Lost Connection
Isabelle couldn't calm her racing heart as Maria clutched the throttle charging along the desert roads. Neither of the sisters could speak, the tension growing with every agonising second. Isabelle tried to quiet her spiralling thoughts. She never should have let Max and Dallas go through that portal..she should've convinced him to stay… to forget Oasis. She'd let Max and Dallas, her brother and a member of her Triad venture into a war zone without any way to contact them. Her mindscape couldn't reach them on another planet, the dread twisted inside her stomach at the thought of her brother and Dallas stranded on Oasis.
Isabelle couldn't lose Max again. She tried to block out the memories of after Max's death, but she would never forget the hollowness she'd felt when her brother was gone like her heart being cleaved in half. "The vision could be wrong…you know my foresight can be unpredictable," Maria said no longer able to endure the torture of Isabelle's silence. "When has a cosmic message from a Deluca ever been wrong?" Isabelle said. "All I'm saying is maybe the vision doesn't mean what we think it means," Maria's voice remained calm but her clenched grip on the steering wheel gave her away. Isabelle knew that Maria was just as scared for Dallas as she was for Max.
Maria barely had time to pull the brakes before Isabelle leapt out of the car skidding down the ditch unable to hear anything over her pounding heartbeat. Her legs couldn't carry her fast enough along the dusty tracks, as the sight of the standing arch appeared in the distance Isabelle felt her heart settle in her chest. Still, Isabelle could feel that something was off, somehow able to sense the irregular energy wavelengths emanating from the gateway. "I don't understand" Maria muttered from behind, Isabelle whirled around at the sound of her sister's voice. Slightly impressed that Maria was able to keep up in those heeled ankle boots, "guess it was just another failed attempt at playing psychic sleuth," Maria said, staring at the gateway. "No I don't think it was, don't you feel it?" Isabelle said, taking a step towards the gateway. Maria focused her mind and sure enough, she felt it almost as if a shadow veil had been cast over the gateway cloaking it. "Yeah I do it feels…" "wrong" Isabelle responded, she couldn't explain it but the steady continuous stream of the energy seemed distressed like there was something obstructing its flow. The sisters approached the gateway, one standing on either side holding out their hand, they turned to face each other to give a slight nod. At the same time, they placed their palms directly on the stone arch,
The visions flashed searing into their minds, unrecognisable landscapes left desiccated, violet fire raining from the sky, bodies of light fighting on the battlefield, the sound of war cries and pained screams echoing over the visions so intense Maria and Isabelle threw their heads back to skies trying to hold onto the visions… to see more. Their eyes were completely white looking up to the skies, clinging to the visions that were quickly slipping away. Suddenly there was a shift and they were tunnelling through darkness fast. At the end of the darkness, three towering crystal pillars stood in a triangular formation. A force field of light connected to the three crystal pillars trapped a hunched figure inside the centre of the triangle. Kneeling the figure lifted their hand, Isabelle heard herself gasp seeing Max's distraught face staring right at her. Isabelle quickly realised that Max had been taken prisoner, his hands tied behind his back and dressed in ragged garments. Max stared right at the girls through their vision, his brown eyes widening…"Isabelle?"
The connection broke like a cord snapping causing Isabelle and Maria to fall back onto the hard ground. The two girls lay on the ground trying to catch their breath while piecing together the fractured remnants of their minds. "Did you see?…" "Max trapped in a dark supersized crystal cell…yeah, I saw it" Isabelle said, her voice slightly shaky. "What exactly did Max say to you in the vision?" Isabelle asked Maria, "he said that he hoped that Liz got their distress signal and that they had to warn us about something."
"They've been trying to contact us this entire time…this is bad we have to get to Deep Sky," Isabelle said.
