Chapter Text
If I had to pick a single thing that was a universal flaw in all creatures, it would be curiosity.
I can’t fully encompass my feelings in one annotation in a journal. But curiosity is both a boon and a bane. Without curiosity we would never push ourselves to boundless limits, breaking past barriers and opening up to the stars and above. What made a person, human, regardless if they were made of flesh or metal or not even anthropomorphic in form was their curiosity.
In my opinion, at least.
It’s a blessing, but also a curse.
The need, the hunger, the raw desire to understand things was present in all creatures but the voracity of that desire determined many things.
There was only one difference between geniuses and insanity. Success.
To people who needed to know, only few of them would ever get what they wanted. They would never be understood by those who were satisfied without knowing.
Bronya and Serval would likely never understand why Cocolia turned to the Stellaron instead of them.
Cocolia had something she needed to know. Her curiosity needed to be sated.
In that regard, Cocolia, Stelle and I all had things we held in common.
We all had things that we needed to know. Our curiosity, our innate desire as humans wouldn’t be satisfied until then. We all just had different ways to hide it.
Chapter 5. An Officer, Hiker, and Robot Walk Into a Bar.
When it came to the area that we were supposed to infiltrate, it was divided into three different zones. From what I understood, there was the area where our party was currently. I mentally categorized this as the ‘outer layer’. This was a fragmentum zone that was sanctioned off by guards and was regularly patrolled. Regular work would be done here, and the chance of running into any fragmentum monsters was practically none.
In the second layer, the ‘inner layer’ as I categorized it, was where the guards and regular patrols stopped. This was where the fragmentum was dense and thick. There was a good chance that it had a steady supply of fragmentum amalgamations. Corruption that had fused with people or corpses, turning them into something beyond humanity.
The third layer, the ‘core’ as I liked to think of it, was where the Stellaron was located. The party hadn’t yet located exactly where it was, even Serval only had a vague location, but I knew it existed and what it looked like.
Everwinter Hill.
I… didn’t need to think about that just yet.
Not yet. Right now I just needed to focus on the present.
Yeah, I could do that.
I had a thing or two planned just in case. Hopefully Sampo got everyone my letter. Hopefully everyone got here in time. Ah… I hated when things relied on hope. So many things could go wrong.
What if he couldn’t convince them? What if they refused to show up? What if they didn’t arrive in time?
Whatever. Wait and see.
Serval had gotten us through the door, metaphorically speaking. The best hiding spot was apparently out in the open, because the second anyone saw Serval and our ragtag group they hardly looked twice.
I couldn’t quite tell if that was because they knew Serval, because she was intimidating and most certainly radiating as much ‘don’t talk to me’ energy, or a combination of both.
Regardless, the outer layer of the fragmentum was a mess of pseudo-barracks, gigantic rotating gears that were a hassle to get through, and random robots everywhere.
Serval, and surprisingly (is it really that surprising when she’s the main character?) Stelle was the one who did most of the guidance, leaving Dan Heng, March, Seele and I to hang around in the back.
Seele used this chance to all but ambush me.
“So what’s up?” She asked me, quiet enough that the other two couldn’t overhear.
I blinked because I really didn’t understand the question. “...I’m sorry?”
She rolled her eyes and fixed me with a purple stare. “You. What’s up with you.”
I still didn’t understand what she wanted. “We’re… trying to find Bronya and Cocolia…?”
Seele sighed. “We’ve known each other for a long time, Zenith. I can tell when something is wrong.”
Oh. I… guess that made sense. I couldn’t just drop into playing a role and pretend that nobody would notice. I had thought that doing my best to be reactive rather than anything else would minimize any sort of suspicion, but that was wishful thinking.
These people had a lifetime to get to know Zenith. I had a day to pretend to be her. No prep, no study materials, no script; only a book and vague knowledge from a game. I didn’t expect Seele to be the one to say anything. I… didn’t expect anyone to say anything.
I licked my lips. The coldness gave it a fresh crisp. “What do you think is wrong?” I avoided the question.
Seele wasn’t having it. “Everyone knows something is wrong. Natasha knows, Sampo knows. Even Oleg knows and you’ve talked to him for about five minutes in the past twenty-four hours. You can’t act like you were half alive for an entire year after publishing your book and then suddenly turn around with more determination than I’ve seen you in ages the second three strangers show up.”
Half-alive? What in the world was Zenith like? It sounded like she was depressed. I could relate heavily, even if she wasn’t another version of me. I went through rough patches too, some of them were brutal.
But this conversation was like a land-mine. Ugh. I didn’t want to outright lie to her, because she clearly cared, but I couldn’t just tell her that I basically bodysnatched her friend.
“...Shouldn’t you be happy about this change?” I deflect instead.
Seele looked conflicted. “I am, Natasha is as well, that’s why she said yes to you going up. I just don’t understand why you need to. It’s dangerous up here, Zenith. You got shot yesterday!”
I chewed on my lip, peeling a scrap of dead skin off it. My lips felt a little raw at this point. She was right. I didn’t need to be up here. I could have stayed back and waited for everything to blow over. But if I did that and missed my chance to board the Astral Express, then what? I didn’t have a guarantee that I could talk to them after everything worked itself out. There wasn’t a guarantee that they wouldn’t just pack up and head off once things were worked out.
My objective had been made up and my resolve wasn’t something that was just going to waver. I was stubborn. I needed to get on the Express. I needed to get back to Earth.
And I needed to find out what happened to me.
“I didn’t get shot.” I point out. “It barely glanced me.”
“If you keep skirting around what I’m saying then I’m going to strangle you. Then you’ll really have a reason to stay behind.”
Well, I couldn’t fault her for that. I just didn’t want to lie to her. Not in such a blatant way.
“Would you accept it if I said this was something I had to do?”
“No.” Seele said bluntly.
“What if I asked why you have to be there for Bronya?”
That got a flush from her cheeks, but she refused to budge. “I can fight and take care of myself.” She pointed out.
“I can take care of myself.”
“You can’t fight.”
“So?”
“Why are you being so difficult?”
“Sorry.” I said genuinely. “...I don’t really know how to explain it in a way that you would understand.”
It didn’t make me happy to dance around someone who was just trying to understand. Especially not when she was just concerned out of the goodness of her own heart.
I could just do the callous thing and think of a reason and play it off. Tell Seele a lie and make it so she wouldn't feel the need to worry.
But that was heartless.
I wasn't going to tell her about my newfound identity. But I'd tell her, and Natasha, clearly about my plans to leave Belobog and why. That there was something I needed to do.
But not yet. She didn't need to know that just yet. Finding Cocolia and the stellaron was more important.
“Can you try?” Seele asked me.
“...After everything is over.”
“Guess that’s all I can ask for.” Seele seemed to accept that, because she relaxed with a sigh. “You really think this will all work out well?”
Now that I could answer honestly.
“Yeah.” I told her with a smile. “I know it will.”
“Heh. I guess I’ll believe you. You’re usually not wrong about these kinds of things.”
My first experience watching our group fight was frightently humbling.
They just… didn't need me.
I already knew that. It wasn't anything new to register. But when tensions between the guards and party rose to the point the fighting was inevitable, the only thing I could do was watch from the sideline.
Stelle was a heavy hitter with her bat. She could deal damage even through the thick armor of the enemy, or alternatively open up cracks in their guards for the more precise hitters to take advantage of.
Dan Heng was a sentinel of martial arts. His skills with his spear shone through more than ever, parrying any strikes and stopping any attempts to get at the backline. When the enemy overstepped, the point of his spear would strike true.
March was both a support and a sharpshooter with her bow. When people seemed like they would take a hard hitting blow, she would form ice as a shield. When Stelle or Dan Heng opened up a vital, March would fire a shot with her bluntened arrows.
Serval was a surprise. The guitar on her back wasn't just for show. Chords rang out during the battlefield that sent out literal bolts of electricity towards her destination.
Seele was quite literally a blur. She danced around the battlefield faster than some people could track her, attacking enemies both when they least expected it and where it hurt the most. She reminded me of a butterfly.
Dunn and his platoon put up a good fight but ultimately had no chance. The heavy bulk of his armor was a good match against the team, leaving him only vulnerable to his own overextensions and Serval's armor piercing lightning attacks.
But the reality was that their practice and formations were exemplary for monsters, but against other humans with critical thinking skills they were at the mercy of the cracks in strategy. Even I could see such a thing and I have no real experience.
When it was all said and done, the fighting had finished and the guards had surrendered, all that was left was to talk. I used that time to make myself useful.
If I couldn’t fight, I could at least help the team patch themselves up. My bag had a few supplies of the medical variety in it, but Sampo’s bag surprisingly had an entire section of things. My guess was that it came from his personal stash, as it even had things like alcohol swabs.
Serval had completely avoided any damage, courtesy of being in the backline. She and March went off to use the key to activate the power so we could connect to the inner layer of the fragmentum. While Stelle was the one who needed the most help, as she had a variety of scrapes and scratches from being up close and personal, especially when March’s shield couldn’t cover all the damage.
The silver-haired girl was quite tall. I knew this but being side-by-side and cleaning a scrape off her upper-bicep put things into perspective. She was practically an entire half-head taller than me.
“Thank you, Zenith. I’m glad you’re here.” Stelle spoke softly.
It was impossible not to be self-conscious after that.
I chewed on the bottom of my lip again. “Someone had to be sure you all were taking care of yourselves.”
To set the record straight. I was not a nurse, or anything related to the medical profession. My alter-ego might have been, I wasn’t quite sure; but everything I knew came from the fact that I dated a nurse for four years, later having to take care of my father when his parkinsons made it impossible for himself. In a situation like that, I picked up things that most people probably wouldn’t have to.
On another note, I could recall a few things that the internet might have said about the main protagonist of Star Rail. That they were goofy, soft-spoken but rather intelligent. All of this was true and demonstrated multiple times in front of my very eyes. But I remember hearing people speak about how she probably smelled like garbage because of how often she went through the trash.
Nope.
Describing someone’s scent was something I didn’t really want to do, but Stelle’s was unique. If I had to liken it to something, then I would liken it to a starry night. Where I could find a hill in a forest, far away from any sort of humanity; where the skies would be so clear that the constellations were in abundance and you could see the fog of the galaxy in plain view. The crispness of the air, the clearness of the sky. How everything around you was so very alive, despite being millions and billions of light-years away.
Stelle’s scent was of a starry night. Crisp and clear and so very alive.
“A-” I cleared my throat. For some reason words were having trouble forming. “All done.”
The protagonist flexed her arm and lightly wheeled it. “Good as new!” She shot me a bright smile.
I returned the smile and ignored the way her flexing highlighted how toned her arms were. Moving onto Seele, I noticed that she was giving me a very peculiar look.
“That was interesting.” My purple haired friend commented.
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” I said, focusing on the singular scrape she had on her knee.
“Mmhm. She’s quite handsome don’t you think?”
I made sure to not be slow and deliberate with the alcohol swab when it came to her. I was rewarded with a very satisfying hiss before I wrapped it in a bandage.
I had a tiny bit of gauze leftover, not nearly enough for anything practical. So of course I put it to good use.
“Oh look. There’s one more spot I missed.”
Seele furrowed her brow. “What? I didn’t get hit anywhere else-”
She didn’t get a chance to say anything else, as I quickly placed the small strip over her mouth, cutting her off.
“...” Seele stared at me in silence, even when the strip had fallen to the ground. She seemed baffled that I had even done such a thing.
It reminded me of when my cats used to yawn, I would stick my finger in their mouth and when they closed it they would be shocked, as if they couldn’t fathom that I would ever do such a thing. A betrayal of the highest magnitude.
I took that chance to move to Dan Heng. I caught him staring at us as he was finishing up his own bandaging.
“Everything okay here?” I asked him.
He nodded expressionlessly. The more I was around him, the more I could tell his subtle ticks. I wasn’t some master at reading people, but Dan Heng wasn’t emotionless, he just didn’t express it as openly as most people. In this case, I could at least tell he was slightly amused by Seele and I’s interaction from the way the corners of his eyes were slightly raised.
That was a point in my book. I’d consider that a win.
Serval and March returned soon after, having succeeded in their mission of reactivating the electricity in the zone and opening up our path to the inner layer. I wanted to wait a bit longer, but people were adamant on continuing.
Unfortunately things were rarely that simple, that tended to happen in family reunions.
Gepard did not look pleased when we showed up.
Serval was not pleased when he refused to listen.
If there was one thing to say, they were most certainly siblings. Their blonde hair, facial structure, blue eyes and even their personalities all screamed related.
The group already knew that it was very likely a possibility that we would have to fight Gepard if he were there and Serval couldn’t convince him. We expected it even. That didn’t mean we wanted to.
It was understanding, if not endlessly frustrating, that Gepard refused to budge on the matter. He was just doing his job. People trusted Cocolia, she was their leader and to think that she could be the one getting in the way of possibly solving the eternal freeze was nothing short of blasphemy.
Why would the leader of the last remaining bastion of humanity on this frozen rock try to get in the way of saving it? To anyone who didn’t know the truth, it was unfathomable.
Despite that, Serval tried her best.
She talked about how the stellaron was the item that was causing the eternal freeze, and how sealing it would bring about its end. How it was the cause of the ever expanding fragmentum and the source of the numerous monsters that patrolled the inner layer.
It was an honest effort, just too late. Cocolia had already planned around it, telling Gepard everything in her own twisted version of events. How Serval had been corrupted by forbidden knowledge. How she was bitter that she had been kicked off her post as a scientist of the architects.
Like a lightning strike against a castle wall. Immovable and unfazed.
I anxiously picked at the skin around my fingertips and glanced behind us. Still nothing.
The guards surrounding Gepard were already getting into their stances, practically ready to jump into a fight at a moment’s notice. The only thing they were waiting for was Gepard’s word. It was the same on our side. I could notice the subtle tensing in Stelle and Dan Heng, ready to get into position as soon as a fight broke out. How Seele was glaring holes into Gepard and the flexing of her fingers as if she was ready to bring out her scythe in the blink of an eye.
There was shouting between the two, anger rising. Gepard threw out his hand as if to command the guards and-
“Wait!” I spoke up, projecting my voice throughout the clearing and making sure everyone heard me. “Please. Let me speak.”
Gepard turned his gaze towards me. His hand was still out and ready to give an order at any second. But he didn’t make any movement.
When he didn’t say anything, I used that opportunity to continue. “Have you ever given thought to why she separated the Underworld and the Overworld?”
“What?” Serval was the one who spoke up first. Probably confused that I was going off script.
“...Where are you going with this?” Gepard asked.
I took a deep breath. The cold air chilled my lungs and cooled my blood. I could do this. Improvisation and bullshit was my speciality.
“Belobog as one entire entity is symbiotic, needing both the Underworld and Overworld to function in its full capacity.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Zenith. Resident of the underworld.” I introduced myself. “And what I’m saying is that if both sides of Belobog need each other to survive, then why did Cocolia cut off connection ten years ago?”
Right. This was something that I had thought of before. In fact, one of the very first things that I did when I woke up in this world was go up to the surface to exchange supplies between the two sides. If the two sides were truly independent of each other then why did the surface constantly need a steady supply of Geomarrow? And why did the underground need a fresh supply of resources?
It struck me as off, but it made so much sense when you put more than any thought to it. They weren’t independent of each other. In fact, they needed each other to survive, because without geomarrow then any sort of machinations would break, and when geomarrow was used in practically everything and as a heat source, where else would they get it besides the mine?
I didn’t get to fully confirm my hypothesis until I was in Serval’s workshop, but it made sense.
And who would be conscious of the fact that the two sides needed each other to survive?
Cocolia, certainly. But she would rather pretend the underworld didn’t exist. That left some scientists like Serval, and people who actually exchanged the supplies. A rather exclusive group of people, and certainly not a group that Gepard belonged to.
I was accomplishing two objectives here. If I could convince him to stand down with just this, then that would be great. But stalling for time was also another one.
“...I understand that Cocolia blocked off the underworld a decade ago and that it wasn’t a popular decision. But she clearly had a reason to do so, and the fact that the city hasn’t collapsed means that neither side are codependent to each other.” Gepard stated after he had a moment to think.
Hook, line and sinker.
Got him.
Off to my side I could see comprehension dawn on Seele’s face.
“Is that your final answer?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that’s not true. The underworld and overworld have been in constant contact with each other since they were blocked off.” I continued.
“...We would’ve known if that's the case.” Gepard countered.
“Some of you did. Otherwise how else would we have traded supplies? We gave you geomarrow, and you gave us food or medical supplies or whatever we happened to need.”
He frowned. “That’s-”
“Think about it, how else would most technology work when geomarrow is practically our sole energy source?” I interrupted him to push my advantage. “Serval’s an inventor, she can attest to that.”
Serval looked surprised at her sudden inclusion, but she confirmed what I was saying to be true.
The male Landau sibling looked to be off his game for the first time in the entire time we had been facing off. If someone wasn’t going to be convinced by words alone, then you had to present facts and things they couldn’t just ignore.
Gepard knew that geomarrow was the main energy source of Belobog. Everyone did, it was a fact as normal as how everyone wore some sort of thermal clothing. By attacking what people thought of as normal, you could get anyone to think twice.
So long as your argument had a basis to stand on, at least.
“Did anyone know about this? That we exchanged supplies with the underworld on a regular basis?” The Silvermane Captain looked to his fellow guards. All he got were a bunch of shaking heads. “No?”
He went quiet. I used that to keep up the pressure. “Ready to admit that something suspicious is going on with all of this? If Cocolia truly had everyone’s best interest in mind then why did she sever such a needed bond between the two?”
Gepard silence stretched into a full minute before he spoke up again. “Your words make sense. But if no one besides you can back it up, then I’m afraid we’re back to square one.”
Damn. I bit my lip. Did I push too hard? It wasn’t over just yet, but I didn’t really want to throw certain people under the bus. if I had to, however, then I would.
“Then… Pela and Lynx. They were the ones to exchange supplies with us most recently, just a few days ago.” I said, offering up the names of the people we exchanged supplies with.
“Wha- Both of them?” Gepard said in disbelief, before narrowing his eyes and glaring. “Bringing my family into this won’t do you any favors. If you thought you could break my composure doing that then I’m sorry to say this conversation is over. Lynx isn’t even a part of the guards.”
Really now? I clicked my tongue.
This always happened. Tell someone the truth and they spit in your face. “Call Pela, or Lynx then. Verify my words rather than just speculate.”
“Phones are unreliable in the fragmentum, especially this deep in.”
“Our phones don’t do that, do they?” I could hear March whisper off to the side.
“Belobog is nearly a millenia out of date from current IPC standards.” Dan Heng replied.
I ignored those two. “So you’re just going to give up and stand in our way when you admit that there’s something not right?”
“My hands are tied. I’m not leaving this post.” Gepard readied his weapons, the rest of the guards took that as a sign to get back into their stance. “And if you still aren’t ready to back off. Then you’ll have to get through me before you go any further.”
Our party took that as a sign to get themselves ready. Despite all that, he still wouldn’t budge. Damn.
Just when I could feel the tension rise to an apex, a voice called out.
“Weapons down, everyone.”
It was a familiar voice, and one that Gepard, Serval, and the rest of the guards recognized. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was. Despite the fact that I had only talked to her once before, she was who I was waiting for.
Talk about being saved by the bell.
“Pela?” Gepard questioned. “What are you- Lynx as well? And what manner of robot…”
Like the captain said, Pela, Lynx and Svarog all made their appearance. I turned around, allowing myself to relax for the first time since I initially spoke up.
“Sorry I’m late, Zenith.” Pela apologized. “I had to get the entire story first before I decided on what to do.”
Lynx, who was for some reason sitting on Svarog’s shoulder, gave me a wave. “I wasn’t expecting a letter from you, but I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.” The youngest of the Landau siblings said.
Svarog, a robot who was almost double my height, pointed his mechanical gaze down at me. His single red eye shone menacingly, but didn’t offer up a word.
Stelle gave a low whistle from her place beside me. Dan Heng and March seemed to wordlessly share her sentiments.
Serval and Seele on the other hand, opted to stare at me in confusion.
“What? I wasn’t just going to be dead weight the entire time.” I defended myself.
Pela clapped her hands, gaining the attention of everyone. “Now then, are we going to continue acting like children or are we going to put our weapons down and talk things out like adults?”