Astra's golden eyes almost glowed as everything around her was conquered by darkness.
The ground that was covered by a hazy grey fog; the curved walls and their inscriptions; the floating books and lights; the violet moon that illuminated the aforementioned areas…
All of it had turned dark, like the emptiness of space.
Even Astra's all black uniform succumbed to this void, with the only thing accompanying her was the pale blue ball of light.
In that moment, a great light appeared above her.
Confused, curious, and alarmed, Astra stared up at the light that appeared in the corner of her vision.
But strangely, the light wasn't 'glowing'. There were no rays spilling out of it.
It had merely looked like a sky that had stopped its expanse due to the surrounding darkness. It had never illuminated it, either.
Suddenly, Astra's eyes creased as she felt like ethereal spikes were piercing her stomach.
She felt a cold touch at her feet.
Immediately after, she felt another cold touch. This time, it didn't feel random or like an instinctual reaction. It had intent behind it.
Astra bolted her head downwards to see an outline emerging from the darkness.
Something—no, someone, was grabbing her feet!
As Astra intuitively tried to move her leg, a strange sense of familiarity washed over her. It was as if her subconscious was reminding her of a fear that had never left her soul.
"These are the same hands that were pulling me into the ground that night…!" Astra hurriedly thought as her expression was taken over by worry.
"It's obvious that this 'test' is using my subconscious against me." As she tried to push the hands back into the darkness, her mind rapidly tried to find a solution.
But despite this, she felt a peculiar feeling—one that made her feel like struggling was useless.
"It's even accurately simulating the emotions I felt during that night!" To rectify this, she immediately controlled her emotions so that she wouldn't give up.
Pa!
She channeled all the strength that she could and pushed off from the hands that held her feet and the darkness that held the translucent hands.
"It's good that this time I can actually have contact with those things…" Astra remarked with a sigh as she flew in mid air.
But her relief didn't last long.
Immediately, other hands of varying sizes and speeds arose from the darkness, attempting to gnaw at her. It was like they had desired to force her to be one with them.
"Just give up…"
"There's no point anyway…"
Unfortunately for Astra, she was still battling with the feeling of giving up. This formed illusory whispers that sounded like they were from different people.
Because of this, all she wanted to do was lay down. To her, the ocean of hands that spread out throughout the dark was like a soft bed.
No, it was like her soft bed—the bed that she would be absorbed into after a long day of work.
"Calm down…" Controlling her emotions once more, she tucked her legs in as she prepared to strike the hand that was many times the size of her body.
Pa!
Immediately, the hand fractured as it was pushed back. The shockwave rumbled throughout the other hands, causing them to retract, dissipating into the darkness.
Using the shockwave from the strike, she got even further in the air.
"…!" Astra's eyes widened as an ethereal feeling pointed in a certain direction.
She was feeling uneasy!
Whoosh!
Another translucent hand appeared, however this time it was from the light above.
It had descended down at rapid speeds, completely defying its massive size.
Pow!
Astra curled her body backwards as she kicked the hand with all her strength, sending it back to the light. She descended as she was pushed off at great speeds from the shockwave from her strike.
But like a hydra, two more hands appeared.
However, this time, these hands had strange circular symbols on them; and, each of these symbols had their own wings that spread out freely.
Pow! Pow!
The hands immediately struck Astra with their palms. However, at this point, Astra had already blocked the blow with both of her hands.
But, unlike the hands that arose from the darkness, they weren't trying to grab Astra.
They were pushing her away!
"Huh…?" Astra's eyes and mouth struggled to widen due to the pain that had ruptured through her body. But despite this, a question arose through her mind:
"Why were these hands pushing me away?"
The situation didn't allow her to think any further thoughts. Instantly, Astra felt her unease pointing below.
She didn't even have to look at the encompassing darkness. She knew that there were countless hands of various sizes that were willing to forcefully draw her into the darkness that held both the unknown and the known.
Astra tried to regain control of herself by planting her palms on the hands. She then tried to push against them, resisting the force that was forcing her into the darkness.
But this was to no avail. She still felt the illusory breeze battering her back at great speeds. With each gust of wind, Astra felt an almost irrational fear that it had held those cold, wanting hands.
Then, Astra thought of a solution:
"This entire thing is taking place in my subconscious, right?"
"Then, like the mysterious space that I was in, I should also have some sort of control over this!"
Like if she was in a lucid dream, Astra immediately imagined all of the hands to disappear.
And, as if the space itself had granted her wish, all of the translucent, outlined hands had disappeared.
Now falling normally in mid-air, Astra breathed a sigh of relief as her previous pain was beginning to dissipate throughout her body.
Touching the floor of darkness, she immediately lifted her head, desiring to examine the great light that was above her.
"It's gone…" She whispered to herself, remarking on the disappearance of the light.
With the light's disappearance however, the entire space she was in was completely dark. Aside from the blue ball of light next to her, there was no illumination.
It was a quiet and unsettling void, but it was also peaceful.
But still, Astra felt uneasy. She moved her head and body around, looking to see if there was possibly anything more.
In front of her, a face that belonged to a pale woman appeared.
"…!" Astra wasn't even able to say any words. Her heart dropped to her stomach, and sweat that couldn't be considered possible appeared all over her body.
The woman had deep black eyes, and deep black long hair. They were so black that they could've been considered one with the void.
Her eyes were casted downwards and they were dead. There were no signs of life in them.
No, it was like she was forced to have life.
"The woman? From the void?"
"Why? I thought I was able to control my subconscious?"
"Could it be that I wasn't supposed to do that?"
"Did the Ethereal Artifact notice that and tried to correct the situation?"
Immediately, Astra tried to come up with potential reasons for this woman appearing.
But before she could've thought of any more causes, she sensed movement in the woman.
Her eyes were moving upwards!
And as her eyes moved upwards, Astra heard illusory, incomprehensible screams. However, they were soft—like they were coming from a distance.
"No!!!" Suddenly, they were starting to get louder!
And as they got louder, a throbbing pain started to implant itself in Astra's head—like a terrible migraine.
Just like in the 'void' she was in, Astra had desperately desired to cover her ears and tuck in her body to control the pain and agony.
Though, before she could have even closed her eyes, her surroundings had shifted. She felt the movements of water push against her back, and a faint but warm breeze blow through her hair.
As if knowledge was implanted into her head, she immediately knew where she was.
She found herself standing in the center of a dark river. Above her was a beautiful, violet night sky. On the banks of the river were dark violet grass gently swaying.
With tired and confused eyes, Astra felt a surge of relief. Her throbbing pain from before dissipated, which made her feel like she was in the middle of a relaxing hot tub.
However, this too didn't last long. Sensing her ethereal intuition flaring up, she looked at the direction to where it was pointing to.
A figure stood to the right of one of the banks of the river. Her blazer, along with her hair, followed the movements of the wind and the grass below her.
Her multi-colored eyes were creased—not out of anger or frustration, but out of confusion.
Astra's vision immediately made out the details. The one that approached her was none other than Kaelyn.
With a soft voice that could've somehow been heard, she remarked, "Out of all of the Dreamers who I know of that took part in this test, you certainly have had the most peculiar subconscious fear."
Astra stared at Kaelyn, her golden eyes still half-closed.
"Subconscious fear…this test was meant to be an environmental-based?"
"Yes." Kaelyn affirmed, her demeanor still strangely calm. "Usually a Dreamer would have to go through a challenging situation based on their worst fears or experiences. It would then be supplemented by potential real-life anomalies. For example, the fear of losing a loved one would manifest into a situation where a Rogue Celestial has their loved one hostage."
"This is to prepare new Dreamers for the worst that extend beyond being mentally tough or physically strong. After all, this job is full of madness and insanity."
"But you," She placed her hands in her pockets, never letting her gaze leave Astra. "You not only had an incredibly abstract subconscious fear…but you also knew how to manipulate your subconscious like you were lucid, causing the Ethereal artifact to react that way."
"So at that point, you had to step in…" Astra added in her head.
Kaelyn continued to look at her, although her gaze turned into something more curious.
Astra thought for a second. She chuckled and said, "You're thinking how something so abstract is somehow going to prepare me for real situations?"
Kaelyn nodded.
"Even now, this landscape is supposed to be the setting for your next test." Kaelyn looked around the strange, dark purple scenery. "There's a great chance that this one won't be any different from the previous. In that case, it wouldn't fully fulfill the purpose of the physical tests."
Astra continued staring and said, "What are you going to do now, then? I don't think you can call that a pass…"
Kaelyn smiled.
"You can. After all, you happened to find a solution. If that's your subconscious fear, so be it."
"So, is the next test starting?" Astra asked.
Kaelyn nodded once more.
"Yes, but it'll be a little different this time. I'll make it so that it fulfills the purpose of your training."
Astra's eyebrows raised.
"There's a twist…?"
Kaelyn kept her smile.
"Yes."
"You will have to face me in a fight."