Iris was the one always interested in the inner workings of things. How the world operated. How life was made. The science of nature. Sasha had always chalked it up to the wolf’s natural sense of curiosity. Or boredom, in some cases. But now that she was exploring the place where all life ended up when it died, she couldn’t help but think of the wolf’s crazy notes.
She considered taking some of her own. Too bad all she had was a commpad on her.
“Sasha’s log,” she said. “No idea where we are, but no signs of life or any gods yet. Also, the sky is roaring.”
She looked up just as the sound echoed above their heads yet again, Gabriella squeezing in close while she held a blaster up at the clouds. Once again to no avail. Sasha sighed, continuing onward.
Maybe the first time it had been a surprise, but by the third, she’d lost interest. Whatever was up there refused to show itself, at least not directly. The best they’d gotten was a shadow that appeared as it was passing through a section of clouds. Unlike the other spirits, whatever roared had a long, almost serpentine-like silhouette that dwarfed their shadows by a wide margin.
Enough that Gabriella seemed to freak out the closer its roars got, though Sasha ended up dismissing them. Given the calm air of everything else here, the creature’s roars might as well have been thunder.
“Sasha, I really hate this place,” Gabriella said. “Have I said that already?”
“Only about twelve times.” She gave her a nudge. “C’mon, Gabriella. Since when do you scare so easily?”
“It’s not fear, Sasha. It’s caution.”
“With a touch of fear for spice.”
She groaned at that, though it was hard to deny how hard the girl was squeezing her hand. Despite being such a good fighter and leader, it was easy to forget Gabriella was a girl only slightly younger than she was. The same age as some of her old Shiny denmates, in fact. Sasha gave her a reassuring smile.
“If it makes you feel any better,” she said, “I am a little scared too. The idea that somewhere in this sea of spirits are people I know…or people that know me. Maybe even the people that made me. Cripes.”
Gabriella looked up at her, the human seeming to consider her words a moment.
“I thought you didn’t dwell on that kind of stuff, Sasha,” she said.
The panther shook her head.
“No, I still do. Sometimes.”
She looked down at her hands, one cradling GT while the other was wrapped around Gabriella’s.
How many times had she really thought about it? The reason she was made. Why Shiny bred her and her fellow students. Why she ended up with a god tool out of anyone else. She knew those kinds of questions would eat away at her if she let them. But even so, she’d found them coming back in random intervals. Now more than ever given the state of the cosmos.
Gabriella looked ahead, her expression softening a bit.
“Okay,” she said. “Maybe it is a little scary.”
Sasha nodded, her smile returning as she gave her friend another nudge.
“But it’s less scary together at least, right?” she asked.
The little human seemed to cheer up a bit at that, giving her a small nod. When the roar came again, she didn’t seem to react quite as strongly.
***
Moving through the island of floating stones and whisps, the two girls eventually found themselves in front of what looked to be an oasis of sorts. Glowing white plants swayed back and forth, the liquid below them a blue brighter than any Sasha had seen in the living world. To the point that she wanted to try it, but decided against doing so given they were still in unfamiliar territory.
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For all they knew, the water was poison that’d turn them into floating whisps like the rest. Still, Sasha made it a point to record an image to show Iris later.
“Where do you think they all are?” Gabriella asked as they moved ahead. “The gods I mean. We haven’t seen any signs of them yet.”
Sasha thought a moment.
“Maybe it’s like a hierarchy thing? Mortals down here. Gods up there.”
She pointed to the sky despite not knowing herself if there even was anything up there. Besides that roaring creature.
“Maybe.” She looked to Sasha. “You still don’t feel any hostility here, right?”
Sasha shook her head. Even as they were moving past glowing plants and vaulting across ravines that surely led to instant death, she didn’t feel like anything around her was actively against them. It was still the same sense of calm familiarity no matter how deep in they went.
"It’s really weird, actually," Sasha said. "It's like...I feel like I've been here, but I know I've never seen it before. Does that make sense?"
Gabriella thought a moment, a finger tapping her lips.
"Y'know, people say we glimpse the other side when we nearly die. And you've nearly died a lot of times, Sasha."
The panther nodded.
"Maybe. I guess did this...dreamy place after I fought Alexander. But this feels different. More...real, I guess."
She thought back to that memory place she and GT had seen while she was unconscious. How she’d combed through her past before awakening through the god tool’s power. At the time she’d assumed it was just a really weird dream. But was that really all there was to it?
“What do you think, GT?” she asked. “You’ve been pretty quiet, buddy. Any thoughts to share?”
The staff resonated against her hand, its voice a bit more hesitant than she’d expected.
“I-I’m sorry. Ms. Sasha. This is all as new to me as it is to you. I truly wish I could offer more.”
Though it said this in its usual matter-of-fact voice, she could almost hear a hint of disappointment in the staff’s words. She brought it to her face, rubbing it against her cheek in her best attempt at affection.
“It’s alright, GT,” she said. “I know you’re trying your best.”
The staff went quiet again, but she could feel it resonating at her words. Gabriella looked at her a bit confused, but she waved away questions to instead gesture to the path ahead. They’d finally made it to the end of the oasis and-
"Are you really so curious, No. 4?"
They both stopped in their tracks.
“To know the truth of it all. Would that I have brought it to you sooner.”
Sasha’s ears rose at the voice, both she and Gabriella raising their heads to it. Where had it come from? They didn’t see anyone else in the oasis. Or at the edge where there was only a flat void of nothing ahead. Sasha rose GT, Gabriella taking up her blaster.
“Perhaps we could have avoided all this unpleasantness altogether," the voice continued. “Unfortunately, life is rarely so simple. I suppose I am partially to blame for that.”
Sasha’s ears twitched. As she listened more to the voice, she began to recognize it. Even if she’d only heard it once before.
It was the voice of Elisia. One which was followed by a flash of light in front of them.
“I’m sure there is much you’d like to say to me directly. And I do not intend to hide from you.”
Sasha covered her eyes against the light, only opening them as it began to dissipate. As the glow took form, becoming a solid set of stones which floated where there had once been nothing. The two girls looked to each other, Sasha still sensing no hostility even as she realized the goddess was inviting them to face her directly.
"Whether you wish to proceed or not is your choice,” Elisia said. “You've made that abundantly clear. But the path is there if you so desire."
The panther flashed her fangs. If I so desire? Why the heck else do you think I’m here? She looked to Gabriella, the human nodding before they both jumped onto the stony path. You owe me friends, tail brain. And I’m not leaving until I know where they are! Sasha took off ahead, Gabriella running after her as they got further and further to the top.
The whisps around them had suddenly dropped away, only the pink sky that blanketed the entire realm remaining around them. But as the two girls came to the top of the steps, they found that the void ceased to exist below them.
No, when they stepped onto the final step, the ground became completely flat as if it had always been that way. Sasha looked back only to find the rest of the stones nowhere in sight. Or the oasis. Or the shadow of the roaring creature. Instead, there was only the flat space around them. Like a room made of sky.
Gabriella tugging at her pulled her away from this realization, though.
Following the human’s gaze, she finally spotted her. The source of all the frustration and betrayal. All the anger. Of her making it into the graduate ranks in the first place. Every emotion came flooding back the instant she saw that yellow dress. That human-like face. The bright white hair. The goddess’s appearance was unmistakable. As was the voice that addressed the two of them.
"Welcome to our domain, No. 4," she said dryly. “You have horrendous timing.”
Sasha wasn’t sure how to respond.