Ellianor held his chin, his mind processed what was said at ludicrous speeds.
His previous experiences gave a solid idea of why "she" did what "she" did. "Sloopy it may be, but if it works, it works."
'It was that way in programming too, I fear.' Some things never change. 'Be on earth or space.'
The sentiment of knowing even a powerful voice that could mess with existence resorted to simple tricks was heartwarming.
"Bingo." Urien smiled, before throwing the blackboard and chalk away, both disappeared into blue particles before they could hit the wall.
"The objective of the system is to make you grow until you surpass it, but that may take some time."
A curiosity sparked in Ellianor's thoughts. "How do you know so much about these systems?"
The man seemed to be used to how it worked, and its intended purposes, it was strange.
The black-haired man shifted his position on the sofa, sitting on it. Urien took that as an opportunity to sit by his side. "How? Well, I was the beneficiary of one of those long, long ago. Mine was a primitive version of what you have."
On Urien's lap, a lap table with three cups of tea and a bowl with chocolate chip cookies appeared.
The blond offered it to Ellianor, and the scowling Kissenn, as her hair picked up, almost like a wolf's ears.
She picked a chocolate cookie, and then another, and another one, she stuffed her mouth full like a squirrel, before she ran back to the bunk beds, forgetting her cup of tea. Urien looked with dismay at the bowl.
It was gone, all the cookies were gone. He snapped his fingers, the bowl disappeared, replaced by another one.
Kissenn's ear-like hair picked up again, but Urien held his hand forward, signaling no with his index finger.
Kissenn whimpered something before she turned to the wall and started to grumble unintelligibly.
Ellianor stared at the scene, his eyes vacant as he tried to process what happened. 'Is she a human or a wolf?'
If he wanted to, maybe a squirrel could be thrown in the mix too. The black-haired man sighed in tiredness before he picked a cookie and one cup of tea.
"So… I have one question. What happened after I blackened out?"
The last thing in Ellianor's memory was… the sword, Testament, flying against the monster and closing its portal.
After that, everything ended in darkness. "We brought you into our space station to nurse your wounds… luckily, most of them were healed."
The blond's gaze fell on Ellianor, that time it was more serious, and it had a sense of heaviness in it. Ellianor shifted in his seat, uncomfortable by the heavy gaze on him.
"Now is a good time as any to tell you about stars. First and foremost, from what planet you came?" Ellianor's eyes widened, a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Earth. It was a—"
"A blue planet, in the solar system, composed of Pluto, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, and Mercury.
Let me take a wild guess, it had a Roman Empire too?" Ellianor stared at the blond in shock.
Was Earth that famous? A planet so boring and mundane? Urien laughed at his shock. "Don't be like that. Earth is… a special case.
Have you ever heard of doppelgangers?" Urien took a sip out of his tea.
"Those are for people, no? People that look exactly like you…" It was an uncomfortable train of thought, and the implications were even worse.
Was that man saying that there were multiple solar systems and planet Earths in the universe?
"Spot on. Earth and the solar system are like templates for newborn gods, or those with power, to play god and see how civilizations develop, and because of the Stars, it can be generated naturally too." Urien looked at his cup, staring at his reflection on the tea.
Ellianor took a moment to let the information sink into his head.
"Are you saying that Earth is a template? A template that the universe uses?" It was ludicrous, but the amount of ludicrous things Ellianor had seen in such a short time…
"Exactly. It is like how everything becomes a crab. That, and the Stars. Now, let's talk about them." For a moment, the image of the dark star, the Eclipse, shone in Ellianor's head.
"The Stars are… forces of the universe that rule over its laws. They are like primordial themes that rule over all natural things." Urien's hands trembled as he held his teacup.
"Those themes are everywhere, they are over people too. They don't rule over how you live, but how you live dictates what stars shine over you." Even Kissenn stopped to hear his words.
A strange mood in the room.
'So, it is based on how you want to live, rather than dictating how you should live… free will, huh?' It was a strange concept to absorb.
'It means that… no. Does it mean that my life was written ahead of me, or that I wrote it myself?'
A concept that looked simple in theory, but that held many secrets and was vague once you stopped to analyze it. "Well, you have a strange star. Even in my long life, I have never seen it."
"What do you mean with a strange star?" Those things were like paths, so most should be fairly common, and without many differences.
'This is so complicated.'
"Not all people walk the same path, and some paths are less explored than others. Such is your case. You have the rarest Star, so rare I only saw it on card reading decks." It was not only a silly thing like Zodiac signs, but a species of tarot-deck style of deal.
Ellianor grabbed his head with his free hand, his mind pounding for the overflow of information.
"How old are you?" If he never saw someone with Ellianor's star, he shouldn't be very old.
"I have seen galaxies be formed. Does it satisfy your question?" Scrap that, now Ellianor was even more confused about everything.
"How can that be? Nothing should live that long."