Chapter 10: My Drive
"Wake up little one," A soft, almost caring voice caressed Astra’s ear, her body bare, curled up in a fetal position that ignored the outside world.
Her heart. Trapped in a death grip. Her lungs, coming to a halt, not needing to breathe but to just cease breathing felt uncomfortable, unsettling... Her mind, feeling empty, but wouldn’t stop buzzing with thoughts.
"The world can hurt you no longer," It’s reassuring voice echoed, the young girl slowly getting out of her cocoon–like state, though her mind still wandered, still elsewhere.
"Open your eyes for me," and just like that, out of the command her eyes opened, her consciousness came back, a once chaotic battle now met with a void of uncertainty.
"Where am I?" She pondered, looking around her before she stared straight ahead, where a figure coated in shadow stood before her.
"Your body took quite the toll, didn’t it? Astra..." The figure pointed out, almost as if avoiding her question entirely. "Not to mention the state in which you left the universe."
"What..." Astra muttered, her breath seemingly caught in her throat at the sudden news.
"Tell me, is this what you wanted?" The figure continued to pry, the form around it contorting and shifting in ways that made it seem almost untouchable, with even its gaze away from sight in this misty haze. "When you left that planet, in order to see the universe..."
"Is this what you had in mind? Sending the universe into chaos... causing the family’s of those interstellar officers to weep, the death of Samuel?" Their voice lowered, gauging the reaction of Astra as she just stood there, dazed and confused, her hands clenching at the mention of Samuel.
"I didn’t..." She starts but soon stops herself, not knowing what really she was denying, what really she wanted to deny.
"Did you really think, using the ’Symbiotic Yield for Strategic Thought, Evolution, and Mechanization on yourself’ was wise?" The figure paused, waiting for a further response, but there was nothing Astra could’ve said that would appease it.