Every world is covered in an imaginary barrier, a naturally-occurring phenomena completely made up of imaginary energy. It was similar to a planet’s atmosphere, but instead of rejecting mere radiation and the likes, it rejects the presence of anything from the outside.
However, as technology gradually advanced, the major factions developed ways to traverse this ‘imaginary barrier’. The most well-known was the Astral Express’ train. It had been going to and fro worlds for a long time, becoming a well-known figure throughout the cosmos.
There were also ships designed to penetrate the imaginary barrier, making passage a lot easier. For Herta who had received ample resources, building one wasn’t a challenge. Hell, she stopped building them after making ten such ‘supercars’ parked on another independent, private space station.
The place they were in was one of them. The surface area of its ‘habitable’ area was around two hundred square meters, comparable to an entire ‘small’ house. It was divided into several rooms—bathrooms and bedrooms combined.
At its core was the bridge area consisting of two seats. There was a retractable arc-like table beneath painted in white colors. It was there in cases of the projection systems—the ones responsible for maintaining virtual screens—malfunctioning.
A few meters away was the view from outside the hull. It revealed the darkness cloaking the space. Stars from afar shone brightly, unhindered by distance. What was once out of Sirius’ reach—of his past life—was actualized in this life.
His attention was preoccupied, however, as he faced the relentless headpatting from the witch sitting on his lap. They shared one pilot seat, letting him feel, sense, and smell Herta.
Her left elbow touched his left shoulder as she relished in the act of giving headpats. Sirius’ right hand hugged her waist, securing her on this seat.
“Forgery… Have you involved yourself with space criminals?”
Herta briefly glanced at the ‘fake documents’ attached to the ship.
There are common “laws” and tacit understanding in space-faring. There were, after all, ‘pirates’ who love nothing more than to rob people. Simultaneously, there were also ‘space cowboys’ who specialized in dealing with such evil. As such, everyone established some common rules. One of them was to attach a readable credential to a traveling spaceship. That way, they’d know at least the most basic stuff, preventing scenarios like ‘kill on sight’.
The matter of a document’s validity was more complex than that. Verification, referrals, and the likes have to be included. If anything went wrong during a certain part, the one who verified it would be held accountable. Hence, “forgery” nowadays is rare. Extremely so.
Sirius was able to pull it off, still.
“No. They are technically not space criminals. I used some favors to have them verify my ‘friend’s’ papers. Even if this ship gets caught, which I think is highly unlikely, they can’t pin the blame on us… on you.”
Sirius answered while flicking a small virtual screen. It showed they weren’t far from their destination, only separated by the imaginary barrier.
“It is not our time to become space pirates, I see.”
She did not give a direct complement, but Sirius heard her satisfied tone. He felt all of his hard-work last night (literally) paid off. Not to mention the headpats that kept making him feel very comfortable. The sensation of Herta’s armpits brushing past the back of his neck was another.
‘That all-nighter was nothing compared to this…’
Sirius had to contact a lot of people in his network at the last minute. There was only one reason they had to disguise their ship. Herta is currently in a cooperative, somewhat close relationship with the IPC. The Asdana Star System, on the other hand, is a prison built entirely by the IPC.
Right now, as they speak, a prison-break has been occurring. The headlines Herta showed yesterday told the failure of the IPC’s first attempt to retake the Asdana Star System. The prisoners had repelled the IPC’s forces.
What would the IPC think if Herta, an Emanator of Erudition, appears out of nowhere in such a ‘controversial’ world?
The first thought is to use her hands to resolve this growing mess. Herta could not be bothered by it. If she did go in this world and left without doing anything, there could be ‘troublesome’ people acting up.
To avoid souring her mood, and of course to make this a perfect ‘date’, Sirius went all-in. He made sure no one knew about this trip, that no one could point out Herta was here.
The darkness of the cosmos cloaked their ship as it turned invisible. It did not take long before they arrived in a place of absolute darkness. It was none other than the imaginary barrier.
The earliest humans had set their sights on the starry skies, only to fail. This was the main reason why they ended up doing so. The Imaginary Tree is filled with imaginary energy. The worlds in its leaves were akin to isolated orbs swimming across imaginary energy. Due to its interference, which isolates even light itself, humans could not travel beyond their worlds.
That was, until the emergence of Path Energy—of the Aeons.
In simplest terms, their power canceled out the chaotic imaginary outside, allowing one to penetrate through the imaginary barrier. What came next was the process of ‘swimming’ through imaginary energy. It requires Path Energy too. The ship’s speed also had to reach the speed of light at least for most people. Path Energy ‘decays’ over time, though it was more apt to call it dissipation.
Although Herta didn’t have that problem, travelling at the speed beyond light saves a lot of time, which was how they ended up with that function.
“I’ll turn it on.”
“Mn.”
Herta did not react much. She found it more interesting to look at Sirius’ black hair. Just then, she saw a single strand of white hair. It appeared for a moment, only for it to turn black in the next. A thought flickered in her eyes.
‘This should not happen.’
Herta was the one who designed the ‘serum’ they used. Limited by The Blue’s resources and her past experiences, its capabilities were limited. The one she would call perfect would be the ‘longevity project’ she had been studying for long.
Despite her current status, she encountered numerous problems. It was, by far, one of the most challenging problems so far. Herta did not hesitate to discreetly use her authority as an Emanator, allowing her to reach a conclusion in a blink.
‘He is aging..?’
Looking at the focused Sirius, something inexplicable came to her. Unlike before, however, she understood what it was.
She doesn’t want Sirius to leave her.
“Hm..?”
Sirius was caught off guard when Herta hugged him, burying her face in his chest.
Zoom-!
The ship shook slightly as their outside turned into hazy lights. The faint tremors of the ship’s floor as well as that familiar lingering ‘sensation’ made Sirius’ heart well in anticipation.
‘That’s the trickiest part.’
Due to his [Partial Imaginary Control] granted by the mental landscape, he was very sensitive with imaginary energy. Sirius could no longer focus as the ship’s force pushed the two closer. Only the sounds of faint whirring and Herta’s breathing rang in his ears.
‘What did she see..?’
Sirius understood a part of Herta now. It wasn’t a thorough understanding, but it was better than nothing—than the him of his past. He claimed he would understand Herta’s human side, but that part came from his obsession of being acknowledged.
It was disgusting.
It was nothing short of being a dog. That was one of the reasons why Herta never treated him much other than an interesting subject, up until Sirius realized what was wrong with himself.
‘I can’t understand her sometimes, but…’
He said nothing and hugged her tightly in return, aiming to ease whatever was wrong with Herta.
Their peace continued until they exited the hyperjump state. They no longer traveled beyond the speed of light. Sirius did not care, still, as he felt the warmth on his chest.
It was then at this moment did Herta lift her face. She looked outside the ship, her gaze fixated elsewhere.
“Things have gotten interesting.” She commented as she stood up, her complexion completely normal. “The Astral Express is here.”
Sirius was startled momentarily before regaining his calm. He thought the Astral Express wouldn't arrive, more so he had changed Penacony’s history. He did not expect them to arrive now.
Reading the history of this world opened up a lot of questions that he had. For once, Akivili’s fall occurred three Amber Eras ago, 2141 AE. Following that, the Aeon of Destruction had risen in 2142. Since then, the spread of the ‘Cancer of Worlds’, Stellaron, had begun. It was a fairly ‘recent’ event to the cosmos, but one with far-reaching effects.
For the Astral Express who had lost their literal God, life had been anything but easy.
‘Trailblazing… To have a go even if the situation is against them.’ Chills were sent down in his spine, followed by a smile. ‘This is the train inside the game.’
Sirius stood up, and following Herta’s line of sight, he saw it. The long, locomotive-like train traversed the rails made of nothing but motes of golden and purple light. His entire body was numbed out of excitement, countless memories filling his mind.
Undoubtedly, the one that stood out the most was the game’s opening sound.
Sirius could not hold back the urge to hum its tone.
Herta did not interfere with him as she watched him from beside. Her memories of the past overlapped with him. She hasn’t forgotten what her parents told her back then—
‘Your eyes are filled with stars.’
At this moment, Herta saw the same in his eyes. It was the face of someone experiencing nothing but the purest joy.
She said nothing in the end, but a smile had already appeared on her lips.
It took a while for the sense of novelty to die down. Sirius’ eyes drifted away from the Astral Express headed towards the ‘planet’. Penacony wasn’t so much as a planet, but two wide flat disks, with a thickness of several thousand kilometers. An artificial ‘star’ rests at its core, responsible for its gravitational pull, sunlight, and the likes. At the edge of its disks, substances that acted like “water” spilled out, only to turn hazy at the next moment. It continued up until a certain point where it directly transformed into motes of blue bubbles, disappearing into the vast and cold space.
Due to the special power of Preservation, every inch of the disk was habitable. Its edges and outer rings weren’t subject to heat and cold, respectively. The materials of the disk were also outside the ‘four’ known matters of Sirius’ past life, though that was to be expected.
The only difference here was that the massive tower situated at its center didn’t look like a hotel, but a suffocating prison complex. Ships of varying sizes flew in and out of it at every living moment, creating a sense of urgency. They did not notice Herta’s ship at all.
“Stop right here.”
Herta’s sudden command took him off guard. He complied, still, stopping the ship on the surface of an artificial platform. It floated above the water-like substance. He landed the ship on it, landing rather steadily.
“Plans have changed.” She declared, “Some uninvited guests are here.”
Herta pointed out to the highest point of the tower. Its sheer height exceeded far beyond any megastructure on The Blue. She looked as if she had met the gaze of someone before looking back at Sirius.
“Are we still carrying on with the date?”
“Why not?” She responded with a rhetorical of her own. “Nothing will stop it…”
Not even a Lord Ravager.
*****
A/N: A bit of a fun fact. Lan was said to have been born around 3,400 Star Calendar. In-game, it was currently 8,100 SC. So that’s 4,700 years ago. Nanook was the youngest of them all, though there wasn’t much to work on in regards to THEIR specific date of ascension. The farthest of Lord Ravagers’ activity (in canon) went as far as 5,700 SC, when Celenova interacted with the Xianzhou Alliance. That was about 2,400 years ago.
This puts Nanook’s ascension between 2,400 years and 4,700 years from the current time. This fic is currently about 14 Amber Eras from the present, a rough scale of 2,500 to 3,300 years.