✧ Chapter 62 ✧

Multiverses away from Earth, a flashing portal teleported Styra, Cherry, and Eternika into a certain part of Niantom that was named Sparkleshine Valley by Amethion. Gazing around the world in astonishment upon arriving, this planet seemed to be the most beautiful one they would ever get to encounter during their trip.

“Y’know, this looks like the perfect spot for our next training grounds. What do you two think?” asked Styra.

Eternika, after having learned from earlier, agreed with what she was planning.

Cherry, however, was extremely confused.

“I thought that due to time constraints, we would be focusing on the next task,” she mentioned in a timidly awkward manner.

Reassuring her about the journey ahead Styra pointed at the giant Iternua Temple in the distance.

“You’re right about that being our focus, but we need to prepare you for what’s coming as well. This area is the best place to do that. On Perenorbius, that is how I got used to some of my powers. Sometimes all you need is something to fall back on when things get stressful. A peaceful atmosphere to relax your mind and stretch your potential.“

“I see… So what kind of training am I going to be doing exactly?”

“We are going to do a little team building exercise. From where we are now to that bridge which leads up to the Iternua Temple, we need to find the fastest route there together on foot. Here’s the catch though. Once we are done with whatever we need to do to help the guardians return, Eternika and I will be waiting for you at the end of where we started beforehand. We will see if you can travel the entire way we came backwards by yourself. The key is to use the environment to your advantage. Every obstacle is an opportunity. Remember that, okay?”

Cherry nodded in acceptance of the guidelines she set for her. In that same instance, she blushed at the prospect of their relationship.

She wanted to remain with her forever in this moment of serenity and happiness.

Nudging herself next to Styra ever so closely while they were about to start exploring, Cherry felt like telling her what she had told Ararima at one point. The tension within her heart softened at the nostalgic warmth of that memory.

“I want to stay here with you,” she said softly to herself before they began to run.

Sprinting past lush hills complemented the bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds they saw in the background. Green grass blended in with the biophilic architecture that gave the vast terrain its nature-driven aesthetic. Unbeknownst to them, this made it nearly comparable to the structure of ancient Roman shrines and Chinese gates.

Cold waterfalls from all around splashed into pools of large rivers or lakes. Some of the more interesting features of this place included stone trails that had the thematic colors of red brick tiles.

From there, they would find themselves hopping across floating mini-islands that were the shape of hourglasses. Although these were one of the largest highlights of the world’s landscape, its vegetation notably consisted of two standouts.

The first being pretty huge spindles of thin green leaves that connected to a circular branch, were attached to a brown patchy stem. Eternika pointed these out as Licirulan trees.

By the time they reached the bridge (which had this futuristic design of aquamarine crystal panes that created such an alluring passageway for them to climb up), this second type of plant decorated the grassy rails in a noticeable pattern. Two small balls of frizzled leaves that were either a vibrant magenta, blue, or honey yellow, were interconnected with a zebra-striped stem in between.

“Those are called Purphs. My favorite type of flower that I have seen thus far in my journeys across The Omniverse,” mentioned the weapon as they finally arrived at the entrance of the Iternua Temple.

Arriving here revealed a lot more than both Styra or Cherry could possibly understand. Due to them finally reaching this destination, Eternika quickly made the book “Tales Of The Time Keeper” reappear inside the ancient sanctuary for the trio to use as a reference that could help them unlock the mystery of Amethion’s original domain.

“Okay… What do we do first?” asked Styra.

While she was asking this question, Eternika noticed something interesting. By being inside of the Iternua Temple, the text within the book was now visible. The weapon tested bringing the pages outside of this place only for the words to disappear until it came back in again.

“Read through it and search for any inconsistencies regarding the description you see in the book when comparing it to this place,“ said Eternika.

Sounded simple enough. If that was the first thing she needed to uncover, it would have to be quite thorough.

In under two seconds of skimming into it as fast as possible, she counted two surprising comparisons. One was the absence of white pillars and the other one being a little more vague, mentioned something about a pink sparkling sky.

Of course, she didn’t know that Sparkleshine Valley (being the name of this specific location) would debunk it as otherwise.

Singling out the ones she was able to then deduce as correct allowed Eternika to confirm that only the white pillars were the odd ones out. Now all they had to do was apply this missing piece into the puzzle.

If there was anything to go off of, the white pillars were reminiscent of a place they had been to in retrospect:

Prima’s Iternua Temple.

There were white pillars that held up the structure of that sanctuary. Connecting those drawings on the page with the pattern-based carvings on the wall deduced their beliefs that Emeraldion had a big role to play in all of this too.

It made a lot of sense after reading into it that maybe what Styra did in Prima would be the primary key in unlocking the answer they needed as well. Viewing their surroundings showcased streams of lava that led to two completely separate rooms on their left and right side that also had the same entrance design. Pattern-based carvings also riddled its walls and floors.

Meanwhile, the center room in front of them played a pivotal part in being the origin point for these imprinted carvings to begin with. It led to where the Shard Of Surreality would have been placed.

Then it dawned on them that Princess Candiere did in fact give them one.

Would placing it there restore Amethion into existence? Or was something else different bound to happen?

Taking a chance to set things straight, Styra put it right back where it belonged. As a result, an Ethereal Forcefield immediately appeared to cover it in a defensive manner. Once this was done, Eternika solidified its protection further by adding a double-layered Kra Forcefield.

That way, the weapon could feel if anyone were to attempt to take it without them knowing later on.

However, during such a triumphant moment, Styra noticed something strange about the gemstone.

It had turned an indigo color.

“Uhhh, Eternika… Is the shard supposed to change colors like that?” she asked.

Before the weapon could answer, the carvings from earlier also started to glow all around the temple with the same hue as this transformed shard. Nothing seemed to make sense at first until they checked the other two rooms.

To their left, Styra and her friends saw this familiar pedestal pop up from a spawner on the ground that was starting to unusually glow indigo as well. The way it was created suggested that they had to put the book there. Doing so caused the pages to flip back and forth.

Quite wondrous for sure, she thought to herself

Peeking into the other room on their right, the source of all of their confusions were further amplified.

From another glowing spawner, twelve white pillars circulating its borders, left an opening that unveiled something special in the middle of it.

Styra, Cherry, and even Eternika had a hard time processing what they were witnessing.

“Emeraldion?” shouted Styra in disbelief.

The giant green guardian stepped from out of the center and looked pleased with what had been accomplished. He was ready to say something until Styra hugged his leg tightly as a way of reminding him of their friendship.

Glowing indigo tears suddenly dropped out of her eyes. This startled Styra, but from her friends’ perspective, they could now trace how the abnormalities were happening to begin with.

“What’s going on? Why am I crying pur—“

Her speech halted at the sight of Emeraldion pointing towards the indigo-colored shard.

“Styra, you have finally achieved The Star Sense. Amethion and I redesigned this place anew many phases ago in preparation of Tetrahedron. We had a belief that there were forces beyond our control that wanted to destroy everything we ever built. In response, this Iternua Temple was reconstructed with the goal of harnessing the power of preon stars. Our problem was, we could only possess a fraction of its full potential.”

“Wait… The Star Sense? Like I actually have mastered it?”

“Well, it has sparked within you due to your bond with The Shard Of Surreality being established, yes. Although according to my observations of your abilities, you do not seem to have fully grasped being in tune with the subconscious effort needed to possess all of its potential.”

“Subconscious control using the shard? Wow. Eternika told me that I would have to close my eyes and search inside of myself to do it. What was that all about?”

Emeraldion paused out of pondering what she meant by mentioning the name Eternika.

“Question, can you elaborate on who Eternika is?” he inquired.

“Me. I am Eternika now. I have changed names to avoid The Lucid Light’s predicaments,” answered the weapon.

“Oh, that explains your reasoning. I can tell you then that there are actually multiple ways to access The Star Sense. Amethion was particularly skilled at meditating on this power by closing his eyes. Albeit, I will say that the shard’s bond allowed Styra to feel it herself since that Eternal Light’s special capabilities focuses on going beyond the mind. The combined chaotic essence of both of those forces was enough to trigger that process.”

Most of what the trio were hearing interested them initially. Cherry did feel a bit skeptical about Emeraldion being the only guardian that came back though.

“A few questions before we continue please… Where did you even come from? Where are the other guardians if you made it out safely?” she queried.

“That is where we must discuss the true situation at hand. Styra’s power clearly exceeds our own, but lacks proper control and utilization. My appearance is due to her being able to bend reality just enough to send me back. The Guide outside of our known Omniverse told me I had reached a chaotic space called The Oddzones where everything that was deemed to become non-existent can simply vanish into oblivion at any random moment. The chaos levels get worse the deeper anything goes within that area.”

“I see… Then that means she could send the others back right now. Maybe at least one at a time would be good.”

A sudden expression of concern crossed Emeraldion’s face.

“There is another problem with that. In case you haven’t known about this yet, Styra’s subconscious has not sent anyone else back because the thought may not have interlinked with my other siblings’ minds yet. See, because of how the chaos levels function, all of us got separated it seems. I haven’t been able to find any of my brothers or sisters yet due to its messy nature.”

“Hang on a second… You’re saying that they don’t know that I’m trying to save them now. How did you ever figure that out if Amethion would’ve technically been the only one to know that? And why does it have to be interlinked?” questioned Styra.

“Truth is, both Amethion and I awaited to be willed back into existence with the knowledge we gained phases ago. However, it is also possible for him to have fizzled past what is unknown to many as The Endzone.”

“So that must be where the end awaits infinity,” mentioned Eternika.

“Yes, it is. The Guide stated to me that past The Endzone, nothing can bring back that non-existent entity. Not even superficial deities to my knowledge. It is considered the inevitable end of infinity too since the system does not operate on consistent loops like time does within The Omniverse. It is stationary and its purpose is to finally end whatever attempts to exist past the surrounding boundaries of chaos.”

At this point, Styra was beginning to understand now that her new powers were going to take some getting used to alongside training Cherry. That and the Kra Force as well anyway. If she could really activate a fraction of The Star Sense now, the big question involving what she could use it for gave her an idea.

And it was one that gave her the ability to restore the energies of stars across universes.