94 ( • A UN!V3RSE W/O A M0NARCH • )

The tears of the small universe I cradle form rivers over my arms. The animals have finished their hunt, digging their fangs into what remains of order. The rest have walked out into the forest with a new future under their paths.

I stand frozen in awe of what I've done as nine white tails that defy my reality brush against a faint breeze. My body is one with the predator within me, and the souls of my children are free to run through sapphire forests. I turn with the wind, my perception more keen than ever before, and find the same woman in white walking past the animals. The shining crescent over her cheek alerts of her abilities in action. When the glow fades under the crystal's surface again, the shards still floating in the atmosphere lower with her arm.

Her mask lost in the shadows, I analyze her features with ease under the moonlight. Her dress is without a tear and her eyes remain as soft as the face of the child at my chest.

"Faeri," she calls my name, "You just shifted the roots of time."

"You're the seer that everyone speaks of," I say, my stutters of fear ceased with my fight.

"Yes, I am Aries."

"The first celestial child."

"You shouldn't be so amazed by my presence," she graciously strides up to me, "You're holding the last."

I look at the child.

"I thought I saved her," I tremble.

"You did," she presses her neon scepter into the ground and leans on it, "She still has a greater purpose in this universe, however, and you now bear the burden that was meant for her."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You have just neared the edge of death when touching that stone, just the same as that child would have. Within it, hundreds of horrible traumas have flooded through your mind, forcing it to adapt in unnatural ways. The stone you touched was one of the last few, as you shattered the rest under a hundred floors just an hour ago. As much as I know you feared them, you are now a celestial," she explains. I tilt my head to look behind me and stare into nine glowing tails that extend from my lower back. As if they were made from the dust of stars themselves, they rest against the winds and float up to my back with the weight of a feather.

"How is this possible?" I demand to know.

"When the mind cannot bring itself to understand what it was forced to take, it may try to do so in other means. You, unlike me, must have believed adapting physically was the best way to defend yourself against what you saw," she answers softly.

"I don't even know what I saw," I growl.

"It's unlikely that you did, for it all happened in a mere few seconds, hence why the change to your mind and body was so extreme. Due to that change, however, there is something I must ask of you," she holds her staff closer to her chest in worry, "Although you have saved humanity from Autumn, you have not done the same for Autumn's creations. There is something beyond that is coming to us, and I need your help to stop it."

"What are you talking about? The only thing left to be done is to kill Autumn herself," I suggest. She shakes her head.

"That will come in time, but the threat is not human. I'm afraid what I speak of may threaten her and all of her species, and the celestials were made to stop it. Unfortunately, however, I am the first to carry this burden, and you are now the last," she shivers.

"What must be done?" I ask her, my head bent with the weight of my thoughts.

She begins to pace, holding her staff for comfort against the breeze. "The branches are reaching their ends. Time is still ticking as we speak, but there is an entity that will bring that soft sound to silence. We need to prepare with what we have left, for if time finishes growing the tree that holds the cosmos in its roots, it will soon rot with all things in our reality."

"A cosmic annihilation?"

"Nihility," she calls out. "We as celestials are the only ones with eyes in the unknown to hunt what has yet to exist. It is our duty to keep humanity from facing it."

"I thought celestials were made from nihility?" I ask her. She nods with pride.

"Yes, but we were born to challenge it. Autumn's goal was to ascend humanity into an eternal species and created us to face anything that halted that. She birthed us with a warning of this fate and implanted a perspective into our minds where existence had no meaning. Soon after, through her teachings, we kindled a new belief that everything has significance. She taught us this to defy nihility, not accept it," the seer explains.

"All of you were created to be her puppets for an immortal throne! I don't care if I'm one of them, now, I would rather live forever in sorrow than to force that upon the rest of humanity," I growl at her.

"You don't understand, Faeri, we are no longer blind to her corruption. You may have struck down the last tower to Autumn's reign, but humanity will fall with it to atone for her sins. Please, I need you to help me to prevent that," the seer begs.

"What is it that you fear so much?" I ask her. She plants the end of her staff into the ground, hiding her stare to the soil.

"I fear that Autumn may have been right," Aries calls out to me, "That the only thing to remain of this chaos is humanity's defeat. If we are to truly accept the end, were our efforts to survive truly without meaning? Your triumph over Delta would be for nothing, and the same could be said for your father and his friends. You are the one to keep their memory alive, are you not? I need your help to do the same for all."

I stand in a moment of silence, my eyes damp under warm metal. I have no choice but to accept her words, knowing that I've hunted the last of my prey. Without a new reason to fight, I may fall into an oblivion of my own. I believed the collapse of Delta was to be the end. I was the leader of the last rebellion on Earth, saving humanity from the eternal reign of a tyrant, and resting in the truth that all of its sorrows are temporary. As my purpose rises to sit among the stars, I fear that the tower's collapse was only the beginning to a much greater threat. Despite my fears, I know the seer is bound to have answers. After all, it was with her that the fall of that tower was possible.

"What happens now?" I ask her, rocking the future in my arms while speaking to the one who has studied it.

"We forge a new Legion, perhaps. Though you may despise my kind, we are both here to bury Autumn and the consequences of her reign. Despite our relation to her, we may shape a new future in the same way we survived the Celestial War," she suggests.

"You fought against your own siblings in that war," I remind her.

"You speak the truth, but know that although I am born from a beast, I have learned to tame my power, and I have now earned respect to those who once spoke my name in chants of hatred. If we are to leave this world with meaning, something I know you care deeply about, then we must face this bleak future together. We must abandon Autumn with her fate and uphold a new one for ourselves," she says.

"You wish for me to join you," I presume.

"Yes," she answers, "Your actions tonight have halted the birth of further celestials, and now that we are free from Autumn's binds, you can be sure my cause holds no relation to her demands."

The wind grows stronger with our presence in the forest, and the tides in the ink above shift in our favor as I respond.

"I accept your invitation," I say, holding my head high as I join a new cause. I didn't need to see the faces of the first rebels to know their impact on the world. The face of my mask will be how deities see my wrath, knowing little of the creature under its metal. As the tails of an ethereal kitsune disintegrate into thin air, I come to understand that even the perception of reality has no restrictions. The smile Aries wears on her pale face is brighter than the staff she holds, her crescent gleaming under the light of a full moon.

"Welcome back, sister."