Whenever I post a chapter from this book and then a motive that says 12 or more notifications, I also try and guess whether it's going to be a comment spam from r5ftclifford or AriStoat_SK . If I see capital letters the minute I tap on the notifications, I know it's r5ftclifford .

I don't own anything
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The seven stood on the planet of Ilum, gathered in a more or less circle form. It was bright morning. The sun was shining off the planet's icy surface, blinding them a little. Thankfully, one of the required items was sun visors, devices that had small hooks which sat behind the ear that held a dark hologram the user could activate by pressing the button behind the ear. The two sides would slide the hologram over the users eyes, starting by the side of their face. Galen had to wear his because his eyes had always been sensitive to light. He didn't like the way they looked on him but he would rather look stupid than lose his vision.

Galen stood on the ship ramp, his back towards the bay of the ship and facing outwards at his six comrades, who stood below, clothed with warm clothing and carrying at least forty kilograms of equipment in their backpacks (minus Orson who was only allowed to carry 25-30 kilograms).

With a deep breath, Galen began the pep talk he and Orson discussed on the way over. "Today is the day we start our mission to bring about a fantasy that could have been a reality all this time! Today we begin a test of skills, knowledge, and trust in each other. If we fail, we'll try again. If we miss our chance, we'll take the next chance and the one after that. We're not going to let mystical things we can't understand fall into the fantasy group. Everything can be explained by science!"

'Except unicorns,' Galen thought. 'That might be a little difficult to explain. "Guys! A narwhale and a horse bred and had a unicorn!"' Galen bit his lip to keep from laughing. He was staring to think like Orson. The teen was wearing off on him.

He took a shaky breath to clear his mind before continuing. "So let us prove to the Galaxy that it's possible to make such a thing and together, we might take one more step towards peace for the Galaxy once and for all!" The six yelled and cheered loudly, but Orson was the loudest.

Now, Galen wasn't exactly sure how alchemy would make peace. The only thing he could think of was that by doing this trip, he was hopefully encouraging these six to stay out of the war and use their skills for researching things in good ways that were no destructive.

Galen shut the ship bay and lead the group. "Let's find some crystals." The six followed him. Okay, it was five. Orson was walking right next to him.

Orson had a large smile on his face and Galen wondered what was making the teen so happy. He asked. "I just like being with you," Orson replied.

"Well, you're lucky then," Galen said. "I've split up the group into pairs except for Oraki's group. You get to be with me and it will just be the two of us."

"Really?! Awesome!"

They went up to the cave entrance, which was more like an archway carved out of ice. Inside the archway, it looked kind of like a ballroom setting. The door across from the archway was blocked off by a thick wall of ice. "In order to open this ice door, we need to spin the chandelier above us." He pointed to a giant ice chandelier. "That's our first task: opening the door." Galen had been thinking about how to do this on the way over but he didn't come up with a solution. Usually he would sit in front (or in this case, under) of the problem and think for an hour or so. The answer would come to him then. But he didn't have time to sit for an hour.

Orson shrugged. "I got nothin'. What about you guys?"

"Well we could try and tie ropes around the ends and spin it?" Suggested Oraki.

"How do we get it up there?" Asked Lyra. "Anyone have jet packs?"

"Throw Orson up," said Miyah. "He's nice and light and small enough to get up there."

Orson screamed, making Galen wince. "DON'T CALL ME SMALL!!!"

"Orson! Quiet! The ice amplifies your voice!" Galen hissed.

"Come on, it would be great!" Oraki laughed.

"Hell no!" Orson yelled again. Apparently he hadn't heard Galen.

While the group argued, Galen sighed and opened his backpack. Might as well do Oraki's idea. He took out two grapple hooks he had brought with him. Galen aimed and fired the grapple hooks at the same time. They connected just about opposite of one another on the chandelier. Galen clapped his hands loudly, making the sound richochetr off the walls. The six froze, leaving the ballroom completely silent to fill with his voice with. "HEY!! Stop arguing or we're never gonna get stuff done. Lyra, Orson, Oraki, Zinno, grab this grapple hook. Miyah and Talise, you're with me. We're going to walk in a clockwise fashion. Keep the rope taut." With that, they walked around in circles until the chandelier was angled a certain way to focus the light on the doorway. The ice door melted and Galen freed his grapple hooks.

"Great solution!" Oraki said.

"We should get moving," Galen answered. "Oraki, Lyra, Talise, you guys will be working together to find as many crystals as you can. Zinno and Miyah, you two are together and I'm with Orson." Galen bent down and stuffed the grapple hooks in his backpack. He slung the pack on as he said "We have twelves hours before this door shut, let's go!" With that, the group broke apart and went off to find some crystals.

Orson trailed behind Galen as they walked. The ground was slippery and they couldn't move very fast. "Galen?" Orson suddenly said. "Do you love me?"

"Yeah, wait what?" Galen turned to look at the teen behind him.

"Do you love me?" Orson repeated.

Galen frowned. "Of course I do." He shifted his eyes back to the terrain in front of him. "Why do you ask?

Orson hugged himself nervously. "I... guess I thought that... because of the way you act around me sometimes..."

"And how to I act around you?" Galen asked, a little impatiently.

"Just... kind of short sometimes."

"Orson, now is not the time to think about romance." Galen scanned a crevasse for anything he might be interested in.

"Why not?"

"We have a mission." Galen turned to Orson. "And for the record, you don't need my reassurance. Shouldn't allowing you to join my team be enough proof to you? Or how about our kisses?"

Orson looked down, ashamed. "Right... sorry..."

Galen sighed and pulled the teen down a large tunnel. The two walked side by side until Orson pulled ahead a little and Galen trailed, looking for any crystals. Then Orson stopped walking and plucked something out of the wall. Galen ran into him. Orson slipped and fell over. "Shit! Orson! Are you okay?" Galen asked hurriedly.

Orson nodded and got back up. He had something in his hand. "Is this a crystal?" He asked eagerly.

Galen examined it. The object was shines, somewhat transparent, and held a mystical gleam to it. "I think it is. But we'll have to test it when we get back to the labs. Keep it."

"Yay!" Orson dropped the crystal in one of the little boxes he had tied to his upper arms. Why he tied it up there, Galen had no idea. But after watching Orson put the crystal up there, Galen realized it was probably to store things more quickly than having to carry the samples collecting boxes or pulling it out of a backpack.

They continued walking for a while. Orson seemed to be able to see the crystals much easier than Galen did and the scientist had no idea why. The two scavenged for crystals non-stop for about three hours. After three hours, Orson began to drag a little and Galen wondered why. Was the kid hungry? He stopped walking and said "Hey, Orson, you want something to eat?"

Orson flopped down on the ground and sighed. "No, I'm not that hungry."

"Why are you so slow then?"

This comment made Orson bite his lip and his calm eyes seemed to turn to ice blue. "My feet hurt," he responded in a way that made Galen frown. Orson's voice sounded angry and he wondered why.

"Well, we can rest for a few minutes but we have to keep going."

"We have at least forty something odd crystals!" Orson complained.

"We need more."

"No we don't! The others should have some too!"

Galen sighed and said "Orson, we need more." Orson let out a moan and shut up.

"Do you have any chocolate?" Orson asked.

"No. I didn't bring any this time because we only have a limited supply amount of water."

Orson nodded. He dragged himself next to Galen and rested his head in Galen's lap. Galen could see the teen was tired. He sighed. This has probably been a mistake bringing him along.

For the next ten hours, things went in a pretty similar pattern. Orson would complain, Galen would tell some stories, Orson would have to rest, and they found crystals. Galen explained to Orson that they needed to spend these hours working in the cave because when it closed it didn't open for the next thirty-six moons. After hearing that, Orson was more eager to work.

The hours crept by slowly for Galen. Orson seemed to be less energetic with each passing minute and Galen often pondered over this. Maybe the teen wasn't sleeping well... but then again, this morning Orson had been all happy and bouncing off walls. It didn't make sense.

Galen glanced at his watch. It had been nearly eleven hours since the teams entered the cave. He commed everyone, something he had only done at the end of every hour. "Report your position."

"Stuck," answered Zinno. "I'm kidding. We're heading for the entrance already since we made it pretty far in."

"Good," said Galen. "Orson and I will be doing the same thing in a moment."

"We are?" Orson asked.

Galen nodded. "Yeah, unless you you want to be stuck in here for two and a half years, I suggest we get out of here." He then went back to the com. "Talise, Lyra, Oraki, state your position."

Oraki answered. "Well... Talise and I are heading back. But Lyra ran off somewhere."

Galen swore before he answered the com. "Do you know where she went?"

"She went back to some giant field of crystals. Should we wait."

Lyra's voice then joined the conversation. "No, don't wait. I'm already heading back. Let's get out of here before we're all stuck."

"Lyra! I told you not to leave the groups!" Galen shouted.

"For science!" Lyra replied.

"That is NOT an answer!"

Orson grabbed Galen's hand and squeezed it. Galen swung his arm, nearly shaking the teen loose and flinging him. But Orson managed to stay upright. "Galen, come on. We should go before we run into bigger problems than Lyra disobeying."

Galen nodded. He began to lead the way out. He realized how tired Orson was because the teen's pace was a little on the jagged side. One moment Orson was doing just fine, the next he was dragging. "Come on, Orson. We need to make it out before we get caught."

The hour walk was long, even for Galen. About ten minutes before the gate closed, he got a com from Miyah and Zinno. "We're out!"

"We'll be joining you soon," said Oraki. "The lighting in the cave has become brighter."

Galen smiled. It looked like things were going well. He turned to talk to Orson when he saw the teen wasn't behind him. "Orson? Orson!" Galen called. Orson didn't respond. Galen rushed back the way he came and found Orson quite aways back. Orson had found Lyra, except that her arm was jammed in the ice wall. "Lyra, how the hell..."

"Don't ask!" Lyra said. Galen groaned and seized Lyra's arm with Orson. Some loud grunting and a high pitched scream later, Lyra was freed. Galen glanced at his watch. Five more minutes.

He stood up. "Just don't do anything stupid like that again. Now come on. Move fast." The two followed Galen's lead, nearly running to beat the clock.

They got a call from Talise and Oraki. "We made it!"

"And we have Lyra," said Galen. "We'll be there in a moment." The three of them bolted for the doorway. When Galen got there, he saw most of the door had frozen over. Galen glanced behind his shoulder and looked at Lyra and Orson. Lyra was doing find while Orson couldn't seem to keep up. So Lyra had his wrist and was pulling him along.

The opening of the door was smaller than Galen's height and growing smaller by the centimeter quickly. It surpassed the height of Lyra and Orson and the two looked worried. The four scientists that made it out were shouting their names, telling them to get the hell out of there and cheering for them to run faster. Galen ran faster, Lyra and Orson copying. Galen suddenly threw himself to the ground and slid under the sealing door. He made it out, then tumbled down the stairs leading up to the doorway. "Alright Galen!" The four other scientists yelled.

Suddenly Galen heard two loud thumps. He jerked his head up and saw the door had closed. It took him a minute to realize what was wrong.

Orson and Lyra were trapped inside.
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Oh no! What have I done? No seriously, I wonder what I done and how this is going to turn out.

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