In a tunnel which was made of a myriad of swirling colors, was a spaceship that was traveling at a speed that would make the Thrust SSC at its top speed look like a sloth. In that spaceship, were two people talking with each other and a lot of armored robots, whose eyes were fixed on a guy wearing a mask.
But, the masked guy did not care about them and talked to the other guy, as if they were long-lost friends. Naturally, the masked guy was Night Shadow and the other guy Luxtr. They had been talking for quite some time and both of them got to know more about each other. Of course, Night Shadow had to lie about his identity and his past from Luxtr.
Night Shadow's knowledge increased as he listened to Luxtr's detailed information on the planets Luxtr had visited when suddenly, a doubt surfaced.
When Luxtr stopped talking, Night Shadow asked, "Hey, Luxtr, I once heard something called "realms". Could you tell me anything you know about it?"
Luxtr stared at Night Shadow with silence and Night Shadow also stared back. Both of them silently looked at each other for a moment when Luxtr said, "Avery, do you really not know about the realms?"
Night Shadow shook his head and Luxtr sighed. Luxtr took a deep breath and started, "Avery, there are 7 tiers of realms - Low-level, Middle-level, High-level, Extreme-level, Astral-level, Cosmic-level, and Primordial realm. Realms are like platforms in space. The higher realm you are in, the more advance it is and the better resources there will be. For example, we are currently residing in a Low-tier realm and if we go to a middle-tier realm, the resources in that realm would be of much better quality and quantity than this realm. I have heard a rumor saying that in a Primordial-tier realm, there are materials that can never break or rust, no matter how much time has passed."
Night Shadow started digesting this information and another doubt surfaced.
"So, how do you enter another realm? Have you entered any other realm?"
Luxtr looked at Night Shadow and replied, "There are gateways to enter it but it isn't that easy to enter another tier realm. To enter the realm, you have to break the doors, and only then can you enter....and no, I haven't entered any realm"
After saying that, Luxtr sat comfortably in his seat as a voice rang throughout the small spaceship, "Reaching destination, please sit comfortably"
Night Shadow sat into his seat and looked out of the window as the colorful tunnel was left behind and replaced by the most amazing thing Night Shadow had ever seen.
In Night Shadow's vision, there were more than 20 planets of different colors, visibly rotating on their axes. But this was not the most amazing thing. The most amazing thing was each planet was interconnected with each other through white-colored tunnels and above the sun was a floating "palace". This "palace" was bigger than any other palace Night Shadow had ever seen. No, calling it "big" was an understatement. The palace was so tall that stacking 500 Burj Khalifa's on top of each other would barely reach 1/100th of its height. All the tunnels seem to start and end at the "palace".
The background was not some dark-colored space but a colorful one made up of light colors such as pink, violet with hints of blue here and there. It looked like a piece of artwork as thousands of spaceships appeared from tunnels or just appeared leaving a trail of white light in their wake. Spaceships of different colors, sizes, shapes, types appeared and headed towards the huge castle. Night Shadow could have sworn that he even saw the Millenium Falcon.
"That's the Alliance Hub", Night Shadow heard Luxtr's voice as a finger pointed towards the huge palace floating above the sun. After saying that, he pressed a button above his seat and a voice rang out.
"Identify yourself", a female's voice asked.
"Luxtr Senin, Reaver, Greater Noble", Lutxtr replied in one breath as if he had answered hundreds of times before.
A silence hung over on the other side of the phone for a moment, before Night Shadow heard, "Welcome back sir, please head over to Bay-2e4 for docking"
After hearing this answer, Luxtr pressed the button again and the call was cut. The "Reaver" turned and started heading towards the Alliance Hub. It took a few minutes before they reached the dock. Night Shadow had really underestimated the size of the Alliance Hub. The reinforced, square doors opened and a white-colored "U" platform appeared in front of them. The open part of the "U" platform was facing them.
The "Reaver" reduced its speed and started moving towards the platform. When the front of the spaceship almost touched the platform, the spaceship stopped moving and something hit the spaceship from the side. The spaceship went still as the dock door closed with silence and Night Shadow heard a voice outside the spaceship and their surroundings were dark.
"Please remain in the spaceship"
Suddenly, sounds of air were whooshing from all around the spaceship, and after a moment, the doors of the spaceship opened. Night Shadow and everyone in the spaceship got out and the lights in the dock suddenly switched on. Night Shadow looked around and saw a dozen workers coming to their spaceship and heading towards Luxtr.
Luxtr seemed to expect them and nodded while removing a bag from his clothes. One of the workers opened his palm and Luxtr placed it on his palm. The worker looked inside the bag and nodded to Luxtr before all of the workers started heading towards the spaceship while keeping the bag safely and removing tools of every kind from a toolbox. Night Shadow looked at Luxtr with confusion.
"Those are mechanics for my spaceship. They repair any damage done to my spaceship every time I dock", Luxtr replied to Night Shadow's confusion. Night Shadow nodded and started walking forward with Luxtr.
The length, breadth, and height of the dock were about a hundred meters tall and a few meters in front of Night Shadow was a white-colored L-shaped staircase leading to the exit on the wall. There were around 60 - 70 steps in total and then stopped before a small platform connected the stairs with the exit. Both Luxtr and Night Shadow headed towards the stairs and walked up the stairs while talking to each other. When Luxtr and Night Shadow reached the door, both of them stopped, and a red-colored laser, in the shape of a hand fan, scanned both of them at the same time.
Night Shadow nodded, it was truly like a scene from a sci-fi movie. The laser moved from their feet to their chest and when it finally reached the tip of the head, it vanished and a female's voice rang...
"Welcome to the Alliance Hub"
The door opened sideways and something went rushed towards Luxtr and hugged him. Night Shadow became cautious and almost killed the person, but after seeing who it was, he stopped. Hugging Luxtr's legs was a girl. The girl looked around 5 or 6 years old, had shiny brown hair and green eyes, fair skin, and a small petite body.
The girl looked up, smiled, and said in a cute voice, "Welcome back, papa"
Luxtr seemed to have expected this and nodded while saying with a smile on his face, "I have come back, Lucy"
Night Shadow looked forward and saw three more people. One woman, a young man, and a girl, all looking at Luxtr. The woman looked around 20 years old. She was wearing light makeup, a shiny purple sheath dress, purple high heels, and jewelry. The woman had straight black hair that reached her hips dark blue eyes, and snow-white skin. All in all, she was very beautiful.
The young man looked around 20 years old, had short curly brown hair, black eyes, a solid build, and looked more like Luxtr. He was just shy of 6'2 and was a bit tanned. He was wearing a dark blue coat and dark blue trousers with a completely white shirt behind his coat and a pair of black shoes.
The girl looked around 17 years old, had wavy black hair that was just past her shoulders, light brown eyes, was 5'8, and was fair. She was wearing a light blue full-sleeve shirt, a short green skirt, black leggings, and black sandals.
Night Shadow could help think...
'Such a colorful family'(AN: Lmao)
The woman stepped forward and said while smiling, "Welcome home, dear", and the boy and girl said, "Welcome home, dad".
Luxtr nodded and said while smiling, "Meet my new friend, Avery"
Luxtr pointed towards Night Shadow when he finished that sentence. As soon as the family members heard about Night Shadow, they looked at him with curiosity. Night Shadow opened his right palm, placed it on his left chest, and gave a small and short bow. The family members, except for Lucy, gave a nod.
Lucy removed her hands from Luxtr's waist and looked at Night Shadow with her tilted left. Suddenly, she realizes something and asks Luxtr, "Papa, is he a demon?"
Luxtr quickly replied, "No, no, my dear Lucy. He is a cyborg."
Lucy's eyes sparkled as she said excitedly, "Really?!" After that, she ran around Night Shadow, examining each and every inch of him by shifting his clothes a bit. Although she looked serious, it was cute at the same time. Luxtr was about to apologize when Night Shadow waved his hands, indicating it was alright.
Lucy kept going around and her face started to become sad. Luxtr asked why she was sad and she replied, "I can't understand the mechanics of his body. His body is so compact that there is hardly any room for upgrading his internal structure, which is the opposite of what we learnt in class. Also, his body structure is very different from what I have learned"
Tears were threatening to pour out of her eyes and everyone in the room started to panic. (AN: she's too cute and they're panicking because they don't want to see her cry...lol). Night Shadow was a bit shocked. Lucy's description of him was not very complex, however, it was clear that she knew the basics of mechanics.
Night Shadow smiles under his mask and knelt down to Lucy's height. He then asked her, "Do you want to become a mechanic?"
Lucy turned to him and nodded cutely. He rubbed her head and said, "If you have doubts about mechanics, don't hesitate and ask me. I may not know a lot but I still know a lot about mechanics."
Lucy's eyes shined and any remaining tears in her eyes evaporated and excitedly asked, "Really?!"
Night Shadow nodded while Luxtr asked in shock, "Avery, you're a mechanic?"
"Yeah. Is anything wrong?"
Luxtr shook his head and said, "There is nothing wrong...but nowadays, mechanics are not easy to find. Especially skilled and knowledgable ones"
Night Shadow nodded but before he found the guy who bought transformer cores, he needed more knowledge about this place and how this place works.
And so, Luxtr and his family started walking towards the exit at the end of the corridor, while Night Shadow and Lucy were behind them, talking about mechanics. Soon, they reached the door and Luxtr pulled it open.
Light flooded Night Shadow's vision as city behind the door unveiled itself...