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Unlike the Senshi inducted into the Negaverse, Alkaid was capable of wandering the rift freely. Somewhere between a corrupt and an ascendant, she had lost whatever piece of her the youma found more worthy of consumption than respect. Though she didn't come often, they always gave her a wide birth when she did, allowing her to walk freely among the blasted landscape that had once been beyond her grasp.

Tonight, though, she had realized that there was one that wouldn't be afforded such courtesy - and one that was bounds braver than she had ever been as a simple corrupt. That was interesting enough to grab her attention.

It hadn't taken much time to find her with that power signature, though for a long while she kept to the shadows. It was not much of a hiding place, not with an energy like her own, but it would be hard at such close proximity to determine what was her and what was the rift. It had a way of messing with people, she'd found. Not to mention all the practice she'd had with stalking the shadows; three years as she was, the lonely monster, and she had learned all there was to know about lurking where no one would really look. Just from the look on her face, Alkaid could tell that her presence wasn't what was on the other woman's mind. No wonder, considering she had to know her life was in danger every moment she was here.

From her place at a distance, Alkaid became aware of the youma that was stalking the corrupt before it ever dared get too close to the woman. She considered it from where she stood, concealed in the shadow of a large crystal. It was like watching a predator hunt its prey, only the prey was not something Alkaid felt inclined to let fall to the circle of life tonight. This wasn't even the circle of life at all, just a twisted beast hungry for the life it missed.

Corrupts didn't fall to such tragic fates.

When it settled on its haunches to spring, Alkaid swept out of her hiding place to intercept, revealing herself in a whirl of cape and hair. It leaped but landed with a skid once it realized its prey was not alone, sending little pebbles flying up as its claws fought to find traction on the hard-packed earth. Alkaid placed herself between Ate and its snarling jowls, unflinching in the face of what might have once been her own doom as well. One hand went up, the universal signal for stop, and her eyes narrowed onto the feline monstrosity.

"No. Leave."

Though it seemed hesitant, it tucked tail and turned, leaving Alkaid with her back to the corrupt. Her head turned slowly, letting her citrus gaze fall on Ate for the first time since she had revealed herself.

"It's rather silly to be down here alone."

As the corrupt began tripping over her own words, Alkaid found herself amused at the image before her. Sometimes she forgot that for all the similarities they still shared, corrupts were just human after all.

"You flatter me." A smile spread her lips as she turned to face Ate fully, revealing herself in all her shattered glory. The cape that had swirled up around her with her dash settled against the earth at her feet and her dreads fell into place, completing the image of a broken china doll all covered in shimmer and gold. "Though I must admit that I am not even a fraction of the glory that is Metallia, she is above even my comprehension, though I do owe her for all that I am." Though one might have expected a broken figure to be less pleased at what she had become, there was not a word to describe the ascendant but proud.

Now she did move, taking careful, precises steps forward on heels she knew better than her own bare feet. "I did command it though, yes." She stopped just short of the corrupt to stare at her with an open curiosity, letting her eyes drift from head to toe. She was strong and brave, of those two things she was already assured, though she had to wonder if she was also a bit foolish. All corrupt senshi knew the dangers of this place and had heard the warnings time and time again.

"What is your name?" She spoke just as her gaze shifted back up to Ate's eyes. It wasn't a demand, but there was a certain air that said she expected to be answered. Alkaid commanded a cool confidence earned by knowing who and what she was, something she found that many of her peers still lacked.

Ate, as she had just introduced herself, was a tumbling fountain of mixed emotions and uncertainty - but Alkaid didn't seem fussed about it in the slightest. There was no judgment there, but a soft, pleasant laugh that seemed a touch too delicate for such a broken figure. The ascendant herself had a minimal range of emotions but, as a mimic, she did love a good study in humanity. If she ever needed to act completely awed and confused, she had a wonderful reference now.

"I'm Ascended General Alkaid, formerly the Senshi of Guidance. I'm not sure if you should call me special, just one-of-a-kind due to some regrettably unfortunate circumstances." As she spoke, her eyes drifted out to the rift, as if she too might find some answer she was looking for among the dark, depraved landscape. In truth, she had no idea what she was looking for or what form it might take. It could be anywhere. Or nowhere. She had no clues. Sometimes she felt like she might as well be searching for the holy grail.

At last she simply looked back at Ate, as if only just remembering something that had been said by the girl.

"You're looking for answers?" A thin, blonde brow rose as she leaned towards the other senshi, staring at her eyes as if she might judge her words by the look of them. "Are you feeling lost?" The General straightened herself back up and propped the elbow of one arm in the palm of the opposite hand, then tapped her pale, cracked finger against her lips as she waited for Ate's answer.

It had been such a long time ago, but she knew that she had been born into darkness with a feeling of uncertainty. She'd been given duties, tasks, things to bide her time but it wasn't until she'd accepted her place as an Ascendant that the gloomy cloud of doubt had let her be once and for all. Other corrupts had seemed well adjusted in her time, complacent in their... place. Yet, here Ate was, eluding to something that had Alkaid's mind churning with a seldom felt anticipation.

Although Alkaid had been ascended for years, she still found that Ate's reaction was the most common one, more often than not. As much as she was growing weary of having to explain herself and her creation to her more human companions and enemies, she'd recognized that it was in part her own fault. If she'd been more apt to involve herself with the rest of the world in the first place, she might've been well enough known that she didn't have so many of these awkward first introductions. She hadn't, though.

At least Ate wasn't telling her that she was a monster as so many of the white moon's allies liked to do. It was refreshing to see someone properly in awe of what Metallia was capable of and that, at least, kept Alkaid calm enough to begin the process of explaining herself, once again. The ascended senshi began to walk and, as she did, waved Ate to follow her. She didn't bother to wait before she began to speak - she was confident the girl would keep up.

"There is one thing that is stolen from us when we leave the White Moon behind and join Metallia's ranks. Travelling. You can't go to your home world, nor can any of the corrupts, and I think it's a big part of feeling so lost. Senshi don't belong here on Earth, obviously, but nor can the dark ones go home. It's quite the.. conundrum." Alkaid's pace was slow as she strode along through the rift, like she was simply taking a stroll through the park. The hand she had been tapping against her lips dropped and that arm joined the other, crossed over her chest. "There was a man I knew, once. He was something beyond this war here, a creature of the cosmos. He took me home in a moment of pity."

For a moment, her words trailed to silence as she recalled the look in Kurma's eyes the last time they had crossed paths. He was so deeply saddened by what she'd done and she, broken as she was, had no ability for empathy. She understood it but even now, she could not regret what she'd done. Yet the memory still haunted her from time to time, as if she'd failed something greater than herself for not at least being able to mourn her past. Such was the sacrifice.

"When I stepped foot on that sandy planet, so did Metallia, and her power reached beyond this Earth for the first time in a very, very long time. She asked me to give her everything that I had and I did, without question." She turned her head to look at Ate then, a calculated stare that was trying to drink in the corrupt's reaction to her tale. "He would never do the same for anyone else, not after what was done, not after this. I'm afraid he doesn't see the beauty in my sacrifice quite like you do. Yet I did it all the same, and I was rewarded by her for my faith."

Instead of just continuing to stare sidelong at Ate, she finally stopped and turned herself to face the corrupt once more.

"I don't stay in the rift very often. My home world is where I prefer to be when I'm not in Destiny City hunting." One pale arm unwound from her chest and she held out her hand between them. An invitation. "Would you like to see it, Ate?"

Ate's enthusiasm was nearly a better answer than her words and, despite all of her muted positive emotions, she found that there was a certain pleasure in finally finding another soul so eager to see the true might of Metallia's strength. Her long, pale fingers curled around Ate's hand, harder to the touch than a human's would be and by far warmer with all the energy pulsing beneath the surface.

"If you find Kurma, you're welcome to try." Something about the way Alkaid spoke his name drew forth a certain fondness and maybe, just maybe, the only ounce of regret she could find in her heart. Even that was not enough to deter her from her true purpose and she didn't linger long enough to let Ate ask questions about him. Once her hand was secured on the corrupt's, the link complete, her energy began to change. The soft glow in her chest pulsed and spread along every crack in her hardened flesh, the tell-tale sign of an ascendant calling her magic, and the energy signature surrounding her began to grow and hum.

In a flash of brilliant orange light, they left the rift behind and when Alkaid finally released the corrupt's hand, they were in a place both similar but at the same time, quite different...

Alkaid’s true home was upon a lonely, charred ball of a planet encased in crystal, orbiting a large and obviously dying star. The star, for which Alkaid was truly named, pulsed in the heavens above with a deep, dark red glow, swollen and crackling with energy darker than any light. The sky itself had been reduced to little more than a red haze above them, showing the details of the universe outside the depleted atmosphere with startling detail.

What it had once been was impossible to guess, the people and its culture lost without Alkaid herself ever knowing. It was just as well, as the knowledge had never been there to impede her decision. Now the only thing that remained was a large castle, most of which had been destroyed and rebuilt. The base level, including a large entry hall, seemed to have been constructed from something akin to hardened sandstone, though it had been blackened by a considerable blast of energy. Crystal grew from the remains, molded into towers and hallways built by something greater than Alkaid herself, so high that the gleaming tips raked the thin atmosphere swirling overhead.

Alkaid stood calm and serene here, staring out over the vast wasteland surrounding her home fort. Here and there were the remnants of structures, outlines of roads, all of it so obliterated and blackened that there was no way to even guess what might have been before. For miles it stretched, endless. The charred, cracked earth beneath her feet stirred to life at her mere presence, black energy drawn out to refill her ever-depleting personal supply. It curled up around her legs like dark fingers, appraising the long lines of her calves before it sank into her flesh through the spiderweb of cracks. The ascendant obviously relied upon her planet in a way that no other corrupt could claim to and, even by showing Ate, she was giving away a considerable weakness. Without her world, she might not live at all.

"There is no other place in this universe that feels more like home to me," she said suddenly, having assumed that, by now, Ate had plenty of time to adjust to being ripped through space so suddenly. "I can't say if it will be the same to you, but I can assure you that it is safer than the Rift you were wandering alone."

There was something undeniably satisfying about the way Ate looked at the world around her. It was as much a part of Alkaid as her own flesh and bones and up until now, it had been impossible to impose the gravity of what her world meant to her upon others. Yet, the way Ate's eyes traced every detail, the way they widened as they took it all in.. here was the soul she was searching for.

"I'll show you everything, Ate. Just follow me."

With a renewed sense of purpose, she turned and headed for the glimmering castle in the distance.