culture of focusing on life instead of technology."
"Of course, the majority of these people lived in the countryside. So, many people in the countryside had departed from the advanced technology that lies in the intercity and decided to live modest lifestyles that focused more on nature."
"Instead of fighting them, or continuing to ignore them, that administration made laws to protect and foster the countryside people. One of those laws was to remove taxation on the many countryside villages. The other laws were mainly about increasing infrastructure and education."
"Because of these laws, the government has mandated a representative from the Dominion and from the government to inspect the villages to make sure everything goes smoothly. At the same time, they also give news updates, sermons, etc. This is because contact is limited because of a lack of technology."
"There are some exceptions though, like the representatives coming immediately in cases of emergency."
The trio listened attentively. However, they all had their own questions.
Xavier was the first to ask.
"So they really don't have to pay any taxes? Why would the government even include that? I mean, I doubt it has anything to do with helping the villagers getting closer to God…"
"Good question." Vael said with a smile. "The reason the government gave was that because of the lack of technology in the villages, the logistics involved would've been harsh since all currency is digital."
"At the time, this was very controversial. Many people didn't buy it, with an opposing party saying that it was a trick the ruling government did to get more votes. It didn't really matter in hindsight, since subsequent governments never changed the law to this day." Vael replied.
"Okay. But doesn't that come with certain drawbacks? I doubt having no money coming in from a large portion of your population wouldn't be impactful…" Aria interjected.
"Well, in response, the Sentaic government had allowed the villagers to produce their own crops, food and other necessities instead of simply importing them from the large cities. This happened to be a benefit for both parties. This doesn't mean that trade between them had stopped completely though—but it was drastically reduced." Vael's voice reverberated throughout the space as his flying car passed over a floating island in the sky. It had a decently sized town on it, its buildings looking like towers that wanted to reach the clouds.
"Right, I almost forgot that I read about how food came from the cities, instead of factories back home. That explains why there's no pollution and mass farming of animals…"
"Of course, there shouldn't be any pollution when you have such a supernatural energy source…" Xavier added in his head as he kept looking at the scenery.
"Hmmm." Emilia put her finger on her lip as she stared at the dark blue ceiling that portrayed endless white sparks that resembled the inside of a brain. "I wonder if other countries prioritize their cultures like that."
Vael's deep voice had sounded from the holographic screen.
"Most countries do, actually. All of the major countries have their own culture that they adhere to. Entheria's culture focuses primarily on unbelievably advanced technology, showcasing the beauty of energy and its applications. They have all sorts of different inventions, devices and gadgets that can do impossible things. You'll understand if you go to any one of their cities—what they create is almost unfathomable."
"Sentaia's culture is all about life and consciousness, as you know. Morpheus' culture revolves around the subconscious and the dreamscape, which is shown by its ethereal, supernatural, and dreamy architecture and infrastructure."
"Oneris' culture is about potential and possibility. This is hard to visualize if you've never been there before, but the best way I can describe it is that their lifestyle revolves around chance. For example, a lot of their decisions are based around what brings about the greatest probability of success."
"So it's kind of like a country for statisticians…" Xavier and Aria had the exact same thought.
Emilia didn't really get it. Nevertheless, she continued to listen.
"Nytheris' culture is about memory. As you can expect, they focus on gaining memories and cherishing them to the greatest extent. That means everything that they do has to be recorded—even their daily activities to cherish. It certainly is interesting."
"As for Westoria…" Vael narrowed his eyes as the flying car flew over a beautiful, grassy mountain. "Their culture is extremely hard to describe. I don't think you'd be able to understand it."
"You've been there?" Emilia asked, her face showing a sense of curiosity.
"Hehe," He chuckled. "Let's just say I've seen a couple of fascinating things in my life."
"As you can see," He quickly changed topics, although the trio didn't mention it. "All of the major countries' cultures revolve around their respective religions. As for the minor countries, they mostly really just follow their allied major countries—aside from certain subcultures that exist from ancient times."
"One of those countries is the country you all came from, Octavia. They belong to Potential and Possibility, but they have a diverse set of subcultures that makes it difficult for one to be fully dedicated to the Dimension."
The trio didn't react to the mention of Octavia, as they've long gotten used to Vael speaking about the country.
Xavier was concerned about something else, given his research.
"Aren't the minor countries antagonistic towards the major ones?" He spoke about the use of the word 'allied' from Vael.
"Allied in this case really means 'belonging to the same dimension'." Vael replied matter-of-factly. "'Allied' can also mean its usual definition in other contexts. For example: the countries of Memory and the countries of Possibility are allied, despite being from different dimensions."
"Makes sense, since they do border each other." Xavier added in his head.
"Also, even despite the fact that some are antagonistic, they are still minor countries at the end of the day. They can't really do much aside from negotiate, as another country from another dimension is unlikely to help them."
"As for minor countries that aren't antagonistic to their major country, they can be considered extensions of the major countries. The only examples are Sentaia and its minor countries, and Entheria and its minor countries."
"Now, the minor countries that aren't extensions of their major countries usually have certain subcultures. It can range from believing in the one and true God that presides over everything, believing in certain mysterious deities, to certain species like Elves, Giants, Werewolves and Vampires practicing their own cultural activities."
Vael's voice then slowed down as he prepared to say his next words.
"There can also be subcultures that get popular enough to the point where it can be considered its own culture, like the Dimension of Science and Physics. I'm sure you guys have heard of it, right?" Vael asked.
"Yeah, we have." Aria replied.
"Good, then you should know its history." He said with a smile.
"Aside from that, most other subcultures are dwindling. This isn't a good or bad thing though, despite some of them being considered cults. It means that a lot of history would fade into the depths of time, such as certain ancient languages like Ymir and Twilight." Vael sighed.
"Sigh, those are beautiful languages connected to the other realms. It's a shame to see them dwindle…"
A short silence ensued as the trio didn't know how to react to this sudden display of disappointment.
"In any case, as expected, the amount of people who don't focus on any cultural practices is growing rapidly—especially in the richer countries."
"I'm guessing that the reason some subcultures are dwindling is because most of them reside in the minor countries?" Xavier asked curiously.
"You're partly right. While most subcultures reside in the minor countries, there also exist some of them in the major countries, like Morpheus."
A few seconds after Vael had said this, he noticed that the green landscape below—which was now a forest—was beginning to shift into something more peculiar.
It had shifted into a line of massive hovering islands that had stretched out, each proceeding line of islands higher than the last one. It hovered like a massive staircase prepared for a King of Giants.
On each of the islands, there existed a vast variety of life. Various ecosystems, fauna and biomes coexisted strangely with each other.
Waterfalls poured down the edge of the islands, coalescing to what seemed to be a vast ocean below.
Xavier and Emilia's eyes widened at the sight. They couldn't believe the otherworldly yet majestic sight.
For a second, they had thought they were hallucinating. For the next second, they had thought they were on a planet that couldn't have been named Earth.
"Humans…made this?" Xavier asked inadvertently as Vael made his flying car ascend.
"Yes. This is the power of humanity." Vael chuckled.
In the distance, Vael saw a vast city that seemed to stretch out endlessly. Its dark blue and green technological towers were interwoven with each other, appearing like an elegant and intricate maze. Faint white sparks could've been seen floating around as the city tore through the sky and the lower atmosphere.
Closer to him, Vael saw a massive tunnel that was brandished with all sorts of technology. Many flying cars similar to his went to and fro as a great number of people dressed in official uniforms controlled the traffic coming in.
At that moment, a green hologram appeared in front of Vael's flying car.
It read:
"Welcome back to Neura, Vael Deinhart."
"Please wait a moment as we go through the verification process."