“All clear!” Berken zoomed through the small opening. “Come on spy! Pick up the pace!”

Allisa ducked under the rock, staring out over the vast and uneven lands of what the two natives called the crag. It truly felt like an alien world. Despite the familiar green foliage familiar to both Avalon and Terra, strange metal jutted from its surfaces, breaking out from the islets, a collection of strange metal of small rectangles joined together. Below them, alien animals roamed the plains, large buffalos and large bat-like beings with enough differences for Allisa to distinguish between her world, Avalon and here. The strange sun hung overhead, bringing with it a strange summer heat that felt oddly artificial, as was the cloud coverage that hung overhead, occasionally blocking the sun.

“Ion?” Berken broke Allisa’s gaze to see Ion catch up. She seemed out of breath, taking in huge gulps of air.

“Hey? Are you okay?” Allisa asked.

“Y-yes,” Ion straightened up. “Just ah… a little tired.”

“Can’t blame you,” Allisa sighed. Off in the distance, the peaks seemed so far off. “Ah, how much further?”

“By my estimate, about four more days,” Berken said.

“Of course…” Allisa sighed heavier. “Please let there be somewhere to rest.”

Ion chucked. “There’s a settlement along the way. We could stop there to rest.”

“Settlement? You mean a town?”

“Sort of,” Berken said. “But who knows if it’s still standing.”

“Well, one way to find out.” Ion beamed. “By your leave Allisa.”

“Huh? Oh right,” Allisa had forgotten she was the only one out of the three of them who could actually fight, and both Berken and Ion had warned her that between them and the peaks were dangerous beasts, warframes and ravengers, a hostile tribe race that would not think twice about attacking them. A sudden ping of loneliness for her friends hit her knowing that she’d have to do all of the fighting from here on.

****

Allisa carefully moved down a large metal wire, moving towards the hilly terrain below. Berken hovered just overhead while Ion followed behind, keeping close to Allisa as she could. After they reached the bottom they began the long and arduous journey through the crag.

The challenges began almost immediately as two of the bat-like creatures jumped them. Allisa reacted fast enough to dodge the first, stabbing the second before teleporting back to the first. Ion and Berken maintained a safe distance as Allisa trailed ablaze through the first plateau. Despite having done tracks across Avalon before, Allisa found it difficult to focus on her immediate surroundings; utterly captivated by the bizarre world of Sora. Finally walking through it, Allisa was sure there was nothing from Rosaria, Miltesa and Cataka could compare to the majesty that Ter’figmar was becoming. The strange fusion of nature and metal came together making it feel truly alien, yet astonishingly beautiful.

Of course, the black bats Berken called folforo’s and boar-like warframes, grazers, broke her away from the view, once more highlighting that Allisa was going to be doing most, if not, all of the fighting. None of what she fought was particularly challenging to her compared to what she faced in the conduit. Unlike the organized chaos of a confused Altosk and the frighteningly cold enforcers, the wildlife was far easier to deal with, often attacking in no more than twos and threes.

They reached the end of the first plateau and staring down at the gap to the misty abyss below Allisa couldn’t help but gulp, flashbacks of her near brush with death by falling only a few hours ago.

“So uh… how do we get across?” Allisa asked, not seeing a bridge.

“There.” Berken pointed to one of the metal pylons that joined the two.

“..... That doesn’t look safe.”

“Of course it’s not safe,” Berken said before flying off.

“I really don’t like you….” Allisa groaned, hearing Ion chuckling behind her. “This doesn’t freak you out?”

“I’ve done this before.” She said cheerfully, tight roping across the cable.

“Oh boy…” Allisa held her breath and began her crossing, keeping her arms out looking straight forward, refusing to look down at the misty abyss below until she got across safely.

Once more, she took point, moving through the new crag which was far larger than the previous one, and filled with more outcrops of rock formations dotted with more spires.

“What are these things?” Allisa asked as they passed by one sticking out horizontally from a crag. “Some kinda machine?”

“These are ancient terraformers used to create the biomes of Sora.” Ion explained. “Of course they’ve long been dormant. Now they simply blend into the environment like the grass and trees.”

Like the previous crag, wildlife grazed across the land, both the natural creatures such as folfore and wolf-like creatures which Berken identified as volf-rolc and more grazer warframes. As before, Allisa had to fight off any that had come towards them while her companions took cover. While again they posed little threat, Allisa found herself missing her usual traveling companions more.

After crossing the entire expanse, moving between the pylons and hills, the group reached the next crossing point. And mercifully it had a bridge.

“Ohh, damn we’re getting close to their territory,” Berken said, examining the bridge.

“Uh, close to who’s territory?” Allisa asked.

“The ravengers you dolt.”

“I still don’t know what they are.”

“I-It will be fine.” Ion reassured while Allisa and Berken stared daggers at one another. “After all. Allisa will keep us safe.”

“Assuming we don’t run into a krell.” Berken said as Allisa walked to the bridge.

“Still no clue what that is.”

On closer inspection, the bridge was certainly different from the pathways of the conduit, looking more like someone had placed a metal beam across the gap and crudely bolted on plates of metal to give it the illusion of a bridge. This made Allisa slightly nervous to cross it. However, the bridge held with only the odd minor squeak. Moving through the next plain with grander rock formations looming overhead, curving into complete circles joined by a paper-thin line of rock. Yet as grandiose as the scenery was, the wildlife of this crag was not as welcoming as the last. Along with the standard enemies she had to contend with, more variations to the wildlife made things difficult. While the large wandering buffalos (Zozten) were docile, the larger variation of volf (Volf-burrs) was far more aggressive than the smaller counterparts though mercifully fought in smaller packs.

The biggest threat though came when the trio came across the nearby water reservoir (ignoring the aquatic life seen inside) where they were pounded by two velociraptor-shaped warframes (predators). With the speed, the buzz saw jaws and glowing fingertips, Allisa was given a rough battle as the par coordinated between them, one keeping Allisa busy while the other flanked her. After being head-butted by one and knocked on her back, Allisa transformed her weapon into azure flame which sliced clean through the head of one of the machines before blowing the other away.

“Okay…” Allisa gasped for air. “Let’s not fight those again.”

Her respite was interrupted when she heard the rum of engines overhead. Looking up she saw a strange, dragonfly-shaped ship.

“What’s-wha?!”

Ion suddenly dragged her away, throwing her behind a small rock as she hid as well.

“What was that-?”

“Keep down!” Berken slammed into her head again.

“Okay! I get it!” Allisa hissed, slowly poking her head out from her hiding place.

The dragonfly ship came low to the ground, opening its doors. From them, thirteen humanoid creatures leaped from it, about six with four thin arms while the remaining seven had only two arms but for legs. The armor they wore was strange, looking as though a combination of metal and bone with the helms fashioned out of a skull from one of the animals she had encountered on the plains.

“Those are ravengers.” Berken pointed out as the group spread out as the dragonfly ship departed. “I trust I need not tell you they are dangerous, spy.”

“Yeah… I thought so,” Allisa said, spotting the spears and guns they had. She watched two of them break away from the group, scuttling towards the fallen predators close to where the girls were hidden.

Crap!

Allisa and Ion ducked down as the ravengers examined the fallen warframes, communicating with hisses and clicks as they prodded the carcass.

“Think they know we’re here?”

“I recommend we leave before they do,” Berken said, hovering off. Allisa and Ion followed, moving further into the plain leaving the ravengers to poke at the carcass.

They kept to the rocky cover as much as possible, avoiding the two and four legged, insect like creatures as they hunted the warframes, stripping them of parts and combating the hostile wildlife.

“This should be far enough,” Ion said once they were further away and reaching the end of the plateau. It seemed the goddess was watching over Allisa for once, not engaging any more of the hostile aliens, with their luck holding as they walked across another bridge which wasn’t made out of haphazard scrap like the previous one. As they crossed, Allisa looked back and saw the dragonfly ships taking off, heading southeast (from her perspective) and fortunately not noticing them below.

Abandoned settlement no 63

As the group walked through the next plateau the exhaustion of the day was beginning to show itself on Allisa. She had been fighting for a day straight, she was hungry and her muscles ached.

“Please tell me there’s a town close by…” Allisa groaned as the strain was getting too much to bear.

“According to my cartographer, there’s an abandoned settlement close by.” Berken said.

“Abandoned? What do you mean abandoned?"

“As in no one lives there.”

“What….?” Allisa stopped, nearly falling over, her stomach growling loudly. “You gotta be kidding. I’m dying here…”

“Oh yes. I forgot you organics need food and sustenance.”

“How’s that something you forgot? Aren't you a support maid droid for crying out loud?”

“Automotive Support Droid! And for your information, Ion does not require any food or sleep in order to- AHH! ION!!”

Allisa turned around, and to her shock found Ion collapsed on the ground behind her.

“Ion!”

Both of them rushed over to the girl, with Allisa gently rocking her to her front.

“S-Sorry…” Ion said weakly as Allisa supported her in her arms. “I… I think I reached my limit…”

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“No visible wounds,” Berken said. “It’s probably because you had her-”

“Berken!”

The droid immediately stopped talking following Ion’s stern tone.

“Sorry. Could you help me up?”

“S-Sure…” With help from Allisa, Ion slowly got back to her feet. She seemed dazed but managed to stand on her own.

“The robot says there’s a settlement close by. Can you make it?”

Ion nodded. “First… would you escort me over there?” She pointed to a cove close by with a pond of crystal clear water pooling from a small font above. It was hereIon pulled away from Allisa. “This will not take long.”

The trio walked over to the pond's edge where Ion knelt to the ground. Allisa took a step back with Berken, witnessing her go into a trance. Then, she started to sing.

The odd alien and synthetic voice flowed a song that seemed to ease the heart of Allisa despite not knowing the lyrics. Light began to emit from Ion’s body, the same rainbow-colored light that Allisa had seen in her room when they first met. Small balls of light eked from the ground, flowing around Ion like fireflies.

Allisa was captivated, afraid to even breathe as though it could interrupt her momentum. She watched, witnessing the light reaching a crescendo, flowing towards Ion, penetrating through her clothes and into her skin.

Then, Ion stopped. The light around her began to die around her. Ion then got back to her feet, giving Allisa a bright and energetic smile, her fatigue vanishing completely.

“Let us press on.”

“S-sure…” Allisa allowed Ion to pass her, confused by what she saw. For once, Berken didn’t say anything. The small rabbit merely few past her, barely uttering a word to her when she tried to get some answers.

Baffled, Allisa looked back at the pond before rushing to catch up.

****

After another stop where Ion had Allisa kill a zozten then drag it with them, the group arrived at high iron walls which gave Allisa some hope that they had reached a town. Her hope was dashed the moment they entered. The square buildings showed signs of long abandonment with many of them rusted and chewed through. Old signs written in a language Allisa couldn’t read lay broken, vehicles she’d never seen before were littered all over. There was not a soul in sight.

“What happened?” Allisa asked as they walked through the ruined complex. “Were they attacked?”

“No. This settlement was just abandoned.” Ion said. “Likely was not profitable, or grew too dangerous for people to stay. Ter’figmar is not an easy place to live. Only five major cities exist here.”

“Only five?”

“There are settlements out there. Many attempts were made to make small havens outside of them. Unfortunately, with the hostile terrain, wildlife and warframes, even ravenger attacks, many of them failed.”

“And this is one of them,” Berken said. “Settlement no 63. Seemed to have been abandoned fifty two years ago.”

“Just our luck…” Allisa groaned.

“Even so, this should make a decent overnight stop. If we can get some power restored I should be able to cook that.” Ion pointed to the zozten.

“You can cook?”

“Well… I can rost at the very least.” Ion took the beast from Allisa and began to drag it to a nearby building. “Berken, could you and Allisa find the power station?”

“On it,” Berken began to float away. “Come spy!”

“I’m not… ah forget it.” Allisa sighed before looking back to Ion. “Are you sure you're okay? You’re not gonna collapse again, right?”

“I assure you I’ll be perfectly fine.” Ion nodded.

Despite her concern, Allisa walked after Berken. Luckily the complex was not big and soon they came across a building with two strange wind turbines sticking up from the roof. Compared to the propeller turbines back in terra, these had three vertical components curved downwards.

“Soooo… how does this work?” Allisa said reaching what she gathered was the control console.

“Easy. Just flip that switch.”

Allisa followed Berken’s instructions, and sure enough, the machine wired into life. The pylons above began to rotate, emitting a strange blue hue. Lights in the complex began to come on, beating back the darkness.

“With a bit of luck, the emitters will keep the beasts and warframes from coming in and chewing you to bits.”

“Thanks for that…” Allisa looked up at the pylons. “What kinda power is that anyway? Wind?”

“Geez, I keep forgetting you don’t know anything about this place. It’s harnessing the energy of Sora itself.”

“Sora… you mean all your energy comes from the world itself?”

“Yep. Even my energy cells are charged by Sora’s eather. It’s an eternal energy source that is provided by the world itself.”

“That sounds pretty convenient,”

“It’s also one’a Sora’s many mysteries. Some scientists are trying to uncover the origins of eather and whether or not organics consumption is slowly draining away Sora’s life.”

“Is it?”

“Who knows? And even if it does, you organics won’t abandon the convenience, be it hune, borgo, aswee or ravenger. At least that’s what I observed.”

“Guess not…” Allisa nodded as the two began to make tracks back to Ion.

****

“Allisa! Berken!” Ion greeted once the two of them were within her sight. “Good news. The cooker still works.”

“Great, I’m starving…” Allisa groaned, rubbing her growling stomach. “So… what’s for dinner?”

Ion gestured to the dead zozten laying at her feet.

“…. Oh, right.” Suddenly Allisa’s hunger went away.

“Don’t worry. Zozten meat is quite delicious roasted. I’ve done it a number of times when I was young.”

“You can cook?”

“She can roast.” Berken said to Allisa as the two approached the dead animal. “But no, she cannot cook to save her life.”

“Well, I’ve had no real need to until today,” Ion laughed weakly. “But don’t worry. With the cookers working, I should be able to make this at least edible for you.”

“That… doesn’t really make me feel any better,” Allisa said honestly. But then again, she didn’t have half the cooking skills Lucy had and certainly couldn’t barbecue or grill anything edible. When she tried in Avalon during her two-month stay she either burnt the meat to a crisp or undercooked it.

“Guess you’ll be our chief,”

“Yes, but…” Ion smiled with her eyes closed. “Allisa, you are skilled with your weapon, are you not.”

“….Yeah, I guess.”

“So… I don’t know how to wield a knife,”

“Right….” Suddenly, Allisa understood what was asked of her. “H-hold on, you want me to butcher it?!”

“I-It shouldn’t be too difficult for you, no?” Ion begged with her hands together.

“B-But that’s-” Allisa’s stomach began to growl in protest, reinforcing to her that she needed to eat something, anything. “Ew…” keeping whatever was inside of stomach from spewing out, Allisa summoned her sword, “Where’s Yuki when you need him?”

“Come on, spy. Your survival depends on carving up this corpse and feasting on its nutrients.” Berken said.

“YOU’RE NOT HELPING!!”

****

“Uh… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to enjoy hamburgers like before…” Allisa groaned as she bit into her roasted meat. After butchering the animal, Ion used the building's cooking unit to fry the cut slabs' meat from Allisa’s blade work. Despite the size of the beast, not a lot of the food was very uneven due to Allisa’s handy work. If not for the fact she was starving, Allisa didn’t think she could eat the poor animal ever again.

“Chin up spy. At least you’re eating something,” Berken said in his usual, obnoxious tone. “We need you in prime condition in order to protect Ion with your fighting abilities and if necessary a meat shield.”

“Glad to know I rank below dirt to you,”

“Now now, there’s no need to be hostile towards one another.” Ion said, trying to keep the frosty peace between her two companions. She then continued to take bites out of a slab of meat, taking massive bites and chewing with her mouth wide open.

“Even camping your table manners are terrible,” Allisa commented. Ion stopped eating and went red.

“Y-Yes, I’ve been told,” She said with a small chuckle. “I’ve had several lessons on how to eat properly during banquets, but I seem to get too engrossed in eating. I’ve stopped eating at public events, and only do it to be polite.”

“Sounds a bit overkill,” Allisa said. While she was eating, she realized that while she’s eaten over half the meat dishes that Ion prepared (Something she would never tell her friends) Ion had barely touched anything besides what she was eating.

“Oh please, eat as much as you want.” Ion said, noticing Allisa looking at the food. “For all you’ve been through, you need to keep up your strength.”

“You should eat something too.”

“Thanks but I don’t require food as much as you do.”

“Hey come on. My mom would scold you for skipping meals if she were here.”

Ion chuckled. “I appreciate the concern but I actually mean that literally. To me, eating is a luxury rather than a necessity. It would be wasted on me if I were to consume it all.”

“Hm?” Allisa looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Remember what I said about how my body has been altered due to my power.”

Allisa nodded.

“Along with not aging, I also do not require food, water or even sleep. I can, as you’ve seen. But I don’t need it to survive.”

“…. So what your eating,”

“Yes. The food will simply dissolve and disperse completely without converting the nutrients into energy. Water is the same, and while I can sleep… It’s more a relaxing activity. I can actually go a full day without needing to close my eyes,”

“So… you don’t age. You don’t eat, drink or sleep? Then how do you-?”

“My songs.” Ion placed her hand on her chest. “My entire body is maintained by eather. What you witnessed earlier was me replenishing my energy. When I get exhausted I simply need to find an area dense in eather- or mana as you called it- and sing my song. The surrounding energy is then absorbed into my body.”

“So when you collapsed earlier….”

“It’s because she expelled too much eather during the course of the day with all that fighting, walking and singing she did.” Berken snapped, earning him a sharp glare from Ion.

“Geez… sorry. I-If I’d known-”

“Please, do not concern yourself. I knew full well what I was doing. I am responsible for your current situation, so a helping hand is the least I could do.”

Berken looked as though he was about to say something, but instead held himself back. Allisa took another bite out of her food.

“Anyway,” Ion spoke up again. “Now that you’ve had some experience in Sora, what do you think so far?”

“About what?”

“Well, what do you think about the world itself?”

“…. Jury’s still out on that,” Allisa looked out of the window. Beyond the old block buildings and iron walls, the rest of the crag was still visible, curving upwards. The artificial sun still illuminated the plains, casting light through the odd clouds that roamed the raising land. “There’s no denying that view though,” Allisa finally said with a smile. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Ion beamed. “Bear in mind this is only the wilderness. Wait until you see the cities.”

“Ha, I’m looking forward to it.” Allisa said. She couldn’t deny she was curious to see them given how different this world was to Terra and Avalon.” “But… guess we’re not going to them anytime soon, huh.”

“Not unless you wanna get caught,” Berken said coldly. “Ion’ll stand out to much, and I’m sure Altosk will kill you the next time they see you,”

“Geez, thanks…” Allisa scowled. Yet she knew he wasn’t wrong. After breaking Ion out of the Sovereign's Hope and was almost killed by the cyborg ninja, Xeno as Berken called him, Allisa was certain that Leo would certainly not let her live a second time. Given how easily that man bested her, he was someone she did not want to see again.

It then occurred to her; she knew nearly nothing about the organization she was now on the run from.

“So… Altosk,” Allisa looked to Ion. “That Leo guy’s the one in charge?”

Ion twitched at the mention of his name. With the sorrow that filled her eyes, Allisa could tell it was not an easy subject for her.

“No. Leo is… my guardian.” She finally said.

“Guardian?” Allisa repeated, recalling that was what Leo introduced himself as; the guardian of the Star Singer. “So… he’s not in charge?”

“Oh, he has a very high rank and influence among Altosk; such is the perks of being my guardian. But no, he’s not head of state, or even commander of the armed forces.”

“It’s governess Golmoria that’s the one in charge,” Berken said.

Allisa recalled her being mentioned when Ion told her about why she was running. “Golmoria… she’s the reason you ran? Why everything’s so messed up?”

“She’s….” To Allisa’s surprise, Ion frowned. Something she had never seen her do. “She’s an awful woman. Even before the election, I had a lot of reservations about her.”

This surprised Allisa, to hear Ion speak of someone so coldly. If she could drive someone as kind and joyous as Ion to speak with such disgust, Golmoria must be a truly evil person.

“So… besides keeping an eye on everyone and controlling everything, what’s so bad about her?”

“The issues are with how she views the settlements. This place is just one of hundreds of settlements that failed. Ter’figmar is not an easy place to settle, largely due to the geometry and biome. Yet still, many grow wry of the bureaucracy of the cities and seek to set up communities outside in the wilderness. Such ventures cost’s a lot of credits and resources, and since so many fail many of the city's elites, especially in High Rise, see them as wastes of time.”

“Not to mention, being so far out from any form of control means crime and dissonance flourish among them,” Berken added.

“Many from there support policies of tighter control of what they consider vital settlements while discarding the others with more extreme measures being taken against settlements with well-known criminal hideouts, such as burning them to the ground. As the candidate from High Rise, Golmoria’s thinking certainly lines with that elitist view. Though I would not be surprised if she’s become drunk with power.”

“And she… she was elected?” Allisa asked, confused. “As in… people actually voted for her?”

Ion nodded. “Are you familiar with the concept?”

Allisa let out a long, and loud sigh. “Oh boy am I. In my world- least in my country- we vote on everyone. Our mayor, governor, government, our president, and so on.”

“That’s… quite a lot,” Ion chuckled. “You don’t sound enthusiastic about it,”

“Cause I’ll I’ve ever seen of politics is just old dudes shouting at one another, spouting nonsense or lying through their teeth. It was just so overbearing I just ignored it all.” Allisa sighed, taking a large bite out of food. If there was one thing about her old life she was glad to be rid of that nose.

“A-At least you get the concept,” Ion gave out another chuckle, amused by her attitude.

“So… over here you get two candidates and they try to get enough votes to win for four years?”

“There are five candidates.”

Allisa almost choked. “F-Five?!”

Ion nodded. “And the position of Governor is for life. The only time a new one is voted for is when the previous governor dies or steps down. Once that happens, an election is held within the year with each of the five cities putting forth a candidate to run.”

“So… let me get this straight. You guys have a vote on who rules you for life?”

“That’s one way to put it. It’s not a perfect system- far from it- but it’s considerably freer than say Sigmundus that has one ruler and no choice. In theory anyway…

“Anyway, once the candidates are chosen, an election is held. The candidate with the lowest votes will then be eliminated. Then a second vote will be cast, and another candidate is eliminated. Then a third vote, and finally a fourth between the two candidates.”

“And… people just voted for this current governor?”

“Well…” Ion twiddled her thumbs. “Golmoria did run as the candidate from High Rise and made it two the third round. However, she narrowly avoided elimination in the previous round, and her odds of winning the third vote was low.”

“But she won in the end?”

“Yep.” Berken nodded his head. “By default.”

“By… default?”

Ion sucked in a deep breath. “She…. Killed the other two candidates.”

“Wh-WHAT!?” Allisa suddenly blurted out, shocked and mortified. “She… she killed them?”

“It was never technically proven,” Berken continued. “But… yeah. It’s fairly obvious.”

“After the ‘accident’ that claimed the lives of the two other candidates, she was appointed as governess. And shortly before that, my powers fully manifested and I was installed as the next Star Singer.” Ion’s face contorted in a way Allisa had never seen before. “My first official duty was to formally anoint her to the position. It… it made me sick to bestow such power on that monster. Then I just had to sit back and turn a blind eye to the horrible things she’s done.”

“Why don’t you just say no?!” Allisa yelled, surprising Ion. “Come on, this chick sounds like seriously bad news! If you have the power to get rid of her why don’t you-?”

“If she had the power to remove her we wouldn’t be in this mess, you dolt!” Berken snapped back. “This isn’t as black and white as you seem to think it is! Ion denounces Golmoria publicly, what do you think will happen? Is she just gonna back down? What about those who support her? You think about that?!”

“Uhhh…?”

“Berken,” Ion spoke up, silencing her robot companion. “But… it’s as he says. My role is to promote peace and unity, not fuel the fires of conflict. If I denounce her and she does not back down it would mean civil war, or at worse, Marina and Sigmundus could invade under the pretense of ‘liberating the Star Singer,’”

“E-even so-”

“Besides, Altosk would never let me make such a statement publicly. Like Berken told you, they control the media and all official channels. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do anything.” She gave a weak smile.

“That’s why… when Bec and Markus contacted me with the plan to change my allegiance, I took it without a second thought. To have the Star Singer kidnapped under her watch, then have her allegiance changed would destroy Golmoria. Not even her closest allies could support her, even if they wanted to.”

Ion glanced out of the window. Even though she was smiling, Allisa could tell she was sad. “…. You know how the story ends. We crashed in your world, and I got you involved in my mess.”

Allisa couldn’t find any words to say. All that was going through her head was how complex Ion’s situation really was, and how she didn’t fully grasp it. However, there was something else. She could feel the frustration radiating from Ion. She was trapped, forced to play a role she did not ask for or even seem to want.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Ion suddenly perked up, slapping her cheeks. “Let’s… let's talk about you.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve just realized, I’ve told you so much about myself but I actually know nothing about you.”

“O-oh…. I guess not,” Allisa chuckled, only just realizing that she really hadn’t told Ion anything about her situation. With a smile, Allisa blankly gazed out of the window, taking in the crag bathed in twilight.

“Where do I even start?”

*****

The sun had long eclipsed, bringing with it the night cycle for this part of Sora, when Allisa finally dropped off. Curled on the ruined bed, she was fast asleep. Ion simply watched her from the window, realizing only now how exhausted Allisa was, how much of a strain she had placed upon herself.

“She’s really incredible, isn’t she?”

“Ion?” Berken hovered by her side.

“She’s so young. Yet to have endured so much pain and still is able to smile and move forward. I must say, I’m jealous,”

Allisa held nothing back. She told Ion as much as she could, about finding the weapon she used, about the two worlds of Avalon and Terra, about her battles, her struggles, and her pain that she tried to hid. The sadness in her voice when speaking of her enemies, Garlahad, Rubrik and Ellie betrayed that fact to her.

“And now she’s stuck in another world… all because I was to afraid to act,”

Ion looked back out to the expanse of the crag, seeing clouds obscuring peaks off in the distance.

“I’ve made a decision,” She said to her ASD. “I dragged Allisa into my own affairs, and I will do anything in my power to send her back.”

“B-But Ion… you can’t mean you’re gonna sing?” Berken said, alarmed. “You know what will happen if-”

“I am all too aware,” Ion nodded, bringing up her left leg closer to her while hugging it for support. “But I will endure the consequences,”

“Ion…”

“Berken; don’t tell Allisa. I don’t want her to worry.”

“Wh-What?!” Berken flew back aghast. “What do you mean don’t tell her?! It's very important-!”

“That’s an order, Berken.” Ion said sternly. The rabbit sized up before reluctantly nodding.

“But… why?”

“…. I’m not sure myself,” Ion looked back at Allisa, “I might just want to be selfish if just this once,”

“That doesn’t really answer the question…..” Berken said. “But…. As you wish. I won’t say anything,”

Ion smiled back. “Why don’t you have some off time? You’ve been operating nonstop for hours now.”

“No can do. We’re deep in the unknown. Someone needs to keep watch.”

“I can do that. I’ve replenished my eather so I can stay awake through the night.”

Berken’s eyes dimmed, which meant he was glaring at her.

“I won’t go anywhere. I promise.”

“….. Fine,” Berken grumbled as floated to the other side of the room. “But I’ll have my sensors on just to be safe.”

“Of course,” Ion smiled as Berken perked himself on the old counter before shutting down. She then looked back to Allisa.

You have a good heart, Allisa. Ion smiled at her. It may be hard, you may feel pain and despair in your future. She looked back out to the eclipsed sun, with the lights of the other cities visible through the night sky. But no matter what happens, don’t let it change who you are.