[A: 6 C: 108] - Starlight Desert
(Ramos) [Alex] {Nihil} <Altiare> |Jasmine|
“Ramos?” Isabeau's hand was on your back. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Just, g-gimmie a sec.” You leaned against your large friend as another wave of dissociation washed over you. “I’m, I-I’m good, I’m good. . .”
“We can rest longer if you need.” Odile’s v- Whatever Bonnie did, it -et moving. “I’m sure Eden and the others are willing to help.”
“N-no, no. No.” You let out a groan. They’d already come up to check some, ten, twenty. . . Hour? You, y-you don’t know. . . “I just, it’s, Nihil. . .”
Ever since the fountain, storm clouds or, something like it, had darkened the skies. Or, at least tried to. Since then Nihil had gotten restless. Not just Nihil, really, a lot of sadness had been acting strange. . . Eden was having trouble staying, himself, Isabeau taunted by that puppet, but you and Nihil. . .
The shadow was leaning over your shoulder. Metaphorically, literally, it didn’t matter. It wanted out. With the everlasting sun finally challenged, the void wanted to come out and feel it. Of course it wanted out at the. . . the. . . .
“You’ll be okay, okay?” Isabeau’s still holding you. “We all will.”
“O-okay. . .” Your voice is small. So small. Like you feel, like you feel, like you feel. . . “G-gotta, let Nihil. . .”
“That is fine.” Odile seems so sure. . . “We’ll be here every step of the way. Now breathe.”
“O-kay. . . . .” You take a breath, move from Isabeau’s support, and start walking forward. Forward, into the dark-sand dunes. Into the stars that sunk under your feet, into the, the. . .
{Your feet sink into the sand by an inch with every step. The light that once blinded you was now but one more force conspiring against you. Percival. The Historian. The Lover. He alone was all you truly cared about. Deal with him, and all will return. Deal with him, and all, will, return.}
{You felt alive in the dark. You wanted to be alive. You may drag the others to return, in time.}
{Cresting a dune, you could see the sands continue for an age and an age. Far in the distance, light of the sun glimmered off an ocean too distant to truly describe. You pause for a moment at the dune’s peak, taking this all in, before stepping, jumping, off to slide down the sand.}
“Woah, slow down Nihil!” {Isabeau calls after you before sliding down himself.} “Heh, excited?”
{You turn to him. You nod.}
“Gems-” {Odile struggled not to tumble as she walked down the dune.} “Some of us aren’t as nimble as we once were, Nihil.”
{You exhale and nod again, message received. You wait for her to join you and Isabeau, before turning to lead them on. You could run up and down every dune, but that is energy. No, if you can see a path around a dune, you’ll take it. You continue to walk.}
{It doesn’t take long for your footfalls to fall into a mindless rhythm. Once that happens, it’s like the rest of the world opens up to you; it opens up to questions. Why a desert? Why a mountain? Why rolling forests and fields? Did Percival intentionally do this? Or was this something done on instinct. No, not on instinct. Done subconsciously.}
{Fields. Fields of greenery. To be lost in the monotony. Familiarity. Strangely idealistic. A forest for one to adventure in. A mountain. Fears in dark caves. Anxieties you need to get over. A culmination. Changing. Now a desert. Endless wasteland. Sands on sands. Winds to pull you along. Everything is the same.}
{You pause in your walking. Tracks. Small, close together. You crouch down.}
“Rabbit footprints.” {Odile tuts.} “Expected, as there are so many saudade. . .”
“There’s a joke in there somewhere.” {Isabeau sighed whistfully.} “Oh if only Siffrin were here. .”
{Sadness. In your experience, multiple for one, is uncommon. You project your thoughts out for the two others. Why multiple? Same rabbit, many, but all as one. One tree, many leaves, all the same tree.}
“Really?” {Odile crosses arms.} “Now you bring this up?”
{Have before. You stand, and start to follow the tracks.}
“Gems you’re hard to talk to. . .” {Odile sighs.}
“Oh it’s not that hard, M’dame!” {Isabeau chuckles.} “Nihil’s nice, we chatted a few days ago on our way to Bambouche. It’s a real sweetie!”
{You try and fail to stuff down your warm feelings. You do not show any reaction.}
“Oh I’m sure.” {Now Odile chuckles.} “You are becoming a regular sadness tamer, Isabeau.”
“H-hey!”
{Cute.}
{Hushed footsteps and quiet conversation is all that flow through the air as you continue. You follow the tracks. Why? They know where they are going, the Saudade. Strange things. A rabbit, yes, but why? These tracks start darting one way and the other suddenly. Like a zigzag. Why?}
{One way, another. Indents in the sand at odd angles. . . It was hunted. You walk faster. It was hunted? What here hunts rabbits. You. You do. Was it another survivor, then? Or was it a sadness. Sadness do attack sadness on occasion. But why?}
{A small light came into view as you followed the tracks. You’ve seen these lights before, when Saudade are killed. You approach it. There’s an indent on the ground where the light now lay. Something killed a Saudade, but neglected its little light.}
“Well that’s not concerning at all.” {Odile says with a quiet chuckle.} “I wonder what happened here. . .”
“Wait!” {Isabeau froze, voice dipping into a strangely serious and alert tone.} “This is a trap.”
“Why so certain, Isabeau?” {Odile squinted, but then paused, actually considering it.} “. . . Do sadness make traps like this?”
{Yes. You project the thoughts out as the ground rumbles softly. Bonnie told of this, from their loops.}
“R-right, so. . .” {Isabeau clenches his fists.} “. . . Get ready, everyone.”
{You draw your nail, backing up to Isabeau as Odile does the same. Clear mind. Clear heart. You wait, feeling the rumbling, coming closer, closer, closer, until you see and feel something burst through a sand dune to your side.}
{A large and dangerous sadness screamed at you from the cloud of sand. It had a long and flowing robe with a big ball head. It did not waste time. A symbol flashed for a second before it sent waves of sharp air at you all.}
“WOAH!!” {Isabeau took the hit, and wasted no time, using [WE! WILL! WIN!!!]} “T-THAT’S A STRONG ONE.”
“Why does this sadness seem familiar?” {Odile’s face was focused.} “Siffrin’s described this sadness before!”
“One from the House, you think?”
“No doubt, and in that case. . .” {Odile grins, and casts [Craft Break Δ]!}
{Your turn. You run in like a flash and slash at the sadness, and dance back as the sadness retaliates. Isabeau comes from the flank, whacking the enemy with a backhand. His strike hits a weakness, yours does not.}
“Is your skill working, M’dame??” {Isabeau looks over.} “Nihils attack wasn’t strong against it.”
“It wasn’t weak, either.” {Odile huffed.} “Didn’t Ramos say Nihils attacks are a neutral typing?”
“Right.” {He nods, and turns back to the sadness.} “So everything’s a normal hit no matter what, useful!”
{Yes. It is. You don’t need an advantage, you just need a fair playing field. If you have that, if it can bleed, you can win. You dash past the sadness swipe, jump, slash down and dash away. You land next to Odile. The sadness flashes a paper sign.}
“This thing’s a lot weaker than how Sif told it.” {Isa chuckles.} “Guess we all’ve gotten stronge since then.”
“A savior's work is never done.” {Odile groans, using [Paper ɑ V].} “I’m retiring after all this is over.”
“Does that mean I get to know what your research is?” {Isabeau teases as he follows up with [SMASH!!!].}
“You already know it, Isabeau. Everyone does save for the Bambouche siblings.” Odile's comment makes you look at her and cock your head. She rolls her eyes.} “You read minds. That wouldn’t exactly be fair, would it.”
{That is fair. You weave past a blow from the sadness, and use [Blast]. A ball of dark ink erupts from your arm and impacts the monster, making it sway backwards, before collapsing, dead.}
[Odile is now level 64.]
[Isabeau is now level 65.]
[Nihil is now level 77.]
“Nice work everyone.” {Isa whoots.} “No booboos?”
{You pause for a second and [Focus]. Pale energy focuses on a gash in your side that you had not noticed until now. When it dissipates, you are good as new. Isabeau pats you on the back, which startles you.}
“Take it easy, buddy. If you need a break just say the word.”
{You nod, not looking at him. You are ever grateful for your mask. You move forward towards the light that was still resting where a Saudade must have sat. You gesture towards it with a tilt of the head.}
{Isabeau nods. Odile thinks it over, then nods as well. You reach towards the light.}
“My dearest Antoine.
I’ve tried and failed to write this letter so, so many times, with each attempt failing to get my feelings across worse than the last. So, I give up, and I’ll just say it. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I was stupid to think my family would just give up and let me go so easily, that they wouldn’t see through my trick, that they wouldn’t want me back. And now because of that, you nearly lost your life, and you might still lose your leg.
I can’t stay here, my dear, and I cannot stay with you. If my change, my growth to being someone else comes at the cost of those I hold dear, those I love, then I choose to change far, far away from here. In a few days I’m getting on a boat and leaving Vaugarde. I’m headed to Goethia, and maybe after that I’ll visit the Ichian isles.
Maybe in a few years time, when my family has long thought me dead, I’ll come visit again. But until that time comes, can you promise me something?
Please take care of yourself. I’m sorry, and I love you.
Yours,Percival”
I stare at the letter, reading it over two, three, four times, looking for an excuse to crumple it into a ball and start again. I don’t, in the end; all I can think to do to delay the inevitable is add one small thing.
“P.S.
If you could thank Lady Euphraise for me, I would appreciate it. If it wasn’t for her we would both have died that night. Thank you.”
It’s not the best, but it’ll do. With a yawn, I carefully fold the letter into an envelope, and seal it with wax as if it’s some official document.
Standing up, I can see the morning light start its slow crawl up from the horizon. The hours before dawn were always the strangest, the twilight before the twilight, if you will. I shake my head, grab my things that I have long since packed already, and head out the door.
I expect someone to stop me on the way out. For Brade to come back from the dead, for Euphraise to talk me out of it, for Antoine to scoop me up and whisper into the crook of my neck. None of that happens, of course, and before I know it, I've left the house of change.
I make one small detour before I leave; the clearing where I fought that blooded assassin. Some part of me thought that Rosenrot would leave the job undone, but no. There wasn't a sign of the dead to be seen.
With that, the last thread that could have stopped me from walking away snapped. I turned away from the clearing, away from the House of Change, away from Dormont, and walked. I had grown fond of this town over the past couple years. I was going to miss it.
. . . Funny, I haven't felt this feeling before. It was a feeling of sadness, of wanting, or longing, or. . . Ahaa. . . Homesickness. That's what it is. Blood, I only knew the town for a tenth of my life, and still it causes my heart to ache.
I'll move on, eventually.
“W-woah. . .” {Isabeau shook his head clear.} “Heavy stuff. . .”
“Stranger and stranger. . .” {Odile groans, and rubs her neck.} “What are the Saudade doing with these memories in any case?”
“Hmm, maybe Perci needs help remembering something?” {Isabeau may be right. You get up from a kneeing position you had taken.} “Kinda like what Mal does.”
“Yes, but what memories, and why. . .” {Odile was tapping her foot, thinking hard.} “What is he trying to remember?”
*His bonded partner.
{The one from the pier, you project your thoughts. The one who was bonded to him. The one we can no longer remember.}
“O-oh, yeah, right. . .” {Isa looked away, slightly ashamed that he forgot.}
{. . . Enough waiting. You turn, and start to walk once again. The other two follow.}
{As you pass the still waiting body of the sadness you defeated, Odile hums to herself. }
“Calamité, that is its name.” {Odile is mumbling to herself.} “Now why would it show up now of all times. . .”
“I guess the question is if it was an ambient sadness, or if it was tied to someone.” {Isabeau muses back.} “Both options don’t exactly look good.”
“If it was a bonded sadness, then someone nearby must be in a lot of distress.” {Odile had chosen her words carefully.} “And if it was ambient, then this desert may have more strong sadness waiting for us.”
“Well if that’s the case bring it on!” {Isabeau pumps his fists together.} “We’re not gonna back down from some weak, random sadness, right?”
{You do not reply, and Odile sighs.} “You do understand that tempting fate like you are has more meaning here than usual, yes?”
“Uh, yeah! I knew that.” {Isabeau half-lies.} “I’m just confident.”
{You peek around the next dune, and pause, taking in a surprising sight. You tug on Isabeau’s shoulder.} “Huh?” {You nod at him, then motion for him and Odile to look.}
“. . . O-oh, woah. . .”
“Well. . . Aren’t we lucky.”
{Around the corner is the corpse of a gargantuan sized sadness. It was comparable to two whales stacked next to each other. It had a bloated body, and some type of long neck. Notably, the neck and body were severed from each other, tears oozing from the wound. Whatever had killed this thing, it did so, then left.}
{Isabeau’s voice was strained.} “. . . So uh, what do you think. . .”
“Killed it? I have some ideas.” {You feel Odile’s hesitance.} “I would love to believe it was a certain housemaiden we know, but considering the strange sorts we have met so far, it could be anyone.”
“Y-yeah, anyone. . .” {Isabeau leaned forward, hand shading his eyes.} “. . . Change, there’s more dead sadness in the distance.”
{You look where he looks. There is a second, third, and fourth large sadness you could barely see past the sands. It was a trail, one that led directly towards the distant ocean. You turned around while keeping that alignment. The path of destruction was lined up with the bridge you had crossed to get here.}
{. . .}
{You need to keep moving.}