S P A C E
Apollo-Orient: Nephilim City
Honiko Yoshidara stood atop a tall building overlooking the alien horizon of an ancient city. The word "ancient" being an apt description for a metropolis that orbited a star 10,000 lightyears from Earth. In the realms beyond Earth, space-time was fluid and without core mechanics. Whatever logics and possibilities existed on her home planet did not exist here. Honiko was both in the past and present all at once. At first, it seemed unnatural. Disordered. Chaotic. But over time, she learned that there was order within the uncertain and ill-defined. And where there was none, it could be applied externally by anyone with the will and strength to do it. The Cosmic Sage's journey across the stars with her mother and half-sister had given her a new outlook on life. She had questioned her destiny, wrestled with it, died, and had been reborn with an even greater commitment to her Master's plan. Even with the broadest of perspectives, Honiko still chose to walk the path he had laid out for her. The only difference was that she now knew this was truly her destiny. She had been to countless planets and had been offered many new lives. Some more exciting and fulfilling than she could have ever dreamed and yet she still picked this one.
Many Worlds, Many Roads...but only one leads to our salvation.
Honiko took a breath and lifted a hand in the air. She remained utterly still. She recalled one of their first lessons. The art of true meditation. It was how she had gone through so much, how she had never wavered no matter the challenge, how she had shed her old power and received one of her own making. It was how she had devised a means to contact him and tell him the good news. The energy of the universe coagulated around Honiko and filled her chakra reserves. She felt as though she could sense everything on the planet. Apollo-Orient had no atmosphere. It was a naked world with no border between its people and the heavens. The sky was littered with visible planets and the city was a dark stream of blue. An energy approximating chakra propelled goods, people, and vehicles across the city like cells in a bloodstream. Honiko eschewed their technology and luxuries. For unlike Merryweather, she saw it as a blasphemy. A tool developed by the spiritually tainted to overcompensate for their inability to connect with nature. It was Honiko's undying devotion to the natural world that permitted her to see beyond it. For the natural world did not end at the bounds of a planet, like this world, it extended into space. Honiko used it to her own ends by conjuring an image of her sensei. The particles that made up his sentience were brought into alignment with her own and like the rules of quantum entanglement dictated: when one reacted, so to did the other irrespective of space-time.
".....Well this is new...."
"As you've often said...Nothing under our sun, or any other, is."
"Heh, I've taught you well."
"By the grace of your training, I've acquired a new understanding of our discipline and with it, the power to take back what rightfully belongs to you"
"I was beginning to think you'd disappoint me. You've been gone for some time."
"Never. I plan on returning within the fortnight....Earth-time."
"Good. And that locust you call a mother?"
"She's been dealt with."
"Well then, there isn't much left to discuss. We have all of what we need."
"....then its time? The Final Missive has been sent?"
"It has."
"Understood. I will be there."
Hizashi could sense that she was about to end the technique, but before she could, he spoke up.
"Aren't you at least mildly curious how you're students have been faring?"
"I am not."
"Not even your Little Dragon?"
"No."
"And may I ask why?"
"For the same reason you haven't contacted me until now. I trust them completely. I trust her completely."
"Hm. well, I suppose the true test of loyalty and devotion is near. For you and for her."
Without warning, the connection was severed. Honiko's zen was broken and she was left staring at her open palm. This technique was one she had just devised. She hadn't told a soul about it and this was the first time she had successfully used it. How in Jashin's name Hizashi had managed to unilaterally terminate it was beyond her. Honiko picked up the bandaged item she had laid down next to her and exited the scene. What little doubt she had about returning to Earth was incinerated. This was her calling. This was her Destiny.
[Exit]
