Chapter Ninety: Blessed Mists + Event Part Two

Event information is below the chapter!

Chapter Ninety: Blessed Mists

My body is tense as I stand amidst the bickering mass of my team. Each of them just finished welcoming both me and Akari back into their fold with open arms. And yet, despite warm embraces, boisterous words, and even gentle confessions. I’ve never felt more apart from them.

Part of the feel is the lingering frustration at having been left to my fate with little more than assurances that I would “figure it out.” Still, I can acknowledge that they had little choice but to leave. All of Japan is falling apart, and their powers are too valuable in that fight for them to sit around by my bedside.

No… More than anything else, it’s their assumption that everything will go back to how it was that makes my stomach churn. Not because it can’t, but because I can’t.

We stand in a golden forest filled to the brim with my new power — power that could be used to save people. And here I am in the center of it all, unwilling to lift my bow in defense of Japan once more. There is still a shard of the person who took up arms in Shinara’s defense within me, and if all seems lost, I will rejoin the fight. But… so many people in Shinara need help. They need food, medical aid, and to reunite with their missing family members.

Hope, that is what my home is missing. And I feel there are far too many sentinels fighting to kill and protect, and not nearly enough fighting to restore. Rebuild houses, families, and lives. Stars above, Calan and Hina might be the only ones left still working to improve what we have.

Perhaps that is why Hina came all this way to save me — to gain an ally who might help her keep our people together. Because, in the end, what is the point of bloodshed and war if not to protect those you love? Is that not why the Volcora fight? To make a home for themselves in this new world? The Centurions as well, although their motivations are more cloudy.

I consider these things, watching Claire gesture animatedly as she speaks of finally taking her revenge on one of those large, pig-like Volcora in an epic battle on the front. Baylee shakes her head with a disapproving glare but secretly hides an amused smirk. I watch Hayley, more feminine than I’ve ever seen her, smiling along with the others as she adds to the conversation. Even Troy joins in, reminiscing about our mistakes during the disastrous final battle in Shirakaze.

All of it seems so normal, and yet… It feels like a world I can’t be a part of any longer. I may be able to fight. But willing? I can’t… Not any longer.

Slightly away from the others, Haruto and I stand and watch the reunion. From time to time, our team members loop us in, but since we remain mostly quiet, we’re mostly left alone.

Eventually, I turn to offer Haruto a sad smile. If any, he will understand.

“It can never go back to how it was, can it?” I ask, somber amidst my laughing friends.

Haruto meets my eyes. Then, he shakes his head. “No… but not everything needs to change either. You can still have this, Serena,” he says, gesturing to our friends… our family. “Even if you don’t fight, you can still have this.”

I’m unsurprised that Haruto managed to see through my motivation for the question. He has always said less and seen more than anyone else.

We stay silent for another few minutes, broken up only by Hina moving over to check on me again. Despite the fact that I feel fine, the stoic blue sentinel is dedicated to making sure I stay that way. I’ll have to get to know her better in the future, as I believe her motivations are similar to mine. However, as I wait for the conversation to finish and our group to head back toward Shinara, I find myself pondering Haruto once more.

“I know why I’m over here,” I say, eventually. “But why are you? You’ve always hung off to the side and stayed quiet, but I don’t think I’ve ever asked why.”

Haruto shrugs, “By now, I’m certain that you suspect. I am not like the rest of you. My origins are… There is a lot I still need to discuss with you all.”

“And even so, you are one of us,” I say with a shrug. “Look at them, Haruto, do you think they want to exclude you? They take every opportunity to drag us back into the conversation. If we are here, it is because we want to be. We are all so different, and we've changed over the months. Yet… we’re still together. I don’t know if you need to be told this, but you have permission to laugh with them. To join in and have fun. Stars know we need it.”

I wait for a response, but Haruto doesn’t answer. Eventually, I get dragged back to the group by Akari, who boasts about how I figured out how to revive sentinels from their soul gems — a topic Audrey is incredibly interested in hearing about. We laugh, we cry, and we reminisce in that golden forest below a rising sun. And, in my heart, the moment marks a new beginning. I just wish our green sentinel would come and join in on the fun.

***

As with all things, our reunion comes to an end. The Volcora in the area have left us alone thus far, possibly having noted Audrey enough to keep anything but a dedicated assault away from us.

In short order, we are loaded up in the back of the transport and are on our way back to Shinara. Akari holds me close as we sit together on the hard, plastic seats. Her warmth and comfort help me hold myself together, although I know I will fall apart again soon. All of this… everything has just been far too much for me to handle. Despite the world ending around me, I want nothing more than a bit of normal to help me rediscover the naïve girl I was before all this started.

Around us, our team has closed ranks. They sit around us and are openly casual, but there is an edge of nervousness to them. Eyes that dart toward Akari and me at the slightest sound, hands that twitch toward weapons ready to be summoned at a moment’s notice. It wasn’t so long ago that they watched Akari die, and ostensively, me too.

That one disastrous betrayal leading to our capture by the Reavers left Akari dead and me little better. Now that we’re back, it seems our teammates have no intention of letting us get hurt again. And still… I can’t help but wonder who will be the next to die in this pointless war. Will the Volcora learn to start destroying our soul gems now that they know what we can do?

So much pain… so much suffering, and for what purpose? I refuse to believe that things are so simple any longer. Volcora aren’t necessarily evil, and the Centurions aren’t necessarily good. Both are shades of gray. I’m increasingly convinced that, until they can learn to co-exist together, humanity will never be safe.

But how would I go about that? In the very off chance that I could even convince Althia to meet in a peace meeting with a Volcora representative, I doubt a peace treaty would be negotiated. Those two factions have been warring for longer than there have been people on our planet. They aren’t going to stop unless someone makes them. And that someone would have to be us. Humanity… the group that has already proven to be able to work with both sides. A potential mediator in the conflict.

Everything I’ve done. I’ve done in humanity’s best interest. Words spoken to me by Nightsong… by Kyra.

Perhaps… perhaps it’s time to have another conversation with the A-Rank Council.

***

My return to Shinara is a bittersweet thing. On one hand, I absolutely love my home city. This is where I grew up and where I learned about the world. And yet, in recent years, Shinara has become a city of pain. A place where tragedy strikes again and again. Today, though… today I plan to change that.

I spent a good amount of the flight home considering what I want to do with my life as a sentinel now that I don’t intend to actively seek out fights with the Volcora. Finding a way to end the war is a long-term goal, but there are things I can do in the short term to help as well. I’m a point of power now. It’s time to see exactly what that means. However, there’s one more reunion to have first.

The transport churning the wind, we touch down on the roof of my building. Most of us will be getting off here, with only Audrey, Troy, and Hina intending to continue on with the transport to GDF Headquarters.

With our team still hovering protectively around us, Akari and I make our way out onto the rooftop. However, I hardly have time to place foot to concrete before I’m swept up into a bone-crushing hug.

“Hi, Dad,” I whisper, leaning my head against his strong chest. I remember a day when hugs like this were the norm. When I’d come home to find my dad waiting for me, always ready to hear about my problems and make everything better.

Dad tightens his embrace. “My little girl has come back to me,” he murmurs into my hair, his words enough to break my heart into two.

Swallowing, I nod into him, my tears staining his shirt. “And I don’t intend to leave again.”

***

Hours later, Akari and I stand alone on the rooftop after spending the evening with our team and my father. Exhaustion pulls at my bones, but there’s one last thing to do before I can finally rest.

“I guess you really are getting a sentinel name tomorrow, huh?” Akari says, looking out over the darkening city by my side. “Crazy to think that we’ve come so far.”

We all received a message from Nightsong earlier that day. Apparently, all the sentinels still in Shinara will be attending my naming ceremony tomorrow. And while that's a much smaller crowd than it might once have been, it's still incredibly daunting.

I nod, “So far… and yet I feel like we’re going backwards. Shinara is in more danger than ever, and the people here… They’re suffering.”

“You figured out how to revive dead sentinels,” Akari says, “I’d say that the people down there have plenty of hope. Especially once news starts getting out and our ranks start to swell once more. They might be suffering, but at least there is a glimpse of light at the end of this tunnel. There’s hope, Serena. Even if you can’t see it.”

I bump my shoulder into hers, smiling playfully. “When did you get so wise?”

Akari grins, an expression I never would have imagined on her the night we met. “Well, I just listen to you, then repeat back the good stuff from time to time.”

“Fair enough,” I chuckle, my eyes watching the city below me. “Now… let’s see if we can’t make that hope just a bit brighter.”

I take a step away from Akari, then narrow my eyes on the city far, far below. The feat I’m hoping to accomplish should be impossible for any normal sentinel. But… I’m not a normal sentinel any longer.

For the first time since accepting the Dawnseeker into my soul… I stop holding back. My body explodes with light enough to outshine the sun, far more power than I’ve ever dreamed of channeling before, flowing through me as my assault state is unshackled. I feel my clothing changing, but can hardly see through the light pouring off my own body. I have become a living sunrise, and now I’m ready to save my home.

I can feel Celeste beside me, lending me her willpower, as I thrust my arms forward and invest a truly incredible amount of power into the first ability I ever learned. Like a cloud at dawn, white mist swirling with blues, golds, reds, and yellows detonates out of me with enough force that Akari would have been thrown off the roof were she not a sentinel herself.

In a cascade of glowing dawnlight, my mist falls down the sides of the skyscraper like a silent waterfall. A rising tide of power crashes into the dark smog that has infected the bottom of my city for far, far too long.

It starts at the base of my home building, dawnlight pushing away the oppressive smog that has already thinned out somewhat due to Florina’s efforts. Wherever my mist passes, smog burns away as I just keep pushing more and more out of myself in an unstoppable tide of power.

I grit my teeth, my knees shaking with the strain, but I push onward — continuing to force out the horrible air that has caused untold death and suffering. Vaguely, I’m aware that what I’m doing shouldn’t be possible, even for me.

Normally, my living mists could never stick around after I stop actively controlling them. However, by infusing the mist with dawnlight… with the power vested in me as the Dawnseeker… Those rules seem to have changed.

Seconds turn to minutes, which become an hour as I push my mist out to fill every street in Shinara and the slums. No longer will anyone be dying of lung cancer due to bad air. The strain this effort takes on my soul is enormous, but the well of power within me is no small thing. And so, my mists are as inevitable as the dawn.

I hear thumps on the roof behind me, and Akari is talking animatedly when I finally cut off the flow of mist. A glowing cloud now hovers above the streets of Shinara, puffy and white rather than dark and threatening as it once was. The mist twists and swirls, playing in the wind between the massive skyscrapers and bridges between them that make up the city.

Despite having cut off my direct control of the mist, I still feel connected to it. As with the ants and the trees, it contains my power. It… is me. My connection to the mist flowing throughout Shinara is like night and day when compared to what I’ve done before. It contains a massive chunk of my power, rather than just a seed, and I am already paying the price for that. My assault state glows less brightly, and the burning power within me feels less intense.

However, I can immediately see that my efforts were worth it. The smog is gone, burned away in the light of the day. And already, my new ability is getting to work.

Dawn’s Second Light might seem like an odd or even a lacking ability at first glance. Yet, if one were able to spread its effect across an entire city…

Beams of light occasionally split the night air, joining in with the glowing light of the mist. Now… each act of kindness in the city helps two instead of one.

I smile, even as I sway on my feet. This is something that no sentinel ever could have done. Even an A Ranker would be forced to pay the mana toxicity cost to maintain such a cloud. For a point of power, though… breaking rules is what they do. It makes me wonder just how far Florina’s power can be stretched, or Asumi’s. I can see why Althia was so insistent that we claim this power for our own.

My task complete, I turn back toward Akari and the voices behind me. Nightsong, Audrey, and another presumed A Ranker that I don’t recognize are all arguing with Akari. The powerhouses were likely drawn by my display of power.

No matter. They will understand. This is only step one to healing the city, and starting to properly earn whatever name the A Rank Council decides to give me.

Event

Alright everyone! It's time for round two of voting!

To keep things simple, we will only be using the poll here on Patreon. This poll will include the highest voted options from last time, as well as suggestions from you. (If I didn't get your suggestion, DM me ASAP and I will add it to the poll.)

It's time to see what Serena's sentinel name will be! Make sure you vote for which ever option you like the most!