Word Count: 2705

Candice had a good week. Her classes were not too bad since she was almost always ahead of the current lesson anyways. She got in as much practice at the hospital as she could, dipping her hands and getting experience where ever she was allowed. It was all learning and Candice wanted to absorb all that she could, so she even did things nurses did just to know how to do it. It gave her a better understanding of the work that goes in being a nurse and she would appreciate them a lot more. They would be working side to side and she didn't want to make enemies.

She had gone home, changed out of her scrubs, packed some supplies in a backpack, mostly snacks and water for herself and some treats and toys for Cotton, and immediately went out again with her pooch in tow. They went for a walk around town and eventually made it to a medium sized dog park. There, she let Cotton loose to play with other dogs. Candice chatted with other dog owners, discussing the newest toys and other such things for their beloved dogs. When it seemed like Cotton was tired enough, Candice left with Cotton, this time, looking for somewhere quiet to power up and head to her home world.

They ended up in a small park where they were not too far from the apartment, Candice did not want to allow other powered people to find out where she lived, but also didn't want to traverse too far when she was done. It was a small area, being used mostly as a connection between two streets. There were big enough trees to provide cover when they would teleport, and hopefully, hiding from anyone from the Negaverse that may pop up once her energy signature fired up.

She looked at Cotton and told her to sit and stay right next to a large bush. The dog gladly did so, already used to Candice's weekly night outs. She put down her backpack of supplies at the base of a tree and then pulled out her Henshin pen. Quietly, Candice powered up and became TianGuan, the familiarity of the magic and extra strength made her smile. The moment didn't last long when she noticed Cotton was wagging her tail that smacked into a bush. Cotton was a little restless, wanting to go and do something. She hushed at Cotton, causing her tail to stop wagging. Tian was concentrating and making sure no one that could harm them was around.

"Okay, come here Cotton!" The dog bounded to her owner. Cotton sat at Tian's feet and wagged her tail, waiting for whatever was next. Tian patted her dog on the head was glad that Cotton seemed to always recognize her. Cotton was the one constant in Tian's life, and couldn't imagine life without her. Tian put her backpack back on and picked up Cotton and wrapped the leash around her left arm. She made sure the dog was secure in her arms and pulled out her cellphone. "Let's go explore, right girl?" Cotton's excitement was easy to feel with the wagging of her tail. The dog's excitement always made Tian happy.

With the cellphone in her right hand and Cotton in her left arm, Tian closed her eyes and thought of her home world. She had seen one star twice, which honestly didn't seem like that much. However, the image of the canals and buildings were pretty clear in her mind. It felt like the star was calling to her. "Stay still, Cotton!" Tian went to press the button that would bring them to space. At the last moment, she realized she was thinking of something else.

"What about the other star?" The thought escaped her when she pressed the button. When Tian opened her eyes, she realized she wasn't at the canals of the city, but a whole other place entirely. There was no way she could reach someone else's home world by accident, right?

The weather seemed to be a lot cooler than what Tian knew of before, seemingly like a cool low 70 degree Fahrenheit weather, where the other seemed to be in the high 70's, low 80's. Gently, she put Cotton back on the ground, still holding tightly onto the leash. Unlike the paved roads in all directions of the other star, this one had major cobble stone road. Other paths in between buildings were mostly dirt, only visible from the constant use many years ago.

The buildings themselves looked to be those of old English villages. Most of the buildings seemed to be cottages, but some looked to be larger shops. There was one main building standing alone that seemed to be the center of town. Buildings were skewed around, some in bunches, others by themselves. She wasn't sure what anything was yet, but Tian was assuming the center-most building would probably give her some information about the place.

"Come on, girl." Cotton happily walked alongside Tian, sniffing here and there. The duo were both full of wonder. Tian's eyes wandered from building to building until something caught her eye. She couldn't help but hold her breath at what she saw, quickening her pace.

Tian was now in front of the standalone building. In front of that was large courtyard and a gate just like the one she saw at the other star. This one wasn't at the edge of the water though. Instead, there was a large, grassy area behind it. It looked exactly the same as the other, about 15 feet wide and just as tall. "Another gate!" Tian exclaimed out loud. She didn't know how it worked, but the two gates had to be connected, right? Cotton felt her excitement, barking happily and wagging her tail.

With her right hand extended, she walked towards the gate to touch where she tried touching the other one before. Again, there was resistance. Since this one had grass on the other side instead of water, Tian walked around it and realized, although she can walk around it, she couldn't go through it. "Hm... I wonder why that is..."

"Okay... So this is different. What now?" She spoke to Cotton like the dog would speak back. The dog didn't, but with Tian's amazement, the leash had slacked and the dog made a dash for the standalone building nearby. "Wait! Cotton! Where are you going?" The dog paused, turned around, and let out a bark, something on the lines of 'follow me'! How could Cotton know where to go, but not her?

Tian followed, making her way up the steps and to the great wooden doors of the building. She let out another gasp as she peeked into the building. There were shelves upon shelves. There were not very many books left, but this had to have been a library of some sorts. If not an actual library, maybe an archive? The nerd in her was quite excited. What secrets would be revealed in these books?

Cotton was sitting in the middle of the room. It was a large open space surrounded by shelves on three sides. Tian walked up to Cotton and bent over to pick up her leash. As she stood up again, something else caught her attention. The fourth side where there was no shelves was a large mural. The mural grasped her attention and she had to wrap the leash around her wrist before she accidentally let Cotton loose again. It seemed like a star scene, but one of her two binary stars. The artist, whomever it was, had a great attention to detail.

Her hand traced over the mural, gathering some dust on her fingertips. Tian was careful not to rub off any of the details; it had survived this long and didn't want to be the one destroying it. Something was significant about this mural. Something was calling to her. The background looked to have been shades of dark blue and purple. There were small flecks of white all along the mural. Large circles were on either side. Connecting the two was a straight line. Everything on the mural seemed to have a faint glow of white. To sum it up, it was gorgeous. A bit dirty, but gorgeous.

She continued using her hand to brush off some of the dirt, trying to get a better look of it all. Tian's fingers eventually brushed on what felt like an engraving. She brushed it off a little bit more and blew some air into the spot. The dust came off and revealed... Her symbol? Her eyes darted back and forth from the two circles and back to the symbol. For some reason, her insignia was on the line in between the two stars. "What's the meaning of my symbol here?" What did it all mean? Maybe something in this library could give her a hint?

Tian brushed off the remaining dust and, instinctively, put her palm over the engraving. A white light suddenly started shining under her palm. The tiara on her head reacted as well, the largest gem on her head glowing a bright white instead of the teal color it normally was. Tian could hear Cotton whining, uncertain to what was happening, a few feet behind her. She removed her hand, the light faded, and watched as some sort of secret compartment opened underneath where the engraving was. The era of the city around her made it seem like they didn't have magic like this on her stars. Maybe it was Mauvian technology, like her cellphone and Henshin pen?

Cautiously, she reached her right arm inside. Her fingers went carefully, eventually feeling whatever it was that she could pull out. It was a soft leather in a rectangular shape. "A book?" Tian let go of some of the leash, the hoop falling to her elbow. She then used both hands to pull out the leather book. The cover had nothing on it, but it looked exquisitely bound. It also looked very important. She held it at an angle for Cotton to see. "Shall we try and study from this book today?" Cotton barked and Tian responded with a smile. Today was getting increasingly interesting.

She and Cotton walked over to a nearby table. Both the table and the chair were made fully of wood with carved details. Tian normally would have awed at the craftsmanship, but she was very much staring at the book in her hands. For some reason, this book was hidden and it was meant to be found by her. Well, maybe not her specifically, but her lineage - other TianGuans. Her heart was pounding in her chest. What secrets were within these covers?

Tian placed the book gently on the table and went to sit down. As if they were studying, Cotton went to her normal spot under the table. The dog paced around a little bit before lying down, her head at Tian's feet. The Senshi sat down at the table and opened the front cover of the book. The front flap felt heavy and well made. The front pages had languages that she could not decipher. It felt familiar, but something was keeping her from even trying to guess what things meant.

Gently, Tian flipped through the pages of the book. Most of it seemed to be undecipherable, but as she flipped to the middle, something caught her attention. It was a drawing. She glanced between the book and the wall and confirmed it - it was the same drawing as the mural on the wall. Immediately, she flipped to the next pages. On the left side was more text. On the right, it looked to be another picture. It looked to be some sort of dank room which, honestly, reminded her of some kind of dungeon. In it were three glowing auras. Whether through time or it wasn't meant to be shown, Tian could not make out what was actually glowing in those spots. She flipped the page again. Once again, the pages were in the same format. The picture had the same room, but this time, five glowing spots.

At this point, Tian was getting a little frustrated. She had no idea what any of it meant and she couldn't understand the text to get any further information. There was no doubt that, even if she managed to figure language it was, it wouldn't be one from Earth.

She flipped the page again. This time, both pages were two separate pictures. They looked to have been the same room, but for some reason the one on the left seemed to have been a darker, night-themed room while the other was a brightly lit room... With another glowing orb in the middle? Tian squinted - although it looked to be the same white glow as the other pages. This one, there was the same indentation on it. Someone seemed to have cut a small groove into to hide something. Tian flipped to the next page and noticed the indentation was still there. She kept going until whatever was there fell out of the pages and rolled onto the table.

"A gem...?" She picked it up carefully and examined the item. It was a small, shaped like a round diamond, maybe around three carats in human terms. It was a clear and well cut diamond, but there was something inside of it. Tian could see mist moving behind the different faces. Was this what she was meant to find? "No... It couldn't be.."

Tian flipped back to the pages where she saw the circular rooms and the first sign of the cut out hiding the gem. She looked around the room; this room was square and many windows while the other was round and seemingly no exit. She held the gem in between her thumb and index finger, hovering it above the cutout. Tian didn't know what she was meant to find, but it was more important than this gem. This thing would somehow help her, but it was not the important item. The item, where ever it was, was inside that room. She needed to find that room!

"Okay, enough is enough for one day." She felt like she had more than enough excitement for the day and what Tian wanted now was to just go home and cuddle with her pooch before bed. "Ready to go home, Cotton?" The dog's ears perked up at the mention of 'home' and was already standing and waiting to go. "Let me just put the book back first..."

The gem was still in her hand and Tian debated putting it back in the book. She wasn't sure what it did just yet, but decided against leaving it behind again. It would help her, someway, somehow and seemed to be better within her reach rather than hidden in a magical wall. Plus, what if she couldn't open the wall again? Tian tucked the gem into her sleeve where she thought it would be save for now since she'd be able to feel its pressure there. She closed the book and put it back in the space on the wall. The space magically closed itself once the book was back it. "Huh. I guess it knew of the book, but not the gem."

Tian felt for the gem in her sleeve before grabbing Cotton's leash and heading outside. Once outside, she reached for her cellphone, picked up Cotton and pressed the button to get them both back down to Earth. They were back where they had left. Before powering down, Tian felt for energy signatures around her. Once safe, she pulled out the gem and powered down.

Candice tucked the gem away into her pocket. She'd have to make something to keep it safe. Maybe she could attach it safely to her Henshin pen or cell phone? "That'll have to wait for tomorrow," she thought as she let out a yawn. The traveling was draining. "Let's head home, Cotton." The dog barked in agreement as Candice pulled out a snack for each of them in their backpack. Candice was feeling excited for whatever was to come next from her homeworld.