Astra traveled about 50 or so miles to reach the city of Luna, the city of The Moonlight. It took her not less than 4 hours to reach Luna.
The entrance that Astra came in was one of the many entrances of Luna, the tenth largest city of the Republic of Morpheus. It brandished a black metal arc with numerous starry velvet designs. Under the arc, there were about 30 or so "gates" which represented as checkpoints for anyone coming in. Each gate had their own buildings for queues, which can hold hundreds of people each. Past the gates was a massive road leading into Luna.
Above the arc, there were transparent floating, glowing highways which also represented gates. They were also for those coming into the city through a vehicle. This process was obviously much faster than the one below, but Astra didn't have a car.
The entire scenery looked very sci-fi and futuristic. It even looked like something out of a fantasy, with a crescent velvet moon staying stationary in the atmosphere above the arc while the setting blue sun pierced through the horizon.
While approaching the entrance, Astra thought about how different the immigration system could've been compared to the previous Earth. Of course, Astra couldn't care less about the immigration system, but it being from a new world actually made her a little excited to explore the rest of this world.
Since Astra can be qualified as an "immigrant", she had to go through a specific process. She was given a number and was led inside one of the buildings. Inside one of the buildings, Astra sat inside something that looked similar to a theater, which was the waiting room. There was a large screen in front of everyone, showing the people seated whose turn it was. There were about 400 or so people in the room.
"It turns out that they look and feel exactly like the humans from Earth, and talk like them too…I'm assuming the biology is the same as well."
There was quite loud chatter inside of this room, talking about all sorts of things, regarding religions, the neighboring countries, the politics of their countries, the lives and families of so many immigrants, new policies of certain governments, etc.
"Turns out things aren't that much different from what you see on the previous Earth…"
Astra sat quietly, thinking about how she would approach the inevitable questioning.
As she did, she saw a couple of men being escorted away by people in strange looking police uniforms.
The men being escorted had their eyes and mouths covered, and they seemed to have completely lost consciousness, as if they were in a coma. No one paid too much attention to them.
"It seems like that's what happens if you get unlucky. That seems terrible. It's a good way to deter people from trying to sneak in." Astra glanced for a second but continued to sit quietly.
After hours of waiting for her turn, Astra finally was able to enter the room with the officer.
Astra took her seat inside of the blank, white room that was embroidered with starry images of the velvet moon. Strangely, there were no windows, and it seemed like there were no doors inside this room.
"You have no ID, right?" A male voice rang out from the room.
"No sir." Astra replied with a soft voice in Dreamurian.
"What is your name?"
"Astra Sera."
"What's your faith?" He asked, emphasizing his words.
"I currently don't have one."
"…" A few seconds passed by, leaving the room in silence for a moment.
"Date of birth?" The male voice broke the silence.
"August 31st, 3006."
"Age?"
"21 years old."
"What country are you coming from?"
"I prefer not to say," Astra said, her voice intentionally wavering to make herself sound sadder.
"Okay, there is nothing in our records that shows that you were here in our country before. Why are you coming here?"
"I came here because I was always ostracized in my home country, and I almost died trying to escape." Astra said with a shaking voice.
"Well, it's not completely wrong. Even if they have lie detectors…" Astra said in her head. "Although, it is very likely that they have some sort of emotional or mind reading capabilities given the technology. I doubt they'd be this lenient if someone had bad intentions. Regardless, I'm not lying!"
"It was all because I wanted to experience the freedom of this country and convert to its customs." Astra continued with her head lowered, her eyes intentionally watering.
"…" The man was silent for a few seconds.
"Okay. Wait here for a few minutes while we prepare for you to enter."
Astra intentionally smiled and watered her eyes slightly to show her happiness from this decision.
In reality, she was 99% sure that she would've been given permission to enter.
From the conversations she heard in the waiting room, this city, and especially the country, was extremely lenient towards immigrants.
This is reflected by the entrance, for example. For the citizens of Morpheus, all you would have to do to pass the gate was pay a fee. This was the same for immigrants who were present in the country's system before, providing they had no criminal records. However, if you were an immigrant that didn't have an ID on you, you were stripped of any dangerous belongings and were given a tracker and an ID showing that you were an immigrant.
This was so that they can get any potential jobs that are looking for immigrants, and could perhaps find an apartment that can be temporarily leased to them.
Furthermore, she also learnt from the conversations that the neighboring country, Vytheris, was especially hostile towards Morpheus and its citizens. It was also extremely rigid, having a lack of freedom (especially regarding women) for the sake of security. This is why she didn't want to say the country's name, as she implied that it was Vytheris by her reaction, as it was said that many women from that country don't even want to say its name. Conveniently, Vytheris had used the Dreamurian language, which made it easier for Astra to fabricate the story.
Also, she was extremely dirty, which implied that she had to go through a lot to escape. This further made the officer believe that she was trying to escape.
Indeed, this was enough for Astra to guarantee her entrance!
If she wasn't sure of this, she would've probably tried to sneak in or go to another city or country.
However, while it was possible—albeit dangerous—to go inside of the city without this entrance, Astra deemed it to be somewhat necessary to run the small risk of going through the entrance. This way, her plans of obtaining an ID can be made easier.
Suddenly, a metal cable appeared from the ceiling, stretching down to Astra's head. It looked like a watch, but it didn't have a clock on it.
"Put it on your wrist. That will be your ID for now. After 6 months, you can get it removed, provided you have a stable job and housing. For further information regarding that, you can go to the Department of Immigration. You would have to do that at the Department of Immigration to get another ID that shows that you're a permanent immigrant. Once you do that, you can wait another 18 months to become a citizen." A different voice rang from the room.
"Thank you so much!" Astra enthusiastically grabbed the watch, put it on her left wrist and it immediately attached onto her skin, giving a satisfying "click" sound.
Once that happened, a hologram appeared, showing Astra her portrait, her DOB, her age, and her name. It also gave her the date and time she got the ID. Under the date and time, it said: "Temporary Immigrant". All of this was written in Dreamurian language, which Astra already knew how to read.
"They could've at least waited for me to clean up before giving me this portrait…" Astra sulked in silence as she saw that she looked very disheveled in the picture. Her skin was dirty and her hair was very messy.
"Sigh…well, at least I have an ID." Astra looked at the bottom left corner and saw that it said, "Check Balance". Astra thought for a second but decided that she wasn't going to check it until after she left.
She tapped the "watch". As soon as she tapped the "watch" that was her ID, the hologram disappeared and a door at the corner of the room soundlessly slid open.
As she got up and walked toward the exit, she saw that past the exit was a white corridor, filled with imagery of space and the moon.
There were words and images written in Dreamurian about multiple important and historical figures about the city of Luna. There are also many sights and attractions, as if the corridor was advertising the city.
At the end of the corridor, there was a door that began to open.
A female voice rang out from the corridor. It said:
"Welcome to Luna, the city of The Moonlight."
As the voice finished speaking, the door fully opened, and the light from outside invaded the corridor.
Astra walked out, and saw a massive, velvet glowing highway that looked like an ocean with stationary waves. Above this highway, there was a holographic looking highway similar to the road below.
The pinkish, purplish light from the city, along with the light from the velvet moon and from the highway illuminated the surroundings.
Astra's eyes widened as she took in all of the sensory information. She fully realized how large and advanced this new Earth was.
"This is quite amazing! Only humans are capable of such things!" Astra's mouth curved up cutely as her eyes brimmed with curiosity and glee.
Many fast moving vehicles streaked across this highway, entering the city of Luna, its skyscrapers and alien-like neon buildings streaking across and towering over the horizon. They were very bright and had many advertisements and colorful lights on them. There were many vehicles 'flying' through the city, and these vehicles also had neon lights. There was a lot of noise coming from both the people speaking, and the vehicles moving past. It sounded like a busy airport. Astra hadn't even approached the city itself yet, and she felt how large the city was.
Astra was on the sidewalk parallel to the highway, along with many other people. This highway alone looked like a massive street, and many sci-fi looking vehicles were coming from the air and from the ground to pick up some people from this sidewalk.
Below Astra's feet, there was a neon arrow moving towards the north, which was where Luna was located. Astra looked down at the arrow and it promptly disappeared.
"This reminds me of Cyberpunk!" Astra thought in English. She was a little enthusiastic.
…
In the Sentaic Republic.
"Eh?" Emilia muttered to herself as she saw the handsome, old man from earlier come from the corridor.
He was wearing a casual white long sleeved shirt and long black pants. He held his hands behind his back.
Xavier and Aria had the same reactions, but they were silent.
The trio's shocked faces also shocked the man. He then smiled faintly, his shocked expression leaving him.
"Ah. You must be confused as to why you're here. Do you three remember anything before you woke up?" He asked.
"Yeah. I saw you in my memories." Aria said boldly.
Xavier was surprised by this, but he quickly understood the meaning behind it.
"I thought it would've been a little risky to say we remembered him, but it's best to not lie right now, especially since we don't know what magic powers he has as an 'alien'…well, human…"
"Makes sense. I thought you three were trying to invade my property, but I could've seen from your faces that all three of you were confused and scared." The man sighed. "Sorry for the scare earlier. I prepared dinner. You all want to join? We can eat and talk," The man said.
Xavier, Aria, and Emilia all looked at each other awkwardly for no more than 2 seconds. They then looked back at him, nodding, accepting his request.
They didn't trust the man, but there was not much they could do at this point. They just had to hope he didn't poison the food. Though, they put away that thought since it wouldn't make much sense. If he wanted to, he could've killed them without anyone knowing.
Knowing this, the trio followed the man as he walked out of the room first.
The trio and the man walked out of the room to go into the hallway. The hallway looked like a corridor in a spaceship, as it was lined with walls that resembled a metallic luster, and lights that streaked the edges of it. As they exited the hallway, they saw the dining room with a large living room adjacent to it, and the kitchen opposite the dining room. The living room had a TV, sofas, a large table, and many items on that table. Among these items were portraits of a man with a woman and three children.
Overall, while the house was one story, it was quite large and spacious. It had 3 large rooms, multiple bathrooms in each of the rooms, a spacious living room, a basement, a large dining room and kitchen, a cleaning room, a training room, a study, a garage, and even a large garden in the backyard.
In fact, it was so large that one might wonder how the man was able to even manage the place, and who was even living in it before.
"Wow…" Aria muttered to herself. "This is quite big, our lives have really changed…" She continued.
They all noticed the portraits, but they didn't want to ask about it. Not yet, at least.
"This house is very modern, and also very large. It was almost as if more people were living here…" Xavier thought to himself.
Along with that, everything was very futuristic-like, compared to the previous Earth. It was almost as if they were in a sci-fi novel. It made Xavier and Aria wonder about the technology used and how much more advanced it was than on the previous Earth.
Soon enough, they approached the dining room table and it was a floating table that had holographic artworks of neurons, the universe, and life. It was a very abstract piece of art. There was also a rather ancient looking sculpture in the middle of the table, which contrasted with the modern look of the surrounding area.
The sculpture was dark green and white. It had a young, handsome man dressed in a white robe pressing his two palms on two people bowing down to him. The two people were dark green. One was a woman that gave off the vibes of charm and safety, while the other was a man that exuded maturity and confidence. Below their feet was a floor that appeared to be covered with eyes.
On the inside, Xavier, Aria and Emilia all looked at the sculpture in utter confusion. On the outside however, the trio casually didn't mention it and pretended it didn't exist. They had to continue like they knew what was going on!
For more normal matters, there were already plates of food prepared on the edges of the table. The cutlery and other dining materials were prepared as well.
Xavier and company casted their gazes on the food and the other tools, paying no mind to the sculpture at the center of the table.
Casting their eyes on the dishes, they saw that the dish that was prepared was a simple dish of glistening salmon with alluring fried rice. The savory and slightly sweet aromas that were radiating from the plates filled the air, and the sci-fi lights from above lit the table beautifully.
"Hey, the food not only looks edible, it looks good! It really is like back on Earth! Well, this is Earth, if we go by the hologram…" Aria thought in English.
Emilia didn't have any thought on the food, however she was thinking back on the moments where she would be excited to eat salmon with her family once a month.
However, Xavier was more interested in how everything seemed so similar to the previous Earth, even down to how the food and other dining materials were prepared.
Everyone sat down, and before anyone could dig in, the man said:
"Before we eat, let us pray first." The man then placed his hands on the table and closed his eyes.
This was to the shock of the trio, but all three of them quickly went with the flow and imitated the man's movements.
The man then said:
"O God of Sentience, Intelligence and Emotion, you are the one who gave all things the ability to truly be self aware, to truly be intelligent. We thank you for giving us sentience, and giving us emotions, which truly differentiates us from mere animals."
Xavier quickly recalled the book he saw earlier.
"Religion of Consciousness. This was their religion! They truly do worship consciousness!" He thought while showing no emotion on the outside.
"…We thank you for this food, that we will use to nourish our bodies, which will aid in our worship of you and your intercessor, His Worthiness, The Demigod of Consciousness."
The man then lifted his hands and said in a soft voice:
"You all may eat now."
Emilia and Aria were slightly taken aback by this gesture, but in order to continue the act, they began eating, albeit a little slowly as they weren't fully accustomed to their surroundings or the food.
"Wait, this is really good! The seasoning is perfect, the salmon is soft and crisp, I can feel the umami and all the other flavors dancing in my mouth…this is probably better than most foods I've tasted!" Aria thought in her head, while she slowly and elegantly took apart the salmon with her fork and knife and placed it in her mouth.
"Mmmm. This man cooks really well. I hope he cooks more of this…" Emilia allowed her nostalgia to take over her while she stuffed the food in her mouth. "I almost forgot I was on another planet!"
Xavier wasn't in a hurry to eat. He looked at the sculpture for a few more seconds before finally picking up his utensils.
"Everything seems too good to be true," He thought to himself.
"Honestly, I didn't expect you guys to be so accepting of the God of Sentience, Intelligence and Emotion." The man said softly.
Immediately, Emilia and Aria stopped eating and Xavier looked at him with a bit of shock.
They thought they did something wrong!
"Usually, people in Octavia aren't so fond of switching to another religion. I thought that would've been the hard part." He continued.
Aria and Emilia began chewing again, though they were still slightly alert.
Xavier then spoke up.
"No, we don't have any religion. Our harsh country always happens to deter us from worshipping what they worship." Xavier decided to play it safe and not use the country the man mentioned. After all, it could've been a trap. Even if it wasn't, it wasn't wise to rush to talk about something he knew nothing of.
Emilia and Aria took on flabbergasted faces in their heads! On the outside, they began chewing, however their pace slowed down considerably.
"Mister, do you mind telling us more about your religion and this country? We would like to know more about how to become better members of society and 'God'…" Xavier said with a serious tone.
The man looked at Xavier, his mouth widening slightly in surprise.