Heaven’s Path

The grey armored motor vehicle drove through the rough and bumpy landscape as sounds of thunder from the clouds roared through the atmosphere. The sounds of hail battering the vehicle mixed with the vibrations of the rough but smooth humming of the motorized engines.

The interior of the vehicle was quite spacious, and looked like the inside of a futuristic Honda Civic with 2 monitors above its AC/Heater system showing the footages of the sides and back of the car. The security guard was in the driver's front seat, while Xavier and Aria occupied the back seat. They both were anxiously peeking through the gap between the driver and passenger's seat momentarily, trying to look through the vehicle's windshield to see any glimpse of Astra. Alas, this was to no avail!

Despite the vehicle's front lights illuminating the desert landscape as it rushed past them, this illumination was limited by the range of the lights. 

As such, mostly darkness could've been seen.

This experience would've been the same if they looked outside of the window on the side of them, as the vehicle's side lights faintly lit up the rocky ground near it.

BANG!

The sound of thunder ruptured through the air, and it sounded quite close! The situation deteriorated so badly that the night sky wasn't visible anymore.

The only thing that could be seen was the faintly lit landscape of desert rock, hail and snow, and darkness.

"Eep!" Aria instinctively flinched upon hearing the noise.

Xavier secretly wanted to laugh, but he thought that it wouldn't be the right time to do so. He just let out a faint grin and laughed inwardly instead.

"So, can I ask a question? It goes for the both of you," The good looking security spoke up.

"Go ahead." Xavier responded.

"Do you know why Dr. Sera is doing any of this? This seems really unbecoming of a scientist. Not to mention exceedingly dangerous." The security asked while staying alert to any potential sights.

"To be honest…we don't know. Though we have a faint idea." Xavier answered. "She likes the stars, obviously, she's an astronomer, but she keeps talking about the heavens. Maybe this is her way of getting closer to them. It's weird, but…"

"It's not out of character." Aria finished Xavier's sentence.

It was no surprise that Aria and Xavier thought this way after "knowing" Astra for 3 years. They've seen her strange antics, her weird conversations with the sky, her isolationist nature regarding anything social, her downright schizophrenic tendencies…

It was no surprise that Astra's two coworkers thought that Astra would've done something as peculiar as this—despite the danger! Given the circumstances regarding her screaming and her mental state, this was a logical conclusion!

"Are you guys sure that she isn't somewhere in the facility?" The security asked, still in disbelief about the fact that Astra would willingly put herself in such a situation.

Xavier sighs. "We're—well, I am 90% sure she's outside here…if she isn't then she most likely went back…"

"You two must have feelings that are more than simple admiration if you're doing this for her personally without asking for help." The security exclaimed in a dry tone.

Xavier and Aria didn't respond to this.

30 seconds go by.

As the time passed by, heavy snow clung to the vehicle, which was quickly washed away by the relentless hail battering the motorized box. Lightning shined occasionally, thunder reverberated every so often, while a fog was battling with the headlights, threatening to obscure their vision. A terrifying whirlwind of elements! And yet…

Astra was nowhere to be found.

There was a deep silence in the interior of the vehicle. Only the humming of the engines, the occasional thunder, and the hard drops of hail could've been heard.

Despite the silence, a whirlwind of emotions—anxiety, worry, confusion, frustration, annoyance—were going inside the hearts of Xavier and Aria, reflecting the environment just a few feet away from them.

Their hearts felt as if it were to burst out of their bodies; their breaths seemed to get heavier.

The security remained calm, even on the inside.

1 minute passed by.

Astra was still unseen. The landscape continued to get worse. Almost every snow patch that formed was quickly demolished by hail raining down on the patches.

"Where is she? She needs to come back now before anyone else notices..." Aria's voice softly tinged with unease and exasperation. She almost stuttered as her eyebrows began to slightly curl upwards. "Come on Astra…" Her voice was as soft as a whisper, as if she was doubting the whereabouts of Astra.

Xavier remained silent. His feelings of anxiety were slowly fading away as he looked forward into the darkness. 

2 minutes passed by.

BANG! The sound of thunder crackled through the atmosphere, and it sounded dangerously close. Xavier was able to see the lightning that looked as if it was only 100 meters away from where they were at.

The storm raged on as they pushed forward, the vehicle's headlights illuminating patches of frost-glazed sand. Shadows seemed to shift just beyond the edge of the light of the observatory and the lightning. The air itself felt heavier, laden with an electric tension.

Aria's breathing continued to be heavy, however it was inaudible to the rest of the passengers.

This scene was accompanied by a chilling silence in the vehicle. There was a strange sense of calmness in this silence.

Astra, again, was nowhere to be seen.

3 minutes passed by.

Xavier and Aria's doubts and fears were now starting to get replaced by almost an air of defeated acceptance. They had almost accepted the idea that Astra wasn't outside the blistering blizzard, as no one in their right mind would stay outside the harsh environment.

That included Astra.

"Uh, you two?" The lady driving the vehicle spoke up.

"Yes?" Aria answered first.

"I don't think the Dr. is out here." She said in a stoic voice while turning the wheel to drive closer to the facility. "We can't stay outside here too long either. It's best if we go back."

"Yeah, she isn't out here…" Xavier repeated the lady's words.

Aria began to stare outside of her side window.

"It seems like we really failed in trying to reach her, again…" Aria muttered under her breath. She was disappointed, but there's not much she can do at this point. She didn't even want to go back to the banquet either. 

"Hahahaa…" She sighed, and let out a faint laugh.

Xavier, despite knowing Aria for years, considered this laugh strange.

He decided not to think much about it. He then shifted his thoughts to whether he should go back to the banquet or not. He didn't know if Astra returned to the banquet yet, but he surmised that she most likely did, given that the sky would've been completely covered by the storm.

"Well, it seems like I was wrong. Either that or we were too slow. The night sky is completely covered up, there is no reason for her to be out here anymore." Xavier said and turned to Aria, whose back was facing him.

"Okay." Aria nodded, her back still facing Xavier.

Xavier noticed the change in Aria's tone. She was now a lot more aloof. He wanted to say something about Astra, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

Again, a calm silence emerged as the facility got closer and closer.

In this silence, a sound was heard. 

The wind howled its eerie symphony. It sounded strangely unnatural, and it almost sounded like a woman's weeping. Xavier and the security instinctively felt their hairs lift up, but didn't think anything of it.

Suddenly, the security sees a figure in the distance. 

It was like a shadowy humanoid silhouette, completely covered by the foggy atmosphere.

It disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

As soon as the security saw this, she put her foot on the brakes, slowing down to an almost complete stop. Xavier and Aria were alerted by this. Thus, they both immediately looked at the front windshield to see what the matter was.

All they saw was nothing but a faintly lit desert landscape covered in snow and hail, a fog, and darkness.

"Uh, did you guys see that?" The security said with a nervous ring in her voice. "I need to make sure I wasn't seeing things!" The security then stops the vehicle.

"No, I didn't see anything…" Xavier answered honestly. He was too busy staring at Aria at the time.

"Miss security, why did you stop?" Aria asks anxiously.

"I saw a thing that looked like a human in front of me. I was startled…" The security's calm and stoic nature was suddenly shaken. "Plus, I needed to make sure I wasn't just seeing things."

"So you potentially saw a creature in the dark? And stopped the car? Can you please put your foot on the gas?" Aria asked with an incredulous tone. Of course, Aria didn't see what the security saw because she was looking outside her own window.

"Right, sorry!" The security couldn't argue with that logic. She put her foot on the gas.

As soon as she did, the figure appeared again. Not more than 2 seconds later, the security stopped the car again.

Since both the car and the figure were closer this time, the three riders of the vehicle were able to see the figure more clearly. As they did, goosebumps sprung up on their skin, with chills distinct from the air around them running up their bodies.

It was tall, had hair that dropped to its waist…

It stood there. Then it started to approach the vehicle.

"What are you doing? You stopped again!?" Aria almost shouted at the security, whose previously unshaken nature was taken over by freight.

"What if it's a person…?" The security clutched her hands on the wheel while looking at Aria.

Xavier noticed something while Aria shouted at the security. Despite being afraid, He squinted his eyes and looked at the figure who was still approaching. He mentally marked off the details one by one.

Golden eyes that faintly glowed in the darkness. Light blonde hair that chaotically blew through the storm. An apparent coat that followed the movements of its hair. The last thing he was able to see was the skin of the creature, but given the fact that it was dark, that meant that it had dark skin.

"No way…is that-" Xavier thought to himself in his head out of shock. "Astra!" He shouted as his mouth opened.

Aria and the security then instinctively looked through the front windshield and saw her.

Dr. Astra Sera.