"Mia?" Anna couldn't help but repeat the name.
"Yes. Do you like it?" Astra inquired excitedly.
Anna didn't say a word for a couple of seconds. Her face was turned to the side, as if she was in thought.
After seemingly contemplating, she looked back at Astra and said, "Why Mia?"
Astra didn't hesitate to explain her reasoning with a smile.
"I simply replaced the beginning letters of your name with 'Mi'. I did this because 'Mi' can represent 'My'. 'My' signifies ownership. By using this name, it's almost as if you're taking back your identity that was stolen from you."
"Ah…" Anna immediately showed a face of clarity.
"Wait," However, she thought of something. "Wouldn't Mya or Mina also fit the description? I'd say Mya is probably the best one…"
As if she was expecting such a response, Astra replied immediately.
"That's true. Though, I chose Mia because it sounded cuter."
Anna laughed slightly. It sounded strange, but Astra knew that it was sincere.
"In that case, I'll go with that name then. I guess it's fitting," Feeling satisfied, Mia had fully accepted the name Astra had given her.
Not long after Mia said this, a blue hologram appeared on the side of Astra, lighting her face. On the hologram was a plain-looking nurse who had worn a classic white robe.
From the hologram, her soft but monotone voice resonated through the room, as if a robot was speaking.
"Hello, Miss Astra. There's someone who wants to visit you."
Turning her face towards the hologram, Astra tensed up slightly.
"This must be Kayla…"
Astra sighed.
"Okay. You can let them in."
"Alright." Immediately after the nurse said that, the hologram faded out of sight.
And immediately after the hologram disappeared, Astra heard the door that was placed diagonally from her slid open with a mechanical hum.
Both Mia and Astra observed in silence as they saw a figure outline itself.
She had white Caucasian skin, and had a soft and fair face. Her cheeks had a slightly red blush to it, making her appear quite cute and innocent. Her brown eyes were soft and warm, and her curly brown hair flowed down her neck like a waterfall. She had three large bangs covering her forehead, making her look mature.
She was wearing an all black suit with the suit jacket reaching her knees. Many white spots were on the suit, making it seem like one was staring at the cosmos by simply looking at her.
She was none other than Kayla Hindsey.
"Hello, Miss Astra." With a tone that conveyed no discerning emotion, Kayla walked into the hospital room. Her steps were as silent as the cosmos.
Astra couldn't help but have thin streaks of water appear on her forehead when hearing her calm voice.
"Her bubbly, innocent mood is completely gone…"
As Astra noticed the difference in the once adorable lady, she had also felt that her surroundings were heavier. She felt like everything around her was warping in on itself, almost as if she was standing on the edge of a black hole.
However, despite her feeling this way, her five senses didn't echo that feeling. By all intents and purposes, the room looked and seemed the same.
"Hi, Kayla." Astra replied with a slight hesitation in her voice.
"Kayla…this is the woman Miss Astra was talking about. Even though I'm not in the same room as her, I can tell she's someone extremely powerful…" Mia thought to herself.
"I'm sorry for not responding to your message. I'm also sorry for not helping you earlier. I was caught up, unfortunately." With soundless steps, Kayla headed towards the edge of Astra's bed.
"Don't worry, I understand." Astra reassured.
"Can I sit here?" Kayla politely asked as she pointed towards the bed.
"Sure, go ahead." Astra didn't deny Kayla's request.
Inwardly, she sulked. "I don't think you have to sit at all, actually!"
Without hesitating, Kayla sat on the bed next to Astra, placing her hands on her lap as she crossed her legs.
"So, I have some information I would like to give you." Astra didn't waste any time as she looked at Kayla with an unassuming expression.
"Don't worry about it. I already have a mostly thorough understanding of the situation." Kayla interrupted.
"Huh?" Astra almost wasn't able to hide her shock.
"She already understands most of the situation? Then why is she here?"
"What do you know?" Astra probed.
"I know about your fight with that gang member from the Dimensional Thieves. I know you met with the Royal. I'm not sure if you figured out that he fell for the…" Kayla almost curved her lips upwards, but she stopped herself from doing so.
"…bait, though." Despite this, she never stopped speaking. Astra happened to catch this slight movement of her mouth, but she didn't change her expression.
"In any case, Miss Astra, I'd say there's no need to explain those things to me." In a tone that appeared as if she was reporting matters, she calmly advised Astra about what she knew.
"Isn't she too polite to me…?" Astra immediately noticed Kayla's subtle tone.
"Bait? Omar was bait?" Mia caught on almost instantly, and her mouth widened slightly in surprise, though no words came out. "How?"
"Yeah, I did happen to figure that out. I can also guess the reason why." Astra replied, holding her composure.
"Great. That's expected. Do you also know that there is a chance that he had never fell for the bait, and that him appearing to do so could be an illusion?" Kayla asked.
"Yes…" Astra replied, but she interrupted herself. Immediately, her eyes narrowed slightly. Her mind instantly went to the attempted smile earlier.
"Wait, are you saying everything that happened after the mutation had disappeared was a result of his powers?"
"It does make sense…I mean, even if they were the police, throwing out words like Celestial and Ethereon in front of them doesn't seem like something they'd do…" Astra later clarified in her head.
"Yes. As a Saint of the Dreamscape domain, he would be able to do so very easily." Kayla replied bluntly. "In fact, the way he 'erased' the memory of the people who witnessed your fight was due to him invading the subconscious of everyone who witnessed it."
Without anything leaving their mouths, Mia and Astra tensed up as they both said the same thought in their heads:
"How horrifying…"
As for Astra, she went ahead even further and had some other thoughts.
"So, those conversations that we had were just illusions? Or rather, they were what we thought had happened and therefore they came into reality, deceiving us by using our subconscious?"
"This reminds me of a Boltzmann Brain in a way. It wouldn't surprise me, since this universe is truly infinite and has all sorts of supernatural wonders. Perhaps the God of Dreams is just a Boltzmann Brain? Wait, that would make me the God of Dreams, wouldn't it? Yes, such things are always very strange at infinite scales…"
"…No, I'm thinking about the wrong thing—I'm getting scatter-brained! Let's get back on topic."
"Let's see…what would be the reasoning for using illusions to pretend though? If he's able to do that, then there's no need to go through with all of this trouble trying to fool them. Even more so if they know his abilities."
"If that's true, there's no reason to believe he's doing that to make the Dimensional Thieves believe that he fell for the bait. It could be that he's doing it to prepare a bait himself. Of course, someone who has knowledge of his abilities can easily foresee this. Rather, it's possible that he knows that they'll be fished out, not out of ignorance, but because they're forced to do so…" As Astra thought this, her pupils almost began to move towards Kayla's direction, however she stopped herself from doing so.
"Sigh…the motives of these two powerhouses and this secret organization are hard to comprehend. It's like I'm solving a physics equation but there are many unknown variables, and not enough information!"
Meanwhile, Kayla noticed Mia's not-so-subtle reaction and smiled at her gently.
Not even a second later, she slightly turned her head and smirked at Astra.
She knew that Astra had figured out that things were not as they seemed. Feeling amused, she began to reassure them with a laugh.
"Haha, don't worry about such things! Especially for you, Miss Astra. It won't do both of you any good if you try to understand a conflict regarding beings like us. Even if it's a very small conflict like this one, no one who isn't on the level of a Luminary is able to fully comprehend it."
"I'm sure Lucian also has his own motives. As for me, I really only wish to accomplish two things tonight."
"So his name is Lucian…" Almost tuning out the other words, Mia had consciously repeated the name in her mind.
"I see…so there's a chance that most of my analysis earlier was wrong…" Astra sulked inwardly.
"No, that doesn't seem like it. Judging by Kayla's words, it seems like I only have a surface level understanding of the situation. Again, how terrifying…"
Astra took in this information with a sigh. She then asked, "What are the two things you want to accomplish?"
With a calming and polite tone, she replied, "The first is to leave the country. My goal for coming here has been achieved."
With no pause, Kayla calmly continued.
"The second is to completely destroy the Dimensional Thieves."
"What?" Astra and Mia said at the same time, and they couldn't hide their shock.
"Destroy the Dimensional Thieves? How?"
"This doesn't seem right; how could she say that she's able to destroy them so casually? There's no reason to bluff or lie inside of here!"
"Even going by the Royal Lucian's words—even if it's an illusion—at the very least it had implied that he had put some sort of importance to them. Even if it didn't, if that secret organization could've been dealt with so easily, why wasn't Lucian able to take care of them as easily?"
"Could he not do the same thing? No…Kayla seems to imply that they are on the same level. So why did he place so much importance on them, saying they can cause an Eclispe-class Anomaly? Well, to be fair, I don't know exactly what that is. It could very well be something that isn't that dangerous…"
"Even if it is that dangerous, he could very well be acting, or lying."
"That's right, Kayla said that Lucian has his own goals…it's very possible that the true reason why he's moving in such a way is because he has his own strange motives that I have no possibility of comprehending…"
"As for the Anomaly, if it is that dangerous, then it's possible that the Dimensional Thieves have nothing to do with it. Instead, it could be someone more powerful, like Kayla."
"Yes, Kayla…the person that's sitting next to me right now." Astra thought as she anxiously glanced at the woman next to her, who had a soft demeanor.
"It's almost like I'm a pawn being played by these two monsters..." After thinking these thoughts, Astra sighed inwardly.
"Well, I can't be too sad. That secret organization is getting played by them too." Astra attempted to reassure herself.
While Astra was thinking, Mia had the opportunity to ask a question. Her voice resounded from the hologram, with her voice leaking out traces of confusion and shock.
"How are you going to destroy that organization? Why are you doing so?"
With a smile, Kayla replied with a soothing voice.
"I happened to anger them some time ago, and they've been inconveniencing me ever since. Now, with Miss Astra here, I have the perfect opportunity to finish them off."
"I was a part of her preparations…?" Astra asked in her head as she contemplated Kayla's words.
"As for how," Kayla didn't stop speaking. "I allowed the Dimensional Thieves to track me as I came here. Naturally, this would make them think that I was restricted by Lucian's presence. Then, after I leave here, I will intentionally follow their preparations so I can take all of them out in one shot."
"This would align with some part of your surface level understanding, correct?" Kayla asked in a nonchalant tone as she turned towards Astra.
"Yes…" Astra didn't have any further thoughts. She had wanted to think about the reason why she wanted to leave the country, but she didn't know where to even begin thinking.
Instead, all of this made Astra understand the importance of getting stronger and getting more knowledge.
This would allow her to prevent her from being used as a chess piece like this.
Astra looked in front of her, staring at one of the lights that appeared as if it was floating in a nebula.
"With this, I would become less and less of a scientist…less and less of a physicist." Astra thought to herself as she sighed inwardly.
"Uh, I have a question…" Mustering up some courage, Mia had found the opportunity to ask again among the silence.
"What is it?" With an almost ethereal voice, Kayla invited Mia to inquire.
"When that…gang member…mutated, I saw that his skin looked very weird, almost like the magma coming from a volcano. Why was that?"
Mia had asked this question because she noticed that his skin looked quite similar to hers back when she talked to her 'subconscious'. She had guessed that she was going through the same thing, so she wanted to know what exactly the phenomenon was.
"That's an excellent question…" Astra added in her head.
Kayla didn't hesitate to reply.
"It's exactly what it looks like. It was a mutation. This happens when your body loses control of the ethereal power that was integrated into your subconscious. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but each stem from one thing."
For the first time, Kayla paused in her speech. She took a deep breath.
Upon noticing this, Astra's instinctively body flinched slightly—reacting to something that hasn't even been said yet.
"They all stem from a loss of self awareness. Losing sense of who you are."
"This usually happens to Celestials, but they can also happen to normal people as well."
"This is because as a Celestial, it's much harder to maintain your sense of self. After all, your body has partly become ethereal due to Ethereon injecting itself into your subconscious."
"So that's why 'my subconscious' said that I was going to die…I was beginning to lose my sense of self…" With a slightly downtrodden expression, Mia clarified in her head.
"Thank you." With an increasingly softer tone, Mia had expressed her gratitude to Kayla.
"So…perhaps he was acting like that because he was trying to maintain a level of self awareness. It's strange that in order to do that, he had to act in an arrogant, terrible way. At his heart, he's just a terrible asshole…" Astra reaffirmed one of the thoughts she previously had.
"By the way, is it okay for you to say such things inside here?" Astra asked while turning her head towards Kayla.
"Yes. Don't worry, I have put a faint aura of concealment over both you and Mia." Kayla explained with a calm voice.
"I see…that explains the weird warping feeling that I'm experiencing. Also, she was here when I gave Mia a new name. Wait, why do I feel embarrassed…" Astra thought as she nodded indifferently.
"Um, so, Miss Kayla…" With a slow and soft tone, the hologram showing Mia on the screen resounded once more.
"Yes?" Kayla didn't mention the use of the name.
"What are you going to do now? Earlier, you said that because Miss Astra was here, you were going to finish them off. What do you mean?"
"Let's see." Kayla rested her face on her hand.
"For now, what's going to happen is that once we leave here, I will fight against the Dimensional Thieves members tailing us. Once we defeat them, Lucian inevitably is going to show up. After that happens, Astra will be incorporated into the Dreamlanders and become a Celestial. After accomplishing this, I will leave the country." Kayla responded as if she was describing what was going to happen next in a book she was reading.
Mia narrowed her eyes greatly, as if she was struggling to believe what she was hearing.
"What?" Was all she could've said inwardly.
Astra, however, couldn't hide her shock. "We?" She blurted.
"Kayla…with all due respect, I don't think I'd be able to help you in any way once you leave here."
As if she was expecting this answer, Kayla responded politely. "Miss Astra, I know you're not of any combat use…currently. However, that doesn't mean that you don't have anything special about you."
"Huh…? And this specialty is why I should go with you…?" Astra still struggled to comprehend Kayla's point. After all, she still didn't fully trust the stranger who called herself Kayla.
"Yes. Let me clarify." Kayla said with a slight smile on her face, however her voice noticeably got a lot more serious.
"Your specialty was the reason for my arrival here. It was the reason for a lot of my actions thus far."
"…" Mia listened attentively, her confused face never leaving her.
"But that doesn't explain why I should help you…I also don't know how you arrived at the conclusion that I'd join the Dreamlanders after I help you." With a hurried and slightly anxious tone, Astra wanted to express the idea that she didn't want to negotiate with Kayla over this.
Adjusting her black tie slightly, Kayla began speaking.
"You should know that each 'coincidence' has certain underlying reasons as to why they happen, right?" Keeping her polite and soothing tone, Kayla had asked Astra.
"Wait…what exactly are you saying?" With a worried look on her face, Astra immediately understood Kayla's implication.
Kayla had implied that the series of events she was describing had one main underlying cause behind it! And the fact that Kayla understood this cause was the reason why she was able to make such predictions!
"Coincidence? Underlying reasons?"
Mia, who was trying her best to understand the conversation, couldn't keep up with the thoughts of the two ladies.
Still wearing a slight smile, Kayla continued. She knew that Astra caught on to her subtle implication.
"Interestingly, I don't think Lucian fully caught on to it. It makes sense, since his domain isn't the true First Dimension…"
Immediately after she said this, Kayla stopped smiling.
Suddenly, she got up from the bed. Positioning herself to face Astra, she clutched her black tie and closed her eyes.
Astra didn't react when she saw this sight. Instead, all she did was stare with her golden eyes widened, struggling to comprehend what she was seeing.
It was as if she was gazing at the cosmos and all its mysteries.
After closing her eyes, Kayla bowed towards Astra slightly. She then said the words:
"Miss Astra, I can hear the whispers of the Demigoddess calling out to you…"
Mia's eyes widened. Her mouth was open, but no words came out.
As for Astra…
Her face along with her entire body, completely froze.