851. White day, 8
(Mathieu)
I went blindly after him all this time. I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t find anything else.
Our two existences might have vanished through time since we last saw each other. I’m feeling shallow as I walk on, realising I’ve kind of already accepted that both of us were already dead.
We’re wandering, in a world that is more post-mortem than post-apocalyptic. We didn’t know that end, but we’ve shared what felt like ours.
Now I’m walking into fields of snow. The weather is getting colder the further I go.
I’m not eating much, but I’m still in rather good shape. I think Line is helping me in ways I cannot understand.
I’m not becoming invincible, but I’m feeling quite fine, despite how much and fast I’ve travelled.
Although I feel like I’ve shed some of my humanity away by taking Line along with me.
What matters is how this focus I keep, we keep, that pushes us forward. To avoid thinking and suffering from what crushed us before and below.
I know a part of me is dead. And I know somewhere Pascal probably felt the same.
I reached the edge of a short cliff.
In front of me starts the unreal sight of a flying piece of land. It’s a wonder I must admit, but it’s a monument to disaster it would seem.
M - So, Line... Pascal is already there?
The doll didn’t react. I pull it out from the pocket I kept it.
M - Line?
L - Ah... The castle has changed. It’s no longer the Mehâdralamyne I’ve known.
M - The what?
L - That name doesn’t matter. Forget about it. You can call it the magical palace. Or anything else you’d like. The cradle of the source or Tamźródlo are fine. She was right in the end...
M - I don’t care about the name. Where’s Pascal?
L - He’s... Oh no...
The ices of the land suddenly burnt and scattered.
Rocks began to fly around and away from the caldera over which the palace floated.
Some bright red and orange thunder began dancing below the wide boulder, ripping the ground apart.
Line was shaken in my hands.
And a sudden flash of light blinded me.
~
I felt like waking up suddenly. I was lying in the snow.
The air was still somewhat lukewarm and humid as I raised my head.
I was still facing the same blurry landscape, but I realised I had passed out for a moment. An aftermath?
An explosion and a shockwave of wind blew me away back into the snow field behind. My ears bled and my head felt numb along the way.
I was shaking as I tried to stand up. My hand dug into the snow, a little painfully.
As I struggled to find myself back surprisingly, Line walked in front of me, entering my sight.
It touched my hand with its tiny ones. A sensible warmth then banished the pain and weakness inside of me rapidly.
M - Line... What just happened?
L - The source... It caused a change, which caused an explosion. There could be many reasons and it’s unclear for now. Pascal and its dangerous buddy were most likely blown along the way. We’ve been thrown back into the snow behind. So I’m just helping you for now...
I’m not sure I correctly heard what she just said.
Is Pascal dead?
No it can’t be. It’s lying. It’s lying to me for a reason I don’t see.
L - Your quest is over Mathieu...
~
After a while, a few minutes of dizziness and confusion, I found my senses again and tried to sit and then to stand.
The vertigo gradually faded, but the landscape had suddenly changed. Although some print of the previous sight remained over my eyes and lingered for a minute longer.
I kept holding onto Line oddly all this time.
My ears still hurt, but I could begin to hear a deep rumble in the distance, and I could begin to guess the voice of Line speaking to me.
L - It’s bad... Your friend is dead. And whatever that thing with him was, its ambition now is as well...
M - ...
I was still confused, and just reacted calmly as if nothing mattered.
I walked again to the edge of the cliff.
It was different now. The snow was gone. The rocks were jagged. The caldera was bigger than before.
The sight was now obscured by clouds of dust and ashes still warm, all around and above us.
The castle in the sky wasn’t blown apart, chipped on some places at best. It’s not destroyed, but it has fallen there and no longer floats.
I’m not sure what exploded and where, but it didn’t destroy it. It went through or around the sanctuary and I think dug through the ground below. It’s raining water and ashes all over.
Was that what Pascal and that weapon had in mind? I doubt it somehow.
It appears to me and Line as if something went wrong instead, and there was a return of flame.
Another will against them? Maybe a nefarious and vicious will slumbered in there...
Perhaps something evil turned the wishes of peace into reasons for war, and wishes of life into waves of death...
I stood there, gazing at the show of recent chaos, for which the reason and purpose were as cloudy as the consequences. Maybe it didn’t bode anything.
That shockwave and explosion were strong, but nothing too big on a continental scale. I doubt anyone aside me will be able to comment on this event in the future.
The powerful explosion made the castle fall, widened the size of the caldera, but that’s about it really.
Although I felt something coursing through my thoughts at the same time. Something like a shockwave for the mind?
I’m puzzled...
I look at the sight of the dirty rain gradually becoming snow again, as this soft layer gently begins to return over everything here.
~
I wanted to punch the ground.
Hatred returns.
It’s not over.
You’re fucking lying...
M - Where is he...
L - Mathieu... You should bring me there. It’s for more than your sake.
M - I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you! You’re lying to me! Tell me where Pascal is!
Line changed. It’s a doll, but the being behind reacted.
L - Mathieu, I need you to bring me there. Then I’ll give you anything you want.
I crushed it down. I stomped onto the doll, burying into the snow until it reached the ground. Hatred grows little thing.
M - Stop fucking with me Line. Tell me!
The doll seemingly tried to escape from under my sole, and eventually gave up. Did it matter?
I think it contemplated something else than me.
Something else it could remember.
L - Alright Mathieu... Let’s play for a while.
Something evil sipped out.
Like a laughter. A smirk I could hear or feel but not see on that thing’s face. The tone changed I could tell.
I removed my foot from it, and I could feel that thing’s gaze wandering back to focus on me. It felt strange.
The doll pointed back toward the direction from which we came.
L - Pascal survived, and I think so did its monster. They flew that way, in a nick of time away from the worst of the burst. I’ll help you all the way. But then, someday, I will demand you to bring me back to this place and you will obey. Understood?
M - ... Deal.
Vengeance first.
This demon’s will and the fate of the world’s source can wait.
~
