Resonate With Me

By themselves!

Extra trash sibs duo bc why not lol

Since who in their right minds willingly walks back into Hell's embrace?

After adjusting the coordinates for the Express's teleporter, within moments would they find their surroundings briefly growing white. Nothing more than a split second, a moment within moments before the hospitable, warm atmosphere of their stellar train's interior finds itself changed entirely. Biting winds, the howling, creeping and corrosive presence of the Fragmentum keeping a slacking jaw upon this land. This is what causes the woefully beautiful frost of Belobog's old industries to be the icy tomb they witness.

For Caelus, it was a view that gnaws at a strange sensation in his body. His most recent and prominent scar found itself aching, detesting the horrific frost that willed his soul to burn to heights never before. Maybe the intensity set across those gruff features was obvious for a moment, fleeting as it was. "Pisses me off in how that weight never eased up, even after another Lord Ravager." He notes before hopping off the shattered remains of fallen scrap metal.

There was an itch for action that burned hints of his power at his palm, either that curious bat or the ancient lance of Preservation awaiting the call to his emotion's renewed turbulence. "You can still feel it, yeah? This place is saturated in that crappy smile and all of those thoughts she had." At the very least, it was resolve that had to be recognized, for it almost changed this world.

Caelus didn't bother to imagine how it would. They devoured those ambitions.

Pressing up the beginnings of Everwinter Hill, his eyes shift towards the desolate remnants of an army with no ruler, simple beasts resigned to the instincts to rip and tear whatever traces of humanity that are set before them.

He breathed in the cold air to steady himself and keep resilient as he always had done. Though they certainly made strides to push themselves past what was logically reasonable, he desired to have faith in both his comrade and his own abilities. It would not be like before; they were both strong enough to handle whatever obstacles stood in their path to unknowable future.

Speaking of obstacles.

Like an audience waiting with baited breath for an encore performance from their most favorite of performers, monsters of the Fragmentum's design stood before the pair as soon as they reached the top of the hill. The score, possibly two, of monsters looked positively imposing in that moment but Dan Heng's resolve would not shake so easily once he had decided on a course upon which he should act. With reflexes that could belong to those that characteristically followed the Hunt, Dan Heng threw his spear as hard as he was able at the first Everwinter Shadewalker he could see.

The long shaft pierced the enemy and had no issue carrying its initial inertia into the chests of several more monsters behind it before suddenly stopping mid-flight. With outstretched hand, Dan Heng manipulated the pearl within his spear to control its pathing absolutely. He threw a gestured hand to the right of him, flicking it and the spear followed suit; it spun like a buzzsaw and turned as though to return back to its owner.

Caelus holds no issue in relinquishing such a fact. The power they were sporting out there was phenomenal, and in truth, there's the starling realization that if Nanook was going to be visited at the end of this road, he'd need a touch more resilient or else he'd simply get blinked out of existence. Some growing has been done, but given how much he's learned from Herta's space station, the archives aboard the express.. Not to mention the impressive figures this starry land held in kind..

It was time he swiped the dust off his knuckles and got his ass in gear. "Not to mention those swirled up mirrors of reality sure had some odd benefits too. Just not in my beating bomb of a heart, but the rest of me too, we've sharpened a helluva lot faster in there than the norm." Exactly what did that say for the pathstriders? Who knows. This upstart wasn't going to ignore some opportunities to improve their game.

After all. The idea that his shortcoming could get these merry bastards in a tight spot, that genuinely worried him. Dan Heng's super mode was already in another echelon, and the guy was calling back to remnants of a past that had nothing to do with him no less!

Imagine if it wasn't Feng's iteration no longer, but Heng's, now that was something that got him hyped up.

"Right back to the lion's den to pick at the spoils properly, huh? Now isn't that a head full of moxie you're getting all of a sudden. Dan Heng, I'm in." A broad smile solidifies his resolve on the matter. "To be real wit'cha, I still kept the coordinates nailed there.. Not sure why, but maybe this is the reason my future self was lockin' in ahead of time. When are ya gonna be good to go? I already had some of Mr.Yang's breakfast, so I'm runnin on full cylinders here."

Dan Heng bit back the urge to sigh at the overzealous nature of his colleague. He knew that when push came to shove, Caelus had enough in him to pull all the stops to ensure they would survive no matter how dire the odds. That said, it was not something he would ever want to become reliant upon. In a way similar to his own hidden strength as Imbibitor, Dan Heng would urge that whatever secrets pushed Caelus past his normal limits stay within those self-same limits. While Dan Heng possessed his own motivations for wanting to the two sides separate, all the same it was important to trust in the power of self, your true self. Caelus as he was now is all he needed to be and Dan Heng would endeavor that he need not push to be anything more than that.

Many would consider there was just a natural, inherent connection with him and the manner of destructive prowess. Why else would some golden jackass from on high bother seeing his showdown with one of the ravagers? To think that the essence of memory itself was.. this damn profound, how it always managed to bloom new potential whenever his grip carried it in earnest.

He doesn't bother thinking too deep about it. The more important matter was how much his companion actually added into this conversation. It makes a snide smile draw forth as he gives the warrior a friendly elbow. "Oh, and do tell, what would you consider the appropriate course of action here, 'captain?' Weird as it is to say, I've been packed with much more energy than ever before."

"Kinda weird since that really sparked since the day Madam Coconuts taught me what a meat skewer felt like."

.....

There were clear traits and idiosyncrasies that were inherent to his character, but the events of recent days past seemed to awaken Caelus to a uninhibited way of thought. He was comfortable and free and wholly embodying the principles expected of a Trailblazer, something that Dan Heng feared that he himself did not adhere to despite his wanting. Caelus had clearly been freed of whatever shackled him during their fight with Cocolia and this lack of limitations was evident in his desire to reach ever higher heights.

It was discomforting for a moment, to be outpaced by someone so quickly, but Dan Heng would endeavor to take it stride and rush forward to keep pace. After all, he was certain that it would be Caelus, not him, at the center of their endless journey's most interesting events.

"It sounds as though you're interested in expanding your abilities. It's not a bad idea, truth be told; our conflict with Cocolia served as a reminder that the Stellarons are not to be underestimated. We very nearly lost you in that battle and had it no been for the winds of fortune blowing in our favor, we might well have not achieved victory as we did."

He nodded to himself silently for a moment. He wanted to consolidate his ideas and theories in his mind before communicating them to his colleague who, in all fairness, seemed receptive to the potential merit that accompanied exploration. Crossing his arms as he spoke, he continued, "If we're to consider light cones as an avenue in which we gain the necessary strength for the path we walk, then I have an theory that I would ask you to join me in testing. Fragmentums are scarcely explored subject as the information we do possess comes from those that are able to survive their encounters with them."

A low scoff rises from him as he gives a dismissive wave of the hand. "We're in the same universe with the most backwards ass geniuses known to man! And that's just a tip of the iceberg so to speak, if above the counter deals are hiding it, that's giving me the angle that the hands underneath have a different story."

"People who can deal."

"If there's one thing we learned from hitting the streets, there's a lot of bastards with their varied lens and equally skewed reasons too. So how we about stuff that into your equations?" A challenging glint shoots over to them. "..The whole thing just rings a little bizarre. I-" Blinking once, twice, an equally mystifying thought tapped Caelus's metaphorical shoulder.

A small sigh of relief escaped him as he carefully watched the manic look in his colleague's eyes fade back to normal. There was a legitimate fear in him that had Caelus been roused enough to action, he would be dragged into a wild goose chase that would surely end in some sort of conflict. Trouble always had a way of following his fellow trailblazer and while it made for interesting stories to reflect upon later, sometimes he wished the other young man acted with a bit more tact.

"Level wit me a lil bit. So light cones can be made out of any goddamn memory under the sun, long as they're rockin the potential, yeah?"

"So.. does that count for the super secret embarrassin' level secrets? Don't think I should have someone's dirty laundry pounding in my head when I'm goin' to town on some dumbasses."

He thumbed the base of his chin as he recalled the memory within his head. As was typical of him, Dan Heng possessed a unique perspective on the matter that was rooted on the observations made when reading about the subject while in the archives.

the devouring deep🌊