Read ZeQuest: A Space Opera Mystery Novella (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 2) for Free Online

turn out to be the biggest part of my life.”
    “Well. I’d hoped to say you sound like an unrealistic young adult, but you don’t sound like that at all.”
    She laughed, “When I told the Commander about it he said the same thing; that I was too young to be making big changes just to fall in love with someone.”
    “Well, he’d be right on that part.”
    “He’d be right if this job was what was important in my life,” she said.
    “Okay seriously. Stop making me confused over and over again.”
    “Try to think of the happiest moments you’ve ever faced. No, think of the ten happiest moments. Does even one of them involve you going on a mission? Or even anything remotely connected to Aliea?”
    Elizabeth thought hard, partly because she wanted to prove Alicia wrong, and partly because she was curious herself as to what her happiest moments were.
    “There isn’t a single thing related to Aliea’s missions is there?”
    She hesitated a bit and then shook her head.
    “The only things that goals and achievements drive is passion and curiosity. We’re all intellectual beings not because we’re smart, but because we can feel happiness when we’re together with one another. Seems like my race has forgotten that little by little over the years.”
    Elizabeth didn’t know how to reply to that. The statement ran through her mind over and over again. Every time she thought of it, she couldn’t help admitting that Alicia was right. Every single moment of happiness she felt was only from a human connection she’d made, not from the self-satisfaction of finishing a mission, or discovering something new. Those made her satisfied, not happy.
    Alicia stepped out the water, “You better think about that, kiddo, else life will just go by, and you’ll still be searching for the happiness that was right in front of you.”
     
    ***

2-4
    Q stood on the cold stone floor, his eyes looking straight at Idhren who was standing on the other side of the room. Well it wasn’t as much a room as it was an arena, a rectangular-box with cold-colored metal floors and dull stone walls.
    “Shall we start then?” Idhren asked, his voice faintly echoing off of the walls.
    Q nodded. He cleared his mind of any cluttering thoughts and focused on his breathing, bringing it down to a steady flow.
    Idhren raised his staff into the air, and muttered something too quiet for Q to hear. The staff’s crystal orb glowed a rich aquamarine, the intense rays basking the walls in a mystical hue.
    He raised the staff, “Come warrior!” he yelled and hit the wooden base against the floor. A burst of wind shot out in a circle, picking Q up and tossing him onto the ground.
    Q picked himself up, positioning himself to defend another attack. A torrent of winds shifted around Idhren, clouding him in a mask of dark air.
    The Elementa of wind , Q thought.
    That was one of the tougher Elementa to deal with, mainly because it could manipulate any sort of air, and air was something that was almost always all around them.
    He focused his mind, feeling a pool of energy with him and imagining it flow into the air around his hands. A tinge of red emerged from his fingers, turning into a roaring five-foot flame on each of his hands. He spun around to gain momentum and released the fireballs straight at Idhren.
    The flaming blobs shot through the air, leaving behind a faint trail of red. They spun around Idhren, flowing through the fast winds that ran around him.
    “Is that all you can do?” he asked and pointed the staff at Q.
    The flames flew out of the vortex and headed straight at him. He dived to his side and the flames flew just over him, sizzling when they hit the walls.
    That’s a burn spot they’ll never get out , he thought.
    A series of soft thuds entered his ears. He jumped onto his feet and saw Idhren walking to him, using his staff as a makeshift walking stick. The winds around him had subsided, but Q knew Idhren could summon them whenever he