Neo Gaia, In the star system of Neo Asteri

Inside the home of Luna and S.C.I-F.I, Kron is working on some complicated machine blueprints. Nova and Aria are going through books. Luna, along with Drax, walks in carrying a tray filled with servings of ice cream. Watching Luna walk in, all the kids drop what they are doing and gather at the centre of the room. The room is small and has six bunk beds along three walls. One of the beds has Syrus lying unconscious on it. In the corners, there are books with leather covers and tables full of blueprints and maps. The room is lit oddly with only one bright lamp in the centre of the room. As the kids are about to eat the ice cream, Syrus regains his consciousness.

…

I woke up confused. Lately, it would seem that I'm always confused. I was feeling better than before when my body felt as if it was burning, then I remembered Blasts. I raised my body from the bed a bit too fast and hit the bed on top of mine. I was on a bunk. I look to my right and see the kids and Luna sitting on the floor, they were eating ice cream, god, that made me feel better, one normal thing, good old ice cream.

I still had a pile of ever-growing questions, but I stopped myself from thinking, fearing that I would repeat the events that occurred before I fainted. The entire group was staring at me, they didn't look scared and which made me feel at ease. I call out to the group,

“Can I get some ice cream too? Please?”

Everyone stayed silent for a moment, and then everyone burst out in laughter. I laugh with them. It was odd, I never really had something like this happen to me before, laughing along with people.

I get up and sit in front of the bunk as Luna walks out and brings ice cream. None of the kids talk to me until Luna returns with the ice cream, and I eat it as if I had never tasted ice cream before. I put the glass cup down gently and thanked Luna. She takes away all the cups and walks back into the room, but before I could start to ask any questions, she starts asking her own questions.

“Do you remember what happened?” I say yes

She asks a bunch of questions about what I remember, and I tell her all the events that transpired since the moment I woke up in this world.

“So you haven't lost your memory, that's good, I suppose,” she says gently as she sits down.

“Where are you from exactly, and how did you get here? There is no New York in any of the maps or the books,” Nova says with caution and curiosity as all the kids stare at me, waiting for an answer.

I look at Luna to make sure that I can speak freely with the kids. I thought maybe they would be confused or scared, but then I remembered that they were flying in a spaceship, and Luna's look confirms that these kids can handle it.

“I am from a planet called Earth.”

“You are from a different planet? Like an alien?!” Kron asks with great excitement

“No, I'm not an alien, I guess technically, but all of you are humans, right?”

“Yes, we are,” answers Luna. The kids move back, and she sits in front of me, not close but not far either. She continues

“We never heard of any planet called Earth, but your biology is a bit odd, as if you were in the sun for the first time, which means you are telling the truth,” Luna says, her voice changes from friendly to interrogative.

“I have no reason to lie to you guys, you saved my life twice now. I have some questions.”

“Yeah, I know, your confusion was deafening,” Luna says as she chuckles. I start to ask my questions,

“So this is a different planet. What is it called? Which star does it orbit? And more importantly, how in hell did I blast energy out of my hands?”

“It's called Neo Gaia. We orbit the star Neo Asteri, and Miss Luna says you are a mage,” answered Aria as if she were answering in a quiz.

I thought I might feel less confused if I knew which star system I was in, but I don't recognize the star name; it was a Greek name meaning new star. But the thing that confused me even more was that she referred to me as a mage,

“Mage? As in a magic user from fantasy stories?” I ask in more confusion

“Yes, but it's not a fantasy, well, at least the magic part, the human mage thing is very unusual. You are the first human mage I met after myself.” Luna said

“Wow, that is something. Uhm, so the sun is what makes me a mage?”

“Yes, we are powered by the Neo Asteri’s energy, as are the Magi from the golden city, but they are not human.”

“Not human as in alien?”

“No, they are natives too, they are just a different species and richer too. They don't need to be in the dome; they are resistant to the star's radiation, and every human has to stay in the dome created by the Neo Gaia tower, where all the rich folk live. Enough about the planet, tell me, how did you get here?”

“I, Uhm…” The events of the lab rush back into my mind.

“You feel regret,” Luna said in a soft, empathetic voice

“How did you…?”

“I am an empath; I can sense what others are feeling.”

“One of your mage powers?

“Yeah, So? What did you do to feel this amount of regret?” she asked with a gentle voice.

I explained everything that happened in the lab, how I screwed up and created a singularity that destroyed everything. I thought she would feel disgusted about someone who destroyed a planet, but when I looked at her, she was smiling gently as if she felt sorry for me.

“You are blaming yourself for what happened, but as far as I understand, you have no proof that your friends are dead. You are still alive. If everyone fell into a singularity, shouldn't you be dead?”

“Yeah, you should have been dead, but you are not, which means you might have succeeded in creating a wormhole, and everyone just fell to a different place,” Kron said while in thought.

The thought did occur to me, but I had no proof. They might still be alive, and Earth might still be there. I didn't know which one was real, but I wanted to believe that everyone else was alive.

“I need to find out what happened, I need to find where I am and where Earth is.”

Luna stood up,

“We’ll help you, but before that, we need to train you to handle your mana. If you can't control it, then you are a danger to yourself and us. If something bad happens, then Captain Steve will definitely kill you,” Luna said in a serious voice.

“Fine, that seems like a good idea.”

“And I will help you with the tech,” said Kron

“And I can find star maps from the old books if you want,” said Nova

“Thank you, guys.”

“Let's go, the sooner we start the training, the faster you can work on finding your planet,” said Luna

As I was standing up, there was a loud whirling noise followed by a beep, and then the light went out. All the kids stood up and sighed. Luna looked confused, so I asked what was happening.

“We ran out of energy, and the entire slum is in the dark now. The dome prevents the star's light from entering, so without energy, we are in the dark,” said Luna

“Don’t you have a generator?” I asked curiously

“We do, but there is no fuel to power it,” said Kron

“Then how do you get your power?”

The kids’ faces dropped. They became sad, and Aria ran to Luna and hugged her.

“I use my mana to create an energy storage. It lasts for a month or so, and then I have to do it again,” Luna said

“But whenever she does that, she becomes weak and stays in bed for days!” shouted Kron in anger

“Kron, don't be angry, there is nothing else we can do,” Luna said in a comforting voice.

“If the dome blocks the star, then how do we get the magic energy thingy?” I asked

“The dome doesn't block Mana, it only blocks the radioactive light,” said Aria

“Can't we make a generator that harnesses Mana and turns it into electricity?”

“I've been trying to do that for a long time, but it never works,” said Kron, disappointedly

“Well, maybe we can work together to find a way to make it happen, what do you say?” I said to cheer up, Kron. I've known him only for a few hours, but he saved my life, so I felt as though I had to help him. He looked at me and nodded.

“But what about right now? If Miss Luna powers the city, then who will train you to control your mana?” Nova said with a concerned voice

“I don't need to have mana to teach how to control it, it'll be fine. Let's go and power the city.” Said Luna as she walked out of the room. The kids still looked concerned, but they followed her anyway, and so did I.