If there's one thing that I never really had a chance to talk about it was just how supernaturally beautiful everyone was in this universe.
I mean, come on. Why the hell did everyone have absolutely perfect proportions? It's not like I try to ogle people but sometimes I couldn't help my wandering eyes. Was it because everyone was fit from fighting for their lives all the time? Maybe it was because being attuned to an aeon literally causes certain parts of you to be less human than normal. Or maybe they were just built differently.
I'd never really consider myself bad looking, in fact, I have a bit of an ego at the fact that I WAS good looking. My face was nice, winning the better half of the genetic lottery where I got the good sides of both my half-japanese, half-white ethnicity. I was slim, had nice brown eyes and just tiny past shoulder length black hair that was silky smooth.
My hair was perhaps my favorite trait of myself. I was very meticulous about taking care of it.
But compared to everyone else I had met, my mind constantly cycled through a mixture of "I want to be her" and "I want to be with her". Sometimes at the same time.
Most of the time however, I just wanted a pretty girl to let me lay in her lap as she ran her fingers through my hair.
Wow. That sounded a lot more pathetic than I intended. I can't believe I'm twenty-five and still saying this stuff.
Chapter 19. Red Wine supernova.
If there was one thing that I wanted to figure out before I returned back home. It was how to replicate the bathroom technology.
That sounded extremely nerdy to say, but I had no real words to describe just how blissful both the showers and the baths were on the Astral Express. I didn't even normally like baths, I was a diehard shower only type of girl.
For one, baths were just so difficult to get right unless one sank (heh) an inordinate amount of extra cash into making sure the bath was good. That meant having a way to ensure that it was even temperature-wise, didn't take a bajillion years to fill, and was comfortable to relax in.
Secondly… I was kind of a germaphobe. In a weird way. Whenever I touch something that my mind deems 'unclean', that part of my body just feels like it has been contaminated and it feels impossible to use it for anything else until I've washed it. It's not exactly debilitating as for some reason I can basically forget about it If I'm out of the house, but the second I get back I need to scrub myself clean.
So doing what is essentially bathing in your own gunk from the entire day? Yeah, not my style.
This, of course, could be circumvented by a Japanese style bathroom which my grandparents have, where there's a shower area as well as a bath area, but that just loops around to the first part of it costing extra.
Thirdly, my skin was sensitive. I had to put on sunscreen for PE class during middle and high school or I would burn. The class only lasted an hour. If a bath was too hot and I submerged myself in it I'd be in for a heat rash.
That being said.
"Oooooooohhhhhhh…." I moaned in pleasure as I sunk deeper into the tub.
Such a voice was usually reserved for my partner, but in the confines of my own bathroom I could certainly make an exception.
The Astral Express had everything I could ever want in terms of self care.
My mouth submerged into the water and I exhaled a deep sigh. Bubbles formed in front of my eyes as my breath hit the surface.
I wasn't exactly regretting my decision to collaborate with the Stellaron Hunters, but I was worried about what it meant. From what I understood it was less actually 'joining' them and more contract work, to put it into something more relatable.
If they ever needed something that had to do with memories, they'd call on me. In return they'd help me navigate a way home. Kafka mentioned something about an 'Imaginary Tree' but not much else.
Right. Even if I made some progress, it wasn't anything tangible. I was still stuck in a universe that probably wouldn't hesitate to kill me the second I dropped my guard.
I mean, I could probably live out my life completely safe on some nice planet that the Astral Express dropped me off on, but that felt like admitting defeat.
Closing my eyes, I sank as deep as I could into the bath, submerging even my head as I just focused on enjoying myself.
Whatever. Didn't matter. I had a meeting with Bronya and Seele in a few hours. The least I could do was pretty myself up.
…What the hell did Kafka mean by 'Have fun in Belobog'?
While Stelle, March and Dan Heng all stayed behind for a bit, I had made my way to Belobog's surface a bit earlier than the rest of them. I wasn't exactly sure what they were waiting for, but my guess was that Stelle and March wanted to try to convince everyone to join in on the festivities.
They gave me some leeway and let me go early since Belobog technically was my homeworld.
I had decided on a dress for the festivities, nothing extravagant, but one that was rather frilly in comparison to what I normally wore. Of course, having to pair it with thermal tights and combat boots sort of made it feel obsolete.
It's not that I didn't have options for dress shoes, Himeko had an entire arsenal of those, it was just that Belobog wasn't exactly friendly towards heels and I liked my ankles unbroken. I had no idea how March, or Stelle for that matter, wore heels everywhere they went.
Himeko though? I didn't quite know how to explain it, but it felt as if she weren't wearing heels, then something was wrong.
My decision to wear boots was ultimately a good one, because for some tragic reason the only space anchor that I could visit in Belobog was the one outside of the city. This meant that I was appearing in the remnants of a snowstorm.
The only saving grace was that it was more permafrost than actual snow, which meant that the ground was more solid than not, but it was still an annoyance. I was already half regretting not just wearing my normal clothes and bringing my dress to change into once I was already there.
When I finally got to the entrance of Belobog, I found myself a little surprised at how little had changed. It made sense, really, as only a few weeks had passed since I had departed, but the entire Luofu debacle felt much longer than the two days that it took.
What surprised me even more was the fact that there were two guards who recognized me and immediately started to escort me to Qlipoth Fort.
"We're glad you could make it, Lady Zenith! The Supreme Guardian is expecting you and asked us to escort you when you arrived." One of them informed me.
Hearing myself be called 'lady' was a shock, but I was probably just being self conscious. People usually didn't refer to others as 'Sir' or 'Lady' unless they were nobility. Or maybe I read too many villainess stories back when I was on Earth.
Maybe it was just something they did here?
Wait. I don't recall anyone saying something like 'Lady Pela' or 'Lady Seele'... Did Bronya promote me to nobility? Can she even do that? Were there even nobles in Belobog?
I pondered that train of thought all the while until I arrived at Qlipoth's fort.
"Thank you for… escorting me, you two. I'll be good from here." I told them.
They saluted me and made to move back to their post. I didn't bother to watch them go, as I instead pushed my way inside the building and made my way to the Supreme Guardian.
As I had the pleasure of finding out a few weeks ago after the entire Stellaron debacle; Qlipoth Fort had two different areas where a Supreme Guardian would usually reside. One was the reception room, the big great area with plenty of windows, books, and that wide desk. The other was the personal office.
The reception room was for, well, reception. Chances are when any official work needed to be done they would do it there, while any personal work would be in their own office. It was definitely a preference thing, as I expected some Supreme Guardians did all their work in the reception room, while some made gratuitous use out of both spaces allocated to them.
When Bronya wasn't there in the reception room, I figured she had to be in her personal office.
I maneuvered through the halls, waving to some of the officers who apparently recognized me, until I came upon Bronya's office.
The door was already slightly open, though there was a muted, odd sound coming from inside. I tried to identify what it was, but gave up and instead knocked on the door as I pushed it open.
I mean, it was already slightly open, so surely it was fine?
Catching Bronya and Seele locking lips, some series of hands underneath each other's shirts was not what I expected, but it also wasn't outside the realm of possibility to the point that I couldn't comprehend it.
What surprised me the most was the half second glimpse of seeing Bronya, with her silver hair ever so slightly disheveled, look so utterly enchanted being with Seele. And Seele, the girl who would always be ready to fight at any moment, looking to be completely under Bronya's spell.
Both of them looking so smitten with each other was what caught me off guard the most. It had only been a few weeks. I shouldn't have been so surprised considering how they were after a few days but I felt like I had walked in on a married couple of several years, not a few weeks.
Of course, neither of them were slouches when it came to awareness and both of them had adequate combat experience. The second I walked through that door they made a not so secret sound of alert and immediately righted themselves back, with Bronya standing at her desk and Seele looking to be the ever so dutiful bodyguard.
"Oh! Zenith! What a-" Bronya coughed as her voice cracked just a tad. "What a surprise!"
"Z-Zenith. Nice to see that you're back so early. It's been a while." Seele nodded towards me.
…Were they really going to act like nothing just happened?
If I were a better person, I would have played along. As it was, I couldn't help but mess with them when the opportunity presented itself.
"So uh." I trailed off, letting the moment build a bit. "You two have room for one more?"
"Zenith! Y-You saw that?" Seele seemed both outraged and aghast at being caught. Or maybe it was the fact that I acknowledged it.
"What? No welcome home kiss for me? Seele you must hate me!" I could not wipe the smile off my face as I cried crocodile tears. "What about you Bronya? I have to say that I missed you the most!"
"I- Y-You did? I would have thought that you and Seele… Oh but- A kiss…" Bronya seemed distressed by my sudden charade. I felt a little bad, but it was awfully entertaining watching her fret about it. "I-If you insist that a kiss will make you feel better- But it must be on the cheek!"
"What?! No! Bronya don't!" Seele cried. "Zenith is a vixen! She'll snatch you up and toy with your heart! Just look at her ex-girlfriend!"
"Hey!" Seele what the hell? I didn't even know this world's ex-girlfriend but I took offense to that! "That's rude! I have never done such a thing!"
"The trail of broken hearts you've left in the Underworld says otherwise! Everyone knows of your dastardly deeds! Mothers tell stories to their children to watch out for people like you, lest their heart is broken into a million pieces!"
My jaw dropped. What sort of womanizer was this world's Zenith? Why had I never heard of this? This was not at all how I expected this conversation to go.
"Is this… Is this true? I didn't know you were this sort of person, Zenith. I respect everyone's pursuit of love, but to toy with people's emotions…" Bronya said solemnly.
"Wh- Bronya I've never played with people's emotions. Haven't we been through life and death together?! Isn't that enough of a showcase of my character?" I defended myself from this slander.
Bronya didn't respond, instead she simply broke into a smile and exchanged glances with Seele. Her counterpart immediately burst into laughter that gave away the game.
I was flabbergasted. I had been played. A betrayal of the highest caliber.
"It's nice to see you again, Zenith. Sorry we couldn't greet you more properly." Bronya smiled, this one softer, but no less gentle than the one from a moment ago.
"Yeah we thought you would appear earlier than the rest, but you're usually someone who likes to sleep in so we thought we had some extra time." Seele seemed a bit embarrassed.
I pouted. "Have you two been visiting the theater while I've been gone?"
"Could you tell?" Seele seemed proud. "We thought it would be funny to one up your usual antics when you returned."
"Clearly it was time well spent." Bronya declared.
"I'm sure that was the only reason you two decided to see theater plays together." I said, amused.
Seele blushed but Bronya took it in stride. It was clear to me who was the decisive one in the relationship.
"We've also been working hard on the museum. If we've picked up a few things here and there while working on renovating, you can only consider it Belobog's birthright." Bronya seemed awfully smug.
"Hmm." I shrugged. I had the feeling these two were getting back at me for my sudden leaving last time. I couldn't blame them. "Heh. Well, how about that celebration then?"
"Almost ready. We're just waiting for the guests of honor to arrive and we'll get things started." Bronya explained. "But I wanted to call you here early since as we did so… we learned a few things regarding the matter you asked me to look into before."
My eyes widened as surprise took over. The more I learned about the Remembrance the more questions I had, but any information at all regarding it I would take. If I could find out what the Remembrance had to do with Belobog of all things, maybe I'd be one step closer to finding a way back.
…And this way I wouldn't have to rely on outside factors like the Stellaron Hunters or the Astral Express. Can't put all my eggs in one basket. Or two, in this case.
"Alright. Lead the way." I nodded, a bit more somber than I meant to be.
Bronya and Seele shared a look. "That won't be us, actually." Seele said.
Seele looked awfully sheepish. Bronya got out her phone and, from what I could see, texted someone.
Neither of them opted to elaborate more, which led to my raised eyebrow. As a minute passed, just as I was about to speak up and ask what was going on, someone else pushed through the door behind me.
"Bronya? What did you need, exactly?" An oddly familiar voice called as she moved through the door.
I turned around slowly, a feeling of trepidation settling into my spine. I knew that voice. In fact, the last time I had been here, one of the last things I did was mouth off at that voice.
Blonde hair, regal purple eyes, a noble outfit fitting of a former Supreme Guardian. Her hands were still covered in frost.
"Oh." Cocolia Rand said as her eyes fell upon me. "It's you."
And she did not seem one bit happy.
Ah fuck.
Start: Uhhh lol.
End: Nov 9th. 2024.
Words: 2726.
Oops. Sorry for the long wait. I'm currently in my last semester and I'm trying to graduate. 30 days left woo. Women in stem moment.
I expect Belobog to take 3 chapters, with this counting as one.