"Anyway, now that I have found you, I want to show you something!"

"Uh, sure?" you respond. The last time he showed you something, he jumped into the abyss, "I still have questions-"

"On the way!" He yells as he runs off down the root away from you, his voice echoing throughout the expanse, "Keep up!" He leaves you standing there, questioning if you should follow him. You still have no idea who he is, where he came from, what he can do, and what he will do with that ability. That scares a small part of you. However, this part of you is not the majority, so gingerly, you follow him.

You activate Rising Star, transforming into the light to chase after him.

***

The two of you walk across the vast network of roots that make up the Underworld. Being here still scared you, but, less somehow. The gaping maw that is the void beneath your feet isn't so vast, and the twisting, alien dance of the roots feels almost natural, if not familiar now. The moldy, mossy air smells almost homey as the two of you enjoy the sights.

"Hey, I have questions."

"Sure! We have a ways to go so shoot 'em at me." He responds quickly without turning around to look at you.

Okay, what to ask?

"...Who are you?" you ask after some thought.

"I already told you, I'm Sero, I even gave you my full name for formalities sake."

"No, no. Why are you here? You said that you're from "Off-world", which I don't understand. You have some explaining to do, sir."

He stops suddenly and turns around. He's significantly taller than you, almost looming over you. You shy back a bit uncontrollably.

"Do you really want to get into that, Nova?" His voice is uncharacteristically low and dangerous. He makes eye contact with you with those cyan-blue eyes. Those eyes seem to deepen as you look into them, revealing something you didn't expect in this man.

"You are old..." you say quietly.

"No, old is a term used for a house that was built before you were born. I am something much more ancient."

"Who are you..." you whisper fearfully.

He suddenly starts, stepping back from you. He seems to come back to himself, holding his head with his hand. "I'm sorry, my Memory Constructs are shutting down, why? Oh, I deal with that later. Here, let me take that."

He reaches up quickly and touches his thumb and forefinger to your temple. You flinch but feel unable to do anything. He seems to pull something from your head, an impossibly thin line of glowing white light. He pulls it out and appears to tie a tiny knot in the center of the line, before shoving it back into your head.

"I apologize for my lapse, please ignore what just happened." He says quietly and apologetically.

You blink, looking around for a second. What had happened?

"Hey, are you ok?" Sero asks you, his fingers to his temple.

"Yeah... Was I asking you questions?"

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"Hmm? Yes, you were, what do you want to ask?" He says turning and walking away. He seems to spring as he walks, hopping from fluid step to fluid step.

"You said that you're from "Off-world", which I don't understand. You have some explaining to do, sir."

"I was here to check on the Seal on the Prison of Oblivion. Real mean dude, was causing a ton of trouble on various other planets, but I found that his prison is practically non-existent now. So, I called for backup in case he wakes up."

"...Ok, who is this Oblivion? He sounds really dangerous."

"Oh, he is. He spent several hundred years going from planet to planet and causing as much general destruction as he could all the while gathering power for himself. I was asleep for most of it, but I ended up on the strike force to put him to sleep. We only tapped him on this random backwater planet because it was the only place where he wouldn't cause trouble." This was a lot to think about so the two of you continued on in silence.

You two walk for a while, skipping from root to root. At one point, the two of you come across a sudden void of nothing, the current root dwindling from the size of a house to a point that feels dangerous to walk upon. It sways and shakes as you and Sero edge your way out onto its point above the abyss.

"Alright, which way was it again?" Sero asks himself as he stands nonchalantly on the very end of the root.

"Are you sure this is safe?!" you ask as you huddle down, terrified of the emptiness below, the only thing separating you from an eternal fall into darkness being a floating root about 5 feet wide.

"Oh please, you can fly!" Sero responds without turning from the misty horizon.

"Doesn't matter!" You yell back at him as you strive to not look down, "What about you?"

"I can kinda fly, but that doesn't matter because I found where we are going!" He says, only now looking back to see you cowering a short way away, "You might want to move back, the shockwave is not pleasant, as I am told."

He doesn't wait for you as he suddenly launches himself upwards. The branch immediately snaps behind you, plummeting into the abyss below. A catastrophic wave of force slams into you, throwing you back like a leaf caught in a tempest. You panic activate Rising Star, hovering there, shocked, both physically and mentally, and utterly amazed, floating as a glowing, vaguely human-shaped lump of golden light. Sero soars, his impossible leap throwing him into the distance like a spear from a hunter's hand. His leap carries him in a majestic arch that skims the cloud layer above, disturbing it as he passes. You watch in awe, figurative mouth hanging open, as he eventually lands on a distant root with a massive explosion of sky-blue light that swirls up and out. A pillar of cyan light blooms upward like some titanic flower growing from the roots.

You begin to second guess yourself with this mysterious man.

No, I still have questions, a part of you says, He hasn't done anything besides being friendly, so don't expect him to suddenly turncoat.

So you reluctantly shoot off into the distance, golden form blurring and stretching as you accelerate after this wildly unpredictable man, maybe to your demise.

***

You met up on that distant root, Sero's landing creating a massive splintery crater in which he stood nonchalantly. He twiddles with something that is on his thumb, a shiny ring of some material that you don't know the name of. You alight on the root in front of him looking around at the destruction that he seems oblivious to.

"Just a little more! We're almost to the thing that I want to show you! I hope you like it." He begins to walk away.

You follow, suddenly even more curious.

It only takes a few more minutes of walking before Sero holds out his hand for you to stop.

"Shh-hh-hh, hold on," He whispers, motioning for your to crouch down on the root's mossy carpet. Suddenly, you hear a cry, a beautiful, sonorous, avian cry. And there, up above, from the towering crest of the winding root, a gargantuan bird swoops downward. An Aso'une'aawn.

"Literally perfect!" Sero whispers excitedly as the sacred bird lifts up above the cloud layer, disappearing into the white, "Alright, you need to be super quiet, or else the mom or dad comes back and we have to leave."

"What are we doing--?" you begin to ask, but Sero pulls you along. He begins climbing the root, motioning for you to do the same. Climbing the root is not difficult, the moss giving handholds and the crest's slope being not too extreme, you reach the top of the root.

There, on top of the root, sits a massive nest of branches. Not twigs, branches.

Sero puts his finger to his lips, quieting you. He's grinning ear to ear.

There, inside the titanic nest, are baby Aso'une'aawn.