Never in life could such turn of events turn the encounter into something more surprising.

The four persons suddenly encountered themselves in a white empty place, as if they are in the afterlife. All surrounded by shiny pillars around them, with mirrors around each corner.

"Where are we?" Logan asks.

"Just what is this bloody place...?!" Seiner asks while raising his voice.

"Are-are-are...we...in heaven? D-dead...? Oh dios, please no..." Tany says while biting her lips and looking everything around her.

"I think not, Tany. I feel this is a place that looks exactly like the one described in the books relating to the Guardians..." Amira says.

"What Guardians?" Seiner asks.

"I've heard they're some sort of entities, almost like observers from beyond...not sure if they're gods or anything, but they could be something that extends beyond the stars."

Seiner scoffs in response.

"As if like we're all just their hamsters if that's what you mean. All rolling for eternity...let me tell ya, I still feel lots of bull coming from you."

"I may not be sure of what you say, but whatever this place is, is something way beyond us."

"Ehhhhh? Oh cool!" Tany says as she reaches for her pocket to look for her phone, but as with most instances of dealing with the unknown, it's very trivial to do such thing, especially when drained.

Tany could only look quietly at her phone for a moment while the rest turn to look at her.

"Ehhhh, if you truly know them, call them later because I truly want to show this. No, nothing malicious at all, hehe..." Tany says as she then sheepishly hides her phone back.

Seiner could only glare at her in irritation.

"Next you'll pick the option for a boy band, which is quite a wonder..." Seiner sarcastically replies.

But before they could react to anything, a smooth and elegant sound could be heard from the distance.

Logan is the first to notice the sound and soon sees that it's coming from a nearby stairway to another altar.

He soon slowly walks into it, with the rest following suit.

With each climbing step, the more the smooth sound could be heard closer.

And even if they're slow ones, they're clearly ones well deserved for a suitable curiosity for such sound.

Then, the sound heard could be identified as something similar to one of a cello.

Getting closer and closer, they see a white hooded figure with black stripes around the robe's arms.

The figure's playing delicately, almost to the point that it almost doesn't change of tenor. Just like a true musician would do it every time they can play something.

Even in war.

The four finally reach the altar while locking their glances towards the hooded figure.

After some moment of playing the melody with the cello, the figure then stopped playing, laying down the cello while holding the bow near one of the strings.

Some of the silence passes by, the four must be still in awe of such mysterious music.

"Excuse me, whatever you are...do you know where are we?" Logan asks.

Silence is the only answer coming from it.

"Maybe what I said could be impolite for you, but as new visitors around here, it would be appreciated if you could tell us something at least."

Silence again...

Seiner then approaches him in a fit of irritation

"Excuse me! Stop being such a flimsy mute tosser and give us-" Seiner says while trying to touch the figure's shoulder, causing the robes to falls down empty.

Nobody, no nothing.

Seiner and the others get goosebumps as they step back from the fallen robes.

Just what is this place anyway? That's the known question everyone wants to answer at the moment.

"What the hell...?!" Seiner says incredulously.

"OK, whatever's going on, I'm gonna slap it silly to the dude who ran away because he maybe hates answers!" Tany replies.

"That would be way too rude, Tany..." Logan replies.

"Oh, sorry...well, make it listen to...pop!"

Amira could only giggle in response while holding her hand near chin in amusement.

"Your thoughts are quite dazzling at the moment, Tany. Maybe Humanity is really interesting to study after all."

"What? My head?!" Tany says as she then proceeds to kneel while pressing her hands on her ears.

The rest looked a bit confused yet amused at her reaction.

"Don't read me...please!" Tany says.

"I...well, OK, Tany."

Logan could only let out a heartfelt chuckle from the fun the two were having, Seiner, on the other hand, is mostly indifferent to it, with crossed arms and such.

Then, Seiner notices something near the fiddle placed in the center string of the cello.

"Eh? Hey guys, look." Seiner says as he pointed to the fiddle.

The hair of the bow then starts to glow in a bright, bluish color, all pointing to the right side outside the altar.

When they turn to see the direction where the fiddle is pointing, it leads to another seemingly empty white space shrouded in mist.

After carefully analyzing the left side, Seiner then finds a split gap amidst the mist where the cello is pointing.

They soon walk towards the indicated area, in which as soon they carefully step on it, a stairway downstairs could be felt.

They descend for some minutes, all carefully to check if there's nothing suspicious around.

After a minute or so from walking, the group then enters to a dimly lit room, almost like the entrance of a chamber in medieval times.

They continued to descend a bit more, until eventually, they stop near room, where there's only a wall in front of them, with an inscription in front of it.

Looking in awe, it's like something they too would never notice in real life.

"This inscription appears to have a vaguely worded language, almost like a mix of Latin and Old English from what I'm seeing," Logan says.

"Hmm, what should we call it? Latingus?" Tany asks with a bright smile on her face.

Seiner, of course, could only glare, causing her smile to drop immediately.

"Wait, that language...it's the language of the Cosmos. Maybe I can help you translate it." Amira says.

"Ah, an interpreter then. For a moment I thought this would be another lesson for this intergalactic type of education but oh well." Logan replies.

"Well, only if it's a bloody good one. But given who you are, I'm calling bull." Seiner replies as well.

"Just observe and lower you distrust...let me do it."

"That won't-"

But before he could tackle Amira, he's then pushed back by Logan, all with a stern look on his over his discrimination towards Amira.

"Whatever. Just do it."

She then uses her hand to touch part of the inscription, first touching the first line of it and then moving the hand while continuing to read on.

The translation is:

A principle is thy part of eternal life. The component for the common being of peace. Thy union grants the beloved a wishful eternity. For thou who sin thy principle, will serve the condemned. Rising up, the valor of the surpassing of fear alights us, Guided by the closeness of the children of all creation. The will to serve the children grants gratitude alongside the choice of anything. Oh, Guardians, I send thou thy peace, thus the cycle will live on, for all times and forever.

There's a brief period of pause going on, maybe it was a simple inscription after all or some sort of ancient mechanism that can be opened through another means.

"Are you sure that's the language? Because congrats, you just gave a good lesson in the language and nothing else. Can we get a move on?" Seiner quips.

Within the blink of an eye, the inscription glows into a greenish light which then spreads across the walls of the chamber.

The wall with the inscription then rises upwards, revealing another hidden room.

It looks similar to the previous one, only this time, it contained four boxes, each with their own color for the lock. And for some reason, it also contained four sunflowers stacked in the pot on a table.

As for the boxes, one is red, another is yellow, the other is green and the last one's blue.

Then, each of the group then approaches to one of their boxes, like there's some force that's attracting their attention to a specific box.

"What's this, we're getting each of our own goodie treasure? Then I'll be filthy rich! Well, don't like being one anyways." Tany says.

"Shut up..."

"Oh, meanie!"

They soon open their respective boxes slowly, revealing a handful of things they wouldn't soon believe.

For Logan, it contained a golden sword hilt that has an empty blade, alongside a red stone.

For Seiner, it contained a golden looking gun with a belt containing boxes colored in chrome and some metal hilts.

For Amira, it simply contained a goblet that contained some green glowing liquid in it.

And last but not least for Tany, it contained a long blue staff with a cyan orb in it.

A moment of hesitation occurs to the four of them, they just feel that these objects have some connection to them, but don't remember anything related to them. Just how they can feel such attraction to them?

Logan looks at his left hand, then puts it near his chest and presses down. Afterward, he reaches for the hilt and the red stone, grabbing them carefully.

Seiner adjusts his glasses while grabbing the objects in front of them.

Amira simply picks up the goblet and after some moment of hesitation, she drinks it up fully.

Tany...just grabs the staff and proceeds to swing it around for a while.

At first, it all felt normal, like nothing at all out of the ordinary is happening at the moment for the four.

"Hmm, Blackbeard wouldn't be too keen to get those anyways," Logan quips.

Then without warning, they all get a stiff posture while holding the items except for Amira who drops the goblet to the ground.

Their eyes widen, slowly turning into a respective color of the lock they've picked.

Red for Logan, light yellow for Seiner, green for Amira and blue for Tany.

After a brief pause maintaining their stiff postures while staring closely at the items, they all soon shake their heads and began to act normally once more.

"These objects...I feel like they have something for us." Logan says.

"Yeah, I can feel it too..." Seiner replies.

"My body, it's all feeling so smoother...could it is?" Amira replies as well.

"Methinks that this funny staff can grant me anything!"

Before they could react to anything, the wall on the left starts to open, revealing nothing more but a bright white light outside.

A wind then enters the room which then picks up the sunflowers outside while lightly blowing the room.

"Guys...whatever you and I may be feeling right now...it could be something uneasy." Seiner says as he adjusts his glasses while trembling for a bit.

"I know...but if anything, we're learning more of the unknown," Logan replies.

Seiner then turns to glance towards Logan with his eyes widening and a noticeable frown.

"Well, you'll be lucky if you're so sure it's a good unknown, because if not, then your own responsibility lies on yours only."

"Humans...please don't try to..."

"Shut it, Alien, this is none of your concern and you may share the fault as everyone else."

"Seiner, you're not going to get us anywhere with that tone. We can still keep an eye on her but she doesn't look like an enemy so far, you know that."

"Excuse me, you naive dumbass?"

But before they could start another scuffle, they soon notice the flowers coming back to the room.

However, something felt off from them.

They weren't sunflowers anymore, not truly.

One's now an Aster, another is a Star of Bethlehem, the other is a Mullein and lastly, a red and yellow rose.

Whatever the change was, the group soon noticed what it could mean.

Amira's expression then became more nervous and unsure. She knows what could happen if they come to the supposed exit.

"Dear Humans, maybe you could hear this out...whatever brought us here is likely allowed us to see what we're going to face in the war now that we have those artifacts. Because right now...I'm afraid of what'll happen next. Once we exit, everything we'd had in our lives before, everything that we did, will be all gone forever."

"Forever?! You can't be absolutely serious," Seiner says incredulously.

"No, Seiner, I feel the same thing," Logan says.

"I...me too," Tany replies in a surprisingly sad tone.

"So what, you want us to commit suicide?" Seiner scoffs once more.

"We're not sure, and that would be what could happen, but right now...there's a world in flames-nay- a galaxy in flames right now, we've all been waiting for a miracle that could make us wish the Zlocu will eventually be stopped for good. And sometimes, a miracle must happen by the hands of anyone. In this case, it is us who should make it work. Right now, even if it may not be good...what we should do next is necessary for all of us." Logan replies.

"No...you don't mean..." Seiner replies as he looks narrowly on Logan.

"Just tell me people...are you truly prepared for what may come next? Just know what I've said. Think about it carefully."

Silence filled the room for a moment, thinking of what this decision could bring them. Should try to commit their ideology for a just cause and a changing world even if it means not being the same anymore and not getting back to their past lives? Could they withstand what they could face in the future? So many questions to be heard in their heads.

Then, after a period of silence, Seiner raises his head to face Logan.

"Well...not much of a choice I guess."

"Same. It doesn't matter what may happen to us now...I'll be willing to do anything to stop them," Amira says.

"Let's just say, I'm in for the fun! Hope it's really fun..." Tany says in a sudden shift of two tones.

Logan then slightly smiles at them, knowing that despite everything, a right choice is they need to settle things.

And without any second thoughts, they all head to the exit, now ready for a new step in their lives.

A new step in becoming something better they could possibly imagine.