Beyond the veil

The classroom was a seamless blend of technology and tradition—curved, metallic walls lined with interactive holo-displays, and desks arranged in a circular formation, each embedded with an interface that responded to thought commands. The ceiling projected a shifting celestial map, displaying Earth's place in the vast expanse of space.

At the center stood Professor Alden, a man whose presence commanded attention. He walked slowly as he spoke, hands clasped behind his back.

"Civilizations have risen and fallen, but let's talk about something greater—total collapse. If humanity were to face extinction, what would be the most likely cause?"

A few students immediately engaged, their neural interfaces flickering as they accessed stored knowledge.

"Asteroid impact."

"Gamma-ray burst."

"Supervolcanic eruption."

"Artificial intelligence surpassing human control?"

The conversation flowed predictably, a recital of textbook theories. That was until a new voice cut through the discussion—measured, but deliberate.

"You're all thinking too small."

The shift in the room was palpable. All eyes turned to Jaxon. Even Alden, accustomed to classroom debates, paused.

"Care to elaborate, Mr. Jaxon?"

Jaxon leaned back, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

"You assume disaster comes from nature or our own mistakes. But what if Earth isn't just drifting through space, waiting for catastrophe? What if it's already marked—already claimed? What happens when the original owners come back to take what's theirs?"

Silence. A few students chuckled, dismissing the idea.

"What, like aliens?" one of them scoffed.

Jaxon didn't respond immediately. He let the tension settle, his gaze unwavering.

Selene, seated near him, wasn't laughing. She studied him carefully, curiosity flickering behind her eyes.

Professor Alden exhaled sharply, choosing his words.

"An interesting perspective, Jaxon. But speculation without evidence is just fiction."

Jaxon smirked faintly. He knew better than to argue. Truth wasn't found in classrooms like these.

The bell hummed softly, signaling the end of the session. Students stretched, gathered their materials, and disconnected from their neural interfaces, but the weight of the discussion still lingered. The usual post-class chatter was subdued, thoughts still orbiting Jaxon's words.

Professor Alden remained standing at the center, arms crossed. His gaze followed Jaxon as he exited—not with disapproval, but with something close to intrigue.

As Jaxon stepped into the corridor, he noticed Selene walking a few paces behind him. Unlike the others, she hadn't dismissed his words outright. If anything, she looked deep in thought.

The sky overhead had shifted into a soft amber hue by the time Jaxon reached home. As he closed the door behind him, his neural implant pinged—an incoming call.

Selene.

He hesitated for a moment before accepting.

"Didn't think you'd care enough to call," he said, leaning against the wall.

A brief silence. Then her voice, measured but curious:

"I don't think you're crazy, Jaxon. But I need to know—do you actually believe what you said in class, or was it just you stirring things up again?"

Jaxon smirked faintly, but there was no amusement in his eyes.

"Would it matter if I did?"

Selene exhaled, almost as if she expected that answer.

"It does to me."

That made Jaxon pause.

For the first time in a long while, someone was listening—not just hearing him, but actually listening.

He didn't respond immediately. Instead, he glanced out his window, where the sky had darkened into an endless void speckled with artificial satellites and distant stars.

"Then I guess you're not like the rest," he finally said.

Selene chuckled softly.

"Don't push it. I just want to know what makes you so sure."

Jaxon stared at his reflection in the glass.

"Because I've seen it."

The city buzzed with artificial life, a blend of sleek, glass-paneled buildings reflecting the glow of hovering advertisements. The sky, painted in deep hues of violet and navy, pulsed with the faint trails of distant drones zipping toward unknown destinations. Jaxon and Selene walked side by side along the illuminated pavement, their steps in rhythm with the soft hum of the floating street lamps overhead. The neon signs flickered, casting fleeting shadows across their faces.

Jaxon had his hands in his pockets, his posture relaxed but his mind sharp, dissecting the weight of the conversation still hanging between them. Selene, on the other hand, had her arms crossed, her brows furrowed in contemplation. She was thinking—he could tell.

Selene finally broke the silence.

"I still think this astral projection thing could just be the brain playing tricks on itself. I mean, if it's real, why isn't it scientifically acknowledged? Where's the hard proof?"

Jaxon smirked, expecting that exact question.

"Because science only acknowledges what it can measure, and most of it refuses to acknowledge what it can't. They didn't believe in quantum superposition at first either, until they found a way to prove it. Doesn't mean it wasn't happening before they 'discovered' it."

Selene scoffed.

"So you're saying just because something hasn't been measured, that doesn't mean it's not real?"

"Exactly. Just because your instruments aren't advanced enough to detect something doesn't mean it isn't there. Did ultraviolet light exist before we built tools to see it? Of course. Same applies here."

She clicked her tongue, nodding slightly as they passed under the soft glow of a hovering billboard. The advertisement shifted, showcasing a sleek new neural interface model, promising "Seamless Connection. Boundless Exploration."

Irony.

"Alright, but here's my issue—what if this whole thing is just lucid dreaming? If you know you're dreaming, you can control it, right? You claim to 'travel,' but isn't that just your subconscious constructing a world for you?"

Jaxon exhaled through his nose, a half-laugh, half-sigh.

"If it were just a dream, then how do you explain shared experiences? People who've never met describe the same landscapes, the same entities, the same encounters. That's not how dreams work—dreams are personal, fragmented, unpredictable. But astral projection? It's structured. It has rules. It has constants. You can return to the same place multiple times. Dreams don't work like that."

Selene bit the inside of her cheek, eyes darting between the blinking city lights and Jaxon's unwavering expression.

"Okay, but… how do you know it's not just a suggestion? Maybe people who astral project are just influenced by the descriptions of others. They expect to see certain things, so their mind fills in the blanks."

Jaxon shook his head.

"I ran my own test."

Selene raised a brow. "Go on."

"One night, I projected intentionally. I explored a place I had never seen before—some vast, sprawling library, with books written in symbols I couldn't even begin to understand. I memorized one particular book's position, the way it looked, the title—or what I assumed was a title. The next day, I asked someone else—someone who also astral projects—to go there and find that exact book. Gave them no details aside from the fact that I'd seen something. And guess what?"

Selene hesitated. "They found it?"

Jaxon nodded.

Selene frowned. "That doesn't prove anything. Maybe they just imagined the same thing coincidentally."

Jaxon smirked. "Then explain this—inside that book, there was a phrase, written in a language neither of us knew. I had copied it down the moment I woke up. When they came back, they wrote down the exact same phrase."

Silence.

The city moved around them, oblivious to the weight of the discussion unfolding beneath its neon glow.

"…That's impossible."

"Or it's very possible, just not in the way you've been taught to believe."

She let out a slow breath, dragging a hand through her hair.

"Alright. Say I believe you. Say this isn't just some elaborate self-induced dreamscape. Say we really can project our consciousness beyond our bodies. What then? What's the point?"

Jaxon stopped walking. Selene took another step before realizing he wasn't beside her anymore. She turned.

He was looking at her—no, through her. As if the question itself had struck something deeper in him.

"To find the truth."

She frowned.

"Truth about what?"

He took a step closer, lowering his voice.

"Everything."

The air between them felt different now. Charged.

"The world they show you? It's a fraction of what's really there. The laws you think govern reality? They're incomplete. We are more than this flesh, more than these bodies, more than just biological machines following a script written by nature. There's something bigger, something vast. And they don't want us to see it."

Selene's heartbeat picked up. "They?"

Jaxon tilted his head slightly, watching her reaction. "The ones who profit from ignorance."

She swallowed.

The conversation had veered into territory she wasn't sure she was ready for.

"So you think there's some grand conspiracy to keep people from… what? Astral projecting?"

"Not just that. From questioning. From exploring what lies beyond the veil. You ever wonder why things like this are dismissed so aggressively? Why is skepticism always the default reaction? They don't even investigate—they mock. They ridicule. They call it pseudoscience, nonsense. They shut it down before it even gets a chance to be understood. Why?"

Selene was silent.

Jaxon continued.

"Because if people knew—if they really knew—what they were capable of… control would become impossible."

The distant hum of a passing drone filled the void of words between them.

"…And you think you've seen the truth?"

Jaxon chuckled, shaking his head.

"I think I've seen the beginning of it."

She exhaled.

"So what now?"

Jaxon met her gaze, his expression unreadable.

"Now? Now you decide if you want to see it too."

Selene's throat felt dry. The weight of the moment pressed down on her, the enormity of the choice laid out before her. She had always been a skeptic, always demanded proof. But something about the way he spoke, the certainty in his voice, the conviction in his eyes…

It made her wonder.

Her lips parted, voice barely above a whisper.

"…How do I start?"

Jaxon's smirk returned, slow and knowing.

"Thought you'd never ask."

And with that, they resumed walking, their silhouettes vanishing into the neon-lit streets, their conversation now entangled in the vast unknown.

As they approached Jaxon's home, the atmosphere shifted. The futuristic skyline of the city was behind them now, replaced by a quieter residential area where the neon lights were less aggressive, and the streets felt more grounded in reality. The house itself had a sleek, minimalistic design—like most in the area—its exterior lined with smart panels that adjusted to ambient lighting.

Selene had been here before, of course. Childhood memories flickered in the back of her mind—running through these very streets, playing near the same doorstep they now stood before. But back then, things were simpler. Jaxon wasn't caught up in whatever this was.

The door slid open as they stepped in, and almost immediately, Jaxon's mother, a woman with sharp eyes and an even sharper tongue, appeared from the kitchen area. She wiped her hands on a towel, raising a curious brow at the unexpected sight before her.

"Oh? My son actually brought a girl home? Should I be worried?"

Jaxon sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It's not like that, Mom."

"Mhm. That's what they all say."

Selene chuckled softly, shaking her head.

"Nice to see you again, Mrs. Revas."

His mom's expression softened slightly as she turned to Selene.

Jaxon's Mom: "Selene, dear, it's been a while! You used to come around all the time when you were younger. What happened? Finally realized my son is too strange to be around?"

Selene smirked.

"Oh, trust me, I figured that out a long time ago."

Jaxon shot her a deadpan look. "Wow. Betrayal."

His mom chuckled but then narrowed her eyes slightly, giving Selene a knowing look.

"Wait. He wasn't going on about his nonsense, was he?"

Selene blinked. "Uh—"

"Mom."

"No, really, I need to know. Did he try to convince you that reality isn't real or that he's been traveling the cosmos in his sleep?"

Selene hesitated, glancing at Jaxon, who had already slumped against the nearest chair, rubbing his temples.

"…He did mention something along those lines."

"Of course he did."

Jaxon groaned. "Mom, I swear—"

"Listen, sweetheart," she said, turning fully to Selene, "if he starts trying to recruit you into whatever secret society he thinks he's a part of, just nod, smile, and walk away. That's how I deal with him."

Selene laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

Jaxon let out a dramatic sigh.

"You know, most moms encourage their kids to explore knowledge. Maybe even be proud of them for thinking beyond the surface. But no, mine has to be my greatest hater."

His mom scoffed.

"Exploring knowledge is one thing. Spouting cryptic nonsense about astral projection and interdimensional nonsense is another."

She gave Selene a look.

"So, tell me, how much of his bullshit did he actually convince you of?"

Selene crossed her arms, glancing at Jaxon before answering.

"I don't know if I believe him… but I can't say he's wrong either."

His mom stared at her for a moment before sighing dramatically.

"Great. He's spreading."

The dining area had a modern, minimalist design—smooth surfaces, ambient lighting, and a table that could seat six but rarely had more than two occupants. The air smelled of seasoned protein and vegetables, a standard meal in a world where natural ingredients were becoming more of a luxury.

Jaxon sat across from Selene, his mother at the head of the table, serving food with the calculated ease of someone who had done this routine a thousand times. She gave Jaxon a skeptical glance before turning to Selene with a more genuine warmth.

"So, Selene, what's new with you? School treating you well? Or have you decided to start traveling the astral plane too?"

Jaxon sighed, poking at his food.

Selene: (smirking) "School is fine. And as for astral travel… let's just say I'm keeping an open mind."

His mom set her utensils down, giving Jaxon the kind of look that only mothers could master.

"You really got to her, didn't you?"

"Yes, Mom. I'm building a cult. Membership is free, but you have to pledge your soul."

Selene chuckled, while his mom just shook her head.

"I swear, if I ever find you floating in the air while you sleep, I'm kicking you out of this house."

Jaxon smirked.

"Noted. I'll make sure to hover discreetly."

Selene, still amused, took a bite of her food before leaning forward slightly.

"Okay, but seriously… what if he's right?"

His mom raised an eyebrow.

"Right about what? The government hiding the fabric of reality? Interdimensional beings running the stock market? Or that he can leave his body and go sightseeing across the cosmos?"

Selene glanced at Jaxon, who simply leaned back, waiting for her response.

"Maybe not all of that. But… I mean, science already acknowledges multiple dimensions, right? And dreams are still a mystery even with all our tech. Who's to say consciousness doesn't have layers we don't understand?"

Jaxon's mom gave a tired sigh, taking a sip of her drink.

"Great. Now there are two of you."

Jaxon smirked.

"I mean, technically, there are infinite versions of us across different timelines, but—"

"Don't. Push. It."

Selene laughed, while Jaxon simply shrugged.

"You have to admit, though, it's fun to think about."

Jaxon's mom shook her head but couldn't hide the slight smirk at the corner of her lips.

"You two are going to give me a headache. Just eat your food before it gets cold."

As Jaxon and Selene stand up from the dinner table, Jaxon's mother watches them with a knowing smirk. She leans back in her chair, arms crossed, clearly enjoying herself.

"So," she says, her voice laced with playful suspicion, "you two are heading upstairs together?"

Jaxon rolls his eyes. "Mom—"

"Relax, I'm just observing," she teases. Then, turning to Selene, she adds, "I hope he's not dragging you into one of his long-winded theories. If you're not careful, you'll leave this house doubting reality itself."

Selene chuckles. "Oh, I already do. He's got some interesting ideas."

Jaxon's mother raises an eyebrow. "Interesting? That's a polite way of putting it. Last time he tried explaining his 'everything is a simulation' theory to me, I had to remind him that simulated or not, he still had dishes to wash."

Jaxon sighs. "And yet, the dishes still got washed. Almost like I'm forced to play by the system's rules."

His mother shakes her head, laughing. "See? This is what I mean. If he starts talking about consciousness leaving the body, just nod and pretend to understand. That's what I do."

Selene smirks. "Noted."

As they head toward the stairs, Jaxon's mother calls after them. "Door stays open!"

Jaxon groans. "Mom."

She waves him off. "I trust you, but let's not pretend you're above influencing a girl's perception of reality to get your way."

Selene turns to Jaxon, grinning. "Is that your game? Philosophical manipulation?"

Jaxon shakes his head. "If that worked, I'd have a cult by now."

His mother just laughs, watching them disappear upstairs. "Just don't break her brain, Jaxon!"