Chapter 8: Manifest

It is now midnight. The stars in the sky above are scattered across it, as if fiery stones are embedded within a sheet.

Senteria is quiet. The citizens of the city are now in their homes, and sound asleep. Only a few ships are seen flying through the streets.

In one of the buildings, Alecia is seen standing near the railing of the balcony. Her eyes reflects off from the surrounding lights of the city itself.

The air around her slowly moves the strands of her hair which hangs down near her shoulders.

Her eyes do not move, as she continues to stare down at the streets below. Her eyes gently close for a moment, with the silence still beckoning around her.

She opens her eyes, with her pupils glowing bright blue. She looks ahead of herself and turns her gaze upwards once more, she raises her hand slightly above her waist with her palm facing the sky.

Transparent blue flames slither out the palm of her hand in a form of thin strings. It slowly gathers together and grows into a sphere of flames that slowly dances around itself.

Her lips slowly twist into a slight smile. She lowers her hand a bit, and throws the sphere into the air above her. The sphere bursts into hundreds of tiny glowing beads, which is scattered out a few meters from her, their glow, rivals the beauty of the stars themselves.

The beads of light gather into two pillers, only for them to start emitting flames. They morph into small figures, which start to resemble two small girls running with each other.

The one girl trips and falls, the other girl runs to her aid and kneels down, with her one hand gesturing out to her. She grabs her hand and stands herself up, only for her to start running from the one who helped her.

Alecia stares at the manifestation with a gentle look on her face, and a calm smile, she moves her hand in a circuler motion, and gently waves it across.

The beads separate themselves and flows along the flames in circuler motions to the one side.

The beads form into three pillars. The same two girls manifest, and are slightly taller. The third pillar manifest into a young woman.

The woman kneels down with her arms stretched out, the girl runs to her, and embraces her with a hug.

The short one walks towards them, only for her to stop with one of her hands gesturing out to them, only for her to lower it once more.

The young woman reaches her hand out to her, the girl takes a slow step towards her, and another once more. The girl runs to her, and falls into the woman's arm.

Alecia stares at them for a moment in silence, her face without emotion, her eyes begin to glisten, only for her to flick her hand once and the three of them start to fade until it's just flames and beads of light.

Alecia lets out a stuttering sigh, and raises her other hand, and moves it with the other to the opposite side, while the flames and beads of light move in a circuler motion as if she's manipulating the waves of an ocean.

They gather into two pillars, and forms two young woman facing each other. The one gestures her hand out to her while slowly taking a step towards her however, her hand gets hit away, and watches as the other walks past her in haste.

Alecia locks her gaze on the one who is walking. Her eyes averts back to the woman who is still standing where she was left; a tear streams down Alecia's cheek. She lowers one of her hands, and closes the other, only for the manifestations to deform.

Alecia, wipes the tear off her face, only to look up once more at the beads of light. She twirls her hand for a moment, followed by a flaming tornado, with the beads swimming within it.

Within the tornado, a figure of a woman sprouts forth, which resembles the woman seen earlier.

Only now, her appearance is more detailed, as if she's there with her however, she's a manifestation, with herself made out of blue flames and glowing beads of light.

She walks towards Alecia herself, and gently stares down at her with glowing-blue eyes.

Alecia stares into her eyes, with a saddened gaze.

The woman smiles gently, and takes a few more steps towards her, as she passes through the railing, only for her to wrap her arms around her.

Alecia's eyes widen as more tears stream off her face, she shuts her eyes, and brings her hand around the woman's back, only for it to go right through. With a gasp, her eyes open , only for them to narrow.

Alecia slowly takes a few steps back through her arms, with a saddened downcast look on her face.

Alecia, continues to have her gaze at the floor. The woman's hand reaches out to her, which urges her to look up at it.

She slowly reaches her hand to the woman's, only for her to grab through thin air once more. Another tear streams down the side of her cheek as she watches the woman slowly walk away with another hand forming with blue flames surrounding it. The flames flow around Alecia's body and condenses into the manifestation of a young girl being led by the woman.

Alecia continues to stare as they walk further away, still with her hand reaching out.

Alecia closes her eyes as her pupils' glow fades out with the lowering of her hand until it rests on her side.

Her fingers closes in sync into a fist, and the manifestation of the woman and the young girl, deforms into flames and beads of light once more.

After a moment, the flames slowly fade into nothing, along with the beads of light.

She takes a breathe and exhales, she neatly joins her hands together, and lowers her head slightly. Her strands of hair gently brush against her cheek from the gentle breeze, as she continues to stand silently.

"Dear Angelica, mother of light." She said in a quiet tone.

"I pray that you may give me the strength to face my sister tomorrow. I ask that you may place it in her heart to forgive me. She is my own family, I don't want to lose her. Please, Angelica... I need guidance. In your most precious name, I pray." She opens her eyes slowly with a saddened gaze.

"Amen." She gazes up at the night sky once more, only to turn around and walks back into the building.

The next morning...

The rising sun shines its light on the large city, with the light seeping between the buildings in golden rays sliced into different paths.

The ships all fly to and fro, and are more busy than the day before.

Amongst the countless ships, Booker's red ship is seen flying within the crowd of other ships.

Alecia, Booker, Elerah, and Renata are all in the ship, with Booker piloting the ship with his mother beside him, while Alecia, and Renata are seated in the back, with Alecia sitting on the left.

Alecia's hairstyle is in the sheaf hairstyle once more, with a black shirt underneath her long sleeve top.

Renata's hair hangs just above her shoulders. She is seen wearing has a black and red non-sleeve top, with the red part, knitted around her waist.

Elerah is seen to be wearing a black dress with silver earrings that danger from the slight movement of the vehicle.

Booker is seen wearing the same uniform as he did in the photo, Alecia saw earlier on.

Alecia, sits with her hand under her chin, and the palm resting gently on her cheek. She calmly stares at the passing buildings in the distance,where they would catch and reflect the light coming from the sun.

Renata who has been starinh ahead of herself, turns her gaze to Alecia with a curious look on her face.

"Miss?" Renata said with a calm tone in her voice.

Alecia turns her head, and looks at her as her hand moves away from her cheek.

"I just wanted to thank you again, for what you did for me."

Alecia chuckles quietly with a smile.

"It was the least I could do." She said with a gentle tone in her voice.

She looks at the rear-view mirror and notices Booker's eyes avert from her.

Alecia's smile fades, only for her to look at Renata once more, and forms a slight smile at her.

"That is a nice top you're wearing by the way."

"Thank you." Renata said, looking down at it.

"My mother got it for me last year, for my birthday."

Alecia smiles once more.

"That was very sweet of her." She said in a kind tone.

"Yeah." Renata said with a chuckle and looks ahead of herself.

"She's always thoughtful like that."

Alecia stares at her forba moment with a gentle look on her face, only for her to look at the window once more. Her smile now slowly fades once more.

Moments later...

A large ship is seen flying above the city. On the sides and the belly of the ship, it is painteed in a navy-blue color which reflects the light coming from the sun.

On top of the ship, looks as if a small group of buildings are built into it, with the tallest being in the middle.

The ship is at a fixed height from the large gray balloons that are placed along the sides of it, the balloons are seen to have an orange, flickering glow within them. Small ships are seen flying into the city-like structure and landing.

Among the line of ships, a red one is seen flying along the others as they make their way to the large one.

"Wow mom!" Renata said, leaning forward and looks up at the large ship with a wide-eyed look and a smile on her face.

"It's amazing, isn't it." Her mother, Elerah said looking at her for a moment, and turns her gaze ahead once more.

"Booker, you're seeing this!?" Renata said, looking at him.

"Yes I am, Renata." He said in a stern tone.

"Try not to shout near my ear next time." He accelerates the ship and passes a few other ships along the way.

"What in the world?" Renata said, leaning back.

"I'm just excited, give me a break." She sits back into her seat with her arms crossed.

Alecia turns her gaze to her with a companionate look on her face

"Hey." She whispered, which urges Renata to look at her.

"First time you're seeing it?"

Renata chuckles.

"Yeah, I've been looking forward to a day when I'd finally see it up close."

"And that day is here." Alecia said, looking ahead.

"It's hard to believe isn't it?" She continues to stare ahead until they're overlooking the small city on the large ship.

The buildings all have a cream colored coat of paint around them. At the base the small city, gaint gates stand firm, the outer frame is gold, and carved out to resemble that of feathered wings curved up into a spiral form.

Near the gates, are a few gray ships standing in formation on tbe reflective floor. A few individuals in gray stand nearby each ship.

The large gates slowly open up for a citizen's ship and closes as it flies through.

Alecia, stares ahead at the individuals who are examining the ship ahead of her. The armor on their torso has the resemblance that of feathered wings stretched out towards their shoulders.

"This seems serious doesn't it?" Elerah said with a curious tone in her voice.

"For the empress to be protected, it has to be." Booker said, and flies forward as the ship in front, flies into the large gates.

"I see." Elerah said.

Booker stops the ship next to the one guard who's typing on the device on his wrist.

"Good morning." The guard said, lowering his hand to his side.

"Your invitations please." He said with an emotionless look on his face.

"Of course." Booker takes out a black cartridge out of his pocket and hands it to him.

"Four."

He places the cartridge in a small device, and waits for a moment, until it flashes green.

He looks at Booker, and turns his gaze to Elerah, Renata, and Alecia, in the back, which urges Alecia to avert her eyes until the man loses interest.

"Alright." The man said taking out the cartridge and hands it back to Booker. "Enjoy." He signals his hand out to the gate, and it starts opening.

"Here we go." Renata said, leaning forward.

"I wonder what it will be like to see the empress in person." She leans back once more and looks at Alecia with a cheerful smile.

"I read, that brown hair is her natural color." She looks ahead of herself.

"It was like that, until she dyed it to the color of rosė." She turns her gaze to Alecia again.

"Wouldn't it look pink? Don't you think it is an odd color to have for hair?"

"Not necessarily." Alecia said, looking at her with calm look on her face.

"Rosė is a very light shade of pink, and I'm sure she has her reasons for deciding on that color."

"Either she has a reason or she has a weird taste of style." Renata said, shaking her head with a smile.

Alecia stares at her for a moment, only to smile slightly and looks ahead of herself once more.

Booker slowly flies the ship through the gates as it continues to fully open.

After a moment, the gates slowly close behind them.