On an ocean of stars,

Lo, an Angel they see,

Untouched by the war,

that they waged.

-The Heritors of Arcadia.

Let's talk about Aeons.

What the fuck ARE Aeons?

Of course, there's the definition of them in the archives, but that one doesn't full encompass the severity of the fact that 'what do you mean there's a nigh god-like being that just exists and can possibly appear at any time or glance at us which will either fuck us over or grant us power which we most certainly didn't have before'.

Yes. I mean every word. When an Aeon takes interest in something it can be physically and spiritually felt by everyone in the vicinity. Just a glance is enough to send someone sensitive enough into cardiac arrest depending on the intent behind the gaze, and an Aeon actually appearing?

Depending on who they were, everyone was either dead, granted a second chance at life, or nothing changed as they observed.

There were other possibilities of course. Such as everyone having their body parts replaced by random animals, the very essence of the area being turned into nothing but a void, or even people getting a chance to ask questions via magic 8-ball.

Basically; do not mess with Aeons.

Unfortunately, this is advice I must give from personal experience.

Chapter 16. It's a hard knock life.

I dreamt of an ocean of stars.

It was some sort of space station that I found myself in. With technologically advanced doors that slid open as I approached. There were mirrors in the hall that I was in which showed the dark void of space, lit up by the ambient twinkling of the galaxy.

I went through one of the doors, immediately stumbling upon a girl around my height. Her back was turned to me and she spoke up as I entered.

"Is that you Kaf-" She cut herself off as she turned and noticed me.

Instead of continuing her sentence, she immediately got into a fighting stance and lashed out with a high kick. It connected solidly with my nose and there was a sickening crunch and a blinding spark of pain.

I screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground. My face felt like it had been snapped in half and all my nerves were on fire. My breathing felt clogged, as if someone had stuffed wads of bloody tissue paper up it.

It could have been a minute, a few seconds or an hour, but the next moments felt like a pain induced blurry haze until someone got on top of me for a brief second, forced my hands off my face and grabbed hold of my nose. There was even more pain in that singular moment that they jerked it back into place before a sweet relief of being able to breathe once more.

"Fuuuuuuuuck." I groaned in pain, the hot throb of my nose wasn't nearly as overwhelming as before, at least now I could think.

Wasn't I in a dream? How did I get my nose broken inside a dream?

"I'm… sorry about that. You shouldn't come into people's rooms unannounced." The girl who kicked my face in and subsequently reset my nose said.

My eyes fluttered open, I forced myself up and got a good look at her. She was a young woman, probably a bit younger than me? Not by much, maybe a few years. Her hair was… silver from what I could tell, and the rest of her features were a blurry mess that passed over my mind.

I knew then that this wasn't just some ordinary dream.

"Yeah, I would say sorry but it's not exactly my fault that I'm here." I said.

Maybe it was, but it wasn't like I had control over it.

"...Uhm. I'm not quite sure what you meant by that, but I'll listen for a bit. I'm prepping for my next mission." The silver haired girl said.

She then smiled at me in a sickening, extremely fake smile. It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself rather than me.

I tried not to let people who lied to themselves bother me, but I wondered who it was that she was trying to fool.

Next mission? Did I know this person? No, I only knew two people with silver hair and I knew this wasn't Stelle nor Bronya. I think I had met her in a dream once before however.

I wracked my brains. Maybe I'll just follow the script I left myself with my other dreams.

"I'm going to call you…" I searched for a codename to call her. I took a look around her room for something to inspire me, but came up blank. There was a window to the stars outside, with a million little lights from each celestial body. "...Little Light."

"Huh- What? My name is-"

"And!" I said loudly, interrupting her from saying her name. "Remember this; When Spring Comes, Magnolias Wither."

"...Are you… even a part of this space station? Are you a friend of hers? Where did you come from?"

Hmm. Telling her that I was a pathstrider of Remembrance was a no-go, the less people knew of that the better. But maybe something tangentially related?

"I work in dreams." I explained, not technically lying. "I'm not exactly sure what our connection is but I'm sure there's some importance. As for my name, I'm-"

"-Zenith. Wake up." Someone called from outside my tent.

The voice was mechanical, as if ran through a filter, and as such it erased all nuance from it. I knew who it was, even if my foggy brain took a few seconds to wake up.

I got up quickly, my body moving before I was fully awake, and stepped outside. I took a second to feel my nose, ensuring that it wasn't broken with a sign of relief, and faced Sam.

"Yes?" I asked, surveying the campsite as I did so. No one else was here except me and Sam.

"It's nearly time. Have you prepared yourself?" They asked me.

It took my still foggy mind a few seconds to understand exactly what they meant. It was time to take to the stage. If only I had any idea of what was next, that would be great. As it was… I was essentially going in blind.

"I suppose so." I said. I was still hesitant around Sam due to my first impression of them being horrendous, but I'd at least try my best. "Any tips for what's to come?"

"Only one. Brace yourself."

Then I felt a powerful impact on the back of my neck, one that caused my vision to darken and my thoughts to slow to a crawl.

Never… trusting someone… again…

Everything went dark as the void swallowed me whole.

If I had to experience being suddenly knocked unconscious one more time I was going to kill someone. I did not care if said someone was a mech twice my size with a palm capable of grabbing my face in one hand. I would find a way.

As it was, I instead had to deal with the horrible nausea that came with the fact that my brain had been rattled in my skull and everything was blurry to all hell.

"Uughhhhhhhhhh…" I groaned out.

My surroundings were a double visioned mess, something that cleared as my lucidity slowly crept back to me.

The telltale crashing of waves was a sound that I could never mistake, leaving me completely confused as to where I was. I was on an… island of sorts. A small one, and I was not alone.

Everyone was here. Kafka, Blade, March, Stelle, Welt.

Was that Jing Yuan and Yanqing as well? What the hell was going on?

We had clearly gone way past the point that I was experienced with.

"Zenith! Are you okay?" March shouted at me. She was on the other side of the… stand off that the Stellaron Hunters and the Astral Express was having.

"Oh. You're awake." Kafka declared, loud enough for the Astral Express crew. It felt more like a part of an act than anything else. "Hope you had a nice time in our hospitality."

My first attempt to respond had me nearly throwing up. I swallowed that down. "Could have been better. Prefer not having my head bashed in. I'll be lodging a complaint to your manager." I snarked.

I stumbled myself up onto my feet in time to catch a smirk from Kafka. Did she find that funny or was she simply participating in schadenfreude at seeing me flail around?

Stelle was staring at us from across the tiny island. Her gaze bounced between me and Kafka. She was too far away for me to decipher what exactly she was feeling, but I'd imagine it wasn't anything positive.

I surveyed the other people. It reminded me of a western stand-off. Blade was doing his best to kill someone just from a glare. That someone was-

…Was that Dan Heng with horns?

"Can someone explain what the hell is going on?" I said, eliciting attention from everyone.

I immediately shrank back as I felt nearly everyone's gaze turned towards me. I… didn't mean to say that out loud. Or at that volume. My god.

Welt gave me a very odd look as I said that.

"Well then, gentlemen. Please wrap this up. The Young Miss looks like she needs some medical attention." Jing Yuan said. I could only assume he was talking to Blade and Dan Heng, who had chosen to ignore me to stare down the other.

"Zenith. Remember what we chatted about." Kafka whispered from beside me. She timed it just as March, Welt and Stelle began to converse with themselves. It was only loud enough for me to hear. "A little upcoming hint. Make sure to get front row seats. You wouldn't want to miss when THEY appear."

Who were they?

Dan Heng shot me a glance. I wasn't sure what it meant. Did he manage to hear what she said? Did this new… form of his grant him higher powers? My head hurt too much to contemplate more.

Maybe I was just being paranoid.

"Any chance you have painkillers?" I asked, stumbling a bit. I wasn't quite sure who I was directing this question to.

Kafka chuckled. Was I really that funny?

Blade must have made some sort of face, because Dan Heng grimaced. The Stellaron Hunter turned and walked my way. I almost fell over when he reached into his coat and pulled out a vial, thrusting it into my hands.

"You have a concussion. Drink this." Blade said to me.

"T-Thanks." I said. "You're nice."

I blinked. That was uncharacteristic of me. Wait, Blade said I had a concussion?

I hated Sam.

"Time to say bye." Kafka said, blowing me a kiss.

No, not me. I dodged the invisible kiss and turned to look at the line it would follow. It was on a direct track for Stelle!

"Say goodbye to your girlfriend Stelle. Don't be mean." I mumbled out.

Stelle gave me 'The Look'. I wisely decided to shut up.

The two Stellaron Hunters moved to exit the stage. I followed after them for a few steps, only to be stopped when someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Please, Zenith, just sit still." Dan Heng said. "You're not a hostage anymore, you don't need to follow them.

"Nice horns." I said. Dan Heng stared straight into my eyes. "Hey buddy I'm into women. Sorry."

Dan Heng sighed. "You have a concussion. Give me the vial, please." I handed him the vial.

He uncorked the glass container. Hey, I didn't know people actually used corks for those types of things. Neat.

Dan Heng sniffed it, and the rest of the Astral Express crew joined us.

"I've never seen Zenith act like this…" March commented.

"Huh? I'm pretty normal aren't I?" I was confused at what March said. She was the one not acting normal. No one's hair is that pink after all. "I've always had a question, is your hair naturally pink?"

"Did the Stellaron Hunters do anything to you?" Welt Yang asked me.

"Uhh…" I thought back. "We played games. I really suck at fighting games."

I think I heard Jing Yuan snicker, but I wasn't quite sure.

"...Anything else?" Stelle asked.

"I broke their mirror."

"Is that why your hand is all cut up?" March asked me.

"Yup."

"Drink this, it's safe." Dan Heng, horn version, handed me the vial that Blade had originally given me. Returned to its rightful owner at last!

"Huh? Ok." I took the vial from my horned friend and downed it in one go. It tasted like a stale can of beer. "Yuck."

"Can't we keep her like this? It's funny." March commented.

"No March, a concussion is no laughing matter." Welt scolded her. "Even if it might seem amusing, there's a good chance you'd act in a similar manner."

I stumbled a bit as my head started to pound even more. Stelle caught me in her arms as my legs gave out. I didn't have the chance to enjoy her toned arms as my head felt like it was splitting itself open.

"Careful." Stelle whispered into my ear.

"Hurts…" I groaned, cradling my head.

I couldn't tell how long I spent like that but my headache subsided and it was as if a fog had been lifted from my head. Like my head, which had previously been split into two, had been stitched back together by some cyberpunk ripperdoc. The wonders of modern medicine!

And subsequently I realized I had been acting like an absolute dumbass.

I pushed myself out of Stelle's arms and righted myself.

"If anyone says anything about how I acted I will come into your room at night and smother you with a pillow." I threatened.

Dan Heng seemed entirely unfazed. "Are you feeling better?" He asked.

I sighed and nodded. I don't know what was in that mysterious vial that Blade had given me but I felt like I had been awake for twenty hours as opposed to feeling like I had been hit by a bus, so there was that.

"Welcome back! And yes, my hair is naturally this pink." March said to me.

"Don't think I don't remember what you said, March." I glared at March.

The pink girl raised her arms in surrender. She gave me a smile that belied her amusement.

"Can someone give me a run down of what happened?" I asked, specifically not pleading.

"I can." Stelle said. "I'm… the reason we're here."

I blinked. "You're the reason Dan Heng has horns?"

"No." Stelle squinted at me. "What? Are you sure you feel better?"

I crossed my arms defensively. "Listen, I've been stuck in the Stellaron Hunters secret base for the past twenty-four or however many hours. I have literally zero idea what has happened outside of that."

Stelle got a pointed look from me. She should know that more than anyone else.

Stelle grimaced. "...Long story short, the Stellaron caused the Ambrosial Arbor to bloom, it's that gigantic tree that you can see even from here."

I blinked, right I remembered that. We had discussed that when we met up with Kafka. It was also the last bit of foreknowledge that I had. Anything past that was released when I quit. "Right, I know that."

"How do you know that?" March asked me, not suspicious but seemingly genuine in her curiosity.

I stumbled as I realized that was something I probably shouldn't know.

"The Stellaron Hunters probably brought it up when it happened." Stelle said, saving me as she met my gaze and we both silently agreed to not bring up the fact that she had been there with me.

I didn't exactly like lying, but… what Stelle said wasn't a lie.

"Basically." I agreed. "What else happened after that?"

"...We defeated the guardian that protected it, and made our way through the Alchemy Commission that had been turned into a warzone as well as an evacuation center for civilians. There was a covert operation to give Cloud Knights a disease called Mara, one that turned them into mindless beasts. The Sanctus Medicus, a faction dedicated to Yaoshi the Abundance, were the true perpetrators that planted the Stellaron on the Xianzhou."

I took my time to absorb everything. The Sanctus Medicus? Weren't those the lunatic cultists that tried to rope Stelle into immortality? They smuggled a Stellaron on board the Xianzhou? That… didn't sound right. It didn't explain what Kafka and Blade were doing here. Why Dan Heng had horns. Why Jing Yuan and his brat were off to the side, listening in on our conversation.

"...That's not all, is it?"

"No, Zenith. That's just scratching the surface." Welt told me.

What the hell…

"Tingyun, you don't know her but she was our guide. Her true identity was Phantylia, a lord Ravager of Destruction. One of Nanook's Emanators." Stelle said.

My mind blanked.

What? What the fuck? What kind of plot twist was this? Nanook was the cause behind this? Tingyun? The brown haired foxian who seemed as if she wanted to be anywhere but guiding people around?

"K-Kafka and Blade… And Dan Heng?" I stammered out in an attempt to continue the conversation.

"I can fill in the rest, Stelle." Dan Heng cut in.

I looked at the usually stoic lancer, now primed with two appendages sticking out from his head.

"I ran into Kafka and Blade first, here on this island. You were there as well, unconscious in the arms of Sam, the Molten Knight. The Molten Knight left as I showed up. Then… Yanqing, Jing Yuan's… disciple, appeared." Dan Heng explained. He paused for a bit as if to collect his thoughts. "We fought, Yanqing, Blade and I, although we had to put it on hold when Jing Yuan and the rest of the crew appeared. Blade already achieved his goal by then. That was right around when you woke up."

…Wow. Damn.

Was this… what happened in the game? Or did things somehow change?

"Y-Your horns?" I asked.

"It's no use. We've asked as well.' March commented.

Jing Yuan intervened, almost as if to save Dan Heng from answering. "Now now, if everyone is caught up. Then we should continue onwards. Phantylia and the Arbor won't wait forever."

Everyone else seemed to be on the same page, as they all agreed one way or another. But I felt similar to when I first arrived in this world. Thrust into an entirely new and unknown situation, only this time I had no idea what to expect.

Kafka told me to get a front row seat. If I listened to her, what would I experience? She didn't say I had to, or alluded that destiny dictated I needed to. She simply said… It was a hint.

"Alright, lead the way." I said.

Welt frowned. "Zenith, you should head back."

I shook my head. "To where? The Alchemy Commission? Stelle said it was a warzone. I'd much rather be around you guys, as well as a literal general of the Xianzhou. If we lose it's not like being in an evac center will change my eventual demise anyways."

"Wow. That's the Zenith we know. Guess you really are feeling better." March said.

I furrowed my brow. Just what sort of opinion did March have of me?

Welt seemed hesitant still, but relented. "Fine, just stay safe."

"Thank you." I said sincerely.

I hated the fact that I felt like a damsel in distress, with the entire kidnapping situation. Even if I had gotten something out of it, and a possible promise for more, it rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to be useful, but truthfully I wasn't quite sure how to.

I'd think of something eventually. I always did.

I sighed to myself. From opting to stay in the train to avoid trouble, to going out of my way to be included against a Lord Ravager of all things. Maybe… I was getting too into things.

I just hoped I didn't bite off more than I could chew.

Start: June 14th. 2024.

End: June 20th 2024.

Words: 3375

I've finished the 2.3 story, although please try to keep spoilers to a minimum in the comments. Not necessarily for me but in the event that anyone else decides to browse them.

Anyways, I got an overwhelming nearly twenty to one vote in favor of mini-arcs, but I'll continue to post the question for anyone else until we actually finish Xianzhou.

Do you want to see me jump straight into Penacony? Or do you want to see mini arcs (2-3 chapters each mini arc) for 1.4-1.6? As a reminder, These are Belobog's reconstruction with Topaz. Ghost Hunting on Xianzhou and Ruan Mei's + Ratio's trailblaze continuance.

A simple "Yes I want to jump into penacony" or "No I want to see mini arcs" will suffice. You can leave more of your opinion if you want but truthfully I just want to get a general tally.

If you've already voted, you don't need to again.