After lunch, Maeyune's team and Deiyu - along with Saber Team - were escorted to the Bresnian Celestial Base just beyond the city's wall. They arrived in the late afternoon, their cars distributing them at the colossal fortress.

With its tall, concrete walls wearing crowns of anti-aircraft turrets, its forbidding structure was similar to the base in Ursa. Several small, fenced platforms protruded from various corners of the architecture, operating as watchtowers.

As Maeyune glanced around her at the cement fields of aircraft and military vehicles, she was sure it was twice as large as Ursa's base.

Deiyu took note of her attentive examination. "They also train many non-celestial troops here at this facility," he said. "It has seen a rapid growth in recent years to accommodate for both Bresnian celestials and non-celestial soldiers."

A non-celestial woman, dressed in what Maeyune presumed was a Beran captain's uniform, greeted them at the entrance to one of the base's metal-walled hangars.

There were facility staff and uniformed soldiers engaged in outdoor tasks, but soon after seeing the transport cars, they had set their tools aside and gathered for a closer look.

"Hey, Reo!" they called. Reo waved a hand.

They fell deathly silent when Maeyune and her team walked past. She gave them a once-over as she followed the Beran captain and Deiyu to one of the opened hangars. Clover had been right to speculate when the constant shock would eventually subside.

They entered the hangar and passed a variety of military vehicles, reaching a wide doorway that led directly into the facility. The hallways through which they then paraded opposed the warm sunlight outside. The bright ceiling lights implanted a sense of familiar dreariness as they went deeper. The only buoyancy offered inside the building were the thrilled expressions of soldiers who watched them walk by, daring not to move nearer lest they received reproach.

Eventually, Reo's team went their separate way. Sera gave his arm a playful squeeze before she left. Only Reo remained.

They walked past steel door after steel door, room after room, until they were taken another level down to what the non-celestial captain said was the facility's operations center. There inside the large room abound with electronic displays and illuminated control panels, they encountered a group of soldiers and facility officials. Everyone turned when the captain led the group inside.

All but three men saluted. Maeyune surveyed the three individuals who stood at the center of the room.

One was a tall gentleman with a wiry build and long arms. His pale hair and thick mustache were combed and trimmed, and he wore a clean, crimson red suit.

The young man in the center appeared the complete opposite, much more gangly in a long, white lab coat. He wore round, silver spectacles and had dark hair that had seen its fair share of effort with trimming, but was still a nest on top of his head. He held his hands together as if to keep himself from shaking, his excitement apparent.

And the third - an older man clad in a highly decorated Beran uniform with gray hair and a deeply lined face - was the only one in the room who did not regard them with stunned eyes. Instead, his gaze hovered calmly over an opened, gray folder in his hands.

"General-" the captain began, but the third man's gruff voice interrupted her.

"A prostitute, an imbecile, a mute, a common thief, and an intolerable man prone to violence," he said. After a moment, he finally glanced up at Maeyune. "And I am to believe that they follow your orders?"

Maeyune held his eyes, her nonchalance immutable under his critical stare. He spoke words that she had already heard for years about her team's members. It was nothing new. She merely quirked an eyebrow.

The man in the elegant suit was the first to respond.

"General Soras, please," he spoke, his tone cordial. He stepped forward, his pale eyes lit with a smile. "Ah, the moon herself," he said. He held out a hand. "At long last, it is so good to meet you, Miss Ereni. I am Director Smathers, but you can call me Gerothen."

Maeyune bowed her head in greeting and shook his hand. "A pleasure, Director."

He gestured to the two men behind him. "Allow me to introduce General Lyran Soras and Tin Pogelsby, head of the science and technology department."

Tin, the young man in the lab coat, could not contain his frenzy any longer. He leaped at her and grabbed her hand with both of his. Behind the dim glare on his spectacles, his dark eyes were wide and bright.

"Oh, the two god incarnates!" he exclaimed. "Here, in the same room! Oh, what a day, what a day!"

He shook her hand with exuberant energy. Her arm bounced up and down from the force, and she had to pull her hand away as respectfully as she could.

"Enough, Mr. Pogelsby," the general commanded, visibly exasperated. Tin took a step back, but his fervent disposition remained. His eyes continued to rebound between Maeyune and Reo.

General Soras did not extend his hand to Maeyune, but did so to Deiyu. "Commander Lin," he said. "Thank you for joining us."

"It is an honor to finally meet you, General," Deiyu replied. "I look forward to working with you and Director Smathers under the alliance. If we could, sir, I would like to get started as soon as possible."

General Soras nodded once and gestured for Deiyu to join him at one of the control panels, leaving Gerothen and Tin to Aegis Team.

The director glanced around the room at the soldiers and waved his hand for them to return to their tasks.

"Now then," Gerothen began, "Reo, please go with Tin back to the lab. He will need to run new tests on your energy levels, especially now that you have been exposed to the Moon God."

"Understood," Reo replied impassively.

"Miss Ereni - Maeyune, if I may?" the director asked.

Maeyune nodded.

He smiled. "Maeyune, if you and your team would follow me please, I can take you to the barracks."

He led the way out of the operations room, with Reo and a jittery Tin following a little farther behind.

They returned to the ground floor. This time, as they were taken through more unfamiliar areas, they passed several large, enclosed spaces, all of which contained padded flooring. Maeyune briefly glimpsed at celestials as they practiced their elemental magic. Their fighting techniques appeared far more aggressive than the refined Suolani practices.

They are training rooms, she thought.

"Naturally, the wind and water elements under Shivra's dominion are stronger with you near," Gerothen said to her. "Within the course of this past day, the wind and water celestials here in Bera have become much stronger with your presence. I'm sure your allies back in Suolan are missing you terribly."

Maeyune did not ponder too long on the thought. Everyone had known that in her absence, the Suolani wind and water celestials would not be at their strongest. Accordingly, she had left many relics in Ursa imbued with the moon's energy as extra resources for them to use should they ever need it.

"You will have to excuse the general," the director continued, looking back at Maeyune with atonement. "Despite the gods having won against the Wobeck, General Soras has always been one to doubt their benevolence. He finds it rather difficult to trust them after they passed on their powerful gifts to thousands of innocent, unsuspecting children."

They continued through the bright halls, following the white tiled floors that eventually turned to bare concrete. Maeyune found that fewer soldiers and staff wandered the area.

Reo and Tin were still behind them. As they all turned a corner, she glanced behind her and noticed Reo's obvious indifference as Tin mumbled rapid terms to him. She absentmindedly wondered if the lab was in the same direction as the housing units.

They eventually came to a cross where a narrower hall ran perpendicular. When she felt the warmth in the air begin to fade, she looked behind her again and saw that Reo and Tin were finally making a turn.

But before Maeyune and the others continued on their way toward the barracks, she heard a soft cry echo from down the crossing hall. She stopped abruptly.

She waited, expecting to hear the cry again. When she didn't, she wondered if she had heard anything at all. The narrow hall curved, and so she was unable to see what lay at the end. There was nothing exceptional about its appearance. However, she could not help but feel the air transform.

She was sure she had heard something. And what was this strange sensation she was beginning to feel in her chest? It was a sudden tightness. Her breathing came in short intervals.

She ventured a few steps further into the hall. Everyone behind her finally noticed her withdrawal from the group.

"Miss Ereni?" Gerothen said.

But his voice had grown distant. There was a slight ringing in Maeyune's ears that grew louder with every step. Finally, she placed a hand on the wall.

A vision struck her.

It assaulted every one of her senses, carrying with it brutal emotions of terror and fear.

The walls were ablaze in a violent fire. There, a dark shadow stood ominously still in the midst of the inferno. The dark shadow, a figure, was surrounded in a bright and familiar red that was rimmed in gold. She felt his pain, his fury. It shook her soul.

She jerked out of the vision, desperately gasping for air as she struggled to fight the grief that pursued the memory.

"Maeyune, are you alright?" Trix asked, alarmed.

It took her a moment to find her voice. Her team had gathered nearer. Meera placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Yes," Maeyune answered, regaining her composure. With limited self-awareness, she looked behind her.

And she met Reo's dark eyes.

He had stopped walking and now perused her from a distance, a shadow across his face. Reo's stare was fixed, eyes narrowed in what looked to be a dare. A dare to do what, she could not fathom. Beside him, Tin looked on with puzzlement.

In the back of her mind, she heard a faint scream, a cry full of grief. Slowly, everything came back to focus.

She turned to Gerothen. "Where does this hall lead?" she asked.

He watched her, perplexed. "The storage facility. It's where we keep the old and broken automech parts that do not survive battle."

"No," she said. "What was it before? Before it burned down?"

It was so slight, she had barely caught the hesitation that flitted across his consistently friendly face. After a moment, he smiled somberly. "The old science ward," he replied. "There was a terrible accident five years ago. One of the projects that the technological team was working on malfunctioned and destroyed this part of the facility. We have since rebuilt and moved the department to the west wing. I assure you, Maeyune, we have taken every precaution possible to ensure it does not happen again."

"Was anyone hurt?" Meera asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," he said, shoulders drooping. "We did everything we could to save them. However, their families have been well looked after for their loss."

They waited for Maeyune to respond. But she did not. She only watched silently as Reo turned and continued down the hall, Tin chasing after him.