???
"...up..."
"...responding..."
"...waking..."
Caelus slowly opens his eyes before he raises his hands to cover them due to the bright lights. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted with something that he never expected.
A young girl with pink twin-tailed hair and bright green eyes, standing next to a young woman with long red hair and blue eyes, and a tiny, chubby pegasus. Caelus did a double-take as he blinked before he got up and looked at the two of them.
"...H-Hyacine? Tribios...?" Caelus mutters in disbelief, before he rubs his eyes as he is unable to believe what he's seeing.
"Hey, Grayie," The pink-haired girl, Hyacine, greets with a bright smile.
"Surprised to see us?" Tribios says with a warm smile.
"I...what's going on?" Caelus mutters as he rubs his forehead. "I...was pretty sure I was in my room..."
"Mourning for those children..." Tribios says as their smiles dimmed. "To think there are people who did this to their own children willingly..."
"...okay, how did you...?" Caelus mutters in confusion. Everything that happened here is just too much to process, but his thought was halted by something landing on his head. He glances up and sees Mem lying on his head with the biggest smile on her face.
"Hey, friend," Mem speaks for the first time. "What do you think?"
"...what do I think about what, Mem? Can anyone explain to me what in the world is going on?" Caelus had honestly grown a bit frustrated at the lack of answers and how everyone refused to answer his question.
"This is why I suggest that we tell him the moment he wakes up," Another familiar voice says as a man with green hair and green/red eyes slowly approaches them, along with a blonde-haired man and a white-haired man following suit.
"Anaxagoras...? Mydeimos? Phainon?" Caelus looks even more confused as the gray-haired man waves at him cheerfully.
"Hey, partner," Phainon says in a cheerful tone, in which Caelus returns the gesture albeit a bit confused.
"Well, we don't want to overwhelm our guest here, right?" Tribios argues as the green-haired man sighs.
"Even after returning to your adult self, you are still none the wiser, Lady Tribios," The man says while shaking his head, causing Tribios to pout.
"Rude, no wonder Agy never likes you back or responds to your advances," Tribios says, as the man's, Anaxa's, left eye twitches, while everyone, sans Caelus, chuckles at him.
"Anyways, welcome, Trailblazer, to the world of Beyond Time: The Eternal Page," Anaxa greets dramatically. "I truly need to give my students some punishment for choosing a terrible option on how to deal with someone arriving in a different realm because frankly, I feel like I have failed as their teacher."
"World of Beyond Time...?" Caelus mutters before glancing around and calling the world he is in right now 'beautiful' is a complete understatement. It reminds him of the realm where his alternate self tries to save Cyrene from completely succumbing to the universe's memories to preserve the universe after Irontomb had successfully ended it.
But, the world seems to be more crowded than he expected.
"Grumph! (Papa!)" Caelus yelps when a figure crashes into him. He groans a bit before he blinks upon being greeted by a reptilian snout and a pair of bright golden eyes.
"P-papa...?" Caelus mutters as the creature starts nuzzling him, causing him to chuckle. "W-wait, stop!! Ahahaha!"
Everyone nearby couldn't help but chuckle at the scene as more figures had slowly approached the group. It takes a while for Caelus to gently push the creature away before he glances at the other figures that have approached him.
One is a golden-haired woman with bright emerald eyes, with a floating headless mannequin next to her; next to her is a black-haired woman with ocean blue eyes and corals attached to her body, and a short blue-haired woman with a pair of bat wings on her waist, a woman with gray hair, a long thin gray cat tail and a pair of gray-furred cat ears, and lastly a giant dinosaur covered in dark rock-like scales.
"Aglaea...Hysilens...Cerydra...Cipher...Terravox..." Caelus mutters.
"Hey, Gray Mystery," The cat girl says as she gets closer with a teasing expression. "Hope you-Gah!"
"Cifera, have you forgotten our guest here had to deal with earlier?" The gold-haired woman says in a stern tone, using a golden thread to pull the cat girl, Cipher/Cifera, back as she groans.
"Did you have to pull me back like this, seamstress!? This is even more embarrassing than getting caught by Tribios back then!" Cipher exclaims in embarrassment as she tries to get out of the bind.
"Then, perhaps you should think before you act," Aglaea responds. "Also, calling me a seamstress again? I thought you had gotten rid of that habit after taking a job as one..."
"Old habits die hard, Dux Goldweaver," The short woman says as she crosses her arms. "Like how many of you continue to call me Imperator, even after telling you all to simply call my true name. At least our Deliverer didn't follow any of you."
"Apologies, Imperator..." The black-haired woman says as she bows a bit, earning a small exasperated groan from the short woman while everyone chuckles a bit. Caelus stares at them for a moment in silence, unsure how to react. He feels like something is stuck in his throat, his lips tremble uncontrollably, and he can't make any sound.
Phainon notices this first before he smiles reassuringly while gently patting his right shoulder.
"Easy there, partner," Phainon says gently as Caelus manages to calm down before taking a deep breath. "And before you tell us, we know you're not the Caelus who saved Amphoreus."
"You...knew...?" Caelus chokes, unable to hide his shock.
"It was not something that hard to figure out," Anaxa says dismissively, earning a harsh slap on the back of his head from Aglaea. "Oh, you violent woman!"
"Ignore this oaf. All of us know about you and your situation thanks to the System connecting to As I've Written's Eternal Page." Aglaea says while ignoring Anaxa trying to goad her. "And before you ask, we're not going to judge you for this because that'll make us hypocrites."
"Makes you guys hypocrites? What...?" Caelus pauses before his eyes widen in realization. "You guys are clones like Mem...?"
Everyone nods in agreement, which floored Caelus even more. This System not only lets him gain access to the Power of the Path, but also creates a replica of the items/weapons of the one used by the main Caelus in his Trailblazing journeys, including a bunch of people he met!? Just what is this mysterious System and who's the one behind the panels?
"So, Grayie." Caelus snaps out of his thought as he turns towards Hyacine. "How are you feeling?"
"....I honestly still trying to process everything, all of it sounds surreal..." Caelus admits honestly, earning a nod from Cipher.
"Indeed, it's hard to understand yaps from a bunch of nerds," Cipher says before she gets one of her cat ears pulled by Aglaea. "Ow, ow, ow! Not the ear, not the ear!"
"If you didn't just ditch classes and sneak into the theatres, you would learn more," Aglaea says sternly, earning chuckles from Phainon and Hyacine.
"Grumph! (Hey, Papa!)" Caelus turns to face the little dino staring at him with gleaming eyes. "Grumph (Even after everything, you're still my papa!)"
"...even if I didn't know you existed till now?" Caelus says guiltily as the dino nods.
"Grumph! (Yup! So don't be sad, okay Papa!? Like you once said, march onwards and continue to Trailblaze into the future!)" The dino says cheerfully as Caelus' eyes widen a bit before smiling and gently pats the dino.
"It's blaze the trail into the future, but yeah..." Caelus chuckles a bit. "...also, did you have a name or should I give you one?"
"Grumph! (Gimme, papa!)" Caelus chuckles a bit before pondering a bit.
"Well, I think Trailblazer Jr. should be good enough," Caelus says, earning a fond chuckle from everyone as the dino, Trailblazer Jr lit up excitedly.
"Grumph! (Yay!)" Junior cheers.
"It seems the child has done our job even before any of us could do anything..." The giant dinosaur rumbles. "I taught him well..."
"Indeed you did, Terravox..." Caelus responds before glancing at everyone. "...you know, I wish I could bring you guys out into the outside world. All of you would love to see them..."
"Actually, you can," Mem says, gaining everyone's attention. "Like how the main Trailblazer spreads the story As I've Written into the cosmos and Amphoreus slowly reforms into a real planet, spreading the story into the New Eridu allows us to manifest into the world. Albeit we'll be looking a bit different from our counterparts..."
"Wait, for real!?" Caelus exclaims in shock before glancing at everyone, who nods in confirmation. "Well, I hope everyone loves your stories. You guys deserve to see the world after everything."
"You sure treat us like we're the real deal," Phainon says lightheartedly.
"You guys didn't mind that I'm not the real Caelus, so why should I mind if you guys aren't real? You guys are as real as the og." Caelus says with a smile. "Besides, you guys know how I treat Mem."
"Indeed," Tribios says with a nod. Before he could continue, Caelus noticed his hands start turning transparent.
"It seems you are returning to the outside world. The pink mammal had forcefully shoved you into this world before you were ready. It'll take a while before you can return." Anaxa explains, earning a sad sigh from Caelus.
"It seems I have to go back and grind a bit..." Caelus says before smiling at the Chrysos Heir. "But, for all of you and the world I deeply love, it'll be worth the effort."
Caelus sees his hands slowly disappear before facing everyone once again.
"Oh, another thing...See you tomorrow, Chrysos Heirs," Caelus says, which causes everyone to widen their eyes for a moment before smiling at him.
"See you tomorrow, Trailblazer."
To be continued