The Soliean Stars

Noctaikeelakj

[Surface of Ealtar, Moon of Ealtae]

Granite

"This, I will agree, is amazing," I told the team as we climbed out of the collapsing chambers to the surface of the moon.

"No need for these packs then?" Mountain asked, shaking the suit pack around a bit.

"We haven't suffocated yet, no!" Onyx laughed.

"We're gonna want them on Noctaikeelakj!" Avieasolia reminded us, glancing at the new landscape.

"How is any of this even possible?" Sleepy inquired, looking to the green shoots rapidly coming out of the grey dust. "And that bow! You shot the whole roof off that place!" Sapphire collapsed to the ground, the key folding into a triangle. I ran over to her side to see what had happened.

"The key took all of your energy too, huh..." I observed at her side. Vines were growing to cover the ground rapidly as we decided it was about time to leave the moon.

"We will go back to Ealtae first, perhaps to learn more about these devices." Avieasolia suggested, climbing into the cockpit of the ship.

"Hold on..." I started as the ship exited the atmosphere, "Ealtar is in such a low orbit around Ealtae, neither the rings nor the atmosphere should be able to maintain a stable form around the moon."

"You're right!" Onyx agreed.

Sleepy joined Avieasolia in the cockpit, "I believe there is more at stake here than we thought, Ealtar defies all that we know about planetary physics."

~ ~ ~

We landed on Ealtae in Sapphire's river territory once more, this time to learn more how these keys work. Inside Sapphire's house we found more books on keys, but also something else; a matrix.

"What's this thing the books keep mentioning? These matrices?" asked Henry, who lay resting on the stone table.

"Not sure yet," Mountain replied.

"I will agree, they always appear beside each other," Sleepy said as he traced the words "The keys and the Matrix" on the cover of a book.

"What about this?" Sapphire sleepily sighed.

"The matrix of a world," I read, "must be found with use of the keys. Each territory of a world has it's own key that, when united with eachother may unlock the final matrix of the world. There is a matrix on every planet, but only a few moons have their own matrix, such as the moon Ealtar, which has no keys."

"Wait!" Henry jumped, "Is this bow a matrix!?"

"It must be, the book says there's no keys." Onyx added.

"This is insane!" Sapphire laughed, "I can't believe this is all happening to me!"

"Everyone please calm down!" Sleepy chuckled, "Let's let Granite continue!"

"Thank you, Sleepy." I then continued, "It says here that, like a key, a matrix binds to one person, who will then have the ability to wield its power using what strength the owner has. Unlike a key, the matrix has the ability to shape-shift, to bind to the owner's mind so they may change the very shape of their matrix. Keys do not have the ability to change their shape, and therefore are not as effective weapons."

"So Sapphire can tell her matrix when to turn into a bow?" Onyx asked.

"Here, I'll give it a go-" Sapphire stepped by the deep indigo colored matrix and closed her eyes, concentrating. Slowly, the matrix began to move. Tiny shards of insanely complicated technology slid into place, changing the triangular block into a bow.