How Nova wrote his manuscript was a complicated process. He would write everything out on paper and then transfer everything onto a typewriter. While he did prefer the old-school method of relying on his hands and penmanship, he knew that the publishers only accepted typed manuscripts. Because there had been an incident where they published a handwritten manuscript with the most illegible handwriting ever, they had suffered backlash from the public, which was the reason they only required text going forth when the typewriter was invented.
Nova was someone who had struggled using one at first, but he only managed to get the hang of it two years ago. Some of the issues he had was that he was a very slow typer, so everything he had written on hand took twice as long to type due to his unfamiliarity with the device and getting it messed up on several occasions that he had to either get someone to repair it or restart a specific page–which had happened quite often.
Throughout his trials and tribulations, he finally managed to finish everything in the middle of Late Summer. A sense of triumph came to him, but before celebrating, he threw his head back in exhaustion. His eyes were feeling dry and heavy due to staying up for an entire week. He knew it wasn't good for his already frail health.
His throat was parched, so he staggered downstairs to get something to drink in the kitchen. He grabbed a teapot and poured some tea into the cup. He grabbed the cup and drank the tea. Confusion arose when he saw that nothing was inside despite knowing the pot was heavy. He peered over and saw that he missed the cup and had poured it on the counter. This was entirely his fault for pouring the tea with his eyes closed. As he reached over to get a rag, he heard a soft gasp and turned to see Aster who looked surprised at his presence.
"You're out of your room. Are you on break?"
"I'm done."
"I see." Aster resumed walking. He then took a few steps back. "You're done?"
"Yeah."
"With your manuscript?"
Nova furrowed his brows. "Yes?"
Aster then scurried into the room. He placed his hands on his shoulders and yelled out congratulatory words. His loud voice reverberated in his face, causing the drowsiness to dissipate. He also felt a drop of spit landing on his cheek.
"We should celebrate!"
"Please back away…"
Aster then realized something. "Wait, Sirius and the girls are away! They won't be back until the end of Late Summer!"
Nova shook his head. "It's fine. Besides, I plan on heading for the city in a few days to negotiate with the publishers. I'm not sure when I'll return, but I do promise to come back on a day where everyone is at the cottage!"
Aster then looked at him with a somber expression. "You'll start traversing the world once you officially get your book published, right? You want to honor your clan's legacy by spreading awareness of Souhait's Lore."
"It's my duty after all. I'm the last of the Loreseer clan…"
"But, why risk it when you're not feeling well?"
"Well, it's just how Plasmians are. We're sturdy, but live short lives due to our healing factor. My life is going to end in a few years, so why not just do what I can before I keel over and die?"
"You're the least sturdy Plasmian I've ever seen. Plasmians are all muscular yet you're very dainty and thin."
Nova, annoyed, poked Aster's stomach. "I told you I have a complex about that!"
Aster retaliated by lunging forward and tickling Nova, which caused him to tickle him back. The tickle session went on briefly before something slipped out of Nova's pocket, causing them to stop. Nova looked down and saw that it was the lavender scale he had gotten from Robin a few months ago. At first, he was flustered as he remembered Robin's promise, but then remembered that it was fine to show it to Aster.
"A lavender scale?" Aster was fascinated as he picked it up and handed it back to Nova. "Robin really did give you one?"
"You knew?"
"I saw it."
"But you were away at the time?" Nova raised an eyebrow.
Aster pointed at his right eye. "I saw it through my eye."
Nova tilted his head quizzically. "What do you mean? Your eye looks perfectly fine?"
Aster started pondering before smiling. "Since Sirius and the others aren't here and you were given that scale from Robin, I'll tell you a secret."
He gestured for Nova to sit down as he decided to pour the leftover tea and then sat down across from him. He took a sip of tea before taking a deep breath. However, he wasn't speaking as the silence continued to be prolonged.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Nova asked.
"Sorry. I'm just thinking of the best way to explain this to you." He sighed and then asked, "Nova, can you bring your hands out onto the table?"
Nova did as he was told. Aster gently placed his right hand on top of his and looked at him straight in the eye. "Nova, this is a secret not even Sirius knows, so listen carefully and never tell this to anyone, alright?"
He gulped as he felt the mood between them becoming tense. All he had hoped for was that the secret wouldn't be anything terrible like him being a heinous criminal or him slowly dying in secret. His left hand gripped the lavender scale tightly.
"Nova… I am not from this world."
Nova blinked several times as he tried processing what Aster had just told him.
"What?"
"I said I'm–" Aster got interrupted when Nova pulled his hands away from him and gestured to him to stop.
Nova understood what he had said, but he still couldn't comprehend it completely. He knew about the possibility of other worlds as Souhait and his brethren were from a world other than this one. The fact that there were humans from another world was what was hard to take in and it got him anxious. He wasn't sure where to start asking.
"Sorry, it's hard to process…"
Aster remarked, "No, I understand. This is the first time I've told this to anyone in centuries."
"Centuries?" The confusion kept building up.
"Where should I start?"
"Maybe a detail of who you really are?" Nova spoke softly as he wasn't sure if it was a topic that Aster was willing to share.
"Very well." He cleared his throat. "I am what you call a Spatial Seer. I wield the power to traverse through dimensions. I and a select few live on a small planet in a very secluded location in the universe. We watch over this entire universe from the comfort of our homes."
Aster stood up and took a few steps back. He gathered his legs and waved his arms and a rapier with a viridian-colored blade manifested from his hand.
"This is my trusty companion, Polaris. This blade is the reason I can traverse through dimensions; it is proof of my status as a Spatial Seer."
He swung the blade and a rift opened above the table, leaving Nova awed. Nova tried to stick his hand into the rift, but Aster quickly closed it.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
Aster then dematerialized his sword before sitting back down.
He then continued, "However, one day, someone stole a valuable artifact of ours–it's a pendant that bestows anyone the power to traverse through dimensions, whether you're a Spatial Sage or not. However, it's only accessible to our people, meaning the person who stole it is from another world. Losing it is a huge detriment to us. As the youngest Spatial Seer, I was tasked to chase after the thief."
"Chase after her?"
"I've traversed many worlds and dimensions. I've had some close encounters with her but given she also had the same power now, it was basically an endless chasing game. One day, my chasing after her came to a halt when I arrived in Terrenter. It was a world that had been revitalized by the lavender dragons, that much I knew. However, when I first laid eyes upon Souhait, the sole lavender dragon tasked to watch over this world…"
He got all shy and covered his face with his hands. "I fell for him," his voice was muffled, but Nova deciphered it as that. He was behaving as if he were some kind of schoolgirl with a crush, which exasperated Nova as he always knew him as a composed man.
Realizing his behavior, Aster froze. With his cheeks flushed from embarrassment, he cleared his throat and resumed. "Anyways, because I fell for Souhait, I had set aside my duty of finding the thief. Because I am from another world, the rules that the dragons implemented into this world do not affect me. I am not affected by this world's sense of time, so you can say that I've been here for a very long time. I also do not have a duty that was instilled into me. Regardless, all I wanted was to be with Souhait and he felt the same. The only unfortunate thing between us is that he cannot grant my wish because I am an outsider."
"If he can't grant your wish, what did you do for the two of you to still remain together?"
Aster pointed to his eyes. "See these lavender eyes? They're formed from me drinking some of Souhait's blood which allows me to observe the people when he can't. That's what he wants me to do. I think of it as our special contract or pact in a way. It's because of these lavender eyes that I was able to be accustomed to my life on this planet. I wrote that book, The Conceptualization of Time, and that's how the world became the way it is with the calendar system and how we count years. Although the calendar says that the year is 120, that's because the calendar has only been around for that long–but you knew that, right?"
"Yes…"
While he was familiar with most of what Aster had told him, he still felt as if he gained new information. However, there was something that was nagging at him. He knew Aster was telling him this due to his clan, but he wasn't sure if he was truly worthy of obtaining such knowledge from him.
"Aster… why are you telling me this?"
"Because I know there's a day that I will pay the price for abandoning my duty. Because of that, I want you to take over if something happens to me."
Nova didn't like the sound of his words. The Aster he knew was always positive and kind. He would never think about the future and always lived in the present. For him to tell this secret to Nova made him understand as if he was inheriting something precious that he had to protect for the rest of his life. And he didn't want that. He had admired Aster too much to want anything bad happening to him.
"Nothing will happen to you. We'll all live like how we always do. I am going to leave, but when I come back, you'll be there alongside Sirius, Penelope and Ethelinda. We'll chat, eat, read and sleep in this house like we always do…"
Aster gave him a sad smile. "I hope so…"