✧ Chapter 24 ✧

"Woah. So the Iternua Temple in Sonus isn't the only one that exists?" asked Styra.

Emeraldion pointed towards a triangular stone wall formation covered with vines that surrounded the giant structure. Once they walked inside, the orb across the room was surrounded by pattern-based carvings that could be seen on the floor. Spider webs wore out the corners, while moss grew through the scattered cracks of the ceiling with a few remaining pillars holding the shrine together. Fireflies flew around the center where an ancient display case kept the orb in this impenetrable cyan forcefield.

"That is one of the three Reality Orbs. With The Eternal Light Of Life, I used this orb and my power to study the many elements and combine them as a means to understand how many living entities out of different concentrations of light could be made. These form what you perceive as The Senses. While we do also use them for travel across the Omniverse, they hold the power of the Eternal Light Of Reality as well. It cannot be absorbed since Prism created the forcefields. Notwithstanding that fact, is the ability to ask this Eternal Light anything about your real past. There is no guarantee behind the answer it decides to show you. All I can hope is that this may bring closure to a part of yourself that you wish to know. For all life should be connected to these orbs and their minds to show what is real and what is not," said Emeraldion.

This was interesting, but she still felt skeptical about this whole ordeal. Nonetheless, Styra figured that if she was going to discover herself once and for all, this was going to be the closest she'd ever get right now. Better than what Amethion could have offered. As she wrapped her hands around the forcefield, it began to synchronize with her mind. Slowly and surely, her eyelids steadily closed. Then without any warning at all, a huge blip took place during the process. The STS-0 appeared with Flight, Hisa, and Chelbie aboard the ship. It was on one out of three spawners that were equidistantly far from the shrine where Styra, Omnikra, and Emeraldion stood.

The moment everyone regained consciousness within a few seconds, Flight could see Citrinion was right. Styra had changed. He opened the cargo door and ran over as fast as possible, shouting her name with a cry so loud that the deers drinking from the streams nearby became alert to the noise they heard. Emeraldion gently stopped Flight in his tracks to tell him what was going on.

"You can address me as Emeraldion. Flight, I know you and your friends have come to meet her. She is trying to find out her origins and this means she must not be disturbed. Hopefully, you can understand."

Flight was struggling to figure out how this guardian he never met before, knew who he was. When he took the time to observe what had been going on more carefully, it made sense why there wasn't a good reason to just barge in like this. She did not seem to be in any danger. Moreover, there were small eruptions of pure energy coming out of her in all directions. It became clear that she chose to do this, especially with how she was holding the forcefield. In Styra's head, a memory took place where she saw herself floating in deep outer space through a lucid dream.

She may have already had experience with flying before, but subconsciously it was different here. Everything was being replayed from that interpretation of a defenseless first-person perspective. Her body was shut in from that cold draining of the nerves. There was a hollow feeling that dried her insides. Only one part kept imminent death out of reach. A light within the heart fought this darkness without its identity. Acknowledging that helplessness frightened her. A frustrating past like this was inhibiting her ability to do anything, including using any of the Eternal Lights at her disposal. It seemed like there was no way to stop this regurgitating stiffness. She hated this with a relentless attitude, as she started to put up a fight for movement. Styra's unstoppable force went against a mysterious immovable atmosphere. Ironically, the redundancy of her reactive emotions created the problem.

She became so taciturn that in actuality, the pure energy intensified until it began to transform her. Every single hair turned a luminescent white. Her collar, belt, forearm braces, and boots from the armored suit changed from blue to a radiant orchid color. While that did cause her to become this shining spectacle unseen to many, it only lasted for ten seconds before she wearily collapsed onto the floor. Flight, Hisa, and Chelbie rushed over to her as they began to panic. Emeraldion, who expected this to happen, used the Eternal Light Of Life to bring a part of Styra back to life again. Miraculously, she revived from being unconscious; recovering from her past in the process.

Flight sank into an infuriated madness towards Emeraldion. Even though he did save her, allowing Styra to fall back into distress again made him relive that trauma at Brightbay Beach.

"Listen, I know I met you minutes ago, but what in the actual hell was that?! You don't know what she's been through. Forcing her to do whatever you wanted isn't helping anyone."

Emeraldion began to confess behind the unsolved mystery going on with the transformation.

"She decided to choose this path. I simply offered a solution. What you saw today could be portrayed as one of her true forms. The power inside of The New Guardian is at best obscure to us. This is something beyond the mind's comprehension of reality."

Hisa was audibly confused to hear those words. New Guardian. Was that some sort of a nickname for Styra? Meanwhile, Chelbie on the other hand thought the words "beyond the mind" were just used to create an exaggerated excuse to dissuade the blame from himself. The room became filled with tensive disbelief concerning the events that had just taken place. Emeraldion, sensing their concealed feelings of disillusion, finally opened up to accepting their distrust.

"If you are uncertain of what I am saying, there is nothing wrong with that. Instincts are valuable, but you must sharpen them if you wish to test that trust. Life is delicately built on a variety of perspectives that contend with your own. Trusting yourself will always be the hardest part of that journey."

Silence began to spread throughout the entire room like a drop of water diving into the deepest ocean where nothing could hear its subtle fall. Even the ripples dissipated into thin air. This same type of silence is what Styra saw in his words. Focusing once more, she went back up to the shrine and put her hands gently on the forcefield. Rather than fight the mental force and temperature of outer space constantly pushing her around, she held her pent-up frustration inside. Containing those emotions would be key to figuring out what she needed to know. What most struck her interest was Emeraldion calling her "beyond the mind". She couldn't necessarily understand the meaning behind such a vague and abstract term. Perhaps this was where she was going to have to answer that question herself.

The moment she thought an asteroid was going to hit her, a new reality showed itself. She was standing in a pitch-black room where a bright white light coming from an open door covered over this humanoid shadow of a mysterious girl blocking the entrance. It stared at her with a pair of piercing yellow eyeballs and irises that made her feel like she was descending into an infinite abyss. The girl said nothing, stepping back into the light as if it was trying to get Styra to walk into it with her. No matter how tempting that thought was, a certain song caught her off-guard. There in the distance, a spotlight shone on the mystery girl who sat down on a vividly red stool as she sang to the notes being played on her dark piano.

Styra couldn't seemingly make out what she was singing because even the melody sounded disjointed. The more she tried to listen, the foggier everything became. There was darkness left to rue in her vision. It was done. The Eternal Light no longer could reveal anything further than what Styra was already capable of understanding so far. It wasn't going to make sense in one sitting. She wasn't going to be on some sort of quest to become the New Guardian, but rather a full-fledged journey of self-discovery. It felt like this wasn't going to be the only way; rather it was instead the last way.

She stepped down from the shrine without saying anything. Emeraldion could see things had changed within her.

"So, you are not going to ask of my Eternal Light?" he inquired.

Omnikra blocked her path even though she stood still right after the question was asked. All eyes were on her it seemed, but she wasn't focusing on that. The question she asked Citrinion before leaving replayed inside her mind. Her origins were left unchecked by the ones telling her who she was supposed to be. She turned around to face everyone in that room. The ceiling of the temple began to drench with tiny drops of water falling below. They made that song she heard in her vision. Every drop that was accounted for continued as she switched between her choices until the last drop.

"I will ask of one favor," she replied.