The Celestial Way

Chapter 15.3 - Long Way

He saw more of Ferrtau's living chronicle. His archenemy had been well-known, famous even, and loved both by his peers in the Radiant Order and the common people across the galaxy. Ferrtau had become the first human Conduit – or aethereal, as the Knights preferred to say – after the beginning of the Æther Age somewhere at the turn of the sixth century RE.

Airo sat in a defunct office near the top-most hangars of the hidden base. The room had probably been used by an air force commander or whatever equivalent the Radiant Knights had. The furniture was comfortable in an old-fashioned way and the decoration was in a similar retro style. It made Airo feel more at home, and perhaps it was the reason he had chosen this place to review the life of his archenemy.

He browsed through Ferrtau's life, seeking relentlessly for any weaknesses he could expose. Yet try as he might, he found only instance after instance of exemplary strength of character for which the Lightbringer had become renowned. Time and again Ferrtau had demonstrated bravery, wisdom, and utmost compassion, living as a paragon of the virtues the Order of the Radiant Knights held as their guiding principles. And always at his side had been Kalessia, a gentle giant as noble and bright as her soulkin. Both of them had been inseparable, whether they had been on a peace-going mission, on the battlefield, or during mutual leisure time.

Their devotion to each other was the closest thing Airo had managed to target as leverage. Yet Kalessia was dead, making this potential exploit moot; and she had been away from Ferrtau before her demise, possibly for an extended period of time. Why or how was a mystery.

Airo suspected the reason for such untoward separation was the root to what was happening on Terra Para. It held the key to uncovering his archenemy's deepest motives. With this in mind, he loaded Ferrtau's living chronicle from the mark where he had reached, and activated the power armor's simulspace environment.

The landscape was a breathtaking sight.

They both were at the coast, the local star bright in the sky. The ocean waves lapped gently at the white-gold beach. The cape on which they stood rose proudly toward the horizon, defiant equally against the tide, the light, and the wind. The shoreward breeze carried the tender aromas of the sea, salty and refreshing and rich, and the alien daylight bathed everything in soft emerald hues.

It almost reminded of home, of Arceria, if it wasn't for the mountains of ruins stretching along the coast as far as the eye could see.

Kalessia lay curled, her titanic form a veritable mountain on its own, and Ferrtau was reclining on her foreleg, his armor and clothes cast aside, his naked body all flawless physique. She had lain her massive head next to her foreclaws, so they could trade loving gazes. The two of them conversed at length, yet no words were uttered, their thoughts shared directly in their minds.

Why people want to fight so badly?, she asked. I mean, I understand their concerns: I, too, am scared of the Black Void, and I know even better than most what it could truly mean for our galaxy. Yet there are still so many worlds out there! Millions of stars waiting to be explored, and it will take aeons for all of them to be colonized – perhaps long enough for even a dragon to die of old age.

That is the point, he explained. There are so many stars left, yet now they have become finite. For most, the Universe is no longer endless; it now has a terminus, an implacable border unable to be overcome by any means known to us. That is the reason behind the Axiom Crusades: the path of all sapient life is narrowed down to concrete parameters, and everyone wants to realize their visions and dreams of the future in the limited time that remains.