(A/N: Warning. This chapter isn't friendly for those who were traumatized by Honkai: Star Rail patch 3.7. Proceed with caution.)
(A/N2: I updated more dialogues for maximum Emotional Damage. ;) )
Dreamscape
'W-what is this...?' Caelus looks around in disbelief. He is very sure he was on his bed, trying to see what the 'As I've Written' contained.
So why is he currently in Aedes Elysiae?!!
He continues to look around in confusion before two figures pass him by. He turns around and widens his eyes as he sees a young boy with white hair playing with a pink-haired girl.
'Phainon? Cyrene?' Caelus tries to approach them, but he looks at his hand and recoils in shock. For some reason, his physical body is transparent, his color distorted, while also looking like an ice sculpture.
'I...I'm in Amphoreus' 'memories', aren't I?' Caelus concludes as he glances around the golden wheat field. He can feel everything: the feeling of the wheat touching his body, the gentle breeze of the wind hitting his face, and so on. He continues to walk through the field as he slowly approaches the young Chrysos Heirs.
'They look so adorable and happy...' Caelus can't help but smile as Cyrene shows Phainon her book and tells his fortune using the tarot cards. He watches for a while as Phainon and Cyrene bond with each other.
He realizes the duo couldn't see him, and that includes the residents of Aedes Elysiae. He even experiments to see if it's possible to interact with either of them, but no one could hear him.
He watches Phainon and Cyrene grow up before they go on a journey as the future Chrysos Heir. He watches them joining Anaxa's class along with other Chrysos Heirs, interacting with Aglaea, Tribbie, Trianne, and Trionne, discussing Anaxa's lessons with Hyacine, Phainon sparring with Mydei, chasing after Cipher who stole Cyrene's books, and so on.
It was a happy journey until tragedy struck.
He watches in horror as the Chrysos Heir faces conflicts after conflicts, the Dark Tides, Caenis and her Cleaners, and the Titans. Every conflicts lead to the deaths of Chrysos Heirs, with Phainon and Cyrene being the only ones left. Okhema falls into destruction, consumed by the flames and destruction, before the sky splits open.
Caelus could only watch helplessly when the Chrysos Heir fell one by one, unable to interact or prevent their tragedies as he could only scream in horror. He knows these are memories, but he can't help but react to every scene. He could hear the anguish screams, the knife stabs through the Chrysos Heirs, the sound of blood splattering, and many more.
He watches as Phainon and Cyrene confront Lygus in the Vortex of Genesis. He hears Lygus revealing everything to Phainon and Cyrene, Cyrene's crazy plan of attracting Fuli, Phainon's first Chrysos Heirs' kill, and even the Era Nova of the First Cycle.
Caelus stands in silence, his horrified expression clearly visible on his face as everything turns dark. Suddenly, he once again saw a pink mammal fly past him before he snapped out of it.
"W-wait!" Caelus exclaims as he tries to chase after the creature, but the void instantly changes into the Aedes Elysiae once again. He feels his heart break when he sees young Phainon being alone in his hometown, and Cyrene is nowhere to be seen. Then, the vision switches as Caelus is brought to a place filled with advanced tech, which confuses Caelus at first before he notices Cyrene sitting while writing something in her book.
He tries to approach her, but once again, she can't see him. She seems to be talking to a weird, floating block. Those who had played the 3.7 patch know what this scene is, but Caelus was only able to play till 3.5 before he was isekai'd, so everything in this scene confuses him.
He watches as the scene flickers to Phainon's lonely journey, the First-Cycle Phainon collecting Coreflames while trying to convince other Chrysos Heirs, and Cyrene watching from the strange realm, writing down every journey into stories while talking to the strange block. He watches as Phainon slowly loses his sanity before passing the Coreflames and memories to Phainon of the next cycle, Cyrene clinging on hope to gain Fuli's attention and wishes for THEM to do something, and the death of Chrysos Heir again.
He feels his heart shatter into nothing but grains of sand as he watches the cycles continue. Every different choice made by the Chrysos Heirs, every alteration that happened in each cycle, all led to the same demises; all Chrysos Heirs died, and Phainon, now Flame Reaver, started the Era Nova.
For 33,550,336 times.
'How...how can they keep enduring...' Caelus could only watch as he felt nothing but anguish and sorrow, unable to stop caring for everything in Amphoreus. He knows what happens if he stops caring, he knows what happens if he starts feeling numb, he knows what happens if he starts to feel indifferent.
He always cared for the Chrysos Heir since the start of the patch. He feels nothing but horror when Flame Reaver claims his 'supposed' first victim, he cares when the Chrysos Heirs fall one by one, he cares about Phainon and his struggle in his previous cycles, he cares about Hyselins slowly falling into Nihility, and Cerydra's sacrifice to fight Lygus.
Upon seeing the cycles himself, he cares about them even more, and all he could wish is for these torturous loops to stop. He was also horrified that Cyrene was slowly disappearing while that weird block was transforming and growing from Mem to a small Cyrene, then the adult Cyrene, like they're a Digimon.
Then, out of nowhere, everything went dark before he saw himself in a train and falling. This confuses him before he notices Dan Heng beside him, and it clicks.
This part of the memories is from the canon Caelus, and the memories let him experience everything himself.
He could feel everything: his death upon arrival, the shock upon meeting Phainon for the first time, the uncontrollable Strife he felt when encountering Nikador for the first time, the unease he felt when meeting Castorice, Aglaea's golden thread wrapping his wrist, the shock and nervousness when he and Dan Heng were getting interrogated, and so on.
He experiences everything from Patch 3.0 to 3.5 through his own perspective, with additional scenes where he was unavailable, like Welt and Sunday trying to meet the real Herta, Himeko and Black Swan watching over March as she slowly covered in ice, Herta meeting Lygus for the first time, everyone planning how to deal with Amphoreus and Lygus, and so on.
Then, he experience the patch 3.6 where March's past and her extremely aggressive alter ego, Evernight, were revealed, everyone tries to face against her but failed, the mystery of Demiurge the 13th Titan, Dan Heng becoming the Chrysos Heir of Earth and tried to look for Caelus through all of Amphoreus, the revelation of March's consciousness arrived at the past of Amphoreus and helping Tribios (which explains Oronyx's reaction to March's camera), revelation of Cyrene's mysterious 'library' of memory being the tomb of 13th Titan, March confronting Evernight and the revelation of her connection with Enigmata, and the start of the new Era Nova.
Then, Patch 3.7 starts. The Era Nova had made Caelus, March, and Dan Heng become the Titans of Worldbearing, Time, and Earth, respectively. Then, explaining Cyrene and Demiurge, the block that took Cyrene's role upon the 33,550,337th loop, through her perspective to Caelus. Then, the journey through the Ruins of Time, as every Chrysos Heir with memories of all cycles lend their hands to fight, Phainon's body used as a puppet, the final battle against Irontomb, everyone failed as the universe 'ending', the Slumbering Courtyard as Cyrene attempts to hold everyone's memories before Destruction corrupts them, and to his bafflement, Pom-Pom pulling deity-level feats to pushes Caelus forward.
He saw how attempting to hold everyone's memories affected Cyrene, and he uses the path of Remembrance to not only ease her burden but to reach out for her. It was successful, but they had to face Irontomb once more. With the help of Cyrene, Caelus and her recreate the universe affected by Irontomb's Destruction and face the monster once again, which leads to their victory.
The death of Irontomb had caused its pieces to scatter around the cosmos, attempting to infect the world like a virus spread through a rotten and infected corpse. Caelus watches as a golden orb flows out of his body before it stops a few steps in front of him. He freezes upon feeling someone touching his shoulder.
"To end the Destruction with Destruction...At last, we can all sit together...and watch the victory fireworks, partner." He watches as Phainon walks past him and enters the golden orb. One by one, each Chrysos Heir approaches the golden orb. He felt Mydei patting his shoulder, saw Hyacine waving at him, Cipher doing a cat gesture teasingly, and Castorice gently holding his hand and pulling him closer to the orb.
"Why don't you come a little closer? This warmth is proof that we 'lived'."
Then, the orb becomes a bow as an arrow forms in his hand. He draws the string and aims the arrow forward before Cyrene approaches him, and gently raises his bow upward.
"Stay strong, eyes forward. always - This arrow isn't the end...But the beginning ofhope."
He feels a single tear escaping his left eye as he lets loose, the arrow splits into multiple projectiles and destroys the remains of Irontomb, preventing the infection from spreading as all ships that arrived to assist in the battle appear like a hologram.
Then, the scene switches to Caelus meeting with the Chrysos Heirs in the Astral Express. At first, he feels his jaw drop and feels slightly excited when it is revealed, but upon meeting Cyrene, Dan Heng, and March, the excitement diminishes as he knows this is too good to be true.
Then, everyone gathers for one last time as Cyrene suggests everyone leave a parting message.
"Without me, there is no world. Go think, observe... andconquer." Cerydra.
"The Stars shall sing of the Imperator's great journey."
"Life is like the ocean. Tides rise and fall, and everything eventually dissolves into the waves. So sing your heart out in every moment of existence." - Hyselins/Helektra.
"May the next feast be eternal."
"Kill the play, and the game shall be born. Kill the strife, and glory shall descend." - Mydei/Mydeimos.
"Mydeimos, become king."
"If your heart still has room to spare, share a bit of gentleness and softly cherish all the beautiful things around you." - Castorice.
"The place you reside is a gentle sea of flowers."
"'Truth is a solvent that dissolves all things in the world, and thus cannot objectively exist.' I have a brilliant proof for this in mind, but since we're nearing the end of the story, I shall notelaborate." - Anaxa/Anaxagoras.
"The seeds you've sown are already sprouting."
"Trust and selflessness are the two most beautiful garments in the world, one to gift others, one to adorn yourself." - Aglaea.
"Thank you for your hard work all this while."
"Look up in the sky more often and smile more. Many stubborn ailments fear optimism, but it's the best medicine!" - Hyacine/Hyacinthia.
"It's you who healed the sky."
"Don't be afraid to fall, just run! Destiny's just a slow-moving nymph, it can't catch you!" - Cipher/Cifera.
"Homeward you come, distant wind."
"Whether it's a sunny day or rainy day, remember to tell yourself before you drift off to sleep: 'See you tomorrow!'" - Tribios/Tribbie.
"From now on, no more goodbyes."
"A hero is living in everyone's heart. Embrace it, and chase after the Sun." - Khaslana/Phainon.
"Did you see? Amphoreus has ushered in the dawn."
"The pen will eventually break, the ink will run dry, and life will ultimately fade, but thoughts will permanently remain in sagas." - Dan Heng.
"If time is an endless cycle, then forget the bitterness that keeps repeating, and remember only the moments of happiness!" - March 7th.
"Let's walk towards tomorrow together! We were never apart."
When he hears them one by one, he can't help but try not to choke. Every single farewell message alternate Caelus told the Chyrsos Heirs is basically the translated message written in their drip marketing, which adds even more insult to injury. Once they left their message, everyone slowly disappeared one by one.
Caelus wants to approach them, wanting to pull them into one final hug, but he can't. He could only watch everything helplessly as a spectator. And when he thought it was over, another scene reveals a horrifying truth.
Cyrene had to go through her own 33,550,336 cycles by travelling to the past, which made her scene recording memories even more tragic.
Demiurge is Cyrene of the past. Cyrene is the Demiurge of the future. She's basically helping her past self to grow and learn how to love.
He wants to scream, reaches towards her to stop her, but he can't. He could only helplessly watch once again as Cyrene slowly walked in the opposite direction of the time flow, using every power to prepare for the future before she shrank down and turned into a baby in Aedes Elysia, starting the first ever cycle of Amphoreus.
He watches in silence as everything turns into a void, and a display screen showing 'As I've Written - End' appears right in front of his face before he is forcefully awakened.
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Reality, New Eridu
Caelus gasps for air as he gets up from his bed, clutching his heart as he tries to calm down. He tries to process what he just saw before he notices tears start falling from his eyes.
He tries to wipe them off, but the tears won't stop falling. Every memory of Amphoreus' cycles was carved into his head, unable to forget every single detail of what he just watched. He continued to cry before he saw something on the bed that made him freeze.
It's Mem, sleeping soundly as she curls around to warm herself up. Caelus thought he was hallucinating after watching 33 million cycles worth of memories, and he tried to approach it by gently touching her.
"Me-mi..." This causes Caelus to choke before he gently picks her up and hugs her while he sobs as quietly as possible, trying not to wake anyone up.
To be continued