Anima, Ch.58: The Return

--01-- [Scene: none] <BGM: Death March>
The world around me was shrouded in unnatural cold and darkness, and the flow of time had ground to a halt.
It was then that *she* appeared before me, in this place that had been lifted out of time.



--02-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
You have defied me for the last time.
The hour of judgement tolls...



--03-- <BGM: Death March>
Morrighan.
It's your fault I'm here.
It's your fault I couldn't remember who I was...
I know why you did it, though. I can't blame you.
...I can't hate you. Still...I'm upset.
--04-- <BGM: Death March>
"Get out of my way. I've killed better gods than you, and now I remember how to do it."
I drew in all the mana I could handle, preparing for a spell I'd rather not use.
...it might be enough.


--05-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
You...remember?
My seal...has failed?
I can sense your inner strength...I see this is not an idle threat.
Let us speak, then. What do you remember...?

--06-- <BGM: Death March>
"I remember everything. And I know what you did to me.
You sealed away my memory, so you could control me. So you could use me.
Because you couldn't resist the temptation to do it."


--07-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
It has long been my duty to protect this world.
I will do anything necessary.
I will use any means I have available.


--08-- <BGM: Death March>
"Even when your plans backfire? From what I've learned, you've developed a nasty habit of making a new mess
in the process of cleaning up the last one. So what are you going to do now?"



--09-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
I had...come to the conclusion some time ago that I do more harm than good by further intervention.
So...you are correct.
Though it pains me, I will only observe...


--10-- <BGM: Death March>
"It sounds like you finally caused a problem too big for you to fix, so you threw in the towel and walked away.
So how's that retirement going?"



--11-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
My role in this world has merely diminished.
There are still...certain matters that require my continued vigilance.
You are one of them.


--12-- <BGM: Death March>
"Don't I get any time off for seven years of good behavior?"
I lowered my guard. Maybe I won't have to kill her.
There are few things that can happen to a world that are worse than losing its gods.


--13-- <BGM: Death March>
(Morrighan)
Your sentence is eternal.
...There was another like you, who I had to keep confined for the good of Erinn.
I finally just sent him home. I do not have that option with you.
...Or do I?

--14-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I'm afraid not. I came from a reality that no longer exists...
It was destroyed...about three thousand years ago...
I had a lot more going for me there than I do here. Or so I thought..."


--15-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
(Morrighan)
You give me few options, Mearaithe Dearg.
What am I do to do with you?
I cannot send you away, and...you are more than capable of resisting if I were to try to eliminate you...


--16-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Don't you know what's happening to the world? Do you know what's been unleashed?"
I pointed west across the sea.
"What are you going to do about it?"


--17-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
(Morrighan)
A god of another world has reached through and laid its corrupting touch upon Erinn.
...I have vowed to no longer intervene. The matter is out of my hands.
The Milletians must confront it...


--18-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Technically, I'm still a Milletian. Let *me* confront it, then.
As it turns out, my family's business was dealing with misbehaving gods
that stepped out of line... Among other things."


--19-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"The way I see it, who else are you going to find in Erinn that's burned all their bridges
and wouldn't mind a one-way trip to an unknown world?
Let me go.
Let me fight this, on its own grounds."

--20-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
(Morrighan)
I cannot bring myself to trust you so easily...
Who is to say that by allowing this, I would not be creating an even greater problem,
as I have done so often enough already...?


--21-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I can understand why you wouldn't trust...someone like me.
I understand *why* you did what you did to me...
And the reason I'm not more upset with you is that...your fears were justified."


--22-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I... I was...
If you hadn't done what you did, it's likely I would have eventually destroyed this world myself.
But...I got to live a life of innocence, brief as it was, because of you..."


--23-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I got to experience things I could've never had in my previous life.
Things I never knew I could have; never knew I wanted.
This world...is precious to me, for opening my eyes to new possibilities."


--24-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I know I've done unimaginably monstrous things...and I'm going to have to live
with the guilt and remorse for my actions forever...
But my past won't chain me down anymore. I'm going to move on."


--25-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"Grant me this final duty to this world I came to love.
I will stop these invaders, or die trying, and you know Milletians don't die easily.
And after I'm gone, I'll never be a bother to you again."


--26-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
(Morrighan)
You would still fight for Erinn's future, even as you are now, a daughter of darkness?




--27-- <BGM: Tale Untold>
"I am a shadow that has outlasted the substance that cast me.
If I walk in the light, I will vanish, but if this is
the price I must pay to preserve this world, then so be it."


--28-- <BGM: Dark-Winged Goddess>
(Morrighan)
Your heart is in the right place, even if your soul is pitch black...
...
I...will grant your return to Uladh.|Perhaps you are uniquely suited to this task...


--29-- <BGM: Dark-Winged Goddess>
(Morrighan)
I will not oppose you. But once I return you to Uladh, I will aid you no further.
Show me that you have at least cleansed some of the dark stain from your soul... Mearaithe.



--30-- <BGM: Dark-Winged Goddess>
(Morrighan)
Or...should I call you something else now?
Perhaps...another name you once bore, one that you now remember?



--31-- <BGM: Dark-Winged Goddess>
"No. The woman I used to be died long ago. I...have changed, since then...
Perhaps you could say...I've been reborn.
The name I earned here is good enough. 'Meara' will do."


--32-- <BGM: Dark-Winged Goddess>
(Morrighan)
Then I release you...Meara.
Do what you feel must be done.
I will be watching...
Do not disappoint me again...

--33-- {SFX: explosion}
Morrighan disappeared in a flurry of black feathers.
The hands of time began to march once more.
The oppressive darkness lifted.
The space around me began to distort.
I was...being sent somewhere?
--34-- [scene: Port Ceann] <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
It was a different beach... in a different land...
One I had not seen in a long time.
Port Ceann. Though not quite as I remember it.
The dock was roped off, and looked long abandoned...

--35-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
It's been seven years, but I'm finally...home?
No, it's not home, and it can never be home again.
Something about this place seems unsettling.
I feel a bit...nauseous...?

--36-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
This land is a place I used to call home...a special place to me, one I'll cherish forever...
But it can never be so again.
Now it's in danger, and I may be the only one who can save it.


--37-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
So that those who remain here can continue to cherish it.
So others may live in peace, after I'm gone...

To walk in the light, a shadow must vanish.

--38-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
Enough lamentation. Time to get to work...and get off this beach before my stomach turns itself inside out.
My first order of business...have a look around the kingdom, and see what remains of it...



--39-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
Merlin's recount of what befell Uladh was...disheartening...but I want to see it with my own eyes.
Then, I have to find some of the corrupted creatures he spoke of, to trace them back to their source.



--40-- <BGM: The Storm Is Coming>
A storm is gathering... I will not cower before it.




[end of chapter]