Chapter 257: Outer Space
-----
Using our abilities, we slowly flew into outer space.
We passed through the stratosphere.
Then the mesosphere.
Thermosphere.
And lastly, exosphere.
The atmospheric layers that cover and protect the planet from the outside space, which maintain the oxygen and many other gases inside.
Without these, it would simply be impossible for the planet’s life to continue, and everyone would probably freeze and suffocate to death.
…
Yeah, perhaps that thought was a little bit graphic, but that’s around how it works.
With my powers, it shouldn’t be impossible to clap my hands and destroy the entire planet’s atmosphere.
This would cause the entire planet to freeze out in a few hours, and for every lifeform to perish.
Aside from some very hardy plants or perhaps mushrooms?
And that’s without including some freaky monsters out there.
Indeed, the power I have could easily destroy this planet.
And so is the power of my children.
This is also why I came here with them; I wanted to show them just how fragile, yet beautiful, our world was.
“Can you see it now? This is our planet.”
I showed them the beauty of Earth.
The children remained in silence for a moment, in awe over such a magnificent, blue sphere.
“Woow!” Orion was surprised. “I didn’t expect it to be so small!”
“Actually, it isn’t small! We are simply very far away from it, brother,” Athena commented; she always had some information to share with the rest. “Planet Earth is enormous! Did you know? The distance around the equator is 24,901 miles. Or well, over forty thousand kilometers! And the distance around the poles is roughly 24,859.734 miles. Or roughly a bit over forty thousand kilometers too. Its volume can reach a whopping 260 million cubic miles! Or well, over 1,000 trillion cubic kilometers. What’s more, the surface area is about 197 million square miles, or 510 million square kilometers. Fascinating, right? It's gigantic, an enormous thing! And I’ve read that there are planets out there many times bigger than that! I can’t wait to visit them!”
Hahah, that’s my little bookworm.
Lately, she cannot stop dropping these facts all the time when we talk.
She’s in that age where everything she learns, she has to share it with us; she loves talking about such things, especially scientific facts.
“H-huh? How can you say such long numbers?” Orion was confused.
“Athena, you’re a bit of a nerd, aren’t you?” Kalana wondered, raising an eyebrow.
“N-Nerd? There’s nothing wrong with what I said… You should study too; our world is wonderful!” Athena said, pouting angrily.
“She’s sure very smart… I am shocked,” laughed Merkite. “Maybe later you could calculate the size of Floor 2? I think it’s also a planet?”
“Ooh, I would love to, Mom!” Nodded Athena.
As my daughter kept chatting with my family, Yanisse giggled.
“Aw, your daughter’s so cute. She reminds me of myself when I was her age; I would also always just talk about stuff I read online like that,” giggled Yanisse.
“Oh really? I didn’t know; that’s cute.” I smiled.
“Woah! Home is big…” Said Fiery Hair. “Baby, do you like home from afar?”
“D-Don’t call me baby, mom…” Rainbow Eyes felt embarrassed. “But I kind of like it. It’s a pretty place, I guess.”
“Yes, very pretty; it’s huge… So many things fit inside!” Fiery Hair nodded. “Never have explored outside home before… Back to our home, it must have been similar? Or maybe different?”
“Well, you come from a parallel universe, but I suppose if it’s the same planet, it shouldn’t be smaller or bigger,” I said. “Though I have no idea how Primal Power could have affected the planet’s surface and all of that, seeing how it just makes everything gigantic and stronger.”
“Remember that home was much bigger in some places compared to the new home,” Fiery Hair said. “Fiery Hair wishes one day she could go back with family to show the rest of the tribe that she has a baby.”
“We’ll surely go to your home then, honey,” I nodded. “I just need to figure out a few new things… But I’ll get it done no matter what.”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve traveled here; truth be told…” Yanisse muttered. “I had come here sometimes when I flew super-fast using my Void powers, but I was oftentimes really scared… and I returned right away. To think I finally have the time to just admire the planet… I-It’s not so scary, I suppose.”
“Oooh! Indeed, it’s a pretty nice… Uh, a pretty nice ball!” Peperina didn’t know what else to say, it seemed. But that was fine too. “Hmm, I am awed, but I really can’t… figure out what to say. It’s impressive.”
“Haha, don’t worry about it,” I giggled. “I didn’t bring you here to praise the planet or something.”
“With our strength, I wonder if we could destroy it by accident…” Mursha said that out of nowhere.
“E-Eh?!” Urbosa panicked. “Mursha! Did you have to say that out of the blue?”
“A-Ah! Hahaha! Sorry, it just came to my mind,” Mursha giggled.
“Could we?” Orion wondered, tilting his head.
“…Yes, it could be possible,” I nodded. “And that’s why I brought you all here. So you can observe Earth, our beautiful home, admire it, and understand how fragile it truly is, despite how big it could be. Especially you, children. You have the strength to destroy it. But that’s not what you want, right? If you did, there wouldn’t be a planet, and billions of innocents would die.”
“It would be really bad…” Orion muttered. “I-I would never do that, Mom!”
“Me neither… We have to be careful when we use our strength,” Athena nodded. “Good thing Mama trained us before, so it’s not hard to control it.”
“Can’t we live in a less fragile world?” Rainbow Eyes asked nonchalantly.
“H-How can you say that?! Our world is fine, bro!” Kalana sighed, crossing her arms. “We just have to be careful—well, we always are, either way.”
“But I wonder if there’s a world tough enough to withstand us without limiting ourselves?” Rainbow Eyes asked.
“Good question… Technically Murim,” I said. “But even that place would receive a lot of damage from battles between Venerables. I don’t know of any other place that could withstand it other than my own Inner Realm. But the universe might as well be infinite, and it has a multitude of parallel universes even more infinite than before. Out there, perhaps there are worlds so strong we can do anything we want; perhaps there are also beings so powerful they can destroy entire universes… It’s a big place out there, an endless sea of stars and possibilities.”
“Space is kind of scary…” Orion sighed.
“You don’t like space?” I wondered. “Why?”
“Because it’s so boundless, even with my eyes… I can’t see the end,” he muttered. “Isn’t it scary?”
“A bit…” Athena nodded. “But that’s also what makes it so interesting, an endless frontier, brother!”
“You’re way too optimistic…” Orion muttered.
“Well, what can you tell me about the planet, everyone?” I asked.
Everyone thought about it for a moment and then started giving their opinions.
“It’s a pretty place; wish it wasn’t so fragile, but maybe that’s the charm of it?” Wondered Mursha. “This is my new home too, so we have to protect it… Knowing how it looks might facilitate how we navigate around it.”
“Beautiful! I want to visit the sea next!” Said Fiery Hair. “And hunt fish and eat fish!”
“Well, I’ve seen this countless times through the internet, and a few times when I traveled here accidentally, but… Now that I can admire it, it’s a truly breathtaking sight,” Yanisse smiled. “Thank you for bringing me here for our date, Bing Xue.”
“It’s a… well, it’s a beautiful place, as everyone said…” Peperina nodded. “But seeing it like this makes me wonder how big Floor 1 and Floor 2 are compared to this… And if the tower harbors entire planets inside, just how massive is it for real? It doesn’t look that big to us on the planet, but… it truly is gigantic, huh?”
“It’s a beautiful sight for sure, rather charming and endearing…!” Urbosa said. “Like Fiery Hair said, I didn’t realize just how big the ocean is… Back in our home, Floor 2, the sea isn’t as big, I believe; most of it is just grasslands and forests. We could probably visit it one day?”
I nodded at her.
“Can’t say much; I mean, everyone already said what they think and stole all my ideas…” Merkite groaned. “But it sure is HUGE! Are we really visiting other things BIGGER than this?!”
“Yep!” I nodded. “Ah right, Hekita! Merneith! What do you think?”
“I had never come to outer space before…” Merneith said. “So this is how it looks, huh? So beautiful… My family had traveled through space a lot already, even conquered other planets. But to think that they never ever talked about how beautiful everything was. It was as if they were never able to even appreciate the things in front of them.”
“It’s pure beauty and wondrous! I want to visit the moon next! Can we?” Hekita wondered.
“Of course, that’s our next stop!” I nodded. “Let’s go!”
-----