Mira's shock was palpable. She jumped to her feet, her hand covering her mouth. "A rocky wasteland... an oasis... don't tell me!"
Alex looked at her, confused and concerned. "Mira, what is it?"
Mira's mind raced as she tried to piece together the fragments of her own experiences. She had to know for sure. "Alex, when you entered the Primordial Expanse, did you land on a land filled with nothing but rocks for as far as your eyes could see?"
Alex nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing, still red from all the tears. "Yes, I did. Well, I entered near this landmass. Where I really landed was right on the edge of an ocean made of quicksand, and I luckily saved myself from sinking and suffocating to death thanks to my new talent. Turns out it wasn't so useless after all..."
Mira took a deep breath, her thoughts clicking into place. "Alex, I think we might have somehow switched locations in the Primordial Expanse. The first time I entered, I landed on a rocky wasteland too. Only I didn't spot any quicksand ocean where I spawned. But the second time, I ended up in a completely different place, in front of a completely ruined city, surrounded by green, jungle-like terrain."
Alex's eyes widened as he processed her words. The shock was enough to make him completely block out his previous depressing emotions. "Switched locations? How is that possible? I've never heard of people's portals even opening a few metres away from the location they exited from, let alone switching the locations of two people millions of miles apart..."
"I know," Mira said, pacing back and forth. "But it's the only explanation that makes sense."
Alex sat up straighter, the weight of their situation settling in. "What was the name of the ruined city your portal opened near?"
This question was incredibly important to Alex, as it would determine whether or not their locations had really been switched or they were just being paranoid.
If her answer wasn't what he was thinking, then there was still the possibility that everything was just a coincidence and they had been lied to, or had information withheld from them by the federation.
It wasn't like it hadn't happened before...
"I visited a nearby city, and found out that the ruined city was originally called Valentis city before it fell to a beast tide."
The moment the words 'Valentis city' left Mira's mouth, Alex knew they weren't just being paranoid.
Normally, one might encounter a space pirate or two on such a long voyage, but they were lucky to have encountered none.
Alex had also calmed down a lot more. He kept his emotions in check, and vented when he needed to or felt overwhelmed, but otherwise he seemed like he was back to normal.
But of course, he would never forget the events that went down, it just meant that he had accepted them as they were, and no longer blamed himself as much.
As they had promised, there was no mention of location swapping from that day forth, not even when the two were in the privacy of their own rooms.
They had already made the mistake of talking out loud about it when they first realised their situations, as they had no clue whether there were some sorts of listening devices in their rooms etc.
Alex had also reimbursed Mira, as she had taken the liberty to purchase a ticket for Alex while he was passed out.
She denied his money at first, saying she was doing a favour for a friend and that she'd do it again in a heartbeat.
But she relented when Alex gave her a glimpse into his spatial storage...
She had amassed quite a small fortune for herself during her stay in the Primordial Expanse, but it was still nothing compared to Alex's haul...
They had both grossly underestimated their earning potential as Awakened, both overshooting their initial goal of 500,000 credits by a long shot.
"We're finally here. The Solar system!"
Mira said excitedly as she gazed outside of her room's window into the darkness, at the tiny dot off into the distance.
This dot was in fact the blue and green planet they were headed to, Mars!