Lord of Cosmos

Gaia adjusted the crown on his head and held the small, glowing, ball-like crystal that hung on his chest. "With the Crystal of Life and the machines," he said. "With them, I can dominate the universe and re-establish the control of the Lunix."

Leonis swallowed hard. "But this is madness! You can't even end the dominion of the humans and Gladious on the planet of Atlantis... besides, our people are scattered in space or on another continent."

Gaia turned and headed for the door. "Everything I have done was for a reason, and the loss of our people is but a small part of the loss of the entire universe... Follow me, and I will explain everything."

They followed him, whispering among themselves with suspicion and apprehension.

After he had told them everything, they decided what they had to do.

***

2155 – New Atlantis

Yassin awoke from his slumber to find himself lying on the ground, the sun just about to set. He jumped to his feet, his bones groaning in pain. The memories came back to him gradually: he remembered being with Keno when the robot self-destructed. Yassin had turned himself into air particles, but the explosion had thrown him violently backward, far from the mall, and he had fallen to the ground, unconscious from exhaustion. Yassin returned to the mall but found it burned, with no trace of Keno or the robots. He continued his journey through the city until he reached a large forest and entered it, hoping to find someone who could help him or keep him company on his journey.

After walking for a long time in the forest, he was surprised when roots wrapped around his leg. He turned his body into air particles and escaped, only to find roots surrounding him from every side. Then, an Astra appeared in his distinctive wooden form. Seeing Yassin's state, he asked, "Who are you?"

Yassin looked at the strange figure, puzzled, examining him from all sides. "My name is Yassin. And you?"

"I am Eliano... What are you doing here, my friend? You must come with us to the headquarters."

"I don't know what's happening here!" Yassin said. "I'm just wandering around trying to find anyone who can make sense of what's going on around me."

"Then where did you come from?"

Yassin recounted what had happened to him in detail. Eliano was amazed by what he heard and decided he had to take him along.

Eliano shed his wooden form, revealing his blue face and gray hair. Yassin's eyes widened, a faint smile on his lips. "You look like me! Where did you come from, stranger?"

Eliano asked him to come with him, promising to explain everything on the way. They set off through the forest, and as they walked, Eliano broke the silence. "You must be one of us. It seems Gladious tampered with your mind and erased your memories and everything about your past life... From your appearance and the color of your hair, you belong to the family of Minoth, the former king of Atlantis, but I don't know how."

Eliano told him everything that had happened to them, from their ancient history to the current war and its consequences. He explained that they were resisting Gladious's soldiers in the west and Gaia's soldiers in the east. Eliano had come here to seek help from the humans in their war but had found no one; the city was destroyed, consumed by fire. He had decided to stay a few days in the forest, hoping to stumble upon someone, but he had only found Yassin. He decided this was enough and that he should return.

Yassin was even more astonished to hear all these strange stories and bitter conflicts. But deep down, he felt a comforting sense of belonging, knowing he was part of a people, a nation. It was the best thing that had happened to him. He had always felt confused and emotionally turbulent, not knowing his identity or where he came from, always feeling so different from his human companions.

Eliano walked to an empty clearing and stopped. He held a small, radiant crystal on his chest. It glowed, and the ground beneath them began to shift and darken as if a black hole had opened in the earth. Yassin tried to step back, but Eliano said, "Don't be afraid. It's a Cosmic Passage, also called a Stargate. It's a recent discovery that allows beings to travel through spacetime easily. This passage merges space and time, then folds them like a piece of paper, transporting you to another passage, saving you a great deal of walking and the hardships of travel."

He continued, "Because of this discovery, beings can travel through space with ease and visit other civilizations by opening a black hole in space that ends in a white hole leading to your destination. So, if you wanted to go to a planet five million kilometers away, this passage shortens the journey to just thousands of kilometers, making your arrival much easier. If you tried to go to that planet in a spaceship, you would die of old age before you arrived."

Yassin's mouth fell open in a comical way at Eliano's explanation, which made Eliano smile in turn as he saw the passage was about to open. Yassin looked at the crystal on his chest and pointed. "And what is that bright, shining thing?"

"These are the Crystals of Atlantis," Eliano explained. "They were specially designed to absorb the power of the Crystal of Life that flows throughout the planet around us, what we call the Stream of Life. Only through them can we draw our energy and power to use the elements of nature and harness them for our service."

The passage opened and pulled Yassin and Eliano inside. Yassin felt as if his body was disintegrating and then reassembling. When his body returned to normal, he emerged to find himself in a forest filled with flowers and leaves of every beautiful color. Strange birds flew and chirped among them. He was mesmerized by its beauty. Eliano walked on, and Yassin followed until they reached a village by a lake. Eliano found small children greeting him and playing with him. He lifted them onto his shoulders, laughing and playing with them.

Jarin approached, eyeing Yassin warily. "Eliano, what happened to your mission? And who is this?"