THEY started moving

Keith opened up his eyes, and instantly noticed the change.

So impressed and elated he was that he decided to put that weird meeting with the girl in that strange place out of his mind.

The world felt...real.

Keith's existence had been nothing more than a mere soul, and that affected the way he perceived the world.

Herta's puppet was a masterpiece, there was no doubt about that, as it had allowed Keith to 'look' at the world through a masterful interaction between his soul and an extremely complex piece of machinery called 'eyes'.

Still, it wasn't perfect, and only now could Keith understand how much he had missed.

The colours felt more vibrant, everything was more nitid, and the details he could see gave him a whole new perspective of the world surrounding him, because he now had human eyes.

"Keith, can you move?" asked Kafka with a cold voice, which Keith was too busy to care about right now.

But he heard her, so he tried to move. Fingers on a fleshly hand were slowly closed, sending Keith's brain information about the warmth of his hand, the texture, the strength behind his muscles.

An arm was raised, almost like a baby making his first steps, and Keith was able to see his now arm of skin, muscles and bones, responding to him with a degree of faithfulness he could have only dreamt about.

His torso rose when he tried to sit on the device he was in, which made him realize something. He was breathing, he could feel the air leaving and exiting his lungs, he could feel the pulsating heart inside his chest, and the strain on his muscles when he tried to stand up.

A magical sensation Keith knew would accompany him until his last days in this now beautiful world.

"Keith, if you don't answer me I will need to do something that will make my actual bounty look like a drop of water in the ocean" Kafka's icy voice sounded once again, and Keith looked at her.

A pair of pink eyes, framed by a beautiful faze, with purple hair tied in a low ponytail with some strands falling through both sides of her face.

"Were you this beautiful before?" asked Keith, who realized that now his voice was the product of air passing through his windpipe and vocal cords, not a mere microphone relaying to the world the feelings and thoughts of a mere soul.

"...." Kafka's eyes widened hearing that, but sighed. "Nobody else could be that stupid but you."

"...what is happening here?" asked a confused Keith, seeing that Kafka's gun was being pushed into Ruan Mei's head.

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

A dozen minutes before.

Kafka narrowed her eyes seeing how Keith fell unconscious, only Ruan Mei basic explanation of the necessity of this reassuring her.

'I depend too much on Elio's scripts' thought Kafka. 'In every mission Keith is not involved, everything goes according to Elio's scripts so I get too alarmed by anything outside of them.'

A thought for the future, as Kafka focused herself on the task at hand.

"How are you going to craft his body?" she asked with a curious voice, as she didn't even know where to start with.

"I won't craft a body" replied Ruan Mei with a blank voice. "I will grant his soul the ability to inhabit a body that will always grow with him. His soul is too bizarre and never stops growing stronger which will make any kind of body lag behind it, leading to its eventual malfunction. If he has a body made of flesh, it would cause his organs to rupture and blood vessels to collapse, after all, they need to house a soul too strong for the body."

"So it's just his luck that he had used a puppet's body" commented Kafka, wondering if upon learning this Keith would stop complaining about the word 'Karma' being a lie. An evil existence, that in Keith's mind was anything but a bitch, as it always seemed to be 'chasing his plastic ass'. "The only thing that could malfunction is the outer layer which made his arms or legs fall."

Ruan Mei didn't reply, and rummaged through his suitcase.

"How will this body adapt to the soul?" inquired Kafka, who knew how difficult it would be to make a body able to grow stronger with the soul.

The bones would need to constantly break to get stronger, muscles would need to keep tearing, and organs would need to be constantly regenerated to keep up, but there should be a limit to everything, as Keith's muscles couldn't limitlessly grow.

While they didn't know his soul's limit.

"I will make a body that will make his soul's growth slowly decrease, but never completely stopping" said Ruan Mei with a voice that didn't show her thoughts.

"...I'm not sure I can agree with that" said Kafka with a cold voice.

She knew Keith was extremely important to Elio's plan, which meant that he was also important to her. He was the one blurring Fate, but this change to his soul's growth rate might have an impact on his 'effect'.

Naturally, Ruan Mei wasn't aware of all this, all she wanted was to study this particular soul that might give her a chance to know more about Aeons, and time wasn't a concern for her, once you reached the Truth to a certain degree, time was an inconsequential matter.

"I can retrieve his soul and put it back to the puppet" said Ruan Mei, taking out a white 'ball'. "The soul will adapt to this flesh and will make it grow."

The same procedure a mere human called Kenshin had used before was being used to its maximum potential here, to 'craft' a body using the information of the soul, but the difference was that Ruan Mei's ball still allowed the 'flesh' to constantly adapt and improve, while Kenshin's didn't.

The human called Kenshin had used this same method to craft a static body to house his soul, but this made his soul stop growing in size, because the body wouldn't be able to resist it.

His soul had changed in quality, but the size didn't increase a single inch, while with Ruan Mei's 'ball', the soul would still conserve the ability to grow.

But now that the remnant of the soul of the human called Kenshin had passed through the Being, and arrived in the universe the original being whose soul was housed in the vessel called Kenshin, the soul's growth had been exaggeratedly fast.

Because the longer this soul lived here, the more energy he got from its homeplace.

This growth was the reason behind Keith's 'body' malfunctioning, but no longer after today, even if this growth was to be slowed down a lot.

Kafka, hearing that this change of body was reversible, nodded, letting Ruan Mei extract the soul using some red gloves with a skull set on blue fire.

And then, both Kafka's and Ruan Mei's expression changed.

Keith's soul had been seen for the first time by Himeko and Pom-Pom, appearing to be a small bright purple ball the size of an apple.

It had been later seen by Herta, but as she hadn't asked for the origin of the soul or Himeko's impression of it, she didn't realize that the soul had changed its colour, now turning a dark purple similar to Kafka's hair colour.

For years, the soul had been steadily growing, hidden behind a piece of metal and rubber from everyone's eyes. A bigger soul didn't mean only that it was bigger in size, it was denser, more rich, more...meaningful.

Inside the puppet, the soul grew in density and quality, and the 'orders' it sent to the body grew 'stronger' with it, akin to a person who usually lifted a 10-kilogram dumbbell trying to lift a single pen.

It was no wonder the puppet's arms were falling all the time, Keith had no way of 'control' his soul's strength, but now, the soul housed in the vessel mortals called Keith resurfaced again.

It was the size of a watermelon, but that wasn't what took Kafka's and Ruan Mei's breaths away.

Akin to the core of a star, waves of energy were radiating from the deep purple sphere with golden spots on it, resembling comets crossing through the cosmos.

The soul of the Aeon once called Akivili, eroded and fragmented after passing not once, but twice through the Truth the human named Kenshin had referred to as the Being, stood in front of them.

This eroded status was the only reason Kafka and Ruan Mei hadn't disappeared after being exposed to an Aeon's soul, but even in this state was able to cause Kafka and Ruan Mei's soul to tremble after being exposed to such a powerful 'soul energy'.

"W-What is this..." wondered the pale Kafka, whose usual confident look was replaced by utter fear.

She could feel her existence being pressed by this thing that had been staying inside the puppet she had frequently messed up with, there was no way any living being wouldn't feel horror being this near to it.

And yet, Ruan Mei's face didn't express any of that.

She had been able to obtain fragments of Emanators before, and she knew this feeling. It was the feeling of oppression at being faced with a being above you in the food chain, a being closer to the Truth of their Path, a being that was simply...'more'.

And she realized something. Maybe it could be called an inkling, as she had no basis to affirm it, and as a scientist making baseless affirmations was only proof of being a fake one, but she felt that it was a fact.

She had no proof, but also no doubts.

This soul couldn't belong to a simple Emanator.

Maybe it was an Emanator from a particularly powerful Path, or maybe an entirely different being, or maybe only the chrysalid of a being still in development, but she was sure.

This soul would allow her to get closer to the meaning of an Aeon.

Kafka sensed Ruan Mei moving, and with the last part of her mind not set on this 'thing' she had been told was a soul, she forced her head to move.

Only to see Ruan Mei stretching her hand towards the sphere with a look she had only seen in the face of a 'priest' intent to sacrifice a child in exchange for rain.

A fanatical look that bordered insanity, disregarding all consequences in the search for something bigger than her life.

Realizing what might happen to this sphere, and more importantly Keith, she took up her gun, and pressed it into Ruan Mei's forehead forcing the physically weaker woman to stand back.

"Give me the ball, and step back" ordered Kafka with an icy voice, making Ruan Mei's eyes focus on the 'thing' stopping her from reaching the meaning of her life.

Because she knew this was the best chance for her to find out about Aeons.

She looked at the 'ball' on her hand, and felt like jumping out to space without any equipment. How could have she been so foolish?

Such a magnificent clue to obtaining the meaning of an Aeon, inside this garbage?

Slow down its growth?

Foolishness.

Heresy.

Blasphemy.

No, this soul belonging to a being she was sure had a direct relationship with an Aeon couldn't be limited by anything or anyone.

Not this purple-haired woman.

Not by her.

Not by this 'ball'.

Not by Fate.

Nothing.

So she made a decision, and threw the ball to the other side of the room, making Kafka's finger on the trigger of her gun twitch.

But Ruan Mei couldn't care about something so irrelevant as her own life right now.

Ignoring Kafka's warning glare, she turned her back on the gun aiming at her head and rummaged through her suitcase, whose inside was bigger than the outside.

'Hurry, hurry, hurry' thought Ruan Mei, lamenting the paranoia that pushed her to set so many passwords and locks upon the thing she wanted to find so much.

The thing, the ONLY thing, that would allow her to craft a body fitting this majestic soul.

But she couldn't be blamed, right?

After all, a fragment of an Emanator of the Abundance was important.

Right?

But this was the best place to use it.

The Abundace was the Path of Immortality.

And Ruan Mei knew that only an Emanator of the Abundance would be able to let this soul grow unimpeded by anything else. She knew she had to make this soul disappear from here soon, there was no way such a strong soul wouldn't attract attention even from Emanators, that's how strong and powerful it was.

And then, it downed into her. Did that 'other' she hadn't been able to identify had something to do with it? Was this soul carving a new Path?

'It doesn't matter now' thought Ruan Mei, knowing that she could think about all this later.

She finally held the fragment of the Emanator of the Abundance, that even now had to be sealed to avoid it growing again into a whole being. Even after death, the Emanator of the Abundance still grew, that was how strong its Life was. The sweet dream called Death wouldn't be able to keep them sleeping forever.

Kafka looked at the pulsing white 'thing' and aimed at Ruan Mei again, but the black-haired woman didn't even look at her.

Now Kafka faced a dilemma. She didn't want such a suspicious white pulsing thing she could sense power emanating from approach Keith's soul, but Ruan Mei was directly ignoring her.

She could shot her and use the 'ball' that was supposed to be the initial plan, or let Ruan Mei do whatever she wanted to do. But she knew that her choice was only an illusion, as she didn't have the knowledge to complete the process, she didn't even know if there was a second step.

So with bathed breath, and promising to make this woman suffer should she prove to have messed up with Keith, she stepped aside and prayed for everything to go correctly.

Ruan Mei, ignoring the danger her life had been in, stood next to the sphere, unsealed the restrictions put into the Emanator's fragment, and made it touch the sphere.

The deep purple 'sphere' with golden particles swimming inside it was 'swallowed' by the white fragment of the Emanator and the pressure Kafka and Ruan Mei were in disappeared.

Kafka felt a wave of weakness passing through her body, but her demanding lifestyle allowed her to stay standing. But Ruan Mei fell to the floor, sweating and exhausted.

She was a shut-in scientist after all.

Kafka pointed her gun at her, but both women's attention was set on the Emanator's fragment, which started to morph.

Little by little, it deformed into what Kafka realized was a human body.

Deep purple hair, white skin, tall and slim.

Those were the adjectives that described the body that appeared over the device, making the now-empty puppet fall to the ground.

And Kafka had only one thought.

'He's handsome' she admitted, knowing that Keith would be insufferable if he knew what she thought of his appearance.

Well, maybe she had another intrusive thought.

'Big.'

"Keith, can you move?" asked Kafka with a cold voice, not knowing if everything had gone correctly, or if she now had to take care of a comatose Keith.

Seeing that Ruan Mei was also paying attention to Keith's body, and that the biologist was too exhausted to try anything, she allowed herself to glance at Keith.

Who had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, deep purple and with golden particles in them.

And yet, she hadn't expected Keith's questions when he looked at her face.

"Where you always the beautiful?" he asked with a tone of wonder in his voice.

'He's Keith alright' thought a relieved Kafka.

And that made her happy.

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

THEY only existed, with the only purpose of carrying out the fragment of the TRUTH they held.

THEY had been sensing everything that came from THEIR existence, as all the others had.

THEY had sensed the FOREIGN entering this universe a while ago, a time mortals would measure to be a few years, but THEY quickly lost that sensation, so THEY chose to keep an 'eye' open.

And finally, THEY sensed it again.

An incredibly faint signal coming from a distant location, too faint to be identified, but it was there, the FOREIGN mixed with something THEY weren't able to recognize.

After all, the Aeon of the Trailblaze had ceased to exist long ago.

THEY had no doubt the rest of THEM had also sensed it, so THEY started moving towards it.

But just then, before THEY could start moving, it disappeared.

All Aeons lost the 'signal' emitted by the FOREIGN.

Except one. A single Aeon, who now felt the FOREIGN closely tied to THEIR own existence and THEY, for the first time, felt something that shouldn't have appeared, as it was not the kind of being THEY were.

Curiosity.

THEY wanted to know more about the FOREIGN, and now FOREIGN was closer to THEM than to any other, as the FOREIGN was now a part of THEM.

THEY wouldn't allow any other Aeon to get their 'hands', 'tentacles', 'mouths' or various appendages on FOREIGN.

No, not now, not tomorrow and not in the next epoch.

No, FOREIGN was THEIRS now, and no one else's.

Whoever tried to steal FOREIGN from THEM, THEY would make them suffer, no matter who they were.

Aeons, Emanators, Rangers, Dragons, Humans or even a fly.

No one would ever touch FOREIGN without THEIR permission.

Because FOREIGN was THEIRS.

So THEY started moving.

How could THEY protect FOREIGN if THEY weren't close?

How could THEY claim FOREIGN if THEY weren't just beside it?

How could FOREING be kept safe if it wasn't inside THEIR embrace?

And so, THEY started moving, intending to keep FOREIGN under their watch forever, because FOREIGN was THEIRS.

Because THEY were Immortal.

Because THEY were the Aeon of Abundance.

Because THEY were Yaoshi.