Stelle walked alongside the others, though her attention drifted toward the brightly colored birds perched on the low branches along the path. One of them dropped its "contribution" onto a passing couple, and she couldn't help but laugh at the man's expression.
"Hmm~"
March walked a few steps ahead, turning back to look at Yanqing and Yunli.
"Come to think of it, I never really dug into the Astral Express files on this topic." She said, a hint of curiosity in her voice. "Could you tell me a bit more about what you know about the Borisin?"
Yanqing hesitated for a moment before giving an awkward smile.
"Mm, it's not like I can say much… As embarrassing as it is to admit, I've always focused more on training than on studying, so my knowledge is a bit limited."
"Hmph. As if you needed to explain something that's already obvious." Yunli crossed her arms and huffed, tilting her head.
Yanqing turned toward her with a smirk.
"Oh? Then perhaps you'd like to enlighten us less-informed folks, Miss Intellectual?"
Yunli looked away with a faint blush, though she quickly frowned in irritation.
"H-Hmph! All I need in this life is Old Iron. Everything else is secondary. Leave that kind of knowledge to bookworms!"
Yanqing laughed.
"Hahaha."
Yunli shot him a glare.
"Hey, don't laugh!"
"Ahem… could you just tell me what you do know about the Borisin?" March cleared her throat, raising a hand to keep the group focused.
Yanqing straightened his posture, picking up his pace slightly so he wouldn't fall behind.
"Oh, uh, right. Sorry, I got carried away." Scratching his cheek with mild embarrassment, he continued. "The Borisin are among the most powerful Abominations of Abundance. They're infamous for their actions against all other forms of life. Though if you ask me… even putting it that way is a bit of an understatement."
Yanqing sighed and ran a hand through the back of his hair while Stelle got distracted watching a butterfly.
"You may have heard there's deep hatred between them and the Foxians. But do you know where it comes from? Even though Borisin and Foxians seem to share a common ancestor, their evolutionary paths diverged long ago. There's also the fact that Borisin see Foxians as little more than slaves or ceremonial food. That's one of the main reasons for the hostility between the two species. As for everyone else… the Borisin treat them as food or prey for hunting games."
March tilted her head, somewhat skeptical.
"Wow. They sound pretty troublesome, huh? Though they didn't seem that strong, considering how easy they were to beat!"
Yunli shook her head, giving March a notably serious look.
"Well, what you faced weren't exactly their best warriors. Most of them are tied up in battles trying to break through the Yaoqing's blockade enforced by the Verdant Knights."
Yanqing nodded as his gaze swept the path ahead.
"The Denizens of Abundance have been in serious decline. Not that that's a bad thing. The cosmos is better off with fewer pseudo-immortal abominations, don't you think?"
Yunli raised her chin slightly.
"Right. And as far as we know, their hierarchy is tribal. The one who leads all the tribes is the War Chief and his Alpha. Since Hoolay was captured, the current state of the Borisin is pathetic compared to their so-called 'glorious' past."
Stelle frowned as she watched the butterfly get eaten by a frog.
"That reminds me… the last time I listened to the Corporation's broadcast on the Express radio, they reported that a planet ruled by Abundance was wiped out by the Antimatter Legion."
March tilted her head, tapping a finger against her chin.
"Destruction versus Abundance? I've seen a lot of people online gathering info, and with all the constant attacks on followers of Abundance, some think there might be a conflict between Nanook and Yaoshi."
Yunli snorted.
"If only they'd just destroy each other."
Noticing Stelle's troubled expression, March stepped closer.
"Something wrong, Stelle?"
She hesitated, placing a hand over her chest and pressing lightly.
"No… I don't know." Her brows knit in confusion, as if she couldn't fully grasp what she was feeling. "I just have this strange feeling, like something bad is about to happen."
"Pfft. You worry too much. Maybe the General was just exaggerating a little…" March laughed and grabbed her by the arm as they kept walking. "Come on, let's go find a skiff!"
When they reached the dock, a middle-aged man was waiting for them, hands resting on his cane at a small station.
"How may I assist you, young ladies and Lieutenant Yanqing?"
Yanqing stepped forward calmly.
"Mr. Tang, I'd like to know if we can rent a skiff. Preferably the fastest one you have available."
Tang Xiu gave a slight nod, turning his gaze toward the dock.
"Mm, very well. I imagine that as a lieutenant you're already aware of the situation, perhaps even more than an old man like me. Still, it never hurts to remind you to be careful. Quite a few people have had strange accidents with skiffs today. And after thorough inspections, no abnormalities have been found."
A low growl echoed from the far end of the dock.
"Haven't you tadpoles been warned there are places you shouldn't be poking around? Well, no helping it. I suppose I'll have my men gouge your eyes out. That should be an appropriate punishment for those who insist on prying."
Several figures stepped forward, shedding their camouflage. At the front stood a man wielding a halberd, dressed in a lieutenant's uniform threaded with golden roots and flowers that grew through the gaps in his armor and breastplate.
"Of course, you're free to surrender peacefully… or fight. Though I won't guarantee you'll remain in one piece, or even alive, if you choose the latter. But then again, who am I to decide for a bunch of brats who only recently let go of their mothers' breasts?"
With a flick of his hand, the halberd shot forward. Yanqing and Stelle moved to shield Yunli and March, but contrary to their expectations, the weapon pierced straight through Tang Xiu, pinning him to the stone wall behind.
Without sparing them a glance, the man boarded a skiff and departed, leaving his subordinates behind to fight.
Stelle moved the instant the Disciples lunged. Her spear traced a short arc, knocking aside a blade before she countered with enough force to send her opponent crashing to the ground.
"Well, I was just thinking I needed a good workout to start the day."
Another weapon came straight for her face. She ducked, pivoted, swept her attacker's legs, and finished him with a solid strike.
"Damn it, why do these things always aim for the face? Fine, now you're all going to stay ugly forever!"
Beside her, Yanqing weaved through thrusts, deflecting and returning precise cuts as his flying swords whistled through the air, striking other enemies. Yunli charged head-on, her massive blade slamming down with enough force to crush two Disciples into the ground.
"Huh. So you actually know how to use it." Yanqing muttered in surprise. "Guess you weren't all talk."
"Hmph. Naturally. Old Iron and I are the perfect pair." Yunli boasted, lifting her chin.
"…Though it's not much different from a barbarian swinging a club."
"Wha—what did you just say?!"
Ice spread beneath several enemies' feet, freezing them in place before they could react. March lowered her bow with a satisfied smile.
"Frozen!"
The few that remained standing didn't last much longer.
A heavy crash shook the dock as the sound of massive footsteps approached.
Stelle and Yanqing leapt in opposite directions as two enormous fists slammed down where they had stood, shattering the ground and sending chunks of stone flying.
The creature straightened before them, its blue body wrapped in roots intertwined with golden ornaments. Its eyes locked onto the group, its bloodlust completely undisguised.
"…Is it just me, or is that thing looking at us weird?"
March drew her bow and fired. Ice arrows struck the creature's bracers, deflecting off the metal as frost spread across its forearms.
Stelle gripped her spear with both hands, frowning.
"What the hell is this thing made of?"
Yunli blinked, studying it from head to toe.
"…Well, it looks like a gorilla, and it's covered in roots. Pretty obvious, don't you think?"
"That was a rhetorical question!"
***********
Fu Xuan clicked her tongue as she stepped through the doorway, not slowing her pace. She turned just enough to glance sideways, making her displeasure clear without raising her voice.
"…Tch. I don't recall requesting company for my return from the Yuque. Least of all one that tends to bring echoes of future misfortune with her. Tell me, Yao Guang, how am I supposed to interpret your presence? As courtesy?"
Yao Guang stood beside a low table, holding a small glass container between her fingers. The spoon inside it moved slowly, tracing a perfect spiral across the surface of the pudding as she hummed softly, as if the tension in the room didn't concern her in the slightest.
"Hmm… what an inhospitable way to greet a guest. If you prefer, I could say I came out of concern… though I doubt you'd believe me."
The spoon paused for a moment before resuming its motion, slower this time, as if measuring each turn.
"So I'll go with the more entertaining truth. I had a premonition. One interesting enough to follow you all the way here."
Fu Xuan's expression hardened instantly. Her steps came to a halt, and after a brief silence, she moved straight to the table and sat across from her without breaking eye contact.
"…Don't use that word like it's some trivial ornament. You know exactly what it implies coming from someone like you."
"Implies?" Yao Guang tilted her head, a faint smile touching her lips. "It implies many things. Some pleasant, others… less so. But if I had to sum it up in a way even you couldn't ignore… I'd say this: a few pieces have fallen onto the board… without any hand pushing them."
"…That's absurd."
The spoon tapped lightly against the rim of the container before resuming its slow path.
"Is it really? You, of all people, should understand the weight of your own words."
Fu Xuan rested her elbow on the table, pressing her fingers to her temple, clearly irritated.
"Sit. I'm not going to waste time deciphering riddles while standing."
Yao Guang let out a quiet laugh as she set the container in front of her.
"How commanding. As always."
Her eyes traced Fu Xuan's face with a calm that bordered on indulgent.
"Though I have to admit, that part of you is… reassuring. It means some things don't change."
Ignoring the remark, Fu Xuan fixed her with a steady gaze, waiting.
"Stop circling. What do you mean by those 'pieces'?"
Yao Guang narrowed her eyes slightly, as if the question itself were secondary to something else.
"Before that…"
She left the spoon resting inside the container.
"Let me ask you something. How long has it been since you decided not to look past a certain point in the flow of fate?"
"…That's not what we're discussing."
Yao Guang shook her head softly.
"A decision made with steady hands… and firmly closed eyes."
Fu Xuan lowered her hand from her temple, placing it on the table.
"It was a rational decision. Not all of us feel the compulsive need to peer into every abyss that presents itself."
Yao Guang's smile softened slightly as she closed her eyes.
"I never said it was irrational. Closing your eyes is a strategy too… especially when what you see threatens to break the one observing it."
Her fingertips brushed lightly along the rim of the container, tracing its edge.
"But even so… the pieces keep falling. If your eyes remain closed, how will you avoid being crushed by their weight?"
"…Stop avoiding the point."
Yao Guang exhaled softly.
"Very well."
Her eyes opened fully, the lightness in them fading for a moment.
"This… is truly the first time I've seen something like this."
Fu Xuan frowned faintly, unimpressed.
"Really? I would think you've already seen most of what's to come."
"That's a very confident statement. Unfortunately, this time it's wrong."
"…Explain."
Yao Guang set the spoon down, abandoning the circular motion.
"I saw a sheet, completely blank. A nameless person with no past, future, or destiny… building it with every step they take. Like a bright star crossing the sky, fulfilling the sweetest dreams and carving a path toward tomorrow."
Fu Xuan's eyes widened.
"…That's impossible. Even newborns have threads, however faint."
Yao Guang lowered her gaze to the container.
"Is it, really? I… can no longer say that with certainty."
Fu Xuan inhaled slowly.
"…Then any calculation…"
Yao Guang lifted her head slightly.
"…Becomes entirely useless. There's nothing to follow, nothing to predict. Just something moving forward… and everything else forced to adapt."
Fu Xuan lowered her gaze, resting her hands on her legs, her expression unsettled.
"…That… breaks every model."
"Exactly. See why it caught my interest?" Yao Guang said with a faint smile. "Though… I think it would have been fine if not for what I glimpsed afterward."
Fu Xuan leaned forward.
"Yao Guang?"
The spoon fell into the container with a dull sound. Yao Guang's fingers tightened around the rim.
"Another sheet. One that may once have been blank… now completely inked over, black as pitch. A growing darkness covers its soul, making it unbearably heavy."
The light in her eyes dimmed, as if she were staring at something that wasn't there. A drop of blood fell from her nose, hitting the table.
"…Are you alright?"
Yao Guang set the container down carelessly.
"It's… just the price of my curiosity. And the punishment for my stubbornness."
Fu Xuan watched her with concern before sighing and taking a risk.
"…You never learn, do you? Haven't you been told that staring too much might get your eyes torn out?"
A faint smile returned to Yao Guang's lips as she wiped the blood away.
"What hunter worth their name looks away from their prey?"
Her eyes shifted toward Fu Xuan.
"Is that concern I hear? How unusual. I thought I wasn't welcome here."
"Don't twist my words." Fu Xuan muttered. "…What are you going to do with this information?"
Yao Guang leaned back in her seat.
"For now, nothing. Not even the other generals know I'm here. Moving now would only draw unnecessary attention… and disrupt what's already in motion too soon."
Her fingers tapped the table in a slow rhythm.
"There are already hands moving in the shadows to reach them. If I'm patient… I'll see what happens."
Fu Xuan closed her eyes briefly, feeling a trace of pity for whoever had caught Yao Guang's attention.
Yao Guang tilted her head slightly, a faint and unsettling glint in her eyes.
"Desire moves every heart, yet leads them toward ruin and despair. It burdens the chests of those who think they can change fate… and the arrogant fools who believe themselves equal to the Emanators."
Fu Xuan exhaled heavily.
"…I'm going to regret asking this, but I will anyway. Why are you… excited?"
Yao Guang laughed softly, bringing a hand to her cheek.
"Because I can't see it. No matter how I try to follow the course of events… they all slip past my sight."
Fu Xuan shook her head faintly.
"…You're truly incorrigible."
She stood without another word and turned toward the exit.
"Tch."
Yao Guang remained still, watching her leave. The smile she had worn throughout the conversation vanished without a trace. Her gaze drifted toward the window, unfocused, lost somewhere beyond the glass.
Her fingers rested on the table, once again tapping in a steady rhythm.
"…Out of everything I saw… out of everything that could have been the origin of something so vast…" She murmured in disbelief. "…a silk accessory for a woman?"
Her brows furrowed, caught between confusion and amusement.
"…What an absurd way to begin a chain of events capable of overflowing even fate itself."
**************
Low growls and the scrape of weapons accompanied their advance. Amid the noise, Aleph kept the illusion spread, warping perception just enough so that one more figure walking at his side wouldn't stand out.
"You keep walking beside me without stepping away, fully aware that if I drop this illusion, every one of them will notice you and decide, without hesitation, how this conversation ends. Tell me, Black Swan, is that confidence in my judgment… or just a particularly careless way of gambling your life?"
Black Swan ran her fingers over the rough fur of his arm, as if the gesture were the most natural thing in the world in the middle of a pack of predators.
"If you truly intended to do that, you would have done it already without needing to warn me. You maintain the illusion, you diminish my presence next to yours, and you allow me to walk at your side without interference… You're a kind person. And that's exactly why I have no reason to fear."
A low growl slipped from Aleph's muzzle as he pulled his arm away from her touch.
"…You really are far too fanciful if, even after knowing what I did, you still dare to describe me as 'kind.'"
Black Swan tilted her head, watching him calmly.
"I don't. But your actions say more than you'd like to admit."
Her hand reached for him again without hesitation, resting on him once more.
"…Don't touch me."
Her fingers traced the coarse outline of his fur.
"Is it already that noticeable?"
Aleph frowned, confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"That subtle change. The way you respond, how quickly you grow irritated, the violence you no longer bother to hide completely. It's through the body that your impulses reveal themselves."
Aleph's jaw tightened as irritation crept into his voice.
"…If you have something to say, just say it already."
Black Swan's touch stilled as she rested her head lightly against him.
"Tell me something. Now that this process has stopped being a possibility and is becoming a tangible consequence… do you regret it?"
Aleph stopped walking and let out a quiet breath.
"No. What I did was entirely my choice, and there's no reason to take it back. Regardless of the outcome, there's no reason to consider my actions a mistake."
The image of an intrusive pink-haired girl crossed his mind.
"Never stop being human…"
His fingers curled tightly as he forced his thoughts elsewhere.
"We're all beasts at our core…" He murmured, the sound of their heartbeats pulling him back to reality.
"Ely, I… will be the cause of your death."
The strength drained from his hands, a fleeting trace of sadness passing through his eyes before vanishing.
"The only difference now is that, in my case, that nature no longer needs to stay hidden."
Black Swan shook her head.
"That's a stance many hold with conviction… until the weight of their own decisions truly begins to settle. Then they realize it was never about accepting them, but about how long they could endure before breaking."
Aleph didn't even glance at her.
"I'm not interested in what happens to others."
She closed her eyes as distant memories crossed her mind.
"And yet, you can't help but carry it. That's the interesting part. In the fog of oblivion is where most people find an escape from pain, from what tears them apart, offering a safe place where they can rebuild themselves without the constant interference of what they once were."
Aleph's fur bristled.
"…I don't need to forget anything. I'll bear the weight of my own actions."
Black Swan stepped in front of him. The difference in height forced her onto the tips of her toes as her hands rose to hold his face, making him look directly at her.
"Not even when those memories turn any attempt to start over into an extension of the same pain? Not even when every step you take is shaped by something you can't change?"
Their golden eyes met, and Black Swan clearly saw the faint hesitation within his.
"…Other people running from themselves isn't a valid reason for me to do the same." Aleph muttered.
"Wouldn't it be easier to leave it behind? To let it dissolve and move forward without that constant weight you carry, even when you try to keep going?"
A growl rumbled from Aleph's throat.
"I'm not willing."
Black Swan wasn't intimidated in the slightest.
"Will you still stand firm knowing what it entails?"
"…Be quiet."
She didn't yield.
"Did you ever consider that the fact they were sealed wasn't arbitrary? That maybe there was a reason to keep them out of your reach?"
Aleph's pupils dilated as he clenched his teeth.
"I told you to stop." His hands moved to push her away. But in that exact moment, the figure before him blurred, revealing a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and green eyes. "…Why are you getting involved with me like this?"
He asked weakly, trying to ignore the illusion.
"Hmm?"
Aleph lifted his hands and took hers, pulling them away from his face before letting go.
"What reason could you possibly have for wanting me to abandon my memories? Isn't your duty as a memokeeper just to collect memories for Fuli and nothing more?"
She didn't resist. Her fingers slid between his before slipping free naturally.
"It's far more complicated than you think, but that isn't part of this matter. Maybe I used to be that kind of person, but is there anyone who remains unchanged with time?"
She moved back to his side, matching his pace.
"Everything I do, I do out of duty. One that goes beyond my role as a memokeeper."
Her fingers brushed against his hand before gently taking it.
"This is my duty as a failed older sister who let her little brother down."
Aleph kept his gaze forward as he continued walking among the Borisin.
"Tch. What nonsense."
************************************************************
Because I've been running into some issues, I went ahead and published what I had written so far. I apologize for giving you a chapter that ended up only halfway done and is much shorter than my usual length.