Jonni had messages and urgent phone calls from just about every person who knew she was involved when the sun first changed. She answered as best she could- that she had nothing to do with it, and that she didn't know what it would do. So far there were no emergency calls though to hospitals, so... nobody was transforming, thankfully.
They even had the magic girls on standby for the entire night, in case something weird happened. Jonni's apprentice was also quite eager to make herself useful...
However the night continued as normal, with this one curious star shining in the sky... a constant reminder that things were different... as it turned yellow, green, blue... twinkling away in all the colours it could. It looked very innocent and innocuous against the normal stars.
Jon wasn't really sure what to do- and then there was the baby that needed to be fed again. She sighed... she just couldn't deal with everything all over again!
The slug-girl quietly went to her room, and carefully took hold of the magic stone. The greatest power in all the universe... one of the four Key Elements. It could re-shape physical reality in any way desired... normally it only affected the size of a town, and even on a celestial alignment it could only affect the Earth- it did not extend to the entire universe!
What could she do?
Then her husband entered the room and she put it away, grimacing a little that she even thought to use it.
Bryan stood in darkness... The night sky was above him, and for a while he thought he was still on the bridge he stood on a moment ago. But the bridge had disappeared- no it was 'replaced' by another- a different bridge, made entirely of light, hovering over the void of space.
the only illuminating light was the 'road'... a very strange and surreal rainbow road, made of such incredible light. It was solid and shiny enough to reflect his body like the surface of water. He stood on it, and glanced back- nearly fainting from the virtigo of what he saw. Behind him he saw the Earth in its entirety... with beautiful blue waters, and white clouds greeting him like a vast picture on the cosmos.
"Where am I?" He asked. How did he get here? How is this even possible?
Was... was he dead? But he didn't remember anything happening to him. He just saw the star as it change-
the star!
The rainbow-bridge seemed to be going towards that other strange star. But... could he really 'walk' there? It didn't seem possible... Still, he was on this road and he wanted to know where he was and what was going on. If he turned back now... he may never get an answer. It would be another wasted opportunity... but even so, the sheer magnitude of such a decision... dare he... could he really do this? He took just one step forward...
.. and the Earth was gone.
Now he was in the dark. He glanced back and felt... afraid. He was not ashamed to admit it, but this absolutely had to be impossible. Still, there was nowhere to go but forwards now... forward to the unknown.
Space was usually a very quiet, very lonely place.
There were only a few, besides human astronauts that dwell here, but the recent transformation of humans had made a few exceptions to this rule.
Primarily, space in its entirety was occupied by 'one' transformed being... a woman, named Anneza. Sometimes she had company by her 'daughter' Astra.
Anneza was a lonely traveller. She had set foot on every planet of the sol system. and was slowly reaching outward to others. She possessed the ability to fly freely, gravity never affecting her (unless she wore cotton clothes anyway- which was detrimental to her health), and did not seem to require 'air'... though she certainly needed food, of which only the Earth could provide that. When gravity was cancelled out by two bodies, she could accelerate to the speed of light... allowing travel across most the solar system via the Lagrange points.
No ship... no machines... just her.
As with many, this was not always what she looked like. A life time ago, (actually 5 years ago) Anneza had the name Anderson.
A man... an aged human male, well past his sixties.
He was a wealthy media owner, of a vast cooperate network. In the time before his transformation, he had tried to get most of the changed out of his work force. Those that had transformed suffered severe pay cuts due to changing responsibilities he 'enforced'. His influence and power were significant, and his pride all the more demanding when challenged...
... some objected to his demands, and the actions of one manager in particular who grew a backbone at the wrong time demanded a special act. He wanted him exposed to the sunlight- and actually succeeded in that, by paying someone off to push him into the fearful rainbow light.
Unfortunately, the financial transactions came to light and the whole thing went to court. By denying the charges, and a lack of evidence, Anderson had just managed to evade justice. He was acquitted, and freed... but he had lost track of time, and believing it to be after sunset... he walked out into the sunlight from the court house all by himself.
... and everyone laughed at him... even as he became a her.
This resulted in Anneza... the body he now inhabited was as fey as they came. Beautiful and mysterious, with warm green hair and the deepest set of eyes one could imagine, for one so young. Dressed in silver that showed her delicate figure and perky breasts. Her language was incomprehensible to anyone... it was an alien language. She couldn't communicate except with sign language. She tended to shun people wherever they were, preferring her solitude and the judge less void of space.
She was the most famous transformation of Earth. Everyone knew about her... everyone knew who she was. Her fame was the result of the life she once lead, and the strange transformation she had now. Satellites often tracked her movements, space geeks in particular eager to get a picture of her.
Anneza had one other gift: The ability to learn languages as a child could, even if it would take some time. She had to start 'literally' all over again.
She was still hated... people felt she had it all. Fame, her youth restored, even a second chance at life. It was common knowledge that a magic was used to restore her, when she should have died. Why would somone so vile, get all that? That she lost her manhood was not something anyone considered.
Astra floated downward to Anneza, after finding her in her astroid home. It was a free floating hollow shell. Astra had grown up quite a bit, now looking about ten years old. She had made the most progress in learning the Earth words, and her mother could do it too... but her mother still couldn't read. "mom?" she called to her.
"Astra," she said quietly staring outward. "I'm... really not feeling well today," she said, wiping away a tear as it crystallised into space.
Astra pouted a little. Anneza was in a depressive funk more often then not and she must have had a really bad day today. Astra also knew she wasn't really her daughter... but... it was just something she liked to be. There was no reason she couldn't be right? And she would do anything to make her mother happy. She had no friends... and whenever she went to Earth, people just seemed to act so badly to her. She only visited her parents, but even that was less frequent as the media hounded after her. "Mom? I got you these books an' I put the translations from our language into english. Some of it don't translate well though... but I did my best."
A few simple books were handed over, curiously in good condition despite being in space. Very simple phrases were listed. Anneza knew most of these... but the pictures- the words- they were the hard part. She just couldn't work visually. Reading left to right was just so... awkward and against what she was comfortable with.
Astra floated a little closer, careful not to disturb too much asteroid dust around them. "M-mom? W-what could make you... happier?" She asked quietly. In some ways she felt.. like she was failing her mother. It hurt her so much to see her like this.
Anneza stared outward again giving the question thought. Living was hard, it was true. She knew it would, when she returned from the dead. To learn everything again on her own... She would be this 'creature'... forever. It wasn't all bad... she wouldn't take away all the things she had seen and done... and she had made a lot of progress in talking to people but... "I wish I could read again," she said quietly. "Thanks for the books Astra... I'll read them."
Astra smiled softly. "I'll... come back later, okay?"
Anneza nodded, looking over the books. turning each page carefully. "Thanks... just let me be for now please."
Astra floated away from her mother's asteroid. She then saw the strange bright flash, as a star far away transformed. She blinked a little, feeling something... familiar. She floated to the Lagrange point of the Earth and this star... one of the narrowest paths she had ever tried to do the 'warp' to... but even at light speed, it would take years to get there... Anneza forbade her from such a journey out of concern.
Astra was surprised to find a narrow rainbow road, stretched out before her. She felt herself 'drawn' to it, as she floated over it... and suddenly she felt a great force just pull her across the space-rainbow. It was like a magentic train, as her feet acted like they were on roller-skates.
She hurtled across the void, much faster then light speed.
Bryan saw the strange planet, as he 'fell' into it. Past strange golden clouds, and warm winds. It was so very strange. The only thing he could conclude is that he had stumbled into some kind of wormhole. A rainbow coloured, somewhat transparent wormhole that was now taking him to a different world entirely.
He was afraid... but also, now he was excited. It was like a dream...
... what would he see on this world? His feet touched solid ground, and he saw the strange rainbow bridge disappear behind him.
... Bryan was lost on an alien world... but not entirely alien... it was bathed in rainbow light- and curiously enough, he could see Earth's star twinkling distantly... also with rainbow light. That made him feel closer to home, and a reminder that home was actually not too far away. It was a very comforting light to be certain of where Earth was.
He looked over his body but found no changes... he looked back at Earth's rainbow-star. "I guess you're safe even if I travel faster then light, huh?"
That would make sense. If he had travelled faster then light.. then this was the light of the Iridescent
sun. It still existed! But it wasn't going to transform him from so far away. Not even the rainbow star of this world was changing him.
He tried to take a look around just where he was. It seemed to be a beach. The water however, was not the normal clear blue of the Earth, but a distinct purple. The sand was black, and there were trees of a sort in the distance. Their leaves were mostly golden hazes, with the occasional speck of silver. It looked a lot like Earth despite the odd colours.
He heard something. A voice... but the words were alien.
Bryan glanced around. "Who.. said that?" He asked quietly.
Again the voice repeated it... the words meant nothing to him. Was he just imagining it? He tried to walk towards the area he heard the voice. But he found himself.. struggling to breathe. This world.. something about it... he couldn't breathe! He fell down struggling...
...when suddenly something- no someone just fell out of the sky at hit him- and he gasped a breath of air.
Astra wobbled a little at 'falling' like that. Whatever this place was, it negated her ability to fly. This was... very disconcerting to the child. "Aroa," she said apologising automatically in her language to the human. "I mean- sorry. You speak English?" she asked hopefully.
Bryan dusted himself down of the strange black sand. He was bathed in a strange aura, the same one as this girl. It seemed to allow him to breathe. "Yeah... er.. are you from here?" Was he speaking to an alien? "Thank you for saving me."
"Welcome. No... From Earth like you. Saw the strange rainbow leading to this world. Wanted to see. Never seen another world like Earth..." she said glancing around. "But not quite like Earth."
Bryan stared at the young girl- and recognised her! Every person on Earth knew who she was, but Bryan didn't think he would actually meet! "You're... you're like Anderson right? The.. the really famous changed?" Okay so it wasn't Anderson herself but...
"Anneza. Her name is Anneza. She's my mother," she said quietly not wanting to say more about it. My name Astra."
"I'm Bryan..." The human boy still couldn't believe his luck. He met one of the most exotic changed species ever! And he wasn't even on Earth. "We're on an alien world," said Bryan. "An... an alien world!" God! What... what could he possibly say? This was just an event of such magnitude he couldn't even have a word for it.
"I can't fly," said Astra worried. Still she felt a little 'spring' in her step. She wasn't exactly used to walking either. Whatever had happened, she must be slowly recovering from it. Maybe she'll be fine after a while?
"There's no use staying here... there must be a reason we ended up here. Let's try exploring a little."
The two walked down the beach... there was no evidence of any civilisations though. Still it was a large world... and then something shiny was in their vision half burred in the sand. Bryan carefully looked at it thinking it to be a stone and was surprised... to find a bottle.
There was something written on it- no- a paper, 'inside' it.
"An alien bottle?" said Bryan thoughtfully. So... something 'intelligent' must have lived here... or is still living here? Was this world going through what they did? Were there 'people' undergoing mass transformations, now that their star had become an Iridescent sun? What would their reaction be, to seeing humans?
"It says open me," said Astra.
Bryan looked at her. "You... you can read it?"
Astra nodded. "Uh huh... its in my language."
