Hestia turned towards the projection for a second before turning and leaving the building.
Her mind was still with deep concern for Adrian, but the ethereal resonance of the Chime of Consciousness that was echoing through her mind was not an incident she could just ignore. She also quickly reminded herself of the time dilation effect actively operating within the Azure Garden.
A single day in the outside universe equaled four years within Azure Garden. So, even if she spent some time here to investigate this anomaly, it would barely be a few seconds or minutes on the outside. Keeping this in her mind, Hestia moved out of the central administrative building to check on this phenomenon first.
She moved towards the chime's direction, and it led her to the guest buildings nestled near the flowing streams of the Azure Garden. Without hesitation, she immediately moved into one of the guest buildings, her presence masked to avoid causing unnecessary alarm, and entered within a suite.
Within the hall, Hestia saw a dark armoured being kneeling outside a closed-door chamber, overcome with his emotions.
"This should be the one that Adrian brought back..." Hestia thought.
It was Xeolze, the silent shadow guard, who had been rescued alongside the winged Elyrian woman. He had both hands pressed firmly against the floor, his head bowed in a posture of reverence.
For Xeolze, Mariska has just become the ultimate hope for the Elyrian race. For millions of years, his people had been treated as livestock, bled dry for the profit of the Ethereal Providence Sect. Even his King Elyras, a sovereign who possessed immense power and wisdom, had been struggling in despair to reach the first stage of consciousness mastery after millions of years of stagnation. Yet, miraculously, Mariska just ascended now.
Back in the providence hub, Mariska, with her sacrificial resolve and intent acting as a catalyst, amplified her willforce. When she had chosen to throw away her own life, fully prepared to detonate her Astral Core just to buy him the handful of seconds he needed to escape Tenyz's strike, that moment of selflessness had served as the ultimate tempering of her mind. It had placed her foot upon the path to the Chime of Consciousness.
Within this place where time flowed differently, Xeolze guided Mariska, and due to the time dilation, Mariska was also able to calm down her worries about her people and relax her mind and focus upon the feeling she had felt back when in the providence hub. Using that to train herself, the seed of that sacrifice had finally bloomed. In merely two years they spend here, Mariska ascended.
Soon, the chime receded, and the door to the private chamber hissed softly as its internal arrays disengaged.
Mariska stepped out of the room. Her majestic, luminescent wings were folded behind her back, but they seemed to glow with a newfound brilliance. The ethereal pressure of a newly awakened consciousness still clung to her form, radiating an undeniable aura of a true sovereign.
As she crossed the threshold, she immediately noticed the kneeling form of Xeolze, but before she could speak to her loyal guard, she felt another presence. She looked at Hestia, who was standing a little farther in the hall.
Mariska's eyes narrowed instantly. She had no clue who this was, and her guard instinctively rose. For a race that had spent its entire recorded history being hunted, caged, and harvested for its blood, the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar Astral Stage being was not a cause for greeting; it was a trigger for survival. Her newly strengthened willforce coiled within her mind, ready to lash out at the slightest sign of aggression.
Hestia did not expand her divine domain, nor did she attempt to do anything. Instead, she offered a warm smile and gently raised her hands in a placating gesture.
"Please, ease your guard," Hestia spoke with a smooth cadence, treating Mariska as an equal. "I am Hestia. This sanctuary you are currently resting in belongs to my people. The man who brought you here, the one you know as Aeon, is my partner."
At the mention of her savior's name, the tension in Mariska's shoulders faltered. She cautiously extended her own refined perception, lightly brushing against the aura that surrounded the crimson-robed woman.
Mariska could feel the true intent radiating from Hestia now. It was different from the greed, predatory hunger, and dismissive arrogance she was so accustomed to sensing from the Yiphraen race of the Ethereal Providence Sect. Hestia's resonating intent carried a deep warmth. In that brief moment, Mariska realized this being was like that aeon, who truly didn't see them as mere slaves and materials.
"Forgive my reaction," Mariska said.
"There is nothing to forgive," Hestia replied gently, gesturing toward the sofa in the center of the hall. "You have just crossed a monumental threshold in your cultivation. Your mind requires peace and stability to adjust to the Chime of Consciousness. Come, sit with me."
Mariska offered a nod to Xeolze, silently urging the shadow guard to rise and rest before walking over to the seating area.
Hestia and Mariska both sat upon the sofa. Hestia waved her hand, conjuring a pot and two cups from her spatial ring, pouring a fragrant, soothing mana-infused tea that immediately filled the hall with a calming aroma.
"You carry a very heavy sorrow in your eyes," Hestia began quietly, handing one of the steaming cups to the Elyrian princess. "It is a look I am intimately familiar with. It is the look of someone who has carried the weight of their entire people's survival."
Mariska looked down at her cup, the reflection of her own exhausted eyes staring back at her. "We have been hunted for so long that survival is the only thing we know how to do," she whispered.
Hestia took a slow sip of her tea, her pale golden eyes turning distant as she recalled the ghosts of her own past.
"I was not always a powerful being," Hestia murmured, her voice laced with a quiet pain. "Millions of years ago, I was once just a mortal patriarch of a clan, living in an empire controlled by a Major Sect. In that place, my people possessed no true freedom and were treated as little more than 'livestock' or servants, designed only to labor and bleed for the amusement and profit of those who stood above us."
Mariska looked up, genuine shock registering on her face. To hear that the partner of Aeon, such a powerful being, had originated from the same degradation as her own people was a revelation to her.
"Hating this reality and refusing to live in chains," Hestia continued, "I led my clan to flee our home galaxy as refugees, setting our sights on a distant, smaller Galaxy. My clan died in this journey to give me a chance to build a sanctuary where people could live without the constant fear of being slaughtered."
Hestia met Mariska's eyes, offering a sad, knowing smile. "And I fought for a million years to build a safe home. I bled for every inch of territory, fighting wars and suppressing my own despair, just so my disciples could one day look at the void without fear."
The vulnerability and tragedy in Hestia's words struck a chord deep within Mariska's chest. The walls she had built around her heart slowly began to crumble. Mariska, too, started to speak, sharing her race's story with Hestia.
"We were once a peaceful race," Mariska said, "Some of our ancestors had even reached the second stage of consciousness. But things changed once the Yiphraen race found out about us. Our blood generates the purest form of life essence. Because of this miracle of our physiology, the Yiphraen race hunted us down. They waged war for generations, slowly destroying us, killing many of our ancestors, and now, our only refuge is a micro-dimension hidden deep inside their own Providence Hub, a cage we built ourselves just to hide from our tormentors."
"My father has spent millions of years agonizing over our slow extinction, too powerless to wage a direct war against someone who possesses second-stage consciousness mastery. I could not stand by and watch my people suffer like this. I launched a desperate strike against their factories..." She paused, glancing toward the door. "...until Aeon stepped from the sky and saved us."
The two bonded over their shared burdens. In the safety of the Azure Garden, the uncaring expanse of the universe felt distant, leaving only the empathy of two who had sacrificed everything for the sake of their kin.
Hestia reached across the low table, gently placing her hand over Mariska's trembling fingers. "You do not have to fight this battle alone anymore, Mariska," Hestia said softly, her pale golden eyes burning with sincerity. "Aeon brought you here because he intends to give your civilization a future."
Mariska looked down at Hestia's hand resting over hers. She had previously rejected Adrian's offer to relocate her civilization, blinded by a justified paranoia that trusting a stranger would only lead her people into another cage. But now, talking with hestia, learning more about her history and character, a sense of relief washed through her. As she looked back into Hestia's empathetic eyes, Mariska realized that the safe haven Adrian promised is real, built upon the foundation of a leader who truly understands her pain.
"Thank you," Mariska whispered, her voice finally breaking as a single tear escaped her eye and slid down her cheek. "For the first time in millions of years... I truly believe my people have a chance to live."
Hestia smiled gently, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "They do. And in this sanctuary, no one will ever look at your wings and see a resource again. Here, you are family."