Golden Dawn Headquarters
Luna Base, Terra,
Tellus Solar system
Milky Way Galaxy
Luminary Star sector
15th July 2024
After the mission in the dungeon, the group went their separate ways. Sam and Emily returned to their studies and research within the forge lab, while Callum resumed his training, with Trini following closely behind him. Henry, meanwhile, left to visit the Mundane World.
As for Rosa, she found herself returning to Golden Dawn's lunar headquarters. It had been quite some time since she had last been there. She arrived through the Exodus Platform, the teleportation gateway connected to the Ostara Facility within the Hidden World, which transported her instantly to the moon base.
Waiting for her was her master, Emani Yesh, dressed in a dark suit. Standing at over six feet tall, Emani towered over Rosa slightly. Her fiery red hair resembled living flames, while her silver eyes carried an air of quiet mystery. She exuded a powerful aura befitting both her rank and title within the organization.
"Rosalina," Emani said softly.
She opened her arms and pulled Rosa into a warm embrace. Master Emani was one of the gentlest and kindest women Rosa had ever known. She had taken Rosa in at the age of eight after the loss of her family and had personally raised her ever since. Now, at twenty-five years old, the two appeared almost the same age. Over the years, their relationship had changed—Emani no longer treated Rosa like a daughter, but more like a younger sister she deeply cherished.
"Master," Rosa said softly.
"Rosa, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me by my name," Emani replied.
Rosa simply shook her head.
"Sorry. I can't do that."
Emani sighed in amusement. "You do realize we're both High Guardians now, right?"
As an Awakened, Rosa had long since risen beyond the rank of Medium Guardian, attaining the title of High Guardian just like her master. Even so, Rosa had never once considered herself Emani's equal. She was still only in the Superior stage of the Awakening Realm, while Emani…
Well, Emani had long surpassed even the Harmonization Realm—the very realm Samantha was now preparing to break through into.
"You're far too hard on yourself," Emani said as they walked. "How is Samantha? I haven't heard from that girl in a while."
The two left the Exodus Chamber together, heading deeper into the lunar base. Rosa had assumed they were on their way to the Command Center, where Emani was supposed to brief her on the reason for her summons.
"She's doing fine," Rosa answered. "Mostly occupied with the missions she's taken upon herself."
Sam was Emani's other disciple—Rosa's fellow student and one of her closest friends. Ever since Samantha had reached the peak of the Master Stage, the final stage of the Awakening Realm, Golden Dawn had loosened its restrictions on her. Much of that freedom came from both Phoebe Yesh, the organization's Director, and Emani personally vouching for her before the Dawn Council.
Now Samantha possessed nearly as much autonomy within Golden Dawn as Emani herself.
After all, she was Asha'Yee.
Instead of leading Rosa toward the Command Center, Emani guided her to her private office. The room was adorned with artistic paintings of every kind, each displayed with careful attention. Rosa knew her master possessed a deep appreciation for fine art, much like Henry. The office housed countless famous works from both the Mundane World and the Hidden World alike.
"Why aren't we going to the Command Center?" Rosa asked.
"Because I prefer somewhere more comfortable," Emani replied casually.
For the first time since arriving, Rosa noticed the subtle strain hidden beneath her master's composed exterior. Emani still looked immaculate as always, but to someone who knew her well, the exhaustion was obvious. Something was troubling her.
It wasn't surprising.
Since Terra's Awakening, everything had become increasingly chaotic. The Mundane World was still struggling to understand the sudden appearance of Dungeon Towers, completely unaware of the far greater crisis looming ahead—the Awakening of Mundanes themselves. The Yesh Institute had carefully manipulated information to keep the truth hidden for as long as possible, but that secrecy could not last forever.
"A situation has emerged in Nova York," Emani said at last.
Nova York was one of the largest mundane city-states within the United Continent of America, one of the dominant superpowers of the Mundane World.
It was also the birthplace of the Blackearth Virus—a catastrophic plague created to seed corruption into Terra and give rise to Abominations. Fortunately, Golden Dawn had destroyed the source of the infection before Terra's Awakening fully began, greatly reducing the spread of Abominations across the planet.
Even so, Nova York had become one of the primary nexuses of the Awakening phenomenon.
Compared to other major city-states, the number of Mundanes awakening there was alarmingly high. And the situation was only getting worse.
"What is it this time?" Rosa asked.
"There's been a case of an Awakening at one of the universities in Nova York," Emani replied. "St. Jude University."
She handed Rosa a tablet. Displayed on the screen was the file of the newly Awakened Ascendant.
The profile picture showed a girl around Rosa's age, with midnight-black hair and skin so pale it almost looked colorless. Her appearance was relatively ordinary, though the image had clearly been taken before her Awakening. Rosa already knew that would no longer be the case. Ascension refined the body alongside the soul, enhancing one's features to an unnatural degree.
"June Wrydward," Rosa read aloud. "Age twenty-five. Philosophy major. GPA of 3.5. Only child raised by a single father. Mother disappeared years ago and hasn't been heard from since." She glanced up from the screen. "She seems pretty average from this file."
"An average girl who awakened with the most dangerous talent seen since Samantha," Emani said quietly.
Rosa frowned and continued scrolling through the report.
Then her eyes widened.
"She… awakened with an Innate Mana Node?" Rosa asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Emani answered. "A Self-Awakener. Just like Samantha."
There were many paths to Awakening a soul core.
Among the Pleiadians, Awakening usually occurred through Gratia—a divine blessing granted by a celestial being that purified the soul enough for a soul core to form. Golden Dawn possessed its own methods as well, such as the Awakening Temples, specially designed environments meant to guide and stabilize the formation of a soul core.
And then there was Self-Awakening.
The rarest and most terrifying path of all.
Only those capable of achieving profound harmony with both themselves and the world around them could awaken their soul core through sheer will alone. Such a feat was considered nearly impossible. It required an absurdly powerful spiritual foundation and an innate connection to Odic resonance far beyond normal understanding.
The only people Rosa personally knew who had accomplished such a feat were Samantha Sinclair and Leon Haravok.
Samantha had technically been born awakened, though her father had sealed her soul core, forcing her to live as a mundane for most of her life until Master Emani discovered her and brought her into Golden Dawn. Five years ago, that seal had finally broken, allowing Sam to become the Ascendant she was always meant to be.
"Is the Innate Mana Node the reason she self-awakened?" Rosa asked.
"Yes," Emani said. "People born with Innate Mana Nodes naturally possess a far stronger connection to Odic energy than ordinary humans. In most cases, their souls instinctively seek Awakening on their own."
"I thought Innate Nodes only emerged in the Harmonization Realm," Rosa said, her brows furrowing. "Only after the body, spirit, and energy flow achieve complete balance and unity."
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Emani replied with a nod. "But that assumption only applies to cultivators who follow the traditional path. Self-Awakeners are different. They don't walk established roads—they forge their own. For them, the Innate Node is not the result of cultivation. It's the catalyst for it."
"So the Innate Node isn't merely a tool of Harmonization," Rosa murmured thoughtfully. "It's a gateway. The soul's first step toward self-realization."
Emani nodded again.
"The Awakening Realm is inherently unstable. Soul resonance, energy ignition, internal pressure—everything is chaotic by nature. But if a cultivator achieves true internal harmony—emotional, spiritual, and elemental alignment—then an Innate Node can form naturally. Once that happens, the Soul Core follows almost instinctively."
"And that's what happened with her," Rosa whispered, glancing back at the file. "She didn't need an Awakening Temple, leyline scaffolding, or external catalysts. She had her own resonance. Her own will. And the world responded to it."
She turned away from the holographic display, her expression growing solemn.
"If we can understand how Innate Nodes form naturally…" Rosa said quietly, "then we might be able to stabilize the Awakening process—not just for prodigies like her, but for everyone."
One of the greatest dangers of Terra's Awakening was the instability in the planet's world energy. The imbalance caused countless newly Awakened individuals to lose control of their transformations and devolve into Abominations, making Golden Dawn's containment efforts increasingly difficult.
"There's more," Emani said, her voice lowering, though Rosa could still hear the restrained excitement beneath it.
Her gloved fingers moved across the floating glyph-screen, layering streams of data over June's genetic profile. Holographic strands of DNA rotated slowly above her hand, glowing with pale blue light.
"Her genome has undergone a complete transformation," Emani continued. "Her blood now contains active genetic markers—rune-like sequences that did not exist prior to her Awakening. Her DNA is no longer entirely human. Something buried deep within her bloodline evolved."
She paused.
"And it wasn't random. This was guided evolution."
Rosa's eyes narrowed slightly as her gaze drifted toward the recovery chamber beyond the glass wall, where June rested in suspended sleep.
"Like me… and Henry," Rosa said quietly.
After her own Awakening, Golden Dawn had performed extensive studies on her physiology and bloodline. The same examinations had been conducted on Henry after his transformation.
"Exactly," Emani said with a nod. "The mutation patterns are similar. Not identical, but close enough to suggest the same ancestral trigger."
Her silver eyes sharpened.
"We believe it's connected to the Starseed Gene."
Rosa stiffened slightly.
"You're talking about Project Starseed," she said. "The program Fallen Star created to prepare humanity for the Celestial Realignment."
"Yes," Emani replied. "One of Fallen Star's most ambitious—and controversial—projects. Its original objective was deceptively simple: to implant evolutionary potential into the human genome and reactivate ancient traits buried within humanity's bloodline."
She folded her arms as the holographic data continued rotating around them.
"As you know, humans are considered the weakest of the Nine Races. Not because they lack intelligence or adaptability, but because the modern human body is fundamentally unstable. Their meridian systems are underdeveloped, their cores form inefficiently, and their spiritual channels are riddled with impurities. It slows cultivation drastically and makes Awakening not only difficult, but often fatal."
"I know," Rosa said softly.
"And even when humans survive Awakening," Emani continued, "their growth remains painfully slow. Every advancement through the cultivation realms becomes a battle against the impurities accumulating within their bodies. Other races—the Pleiadians, Elves, Beastkin—they don't suffer from this weakness to the same extent. Their essence flows cleaner. Stronger."
She gestured toward the holographic strands.
"But Project Starseed was designed to change that. Its purpose was to reactivate the dormant adaptive resonance hidden within human DNA. Fallen Star believed humanity possessed a gift no other race truly had—the ability to adapt on a genetic, spiritual, and metaphysical level."
Rosa's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"So humanity doesn't necessarily possess greater talent for cultivation," she said slowly. "They're simply better at adapting to it."
"Exactly," Emani replied. "Humans may not be born with the natural advantages of the Pleiadians or the older races, but their plasticity—their capacity to change—allows them to survive conditions that would destroy others. When exposed to raw world energy, humans don't simply break."
Her voice grew quieter.
"They evolve."
The words hung heavily in the room.
"You and Henry are living proof of that."
Rosa remained silent, her thoughts turning inward.
"But adaptability alone isn't enough," Emani continued. "The modern human body is still burdened by systemic flaws—decay, instability, and layers of spiritual interference accumulated over generations. Terra's Awakening has only amplified those weaknesses."
Her gaze drifted toward June's resting form.
"Even now, most who awaken do so at a terrible cost."
"Yeah. I was fortunate," Rosa said quietly.
Her mind drifted back to her own Awakening.
It had happened inside an Awakening Temple after her team was transported by one of the massive Teleportation Pillars that descended upon Lakefront Metropolis during Terra's early destabilization.
The same event that shattered Samantha's seal had also triggered the formation of Rosa's own Soul Core.
She still remembered the terror of it all.
The Abomination she had fought afterward had infected her with Infernal poison, corrupting her body from the inside out. She had come dangerously close to death. If not for Stella—Sam's aunt—who had sent Rosa to Fallen Star, she likely would have died long ago.
Sophia Sinclair had been waiting for her there.
"So why bring me into this?" Rosa asked, pulling herself back to the present.
"Well…" Emani said carefully, "there's been a bit of a situation."
"A situation," Rosa repeated flatly.
"One that requires a delicate touch," Emani replied. "And naturally, I thought of you."
Rosa narrowed her eyes at her master, immediately suspicious of the tone behind those words. Whenever Emani spoke like that, it usually meant something far more complicated than she initially let on.
Still, Rosa decided not to press further.
She would get her answer soon enough.
****
St. Jude University
Nova York, UCA
Terra, Tellus solar system
Milky way Galaxy
15th July 2024
By the time Rosa arrived at St. Jude University, evening had already begun settling over the campus.
Standing near one of the smaller cafés tucked between the academic buildings, Rosa lowered her glasses slightly as she surveyed the area with careful attention.
She had arrived through Exodus and stepped out of the Grey—the veil that concealed mystics from mundane perception.
Now, she was beginning to regret it.
Rosa slid her sunglasses back on, ignoring the stares directed her way. Someone as beautiful as a supermodel was bound to attract attention, and Rosa drew plenty of it as she walked across the university grounds toward the auditorium where her mission awaited.
By the time she reached the area, she immediately noticed the black barrier surrounding the building.
The Grey was weakening. Golden Dawn could no longer risk mundane civilians stumbling upon supernatural incidents, especially not one of this scale. The barrier had been erected to isolate the auditorium from outside attention and perception.
Several Guardians were already stationed around the perimeter, standing watch for any disturbances, while Analysts moved between glowing sigils and magitech terminals, ensuring the barrier remained stable.
One of the Guardians spotted Rosa approaching.
He was already standing within the Grey, so Rosa stepped through the veil without hesitation. To the surrounding Mundanes, she simply vanished from existence.
"High Guardian Chavez," the man greeted respectfully. "I heard you were coming."
Guardian Mark Lee.
A Medium-Rank Guardian and a Dormant mystic who had reached the absolute peak of what his realm allowed.
"Guardian Lee," Rosa replied with a nod.
Lee quickly escorted her inside the auditorium.
The first thing Rosa noticed was the cold.
A sharp chill crawled across her skin as her breath escaped in visible vapor. Rosa hardly felt temperature anymore due to her cultivation, so the fact that she could feel this cold at all immediately put her on alert.
Beside her, Guardian Lee subtly activated an enchantment embedded within his armor, a faint glow pulsing across the metallic seams as it shielded him from the freezing air.
"What exactly is going on here?" Rosa asked quietly.
Lee gestured ahead.
"That," he said grimly, "is the problem."
Rosa's gaze lifted.
At the center of the auditorium, massive arrays of glowing runes formed intricate geometric patterns around what appeared to be a colossal iceberg. The enormous mass of ice had consumed the podium and spread across entire sections of seating, frost crawling over every surface like crystallized veins.
Golden Dawn agents surrounded the structure, operating magitech instruments that pulsed with light as they scanned and analyzed the phenomenon before them.
Then Rosa noticed it.
At the very core of the frozen mass, barely visible beneath layers of translucent ice, was the silhouette of a person trapped inside.
"June Wrydward…" Rosa muttered under her breath.
****
"So another one has appeared?" Phoebe Yesh asked calmly.
"Yes, Mother," Emani replied.
She had returned to her mother's office to report that Rosa had been dispatched to Nova York, just as instructed, to handle the situation surrounding the newly Awakened girl.
"Who would have thought we would encounter more Self-Awakeners so soon?" Phoebe murmured, her eyes moving across the countless documents spread before her desk. "It is unfolding exactly as your father predicted."
Emani's expression tightened slightly.
"Where is he?" she asked. "He hasn't returned to Terra since the fall of Lamentias… not after he intervened there."
Phoebe remained silent for a moment before answering.
"We all have roles to play in the events to come," she said quietly. "Your father's place is elsewhere. Not here on Terra."
"Is he home?" Emani asked. "Back in Genesis?"
Emani herself was born between two worlds—Terra, her mother's homeworld, and Genesis, one of the five galactic superpowers ruled by her father, Adonis Yesh, one of the most powerful beings in existence.
It was because of the union between Phoebe and Adonis that Terra had remained untouched for so many ages. Few forces in the universe dared approach the blue planet while the Yesh name stood over it.
And it was not merely the reputation of the Yesh Dynasty that protected Terra.
Phoebe herself was a terrifying existence within the Hidden World, a figure whose influence and power rivaled even the Great Families.
That was why the Yesh family, despite not formally belonging to the Great Families of the Hidden World, possessed authority equal to them.
But such power came with limitations.
Beings of their level could not interfere freely in the affairs of lower worlds. There were cosmic restrictions—laws imposed upon higher existences—that prevented direct intervention except under very specific circumstances.
Those same restrictions applied to Emani as well.
Though she had not yet reached the incomprehensible heights of her parents, Emani Yesh was still regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the known universe, ranked among its top hundred existences.
"No," Phoebe said softly.
Her crimson, flame-like eyes settled upon her daughter, immediately noticing the strain hidden beneath Emani's composed expression. To most beings, Emani Yesh appeared untouchable—an existence of absolute control and elegance. But Phoebe was her mother. She could see the exhaustion buried behind the calm façade, the quiet tension Emani tried so carefully to suppress.
"Do not worry," Phoebe said gently. "I am certain Rosa will be fine."
Emani looked away for a brief moment.
"I'm not worried," she replied automatically.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow at that.
The denial was immediate. Instinctive.
Which only confirmed the opposite.
"You trained her well," Phoebe said as she leaned back slightly in her chair. "She is no longer the frightened child you found years ago. Rosa is an Ascendant now—a Guardian of Terra. She is more than capable of handling a Self-Awakened."
Emani remained silent for a moment before exhaling quietly.
"That's exactly the problem," she admitted at last. "Self-Awakeners are unpredictable. Their paths don't follow established laws or cultivation structures. They evolve according to their own resonance."
Her silver eyes darkened slightly.
"And every time one appears, the world changes around them."
The room fell quiet.
"I can't explain it," Emani continued, her voice lower now. "But ever since this incident began, I've had this feeling that something is wrong. Not with Rosa… but with the situation itself."
Phoebe studied her daughter carefully.
"You think this is connected to the larger convergence," she said.
"Yes," Emani answered immediately. "First Samantha. Then Leon Haravok. Now another Self-Awakener appears in the middle of Terra's instability, right as the Grey continues weakening and the number of Awakenings rises exponentially."
She clenched her hand slightly.
"It feels too deliberate."
Phoebe was silent for several seconds.
The air around her carried an immense stillness, the kind possessed only by beings who stood near the peak of existence itself.
Then she spoke.
"I understand how you feel," Phoebe said softly. "But there is a limit to what even we can do."
Her gaze drifted toward the massive observation window behind her office, where the stars stretched endlessly across the void.
"You cannot walk Rosa's path for her," Phoebe continued. "Nor can you shield her from every danger she may encounter. That is not what it means to guide an Ascendant."
Emani's expression tightened slightly.
"You gave her the tools to survive. You taught her how to think, how to fight, and how to endure. The rest… belongs to her."
Phoebe looked back at her daughter, her fiery eyes softening.
"Have faith in your apprentice," she said quietly. "And have faith in the woman she has become."