Far From Home | Voltron

chapter fourteen

|i was so close|

I COULDN'T QUITE describe where I was, the room so intensely bright that I screwed my eyes closed the second they opened, slowly letting them adjust. Cracking them open slowly, the light a little less harsh, I took in my surroundings. It wasn't much. A completely white room, with nothing but the chair I'm sitting in, which - you guessed it - was also white. 

"Uh, hello?" I asked in confusion, my voice echoing eerily throughout the room.

Mae, hello.

I glanced around, trying to spot where Masha was, but I couldn't see him. 

If you're wondering where I am, it's a bit complicated. For now, let's just say you're in my consciousness. I cannot appear in my physical form in here - you're basically in my mind.

"Oh. Yeah. Right. I'm just...in your conscious. That's normal. That's great!" I deadpan. "Uh, mind telling me what I'm doing here?" 

I brought you here to talk. I did say I'd explain everything later, did I not?

I let out a deep sigh, relieved Masha was living up to his promise. "Okay. Good. Thanks."

Let's start off with what your role as the White Paladin is. As my paladin, you are someone of Quitian linage, a race more deeply connected with quintessence than any other, which is needed in order for you to aid me in powering Voltron. Quintessence is a substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe. It is in every living thing, and the lions themselves are essentially living. They thrive off of quintessence, need it to fuction. The White Lion could be considered a quintessence generator of sorts, helping to give quintessence-based power to the parts of Voltron that require it. Like whenever Voltron used the Red Lion, you helped guide the quintessence mainly to the Red Lion, focusing it on that part because it needed it to stay working.

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait. So I'm of Quitian linage? How? Well, obviously I know how but like - who were my parents? They weren't both Quintian, were they? Who was? Did you know them? How abou-" I rushed out, stopping only to take a breath. "How about the old paladin? She was Quintian, wasn't she? Do you need to be Quintian to be the White Paladin? Hold on, who even are the Quintians?"

Yes, you do need to be Quintian to be my paladin. Quintian people interact with quintessence differently than others, due to its deep connection to our heritage. The Quintian people were the first to ever truly test the limits of quintessence, and inject some into one's body. After seeing the heightening of almost all sense, other than taste, and the quickened pace of healing, the Quintian's ordered all of their people to be injected with this, if they were comfortable. Eventually, as time passed every offspring has pure quintessence running through their bloodstream and interacting with them.

"Speaking of offspring, here I am. My parents...you said you knew them," I said, my voice softening. 

This is what I've been waiting for. To hear about my parents, to learn about them and who they were. Get an explanation, maybe, on why they left. I just want to listen to Masha talk about who they were, so I can figure out who I want to be. 

I did, Mae. Not extremely well, but they were very close with my old paladin. I knew that your father was from far away, and that your mother was the Quintian of the family. I also knew that they were both elated to have you, I remember the video calls my old paladin would take from inside the White Lion. I recall them planning to settle down on a planet called Earth. However, things didn't exactly work out as planned.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, prying for answers. 

Well-

I sat straight up in my bed, heart racing and mind screaming as an alarm blared in the background, waking me up. I could feel my heart plummet to my feet. This stupid alert had woken me up.