Andromeda

 The bed of grass Lucius now stood on was cool, a cauldron for the morning dew. In a moment, it’d be a cauldron for something else. He immediately dropped to his knees and threw up the remainder of food in his system, as his stomach tried to untie the knot it was in.

Surazal started to laugh heartily, his voice echoing among the sounds of nature, creating a morning melody. Lain, showing more compassion, crouched down to tend to him.

“My apologies, it takes a few times to get used to. Surazal is laughing but he too used to be just like you, could never hold it down after a jump.”

Lucius had finished his act and turned his flush face to Lain. “A jump? You mean we just teleported?”

The grass he had first witnessed on arrival seemed similar to that of the greenhouse, it was only when he stood up and gazed out at the horizon that he realized they were somewhere completely new.

The mist covered the land, but the broken remains were too large to be covered up.

Stone pillars and arches were scattered around, leaving evidence of what once was a full city. Pathways carved from the earth itself were long overgrown with overhanging trees and bushes, and water trickled through their cracked channels into stagnant pools. Small waterfalls cascaded through empty spaces, the drips echoing a song lost to time, with moss and pale vines clung to the stones with sickly persistence.

All these sights were laid upon slabs of earth floating on nothingness, hovering islands of land with roots dangling from their undersides, dripping endlessly into the abyss below. Connecting the separated fragments together across the chasm were whole bridges of ground suspended in the air, while far overhead was nothing but empty sky. The ambient sounds of the area created a meditative filter, like the peace on the surface of a still pond.

“Woah,” is all Lucius could muster up, taking in the beauty of the surroundings.

“This was my home, long ago. Andromeda, the Eternal City. At one time, this was filled with people, children playing among the vines and wildlife, all harmonized as one. But this…” Lain opened her right palm to display a small white ball of pure energy, flickering in the wind like an open flame, “This made us a target. The Amber King tore through us, his armies slaughtered the beauty that we cultivated. He saw us as enemies, as a danger to his kingdom, when all we wanted was to live in peace.”

Lain stepped forward towards the edge of the earth the three of them stood on, peering down into the endless abyss.

“I was away the day the sentries came to take my world. When I returned, it was like walking into the memory of Andromeda. The temples were destroyed, buildings left to ruin, but otherwise there was no sign of…struggle. There were no bodies, no people, no blood to paint the stone ground. It had all been erased like it never existed, the abyss itself had swallowed all life whole.”

Her gloved fingers slowly curled into a fist, but she kept her anger at bay.

“It is difficult to mourn something that only exists in your mind, almost as if it never existed at all. But it did, Andromeda was real, is still real. And I am the one tasked with keeping it alive. As long as I exist, as long as it exists in the minds of others, my home will remain eternal. This place serves as a reminder for the purpose of our fight, to take back what once was so that we may live on. And you, Lucius, you must help us with our fight.”

Lucius stood stunned, the gravity of the situation only feeling heavier by the sullen weight of the city.

“Me? My help? I can’t even help myself, how could I be any help to you?”

Lucius began pacing back and forth, his breathing speeding up like he’d just finished a marathon, his thoughts sprinting laps in his mind.

“I can’t do anything, I… I…”

Lucius dropped to his knees once more, but not to vomit. He felt there was nothing left inside of him to bring out.

“Lucius, look at me.”

For the first time since they arrived in Andromeda, Surazal spoke. Not with his joking tone from before, but with a sincere and earnest manner. As he stood tall over the boy, his shadow seeming larger than life, he pushed aside his somber instincts and tried to reflect those of Lain.

“Lain has rarely brought anyone here, including myself. She has allowed you entry into the depths of her soul. That means something, it means that she sees something inside of you that you may not even see in yourself. And she is never wrong.”

Lain extended an arm to Lucius, gesturing him to come forth. Her expression never changed from one of complete serenity, and now was no exception.

“Come, please allow me to show you around. My way of welcoming you to my home.”

Lucius gave her a slow nod, accepting the invitation. The three of them began to walk through the hanging trees, following the mossy stone path.

The path stretched forward, the old causeway cracked and overgrown with greenery and puddles of still water. On both sides of the walkway, gray pillars rose, their tops worn smooth by centuries of wind. Trees had rooted themselves abundantly among the ruins, branches swaying gently in the faint hum of the wind.

Beyond the path, the world of Andromeda opened into a fractured expanse.

“As a child, I would come to this spot often, peering over the beauty of my home. From here, it all looked so expertly crafted, designed by years of love and care. Let’s continue down, I want to show you it’s heart.”

They crossed stone bridges arched over chasms shrouded in mist, fragments of earth and ruined structures suspended in the air. The path continued on towards the center of the realm, and as they walked, Lucius could imagine how much more vibrant it would be if there was life here once again.

A large island of earth was centered amidst the smaller fragments, the center of the city. The ruins were closer together, like an old town blown together by a cyclone. The overgrowth of green continued to cover every surface, its soft lush exterior contrasting the hard stone beneath it.

In an open area of the inner heart, among the bushes and the trees, Lain turned to face Lucius, her right palm pointed upwards with a white ball of energy rippling in her grasp.

“You’ve seen this before, this power, but do you know what it is?”

Lucius recalled Lain’s body fully engulfed in the whiteness before their arrival, remembering how completely alien it looked.

“No, I don’t…it looks unreal.”

“It does, but it is very real. It is my resonance. This ability isn’t learned like magic, or a taught technique, no, a resonance is born from what a person embodies. It is a mirror into the soul, a reflection of your self and memory. Who you are shapes your resonance.”

The white energy pulsed faintly, shifting like a beating heart.

“But there is a cost. Each use of an ability pulls on the self, can cause physical strain, emotional unraveling, the slow corruption of the mind. Those who go too deep risk losing themselves into the caverns of their own soul.”

“So that’s how you brought us all here, with your resonance?”

“Yes, that’s correct. With Phantom Gate, I can teleport anything or anyone I touch to anywhere I desire. As well, with Tranquill Terra, I am able to heal ailments and provide a sense of deep rest.”

“But it drains her energy and leaves her exhausted, so she needs to use it sparingly. Only for important applications,” Surazal spoke up.

“Bringing me here was important enough for you to use it?” Lucius asked, still not understanding what his purpose was for being brought to Andromeda.

Surazal just nodded, and with a gritted look, his chest began to strobe with golden energy, emulating out from his core. Lucius watched as it flowed to his shoulder blades, and took the form of sharpened wings with pointed edges like a guardian angel. Each feather was a shadowed blade rippling with gold, ready to cut through anything.

“These are Onus Wings, my burden to bear.”

With that, he looked up and soared into the sky, flowing through the wind like a falcon hunting prey. Hovering in the air above them, his penumbral wings sprawled out behind him with a casted brilliance.

“Those wings are incredibly heavy for him,” Lain whispered to Lucius, just out of Surazal’s earshot. “The strain he carries is far greater than my own.”

Surazal slowly floated back down to the mossy ground, retracting his shining wings back into his soul.

“That was incredible, both of you. So…I get a resonance too?” Lucius inquired.

Surazal and Lain looked at each other, but Lain spoke up for both of them.

“That is partly why we brought you here, to show you all that is possible within yourself. Whatever your goal is in this world, it will be difficult to achieve it without the use of resonance. But that is why it is so crucial to understand the dangers it carries as well, how easily it can blacken one’s soul.”

Lain held Lucius’s hands tightly in her own, closing her eyes as her white aura began to glow, positioning his palms upwards.

“Close your eyes and look within yourself. Try to gaze upon your own soul. Can you see it, that energy it’s wrapped in, pulsating like a beating heart? Move it, out from its source, see it flowing through your veins, and focus it onto the palm of your hands.”

Lucius, with his eyes closed, focused. It almost felt like he was acting in a play, pretending to be something he wasn’t.

Just try pretending, that could get it to work. Like pretending to sleep before actually falling asleep.

He pictured his soul in his mind, the unfamiliar shape he had not once actually peered at, and imagined it like a pouring stream filling his being with its essence.

As Lain held the bottom of his hands, a tiny jade green sphere began to form, hovering just slightly above his palm. The sphere flickered like an open flame desiring to set the whole world ablaze.

“Open your eyes,” Lain whispered.

Lucius did, and saw the power of his being, glowing in the palm of his hands. As he watched it in awe, it danced away and disappeared, like a blown out candle.

“This is the power that is within you, Lucius, the resonance of who you are. You still have much to learn, but all things are possible to a mind that is open.”

“But mine looked nothing like yours or Surazal’s. What can I even do with something this small?”

“These things cannot be learned overnight, your abilities will grow as you do. But it can also become ravished with darkness, if you let it consume you,” Surazal replied, a serious tone in his voice. “You must not let it consume you.”

“It will all come in time, you must have patience. The process of your soul cannot be sped up. You are not required to have all the answers, we only desired to inform you of its existence. That is enough for now.”

Lain beckoned them forth, pursuing the cracked stone path.

“Come, let us continue with our tour.”