Where did one begin with the Gaia Sphere Federation?

  Was it the greatness that it had achieved as a political and military state that had encompassed the vast majority of Gaia?

  Was it the lofty hopes and dreams of those who had lived within it?

  Or was it…

  Or was it that in the end, it had failed?

  The Gaia Sphere Federation had been the hope and dream of so many who had lived on Gaia. The grand endeavor of a century of hard work by those of all species and races, of peoples and creatures of all different backgrounds and origins. It was the song sung by those who had been trapped in a never-ending cycle of misery and suffering—a world stuck in stagnation for millennia.

  In a century, so much had been accomplished. A common unified language that could be spoken, written, signed, and communicated in any number of ways by different species and races. Vast progress had been made in social and economic ties between peoples and cultures.

  Things like poverty and disease had been rendered so rare that one could sometimes believe they had been eradicated.

  And space…

  The Federation had grown so technologically and arcanologically advanced that it had pushed civilization off Mother Gaia itself and into the stars.

  Even now, the mere mention of the defunct Gaia Sphere Federation was enough to bring people within the Despar Dominion to anger—And the End War and resulting Astral Nova was no different—the twitch of an eye, the clenching of a fist, the sudden tenseness of a person.

  Aster could understand why people would have such anger and hatred in their hearts. As he glanced around at the steadily growing crowd that had begun to form around himself, Arnis, and Etoile, he could see it.

  Because sometimes, he could see it.

  Literally.

  The anger and hatred that were in the hearts of people. A kind of intangible aura that exuded from them in waves like the ghostly flames flickering from a fire.

  Now was one of those times.

  Aster had looked into stories of ancient times, people who had, in one way or another, managed to sense the emotions and feelings of others. But in his search to understand what he saw, he had never found anyone or anything that could explain what he saw at times like right now.

  Nor did he know anyone else who could see the kind of things he saw.

  It was… something different…

  What it was, he didn’t know.

  As Aster looked at Etoile, he could see the same anger and hatred roll off of him in waves. It was like he was some kind of black bonfire with ghostly, ethereal flames that licked at the air above him.

  Even if Etoile had a point. Even if he was right from a particular point of view…

  “Even if the people living in the surface world above have to pay for what people did a thousand years ago, how long do they need to pay for it? Ten generations? A hundred? How many generations of people, of children, have to pay for the sins of their forebearers?” Aster said.

  “You say that as if those children won’t sin themselves,” Etoile replied calmly.

  “And how can you possibly know that!?” Aster retorted.

  Aster saw Arnis nod in agreement wordlessly. But in the growing crowd around them, he saw a mixed reaction. Some seemed to agree with him—a nod, a thoughtful contemplation, a sympathetic look. Others didn’t, and he could see the same kind of ghostly flames of hatred and anger coming off of them as he could see in Etoile.

  Even though the artificial sky of Alsium Two shone down a brilliant sunny day, those flames of hatred and anger seemed to overshadow the sunlight in his vision, giving off a dark light that washed over things around him.

  That anger and hatred.

  Aster hated it—that never-ending ugliness.

  “I’ve seen enough of it as part of AXIS,” Etoile replied, annoyed. “And you’ve seen it too Aster”—Etoile glanced over at Arnis, who glowered at him—”and you as well Arnis.” Etoile took a step towards Aster, closing the distance between them. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here, would you, Aster?” You would still be up there, still playing the hero, wouldn’t you?”

  Etole chuckled as he glanced behind both Arnis and Aster at Selenia for several moments. “Why, I dare say that at least this princess is a step up from that worthless feral of yours. What was her name again? That person who had sacrificed themselves so worthlessly for those ‘people’? Filarina wasn’t it? At this one isn’t some worthless feral like that one.”

  …Aster could understand it—the reasons why people could hate others with so much anger and bitterness in their hearts.

  He could understand it even if he didn’t want to accept it.

  As the ghostly hate flowed off of those around him, it wasn’t like he could blame them. A great many around them had been mere children during the End War, that apocalyptic war that had seen Gaia itself nearly destroyed, when it felt as if the end was coming for all, when it felt as if the stars themselves could die.

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  And the life of Mother Gaia itself seemed to be at stake.

  Most people had been mere children when the war had taken place. At the very least, they had grown up in the aftermath. Virtually everyone had been impacted in some way. It was common for those who lived within the Despar Dominion to have known someone who had died in that war—to have borne some scar.

  It truly had been an apocalyptic war, A catastrophic war. A war to seemingly end all wars. And sometimes, the very thing people had loved had crashed and fallen from the heavens, quite literally…

  But…

  Even so…

  Aster clenched a fist.

  He wasn’t about to let someone like Filarina, who had been someone who had once been called a saint because of her kindness, be ridiculed like some feral animal.

  Aster glared death at Etoile, so much so that Arnis, who had stood near him, took several unconscious steps back at the murder showing in his eyes. Etoile glared back at him, undeterred, their eyes meeting one another without hesitation.

  Then, a sudden movement of the air arose between them.

  The air began to swirl around them, and an unseen wind began to form around the pair. It kicked the food on the ground away as some dirt began to pick up.

  A bluish energy appeared in flickering light, small at first, in tiny slivers that began to join together in rough waves, then began to swirl more chaotically around both Aster and Etoile as they continued to glare at each other.

  Everyone around them stopped what they were doing. Lively discussions halted. People stopped eating. They stopped drinking. Eyes turned towards them and stared in silence as the tension grew between him and Etoile.

  Arcana.

  In ancient times, it was called different names among various peoples and cultures—magic, sorcery, witchcraft. wizardry, spellcraft, thaumaturgy, and many others. While these names were still used in the surface world of Gaia, especially given the regressed state of the world from the Gaia Sphere Federation’s heyday and heights, to those of the Gaia Sphere Federation, to those who had been part of those times, it was simply called Arcana.

  It was a kind of energy, an essence, that permeated all things on Gaia and the universe around it.

  It was in all living things and the environment. It was within them and without them.

  Through it, all sorts of things were possible.

  It wasn’t a stretch to say that through Arcana lay power itself. To become stronger. To become faster. To soar amongst the air and the sky. To dive and explore the depths of the oceans. To climb the highest peaks. To descend to the deepest depths. To create the elements of nature. To destroy. To create.

  Arcana had been a force that had moved the history of Gaia for millennia.

  And one did not use it lightly.

  Those around them watched in silence as the light of Arcana shone between him and Etoile.

  Etoile glanced behind Aster and stared at where Selenia sat, silently watching, eyes wide and mid-step in the process of eating her melon slices. Etoile chuckled in mockery. “I’ve touched a sore spot, I see,” he said. “That feral Filarina—”

  “Don’t you dare say her name!” Aster growled.

  Etoile looked at him in disdain, “Hit too close to home? Because you’re playing the hero with this little replacement for that dead feral girl?”

  Etoile glanced again at Selenia off in he distance. His gaze seemed to bore into the princess, who met his gaze, then looked away from him as he turned his attention back to Aster.

  Those around them tensed, eyes and heads darting around at each other, some moving subtly around.

  Aster felt his eye twitch. He clenched a fist so hard he felt like he would draw blood. He thought about how good it would be to punch the bastard standing in front of him. The worst part about it was that he couldn’t even refute him. It wasn’t as if he were wrong from a certain point of view…

  Aster let go of his clenched fist. He breathed and exhaled.

  He stared Etoile straight in the eye as he began to chuckle.

  Then, after several moments, Etoile began to chuckle in return.

  The swirl of Arcana around them dissipated and faded away. It was as if the tension broke, and those around them relaxed ever so slightly.

  Aster stared at Etoile, the chuckles never reaching his eyes.

  Neither of their chuckles reached their eyes.

  Selenia watched as Aster and Etoile chuckled off in the distance as she sat under the shade of a tree, a ways away from those farther off in the distance. She bit another slice of melon and stabbed another on her plate with her fork.

  She was happy to enjoy the feeling of being ignored in favor of events in front of her, as if she had been temporarily forgotten.

  But she had grown worried as Aster began arguing with Etoile. And as the silence had grown around them as the two bickered back and forth, even she could hear what had been said.

  Etoile…

  That man gave her a bad feeling.

  A strange feeling. An uneasy feeling. She hadn’t ever felt anything like it before. It was like an ugly feeling had worked itself within her body like a negative reaction to something she had eaten.

  Before she had even seen or known about him, it was as if something within her could sense that he was there and told her to stay away from him.

  And that anger and hate from him… Not just from Etoile, but also some others in the distance before her.

  She couldn’t get over the unsettling feeling that came from within her. It was as if something within her was trying to tell her something. But what it was, she didn’t know.

  Nor could she understand what this strange feeling was.

  Then, as Arcana had swirled around Aster and Etoile and the tension had reached a peak, she had grown concerned for Aster. She didn’t understand much of what was being said. But she could understand things well enough.

  She had grown worried, especially as their argument had grown more heated and loud enough that even she could hear them, even though she was a ways away.

  Selenia smiled. Well, in any case, it was good that both Aster and Etoile had started laughing together.

  Their laughing was good, wasn’t it?

  Maybe this strange feeling she had was just something of the mind. Why should she let some strange feeling get the better of her? If she just went back and talked to them, then everything would be fine.

  She bit another melon slice off her fork. It wasn’t as if this strange feeling of hers—

  Selenia watched Aster headbutt Etoile in the distance, a mad fury on his face, the sound of it reaching even her.

  She paused in the middle of eating another melon slice.

  …Was that how things worked on Gaia?

  Did people resolve arguments on Gaia by headbutting others?

  Was it a cultural thing?

  Was that supposed to happen!?

  Selenia’s face went white as everything before her descended into chaos.