Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"What other external force? You saw those other worlds. None of them had twelve wings! Not even one stronger than World 14. Maybe we're thinking too much," I said, shaking my head.

Cyrae's words meant she thought someone else in the base, besides World 14, was helping keep Earth's history on track. I didn't agree.

When I got back to my room, a human mage suddenly came knocking. But this wasn't a real mage - it was Cyrae in disguise.

She didn't follow World 13 to World 27, because she wasn't really from World 13. But when Number 14 Nicola held up the Eye of Galadra and said she could send everyone home, I saw Cyrae moved.

"It's too sudden! If I left now, I couldn't explain things to my other self (Cylaren) and the company," she told me later, smiling sadly.

In theory, Cyrae's other self was part of her soul. It'd be okay in the same world, but going to another world and being split for a long time could cause big problems, maybe even losing part of her soul. So it made sense she didn't want to leave in a hurry.

Number 14 Nicola was eager to help World 27 just to find a good reason to send people home, following history's path. But Cyrae wasn't part of this space portal accident. She might already be part of the set history! So even if she wanted to go to World 27, she might get stopped.

Since she decided to stay for now, to avoid being found out, Cyrae changed into a human mage from World 31.

Later, more people from other worlds came through the space portal. They weren't very strong fighters, but they helped Cyrae hide better.

"I think you should just tell General Lee the truth! Parallel worlds aren't so special now. Maybe you can go back to your world with everyone else later!" said Cyra, who had come to join the gossip. She was trying to convince Cyrae to stop hiding.

"I don't know..." Cyrae looked confused when this came up.

She must have grown attached to this world after living here for so many years. If she revealed herself, she might have to leave. Only she could decide what to do.

"I'll tell you a secret. Only Cyrae and I know this!" Cyra whispered in my ear after Cyrae left, still unsure what to do.

"What secret do you have now?" I was tired of all the gossip lately. I didn't care about so-called secrets anymore.

But Cyra didn't let me leave. She talked fast: "I heard that one big reason Cyrae wants to go back to the Eldoria Continent is because of her husband!"

"Her husband? Didn't he die long ago?"

I have to say, this caught my attention. We didn't know much about Cyrae's husband. She didn't like talking about him.

The only info we had was that Cyrae's husband was a normal worker. He got sick and died many decades ago.

But Cyra bringing this up now, showed she and Cyrae must have talked a lot in private. It was probably true!

"Yes! Her husband died a long time ago, but his soul is still kept safe," Cyra said, dropping another bombshell. "Cyrae told me that souls on Earth don't just disappear quickly after death like on the Eldoria Continent. She couldn't let go, so she's been wanting to take her husband's soul to the Eldoria Continent. That way, after he enters the Cycle of Rebirth, they might meet again!"

Angels have lots of high-level light magic that deals with souls. So keeping a soul after someone dies might be possible. Like using magic to lock a soul in an urn. I believe Cyrae could do it!

But taking an Earth person's soul to the Eldoria Continent, hoping to meet again after rebirth in another world? That's crazy!

I really underestimated how much Cyrae cared about love. This was next-level stuff! Is this what they call being together forever, life after life? I learned something...

Now that I knew this big news, it seemed more likely Cyrae would leave Earth. But she still had ties here, so it depended on how strong her determination was.

"What do you think? What will Cyrae choose?" I asked Adrian excitedly. But I saw he was sitting quietly, thinking hard with a frown.

"What? Cyrae?" Adrian clearly hadn't been listening to me and Cyra talk. He was lost in thought. When I interrupted him, he looked confused and blurted out:

"Do you think the external force Cyrae mentioned might be the god Number 14 Feliciana talked about?"

"Huh? What god?"

So that's what Adrian was thinking about! Cyra and I both looked puzzled.

Number 14 Feliciana did ask if I believed in god. But I thought it was just because of different personalities in different timelines. I didn't think much about it. But Adrian connecting the two ideas surprised me.

"That makes sense! Why didn't I think of that? Please forgive my stupidity, Lord!" Cyra suddenly got all religious. She kept praying for forgiveness and muttering: "The Lord can do anything. So the Lord must be guiding World 14's people. But why didn't He choose me? Is it because I'm not good enough? But that can't be right, I already have six wings..."

It'd be weird if you got chosen for something so big and complex!

I didn't agree with Cyra's complaints. But it seemed too quick to just accept there was a God. I still needed more direct proof!

But soon after, the exact jobs for sneaking into M-country's nuclear bases were decided.

The H-country military leaders gathered all the fighters left in the base. They split people up based on what they wanted to do and how strong they were. This even included people from Worlds 11 and 12, who had been in jail before.

Even though these two worlds had done bad things before, they agreed to help make up for not having enough fighters. They wanted to go home too.

They say Number 14 Feliciana suggested this first...

As the strongest fighters from this world, Adrian and I got the job of going to M-country's capital, the "Blue Palace," to fight the vampire Ancestor at the end.

Really, it would be safer if Number 14 Feliciana did this job. But she firmly refused, saying she couldn't do it.

As for Cyra, surprisingly, she didn't join any team. She had a special rescue mission instead.

"Not long ago, Wayne Peng's scouting team was attacked by vampires!" General Lee told us this bad news. The attack happened while they were talking on their regular call. They think the M-country congressman Morrison, who was giving us information, might have let the secret out.

Before it happened, Wayne Peng was reporting anxiously that they'd lost contact with Congressman Morrison. Then there was a loud explosion. Chan Layne, who was always watching the vampire radar, didn't even have time to give a full warning. He only shouted "Not good, there's an enemy-!" before the whole camera view went crazy...

All the signs showed the vampires who attacked were very fast and strong! They might be as strong as the "Manager" I met before. Maybe even the Ancestor came!