Chapter Text
“Hey.” Phainon breathed, inching closer to where Mydei was sat on a bench overlooking Kephale’s body; the Dawn Device had no use anymore but the statue continued to loom over Okhema.
“Deliverer.” Mydei greeted quietly, looking up.
“I… came to say goodbye.” Phainon spoke hesitantly after a period of silence. “Stelle spoke with me and said I could join her and the other Trailblazers on the Astral Express if I wanted to. I think… I think I need to find myself after everything, you know? It feels like I’ve been fighting for so long, I just want to see the world for a bit.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me.” Mydei’s voice softened. “The burden of the Deliverer is a heavy one.”
“I’m not running away or anything. I’m going to come back, I just…” He trailed off, exhaling shakily.
“Phainon.” Mydei said and Phainon’s head shot up, eyes wide at the sound of his name coming out of Mydei’s mouth instead of the moniker he preferred to use. “Go. It will be good for you.”
“You think?” Phainon felt a weight lifted off his shoulders at Mydei’s words. “I’ll come back stronger, surely.”
“I look forward to it. We can recreate the Kremnos festival.” Mydei said and Phainon’s breath hitched.
“Mydei…”
“Go. And come back with stories of the world beyond the stars.”
So Phainon went. It wasn’t so much as a goodbye when he turned his back to Castrum Kremnos’ undying warrior, but more so a silent promise to see him later; to regale him of the world he would experience on his behalf.
“You’re sure about this?” Dan Heng asked one last time as they stood on the edges of Okhema. If Phainon squinted, he could see the faint figures of his friends still standing where he had said his goodbyes to them. He saw the flicker of Aglaea’s golden threads and the unmistakable red hair of the Tribios.
“I’m sure.” Phainon nodded, turning his back to the city and nodding firmly.
“You’ll have fun, I promise!” Stelle linked an arm through his, leaning against his side. “It’ll be good for you.”
“Trailblazing never fails to solve your problems!” March nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, I can’t wait to see Himeko and Mr. Yang! And Sunday! And Black Swan!”
“I bet Pom-Pom missed us.” Stelle giggled.
“I’m sure they were glad for a break.” Dan Heng sighed, his tail flicking behind him and whacking both Stelle and March’s shins.
“Ow, Dan Heng!” March whined. “Hey! Just because you have a shiny new tail, doesn’t mean you get to just hit us with it!”
“That’s exactly what it means.” Dan Heng deadpanned and Phainon stifled a laugh at their antics. “I do believe we should get going, they’re expecting us.”
“Right! Let’s go!” March nodded, grabbing Stelle’s other hand and dragging her forward onto the same railway car that Dan Heng and Stelle initially took to get here, now fixed by the hardworking blacksmiths of Okhema City. Phainon must have only blinked before the carriage jolted and the door hissed, sliding open to reveal another cabin on the other side.
“Home sweet home!” Stelle cheered, dragging Phainon up and out of his seat. “Come meet all the responsible people!”
“I don’t like what you’re implying there.” Dan Heng grumbled, him and March following close behind. Stelle turned around to stick her tongue out at him before skipping forward and launching herself into the arms of a tall, red-headed woman dressed in a white dress.
“Himeko!” Stelle called, muffled into Himeko’s shoulder. “I missed you!”
“Hi, sweetie.” Himeko chuckled, reaching out to smooth down Stelle’s hair and with her other hand ruffle Dan Heng’s hair. March was enthusiastically recounting something to Sunday and Welt, earning herself a fond pat on the head from the older man and an intrigued head tilt from the Halovian.
“Phainon, was it?” Welt asked when March jumped onto Stelle’s back in an attempt to get closer to Himeko and Dan Heng backed away, giving them a wide berth.
“Ah, yes. Mr. Yang, I assume?” Phainon nodded.
“That’s me. It’s good to meet you. Welcome to the Astral Express. I’d like to say they’re not usually like this, but…” He chuckled, sending a look dripping in fondness at the trio surrounding Himeko.
“I spent enough time with them to know they are always like that.” Phainon waved him off. “It’s nice, I don’t mind.”
“That’s good then. Come meet Himeko and Sunday. Miss Black Swan is having a drink, I believe. But you can meet her at dinner later.” Welt led Phainon forward, bringing him into the circle they had formed.
Later, after Stelle and March enthusiastically led him to an empty cabin on the train with astounding flourish for something so ordinary, Phainon sat on his bed in silence. He leaned his greatsword against the desk, the tip brushing the plush carpet and sighed. He dug into his pocket and extracted the photographs he’d asked Stelle to print out for him from March’s photograph.
There were so many of them and he wasn’t even in all of them. They captured places around Amphoreus, or his friends doing mundane things. Stelle somehow even managed to capture the middle of some of their battles with that camera; Phainon was kind of impressed.
mydei
[image uploaded]
look at my cabin!
Seems small
excuse you
it’s a cabin on a space train
i would’ve take a broom cupboard honestly
Yes well… you have low standards
This is nothing new
so rude to me mydeimos
</3
…
JOKES
IM JOKING
how are you
Fine
Rebuilding Castrum Kremnos
It will be… different
I hope so at least
i can’t wait to see it when i’m back!!
I’ll be waiting
“You’ll be waiting, huh?” Phainon murmured under his breath, brushing his thumb over the glossy surface of the photograph currently at the top of the stack. It was one of Mydei actually; one Stelle snuck while he was putting his hair up to spar with Phainon. The white-haired warrior found himself tracing the bold, red lines along Mydei’s body, all the way up to those bulging biceps grasping his gold and red hair to pull it up into a ponytail, exposing the sweaty expanse of his neck.
He gulped and put the photo at the back of the stack. This was a problem for another time.
“Phainon! Dinner!” Someone knocked on the door.
“On our journey to show Phainon the wonders of the universe outside of Amphoreus, we should start with the same order Stelle went in!” March exclaimed, waving her fork around and forcing Dan Heng to lean back to avoid it.
“Yes!” Stelle agreed, thrusting her own fork forward to point it at March.
“We can have this conversation without pointing food utensils at each other.” Himeko said gently, giving them both a look. Arms were lowered and apologies stated.
“What order is that?” Phainon asked.
“Well, my first expedition was on Jarilo-VI! Then we went to the Xianzhou Luofu because Kafka asked us to.”
“That woman…” Himeko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Such a hassle.”
“Kafka’s like my mother too.” Stelle whispered to Phainon. “I think.”
“You… think…”
“Stelle doesn’t have a lot of memories of what her life was like before we found her on Herta’s Station.” Welt said.
“Oh! The Space Station should be the first stop then!” March chimed in.
“Isn’t it kind of decommissioned right now?” Stelle asked.
“I believe Madam Herta sent everyone away for some sort of experiment. It probably isn’t open for visitors.” Sunday explained.
“Aw.” March pouted.
“The Luofu is a ship in a fleet of 6; belonging to the Xianzhou Alliance.” Dan Heng returned to the subject at hand. “It is also where I come from.”
“Really!” Phainon’s eyes sparkled. “We have to go there then!”
“We’ll go everywhere!” Stelle nodded firmly. “We went to Penacony after the Luofu and then Amphoreus.”
“Better strap in.” Himeko joked.
They landed on Jarilo-IV on a cold day, snow surrounding them everywhere. “No, it’s normally like this.” March informed him.
“Oh.”
“They’re working on it.” Welt patted his shoulder. “Himeko and I will go give our greetings to the Supreme Guardian.”
“Okay! Come on, come on!” Stelle hopped up and down. “We should go see Serval first, she’s already on the surface.”
“The… surface…” Phainon furrowed his brows, trailing behind the skipping girls with Dan Heng.
“This city is Belobog, the last remaining bastion here on Jarilo-VI. The overworld, where we currently are, is where the Administrative District and such lie. It was blocked off from the underworld until very recently, but now the people are getting used to co-existing.” Dan Heng explained.
“So, there’s a city under my feet?” Phainon glanced down. “Do they not see the sky?”
“No sky, no.” The other man shook his head. “We’ll go there, so you can see what it’s like.”
“Dan Heng, Phainon! Hurry!” March waved at them from where her and Stelle were further ahead and Phainon quickened his pace, followed swiftly by Dan Heng. They walked across the cobblestones to a building on a corner, surrounded by several geothermal radiators.
“In here.” Stelle went inside first. “Serval!”
“Oh, hello!” A voice responded, sounding pleasantly surprised. Phainon walked in after everyone else and put a face to the voice then; it was a woman with blonde hair that was dyed purple in some places. She was dressed in an odd mismatch of clothes but Phainon got the impression that she was pretty cool just from that. “I didn’t know you guys were visiting.”
“We’re going on a little road trip through the universe.” Stelle informed her.
“Showing this guy around.” March added, pointing her thumb at Phainon who waved with a smile.
“Hi, I’m Phainon. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Phainon. I’m Serval Landau.” Serval held her hand out and Phainon shook it. “Welcome to Belobog.”
“We’re taking him to the underground after this.” March said.
“That sounds fun! You should come see me play later if you’re still around.” Serval offered, before she turned to Phainon. “I’m in a band with Pela and my little sister Lynx.”
“We’ll try and be there!” Stelle said. “I wouldn’t miss a Mechanical Fever performance for the world!”
“Great! Sorry to cut this short, but I do have to do some rehearsals before the performance so I’ll see you guys later!” She lifted her guitar case over her shoulder and waved goodbye, heading out of the shop after flipping the sign to say closed.
“There she goes.” March sighed.
“Serval is a busy woman.” Dan Heng shrugged. “I’m surprised we managed to catch her free for a little.”
“Ever since the band reformed, she’s been busy a lot more. Before, I’d come in and help her with repairs and stuff because she had the time to teach me.” Stelle said. “That was fun. She’s nice.”
“It seems you attract motherly figures.” Phainon pointed out.
“It’s true, she does.” March agreed after gasping in realisation.
“Okay, let’s move past my deep-seated desire for a motherly figure in my life and show Phainon the underworld.” Stelle interrupted.
“She’s just afraid of the truth.” Phainon whispered.
“I think you’re right.” March whispered back, while Dan Heng shook head and sighed in exasperation.
“Come on, stop bullying Stelle.” He urged them out of the shop, one hand on March’s shoulder and the other pushing Phainon’s back. “They are right though.” He said to Stelle.
“Dan Heng! I thought you were defending me!” Stelle whined, following behind them as the door to Serval’s workshop swung shut behind them.
“Don’t make him lie to you.” March snarked.
“Why is it bully Stelle day?” The grey-haired girl pouted, dragging her feet.
“Oh no, she’s sulking.” Phainon’s eyes widened.
“We can stop by and get her something sweet to eat.” Dan Heng said. “Okay, Stelle?”
“Fine.” She sighed dramatically.
mydei
[image attached]
there’s a whole city under my feet
?
Deliverer, that is just cobblestone
i mean it literally
there’s a whole city underground
isn’t that so cool?????
Part of Castrum Kremnos is beneath the main city
are you jealous?
Fuck you
mydei
Read
mydeimos
Read
NO IM SORRY SOME BACK
Read
After successfully feeding Stelle a local delicacy (and also dragging her away from smashing any bins with her bat), they finally made it to the underground via a cable car that descended into the darkness of Boulder Town.
“Catch that child!” Stelle shouted the second they stepped out of the station, pointing at a kid running full speed in their direction. Phainon acted without thinking and hauled the kid up, carrying them like a sack of potatoes under his arm. “Pitch-Dark Hook the Great!”
“You know this kid?” Phainon asked.
“Yeah, she’s cool.”
“Oh, it’s you guys.” Hook lifted her head, realising who it was surrounding her. “Hey Mister, can I sit up-top? You’re really tall!”
“Sure!” Phainon beamed, lifting her up to sit on his shoulders and holding her legs securely to make sure she didn’t fall. “I did this with the kids in Okhema too.”
“Onwards, Mister… what’s your name?”
“Phainon.”
“I’m Pitch-Dark Hook the Great.” Hook said seriously. “Onwards, Mister Phainon!”
“Yes, ma’am!” Phainon straightened his shoulders. “Uh, where are we going?”
“We’re looking for Miss Seele! She went into the mines with Luka and some of the others. I asked her to bring back some stuff for me.”
“Where exactly…” Phainon gave a pleading look to the trio from the Astral Express.
“Why did they go to the mines, exactly?” Dan Heng asked.
“I think Clara’s dad wanted to look for something!” Hook replied.
“Svarog, hm?” Stelle hummed. “We’re better off heading to the Robot Settlement to find Svarog and Clara then, they might know where Seele and Luka are.”
“Let’s get going!” March jumped up; arms raised above her head. “Will you be okay, Phainon?”
“Oh, this is nothing. Back in Aedes Elysiae when I helped my parents around our farm, I’d spend hours carrying bales of hay back and forth. I got this!”
“Alright, Deliverer, on we go!” Stelle grinned. True to his word, trekking all the way to the Robot Settlement was no big deal for Phainon. He had carried much heavier things on his back both physically and metaphorically, but that wasn’t something to dwell on right now.
“Big sister!” Clara met them by the gate, still wandering around barefooted. “You’re here!”
“Hi Clara.” Stelle ruffled her hair. “We’re looking for Seele and Luka. Hook said they went to the mines with Svarog?”
“They did! They’re both still here with Mister Svarog.” Clara informed them before she gasped upon laying eyes on Phainon. “We have the same hair!”
“We do!” Phainon nodded, smiling at her brightly.
“I haven’t met someone with the same hair colour as mine!” Her eyes widened. “You’re very tall, Mister.”
“So I’ve heard!” Phainon chuckled. “The weather up here is the same as down there though, I presume.” Clara giggled, nodding her head.
“Will you show us to everyone, Clara?” March asked and the little girl nodded, reaching out to grab Stelle’s hand and drag her away, leaving everyone to follow behind them. Phainon looked around, spotting countless robots milling around and a large house at the end of the road. Clara stopped in front of the house and three figures were just up ahead.
“There they are!” She skipped forward after opening the rusted front gate. The three people were quite different in appearance, Phainon noticed. One of them was a large, hulking robot that towered over everyone else in the vicinity, and the other two were human: one was a woman dressed in purple armed with a scythe, and the other was a man with red hair and one mechanical arm.
“Let me down, Mister Phainon.” Hook tugged on his hair and he jolted back to reality, reaching up to lift her up and then lowered her to the ground. She gave him an approving nod and rushed off towards the woman in purple. “Miss Seele!”
“Hey you little rascal. Did you come all this way alone?” Seele asked, placing a hand on her hip.
“I found big sister Stelle!” Clara chimed in happily.
“Well, well, well, look who the cat dragged in.” Seele smiled at them. “Long time no see, Trailblazers.”
“Hey guys!” Luka waved with a grin.
“Greetings.” Svarog said, nodding his head and placing one hand on Clara’s head when she went to stand beside him, still holding onto Stelle. “I see a new companion among you.”
“This is Phainon.” Dan Heng said.
“Nice to meet you!” Phainon waved.
“We picked him up on our recent travels.” Stelle informed them. “He’s joining us on the Express.”
“Temporarily.” Phainon added.
“Temporarily.” Stelle amended.
“Oh?” Seele raised an eyebrow. “What’s his damage? The last one you picked up seemed pretty rough.”
“Sunday’s getting better.” March defended.
“My… damage…?” Phainon cocked his head to the side in confusion.
“Your trauma, Phainon.” Stelle explained.
“Uh.” Phainon laughed nervously. “Endless cycles of watching my loved ones die and burning alive from the power I undertook to try and save them, and also bearing the burden of delivering the world to a better era. We fixed the cycles but… my hometown burned down too. And all my childhood friends died. Nothing can fix that, it’s too long ago in the past.”
“I think you have Sunday beat.” Seele deadpanned. “Losing your hometown, huh? I get it.”
“You remind me of someone from home.” Phainon smiled, remembering his friends. “She wears purple too and she’s got a scythe.”
“Cool! She’s got good taste.”
“She’s nothing like you personality wise though.” Stelle added. “Cas is very shy, and sweet. Very timid.”
“Are you implying something?” Seele mock glared.
“Only the truth and nothing but the truth!”
“Cas is timid, but she’s very strong.” Phainon said. “She held the authority of the Death Titan in past cycles.”
“Stronger than me, do you think?” Seele’s eyes glinted in a silent challenge.
“Would you like to find out?” Phainon returned the same look.
“Can I get a turn at him after you?” Luka raised his hand in question.
“I’ll take you on, Luka.” Stelle offered. “Phainon, please don’t spend another ten days and nights fighting.”
“That’s a Mydei exclusive, I think.” March said in reply and Phainon pretended not to hear, but it still made him warm inside because it was true; no one matched him like Mydei and it was the same the other way around: no one matched Mydei like he did.
“Come at me.” Seele held her scythe out with one hand and beckoned him over with the other.
“Happily.” He lifted his greatsword and charged.
mydei
[image attached]
all in all, a fruitful trip to jarilo-vi i think!
Why are you covered in blood
Why is someone else covered in blood next to you
What did you do
she challenged me to a fight
You’re ridiculous
How long did you fight
less than an hour </3
no one does it like you do, mydei
spar with me when i’m back
You sure you won’t be rusty?
You won’t even last a day
watch me