Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cold air brushed against his face causing stray strands of hair and fur on his uniform the stir. In an odd way it felt comforting even though this place was not his own, it at least reminded him of Mercury.

“So what kind of things have you learned about this place.” Slidr walked across the courtyard towards one of the libraries. Snow beneath his feet crunched loudly in the otherwise silent area. “Political or academic wise,” he clarified.

It wouldn’t be much of a library if there wasn’t any books. Same thing goes for the courthouse, kind of lacks purpose without written records of who was on trial and for what reasons. It would at least give insight to the values of the people from her wonder and likely this world as a whole.

“I would assume now that you are transcended it would mean that you’ve unlocked all the secrets of this place. That you’d have learned the language or text in the books and have been able to have more of an understanding of what happened in the past.” The biggest question on his mind has always been what the point of any of this was if nobody can seem to remember.

Perhaps his expectations were too high but she was the highest ranked individual he knew of aside from the General Kings and Queens they encountered in the Dark Kingdom when they retrieved the code. Senshi had their princes and princesses but in all honesty he didn’t care much about them. All of them failed as leaders, which is one of the reasons they lost when they invaded their territory.

Fortunately enough they did retrieve that piece of the code which in turn gave them a reason to continue to visit their wonder but it seemed as if they were at a stalemate now. It has been a while since he had heard of any forward progression and knowing that even at transcended Delphi still hadn’t unlocked her past, he couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

“So then I have to ask, why does it keep calling you back here then? If you’ve learned all that it has to offer then what more is there to do?” Library of books that can’t be read and a justice system when they were currently thrusted in a war that had no justice. Just take or be taken from and get back at those who have wronged you. All this ever seemed to be was a cycle of revenge except when outside forces invaded Destiny City.

Sometimes it felt like an exclusive club because the moment someone else stepped in, all the factions seemed to come together in some unspoken truce then fell back into the old routine the moment the new threat was taken care of.

“I suppose that makes sense.” And yet, his far off tone suggest he wasn’t exactly happy with it.

Slidr did as she did and removed his fingerless gloves then dipped his hands in the water. Perhaps he had been sitting outside longer than he had thought because he went from feeling nothing to pain within seconds. But after a moment, the pain died down once his fingers warmed.

“So then what is it you need to do here today?”

“Sounds like an inconvenience.” Slidr absently replied.

Thankfully he hadn’t transcended otherwise he would be dead right now. It wasn’t just a few weeks or months since he had visited his wonder, try more like years at this point. In that time he did power up on occasion but even that became a tedious task.

“Then again I feel like I could use the escape.” For years he had been living under the same roof and sleeping in the same bed with Alexandre. With how things were heading, Aiden had nothing. Going home wasn’t really an option; his mother would take him in but the last thing he wanted was to be a burden to her. His father, however, was a man whose mind couldn’t be changed, as far as he was concerned he was dead to him. If it wasn’t for Riley… if it wasn’t for his dog then he would have nothing to tie him to the city and could simply leave.

“You had mentioned that you hope that this place may become liveable. Have you tried bringing anyone, or thing, here that wasn’t powered or human.” Not food or plants but animals specific was what he was thinking about.

“Have you at least connected with other Polaris knight to continue to rebuild this star?” Perhaps that’s what it would take to bring live to the otherwise dead world. Not just one wonder rebuilt but multiple. In order to have a civilization you start with one small community but eventually that community would grow and with growth the people venture to other regions. It is a natural progression of life.

“Maybe your next step is to help them transcend.”

“Have you considered that perhaps their wonders may in turn have keys to the past, whether it is related to Destiny City or Polaris’s I wouldn’t know but I don’t think you’ll learn too much more here. Another knight may have a cipher that could be used to understand what is written in the books.” Slidr wasn’t sure why he was so hung up on it but for some reason he needed there to be more reason to keep fighting or rebuilding. They had to be connected in some way, in the past they must have worked together in a common goal, maybe the missing links were hidden in the memories of another knight.

“So what are your plans going forward?” Slidr put his gloves back on and stuck his hands into his pockets.

Both as a Page of Mercury and as a civilian, his own path was unknown. But the more he spoke with Delphi, the more he felt like no matter which one he devoted himself to, everything would fall apart in the end.

Continuing to pursue Alexandre was unhealthy for the both of them. Lies divided them as new faces kept the fissures from closing. After over five years Aiden still hadn’t found the courage to tell his boyfriend that he was a knight, going so far as to even rejection the notion himself and ignoring the call. It was difficult at first but as the months passed the need to power up was nothing more than an afterthought. However the more unbearable things got at home the more persistent that call became.

On the other hand, if he pursued life as a Knight then eventually he was destined to reach the same place where Delhi was at. A royal who was missing and offered nothing in terms of direction.

What kind of hope for a future did either of those options give?

“A safe haven perhaps. But what good is it if we’re limited to how many times we can come visit or the number of people we can bring?” Slidr himself had never actually taken anyone to his wonder but he had heard that there is a bit of a fatigue associated with it. Being a transcended she may not feel its effect as much but from what he understood there were only so many visits allocated each month and only so many people you could bring with you.

“I’m sorry,” the Page of Mercury ran his fingers through his ebony colored hair and sighed. “You don’t deserve to be interrogated like this. I know you’re trying to help. You extended your hand out to me years ago and like then I slapped it away.” For that he truly felt guilty and regret for turning his back on probably the only person who had tried to help him.