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How much can someone change before they're someone entirely new?
How long do two people have to spend apart, before companionship starts wearing thin?
Was it 97 days? 1000 years?
Would the rebirth of a person, the cycling of a world, change the bonds in ways that Dan Heng couldn’t measure?
Time tangled into knots like this, frail and tight, as though untangling it could cause something to break. So he had filed away these questions into the back of his mind; tucked away into the growing list of things he could no longer afford to ruminate over.
But lying next to March 7th, waiting for sleep to herald the arrival of the next Era…
The uncharacteristic silence between them made Dan Heng's mind race.
In this moment, swathed in unfamiliarity, it's like they're strangers again. Her too-long hair, his too-tall body, and all the trappings of time that made its mark within them.
“What if an ant goes into my ear?” March suddenly asked. “I mean, we'll be sleeping on the ground for a super long time.”
The silly question juxtaposed against the philosophical debates in his head made Dan Heng blink.
“There are no ants in Amphoreus,” Dan Heng explained. “But I'll ask the nymphs to stay away, just in case.”
“Okay, thanks!”
“...”
“.....”
“Dan Heng?” March asked, voice small.
“Mm?”
“I can't sleep,” she said.
Neither could Dan Heng.
“Is there anything you think that will help?” he asked.
“I dunno…”
“...”
“....”
The silence felt heavy.
“Sorry, you must be uncomfortable with these arrangements,” Dan Heng finally said, apologetically. “Stelle wasn't able to get used to sleeping on the grass either.”
“It's not too bad. I mean, I'm technically still sleeping in my room.” March sighed longingly. “I miss the Express.”
“As do I,” Dan Heng said. “March, if it's more comfortable for you to use the crevices of Time we could always meet up later. I'll be okay.”
He continued to lie: “A few thousand years will be nothing if I'm asleep the entire way through.”
Dan Heng could practically feel her shaking at the suggestion.
“Aw, I'm so sick of being separated!” March insisted. “Besides, I've been wandering around time alone for so long, I don't think I'm ready to do that again. I'd rather nap the long way and wake up next to you.”
“I agree.”
March whipped her head around to face him.
“Whoa, you've really learned to wear your heart on your sleeve. Hehe… Don't you worry about a thing!” March beamed. “I'll keep you company the whole way through!”
“I had meant about the wandering through time alone,” Dan Heng amended.
March gave him a look. “Let me take back my words of companionship too, then.”
“I didn't mean to say the other statement was untrue,” Dan Heng hastily corrected himself.
“It's too late!” March said, exasperated. “Big sigh, after getting my consciousness obliterated, my dear friend Dan Heng says they'd rather not see me again.”
“March, I will always choose the path to see you again.”
The raw emotion at which Dan Heng said those words caused March to swallow her own.
“Too soon? …Sorry. … … Thanks, Dan Heng.”
Dan Heng didn't know what to make of the gratitude and apology wrapped into one.
“...It's no problem,” he decided, after a beat.
“...”
“.....”
Dan Heng closed his eyes. It was as though he'd lost a part of himself lost to the passage of time. Banter with March 7th used to come so easily to him, but now conversations about nothing in particular felt like a skill he was out of practice with.
It was never his strong suit, no. But he knew that with March 7th, it had only ever been comfortable.
How strange, to have suffered so much in search of something, only to discover his hands slowly forgot how to hold it at the journey's end.
“...”
“.....”
March scooted over. She tilted her head to just barely touch his shoulder–a quiet peace offering for her failed efforts to keep the mood light.
Dan Heng was oblivious to her intent.
And March 7th knew it.
“What are you doing…?” Dan Heng asked, when March slowly got up and started shoving at his arm.
“Duh, you owe me a comfy resting spot for your transgressions,” March said shamelessly.
“What transgressions,” Dan Heng complained. “Shouldn't it be the other way around?”
He lifted his arm in compliance anyway.
March 7th invited herself into the space that was revealed, and gently laid her head on his chest.
“It's not as comfy as I thought,” March groaned after barely a second had passed. She pushed herself off and sat up. “Dan Heng, you're stiff as a rock.”
Dan Heng considered this seriously.
“It must be because of the Earth's Coreflame…”
“That makes sense,” March agreed. “Embodying the Earth means you've taken on a rock-ish body!”
“Perhaps…”
It doesn't make sense but Dan Heng nodded along anyway.
“Perhaps??” March echoed. “Huh, I guess you can't know everything Earth's related. I mean, if you asked me about time paradoxes my head would explode.”
She continued to ramble: “But wouldn't this mean your body should've been watery without that Coreflame? I guess your horns and tail did look see through before. Speaking of which… How are you lying down on your back? Where does your tail go?”
This question again…
“Take a guess,” Dan Heng suggested.
“Hmm… Oh, I know!” March exclaimed. “You stuck it into the soil! It's like planting yourself, roots down. You've truly become one with the Earth!”
Dan Heng choked at the imagery. In an instant, it was like they had never been apart.
“You're letting your imaginations run wild again…” Dan Heng said.
“You said the same thing when I guessed the Xianzhou was after you,” March accused. “And I ended up being right! I won't fall for your tricky tricks this time!”
That's because she wasn't technically right. The Xianzhou Alliance was not after him. Only one ship within that alliance told him to go away and never come back; it was the opposite of being hunted. But Dan Heng didn’t mention this.
“That conversation felt like it was so long ago…” Dan Heng sighed. “I'm surprised you remember. Did Evernight give you any more memories?”
“Hey, that's a March 7th special! I remembered it all on my own!” March said, with certainty. She folded her arms. “You won't distract me… I'm the epitome of focus! Your tail is secretly a root and now that you're planted, hmm… what would a Dan Heng tree do…”
“A Dan Heng tree would sleep and let the Chronocognitive Anchor wake us up at the appropriate time.”
“Nah, you'd probably have to come and seal the Dan Heng tree for some reason. If I had a nickel for every tree you had to do some magic stuff on, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.”
“How did I become two separate entities in your made up world?” Dan Heng said, unimpressed.
March spoke in the same tone: “If it's that made up, then where does your tail really go?”
“It's just…” Dan Heng struggled for an answer. “...Not there.”
“Yeah ‘cause it's in the soil. You can't prove that it's not in the soil.”
“By that logic, you can't prove it's in the soil either.”
March gasps. “It's Showdinger's tail!”
“Schrödinger,” Dan Heng corrected.
“Yeah, yeah,” March said, dismissively. “Potato, potato, chimera, chimera.”
March sat still for a moment. She turned to him with a serious expression.
“Hey, do you wanna go trailblazing?”
Dan Heng looked at her questioningly. “Now?”
“I just realized I've never held a chimera before,” March said. “I can't just go through all of Era Chrysea without petting a chimera.”
Dan Heng sighed.
Of course, it wouldn't be trailblazing with March 7th without getting completely sidetracked. There would be no way out of this, Dan Heng knew, and so he’d preemptively resigned himself and got up.
“Alright, let's go pet a chimera.”
-
“Watch your step,” Dan Heng warned her. “Stay close to me if you're having trouble seeing.”
March 7th drifted closer. She held on to the hem of his sleeve as they made their way through the forest that would one day be called the Grove of Epiphany. The path forward was barely visible through the thistles, a smattering of green and shadow, maintained only by the footsteps of the dromas.
“Its all dark and spooky… can you even see anything?”
“I don't need to,” came Dan Heng’s voice in the dark. “The Earth guides my steps.”
March giggled.
“I guess you found your element, huh?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You seem pretty comfortable in this form,” March pointed out. “And you don't talk about water as much as you do when it comes to the earth.”
“That just might be a recency bias…” Dan Heng said. “I've had a connection with water for even longer than I can remember. It's second nature. But with the earth, it's all so new. I couldn't have imagined it was possible to be this connected with living beings. It's as if I can inherently understand them all, even if the languages we speak are completely different.”
“Like a psychic bond!”
“Uh, I guess. It becomes much easier to study the difference of phonetics between the same species. It's as though this power is rooted in the ‘connection of life' from a holistic perspective… whether that means symbiosis, linguistics, or anthrozoology–”
(March thought it was cute to see Dan Heng being the one rambling about what gets him excited for once. But she doesn't say this out loud because if she points it out, Dan Heng would stop talking. As she's learned over the years - a nerdy Dan Heng is a happy Dan Heng!)
Dan Heng and his nerdy self continued to babble on.
“--however the means at which this ability conveys that connection is entirely intuitive. But because of the breadth of topics it covers, it serves as a useful reference point for just about anything pertaining to living beings.”
March nodded. “So it's like unlocking a super special VIP section of your favourite hobby. I gotcha.”
“Isn't it the same with you?” Dan Heng asked.
“Uh… the Coreflame of Time is my hobby?”
Dan Heng hummed. “You must now be able to capture memories with far more efficiency than you did with just a camera.”
“Meh,” March shrugged. “My secret strength IS awesome, but I kinda like the old fashioned way better. You can print multiple photos, edit them all differently, or text them to each other. It's a lot easier to share. …Oh! But we could take a VIP photo right now!”
March abruptly stopped, and hopped over in front of him, nearly tripping in the process. She pointed a finger at him.
“Say cheese~!”
Dan Heng understood what she was trying to do. He held up a peace sign and spoke simply.
“Cheese.”
A faint glimmer of light manifested into the form of a shard. An image of Dan Heng, Permansor Terrae, was perfectly captured in this moment of time.
She handed over the shard.
It spoke with a deadpan voice: “Cheese.”
“You're right, this is inconvenient,” Dan Heng remarked.
“I think you mean awesome!” March corrected him.
“Cheese,” the shard said again.
With a light squeeze, the memory dissipated into Dan Heng's skin.
“How peculiar,” Dan Heng said, closing his eyes. “I now have the memory of this moment from your point of view. …How do I get it out?”
“Mm… Imagine the memory as an object,” March suggested. “Memories are different from just plain old info because of the meaning they have. Think of what it must be like to hold onto that moment with your hands. A creepy forest, but we're playing with Remembrance like it's a toy and taking cute pics! What do you think? Doesn't this moment feel a bit soft? Like, roasted marshmallows while we’re out camping!”
Dan Heng put a finger to his lips and thought out loud: “...that's abstract.”
“Don't overthink it,” March told him.
This moment, with March 7th…
The texture of memories was not a foreign concept to Dan Heng. He’d heard of it more than once, in the data Stelle brought back from the Simulated Universe. He imagined the memory having a texture as March 7th had described; charred at its edges yet undeniably warm and sweet.
He willed that kind of ordinary softness to manifest in his hands as a fragment of time.
…
…Nothing happened.
“Cheese?” Dan Heng asked with his hands out, in a final attempt.
March placed her hands on her hips.
“Nothing, huh?”
“It was like this with Oronyx's Prayer as well…” Dan Heng said, glumly.
March deduced: “I guess you can't just extract a memory like that unless you're a Pathstrider of the Remembrance.”
“Inconvenient,” Dan Heng said again.
“Still awesome! You just have a skill issue.”
“I wonder if this means you forgot this exact moment?”
“You mean the two seconds trapped in that ice?” March tilted her head. “I wasn't gonna remember it anyways.”
“That's… true,” Dan Heng admitted. “March. Look.”
During their idle chatter, a chimera had wandered towards a moonlit clearing. It paced around, ears perked, unusually alert for this hour in the evernight.
“A chimera~~!!” March cheered. She skipped over and promptly held her hand out.
“Awoo?” the chimera asked, nuzzling her hand curiously.
“Allow me to translate,” Dan Heng said, excited.
“Awoo~”
Dan Heng cleared his throat. “He says: It's a wonderful evening to meet honored demigods. How are you?”
“I got a totally different vibe,” March said. She turned to him. “Didn't he say something more like: Well met, milord and milady. How do you do on this fine evening?”
Dan Heng considered this.
“Hm. I suppose the message conveyed is the same. But as you say, the ‘vibe’ is different. Perhaps the Coreflame of Earth doesn't prioritize pragmatics.”
“Ahem. We're doing well, thanks!” March told the chimera. “Just curious… which of us had a more accurate translation?”
“Awoo…” the chimera replied. “Hawawoo!”
“I guess we're both winners,” March said to Dan Heng.
March 7th knelt down and scratched behind the chimera’s ears. She picked him up.
“You're a polite and refined one aren't you! Heheh… I can tell you must love immersia!”
“Awoo… awawoo!”
“You have good taste!” March told the chimera in approval.
Dan Heng continued to ponder.
“Hey,” March said, interrupting his thoughts. “You're not salty that you didn't knock this out of the park even as a demigod, are you? A Coreflame is nothing against the psychic bond between cute girls and cute chimeras~!”
“It's not that. March, I hope I'm not overstepping by bringing this topic to light…”
“Whoa, so serious!”
Dan Heng questioned: “Are you able to read minds?”
“Uhm, I promise I've never read yours,” March replied sheepishly. “Not even by accident!”
“I wasn't worried about that. Could you try reading mine now?”
March reeled back as if his words were made out of fire.
“I-I'll be able to see everything, you know.”
Dan Heng shook his head.
“You have my consent.”
“Ooookay then…” March breathed in. “Here goes!”
They stared at each other with determined eyes. A moment passed.
March frowned.
“Ugh, you really thought of the most complicated thing you could think of, didn't you?” March said, peeved. “Yeah, yeah. I got your whole scientific paper that you published. Imaginary Tree. Alternate universes, and all that…”
“In tracing the ‘leaves’ of the Imaginary Tree to their origins,” Dan Heng began. “You will find a split that sets these worlds apart. Wouldn't this theory collapse under the scrutiny of the existence of the Aeons who travel backwards in time? This means that multiple Fuli's would be born each time a ‘leaf’ falls, and multiple Terminus would exist within a single branch. However… it is not possible for two distinct beings to be masters of the same Path.”
March held the chimera in her arms a little closer– somehow, a little more profoundly.
“That's under the assumption the Imaginary Tree is bound by the dimension of time,” she said. “But the theory is much more than that. It's a representation of the system of the universe. The other worlds could have no Aeons. Or there could be a way to close the causality loop… what if THEY can only travel as far back as their own origins?”
Dan Heng looked at her with a shocked expression.
“Correct. Those are all valid conjectures that's been discussed by the scientific community.”
It was March's turn to look shocked, but the expression was quickly replaced with a grin.
“Huh, I guess I can talk about time paradoxes without my head exploding after all! I always knew I had it in me!”
“That's not what you said earlier,” Dan Heng pointed out.
“You've been talking way too much these days,” March replied.
Dan Heng ignored her. He closed his eyes in thought.
“Hmmm… My memories of the research are completely intact.”
“Of course!” March said, proudly. “You worked hard studying all that! I was very careful when looking.”
“Thanks to you, I now have a much better understanding of the Remembrance,” Dan Heng said. “This journey has proved that Path is filled with mysteries… So not only are you able to take in information through memories, but also the context at which that information exists. This is the difference between merely reading the words in a book and understanding its contents…”
Dan Heng trailed off into a quiet murmur.
“Are you having fun?” March asked.
“Sorry, I got carried away. This is very interesting,” Dan Heng said, smiling. “You did that all within an instant, and with no repercussions to the other… With these abilities, you could be a prodigious learner.”
March gave him a disgusted look.
“Out of all my cool powers, it's studying that gets you excited?”
“This will be a useful update for the Data Bank,” Dan Heng explained--although it wasn't much of an explanation.
“Ahhh,” March sighed. She nodded in understanding. “It all comes back to the Data Bank. Heh, you can count on me for useful Data Bank updates!”
March declared it all with a huge grin, before withdrawing into herself.
“But I probably won't use memories this way. Back when I was training with Master Yunli and Master Yanqing, I was tempted to have memories of swordplay practice channeled into me through the help of a heliobus. It was then that I understood the distance between my knowledge and real mastery of swordplay. It wasn't a shortcut to learning at all! I have to put my own thought into it and experience it myself to make it truly mine.”
Dan Heng blinked.
“Uh, did I say something wrong?” March asked.
“...You've grown a lot while I wasn't looking,” Dan Heng told her.
“I grow a lot when you are looking too!” March exclaimed. “You might’ve had some crazy growth in Amphoreus, but I won’t lose to you. Just you wait!”
Dan Heng softened at the declaration.
“I understand the sentiment quite well,” Dan Heng said. Cloudhymn curled around his wrist, artfully pooling into a sphere at his palm. “Power from memories belongs to the one who experienced it as reality. You can't call it ‘yours’ unless you've honed it yourself.”
Like a bubble waiting to be popped, March gave it one decisive flick. The sphere burst.
“Is that why you don't like to use your secret strength?” March asked. “Because it's just channeling someone who's not ‘you’?”
“...It's the High Elder's power.”
Dan Heng said it as if he wasn't sure of his own response.
“You know what,” March began. She waved him off. “Screw the copy and paste process of learning through someone else's memories. We're going to make our strength! Our own memories! Our own dragons!! Rawr!!”
“Keep it down,” Dan Heng shushed her. “There are lots of living creatures asleep in this area. Don't get too fired up.”
March whispered harshly: “We'll make our own secret strength!!!!!!!”
She turned to him, eyes shining.
“Dan Heng! It's your turn! Release your affirmations!”
“I'll pass. My affirmations can stay with me.”
March 7th giggled.
Dan Heng smiled right back.
Time seemed to stop in these small moments. Moments where they wished for nothing more than to continue to grow alongside their companions, to always be able to laugh at the mundane after any and all hardship.
It was in moments like these that they felt like they could go on trailblazing forever and ever. As if trailblazing could be just like this, always…
“Awoo~”
The chimera in March 7th's arms began to protest.
“Oh! Sorry little guy,” March said to him. She placed the chimera on back on the ground. “I guess you have your own stuff to do. Thanks for the late night cuddle session.”
“Awoo.”
“Huh? What's wrong?”
“Awoo, awoo~”
The Chimera continue to awoo his troubles to them.
“...Let's help him out,” Dan Heng said to her.
“Hehe, that's the trailblazing spirit!” March cheered.
-
Dan Heng sighed.
“Dawn is breaking. This has certainly been eventful.”
They found themselves at the edge of a lake, sitting side by side on the docks watching the deep blue of the horizon fade away into light. In the stillness of the morning, only the subtle sounds of waves lapping upon the shore could be heard.
“Who would've thought we'd get caught up in chimera family drama?” March mused. “But this isn’t the time for complaints. We did a good deed! It’s all in a day’s work for a trailblazer.”
“I'm not complaining,” Dan Heng clarified. “I missed the twists and turns whenever I go trailblazing with you.”
March looked at him with wide eyes.
“I want to take what you just said and show it to the Dan Heng who was in jail with me in Taikiyan.”
“My past self wouldn't be surprised,” Dan Heng said. “The current me remembers those moments fondly, after all. Even something like smashing a hole through the Taikiyan Stadium makes for a great story to tell.”
“You can stop bringing that up now,” March said, embarrassed. “But still, I never thought I'd see the day you admit you're a fake idgafer.”
Dan Heng meant to protest at that, but it only served as a reminder as to how much he'd changed during his time as a Nameless.
He looked down at his hand. The hand that could not hold onto two seconds of time.
“...After losing both of you,” Dan Heng murmured. “It hit me that our time together is very limited. I will no longer withhold affections because of my reservations. Some things are best said in the moment, while the person they're meant for exists as they are.”
March was suddenly overcome with emotion. She looked to him with a gentle expression.
“Aww… I missed you too, Dan Heng!”
“Are you going to cry all night again after saying that?” Dan Heng teased.
“I'm going to cry all night because of the whiplash you're giving me. What happened to the affection meant for this moment!”
Dan Heng chuckled, small and subdued.
March held her hand out mischeviously.
“Does this mean you'll take hugs and hold hands now?”
Dan Heng took it, intertwining their fingers together.
“Stelle and I already promised you we'd hold hands going home. You know I always keep my promises.”
“What about becoming all cuddly and affectionate like a wittle chimera~?” March asked, pushing her luck.
Dan Heng gave her a withering look.
“What's with the weird face! You're the one who said you weren't going to hold back from being affectionate!”
March makes a point to squeeze his hand as if to remind him.
“You can keep dreaming,” came Dan Heng's cold response, but he doesn't let go.
Maybe one day this will all feel like two seconds trapped in ice: a soft moment, a gift, something he cannot hold.
All he can do is burn it into this life's memories; this pink dawn caressing azure waters, and this warmth of her small hand against his own.
After a long silence, Dan Heng finally spoke: “I hope that night of trailblazing was enough to tire you out. Are you ready to sleep?”
“Ugh… You make me sound like a toddler being sent to bed…” March huffed.
“No comment.”
“At least deny it!”
Dan Heng cracked a smile.
“Shall we head off?”
March 7th nodded. She stood up, tugging at him, determined to hold hands for the long journey back home.
“Mm! Stelle's waiting for us!”