Souls in Teyvat

Belobog, the Last City of Jarilo IV.

A planet devastated by an extreme phenomenon later called the Eternal Freeze, a snowstorm that covered the whole planet in a thick layer of snow and ice, eliminating most of the wildlife.

The only place humans could live was Belobog, a city surrounded by walls too tall and sturdy to have been constructed by the humans it housed, a remnant of the past and proof that otherworldly beings had been on this planet once upon a time.

But even if humanity could survive the Eternal Freeze by excavating Geomarrow, a certain kind of rock Belobog could use to warm the town, it wasn't enough.

Because of the existence of a certain lifeform denominated Fragmentum, monster-like creatures that sought to desolate the inside of the city, forming its inhabitants to fight constantly in order to repel the attacks.

And yet, the insides of the town didn't show the suffering such a hard lifestyle caused in the city.

"The city is beautiful" said March, looking at the spacious city with wonder in her eyes.

"Hmm" Dan Heng hummed in agreement, because the city was just spectacular.

Unlike most cities, in which buildings were built to house as many people as possible, Belobog was extremely wide. It didn't have almost any streets, it was instead comprised of a gigantic clearing with buildings on the edges, and a gigantic piece of softly glowing blue rock in the centre of it.

"Glad you like our city" said Gepard, a tinge of eident pride in his expression. "Is the last bastion of humanity in our world, and the place we all belong to."

"Doesn't Jarilo mean 'Warm Place'?" asked Keith, making Gepard look at him with surprise. "I travelled quite a bit, even I'm bound to retain something."

"Does it?" asked March, seeing Gepard nod. "Keith, unironically, that might be the only useful thing you said since we arrived here."

"Oh, you remember everything I said?" asked a surprised Keith, making March look with wariness at him. "And here I thought the only thing you would never forget is your birthday."

"At least I know mine" replied March with a pointed stare.

".....touché" said Keith with a shrug.

"Can we proceed?" asked Gepard, realizing the dynamic of the group, making the rest nod.

Except for one person, who had been strangely silent since she arrived at Belobog.

Stelle was feeling strange since she had entered the city, but she didn't understand the reason, nor why was she in this weird mood.

She liked the city, but there was something about it that felt....weird.

It was clean.

Too clean.

And she didn't know why, but her mind was screaming at her that it meant something.

But March tapped her shoulder with a worried smile, seeing the energetic grey-haired girl in a downcast mood, making Stelle shake her head.

The group followed Gepard, until they arrived at what seemed to be the most majestic stairs they had ever seen, leading to the biggest building in the town, and possibly the planet.

"Stay here, I will accompany them" Gepard instructed his subordinates, who stood firm and followed his commands.

"Something we should know?" asked Dan Heng.

"The Supreme Guardian of this generation is called Cocolia" explained Gepard, leading the group. "She is responsible for coordinating the Silvermane Guards, the food supply and the overall protection and good state of the city."

"So she is the big shot here, right?" asked March, making Gepard nod.

"I will say this now" said Dan Heng with an uncharacteristically solemn expression. "I will be the one to talk."

""Got it"" replied Stelle and Keith at the same time.

"No, you didn't get it" said Dan Heng with a shake of his head. "When I say I'm the one who will talk, I mean I will be the ONLY one to talk."

""Got it""

"....." and Dan Heng realized that things would probably go wrong.

As they always did.

---------------------------------

"Mother!"

"Enough Bronya, the city is already stretched thin, there is nothing we can do about it now."

"But-"

"And you also realize it, we need to wait for a while."

As the group got closer, what sounded to be an argument reached their hears, making March look puzzledly at Gepard.

knock knock

"Come in"

A calm voice with an authoritative tinge to it came out from the room, prompting Gepard to open the door.

"Supreme Guardian, I found a group of people in the Snow Plains" said Gepard as he entered, followed by the group of 4. "They come from outside our planet, at least based on what they told me."

"We don't lie" added March, looking at the leader of the last place humanity could live in this planet.

A tall woman with blonde hair and amber eyes looked back at them with sternness on her face, inspecting the newcomers.

"I will return later" said the only other person in the room, a short woman with long grey hair in what Keith could only think as a Corkscrew twintails, bowing to Cocolia nad leaving the room, briefly glancing at the people she had never seen before.

Gepard also left after bowing, closing the door on his exit, leaving Cocolia with the Astral Express crew.

"Who might you be?" asked Cocolia, sitting on her desk.

"I am Dan Heng" said the black-haired man, taking a step forward. "And behind me are March, Stelle and Keith."

"Cocolia, the current Supreme Guardian of Belobog" Cocolia replied in kind, and looked at Dan Heng inquisitively.

"We came ehre because we detected something we are used to deal with" started Dan Heng. "A lifeform carrying a power that causes disaster in the planets it appears. We suspect that the snowstorm is also caused by it, so we are here to retrieve and neutralize it."

"Is it?" asked Cocolia with a pondering expression. "And what can be strong enough to cause such a disaster? Are you strong enough to deal with something like that?"

"We have the right tools for such a job" nodded Dan Heng. "We only need to find it and seal it, that's all we want to do in this planet."

"And what do those tools imply?" asked Cocolia with a frown.

And Keith disconnected.

-----------------------------------------

What came first, the chicken, or the egg?

An answer that had plagued humanity for ages, but Keith felt that he was close to solving it.

The only thing that mattered was to define what a chicken was, and how they came to be.

The process of gradual evolution was a confirmed one, Keith had seen it first-hand in a lot of planets, but there was a little thing called evolutionary jump, in which a mutation caused a big change in the progeny.

So, chicken or egg?

Obviously… it depended.

From which point was a 'chicken' a 'chicken'?

From which point had it been called a different organism than its sister species?

Unfortunately, Keith didn't know the answer.

But what he knew was that if the key difference that made a chicken a chicken was caused due a mutation, like a sudden thinning of the beak no matter how little it was, the answer was without a doubt the egg, as its parent didn't have such a characteristic, so it wasn't a chicken.

But the creature born from the egg had it.

So, to summarize, the parent was not a chicken, while the progeny was a chicken.

Lo and behold, a chicken gave birth, but not to a chicken.

So the answer was without a doubt the egg.

Even if no such mutation happened, the changes in a species were normally passed to the descendants, so it was more or less the same.

Adding both possibilities, more than 50% of the chances were that the egg came first, so in case you had to choose chicken or egg, the maths told you that the correct choice was the egg, ergo, Keith chose the correct choice.

But could such a solution be applied to other cases?

Let's say, if a human baby suffered a mutation, and was born with 2 heads, and with the advance in technology this person's genes were transmitted to its descendance without disappearing, wouldn't it mean the start of a new species?

And people would wonder in a very distant future, which one came first, the one-headed human or the 2-headed human?

Hmmmm…..

But just like Keith had solved the enigma of the chicken and the egg, the people of the future would also be able to solve it.

If natural selection was a process of making organisms more apt to live in a certain habitat, the one-headed human had to come first.

After all, having 2 heads couldn't possibly be a downgrade, you had 2 brains to think after all.

Obviously, there might be a bit of trouble moving the body and coordinating every action between 2 heads, but in today's world where the firepower came from technology, that problem would be easily solved.

But didn't this have a sinister implication?

When 2 species lived in the same habitat and fought for the same resources, one of them had to die to 'make space' for the other.

Did that imply that the 2-headed human would obliterate the 1-headed human?

A chilling realization.

But humans were by definition beings able to defy their animal instincts, maybe total extermination wouldn't come to pass.

Maybe a bit of racism or xenophobia, but humans had a lot of experience with that.

Still, Keith had found his answer.

The egg came before the chicken.

Because a chicken could be born from an egg, that wouldn't ever change.

But a chicken egg didn't need to be necessarily put by a grown-up chicken.

"Keith, did you understand?"

"Of course" nodded Keith, looking at Dan Heng with confidente and firmness that made the black-haired man look back at Keith a bit strangely. "I understood more in that conversation than in 5 years travelling with Himeko."

"...." Dan Heng doubted that very much, but the sheer confidence in Keith's voice made him want to believe in the purple-eyed man.

While Cocolia, having clearly seen Keith's lost gaze, knew that this group was a mess.

"Let's go then" said Dan Heng, turning around to leave the room.

March slightly pushed Stelle's shoulder, who was in a similar state as Keith had been a mere moment ago.

Maybe her lack of memories didn't allow her to understand the quid of the enigma of the egg and the chicken.

And the group left Cocolia's room, leaving behind a frowning woman.

Along with a voice that had been chasing her for years.

The voice of the Stellaron.

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"So, where are we going?" asked Keith once they left the majestic building.

Dan Heng looked blankly at Keith, making the purple-haired man look at him inquisitively.

"You didn't understand anything!" shouted March in indignation.

"That's a lie" countered Keith, who despite not feeling any intent to lie in March's words, knew it was simply not true.

"What did you understand then!?" said March, who had needed to listen to an hour of yapping.

"That while 2-headed human will develop certain degree of cruelty, they won't lose against their subjacent animal instincts and eradicate the one-headed humans" replied Keith with a firm nod. "Also, that the egg came before the chicken."

""....""

"You are stupid" said Stelle with a scoff. "Who puts the egg then?"

"An enigmatic being who can't be considered a chicken" replied Keith. "Goofy girl, is that head empty? It's obvious."

"Don't start now" sighed Dan Heng, feeling tired of just existing near Stelle and Keith. "I will summarize it for you. We stay here until tomorrow, when Cocolia will send a patrol to take us to the Stellaron, where the storm is the strongest. We stay in that building, a hotel, an don't cause trouble until then. Do you understand now?"

"I'm not stupid" replied Keith, making Dan Heng sigh and March look at him with clear doubts reflected in her eyes.

"Got it" said Stelle when Dan Heng looked at her. "What can we do until then?"

"Nothing that implies creating trouble" said Dan Heng, who felt obliged to continue when he saw Stelle and Keith's nods. "Which in your case would imply just about everything, but I'm too tired. I will go to my bedroom and pray that this planet is still frozen by the time morning arrives."

"I will go too" said March. "But I will leave later, I want to see this city."

"Tell us, we will go with you" said Keith, making March smile.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Now, goofy girl, what were you thinking about in that room?" asked Keith, looking at Stelle's face.

"If a baby duck learns how to behave like a duck from his parents, which he identifies as such when he sees them after getting out of the egg, does it mean that if the first thing he sees is not a duck we will have a duck that doesn't know how a duck behaves?" replied Stelle, making Keith stop to actually think about it. "Would we have an unduckely duck? Could we have a duck behaving more humanly than a human who grew up with ducks?"

"....I see your hour was also productive" mused Keith, approving of the dilemma. "So, what was the conclusion?"

"That it won't matter, because the world the duck experiences will not be one defined by its behaviour" replied Stelle with a nod, eerily similar to the one Keith had used to respond to Dan Heng in Cocolia's office. "For that duck, his behaviour will be the normal one, and all the other ducks are stupid. If that duck's progeny sees and learns his behaviour, we will have 2 groups of ducks, each one behaving differently. With time, a different behaviour might lead these 2 groups to accumulate differences between them, which will result in a new species coming forth supposing these 2 groups don't mix together."

"All because a baby duck didn't see a duck after leaving its egg" ended Keith with a nod of understanding.

And Stelle nodded to Keith.

That hour had been productive.

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"Hmm Hmmm Hm"

"What are you doing now?" asked a curious Stelle, walking beside the humming Keith. "Morse code?"

"Silly woman, I'm trying to create a song, a very important one that will change my life" replied Keith with a sigh.

"You have been doing that every day" pointed out Stelle.

"It's an important one" shrugged Keith, who then looked around. "Enough of that, we have something to do."

"Want to see the city?" asked Stelle, looking at the gigantic plaza. "Maybe we should wait for March for that."

"Who cares about the city?" asked Keith with a shrug. "Goofy girl, you can't fool me."

"What are you on about now?" asked Stelle with a concerned gaze. "Was the problem of the egg and chicken the limit of your brain, and now you are suffering recoil?"

"You can't hide you uneasiness from me" continued Keith, ignoring Stelle's comment. "You have been feeling a bit strange since we arrived, didn't you?"

"...how do you know about that?" asked Stelle with a small frown.

"I told you, you can't hide anything from me" said Keith with a wide grin. "But fortunately for you, I know the reason."

"And how would you know something I don't even know about myself?" asked Stelle, her brain turning and jumping inside her skull trying to find the answer.

"That doesn't matter now" but Keith deflected her question, not willing to tell her about their shared past now. "What matters is that I know how to solve it."

"..."

"..."

"Are you going to say it or not?" asked Stelle morosely, seeing Keith fall silent.

"I won't tell you" siad Keith shaking his head, but before Stelle could take out her bat from god knows where, he passed his arm over the surprised Stelle's shoulder. "But I can show you."

And he started walking.

Straight to a trash can.

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"Hahaha, I got a sealed box!!" shouted Keith with pure joy in his voice, uncaring of the people looking strangely at him.

"....." Stelle didn't reply, but much to everyone's surprise, her face didn't reflect disdain or disgust.

Only envy.

"Hehe, you aren't getting this on-.. my box" Keith realized he was about to say something he shouldn't have, but Stelle was too lost in her tumultuous feelings to notice.

"Next" replied Stelle in a bad mood.

Keith hadn't stopped getting cool things, but she only got trash.

Yes, trash.

As imaginative as Stelle was, there was little thing she could think about a rotten banana.

The only thing that crossed through her mind was to stuff it into Keith's mouth to shut him up.

Stelle walked to the next trash can, and started feeling that usual tickling inside her body and endorphins being released in her brain, something she had discovered happened everytime she started to wonder about what she would find inside the trash can.

She also realized she didn't need to find anything, that rush was already enough, but Keith was too annoying.

'Come on, give me a map, or a broken watch, or may the Aeon of Luck hear me, a sealed box bigger than Keith's' prayed Stelle, feeling the cold metal of the lid in her hand.

And with a sudden movement, the trashcan's insides were revealed.

"....."

"That's not even worth mocking, at this point its just sad" commented Keith, looking at Stelle's eerily empty expression. "Still, who would throw a used diaper here? What's more, one of this size has to belong to an adult, and based on the smell, is quite recent too."

CLANG!!

Stelle slammed the lid into the trash can, with a furious expression on her face.

"Why?!" she wondered aloud with a face reflecting all her disappointment and frustration.

"Because someone shat himself, and-"

"Shut up Keith" interrupted Stelle with a fed-up voice.

Keith only shrugged, and had to admit that things weren't going pretty well in Stelle's first session of treasure-finding.

"Oh, that's Gepard approaching" said Keith, seeing the tall blonde man approaching with his unchanging solemn expression.

But much to his surprise, the man was walking directly towards them.

"May I ask what are you doing?" asked Gepard once he arrived to Keith and Stelle's location.

"Looking for treasures, and finding a reason to believe the universe is against me" grumbled Stelle.

"I got a report of 2 mysterious people causing a ruckus" said Gepard, but looking at Keith and Stelle's stares that told him 'keep looking for them then', had to continue. "People denounced that those people might be planting some sort of explosive artefact in the trash cans."

"So you think we are terrorists?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't believe so, but I think your behaviour is suspicious to say the least" explained Gepard, wondering what could drive 2 sane adults to rummage through the trash-cans of a foreign planet, if their words held no falsehoods.

"You already have enough terrorists here" grumbled Stelle, still in a bad mood.

"Whatever explosive we might plant, it can't be worse to what is already there" added Keith, lifting the lid of the trash can with a radioactive hazard inside, making Gepard retreat with alarm in his face. "I swear this thing might grow legs any minute."

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"Our fun was cut short" commented Keith, sitting in a bench next to Stelle, while both of them waited for March to come out to wander through Belobog.

"Fun, huh?" asked Stelle sarcastically.

"Well, it was fun for me" argued Keith. "It might not have been that fun for you, but your displeasure only made it even more amusing to me."

Stelle glared at Keith, but the man only shrugged.

"Still, I feel quite bad for you" continued Keith with a sigh. "To think your first treasure-hunting session would be this bad...."

And for once, he was serious.

He still remembered their first treasure hunting escapade, even if Stelle had betrayed him later, but the scene of Stelle's eyes shining with excitement wondering what might be hidden beneath the piles of trash in that dump remained firmly engraved in his mind.

He didn't want Stelle to show this grumbling and discontent expression after doing what she had once considered her favourite hobby, it was anti-natural.

Or maybe... he just missed the old Stelle.

"Here"

Stelle looked in surprise at the box that fell on her lap, the sealed box she had been so envious about, and then at Keith's pouting face.

"I already got one, you can keep this one" said Keith, looking at the door of the hotel.

Stelle looked down again, and carefully picked the box, inspecting it.

It was light, despite its metallic cover, which told her that most probably, the box was empty.

But it didn't matter, she wouldn't have opened the box anyway, that would be like taking the mystery out of the box.

A sealed box was a treasure, but if you opened, it would turn into a mere receptacle for something else, the value resided precisely in that enigma.

And this box wasn't only a treasure.

It was her first one.

"Thank you" said Stelle with a soft voice, making Keith look at her with surprise, not expecting such a voice to leave from the energetic and somewhat rude girl.

Only to see Stelle looking down at the simple and small box between her hands with a fond look in her eyes he hadn't seen before.

"Well, take it as your birthday present" said Keith, wondering what was taking March so much time, because he for sure didn't know how to interact with this kind of Stelle. "You don't know your birthday, it might be today for all we know."

"Hmm" nodded Stelle, turning the box in her hands. "Keith, can I ask you something?"

"Everything" replied Keith. "If you get an answer it's another thing altogether."

"Did you know me before I lost my memories?" asked Stelle, looking at Keith's face.

"....yes" admitted Keith with a deep sigh. "I guess taking you to look into trashcans was a bit too much."

"It was" nodded Stelle. "I enjoyed it too much, I don't think you would have ever suggested that if you hadn't known I would enjoy it."

"You were the one who taught me how to look for 'treasures'" confessed Keith with a nostalgic smile. "It was a fun day."

'Until it wasn't anymore' he added inwardly.

"Can you tell me something about that time?" asked Stelle with a hopeful gaze. "Maybe about-"

"I can't" but Keith shook his head. "Stelle, you must have already noticed, you are not a common person."

"Are you talking about this?" asked Stelle, slightly raising her hand and showing Keith the purple veining that took over it. "You can do it too."

"But I'm not as special as you, at least in a certain way" explained Keith with another sigh. "I'm sorry Stelle, but things will get hairy if I tell you those things."

"hmmm" Stelle hummed in understanding, but she talked once again. "Can you at least tell me what was our relationship before I lost my memories?"

"As much as it might shock you, it's similar to the one we have now" replied Keith, making Stelle look at him with a bit of surprise. "The only difference is that you were even more vicious."

"Was I?" wondered Stelle aloud, with an absent gaze that made Keith feel like shit.

"I know it must be hard for you, losing all your memories and finding yourself alone, I was in your same position once" said Keith, who knew that even if Stelle's gaze was still lost, she was listening to him. "But I can tell you this, you are not alone. Who was your friend before you lost your memories is still your friend even now, even if you don't recognize them, even if you haven't seen them, they still care about you. And you have the Astral Express now, you should have realized the kind of people they are."

"They are good people" nodded Stelle with a fond smile.

"You haven't lost as much as you think, not a single friend of the 'old you' will forget about you, and you have new friends" added Keith, knowing that Kafka and Firefly were probably blackmailing Silverwolf to check on Stelle. "All you need to do is enjoy your current situation, and have as much fun as you can, the rest will come in due time."

Stelle nodded after a brief pause, and glanced at Keith, an unvoiced question in her unexpectedly vulnerable golden eyes.

"Of course, I will be here for a while" said Keith, thinking that maybe Stelle's glance was about that. "You are a 'new Stelle' but that doesn't mean you aren't the friend who took me in a treasure hunt for the first time."

"Hmm" Stelle nodded again, with a bit of calmness returning to her mind hearing Keith.

She felt strangely close to Keith, maybe because he had been right by her side facing that Doomsday Beast, or maybe it was her 'past self' telling her that she could trust Keith, or maybe something else altogether.

What she knew was that Keith was a close friend she didn't want to lose.

"Look who's here" said Keith, standing up and looking at the pink-haired girl walking in their direction with an excited smile. "Looks like we will be able to look around the town."

Stelle shook her head to send those confusing but equally important thoughts away for now, and smiled sensing March's energy.

Soon, the group of 3 started wandering through the town.

With a small and dirty box safely stored in Stelle's hand.