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Tian Sen remembers seeing the stars. He remembers going on a trip to the countryside with his parents once, out where roosters still crowed in the morning. Standing outside late at night, away from all the electric lights, the sky was painted with stars both bright and dim.
His parents had showed him the legends immortalised in the sky - from lovers trapped on opposite sides of the milky way to the lady on the moon with her jade rabbit.
B City has too much light pollution to really be able to see the stars at night, especially from a place like the Royal Style building where there's at least someone awake and playing Glory at all times.
In a place like B City, it was man-made stars that ruled the night and the day. The millions of pixels of lights that blotted out the lights in the sky, and these pixels gave rise to their own legends.
These legends - these glorious Gods - was it not an honour to be able to be able to be their controller? To carry on their legacy, to pass on the legend to the next generation? To inherit the accounts at the heart - the core - of their clubs was the greatest honour and the greatest responsibility one could have.
Even as Vaccaria's legend and legacy was secured with two championships, Peaceful Hermit slipped further and further away each year. A cold fear gripped Tian Sen's heart as Peaceful Hermit fell down the ranks of All Stars - not for himself, but for the God which he was failing.
The day the Season Ten All Stars results came out was the first time Tian Sen had truly considered leaving Glory and leaving Royal Style. For the first time, Peaceful Hermit would not have a place amongst the pantheon - the heavens no longer had a place for Peaceful Hermit.
He sits there all alone in his room, the pixels of light on the laptop in front of him displaying the downfall of the God he had failed, a legend which he himself had consigned to history.
Tian Sen hadn't expected Wang Jiexi's call just after the results were announced. It was clear that Wang Jiexi didn't really know what to say, didn't have any way of making things better. Wang Jiexi could imagine - could picture what it would be like if Vaccaria had been the one to fade under his watch and his command, for the whole galaxy that made up Tiny Herb grow ever dimmer in Glory despite his best efforts - but he would never know.
And yet, Wang Jiexi tries to be there for Tian Sen anyway. Wang Jiexi speaks into the silence on the other side of the line, and Tian Sen holds his phone tightly and tries to match Wang Jiexi's breathing.
Wang Jiexi speaks does not speak of Glory and Tian Sen knows that this is Wang Jiexi's attempt at distracting him, at reminding him that there is more to this world than Glory. Perhaps it could even work if he let it and just concentrated on Wang Jiexi's voice and his words. Perhaps it would work if he had not given a part of his heart and years of devotion - just had Wang Jiexi had - to the God which stood at the heart of his club.
But Tian Sen would not be here - would not be who he is - if Glory wasn't his universe, if Peaceful Hermit wasn't the core of his universe. And while he had since come with terms with the fact that he did not have the skills and would not be able to recreate the former greatness of Royal Style, he had still hoped that he could keep the star in the heavens where it belongs until he found someone who could take his place, found someone who could once again write its legends across the sky where it belonged.
Nothing Wang Jiexi can say can take away the reality that for the first time since the formation of the Glory Pro Alliance All Stars, the First Exorcist - the God level account Peaceful Hermit - will not be on the All Stars stage.
It is both an eternity and too soon before Wang Jiexi is called away to prepare a media release for his All Stars nomination. Wang Jiexi hesitates, perhaps realising that their usual sign off isn't quite right for the occasion. Wang Jiexi hopes - he needs to believe - that this is not the end of Glory for Tian Sen.
The screen of Tian Sen's laptop has long since gone to sleep and with the All Stars results faded to black. But Tian Sen has decided. He will continue on as he always has - faithfully, steadily in his love of Glory and Royal Style. He will continue to play as long as his team still trusts him, until there is a successor that can bring Peaceful Hermit back to the heavens it belongs.
Tian Sen breaks the silence, his sign off is softer than usual, but his until we meet again in Glory is no less sure.
And Wang Jiexi's reply is just as soft but the promise echoes just the same.