When faced with that question, Kaelyn couldn't help but chuckle softly. She gave a deep sigh.
"Perhaps I'm being too nosy. After all, I don't want to risk knowing what I shouldn't know…"
Astra nodded. Within the next second, the surrounding space began to shift.
The air began to still as the swishing sounds of water disappeared—along with the blades of grass. The violet night sky transformed into a projection of the violet moon, leaving behind a dreamy atmosphere.
Spiraling walls rumbled towards the sky, causing slight tremors. From the feet of the walls, a faint foggy grey mist permeated the changed atmosphere as books and starry lights seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Astra and Kaelyn were unbothered by this quite dramatic re-entrance of the original subconscious space.
Astra stared at the inscriptions on the walls, one that she didn't know the language of but still understood.
"I know you already know this, but I am certainly impressed," Kaelyn's voice echoed throughout the now relaxing space. "You were able to pass the entire training course in one day."
Astra turned her head at Kaelyn.
"So now, I have to go on missions…"
"Yes." Kaelyn affirmed. "However, you'd still get training sessions from me. Along with the Ethereon knowledge I mentioned earlier, it'll also involve martial arts lessons."
"As for when, the date will be on your phone."
Astra then posed a question.
"Are you going to tell the others that I'm a Celestial?"
Kaelyn turned her head towards Astra.
"I don't see a reason not to. Is that a problem?"
Astra shook her head, closing her eyes in the process. "Not particularly."
…
Wednesday, 1 PM.
Astra was in her office that had the scenery of the Earth and its rings, the Sun, and outer space. Sitting on nothing, she stared at the holographic screens that involved Phantom-class anomalies from the police.
Using her mind, she sorted them out and reported such cases to James Smith, the captain of her group. Only then would he determine if their group should take on the mission—authorized by those in the Dominion.
This was because even though the Dreamlanders were owned by the Dominion, they are not a fully public organization.
In most of the public's eyes, the Dreamlanders were merely a supplemental faction of the larger police division that was owned by the Dominion, instead of their own organization.
In the middle of sorting through data and reports, Astra had an interesting thought that appeared in her mind.
"If the Dreamers only deal with the Phantom and Spectre anomalies, and Dreamweavers deal with Fracture and Eclipse anomalies…"
Astra paused for a second.
"…If the Dominion and a Saint from the Royal Family had their eyes on me, does that mean my abnormality has the potential of being an Oblivion-class or above?"
Astra shook her head, however she never dismissed the thought. Instead, she looked at the pale blue ball of light next to her.
"That just emphasizes the need to truly understand what that space was. Only through that space I'd be able to understand the mysteries that lie within myself."
Astra sighed as she recalled the fact that, in the past few days that passed after becoming a formal Dreamer, she never went back into that space.
A peculiar sense of fear washed over her whenever she tried to touch the ball of light. It wasn't uneasiness—it was more of an irrational fear. One tantamount to a person reluctant to walk down a dark hallway.
Before she could've further processed her emotions, a hologram had forced its way in front of her work area.
Astra's eyes widened as she instantly took in the information.
On the screen was a mission that involved a person who kept having the same reoccurring strange nightmares whenever the violet moon turns crescent.
Astra stoically read as she examined the report that came from the police. "The victim says that after he ventured outside he sees 'strange sights' in each nightmare. He doesn't even want to describe them."
"Furthermore, he has lost sleep for a few days because of this…"
"This sounds pretty serious than it lets on, especially in a city that revolves around dreams and the subconscious." Suppressing her thoughts, she moved her eyes to look at the bottom right of the screen.
There, it had shown that this mission was formally assigned to three people in her group—Division 77:
Herself, Sonar Leo and another Ember named Aurora Rosewood.
Astra never looked at the people on her group on her phone, so she was a little surprised upon seeing the name of the next Ember.
"Rosewood…? She comes from quite a rich family, huh…" Using the knowledge that she studied, she immediately recognized the Rosewood family.
It was a luxurious family, on par with the Royal Family of Morpheus. The main members of the family mainly live outside of Earth in another sector of the galaxy, but many other members still live on Earth—belonging to certain important organizations.
Such organizations were the various Dominions of the official six dimensions.
Astra held her hand to her chin as she went into thought.
"This feels too much of a coincidence, doesn't it? I know the Dreamlander's division in Luna is small—numbering only a few hundred people, but still…"
She then crossed her arms, later thinking about Aurora.
"She's in our group, and she comes from a rich family that resides outside of Earth?"
Astra chuckled as she partially dismissed the thought involving Aurora and her money.
After reclining onto what appeared to be nothing, she pulled out her phone from her pocket.
She opened it, later seeing a notification that came from Kaelyn a few minutes ago.
It read:
"Our additional training sessions begin tomorrow!"
Astra closed the phone as she prepared to leave her office. Her shift was over, anyway.
…
Now in a purple shirt and blue shorts, Astra's brown skin glistened in the setting blue sun as she stood outside on her balcony. She was relaxed, surprisingly so, since she had just finished experimenting with her Celestial powers and finishing up some studies regarding the established physics of this new world.
Complimenting her calm attitude, the wind blew her curled blonde hair as she took up the scent of trees from down below. Her golden eyes stared at the various megastructures, impossible buildings, and futuristic floating roads, admiring the achievements of humanity.
But, at the same time, it was this very sight that reminded her that this world had unimaginable mysteries and horrors. One that the people she cared about—along with eight billion other people—were forcibly thrusted into.
The worst part was that her very nature seemed to be involved with such complexities.
"But perhaps, it could also be the best part…" Astra whispered to herself, thinking back on not only the First Dimension, Kayla, the Demigoddess, and the subconscious space they held together, but also Xavier, Aria, Mia and her mother.
She whispered to herself, attempting to engage with her contradictory factors that brought about mixed emotions.
Suddenly, Astra's stomach felt a strange sensation. It was ethereal and illusory, one that couldn't be explained with natural means.
She looked at the pale blue ball of light that rested by her side, and saw that it was shaking lightly.
"What is this…?" She whispered to herself once more, trying to understand her current feeling.
In that instant, Astra's eyes widened, coming to a forced epiphany.
"I've increased my refinement of my Celestial powers…?" She thought, almost flabbergasted.
"Why? Is it because I was trying to understand my contradictory emotions? Or, was it because I had explored that space? Could it also be because I was experimenting with my powers just now? Could it be all of those reasons at once?"
Astra tapped her forehead as she immediately thought of an answer.
"Right before the first seal was broken and I gained the powers of a Celestial, I reflected on my emotions, and I reflected on that part of me that I truly understood—that nature as a scientist. Given that Ethereon relies on self-awareness, I doubt that the timing was a coincidence."
"Then, even after that incident, I was able to get in my element multiple times, despite not being a formal physicist anymore." Astra thought back on her times in the study, and her times of using her scientist's naming sense and curiosity.
"All of that could've led to me refining my First Dimension Celestial powers. It seems like the key to refining is not only to understand yourself, but to understand how yourself connects to the dimension."
"For example, as a physicist, it is easy for me to refine the Dimension of Spacetime and Physics since that part of me is an integral part of myself. In a way, I already have a connection to that dimension."
Astra chuckled as she came to her final thoughts.
"There's no wonder Captain Smith said that the way to refine has to be deduced by the user. I also assume that the stronger one gets, the harder it is to refine."
"After all, the stronger one gets, so too will the corruption that comes from it. So, the self-awareness that comes from refining not only gets more important, it also gets more difficult. I still have a lot more work to do…"
After a few seconds, she crossed her arms as she closed her eyes. She took a step back and frowned, as she discovered a problem.
"If the reason why I got closer to fully refining my Celestial powers was because of me reflecting on my physicist nature, why did I have that ethereal feeling after reflecting on my emotions?"
Immediately, Astra thought back on the Dimension of Emotion and Consciousness and the ritual involved.
"If I failed because I didn't understand myself enough, could it be that there is some connection to the Third Dimension that I was not aware of that could've caused it? It seems extremely likely, otherwise why would I refine now?"
"And since that's most likely the case, won't I also awaken the powers of the Third Dimension at some point? That would basically mean I never 'failed' to begin with…"
"But if I have a connection to both dimensions, doesn't that seem to violate what I already know? After all, you can't be a Celestial of more than one dimension…"
She then placed her hand on her face, sighing.
"No, perhaps you can…under certain conditions. As for what they are," Removing her hand from her face, she stepped forward as she rested it on the transparent wall separating the balcony from the sky.
"I have no idea. Again, it's another strange thing about myself that I need to know…"
After a while, she turned her body to look back at her living room apartment.
"It's quiet…" She said to herself, her face unchanging—reflecting the inside of her living room.
After staring at it for a few seconds, she suddenly thought back to Astraia.
She chuckled.
"Hehe, she's just an AI, but I want to bring her back too."
"It shouldn't be too hard to bring her back. I think I just have to go back to my old phone and see if she's still on there."
Now moving into the living room, a sinister, familiar feeling crept up on Astra.
This was procrastination!
"Now that I know how to get her back, I'll do it tomorrow." And, as if she was in her schooldays, she quickly gave in to the temptation.
…
A few hours later, in Astra's bedroom. It was 9 PM, and the violet moonlight shone gracefully.
After Astra had decided to bring Astraia back tomorrow, she decided to relax by making food, taking a shower, and getting more familiar with the social media of the new Earth.
The only problem was that while Astra learnt how to navigate the new internet and the new social media platforms, she was still dumbfounded by the various trends that spread throughout the platforms.
For example, there was a trend involving a prank that trapped people into projection of 'memes'. Then, there was another trend that looked as if there were people in competitions on who could find the most 'supernatural' occurrences.
To Astra, it was truly unexplainable. But it was also understandable—after all, these were human beings in every sense of the word. They were just in a different setting.
Luckily, this also meant that various forms of entertainment were the same. Video games, books, movies, sports—they all appeared very similar to that on the previous Earth.
Feeling satisfied after finishing a non-fiction book that would be considered fantasy on the previous Earth, she decided to close her eyes. This also meant that she left her phone on her bed as she drifted off to sleep.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Astra found herself in a world full of fog.
She didn't know when or how she got here—it was like she was dreaming.
The fog above her then began to disperse, leaving an opening that showcased the full violet moon in all of its glory.
Confused, Astra looked around to try and surmise what this place was.
Immediately, her eyes widened as she turned lucid. She had now known that she had entered a strange dreamscape, one different from her normal dreams.
Suddenly, Astra's ethereal intuition flared up as she turned her head towards a particular direction.
In that direction, she saw two figures coated in fog. Before she could've even reacted, the fog immediately dispersed, giving way for her to see the two people in this strange dream.
The first person that caught her eye was a young man wearing a dark uniform with a violet moon crescent on his breast. He had black hair and violet eyes.
This was Sonar Leo.
The second person that she fully processed was a young, beautiful woman.
Her skin was tanned slightly, almost resembling that of the people from the countries of Emotion and Sentience. She had flowing white hair that touched her shoulders, and violet eyes that almost resembled the Northern Lights on the previous Earth. Her face was soft and gave off a mature, elegant and observant temperament. She was almost as tall as Sonar.
Despite her build being hidden by her black dress that resembled those from the Victorian Era from the previous Earth, it was obvious that it was graceful and delicate—like a doll. At the same time, this dressing sense emphasized her wealthy background; it belonged only to the elite.
This was none other than Aurora Rosewood.
Sonar clasped his hands as he smiled. "I'm actually shocked that you were still able to become a Celestial despite everything that had happened…"
Ignoring him for a second, Astra proceeded to look down at herself.
Unfortunately, she was still in her purple shirt and blue shorts.
"Before we get into that," Astra said calmly. "Can any of you explain why there was no information regarding this meeting at all? Not even a date or time?"
Sonar immediately put his hands up. "It wasn't me, actually."
He pointed towards Aurora.
"It was her."
Aurora widened her mouth slightly, as she took on a confused expression. She looked at Sonar for a second, and after returning back to her normal face, she then looked at Astra.
"Sorry that Sonar didn't tell you when you first came," She closed her eyes as she smiled lightly. "But we always meet here in our sleep after we are assigned a mission."
"But you're in control of the dream…" Sonar muttered under his breath.
Aurora heard him anyway. She flattened her face at him, expressing a look of annoyance.
Sonar laughed nervously as he held his hand to the back of his head.
Sighing, she looked back at Astra. Showcasing her trained mannerisms, she bowed slightly, expressing her apologies.
"My apologies, Dreamer Sera."
"But, I do express my congratulations—you are someone who was went through some complications on becoming a Celestial. It is wonderful that someone as beautiful as you is a part of our group."
"My name is Aurora Rosewood, as you already know. I'm a fully refined Ember of the Third Dimension: Dreams and Subconsciousness."
Lifting herself up and smiling adorably, she added, "I hope it'll be a pleasure to work with you."
Astra smiled lightly back, saying, "Likewise…"