The Everlasting Chase of Light

Keith entered the most mysterious room he had ever been in, one that had no walls nor ceiling and seemed to be the cosmos itself.

"Elio" called Keith, knowing that the mysterious presence was always here.

No reply came, but Keith knew better than to think he was alone.

"There is something weird going on with me" continued Keith with a serene voice.

"In what way?" the discombobulated voice, who seemed to belong to thousands of people at the same time, echoed in the seemingly infinite room.

"I am getting lost in my thoughts" explained Keith. "I know, it doesn't sound bad, but when you realise you have been looking at a wall for an hour straight, you are bound to think this is something else."

"When does this happen?" asked Elio, who despite suspecting it could be the Will of Akivili acting up, thought it might be something else entirely.

"At random times" confessed Keith. "Sometimes there is a trigger, like hearing certain sentences or watching particular landscapes, or maybe looking at someone's face which sparks some sense of recognition in me. I get lost in my thoughts, but I don't know if it's my memories returning, I sometimes feel that I'm missing something pretty important."

"What's the problem then?" further asked Elio.

"It's an agony to live like this" replied Keith, shaking his head in frustration. "At every single time I have this feeling of urgency to remember and recall whatever it is I'm missing, and believe me, it's not a nice feeling to have. But if there is something even worse, it is the feeling of distance I feel from everything else. I sometimes look at the mirror and don't recognise myself, my life here seems like a dream sometimes, and I have to hear someone call me twice so I can realize they are calling me because I don't treat my name as mine. And this last month, I've felt how I've changed. I don't feel like messing with Kafka or Silverwolf, teasing Blade or running from Ruan Mei. I feel a lot calmer and serene, and honestly, it's a bit scary."

"This was expected" and yet, Elio's reply made Keith sigh again. "Whatever you were, you are powerful enough to obscure even my vision, the memories you forged in a few years won't compare to what you have lived previously."

Keith only felt silent, but his clenched fists spoke of his true feelings.

"Whatever" muttered Keith finally with another sigh. "I didn't come here only to complain, I also wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" said Elio, curious about Keith's inquiry.

"I fell 'asleep' twice" started Keith. "And I found myself in another place. A dried-up plane with a dead, or almost dead, tree. But there is also a girl there, someone who shares some things of my ability to sense what others are feeling, but hers is stronger."

"Hmmm" the hum that came from Elio's discombobulated voice made Keith's hairs stand on end, but he continued.

"Do you have any idea what that place is, or what can I do to know more about it?" asked Keith. "That girl is too complex for her to be a figment of my imagination and seems to come from a world called Teyvat, a small and 'weak' world, at least compared to what we have seen over here."

Keith was about to turn away, not expecting Elio to know anything about something so bizarre, but Elio had a reply.

"That place might be many things, but it's definitely a place inside you" replied Elio, making Keith raise his eyebrows. "If your body is still here, it only means your soul has travelled to that place. If you are sure that girl is not a form your power has taken, or something your subconscious created, and on top of that shares a bit of your ability, that place you found yourself in is probably something your ability is taking you to."

"Really..." Keith had suspected the same, but hearing it from Elio, who was possibly the most knowledgeable person in the whole universe, added validity to his theory.

"Next time you go in, try to focus on your ability" continued Elio. "This universe is too big even for me, but coincidences are miraculously rare. There must be a reason your ability is taking you there."

"...." Keith fell into thought before nodding. "Thanks Elio."

And with that, he left the room, leaving behind the ancient existence that had seen the future.

'So it's starting' mused Elio, his emotions unknown maybe even to him.

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".....please" begged Keith, who was about to fall to his knees. "Please, let me."

"You were strangely calm these days, but you seem to be the same dumbass" asked Stelle with a disdainful look, but quickly fell to one knee. "Please, let me use it."

"Ignore this 2" said a calm Kafka, looking at the stunned 'person' who found herself receiving strange petitions from the 2 people she had just met. "My name is Kafka."

"SAM" replied the armoured person, with a voice distorted by the armour.

A white armour spitting flames with a golden mask was in front of the 3 people who left to welcome their most recent companion.

"Please, tell me you won't be as annoying as the other 2 guys we have here" said Stelle, standing up and looking at the armour with shining eyes. "Also, can I use that armour a bit?"

"I'm not a man" replied SAM, making Stelle and Keith raise an eyebrow at 'her'.

"A boy then?" asked Keith. "Because you don't sound like a woman at all."

CHSSSS

With a soft hiss, the armour opened, only to reveal a short woman with pale hair and soft pink eyes, who looked a bit nervously at the people around her.

"Oh" was all Keith could say.

"Oooohh, aren't you a cutie!" said Stelle, who jumped to pinch the surprised woman's cheeks. 

"Ooww, id- hurds" complained the woman, still more surprised than in pain.

"Stelle, let her breathe" said Kafka with her usual small smile that hid what she thought. "Do we call you SAM too?"

And Stelle, detecting the order within those words, complied.

"You can call me Firefly" said the now-named woman with a soft voice, with feelings behind those words only she understood.

"So, can I use that armour for a while?" asked Stelle, looking at the armour that was still spitting flames.

"It's my health capsule" muttered Firefly, silencing Stelle and Keith at the same time.

'Things got awkward pretty quickly' thought Keith with a small grimace. 

"Don't worry" said Stelle with an energetic voice, hitting her chest with a fist. "We have the best crazy doctor to ever appear in this universe, she will heal you up really quickly."

"Stelle" Kafka started speaking with the same half-smile that Stelle learnt to fear. "She came from seeing Ruan Mei."

"...shit" muttered Stelle, looking at Firefly.

"I suffer from Entropy Loss Syndrome" explained Firefly with nothing but a whispering voice. "There is no cure for that."

"...shit" repeated Stelle, her voice even lower.

"Why did you join then?" asked Keith, looking at Firefly's eyes. "I can't think of a worse place to live. We need to go on missions that usually involves anything but giving candies, we are being chased by the IPC and almost any association tasked with maintaining order, it's dangerous and the only company you will find here is either mine or Stelle, as Kafka is too stuck up and Blade is a suicidal man chasing the forever distant death."

"Stuck up?" asked Kafka with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you aren't f- agh!" 

Stelle elbowed Keith, who felt the hit cracking a rib.

"A-Anyway" Keith looked at Firefly, but not understanding the reason behind Stelle's actions. She was the first one to tease Kafka, why couldn't he? "Why did you join?"

Hearing that question, Firefly's eyes seemed to shine with determination.

"I want to search for a way to defy Fate" declared the small girl.

"Just like everyone else here then, except for me I guess" replied Keith, who then smiled at the small woman. "Welcome."

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Firefly had not always been called as such.

The first thing she heard was a string of letters and numbers that were supposed to be the sounds that would refer to her, as were the rest of the people she found herself in.

A group of artificially modified humans who were tasked with only one mission.

Fight against the Swarm, an ancient force under the Aeon of Propagation, for the Intergalactic Empire of Glamoth, followers of the FInality.

But such a thing was impossible for normal humans, so this small army needed a bit of 'help'.

They were modified and altered, all to allow them to use the most advanced weaponry at that moment, the white and golden armours that could turn the sky ablaze, effectively cauterizing every wound they dealt and hindering the Swarm's propagation ability.

But like every single thing in this world, it had a price.

These people had been deprived of the right to live their lives, because in exchange of the ability to wield the armours, they were fated to die.

Their whole purpose in this life had been to defeat the swarm, and that was all they would ever have.

Their bodies were afflicted with the Entropy Loss Syndrome, which meant nothing more than their bodies were like a candle burning very intensely, which would make the wax burn a lot faster, translating into becoming one with the world, including accelerated ageing.

Still, this group had their task, everything else, including rage, sadness and impotence would come later.

Defeat the Swarm, that was all they needed to think about.

And yet... disaster struck.

Aeons had moved, and in an apocalyptic battle, the Aeon of Propagation, Tayzzyronth, had disappeared.

Of course, this was the happiest news the humans that created Firefly could receive.

The impending threat had disappeared and they had no losses, what else could they ask for?

And yet, this was the worst kind of news Firefly could receive.

She had her life stripped away from her, her future destroyed, and dreams obliterated.

Everything in exchange for the ability to fight against the Swarm, a foe that now had disappeared.

Firefly didn't remember anything about the next few days.

She was sure she had screamed, raged and cursed, but she had no recollection of it.

The despair of finding yourself stripped of everything for no reason, the frustration of being left abandoned as a weapon that had lost its usefulness, the anger at being ignored as you were considered already dead...

Everything had been a mix of negative emotions that had done little to help the now abandoned and fated-to-die woman.

But from all that despair, a flame had been lit.

Firefly didn't resign herself to die like that, at least not without fighting.

She knew she was fated to die, but her death would come only when her body failed her, and not a single second before.

So she decided to start by choosing a new name, one that would carry her will to fight.

Firefly.

The light that will shine until her death, endlessly chasing her goal.