The two moons hung directly overhead, ludicrously large and shimmering. One was a bit larger than the moon which was familiar to us, and had the same color and cratered appearance. The other was huge, at least 3 times the size of its companion, and was dull red. My first thought was that it was Mars, somehow pushed into Earth orbit, but then I realized how ridiculous that idea was. Whatever this monstrosity was, it could never exist if the same physics that governed our Earth applied here. It would have just crashed into the planet we were standing on.

Besides the moons, the night sky had a few other glaring differences form our own. There were millions of more stars than back home, which led me to believe that this world had no big cities, or the light pollution would have blacked out most of the points of light. Also, I found none of the familiar constellations we had back home. I eventually came to the conclusion that we had not only left our version of Earth, but we had left Earth entirely.

I felt myself beginning to lose my grip on reality, so I forced myself to look away from the alien sky and turn to Brooke. I gave a start when I found that she had left my side and returned to the door we had come out of. I realized I hadn't looked back at the exit once since we arrived. Looking back, I noticed we had come out of a small rocky mound, much too small to house the cavern we had just been in. I pushed this thought to the back of my mind, it was no time to think about how that was possible.

Brooke was standing by the wooden door, struggling with it. "It won't open," I said, with complete confidence in my words. I had known before we had left that we would not be going back, but the thought didn't bother me until now.

"I know, but I can't just accept that!" Brooke practically screamed at me. I noticed she had tears in her eyes. This was bad; she never got upset, she just always took things in stride, choosing to calmly deal with whatever problem she encountered. To see her on the brink of hysterics like this was unbearable. I pulled her away from the door and we sat down on the grass.

"We need to talk about this. We both know we aren't going back home, we're not going to dwell on that, or we will both go insane. We need to think about what we're going to do now. Whatever this place is, I'm starting to think it's not Earth. That means we seriously need to consider the fact that we might have to really search for something to eat or drink, and we also need to think about shelter, too. We can't do anything else until we find water, though. I think we should head out as soon as we can. We're not going to go while its still dark though, we don't know if there's wild animals or…" I stopped, but she knew the real reason I didn't want to go out at night. It was the twin moons, neither of us wanted to walk through the thick woods with those globes hanging over our heads.

She was still crying, but she was quieter now, and she seemed like she was going to be ok. "Alright," she said, "were going to do those things in the morning, if there is going to be a morning. Have you considered that? Maybe this place is always dark."

I hadn't thought of that. "Ok, that's a possibility, but right now we need sleep, if we wake us and it's still not light, we can head out and assume the worst. I think we should sleep in shifts, it's too dangerous to have both of us asleep at the same time."

She had stopped crying, and looked like she was feeling better about things. She liked to have a solid plan. "Ok then, you're right, we'll talk about this more in the morning. I'm going to take first shift."

"No," I insisted, "you need more sleep than me, and besides, I want to take a look at the door."

"Ok," she conceded, "but please be careful, I don't know what I'd do if I woke up and you were gone. I don't think I could handle this alone. Goodnight, Zach. I love you"

"I love you too." I kissed her goodnight, and she fell asleep immediately. Ok, I thought, now let's have a look at that door.

I walked up to it and inspected it. Although inside we had noticed that the door was rickety and holey, outside it looked brand new and in good shape. I saw no crevices to peek in, and no cracks around the edge to wedge it open. There was a metal bar hammered to it to use as a handle, so I pulled on that. Nothing, there was no give whatsoever. I tried pushing to the same result. Stranger, I saw no locking mechanism; it was like someone had glued it shut while we were occupied with the tingling and the moons.

This thought brought me back to those strange sensations we had experienced upon stepping through the door. Still I could feel the dull throbbing that had been so intense at first. It was a good sensation, like what I imagine holding a gun would feel. It was a feeling of power, of control, of strength. I had no idea what it meant, but it didn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon, so I decided I would ponder it later. I went and sat down on a small mound of dirt and looked around.

We appeared to be in a small clearing in the middle of a thick wood. The trees were of the earth variety; this at least was some comfort that we would be able to find food. Feeling daring, I walked to the edge of the trees, keeping an eye out for animals, and found a rather large flower. Attached to it were several tasty looking seeds. I decided I would eat one or two, and then wait to see if there were any side-effects.

I walked back over to where Brooke lay and sat down next to her. Felling more nervous now, I grabbed two of the seeds and chewed them. They had a nutty taste, and we actually not bad. I swallowed them and closed my eyes. I felt a strange tingle spread over my skin. I opened my eyes and prepared to force myself to vomit, thinking the seeds were poisoning me, but stopped when I saw what was happening to me.

I was glowing. It was faint and greenish, but it was definitely there. About 5 feet in either direction was softly lit by the light coming seemingly from my pale skin.

I didn't know what to do, should I panic? Should I wake Brooke up? What was I supposed to make of this? Fortunately, after about a minute, the light faded as quickly as it had appeared. Experimenting, I ate a few more of the seeds, and the light, as I had expected, came back and went away after exactly 57 seconds. So the seeds were some kind of magic light seeds. Again I found myself pushing the thoughts I found undesirable to the back of my mind.

I went back to the plant, got a few more of the tiny brown seeds, and put them in my pocket, intending to show Brooke when she woke.

I didn't have to wait long. After about 15 minutes, she opened her eyes and asked if it was morning yet. "No," I replied, "but I think the sky is getting lighter." It was true, I hadn't noticed until she asked, but off in one direction the sky was beginning to lose its perfect blackness. I felt relieved at this; it meant we weren't stuck in a terminally dark world. Brooke seemed happy also, she jumped up and told me to get some rest while she kept an eye out for anything.

I was about to lie down when I realized I was completely awake. It had been most likely half a day since we set out in the morning, yet I felt like I had woken up from a full nights sleep. I was mystified until I felt the seeds in my pocket. Along with the light, they must have some sort of wakefulness effect. I laughed at the absurdity of this, and walked over to Brooke to tell her I would stay up with her and to show her the seeds.

After a swallowed a few and showed off my glowing body she told me she wanted to try some. I gave her a couple and she ate them, and a few seconds later started glowing much the same as I had.

"Oh my, this is certainly different," she said with a perplexed look, "I feel like a lightning bug!" I laughed at this, mostly because it seemed like a good comparison.

We spent the rest of the early hours discussing out situation. Brooke was convinced that we would eventually come across people who could help us. I was more hesitant. I thought that if we were on an alien planet, as evidenced by the giant moons and bioluminescent plants, then it was likely that there would be some kind of alien creatures.

We continued to argue about what we should focus on until it got light enough to properly see around us. The woods were not as thick as they had seemed, and we could actually see a lake or river right across from the door to the cave. We also saw some hills beyond that, which appeared to be free of trees. We decided to make one of the hills our destination, thinking we would be able to get a better view of where we could go.

We started moving once the sun (which thankfully was like our own) fully shone through the tops of the trees. In the light of day, this place took on a different mood. While the night was mysterious and dangerous, the day was calm, and very friendly. I didn't feel threatened whatsoever, and the magic that we had experienced was a distant memory.

We reached what turned out to be a small pond in a short time, and found our way around it. We walked for a bit, and started up one of the hills. About halfway up we noticed something in the distance. At first all we could see was what looked like a spire rising out of the top of the hill. Then, as we got higher, it revealed itself to be a gigantic tower far off in the distance.

"Well," Brooke said with a smirk, "that settles the question of whether there are people here" When we finally got to the top of the hill, we were able to fully take in the magnificent sight.

Miles away, the tower stood watch over what appeared to be…well there was no other word for it. It was a city. We were able to make out numerous sections walled off from each other, and two smaller towers connected to the main circle by bridges. The city stood on an island in a large body of water, and unless it was connected to land on the far side of where we stood, there was no way to get there, except by boat. I didn't understand at first what made me uneasy about it, but it slowly dawned on me. If the city had walls, then it must be to keep things out. I looked around nervously, almost expecting to see some horror barreling up the slope at us. I laughed and went back to inspecting the city. One thing was for sure, it was most definitely not from our time. For one, it obviously had no electric lights; we would have noticed the glow from our camp. Two, the way it was built, and the few structures we could see within, suggested a medieval castle.

"What do you think, Brooke? Should we make that our goal? I really don't see any good way of getting there, I mean we aren't exactly up for a swim."

"I know, but look at it, it's the best chance we have of finding people, and shelter, and some explanation about what we've experienced." Suddenly she turned around and blurted, "I wonder what they call it here?"

"We just call it the Imperial City," shouted a voice from behind us.