Anima, Ch.14: False Paradise

[Anima, Ch.14: False Paradise]
--01-- [scene: Tir Chonaill?] <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
I'd just finished bandaging and Healing Vivian's mangled ankle after the giant worm had attacked us,
and now I was doing my best not to throw up.
"Thanks, Meara," she said, also looking pale.


--02-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"Can you walk, sis?" Devin asked, his face twisted with worry.
"I don't think so," she answered. "Don't think I have the strength."
"We'd better find someplace safe to rest while you heal," I said.


--03-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins> {SFX: failure}
"Good idea," Devin agreed. He dropped to one knee, put an arm around Vivian's back,
the other under her knees, and picked her up, groaning a bit. "Oof. You're heavier than Meara."



--04-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
Vivian scowled, glaring daggers at her brother.
"What? I'm not implying you're fat; there's just more of you than her," he said.



--05-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"Next question, is anywhere around here even safe at all?" I asked. "That giant worm thing
could burrow. If there's more of them around, they might be able to get at us anywhere."



--06-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"Maybe near the windmill, where the stream splits? It'll limit the directions anything can
approach us from, at the least," Devin suggested.
"It'll have to do," I replied.


--07-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
As we passed the broken, crumbling stonework of the square, I shouted to Dougal, still sitting
smugly in his old worn-down chair, "You could have warned us about that worm!"



--08-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
(Dougal)
Oh. I'd forgotten one of them was still around here. They can be quite a nuisance.
If you can't handle a mere worm, maybe you should rethink your plans for saving your Goddess.



--09-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
(Dougal)
But if you insist on going in, start with a green gem.




--10-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"Not exactly a vote of confidence," Vivian said weakly. She looked pale.
I might've mended her injuries, but she'd lost a lot of blood.
That would take time to recover from; time we may not have.


--11-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
We had to take the long way around the reservoir; the rotted bridges had collapsed.
The farm fields and old paths were all overgrown with sharp-edged grass and barbed weeds we had to cut through.



--12-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
Time seems to pass at the same rate here.
When we went into Barri, it was midday; now it was late in the evening.
Soon it would be dark, and who knows what terrors the night holds in this place?


--13-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
We found a patch of bare dirt by the ruined windmill.
"I'm going to get a campfire going," Devin said after he'd set Vivian down.
Gathering axe in hand, he started chopping at a nearby tree.


--14-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
I handed Vivian a red health recovery potion from my bag. "Here."
"Thanks." She took a sip from it. "Ick. I never liked these. They taste like rust."
"The bad taste keeps you from overdosing."


--15-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
Devin returned with his arms full of firewood, and got a campfire started.
"There, should be a little light and warmth for tonight. Too bad I didn't think to bring much to eat."



--16-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"Wonder if there's any fish around here?" I pondered.
"You wanna go *fishing?* Here, of all places?" Vivian asked.
"Would fish here even be edible? Seems like everything is either rotten or sharp."


--17-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
"I'll give it a try..." I dug out a fishing pole and bait from my belongings. "If we're here for
more than a day or two, we're going to have to find some way to live off the land somehow."



--18-- <BGM: Bird Drifting Into Ruins>
I walked to the stream, and grimaced at the sight of it. No wonder it sounded so loud.
This world's Adelia Stream is a raging rapid.
Anything in the water would probably be swept by too fast to hook.


--19-- [Scene: none]
I made an effort, but after an hour, I'd caught nothing to show for it. I kept losing bait in the current.
The sun had set. From our camp, I hear Devin shout, "Meara! It's getting dark. Come back."



--20-- <BGM: Desolation>
Dismayed, I pulled up my line and went back to the camp.
"Catch anything?" Vivian asked. She'd finished the potion, and wasn't looking so pale.
"No," I sighed.
"Then we're in trouble," Devin said.

--21-- <BGM: Desolation>
"Here." Devin handed me what looked like a potato, skewered with a stick, that he'd heated over the fire.
"Not much, but it's something," he said.
I took it as I sat down, and took a bite from it.


--22-- <BGM: Desolation>
"Thanks," I said, after swallowing the first bite.
The siblings both had one themselves.
We slowly ate in silence as we sat around the fire, watching nervously for nearby movement.


--23-- <BGM: Desolation>
We're alone here in a parallel world, we brought very little food with us, we can't turn back,
everything here is out for blood, and the sole inhabitant doesn't care what happens to us.



--24-- <BGM: Desolation>
How had Dougal survived here all alone in these conditions, when he can't even walk without a cane?
It makes no sense.
There's more to him than he's letting on, but I can't tell what.


--25-- <BGM: Desolation>
Twilight faded into deep darkness, with only an island of orange light around our campfire.
"Why don't you girls get some sleep?" Devin suggested. "I'll keep watch for...whatever might be out there."



--26-- <BGM: Desolation>
"You need to get some sleep, too," Vivian said.
"No, you just rest, sis," he replied. "You're hurt."
"Then get me up at midnight, and I'll take over until dawn," I suggested.
"Eh...fine," he sighed.

--27-- <BGM: Desolation>
Stretching, I laid down with my back to the fire, curled up, and tried to get comfortable.
I miss the bed at the inn.
I closed my eyes, cleared my mind of thoughts, and drifted off to sleep.


--28--
I was roused from a dreamless sleep by a hand on my shoulder gently shaking me.
"Meara? Wake up. Your turn."
I shivered a bit; it had gotten much colder.
"Mmm. I'm up." I sat up and stretched.

--29-- <BGM: Scene 04>
Devin sat down next to me as I looked upward. The stars shine above us in a clear sky.
"Even the constellations are the same," he said quietly.
"That makes it all the more creepy," I whispered.


--30-- <BGM: Scene 04>
Eweca was overhead; a last-quarter half-Ladeca hung low in the east.
I rubbed my hands together for warmth, and shifted closer to the fire.
The tips of my ears were numb from cold.


--31-- <BGM: Scene 04>
"How's she doing?" I asked.
"I think her pride's more hurt than anything," Devin replied.
"Vivian tries to act tough. When we were little, we got picked on a lot. I tried to protect her, but..."


--32-- <BGM: Scene 04>
He sighed. "She wants to be strong, so I don't have to protect her. So she can return the favor."
"I wonder if I had any siblings," I whispered. "I don't remember. I don't even remember my parents."


--33-- <BGM: Scene 04>
"I'm sure they're out there somewhere," he said softly. "I'm sure they still love you."
He put his hand on my shoulder.
"And until you find your memory again, you've still got us. Even after that."


--34-- <BGM: Scene 04>
"Thanks, Devin," I said. "You should get some sleep now. I'll keep watch until daybreak."
"Yeah. Thanks. 'Night, Meara."
He lets go, slides away, and lies down, back to the fire. Soon he was asleep.


--35--
I sat up alone for the remainder of the night, huddled close to the fire for warmth, alone with my thoughts.
I swear I can see shapes moving out there in the dim moonlight. I kept a Firebolt ready.



--36-- <BGM: Tears of Memories>
Thoughts intrude upon my vigil, in between shadowy sightings.
If my soul had been in the Soul Stream for centuries before Nao fished it out,
everyone I'd ever known in my past life must be long dead.


--37-- <BGM: Tears of Memories>
Did I have a sibling in my prior life? I simply don't know.
I must have had parents, otherwise I'd have never come to exist.
I suppose they had loved me, when we were all among the living.


--38-- <BGM: Tears of Memories>
But all of my memories of them are gone.
The only way I'll ever see my family again, in any way, is for me to regain my memory of them.

Despite my worries, nothing attacked us in the night.

--39-- [Scene: Tir Chonaill?] <BGM: Tears of Memories>
I put the last of the wood on the fire when dawn began to push back the night.
One by one, the stars faded away as the sky brightened.
At long last, the orb of Palala crested the eastern mountains.


--40--
As my friends stirred from slumber, I put my thoughts aside.
Now isn't the time to dwell on the past.
We have a Goddess to find, and not much time to do it before we starve here.


[chapter end]