1000! (Not A Real Chapter)

  I sit on the Stargazer’s bridge and watch the surrounding stars passing by. We’re on our way toward one of the wormholes leading out of the star system we’re currently in and as we’re a bit short on time, I’ve got our engines fully enhanced.

  That’s why I’m caught completely unaware when the starship suddenly comes to a full stop. It happens in an instant and the gravity generators can’t compensate that fast. That’s why I’m suddenly flying through the bridge toward the window in the front.

  Why is my stupid mind now shouting “ludicrous speed?”

  I catch myself with a quick teleport back into my seat and call out. “What happened, Clara?!”

  Her reply sounds very uncertain. “I don’t know. I didn’t do anything and the engines are still running on full power. We’ve just stopped. It doesn’t make sense.”

  What the heck? I look at the console before me and notice she’s right. Our engines are still fully powered and should propel us forward as they’ve been doing just a minute ago. What’s happening?

  “Any gravitational anomalies around us?”

  “No, nothing. I started a full diagnostic on our systems… I guess we have to wait in the meantime.”

  “Good idea, I’ll try to teleport us while you do so. And please ask the others to come to the bridge.”

  Clara acknowledges my words. Meanwhile, I cast the Starship Jump spell and aim for a location closer to the wormhole. I let my power enter the spell and trigger it… Only for it to completely fall apart.

  Panic enters my veins. That has never happened before! “My magic is not magicing!” I cry out just when the door opens at the back of the bridge and my friends enter.

  Their voices sound just as confused as mine and I spin around when I hear a specific voice. Then I gasp in shock. That makes even less sense. There, cramped into the hallway leading into the bridge are a lot more people than I expected.

  Everyone is suddenly here. Maja, whose voice I recognized, stands next to Shay, Thomas, and Simon. They should be with the Peacekeepers, why are they here? And why do they look just as confused? Next to them are my parents and grandparents, accompanied by both of my brothers.

  Alina stands very close to Grandpa John and her jaw is on the floor upon seeing the Emperor in person for the first time in her life. Tim, Lucy, Lydia, and Nick stand around her. Those are the five I was expecting to come here, but what is it with all the others?

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  And that’s still not everyone I’m seeing… No, there’s also Jack, his wife Alex, Greg, and Ronja. And finally, there’s also Lisa Song and my cousin Victoria.

  “Uhh, hi, why don’t you all come in?” They do so, while I’m wondering how I managed to say that sentence so casually.

  “Sara, what’s going on? Why have you brought us here?” Mom asks as soon as everyone entered the bridge.

  What? “I… I didn’t? I just asked Clara to send my crew up here to discuss what’s happening here…”

  “Please explain,” Grandpa John says with a frown on his face.

  I quickly tell them what has happened in the past minutes, which causes even more confusion. I hear more than enough mumblings of “that doesn’t make sense” from my friends and family. I still don’t know how they can all be here…

  “Where did the stars go?” Lucy suddenly asks and points at the window behind me. I turn around and gasp. Everything is now black. There’s no light anymore. Even the soft purple glow of the wormhole ring in the distance is gone.

  Before I can say anything, the entice space around us flashes white not once, but twice. Then, everything is dark again. Even the bridge lights dim and I can barely see anymore.

  Everyone gathers around me and we stare out through the window into the darkness. I don’t know why, but I have the feeling that something is about to happen.

  Looks like my feeling was right, as barely thirty seconds later, there is another white flash that lights up the space around us. I’m not even sure if we’re still in space as the stars are gone, but that’s not important right now, because there are now four glowing spots in the darkness before us.

  They steadily get larger and larger… It takes a bit until I can make out some details.

  “Are those… Numbers?” Mom asks into the silence.

  I think she’s right… A minute later, her suspicion is confirmed and the numbers are clearly visible. What does that mean?

  1000

  The number shines before us and music starts playing. We all look at each other, confused about what’s happening. No one knows what to do, and as we can’t teleport away, we decide to wait it out and see what happens. So far I don’t feel any danger at least. I’m still completely weirded out, but at least I’m safe, I guess…

  The music reaches a crescendo, then the space flashes again a few times. With every flash, a new word appears first above, then below the big glowing 1000.

  THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR

  1000

  FOLLOWERS!

  I TRULY APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU READING MY STORY

  I just stare at the words floating before me. This is crazy, it looks like some entity just painted the sky with glowing words. And what I’m reading doesn’t make sense at all. After all, what story do those words refer to?

  Then, suddenly as if a large portion of fog was cleared from my mind, everything makes sense.

  This is MY story! My story has just reached 1000 followers. That’s huge! I never expected 1000 people to follow my story through space and magic! Just wow! I can’t hold it back anymore and shout out my gratitude. Everyone else joins in.

  “THANK YOU!”