Pop quiz.
What was the difference between magic and paths? Everyone has three guesses before I answer.
What? You didn't specify the difference between sorcery and paths enough? You just said that sorcery allowed people to demolish cities and paths allowed people to borrow power from whatever aeon they were a pathstrider of?
Miss Zenith, it's not fair!
Huh? I have to deal with unruly students who don't pay attention? Okay. Listen up. I'll talk about emanators next. This'll be a multi part lecture that will be on the exam.
Ignore everything you know about sorcery and pathstriding when it comes to emanators. They aren't just your average joe. Emanators are hand picked (generally) by Aeons themselves and are seen as an extension of an Aeon's will. As such they have a greater extent of power that they can borrow from said Aeon.
However, and this is a big however. Paths and Emanators do not need to match up. There's a… person I know that is an Emanator of Fuli, But a pathstrider of nihility.
What does this mean exactly?
It means that just because an Emanator is designated, doesn't mean they necessarily align with the same ideals, personality or goals that an Aeon has. Some Aeons don't have ambitions or morals in the same sense as a person does. And as such they might be willing to designate an emanator who doesn't line up with everything that is known about them.
This is mostly an exception to the rule. As most emanators, such as several of Nanook's, all share the same ambition of the Aeon. Such as the destruction of everything.
Damn psychopaths.
Just because someone is an emanator doesn't necessarily mean they have the same power of another emanator. There's a big difference in raw strength and power between an Emanator of Destruction and an Emanator of Erudition.
Even if some of the Erudition emanators might seem scarier at times. You'd never know when someone like Herta might snatch you up and experiment on you.
That's all for today. Next lecture will cover…
…
I'll decide on that when I think of it. Whatever it is, it'll be on the exam!
Chapter 8. Dangers Of The Heart
Running away was a term that had some negative connotations to it. Which is why I prefer the term 'tactically running away'. Retreating was much too sophisticated and overused so I skipped over it.
It was also something that I employed liberally in any scenario that involved social aspects. Like trying to figure out why I could see someone that no one else could see (except Stelle apparently).
"So! Not that I'm not appreciative or anything but is there a place that I can unpack my things? I feel a little awkward standing here with all my stuff, even if I don't have much." I said to March without taking my eyes off Messenger.
March was completely understanding and nodded. "Yep! You can get unpacked and then we'll all meet up for lunch later! I'll make sure everyone knows!"
The pink girl led the way towards the cabins and showed me to my room. She left me to my lonesome (or what she thought was my lonesome) and vacated the premises. The room itself was quite simple, but still nice. It was bare and I probably wouldn't be decorating it as my plan was to get back home as soon as possible.
It sort of reminded me of my room back at my parent's house. It was mostly in the small cutout in the back of the room which could double as a place to sit. It even had a window that spanned across the entire wall, giving a clear view to outer space. It came equipped with a bed and blankets, and a door to-
Wait.
There was a big window to outer space on the side of my room.
I could literally see the planet that Belobog was on. I was in outer space. I was-
Okay. I took a deep breath and steadied myself. I don't need to think about that. It was just like… a backdrop. Like a big poster on my wall, of space. One that changed depending on where we were. I just needed to think about literally anything else to stop myself from freaking out.
"So mind telling me who you are and why March couldn't see you?" I asked out loud to my uninvited guest.
Messenger twirled around. "Of course! Since it seems you aren't part of either the Garden or the Cremators, I'll give you a brief explanation similar to your friend."
Friend meant Stelle. Probably. "Right… I have read about memokeepers. But I have no idea why they would be on the Express."
Both of those names were familiar. I remember distinctly reading about them in the archives the past few days.
For some reason I couldn't remember them from when I initially played Star Rail though. Did I really just forget?
"Mm. Well you're more knowledgeable than your friend. She was rather clueless about us."
The way she said 'us' felt less like her referring to her faction and more like me and her.
"To put things simply. I'm here to observe your friend, Stelle, because the Garden believes she holds precious memories." Messenger continued.
I was silent as I processed this. That made sense. The Garden wasn't marked as a hostile entity in the Astral Express' archives, though I had yet to get through all of them. There was clearly a lot I was missing from everything, but it was obvious that having a Stellaron in one's body was a unique circumstance that many people were interested in.
"So I understand that others can't perceive you unless you choose, as you only exist in people's perceptions of memories. But why can I see you?" I ask her.
It was weird to talk to someone who essentially had a crystal mask as a face. But it wasn't much weirder than talking to someone in cosplay.
Messenger tilted her head in confusion. As if she didn't understand why I would ask such a question. "We're both part of the Remembrance. I may have sundered my body and parted with physical form but I can still be perceived by those who are followers of Fuli."
Well there it was. Confirmation that I was a pathstrider of Remembrance.
Or… not? She didn't specifically say pathstrider. I might as well just ask. It wasn't as if she was perceivable by anyone else except Stelle.
"Do you mean that we're both pathstriders of Remembrance?"
"Yes… Would you consider joining the Garden? It's open to all pathstriders of Remembrance." She asked me out of the blue.
"Wouldn't I have to… 'sunder' my physical body like you did?"
"Yep! But that's really a small price to pay for everything the Garden offers." Messenger said as if getting rid of physical form was no big deal.
"I'll pass. Thanks for the offer." I quite liked my body the way it was, thank you.
"Hum. Shame. You should be careful then. Pathstriders of remembrance not protected by the Garden or the Cremators are extremely rare. If the wrong people find out you are one you might not be in for a fun time." She warned me.
My mouth suddenly went dry at the thought. The ability to manipulate memories probably sounded extremely tantalizing for bad sorts of people. I didn't even know what my powers were but the warning seemed heartfelt.
"Thank you for the warning." I said.
Messenger regarded me for a moment before holding out a hand. "May I?"
"May you…?" I prompted for more information.
"We're both pathstriders of Remembrance, although it's much more accurate to refer to me as an Emanator. All memokeepers of the Garden are. Between two fellow members we usually ask for permission before reading each other." She explained.
The implication that they didn't ask for permission for people outside the remembrance was a little scary. But at least it seemed like I was immune to that. Hopefully. Maybe. Did this count as a pyramid scheme?
It was odd. They said reading as if they were going to look at me like a book. As if the pages of my life were opened. How exactly Were they going to do so? Just pry my head open and scan me?
That sounded terrifying. But it was also a good opportunity to get some answers.
It was a gamble. What if she modified my mind and stole all my memories? What if she left me a lifeless husk? I could only hope that Stelle would avenge me if that came to fruition
But answers were needed. If I could even get one step closer to figuring out how I got here then I would be one step closer getting back. If she could also shed some light on how I was a pathstrider of Remembrance and my powers that I was supposed to have then that would be nice.
"Alright." I nodded
I slowly lowered my hand into the grasp of the memokeeper.
Before she gasped and yanked her hand back the second we touched. It was as if she had been burned.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, holding her hand with the other. "You're… a dangerous individual."
…Huh?
I didn't really get much more of an answer after that. Messenger said she needed to think things through first and she would get back to me. If I had a dime for everytime a woman said that to me I'd have at least four dimes. Which isn't nearly enough to buy me anything but it's a mixture of depression and hilarity that it happened four different times.
What did happen instead was I got to take a shower in the extra fancy showers that the Astral Express had. Normally I would expect showers of a train to be something like a communal shower. Because to me it felt like an RV or something.
Did RV's have showers? I've never been in one.
But anyways, I was expecting it to be some sort of communal one based on how extravagant it was, there was a literal chandelier in it according to the pictures that March had texted me. But no, that was apparently not true. They had private showers for each guest and they all had chandeliers. Was that even a good design choice? How did the circuitry work?
Although I had some toiletries of my own from Belobog. Himeko had left me a gift inside the shower of a plethora of different personal care items. There was everything from shampoo and conditioner to some more… private care items. All complete with a smiley face on a sticky note signed by Himeko herself.
I blushed, both from the fact that I felt touched at the warm welcome, and also from the fact that I now had to come to terms with the fact that Himeko knew each and every item I had at my disposal.
Oh well.
It wasn't really a big deal.
The shower was beyond heavenly. Just the right water pressure, just the right temperature. It took a second to adjust it to my liking but I think I could safely say that the Astral Express had ruined me on showers for the rest of my life.
Which is awful. I would forever be in pursuit of this happiness when I got home. I'd have to become a shower designer to achieve this level of perfection.
Having an actual hair dryer was nice. As well as a new brush, it was a bit too prickly for my liking but I'd just get a new one later.
I realized that I had taken way too long in the shower trying out all the new things and smelling each of the 10 different shampoos that I was gifted when I finally checked my phone and it had three different messages from March asking where I was and about forty new messages in a newly formed group chat.
One thing that initially threw me off was the lack of phone numbers. Everyone just had a name and an ID. Which meant that everyone's names showed up as they were rather than numbers without a face. How did such a system work without overlapping IDs when this supposedly spanned across the universe?
I didn't bother to think about it. I wasn't going to try to find out.
I knew how cell phones, 3g, 4g and LTE worked on Earth. I took two different upper division university classes for everything mobile phone related. I hated it.
So I was planning on staying far away from the technical science wizardry that was the phone in my hand.
But the names Himeko, Welt, Stelle, Dan Heng, March and Pom-Pom were clearly displayed at the top of the group chat, along with plenty of welcomes from everyone, talking about how they wanted to have a nice feast as a welcoming party and asked if I had any food or allergies.
And then they attempted to contact me multiple times. March explained I was probably unpacking things in my room, but wow. That was a little embarrassing. Missing my own welcoming messages?
I texted them that I was unpacking my things and got distracted with how fancy the shower was. I didn't realize I probably could have left that detail out until my finger already tapped the send button.
Luckily Himeko just went along with it. She actually went into a rather long tangent about how she revamped and redid all the rooms to make them more modern looking, and one of the first places she started was the showers. Apparently she took my fascination with them as a compliment.
Huh. Good job me. My foot in mouth TMI might have actually gotten on someone's good side.
I feel like my internal monologue was much more rambly now that I wasn't in imminent danger of dying or being left behind.
The dinner was prepared by Welt, and his texts of readiness interrupted Himeko who was STILL going on about the history of the Astral Express and her efforts to redesign it. I had shot off a few questions back at her in interest at certain parts but she had honestly lost me when she started talking about 'Light Cone Curvature Photon Manipulation' and how it was used as a pseudo reinforcement to parts of the train.
I was a computer nerd. Not a science geek.
There was a knock on my door. I opened it, about to say hello to March. Only to have my breath stolen away when I locked eyes with the most gorgeous red head I had ever seen.
The long curling locks of ruby red. The gentle waves of silky smooth cascading down and framing her face, like the borders of a canvas. Perfectly sized lips that just looked so inviting, curved into a gentle smile that pulled me in. Her golden eyes, radiating warmth like rays of sunlight.
Her lips moved briefly, capturing my attention like magnets of opposite polarities. There was a ringing of a bell, as if there was some sound that resonated directly to my sensory details.
It took me three beats to recognize that the goddess in front of me said something. It took me another beat to realize that something was directed towards.
I attempted to speak twice with no success, it was only on my third try that I was able to vocalize something.
"Wow-" I realized extremely quickly that was not what I wanted to say. "-wwwwwwyyeeesss? No? Maybe? You're going to have to repeat yourself. I got lost in your-"
I stopped myself and practically forced my jaw shut. March's giggling caught my attention and allowed me to actually reset myself. I hadn't even noticed she was there!
"Yeah. I'm gonna need a repeat." I said again, pointedly ignoring everything and anything I may have just said or done.
Was it getting hot in here or was it just the steam from the bathroom heating up the room?
She smiled at me and caused my heart to do little flips. It was then I realized I needed to get a grip.
"Of course. I'm Himeko. It's nice to meet you." Himeko introduced herself.
"I'm Zenith. It's my pleasure." It really was.
"You've already met March." Himeko gestured to the girl by her side. "But you haven't met Welt yet. Our welcome lunch is ready if you are."
I nodded and smiled back, it came naturally. "Thank you for coming to pick me up. I'm all good to go if you'll lead the way."
"Anything for you." Himeko smiled.
If this was the me from ten seconds ago I would have probably collapsed from a heart attack. But I was calm and collected. I was as serene as a monk spending twenty years practicing meditation underneath a waterfall.
"Your cheeks are really red." March whispered to me as we both followed Himeko to the dining coach.
I refused to acknowledge such distractions and lies.
Upon my initial transmigration to Belobog, Welt Yang was someone that I had immediately thought of as somebody I needed to talk to at least once. Technically everyone in the Astral Express was on that list, as they were my best shot at getting back home. But Welt Yang, and Himeko, were two people that had initially come from Earth. As such they were on the top of my priority if I wanted help in figuring out what happened.
My initial impressions of Welt was someone who was kind, gentle, and guiding. I didn't really get much of a chance to play with him in the game, as he mostly had a hands off impact in Belobog and for the Xianzhou Luofu I only played during the initial release, meaning only the start of the story for that was out at the time.
I was glad that he seemed to be basically what I was expecting.
Stelle, Dan Heng and Welt were both there when Himeko, March and I entered the room. It was a very standard setup for a dining room. There was a large central table that had a plethora of food set up on it. It seemed like enough for ten people, much less five. I could see vegetables, a stir fry, a potato salad, pasta, meat dishes, soup, three different types of sauces and honest to goodness breadsticks.
It was like I walked into a hotel buffet.
The tall older man who I recognized as Welt greeted us first. "Hello everyone. Hello Zenith. I'm Welt Yang. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you Welt." I said back. "There's… a lot of food. I almost thought this was an all you can eat place for a second."
Welt chuckled. "Indeed. Pom-Pom, the conductor of the Express, made most of it. They were quite excited to have new passengers so close back-to-back. We didn't know if you had any dietary restrictions so there's vegetarian and vegan options as well."
I glanced at Stelle as he said that. She gave me a big smile back and waved. I couldn't help but smile in return.
"No dietary restrictions here. Thank you for the warm welcome. Will Pom-Pom be joining us?" I filed away the fact that Pom-Pom had apparently made most of it. That was… rather impressive if true.
I was curious to see the mascot of the game for myself. Or was March the mascot? Regardless, I wanted to see their big fluffy ears.
"Not for a bit. They're checking on a few things for the Express to make sure we're all good for our next destination."
Stelle locked eyes with me and patted the spot next to her. I took that as my invitation and sat down next to her.
"Yep! We actually hadn't even meant to stop on Jarilo-VI." March commented as she sat down next to Himeko.
"March…" Himeko sighed.
March just blinked, unsure of what she did wrong. "Oh! Not that it was a bad thing that we did. Otherwise we would never have met so many wonderful people! We're always happy to stop by new places and help out."
"It was certainly an experience." Dan Heng said as he scooped some of the potato salad onto his plate.
"It was exciting!" Stelle said after finishing a bite.
"It was cold!" That one was March.
"I'm… glad everyone enjoyed Belobog." I said, gazing over the options. I didn't exactly know how to respond to the knowledge that everyone treated the entire experience as a pitstop. But it wasn't as if I was from Belobog either.
I decided to not care too much about it as I grabbed some of the tri-tip steak and potato salad. Just enough for a taste.
"We'll be having a meeting later on in the day about our next destination. As soon as Pom-Pom gives us the signal that everything is up and running." Himeko spoke.
The steak was really good. Did they just have the supplies for this entire thing in reserve? Were they like a restaurant of some sort? I never had steak or half these things for lunch unless I was going to some super fancy place. Maybe it was a space culture thing. It's not like day or night necessarily existed unless one was actually on a planet with a star.
I piled on some pasta as well. The red sauce was sauteed to a crispy sweetness and the noodles were the perfect consistency. A tiny bit of resistance to the pasta, a deep rich flavor from the sauce, and a wonderfully savory goodness from the bits of sausage.
I was fairly certain that Stelle was already on her third serving, and everyone else was on their second, so I took that as my signal to grab even more. I didn't realize how much I had missed certain things until I was eating them. Belobog had some decent food, but it was all foreign to me.
"So what made you want to join the Express, Zenith?" Himeko asked me.
I could tell the question had everyone's attention as they all slowed down in their eating. Stelle's attention was practically laser focused on me, while Dan Heng showed little to no interest besides his slowed pace. March was somewhere in between.
That question was one I had been expecting, and had me pondering over how to answer. I didn't want to outright lie to them, but I was wondering exactly how much I should say truthfully. I eventually decided that I would keep my reasons close to my chest, but my destination and other things would be open to all.
"Besides the fact that you all get to explore the galaxy and see a bunch of new things. I had someplace I wanted to visit, and I was hoping that I could possibly convince you all to take a detour to it when we had extra time." I said honestly.
The gorgeous redhead smiled at me. "We have a few destinations in mind first, but after that we should have more than enough time to take a detour to it, if we can of course. Where do you want to go?"
I licked my lips as a hint of anxiety crept upon me. "Well. It's a little place called Earth."
In my peripheral I could see Welt twitch. He and Himeko exchanged a glance. Were they going to question me on how I knew that? They were both from Earth. I knew that at least. I think, at least. It would probably be really suspicious if someone from a remote planet with no access to the outside cosmos for the past seven hundred years suddenly started talking about Earth.
Shit. Maybe it was a bad idea. I gave a cursory look for it when I was scouring the archives, but I couldn't find anything related to it. I figured that it simply isn't accessible to those not officially a passenger of the Express.
"That.. was surprising to hear." Welt said. It didn't seem like I was in imminent danger, so I relaxed minutely. "Unfortunately… if this Earth is the same one that I'm thinking of, then the Astral Express won't be able to visit it."
I blanked. What did they mean they wouldn't be able to visit it? Weren't they from the Earth? How could they not be able to visit it?
My thoughts felt like an ocean and I was struggling to swim through it. Scenario after scenario popped up in my head. Did something happen to the Earth? Maybe it fell victim to a Stellaron. But if that was the case, then how much time had passed since I had been there? I thought for sure it had only been a week since I transmigrated to Belobog, but what if it was much longer?
No no no. Calm down Zenith.
I took a deep breath. He said the Astral Express won't be able to visit it. Did that imply there were other ways to visit it? What about the… what the heck were they called, the IPC? Could the IPC visit Earth?
I needed more information. But that could wait. There wasn't a rush. I had time. There was a meal in front of me that I hadn't finished. Mom always said not to waste food.
If every day was as much of an emotional rollercoaster like this I would be going gray before I hit 26.
Start: Apr 30th. 2024.
End: May 1st. 2024.
Words: 4042.
Ok so I finished my semester. Passed all my classes and I'm now on my last semester before I graduate. LETS GO!
Yeah but that's not that exciting. What is more exciting was that I finally got a chance to start and finish 2.1. Now that was a patch. Interesting narrative choices that I feel were a gamble (heh) but I don't think it fell flat at least. Overall it was good.
Wrote all this in essentially two days. It was supposed to be a 2k filler chapter. Haha! Nope!
But if you think I'm rambling too much in the chapter, let me know. I'm starting to feel like I ramble way too much and bloating word count with half of Zenith's thoughts being random nonsense that is only tangentially related. I have the entire next chapter already written out so expect that in a week or so.