Anima, Ch.63: The Die Is Cast

--01-- [Scene: Gairech Hills] <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
As it turned out, there were at least three of these "Prophets"...
A demoness, a lycanthrope, and an inarticulate ogre.
They don't seem quite like the ones I've seen in Erinn...


--02-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Pennar)
Brilluen, what's the meaning of this?
Who... What is this...thing?



--03-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Brilluen)
I made a new friend!
This is Sariana. She's a really strong magician, she's not human, and those silly Knights had it in for her,
so I thought I'd ask her to help us.
Enemy of our enemy, you know?

--04-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Marcan)
Red fiend? Untrustworthy.




--05-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Brilluen)
Sariana's not from this world at all...she doesn't care what we're doing.
She just wants to leave, so I promised I'd let her tag along until
we have to report back. Don't make a liar out of me, okay?


--06-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
They're not open about what exactly they're doing, or what they're after, and I can't blame them.
Why should they trust me?
I'll have to earn their trust first...or at least make myself useful.


--07-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
"I swore an oath to your service until the time you depart this world, in return for allowing me
to leave with you. I will do what you require of me, as long as I am capable."

But I won't like it.

--08-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Pennar)
I hope we don't come to regret this, Brilluen.
...Sariana, was it?
I hear the Alban Knights seem to have taken a disliking to you.
For now, I would have you...present a distraction for them.

--09-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Brilluen)
You can handle them, right, dearie?
In the meanwhile, the three of us need to go...look for something,
and it would be nice to not have those busybodies getting in our way.


--10-- <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Pennar)
Brilluen, you talk too much.
I suppose I'll suffer your...'friend' for now, if she proves her worth.



--11-- [Scene: none] <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
"I'll keep your suffering to a minimum."

The three Prophets left, after ordering me to go back to Dunbarton, as my recent activities
would have drawn the attention of those Knights I'd run into earlier...

--12-- [Scene: Dunbarton]
Shapeshifted as a red fox again, I looked over Dunbarton, but didn't see
anyone alive and moving within the walls.
However, on the road north, where I'd fought that monster, there *was* someone there.


--13-- {SFX: wind}
Getting closer, I found that it wasn't one of the Knights I'd seen earlier,
but instead a woman with brown hair, in green half-plate armor and greaves, over a green outfit.
She seems...familiar...


--14-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
I kept my shapeshifted form as I approached.
Hearing something draw near, she turned in my direction, and I stopped in my tracks.
It was my...former friend, Vivian. The years hadn't been kind to her.


--15-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"The vermin are getting bold," she grumbled, brandishing a large one-handed sword.
As she approached, I let myself revert to normal.
Vivian stopped in her tracks, and her face went pale.


--16-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"What the hell?" she hissed, pointing her sword at me. "What are you?"
"I know you said you'd never forgive me, Vivian, but...I'm sorry."
"What are you talking about? ...wait a minute...you're...?"


--17-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
She took a few steps closer, lowering her sword a bit, staring at my face...then gasped.
"Oh, my God...Meara...? Is...that you, Meara?"
I turned my gaze down. "Yeah...it's me. The real me..."


--18-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"H-how...?"
"...I was this before I came here. Deep down...I was always like this.
Morrighan and Nao tried to make me into something I wasn't, though.
I believed them...and Devin died because of it."

--19-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
She tensed up at hearing me speak her brother's name. "You have no right to even mention him!
He loved you, and you killed him!"
"And I loved him, too! ...I still do... Look."


--20-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
I raised my left hand, showing the ring I still wore.
"This is the ring Devin gave me when he proposed. Seven years, and I've never taken it off.
My body might've changed, but my feelings haven't..."


--21-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"I don't care about your feelings!" she screamed. "Do you have any idea what I've been through
since you ran away? Most of the people in Uladh have died or fled in the last seven years..."



--22-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"It's been one disaster after another. We've had to give up half the kingdom
because we just can't protect it anymore...
And it's been up to me being a big damn hero to hold the other half together!"


--23-- <BGM: At The End Of The Wait>
"The only thing that's kept me going all these years was looking forward to the day
that I could CARVE OUT YOUR FOUL BLACK HEART!"

"Funny you should say that. I've died that way once already."

--24-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance> {SFX: explosion}
"SHUT UP!"
Vivian raised her arm and a pillar of light shone from her hand.
A huge ethereal sword appeared in the air within the light...
Not this again...?
"You're one of them?!" I exclaimed.
--25-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance> {SFX: pow}
I barely had time to get out of the way as the sword of light crashed to the ground.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two other people in armor running this way, from the town...



--26-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
They were two of the three knights I ran into earlier. The younger boy wasn't with them.
They closed the distance and ran to Vivian's side, weapons drawn.
Clearly they were acquainted.


--27-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
(Talvish)
Vivian! She's the one we warned you about! Be careful! She's a powerful magician!




--28-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
"I know exactly who and what she is, Talvish. ...She killed my brother."
Vivian pointed her sword at me. "She deserves to die...
But you're not going to have an easy time killing her..."


--29-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
(Brilluen)
Ooh, what's this?
Am I interrupting something, Sariana?



--30-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
Huh? Where did she come from? I didn't even see her approach...

"Just a...former friend with a grudge, that isn't happy to see me again.
Looks like she joined the Knights to get revenge."

--31-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
(Avelin)
Oh, great, the *other* she-devil!




--32-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance> {SFX: explosion}
Brilluen snapped her fingers, and an even larger blue titan dropped from the sky, landing behind us.
This one had large crystalline wings...
It made no move to attack, though.


--33-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
(Brilluen)
And hello to you too, dear Avelin...
Lighten up, will you? Let's have some fun!
This one's feeling extra frisky today!
Why don't you show him a good time? Play nice, now!

--34-- <BGM: Scene 06/Vengeance>
(Talvish)
This is not a battle that we can win.
She humiliated us alone; now she has a Prophet and an Apostle with her!
Without Altam here, we can't do this... We had best withdraw.


--35-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
The blonde male knight produced a wax wing and broke it, and the Knights vanished along with Vivian.
Looking disappointed, Brilluen snapped her fingers again and dismissed the summoned creature.



--36-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
(Brilluen)
Aww. Those two are no fun at all. Oh, well...
Good thing I thought to check on you.
You said that girl in green armor was a...former friend?
...Would you have been able to fight her?

--37-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
"Yes...but I wouldn't have enjoyed it.
Did you find what you were looking for?
...You know, I've been all over this world.
If I knew what you were after, there's a chance I might know where it is..."

--38-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
(Brilluen)
Hmm... I really shouldn't, but...
Oh, why not? It'll just be our little secret.
Come along then; I'll show you where we found the first one.


--39-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
She turned and started walking towards the town, and I made to follow.
"You like to bend the rules, huh? Hope you don't get us in trouble for it."
Brilluen laughed mischievously.


--40-- <BGM: Lovely Parties>
The worst enemies one can make are those that were once friends.
Nonetheless, I *have* made my old friends into enemies...
Now, there's no going back...
And nothing left to bind me to this world...

[end of chapter]