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When had Erytheia first noticed them?

For the starseeds, the answer was quite simple. He’d found one on his first visit back to his wonder after the Star Mount Beacon had activated. It had just been floating there, plain as day. As if finding a starseed on Erytheia was the most natural thing in the world.

Well, at least according to his ancestor Yuki, it was.

Yuki had told him what the purpose of his wonder was a long time ago now. It was a resting place for starseeds on their journey back to the Galaxy Cauldron. It was one of the last stops, too. Yet even the ghost couldn’t tell him where Erytheia was in comparison to it.

But the emphasis had always been just that — was.

And that’s what brought him to the Moon Wells. They had actually been one of the first things he had found on his wonder, he had just not known it at the time. There had been little torii gates spread about the vastness of the windswept wonder, most in a state of ruin. Perhaps that is why he had never noticed what they were actually for.

It wasn’t until life returned back to his wonder that the water did, too.

———

Erytheia spared no time in bringing his charge straight to the source. What was seen by Avici was a similar scene that he’d shown the others. Except with one main difference.

Each Moon Well had a torii gate, a stone circle and a crystal clear pool of water. Each varied in their own way, but they were all instantly recognizable. It was almost as if by design.

But there was a glowing light at the center, hovering just over the pool.

The light was orange.

“Ever since the Beacon lit after placing the Code Piece inside, these have been appearing at Moon Wells all over Erytheia.”

And as you approached the edge of the rippling pool, you could see now what it was.

A starseed.

“I need your help guiding this starseed back home.”




✪

Well, that was new.

Erytheia thought as he gave the page one upward eyebrow. He’d not seen anyone come into this situation quite so sure of themselves. Such ease reminded him of Yuki.

But would this one’s confidence be enough?

“No one has yet tried to send one off with a song.” Erytheia remarked, a small hint of skepticism barely hiding behind amused lips. “But this one had been my most stubborn customer. Are you sure you can handle it?”


✪

Well, s**t. Whatever that was, it looked like an army base. And whatever he watched, it looked like basic training. Or what Avici assumed basic training looked like, based off movies like Full Metal Jacket. Either way, he assumed they were facing down some military personnel who died a bad death, probably, if they needed help getting up to the cauldron thing to be made into soup.

So Avici stared dumbly at the starseed for a minute, then seemed to think better of the flute. He put it away, let it hang from his waist sash while he put his hands together instead. To Erytheia's question, he gave an airy, if delighted, "Nope! I'm not sure about any of this, but it can't hurt to try, right?" He grinned back at the boy.

Was the starseed complaining about basic training? It looked complaint-worthy to Avici, though without any words from the starseed, all he could do was make assumptions. "Yeah, that looked like it sucked. But what was the rain like? Was it hot rain or cold rain? Cuz it makes a big difference," he pointed out astutely.

"If it's hot rain, then it's like you're basically taking a shower out there. That's my favorite rain, personally. But a cold rain? That's a recipe for hypothermia, right there. And if whoever that was, whatever they're called? Was doing that to you guys, then they were an a*****e and you should definitely curse them in death." He nodded. "Right, Ery?"

In the next scene it showed them, the moon well went dark with a nightscape. Hills rose and fell around the viewer, with the occasional log fence to hold them back from a steeper drop into a lake, or a grassy valley. The area was rife with trees that had grown tall and robust, protecting the sensitive underbrush from the moonlight. In what little they could see of the sky, only a few patches of stars were visible through overlapping tree branches.

They followed a beaten path. A trail. They were moving forward at a jog, now. Then they were looking left and right, occasionally stopping to look behind them. They paused for a time, then immediately pivoted to action, darting further down the trail.

Then they were running at full tilt. Blurs of tree branches whisked by while they jumped over the occasional fallen log or upturned rock. They moved with such purpose that they were no longer looking about themselves.

Then the objective became clear. To the left, against another fallen log that had made its home on recessed ground, was an injured teenaged boy. He had a branch in his hand and was using it to strike out at an overgrown bat that was the size of half his gangly body. His mouth opened, but no noise came out.

They saw hands before them. Those hands, their hands, were gripping something that they aimed at the offending bat. They crept closer, off the trail, and down into the thicket. The aggressor stayed on its target. Then, as they got close, the bat whipped around with fangs bared and they saw upturned teeth that ran down the entire front of its body. While they unleashed a cloud of mace, the bat fell upon them nonetheless.

The well went dark once more.

“If I had to guess, the creature is a youma. Or perhaps some other beast. We get some really weird things that tend to happen around Halloween and the holidays…”

He trailed off thinking about all the times something like that had happened in Destiny City. Way too many for one town, if you asked him.

“I would love to. Unfortunately, this is a memory. From either their past life or one further down the reincarnation line. Something we can’t exactly interfere with.”


✪

Erytheia sighed.

“Starseeds come here for a variety of reasons. Most just need a place to rest for a little while before continuing on to the Galaxy Cauldron. This is one of the last stops before then. Most have come a very long way.”

He said this as he looked into the pool.

“Some, however, are like this one: not ready to leave. My first one and the one after showed me images from its former life in a pool like this one called a Moon Well. This third one… well, it refused to show me anything at all. But it’s already reacted to you. How to get it to move on is likely for you to discover. This one doesn’t care too much for me, it seems.”


✪

“They do seem to be pretty particular.” These things really could give Erytheia a break. He was trying his best, after all. It felt like he knew next to nothing about starseeds, although it seems he would be learning fast…

“We’ll see if it obeys.” He said with a smile. He was really coming to enjoy Avici’s attitude. Would it, perhaps, listen, he wondered. Perhaps Erytheia had not been the right one to help in this situation. This starseed needed someone without reservations.

The knight watched as the starseed trembled and he had a bad feeling about it all of a sudden. Have you ever wanted to shut a door you were so eager to open just moments before? It was that, except worse. Much worse.

Perhaps he should have been prepared for these starseeds to show him scenes of death. They themselves were no longer alive. Could you blame them for dwelling on the situation that made that so? Perhaps it was because this was only his third starseed that the pit in his stomach grew or perhaps it was the savage violence in which this one left Earth? Perhaps it was because he knew, had it been him, he would have done the same? Still, that feeling crept into his voice.

“So that is how this starseed came to us. Is that what it wanted to show us?”


✪

Erytheia laughed.

“No. There’s no way we could find out who the boy is who got away; it might not have been a recent memory, either. It could have happened a long time ago. And you certainly don’t have beat up the bear…” The knight said, but then stopped to consider it.

“Well, this is only my third starseed like this. Perhaps promising to beat up youma for it would be enough?”


✪