(Moneth Claire Corpuz, Deer Valley High School, Antioch, CA, USA)
“The sky is fake.”
Meina recalled the words of a delusional passerby near the Academy. She was supposed to present a subject related to her chosen major of Astronomical Studies in a Caelumology class. She was expected to provide a thesis in support of her perspectives on the subject. There was also the encouragement from her professor who had mentioned something about her presenting at a public event. Meanwhile, her peers planned to stay in one spot in the Rosavelf Kingdom for their sky analyses.
Meina groaned in her seat as she tapped her pencil against the paper. She tried to think, but the only thing on her mind was the sky. Surely, it wasn’t true—no one had questioned the skies before. In a world with unexplained phenomena along with existing magic, folk lore, legends, and diverse species, to hear that the sky was fake shouldn’t be a shock. Meina was just an ordinary elf who lived in Rosavelf, so she was also open to the idea. Although most believed in the sky, some felt there was an underlying danger present in it. Yet, the brunette never doubted the skies: she loved to watch the stars twinkle; but this random claim bothered her.
The girl looked at her ceiling with a contemplative expression. What if that is my subject? The sky?Meina mused before she stood and paced around the room to think about it. If I can’t find that person anymore, should I just immediately go and investigate everywhere throughout the world? I’d have to check in with some adventurers first to properly mark ruin sites on my map for clues. If anything, the vast domain of Euniomeinra is filled with texts scattered around in different places. That’s how the archeologists found some truth about this world anyway.
She thought for a moment before her gaze landed on her travel backpack, so be it then.
Meina packed her things with a determined face before she walked outside of her house. She knew that this would be a long trip, but she didn’t mind either way. The project didn’t have any deadlines so she could just take her time with it, but she still preferred to finish things fast. The girl walked towards the adventurer’s guild. The trees along her way were so thick that they covered most of the sky; she could barely see the stars properly.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of an adventurer who claimed his rewards for the day after a commission. She approached the man before Meina cleared her throat, “Uh hey—do you have a minute?” Meina nervously asked as the man glanced at the student and raised his eyebrow.
“Do you need anything miss?” The man guessed he wasn’t done yet. His eyes looked like the daylight sky; his hair embodied a cluster of white stars with fluffy, wolf ears which peeked out of his hair. It was quite obvious that he came from Wirong, the kingdom home to werewolves.
“Ah well, are you perhaps an expert in exploring? I—I swear I’ll pay you a good amount as long as you can either be my guide—or mark up some ruins on my map” Meina replied, before she took out 10,000 Leibla.
The man widened his eyes at the money before shaking his head, “I could guide you if you’d prefer that—I’m experienced myself so I could protect you from the Abyss at night.”
The girl took him to an empty table. “Some archeologists say they found some weirdly placed ruin structures all over Euniomeinra and there were supposed to be exactly six of them, one in each nation. Do you know where those structures are?” Meina placed the map on the table and brought out a pen.
“What kind of weirdly placed structures are you looking for? Ones that have holographic ancient texts on them or something else?” The man asked, trying to recall some from his expeditions around Euniomeinra.
“Coming from other travelers, some said that there were archways placed around the nations, facing Celestia above as if the archways were the gates of heaven.” She answered before giving him the pencil. “Other than this, I’m also keeping an eye out for the constellations and stars at night just in case of some weird things I haven’t yet seen,” she added before the man widened his eyes in realization,
“Ah hold on give me a moment…” Noah mumbled before he circled something on the map.
There were 6 locations marked on the map. Most looked like they were located by cliffs or hills. Meina furrowed her eyebrows before she nodded a thank you to the man and outstretched her hand, “Since we’ll be travel buddies for a while, I think it’s best we introduce ourselves. The name’s Meina, a student from the Academy,” Meina introduced herself with a small smile.
The man returned the gesture and shook her hand. “Call me Noah. A seasoned adventurer if you will.” Noah grinned back before he cleared his throat, “I’m guessing we’re supposed to start now? It’s still bright out so we could probably walk to two locations for today before setting up a camp.”
There they started their search: first was to find the archway in their current country. The Rosavelf archway was located on top of a large asymmetrical formation of rocks with greenery on the surface, so it took them a while to reach their destination. Meina huffed as she took the last step up the hill, let out a big sigh of relief, and dropped to catch her breath. Noah chuckled at the sight, then reached out and pulled her up.
It’s a lone archway, huh…Meina’s eyes decided to focus beyond the structure, lined up with Celestia in the sky. Since it was a floating island that no one has gone to for thousands of years except for that one legend—
“I’m pretty sure half of them have engraved texts on some stones near the archways; this one being a part of them” Noah broke her train of thoughts before Meina shook her head. They walked towards the structure, Meina brought out her notebook and crouched in front of the stone.
“‘When Euniomeinra was created, there were 3 existing moons called the Moon Sisters. They once existed in the same atmosphere but were separated as disasters arrived in Euniomeinra. One called Aria, was a moon sent to the Abyss: the deepest depths. The other named Sonata was sent above the Abyss, the layer in which the mortals live— to live with the sun. Lastly, Solaris— the moon which stayed behind beyond Euniomeinra…- ‘“
“Huh? That’s it?”
“Apart from the ancient texts, the witches probably have information.”
“The witches?” She asked.
“The witches of Avinolleum. Never heard of them?” Noah tilted his head at the girl, “Think of them as the allies of our gods thousands of years ago. They were powerful enough to bend the laws of the world and so help the gods to rule the first divided lands.” He added as he looked back at the archway, mentioning the organization. The girl sighed, crossing off the marked location on the map and stood up, looking around for a bit. Noah glanced back at her then opened his mouth, “Just to make sure, why exactly are you looking for these things outside Rosavelf again?” He asked.
“Well…I used to hear stories about the sky outside when I was little and I delved deeper into it when I got into the Academy.” Meina looked at the sky before glancing back at Noah.
“Why the sudden interest?”
He looked away and shrugged, “ya know, we also have some Aurora Borealis to see day and night in Wirong so it’s natural for me.”
“Next archway should be in the Steorra Kingdom, right?”
Eventually, they reached said place and climbed the stairs to the top ofMountEallwealdan,finding a large shrine dedicated to Luminas, or the god of stars. Meina gawked at the scenery. For someone who didn’t venture outside of her nation much, this was amazing. She never thought she’d see the god’s shrine.
Noah chuckled to himself as he sat on the grass to set up a tent and make a campfire as his eyes fixated on the girl who documented the archway off the side near the edge of the mountain behind the shrine. The place was filled with tranquility; wind breezed through the grass and flower patches. Noah fixed their little camping ground on the mountain as the girl returned and sat by him.
Meina looked up at the sky while tapping her notebook, “They never lied about this Kingdom having the most stars in the sky, huh?” She mumbled, crickets sounding the night around them.
“Well why else would it be called Steorra?” The adventurer grinned.
The Rosavelf resident pouted at him, “I— well…that’s uh…I don’t know, who knows? They might’ve lied to me or something…” she grumbled, crossing her arms.
“Good thing I’m here then.” Noah chuckled.
Clanks of their utilities and the crackles of the fire filled the silence while they ate for the night—not until another sound cut through their peace. Meina flinched as Noah instinctively grabbed his weapon and pulled Meina behind. She grabbed Noah’s clothes for comfort; they both looked around for danger before they managed to locate it. The only problem was the sound was coming from the sky. Noah’s jaw dropped at the sight while Meina widened her eyes in return, to finally step beside the adventurer. “Holy…” Noah mumbled as Meina scrambled to get her papers and her Kamera to take a picture.
There was a crack in the sky. It was as if something broke through the night sky and revealed a red void with floating pieces of a dead moon. One of the moon sisters, dead, was behind the sky of Euniomeinra, hidden away in fragments. “Is that…?”
“Solaris.” Meina answered.
The pieces of the dead moon were still scattered behind the sky of Euniomeinra the following morning—If one truly focused on that patch, they’d be able to see it.
They went to a few more nations for more proof and filled Meina’s research papers. After their exploration, the duo went back to Rosavelf Kingdom, satisfied with their discoveries.
Not once have I ever thought that the sky would be actually fake this whole time. This expedition clearly proved me wrong.Seeing more than ten sky cracks in Noah’s Kingdom.
The girl clutched her presentation board and folders as she walked through the halls of the Academy. She finished her whole research in two days with a bit of help from Noah. Insidethe Caelumology lecture hall, she was met with about a hundred researchers and some curious individuals; elven folk and faeries from Steorra attended to see for themselves.
She walked towards the front of the room. Her eyes roamed around the room, looking quite nervous as she looked for comfort; Meina tried to see an expected person’s face in the crowd. Meina gulped, then cleared her throat. She took a deep breath to calm herself until she met eyes with Noah in front of her who was sitting in the first row of the crowd. He’s here—she thought as they both smiled at each other. Noah gave her a thumbs up while he mouthed, “You can do this.”
Meina smiled. “Hello everyone! Thank you for attending today’s event. I would have never gotten this far in my research if it wasn’t for an outstanding, adventurer named Noah.” Meina introduced Noah to the crowd and everybody clapped; Noah gave the audience a polite bow.
“And today, I’ll be talking about The Sky Beneath.”
Moneth Claire Corpuz wrote this piece of speculative fiction as a 10th grade student at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, CA, USA. She cited her astronomy teacher, Jeff Adkins, as her reference.