Chapter 163: A Spark Ignites
Scene: Gaia HQ – Observation Deck, Nightfall
The stars twinkled over the polished glass dome of Gaia's uppermost observatory. Mia sat cross-legged on the floor, Lexigra floating open before her, its ethereal pages fluttering on their own. Glyphs pulsed with soft light, some equations, others glowing incantations that shifted and hummed with latent Ether.
She had not left her workshop since she finished Aurelia Nova Mk II. But now, she sat in quiet communion with her grimoire.
"Lexigra," she whispered, "I want to create something... that no one else can even imagine."
The pages shimmered.
Visions danced in the air—designs of defense systems built from light, drones that could learn emotion, blueprints that hummed with divinity itself.
Lexigra responded with approval. The grimoire wasn't just a spellbook—it was a living repository of her soul. One that grew with her. And it had grown brighter.
"It's reacting to you," came a familiar voice.
Cyg stepped from the doorway.
"I thought you'd be training," Mia said with a small smile.
"I was. Then I noticed you hadn't come down to eat in twenty hours."
She blinked. "Has it been that long?"
"You forget the world when you're inventing something beautiful."
Mia flushed slightly, tucking her knees in.
"It's not just invention anymore. It's vision."
She turned toward him, and Lexigra followed, as if magnetized by her heart.
"I want to change how people see Ether. Not as just something to fight with—but something that creates. Heals. Connects."
He nodded.
"And I think you already are."
Scene: Below Gaia HQ – Emergency Shelter Construction
Word had spread: an eastern town leveled by an Abyssal surge was desperate for support. Gaia scrambled to deliver, but standard construction tools were too slow.
Mia volunteered.
She arrived with drones—built from Lexigra's latest schematics—projecting radiant scaffolding and Ether-sound blueprints that self-constructed under her orchestration.
One young girl watched in awe as a radiant wall materialized.
"It's like magic," the child whispered.
"No," Mia said, kneeling. "It's you. Your heartbeat was the final signal. You inspired the drone to finish this wall."
"I did?"
"Yes. Machines don't just run on commands. They run on belief."
She rose, turning back to her drone army, eyes gleaming with tears.
In that moment, something inside Lexigra ignited. A new page wrote itself in shimmering golden light.
"Divine Script: Aurora Pulse – Constructs that resonate with collective hope to repel darkness."
It was a new spell. A new innovation. Born not of calculations—but of connection.
Scene: HQ Courtyard – Midnight
Back home, Mia sat on a bench, gazing at Lexigra.
Cyg sat beside her quietly.
"You were incredible out there," he said.
"It wasn't just me," Mia said softly. "The people believed in me. They gave me the last piece I was missing."
"And what was that?"
"Faith in myself."
She paused, then added, more timidly:
"I'm… still scared, sometimes. That I'm too fragile to keep up. That the others are better."
"You're not like the others," Cyg said, looking at her. "And that's exactly what makes you irreplaceable."
There was silence again. Not awkward—but heavy with meaning.
Lexigra glowed faintly beside her, almost like it approved.
Then—
Mia leaned gently onto his shoulder.
He didn't move.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For seeing me."
"I always have," Cyg replied.
And for a moment, in the soft flicker of Lexigra's light, the night felt still. Safe. Perfect.