OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 131: Celestia’s Hand [Bonus chapter]

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"...Celestia's Hand."

Emir's voice resounded in the well of eternity.

[That's not an aspect an Aetheric Duelist would use.] Silent's voice soon echoed in his mind.

"That's true... But while the Order had planned out my training plan entirely, they didn't consider my personality."

"I mean, why would they?"

"All they wanted was a tool, but this...." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"This would signify me leaving their control-not a simple name change of an ability, but entirely changing my path-something to fit me, Emir, not the tool they wanted."

[And what specialization would that be?]

"A custom class, an untrod path, only something I could specialize in...."

"Ethereal Threader."

[Ahh, an excellent choice, my young friend. I can see the thought behind your decision. Well done.]

With a chuckle, he emerged from the pool of Aether, his progress bringing him a sense of contentment.

Although he had not yet ascended to the coveted Seraphim rank, he positioned himself near the edge of the barrier, ready to push the boundaries that confined him.

"My specialization signifies my strength, the manipulation of Aether to all that I wish."

"Although I can't do much with Celestia's hand, I can still mold Aether into simple Aether constructs."

"It's a good enough result for all these months of training."

[You're definitely from the Eternal Star clan alright, but we don't have much time to talk.]

[Your family needs you, and there's a high chance that the Order caught onto your scheme.] [Or rather, I must say, Magnus Valerius did....]

[And judging from what I know of him, he should've understood what happened by now.] "Magnus? Is he the manager?"

[So that's what he calls himself now?]

Just as that question echoed in his mind, Silent began to laugh uncontrollably.

But Emir was having none of it as he screamed:

"STOP LAUGHING, GOD DAMMIT! MY BRAIN IS ABOUT TO BURST! YOU'RE TOO DAMN LOUD!!"

[Cough, cough... Sorry about that, Sonny.]

[That man truly surprised me. You must know we had quite a relationship in the past. While I was going to tell you after you kill the monster, I might as well say it now.]

"C'mon, spit it out, was he the one who started the experiments?"

[Yes, you guessed correctly.]

[Magnus is one of the ten leaders of the Order, he's responsible for the Milky Way Galaxy, as each leader is responsible for watching over one of the ten galaxies in the local group.

[The rest aren't under the control of humans, you see...]

[And as you know, Magnus's ultimate objective is to seize control of Earth, establishing his own dominion over the planet and its resources.]

[He envisions a new Order where he and the factions under him ascend to unparalleled heights of power.]

Still shaking his head, in an attempt to clear his mind of the constant ringing of Silent's laughter, Emir said:

"Let me guess, Magnus believes that Earth's strategic position and potential would provide him the means to reshape the galaxy in his image... Or something like that."

[Hm, you're right. Magnus was always quite the greedy man, he's always wanted more power, and that led him to you....]

[Be careful, although I laughed earlier, he is not an opponent someone on your level would like to face, the personnel, influence, money, and power he has are unimaginable.]

"No worries there, Silent, I will never let my guard down, not even against a toddler, never mind one of the leaders of a Galactic Federation for god's sake..."

Letting out an exacerbated sigh, he added:

"Well, at least I've got a proper name behind my captor, I call that progress. Thanks for this Silent."

[Of course, if you wish, you can ask me one more question, consider it an extension of your reward, and think carefully about it as I won't be able to answer anymore.]

Pausing his steps, Emir mused:

'There is no need for that, I've already got a question in mind.'

"Alright, but before I ask my question, I need you to tell me how long I've been here."

[Smart man... It's almost been a year.]

[It's 125 EIC, so you're fourteen now, and it might be surprising to you, but the fact that you became a Paladin in those eleven months is what astonishes me.]

"It's been a year?! Damn, my mom will grill me when I get back home..." Emir voiced out

while his body twitched, imagining how his mother would greet him after so long.

Sighing out loud, he let go of those thoughts and focused on a word that piqued his curiosity:

'Though EIC?'

'... Is that the universal year, maybe?'

'If I ask him now, he'd take away my question, even though it's so trivial....'

'I can't repeat the last trick, so I'll just guess and see his reaction.'

"Thanks for that... But you said something interesting, EIC."

"Although I've never heard the term before, I can safely guess from the name that it's Epoch of something something..."

Emir spoke while watching on, wanting to know if Silent would give out any more freebies, as he knew that if Silent wanted to mask his emotions, it would be a piece of cake.

They looked at each other in silence for a while until Silent let out a chuckle. [Don't worry about that, this is general knowledge, so I won't consider it a question....] [EIC, otherwise known as the Epoch of Interplanetary Colonization, is the beginning of time when the Order left Earth. And they based the years on the time of the Earth's rotation.] Emir nodded while joining him in laughter.

"Ha... Seriously, I'm thankful for all your help, now I can finally ask what's been on my mind for a while."

[Go ahead.]

"Yeah, so I've been wondering, as you are the man who discovered Aether, was there something else happening that was hidden from the records?"

"I mean... Why didn't you go to other planets to find resources? Or was that you couldn't, and

I'm just being paranoid again?"

Emir's question was laced with curiosity.

But contrary to his excitement, Silent's demeanor immediately changed, as he showed a face

filled with melancholy.

Emir didn't fail to notice that, but he didn't comment on it and let Silent take the stage.

[You might think that we could've used the resources on the planets in our solar system and

that we did.]

[We... We were excited at first, we finally departed Earth's embrace, and we all cheered as

one.]

[After years-decades-of infighting and silent wars, we had transcended our folly-rising

into the glittering world beyond.]

[Mars was first, then Venus and Mercury in the years that followed.]

[Mining stations dotted the solar system, even the asteroid belt.]

[We've attempted to extract resources from some moons of the Gas giants like Titan,

Enceladus, and Europa as well, but that ended up in failure. Their water and ice held no

credible use.]

[But besides that, the solar system was ours to its very fringes.]

[And it wasn't long before our sights were set beyond Sol's domain.]

[Our ships ventured en masse through the root cloud-into the space between the stars...]

[Yet as we tried to cross the threshold, we found ourselves incapable. No matter their speed or strength, all ships were turned forcibly astern.]

[We were puzzled, time and again we tried, but time and again we failed-until a warning cut

through the void.]

[It was the voice of a god-like being, reverberating through all of our minds, and it said...]

['For your own safety, cease all attempts to exit your star's gravitational field... Do not

awaken the myths.']

Emir had been listening to his words with interest so far, but his body immediately squirmed

when he heard the last words of Silent.

'Myths? Mythic? The monsters? A celestial....'

'N-no way...'

'THIS CAN'T BE!'

'Fucking hell.'

'... But it all makes sense, doesn't it?'

'Why... Why would the Eternal Star clan gain access to Aether since birth?'

'It's because our family originated from an Apex.'

'A goddamn APEX!'

Silent knew that Emir would pick up on it so he paused for a while, only continuing when he

saw him compose himself with a sigh.

[All of our mining rigs, every single source of energy production in the galaxy immediately combusted into nothingness, our men, women, all of them dead.]

[We didn't receive any sign of communication after that; it was quiet.]

[At first, we didn't know what to do, but the higher-ups demanded that we terminate all

records of our work.]

[Many of us were killed, but I was one of the few remaining few that lived...]

[They told those of us remaining to try again as if a fever had set upon them, to step beyond.]

[After all, Earth grew reliant on those resources, we couldn't function without them

anymore.]

[But any and all ships throughout the years never managed to succeed, and thankfully I wasn't

a part of it anymore.]

[I was away from the death and carnage...]