Erant enim filii.
Arriving in Sanctorum, where the undead were already purging the streets, the young prince was hopelessly disadvantaged given his lack of experience... not to mention the functions of Eliesium were haywiring and disabling their primary skills and abilities from the get go. Not only had Aichi been classed on the more passive and support side, but without even a sword to swing in defense, he was vulnerable, useless.
Taking what supplies and goods he could salvage in the warring mess Aichi encountered a group of children NPC under his wing; in the goodness of his heart, he fled Sanctorum with them in hopes of finding a place they could take refuge in, at least until a patch was distributed.
Weed was far from their reach, and with the NPCs complaining about their tired feet and empty stomachs, Aichi had no choice but to make a pit stop. Anostos, seemed a bit more welcoming, in terms of the spread of zombies, but there were still remnants of a larger threat looming within the shadows. The hungering scavengers perched atop abandoned buildings also eyed them with starved spite, probably in hopes that they drop dead and become their next meal. Even when this sent shivers down the young prince’s spine, he pressed on, entering a collapsing cathedral as their rest spot. Hopefully the greater deity of this ghost town would still watch over them. That was Aichi’s hope. As the children all sat around and curled up on the broken pews, Aichi caught a glimpse of flowers growing in the patches of sunlight and heading over.
“Oh, these are alstromeria.”
The paler kind, a wishful flower. It was inspiring that, despite there being no life in Anostos, these flora still rebelliously remained. Aichi folding his hands together and giving his own prayer for their safety, he then bent down and gently stroked the fragile petals. Not that it ever did much to simply hope, but it was better than nothing in such a time of crisis. Attracting the childrens’ attention, and humoring them with the little knowledge he had retained about plants, he was also thoughtful enough to pass around some food, taking the smallest piece of bread for himself and eating it sparingly.
Playing the part of a braver prince, was tolling on his mental state, and as the days whittled on by, Aichi had less and less energy to spare. Their supplies were close to running out and the situation had gotten to the point where Aichi the occasionally run out to gather more food and medicine was now a daily norm. Staying just on the outskirts of Anostos, just so that he would be able to retreat back to the cathedral if need be, the young prince--with his newly acquired sharpened stick--carefully trekked the area on high alert. Of course, at the slightest hint of abnormal movement, he swung back in reflex, probably not able to hurt anyone in the slightest, but it was to garner himself a preemptive attack in order to follow suit and flee upon confirming danger.
“You won’t sneak up on me!”
