Narisva was being questioned about their world but since she was moving at her own pace, they didn't rush.
She saw a digital calendar filled with neatly arranged days and months. For some reason, that was what made her give more information about Spheraphase. She stared at it for a few seconds.
"These names… you base your days on mythology?"
"Yes. They're named after some names in Norse mythology."
"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… these are derived from something called Norse mythology. And your months, too? That's strange."
She stepped away from the screen, continuing as if she had just uncovered a deeply flawed system.
"In Spheraphase, we don't bother naming days like this. A day is just a day and it doesn't need a label. We calculate time in broader structures and we don't assign them arbitrary names."
The room listened to her.
"We don't even have fixed names for weeks or months either. Those are just measures, not identities. The only thing we actually mark with significance are eras. Right now, we're in the first century of the eighth millennium since the Destras Cataclysm. That's what defines our timeline, not individual days or years."
"..."
"When something major happens, something that changes the world fundamentally, that's when a new era begins and time recording resets from that point."
The analysts in the room were quietly taking notes. Some were trying to keep up and others just stared at her like she had casually dismantled their entire concept of timekeeping in a few sentences. Veneri, meanwhile, turned his attention back to Commander Hale.
"You still haven't elaborated my question. Why are you this calm about all of this? Finding out that beings from another world exist and that they're standing right in front of you should be causing more… reaction."
Hale didn't hesitate this time.
"Because this isn't entirely new to us."
He turned towards the screens again and new data appeared. It was satellite imagery, deep space scans and unidentified objects moving in ways that didn't match known physics.
"Our satellites have been detecting anomalies for decades now. We know there's other life out there, so seeing you here isn't shocking, it's just a confirmation. What we don't know is whether you rely on technology or… something else."
Narisva didn't answer that. Instead, she slightly lifted her hand as space around her palm warped. Without any warning, a miniature black hole formed above her hand
The room froze.
No one moved or spoke because instinctively, every single person in that room understood that whatever that was, it wasn't something they could comprehend, let alone survive. The gravitational distortion alone made nearby objects tremble slightly. Screens flickered as if reality itself was reacting to its presence.
"That answers your question."
Before the alarms could trigger, she closed her hand and the black hole vanished like it had never existed. The silence lasted exactly one second. Then the alarms started anyway.
Before anyone could react, she lifted her hand again, this time forming a miniature sun, radiating heat so intense that the fire detection systems immediately activated. Sprinklers burst to life across the ceiling. Water poured down everywhere.
The water froze mid-fall for half a second before vanishing completely. It evaporated instantly as Spatial Energy emerged from Narisva's position, leaving the room dry as if nothing had happened. She lowered her hand, disabling the miniature sun.
"Yes, we have powers."
Veneri exhaled slowly, rubbing his temple once.
"Don't do that again. This world can't handle that level of energy. A few more seconds of that black hole and this entire facility would have been gone."
Narisva shrugged.
"I stopped, didn't I?"
Commander Hale's composure was shaken now.
"Are you a threat to humanity?"
Veneri looked at him directly.
"I'm from Earth too. Well… I was. I lived in Los Angeles, California, went to a place called Precious Hearts Private School."
"Verify that now."
An analyst immediately began typing, pulling up records, databases and archives Within seconds, he looked back up.
"It exists, sir."
"That was in a previous cycle though, so the version of me you'd find in your records wouldn't be… this one. Maybe I don't exist at all. It's complicated. So here's what we're going to do. You give us the ability to move freely in this world, make us citizens, tourists, whatever classification works best so we don't draw unnecessary attention. We explore, we figure out how to get back to our world, and when we do, we leave. And if anyone decides to attack us, we won't hesitate to respond."
Narisva didn't even look at Hale when she added.
"A black hole would be enough to eradicate your world."
"That can be arranged. But we'll need to inform the President. This isn't something we can authorize at our level alone."
"That's fine."
He glanced at Narisva briefly, then back at Hale.
"In the meantime, we'll need somewhere to stay. A five-star hotel should be enough."
Hale almost laughed at that, but stopped himself.
"We can arrange that too."
"Good. We won't stay in the United States for long anyway. We'll be moving to other countries soon and see if there's anything that can help us get back. Try not to make this complicated please. I've seen a lot of movies where politicians are assholes and try to act superior and doom their world. Please don't do that."
°°°°°°°
The hotel room was absurdly luxurious by Earth standards. The view of the city was glowing under artificial lights and furniture was so polished it almost reflected like water.
The moment they stepped inside, both of them immediately felt how fragile everything was around them. The floor made Veneri stop mid-step while Narisva instinctively released a wave of Spatial Energy that settled across the entire room. The pressure eased instantly. Only then did Veneri continue walking, slower this time.
He exhaled lightly, glancing down at his hand as he flexed it once.
"We're way too heavy for this place."
It wasn't just weight in the normal sense. It was simply the sheer absurdity of beings living under a world whose continents were comparable to something like a terrestrial Jupiter. Now they were standing inside a structure designed for creatures that could barely handle their own planet's gravity.
Narisva leaned against the wall, though "leaning" was generous considering she had already reduced her effective weight to something the building could tolerate. Her Spatial Energy was carefully made to counteract the crushing force her body would naturally exert.
"I had to lower the gravity for the entire room and I'm still holding it back. If I let it go for even a second, this entire floor collapses and then the rest of the building follows."
Veneri let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head as he walked toward the window, staring down at the city far below.
"Makes sense. Spheraphase is massive. Phaenora and I estimated the four continents to be the size of Jupiter and that's not even counting Dimensium, which we still don't understand. The gravity alone explains everything. We're used to that density, so here… we're basically walking catastrophes."
He tapped the glass lightly and immediately stopped himself, pulling his hand back before even that small action could escalate into something worse.
"A light finger flick here would flatten half this building."
Narisva scoffed, pushing herself off the wall as she adjusted the gravity field again.
"Not half. All of it. And probably the ones next to it too."
She walked past him, glancing around the room with mild disinterest before continuing.
"Even in the helicopter earlier, I had to lower the gravity inside the entire aircraft just to keep it from dropping out of the sky. The pilot didn't notice, but if I didn't do that, we would've crushed it mid-air."
"Energy control saves everything. Good thing that's basic training for us, otherwise we wouldn't even be able to exist here properly. Assassins like Adelasta would thrive here. She's great at reducing weight, adjusting mass and increasing speed. This environment basically rewards that kind of control."
Narisva smirked faintly at that, though her attention changed almost immediately.
"This world is weak. I didn't expect it to be this fragile."
A faint ripple of Spatial Energy formed above her palm.
"If I released a black hole here, the planet wouldn't survive. It would take about eight minutes."
"Seriously?"
"Earth calls it dark matter but it's just Spatial Energy. It exists everywhere and in everything across all space. That's why I almost never run out of it. When I form a singularity, I'm creating a focal point that draws in that energy infinitely. But this world doesn't have the structural strength to contain that process, like Spheraphase. My black holes destabilizes matter at a fundamental level. Then it converts mass directly into energy."
She closed her hand slowly.
"That would swallow the planet. I can hasten the process to five minutes if I get extremely serious but yeah."
Veneri blinked once, then have out a quiet whistle.
"Eight minutes? That's insane."
"What?"
Veneri smiled, leaning back against the window.
"Nothing. Actually, no. That's the first time I've seen you talk like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're excited about something about space."
He saw a faint blush on her face.
"That's normal. Celestials are born with knowledge of space. We don't learn it like others do. We understand it as we grow. It's not a big deal."
Veneri didn't buy that for a second, but he didn't push it either.
"So making a black hole isn't just something you think into existence?"
Narisva hesitated for a fraction of a second, then sighed softly, giving in to the explanation.
"No. It's not that simple. I have to gather Spatial Energy first and then compress it into a singularity, what your people call the core of a black hole. That's just the foundation. After that, it starts pulling in more Spatial Energy automatically, expanding it. I have to control its size perfectly as well. If it's too small, it's useless. Too large, and it consumes everything, including me."
"That's a lot more complicated than I expected. I thought you just… decided to make one and it happened."
Narisva scoffed lightly, though there was a hint of pride in her expression now.
"I can do that now. I've done it so many times that the process is second nature. But that's only because I already understand every step of it. You don't just create something like that without knowing exactly what you're doing."
"Yeah. I'm starting to see that."
The room settled into a calmer silence after that.