Commotion stirred in the sickbay. Meera turned to follow the noise.

At the center of the cavern, a crowd of people stumbled off their mats to their feet. They blundered backward away from whatever it was that had startled them.

"What's going on over there?" Clover, who'd been pestering Meera with questions about ladies and love, said beside her.

The commotion crescendoed into shouts of surprise. Meera narrowed her eyes. "Trouble, I'm guessing."

Clover didn't budge, but Meera started toward the noise. "Come on," she urged him.

Others clustered around her to see the disturbance, and she shoved her way through them.

"Hey, what's going—"

The words stopped in her throat. Her eyes fell on the water that bubbled at the center of the cavern floor. Water spouted through the cracked dirt like a fountain, forming a small pond that grew larger with each second.

"What the hell?" muttered Clover.

The water gave off a soft, green glow. Meera had never seen anything like it before. When she took a step forward, the fountain exploded with light.

Her yelp meshed with those around the sickbay, and she covered her face with her arms. Water pooled at her feet and rose to her calves. With eyes still covered, she stepped back to higher, drier ground.

The light lasted for a few seconds. When it faded, she squinted between her arms at the newly-formed pond.

Water no longer spewed from underground. The pond had calmed, and now, instead of a fountain, there was a ball of light. It hovered above the water like a tear in reality, a window that peered into another realm shimmering with bright emeralds. And drifting within that light was the vague shape of a girl.

Her toes skimmed the surface of the water, her arms held adrift at her sides. Long, black hair swam around her head in gradual waves and contrasted with glowing, silver skin. Her head was bowed as if in sleep.

Meera gasped, and her chest thrummed in recognition. "Mae?"

Inside the fog of light, the girl's head rose, and her eyes snapped open—white and colorless.

The walls shook as energy detonated through the open space.

Meera felt something hard strike her chest—a tentacle of green light—and it nearly hurled her and those around her off their feet. She managed to keep her footing, but something powerful had absorbed into her body. She soon became lost in the sensations that coursed inside her.

Her senses multiplied. Her mind sharpened, and the fatigue in her eyes disappeared. Energy drenched every inch of her body, and she felt more alive than ever.

She drew in a lungful of air, savoring the power.

It had been so long since she'd felt like this.

Behind her, Clover turned his hands, over and over again as if he'd never seen them before in his life. Awe and wonder captivated him and everyone else in the sickbay. Meera was first to break from it. Her eyes returned to Maeyune at the center.

The moon warrior was hardly discernible within the light, but Meera knew it was her. Meera took a step into the water, her hand held toward her friend.

"Don't touch her yet."

The voice rose above the din of murmurs. Meera turned when she recognized it.

"Reo!" she called out. She watched as the crowd parted for the sun warrior. "Where have you and Mae been?"

His hair was damp, and he carried clothing in his hands. When he drew closer, she saw that there was a soft pattern of gold scales framing his face. They trailed from his cheeks and down his neck. She was sure he halfway to his god form.

Her shock and confusion mirrored those around her, but Reo paid them no attention. His eyes—gold and bright—were trained on the floating Maeyune at the center of the pond. He set aside the clothing in his hands and snatched a blanket off a vacated mat. Then, wordless, he stepped into the water toward her.

Maeyune was silent and unmoving within the womb of light, her white eyes unblinking. Meera and the others watched as Reo furled the blanket around Maeyune's shoulders—and it was then that Meera realized her friend had been naked inside that light.

Reo gently laid his hands on Maeyune's arms. Silver bolts zapped around his fingers, but they held no effect. He steered her downward to stand, and her feet submerged into the water and planted on firm ground.

The emerald light released her and evaporated. All that was left in its wake was a girl of silver skin and the boy of gold who held her.

Power radiated through Maeyune.

Her body shuddered with the familiar, chilled stream of energy. Her mind grasped hundreds of others around her, and their emotions and thoughts became stars in a once-starless night.

Vaius had given them all power, too. She could sense the celestials in the sickbay—and the rest of the base—pulsing with new energy.

But the silver light wasn't as strong as she had once known it to be. Not all of her powers had returned, she realized. Not without the moon.

That didn't matter. What Reo and Vaius had given her was something, and it would help in the fight ahead.

She knew now what she needed to do.

A voice drew her out of her abyss.

Reo's voice. Her name on his lips.

Her eyes cleared, but they were slow to adjust to her environment. She saw first the golden eyes that peered down at her. The scales on Reo's face began to retreat back into his skin, and his eyes returned to their dark auburn.

A smile curved across his lips--a smile so fond, she believed it could only be shared between lovers.

"Hey," he whispered.

Maeyune eyed the dozens of people who stood around the pond, their attention cemented on her and Reo. She found Meera and Clover among them, and she gave a sigh of relief. Her gaze fell to the water at her calves, then followed Reo's arms to the blanket around her body.

Reo had dressed, and she remained completely bare, covered underneath thin, scratchy fabric. Confusion outweighed her moment of embarrassment. She recounted all that had happened.

It felt as if months had gone by since they'd been pulled into Vaius's life force. But she understood now all that had happened.

The dragons had appeared before her, not as visions or a dream. Shivra and Yunra had been real. They were not dead, but lost.

Maeyune and Reo carried only a portion of the Moon God and Sun Goddess. The rest had retreated deep into the planet's life force and had lain dormant for the past twenty years. Vaius had led Maeyune and Reo into its center, where their cumulation of all three energies had called forth what remained of the gods.

And upon that summoning, Shivra and Yunra had appeared and shown Maeyune what needed to be done.

She understood now.

For a long time, she stood frozen in the pond, her mind whirling with realization. Rather than let her stand in the water under blatant stares, Reo pulled her off to the side and fetched her clothes. Maeyune allowed him to lead her to the medical tent, but not before she caught Meera and Clover staring after them with oddly suspicious smirks.

"Can you two please not run off again?" Meera said, following behind them. "You had everyone in here panicking thinking that you abandoned us."

Maeyune frowned. "What are you talking about? We would never abandon you."

Meera shrugged. "That's what I told everyone."

"Keep your hands to yourself, will ya?" Clover interjected.

Meera slapped his arm but didn't stop from grinning. Both water and fire celestials stopped shortly before entering the tent, their expressions impish.

Reo raised his brows at them.

Maeyune wasn't sure if Clover's words had been directed at her, or Reo.

Or both.

Oh, heavens...

The celestials had always been aware of any tension or anger between her and Reo. Did they know everything else, too?

As they entered the tent, Reo noted the mortification on her face. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head dismissively. "Nothing."

He didn't question her. She took her clothes from his hands and hid behind one of the tent's surgical curtains to dress. Redirecting her thoughts, she remembered that she'd been alone in those last few moments with the gods.

"When we were inside the planet," she said, "you disappeared. What happened?"

"We got separated," Reo said from behind the curtain. "I'm not exactly sure what happened. I had to come back the long way."

"Did you see Shivra or Yunra?"

"Yes," he answered quietly. "I saw them alright."

"And did they say anything to you?"

There was a long pause. Then, she heard him answer, "They said something about giving them the sun and becoming one."

She remained silent as she let the information digest. The gods had given him the same objective, too.

Once in her borrowed clothing again, Maeyune stepped around the curtain and found Reo leaning against a table, his arms and ankles crossed in front of him and his eyes concentrated on the ground while he thought. When she reappeared before him, she took note of the way his demeanor changed. He lifted his gaze to her, unfolded his arms and legs, and leaned back against the table on his hands.

His body language explained everything—he was comfortable and open to her.

His gaze trailed down her body—which was now fully clothed—and he smiled. "You know, you didn't need to hide behind there," he said quietly. "I've already seen every part of you."

She swallowed slowly, searching for something clever with which to reply. "I'm trying to make you forget."

A slight frown formed in his brow. "Why?"

"So that you will want to see me all again."

It sounded clever enough.

The frown disappeared, and the tip of his lips curled.

He held out his hands to her, and she took them without a second thought. She drew closer to him, and he positioned her so that when he sat a hip on the table's edge, she stood between his knees.

He nodded at the tent's entrance. "I think you made everyone out there stronger."

"Not me. It came from Vaius," she replied. "It was a necessary offering to prepare us all."

"Prepare us for what?"

Maeyune held his eyes, and he saw the determination burning in them. "Reo, I know what we need to do."

The flap to the tent swished open.

They turned at the sound, but neither let go of the other as Deiyu entered.

Behind the commander, Maeyune saw a group of girls huddled near the tent's opening. Their awestruck faces vanished from view when Deiyu tossed the flap closed. Maeyune wondered how long they had been eavesdropping on her and Reo.

The Suolani commander's face was embroiled with emotion. Maeyune saw shock, relief, and anger all at once.

"Where have you two been?" he demanded. It'd been a while since Maeyune had heard him with an aggressive tone.

She and Reo drew apart. Reo slid off the edge of the table.

"Ever since I came back, everyone hasn't stopped asking that," he said, frowning. "We were only gone for a few hours."

Deiyu's eyes narrowed, and he gave Reo a hard look.

"You have been gone for two weeks," the commander said.

Maeyune felt her stomach flip on its side.

"Two weeks?" she echoed. Deiyu's words rebounded through her mind as if they hadn't found a chance to settle yet. She exchanged confused glances with Reo.

That wasn't possible. They had only left the base a few hours ago. How had two weeks gone by?

It now explained why Meera had acted so strangely before.

Hadn't the Nomenian scientists given Vaius a week to live? How was the world still alive?

Maeyune took a step toward him, and her face shadowed. "What's happened?"

The young lines on Deiyu's face deepened. "It's better if I showed you."

(Continued in Part 2)