An unknown Path

"Kafka, are you still there?"

In the Library, Chu Mu's voice broke the silence.

"I'm right here." Kafka gazed into Chu Mu's eyes. "You can't see anymore, can you?"

Chu Mu's pupils had completely dilated, and the lenses of his eyes had turned emerald green.

All he could see now was a dense green fog.

A fog that could never be dispelled.

To Kafka's surprise, Chu Mu showed neither the panic of losing his sight nor the anguish of self-pity.

His vacant eyes turned toward Kafka as he said softly:

"I never thought you'd be the last person I saw."

At his words, Kafka felt a faint stirring, as though something had plucked at her heartstrings.

She reached out and cupped Chu Mu's face.

"This is fate, little Chu Mu. Fate brought us together here and now. Fate made me the last person you saw before your light faded."

"Fate..." Chu Mu sighed wistfully. "Is all of this my destiny?"

He had already gained the power of a Path.

It was an unknown Path, belonging to a mysterious, eyeless Aeon.

In the boundless Sea of Stars, only a dozen or so gods were widely known, but how could the laws of existence be limited to so few?

There were always unknown beings quietly merging with laws and taking command of new Paths before humanity even noticed.

Not every Aeon enjoyed the limelight. The vast majority never appeared before human eyes.

Researchers could only use certain phenomena to seek out the traces an Aeon had left behind, confirming that Aeon's existence and uncovering a new Path.

And the Path Chu Mu had now set foot upon belonged to precisely the kind that was difficult to discover!

This Aeon and their Path-

The Seeable is unseen!

Researchers could hardly gouge out their own eyes to sense this Aeon's existence!

And a blind person would have great difficulty entering the world of scientific research.

What was more, this eyeless Aeon no longer existed in this space-time-

This Aeon had fallen!

Chu Mu could still gain the power of the Path because once a Path opened, it could never be closed.

Even if its Aeon fell, those who came after could continue climbing along that Path.

Until they reached the summit, became a new Aeon, and commanded all the Path's power!

Through the awareness granted by their shared Path, Chu Mu knew that this Aeon had fallen ages ago.

The Path they had left behind had long lain dormant in the Sea of Stars.

Chu Mu was now the only person awakened to this Path.

He had received a gift directly from that fallen Aeon and now stood a rank above a Pathstrider: an Emanator of the Path!

Through their own efforts, Pathstriders brought themselves into alignment with a Path's power, happened to catch an Aeon's glance, and stepped onto the Path.

These Pathstriders could draw only a small amount of power from their Paths. After all, the Aeon had only glanced at them once.

If they wanted more power, they could only keep striving to distinguish themselves, hoping to draw the Aeon's gaze again someday.

Emanators were different. They were the Aeons' favorites, enjoying the power of their Paths poured directly into them!

That was why the power of a Path's Emanator was so terrifying. As long as an Aeon was willing to grant the power, every Emanator could wield enough to burn an entire star system!

Aha, the Aeon of Elation, had once performed one such "great feat." They had poured the power of their entire Path into a worm, making that worm the equivalent of an Aeon at that moment!

Chu Mu was now an Emanator of this unknown Path.

But his god had long since fallen.

If he wanted to gain power, he could only rely on his own efforts to slowly bring himself into alignment with this Path.

The Path's Aeon was dead, but a law still remained.

The more closely Chu Mu aligned with this Path, the more power that law would grant him.

Chu Mu still did not understand why he had received such a gift from a Path.

It was as though this Path had been made just for him.

No, it could not be called tailor-made.

Rather, the Aeon of Abundance had remade him to suit this Path!

Blinding him had been a way to set him upon this Path!

Why had the Aeon of Abundance done this?

And for whom had Yaoshi been crying back then?

Chu Mu could not understand, and he did not want to dwell on these questions.

That very evening, he had still been making arrangements for after his death. By nightfall, he had met a strange woman and awakened to a Path.

Everything had happened so suddenly. The events of the past few days felt like a dream.

Now, hearing the word "fate" from Kafka's lips, he could not help feeling a surge of desolation.

Yes, everything was fate.

This was the destiny that fallen Aeon had arranged for me. This was the destiny Yaoshi of Abundance had arranged for me.

These gods on high left their schemes behind even in death.

They could toy with the fate of a mortal like me however they pleased.

Only I could not choose my own fate.

Before his eyes lay a dense fog that no light could pierce.

Kafka's gentle voice reached him.

"I'm sorry. I understand how you feel. The existence of fate can leave you dispirited. But, little Chu Mu, fate has more than one thread. Among all those threads, we can at least choose a good future. What has already happened cannot be changed, but you have the right to choose your future. Not even the gods can interfere with that."

At her words, Chu Mu said quietly:

"You seem rather fond of the word 'fate.'"

"Perhaps because I know a slave to fate?" Kafka gently pinched Chu Mu's cheek. "I'll introduce you someday, and then you'll know I'm telling the truth."

"Provided I agree to call you Mom, right?" Chu Mu muttered, pushing Kafka's restless hand away. "Kafka, as far as I'm concerned, everything that happened today amounts to a strange woman saying strange things from beginning to end."

"And yet all those strange things I said were true." Kafka withdrew her hand with a hint of regret.

She looked at Chu Mu and changed the subject.

"By the way, you've received that gift now, haven't you? Try out your ability. Let me see which Path it is."

"I'll give it a try." Chu Mu lowered his head, carefully sensing the fluctuation coming from the void.

It was the rhythm of the Path.

Imaginary Energy from the Path drew toward Chu Mu, slowly seeping into his body.

Inside the dimly lit Library, Chu Mu suddenly vanished!

Kafka blinked in disbelief.

At that moment, not only could she no longer see Chu Mu, she could not even sense him!

The Seeable is unseen!

Suddenly, a small hand tapped her on the back.

Chu Mu stood behind Kafka, having gotten there without her noticing a thing!

How had he moved?

Kafka caught Chu Mu's hand and said excitedly:

"Try it again!"

"Okay." Chu Mu nodded, and his figure turned transparent once more.

Kafka had been holding Chu Mu's hand tightly, but at that moment she suddenly lost all sense of it, and her hand closed straight into a fist.

He had not merely become optically invisible. He had vanished entirely from this dimension!

From Chu Mu's perspective, however, he "saw" the Library through a layer of green mist!

But this was not the actual Library. It was the one that existed in his mind!

It was the Library he had measured with his footsteps countless times and thus constructed in his mind!

This Library consisted of simple lines and planes, rendered only in pure black and white. Chu Mu had not even wanted to give it too many colors or textures.

He sought only the most precise model data!

Now, he was strolling through this imaginary space!

A space that only the eyeless could "see"!

Those who could not see could see!