Nearly a full month had passed? I thought back to the various tries and didn't think it all together had amounted to nearly a full month, but Yin had no reason to lie to us.

"We have a lot to talk over with everyone at the sect about what's happened over the last month. It's been…a lot." I said, wincing at the memories. All the events of the trial had been a lot to handle. All the death, and fighting had taken its toll and I felt worn and weary. A wave of exhaustion was beginning to roll over me as Yin nodded.

"We'll have to report to elder Hazeon as soon as we return to the sect then. For now, I'll escort you two back, follow me." She said before turning and jumping into a speedy, but measured, pace that both Rin and I had no trouble keeping up with, even in our tired states.

We traveled back along the somewhat familiar path through the dense forest. Despite my exhaustion, I was noticing things I hadn't during our first trip through here. The dense, earthy, smell permeating the whole area. The light buildup of dew and moisture on the vegetation indicating it had rained recently leaving the earth tones of the soil mixed with a light petrichor.

We were passing a particularly familiar feeling patch of the forest when a blue screen popped up in my vision.

"Informational ping detected. Locator beacon operational. Guiding user toward the location." It read before the ground began shaking. Then I remembered what had happened to us before we went into the trial and my eyes widened. I looked over to Rin who seemed to also have remembered what the shaking was.

I stopped running, prompting both Yin and Rin to stop as well. Yin looked at me puzzled, but Rin seemed to have an idea of what I wanted.

"Astra, I think it would be a good idea to show lady Yin the weird rocky outcropping we found when we first came through here." She said and I agreed.

"Can it not wait? Surely this isn't as important as reporting back to elder Hazeon, no?" Yin questioned, not outright denying the suggestion.

I shook my head.

"It won't appear without me present, and I think we may be able to learn more about it now after the events of the trial." I said, remembering the inscription on the outcropping mentioning something about the 'Divine Flame'.

"Trial?" The woman asked, a quirk to her eyebrows. I shook my head.

"It'll take too long to explain everything, but Rin and I have been in a 'trial' of some kind set up by a long dead sect, and if my hunch is correct, what we're about to show you has something to do with the trial too." I said, hoping it would be enough to sate her curiosity.

She thought for a few moments, her expression inscrutable, before nodding.

"Very well. Let's go, quickly." She said, motioning for me to lead the way. I followed the ghostly blue arrow in my vision just like I had before and led Rin and Yin to the clearing within the dense forest that was now populated by the craggy outcropping once more.

Yin was looking at the outcropping suspiciously, while Rin and Shimmer followed me as I walked around the rocky exterior and to the stone slab with the inscription.

I re-read the inscription out loud for Yin's benefit.

"Let the wielder of the Divine Flame become the savior of the universe. We entrust the wielder with our last hope." I read before placing my hand on the slab and letting the alien sensation flow into me. It searched my soul for something, then I felt a sense of affirmation from it before it left me. A moment later I felt the stone slab shift inward slightly before it dropped down into the ground. I stood back, surprised at the sudden movement of the door. Both Rin and Yin were behind me, weapons in hand, prepared for anything, Shimmer growled slightly.

When nothing came out from within the well lit silvery corridor except a cool breeze, I looked from Rin to Yin who both shrugged. Deciding setting a trap for the only person who could open the door was stupid, I walked through the doorway, the soft sounds of my footfalls on the grass and dirt replaced by the familiar sounds of shoes on metal. I looked down, then followed the metal up the walls and across the ceiling, the entire corridor was coated in the metal as if the hallway was carved from a singular piece of metal and then smoothed out. Inlaid into the metal were various panels and light fixtures, though the lights weren't on fully, the dim illumination they provided must have been from some backup power source. The pair of women tentatively followed me but Rin and Yin must not have been used to this kind of environment as the metallic clinking of their footsteps gave them both pause. Shimmer, having never experienced anything like this also paused somewhat before the rapid sounds of her padding down the hallway resumed.

I waited for them to get their bearings before continuing. The hall wasn't very long, and soon the three of us were standing at the entrance to a room, but something about the room was weird. Based on the number of terminals, workstations, and advanced machinery I saw on the far wall, the entrance we came in from was actually some kind of ceiling entrance into the structure. Adding to the evidence for that fact was I couldn't see any lights within the room, which made me believe the same dim illumination from the hallway letting us see inside the vessel was originating from lights above and below where we were standing.

Below where we stood, against the corner of what was the floor and the far wall was another corridor, or I guess it would be a hallway. Looking up, a wall of darkness smoothed into an angled dome made up the top part of the structure we could see from the outside. The resemblance to a ship's bridge was not lost on me as I decided we might as well try to investigate inside further. I moved to drop down onto the floor, but as soon as I entered the room, my stomach flipped as my gravity shifted and I fell down to the far wall, the new orientation now making it my floor. I landed heavily, but steadily, doing my best to reorient myself to my new directions. I looked up and had the strangest experience of looking upward at Rin, Yin, and Shimmer standing as they had been before. Now though, they appeared to be horizontal and staring down at me. Rin looked worried, the height wasn't an issue for me as I was in the core formation realm, but being unprepared for an impact could still injure me, though she didn't know my body cultivation precluded even that kind of injury at this point. I Looked around for a few moments, gauging any danger, but with the four of us around, there wasn't likely to be anything too threatening. Shimmer, after reading my thoughts and determining it was safe jumped straight through the hallway door and landed softly in my hands as I caught the fox. She licked me once and then hopped down from my grip, preening herself as we waited for Yin and Rin to join us.

Soon after, the pair joined Shimmer and I in our new orientation and then I moved toward the new front of the room. If there was enough power for the backup lights then maybe…

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At the front, we found a large terminal like I had seen back on Setria 9 sometimes as well as a solid black wall that curved back toward us from where the main terminal was located. Knowing the other two wouldn't have had experience with any terminals, I tentatively moved my hand forward and touched the smooth display with my finger. I felt a jolt at the contact and then felt my head warming up somewhat before a screen appeared in front of my face.

"Connection established: Initiating reboot protocol. Please wait."

Then the screen disappeared and I stepped back as a mechanical whirring and the familiar hum of an electronic starting up filled the room. Rin and Yin once again readied their weapons, and Shimmer turned toward the offending sound, ready to pounce, but I explained what was happening and was able to calm them all down.

We waited for a minute or so until all the screens in the room flickered to life and the image of a tall, thin, dark skinned man appeared over the central terminal at the front of the room, clearly a hologram. A dagger flew through the hologram, bouncing off the wall behind it harmlessly as the man began speaking.

"If you are seeing and hearing me, that means you've inherited the Divine Flame, and you either share our Aurion blood, or have inherited one of the legacies we left behind.

Firstly, I must congratulate you on passing the trial of the Divine Flame. Each clan acting as the arbiters of the Divine Elements designed their own path for the trial, thus testing the possible inheritors in their own unique ways. The trial of Shironia is one that had plagued us during its creation, but we knew that any who could have saved that ill fated planet would be someone we could leave with our hope.

At present, the tide of the demonic army is inexorably closing in on our research base. We were told to abandon this facility, and destroy all evidence of our research here, but that is not possible we cannot abide by that order. I decided to stay behind to ensure I could take out as many of the demonic forces that came to ransack this place as possible. And though I ordered them all to evacuate and return to the safety of the alliance, my fellows and those working under us have remained resolute that they will stay and join me." He said, a sardonic smile cresting his lips, giving weight to the somberness of his words.

"Even with our fates sealed, we all agreed we couldn't let our research go to waste. The trials had already been sent out to various key planets throughout the universe and we've past the point of no return. Soon, the leaders of the alliance will seal off the sectors encroached upon by the demonic forces. They'll sacrifice their lives to seal the demons for as long as they can, with the hope that one day humanity will recover the Divine Elements, and grow strong enough so that when the demons return to the universe, we will succeed in our fight against them.

In what is probably a futile hope, we decided we would send one of our smallest, and fastest research ships to Origin, the original planet where humanity found the Divine Elements. The only planet where one of each of the six trials of the Divine Elements are located.

Upon this ship is the culmination of all of our research into creating an artificial life-form capable of cultivating, and killing demons. Though, we didn't finish our research in time to turn the tide of the war. Even now, our work isn't finished, but we have no choice. If we delay any longer, the demonic forces will descend upon us and we may lose this valuable research to them. Even this message is being recorded after the ship is already on its way to Origin.

You may be wondering why the Divine Flame was chosen. Surely, if Origin has a trial of each divine Element, we'd want to allow entry to the ship, and access to our research to the inheritor of any of the Divine Elements. And you'd be correct for thinking that way. But even now, on the brink of destruction, humanity was unable to truly join hands and work together. The five main clans comprising the alliance, along with the Aurion sect could never truly put their differences aside. There had been too much bad blood, too many conflicts, too many with grand ideals for their own self interests. Many didn't take the threat of the demons seriously enough until it was too late.

In order to secure information and, in turn, our research ship from any demonic forces, we needed to use the only things we could guarantee no demon or demonic cultivator could interact with, the Divine Elements. These natural wonders are anathema to demonic energies, and its one true enemy in the universe.

We've tuned the security around the ship to the only Divine Elemental signature we had direct access to use and analyze, the Divine Flame. This is also why we sent the research ship as close as we could to the Divine Flame's trial. We hoped that after passing the trial, the inheritor, you, would find this ship and become our beacon of hope." He said.

He was going to continue speaking before his hologram shook, as though an explosion had occurred nearby. He looked off to the side, before quickly turning back toward us and using his hands to tap and type on something in front of him as he spoke.

Now that you've found the Divine Flame, you must seek out the other inheritors. You must gather them, work together, and grow strong enough to defeat the demons. This ship should be able to sense the other Divine Elements, they are all akin after all. Seek them out, and find suitable inheritors for them should they not have been claimed already." More explosions rang out, demonic forms could now be seen in the background, fighting against some of the few powerful cultivators in the facility. The man sped up his message.

"You may think of us as monsters. Playing as gods and trying to create life, and maybe we are. But each and everyone one of us came to love our research, and even now we hope that she won't have to be used as a tool of war. This is our final will and testament. Save the universe, and please, take care of her." He said, smiling lightly before tapping the screen in front of him, the hologram slowly dissipating even as a demon tore past the scene, the dark skinned man disappeared even as an incredible explosion bathed the room in light before the hologram could fully dissipate.

The room was silent as we took in everything we had learned. It was all…a lot to take in. I had no idea that humanity's position was so tenuous during Alexis's time. I thought they would have been a more united front against the demons, but I suppose I couldn't naively believe that anymore.

Did the man's words mean that Dou Can was the planet he called 'Origin'? That would make sense considering this ship was near the trial of Shironia.

This was all going to be good information to report back to the sect, so we could begin making preparations for further conflict with the demons, but the last moments of the message lingered in my mind. What had he meant by "take care of her"?

As if answering my thoughts, a recessed opening in the floor near the door at the back of the room opened, revealing a large cylindrical tube that rose up from beneath the floor.

We watched as it slid into place, then the panel at the front of it beeped a few times before the hiss of depressurization that reminded me of the airlock on Setria 9 released plumes of frigid air out from the cylinder as a hatch on its front swung open. The clouds lingered for a few moments before slowly dissipating as the temperature control of the room warmed it up.

Laying within the cylinder, a girl around my age, if not a little older, slept. She had sea-foam green hair, and her skin was a slightly lighter tone than that of the dark skinned man from the hologram.

Her hair was frozen around her head as though she had been submerged in water and frozen in time.

She had a cutely sharp face, and something within it was slightly familiar. Below her left eye, the characters 'AL-1CE' were emblazoned in a white blocky font, as though tattooed there. A matching set of characters were found in black text on the white and gray unisex jumpsuit she wore. The design was familiar to what we'd had on Setria-9. It was fairly common for people to buy that kind of leisure wear on the station. They were comfy, and usually cheap, though I didn't think the girl was wearing it for her comfort or the price tag.

As the clouds finally dissipated, and her hair fall down and regained a natural look, her eyes fluttered open, revealing bright amber irises that immediately locked on the three of us gathered right outside.

She extricated herself from the cylinder, easily finding her footing and standing in front of us.

It didn't seem like she was going to say anything, or I suppose maybe she was waiting for us to say something? I was getting the feeling I understood a bit of what the man in the hologram had meant in his last words. I looked to the characters under her eye, and on her chest, and smiled before asking the girl a question in a gentle tone I hoped would make sure she knew we were friendly.

"Hi, I'm Astra. This is Rin and Yin. Are you Alice?"

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