Chapter Text
You and I are weak like the reeds
But chasing flames is carved into creed
If there was a way, everyone could see clearly that the room was vibrating. All of the Crew were present here, in Stelle’s room, while the owner herself was standing in the middle, busy dancing and enjoying her life after all that had passed in Amphoreus. Perhaps it was a way to free herself of sadness and despair, but certainly it did its job.
Cleave the darkness and seize the light
Daybreak meant to be free
We are gonna shatter the ties
“Why is she banging her head like she’s listening to rock?” March wondered as she sipped her drink, her eyes glued on Stelle. Dan Heng shrugged, eyes also glued on his on-the-verge-of-losing-sanity friend.
“Let her be. She cried for 2 days straight–”
“ALMOST!” She corrected, abruptly stopping her dance, her index finger pointing towards Dan Heng. Oh, she was obviously losing her mind right now. The guard of the Express only nodded his head, accepting anything coming from his friend’s mouth because what use opposing the ‘drunk’ if not just adding headache to his poor mind?
“Stelle, hydrate yourself,” Welt reminded her as he stirred his freshly-made tea.
“Welt is right. You’ve been dancing for about 45 minutes straight and the last liquid you drank was my coffee,” Himeko added, her brows creased, her eyebrows taut, clearly a look of worry. Both March and Dan Heng winced at the fact. None of them, not even Stelle, could stand Himeko’s coffee, yet for reasons already stated above, Stelle drank– snatched Himeko's coffee.
Seeing how Stelle was unmoving and instead about to dance away her sadness, Dan Heng decided to bring her a glass of water and forced her to hold it. “Drink,” he firmly said, leaving no room for debate. The poor Nameless stared at him then his hand then his face before staying there for a long time– five seconds, lips jutted, whining and giving him puppy eyes to make him yield. But Dan Heng was as resilient as mountains. He did not budge, making Stelle reluctantly chugged the definitely-best-for-her-health-water.
After drinking it in one go, Stelle placed the glass back in Dan Heng’s hand, silently commanding him to put the glass back to the table on her behalf. With a sigh, Dan Heng obliged and returned to his seat.
“What is there to be sad about anyway?” March asked as she stared at Stelle who was already back to her own party.
Let's defy the judgment of flaws
Would rather die than kneel down or crawl
The vibration sent across the room, reverberating through a little but thick book placed on top of her sidetable. The curious ears of the people inside pushed some to the edge of the book, pushing it open from inside. It was heavy, as expected from stories of millions of journeys, but nothing could not be done with the power of will– and perhaps curiosity.
Cleave the darkness, seize the light
Daybreak's meant to be free
We are gonna shatter the ties
The curious ears were finally satiated, a little bit, once their pair of eyes caught the unaware hero’s dancing body. The atmosphere was light, full of joy, and maybe a tinge of sadness, but surely it could be replaced with something more positive once those pairs of amber eyes saw their smiling faces.
One of the curious ‘cats’ placed his hands on top of the edge of the book, one of his hands propping his chin while his eyes stared at the back of the oblivious Stelle with longing and admiration. He silently hoped she would turn her back and saw him peacefully chilling– and watching intently at her. Maybe only then the sorrow she felt could be lifted up.
He did not expect his wish to be fulfilled so early however, as merely seconds after, Stelle decided to twirl her body and just so happen to catch the book entrusted to her by Cyrene open.
“OH!” She gasped as she made her way to her sidetable. “Shush, pause the music,” she commanded the bartender robot like it was Alexa, but seeing how it obeyed her command, maybe it really was the Alexa of the Express.
“Hiii~!” She greeted after she leveled herself to be on the same height as the curious ‘cats’, her hands waving eagerly, her eyes littered with stars. She was filled with joy seeing the familiar faces she missed so much.
“Hi, partner!” The white-haired curious ‘cat’ greeted with his signature wide smile, face brimming with joy before the other followed, even the actual cat.
“Long time no see, Gray Mystery~” she said still with her usual playful tone, a wide grin on her face as she waved her hand.
“Long time no see, Cipher… Everyone…” Stelle greeted back as she swept her gaze towards all the curious ‘cats’– the Chrysos Heirs. Castorice and Aglaea waved their hands with gentle smiles on their faces, still as elegant as ever, while Mydei only gave her a nod. Though he, too, had a smile on his face. Everyone was certainly in their best mood today. She felt bad for feeling gloomy earlier.
“Your room is certainly spacious, partner,” Phainon mumbled as his eyes wandered across the room. Back when Irontomb was just defeated, he did not get the chance to visit Stelle’s room nor he thought it would be appropriate for a man to go into a woman’s room even when invited. The current condition was an exception however.
Stelle followed his gaze before replying with, “Thanks. It’s to compensate for the one year I’ve slept on the couch.”
Castorice giggled upon hearing her answer. “You certainly still have a knack of cracking a joke, Miss Stelle.”
“It is her personality, after all,” Aglaea said with a chuckle.
“That’s a good thing. That means her mind is as strong as her muscle,” the Prince of Castrum Kremnos nodded his head with a proud smile, acting as if he personally trained her.
A soft laugh escaped Phainon’s lips watching his friends, a simple, fragile, and fleeting moment yet the very thing he wished for, prayed for to any Titan every night like he was their devout follower, as he returned his gaze to Stelle. “So, where are you going to go next, partner?” He asked curiously as his eyes wandered, again. But this time he spotted someone– many, actually, that he automatically bowed to them out of courtesy.
The way all of the Heirs bowed to the people behind her was missed by Stelle, and when she was about to answer his question, a voice interrupted her. “So, they are the Chrysos Heirs?” Welt asked, which made Stelle jump in her place a little.
“I don’t know if ‘Chrysos Heirs’ is still a fitting name to us,” Aglaea mumbled with a slight chuckle at the same time as Stelle said, “Oh, right! I forgot to introduce you to them.”
“Well, not all of them are present here, but this is– uh… sorry for pointing at you…” she said apologetically as she retracted her hand. But Aglaea reassured her with “It’s fine,” so Stelle respectfully pointed at Aglaea’s crown again.
“This is Lady Aglaea,” the Goldweaver nodded her head. “This is Castorice,” the maiden elegantly bowed to them. Characteristic of her. “This is Mydei,” the prince also nodded his head. “This is Cipher,” and she waved her hand. “And this is Phai– Wait, do you prefer to be called Phainon or Khaslana?”
“Mmm… Khaslana.”
“This is Khaslana,” she said as she placed her hand back on her knees waiting for Welt’s reaction. However, it took long– too long, for her and the Heirs to get one that it started to confuse them. “Uh… Mr. Yang? You looked like you just saw a ghost,” Stelle blurted out when her eyes caught how stiff his body and how blank his eyes were.
“Oh– uh… It’s just… He reminded me of someone,” he said with a faint smile. She was not sure whether she was hallucinating or he really just had a somber smile, but she did not press on the topic.
“Andd… friends–” she cut herself before thinking to herself, albeit it was more of thinking out loud. “Hmm… I don’t think it’s fitting to call them ‘friends’ considering there are Lady Aglaea, Professor Anaxa, and Lady Tribios.”
“It’s fine, you can call me ‘friend’ too,” Aglaea assured.
“Just say that you want to be regarded as young, Goldweaver,” a familiar raspy voice greeted, though he was still nowhere to be seen. Still climbing up the stairs, probably.
“Oh… you finally decided to go out and see the sun instead of stuck cooped up in your room? A character growth, I must say,” Aglaea replied, voice gentle, poised yet her words sharp.
“You should look at yourself, Goldweaver. You’re now capable of talking about something else other than that “Flame-Chase is a journey of constant loss” nonsense you were obsessed with,” unfortunately, she was talking to Anaxa. One who was known to be able to refute almost everything. Stelle could practically hear the heavy sighs of the others that they did not even let go.
Phainon shook his head looking at his teachers bickering before he returned his and the other Heirs' focus back to Stelle. “Let’s leave them be. You can keep going, Stelle.”
“Right,” she exclaimed with a clap. “So, everyone already knows March and Dan Heng so we’ll skip them,” her hand made a circular motion towards the two unamused Nameless. They were fine with what she said, the gesture was the thing that bothered them. “This–”
“That gesture of yours made us look like a cake on display and you’re a seller trying to sell us, Stelle,” March said, cutting her words. Hoping that Stelle would understand her intention and say something.
“Well, that’s fine. Cakes are tasty,” though she technically did, her answer was nothing like she was expecting. Maybe March prayed to the wrong Aeon, or maybe a wrong Aeon answered her prayer.
Stelle was quick to dismiss the ever-growing intense stare of March, though, as she continued introducing the Heirs to the Crew with a wide smile that made March want to shake her body violently to rack her brain and, hopefully, rewire things there.
“This is Mr. Yang,” she pointed at the brown-haired man, her palm open. She then shifted to her right, towards the red-haired lady, “This is Miss Himeko, and this is Sunny.”
Sunday creased his brows, his mouth turned to a frown before diverting his gaze towards the Heirs. “I’m not Sunny,” he corrected, unamused with Stelle’s antics. “Please, call me Sunday,” he added with a faint smile.
“Greetings, Lord Yang, Lady Himeko, and Lord Sunday,” greeted Castorice with a slight bow. She was, then, followed by the rest of present Heirs. Including the annoyed Anaxa and the upset Aglaea who just joined the conversation.
“Oh, so we are not included as the Chrysos Heirs?” ‘You dare say that you introduced the Nameless to Chrysos Heirs, but left us only hearing their names?’ Was the undertext left behind by the Professor, and was directed towards the Trailblazer.
“Oh? So you consider yourself a Chrysos Heir?” Aglaea asked, her hand crossed in front of her chest, her gaze cold, sending only freezing wind to those directed at. “Again, character growth, I must say, Blasphemer. Though the time had passed for you to be able to call yourself a Chrysos Heir.”
Neither his words nor his voice express annoyance, but the feeling was there. It was clear– as clear as crystal even, only it was seen through the atmosphere enveloping the two, radiating off of him. “It’s merely for convenience. You wouldn’t want the Chrysos Heir to be seen as a dysfunctional group, right, dear Aglaea?” Though the nickname was rather sweet, it would be taken as such only when you were reading, not when you were present between them.
As Aglaea opened her mouth, Cipher cut in first, stopping her, and eventually the so-called adults, from further bickering in front of their guests. “Okay, okay, enough befriending each other,” Cipher said, her hands stretched to both sides as if trying to stop two cats from physically fighting each other. “You know, your words contradict your action, Prof Nax,” her index finger nonchalantly pointed towards the offended Anaxa before she turned around, facing the Nameless once more, unbothered by the deadly glare the Professor sent her way nor his thought.
“And I will not elaborate what I mean. Leave your conflict aside, we have the world ahead of us,” Anaxa’s creased brow smoothed as quickly as it creased. He did not understand this particular sentence of hers. But so did Aglaea, Phainon, Castorice, and Mydei– Neither did the speaker, Cipher, herself.
“Soo… what might be the lucky next world the Nameless is going to save?” Phainon asked, his blue eyes constantly changing course from looking at Dan Heng to Welt to Himeko before an answer came.
“Not always save, Sir Khaslana,” Welt corrected him. The Astral Express stood to connect the world, to explore, to establish connection, it just so happened saving them came entailing their initial goal. “Most of the time our plan was only to relax ourselves, to play, to see other worlds.”
“Yeah! But for some reason it always turned to saving it,” March shrugged.
“Well, as long as there's a new connection built, I don’t think it’s really a bad thing,” Dan Heng chimed in after his long silence, earning a nod of agreement from March.
“Well, to answer your question, it’s Edo Star,” Himeko replied. “Or supposedly, perhaps,” she said, uncertainty lacing her words making the rest of the Crew along with the Heirs tuned in their focus to her.
“Why?” Asked March slightly whining. She had been waiting for this world alongside Lushaka.
The Navigator let out a slight sigh, feeling bad for everyone especially for March for cancelling going to Edo Star. “Pom-Pom received a message from the IPC that Edo Star might be closing its border soon. Considering we’re not warping to Edo Star immediately but to Penacony plus we do not know how long we have to stay there, I don’t believe we can go to Edo Star just in time,” she explained as she swallowed a smile. Her body slumped, her expression regretful, her voice apologetic. It elicited a myriad of groans and whines from the Crew.
Stelle stayed silent, her gaze blank before waking from her trance merely seconds later. “Then, where do we plan to go? If we really can’t go to Edo Star.”
“Planarcadia is our new option replacing Edo Star,” Welt replied while looking at Stelle.
She let out a dejected hum before returning her focus to the small ‘cats’ inside the book. “Well, if you’re asking about the next world as in a new world, it’s undecided, but if you’re asking our next stop, we’ll be back to Penacony,” she sighed, half expectant, half traumatized to go back. “Something happened there and the Family needed Astral Express to aid them.”
“Jumping straight back to duty, huh?” Mydei said as he crossed his hands in front of his chest.
The phantom thief even shook her head, of pity but not the pity one might expect. “Pity Trailblazing isn’t a paid job. If it is, I would certainly love to join them.”
“It’s just money that you’re after, Miss Cipher,” Phainon said, hand still propping his chin while looking at Cipher.
The cat simply shrugged, she saw it as normal. “Now, now, we all need money to live, don’t we?”
“You’re not wrong, Miss Cipher. You’re not wrong,” a giggle escaped Phainon’s lips again as he shook his head, in disbelief of her unique way of thinking.
“But, Gray Mystery, what does this Penacony look like?”
Mydei did a couple of nods following Cipher’s words. “This Deliverer right here often talks about it, but when we asked him how it looked, he was unsure himself,” he said while looking at Phainon who was apologetically scratching his head. “He kept jumping from one point to another, kept adding ‘I guess??? I don’t know’, kept saying ‘Try asking Dan Heng or the Nameless’.”
“Any normal person would do that if they had to go off of someone else’s description,” he defended with a huff. “I wasn’t sure myself how it looked. So, like a nice person that I am, instead of spreading misinformation, I prefer copying what he said and hoped anyone with a broader imagination could help,” the white-haired grinned, his hands on his hip, feeling proud over his way of thinking whereas Mydei shook his head in disapproval.
Stelle absent-mindedly hummed, the gears in her head turning. “March, you still have the pictures from when we were at Penacony, right?” To which the pink-haired haughtily scoffed.
“Of course, I do!” she said, her hands on her hip. She then whipped her camera out of nowhere and began showing the curious ‘cats’ the pictures she took in Penacony.
“This is Reverie Hotel,” she turned her camera towards the Heirs, introducing them to a place with a massive pendulum-like clock hanging on top of the reception desk. Their mouths agape, in awe with the sight they had never seen before. Some reached their hand out in a daze trying to touch the hanging clock. But March was far from done. She swiped left, showing another picture of the hotel. This time, the bar the hotel provided came up complete with the Nameless holding their drinks in front of it.
“Wow, I didn’t know you’re of age to drink, Gray Mystery,” the trickster teased as she spotted Stelle holding a tall glass filled with golden liquid.
“What do you mean? That’s apple juice,” she pouted. She reminded her of the incident at that time where Himeko strictly prohibited her from drinking alcohol because she took her ‘I’m barely two years old’ joke seriously. Even after she explained the origin of that joke, being that she was materialized? By the Stellaron Hunter and that was where the Express found her, hence her age because that probably was the time those outside people knew her, and claimed that she was probably even older than Dan Heng, Himeko still held her belief.
A small ‘oh’ escaped Cipher’s lips as she heard the other Nameless’s snort, confirming her words.
“Anywaays~ This is our hotel room– Uhmm… I mean, my room. But every room is identical so I can say it as our room!” There were no beddings, only sofas, tables and a weirdly-shaped pool at the center sitting right below monitors in the picture shown by her, which obviously made them corked their eyebrows.
“Where do you even sleep?” Mydei asked innocently. His question was far from weird, but the confusion apparent in his eyes entertained Stelle just the right amount.
“Guess–”
“In this pool, of course~!” She exclaimed as if that was the most obvious thing. Well, there went the fun in teasing these curious and clueless ‘cats’.
She then proceeded to show them the Golden Hour, the center of festivities. “This is a place Aglaea surely loves. I can see it,” the professor muttered absent-mindedly, his voice thick of mockery as seen by the Soulglad statues that were apparent in these shots, earning him a couple of raised eyebrows.
“Oh, so you’re seeing Lady Goldweaver?” Cipher said with her signature teasing lilt which made the professor whip his head to the side, offended.
“What did you say?”
“Oh nothing, Prof Nax~” she excused with her hands held high, standing right at the sides of her head. Though if you look at her closely, you would see her tongue sticking out as she avoided making eye contact. She then said, “Just a cat meowing. Meoww~” as her hand balled then curled inwards, something a human would do to mimic a cat.
A grumble was heard bubbling from Anaxa, but March cut in just in time with a new picture, stopping a brewing fight. She scrolled and scrolled, described and described. Many pictures were shown, and many responses were expressed.
“Penacony is definitely NOTHING like what I imagined!” Phainon exclaimed as he ran his hands down his face. “I want to go to Penacony too~” he added as his body slumped forward leaving his hands as the only support for his body.
“It was… a world out of even our wildest imagination,” Castorice mused with a smile. She certainly still could not believe the world she just saw. The contrastive realism of Amphoreus and surrealism of Penacony brought them both confusion and amazement.
“I wonder what the other worlds like Xianzhou Luofu and Belobog looked like,” Phainon added, his lips jutting out due to feeling sad over the fact that he could not join the Nameless in their expeditions– perhaps only for the mean time, but still, to him this wait was unbearable.
“I’m not sure about Xianzhou Luofu, but I believe, based on Phainon’s description, Belobog would look similar to Hyperborea. I remember the Imperator called her homeland as frozen land,” the Goldweaver mused with a faint smile on her face. She hoped by presenting a viable option to the poor snow-haired puppy, he would not be as sad as before. But instead…
“I have never gone to Hyperborea,” she got him feeling even more frustrated.
The Heirs went into panic. Their Deliverer was practically kicking his legs, throwing tantrums. The room was filled with every kind of noise for a while. They tried their best to calm him down until Stelle cut the noise, “Let’s make a deal, Phainon–,” that made the grown white-haired baby stop his sulks. “Or Khaslana. I don’t know,” she left the last words right above whisper.
“I’ll travel to many more worlds, learn it, and once Amphoreus’s seed sprouts, I’ll take you and every other Heirs to visit the land with me being the guide,” she said, explaining her part of the deal. She could see the shine in Phainon’s blue eyes were starting to return, his expression starting to lit up. He was growing happier and happier with each word coming out of her mouth. “While you... You learn Amphoreus to the best you can. Travel the lands, dig its facts, its uniqueness. Find what’s real, what’s not, find what’s the truth, and what’s not. Learn everything. And once we return to Amphoreus, take us to those places we’ve never been to.”
“I know I’ve heard but never been to Dolos, Aidonia, Arcadia, and now Hyperborea too,” she recounted how some of the Heirs told her their stories of their homeland but the Flame-Chase Journey never brought them to those places. “How about it? De–”
“DEAL!” If it was possible, you might see his ears perked up while his tail wagging in excitement behind him.
“Okay!” She said just as excited. As a person who loved new experiences, Stelle could not wait until Amphoreus started to turn into a real planet and travel the land once more, but this time with a relaxed mind and body. She knew she could visit Dolos and the other places right now, but where was the fun in it? She preferred waiting and experience the land fully rather than being early then feeling something was missing.
“Now, who wants to watch me play VR games?!” She asked with full excitement.
Despite not knowing what it was, Phainon and Cipher eagerly volunteered, “ME, ME, ME!” With their hands high in the air.
“I do want to watch it too,” Castorice chimed in. Her gentle and calm voice barely contained her excitement due to the glimmer in her eyes. “I’ll give Miss Hyacine a call. Who knows she also wants to watch you,” she added, her fingers already busy tapping her phone away.
“M’kay!” She exclaimed. “Get ready for a journey you’ve never seen before,” she added with an evil giggle like the cat and mouse cartoon she loved to watch, sending shivers to everyone’s spine.