Homeworld Visit: 6th September 2020 (Backdate)
In life, there were always moments that defined a person's entire future. Opportunities to fail or succeed, instances in which they would be granted a chance to find what it was they so desperately sought. There would be those who grabbed hold of it, and then there would be others that would remain blind. No matter how clear the signs may be, sometimes the individual couldn't see the wood for the trees and in those moments they often needed help.
After months of failed attempts to find any measure of clarity, Athalia had finally turned to his bonded Mauvian and explained his predicament to the cat. Orias in his usual fashion had been thoroughly amused, unintentionally condescending, and then had assured the senshi that he had everything under control. For several weeks after that Athalia hadn't heard anything, and then one day, the Mauvian had motioned for him to enter his 'office' and had introduced him to something that he believed might be the key to success.
...It was an app.
He'd called it the 'gold digger' and it had the most inappropriate app icon Athalia had seen, but his description of how it worked had seemed to imply that if it was used by Athalia on his homeworld then perhaps he might well find whatever it was that he was looking for. It couldn't find things thousands ofm iles away, but if Athalia could work with it to triangulate a location then he would get closer to his answer and in time, a resolution to the challenge he faced.
With this in mind the Senshi had teleported to his homeworld on a quiet Sunday evening. Free of any work the next morning, he was safe to spend as long as he needed on this world, even if it was the better part of a day. Immediately, he was greeted with a familiar sight, that of the mighty pyramid he had stumbled upon with Kami and taken shelter in with Vir when they had both needed sanctuary from one too many youma. It had been here in passed weeks that a burst have light had led him, and where the now miraculously born weather had pushed him.
It had been rumoured that when a homeworld knew that something was sought, that an answer was needed, it would find a way to provide it. Though not entirely sentient in its own right, a base instinct of something knew where to lead someone. It was no coincidence that for the third time he was in the shadows of the pyramid, one that soared into an endless sky and stood out against the dense canopies that surrounded it. His jaw setting, he pulled the phone into his palm and strode through the great, arching doors of the structure into the endless shadows that lay beyond them.
Enveloped in darkness, he followed the corridors until his waist brushed against something that stopped him in his tracks. A hand extending outwards, he appeared to have hit some sort of railing and knew in those moments that he could walk no further in that direction. Some momentary fiddling with his phone and he located the necessary flash light application, his jaw dropping as he cast it passed the ornate railing and into the abyss that lay below it.
What the hell had been in there?
An opportunity to marvel was provided as he took in the endless depths and the carefully carved and woven railings that guarded it and unfortunate souls from ever crossing paths. Evidently his past life's species had lived within these walls and some of them seemed to have been good with their hands to produce this work, but that still didn't clarify who they were for him. Honestly, even if he did know, would it honestly have helped him to fix the severed connection between him and his planet?
He turned the light towards the left, then right, and having finally located a means to continue he began to walk down the spiralled stairs towards the lower depths. Once at a certain point, he also turned on the app his Mauvian had provided him with - though his warnings had been clear. The app would work, but he had a limited amount of time to use it, eventually the phone's power would deplete to a level that it would be forced to shut off.
"All right, Orias," he murmured softly as he gazed down at the phone. "Show me what you can do," he challenged the app.
As if Orias himself was there, it flicked to life and gave one strong and very indicative ping. There was something here and it was close. The planet had heard him, the planet was trying to reach him, and all Athalia had ever needed was a little bit of help to hear it. With this in mind the senshi picked up his pace and strode forward, halting and moving in a different direction at each point that the pulse became weaker. With each step he moved further into the depths, down more stairs, through more corridors, until at last the signal remained strong and constant.
Passing through lovingly carved walls, encrusted in crystals and runes, the senshi soon found himself in one of the smaller rooms that lay within this section of this, well, he wasn't sure what it was. If he explored it enough would he discover it was as large as a city, or would it be larger than that still?
He took a breath and accepting that the pulse was as strong as it would get within this particular room, he relieved the app of its duty and turned it off. He carefully set the phone down on a nearby jut in the wall to allow for the light to continue to shine unhindered and finally took in the scene before him.
For all intents and purposes he seemed to be in a church.
He closed the door behind him, hinges that still worked smoothly after a millennia, preserved as they were. Only the barest hint of dust lay within these walls, the pillows, drapes and ornate trinkets still largely untouched by age. A veritable treasure trove for any archaeologist, and yet at his very core he knew better than to take anything with him. Senshi he might be, guardian of this world he might be, but was it really his or had it simply picked him through chance...?
These items had once belonged to others who were now gone and even as he picked a number of them up gently to inspect them and the carefully painted scenes upon them, he knew better than to take them from where they rightly belonged. Yet even as he inspected each of these vases, goblets and drapes, from the scenes alone his suspicions had been confirmed. At some stage in Athalia's existence this place had been a sight to behold, a wonder in itself that displayed the true beauty of nature and all those who could exist harmoniously with it.
Every now and then he would discover a piece that seemed to show a vague or interpretive piece with a humanoid on it, though partially obscured by foliage more often than not, the hints of what he might have been lay there. Fierce eyes, gleaming armour, an endless sea of something shimmering within the skies above the very world itself.
All exceedingly pretty, but with no real answers forthcoming.
His lips pursed as he set the piece down and regarded the rest of the small 'church'.
Who did they believe in anyway?
With the trinkets observed he moved to view one of the drapes on the far wall, the haunting visage of someone on it. A woman, peculiar in attire and appearance, with others around her, all of varying appearance yet with the same eyes and odd 'markings'. With pride of place upon these walls he could only surmise that perhaps these people were the individuals they regarded with such reverence. Hand outstretched, he placed his palm against it and traced his fingertips along the features of each. Truth be told they didn't look any more unique or special than those vague features that had existed on the vases, but they had been put here for a reason.
Why?
He stepped backwards and in those moments all the pieces of this long awaited puzzle fell in to place. As his eyes widened and he stretched out to grasp hold of something to catch himself, the drapes dislodged and the faintest 'clunk' of a switch flipped. A scent preserved from a millennia ago seeping into the sealed room, a haze of intoxication that filled the senshi's lungs, weakened his grasp and ensured his final descent. Having succumbed to whatever had been hidden within the walls of this unusual 'church', the world went dark and with it came noise.
His world filled with sound, endless and obscure whispers that echoed through his ears and roared in to the depths of his mind. At any other time it would have been utterly overwhelming, and yet in his overcome state, he had already lost what little control he had left.
The world before him was changing, as darkness receded and the dull haze fell over him, he was no longer in an aged room. He was not alone, surrounded by those who looked just like the beings on the wall, except for a small number of distances. They all looked so young and yet they were hear with willing and expectant eyes. Each took their seat, carefully balanced on a pillow as they clasped their hands in their laps and closed their eyes. Before them another appeared, seemingly older and in possession of the more familiar features he had seen upon each trinket.
Your breathing... Still it.
The voice was not his own, nor were the thoughts.
You are ready.
Or maybe they were.
An echoing chorus and in a blink, he was someone else.
Gazing down to examine his own palms, he felt a distinct sense of familiarity, a sense of normality. No longer did he find the rising chorus overwhelming, so much it had been something he had been aware of for the entirety of his life. Steady and deep breaths, each one in sync with the otherwise joyous and excited whispers in the mind. Now was their time, a moment that they had all waited for, a moment in which they had all prepared for.
Their presence was expected.
From birth they had been raised with the knowledge that in time, they would all reach this point in their lives. Shielded while young so they might grow into their own being, the voices had often been quiet, a faint murmur of nothingness and now they had reached a point within their lives where they were firm in who they were. Mind and soul unique to them, the veil once place across their ears had been lifted and in those moments the calls of family washed over them.
As the haze caressed their skin, tickled and coaxed what all ready lay within, all that they knew was that this was right.
Whoever he now existed within opened their eyes once more and gazed down towards their sides, a faint itch upon them, to see the hint of soft carapace beginning to form across the skin. Though not yet hardened, it would some day provide protection against some of the strongest blows.
A hand lifted to 'his' neck, only to find much the same.
His form was changing, a child now on the cusp of adolescence, and when he was truly ready he would find what lay beyond the murky haze.
Another blink and a shuddered breath returned Athalia to his 'own' body, yet still frozen within the haze and in a world not his own, it was he how felt the distinct itch. Waist, calves, neck, wrists... Gazing down at his own powered form, he too saw the tell tale signs of rippling armour and a life that awaited him beyond childhood. His palm pressed to the ghostly armour at his waist and he took another breath; steadier and calmer.
No pain, no suffering, even he could hear the chorus. He could sense the joy and anticipation, the willingness of others to embrace him and lead him beyond the veil towards the future that awaited him. One echoing and united voice.
Welcome to the Hive.
This was home.
This was normal, and this was right.
In those moments of realisation the briefest of smiles touched his lips and a flicker of a face he should have known enter his mind, that of himself... And then the world simply fell away once more, leading in into the abyss once more.
A few moments later the senshi came to, gazing up at the partially lit room that he had been in all this time. Ornaments, trinkets and vases lay about him as a clear reminder that he had not managed to save himself, and yet in the most bizarre turn of events he seemed to accept that their now fallen position was the correct one. In every other circumstance he would have suggested that any individual who had been knocked unconscious seek medical attention immediately, but for him, it didn't even cross his mind.
In fact, the only thing the man did was turn his gaze towards his sides once more on the off chance that what had happened had been real. What greeted him was no more than human flesh, the peculiar carapace no longer an intrinsic part of his form. For all intents and purposes, whatever had happened to him had been no more than an illusion, a hallucination thrust upon him by whatever preserved thing lay within these walls, and yet it had done what everything else could not. It had changed him and given him exactly what he sought, even if he hadn't quite come to the realisation that what was once lost to him had now been found.
That strange and almost zen calm?
A bond, one of harmony and not discord, often inspired such things...
He reached out to take the phone from the rut it had been snuggly placed in and strode out of the room. The disarray it had been left in would remain as he moved through the corridors once more, his mind seemingly empty of all but one thing - he was home. Even as he traced the corridors back towards the surface, this acceptance was all that filled his mind. Even as the world behind him stirred to life, and the faintest of lights began to flicker and ripple through the walls, chasing after their now reborn senshi.
A magic that once slumbered now began to stir, both within the depths of the planet and within its senshi.
Passing through the towering entrance of the pyramids and in to what lay beyond, he moved with purpose towards the clearing and with a single click of a button he returned home.
...And in that single click of a button, the the four monoliths that surrounded the pyramid pulsed to life. Four beams of light casting off into the sky in recognition that at last, the world had been heard.
Athalia had been heard.
Both, had found each other.
And with that, hope was restored to an otherwise barren and dead world. Though the true hive might never walk beneath the endless skies again, perhaps this petrified world might find some solace. Athalia would breathe and colour would return to this world.
For now though?
One could only watch and wait as the story unfolded, for it would be some time before Athalia's senshi would come to realise that what he was whole again. It would only be when he made this discovery that both his story, and his world's could ever be fully realised.
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