Golden: The Collection

Chapter VII: Reconvening

One week ago, the Crossroads

Adjusting to the Zircon was a.. process. Initially, Zephyr thought he had it in the bag. But a fool he was. The more he used it, his lack of technique became increasingly apparent. It happened right when he split up with Astrophelle.

He bent the air currents beneath him and rocketed into the sky. The initial flight wasn't bad, but he immediately spun out of control, and was forced to use his wand instead. Huh.. He didn't have trouble with that earlier. Why was balance suddenly an issue? Was it balance? Realms.

In no time, Zephyr found himself calling the astronomer.

"Altalune? Come in, Altalune."

"What are you doing?" came the reply from the other side of the rock. Zephyr couldn't help the grin that came about his expression.

"Talking to you," he said as nonchalantly as ever.

"Don't give me that. Why did you call? It's hardly been five minutes."

"I was just.. testing to see if these work. Which they do."

"Okay. Bye."

"No, wait."

A sigh.

"Why did you actually call, Zeph?"

Zephyr thought before he spoke. "I have a hypothetical situation," he began. Despite the fact that he could practically feel Astrophelle's brow raise at that, he continued. "Let's say a Gembearer awoke to their powers, right, and they have no trouble using them. But then, everything changes, and they can't do something as simple as, let's say, using the wind to fly. What's that about?"

"Hypothetical?"

"Oh, completely."

"Right. So, let's take a step back. A phenomenon occurs after a Gembearer has their Awakening. During an Awakening, a bearer is granted access to abilities they would normally only have after countless time spent honing their skills. But only for a short window," Astrophelle explained. "This is a constant occurrence, unless something else were at play. Something like, the bearer's state of mind, for example. Anyway, once that window closes, the Gembearer is sent back to square one. Does that help?"

"Indeed it does. Thanks!"

Zephyr pulled the rock away from his ear before releasing a loud groan. He would have to train, but considering the current mission, there wasn't much room for it. Welp. Zephyr climbed aboard ol' reliable and used that as a tool for takeoff. At least he could always trust his wand to get the job done.

He set off for the Scorching Kingdom. In hindsight, it wasn't the best of ideas. He couldn't see past all of the.. sand. It was necessary to remain high up in the air, as to avoid all of the plants. But that way, how was he supposed to see anything?

A day passed, and no progress was made. Then another day, and then another. Every night, he called Astrophelle for a check up.

"The Scorching Kingdom is enormous, Lune. Everywhere I look is either sand, or a speck that's actually just a cactus or snapdragon," he complained. Astrophelle quietly listened until he was done.

"Perhaps you're going about this the wrong way," he said at last.

"You got some advice?" Zephyr sat up attentively from where he was hovering over the sand. Hovering was easy. Flying was the hard part.

"Perhaps you should gravitate towards where you believe they would be, instead of blindly searching. I know you're a conehead, but you can think every once in a while, yes?"