The Light in Aquala

Rivia tilted her head to one side. “Before I show you, when did you first notice the vegetation around you changes colors when you approach and the colors often match your own Neon glows? ”

Lena and Mara looked at each other in wonder, then back at Rivia.

“We only just started noticing this.” Lena answered. “Sometimes the different mosses, grasses, and tree barks change to our Neon colors and they glow. That huge tree where we first met was different. Whenever we touched the bark, its Neon colors sped up and swirled and became more vibrant. All of this started on our journey to Aquala this Season.”

"Then your gravitational pulls are getting stronger, and this means you are ready." Rivia announced. "Like I said, everything can be explained, but it will take you time to come to a true understanding."

A revelation was slowly dawning on them.

Mara quickly told her about the ancient symbol that was on the old familiar tree that they had passed earlier in the day. How it had glowed that vibrant blue color in the middle with golds and silvers surrounding it, but slowly disappeared.

Rivia nodded saying the ‘symbol’ was a very small portal that was trying to open. These have often been seen and documented by scientists in the different worlds the portals went to. Each time these types of portals appeared, they would open briefly and then soon afterwards start closing, which was what happened when the ‘symbol’ they saw started disappearing.

Rivia now stretched, yawning deeply while shifting so she could sit more comfortably. Her exhaustion was evident to the sisters.

“There is so much more to explain before I show you how the threads work.’ She looked at them hopefully. “I really think we should get a good night’s sleep and continue tomorrow.”

Jaxx yawned loudly in agreement, opening his mouth wide, his sharp fangs glistening in the light of the embers still glowing from the campfire. He looked at her sleepily, a bit perturbed since she had woken him up while trying to get comfortable.

Lena and Mara were still in shock from the events of the day and the new revelations of information, so both of them nodded at Rivia in agreement.

With that they unpacked the rest of their supplies and Mara set up her perimeter lights, realizing that she had forgotten to do it earlier, having been completely preoccupied with finding answers to the questions that her scientific brain kept asking.

Lena finished setting up camp for them and gave a spare blanket she had packed to Rivia. They all got comfortable and fell asleep almost immediately from the pure exhaustion of the day. Jaxx kept one eye open, watching them as they were getting settled, then after they were sleeping, he closed it and went back to sleep.

After breakfast and packing up their camp, the women sat down together while Jaxx was happily distracted, trying to somehow get at the fish swimming near the edge of the river. Rivia continued her story and Lena and Mara didn’t miss a word.

"For many generations the research has been ongoing and the combined research gathered from the different worlds has established that the Neon is made up of actual wavelengths. Think of them the way you would think of the colors in a rainbow. Every color you can see has its own wavelength. Red is long and slow. Blue is short and quick. What we call the Neon is a set of wavelengths that exist mostly outside the visible range, but they behave the same way light behaves. They move, they bend, they interact with the world around them."

Lena leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. "So the Neon is wavelengths of colorful light."

Rivia nodded in agreement. "Yes, exactly. Lights that aren’t clear to others without the Neon markings. Now add to this the fact that anything with mass bends the space and light around it and can control its surroundings to a certain extent. For example, a planet's gravitational pull can hold a moon in orbit while redirecting space and light. Meanwhile, a much larger star’s gravitational force can bend space and light and has so much gravitational strength that it can pull entire worlds around it while staying clearly visible. And a person carrying the Neon, once their glow has grown strong enough, can bend the wavelengths of Neon around them in the same way, just on a much smaller scale. We call that a Neon gravitational pull. Not exactly the same kind of pull that holds you to the ground, but the same principle."

Mara was already thinking ahead. "So the Neon wavelengths respond to stronger Neon pulls the way light and space bend around a star and the star then controls where they go, depending on its gravitational force?"

"Exactly." Rivia smiled. "Astronomers have known for a long time that light passing near an object will curve. It bends the light and changes where it goes and what you see. Your Neon does the same thing. Once your glow is strong enough, your gravitational pull is greater than the natural pull of the Neon threads around you, and the threads start to respond to you instead of the other way around."

"Which is why the grasses changed to our Neon colors when we stepped on them," Mara said.

"Yes, and now why the grasses keep on glowing after you move away. Your pull is getting stronger than the pulls of the threads, so now the threads are following you, attracted by your Neon gravitational pull."

Lena sat up straighter. "And there were times when each of our Neons colored the grass, then moved towards each other, combining to become a different color before disappearing."

"That was your orange glow responding to Mara’s blue green glow. The two wavelengths met and blended. The new color you saw in the middle was the two of them overlapping. That happens when two Neon carriers stand close together, or when their trails cross. The colors do not cancel each other out. They combine and create something new, the way blue and yellow light combine to make green."

Lena looked at Mara, then back at Rivia. I’m still having trouble grasping all of this. It is all so amazing and strange!

"Water can also be a good illustration to explain this in a different way." Rivia replied, after pondering for a moment and pointing to the river near them.

"Imagine a river flowing. It follows the easiest path. It goes around rocks and bends around thick roots because those things have more mass and the water has no choice but to move around them. Now imagine that you put your hand into a river stream. You know it will change the way some of the water flows and that you can redirect it, split it, send it somewhere it would not have gone on its own. That is what we can do to the wavelengths of Neon threads around us. We do not create them and we do not destroy them. We just redirect them, essentially bending them, with our Neon gravitational pulls and this changes where the threads go. If we can redirect and combine enough of them, they will open a portal."

Mara nodded slowly. "And over time you have learned to do that deliberately."

"Yes. Each world has its own name for this and their own way of teaching it, but the principles are always the same. Pull. Redirect. Gather. The wavelengths of Neon threads do the work, we simply give them directions to go in."

Lena was quiet for a moment. "I understand better now, thanks."

Rivia looked at her and smiled. Then she rose to her feet and walked to the center of the clearing. “I will try to do this now.”