Chapter 26

Transcendence

The newborn sun shined bright across an infinite horizon. As Jaden shielded his eyes from the light, he noticed that he no longer held the First Star in his hand. He looked down and saw he was wearing his black coat again, now mended like the rest of his clothes. In fact, all his wounds had miraculously healed.

The Ark Knight found himself alone in a grassy field high above the clouds. Hundreds of Astraea Flowers were scattered all around him, dotting the green grass with a spread of blue. Tall mountain peaks towered up into the starry sky, which was adorned with the sun and moon. Everything in sight was bathed in the glow of the celestial twilight. He was confused beyond belief. It all felt like a dream, but another horrific thought shot through his mind.

Am I dead?

"Jaden..."

That beautiful voice rang through Jaden's ears like an angelic melody. He knew who it belonged to. He just couldn't believe it was real.

He turned around and to see a feminine shape across him amidst this empyrean landscape. This young woman, dressed in white, stood amongst the flowers with her golden hair dancing in the breeze.

Please, God, don't let this be a dream!

He walked closer to see that it was indeed Astra.

"Is it really you?" she asked.

"Who else would I be?" he asked jokingly.

Astra couldn't help but giggle with unbridled happiness. They ran over to each other and met with a firm embrace. She cried joyous tears as Jaden buried himself in her golden, rose-scented locks. He held her tight, fearing letting go meant losing her again. They then pressed their lips together in a loving kiss that sent their hearts soaring like doves. The warmth of her soft lips made Jaden feel truly alive.

They were alive.

* * *

Jaden and Astra stood together on the edge of the field, staring out into the infinite skies. Having spent enough time silently savoring their reunion, the Princess finally asked him a pressing question.

"So, where are we?"

"I wish I knew," he responded.

Even after minutes together in the mysterious place, they didn't spend much of it trying to figure it out. They were so focused on being together again, they didn't much care where there were.

"Jaden...look."

The Ark Knight turned to see a city floating in the sky in front of him, its towers shining gold in the face of the ethereal twilight.

"It's Arkrelm."

Jaden knew he had to be staring at his homeworld, which had somehow returned to its former glory. All the faded ruins he had explored before had been restored to the dazzling utopia it once was.

"That's your home... It's beautiful."

"Yeah, but...how is this possible?"

"I can explain that!"

Both Champions heard a calm, masculine voice call out next to them. They turned right to see a blonde-haired man in a blue tunic with a black cape billowing in the wind. He stared at the island hanging in the clouds with eyes as blue as sapphires. His sharp gaze radiated with a light of ease and contentment almost unfamiliar to them. Jaden still recognized him as the man from his dream, the one who had always watched and guided him from afar.

"Father!" he said.

"That's your father?" Astra asked.

"Yes, Astra," the spirit answered. "It's great to finally meet you."

"What's going on here?" Jaden asked him. "What is this place?"

"We're in the Divine Realm, at the way station between life and death. You now stand within the energy of the Universe itself, both the beginning and end of all things."

Jaden could barely wrap his head around this answer. Though he had been on this plane with his father before, he still had trouble believing this was all real. Even after everything he had gone through, after his many brushes with death in his short life, the Ark Knight could still hardly fathom the idea of actually meeting his end.

"So that means...we are dead?" Jaden asked him.

"No, actually. Now is not your time. The First Star only brought you here so I could talk to you."

"Are all my friends safe?"

"Yes. Thanks to you, the entire planet is now free from the demons' wrath. And the spirits of the humans inside them are now free as well."

"But what about the Ark Knights, all those people that died in the war. If the Star saved the two of us, couldn't it bring everyone else back?"

"Life isn't something that should be taken for granted. Everyone that has perished in this war must remain dead. They were born from the Universe, and they have returned to it, as all things should."

The way he answered that question, Jaden thought he sounded like Kaiser. Like someone who had stared into the abyss, only his father had found the light at the end shining back at him. He had absorbed the world into himself as it did him and achieved knowledge eternal.

A man truly enlightened.

Unlike his father, Jaden only felt distraught by his docile answer. He didn't understand why it had to be this way. No one had to die from such a meaningless war. His uncle didn't have to be buried along with millions of innocent people. So why did he have to survive?

"Why did you bring us here?" he asked him.

"To send you a message. The gods have decided to leave this world, and they are taking the First Star with them."

"What, but why?" Astra asked.

Johan took a deep breath, one that tried to ease the pain of bearing a cathedral of cosmic truths. He couldn't even look his son in the eye as he spoke. He instead stared out at the golden idyll floating before him.

"When the gods created humanity, they had left the First Star with them, hoping that it would guide them towards a bright future. One they would strive to create on their own. But then the gods saw the greed it sprouted in humanity, along with the cycle of war it created. And Kaiser, my dear friend, wanted so badly to end that cycle that he himself got caught up in it. In a way, he became stuck in the past. A ghost, frozen in time like the rest of us. I only wish I had saved him."

His head sunk down in melancholy, embracing the dark reality that is human history. They were all stuck in this wheel of chaos and destruction that had gone on for centuries. Always turning, ending up in the same place. Going nowhere. Zadon, Kaiser, the Empire, even Astrelm have been a part of it all. Though they all had different faces, they always walked the same path each time. They always walked in each other's footsteps, even when they were washed away by the waves of time.

"Mankind needs to look towards the future. They need an idea to strive for, one that will help them move forward on their own. Only then will they know true peace."

"But what if we need the Star's power again. What if we need the gods to protect us?"

"That is why they'll have the two of you."

Johan put his hands on his son's shoulders. To Jaden, it felt like he was passing the baton onto him.

"Son, I wish we had more time together, but my time's past. Don't let yours go by without making something out of it. Because one day, it'll all be gone. Just remember that your mother and I love you very much, and we'll always be with you. It's your world now."

Jaden's entire body felt heavy for the first time since he entered this heavenly realm. He could feel the weight of the world pressing down on him with his father's hands. But as he looked into his starlit eyes, all the pressure seemed to fade away.

"I have to go now, and it's time you go too. Your friends are waiting for you."

Just then, an archway of light, much like a Stargate, appeared next to them. Jaden and Astra could sense all their friends waiting for them on the other side of this cosmic tunnel. This was their way back to the living.

And with that final trick, Johan swung his cape around and started walking towards the sunlight.

"Wait!" Jaden shouted to him. "Will I ever see you again?"

"You will. Life is a wheel, son. It all comes around, and it all keeps on turning."

Johan looked back at them one last time, smiling at his son before vanishing into the light completely. Jaden and Astra then saw Arkrelm fading away with him, both from the spirit world and the mortal world.

With his father gone, the Ark Knight and the Princess just stood there alone in that field of flowers. The tunnel continued to hum as the doorway back home remained open.

"Well, I guess this is it," said Astra.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Jaden added in a daze. He couldn't believe it was all over. After years of brutal and senseless fighting, they had finally won. But for some reason, he felt no joy. He spent years hoping for this moment to come, but now that it has, was he really expecting to feel something?

But then, Astra, trying to muster up the right words to express herself, said to him:

"Jaden...Thank you...for everything...You saved us all."

As the Princess before him, her hands locked with his, Jaden thought about all those people he saved. But his mind quickly went to those he didn't save.

"No," Jaden argued. "No...not everyone. I...I didn't save everyone...I could've saved more. If I weren't so scared, if I had something sooner...I...I could have saved—"

"Jaden, millions of people are alive today because of you!" Astra refuted. "Humanity will live on for years to come!"

"If only I was stronger," Jaden chuckled, remembering that he had the First Star, the power of God in the palm of his hand. "Even with all the power in the world...I still couldn't save them."

"There was nothing else you could've done!"

"I could've trained more...I could've trained ten times as hard! I could've stopped Kaiser sooner! I could have saved him! If I wasn't so scared...if I didn't hide my powers...I could have saved more. All those people...all those children...my uncle! Even you..."

Jaden began to stammer as all his sadness came pouring out. Even after all he had accomplished, after he had saved his friends, his loved ones, and the entire world from annihilation, at that moment, none of it mattered. He still felt that he had failed.

Too upset to even stand, Jaden fell into Astra's arms and began to cry. The Ark Knight buried his face in Princess's shoulder, and he wept like an infant.

"...I could've saved you...But I didn't!"

As Astra cradled Jaden with her tender embrace, she began to share his tears. He had poured his tortured soul into her, and so she carried his pain and sadness within herself. Having to spend all those years watching people die, she felt his pain as well.

And so they just felt each other.

"It's okay! It's okay! You couldn't save everyone. Not by yourself. But you won't have to do it alone! We'll always be together! You and me."

Astra said this with tears in her eyes, but she reassured her Champion with a smile that filled his heart with hope. After weathering through all the pain and tears, they both turned to the Stargate waiting for them. Looking back at the Ark Knight, she reached her hand out and asked with a confident smile:

"Shall we?"

And with that, the two of them joined hands and entered the tunnel. Feeling the warmth and love in Astra's hand, all the weight Jaden carried on his shoulders had faded away. And thus, their souls united as one as they traveled into the unknown together.