Human and beast locked eyes, staring directly at each other.
As time passed, the white haired girl gradually realized something was wrong.
----------------------------------
As time went by, the white haired girl or Kiana felt more and more that the chubby giant in front of her looked familiar.
"God… Godzilla?"
She tentatively spoke out the name from her memory, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she noticed Miss Messenger's obvious emotional reaction.
"Huh? Miss, you know Godzilla?" Miss Messenger's surprise carried a hint of delight.
Could this unkown star domain have something to do with Godzilla?
"Mm…"
Hearing Miss Messenger's words, Kiana once again confirmed that this familiar chubby giant was indeed the giant beast she remembered.
Had the outside world gone completely mad?
Or was this just another trick from those people who toyed with memories?
Most of the time Kiana's brain was like it wasn't connected to a network, but as long as she didn't have an external interferences around her, her IQ was firmly in control.
At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
"Nope." Before Kiana could reach a conclusion, Miss Messenger smiled and explained: "Godzilla really exists, The Garden doesn't have the means to create such a powerful giant creature."
Kiana made no comment.
Miss Messenger leaned forward curiously, and even through her hood Kiana could feel those sparkling, inquisitive eyes.
"How did Miss Kiana know about Godzilla? You know, when Godzilla first appeared in our world, we thought it was something made by the Leviathans or the Antimatter Legion."
In fact, people from all factions had their own explanations.
Many firmly believed their own conjectures were correct.
Especially the theory that pointed to the Leviathans.
The strongest evidence being: how long had it been since the Leviathans had last appeared in the universe?
Aside from Xianzhou, Denizens of Abundance, a few more races, then the Emanators, most beings were short-lived species. Did anyone really know what had happened during the Dusk War?
Was the leviathan truly what it appeared to be?
In short, it was a heated debate over whether Godzilla was really a unique leviathan.
"Then how did you all learn Godzilla's true identity?" Kiana asked curiously.
"It was Mr. Welt from the Astral Express who told us."
"Wah! cough cough, Welt?" Kiana's voice unconsciously rose two tones higher as she stared at Miss Messenger in shock.
"Huh? Miss Kiana, you also know Mr. Welt?"
Hearing her words, Kiana nodded somewhat blankly, then asked suspiciously:
"The Welt you're talking about, is he tall, wears glasses, and sometimes shouts 'In the name of the world'?"
"He is quite tall, and he does wear glasses. The last part, I'm not sure."
"..."
Kiana tilted her head slightly, locked eyes with Godzilla, and blinked.
Then… Godzilla nodded.
So it really is you, Welt!
...
Dreamscape.
The two girls and the beast sat down. Kiana munched away at fried chicken, while Godzilla hugged a bucket of fried chicken half its own size.
The steaming hot chicken gleamed with an inviting golden sheen.
"This is my first time eating fried chicken in a dream, and it actually tastes real!"
Kiana's eyes sparkled as she ignored the rising steam, stuffing her mouth nonstop.
She thought of the days she spent on the moon.
Even eating instant noodles required extreme caution, afraid Mei would find out and confiscate them. Ordering delivery to the moon was seriously troublesome!
"How's Uncle Welt doing outside?" Kiana asked, one hand grabbing fried chicken, the other holding up a cola.
Ever since Welt's mysterious disappearance, everyone had been looking for him. Now that she finally heard news, even if she had to choke on chicken bones, Kiana needed to ask clearly!
"Actually, I'm not very familiar with Mr. Welt. I only know he's a Nameless from the Astral Express."
"Astral Express?"
"Oh, the Astral Express is the train once ridden by the Aeon of Trailblaze, Akivili. It connects the worlds of the universe. The people aboard are called the Nameless, a group of kindhearted, adventurous, helpful people!"
Miss Messenger spoke with great enthusiasm. Kiana stopped chewing.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, shining with a hidden sharpness.
"So you're saying, after Welt disappeared, he started traveling around the universe with new companions, punishing evil, upholding justice, sightseeing and playing everywhere?"
"Mm, yes, you could put it that way. The Astral Express people usually help when people encounter trouble. But the universe is vast, so it's not like they always run into such things. So he should be doing pretty well."
Miss Messenger confirmed.
Wow, Uncle Welt… you're acting like that, Dr. Tesla's going to punch you into orbit like a shooting star.
Godzilla coiled its tail around a massive piece of fried chicken, silently eating.
It wondered what would happen if Welt's adventures were turned into a documentary and sent to Lobster Doctor.
Surely it wouldn't cause Lobster Doctor to overclock her brain out of sheer rage, advance technology by a thousand years overnight, build a DIY spaceship, and storm across the stars alone just to drag Welt back, right?
Kiana's lips curled into a mischievous smile. Before Miss Messenger noticed, she adjusted her expression, cleared her throat lightly, and asked:
"Then can you tell Uncle Welt to come back? There are people here who really want him to return."
Whether it was her, or Dr. Tesla, or Mei, or Bronya, or Aunt Himeko… everyone had a good relationship with Welt.
Especially after those joyful times they all spent working together, it was unforgettable.
"This might be a little difficult. The star domain you're in belongs to an undiscovered region of the universe. Even The Garden of Recollection can only observe it through the Mirror of Memories. It's a region where even the footsteps of Trailblaze have never reached."
"As for which Aeon is sheltering your star domain, there has been quite a lively discussion within The Garden of Recollection."
Hearing Miss Messenger's reply, Kiana nodded.
Then…
"Then how did you get in? And even directly ran into my dream."
Kiana looked at Godzilla, who showed no awareness of being a guest, drooping her eyelids and speaking in a low tone.
Although the dream was still her own dream, she instinctively felt that now this dream was governed by someone else. Excluding the rather easygoing miss messenger before her, the only possible living creature left in this dream was this big guy right in front of her.
Godzilla and Kiana stared at each other for a moment, kept staring, staring…
"Hiss, my eyes are so sore."
Rubbing her aching eyes, Kiana was extremely frustrated.
Right, this guy had vertical pupils, should be some kind of bloodline trait, right?
"Miss Kiana, don't think just because Godzilla looks so imposing that he only excels at frontal combat. He has even claimed the a land called the Land of the Dreams Penacony as his own territory."
Miss Messenger kindly reminded her.
At least The Garden of Recollection was incapable of instantly turning the chaotic dreammatter of Penacony into their own domain.
That alone was enough to show how powerful Godzilla was in this respect.
...
The Moon.
Kiana yawned as she sat up, rubbing her drowsy eyes. When she opened them, they were clear.
"Seems like I had a strange dream."
Just as she said that, an image of Welt suddenly appeared in her mind.
She shivered.
"Seems it wasn't a dream!"
The moment this thought appeared, Kiana flopped back down onto the bed.
"Uncle Welt is running all over the universe right now. Honestly, such an adult already, yet he doesn't know how to rest. I really wonder how Dr. Tesla would react if she found out."
Closing her eyes and pondering for a moment, Kiana decided not to tell everyone about this just yet. After all, there was no direct evidence proving that the Welt they mentioned was the same uncle she knew.
It would be bad if everyone got excited for nothing.
And according to what that miss messenger from the so-called Garden of Recollection said, their region of space was different from the outside. Even those like her, who could traverse the cosmos in such a unique way, could only detect it through certain special devices.
This was also touched upon in her last conversation with The Garden of Recollection's people.
And that special Godzilla, who could actually enter her dreams, speaking of which, if Godzilla really existed in reality, then could it be that those anime she had watched before sometimes were actually realistic depictions?
These thoughts were secondary. The most important thing was…
"Sigh, Uncle Welt, as long as you're living well, that's all that matters…"
Anyway, knowing that Welt was doing fine, she decided to sleep some more.
Hu-lu-lu… hu-lu-lu…
...
Jarilo.
Godzilla slowly opened his eyes, his vertical pupils carrying a natural sense of majesty as they swept across the surroundings.
From inside the little house came occasional laughter from Serval and the others.
Kiana…
What a pity. Originally, he had sensed a fluctuation of Emanator-level power over there, and had deliberately rushed over hoping to find a little snack. But it turned out to be a person, not an energy lifeform like Phantylia.
That really made Godzilla uncomfortable.
Thinking of this, his tail, carrying his own intent, tapped against the hexagonal bronze vessel that confined Phantylia, as he continued his probing.
...
Meanwhile, Miss Messenger was rapidly traversing the universe in a unique memetic manner.
At her fastest speed, she returned to the Garden of Recollection.
The The Garden of Recollection attendants who stayed behind saw her speed and spoke.
"Eh? Why are you in such a hurry, could it be that Godzi, has started acting?!"
Thinking of this, she became a little excited.
Even within The Garden of Recollection, there were many differing opinions regarding Godzilla's origins.
But there was one point everyone agreed on.
A colossal beast like Godzilla must have gone through an unimaginably long passage of time before such an existence could emerge.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why, throughout all the countless ages of the cosmos, with the Interastral Peace Corporation lasting for so many Amber Eras, and yet no similar colossal beast had ever appeared in recorded history.
And this view became even more respected after Mr. Welt recounted things about Godzilla.
After all, according to Welt, Godzilla's lifespan was measured in hundreds of millions of years.
An Amber Era usually ranged between seventy-six to two hundred and forty years, occasionally affected by wars like the one between the Aeon of Propagation and the Amber King that could last three Amber Eras.
Keep in mind, the youngest Aeons were only about five thousand years old!
Even if this Godzilla wasn't the same individual described by Mr. Welt as being hundreds of millions of years old, that aura of ancient time was undoubtedly ironclad proof, sufficient to show just how long such an existence had endured.
However, her excitement was mercilessly shattered by Miss Messenger's shake of the head.
"Not that matter." If she really had that kind of ability, she could probably snatch Miss Herta's eighty-third seat.
"It's about a new unknown star domain The Garden of Recollection detected recently."
Her radical side was instantly stirred.
"So it's actually related to that star domain, wait here a moment!"
...
"Even a memokeeper needs rest. Disturbing a lady's sweet dream is not a good habit, mm-hmm?"
Black Swan's voice, soft yet carrying a lazy charm, echoed within a room in The Garden of Recollection, tinged with an alluring languor.
Every memokeeper arranged a busy scene for themselves in line with their own style, after all, finding memories that could catch the interest of the Memokeeper was no easy task.
As a Memokeeper who followed Fuli and even transformed her body into a meme, she naturally began her efforts in this area.
"Trust me, Miss Black Swan, you're definitely going to love this news."
"News about that unexplored star region."
"Hm?" Hearing that, I'm not sleepy anymore.
Black Swan lifted her eyelids, looking at Miss Messenger in surprise.
In fact, the The Garden of Recollection is very interested in worlds that remain untrodden and unexposed to the cosmos, because it means they can collect many fascinating memories from them.
If a world is special enough, it can even support the coexistence of multiple Memokeepers.
After all, setting aside performance metrics, Memokeepers can get along harmoniously too.
Miss Messenger didn't beat around the bush. She directly recounted her encounter with Godzilla and that unknown Emanator-level being named Kiana.
"Wait! You mean Godzilla roams the cosmos through dreams, and then reached that region using his feet?!"
Black Swan snapped fully awake.
To roam the universe through dreams… though a bit terrifying, it was still within acceptable limits.
After all, Penacony's energy fluctuations were immense at the time, and with that little gray-haired one sending signals, Godzilla's positioning wouldn't have been an issue.
…
But that star region was one that even the The Garden of Recollection could only observe through the Mirror of Memories, and yet Godzilla entered it through dreams and conversed with that Emanator? This sounds…
Isn't that a bit too disrespectful toward the Memokeepers!! We are the true devotees of memory!
The Memokeepers present nearby also fell into bewilderment.
Could it be that keeping one's physical body is actually the best way to explore memories?
"Ahem, so you're saying Godzilla and that Emanator have established some kind of stable communication channel?"
Miss Messenger nodded, speaking earnestly.
"I don't know the exact details, but judging from my time with Godzilla, it should be like that, unless the other side has a way to block Godzilla's perception."
As Godzilla's disturbances across the cosmos grew larger, information about him spread widely.
Among them, what people loved to discuss most was when the Astral Express faced Phantylia on Xianzhou Luofu, and the little gray-haired one summoned Godzilla as reinforcement.
At that time, Godzilla did not have Luofu's coordinates.
Later analyses suggested that Godzilla, relying on his immense perceptive ability, sensed Luofu's location.
And that star region he had already visited, trying to block his perception there, whether possible or not, if such a vast area suddenly blocked Godzilla's senses.
"In that case, the responsibility of observing that star region is yours!"
One High-Level Memokeeper familiar with Miss Messenger excitedly patted her shoulder heavily.
Currently, the only one in the The Garden of Recollection close to Godzilla was Miss Messenger.
Sending anyone else would be foolish. They could only hope she brought back useful information.
Ideally, that star region might even prove to be protected by a certain Aeon.
…
This matter did not stir waves across the universe.
As the The Garden of Recollection had said, even they could only observe that star region through the Mirror of Memories, and history beyond it was still buried.
Meanwhile, "Strange, there's a weird spatial fluctuation, but I can't detect a precise location."
Herta crossed her arms, murmuring in surprise.
"What's wrong?" asked Ruan Mei, just stepping into the lab, puzzled at Herta.
"Just now, I detected a strange energy fluctuation. A bit like the The Garden of Recollection's, but not exactly located in space."
Herta answered without turning her head, manipulating her instruments rapidly.
Ever since learning that Godzilla could traverse dreams, Herta had retrieved an old anti-memokeeper device and modified it.
Though she couldn't probe Godzilla's boundless dreamscape, as long as Miss Messenger slipped up, tracking her traces was fairly easy.
But this time's results truly intrigued her.
An unprecedented spatial fluctuation, with no clear proof of origin.
…
At this very moment, in the dreamscape, Godzilla stared at the membrane before him, his thick tail playfully swishing and poking at it from time to time.
This was something Godzilla discovered upon returning: within it, he sensed the aura of that star region.
The unfamiliar sensation sparked his curiosity.
Poke once, poke again, poke twice more…
The pliant texture was oddly mesmerizing. Like a giant sheet of bubble wrap.
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[ T/N: From here the story is most likely based on the cross- over event of Hi3 and HSR, I'm not 100% sure about it as I haven't played the event. Let me know if you have any ideas about it or played it.
I also found out by searching a little that in the cross-over event Kiana really meets a Memokeeper who introduces Kiana to the Garden of Recollection and thinks of Kiana as an Emanator or even a possible Aeon :)
Not sure how much is correct though~ ]