The crew aboard the Starlight watched as the last remains of the head guardian crumbled apart and floated through the opening in the mountain. Kaito's CPI scanner flickered in his eye as he stared at the projection of Sylas.
Sylas: 3,250,000 CPI
"You weren't kidding at all… He really can use a resonance transformation with his guardian like the captain." He mumbled.
"I told you so." Finn muttered besides him.
While the two stared in subtle amazement, Kaeline watched Sylas with something different in her eyes. It was a form of… curiosity.
Inside the chamber, the final pieces of the head guardian disappeared as Sylas slowly floated back down to the platform. His long golden hair shortened to its original length as his feet touched the ground.
At the same time, a loud cracking sound echoed through the chamber. Everyone's attention shifted toward the giant frozen doors at the far end of the room, opposite from where they entered. The thick layers of ice holding them shut began to crack. Large pieces broke away and crashed against the floor one after another until the doors were completely freed.
Elara pressed a finger against the smooth surface of the command table.
"That room should contain the cosmic well and its resources. Once inside, collect everything you can carry and return to the ship."
Jinx's cybernetic arm shifted back into her hand as she began to walk towards it.
"Finally, the real fun part."
Rorik chuckled as he followed.
"The part where we get paid babyyy."
The three walked across the platform toward the doors with Viro's head floating beside them. Sylas placed both hands covered in clear essence against the doors and pushed. The two doors groaned before slowly opening inward.
The room beyond them was much smaller than the previous two chambers, but what they saw caused all three to stop for a moment.
At the center of the room was a wide staircase made of glowing blue stone. It led upward toward a large circular structure in the shape of a well made for water. Bright blue cosmic essence overflowed from its center. It moved over the edge like thick liquid flowing down carved paths along the sides of the structure before fading into the stone beneath it.
The entire room glowed because of it.
Aetherium crystals grew along both sides of the staircase in large clusters. Some were no bigger than a fist, while others stretched taller than Sylas. Glowing plants and flowers covered sections of the floor around them. Different colored stones sat across the steps and near the walls. Some were smooth while others were jagged, but every one of them sparkled with a different color.
Several weapons and pieces of armor were scattered throughout the room as well. Near the base of the staircase rested a short sword with an icy blue blade and dark blue accents along its handle. A few steps above it sat a piece of blue upper body armor and elf would wear. Its surface had the same dark shade as the skin beneath the head guardian's frozen armor.
Kaito leaned closer to the holoprojection.
"So that thing at the top of the stairs… That's a cosmic well?"
"Yes. We talked about them briefly when you first joined the crew, but never went into much detail." Elara replied.
She looked toward him.
"Cosmic wells are pools of pure essence found on planets and moons throughout the known universe. Their size, potency, and rank vary greatly, but every one of them produces resources that cannot be found naturally anywhere else."
She raised one hand and pointed toward the stones scattered along the staircase.
"Do you see those rocks?"
Kaito nodded.
"They're known as well stones. Each color and type contains a different material used in the creation of modern technology."
Finn tilted his head.
"How are they different from normal metals or elements found on other worlds?"
"The materials inside well stones can hold and circulate essence naturally. Normal metals tend to break down when exposed to large amounts of essence for long periods of time."
Her finger shifted toward a bright silver stone near the bottom of the stairs.
"Well materials are different. They can withstand extreme amounts of power without losing their structure. Some even grow stronger after repeated exposure."
Kaito slowly nodded.
"So that's why they're used for advanced tech."
"Exactly."
The projection zoomed slightly toward the staircase.
"We need some of those materials to upgrade the Starlight's hyperdrive into a warp drive once we arrive in Starfall City."
Kaito's eyes widened slightly.
"A warp drive…"
Elara nodded.
"A hyperdrive allows us to travel between nearby star systems and inside a galaxy fairly easy. A warp drive will allow us to cross far greater distances like from one galaxy to another in a much shorter amount of time."
Her gaze shifted toward the glowing flora surrounding the well.
"Those plants are just as important."
Kaito looked toward them.
"They're used to create most medicines found on modernized worlds. They're the only known natural medicines capable of assisting in the restoration of a person's essence. The medicines inside medpins are the same type, just at a lesser dosage."
She looked around the table at everyone.
"The flora, well stones, aetherium crystals, and artifacts inside that room can only be found around cosmic wells."
Her eyes returned to the projection.
"Yet countless worlds rely on them for survival."
Kaito remained quiet. His eyes moved between the well, the glowing plants, the crystals, and the scattered stones. The thought of a guardian abandoning a place like this no longer felt like a strange event. It felt like a threat. A threat he couldn't ignore knowing countless innocent people will be in grave danger by something like this.
Beside him, Finn watched as Rorik bent down and picked up the blue armor with both hands. The armor looked small next to his massive red body.
"Is that a cosmic artifact?" He asked.
Kaeline nodded.
"Yes. It appears there are several scattered throughout the well room."
His eyes moved toward the short sword and other objects around the staircase.
"Could we… bring some back to train with?"
Kaeline didn't answer immediately. Her eyes shifted toward Elara. Elara noticed her stare and gave a small nod before pressing a finger against the table.
"Bring back a few of the artifacts as well."
Later that day, Rorik, Sylas, Jinx, Nara, Viro, Kaito, and Finn sat around one of the long tables inside the Starlight's massive cafeteria. The table was placed beside a large window panel that stretched nearly the entire length of the room. Outside, K-7's icy blue terrain extended nearly the entire window's length.
Jinx stood on top of the table with a glowing purple drink in one hand. The glass was almost as large as her body and somehow already halfway empty.
"And then this handsome bastard starts floating and his hair gets all long and green wind starts blowing all over the place, and he points his sword at that big frozen bastard like this!"
She raised her cybernetic arm above her head, nearly spilling her drink on Finn.
He quickly leaned away before getting soaked.
"Then—BOOOOM!"
She threw both arms outward.
"Gone! The whole top half of the damn thing! Head, chest, arms, everything! Nothing but legs left!"
Sylas sat silently with one hand covering part of his face as his cheeks began to turn red. Nara leaned forward from the other side of the table.
"I already told you he could use a resonance transformation."
Jinx looked down toward her.
"Yeah, but seeing it in person is totally different!"
Nara's eyes narrowed.
"Just say you didn't believe me."
Jinx raised the glass to her lips and finished the remainder of the purple drink in one long gulp.
She lowered it then burped loud enough to echo through the cafeteria. She wiped her mouth with the back of her normal hand.
"Nah, nah. It wasn't like that, lil sis." She replied, swaying slightly where she stood.
"You gotta understand. All of us star travelers dream about reaching resonance one day in our lives."
She crouched down on the table and pointed between everyone.
"It's like the pinnacle of peak. The ultimate way to know how badass a star traveler really is."
Rorik leaned back in his seat with his glass held between two of his giant red fingers and took a sip as she continued.
"Look at our crew. We got plenty of strong people here, but the only ones who can transform are the captain and Talon. And those two are literal S-ranked elven prodigies from some of the strongest elf races in the universe."
Rorik pointed toward Sylas.
"Now we have a third."
Jinx spun around and almost lost her balance.
"Exactly!"
She grabbed the edge of the table and steadied herself before tumbling over face first.
"But he's also an elf from the same race as Talon, so nothing really changed."
Sylas raised an eyebrow.
"I believe that was meant to be a compliment."
"It was my future money maker." Jinx assured him.
She then reached down and snatched Rorik's drink from his hand.
"Yo man! Whatchu doing!?"
Jinx ignored him and began drinking from it like it was hers to begin with.
"That's my point!" She continued between gulps.
"If you're not an elf like them, you gotta train your entire life just for the smallest chance of unlocking a resonance transformation."
Rorik reached for his glass, but she twisted her body away from him. Despite the massive difference in size between them, he struggled to take it back.
"And for most people…" She continued after finishing nearly half of it.
"That chance never comes."
She held the drink high above her head.
"You damn elves are busted when it comes to power. No wonder your people populated most of the known universe a long time ago."
Rorik reached around her again.
"Give me my drink back!"
"NEVER! Get your own!"
"THAT'S MINES!"
Sylas stared into his glass for a moment before lifting it from the table.
"I am nothing like captain Elara or her friend Talon." He said.
Jinx and Rorik stopped fighting over the drink long enough to look at him.
"I have heard many stories about them both from my elder brother and others. Their talents, their strength, and the things they accomplished at the academy."
He looked down at his reflection inside the glowing liquid as his grip around the handle tightened.
"My power does not compare to theirs. Not yet."
He raised the glass to his lips and downed the entire thing in one gulp. He slammed the empty glass back onto the table.
For a few seconds, he sat silently with a serious expression.
Then his face turned bright red and he let out a burp louder than Jinx's.
Everyone stared at him in shock. He slowly stood from his seat, placing one hand against the table to keep his balance.
"But it does not matter whether I was born an elf…" He began, his words slightly slurred.
"Or the clean side of a yarkle's ass…"
He raised one fist into the air.
"I will not allow anything to stand between me and my goal!"
Jinx slammed Rorik's glass against the table, sending some of the drink spilling over the side.
"That's what the fuck I'm talking about!"
She threw one arm around his shoulders.
"Ain't nothing gonna keep us down!"
"Nothing!" He shouted back to her.
The two began drunkenly rambling over one another as Rorik leaned back in his seat and watched them with a smile. He finally managed to take his drink back and stared at what little remained inside.
"Damn shame…"
During the commotion, Kaito felt something buzz against his leg. He stopped laughing at the two and reached into his pants pocket and grabbed his star traveler license card.
The moment he pulled it out, it buzzed again. He stared down at it.
"What in the stars…?"
The thin black card looked the same as before. His name, rank, license number, and the small image of his face were still displayed across its surface, but it continued to vibrate in his hand.
He tapped the front of it with one finger and nothing happened. He tapped it again. Still nothing.
The card buzzed again. His face scrunched together in slight annoyment. He turned it over and pressed the small symbol on the back. Still nothing.
"Seriously?..." He muttered to himself.
No one at the table noticed him fighting with the card. Jinx and Sylas had started singing something neither of them knew the words to while Rorik attempted to steal Jinx's drink while she wasn't looking.
He stood up from his seat.
"I'll be right back."
Finn glanced up at him.
"Where are you going?"
"My license is acting weird."
Finn looked at the card vibrating in his hand.
"Did you break it already?"
"I don't know. I don't think I did anything to it."
Finn rolled his eyes playful as Kaito began to walk away.
"I bet you did. Anyways, I'll see you in the training room with the others later on. I gotta make sure Jinx doesn't destroy the entire cafeteria before I leave."
The card continued buzzing as he left the cafeteria and entered the hallway. He tapped it against his palm repeatedly.
"Come on. Turn off already."
Buzz
He shook it.
Buzz
"Power off." He said commandingly.
Buzz
He held it closer to his face.
"Deactivate?"
Buzz
He sighed.
By the time he reached his room, he had tried pressing every part of the card, speaking several different commands, and even throwing it against the wall a few times, but nothing worked.
His room door hissed open and he stepped inside. He tossed the card onto his bed.
"I can't believe Astra gave me a busted license."
A familiar feminine and robotic voice came from behind him.
"My licensing equipment does not malfunction."
His eyes widened and he slowly turned around.
Light emitted from the card and formed a holoprojection above his bed. Astra's head floated in the center of it, her four glowing eyes staring directly at him.
"Though it appears its owner may be defective."
In the starlounge, Elara sat inside one of the large lush chairs. Her bare feet rested on the edge of the seat as she leaned back with one arm against the side of her face. A holoprojection of Talon's upper body floated above the low table in front of her.
Beside the chair, Ignis stood with her arms folded across her armored chest. The flames making up her wings burned quietly behind her, filling the dim lounge with a faint red-orange glow.
"You're joking…" Talon said.
There was no amusement in her voice. Her face remained completely serious as she studied Elara through the projection. Elara slowly shook her head. Talon's eyes narrowed.
"You're telling me after all of that happened during and after the exams, Kaito is defending her? He won't give you the exams unless you beat him in you two's fight? Who does that idiot think he is now!?"
"He believes in her. And Aqua." Elara replied calmly.
"He's stubborn, you know that. It shouldn't surprise you he did something like that."
Talon's jaw tightened slightly.
Elara lowered her feet from the chair and sat up straighter.
"Besides, there's even more on top of everything else going on. Ignis can explain the rest herself."
Talon's gaze shifted toward the armored being beside her. Ignis unfolded her arms.
"When I stood before Kaito, it was as clear to me as the stars outside this vessel that he houses a powerful guardian." She began.
"I could feel its essence resting within his body. Yet, it is unlike the essence of an ordinary yoki guardian. It's as if their essence have merged into one instead of two distinct pools."
Ignis's burning eyes narrowed slightly beneath her helmet.
"From what I sensed, the being inside him may possess power comparable to my own."
Talon's eyes widened just barely.
"Comparable to you…? That's impossible."
Ignis nodded once.
"Possibly. However, while sensing the guardian within Kaito, I became aware of another unfamiliar pool of essence nearby."
Talon's body perked up slightly.
"It was subtle. So faint that I could hardly distinguish it from the others until I moved closer."
"You sensed something else inside Kaito?" Talon replied.
"No. Not inside him."
The lounge fell silent.
"At first, I believed the sensation came from the pink girl standing beside him."
"Elysia." Elara said.
"Yes. Her."
Ignis turned her head slightly toward Elara.
"When I looked into her eyes, that assumption seemed reasonable. The essence inside that girl is unlike any being I have encountered throughout my existence."
Elara's fingers slowly curled against the arm of the chair.
Talon's gaze sharpened.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I am uncertain. Her essence is difficult to understand. It feels natural, yet far too pure for any mortal being. But she was not what I sensed…"
Talon's expression darkened.
"Then who was it?"
Ignis looked directly into the holoprojection.
"The other girl."
Talon froze for a short moment.
"Aqua…?"
"Yes."
Elara's red eyes lowered slightly as she thought back to how long Ignis stared at Aqua in the medical bay. The way Aqua's body stiffened beneath her gaze. The way the fins on the sides of her head twitched faster the longer it continued.
Talon noticed the change in Elara's expression.
"You already suspected something, didn't you?"
"I knew Ignis sensed something unusual. But she refused to explain it until we were alone."
Ignis looked down toward her.
"There were too many unknown beings present."
Elara crossed one leg over the other.
"And now?"
"I cannot confirm it with complete certainty. The essence within her is buried far deeper than Kaito's. It has either remained dormant for an extremely long period of time…"
She paused.
"Or something or someone has intentionally concealed it."
Talon's eyes widened. Ignis turned back toward the projection.
"Kaito and Sylas may not be the only yoki aboard this ship… Aqua may house a guardian as well."