Infinite voices filled En's ears. Each having a different tone, from the soft call of a child to an aggressive one, that seemed to have a mixture of a beast and a human. Despite hearing various languages, En could understand what they were saying.
A feeling of guilt and sorrow spread in his veins as he heard some voices asking for help and some looking down at others because of their status and power. He didn't let those voices distract him and kept listening.
"Leo," said a quiet voice behind him. "Seeing you around here. This means..."
The voices faded as he slowly opened his eyes. Surprise struck him as he found himself floating in the darkness that was painted with countless glowing dots. Looking below his crossed legs, he saw more stars shining under him.
"Yes. My chosen one has reached his limit thanks to his advanced age," he said, his voice calm. "Regulus has returned to the Sanctum since his owner can no longer fight. I have to find a new owner for it and this time I want to make sure the new Guardian will be right."
"Hm," said the quiet voice approaching him. "Choosing a new candidate used to be fun. Now it's so time-consuming and tiring. Despite us doing our best, we always end up choosing the wrong ones. I sometimes feel a little jealous since you, Aries and Libra find the right Guardians."
En gazed at his left side and saw a woman of average height in a bright blue flowing dress. What caught his eye was how her figure was glowing dimly and how voluminous her long dark hair was, despite looking wet. He noticed fish scales spread on her pale legs and in a smaller number scattered on her arms.
"I don't always choose the right one, Pisces," he said with a quick chuckle. "My last Guardian refused the quest to retrieve the Elements, even though he wanted to save the worlds. It showed how selfish he was since he didn't want to lose his powers."
"It can't be helped." Pisces walked a few steps forward. "Mortals are imperfect beings. At least he accomplished his duty as a Guardian instead of threatening other beings with his powers."
As a short silence fell, En sighed.
"To this day," he said slowly, "I still regret lending my powers to them. That was our greatest mistake."
Pisces walked around, examining each luminous dot she could see.
"We had no choice," she said, her voice calm. "We had to find a way to protect those powerless beings."
As En looked away, silence took over the atmosphere for several seconds. As Pisces explored the area, En couldn't help but feel guilt running in his blood.
"These stars are so far away from each other." Pisces broke the silence. "If portals didn't exist or perhaps were never discovered, mortals wouldn't have known that there are other worlds out there."
A small smile formed across En's face. "Maybe. But you never know, there are many curious beings out there."
"Yes." Pisces glanced over her shoulder. "But without a portal, it would take them a thousand to million years to reach another habitable world with life."
En folded his arms. "You're right."
Pisces smiled. As she walked towards him, En saw her marine blue eyes.
"I noticed that you're mostly looking for a new Guardian in your constellation," she said. "If you're having trouble finding a Guardian in your area, you know you're welcome to look for a candidate in others' constellations."
En rubbed his jaw, gazing at Pisces thoughtfully.
"How about you look around Aries' constellation?" suggested Pisces. "I'm sure she won't mind since you two are now a family. Besides, she only chooses one particular world to represent her."
En's lips formed a bright smile. "You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea."
As En raised his hand, he noticed that his lightly tanned arm was glowing dimly. Before he could gesture with his hand, something stopped him.
"Huh?" He gazed around.
"Is something wrong?" asked Pisces. "We're still in your constellation."
En slowly stood up and examined his surroundings.
"No." En walked through the darkness with bright spots. "It's just...I'm hearing new voices."
Pisces' eyes widened. "Oh. Could it be that a new system has entered your constellation."
"It could be," said En, raising his hand again.
He then gestured with it and felt a force pushing him forward through the vast emptiness.
For several seconds, he saw different, colorful worlds orbiting various glowing objects that grew bigger and brighter as he approached them. Some of those objects shone with white light, while others brightened with red. He closed his eyes for a bit as the blinding light bothered him every time he got closer to them.
As the force grew weaker and slowly disappeared, En opened his eyes. His brows arched as his gaze met a giant blue sphere in front of him. He really felt tiny looking at it.
"Earth," he said. "It's been years since I last had a Guardian from this world."
"Then maybe this time you should choose one from there," said Pisces. "Who knows? Maybe the perfect Guardian you've been looking for is from this world."
En gazed at Pisces, who was looking at the world with fascination. He then returned his view to the front, doubtful.
Voices filled his ears again. Uneasiness tightened his chest as he noticed that most of the voices were begging help, while others were screams of despair.
<Yueli!> He heard a woman call with despair. En's heart raced as he recognized his grandmother's voice. <Yueli! My daughter. Where is my daughter?>
<Please calm down, Your Majesty.> A calming voice joined the chaos. <She was with an android when she left our area; we'll find her by tracking it.>
<Sir we have a problem.> Interrupted another male voice. <It seems that the android's tracker is offline.>
<What? No!> protested En's grandmother. <My daughter. I knew I shouldn't have let her leave. Yueli, please don't do this to us.>
Judging by the voices calling the Queen, En concluded that she had passed out.
Curiosity grew in him as he heard the soldier comforting the other members, telling them that they could still communicate with the princess through the android. As the soldier attempted to communicate with her, En closed his eyes and followed the voice that would lead him to where the android was.
<Princess Yueli, can you hear me?>
As the voice kept calling the princess, En could hear something crash down. He opened his eyes, finding himself in a large hall filled with red chairs.
He noticed that some of those chairs were damaged with several sharp boulders popping out from them. Others had pieces of the building dropped on top of them. In front of him, he spotted a wide stage with light cracks on the wall.
Looking around, he noticed that there was a second floor for the audience to enjoy the show. Uneasiness flowed through his veins as he saw a small number of bodies randomly scattered around the area. The bodies varied from humans to large beasts with a back covered in sharp stones.
As he wondered what happened, his gaze suddenly focused on the silver and oval machine, that had pieces of debris and dirt on top of it. Its mechanical arms were spread as if it was trying to protect something underneath it. The soldier's voice coming from it kept calling the princess.
After several seconds passed, the machine shifted a bit as something under it started moving.
"Y-yes...I can hear you, Mr. Feng," said a female voice, groaning. "Sorry. I passed out."
A sigh of relief could be heard coming from the machine as the princess fully moved away from it with difficulty. En's heart raced. Despite the face being of a girl who looked to be fourteen or fifteen, he recognized his mother.
Yueli removed strands of hair covering her face. As she did so, En noticed that her raven hair that was beautifully tied and decorated with a few jewels was a mess.
"It's good to hear that you're fine, Your Highness," said Feng. "Can you tell us where you are? The android's tracker seems to have been damaged."
"It's not damaged." Yueli pressed a button on the android's chest and a small area opened in it, like a little gate. "I switched it off."
Yueli then pressed a few buttons before the machine confirmed that the tracker was online.
"She's still in the Opera House," whispered a voice with worry.
"Your Highness," said Feng. "Please remain hidden. There is a chance that some of the monsters that attacked us are still there. We're on our way to rescue you. But just in case those monsters find you, the android has a weapon stored in it, please type this code to access it."
Yueli typed something on the machine's chest again. A short second later, its green eyes glowed and aimed its light on the carpeted floor. Another second passed before the android switched off its light and revealed a gun.
Yueli blinked twice before she grabbed the weapon.
"You're still in the process of training for self-defense in case of an attack from creatures from another world," said the soldier. "But don't be scared to shoot on a real one if it shows up. But most important of all, stay hidden and don't do anything reckless."
"O-okay," said Yueli, breaking the few seconds of silence.
"Hang in there," said Feng. "We'll be there soon."
As silence fell, Yueli released a deep sigh before she focused on holding her weapon. She then gazed around her hideout which was in an aisle of red chairs with dust, boulders, and pieces of the building's architecture. As she shrunk herself to keep herself hidden, a roar made her gasp.
En watched as his mother slowly peeked in between the chairs and debris that hid her. Following her curiosity, En saw a familiar beast wandering around, in search of its prey. As the creature found a fallen body and started to feast on it, En saw the sharp brown stones that covered part of its neck and back.
His mother quickly returned her view to her hideout, covering her mouth. He could see that she was trembling, judging by her hands. She curled her body, trying to calm down.
A scream broke the few minutes of silence.
"Go away! Go away!" shouted a female voice.
With panic dominating her expression, Yueli peered by her hideout again. Following his mother's reaction, En saw that the brown beast from before had found a fresh new prey in another aisle of red chairs.
A teenage girl threw whatever she could find to scare the creature away. Behind her, an old man who seemed to be injured tried to convince her to run away and leave him there. He told her that with the monster focusing on him, she would have enough time to escape.
"No," protested the girl, throwing another heavy object to the target. "I won't let you die here, grandpa. You're my only family. If you die here, then I will too."
As the beast slowly approached their spot and the girl was running out of things to throw, Yueli returned her view back to her area. En noticed that she looked scared and at the same time thoughtful. She jumped a bit when the creature roared again. As a cry filled the atmosphere, Yueli gazed at her weapon.
Looking at his mother, En already knew what she was thinking. Most mortals in these situations would have the compassion to help the one in need, but their selfishness would stop them, telling them their own safety was important.
"No!" cried the girl. "Go away!"
At that moment, En saw his mother quickly move away from her hideout and aim her weapon at it.
"Over here!" She shot at the target multiple times, allowing purple lasers to pierce through the air.
Despite only causing a few damages on her target, En could see that his mother had irritated her opponent.
Yueli's dark eyes widened as she gulped. She didn't think twice and ran away from the area, holding the long skirt of the turquoise clothing that was wrapped around her. As the creature roared behind her tail, En could hear the girl calling his mother's name.
En was surprised by how agile his mother was, despite her clothing giving her difficulties to run. Yueli tripped and fell as the creature shook the ground a little, causing a few sharp boulders to grow on the carpeted floor.
She grabbed the gun and pointed at the creature. With despair getting the better of her, she continuously shot at her target randomly until her weapon no longer had any power.
As the creature approached her with its mouth ready to devour her, Yueli breathed heavily.
"W-well, at least I was able to save a few lives," she said, her voice cracking. She closed her eyes as she trembled. "I'm sorry mom; I just wanted to help. If there is another life, I hope to be the perfect daughter you always dreamed of."
Sounds of shotguns cracked the atmosphere. As the beast roared in pain and fell on the carpeted floor with a thud, En saw a tall man in a military uniform approach his mother.
"I knew you wouldn't listen to me and do something reckless," he said, bending over.
Yueli opened her eyes. A large smile spread across her face and she quickly wrapped her arms around him.
"Mr. Feng, thank goodness," she said, her tone relieved. "I was so scared."
"A scared person wouldn't leave their hideout and taunt a monster," teased Feng.
Yueli dropped her arms from him, sighing.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking away. "I couldn't remain hidden while those people were devoured alive. I wanted to help somehow."
"It's okay." Feng patted her dark hair. "That was brave of you to risk your life despite not having any powers and only having a small weapon. We need more people like you in this world."
Yueli smiled and as she slowly stood up, she gazed at the fallen creature that exhibited sharp and thick teeth.
"I've never seen this kind of creature before," she said, looking around. "I know we get frequent unpleasant visitors from other worlds, but this one is new."
"It's from Eteria," said Feng, his tone serious. "We should get used to them; we'll see them more often from now on."
Yueli gazed at Feng, her brows rising. "Eteria? But didn't Eteria promise they would spare our country in exchange for the King's most precious treasure, a long time ago?"
"Not anymore." Feng folded his arms. "The previous King passed away a month ago and the young Prince has taken his place. It seems that he wants to follow the steps of the first Dragon King. We have to prepare ourselves for the troubles that will fall in the Yue Kingdom."
"Then he'd better return the treasure his ancestor took from our kingdom." Yueli crossed her arms. "It's sad to see that someone would rather bring more war and suffering than working on finding a way to bring peace."
"Unfortunately that's how our nature really is." Feng patted her shoulder. "We're not peaceful creatures. But who knows, maybe one day we'll live in a peaceful world."
Yueli smiled. "I hope so."
As Feng suggested to leave the area, En blinked once and found himself floating in the darkness filled with twinkling stars.
"Judging by that smile, I can see that you found a potential candidate," said Pisces, chuckling a bit.
En gazed at the woman with long dark hair and bright blue dress.
"Yes." He glanced at his tanned hand thoughtfully. "I think I've found a candidate with a lionheart. I will observe her for a few days before I send the Call to test her."
Test her...test her.
Those words echoed in En's mind as he slowly opened his dark eyes. The first thing he saw was the blue sky that was slowly gaining an orange tone.
Another weird dream. He rubbed his eye.
Weird dreams weren't news for him. In fact, he had been having them ever since he became a Guardian.
A few times a year he would have dreams of himself as Leo; he even thought it was normal since he was the Astral Guardian of Leo. But lately, he had been having these dreams more often, after Enchantress invaded his mind again and the Dream Weaver tried to stop him by giving him nightmares.
Thinking of the two protectors of the Forbidden Lands, he remembered how Enchantress used his mother's memories to show him what a disappointment he was. She showed him his mother's humble attitude towards her people and how she risked her life to save and help others. She truly was a Guardian with a lionheart.
Remembering his dream and theorizing that the stars chose their Guardians by observing them, he wondered what Leo saw in him when he chose him. He concluded that the star might have been tricked by his childish innocence since he was only ten when he became a Guardian.
As he thought of the other protector of the Forbidden Lands, the Dream Weaver's other self, Melione, the bearer of nightmares flashed in his mind.
En wanted to forget the nightmares he went through. But no matter what he did to forget them, reality brought them back. His people disliked him. His mother died because she gave birth to him and he had hurt the woman he loved. Melione was right. He was unwanted, a murderer and a disappointment.
He rubbed his forehead, in an attempt to not fall in that trap again. Melione was no longer there to awaken the feelings of guilt and loneliness and feed on them. Yet those negative feelings always found a way to resurface within him.
A little pain spread on his back and neck as he shifted a bit to have a seat. He massaged and stretched his neck. As he looked around, he saw that he was in a garden filled with green bushes and different kinds of plants and flowers.
When did I get the habit of randomly napping anywhere? His lips couldn't help but form a smile as a memory of a dark-haired girl played in his mind.
He shook his head, pushing those memories away.
As a warm breeze blew past him, swaying strands of his dark hair that covered part of his eyes, En heard something flip.
He gazed by his right side and saw an art book on the green ground, flipping its pages thanks to the breeze. A number of pencils spread on the grass as the warm breeze kept blowing.
En grabbed his materials, remembering that he was trying to draw something before he fell asleep. Before he closed the book to leave the area, a picture caught his eye. The cream colored paper displayed a young woman with short dark hair, glancing over her shoulder with a radiant smile. As he touched the picture, En curled his fingers.
His heart skipped. This is what I've been drawing today?
He exhaled, not believing that after all those weeks, Arisa was still in his thoughts. Despite being almost a month since their last terrible encounter, En had told everyone that she was nothing to him.
He had fought against himself to forget his feelings before he met her again. After all, she was his enemy now. Yet, after showing everyone how determined he was, his feelings still persisted.
He had to do something about them or his future would be ruined for good.
"Ha!" said a cheerful voice. "I finally found you, My Prince."
En dropped his book, recognizing that familiar voice. He gazed by his right side.
"What are you doing here?"