Hollow

(Crux Coelestis ship - Girls' room)

(Shyza's P.O.V)

Hm

My eyes narrowed, focusing on a single entity. This entity was currently getting clothes on, plastering her face with an expression that was so fake anyone could easily notice.

Ah, this entity happened to be my big sis Olivia.

She may not have noticed but I secretly peeked at her when it was midnight. She didn't sleep at all!

Either the events from Celladonia still made her scared or it was something else!

Hmmmmmmmm

What was it?

"Hey Big sis", I stood on my bed. "Are you scared of Sekky!?"

She flinched immediately, "Shyza! Why are you asking me so many questions this morning?? I- I'm... not."

Gotcha!

Kukukukuku.

So it was Sekky! It wasn't any surprise considering the fact that his face was a perfect fit for any horror role!! But this was a bit too far.

The look in her eyes yesternight was of pure fear!

"You know", my feet landed on the sleek metallic floor. "You two have got to get along."

"What are you saying?", she held her clothes tightly. "We get along!"

An expression of blankness filled my face, "Yeah sure."

"Sheesh! You'll get us late! We've got to meet Sedem at that sacred chamber place, remember?", Big Sis pouted. "Uh, what the heck's a sacred chamber though?"

...

I stared at her with an indifferent gaze as my mind plunged into the deepest archives stored in it.

However...

"Don't know", I shrugged.

Big Sis' expression darkened in horror, "H- Huuuh!??"

"Ahahaha, don't worry! Sliza's gonna- waah!!"

Just then, a weird sensation began to rippled all over my skin. It was as if something was crawling over my skin!

Big Sis was startled, "What's wrong!?"

"S- S- Something's in my- my dress!!"

*Sssss*

An alien creature appeared out of thin air, coiling itself around my neck and fratically stroking its head on my cheek!

...

"It's just Cheeky", Big sis blinked.

Memories began to flood into my mind. I remembered seeing Cheeky turn into a purely crystalline form. Anything relating to my wittle slitheryon from then on seemed blur.

"Haha, where'd you go back then!? I literally panicked when I woke up!!", tears formed at the corners of my eyes. "I didn't show it though."

"Heh", Big Sis looked away.

.

.

.

(Sacred chamber entrance - Sek's P.O.V)

"Just what are those two up to?", Sedem folded his arms and tapped his feet on the ground.

Sed and I arrived at the sacred chamber's entrance about an hour ago but it seemed like Shyza and Olivia weren't ready yet.

That didn't bother me however. I was already occupied with numerous things to think about.

First was how to understand my abilities as well as Dzinu and the other, how exactly we were going to take down DeV co and have both our questions answered.

"We've been here before, haven't we?", Dzinu suddenly spoke up.

My line of sight shifted towards the sacred chamber's heavy wooden door. On it were odd symbols and letters of a language I had never come across before. In the centre was a large golden cross embedded within the door.

That chamber was the same place where I had kept that strange necklace that I found back at the rock deserts of the Great mass.

"Guysssss!"

A familiar voice cut through my thoughts.

"What in the world were you two doing!?", Sedem snapped. "Do you know the time right now!!??"

"Sheeeeesh, you're being a bit too loud Sed", Shyza covered her ears.

Sedem's eyebrow twitched, "I- I'm going insane!!"

"Sorry Sedem, it was my fault", Olivia stepped foward. "I wasn't quite used to my room yet and it seemed like someone changed the positions of my stuff at night. My holocomm's lost as I speak, haha."

*Ssss*

Thin hissing sounds resounded suddenly as a portion around Shyza's neck began to distort. The figure of an alien snake soon came into view, revealing the creature's true form.

Dzinu muttered, "Isn't that Cheeky?"

The slitheryon began to gag as something slowly erupted from the depths of its belly. What occured next was completely disgusting. Cheeky let out a pile of vomit and within it was a still functioning holo-communicator.

Everyone stared silent as the slitheryon hissed in ecstacy.

"I think Cheeky's giving it back", Shyza said with a forced smile. "Ehehe."

Sedem groaned, "The domestic bots will deal with it. Let's begin."

He stood before the large door and made a strange gesture with his two fingers. The door promptly opened with a slow, ominous creak.

Within the small chamber were old armoured statues, three on each side. They were made from an extremely weak form of metal as small patches of rust could be seen on them.

In the back of the chamber was the stone statue of a lady. This lady had her hands outstretched, showing a form of invitation to an embrace. In the lady's palms was that necklace from before, still in the same position we left it.

"Oooo, we're back here again!", Shyza's eyes lit up as she immediately moved to one of the armoured statues. "Teehee, I'm here to pat you again.

Olivia stood at my side but, it seemed like she was unaware of my presence as her eyes were fixated on the statue of the lady.

"Alright then! Since you're now knights...", Sedem walked foward, tapping the area of the ground before the statue at the back. "It means you're ready to have your Knight's armour!"

Knight's armour? Just like the ones that stood on our sides?

"Of course, the armour won't be as old as the ones here", he took a step back. "They're almost the same as mech suits. The only thing that sets the difference between a Knight's armour and a regular mech suit is the source of energy."

A small pedestal elevated from beneath the ground where he had tapped his feet. On it was an old book of some sort.

"That's-", Olivia began.

"Exactly, the holy scriptures you provided", Sedem smirked. "We won't be using it yet though."

Two slots then revealed themselves on the sides of the lady statue. From the slots came tracks of gold that met right above the old book.

Three spheres rolled from within the slots and crashed lightly at the centre, emitting tiny sparks.

"These spheres are similar to the sphere that houses Bordron", he explained. "Choosing to keep your tech gear within the sphere will be on you to decide."

"Umm", Olivia raised her hand. "I... don't have a tech gear."

.

"Eh?", shock grabbed Sedem by the neck. "Well it doesn't really matter. What's shocking is the fact that you don't have one. Every human-owned galaxy makes it a priority to assign each newly born baby with one right after birth so it's strange."

"Ahaha", sweat ran down her face. "Really?"

"You didn't know that?", Sedem's face was shrouded in an unknown mist.

Strangely, my attention wouldn't move away from the tiny spheres. These objects had no defined colour and the kind of air they gave out was too unusual.

"Y'all are talking too much", Shyza tried to yell but her yawns of boredom didn't permit it. "I didn't get enough sleep."

"Isn't that entirely your fault?", I blankly spoke up.

My voice must've brought Olivia's senses back to her surroundings as she shook slightly then moved a few inches away.

Maybe I should've been a bit nicer in the beginning.

"Alright then!", Sedem's voice caught our attention. "I'm about to begin."

He closed his eyes, then breathed out.

"Endless streams of possibilities that stream from the holy waterfalls of beginnings. To thee we bring souls willing to execute the Great King's mission. Granting them new strength, pour within them the powers of Alpha."

The lights began to flicker as the spheres began to slowly levitate.

"What? What? What?? What's going on??", Shyza whispered as she grabbed me tightly by the arm.

"In addition to the power of beginnings, balance must reside between that which starts and that which ends. Within these soldiers, pour in the energy that surrounds the end of all things... Omega."

The spheres moved towards us and began to emit a harsh flare of light as they got closer.

"Let this all be done according to thy will."

An immense amount of energy began to surround us. The spheres got brighter and brighter until it slowly began to lose its light.

Huh

Something was off.

*Klang!*

Two of the spheres fell to the ground with a loud crash, instantly shattering into pieces.

"Huh?", Shyza stared at the broken pieces. "What just happened?"

Sedem's face turned stern, "That's what I feared."

"Sek, it tried to enter the moon realm", Dzinu voiced out. "... But it couldn't."

So that was it.

Somehow, these spheres weren't able to go through vessels that were already occupied. Shyza had Sliza and I had Dzinu.

Naturally, there was going to be somekind of opposition.

If that was the case then...

I turned towards Olivia. One last sphere continued to radiate a violet light as it surrounded her body.

She was the only one who was hollow.