Anima, Ch.27: Buried Truth

[Anima, Ch.27: Buried Truth]
--01-- [Scene: Emain Macha] <BGM: Reflected Scenery on Water>
To know more about the spirits, I had little other recourse than to seek out an actual spirit.
As Tarlach directed, I managed to get myself to Ceo Island from Emain Macha, but now what?



--02-- <BGM: Reflected Scenery on Water>
I crossed the narrow stone bridge, and saw a staircase leading underground; clearly an artificial
construction, but I didn't see anything else on this island...other than a bunch of agitated golems.



--03-- [Scene: Rundal Dungeon] <BGM: A Safety Zone>
With no other alternatives in sight, I descended the stairs. They led deep underground.
I emerged into a corridor lined by trenches full of mysterious glowing water.
This must be under the lake...


--04-- <BGM: A Safety Zone>
A female figure in a blue dress was somehow floating in the air over a pool of glowing water.
She stared coldly at me as I approached, visibly growing nervous and fearful as I drew near.



--05-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
You're not a...
What brings you before me, crimson shade? I don't see any stones in your hands...
If you're not going to throw a rock at me, then speak your business and depart...


--06-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
Crimson shade...?
...Didn't I get called something like that by Morrighan and Cichol?
Are the gods and spirits able to percieve more than what mortal senses alone can tell?


--07-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
I'll have to walk on eggshells around this spirit...
"I have come to seek answers that only the spirits could grant.
Is there any means by which an elf could follow in the steps of Lugh Lavada?"


--08-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
Why would a malign soul like you...pursue a path as hallowed as his?
You'll have to convince me of your earnestness before I grant you that knowledge...
Or anything else. I do not trust you.


--09-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
There's something wrong about me that makes the supernatural recoil in horror...
I don't understand it at all.
"Do you think me unworthy to be something akin to a Knight of Light?"


--10-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
I think...that you are incapable...
You'll have to prove to me that you're more than what you seem.
A true Paladin would never turn down a request from a spirit, after all...


--11-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
Since you wear the visage of an elf... You'd have to draw upon the wisdom of the Ancient Elves
to obtain a similar power as that of a Paladin. Thus, I request this...



--12-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears> {SFX: plop}
The spirit summoned forth a damp parchment from the glowing pool, as well as two blobs of water that
congealed into what appear to be the kind of wings that contain one-time-use teleportation spells.



--13-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
Deliver this message to the healer Atrata in Filia.
In this, I am requesting an item from her...an artifact that might restore the abilities of the ancient elves...
Bring it to me...


--14-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
The wings are to get you there...and to bring you back. I trust you know how they work...?
Use the clear one to go there, and the cloudy one to return to this place...



--15-- <BGM: The Spirit's Tears>
(Aer)
Return with the item I requested from Atrata, and I will forebear your presence further...




--16-- {SFX: plop}
The water spirit sank into the pool with barely a splash, and vanished from sight.
Guess I have only one course of action...
I took the letter and enchanted wings in hand, and snapped the clear one.


--17-- [Scene: Filia] <BGM: That Beautiful Day>
After the discontinuity passed, my next breath was one of hot, dry air. It came as a bit of a shock.
This is...Filia?
It looked exactly the same as I remembered it, in the first few days of my life.


--18-- <BGM: That Beautiful Day>
Twelve cycles of Ladeca ago, my soul had been extricated from the void beyond and clad in flesh,
here on this spot.
I retraced my very first footsteps.

My reflection in the pond is still the same...
--19-- <BGM: That Beautiful Day>
Atrata was sitting on her front porch, mixing herbs with a mortar and pestle.
"Long time no see," I said as I walked up, holding the letter out. "Uh, this is for you."

She stared at me, puzzled.

--20-- <BGM: Tranquil but Smiling Cure>
(Atrata)
Do I know you...? You look vaguely familiar, but I can't place it...




--21-- <BGM: Tranquil but Smiling Cure> {SFX: huge failure}
"You don't remember me?"
She took the letter and started to read it.
"I haven't been here for a year or so. Either I didn't leave much of an impression, or..."

Or her memory of me had been erased.

--22-- <BGM: Tranquil but Smiling Cure>
(Atrata)
No, I'm afraid I don't.
Aer, the water spirit...?
That name sounds very familiar...but I can't figure out where I've heard it before.
One moment; I'll get the artifact this letter is asking for...

--23-- <BGM: Tranquil but Smiling Cure>
Atrata stood up and went into her house.

I suspect that if I asked about, nobody here would remember me...except Castanea.

Atrata soon returned with a small statuette of a gargoyle in her hands.
--24-- <BGM: Tranquil but Smiling Cure>
(Atrata)
If Aer knows how to unlock the power this holds, then I'll entrust this to her...
As much as I've studied it over the years, I just can't get anywhere with it.
I keep forgetting my findings...


--25--
I carefully took the small figure and put it away.
As I did so, I noticed something moving at the edge of my vision:
two figures, one in a maroon robe, one dressed in a white uniform.


--26-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
And for good reason.
So, you've come back... Meara, was it?
Atrata, go inside. What I have to say is for her alone.


--27-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison> {SFX: slam}
Atrata meekly complied and ran into her house.
I turned to Castanea.
"I realized, right after you sent me off to Uladh, that you didn't want me around.
I was too naive to see it sooner. Why?"

--28-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
I will do whatever is necessary to keep my people safe. To keep them from being corrupted.
I will take on any burden. I will bear any sin...

You were the ninth Milletian that Nao sent to us Elves...

--29-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
I couldn't deal with you like the others, though. The Memory Tower didn't work on you.
You had no memories to erase, so I could not blank your mind.
So I resorted to another method...


--30-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
"I'm the ninth? What happened to the other eight?"

I'm not liking the sound of this...


--31-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
They are probably still out in the desert...where we buried them...




--32-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
"Buried? They...died? Or...did you kill them?"

Panic welled up within me. Every fiber of my being is screaming that I'm in danger.
That I need to leave here, NOW.

--33-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
Milletians cannot die, as long as their soul exists.
No agony of the flesh extinguishes their final spark of life.
To live forever, bearing pain and sorrow... Is it not a curse?
I granted them mercy.

--34-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
Wait a minute, if they didn't die... Oh.
Oh...! Oh, dear...
They were buried *alive.* And probably tortured first.

"Right... I'll...I'll be leaving then..."
--35-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Castanea)
You have what you came for.
It would be best if you did not return to Filia again.
Reflect upon this on your journey: what has been buried should remain so.
...Maike, I leave her to you.

--36-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
Castanea turned and walked away.
The male elf in a white uniform with a scarred face stepped forward menacingly, drawing a rapier.
I don't remember seeing *him* last year...


--37-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Maike)
Madame Castanea, in her mercy, grants you five minutes to leave peacefully before you are removed by force.
Do not return here.
You may be an immortal, but there are things worse than death...


--38-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
"I'll see myself out."
I took the remaining wing in both hands.
"I feel sorry for the tenth."


--39-- <BGM: Hidden Petals of Poison>
(Maike)
We shall deal with abominations as we see fit. Now, be gone!




--40-- [Scene: none]
I snapped the wing.
After the disorientating translocation, I found myself back in Aer's grotto.
The spirit herself was still nowhere to be seen.
I shouted, "Okay, I got your statue! Now what?"

[chapter end]