Novel & Cerita Meteor Garden Episode 1

A few look openly hostile. I ignore them. Focus on Maya's chatter, on the feel of the sun through windows, on not tripping over my own feet. "Here's the garden." Maya pushes open a glass door. "Esther grows all her herbs here. It's kind of her pride and joy." We step outside. The garden is massive—rows and rows of plants I recognize from my training. Silverweed. Moonflower. Valerian. Things that heal, things that calm, things that help.

They’re being consumed. "Every time you reset the loop, a new crop grows," Kael said. He stepped closer, and I saw that his hands weren't hands at all. They were roots, fused into the control panel of the central vat. "I am the gardener, Maya. And you... You are the seed." Suddenly, the smartphone in my pocket shrieked with a high-pitched feedback. The screen didn't show a message this time. It showed a live feed of the gantry I had just left.

Rather, it is just watching. A wave of dizziness washes over me and I instinctively close my eyes. Then suddenly, as if I am watching television, I catch a glimpse of what is happening back in Nevada. I see Zenith jolts awake in the greenhouse, as rain hammers the roof. She staggers toward the herbs. Her hand hovers over a bowl of sage and lunar thyme.

The air smelled faintly of metal and cologne, dust and decay. Damien’s voice came through the comms. “Cameras are fried. Whatever he did, it’s looping static. He planned this.” Adrian’s silhouette appeared faintly in the green wash of his visor light. “He planned everything, but he didn’t plan on us.” Then came the sound, a faint click, like a microphone activating. Vega’s voice filled the studio, calm, intimate. “Welcome home, Luna.” Luna’s jaw locked. “This was never my home.”

Allen was able to shoot down a few more of the foes that neared them, before he started to feel a numbness infect upon his hands and feet. Their defeat, seeming inescapable as so many of them struggled to stand. The air suddenly became lighter. Pulled into the black void that opened up above the magic circle and the modest object Cazer had placed within it to call forth its Guardian. The thick air finally subsided as Chiri emerged from the circular entry of the Moon Gate. Most of the rogue mages subdued by either their efforts or the toxic mist, there was a hush that fell over those who remained as Chiri’s golden irises surveyed the ensuing chaos of the fight. Saddened by the sight they behe

Just as I opened my mouth to respond, a soft knock interrupted us. The door opened, revealing a man and woman I didn't recognize- Nathan looked over at them. "Jane," he said, "These are my parents." "Hello, Jane," the woman said with a warm smile. "I'm Lauren, and this is my husband, Alec. Alpha and Luna of the Moonlight Pack. We heard you were awake and wanted to check in." I looked at Nathan, and he gave me a nod. "Thank you," I said, offering a small smile. "I'm feeling much better."

Xander had built a fire barrel in the center, and he and the twins crouched around it, poking the embers with branches that smoked sweet and sharp. Carolina picked her way between planters, past a flock of small birds that had nested in the ribcage of a broken drone, past a row of bottles sparkling with bluebell liqueur, and joined them. The air smelled of heat and flowers and a tang she only barely recognized as hunger. "Dream garden," Mira said, patting the plank beside her. "I thought it would be gone by sunrise." "It’s real," one of the twins answered, rolling a fat stem of cress between her teeth. "I checked. I bit it. Still real."

"You show them." He closed his eyes, and the garden responded. The main viewscreen shifted. It no longer showed the plain. It became a window into the garden's core memory. It showed Lina, the first Lina, dancing in a sunlit lab, her laughter echoing. It showed Jeff, younger, handing her a rose. It showed the birth of the garden, not as a weapon, but as a monument to love.

He doubled over, his knuckles grinding into the meat of the floor, his eyes turning a violent, glowing gold. The Tritons backed away. They recognized the alpha. "This 'Reef' isn't a ship," Kaelor gasped, his voice a distorted growl. He lunged at a pulsing node in the wall, tearing it open with his claws. Instead of blood, a massive surge of electromagnetic energy erupted. "It’s an EMP," Aradaa realized, shielding his eyes from the flare. "They’re going to kill the irrigation in Navia. They’re going to starve the Garden City while they take the kid."

He looked straight at June, eyes sharp and seeing far. “The Gardeners were only scouts, June Miller,” he said. “They were looking for the Seed. But do you know what the rest of the galaxy is looking for?” June felt a chill colder than stone. “If we’re the new garden, who’s coming to be the reaper?”