Free The Island on the Edge of Forever (The Epic of Aravinda Book 2) by Andrew M. Crusoe

this, a wave of white smoke had filled his nostrils. He had also thought he’d seen the Radiant Figure shining through the haze, offering a hand out to him. Had the Radiant Figure really pulled him to his feet, or had he hallucinated somehow?
    These thoughts left Zahn’s mind once the door split into three pieces and pulled back, revealing lush rows of plants, growing in a stunning, yet rather chaotic, web of life. The ivory walls were radiant, and everywhere Zahn looked a thousand different colors of life stretched out and above him as they grew around a web-like, pyramidal mesh that provided a three dimensional canvas for life to thrive. The foliage ranged from yellow to green to blue in a remarkable tapestry.
    Leading around several elevated platforms was a path that led under the mesh, and as Zahn wandered in stunned silence, he noticed small holographic projections beside each of the plants. He guessed that they were labels, and was not surprised to discover that they were written in a language he couldn’t understand. Oonak had never had a chance to teach him the universal writing they had found on Amithya.
    “Someday,” he said to himself. “Someday we will meet again, my friend.”
    He arrived at a corner of the pyramidal room, amidst a dizzying variety of bizarre fruits, roots, and what Zahn could only guess were vegetables growing out of the platforms. Just ahead was a small, abundant tree filled with fruit that he could have sworn were exactly the same as the rakta fruit he’d had for breakfast that morning.
    “Is it possible?”
    He reached out and picked a crimson fruit from the bush. It was identical to any other rakta fruit he had ever held; and without giving it another thought, Zahn took a bite of its juicy red flesh.
    An explosion of bright flavor filled his tastebuds, and his sense of smell improved dramatically. The taste was at once sweet, savory, and tart, balanced in the most alluring and odd way. He felt as if he were tasting something vibrantly new, like seeing a color he’d never seen before. But no, that wasn’t quite it, either. The sensation was more in his nose now. He wasn’t sure if it was merely delectable or if his entire mouth was tingling, and it didn’t matter.
    He felt as if he should sit down. It was the most profound taste he had ever experienced before, and he needed time to process it.
    He set the fruit on the cabin floor, and looked down to it. Only a single bite was missing from its otherwise perfect form. Had he really only taken one bite? Whatever this fruit was, it wasn’t anything close to what he knew. If these had grown on Avani, he would have known about it.
    The room grew more intense in brightness, and his stomach felt upset. On the edge of his vision, he thought he saw warm and cool hues, and he felt confused. Could he have eaten something poisonous? But why would Oonak keep something poisonous in the garden bay? Or perhaps it wasn’t poisonous to Oonak, at all.
    Above him, he saw small orbs floating high over the colorful fruits within the growth mesh, zipping from here to there. Where had they come from? He examined a towering yellow-green stalk across from him and watched as a small furry creature scampered up to the top of it and looked back down to him with raw, unblinking eyes. What was this? Was it even real?
    Something turned his gaze down to the short hall which led to the door. As he watched, a glowing shape floated through the wall and walked toward him, and he recognized it as the Radiant Figure that had appeared to him when he had felt so close to death just a few days before. All of them owed so much to this strange entity, yet none of them had come any closer to finding out who it really was, or where it had come from.
    Zahn sat transfixed as the Radiant Figure approached him. As before, its garment was woven of pure light, and he couldn’t discern its facial features at all.
    “Oh, wanderer with such passion!” The figure’s voice resonated