Hiraeth - Twin Homes

"...A scientist discovered that a meteor shower will be happening tonight from nine to twelve! Be sure to stay up and watch it pass through, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Next up…" He didn't pay much attention to what was talked about next. A meteor shower, huh? Nothing like that usually happened near his home. He can't even see a lot of stars at night, so seeing a meteor would be interesting.

Before he drank his black coffee, his dad interrupted his thoughts. "You know that's hot chocolate right?"

"Shut up. Let me have my dreams," Cody said with a hidden smile. "Besides, I'm turning eighteen tomorrow. I can have all the coffee I want." His family usually didn't allow coffee drinking until the age of adulthood - eighteen. Cody thought this was weird - his friends agreed - but followed it anyway as he never really craved the taste of coffee before.

He flipped the channel to his favorite show; Friendly Fires. Time blurred and before he knew it, he was outside with his family waiting for the meteors to appear. A telescope was set outside, ignored as the meteors started passing through the atmosphere. It was such a sight - the streaks of meteors were impressive. It was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

Even as others went inside, he sat memorized from the scene. Soon, it was twelve and longing swelled in his body for more. He grudgingly opened the door when something else went through the sky. One last meteor - or was it a comet - flew across the sky again. It seemed a lot more beautiful than the meteor shower, something that shouldn't be possible. He stared at the sky in awe for a few more minutes before heading back inside. His family was probably asleep now.

Cody went to bed happy and fulfilled.

He woke up in a sweat. A vague sense of confusion and fear graced him. He couldn't exactly remember what he dreamt about, but he knew it was important. Cody narrowed his eyes in concentration. Nothing worked when he tried to remember it. It seemed to be right out of his grasp.

Groaning, he got up, trying to put the dream out of his head. It was his birthday today and he turned eighteen. The age that opened a lot of doors for him. He can finally own his own personal Virtual Intelligence! Although expensive, he's been saving up for this moment for a long time. It will help him with a lot of basic tasks; more if he gets the job he wants.

Tomorrow was his job interview for an internship in the study of Artificial Intelligence. They were close to discovering how to make them sentient. They just needed a breakthrough. Cody hoped he would be the one. He has a lot of ideas up in his mind and the internship will allow him to get the resources to test them out.

Anyway, he shook his head, let's focus on the present. A smile went on his face as he excitedly made his way to the kitchen. The sounds of dishes clanging alerted him to the presence of one of his parents.

"Dad?" Cody hesitantly asked.

"It's mom!" An unmistakenly female voice said. He blushed before shaking off the embarrassment. This scene happened a lot in the house. All of his family has this habit. They would assume it was someone, but it would actually be another person.

He entered the kitchen and greeted his mom who was doing the dishes. "Do you need help?"

"No, I'm almost done," His mom said, putting the last dish in the dishwasher. "See? Also, what do you want for your birthday dinner? I don't think I actually asked you."

"Oh - I have no idea. Although…Ribs sound really good…" He pondered before deciding. They rarely had ribs and it was his favorite meat. The drool-worthy ribs his parents make were the best. Each bite was full of BBQ sauce and cooked meat.

"Ribs? We have to go to the store to buy them, but we are free today…" His mom said. She opened her mouth, ready to yell when his dad entered sight. "I was just about to call you up. Can you go to the store and grab everything from the shopping list? Also, add some ribs. Cody wants some for tonight."

"Yeah, yeah. I need to go to the store anyway to grab something for camping," His dad answered, yawning. "I'll go in a bit. Let me just eat something first."

Breakfast was eaten with little talking. His dad left and his mom went to package his presents. Cody decided on doing a family birthday. He liked his friends just fine, but they could be too much sometimes.

The day passed by with minimal complications - he opened presents, ate some delicious ribs, and had a relaxing day. It wasn't a grand birthday, but that was fine with him. He liked the simplicity.

As he lay down on the bed, he pondered back on the dream he had. It still gave him the chills whenever he thought of it, even though he couldn't remember it. He yawned and started playing on his phone. His eyes slowly closed before he placed the phone next to him. Sleep consumed him.

He wakes up in a black void. Looking around, he noticed a glowing sphere floating toward him. It stopped, slowly forming a body that looked vaguely like his own. Yet, it had small differences. The face might be a little rounder, hair a little curlier, and face in a solemn look contrasting his own confused face.

"Who are you?" Cody asked the boy.

"What do you mean? Didn't you have the same dream as me?" The boy said.

Last night - the night before - he awoke in a clearing with this same boy in front of him. They both looked at each other confused.

Two birds came down from the treetops. One was a dove, which handed a letter to the boy. It was tattered and dirty. Full of claw marks; most likely from the dove. The other, a crow handed another letter to himself. This letter was pristine and elegant. It had a wax stamp that sealed it.

Hesitantly, he opened his letter. He watched as the other boy did the same, looking disgusted at the dirty paper. Cody began reading his letter:

'Dear whoever gets this,

You are the 'lucky' two to get these letters. Yay? You must be very confused. This, after all, isn't a common occurrence. Actually, it is relatively common if you add every person in the multiverse. You guys are different, though. You…might be wondering how.

Well…that's for another day. Just know, tomorrow night, you will be combining bodies into one and traveling between both of your universes. Now, you are going to be spending tomorrow night together getting to know each other. Don't freak out - at least too much.

Just know, that you are periodically switching between your worlds. I won't get into too many details. You'll figure everything out on your own with time.

Good luck!

:)'

Cody looked at the letter in shock then glanced up at the boy in front of him. He assumed the other letter had the same contents, but he wanted to make sure. Beginning to open his mouth, he was suddenly awake - not able to remember the contents of his dream.

"Oh! I remember. I guess I just forgot when I woke up?" Cody scratched his head, trying to get his head around what happened.

"This is quite bizarre, is it not?" The boy said elegantly. He then noticed the same letters that they had last time on the other's hand. "I think we've got the wrong letters. Shall we switch? It doesn't really matter anyway."

"I did want to see if your letter was different," Cody said, putting his hand out with his own letter. They put the letter in the other hand when the letter returned to the other's pockets. "Oh? It seems we can't switch them…"

The boy looked at his own letter in disgust before sighing. "Nevermind then. I guess we should get to know each other."

"That sounds good - what's your name by the way?" Cody asked.

"Amir. I guess we should know about each other's worlds? I'm quite curious…" Amir said.

"Ah well, let's start with some questions. I have no idea where to start," Cody said.

"I'll guess I'll start. What intelligent species are in your world?" Amir asked, curious of the other's world.

"Humans? I guess virtual intelligence might count," Cody pondered.

"A species with intelligence in its name? That's redundant," Amir said.

"Well, they didn't exactly name themselves. We created them." Cody said.

"How do you do that?"

"With technology, like computers."

"What are computers?" Amir asked.

"That's…a hard question. I guess I can explain more once you come to my world?" Cody said, embarrassed.

"That's interesting. I'm quite curious now," Amir said.

"What about your world? You have technology?"

"Yes, but I don't think it's as advanced as yours yet. We make do with our magic though -" Amir was cut off by the yell from Cody.

"Magic!? Like fireballs and magic plants?" Cody yelled.

"You don't have magic? How do you even go through day-to-day life? Anyway, to answer your question, yes. Fireballs take a lot of skill though and magic plants are more in places with high magic saturation," Amir said.

"Sorry, that surprised me," Cody said with a short laugh, "But no, we don't have magic. Everything is fueled by our own technology. Like…you'll see."

"I'm greatly anticipating coming to your world now. Well, I guess I should tell you about my world species because you have two - wait one. We have species called Elves, some Dwarves, Beastkin, and Ancient Dragons which rarely appear," Amir said.

"Oh! I think I know some of your species. I have stories, all made up according to my world. Some past down from generation."

"Interesting, stories…huh." Amir hummed, "Although your stories may differ. We will see."

They began talking about Amir's world and Cody occasionally cut in with information about his own world. Eventually, they were laughing and telling stories of when they were kids. Before they knew it, an hour passed and they woke up in one body.