Meanwhile.

    "I lost her... My wish, your so-called plan... what is the point of it all?" asks Cocolia, grasping at papers and binders on her desk, head bowed as ice creeps up along her dominant arm.

    A ghostly voice... voiceS, echo and overlap. "Your grief... sorrow.. useless sentiments... abandon them all..."

    Cocolia's face turns ragefilled, contorting in pure fury as she swipes her desk clear, shattering the teacup, scattering binders of paperwork, and sending her chair rolling back to topple over near the grand windows behind her. "SILENCE! She is my DAUGHTER, my only... You... SOULLESS thing-- how could you even begin to fathom!? You'll never understand... NEVER!" Cocolia, the Supreme Guardian, rails against the voice tormenting her, that has tormented her since she took up this mantle... even before, when she was being taught by the previous Guardian before her.

    The voices are unperturbed. "You did not lose her... She waits to be reunited with you on the other side." they assure, their venomous words slithering through the cracks in the Guardian's mental armour like tainted honey.

    Cocolia's hands grasp at her head, a futile attempt to reinforce her psyche. But it's no use. "A new world..."

    The voices seem to smile as they speak. "Rise... guardian... Fulfill your destiny... Fulfill a Mother's wish."

    Stelle jolts awake, amber eyes wide as she emerges from the suffocating darkness, lit only by a washed out vision. A woman... a familiar woman, arguing with herself...

    "No... that voice again... such a strange dream... may as well go for a walk if I can't sleep..." she muses sourly, tossing the covers aside, putting her jacket back on and stepping over to the door.