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We've silently watched Earth for hundreds of years and over the decades.

We've seen the rise and decline of nations and empires.

We've seen how humans have grown and how far they've come.

We've seen their failures and their successes.

We usually sent out finned ones to investigate since they were able to hide their shimmer better than the winged ones could, but this time we sent out a winged one for the first time in four hundred years.

This is her story.

– Irina Acai, the Ruler of Iredescent

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~ From planet Iredescent
to planet Earth ~

The year 1997

Tereza Rejkavik looked out the window, seeing Earth for the first time as the Ving started to slowly descend like a misty fog. The Ving was an invisible ship made entirely of advanced Iredescent technology. It was holographic in nature and had a very comfortable interior. The inside was shimmery lavender purple and gold, glistening in sparkles. There were purple sofas and furnishings, and futuristic looking windows with holographic shimmers throughout. It was big enough to hold about a dozen people, each with their own bedroom compartment outfitted with their own bathroom, high-rise shower and all.

It wasn't the first time Tereza had left her home planet Iredescent. She was sent to planets Voldvell and Wiss to gather information about each planet. It had been interesting exploring Voldvell's forests and encountering weird cheese people from Wiss, which was literally a cheese planet.

Earth was her latest assignment. Tereza had heard many things about Earth through former assignees, and though some were good, some of the things said were rather bad. The way humans treated each other, the way they harshly governed and controlled others, how they tore down rainforests and how stupid people poached endangered species, their disregard for nature and animals, their own ignorance of themselves, how they willfully surrendered themselves to technology and began to slowly fall into moral decay.

Such a great planet to be assigned to, Tereza thought glumly, sighing as she turned from the window. The ship was set to land on a new part of the planet, in a country called England a.k.a the United Kingdom. It was the year 1997.

Tereza had decided to wear her favorite outfit, a light lavender and purple long sleeve shirt and matching slim fit pants. It was surprisingly comfortable despite its almost skintight look. Her gilded reddish caramel hair was long and straight, and her decadent brown eyes sparkled like dewdrops. Her skin skimmer was light and airy, as if she had put on shimmering body powder. It looked nice and elegant, though the humans wouldn't know Tereza was one of those Iredescents whose skin shimmer was very light and the least visible shade of other skin shimmers. That was one of the reasons why she was chosen for this mission.

Iredescent skin naturally shimmered, sparkling vibrantly like jewels. Each person had their own kind of shimmer, making them all unique. The intensity of the shimmer depended on what kind of person they were, what their abilities were, and whether they winged or finned. Both men and women sparkled.

Humans didn't shimmer at all, so Tereza had to blend in. She felt reluctant having to dematerialize her wings, but knew she had to so the humans wouldn't be able to see them. Besides her eyes, nobody would be able to tell she was an Iredescent unless they looked too closely at her barely visible shimmer throughout her body. But they would only suspect an obsession of glitter rather than her being an alien.

It was a foggy, cloudy day in the specified part of the forest that Tereza had been sent to land on. When the door opened, Tereza stepped out on the ramp and breathed in Earth air for the first time. Evergreen and pine scents filled her lungs with pleasant, cool freshness and invigorated her senses. The surrounding trees stood quietly as if anticipating her arrival. There was no wind, no sound except for birds.

The lack of glitter took a while to get used to, but Tereza found the forest to be beautiful regardless. Like most Iredescents, Tereza was a lover of nature and enjoyed walking through forests and scenic landscapes. So far I like this, she thought, her metallic silver shoes stepping on small twigs and pine needles. The smell of pine was a wonderful feeling she relished. It had been a favorite scent on Voldvell and was becoming a favorite scent on Earth as well.

The ship blended into the background as Tereza kept her wings dematerialized, her brilliant shimmer glistening through the fog. The men waved at her from the window as the ship disappeared, becoming entirely invisible.

Each assignee, or spy, had a base on Earth. There were many hidden bases all over Earth, new ones rising each time more ground was covered. The newest base had been built in England; nobody had ever been assigned to that base before, so it became Tereza's base.

The last base was in a country called Iceland, Tereza recalled, chuckling as she remembered how the former assignee before her, Estrello Draumur, had claimed that Iceland was not a land covered in ice. Then why call it Iceland if it's not a land of ice? I wonder what England means. What's an Eng? Some kind of bird or creature? Guess it'll be up to me to find out.

Tereza went to inspect the base. The Ving was parked on a flat wooden rectangle platform. Surrounding the platform was a futuristic looking building that sort of circled the ship, making it its center. It looked like a luxurious millionaire home, that way any outsiders would assume it being so. It housed the Iredescent visitors, including Tereza and her ship crew.

There were only five Iredescents who came to Earth: Tereza Rejkavik, Kael Isren, Vis Glimte, Rêver Prekrasno, and Niquead Mortoq. Tereza was the spy, Kael was the pilot, Vis was the bookkeeper and medic, Niquead was the weapons specialist and bodyguard, and Rêver was the engineer.

Kael Isren had long straight black hair, pale white shimmery skin, and attractive blue eyes with a hint of playfulness in them. He wore an outfit of royal purple and aqua green, had a good sense of humor, handled rough situations with the calmest of minds, and was the one who helped construct the Ving and many other Iredescent ships, including the Ruler of Iredescent's ship, the Purple Riot. He was a winged one with royal purple wings and holographic shimmers.

Vis Glimte was a dark skinned Iredescent with curly hair the color of a dark red sunset mixed in with dark brown. His eyes were grey-tinted brown and looked like wolf eyes. He often dressed in a long grey and red coat that fell almost to the floor. He wore a metallic dark grey long sleeve shirt and pants underneath. He was the most formally dressed of them all. He was a winged one with dark glittery red and orange wings reminiscent of fall leaves in autumn.

Niquead Mortoq always had a serious expression on his face, one that was usually accompanied with crossed arms and a silent countenance. He had long straight blond hair that gave him a Nordic appearance, light green eyes the color of sage, big muscles, and was the strongest of the men. He supplied everyone with weapons and cautioned over safety procedures. He was the most trusted bodyguard, though he rarely smiled. He was a finned one with cloudy blue fins.

Rêver Prekrasno had brown hair streaked in red, blue eyes, and wore an outfit of blue and yellow. The blue was sky blue and the yellow was golden yellow. He wore a long shimmering deep red jacket over it, its sparkles catching the light and spreading it out in tiny glitters that radiated the room he was in. He was a finned one with sky blue and light brown fins.

A new team of people came with each assignee, giving others the chance to visit Earth. Each person had their own reasons for wanting to visit Earth, mostly out of genuine curiosity and the simple interest of seeing another planet with their own eyes. The team was approved by the Ruler of Iredescent, who officiated the journey and guided them from the moment they left Iredescent to the moment they returned.

Only one incident happened when an assignee's team was endangered. It had happened when a poisonous snake slipped into their base in South America, in the year of 1243, and started attacking an Iredescent. He was almost bitten by it before a crew member with the telekinetic ability killed the snake by telekinetically pulling it apart, ripping it in half before tossing it in the furnace. Shortly after that horrific incident, the team left Earth and went back to Iredescent.

All the Rulers of Iredescent were very careful about who was chosen to go and who would go with them. The current Ruler of Iredescent, Irina Acai, had chosen Tereza to go and allowed Kael, Vis, Niquead, and Rêver to go with Tereza, trusting them to be safe and to secretly gather any new information about Earth.

That information was recorded in an electronic journal passed on from assignee to assignee. It was simply called Earth and contained all sorts of information about the planet, its people, the different animals that lived there, and even had random facts, helpful tips, recommendations, and such. Everyone had access to it and everyone was welcome to read it at any time, the journal being freely available on the Iredescent Internet called Glitternet. There were other journals about different planets too, not just Earth. There was even one about Iredescent, written by the Iredescents themselves.

It was fun to read random information and such, all contained in a journal only certain people could write in, per the Ruler's approval. The previous assignee, Estrello Draumur, had recorded his trip to Iceland and surrounding countries. He wrote some of the coolest things about his travels, such as:

Guys, there are no mosquitoes anywhere in Iceland! This is amazing! These people are so chill, like they have the highest number of book and magazine publications; they love to read books and even have a Christmas tradition where they gift or exchange books to each other and drink hot chocolate while reading. It's called Jolabokaflod. It's wonderful; I spent the evening curled up with a good book and a latte. It's so nice, guys. We should totally have this holiday tradition on Iredescent as well.

Also, there are strangely no forests in Iceland. Apparently the Vikings that used to live here were responsible for it. That, and the land is mostly carved out of glaciers and volcanoes. Such a bummer, but hey, we've got planet Voldvell, the forest planet.

There is a very low crime rate. Burglars and bandits, beware! So yeah, great place to live, plus the view is absolutely amazing. Much of the land here is very similar to the landscape on Iredescent. The waterfalls and the black sand beaches are amazing. I call it "the Earth version of Iredescent."

Tereza had chuckled, laughed, even gave a few weird looks in response to what some assignees had written. But overall, it was a very informative book that was enjoyable and fun to read.

My turn to start writing, Tereza thought as she opened a blank page and typed:

First entry: England by Tereza Rejkavik.

I like the air here. It's reminiscent of planet Voldvell. I'm not sure what I'm going to discover here, but so far things are looking good.

Vis peeked his head in the room Tereza was in. His long robes made a soft swishing sound as he moved. "Tereza, your presence is requested in Rêver's room. He's having trouble figuring out which cable to use."

Tereza rolled her eyes and got up, closing out of her laptop. "All the cables are color-coded. Our cables are the only ones with glitter. All the rest are – "

Just then Rêver came in, saying, "Hey guys, come quickly to the holo-room. The Ruler of Iredescent wants to speak with us."

Tereza got up and followed Rêver and Vis to the holo-room. Niquead and Kael were already there. Tereza glanced up at the ceiling, noticing how glam it looked, as though it were made of over a million pearls. The holo projection was stationed in the center of the room, allowing them to see a real-time full body hologram of the Ruler of Iredescent.

Even as a digital, fully colorized and advanced lifelike hologram, Irina Acai stood out. Even the room, glitzy yet professional, seemed to be in awe of her. Irina wore a very regal blue and purple gown that trailed behind her. The stunning colors brought out her gunmetal blue eyes that sparkled like blue gemstones. The sleeves were cut-off, set in a quadruple cold shoulder style. The material shimmered and made soft swishing sounds as Irina moved. Her dark brown hair fell all the way to the floor, all of it behind her, cascading beautifully down her back and pinned to the sides with sparkly silver and blue hair pins. She wore minimal, elegant makeup and shimmer lip gloss. She wore purple heels with blue on them.

"Hello, Iredescents," said Irina, her voice soft and accented. "I take it your trip went well?"

"No problems reported," Vis said in response. "The flight was smooth, and we haven't been discovered by the humans."

Irina let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm glad. It's very important to me that none of your safety is compromised." She turned to Tereza. "You didn't log your trip, Tereza."

"I was taking in the view," Tereza responded. "I didn't feel like writing until after my arrival."

"No worries," said Irina. "Write whenever you feel like it. Take your time enjoying all the different sights and views. Kael, how much is left in your fuel reserve?"

"Enough to make thirty more flights and back," said Kael, winking.

"Awesome," said Irina. "Well, you guys have fun and let me know if any problems occur. Keep me updated."

"We will," said Tereza. "Thousand Glitters."

"Thousand Glitters," said Irina, her hologram vanishing. 

Kael had a certain look on his face, as though he was daydreaming. He noticed Tereza looking at him and broke into a smile, saying, "Hey, let's get settled in. I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see an alien planet for the first time."

"I got our rooms ready," Niquead spoke, informing everyone. "While Rêver was trying to figure out which color cables he needed, I already got our rooms set up. Tereza, your room's got an office in it so you can write in the journal. Kael, your room is the one facing outward towards the entrance. Vis, your room is near the laundry area. , your room is closest to the secret exit. And my room is just across from Tereza's in case I need to protect her."

What a way to get saddled with a stern-faced bodyguard, Tereza thought. She smiled and said, "Thank you, Niquead. We appreciate it." Maybe we'll see him smile sometime. I don't think even his parents have ever seen him smile before. He just always looks so serious.

Vis interrupted her thoughts by handing Tereza her backpack, which contained all her meager belongings. "Here, this is yours," he said, heading towards his room.

Tereza walked over to her own room, seeing it for the first time. It was entirely shimmery light purple, her favorite color. There were purple covers, sheets, pillows, even décor. Niquead had placed Iredescent hyacinths on the beside nightstand, their silver shimmer turning into purple shimmer, the effect like strobe lights. They came in a lilac vase that matched the color of the décor.

So pretty, she mused, setting her backpack on the floor. Tereza lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling as she took the time to enjoy the room. Everything was arranged nicely, with ample storage and shelving. Her room wasn't very big, but it felt like a small piece of Iredescent in a land that was so very not-Iredescent.

Tereza rolled over to look out the window, noticing it started to rain. She went over to sit by the windowseat, hugging her knees to her chest as she continued to admire the rain. Tereza loved rain and enjoyed watching it. The landscape looked peaceful, serene, all the chaos of the day washed away into blissful tap-taps.

On the other side of the world, a young man stood engulfed in flames, looking out into the faraway city of Los Angeles, California. Rain fell all over him, yet it didn't put out his eternal fire, his flames untouched by the peaceful patter of rain. His dark earthy brown eyes peered out from his messy black hair, protected by his own fire as he proceeded to burn without getting wet from the rain. With one last soulful glance at the city, he turned on his heel, back to his lonely abode, back to his despair.

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Music:

"Fly" by Ludovico Einaudi

(awesome piano music)

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