Their car sped through a white tunnel that seemed to extend indefinitely as the white wall at the front collapsed and blended with the ground, giving way to them. Unlike the tunnel, which was dimly lit, the inside of their car was soft; a white glow from flowering plants hanging from the ceiling was responsible for the illumination.

  "We are about to reach the end of the bridge and there is still no sign of the serpent anywhere," Lady Cat observed. A moment later, she opened her eyes, which had become misty, likely because she had just woken from a long sleep.

  "Do I have to disassemble another glyph when we reach the end of the bridge?" Skylar asked. He raised his head from the backrest of the seat, which was made of crystal wrapped in fur.

  "There is no need. The glyphs only work in one direction. It won't stop us from exiting the bridge," Raftelia replied with faint eagerness. She was still lively, unlike Skylar in the front seat, who appeared fatigued.

  A few minutes later, the atmosphere, the walls, the floor, and the illumination of the tunnel changed drastically.

  "We are out finally," Skylar said softly, an expression of great relief on his face.

  Raftelia squeaked, "It seems the serpent has not realized, or she’s still busy with the riot." On her rat-humanoid face, a smile of happiness and relief bloomed.

  "It’s clearly the latter," Lady Cat chimed in. "That riot is not something she can quell easily unless she—" She paused. She adjusted her position on Skylar’s lap before resuming. "My mate, let's take the surface; it’s a lot safer there."

  "Oh! I see," Skylar blurted.

  It’s true, he reasoned. Whatever might be under the earth at this point is unknown since we are no longer below the lair, which was safe to some extent.

  "I think I understand," he added. He gave their driver, Mr. Rabbit, an approving look. This sent a message that caused the car to continue on the path forming ahead of them—a path that slowly started to rise in elevation, leading toward the surface.

  "Mr. Rabbit, are you tired?" Skylar asked. He turned to look at the giant, black-furred rabbit beside him. Mr. Rabbit shook his head; he was clearly enjoying the task he had been assigned.

  "Do you want me to take over?" Skylar persisted. As usual, he received a negative reply.

  "Okay, let me know when you—"

  Before Skylar could finish, the rabbit glared at him. He was clearly in a world of his own, having a good time navigating their speeding ride.

  "He is clearly enjoying it. Why bother?" Lady Cat chipped in.

  "I know, I was just making sure," Skylar said softly. He turned his head away from the diligent driver he had been scrutinizing.

  After several hours of moving through the tunnel toward the surface, the cool light from the heavens flooded through the exit, dominating the car's internal glow. Not long after, the car reached the mouth of the tunnel and emerged onto the surface—the wild open under a resplendent, majestic starry heaven that seemed to hang low, accommodating brighter and larger heavenly bodies.

  No matter how much I look at this display, I just can't seem to get enough of it, Skylar mused. He worshipped what he beheld; the colorful nebulas hanging close, the starry sea meandering like a river, and the star dust twinkling above the eight largest heavenly bodies. Finally, he consecrated his attention to a body glowing brightly, looking like a blue moon that stood in the way of anyone going northward, unreachable by colossal mountains and floating rocks.

  Everything looked so real and fantastical, He concluded. He was enraptured by the immortal sight of the cloudless sky of the world of BRAVE—the eternal heaven, the glorious and aloof cosmic heaven.

  Unknown to him, everyone else in the car had been watching him as he worshipped; he looked lost and intoxicated by the sight of a sky that was common to them.

  If this common sight is enough to get you intoxicated, you are clearly not from this world... I wonder where you come from, Lady Cat thought. She ended with a drawn-out sigh, spying one last time on his expression with one eye closed.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "What's with that stupidly big blue moon?" Skylar asked. He had regained his calm, but his eyes were still on the bright blue body in the sky that sat majestically, occupying the northern part of the world with an intense light that dominated the heavens.

  Lady Cat meowed, "That's the Messenger of Death, a moon that can be seen anywhere in the world, just like the eight giants."

  "So it’s a common sight in all parts of the world?" Skylar asked, setting his eye on a glowing crystal hill by the roadside.

  In place of Lady Cat, who was stretching her chubby body, Raftelia answered, "Yes, it’s the Keeper of Time, one of its many titles, as it’s commonly used to track time by most tribes."

  Curious, Skylar turned to face Raftelia. "Is it the source of the 'moon' and 'yarn' thing you talked about?"

  "Yes," she replied. "One 'moon' is when it goes around its parent heavenly star once—that’s the smallest one closer to the earth. And one 'yarn' is three hundred and sixty moons."

  "So one cycle is a moon, and a three-hundred-and-sixty-cycle is a yarn?" Skylar rephrased. He looked back at the moon, which seemed not to have changed location despite the distance they had covered.

  "Yes," Raftelia replied. She raised her head, her face appearing relieved of an intense blush.

  Skylar turned to look at her again. "Then how do you know when it completes a cycle?"

  "It’s easy," she replied, staring at the blue moon. "When its light is at its brightest and it’s closer to the earth, like now, that is when a moon is coming to an end. Exactly when its dip is at its lowest marks the end of a cycle."

  "I see." Skylar nodded, his hand on his chin. "How long is a moon in hours?"

  "You mean the serpent's measure of time?" Lady Cat chimed in. Her interest was piqued; she sat up and fixed her ruby eyes on Skylar. "Do you share a similar origin with the serpent?"

  "No," Skylar denied. It might actually be true... I still have this feeling she is an administrator, or maybe one of the guys who created the game. But something doesn't fit; she didn't seem to know some things until she met me. Was she uninformed about the simulation being opened to the public? And why is she even obsessed with my species? Maybe its just me. Nah... That is narcissistic.

  "But your physique shares a similar body clock with hers and the snakes that follow her," Lady Cat pressed. She stared right into his eyes, looking for a hint of insincerity.

  "Maybe so," Skylar shrugged lamely.

  Is that how she knew his value? No, there is something else unrelated to his origin that she knows, Lady Cat thought, shifting her weight on his lap.

  "A moon is about eight to nine cycles in the lair. I think it’s about two hundred hours," Raftelia answered his earlier question. She had clearly done the mental calculation while observing Skylar with an expert gaze.

  "You should be able to tell," Lady Cat added. "A cycle in your body is clearly twenty-four hours, perfectly matching the lair and that serpent's measure of time."

  So there is a way to track time using a constant cycle in the body, Skylar thought. But the serpent having a similar cycle to mine and the lair adopting the twenty-four-hour measure is very strange. It's like that serpent is truly a human from my world. He sighed deeply. There is a lot I don’t know about this simulation.

  "Pretty sis, what about those other moons?" he asked. His eyes focused on a huge red heavenly body peeking ominously from behind a mountain.

  "That's called an Earthly Star," Raftelia replied.

  "Why are they not called moons?" Skylar wondered.

  "Moons are also Earthly Stars, but what sets a moon apart is its close association with a Heavenly Star; they revolve around one," Raftelia explained.

  "Those giants you call planets are Heavenly Stars, and the Earthly Stars that revolve around them are called moons," Lady Cat added.

  He nodded, looking at one of the giants—a Heavenly Star barely kissing the horizon a great distance behind the red Earthly Star. "Do Heavenly Stars also revolve around something?"

  "Most, not all," Lady Cat replied. She looked at a super-large, dull-gray Heavenly Star. "The eight giants you see up there revolve around something no one knows."

  "What about those stars way up above?" Skylar asked, staring through the transparent part of the car's roof at a massive, flower-like nebula.

  She meowed, "They are called Cosmic Stars, though some call them cosmic dust. Most people have no idea that the smallest among those 'dust' particles is as big as the smallest of those giants."

  She looked to the other side of the car at a half-moon-shaped Heavenly Star decorated with many rings of different sizes, half seen. It seemed to occupy the entire space in that direction.

  That planet looks like Saturn, but only half of it, Skylar observed. "Why is that planet not round?"

  "It is round; it just appears that way because of its location," Raftelia replied eagerly, a smile blooming on her face.

  "I think I understand," he nodded, focusing on the half seen vertical rings. "The part we can't see isn't illuminated?"

  "No," Lady Cat corrected, amused by Raftelia’s disappointed expression that was a result of her answering instead of her. "The part we can't see is shielded by the great dark clouds of the Southern Land. It's a matter of perspective."

  "Oh! I see," Skylar exclaimed. Along a straight path on an endless plain that seemed devoid of life, their car journeyed toward their distant destination.