"A Glaxxian!" Valera whispered. "I thought they didn't exist anymore."
The Glaxxian's eyes glowed blue, and the ethereal tentacles swirled in the air. What before were red and blue lights, were now green and blue. While Naina couldn't swear it was the same one that she met earlier, somehow she was still perfectly sure it indeed was.
Naina curtsied slightly and bowed her head. "As you said, we met again," she said. "Thank you for your gift at the last meeting. It was of tremendous help," she smiled.
The Glaxxian made a sound resembling an approving grunt, for those inclined so. "Knowledge is good," it said. "This time it is my time to be a bearer of news, and the offerer of help."
The Glaxxian floated in front of Valera and made a curious beeping sound. Its tentacles made intricate patterns in the air, and its lights flashed in patterns along its massive body.
"Grave is the time of our meeting for your heart's chosen, child of ages," it said to Valera. "But I am content in meeting your soul. Long have we traded words with your kind and long have we respected our forebears."
It shifted slightly and twirled its tentacles in the air. "Thus it is, that I offer a salvation for your group, which otherwise would be in vain," it said and somehow sounded sad. "I can take your sisters' and brothers' resting nodes and make sure they are well cared for, and that they are roused from their dwindling sleeps."
"You ... " Valera stuttered. "You what? You'd be able to wake my friends up? Would they be alright?"
"Correct, child of ages." The Glaxxian said. "I can offer a guarantee that no harm comes to them, and they will be awakened and in time reunited with you."
"That ... that would ..." Valera stumbled with her words. "I would ask nothing more than that. I would give much for that alone."
"Payment will not be necessary, child of ages," the Glaxxian said. "It has already been paid thrice over in eons preceding. All I ask now, is that you do what your heart tells you. Stay with your paired, and lend her your strength. As much as sorrow follows you, there is sevenfold in front of her."
It turned back towards Naina, and its lights dimmed, its head tilted down and forward.
"Quenstar," it said. "Last time, I offered my sorrows to your future. That future has now arrived, and I cannot, in your words, express my inner. I will make sure the companions of the child of ages are cared for. Lean on her when your world turns to black. But know all hope is not lost, and a glimmer of the Moonstar still lives."
It turned to leave, but then paused. "I am normally forbidden from interfering, but your enemy has resorted to forbidden deeds, and the galaxy's future is at stake," it said and turned back. "Beware of the Dark Lights, Quenstarian. They bring memories of old."
Everyone was quiet, not really knowing what to say. The Glaxxian turned again and floated to the spot where it appeared for the first time.
"I will now take my leave, and I will bring your companions with me. Seek me out when the Dark Lights have been dimmed, and that which should not have been known will be unknown again," it said. Then it disappeared as it appeared, with no sound or light. One second it was there, and the next it just ... wasn't.
Minutes rolled by, and nobody uttered a word. The gigantic ship spun around a few degrees, then it faded into the nothingness it came from. Silence fell on the bridge, and the only things you could hear were the distant hum of Infinity's engines and the three beating hearts.
"Does anyone have any idea what just happened?" Valera asked after a while.
"I'm still processing what I saw," Perez said, squeezing his eyes shut. "Was that actually a real-life Glaxxian?"
Naina nodded. "Yes," she said. "I met it earlier, when I was leaving Boarhead and heading to the Sunstar. But now it seems something has happened that it considers important."
"Does anyone know what any of that nonsense was about?" Valera asked. "Child of ages? Moonstar? Dark Lights? Enemy? Known becoming unknown? My brain is melting. I have no idea what just happened."
"No, but I'm thinking none of it good," Naina said. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Valera blushed and looked downwards. "At least it wasn't lying or making things up as it went, though," she said.
Naina smiled nervously. "I noticed. The words were not chosen randomly. There was meaning behind the choice of words. Paired, it said. That is not mistakenly said in front of an elf."
"How so?" Valera asked.
"An old, old elvish tradition. Didn't think we were even capable of it anymore. I'll, uh ... tell you more later," Naina said and her ears turned a shade towards red. "But I recognize some words. And the implications are not lost on me."
"Moonstar," she said and drew a deep breath. "An ancestral elven home. Or a person. I'm not really sure. All elves presumably come from this 'Moonstar' and it is said that a glimmer of it lives inside every elf. That doesn't really concern me. That's clearly some reference to the legends," she said.
"I'm much more concerned about this mention about Dark Lights," she said and shook her head. "That is exactly what the elves called Qa Gwegnaith Ti'arran at first. Bearer of Dark Light."
Naina scratched the tip of her left ear and closed her eyes. "The Forsaken arrived, and with them, they bore the mark of the forbidden. They carried the Dark Light with them and unleashed it upon us. I can't remember more. I wasn't exactly the best student with history and myths," she confessed, grinning awkwardly. "I know that The Forsaken refers to the Di'gatha, that much is not under debate. The rest of it sort of is, but the consensus is, that the Dark Light refers to their weapon, and specifically to Qa Gwegnaith Ti'arran."
"That is some deep ... we're now in," Perez said, and shook his head.
Valera and Naina nodded enthusiastically. Unspoken, they decided to take a break, and headed to the cafeteria to give their minds time to process all the information.
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