"We began as wanderers and we are wanderes still."
"We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean."
"We are ready at last to set sell for the stars"
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"My destination is unknown but as long as I exist, the Milky Way will be my path and the universe will be my destination."
— ███████ █████████
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In the ethereal expanse where existence thinly veils the void of nothingness, the frigid tides of an unseen ocean brush against the shores of reality.
The girl is lost.
She can't remember when she became lost. She just walked and walked, on and on into the dark night, chasing the sun and the moon, over and over again — until she falls, lying face down in the mud.
Looking up to the stars, what she should have seen was meteors streaming down: one, two, three... And then more, smaller ones, flickering and flashing ever so finely before a magnificent blaze tore open the night.
Yet, she couldn't find any.
The giant black sun in the sky emitted a dim, gloomy light that covered the place, giving off an ominous, strangely mournful feeling. The gray sky with blood-red mists was like the hazy memories that appeared in her mind.
Her limbs drag her forward, leading her on to where the land meets the ocean. These waters, ice-cold and relentless, like the felling she found in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay when looking for herself beyond this boundless world.
At the shoreline, the waters jostle against her, the rain whispers secrets, each drop a word, a story, a plea. It is a symphony of existence, a tragic melody of life and death intertwined, playing endlessly in the heart of nowhere.
"Is this... 'Momento mori'?" The young girl with her severely injured body raised her arm that was being corroded by the black curse up towards the black sun. Every piece of her flesh was slowly disintegrating into dust, as were her memories, she seemed to be standing on the blurred line between life and nothingness.
She could no longer feel anything, no longer felt the pain from the rot and erosion, no more light entered her eyes, only the white of blindness remained. "In the night of death, hopes to see a star...."
"And may I blessed by THEM...."
She muttered with her last breath, as she still gazed back up at the giant black sun. The girl's breathing gradually slowed down then gradually disappeared without a trace, her eyes were slightly closed while looking up at the sky. In her vision, there was a light of a comet streaking across the grey sky, perhaps it was just a hallucination of her while she was dying, a little illusion to comfort herself that death is not scary.
"Why I am floating...?" When the girl opened her eyes she realized that she was floating in the air and drifting aimlessly towards a being with white skin and red pupil eyes lying on it. Waves of green and yellow energy gently wrapped around her body like a warm embrace was embracing her, placing pressure on the wounds the curse was causing.
"Momento mori, Memento Vivere"
THEIR gazes were gentle and kind as THEY opened THEIR eyes to look at the unfortunate young girl. THEIR mouths moved to speak but no sound came out, but she could hear them clearly in her ears. Maybe it was the voice of someone she met in the past, or maybe it was the voice of her soul trying to encourage her, she never knew.
The girl was drifting towards THEM more and more, she couldn't resist at all. The green energy glowed even brighter under THEIR gaze as it began to be absorbed by the girl's body. The energy began to flow through her veins, regenerating her body from the inside out.
The light once again flooded her vision causing her to reflexively close her eyes, until she opened them again to see a new figure appear in front of the girl. It was a person with a figure resembling a very beautiful woman, abright amalgamation of colors flares behind THEIR head and THEY had three faces that looked very serene and peaceful.
But what was more remarkable was that THEY had opened their eyes to look at the girl. They hum soft melodious tunes as if welcoming her back, THEY took a few strings and placed them in the girl's hands like a silent promise and then they disappeared without a trace.
Then the girl heard someone's laughter echoing through the empty space, so clear it tore through the cold universe. She looked around but there was no one but a white, theatrical comedy mask slowly floating towards the girl, making her feel confused. As she took the mask, the giggling grew louder with the circus noises congratulating her as she took it. Darkness descends before her eyes, reminiscent of the chaos before the birth of the universe. There is a little light at the end of this cold dark path, it draws her in, once again engulfed the space, pulling her mind back to reality.
"The erosion of Nihility was temporarily stopped by the power of Abundance, merely keeping the girl alive...." As the girl was still half awake, she caught a glimpse of someone's conversation, causing her to tilt her head towards the source of the voice with difficulty. It was a bespectacled man with brown hair talking to a red-haired woman. Judging from the man's tone and face, he looked curious but also very worried at the same time. "Where did you find this girl, Himeko?"
"This girl was floating in space, it seems... someone saved her before I got involved." The woman with hair as red as fire named Himeko responded, she tilted her head to look in the girl's direction, seeing that she had woken up, Himeko slowly walked closer. "How are you feeling?"
What happened after that, the girl couldn't remember clearly anymore. Being still a Self-Annihilator and under the influence of the Nihility's shadow, her memories were gradually fading and her senses were gradually becoming numb. Only her body existed because of the power THEY gave her to survive, however her arms were still the same as when she was near death, from her elbows down to her fingertips were pitch black but it had not spread any further.
Even so, Himeko still welcomed her to Astral Express. So every day she wakes up trying to remember Himeko and Welt's faces, their names, and even Pom-Pom, the conductor. Remembering that she herself was no longer the same person, she had been reborn with a new identity, as a Nameless who travel the stars in the name of Akivili and the path of the Trailblaze.
She decided to name herself after the Muse of tragedy in Greek mythology. Because the name is so similar to her condition, it is quite ironic, and also expresses her dark sense of humor about her empty past.
And thus, on that day, a passionate and enthusiastic singing girl named Vanitas Melpomene was born.
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"Miss Vanitas! We have arrived at Herta Space Station!" An excited and playful voice kept calling my name along with shaking my shoulders, waking me up....