Melissa sensed my unrest before I even tried to hide it.

  Without a word, she brought a strawberry to my lips — a simple gesture, yet capable of reorganizing my entire inner axis.

  My thoughts, which seconds earlier groped through the darkness of an imposed future, dissolved into something warmer, more dangerous: a sudden fascination with a young woman who, I knew, played with human feelings as if she were leafing through an ancient book.

  With me completely trapped in her presence, she kept that mischievous smile in her eyes as she said:

  "Let's give you a task."

  A translucent sphere appeared in the air, hovering in front of us.

  "This is Donna," she explained. "A newly discovered planet."

  I watched the globe spin slowly above my face. Any desire to ask about that technology — or about the planet itself — vanished the moment I noticed Melissa's tone.

  Her voice — soft, firm, insinuating — held me effortlessly, as if any opposing impulse simply lost its purpose.

  "Donna lies on the opposite side of the region of space we occupy," she continued. "Far beyond Earth, our known border until yesterday. Its distance from us is three times greater than the one between Earth and Xeranto."

  I didn't fully understand what that meant, but Melissa's expression made it clear: it was far too distant even for them.

  She went on:

  "Donna has intelligent life composed of two species. Their origins, however, do not match anything we've observed. One of them... is humans."

  The revelation should have left me stunned, but I remained captive to the curve of her lips, to the way she breathed between sentences.

  "And I'm not saying they resemble you," Melissa continued. "They are humans from Earth. There shouldn't be humans on any other planet. A DNA study showed they descend from people from the 18th century. Approximately five thousand years ago."

  The sphere shifted, revealing a village built among and over trees — men and women living as if time had stopped. Melissa gave me a few seconds before the image faded again.

  "This is the other species. Do you recognize them?"

  "No." The answer slipped out slowly, as if I were returning from her trance. "They look like us... a human mutation?"

  "They are elves," she said naturally. "From Norse and Celtic mythology. Similar to us, but with DNA originating on Donna. They've been there for millions of years, yet there is no record of it. No fossils. No ruins. And still, they reached a level of intelligence that would have taken them to space."

  I took advantage of the moment when Melissa turned to her partners to ask:

  "You know this from the DNA?"

  She didn't answer.

  She merely rested her head on Sacha's lap, exchanging a silent, intense look full of meaning.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Sekvens did that — they communicated with skin, with breath, with a closeness that left us vulnerable. For them, partners weren't company: they were extension. They were the very axis of existence.

  While I watched, Kane leaned in and touched Sacha's lips in a Sekvens kiss — the apex of energy exchange between them.

  The moment the connection formed, a warm wave surged through my chest, pushing tears from my eyes before I could notice them.

  It was love, peace, joy... in a magnitude the human body could barely withstand. Enough to lift me — or destroy me — if they touched me directly.

  It was, paradoxically, the happiest moment of my life.

  And none of it came from me.

  I wiped my face and waited for them to finish, trying to recover my balance.

  Melissa, as if continuing a conversation that had never paused, explained:

  "Yes, only from the DNA. And we discovered that the two species are spiraling with no return. They will be extinct in about a hundred years."

  She made a small grimace.

  "They're lost. There are just over five thousand elves and thirty thousand humans left."

  "Can't you help them?"

  Her smile — light and almost cruel — made the world around blur.

  "Pay attention," she said playfully.

  "Sorry..."

  "No, we apologize. We know our emotions are intense for you."

  But Melissa wasn't truly apologizing. Guilt was a concept she didn't understand.

  "The two species hate each other so much they've forgotten their own survival," she explained. "Humans never managed to evolve on Donna — they depend on the elves. The elves were subdued and now can barely sustain themselves."

  Sasha, watching from a distance, added:

  "There is no love in Donna. There's nothing we can do. There is no one there."

  "The Sekvens paradox?" I asked.

  She confirmed with a slow blink.

  The Sekvens evolved to feel — and to share — an energy capable of bonding them to any living being. A species that lives for this connection. And by receiving love from billions of beings across the galaxy, they became even stronger.

  But Donna... Donna was silence to them.

  "And you're going to let them go extinct?" I asked.

  "Yes. We will keep the planet," Melissa answered without hesitation.

  "And the Xerantos? What do they say?"

  "Xerantos do not interfere in the destinies of intelligent civilizations," Sasha explained, sitting beside me.

  "But they interfered on Earth."

  Kane, perhaps noticing my struggle to remain conscious, replied:

  "They did not interfere. The Miliameds observed Milena, realized she would die, and rescued her along with those nearby. We, the Sekvens, were the ones who intervened. Earth is our homeworld."

  "Which is not the case for Donna," I concluded.

  Melissa rose, pulling Sasha by the hand, both of them settling next to Kane as a single body.

  "Can you defend yourself?" she asked.

  "I deal with books. Why?"

  "I'll get you some water," Sasha said, leaving promptly. "You need it."

  Melissa then declared, with the serenity of someone delivering a natural sentence:

  "You're going to Donna. As a human, you can interfere. But you are not going to save anyone. We want you to discover how they ended up there... and what happened to the elves. The answers will be in their legends and stories."

  "But I'm just a historian."

  "You won't be alone. An observer will go with you."

  "One of those spheres?"

  "He will protect you."

  The idea of being sent to an unknown planet, accompanied only by a machine, made me take a deep breath.

  I drank the water Sasha brought and pressed my hands to the ground, trying to stabilize myself.

  I was exhausted, shocked, angry... and strangely happy.

  Induced emotions, of course, but the clarity behind them was mine: I had a comfortable life. There was no reason to accept.

  And yet, I knew I could say no — we humans are the only ones capable of refusing a Sekvens.

  Too bad it makes no difference.

  They always get what they want.

  "Can't you conduct this research without being noticed?" I asked.

  "We will begin an investigation as soon as the planet is ours," Melissa replied. "But as a historian, you know that tales and legends are the first things to be lost. It will be an incredible experience for you... and for us."

  Kane then approached:

  "Go. Come back tomorrow. These two aren't restraining their strength. You're going to faint."

  They escorted me out of the ship, chatting and laughing as if the weight of the mission were nothing more than a footnote.

  Only when I was farther away did I realize:

  That entire encounter had been a test.

  They wanted to see how long I could resist their energy.

  I thought that once away from them, my body would return to normal.

  But the opposite happened.

  My body wanted more.

  And I spent the rest of the day fighting withdrawal.