“I don’t understand how they arrived so soon,” General Urla said, his voice tense as the solar vehicle sped through the city. The Sumerian guests were seated with one of the palace commanders, the atmosphere heavy with urgency.

  “They followed us at full speed,” Queen Nammu replied, her tone sharp and matter-of-fact. “More ships will arrive in the next couple of days, and after that, the slower ones with fuel. The Ziggurat is playing it safe. They’ll burn us all, losing half of their fleet to space debris, and they’ll return home with clean hands.”

  “We must take the shuttle and surrender,” General Urla urged, his voice firm. “They may spare Ars Pheria if we surrender.”

  “I don’t agree, General,” Queen Nammu countered. “We will wait and see if the Ghull takes any action, as the young Emperor believes he will.” She turned to the commander in the vehicle. “Where is the Emperor?”

  “The Emperor is still in the palace,” the commander replied. “He will leave with another vehicle.”

  “Turn back!” Queen Nammu commanded sharply. “Turn back now, I need to speak with the Emperor.”

  “I’m not taking orders from you,” the commander replied.

  “If you don’t turn back this instant, I will throw myself out of this vehicle and return on foot!” Queen Nammu threatened.

  The Ars Pherian commander, taken aback by her boldness, stared at her in stunned disbelief. He had never encountered such defiance or irrationality before.

  “It’s not possible to turn back the vehicle,” the commander said, trying to reason with the Queen. “We’re in the middle of the evacuation process.”

  But Queen Nammu, her resolve unshaken, was determined to see the Emperor and ensure he didn’t take any action without her knowledge. Leaving him behind had been a mistake, a mistake she wasn’t willing to repeat.

  Without a word, she opened the window of the solar vehicle and threw a leg out, preparing to jump. The commander, stunned, could only watch in disbelief as the Queen readied herself for a desperate leap.

  In a frantic attempt to prevent her, he slammed the vehicle to a halt at the intersection before joining the convoy heading east on the main avenue. His mind raced, taking the Queen back to the palace was the safer course of action. If not, it seemed she would risk her life without a second thought.

  By the time the vehicle returned to the palace entrance, Alessandro and Ava were already on foot, heading toward the piazza to observe the ships above. After the second explosion, the flagship was plunged into total darkness, while the smaller Sumerian ships drew closer, descending rapidly. All four of the sphere shaped and copper colored Sumer ships were sinking deeper into the Ars Pherian atmosphere, heading dangerously close to the surface.

  Alessandro watched, his gaze locked on the approaching ships. He could unleash an arrow of dark fumes, targeting the Sumerian vessels and sending them plummeting back into the atmosphere, likely to burst into a massive fireball as they burned.

  “I can’t do that. There has to be another way!” he muttered, almost to himself. The sound of Queen Nammu running toward them, her voice filled with panic, interrupted his thoughts.

  “Please Emperor, my daughter is on one of those ships!” she pleaded desperately. “I don’t know what your plan is, but you must spare her. The Ziggurat will use her as leverage to prevent the flagship from firing.”

  Alessandro turned his gaze toward the approaching Sumerian ships. They were beautiful in their gleaming design, if only they weren’t such a threat. He gazed at the sphere ships dancing gracefully, catching the lights of the distant starts on their shiny surfaces. “There must be another way, there always is another way,” Alessandro repeated under his breath as he took his time watching the deadly and beautiful scenery.

  "Queen Nammu, I will get you safely aboard the Sumerian ships, and you will take their crew as prisoners. Once all three ships are secured, I will provide fuel for the flagship and send you back home. No one will be harmed on my planet," Alessandro finally shouted, his voice rising above the deafening noise of the hovering ships.

  "In return,” he continued, “Sumeria will become an Ars Pherian colonial planet, and you will recognize me as your Emperor."

  Queen Nammu was not prepared for such a crippling ambush from the Ziggurat, nor for the degrading offer of help from the young Ars Pherian Emperor. Time was running out, and there was no room for negotiation. She glanced at Ava, standing behind him. The delicate young woman, who possessed the power to move the world with her hands, still lacked the poise and presence of a queen. Ava's essence was not that of royalty.

  But Queen Nammu's resolve hardened. She knew that she had to cross this dire bridge, no matter the cost. The sun might shine again on the other side, but only if she made it through.

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  "I swear on my honor and my life, that I, Nammu, Queen of the Sumer, bow before the Ars Pherian Emperor," she declared, her voice clear and resolute. With a dignified gesture, she knelt before Alessandro. General Urla and the two Sumer soldiers, though hesitant, followed suit, bowing in acknowledgment of the queen's submission.

  Alessandro nodded toward Marcus, who had been watching them from a distance, standing at the edge of the palace grounds. Ava suddenly realized that Marcus had never left Alessandro's side throughout everything. Now, he was being tasked with returning the Sumer soldiers' weapons and escorting Ava to a safe location near the portal.

  Alessandro turned back to Ava, he took her hands in his, his touch firm.

  “You need to go back to Earth if things go wrong,” he said. “Do you hear me? You may have to leave, and you will.”

  “I’ll be here when you need me,” Ava replied softly, her voice unwavering. “Nothing will go wrong. You were born to master the fumes. I wouldn’t ask if I had the slightest doubt.”

  Alessandro kissed Ava gently, his eyes closed for a short moment full of emotions of all colors amidst the chaos. With a final glance, Ava turned and followed Marcus to the solar vehicle, to join the evacuation groups on the hills.

  Alessandro didn't hesitate. He turned to the Sumerians, gesturing for them to board one of the vehicles parked behind the palace. The Sumerians stared at it, puzzled. It was unlike anything they'd seen in Terra Nova since their arrival. The vehicle resembled a massive agricultural tractor, its towering height and robust, rugged design built for navigating rough terrain rather than the smooth city streets.

  He climbed into the driver's seat and engaged the manual controls, his fingers quickly finding their place as he took charge of the powerful machine. The low hum of the engine rumbled beneath him as the vehicle lurched forward. His eyes scanned the horizon, where the chaos of the evacuation still raged.

  The only way to reach the Sumer shuttle in time was to take a route through the dense woods that lay between Terra Nova and the old city ruins. The main roads were too crowded, and every minute mattered. Without hesitation, he steered the vehicle off the path, its massive wheels crunching through underbrush and scattering small trees as they tore through the woods.

  The branches whipped against the vehicle's metal frame, but it plowed forward with ease, cutting through the forest as though it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

  “General Urla, are you sure the shuttle will work?” Alessandro asked, his hands on the rarely used steering wheel of the vehicle. “I can shield and shoot, but I’m not sure if I can get things to actually fly.”

  “Yes, Your Highness,” General Urla answered, his word of loyalty to another emperor other than his queen slightly choking his words in his throat. “The shuttle is built and charged to make several flights between the flagship and the ground. It’s designed for this purpose. You’ll have no trouble getting it into the air.”

  “The shuttle doesn’t have any means to protect itself,” Queen Nammu interrupted, her gaze fixed on the view through the windshield as the vehicle sped between trees and branches. “How are you going to protect us, Emperor Sephianos?”

  Alessandro watched as the faint sphere of fumes enveloped the vehicle, the dark haze effortlessly breaking branches and filling in gaps in the terrain. It created a smooth path, allowing the vehicle to glide almost as effortlessly as if it were driving on a highway. The fumes, invisible to the Sumerians but clear to the Ars Pherians, pulsed in sync with Alessandro's thoughts. They responded to his will with unnerving precision, swirling and shifting effortlessly, a silent force moving with purpose and power.

  “You don’t need to worry about protection,” Alessandro evaded the Queen’s question. “What you need to do is identify the Ziggurat soldiers and hold them hostage. We’ll be racing against time.”

  The shuttle of the flagship was sat on a hill to the east of the portal gardens, it was much larger than Alessandro had anticipated. To the south, the evacuation continued, with more people steadily making their way up the hills. The city was gradually sinking into darkness. Above, the Sumer flagship and its three smaller companions descended ominously toward Terra Nova. The sheer size of the flagship was intimidating, especially for the Ars Pherians who had never encountered a spacecraft before.

  Alessandro moved quickly to the shuttle, following General Urla. As soon as everyone was onboard, he released the fumes around the tractor vehicle, enveloping it in a protective shield around the shuttle. The same dark fumes wrapped around the shuttle, securing it, as the group prepared for the next phase of their escape.

  Alessandro’s mind drifted back to the first time he passed through the portal when he was at the age of twenty-one. He had been nervous then, despite his outward confidence. He was about to spend half a semester studying architecture on Earth. He had walked into the darkness of the portal without looking back, knowing an absolute darkness would take over until he would see the light again.

  In the darkness he couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, he was both blind and deaf in a way he never thought possible. The sensation of nothingness pressed against him from all sides, and for a moment, he thought he was drowning. His lungs filled with emptiness, and the silence was so profound it felt suffocating. The portal was supposed to take only a few seconds, but time seemed to stretch and distort, leaving him disoriented and trapped in a void with no end. He had tried to move, to scream, but his limbs felt heavy and useless, as though the very air had stopped him from existing in any tangible way. He had thought, for those moments, that he was lost, utterly and hopelessly lost in that infinite, oppressive darkness.

  Ars Pherian history recorded the tragic tales of countless Earthians who, filled with wonder and curiosity, had crossed through the portal to Ars Pheria in the early centuries of its use. They came with their Ars Pherian friends or lovers, driven by love, adventure, or the desire to discover new worlds. But none of them ever arrived in Ars Pheria or returned back to Earth. For their own good, the Ars Pherians made a solemn vow never to attempt bringing Earthians to Ars Pheria again.

  Alessandro couldn’t remember how long he had been in the portal before his eyes finally opened to a faint light and his ears detected distant sounds coming from the Cappadocian cave. He made his way toward the light and emerged from the portal. Apparently, he hadn’t been inside as long as he had imagined. When he stepped out, no one seemed concerned that the prince had been in there for too long. Even though his subsequent portal experiences stretched on for much longer, Alessandro kept them to himself, sharing the lost long moments with no one.

  Alessandro shook off the memories as the shuttle began its smooth acceleration, hovering over the hill and speeding toward the flagship.