✧ Chapter 49 ✧

It was another bright and sunny morning in Centreplex City. While mostly everyone had been sleeping downstairs inside Cherry’s house which was located around a pretty friendly neighborhood, Styra, Eternika, and Compass were the only ones able to manage planning their next moves for today as a team.

If there was anything to go off of from yesterday, it was clear that they needed to take careful steps in order to solve all of these problems that had been plaguing The Omniverse so far. First and foremost, they needed to go back to Dream Academy High to find the ones responsible for breaking the e-glasses Cherry found.

After all, these strangers were likely enough to have intel on more of the secrets UVOCA was hiding.

When they were finished setting up an ideal strategy by 4 AM, Styra went to wake everyone up and explain what their role in the mission was. By the time she came back full circle to Cherry’s bedroom, she saw Cherry sitting on her own bed next to the window. She seemed to be staring outside at the cherry blossoms located right beside her house.

“Hi Cherry. Everything alright?”

The room had this air of gentle silence as Styra saw Cherry glance at her before patting the covers to indicate an invitation to sit down and chat with her.

Doing as she was told, Styra noticed that Cherry was beginning to stare at the desk where the Optillica X2 was laying. The change from yesterday evidently reflected on the work done overnight to help finish building a new pair of e-glasses thanks to Cherry’s notes.

“Say, about those glasses… Compass told me that they are capable of giving a user the ability to locate fractures in space-time. Like you can see them with your own eyes,” stated Styra.

“Wow. So that was the secret unlocking the passcode would’ve shown. How did Compass figure it out?” asked Cherry.

“It is connected to an Eternal Light that witnessed what Spessarion did with UVOCA, so it basically knew all of the passcodes that they created. At least that’s what Compass told me.”

“Nice… Uhm, I have another question…”

“Ask away.”

Cherry blushed as she softly pointed at Styra’s right hand.

“May I feel your hand?”

Styra was a bit surprised at this request, finding it to be a bit odd. She had never been asked something like this before. Regardless, she nodded her head slowly, entrusting the decision to get to understand these feelings she was having.

As Cherry tingling fingers touched Styra’s bare hand, she stared at them with serious eyes.

“Star, I promise to protect you no matter what. After what happened to Ararima, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Fleeting thoughts between one another, Styra could see that this new ally was clearly more attached to whoever she had been in the past than who she was now. While it was true that there lingered a sense of ambition to explore it, she knew putting this aside until the current situations were settled would be more important. Twice was enough since it nearly hurt the people that helped her already.

“I have to tell you something… It’s going to be rough for me to say but, I really would appreciate it if you called me Styra. Whenever I tried to discover my past, it would just cause more problems. Whether that was collecting The Ten Eternal Lights or going off alone in search of answers, things like that almost killed those I cared about. There is only one exception to that of course, but again, it’s the way I go about this that I am uncertain of.”

“Right. Sorry about that. That was selfish of me...”

Feeling bad about the request she made, Styra found it in herself to smoothly massage Cherry’s hand as a way of healing their relationship.

“You’re not selfish. It’s just that, we are both new to sharing how we’ve changed from when we last met. Tell you what, when this adventure is over, we can spend more time together to learn about each other.”

Reminiscing on Styra’s words, Cherry had a certain request in mind that she was determined to take part in.

“I suppose so.… It’s just that, there are things I’ve seen that make me feel like I want to do more. I know this may sound strange cause I haven’t told anyone else about this but, I had a weird dream that stuck with me ever since I escaped that place. The last I remember of revisiting it, that place had a name… The Candy Room”

“What happened?”

“I thought Ararima had something to deal with the mysterious open door inside Dream Academy High’s hallways. The Traveller was there chasing me around, I heard ghost children running around the place, and I think one of his own creations were there too. It looked like one of those paper doll people. I would say she was about the size of a twelve-year-old from my perspective.”

“That’s a rather specific description. Do you know what her name is?”

“Sadly no, but here is what I’m trying to say. The dream I had happened when that doll took me out of the room. I saw giant gumball machines as tall as skyscrapers. They were filled with these toy capsules that contained people. I was in one of them.”

This already surprised Styra a lot more than initially expected. She listened further; deeply invested in how Cherry was delineating her experience.

“Throughout that entire time, I had this urge within me to help them even though I already suffered through so much as is. In real life, I was never that brave or strong enough to ever be able to stand up for myself. After what I felt during that exact moment, I want to get a second chance at delivering on the promises I made to Ararima and you. Stopping whatever UVOCA is doing right now is the only way all of us can get any sort of closure out of this.”

From what Styra could make out, Cherry genuinely wanted to help in any way possible. She just needed someone who could train her to become what she desired to be. An idea started to form and it certainly sounded like what Cherry was missing had more to deal with the confidence of being herself.

Softly patting her old friend on the shoulder, she knew exactly how they were going to confront the bullies that broke Cherry’s older pair of e-glasses.

“I want to show you something,” she said with a reassuring tone.

Cherry followed Styra downstairs to where the group was located.

“Hey Compass, I have a certain request in mind for Cherry. Do you think you can give her a new armor suit? Something like mine that works even if they don’t have gifted powers?” asked Styra.

Compass looked at Cherry who stood away in a shy manner behind her friend’s back, slightly anxious about how the bot would respond.

“I can create something specifically for her, but I advise that you keep me within your sight at all times. If Voltaze figures out that I reside within this machine, he could take away my agency and she would lose the special abilities that I gave her.”

Immediately after this warning, Styra turned toward Cherry with concern. She could tell that there was an emotional pressure taking hold of her friend based on that timid facial expression she gave off.

Then an idea came through as she faced Flight and Hisa.

“Just a thought but, what if Flight and Hisa could use some of their extra power that they have and give it to Cherry? Would it allow her to safely use it in case the circumstances are not in our favor?”

The idea certainly seemed like it could work in Compass’s mind.

“Very well. One more thing must be taken into account. Cherry must firmly decide what she wants her suit to look like. Otherwise, the design may not be what she wants if it isn’t thought through under a proper choice.”

Already this was not the easiest thing to do from a creative perspective. Cherry had to consider a concrete inspiration. Many mental suggestions crowded her mind, but it was not simple enough to choose one at all.

“Be right back,” she replied before going upstairs to draw what she was thinking.

∗ ∗ ∗

At the Singularity Stronghold, Creperus and Sapphirion arrived within the multiverse of Ynadith.

The Guardian Of Darkness immediately opened an interactive map of the Rosenhan galaxy which revealed where Animearth was. Further inspecting the world by commanding the black hole to identify any pure energy signatures coming from The Eternal Light Of Surreality.

What showed up shocked both him and Sapphirion alike.

“Why is this unit of individuals I sent to stop the anomaly meddling around in one location? Our enemy could be on the move and now they are risking the destruction of a world!” yelled Creperus as he could see them idling around inside of Cherry’s house.

“As I said Dark One, they are in need of my guidance to prevent the catastrophe that may come. Let me set them straight,” responded Sapphirion.

“The future of our Omniverse is in our grasp Sapphirion. Find out what they are really up to. Otherwise, who knows how long it will be before this evil force enacts its slaughterings past a mere galaxy!”

Just as The Guardian Of Space was about to travel through the black hole that would lead him to Animearth, a fractal portal suddenly appeared in front of them.

“It’s here! Prepare yourself Sapphirion. Remember what we planned,” said Creperus.

Sapphirion nodded as he summoned The Rings Of Space, a set of three wieldable ancient rings that fit loosely around each of his arms and could be manipulated by his gravity-driven powers to damage opponents.

As the two guardians watched patiently in front of the space-time vacuum, a voice suddenly came from behind them.

“So this is what the vision from my past was trying to show me,” said Voltaze as he stepped out of another fractal portal separate from the one Sapphirion and Creperus were facing towards.

“Anomaly, your trespassing of our ancient thresholds end here. Surrender now or everything you are attempting to accomplish will be desecrated without mercy,” stated The Guardian Of Darkness.

“You? Desecrating me? The impact of your insults are just as effective as the chances of an entire population on a planet trying to escape a black hole.”

“Petty threats will not save you from making such poor choices. I suggest you reconsider. The consequences of your actions will not benefit you,” interrupted Sapphirion towards Voltaze.

“As if I would reconsider breaking an entire system built on imprisonment. After everything Prism has done, you expect me to comply with your demands?! Not a chance.” the beast retorted out of deep-seated anger.

Creperus knew full well that regardless of what was happening on Animearth, they were going to have to call their new recruits into battle immediately.

Sapphirion instantly used his Eternal Light to patch up the two fractal portals so he could both bring balance to this Megaverse and enter the universe where their team would be located. Upon completing part of this task, Voltaze created multiple clones to go after Sapphirion and Creperus.

These clones started to attack Creperus and hold Sapphirion back from entering. The Guardian Of Space specifically was being targeted more as Voltaze knew he was the weaker guardian among the two of them he would be facing against.

More and more replicas of Voltaze scattered around them. Unlike Strage and Spessarion though, Sapphirion and Creperus utilized their powers together in unison to handle off the droves of enemies coming their way. Sapphirion would manipulate the Rings Of Space while Creperus would smack each one viciously in order to destroy groups of clones in one hit.

All the while, Voltaze seemed to have camouflaged into the large crowds that were trying to break down their defenses. In a last resort to further damage this army, The Guardian Of Darkness whacked out seven of the Eternal Lights that the real Voltaze had in his possession.

With the anomaly taken down in one hit, Sapphirion had the opportunity to finally enter the black hole and transport himself to Animearth.

Back in the Singularity Stronghold, Creperus gathered every Eternal Light in front of it; collecting them into its brace that held the Eternal Light Of Darkness.

“You have wasted your precious time stealing the power of Omniversal guardians. Their bond is not yours to use,” said Creperus.

Voltaze, who stood up after what happened, suddenly seemed to show a devious smirk on his face as the monstrous side of him was evidently showing.

“Did you really think that you’ve won all because you hold The Eternal Lights? I staged my temporary defeat for a reason.”

Confused by hearing that the defeat was staged, a sudden burst of bright chaotic colors flooded within Creperus’s brace as it spread throughout his dark gaseous body. Hints of glowing mint green lights were breaking down all seven of the Eternal Lights themselves, transforming The Guardian Of Darkness into something much more dangerous.

“Just like the other guardians I’ve defeated so far, you yourself can’t help but fall into my traps. What I’ve been given is a chance to exceed your hierarchy and destroy what you’ve built. Once that is completed, I will be free knowing that everything that wronged me will no longer torture me,” said Voltaze before turning his attention towards the open black hole.

At this point, Voltaze didn’t necessarily anticipate on Sapphirion somehow closing up the fractal portal with The Eternal Light Of Space. His best guess suggested that the bond was stronger than the one he had with the other seven. This baffled him, but regardless of whether or not he could overpower it, he definitely had a strong case to make about defeating The Guardian Of Darkness.

In fact, the now eight rogue Eternal Lights within Creperus were allowing him to control this guardian’s mind. That meant he had an ancient Alpha Guardian in the palm of his hands.

One he could use at his disposal.