Xingtong's bare feet stepped onto the Silver Sand Beach of Magic Planet, where luminous star-conches were embedded in the fine sand, each step sparking tiny fluorescent ripples. Ava and Xavier were squatting near the tide line not far away, using twigs to draw complex star charts in the sand—their first real tactile contact with the material world since becoming physical entities.
"Look!" Ava suddenly pointed toward the horizon where sea met sky. Three shooting stars tore across the indigo night, dragging rainbow-like trails as they plunged into the ocean. When each point of light touched the water, it blossomed into a brief yet brilliant holographic image: interlocking gears and magical runes of a mechanical civilization, a poet from an antimatter universe reciting on a starship deck, and an elder of a primitive tribe passing the fire to the next generation.
"They're making a wish." Xingtong smiled and sat down, letting the salty sea breeze brush through her hair. In the palm of her hand lay a translucent star-conch, the naturally formed patterns on the inside of its shell matching the star chart of a universe she had once saved.
Chapter 252