Black Turn to Move

"How... why are you here?" Maya's voice quivered as she spoke, her heart pounding with shock and confusion.

"Because you grabbed the sword, you awakened my long-lost soul," he replied calmly, stretching his body as he spoke.

"No..." Maya muttered, her mind struggling to comprehend what was happening.

"Ho, it's good to be back," he continued, a faint smile on his lips.

"Why are you alive?" Maya's eyes widened with surprise as she spoke, still trying to process the surreal situation in front of her.

"Hey, hey, don't greet your father like that. Of course, I'm alive and fully conscious now," he replied.

Maya was overwhelmed with anger, fear, and sadness.

Without hesitation, Maya hugged her father.

"I missed you. Please don't leave me alone again," she said, crying on his chest.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you again. Or, to be precise, we won't be separated anymore. I made a deal with someone in Caelumoria, and I'll be able to get my body back," he said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Maya asked.

"I'll come back with an even stronger body capable of using the Gemini twin swords to their full potential," he said.

"Are you... are you going to sacrifice people to achieve that?" Maya asked, her voice shaking.

"Sacrifice? Don't joke around, Maya. Us Stargazers are superior to those people in Caelumoria, and the person I made a deal with agrees with that," he replied.

"No... nonononono, NO!" Maya shouted, tears streaming down her face as she raised the swords and plunged them toward her father.

But the blades slipped right through his body.

"Hey, you're going to kill your father? We just got back together a while ago," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I don't want more people to be sacrificed, I'd rather have you die!" Maya cried even louder.

"River of Heaven," he muttered.

"Huh?" Maya stopped crying, confused.

"That's where we are right now. The swords are unable to kill anyone there," he explained.

"If you want to save those innocent people, fight me. When I have my body back, I want you to kill me with your own hands," he said, his tone low and serious.

"Two hundred months from now, when you see the constellation of Gemini in Caelumoria, it means my body is ready," he continued.

"But if you lose, I want you to be my..." His words hung in the air like a dark cloud, suffocating and heavy.

And then, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, Maya crumpled to the ground, wracked with sobs that shook her body.

Her vision blurred, her head spinning with a crushing sense of despair.

At that moment, she felt as if the weight of the world had been placed upon her shoulders, and she was powerless to resist its crushing force.

"See you till then," he said as his voice grew faint and vanished into the air.

---

Wyvernwing 3rd, Caelumoria, Zodiac Warriors' Strategy Room, 5:16 PM.

---

"Captain, Team Sigma has been sent to investigate the area," the vice-captain reported.

"Affirmative. Keep me apprised of any updates on team Sigma's investigation," Maya said.

"It's been 200 months since then. Finally, a constellation of Gemini was seen in the west," Maya whispered to herself.

"Is it him? The one that you told me about long ago?" the vice-captain asked.

"Yes... Now, I can finally have a match with him," Maya said.

The sound of airships shattered the silence.

"Yohoo, we're finally back!" A boisterous cheer erupted from a distance.

"It seems like team Alpha has returned. We should call for a post-attack meeting immediately," the vice-captain suggested.

"Let them rest for a while. Tell them it will begin in two hours," Maya replied.

"Understood," the vice-captain acknowledged.

---

Wyvernwing 3rd, Caelumoria, Zodiac Warriors' Strategy Room, 7:45 PM.

---

The meeting had begun.

Unlike the strategy meeting, only twenty soldiers, the general, the captain, and the vice-captain were in attendance.

"I want this meeting to discuss the recent events that happened during the attack led by Team Alpha," the vice-captain began.

Hiro, the highest-ranked soldier, raised his hand.

"Yes, Hiro?" the vice-captain asked.

"The general said a lot of cringey things during the attack," Hiro said, his tone serious.

"OI! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THIS IS A SERIOUS MEETING," the general beside him immediately lashed out, attempting to strangle Hiro's neck.

The captain let out a sigh as the other soldiers stifled their laughter.

"Silence! This meeting is not about the general or any of the soldiers. It's about the strange light that was seen in the sky," the vice-captain clarified.

The meeting continued for some time before finally concluding.

The vice-captain sought clarification, "So, the only one who saw the constellation was the general while the soldiers were blinded by the general's power?"

The soldiers nodded in agreement, confirming the vice-captain's understanding.

The vice-captain and the captain exchanged a brief bantering gaze before ending the meeting.

"Alright, that will be the end of this meeting, you may leave this room now," Maya announced.

As soon as the soldiers and the general left the room, Maya let out a big sigh.

"Do you think it's fake? Should we just cancel the investigation?" the vice-captain asked.

"The stars are a lie, that's what my teacher told me before," Maya replied.

She stared out of the windows, and suddenly gasped, muttering, "Red flare?"

"Captain! There's a green flare on the North, does it mean the base is destroyed?" The vice-captain shouted.

"There's a red flare on the West, meaning there's a casualty, no... wait, there's another flare, it's black, the highest level of danger," Maya said.

"Team Sigma is equipped with our latest communication strategy, they should give us any sign via the radio instead of using flares," the vice-captain said.

"No, it means it's disabled," Maya said with a heavy heart.

---

Wyvernwing 3rd, Caelumoria, Caelumoria's West Outskirts, 7:11 PM.

---

Team Sigma had finally arrived at the designated area.

The team consisted of only five people, including Mika and Airi, along with a specialized fighter, a pilot, and a medic.

"Mika, why are you holding the flare so tight? Don't we just communicate through the radio?" Airi asked.

"You can never be too prepared for anything. What if the enemy uses high electromagnetic radiation to disable our communication?" Mika replied.

"Well, it's not like they have a nuclear weapon or something," Airi said with a chuckle.

As they continued their investigation, one of the soldiers suddenly shouted, "Look!"

"What is it?" Mika asked, looking toward where the soldier was pointing.

"Huh? Aurora and... A meteorite? No, it's too small to be a meteorite. Is that a person?" Mika exclaimed, squinting her eyes.

Suddenly, the meteorite fell right into the area where Team Sigma was investigating, causing the medic to be injured.

"We spotted a meteorite that fell down here, over," the pilot in the airship said through the radio, but all they could hear was white noise.

"The aurora might disrupt communication. I'll shoot a red flare just to give a heads up," Mika shouted before firing the flare into the sky.

The team waited anxiously for a response but was met with eerie silence.

Suddenly, the tense atmosphere was broken by the arrival of a person who had fallen from the sky.

"Maya...," the stranger said, holding two swords and dressed in peculiar clothes.

His eyes glowed with a bright light as if his iris was the universe and his pupil was a constellation of stars.

"Maya De Astraia, where is she?" he asked in a low but clear voice.

"Are those the same swords that Maya uses?" Airi asked, looking towards Mika.

"Yes, and I don't think he's here just to show them off," Mika replied.

"Oculi De... Asteria...," the man muttered as he tried to stand up.

Suddenly, he shouted "LEO!" and ran faster than the speed of sound, slicing through all of Team Sigma.

Mika, quickly analyzing his expression, shot out another flare before he was also attacked.

"This body is still stiff. I hope I win that fight with her," the man muttered to himself after cutting down the team.

There was no blood or visible injury.

It was as if they had all been frozen in time.

The fallen soldier remained suspended in space as if he had been paused mid-fall.

---

Unknown, Unknown, ?:?? EM.

---

"Right... I'm here again..." Mika said as he realized he was back in the blank white space.

"I guess I'm just going to die."

***

A/N: EM stands for Eternity Meridiem, a time that lasts for eternity and doesn't move forward.

...

"Now, now... let's not make it sound so professional with the 'A/N' abbreviation," Orochi interjected.

"Here's a suggestion to make it sound more polished: [Author's Note: In this story, the term 'EM' will be used to refer to Eternity Meridiem, a time that exists outside the traditional concept of time and is said to last for eternity without any progression or forward movement.]"