A New Sapling

"We need to move, NOW!" shouted Elio, much to everyone's surprise.

"How is Stelle?" asked a worried Kafka, rushing to the location where Keith had fainted once again.

"RUN!!" shouted Elio once again, and Blade moved.

He grabbed the Stellaron expecting his body to be destroyed due to the energy, but much to his surprise, nothing happened.

Deciding to think about that later, he grabbed Keith's limp body, and seeing that the rest were following him, he ran out towards their spaceship.

"Elio, what are we running from?" asked Blade, who despite carrying the body of a tall man and running ahead of everyone else, wasn't tired at all.

"The Abundance is moving" replied Elio's voice, which was following them.

"How many Emanators?" asked Blade, entering the space ship the first, and fastening a seat belt around Keith's body.

"No, I said the Abundance is moving" replied Elio, at the same time the other 4 women entered the spaceship and fastened their own seatbelts.

"Dammit Elio, give it to me straight" grumbled Blade, starting the engine. "We have no time to guess what you mean, and we need to know what we are running from."

"The Abundance is moving" repeated Elio for the third time. "Yao Shi herself is moving"

"...." and even such a powerful and immortal man like Blade paled.

Because the thought of a part of the universe itself moving to get you was daunting, to say the least.

"I set the coordinates" said the discombobulated voice. "Follow them."

"We can't hide from an Aeon" pointed out Blade. "Even less from Yao Shi. She might sense my body or even Keith's."

"She healed him during that clash..." muttered Elio, more to himself than to the rest. "She is following him due to his particularity. But we won't hide, at least not completely. That location is special, it will weaken her connection to the both of you, and it will also keep moving. It will give us some time to think."

Blade nodded, and the spaceship departed, abandoning the place they had called home for years.

"How can you sense Yao Shi's movements?" asked Blade once again, while the other 4 were too shocked by what happened to speak, and Kafka was more worried about Keith and the purple Stellaron.

"I don't" replied Elio's voice, which had somehow gotten on the ship, or maybe he could exist anywhere. "But I could see the future of all planets in her path, a path that led to us."

Deserts transform into forests in a matter of seconds, peaceful worlds turn into ones full of gargantuan abominations, densely populated worlds turn into hunting fields for monstrously big insects, blue planets turn into green ones due to algae proliferation and soon die for the lack of nutrients...

And many, many more and more disastrous happenings, all following the path leading to them.

"Mind explaining...what just happened?" asked a panting Silverwolf, too tired to speak.

"What happened to Keith?" asked Firefly, looking at the seemingly asleep man. "Will he be okay?"

Kafka also waited anxiously for the reply, with the purple Stellaron firmly in her hands.

"Keith came to me with Kafka" started Elio. "6 years ago. I immediately recognized the power of the Trailblaze inside him."

"Is that why he obscures the future?" asked Firefly, looking at the unconscious man.

"No, if he could, Elio's power would have also been obscured by the other Aeons" replied Blade, piloting the spacecraft with ease.

"You knew about this" said Kafka, glaring at the black-haired man, who didn't reply.

"No, he is even more special" Elio proceeded to explain, ignoring Kafka's accusations. "Akivili's soul was too eroded for Keith to be called an Aeon, and I'm not sure he will ever recover. But his soul also has something more, Foreign to this world, that obscured my visions and destroys fate."

"Destroys fate?" asked a hopeful Firefly, as that was exactly what she had joined the Stellaron Hunters for.

"I'm afraid his power is not what you are looking" pointed out Elio, making Firefly sigh in disappointment. "It's not something anyone can control, not even Keith. It felt like a part of another existence, far different from Aeons, but not necessarily weaker. Nothing and nobody can control that power, of that I'm sure."

"What will happen to him now?" asked Silverwolf, looking at Keith. "Is he really an Aeon? Why haven't we evaporated?"

"Because he isn't one" replied Elio. "Only a minuscule fragment of Akivili remains, a fragment that revived the Path of the Trailblaze due to being the creator of it, but that's it. The Path of the Trailblaze has always been peculiar, where the Aeon is not the one sustaining it like the rest of Paths are. It's like a network where every Follower of the Trailblaze acts as a nexus, and all of them together sustain it. Akivili disappeared, and only the smallest of fragments remain in Keith, so he isn't an Aeon. His soul has the quality of one, but not the strength."

"Will he awaken some ability then?" asked Firefly. "Even if he is very weak, that fragment must be incredibly powerful."

"Nobody can know" replied Elio. "But I don't think he will. What he did with the Stellaron was nothing more than activating the network called the Traiblaze, as well as light up the torches inside those who feel the call of the unknown. He won't awaken any special ability, because what he has done was all he will be able to do."

"Really?" asked Silverwolf, with a fed-up expression. "So we are chased by an Aeon only because this fragment of Akivili farted before falling asleep again?"

"Yes" replied Elio, making Silverwolf want to scream.

"So he will still be Keith?" asked Kafka with barely hidden concern. "And what will we do with Stelle?"

"Keith is having trouble with his memories, as you all know" started Elio.

"I didn't!" complained Silverwolf, feeling left out of everything.

"You don't leave your room, now shut up" said Kafka, using her ability with the last 2 words, making Silverwolf unable to emit a single sound.

"But he won't stop being Keith" replied Elio. "Even if his past memories return, he won't forget these years, because they are also engraved on his soul."

"That's a relief then" said Firefly with a small sigh.

Even if the one she felt the closest with was Stelle, it was Keith the one who made her feel welcome in the new environment she found herself in.

Keith had treated her with normality despite her condition, and had always been interested in what he could do to help. Just like the rest, but Keith had been the one to take the first step.

"And about Stelle?" asked Kafka, feeling the cool purple cube in her hands

"I foresaw Stelle's demise" confessed Elio. "But she was the cornerstone the universe will turn around. Still, I hoped for Keith's presence to be enough to dispel her fate, but the moment he fainted, Fate struck again with unparalleled strength. She will need to follow the path I had prepared for her, even if things might change a lot this time."

"Why would they?" asked Firefly. "If she is in the same condition she had been in your vision, and the path is the same, why would it change?"

"Because even if you didn't notice it, there is a new Path" revealed Elio, making those aware of the meaning open their eyes in surprise. "The network we call Trailblaze is active again, and Stelle is now a part of it. Based on how Akivili reappeared, Stelle could be called an Emanator of the Trailblaze, and that would make any vision I might have useless. Because if there is a Path that can defy Fate, it is the Trailblaze."

"Stelle is an Emanator?" asked Silverwolf in shock. "Her?"

"Yes" it was Blade who replied. "She got her powers directly from her Aeon, as weak as he is."

"As I said, the Trailblaze is a unique Path where they don't get the power directly from the Aeon, but from the other followers of the Path" reiterated Elio. "And Stelle, as the only Emanator from such a Path, will be connected to every single one. In the end, her travel is now her own. Still, nothing can escape from Fate except that little fragment attached to Keith's soul, so we will still need to work to pave the way for Stelle. And we will also have our own role in this play."

"So things will change..." muttered sadly Firefly. "What do you think Ru- hiiiih!"

A small scream of horror escaped Firefly, who looked at the woman who had been silent until now.

But when the rest looked at the scientist, no one could blame Firefly.

Because Ruan Mei's eyes looked like pools of darkness, and they were fixed on Keith's unconscious body with an intensity that scared even Blade.

'An Aeon, a weak one I can see the growth of, something Foreign that eclipses even Fate, an Aeon that just awakened and created an Emanator' thought Ruan Mei obsessively.

Her whole life existed only to seek the meaning of an Aeon, and now, she had one in her hands.

Not one as in 'she had spoken with an Aeon'.

She had spoken with Nous, the Aeon of the Erudition, and had left with despair and disappointment with its answers.

In the end, an Aeon was an existence far too big for anyone to comprehend.

If she only had a way to cut a fragment of it to study.....

And now, not only had such a fragment appeared in front of her, but it belonged to the Aeon of the Trailblaze, one of the most special paths to ever exist.

Added to the mix, is a fragment of something outside this universe, something that might prove to be even more intriguing than an Aeon, as it existed outside THEIR domain.

Ruan Mei's life existed to understand an Aeon, and Keith was an Aeon.

You didn't need to be as smart as Ruan Mei to understand what that meant.

"Just... watch her" said Elio, with uneasiness in his voice.

Because even he could sense the madness swirling in Ruan Mei's eyes, and as Keith was involved he couldn't see the future.

"What will we need to do with Stelle?" asked Kafka, bringing the conversation back again.

"We will need to go on our separate ways" admitted Elio, making Kafka clench her teeth. "But fear not, her destination is the best one she could have."

"Which is?" asked Kafka, understanding that their life together, had come to an end.

"The Astral Express."

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

"Shit...." Keith let himself fall on the tree, with more leaves now, but still looking dead.

But Keith couldn't care less.

All he could think of was that Stelle was dead.

Stellaron purple or yellow, that didn't change anything, Stelle had died.

So when a girl with purple hair appeared, he couldn't bring himself to raise his head.

"Sob...Sob.."

And yet, the girl was sobbing, just like he himself felt doing.

"You too huh?" asked Keith wryly.

And so distracted were the both of them....

That didn't see a small tree growing beside the big one.

One of a completely golden colour.