Cera and Jericho: Flashback

Cera stepped into a room, it was completely unfamiliar to her yet something about it seemed to be calling to her. As if she could remember something that she's never even experienced before.

The interior was simple, the walls were made from a combination of stone and wood, there was a semi-comfortable looking seat that sat behind a fairly sturdy coffee table all of which pointed just adjacent to the well-built fireplace. It seems someone has already lit the fire, a fact that had Cera wondering if there was already someone staying at this house.

It wasn't until she had taken a few more steps deeper into the room that a certain reflection of light had caught her eye. There in the corner sitting on a shelf were a collection of pictures framed up featuring some instantly recognizable faces.

"Wait, dad? Mom?…What in the world is this?"

Exasperated, the uncanny comparison between the people in these pictures and her own parents was unreal. Could this mean that they've somehow visited the underworld at some point in their lives? How is that even possible if they all lived on Earth? Suddenly Cera found more questions than she had before.

 She had spent over 100 years fending for herself on Neodeka. She survived so long in that hell of a reality that it completely changed her as a person, she became strong enough to make it for a whole century. Most of the people that she had met on Neodeka and formed bonds with eventually lost the strength to go on. Their resolve to keep surviving in an endless nightmare had faded along the way and one by one they eventually died. Either to the horrific man eating creatures, or the dragon, or even just in conflicts with other people. The only ones who had continued to persevere were the ones who eventually left her side like Lyran, Blair, even Jericho. She could recall the anger and confusion that passed through her when Jericho had conspired with the others to move to a new location excluding Cera.

At the time she felt betrayed by those actions, but now after all the time that has passed since then, she came to look at that situation in a different light. It was actually Cera herself that was bringing everyone down back then. She was the one who was buckling under the weight of her bottled emotions, after enduring the new reality that she was faced with for so long and having finally met someone she could care so deeply about.

 Adam was the first person to get her to let her guard down. He was someone she trusted enough to reveal her true self to, after long he made his way into her heart and became someone special to her. But, then she saw him get ripped away from her. What's more is that his death wasn't enough, the cruelness of fate wasn't quite that lenient apparently. Adam was turned into a monster that rampaged through the city constantly terrorizing the survivors of Neodeka.

He became a symbol that sucked the hope out of those who were still clinging to some sort of fragile strand of a wish that they could someday see the light again. Cera knew what she had to do, but the conflict within her was raging at the time which made her an unreliable person to make decisions for the group. Even if she was the strongest, her mind was in other places which didn't necessarily mean what was best for everyone that was following her lead up until that point.

Although it stings to think about it, Jericho honestly made the right decision. At that time he became the person who was best to lead them. It made sense since he was a strategic thinker that figured out the safest place in the city, the routes and everything that involved the best chances of survival as a part of his group. Naturally, back then Cera was just a girl on a mission to resolve her own feelings about a horrible monster that was running about.

Logically speaking, it made perfect sense as to why they all left her at that time. That didn't stop the whole experience still leaving a bit of a burn as she remembered it though.

She was off in thought while holding the small frame that showed her parents posing with smiles, her mom was even pregnant in this picture. Presumably, by the way they looked Cera could only assume that this was taken just before she was born. That would make her the one in the belly here. Cera ran her fingertips over the smooth glass on the frame as the edges of her mouth curled into a warm reminiscent smile.

The moment to herself was soon interrupted by a large splashing sound that came from the other side of the wall. A woman's sigh could be heard directly after said splash causing Cera to tense up in a bout of confusion. She wandered towards the source of all the commotion which led her through the back entrance of the room that revealed a steamy hot spring. Around the edges were neatly placed stones that encompassed several Japanese style trees and shrubs that formed a garden that surrounded the hot spring itself. With it being completely the most unexpected and honestly the most beautiful display of nature she had ever seen, Cera couldn't help but gasp at the wonder before her.

"Come on in…the waters really nice!"

Suddenly a voice called out causing Cera to notice the incredibly gorgeous woman bathing in the steamy water. She was a complete stranger, but Cera wasn't about to miss out on the chance to enjoy said hot spring. Therefore she took a towel from a stack by the entrance, undressed inside the house before dipping her toes into the comfy warm water. Eventually, she let her entire body soak in the greatness relieving all of her stress if only for but a time.