✧ Chapter 41 ✧

On the way to Animearth, Styra would pass planets like Perenorbius where she would show Chelbie everything about her home. They also entered Frostice and encountered Snowflake, Styra’s favorite shirokei. The creature was happy to see her again after being alone there for quite awhile. Eternika shared that Snowflake was a male shirokei. Males had an icy blue lining on their fur while females had a purple one. The stronger its bond, the greater its potential is to become loyal and protective. So much to the point that they will use an attack called Icy Bite. If a foreseen threat were to get bit, their body would freeze up into an icy cocoon. Knowing that, Styra decided on bringing Snowflake along for the ride.

Then in coming to contact with an interesting planet with a landmark known as Liberty City, a girl named Daniela in that world had super elastic abilities. She was swinging across buildings before meeting Styra and her friends. Both were fascinated by one another because of the fact that they both shared a love for using their superpowers to go on high flying adventures.

Finally, after taking a few breaks like this along the way, they would reach the atmosphere of Animearth. Upon landing in the city of Centreplex, it was clearly a bustling eco-friendly society. Eternika immediately tracked down the location of the Centreplex Symphony Center to be at the east end of a bright public tourist space known as Paradise Park.

The symphony center itself was a grand place where concerts and live performances often occurred. Most crowds of people in the area flocked to where they were in shock at seeing something for the first time that didn’t look like it came from their world.

“Uhh, guys? Maybe we could use a little more privacy? Like can we turn invisible or something? That would be nice,” remarked Chelbie who was starting to get uncomfortable with the excessive attention.”

In an instant, Eternika used Invisibility to prevent the five of them from being seen. The weapon was used to being out in the open as itself but was prone to use this ability on those trying to attack it. People surrounded the now empty spot where they had been with confusion and started to share what they saw to those that didn’t notice. Once The Judgment Warriors snuck in, most of them were mystified at how huge it was. The main lobby was filled with many musicians from different schools coming to play on this specific day.

“Woah! Look at how massive this thing is! I wonder if that girl at the lab actually comes here,” whispered Styra.

“We will need to find out who she is for sure. Anyone beside Compass see any potential leads?” asked Eternika.

Walking around, Chelbie used her hands as if they were pretend binoculars to play around with the idea that this was some sort of dramatic expedition.

“Chelbie The Explorer here, and today it looks like we’ve sprung into an exotic habitat with luxurious terrain. Over there is a herd of wild Drumsticks who seem to be enjoying themselves. Let’s look on the other side. Wow! A delectable meal is being served to this family of three Cellos! Last but not least, a humongous set of eyes are staring straight at me. Wait... Set of eyes?”

Pulling down her fake binoculars, Chelbie was greeted with a slight jump scare from a goofy looking mask with a grumpy face. It was hanging around one of the guitar cases.

“Sheesh. Is it just me or am I seeing too many Grumpy Gordos?”

“Who is Grumpy Gordo?” asked Styra who had been following Chelbie around the entire time.

“Oh, he was this kid who used to bully people. Had the most horrible frown you could possibly imagine. No one liked him very much. He got transferred mid-semester. My class had this thing where anytime someone was acting all angry just to push students around, they called them a Grumpy Gordo.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yeah. That weird guy with that blue hermit outfit was acting like a Grumpy Gordo too. All that hate and for what?”

Styra started to reflect on those words. It seemed that Hisa taught Chelbie about the importance of not being hateful. She wondered if maybe there was a way to resolve her emotional problems with her friend.

“Hey Chelbie, ever since that time when my powers got zapped for a while, I was wondering if I should really hate the anomaly. I just don’t know how to feel about it, like with Sapphirion.”

In that moment, Chelbie’s words began to sound a lot more serious and grounded. It was clear that this was coming from her heart.

“To be honest Styra, Hisa taught me one thing that I’ll remember for a long time. Hate is like a vortex. The further you let it consume you, the more likely you are to lose yourself. You don’t have to go all in. You can dislike things but, don’t lose sight of who you are and become nihilistic. Believe me, people know how to use your hate against you. That’s what she told me at least.”

Sitting criss-crossed on the carpet floor next to an unoccupied corner, she started to get shaky.

“Here I am telling you this… I am the one who feels angry all the time. I broke both of my legs over a heated rivalry. Fell unconscious. Had to have my knees amputated in a hospital. After that day, I wasn’t allowed to do the things I wanted anymore. My parents didn’t treat me like their daughter. I was just… Nothing. A nothing person doing nothing things.”

“I know how you feel Chelbie. My creator disowned me. Those Guardians Of The Omniverse treated me like I was a tool and not something capable of feeling emotions,” said Eternika with compassion.

“I guess we have something in common. Styra also went through a really difficult time. Like imagine being alone for maybe billions of years with no one to talk to after a stupid asteroid kills your home. I don’t think I would last any longer. That on top of not having any memories of your past life? Someone must have done something bad to her in order for that to happen.”

Styra took Hisa’s words to heart more than ever at that point. She began to hug Chelbie, gripping her tight as a change began to seep through her soul. It made her wish she had hugged Flight when he was on that beach. Crying over the loss of his family’s home. There was a sadness to be found in that, but she was fortunate enough to revive them after fighting against Death itself.

“I think we’re going to have to blend in guys. Us being invisible isn’t really doing us too many favors. We have to make this to the end, otherwise everyone’s going to be gone. Everybody may not be able to choose how they are born, but that doesn’t mean they have to die that way either,” said Styra.

“It could be worse than death, but on that note I agree. This place is not giving us too many answers but we can be certain that the girl from the lab may come here eventually,” replied Eternika.

Over the course of that day, Styra and her friends would run around the city of Centreplex with Eternika to learn everything they needed to know about the city’s history. What they found was pretty interesting. Since this particular world was actually in an alternate universe, the observations of said locations started to show striking similarities to StarSpace itself. There was The Ulunar Shopping Center, along with many recognizable street names such as Hotah Drive and Tsyar Avenue.

In retrospect, there were just as many counters to this that made it a completely different experience in itself. The rich blue sky, soft white clouds, and chill breeze were pretty clear examples. Although it was nearing the middle of autumn and a few colorful leaves had been starting to fall, the environment was still healthier than any other place they visited before. Almost much like the utopia that Styra once wondered about.

After learning about Animearth’s government, they discovered that this world was ruled by DIVA. The AI system built by StarSpace engineers for the use of navigating the GN-z15 galaxy instead controlled masses of people from every continent here under this urge for technical renovations. There was no information available to determine who built DIVA when infiltrating their confidential archives, making everything about how it functioned highly suspicious.

At that point, their plan to blend did not require as much effort as they thought. Eternika explained that the economy functioned in a way where all businesses were owned by DIVA. It would use VCDs (Visual Configuration Drones) to pump out products that humans requested throughout these smart shops. The profit of that person’s idea was sent to them without DIVA needing to take a portion of that pay. This was mostly since its instructions were to optimize the distribution of any service created by a customer’s commands. As a result, the likelihood of being poor was reduced so long as the individual could request an original idea that hadn’t been patented by the bot. If it was taken, then the individual would have to pay for the item they selected.

When Styra and Chelbie decided to have a go at it, they were able to create their accounts at kiosks inside the Ulunar Shopping Center which automatically rewarded each of them $100 for doing so. Styra would go on to buy one grey thermal shirt with a big white star on it, two violet crop tops with sleeves cut near the elbows, and a few other items to her liking.

Chelbie, on the other hand, made a special zookeeper outfit with this small image of a chili pepper on it. Then she also ended up buying a red bandana neck scarf and some other essentials as well.

Both would wear these clothes on while taking the time to search for a hideout. By night, they found a temporary home for all of them to stay in without anyone noticing. They would teleport into a luxury rooftop penthouse known as Twilight Terrace. It was unoccupied since the place was extremely expensive to afford and as a result remained untouched. Standing above the twinkling city lights which bloomed over the blue mountainside, Styra, Chelbie, and Compass stared at the refreshing view.

“Just looking around and enjoying a gorgeous scenery like this… It never disappoints,” complimented Chelbie.

Nodding her head in agreement, Styra went to a part of the room where she found a washing and drying machine that already had laundry detergent for her to use. Taking off her old clothes and putting them in to wash, she headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Fifteen minutes later, she put on a new set of clothes and decided to check out the queen size bed with red covers and puffy white pillows laying neatly on top. Relaxing on it for awhile, Snowflake got curious and climbed up onto her stomach.

“Aww… You’re tired too, aren’t you?” she asked while picking Snowflake up and touching noses with him in a loving manner.

Playing around with his paws for a bit longer, she eventually let the little creature stay in her bed by itself as it had fallen asleep on her breasts. Donning her suit and mask on again, she would check to see where Chelbie was. Apparently she had just plopped into a queen sized bed next to them.

“Wow, what a day! Feeling pretty tired… What are you going to do tonight?” she asked Styra.

Styra glanced at Eternika who was hovering by the window.

“Going to get ready for training. Right Eternika?”

“Of course. I was wondering when we were about to do that. I am ready to get to it myself. We will need every ability possible to stop the anomaly.”

Pausing halfway before walking through the yellow curtains which were open towards the rooftop, she went back to Chelbie to hug her good night. Once that was done, she told Compass to protect the room before sprinting outside with Eternika at her side. Hopping from that building, she proceeded to fly toward the one coming up closer to her landing range.

Looking down, she would find a special crimson bridge which was connected between two buildings. Hiding underneath its base structure, she began to catch sight of the tiny lights below.

“Alright. Eternika if it’s okay with you I want to do some crime fighting. I don’t want to kill anyone though. That’s my golden rule, especially after what happened with Strage.”

“Oh, okay. Speaking of which, after that we need to find out where the girl in the lab may be tomorrow.”

“Fair enough. Alright then. I’m ready for lesson number one.”

Eternika began to transform, turning into the human that Styra had seen in her Yraden.

“Firstly, you need to know a lot more about me to understand that The Kra Force is part of my abilities as well. At my base level of knowledge, I can aid in flight, teleportation, emissions of energy beams, turn invisible, and transform into this body of a human. I am able to do these things because I can harness star energy of any kind which is used to fuel and power up our capabilities. The Eternal Lights fall into this category because they are made up of a special kind of light known as preon stars. When activated, these can bend realities and cause our Omniverse to become a space used to dictate the past, present, and futures of life and death.”

“Okay, so what if I want to get better without harnessing an Eternal Light anymore. Is there any way for me to do that?”

“Well, there is one way… The Star Sense.”

“Star Sense? What is that?”

“It is the most powerful sense in the known Omniverse. Amethion mastered most of it in advance, earning him the role of Heptarion Commander. However, it is also said that The Lucid Light has direct access to it as well. By sensing stars, you can potentially shake The Void and create preon stars. Once that happens, you would technically be on par with the anomaly’s chaotic choices. However, barely anyone has tapped into its potential beside Prism or The Lucid Light that I know of.”

“Woah… Sounds challenging already. How do I use The Star Sense?”

“This is what Amethion told me. Close your eyes, remove all that you see in your mind to the point where darkness is all that is left. You must be truly aware and then able to control your ability to travel worlds whilst knowing which one you are in. Otherwise you will fall victim to The Lucid Light’s evil threats. They come in the form of nightmares and what you fear most. That is evident of most creatures who experience it. To break past the boundaries of The Eternal Lights themselves means you are capable of rewriting history itself.”

“Interesting. So that is the cost… Did you ever master The Star Sense?”

“Unfortunately no. Doing this was particularly tricky. However, I’d like you to remember one thing. Never trust the noises in your head that want to destroy you. They are deceptive and are a result of not trusting yourself. To trust yourself, as Emeraldion said, will be the hardest part of that journey.”

“Yeah… You know exactly how I feel about that.”

“All I can say is this to you Styra. My experience across this Void has taught me one other lesson…”

“And what is that?”

Eternika transformed back into the four blades it originally was. A memory of its own was still there, lingering like an endless recount of near-death experiences.

“This Omniverse may in fact lie beyond The Lucid Light.”