!!! - THIS IS A REWRITTEN VERSION OF THE CHAPTER - 12/30/24
Disclaimer: I don't own Honkai Star Rail and any of their characters. All belonged to their rightful owners - Hoyoverse.
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My head hurts.
Groaning, I placed my hand over my head. My eyes opened slightly, adjusting to the light that was furrowing deep within.
"Ah, where am I?" It felt like I had a strange, nightmarish dream.
When finally my vision clears, I find myself in another unfamiliar environment. For a moment, I was completely still as if my head hadn't fully connected to my body just yet.
Then everything clicked on me.
Wait, where the fuck is this?!
I was found yet again lost.
Where are they? Did they leave me here? Why? And more importantly, where's Peppy?!
So many questions wrapped around my head, contradicting my rational thoughts. I immediately stood up and tried to shout "Pe–!"
"Woof!"
I stopped, mouth closing as I glanced over to my right and saw Peppy right there, sitting with his head tilting to the side. "Woof!"
"Oh, there you are!" I chuckled to myself, and a huge relief washed over me. I don't know what I would do if somehow I lost this dog. "So, have you been waiting for that long?"
"Woof!"
"They didn't do anything to you?"
"Woof!"
"I guess we're on the same page, buddy. It seems that they didn't decide to kill me after all," I felt relieved. Those two were dangerous and who they were was a complete mystery to me however I recall what they said and they seemed surprised that I did not recognize them. I might want to delve deeper later on to why that is. For now, my survival was my top priority. "And they even left my gun here." I spotted my weapon just beside me. I guess whatever they did to me, at least they left me with a bit of mercy.
"So do you know where they went, buddy?" I asked the dog.
"Woof!" It replied.
"So a no?"
"Woof!"
"Alright." I patted him on the head. When I proceeded to stand and stretch, I caught a glimpse of something…no, someone, an unconscious girl lying against the wall. She was wearing some kind of hoodie, or rather a black coat with a thick white shirt underneath while wearing a short skirt.
"....." I stared at the girl in deadly silence. I honestly don't know what to feel at the moment. Looking at her closely, far from a safe distance, she seemed not dead. She's not dead, right? Just unconscious, right? So far, from what I notice she didn't have any injuries at all, not blood stains from either the floor or from her clothes. It's a miracle she survived this long for being unconscious and how she went from that, I honestly don't know.
"You know who she is, buddy?" I turned to the dog.
"Woof?"
"I take that as a no," Seriously, what are these events coming right at me? First, the Antimatter legion, next are those mysterious people,e and now this unconscious mysterious girl? What a great fucking day.
"Well, I can't just leave her be, can I buddy?" It was painful for me to say it. I just can't bear to look at myself in the mirror If I just left her alone knowing I was here.
"Woof!"
"Hmm, fine. Let's go wake her up."
++++=====++++
'Where am I?' were my first words as I opened my eyes. There was a young woman in front of me. She had red wine-colored hair that was tied in a messy ponytail with two loose bangs hanging on either side of her face. Her eyes were of a similar, lighter color, and she wore dark pince-nez sunglasses on top of her head and a pearl earring in her right ear.
She looked gorgeous more than anything.
"A space station, but that's not important right now," the mysterious woman answered. "Listen, you are in a daze right now. You don't know who you are, or what you're going to do next. You think I look familiar, but you're not sure if you should trust me. All you need to know is that I'm leaving, and you will be left all alone in this space station. From now on, you needn't think about your past or doubt yourself."
"Listen, in the near future, you will encounter all kinds of perils and hardships, but you will also have many wonderful experiences. You'll meet companions who treat you like family and embark on surreal adventures with them."
"At the end of your journey, all that perplexes you and troubles you will resolve."
"This is your future that Elio has foreseen. Do you like it?"
I took a moment to answer. "I guess."
"It's like a weaving brocade – you and I can only add one gold thread each time, but eventually, we will make a gorgeous pattern." The young woman smiled.
"How long do you need?" Another person with silver hair suddenly interrupted, popping out in my line of vision. "According to the script, the Astral Express crew is arriving soon. We should avoid being seen by them. We've already got a lot of plates in our hands."
"I know, Silverwolf. Just give me another minute," she replied to the silver-haired girl, annoyed, and turned to look at me again. "I must leave now. Listen. Don't worry. Someone will come and find you very soon. Just go with them. You won't remember a thing."
She paused "However, it seems that you already have a companion here with you. Do take care of him, will you? Whatever you do, don't leave him out of your sight. He can be quite something, that is to say."
"What are you saying to her, Kafka?"
"Don't fret Silverwolf, I'm just kneading the thread."
"Kafka…" Those words suddenly left my mouth, as the woman in front of me was strangely familiar like I've known her my entire life. "Who..?"
"You'll meet him soon enough, or probably sooner when you wake up, don't worry. When you have the choice, make the one you know you won't regret." Those were her last words as I slowly closed my eyes. Strangely, I wasn't tired, but the urge to close my eyes overtook me.
.
..
…
….
…..
...
"Hey, hey! Missy, time to wake up before we're gonna die all here"
"Hey, Missy? You hear me?"
"Woof! Woof!"
"Keep that barking up buddy, at this rate she should wake up soon."
Upon hearing the voices, it felt like my consciousness was slowly regaining on me. I slowly opened my eyes, groaning as I did so.
"That's it! You're getting there. Just a bit more."
The first thing that greeted me was a person, waving his hand at me. The person had jet black hair, wearing some kind of robe, white with some strips of green. He was smiling at me.
Who is he? I started to question. Where am I? I looked around, finding the place unfamiliar yet at the same time it held a somewhat familiar feeling. A sharp, distinct pain feeling suddenly came over my head.
Who…Who am I? Concern and panic washed over me. My memory…My past…It felt like I had none of it.
"Okay, good, you're already awake. I seriously thought you never but of course that would be rude right?" The boy in front of me said.
In turn, I stared at him. "...."
"And umm, can you stand up and stop staring at me? And maybe say something?"
"..." Was I rude? It felt like that was the case. His expression was that of someone uncomfortable. Did I make him uncomfortable? I just realized now that I was lying down, in doing so, I tried my best to stand up but miserably failed at the first try.
"Uhm, want me to help?"
Looking at him again, I gave a nod.
He extended a hand helping me in the process of standing on my two feet. My legs felt wobbly as I tried to balance myself.
"Must be quite an experience you got there, seeing your legs can barely hang on," He said. "So, I'm Ethan btw. Full name, Ethan Almiyers, and you?"
My name. I remember it but aside from that…nothing. It felt strange. How could I remember my name but my past is forgotten?
"Uhm, you don't have to answer if you don't–"
"I'm Stelle," I answered, just before he could finish.
He nodded. "Stelle, alright Stelle, nice to meet you. So umm, in case you're wondering, I just found you here lying unconscious. I don't know what happened to you and how you are fine after being that unconscious and all. Still, I don't mean to pry but…What happened?"
" I…..don't remember," I replied, feeling confused as to why.
"Oh, okay so, Amnesia? Great. Must have hit your head pretty hard." He sighed then I heard him muttering under his breath 'Shit, a main character'
I tilted my head, confused by what he meant by that.
"Woof!"
I gaze down below me to find a dog staring at me. I blinked.
"That's Peppy if you're wondering his name"
"Peppy….Is he yours?"
'"Uhm, not really. I just took care of him for the time being. Can't say he's been quite a handful."
"I see."
"So, you really don't remember anything aside from your name?"
I shook my head.
"Okay, so you don't look like you're from around here…." He paused. I saw his eyes widen slightly. Why did he seem afraid? "Uhm…just a question, do you know two people with violet clothes, and red hair, and one is a silver-haired girl with punk-like clothes? "
I felt puzzled at what he was getting at, then I tried visibly imagining it in my head on what he said. I put the pieces together and found the image to be….familiar. It was inside my head but I couldn't get it out.
"Have you met them?" I asked instead of answering his question.
"You know them?" Now, he sounded frightful. Why?
"I don't know.I don't remember but the way you described them…I felt like I've seen them before." I answered. However, what I didn't expect was him suddenly tensing up.
"....." He fell silent. I opened my mouth to question what was wrong but he instead responded. "Okay, for the record you're not with them, right?"
"No?"
He eyed me for a moment "You're sure?"
"Yes?"
"Is that a question?"
"No"
He then breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was starting to think you were."
"Why? Is that a bad thing?" I asked, curiously.
"Uh well, it's complicated." He replied but it made me curious even more "So, since you're awake, we should probably go to the evacuation center right about now. It's located in the Master control zone." He paused "...I honestly don't know where we are at the Space Station but don't worry, once I can find a landmark that is familiar to me, it will be easy going from there," He paused again then added "But…If they were to appear then that would be a problem." He frowned at the last part.
"They?"
He looked at me. "Wait, you don't know?"
"...."
"Ah right, you don't know, rather you have amnesia so that would explain it." He sighed, massaging his temples "Okay, here's the plan, I have a pistol here. I don't know how much ammo I got, but it's better than nothing I suppose. We're going to get out of here and go to the evacuation zone while dealing with some bullshit on the way. So the question is, are you on board with this plan? I have no guarantee that we will one hundred percent make it out alive but at least our chances are not zero."
I stared at him.
"You know, at least answer either yes or no, rather than staring would be quite nice"
"I'm sorry." I apologized, realizing only now that it must be rude.
"No need to apologize, I just want your opinion on the matter."
"Okay"
"Is that a yes or no?"
I nodded.
"So I'll take it as a yes?"
"Yes"
"Hmm alright, Now we should—" He was interrupted by a loud screech from our right.
"Oh fucking what now?!" Before he could turn around fully. I caught a glimpse of something fast approaching us. He wasn't fast enough to dodge it. As if all my instincts kicked in, I hurled at him, pushing him away from whatever was coming.
Just like I predicted, a blade went past us.
"Woah!" We landed on the floor. "Damn it" I saw him aiming his pistol directly at the creature.
Bang! Bang!
The creature recoiled back in pain, letting out a sound of pain.
"Run!"
"Huh?" I turned to him and my eyes widened again as something similar to the creature appeared before us to our right. It growled at us as it began to move closer.
"Oh, you got to be kidding me! Another one?! Fuck my luck today." Ethan shouted, seemingly looking tired of it all. "Let's go!"
He grabbed my arm and we both immediately made a run for it. He began shooting at the creatures to slow them down but it seemed…
"And I'm out. Great" He sounded frustrated "Okay, new plan. We need to find a way out of this shithole now."
"They seemed to be gaining on us." I reminded him, peeking from behind. They were fast, probably faster than us.
"No shit Sherlock but thanks for the heads up."
"Why don't we fight?" I asked, hinting at the obvious. He didn't take that well.
"Huh? Are you stupid?! How can we fight them? Might call it suicide at this point."
I began to consider his words before something caught my eye. A bat? An idea sparked in my head as I slipped past his grip and went towards it.
"Wait, where are you going?! Stelle!"
I gave him no reply as I directly focused myself on the bat, fastening my pace altogether.
"Hey!....Shit!"
I heard the creatures growl becoming closer as time went on. I fastened my sprint, and with my hands in reach, I tried to grab the bat. It felt so close, yet. I caught a glimpse of something coming right at me from the side. It was a blade. It was coming in close.
Dodge! My mind screamed at me. However, it proved unnecessary when I saw something flying towards the creature. A pistol? It managed to hit its head, halting its movement temporarily.
"Seriously. What are you doing?!" Ethan shouted at me, irritation shown in his features.
Giving him a short thanks silently, I used that moment of distraction given by him and grabbed the bat from the ground. The monster finally regained its composure but it was too late. I spun around and swung the bat around the creature's head with all the force I could muster. It hit and managed to crack its head as it fell to the ground with a thud.
The second one tried to sneak up on me but I managed to dodge in time and countered with a large swing onto its stomach as it hurled backward.
"Huh, you know how to fight?" Ethan's surprised voice reached my ears as I lowered my bat. I turned to look at him with a smug look seeing his shocked expression. I felt happy at the moment.
"Ok we should probably go now," He said.
I opened my mouth to say something but only managed to let out a painful groan as I felt something hot around my waist and just in a span of a second, I was thrown against the wall. The metal rang as my back was pushed back against it.
"Shit, Stelle!" A concerned voice reached my ears. I hissed in pain, fighting the urge to faint. I saw up ahead, not so far from us, another one of those creatures but now holding something heavy and glowing. It had a different look from the two monsters I faced, looking a lot slimmer but with a different weapon. My bat was thrown off in the distance out of my reach.
"Shit, run! I'll distract it and take Peppy with you!"
I stared at him and before I could say anything he went up to the creature.
"Hey, come here shit head!"
No…No..
I wanted to say something to stop him, reaching my hand as I did so but it came down to a mere whisper.
"Don't ....Ethan" I watched him go as the creature tailed behind him.
++++===++++
Ethan POV
Okay, that was dumb. I wanted to rack my head for doing so incredibly stupid. My heart was beating so incredibly fast. Normally I wasn't this brave but man, the moment got into me.
Right now, I was hidden behind a pile of boxes which I luckily found. After running for so long, and almost getting hit multiple times, I finally found a place to temporarily keep myself out of harm's way. However, like I said it's only temporary as the creature started roaming around the area, looking for me.
If I move around and only make the littlest of sounds, I feel like it should find me without a hitch. I just hope Stelle would be smart enough and run to probably get help. She knew how to fight which surprised me but knowing she took a hit from it. She was probably too injured to fight any longer. I had no choice but to take one for the team, at least she will be able to survive. That was the only thing I could do to help.
Dumb. I know. It's dumb for me to sacrifice my own life for the other, especially to someone I don't even know but knowing If I left her there to use her as a means to ward off the creatures. I wouldn't be able to live for myself. Now, I just need to find a way to probably escape this.
When I began to think over my options.
As I weighed my options, a low growl sounded behind me, accompanied by a sharp hiss.
Oh no. Before I had any time to react, something hot slammed into my lower hip.
BAM!
The force hurled me backward. Very painful.
I screamed as I hit the ground. Gritting my teeth to suppress the pain on my lower side. It hurts! It hurts, fucking much.
I could feel tears forming in my eyes.
Get up! Get up! I screamed at myself. With all the adrenaline rushing into my body. I finally managed to stand on my feet.
Before I could manage to run, another blast struck me from the side.
BAM!
The impact sent me flying into the wall. I gasped for air, feeling my chest heavy. Looking down, I saw blood soaking through my shirt, trailing down in a crimson line.
I can't move. Everything hurts.
"No…" I can't die here.
I saw the creature standing over me with its blaster set right down to my face.
"No.." The blaster glowed brighter and brighter, each passing moment felt like I was seconds away from death. It seemed all hope was lost right there and on. I closed my eyes accepting my fate.
Then it was then I heard a sound…
[Host compatibility confirmed.]
[Ethan Almiyers has gained approval for the code of conduct.]
[Initiating Safety protocol]
[Activating Emergency Override sequence ]
I was confused by the sudden voice. Was it inside my head? It felt like it. When I opened my eyes, the Void Ranger was still standing before me but its attention was not on me anymore. It appeared to be nervous and wary of something as its head began rotating like it was looking for something. Like it was afraid.
Wait, afraid of what? I looked around me and saw no one else. Stelle wasn't here so I ruled that out.
Was it afraid of me? That's impossible. It was literally about to kill me a second ago. In the corner of my eye, I saw something faint glowing at my side. It was none other than my wristwatch.
[Analyzing current host susceptibility]
[Potential Level - 3(Low)]
[Reconstructing framework through given variables.]
[Revamping current Elemental Forms]
[Revamped complete.]
[All Elementals will now exhibit tiers to allow smooth transition]
[Tier 1 (Basic Form) Unlocked(Initiating)]
[Tier 2 (Evolved Form) Locked]
[Tier 3 (Ascended Form) Locked]
[Analyzing…]
[Threat level - low]
[Tier 1(Basic Form) Initiated]
With my eyes glued to the screen, I witness how the once-black screen of the watch changes to a lightning symbol in the blink of an eye. What the fuck?
[Initiating Auto Pilot Sequence]
[Elemental Form - Lightning - Activated]
The Void Ranger who appeared to be nervous suddenly screamed out in anger, which startled me and made me look back at it. I widened my eyes as its blaster started to intensify to a degree that it almost lit the entire room by it alone.
I couldn't run, nor could I block it. Shit!
I instinctively placed my hand in front of me in any way to defend myself. Suddenly, I felt something brushing on my arm. Then I heard a loud bang that followed. What I saw left me in complete disbelief. I saw the Void Ranger lying down. But that was not the most surprising thing I saw. It was my hand that had a spark of lightning surrounding it. Disbelief flashed through my features as I was unable to comprehend what I just witnessed.
"What the—"
[Potential Threat Eliminated]
[Host Secured]
"--Fuck.." However, the voices did not stop there.
[Status update: Blood Capacity rapidly decreasing.]
[Initiating emergency response…]
[Cellular realignment will be initiated.]
[Warning! The host will be placed in a coma state to prevent Mental Shock]
Before I knew it, it felt like all my energy within my body went down the drain, I passed out.
++++=====+++++
MEANWHILE…
"Are you sure about this, Kafka?" Silverwolf asked her focus still on the gamepad in her hands. "This feels like it's going to turn into a mess."
"Hm, quite possibly," Kafka replied, swirling her glass of wine as she crossed her legs. "But isn't that part of the fun?"
"You sound awfully pleased with yourself," Silverwolf muttered without looking up.
"Do I?" Kafka countered with a smirk, earning an audible sigh from Silverwolf.
"Shouldn't we let Elio in on this?"
"Oh, he knows."
Silverwolf finally paused her game, turning to face Kafka. "You already told him? When?"
Kafka's smile widened as she leaned back in her chair. "The moment I decided what to do with the boy."
Silverwolf snorted. "Something tells me SAM isn't going to be thrilled about this."
Kafka chuckled softly, resting her head against the chair's cushion. "Oh, don't worry about SAM. SAM is quite reasonable. Besides, Stelle is in good hands."
"Reasonable? That's a joke," Silverwolf replied with a dry laugh.
"SAM might be hurt by such a comment, Wolfie,"
"Hmph," Silverwolf huffed in reply.
"How long until we arrive?" Kafka asked, her gaze shifting to the vastness of space outside.
"Approximately two hours. That is, if we don't run into any… inconveniences."
"Plenty of time, then." Kafka tilted her head. "Hey, Wolfie—"
"I'm busy,"