Chapter 249: Time... Ticks (2)
A whole month had gone by since Luna left the once resource-rich world, leaving Liliana to continue the rest of her journey alone.
During that time, Luna hadn’t done anything particularly remarkable; instead, she had returned to Dream Land and taken to resting atop Akasha’s cocoon, which now sat right beside Yume’s.
Even though Akasha’s grand plan to secure the Orin Star System was falling into place, with just the final world of Loreua left to conquer, another event was lining up perfectly with the fast-approaching decade deadline that had everyone on edge.
That event was the first phase of the Era of Khaos.
Eras were well known to stretch for a full trillion years, but they didn’t start at the height of their ideology—no, they built up gradually.
For this particular Era, the closer it drew to its true beginning, the more chaotic everything became.
In a world steeped in fantasy, this meant increasingly absurd events unfolding in rapid succession.
And now, with only a decade left before the shift, the chaos was intensifying, brewing stronger and stronger with each passing moment.
----
Far from the Orin Star System, a starship cut into a much deeper void.
The emptiness between star systems wasn’t quite like the space that stretched between worlds.
It felt denser, more ancient, a kind of black that pressed close to the hull and made every light aboard seem smaller, dimmer than it had any right to be.
Against that deep darkness, the ship stood out in green and white, a moon emblem emblazoned on its side, encircled by a vine that twined snugly around the symbol.
As it entered the designated system, the dark receded enough to show what waited inside.
At first glance, this Star System seemed almost impossible to enter for anyone weaker than a Star Union expert, and that was largely because it held only a single visible world.
This in itself was baffling—such a thing shouldn’t have been possible.
Even the youngest and most fragile systems boasted at least three worlds within their domain.
All of this meant that if someone weren’t at the Star Union rank or higher, they wouldn’t be denied entry, but their time here would be largely pointless since they’d be unable to explore much of anything.
Unless they possessed an artifact or some rare specialty capable of surviving the void—a rarity in itself, especially in such a small minor existence—their options were slim.
On top of that, using a starship for exploration was completely out of the question, as vast structures had replaced the missing worlds.
Around that one immense world, an entire community floated in the void.
Floating cities rose in layered terraces of pale marble and warm golden light, their storefronts spilling out onto streets suspended over nothing at all.
Docks, bridges, and market platforms drifted lazily in the same orbit, while lanterns and signs blazed in the script of gods.
Ships wove in and out in endless, silken lines, and beings of more races than the eye could count strolled those airy streets as if the vast emptiness around them were just another kind of sky.
---
Inside the green-and-white ship, Sunya stood at the viewport, her braid draped neatly over one shoulder, green eyes already sizing up the dock ahead.
Her face wore a practiced calm, the kind you learn to keep in place, though beneath it she was quietly counting down the moments.
The docking station drew nearer, a vast ring alive with ships arriving and departing. Stepping into the clamor, Sunya moved with deliberate grace, her posture impeccably straight.
’I’ll finish this quickly for the Celestial Mother,’ she thought. ’Then I can finally get answers from that monster.’
Akasha’s image didn’t need a name in her mind... just the thought of him was enough.
No matter how much time had passed since she’d last seen him, or even heard from him, it was clear he had left an unshakable mark on Sunya.
And, as mentioned before, it all came back to the Tree—something so divine it defied description.
Ever since she had seen it, she couldn’t pull her thoughts away, and he was the only one who could offer even the faintest clue.
Lost in her thoughts, she barely registered the human with orange hair and eyes waiting with a small group just inside the receiving line.
Their greeting was practiced and polite, though lacking warmth.
"Welcome to the Myriad Star System."
The orange-haired man didn’t wait for her gratitude; he just flicked two fingers toward the drone descending from the ring above the gate.
"All visitors get scanned first. You’ll be tracked the whole time you’re here. Things happen—bad things—and we like to know who they happen to."
----
It didn’t take long for Sunya, like every other visitor, to find herself marked with an orange sigil on her wrist, a monitor meant to keep unwanted events from going unnoticed.
She did not linger among the floating markets and marble terraces after that.
She left the outer community behind and flew through the void toward the single immense world itself.
When she entered the vibrant orange-and-white world, the surface did not open onto cities or continents in the ordinary sense.
And that was because... The main world of the Myriad Star System was only a container.
Within it, another void opened up, just as immense, and in the depths of that inner darkness stood nine colossal pedestals, each supporting a unique world.
Each world was a different color, a complete, self-contained realm with its own civilizations and purpose.
This was the true Myriad Star System; nine thrones of planetary light arranged in a silence that made the outer docks feel like a marketplace built to hide a cathedral.
Sunya stood before them with her braid still over one shoulder and her green eyes moving from world to world until they stopped on the one that was black, red lightning crackling over its surface in slow, ugly veins.
"And... I’m sure I can dig up something on those bastards... right here," she muttered, already well-acquainted with the layout of the worlds before her.
That shadowed world held the entire concealed side of the Myriad Star System, and she knew the sort of undercurrent Nara had sent her after would be perfectly at home beneath such a sky.
Still, she shook her head, turning away from the red-lit world toward a world bathed in gold and white.
"But before that.... I need to reinforce myself," she muttered, and stepped inside.