Stunning Revelation

Needless to say, the ever curious Shin Itami would not let the events of the previous night go uninvestigated.  Under the guise of pursuing answers in the name of the security of the Empire, Prince Maximillian Itami personally led the investigation of the young woman who had recently become involved with his son.  Since that night, Zadavia was barely able to maintain a state of cohesion that would allow her to exhibit her abilities in their most capped state.  This state was mirrored by Ayane, who, for all intents and purposes, now manifested fully as a living breathing channeler, rather than simply a binding summon.

As Shin and his experts looked into the situation, a few thing came into light, but they still seemed unable to actually determine what had triggered the event.  Like most of the Terran faction facilities, security at the Imperial Palace was extremely high, resulting in the almost constant scanning of its occupants within certain more restricted areas.  This included Imperial quarters of royalty with security increasing with their proximity to the throne.  As a result, Roun’s quarters were relatively well monitored, allowing some baseline of Zadavia’s ethereal and astral energies before the event so that they could compare that to how she currently was.  As far as Shin could tell, Zadavia’s unique situation seemed to be a result of a more controlled version of what had happened to his son after his encounter with the Destroyer spirit Teros, which resulted a vast portions of his life force being destroyed.  In this encounter, Nikolai Anan Talon hastily fused the young Itami’s energies to those of the Archetype.  This botched job, despite its numerous negative side effects, was the act that saved Roun’s life.

It seemed that Zadavia had suffered a very similar fate, however her saviour seemed to be far more skilled than the novice guardian that had saved Roun.  So much so that he managed to intertwine Zadavia’s and Ayane’s energies in such as way that the fusion was unrecognisable without advanced analysis.  This fact greatly annoyed Shin, because even with the hand’s off approach of the Palace’s surveillance methods, enough information was available in retrospect to draw this conclusion, the young summoner’s energies simply did not appear to be anomalous enough to warrant any closer a look than had been taken before.

Further investigations would reveal that upon their separation, their forms were infused with ambient energies which filled in the necessary gaps and attuned itself to their forms to prevent them from dissipating permanently.  Once again an occurrence that mirrored the reconstruction of Shin’s son.  What Shin couldn’t figure out however was what triggered the event.  The surveillance feeds made him all but certain that Zadavia did not, and could not have initiated the process on her own, and in fact he was also certain that even if she could, she would not have wanted to, given the state that it had now left her in.  He was also certain that the stimulus which caused the occurrence did not originate from within the palace itself, or the multi spectrum scanners presence therein would have been able to pick them up as they were being generated.  This left him with only one logical assumption.  The trigger had been generated from outside of the palace’s walls and had somehow made it through the facility’s shielding and impacted the young Summoner.

Shin pondered this now as he tried to figure out the properties of the energy that would be necessary for it to pass through their shielding undetected, but his thought process would be broken by Zadavia stirring.  The Itami prince would take a step backwards as the medical team rushed to her side to check her status and ensure that she was okay, but his gaze would not leave her, focusing on her face as he tried to figure out what it was that she was experiencing.

*************************************

Inside her mind, Zadavia was in for a trip to her own dreamscape, the manifestation of his mental energies as they interacted with the rest of the Psychein realm.  As she arrived on this realm, she found two familiar entities waiting for her.  The first was her oldest and most dear friend, Ayane Myria, while the second was a slightly unexpected but welcomed face, that of Naomi Itami.

“What’s going on?” Zadavia inquired, somewhat groggy even in her own mind.

“I’m not entirely certain, but I figured that you would come here before you returned to consciousness to be interrogated by my husband.”  Naomi smiled as she replied.

“Interrogated?” Zadavia inquired now, somewhat worried.

“Yes, but down worry, Shin is harmless... he’s just too curious at times, you’ll be fine.” Naomi replied before Ayane interjected with a more pertinent question.

“You said that you figured that she would come here... but where is here?”  She inquired.

“Oh, I figured you would have figured this out by now, this is the Psychein realm... the relam of mental energies.”  Naomi explained.

“So we’re not dead then?”  Zadavia inquired, causing Naomi to laugh.

“Well I hope not, I left you bother very much alive.”  Naomi replied pleasantly.

“Okay then...”  Zadavia replied before Ayane asked another question.

“So what happened to her... or us...” She inquired now.

“I’m not entirely sure actually, something seemed to have triggered you two being separated.”  She explained.  “At that time we realised that you, Ayane, are far more than just a binding summon.”  She continued.  “When I attempted to scan your unconscious minds, I realised an odd gathering in the Psychein Realm, as if the ambient energies themselves were concentrating around you so naturally I decided to investigate and do my best to keep you safe.”  Naomi finished.

“...why?”  Ayane inquired now, always sceptical of foreigners.

“Oh for a number of reasons, but the most important one is: My son would be rather sad if anything we to happen to you two.”  She smiled before turning her attention to the environment around them, which shifted uncontrollably.

“Has that been happening the whole time?”  Zadavia inquired now.

“Since the incident, yes... it seems as if something is trying to manifest itself, but it seems to have having a very hard time concentrating this manifestation into something concise enough for us to interact with.”  Naomi explained, causing both Zadavia and Ayane to look rather puzzled.

“You know a lot about this place...”  Ayane stated suggestively.

“Yes, you could consider me an expert on this place actually.”  Naomi explained.  “I’ve encountered situations like this before, where foreign entities, the things that some people referred to as gods and goddesses, try to manifest themselves at our level, it’s usually quite a task for them but the process is usually complete in a matter of ethereal minutes.  This manifestation has been going on almost a day now, I shudder to think of the actual size of the entity that is attempting to scale itself down to accommodate our limited perceptive abilities.”  Naomi continued, leaving Zadavia and Ayane slightly confused still.

“Do you think that this thing could be dangerous?” Zadavia inquired now, causing Naomi to shrug.

“There’s really no way to tell, but even if it is... there is little that we can do about it except await its manifestation patiently.”

That is what the three would do as Zadavia and Ayane began to explain their origins to Naomi, while she continued to explain the intricacies of the Psychein realm to them.  Their conversation would last for hours until the fluctuations in their environment finally ceased, spawning forth two strange beings.  The first being manifested as what could most closely be likened to a golem, loosely held together by what appeared to be dirt, before this oddly shaped golem formed itself into a more feminine shape, around the same height and build of Zadavia and Ayane.  The second manifested as a more comically oriented entity, appearing as a vast blast expanse populated by stars and nebulas before also condensing itself into a similar humanoid, feminine shape.

“Unbeleivable...”  Naomi marvelled now as the mute entities, who still seemed unable to communicate with the three outside of the odd shape shifting that they now exhibited.  This left Zadavia and Ayane rather puzzled, but gave Naomi undoubtable clues as to their actual size and as such their true identities.

Naomi would float towards them, her marvel getting the best of her better judgement as she attempted to establish a mental connection to the smaller entity, the woman made of earth.  Unfortunately, the flow of energies between the link would be too much for the psychic, blasting her not just away but straight out of the Psychien realm, back to reality and into the wall of she and her husband’s quarters, blasting her straight into her first hard reversion.

Zadavia’s eyes would widen as she saw Naomi vanish from their dreamscape, causing her to back away from the two entities, while Ayane moved in front of her to protect her.  But this would be a futile gesture.  The cosmic entity would pass right through Ayane and into Zadavia while the earth entity moved into Ayane.  The fusion would have a similar effect on them as the contact had with Naomi, resulting in a massive wave of energy back in the ethereal world which destroyed all of the equipment within the room in which they were being examined and resulting in the reversion of a number of the researchers present.  In the aftermath, only Shin Itami and a few other scientists would be left standing, and left to attempt to figure out exactly what was going on