Heaven’s Path

Back at the hall, Dr. Himiko Tanaka continued speaking. He was a 24 year old young Asian man that had soft blue eyes, straight mid length hair and a somewhat skinny build. He came to the banquet in a white suit and black tie and a Rolex watch. He had somewhat sharp facial features, and exuded a fairly innocent aura.

He was more than 40 minutes into his speech, talking about his results, his childhood, and how he never expected to come so far. It was pretty generic, and it almost sounded like he was an old person talking to his grandchildren about his life experiences. 

He was always known as talkative by the people who knew him, so they got used to it.

But, there weren't many people who knew him in the hall. As such, many people got bored, some were yawning, and some were even sleeping! However, everyone there was hoping for Astra to come back, with many being worried for her!

"Hehe. I remember when I first thought of my very first machine. It was like yesterday…" Tanaka said enthusiastically. The feeling was not mutual…

Normally, the moderator would advise him to stop. But since they didn't know how long Astra was going to take, they allowed him to talk for up to an hour.

"I believe I have 2 more life experiences I want to talk about left…either way, stalling for Dr. Sera seems pretty fun, so I think I should think of more…" Tanaka was fully aware of the fact that the moderators gave him more time, and loved the fact that he was able to talk for so long.

"Then, I want to give my thanks to the person who helped me throughout my journey, the person who this banquet was dedicated to, Dr. Astra Sera…" But most of all, he loved the fact that he was able to do something that would help Astra!

Like most scientists around his age, he looked up to Astra and her work, despite criticizing it. Doing this for her was an honor!

Suddenly, a moderator came up from behind him and whispered something into his ear.

"Dr. Tanaka, you have 10 minutes left." 

"Really? I shouldn't have less than 20 minutes…it seems like they want to continue on with the rest of the program…or is it because I'm boring everyone? Fascinating…" Tanaka added inside his head as he simply nodded in response on the outside.

…

Aria begins to approach the door that acts as the entrance, with Xavier right behind her. There were some security, janitors and assistants who were confused about why two scientists were heading outside in formal attire when a snowstorm was on its way.

A middle aged, thick security guard who was at the entrance, stopped them.

"Ma'am, sir, where are you two going in that clothing? It's dangerous…"

Xavier hesitated slightly, before Aria spoke up.

"We left something outside. We're going to look for it," Aria spoke with no hesitation, as if she was an experienced liar.

"What can you leave outside at this hour that you're just now noticing…?" The security looked at her with a face of disbelief.

Aria notices this, and persists. "Listen, we don't have much time…can we leave to get our stuff please?" Aria says as she looks at the security with an annoyed face.

The security decided not to continue blocking them further. It wasn't any of his business, anyway. He was experienced!

Xavier and Aria both walked through the entrance. Once they did, they saw a ceramic staircase leading to a pathway which led to a parking lot, and the pathway was lined by artificial trees covered in snow. The exit/entrance to the parking lot had a security booth and a large gate stationed by it, with many bushes covered in snow surrounding the parking lot and the facility itself. The facility provided a great deal of illumination, as neon light strips streaked across its body.

There were only a few cars covered in snow in the parking lot, and there were small lights lining the pathway for illumination. It was slightly foggy, with snow rushing from the sky to the ground at a decent pace. In the sky, despite it being night, Xavier and Aria were able to see a monstrous set of clouds approaching them, and like a wiper moving through the windshield of a car, the clouds were slowly but surely covering the light of the Milky Way.

But more importantly, they were finally exposed to the air from outside. It was clearly freezing temperatures, and it was unsurprisingly windy. This mix made the cold wind batter their skin and clothing, which were evidently not suited for the job they were about to do. The air pierced their bodies mercilessly, and they felt as if tiny ice needles were constantly poking through their skin. This made them feel a good amount of pain every second. This made both of them regret not getting suitable clothing earlier, but they were already outside. Plus, they didn't have the time to put on that sort of equipment anyway.

Also, it was this fact that Astra was most likely in this terrible environment without such equipment worried them greatly. 

Instinctively, due to the cold, both scientists hugged themselves as they moved down the staircase and onto the pathway. They couldn't look for Astra in this condition, or else they were going to freeze! They had to see if they could find a way that could allow them to navigate through the night while also having suitable equipment.

That's when they saw the security booth! They rejoiced in their hearts!

They rapidly moved into the parking lot and began to go toward the security booth. It was decently large, with it being as large as a small house. As they approached it to a distance of not more than 5 meters, a female voice rang out from it.

"Where are you two going? Are you planning on leaving?"

"No, we're looking for someone," Xavier responds while shivering.

"…" The voice remained speechless for a few short seconds. "Well, I didn't see anyone entering or leaving. Is this person outside of the facility? If so, then it's dangerous."

"If the security booth didn't see anyone leaving, then how did Astra get out…?" Aria raised her eyebrow as she voiced a reasonable concern in her mind.

"The person has left the facility." Xavier noticed the same thing Aria noticed, but he continued with giving the lady the proper information she needed as he was currently freezing.

"Weird…I should've seen them then. What's the name of the person? I'll be able to track them that way."

"Her name is Dr. Astra Sera, ma'am." Xavier said quickly, not beating around the bush as he was currently freezing.

"…" The lady was speechless. "Come inside. Explain to me the situation in an environment where both of you aren't freezing."

Whoosh…

The lady opened the metal door and both scientists quickly went inside, feeling an instant sense of relief as warmth from the heater entered their bodies. It was as if they suddenly entered a relaxing hot bath. They let out a sigh for which cold air came out.

The lady that spoke to them closed the door. She wore a classic dark blue security guard uniform. She was somewhat young and had above average looks. She had a slightly chubby build, but her thickness was in the right areas. This made her figure look rather decent and feminine, which was aided by her cute face. She was only slightly taller than Aria. She had black hair rolled up in a bun and black eyes with caucasian skin.

The booth that she was in contained a large desk with multiple different monitors on top of it, and there were many papers and electronic devices on the desk. By the desk was a chair and multiple metal drawers. Inside the booth was quite spacious, and there was a kitchen, a bathroom, a closet and a bedroom adjacent to the desk with monitors.

"You two can go inside the bedroom for now. I'll wait until you guys are warmed up-"

Aria interrupted her. "No, we can't wait. We have to look for her now." Aria said as she increasingly got more worried about Astra.

"Okay." The security understood Aria's intentions immediately. "Then I'll go inside of the closet and get some proper equipment for you two. While I'm doing that, please explain the situation to me." The security guard was quite cooperative.

Xavier explained the situation to her, leaving out the part where Astra screamed and turned completely white.

"Did you guys call her?" The lady asks.

"Sure did." Xavier replied.

"Strange…so, what I'm hearing is that you're trying to look for her…so that you can help her while she's in a vulnerable moment? I'm confused, why would you not call for help?" The security said while looking at them and putting on heavy layers of winter equipment.

"Because she'd feel overwhelmed again and it wouldn't solve the problem at all…plus, it'd only be natural for us to help her since we barged into her room in the first place." Aria replied.

"And, if we do ask for help, the banquet would most likely be canceled, which would probably make her feel even more overwhelmed." Xavier continued from Aria's thought.

"I feel like that shouldn't make you not want to ask for help in such a situation," The security sighed. "But it's Astra Sera we're talking about. We can't keep this attitude forever. The possibility of something happening to her is too great in such an environment. So, if we can't find her in the next few minutes, I'm going to ask for extra help. I hope that's fine with both of you." The security then began to grab her keys, put on an extra layer of clothing, and prepared to go out of the door that was in the kitchen.

"That's fine." Xavier said.

"Same," Aria continued.

"When you're done, come through this door. I'll be waiting in the vehicle." The lady said with a commanding voice as she left through the door that was in the kitchen.

Aria then sighs.

"Astra really is a handful. Would she do all of this just to look at the night sky? Wasn't her room available? We have to go through all of this just to find her…" She says out of frustration.

"Don't be mad, you were the one that insisted we look for her."

"You were the one who insisted that we go outside. Did you forget about that?" Aria asks with an annoyed look on her face.

Xavier clicks his tongue. "Yeah, okay. Anyway, this is just another one of her antics that we don't understand, right? But this time, it ended up being something dangerous." Xavier then sighs afterwards. 

"Though it seems weird to me. Why would she be outside instead of in her room…? What's something that she has to be outside for…?" Xavier thinks to himself as he puts winter goggles in his pocket.

Aria then finishes putting on her boots, doing the same thing. "You ready?" She asks Xavier while placing her pink purse on the security's desk.

"Yes." Xavier said while fitting his thick glove on his hand.

"Then let's go," Aria said with resolve as she walked out of the door.

…

In a desert, not more than 500 meters away from the Atacama Observatory.

The conditions were terrible. Snow and hail began to drop furiously, while the tumultuous winds raced through the atmosphere. 

Dark, heavy clouds were beginning to wipe through the landscape with heavy thunder roaring faintly in the background. 

The snow and hail were coming down by such a quantity that a fog began to form, limiting visibility greatly, enveloping the already present darkness with a ghastly transparent haze. The only source of illumination was the faint blonde-velvet glow of The Milky Way, and the timid light blue light from the dome shaped facility in the distance.

Despite this, a figure none other than Astra Sera sat on a decently sized boulder, looking at the Milky Way that was about to soon be conquered by the rushing clouds.

She sat on the boulder, in a thinking position, her hand on her chin. Her sunglasses were absent. Her blonde hair began to get messy as it flew unceremoniously and chaotically through the wind. Her laboratory coat—which she now wore instead of the purple robe—had the same fate. Her sunglasses were thrown on the ground next to her.

Despite the conditions, Astra looked at the sky with a smile. A faint smile.

"I'm glad that I'm still able to look at the night sky. It was strange why or how I felt so much pain and it was strange why or how I looked like that earlier…well, I have a hypothesis." Astra began to brainstorm.

"It's obvious that the hallucinations that I had right before I screamed and the hallucinations that I had during the banquet were connected. The most important aspect about both situations was that I felt a tremendous amount of pain in both cases. After I went through the pain, the phrase "DO NOT LOOK AT THE NIGHT SKY" popped up in my head. Given the fact that I didn't even look at the night sky in the second case, and I was able to look at the night sky now, it's reasonable to assume that the "night sky" is code for something. As for why there needs to be a code, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's a message relating to something."

"The other options are that I'd face some sort of consequence later on, or that maybe it's just one of my recurring hallucinations. For the former, it is incredibly unlikely, as that phrase only appeared recently. Most of all, it appeared after I experienced the head pain. For the latter, there's no real way that I can verify such a thing. However, given that it appeared on a door that had nothing to do with the night sky, I'd say that it most likely has some sort of meaning separate from it at least…"

"So what does that phrase mean? I believe it's the only thing that matters in regard to this situation. There is something about the night sky that causes the pain, and something about me looking at it that causes it. Well, I have a few ideas on how or why this happens."

"First, the hallucinations are the "night sky" in this case, and me interacting with them causes the head pains. If this is the case, then it's possible that the reason why this is happening is because of a mental illness or sensory overload. I doubt this is likely because there is nothing wrong with my brain…I think. Either way, I don't think that intangible hallucinations can cause my appearance to change. So this wouldn't work."

"Second, instead of the hallucinations being the night sky, the source of the hallucinations are. In this case, the Milky Way would be the night sky, and…the audience would be the night sky also. This is too vague, as it then leads to ask: 'why are these sources causing my head to hurt so bad?' I can answer this with sensory overload again, but this falls into the same problem as before…"

"Third, perhaps this means nothing and this is something that just happens from time to time with my body now. Since my body is completely different from others, I can consider this a possibility. But this is heavily unlikely, as I doubt my hallucinations would tell me any messages as specific as that."

"Fourth. There is some sort of energy that fuels my hallucinations. I can consider this likely for two reasons. One, the fact that my appearance changed to a white color, and two, the fact that my body is different from the body of other people. It's likely that my body composition can allow me to have strange hallucinations, have terrible headaches, and even change my physical appearance. In this case, the phrase can be a warning that my brain tells me to prevent myself from having sensory overload. The only problem with this is that the energy must've come from somewhere…perhaps the heavens bestowed my body with this energy? Hm…it sounds a little outlandish. I'd have to verify this information with rigorous evidence. Either way, this seems the most possible outcome, despite its problems. However, this does pique my curiosity the most, and 'supernatural' incidents can be considered possible to an extent with this potential form of 'energy', including the shift of Polaris." Astra thought all of these things as she began to kick her feet.

Despite the terrible situation she was in, she began to start smiling and enjoyed the fact that there is a possibility of there being some sort of new energy that the heavens bestowed that she hasn't discovered yet.

Bang!

Thunder was starting to become louder. Astra however, was not phased.

But, Astra's feeling of inevitability earlier that caused her unease never ceased. She wasn't worried about it, though, instead, she was excited.

"Hehe," Astra chuckled slightly. "I wonder what you have in store for me now. I felt like you were telling me that something inevitable was going to happen," Astra innocently said to the stars as she ignored the rapidly deteriorating conditions around her.

Bang! Crackle…

Another sound of thunder ruptured through the atmosphere.

Despite this, Astra felt strangely peaceful. She felt a connection to the stars that she never felt when interacting with anyone else.

The freezing cold wind felt like a summer breeze, and the sound of thunder sounded like birds chirping in a lush green field.

She felt this way because despite the tumultuous conditions that wrapped around her, she could feel the heavens connect with her and her curiosity. She had felt that this was the source of that feeling of uneasiness, and that this meant that the heavens were coming closer.

As for her safety, she was completely fine.

She knew that at some point, Xavier and Aria would've come to her 'rescue'. She couldn't let anyone else come, because they would've caused a commotion in the banquet. Despite this, she had full confidence in Xavier and Aria—and only them—coming to find her. She knew this because of their emotional states they were in when they saw her after she turned white. 

If she felt as if they would've asked for help, she wasn't going to leave so early.

Astra then sighs and looks straight up. The dark, heavy clouds which occasionally streaked with white flashes almost completely covered the sky. Snow began to fall more rapidly…however.

Instantly, she realizes something strange in the sky.

Polaris was now visible to her eyes!