Beyond the Empyreal Stars

Part o4. - 39.

Part o4.

39.

The Terrian Paragon, Alula, stood at the top of the steps of the Spire. All of Terra was behind her, including the Agents from Wildrion and the few Searchers who weren't out on assignment. In her hands was the Guardian Text, an ancient book they used before their tech contained all of their information.

The page was turned to one that held the Oath of the Primes. And now, Prime One Odette, Prime Two Nova, and Prime Three Sebastian were taking that oath.

She never would have thought she would be the one conducting the ceremony. For all of her life – all thirty-two years of it – she had been told the true Primes would one day make it back to Terra. She had grown up with the Guardianship being the primary governing body, making the best of a situation while their Primes were missing. Her grandfather, the Paragon who had taken over after their disappearance, had restructured the way Terra was governed, but he kept reassuring their Primes would come back.

No one had been prepared for their return as suddenly as it came. Three weeks before, their Acer had been detected entering Terrian airspace before coming to a rough landing just outside Vitrum. To say all of those who came to their aid were shocked when they emerged from the hatch would be an understatement.

It wasn't only a shock for the Terrians, but Odette and the others themselves. Odette hadn't realized just how much time had passed while they were on Ziff. Lucina had warned her, with the planet being on the side of the sun where years would pass in a mere hour, more time would pass for them then than it had for Lucina since she'd been there.

What had been thirty-something years for Lucina in the year she spent on Ziff would be decades for them.

Odette didn't think much of it with Terra finally within their sights...until they got off the Acer and dozens of new faces surrounded them.

A few hours passed before Odette knew the extent of their time on Ziff. Her top priority had been getting Duke to the Ward, the Terrian hospital, where he was stabilized, given the antidote to the Still that had cryo-frozen him, and placed in a suspension tank for more observation and healing.

It was when Paragon Alula, the acting leader of Terra, met with them in the Gallery that they found out what happened in the eighty-six years that passed.

Eighty-six years gone in just a few hours.

The time gone was even more than Odette had prepared herself for.

Though Alula and a few other Guardians were willing to explain, Odette had taken it the hardest. She'd left as Alula began, leaving Nova, Bas, and Graham behind, and headed for the group learner room where she spent hours going through every vid feed she managed to find.

Though they had only been on Earth for a day after Comae's third attack on the planet, it didn't last much longer after his disappearance. Within the next week, Earth and the Alliance had defeated the Whispian and Glaci forces, forcing those who survived back to Anur or Boreal. The two planets had been on constant surveillance ever since with Alliance forces stationed on both planets much to the dismay of the race leaders.

Within the month of Earth being free, the planet was officially inducted into the Worlds Alliance. And in the following months, the war-torn areas were cleaned up, the dead laid to rest, and the cities began to rebuild.

The old Earth was nothing compared to the new. The cities looked much like Vitrum, the Terrians having helped with the designs. The Bodtics helped with Earth's defensive and offensive measures in terms of weaponry, tech, and protective shielding. The Tretytes and the Nereidians were the ones to help with the cleanup of pollution the humans had subjected their planet to before the wars. Now, there were more green forests and grassy fields and crystal clear waters than there were overrun cities.