This probably isn't too much of a surprise to hear but I'm not the best at sports. I have good reflexes, and when I say good I mean good. But my body is… definitely out of shape. Even when I was younger and I actually did sports I wasn't good.

I was slow, so running bases were always bad. My arm was weak so making long throws never went well. I was small so I was always at risk of being completely bowled over by people taller than me. And it just got worse as I grew up.

Although that's not the reason I started being a computer nerd. I think I was that way from birth. My parents had an old (though it was new at the time) PC that I occasionally got a chance to use when I was young. I was someone who spent all my spare time reading books instead of interacting with other kids. So getting a chance to use the PC was like an entirely new world just for me.

The old internet was the wild west. There was crazy stuff on there. People were stupid, dumb, had zero idea what they were doing. Personal security was horrendous and basically amounted to 'never tell anyone personal details'.

For multiplayer games it was like I could connect with people on things that I was interested in. Most people my age had zero interest in books. I remember being one of the only kids who consistently went to the library in my elementary school. I would always check out a few of the kid series and this one specific book about board games. That board game book had all these specialized openers for chess, and went into detail about Go and Backgammon.

I was really good at chess. There was this chess club in elementary school and I got to a point where I could consistently beat the two adults who chaperoned it. I was proud of it at the time, but looking back they probably weren't trying too hard.

But those early years definitely shaped my later ones. To some degree I regret not keeping up with sports, even if I wasn't good enough to stay in it. It probably would have been nice to be in some shape rather than no shape. I could always just work out but god it's so hard starting each time. My skinny little body feels like it'll snap in half sometimes.

Basically what I'm saying is. If a tall, strong, pretty woman decided to throw me around there would be literally nothing I could do.

Or, alternatively, if anyone decided that they wanted to snatch me away it would be the easiest thing in the world.

Chapter 10. Do Kidnappers Dream of Mechanical Sheep.

"Zenith, please open your eyes. I don't really have time for napping even while dreaming today." A voice called to me.

I was shaken awake by someone. I mumbled as I got up from my spot on the… couch? I looked around a bit before focusing back on the sole other person in the room. Like my past few dreams, their features were blurry and any sort of sensory detail I could make out washed over me.

But I'd met them before, I think. Definitely. Maybe not in person but I'd definitely dreamt of them before.

They sighed as they saw me staring. "When spring comes…" They said, staring at me as they spoke.

"Uh… flowers bloom? It gets warmer?" I guessed. I really had no idea what they were trying to say.

They hummed. It was a beautiful sound. Like it harmonized with the very air itself. "How many times have we met before?" She asked.

How many times have I had this dream? "This is the second time? I think?" I answered.

She nodded, as if my answer made some sort of sense. "Alright. I've met you eight times. But you've only met me twice. Your powers… really don't make sense to me, but I already knew this."

My eyebrows raised. My powers? Was this related to being a Record-Keeper? Bronya was doing me a favor and looking for it in the Belobogian archives, but she hadn't yet found anything. I had thought these were just dreams, but what if they were more?

I've met her twice, she's met me eight times. Were our dreams linked or something? That didn't explain the discrepancy in encounters. Maybe previous Zenith met with her?

Why is it that every single day I spend in this place more and more things get confusing? I could only hope that things got explained down the line.

"Listen. We probably don't have much time. You told me that your visits from earlier iterations would be short. Remember this for me. 'When spring comes, magnolias wither.'" She continued.

I nodded. "When spring comes, magnolias wither." I repeated.

"If we ever meet in person I'll use that to confirm you remember. If you don't then I'll have to proceed with the original plan. But that bridge will have to be crossed when we get there."

"I… alright?" What sort of stuff did I get myself involved in?

"If it's only your second time… Did you board the Express yet?"

Was I confused? Yep. Did it matter? Nope. "Yeah. I just boarded today."

"Ah… Good luck then." She coughed. "The cage has two vipers. Heads of white and black. The Ranger weeps tears of red."

I raised an eyebrow. "Should I be writing this down?"

"When you wake up, please."

"Sure."

"Thank you. You're always sweet. I'll give you a private concert if we ever meet."

"Ah… is there a name I should call you?"

The girl was silent for a moment. Something by her sides flickered, they almost looked like feathers?

She sighed. "You said you would call me 'Primadonna' as a code name. You refused to tell me why."

It took me a beat to register the name but I snickered. I couldn't help it. It was hilarious even if I didn't remember doing so. Did I have old Zenith to thank for that?

"You're laughing again! I don't know what's so funny! If it was anyone else I would take offense to that name you know?" She almost sounded offended, but it seemed like it was more out of exasperation.

"Primadonna girl." I giggled.

"Is this one of your weird pop culture references that no one gets besides you?"

"Possibly. " I smiled.

There was a knock on the door. Primadonna straightened out and got serious. "Okay. Time to wake up Zenith. Don't forget what I said and please write everything down."

"Uh, Alright-"

I was startled out of the rest of my sentence when the girl cupped my cheeks with her hands. She forced our eyes to make contact, and even if the information slipped over my mind, I found myself strangely transfixed.

"Wake-" She said, her voice carried some strange power to it. "-up."

I jolted awake as the memories of the dream flowed into me. A feeling of dread welled up as I tried to decipher what the actual hell just happened. That was much too lucid for me to be comfortable with.

It took me a bit to scramble for my phone but I wrote everything that was in the dream, including whatever code phrases that Primadonna gave me. I had absolutely zero idea who she could possibly be.

If I thought about it logically. It was entirely possible that she was someone who was added in a later update that I never played, or even more likely she was someone who wasn't even a part of Star Rail as a whole. There was an entire universe out there, why did people have to be confined to it just what happened in the game?

Now that I think about it. How the hell did Star Rail depict an entire universe and I'm now in that universe? It was supposed to just be a game. Obviously it was real or I wouldn't be here, but was it possible that they knew it was real and wrote a story about it?

Oh I am staying the hell out of this thought activity. I am not questioning the literal existence of the universe today.

Right.

So.

I blanked again.

My dreams… connected with other people? Connected with their dreams? But that was weird. It seemed like a dream to me, a lucid one, but she wasn't acting like it was a dream. And how did she know me?

Ugh. I needed more answers, but time was a finite resource that I was sorely lacking in. I only took a nap to stop myself from worrying myself to death due to the fact that Earth wasn't accessible from the Astral Express.

Sleeping away my problems was a tale as old as time, but one I used when things got too overwhelming.

Of course, instead of getting anything remotely close to peace and relaxation, all I got were even more questions. I had an entire list of question marks at this point.

My overarching goal was still to find a way to get back home. But my secondary objectives were finding out more about my power, learning more about the Remembrance, figure out what happened to Zenith, finding out who Primadonna is… as well as that other girl I talked to in my dreams, and of course to stay alive.

How did my list of goals expand from simply finding a way back home and staying alive so quickly?

I sighed.

I could go bother Messenger and get a few of those answered, but what the hell did it mean that I was 'dangerous?'

Checking my phone again, I saw that there were a few new messages in the group chat. Pom-Pom was done with all the checkups and they're getting ready to head off to the new destination. They wanted everyone in the lounge to get ready.

I quickly checked my reflection before heading out. I looked like crap, frankly, but all I did was straighten out my hair from the tangled mess that it became when I took a nap. After that I looked serviceable enough.

Stelle was the first one to notice me appearing, and gave me a smile and wave. March did the same from beside her. I smiled back and took a seat next to both of them. Himeko and Welt were conversing with Pom-Pom for a bit.

"What's the news?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'm almost as new to this as you are. We're just waiting on Dan Heng now. He said he'd be here."

"Himeko will announce the next destination soon!" March said.

Welt walked over from his conversation. It seemed to have been finished. "I hope everyone is ready. Dan Heng still hasn't showed up so we're going to start without him. Himeko will fill him in later."

All three of us nodded.

"Alright then! Our Warp Navigation meeting has officially begun then!" Pom-Pom said. They turned to me and gave me a wave. "Hello Zenith! I'm Pom-Pom, you have probably heard that I'm the conductor for the Express."

It was the first time I had met Pom-Pom and they were everything I thought they would be. Pom-Pom was a small, rabbit-like creature and they had two big fluffy ears that drooped from the top of their head. Their fur was gray and white, reminding me slightly of a zebra, and they had big blue eyes.

Meeting a walking talking sentient semi-anthropomorphic being was one of the most normal things that I had done in days. I was hardly fazed.

"I've heard about you." I smiled at them. "It's nice to finally meet you, conductor."

They gave me a bright smile in return. "It's always nice to have new passengers! Sit tight because your first meeting starts now!"

And, as if on queue. The lights flickered off for a moment. The Astral Express was plunged into darkness for a brief moment, eliciting a gasp of surprise from March and causing all of us who were sitting to stand in surprise. When the lights came back on a few beats later, there was the holographic form of a woman holding an umbrella at the deck of the Express.

Finally. I swallowed my nerves. I wasn't quite sure if things were going to proceed as I remembered, but it seemed they were. It made sense, if I remembered they operated according to a script.

The woman who had yet to introduce herself. The woman who I knew was a Stellaron Hunter. The woman who had mysterious ties to the gray haired Trailblazer that was beside me.

Kafka had appeared, ready for her performance.

And I had a front row seat.

"Long time no see, Astral Express crew."

Kafka was a woman unlike I had ever seen. While others that I had met throughout my short time here held beauty. Kafka had that and more. She had poise, and grace. Each stride was like flowing water, seamlessly transitioning to the next one that made it feel more like an intricate alluring dance than just walking.

Each step of her heels against the ground clicked and echoed, despite the hologram. It was like a chime that rang, resonating within myself. Each sentence that poured from her lips felt like a poetry of roses, thorns elongated and deadly, but ever so beautiful. It made me want to reach forward, to pluck them, even if I knew that I would be pricked.

I felt stunned. Like even if I wanted to say something I couldn't. Just her presence alone felt overwhelming.

I was an insect, caught in her web. And she hadn't even spared me a single glance.

"I'd like for you to make a… destination alteration." Kafka declared.

Himeko cut in with an attempt to disparage Kafka. She brought up the Hunter's bounty, but Kafka waved it off. Claiming that the higher the figure the bigger of a compliment it was. I remembered the gist of this conversation, but not the exact back and forth.

I took a glance at Stelle. She seemed enraptured by the Stellaron Hunter. There was an indecipherable emotion in her eyes. If I had to wager a guess? Longing.

There was a small bit of back and forth that I missed while looking at Stelle.

"We're not going to cooperate with Stellaron Hunters, Kafka. It was a nice talk but next time show up in person and maybe we can work things out." Himeko said.

Kafka didn't seem to even care for what Himeko said. It was as if she didn't even hear her. "Have you all ever heard of the Luofu?" She asked. It felt more rhetorical than anything.

"The Xianzhou Luofu?" Welt spoke up.

"Mhm." Kafka confirmed. The way she said that made me shiver despite the distance. "It's only a couple of warp jumps away. Forty-five system hours ago they had a Stellaron burst. Quite… unexpected, don't you think?"

"And what are you trying to do with us? We aren't the alliance. If you hunters happen to draw the attention of Lan, they'll chase you to the end of the universe."

"Get to the point, Hunter." Himeko said.

Kafka smiled. It was a cold, cruel thing. "One of my companions, Blade, was taken by the Alliance. We have nothing to do with the Stellaron, but the Xianzhou is convinced it was us. I just want to bring him back, resolve this Stellaron crisis, and clear our names." She shrugged as if everything she said was simply another friday.

To her, it very well could be. Who knew what those hunters got up to in their spare time.

March spoke with a huff. "Yeah right. You just show up after a Stellaron burst, sounds like it's too much of a coincidence to me."

I noticed the way Kafka's eyes slid over both me and Stelle, as if we didn't even register to her.

"We should help Ka- the Xianzhou." Stelle spoke softly.

I wasn't sure if anyone else noticed her slipup, March seemed to be too enraged by the fact that Kafka had hijacked our meeting.

"Why are you listening to her? The Alliance is strong enough to handle a single Stellaron burst! We're the Astral Express, not a Stellaron Bomb-squad!"

"Of course." Kafka spoke, almost as if purposefully provoking March. "You could simply not get involved. The Stellaron hasn't affected this area of space yet, so you could be off and go to your next world, but sooner or later the star rail here will be blocked off more than it was before."

"Hmph." March sniffed.

She smiled and paused. "I can tell you what the future holds. If you don't go to the Luofu, the Stellaron will eventually contaminate the entire ship and over half the inhabitants will perish. You brave and fearless Trailblazers can't remain indifferent to that, can you?"

…I could. But I wouldn't vocalize that thought.

"What about your companion, Blade, he'd perish as well, right?" Himeko asked.

"No comment." Kafka said. "Here are the coordinates. It's up to you on how to proceed. Our destinations may differ, but the orbits of the stars will eventually converge. See you later."

And then, as quickly as she had appeared. Kafka was gone. The lights flickered off for a beat.

It was then that I felt goosebumps rise on my skin. As if something incredibly wrong was about to happen.

"Don't think I forgot about you. Little Miss Extra. You'll listen for my call won't you?" I heard Kafka whisper into my ear.

I turned so fast that I nearly snapped my neck. Over my shoulder was the disappearing hologram of Kafka's hair, vanishing into tiny wisps of light before the Express lit back up.

My heart was pounding in its cage and all my senses were on alert. What the hell was that? Did I… imagine that? No, I wasn't crazy. Anxious sure, but certainly not crazy. I had managed to keep my cool throughout that entire encounter. All up until the end.

Why me? Little Miss Extra?

The thought of that caused dread to well up within me.

Did the Stellaron Hunters know I wasn't from here? How? Was I not in their script? Was I interfering in some way?

"Are you alright, Zenith? You're really pale. I know that Hunter came out of nowhere but we don't have to listen to her! Don't let her get to you!" March said to me, clearly concerned.

I simply nodded as I did anything to attempt to slow my racing heart. I felt too lightheaded and sat back down. My vision was swimming and I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't tell them what Kafka had said. They had other things to think about and I didn't want to shake things up too much. If I said something unnecessary they might change things.

"I'm fine." I croaked out. "Just a little shaken by that."

"I promise this doesn't normally happen." March tried to reassure me. Bless her heart.

Stelle seemed concerned but was clearly prioritizing her own thoughts. I knew it couldn't be easy for her. Most of her past was clearly tied with Kafka, after all.

With the meeting derailed, it was refocused on a vote as to whether or not the Astral Express should help out the Alliance. There was a short break before we did so, one where March caught Dan Heng up with everything and one that I spent going over everything I knew about the Xianzhou.

My knowledge was quickly coming to an end. At most I knew that this was something that needed to be done. The Mara infection had been spreading across the Xianzhou and was a prominent point of concern. But other than that, my usefulness had ended.

I didn't know more about the situation. I didn't know why it happened. I didn't know who was pulling the strings. I just knew that the Stellaron Hunters truly weren't behind it. But they were steering it to be favorable.

Technically, that didn't make them good guys. They were anti-heroes at most. But they weren't out to hurt us. I could trust Kafka wouldn't want to hurt Stelle, at least.

All I needed to do now was survive. Simple right?

While I simmered in my own thoughts, the rest of the crew had started a discussion. I paid close attention to what everyone said, but it was practically decided from the start. Himeko, Welt and Stelle wanted to help out. March was against it and Dan Heng abstained. I voted in favor of helping out.

Democracy rules, even in space.

With that, we almost immediately set out to warp jump. I was a tiny bit anxious of how it would work, but it reminded me a lot of a monorail or subway. It started out slow at first, just a small lurch as the train started up, before it accelerated quickly. Its speed culminated in one singular moment in time where it felt like everything was squeezed together in one spot of tension until it relaxed back and chugged to a slow stop.

The words I could use to describe it paled in comparison to the actual experience.

Welt, Stelle and March were the ones to go on the 'adventure' this time. Dan Heng and Himeko were staying behind. I was as well, for obvious reasons.

When they were off, each of us went off to our own devices. Himeko was doing some maintenance on the Express as well as attempting to get any more information she could about the situation from other sources. Dan Heng… retreated back to his room. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing.

I decided to use my spare time scouring the archives for everything that was known about Kafka. Suffice to say. I found it.

It was three lines that told me absolutely nothing new. I sighed at the waste of time and mimicked Dan Heng, retreating back to my own room in defeat.

Entering my room was odd. There was a ringing sound that I could distinctly recognize as my phone. Except, the current phone that I had on me was silent. I rummaged through my stuff until I found my old phone. Zenith's phone. The one that I couldn't get into.

I had placed it off to the side as something to research for later. I needed to get into it someday, as it probably had answers to plenty of my questions. But until then I had put it on the back burner.

So how was it ringing? There was no SIM card. It wasn't even connected to whatever WiFi equivalent the Express had. Yet it sat there, buzzing incessantly.

Encrypted caller, it said.

I grabbed it and picked it up, sliding the bright green accept call button. It worked despite the fact that it was locked. I knew this from Belobog.

"Hello?" I hesitantly said.

"Oh. She really did answer." A slightly nasally voice said from the other side.

I swallowed nerves that suddenly leapt up my throat. That voice was familiar. Not a recent one that I had heard, but one… long ago.

There was the ruffling of noise, as if the phone on the other side had been bumped or passed around.

"Of course she did." A voice I heard not even an hour ago said. A familiar, knowing, confident voice. A voice belonging to the woman who showed herself in front of us in hologram form. "After all, extras are always so good at listening. Aren't they?"

My body locked up. Like every single nerve had gone numb and I no longer had control over them.

"Everyone has their part to play. Even you, little miss Remembrance. How nice of you to deliver yourself right to us." Kafka continued to speak, nigh monologuing.

The mention of Remembrance drained away every single emotion except for dread. I recalled vividly, not even a full twenty-four hours ago, how Messenger told me that being a pathstrider of Remembrance put a huge target on me.

But I- I had thought that wouldn't apply to the Stellaron Hunters. They weren't supposed to do this. This wasn't at all like the game. What did they even need me for? I had no powers that were useful. All I could do was dream about incomprehensible stuff and I couldn't even control that!

I needed to scream. Anything. Alert Himeko or Dan Heng, or hell if I should shoot off a text to the three that left maybe I would be fine. But my body refused to work. My jaw was locked in place.

"You'll walk yourself right to your space anchor and stay right there. Remember, don't make any noise." Kafka commanded. I could feel myself move. It was like I was a marionette, and Kafka was the puppeteer. My movements were jittery and felt like they were being tugged on by a string, but step by step I continued forward. "Sam, would you be a dear and pick her up? Silver Wolf will give you a ride."

I had to stop myself. Maybe I could trip and fall, and it would break the spell. But even when I almost fell my body righted itself before it could tumble down. It was terrifying, not being in control of your own body.

Why? Why did they need me? Why me? How did I even get on their radar? How did my phone ring? Silver Wolf? Fuck.

No, no no no no. This couldn't be happening. I had to stop myself. I needed to stop moving! But nothing I did mattered.

I touched the space anchor in the Express and felt myself travel to the Xianzhou. No one on the Express was any the wiser.

When my vision cleared. I was face to face with a mechanical suit of armor. It was nearly a full torso's length taller than me.

Its arm flashed, and I felt a hard bump against the back of my neck. I could feel my senses immediately begin to darken as my body slowly slumped forward.

Fuck. I thought… that shit… only worked in movies.

Everything went black as I fell into mechanical arms.

Start: May 2nd. 2024.

End: May 3rd. 2024.

Words: 4334.

Ok so this was the original chapter 9. The other one was something I explained already why I wrote it. Anyways here's the original AN for it:

Oh I wrote this all in a day LOL oopsies.

Hah. If you thought things were going to go along with canon you were sorely mistaken. We are officially breaking the hell off and steering out of control. Anyways. There is a TON of info being dumped in these past three chapters, so if you feel like SO MUCH STUFF is happening then yeah. I agree. But this is the start of the Xianzhou arc and I'm setting up a lot of things to unfold for later in the arc (and beyond). So bear with me. We probably won't have any more shocking revelations for at least another few chapters.

That being said. I have officially passed 100 pages of this fic in my google drive. Yay me. It's also the first time that I've had like two or three chapters in reserve before actually posting them.

And yes. I know Himeko is not from Earth in HSR. Trust me. There's a reason for everything. Unreliable narrators are an inherent part of the charm of first person.