Even days after the last battle and getting the info from the informant, the backlash from using the Ascended Anger Suit lingered in Aedan's body. Muscles ached with each movement, his aura unstable and frayed. The six-spark combo had nearly burned him from the inside, and even now, he hadn't truly mastered it. He sat inside one of the recuperation pods nestled in the heart of the Seeker, eyes closed, breathing steady, as Seph monitored his vitals. The interior of her leviathan body is the perfect medical facility, a perk of her nature as both a Space Beast.
Aedan knew he had rushed things. The Ascended Combos were beyond him, at least for now. There was still too much he hadn't grasped, and he couldn't keep using it and pass out every time. Instead, he turned his focus to the present, to what he could do. He spent hours condensing new Heartsparks and refining his control over existing ones. He studied new techniques like Wrathfall, but avoided Dead Star altogether. That art had nearly erased him once and taken Esethia somewhere he's trying to find even now.
He needed space, a planet untouched and uninhabited, somewhere to train without restraint. Fortunately, Heartsparks responded to emotional energy, and Aedan had begun to grasp how important emotional synchrony was. The heart is a fickle thing, if he could control his feelings, he could command the Sparks. Anger, joy, sorrow, they were all part of him, and learning to isolate them through meditation was crucial.
Onboard the Seeker, Seph looked out into space, her eyes narrowing. She had noticed it for days, a shadow following them, too distant to trigger alerts but never far behind. When she finally brought it up, her voice echoed inside Aedan's mind.
"We're being followed."
Aedan frowned. "Empire?"
"No… something familiar. It feels like one of my kind."
With urgency, they diverted to Y-21I3, a barren desert planet. Seph cloaked the area in a clouding field, shielding them from detection. They would have nine hours of silence. Nine hours of peace.
***************************
On the planet's surface, Aedan trained as they waited for whoever was following them.
Fires of Hatred!
Crimson flames scorched the sand. Aedan burning in light of his aura coordinating the sparks into a sword and slashing at the moving targets Seph put in his way.
Anger! Joy! Sorrow! Calling out the three emotions, finding balance, crimson change into a tri-colored aura as he took a leap and dodged a couple lasers shot his way by Seph's drones.
Weeping Arrow! One blueish arrow was shot out of a bow made out of his sparks and hit two of seven drones.
To finish off, he change his aura to purple which represents pity/compassion, putting himself into the place of others and carrying their pain.
It was a concept he had a lot of time to think about given his entire life and soon nine purple sparks formed a giant serpent.
9-Spark Art: Jörmungandr!
The colossal purple construct crashed over the drones and pierced through the atmosphere causing the planet that has been on a draught of nearly a thousand years to rain one more.
"F*ck! Seph, did you see that?!"
Seph rolled her eyes. Her thoughts clear to him. 'Of course I saw it, why even ask me to protect out location if you can broadcast it to the whole empire?'
The sarcasm in her gaze as she transmitted her thoughts wasn't lost on him and he knew he screwed up, however the power of the last art was a surprise to him. Still he wanted to learn if he could use something that powerful without a backlash and sure enough he was fine. In fact the art wasn't that powerful given the sparks he used were only 40% spent.
Changing things over, he went to meditate, something he used to do when part of the Sacred Soul Sect. A couple years ago he found out his eyes and hair changed to match the emotion he was currently channeling, then returned to their pure white once it was done, a sign of emotional neutrality. He always felt it had some use, a technique innate to his enigma but he was a long way to getting that far. From there, he'd invoke each spark in turn. Emotional focus was key.
Among the sparks, green, hope, remained elusive. He only had a single Heartspark of it, and hope was difficult to define. Love, or affection, was even more alien. Though he had seen traces of it in others, pure affection was rare. It was always tainted, by jealousy, doubt, envy. Aedan couldn't even form a pink aura, let alone form a spark.
Still, he made progress. He learned that intent mattered. When fighting beside Seph, his flames never burned her. Even subconsciously, his aura reacted to his will. That insight would become important sooner than he expected.
A streak of heat split the sky.
From the heavens, a great flaming shape descended. A giant red and gold spaceship with glowing eyes, flaming red wings and a moving tail. It was certainly over 120m tall and it's wingspan about double it's size.
A Phoenix Space Beast.
Aedan and Seph stood motionless as the creature landed. It looked to Seph and nodded, recognizing one of its kind, though her form was wholly different. Then it spoke, voice deep and resonant.
"I am Rian'zal. You two have made quite an impression. The Phoenix Elders have taken notice. I've come to bring you before them."
Rian explained that the Phoenix had been observing them ever since they crossed into their domain. The space beast admitted curiosity, Leviathans were rare, their control over space unique and unparalleled. Unlike them, Phoenixes wielded fire and rebirth, but not space.
Aedan glanced at Seph. "Should we trust him?"
"I don't sense hostility," she replied. "Let's go."
They followed Rian to a volcanic planet nearby. The skies glowed with sulfur and ash. There was no sign of the Empire, none dared tread here. The Phoenix Tribe, it turned out, numbered over ten thousand, among those there was about fifty guarding their fiery eggs.
The landing site was awe-inspiring. Phoenixes dove into magma, sparred in bursts of flame, or soared in elegant loops of glowing light. Aedan and Seph stood in silence, marveling at the primal beauty.
Inside a massive caldera sat the Phoenix Elder, Jackan.
The Elder spoke.
"You are bound… Leviathan and human. I see space energy within you, Aedan. Energy no pilot should possess."
The air thickened.
"I must test you," the Elder declared. "To understand your strength, and your heart."
Aedan's fists clenched. "You question my bond with Seph?"
The Elder remained still. "You wield what you shouldn't. This test is necessary."
Two trials: one of character, one of combat. Except, the phoenixes believed a battle was a great way to judge character so it would all be solved in a duel. Aedan accepted.
The hot air of the volcanic region whipped against the scorched rocks as Aedan stood in the coliseum of the Phoenix Tribe. Lava streamed in rivulets down the blackened cliffs that enclosed the arena, casting a reddish glow across the sky. Opposite him stood Kael'thar, the tribe's most formidable warrior, a being of molten fire and searing precision, his wings stretched wide, his talons gleaming like obsidian blades.
The duel begun.
Kael'thar struck first, a wave of golden flame spiraling from his talons. Aedan dashed sideways, barely evading the blast that turned sand into glass. He responded instantly, putting on his anger suit, then summoning a crimson burst from within:
3-Spark Art Wrathful Saber!
Heat shimmered around him as he lunged forward, coordinating his heartsparks into a blade of seething fury that danced like a living thing in his grasp.
They clashed, flame against aura, fury against control. Sparks flew, the ground trembled, and the coliseum walls groaned under the pressure of their colliding power. Aedan's attacks carried the weight of three emotions: Anger, Joy, Sorrow. His aura shimmered in chaotic brilliance, hues shifting unpredictably with each heartbeat, forcing Kael'thar to adapt with every strike.
"You fight well, human," Kael'thar growled, flames curling from his beak. "But fire is our birthright."
Aedan didn't answer. Instead, he drew back, his expression solemn. He closed his eyes, searching inward, and invoked a sorrowful whisper.
"Blizzard!"
Five blue sparks shattered in Aedan's hand, two formed an icy storm that dominated the stage and cooled things down for a couple seconds before it melted, giving him just enough time. Other three formed an blue crystal bow.
Weeping Arrow!
The construct radiated with the pain he had buried, the sorrow he carried. He released it. The arrow pierced Kael's shoulder, staggering the warrior mid-flight. But not stopping him.
Kael'thar retaliated with a sweeping inferno, a torrent of spiraling flames. Aedan raised a shimmering shield of tri-colored sparks just in time. The impact hurled him backward, his feet dragging trenches through the arena floor as he struggled to maintain balance.
He slid back, breathing heavy. His body ached, muscles trembling. He had been pushing himself harder with every exchange, testing the limits of his emotional control. Then, he changed, compassion taking hold as he inserted a set of purple jewels onto his belt. His aura shifted, becoming violet. nine-purple sparks spiraled into the sky, circling above like sentinels.
"9-Spark Art: Jörmungandr!"
The colossal psychic serpent descended upon the arena, its form shimmering with the essence of empathy and burden. It crashed into Kael'thar and melted the ground beneath him. The flames of the Phoenix clashed with the emotional construct, their energies twisting into a storm of power and pain. The rains began to fall, summoned by the serpent's impact, cooling the scorched terrain and blanketing the scene in steam.
Kael'thar, scorched and staggering, wings singed, still advanced. Smoke curled from his shoulders, his talons clenched.
"You're not done yet," he rasped.
Aedan smiled, wiped blood from his lip. "Neither are you."
Then came the shift.
He reached for more, but not Anger. Not Sorrow. Something deeper. Something unformed. A spark he'd never called before. It pulsed beneath the surface of his soul.
Hope?
No. It was more intimate than hope. More terrifying. More beautiful. It was connection, pure and unfiltered.
Pink light burst forth.
It was blinding. Warm. Overwhelming.
His senses expanded in every direction. He saw everything, felt everything. Time blurred. Emotions surged. He could act before thought, move before reaction.
The arena vanished in his perception. Time unraveled. Space bent. Aedan felt the heartbeat of Seph even from afar, echoing in perfect synchrony with his own. His aura pulsed with the rhythm of something transcendent, ethereal. His eyes and hair turned radiant pink, glowing softly. His movements became fluid, graceful, no longer reactions, but predictions. Instinct. Presence.
Kael'thar never stood a chance. Aedan didn't strike him, he moved around him, through him, disarming without harming, subduing without dominance. Every motion expressed understanding. Mercy. Power without cruelty.
Then, darkness.
Aedan collapsed. Pink scales covered his skin, glowing faintly. A single horn emerged from his forehead, and a tail, serpentine and sleek, twitched as it grew from the base of his spine. He breathed, chest rising slowly. Still alive. But undeniably changed.
The onlookers were silent. The Phoenix Tribe, creatures of fire and fury, stood in stunned awe.
Seph stepped forward, drawn by the pink aura. It reached out to her like a hand in the dark. Something inside her, long dormant, stirred. A warmth she couldn't name. Her gaze fell on Aedan, and she felt it: not just the echo of power, but of intent. Of care.
Seph, standing at his side, was stunned. The pink aura washed over her, and something inside her responded. A feeling bloomed, alien, unfamiliar, but real.
Light retreated, revealing Aedan in a striking form. His clothes tattered, pink scales covered his skin and a horn growing by the forehead, and there was a small tail slowing growing out of his spine.
The onlookers gasped. The Elder recoiled.
Elder Jackan rose slowly from his seat of molten stone, eyes wide as they fixed on Aedan, then Seph.
"That fusion… impossible."
He felt that pink energy, for a moment, it wasn't just spatial force but a fusion of space/time.
"That fusion… impossible."
Jackan knew of the Enigmas, the Empire has one, a lesser one. Except what Aedan has is beyond a minor enigma. To do something of that level as well the many abilities he displayed, an enigma outside the Great Twelve.
And it came from Aedan.