Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“...that’s what I speculate happened,” Welt explained.

“I’m grateful for the update, but do you understand what kind of situation this is putting me in?” Jing Yuan sighed. He was still in the hospital post-consensual-stabbing, and this news was not beneficial to his recovery. Yanqing and the master diviner were by his bedside, neither looking too happy about the circumstances either.

Stella shuffled awkwardly. No one said it directly, but she was halfway sure that this was her fault. Welt likely omitted the possibility in his theory. The experienced trailblazer had told her that the warp bridges connecting the space Station, Jarilo-VI, and the mothership had been due to the harmonization of the stellarae. For many of these reality-bending causations to appear within a short time must have caused a destabilization in the fabric of reality and created portals, something to do with the train's mechanics, yada yada. It went over her head for the most part. She just sweat in silence because the only connecting factor to do with stellarae in these three locations was her existence.

“Well, we can only go along with the flow. Perhaps interacting with short-lived species will give the residents of the Xianzhou Luofu some much-needed stimulation.” The general smiled wearily. “Our people have had little experience with the concept of death aside from the mara-struck, so seeing others burn brightly with the little time they have may serve to…remind us of their worth.”

“When it comes to factors such as time, talent, or power, people often need a comparison to base themselves on. Only that way, can someone understand the intricacies of their place in the world,” Welt agreed.

Both of them were implying things without saying them, speaking of different subjects than their current predicament. It seemed like an old person thing to do.

There was another moment of silence. This adventure had taken a lot out of everyone. Even the trailblazers crew had been run dry, their tiredness enhanced by the fact that several of them had faced what was close to their hearts. Stella herself had been taxed emotionally by the appearance of Kafka, her (mother? teacher? mentor?) stellaron hunter adversary. She was sure that Dan Heng felt similarly about his Vidyadhara roots and Welt about that strange merchant gentleman.

Even so, the quiet air was rather comfortable.

“So, how do we proceed from here?” the dragon asked.

“The portals aren’t inherently harmful.” Fu Xuan, the master diviner, answered him. “Though I have contacted the realm-keeping commission to dispatch cloud knights to section them off and keep anyone from straying in. We have to first determine where each rift leads to and whether its destination can be safely traversed.”

“Right, most of Jarilo Six is covered with snow. Although the source of the eternal freeze is gone, most of the planet is still incredibly cold. It wouldn’t be good if anyone ended up in the barren wilderness”

“Thank you, Stella. Most of the Luofu’s space is composed of nothing but simulated clouds, so it would also be an unfortunate scene if anyone from the other locations tripped into a portal. They’d be in for quite the heart attack.” The bedridden man chuckled at his own words. “Now that I mention it, master diviner-”

“Already on it.”

“Yanqing, you may go along with the commission and ensure that they pinpoint the coordinates of the portals and set up a platform for each one that is prone to cause injury.”

The teenager hesitated, reticent to leave his side. “General…”

He sighed, wrapping an arm around his charge and pulling him in for an awkwardly positioned hug “Or not. Someone else can take care of it.”

The someone in question popped a vein. “You bastard, you’re taking the opportunity to slack off!” Fu Xuan accused. “If you weren’t injured right now, I’d be dragging you to the platform sites myself.”

“I’ll take what I can get~”

She scoffed but quickly departed afterward to take care of the effects of the stellaron without further complaint, leaving everyone else to chat about the not-exactly crisis that they had to deal with. Soon after, they received a contact detailing the first person to enter the Luofu via the warp bridge. The diviner described him as a “dutiful boy with a notable scar” who was incredibly confused about the sudden change of scenery and upon seeing the confused locals, started muttering about his boss’s antics.

“That sounds like Arlan,” Stella mused.

“She says that he seems to be having some kind of stress-related breakdown.”

“It’s Arlan!”

March snorted, then pretended that she hadn’t reacted with all the dignity and grace that she could muster.

“You two stay here. I’ll go and fetch him.”

Dan Heng bid them goodbye as he went to spare the poor boy of his imagination.

“Really, I can’t believe we are dealing with actual arbiter-bound nonsense like portals”, Yanqing said. “It’s rather cool, though. I want to try and go through one, but everyone would get upset at me even if it has been checked for safety.”

“If your idea of safety checking is only knowing that one side of a passage won’t cause you to fall into a frozen lake or plummet from a great height, then I agree with everyone else.”

“I thought you trailblazers were all about risk!”

Stella poked him in the forehead. “If I didn’t have at least a small sense of caution, I would be dead.”

“We’re talking a truly minuscule amount.”

“Quiet, March.”

Stella flopped onto the empty section of the general’s bed. “If only we had some way to communicate with the others that don’t use us few trailblazers as a text message hotline, then it would be easy to get everything done.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “We all have phones, don’t we? How are our methods of transmission incompatible?”

“I wondered about that too, after I first lost my memory. The answer is that technology is built in different ways despite outwardly appearing to be the same. Despite having identical functions, tech with differing bases are difficult to mesh.”

“Now that’s just not right,” she groaned.

“That does sound pretty illogical now that I think about it,” the teenager added.

She waved a hand at him. “See? Even he agrees.”

As if on cue, every trailblazers’ phone let out a ding, except for March Seventh’s, which pleasantly jingled for a minute as she pulled it out. She read the following mass message. “Internet is now on a network across all linked worlds. It was an elementary issue. Next time, bother me about something worth my attention. Sent by Herta.”

“How like her,” Stella commented flatly. “But man, is she efficient. I’m glad for this development.”

“Who’s Herta?”

“She is the eighty-third member of the genius society and the head of the Herta Space Station, hence its name. It is a frequent docking site for our train. If you wish to meet her face to face, Yanqing, take my advice and refrain.”

“Mr. Yang!”

“I have nothing but respect for her intellect. But you cannot admit that she is sociable enough to make a good impression on our friends.

March huffed, only somewhat appeased, but enough that she could move on to the next topic. “Everyone is on the same network now. That means that the leaders of the respective places will now be able to speak, right? We can gather the important people of each place, and they’ll take care of the portals. I think…Bronya for Jarilo, Asta for the spacecraft, and maybe both Yukong and the general for here…”

“The general…” Welt murmured in a low voice. They all turned to Jing Yuan. His eyes were closed and the blankets were slowly rising and falling with his soft breaths.

The general was asleep.

“Ah, my hopeless Laoshi,” Yanqing said softly. “Please, let him rest. I’ll go fetch a holographer later, but for once, I think he deserves a bit of time to doze.”

Stella regarded the general, and the young boy sitting by his bedside.

“Yeah. We’ll leave you two alone.”

Chapter Text

When he awoke to the sound of shuffling, the room was empty of everyone except for his charge, who accompanied his bedside earnestly. He rolled over, checking the time to see that he had not been out for long and to be caught up by the mass message on his phone. Seeing his teacher awake, the teen hurried forward to help him. Jing Yuan gestured for him to stop and sat up on his own, with only some amount of effort.

The two of them were alone, so he decided this was the best time to broach a conversation he wanted to have.

“Yanqing, I’m glad you are alright.”

He could see his charge becoming teary-eyed before quickly turning away and scrubbing his face. This was hard for him, too. From battling the general’s former teacher to a wanted criminal to a high vidyadhara and getting throttled every time, he had been through quite the ordeal. His apprentice had always been exceptionally strong, both in skill and emotions, and known it too. This taste of overwhelming power must have thrown him off his axis.

“To be honest, I was really scared during all my battles. I thought I would be able to hold them off, even if I couldn’t win, but they overpowered me. I could have died.”

“Yes, you could have.” There was no use in sugar-coating this. Both of them would recognize the lie. “This is why you can’t run off and try to do things on your own. Do you realize that you are endangering yourself and making an inconvenience for me?

“I’m an inconvenience?” he asked softly.

“No, of course not. But I cannot help but waste time worrying. You’re my charge. Did you take any time to consider how I would feel when you disappear, and I have no idea what you may encounter?”

The teen shrunk in on himself. “I’m sorry, Jing Yuan.”

“Just keep it in mind next time.”

Yanqing pouted, glaring at his feet. He could tell that the boy still had more to say. The general saw his phone light up from on the other side of the bed, the master diviner's number appearing on its shining screen. Quick as lightning, he declined the call before it could interrupt their moment.

“The exiled vidyadhara, Dan Heng. You let him go.”

Jing Yuan waited for him to continue.

“I know that he helped us eventually, but I just wonder…if you may be biased. In your decision.” He stuttered it out in sentences, a bit nervous at questioning his authority now that Jing Yuan was right beside him.

He laughed. “Of course I am biased. But that doesn’t necessarily make my judgment wrong. You’ve spoken with him, fought him even. Does Dang Fe- Dan Heng seem like a man who’s liable to harm others?”

The boy purposefully ignored his slip of tongue, which he was rather grateful for. “He’s dangerous, but I don’t think so…”

“Then what’s the actual issue you have with him?”

Yanqing scrunched his face, upset at being so easily read. “Laoshi, you’re the general. It’s your duty to arrest him! Wouldn’t it go against the Xianshou if you decide to overlook someone as important as the traitorous high elder? It’s not right.”

He looked away from his charge, calm never faltering. “Perhaps not. But in the battle against Phantylia, he saved my life.” he placed a hand on his head. “These things are rarely so simple as black and white. You aren’t aware of my history with the Imbibitor Lunae, nor of his contributions to the Xianzhou…contributions that eventually ended up as little more than gilded chains.”

He remained unconvinced, but seemed a little more agreeable to the notion of letting the dragon go than before. “Okay. I still don’t exactly agree to this kind of law-breaking, but if you think that he’s trustworthy, then I’ll accept your judgment.”

This was not exactly the point that Jing Yuan wanted to drive in, but he suspected that this was as good as he can do at this moment in time. It would take nothing less than brutal experience to shake the line Yanqing had drawn in the sand, from which he determined good and evil.

With the conversation being concluded, the boy stood up, detaching from his side. “I’ll get your holographer from the sky-faring commission. It’ll probably be needed since…” He bluntly waved at the hospital bed. “Be right back!”

Yanqing trotted away.

Fragile musings filled the space he left behind. Dan Feng wasn’t a sensitive topic for him, but his reincarnation’s identical visage dredged up some bitterness in his mouth. Jing Yuan had no intention of placing the mantle of the high elder back onto him or trying to resurrect the high-cloud quintet. That dream is dead and gone. Yet still, it rankled, how everyone has changed or moved on while he stayed the same. He tried to reach across the gap that had formed between them and was turned away. It evoked nothing less than a profound sense of loss.

However, this entire catastrophe with the antimatter legion and stellaron hunters will incite things to change, permanently. Maybe he would be a part of this shift. Though the battles against the abominations are still recent memories for some inhabitants, they were characterized by the Xianzhou united against the abominations. In this case, the rise of Merciful Medicus and the opening of the warp bridges changed them from within, and not necessarily for the better. People were more paranoid, and more afraid of the Abundance than ever, despite it being the originator of their long-livedness.

This was the crux of what concerned Jing Yuan.

The stellaron is not a very understood phenomenon, even to the most advanced of societies. Only the aeons themselves could grasp the fabric of causality that they bring. The ice world and the space station were relatively benign places to breach the heart of the Luofu, yet they have already spent some length of time without said energy source. It made sense, then, that future flares may connect more worlds to their web. He could only assume that it was just a matter of time.

Even if the next world was friendly, and the world after that, the rules of humble arithmetic went against their favor. What happens when a hostile enters the network? A nation that worships Abundance? The history of the Xianzhou would practically ensure that the reception would be very tense. Jing Yuan, even with his reputation as easy-going and slothful, will not be able to directly oppose the wishes of his people. Should the situation arise where they call for war, then he must be their shining sword. This was the spot he had been put in with the opening of the bridge portals: there was a ticking time bomb in his lap, disguised as a multi-purpose tool, and he could only smile and use it for its worth until the inevitable reckoning.

The general put an arm over his face. “Damn it…”

Sometimes, he really did understand Madame Yukong’s dislike for the aeons.

He was given a couple of minutes to sulk before his phone rang again, insistently calling his attention. He finally gave in and answered the unknown number- it could be something important, after all. With the internet network established, Fu Xuan wouldn’t be the only one filling up his spam.

“Hello, Arbiter-General of the Luofu speaking. Who is this?”

“Good morning! This is Bronya, Supreme Guardian of Belabog. In case you don’t know what any of that means, which you probably don’t…I’m the ruler of the last remaining city in Jarilo Six.”

“I should introduce myself as well- I am Jing Yuan. The Luofu mothership does not have any singular leader, but I am high-ranking enough to be able to coordinate with you. Any request I am not in a position to fulfill, I am able to delegate to others.”

“It’s a pleasure, but unfortunately, we both have an issue to deal with. How are the portals on your end?”

He quickly checked the information sent to him by the master diviner. “We have pinpointed each one. They are currently all guarded and safe for anyone to enter from.”

“Wonderful!” The woman sounded excited by the good news. “I’ve spoken to the representative from the space station, and they have done the same on their end.” She lowered her voice, sharing an amusing fact. “Apparently it’s been rather difficult for the station, not due to its scale or anything, but rather because curious scientists keep trying to touch them.”

“I would understand if it were a pretty weapon, so I can somewhat relate to their enthusiasm. But I notice that you have left out the portals on Jarilo?”

“Yes…we can only check within, or in close proximity to the city. Many of the rifts opened in areas where people often reside, but I am sure that a sparse few have been scattered across the icy lands. Since both the Luofu and the Herta space station have accounted for all portals on their premises, we’ll be the one’s doing the route testing. Is that alright?”

“Perfectly logical, Miss Supreme Gaurdian. I’ll leave you to it.”

“J-just Bronya is fine.” the woman returned in an embarrassed tone. “I hope that we’ll be able to talk more once things settle down a bit.”

“I as well.”

She hung up, continuing to take care of the portals from her end.

Interesting. At first listen, she appeared to be the formal and proper type, but most experienced politicians would never shirk away from their title, especially in the presence of a powerful political stranger. She sounded young, too. Could she be new to her position?

He dismissed the thought. Whatever perception he had of her at the moment, he could build upon it once he gets to meet her face-to-face. Or camera-to-face, to put it more aptly.

After a while, Yanqing returned with the holographer and a message.

“The head of the sky-faring commission is going to meet the leaders of the respective world network, starting with Jarilo. She says that you do not need to participate, considering your condition and that it wouldn’t be much work to bring you into the fold later on.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. I’m only moderately injured, not at death’s door.” The general took the holographer and rolled it around in his hands for a bit before keying it to his signature. Now, as long as the device could connect to the internet, Jing Yuan would be able to project himself wherever he wished. The drone-like device flew and hovered in the air next to his charge, who kept a hand near it in an action that was almost second nature.

“Tell the Madame that I am ready to meet with the Supreme Guardian.”