After freeing all twelve wards from the fog that had encased them, Urania returned to her world — this time, alone.

Urania had been in stasis for what she now knew to be a thousand years. It was a long time to be asleep. Perhaps it would be working still if that strange comet’s light had not reached her world.

But being put in stasis had protected her from what happened to her world in the thousand years since…

It was this state — this change of her world from what she remembered that had initially kept her from it. When she had awoken, she had first surveyed the entire world. There was not a thing that had not been touched by the ravages of time.

It had hurt her heart to see it.

And she did return — and not alone. She had brought many to her world to help restore what she could. She had discovered senshi and knights willing to aid her. She’d even met other senshi like herself with pasts and worlds like hers!

But today, she came to her world alone — and deep with her thoughts.

Urania stood at the ruins of the old castle. It had fared the worst by far out of all the structures that used to exist here. Barely anything remained. There were walls, but no roofs. Windows, but no doors. A stairway that led to nothing. It was here she had awoken. Even the crystal she had emerged from had all but disappeared.

It had almost been a full year, hadn’t it?

Aries, the Ram. Taurus, the Bull. Gemini, the Twins. Cancer, the Crab. Leo, the Lion. Virgo, the Maiden. Libra, the Scales. Scorpius, the Scorpion. Sagittarius, the Horse. Capricorn, the Goat. Aquarius, the Water Bearer. Pisces, the Fishes.

A whole year. A full cycle of the constellations through the sky. A full year since she had awoken, discovered Earth, learned to live there. But as much like home that Earth felt now, it wasn’t home. It wasn’t here.

Suddenly, she felt so alone.

A single tear fell from her face and hit the center of the stained-glass circle on the ground that was once the center of the castle.

As if responding to her tear, the wisp appeared. Its form morphed, like light that is seen through water. Its form… changed.

Before her stood a creature the likes of which she had not seen in a long time. It was small, about a foot long, maybe two if it spread its wings. And tail. And horns.

It was a dragon!

The little creature was a deep purple like the night sky. Its scales sparkled like starlight. Its eyes were bright orbs like planets.

Urania now had a cosmic companion to explore her world with.

The senshi held the sphere that contained the Star Map in her hands. She knew that, to get it to work like it had in the past, she would need to connect it to the Observatory.

And she would need help.

❂