The Astral soul system

Zaria kicked her feet nervously while slightly tugging on her necklace and fiddling with it. She found it helped her relax in tense situations. She looked around the room, still instinctively fiddling with the necklace.

"I miss her"

"Me too" Diane replied.

"It's awfully boring without her being so childish about every little thing"

They both went quiet and after a while Diane broke the silence.

"You don't think they -?

"No" Zaria replied with a surprising amount of certainty.

"They're still out there. I can just feel it" Zaria tugged on her pendant even harder.

Diane didn't say anything. She wished she could be as hopeful and certain as her friend but it had been almost a month.

The door to their dorm suddenly opened and seeing who it was Zaria ran to the door to welcome her.

"Faye, what's going on? Did you find them? What's going on? We haven't heard anything in-"

"Enough" Faye stopped her.

"Sorry, it's just... I'm worried,we haven't heard anything in-"

"I know,i know, but right now I'm more worried about you little sis. You were gone a long time, and I'm still not sure what happened "

"We were captured for a week by some beasts, and no one was hurt in any way "

"That you know of. I just want to look out for you "

"I don't need you to look out for me " Zaria slightly raised her voice.

"That's enough, Zaria!" Faye yelled, her eyes bloodshot as she violently shut down her sister.

Zaria reeled back like a puppy that had just been yelled at. Her head faced the floor and her fist clenched.

"I'm... sorry"

Zaria sniffled, looking like she was holding back tears.

Faye didn't say anything, only watching indifferently, but as she noticed a single tear run down her sister's face she couldn't help herself. Her indifferent expression disappeared as a tired sigh escaped her lips.

"Zari... I'm sorry"

She wrapped her arms around Zaria's shoulders, pulling her in for a hug, but Zaria didn't react or hug back.

"I'm doing as much as I can, okay? I'll find your friends,just give me some more time"

Zaria sniffled,her head still down and buried in her sister's shoulder.

"Promise?"

"Promise"

Zaria lifted her head to look at Faye, and as she did, Faye's gentle smile was replaced with a frown as she noticed that Zaria was smiling brightly and all her tears had stopped. Faye tried to end the hug as she realized she might have just gotten emotionally blackmailed into promising something, but before she could, Zaria hugged her back, trapping her there.

"You little -"

"A promise is a promise"

Faye sighed and didn't try to fight her sister, hugging her back.

"What did I just get myself into? When are you gonna stop acting like a baby?"

Zaria didn't reply, silently enjoying her victory.

The previously tense situation had been diffused almost instantly by the playful banter.

"Honestly though, what's going on? Classes have been shut down ever since the others went missing"

Faye tried desperately to regain her indifferent composure, but she couldn't while Zaria was hugging her so she just gave up.

"The academy is trying to hide the disappearance of some of your friends. If the Hunter and Void families find out their kids were lost by the academy,it wouldn't be pretty. However I'm pretty sure they already know. They're going wild, threatening to attack the military if their kids aren't returned safely. There are even some rumors that the academy took the kids and are making the whole thing up. Tensions are high"

"Would they really attack the academy for taking them?"

"That's... debatable, but if it was you, I'd come in here and rip the entire place to shreds "

Zaria didn't bother making a joke as she knew her sister was a hundred percent serious.

"This can be considered an act of war by the other families if their kids aren't returned safely, and that wouldn't be good for anyone "

Before anything else could be said someone suddenly burst into the room.

"Captain...."

The man in a uniform suddenly paused as he noticed he may have come at a bad time.

"What is it?" Faye asked, not bothering to stop the hug.

"Umm... sorry. Captain Faye, there's been a development. One of the portals opened for a brief second before deactivating. Out of it came this"

The soldier gave Faye an academy badge.

Faye scanned the badge with her watch and the badge's hologram activated, displaying the details of a student.

[Name: Jade Callisto]

[Age: 16]

[First year student]

[Ability: Gateway]

[Level two]

Zaria and Diane immediately reacted.

"That's her, that's one of my friends. She's my roommate even"

Faye looked at Zaria with mild surprise, and the nod she recieved told her she was serious.

"Have they located what planet the portal was opened from?"

"We're currently doing our best to find them captain "

"Take me to the portal room "

Faye released Zaria somewhat reluctantly, walking with the soldier before suddenly turning around.

"Oh yeah. Mom and dad want you to come home for a day or too. They're worried about you too"

Zaria's heart skipped a beat. Usually she'd jump for joy at the thought of going home, but she felt like she was being pulled from something important, something that meant a lot to her, although she didn't even know what it was.

"Guess I'll see you at home... snowflake"

Faye chuckled as she added the last part.

A look of exhaustion appeared on Zaria's face as she was called that.

"Why do you have to call me that? It's embarrassing, and only mom calls me that"

Faye scoffed.

"Embarrassing? You think your nickname is embarrassing?At least mom doesn't call you fairy. IN PUBLIC"

Faye gave her another quick hug before leaving.

Zaria wanted to go after her when Diane suddenly stopped her.

"You've gotta teach me how to do that"

Zaria smiled smugly.

"Really? I don't know if you have what it takes"

Diane rolled her eyes

"Don't play coy with me. I'm serious"

"We'll talk later, come on, let's follow them"

They both entered the hallway and followed behind Faye and the soldier.

Looking back at Faye's hair that was mostly blonde with touches of white here and there, Diane asked.

"I'm guessing partial or completely white hair is a staple in your family"

"Sort of. My mom is or was a member of the Kryo family "

"Right, they're hair is always white, right? Something about excess frost element, right?"

"Yeah, that's the same reason almost all hunters have blue eyes, same with you guys and blonde hair. It's a family trait"

Diane thought for a bit and realized that pretty much her entire family really did have blonde hair.

"Didn't your family teach you this stuff?"

"I went to regular school, and even then i think the only thing i remember doing was napping in class and playing pranks with Dio...i mean Xavier "

Zaria shrugged

"Ha, don't worry,i slept through all my lessons too. My parents were furious and I had to take so many extra lessons. Luckily I have a good memory "

"Wait, Sable has white hair. Is she your sister too?"

"Haha, not funny. Not everyone with white hair is from my family. Besides,i already have two sisters,a brother,an extremely affectionate mom, and an overly protective dad, I love them,but that's already a lot to deal with."

The rest of the trip to the portal room was silent as they made their way.

As soon as they got to the portal room, Zaria realized that it was full of people moving here and there doing some things she didn't understand.

A seemingly high ranking officer walked up to Faye

"Captain Faye. We-"

"We can just skip the stereotypical pleasant greeting with sinister undertones. It's been a fucking long month,i'm here to help, now where can I find someone with real authority here?"

From the center of the room, someone sighed and walked up to her.

"Captain Faye of the dragon guard. It's a pleasure, I'm general Tim, and I'm the highest ranking in the room "

"Ex-captain please. I received word that there's been a development. And before anything can we please put aside any hostility? I hope we can work together without any problems."

Tim nodded.

"Of course. If we can't solve this, everyone will suffer the consequences. In fact I quite appreciate the help. It's hard to keep peace if we don't work together"

Tim tried to look energetic, but his entire demeanor made it more than clear he hadn't slept in quite a while.

"As for the student, they've been properly ID'd and we're currently working on locating them"

"And?"

"We're close. At least we think so."

Tim looked at Zaria and Diane and simply sent a smile their way before focusing back on Faye.

Tim led her to the control panel where Aurora, some teachers, and some people who were working on the portal were.

Aurora noticed Faye, but didn't react much, only nodding in her direction before ignoring her completely.

"We believe they attempted to use the portal and it failed, so they decided to send the token instead"

"Pretty resourceful for first years"

"Of course there's a chance that some of them are already...."

Tim didn't finish his sentence but Faye got the point.

"Sir. We think we've got the location"

"Then go ahead" Tim commanded.

The person nodded and immediately switched on the portal.

As the glowing swirling circle appeared, Zaria suddenly felt a strange sense of nausea. Her body instinctively took a few steps back although she herself didn't know why.

Once the portal was fully formed, she got her answer. The entire room was basked in a black light as strange sparks started escaping from the portal. The entire room was bathed in an aura of depression as black sparks and bolts escaped, erratically flying everywhere and even damaging pieces of the room.

Faye used her hand to shield her face, worriedly looking back at her sister and devastated to see her on her knees, her hands clutching her head and trying to block out the sound while Diane tried to help.

"Turn it off!" Tim yelled in a panic. At this rate the portal would destroy itself in a few minutes.

The person was just about to switch off the portal when a devastating roar forced him to his knees.

Most of the weaker people in the room were immediately stunned from terror, while people like Faye,Tim and Aurora were able to keep their footing.

Amidst all the chaos Faye heard Zaria calling her.

"Faye!"

Faye looked back and saw Zaria who seemed to have recovered some clarity a bit.

"They're in there!"

Faye looked at the portal that was sporadically releasing electricity.

"Really?"

Zaria nodded with a determined look in her eyes.

"Aw,man"

Faye said with a hint of annoyance and complaining, but no real worry or fear.

"Does that mean you're coming with?" Aurora who looked like she was about to jump in herself asked.

"Wait... what? No you can't -"

Aurora and Faye directly ignored Tim and ran towards the portal, preparing to jump through. A loud boom suddenly passed through the portal, knocking some loose items flying and even some people were pushed back a bit.

Ignoring the shockwave, they both jumped in. Almost immediately the black lightning and roaring stopped , leaving the entire place silent.

"Are you okay?" Diane helped Zaria get back on her feet.

"It's okay, it's nothing"

Before Zaria could answer, they suddenly saw Aurora jump back through with Sable in her arms. Following behind her were Xavier, Neo,Maximilian and Jade.

They all looked around for a few seconds as if they still couldn't believe they were back.

"Guys!"

They all looked at where the voice came from and noticed Zaria and Diane waving at them. The feeling seemed to finally sink in as they realized that they had been saved.

"But where's Zen?"

Hearing that they all turned to look at the portal. Aurora had insisted they come with her, saying her partner would definitely get out safely, and although they didn't believe she'd leave him behind, they were already getting worried.

The entire room was silent for a few more seconds as everyone waited.

Two figures quickly leaped out of the portal, and upon closer inspection,it was Zen and Faye. Something resembling a large spinning fireball suddenly flew out of the portal and towards Zen. He quickly caught it, ignoring the heat.

"Close it!" Zen yelled towards the person at the controls.

Before any action could be taken,a loud explosion suddenly sounded from the portal and large bits of shrapnel started flying out. Zen wanted to dodge, but before he could,a large shadow covered him entirely. All the shrapnel struck what cast the shadow, falling to the ground harmlessly.

Zen looked up and saw a pair of wings that looked like they were made of diamonds. Each scale looked like it had personally been handcrafted by a veteran jeweler over a period of years of dedicated work and attention. They glowed with more colors than those on a rainbow and moved with expert precision.

Zen watched as the wings retracted back into Faye's back and looked at Zaria, wondering if she could do the same.

"Are you okay?"

Zen was about to answer when he felt something around his neck.

"We did it! Son of a bitch actually blew the place up!"

Xavier was shaking Zen vigorously as he celebrated. Maximilian sighed and found a wall to lean on.

"Jade!"

Jade looked down and saw her friends waving at her. Her eyes watered slightly as she jumped towards them, falling on them.

They both caught her, allowing her to lean on them completely as they embraced each other.

"I missed you guys"

"It's only been a month,you big baby"

Jade ignored Diane's teasing, she even felt relieved to hear it as she squeezed them tighter.

"My foot hurts"

Zaria rolled her eyes with a smile on her lips, patting her on the back softly.

"It's good to see you all safely returned" Tim started.

Zen heard the expected welcome speech and walked towards Aurora. This would most likely only concern Maximilian and Xavier so there was no reason for him to stay.

"I'll take her to the infirmary"

Zen took Sable on his back and was about to walk off when he suddenly heard something.

*Caw!!!*

Everyone turned to see where the sound came from and flying in the room was a pitch black bird with a wingspan of about thirty inches.

The bird flew straight at Zen who allowed it to land on his wrist. Zen looked at the bird and felt a familiar connection with it .

'Yep, it's you'

Black read his mind and cawed, satisfied. While they were back on the other planet, Black had explained that the other piece of his body left inside Clyde had escaped and consumed Clyde's watch before being lucky enough to be mistaken for food by the bird it was using as a host.

"Not yet"

Black nodded using the bird's head and flew away.

Zen was prepared for a bunch of weird looks when Neo suddenly grabbed him close and started running towards the exit.

"Haha,we should probably get to that infirmary right now, don't you think, Zen?"

Zen could feel how nervous Neo was and even hear his accelerated heartbeat so he decided to play along until they were out of sight.

Once they were a considerable distance away, Zen asked.

"What's wrong?"

Neo paused and tried to calm down.

"Okay, Zen. Whatever it is I'm about to say, don't panic, we'll find a way to take care of it"

Zen nodded.

"Okay. Look down"

Zen slowly looked down and although he didn't realize it at first, he quickly noticed what was wrong.

"Where's my shadow?"