#Writing #BloodofSilenceSeries #DanceTillOurEnd #DTOE
For years, we wandered aimlessly. For years, I searched. For survivors. For a way back. For her.
But all I found was despair.
These things flailed and fell. To disease, to war, to primitive stupidity.
Their lives were fleeting, and their successors repeated their same mistakes over and over again. They might as well have been animals.
We devised to ascend our comrades to their rightful seats once more, and so the three of us created the Convocation crystals.
"And what of Azem?"
"We cannot appoint a new one until the world is restored. Even if her soul survived the blow, to ascend her would be to disrespect her wishes. Not to mention that of her betrayal, and crimes against Zodiark. She relinquished her seat, and so it shall remain empty."
"I'll take on her duties," I offered.
"Then it is settled then."
Such a blow as one that shattered reality itself would like as not leave naught in its path.
Indeed, Cynthia had most certainly perished that day, and the likelihood of her soul withstanding the blow was next to nothing.
Even still, I searched everywhere. On every shard, beneath every rock, and across every ocean. Never did I find a single trace of her existence.
In the backs of my mind, I often wondered what had happened that day. That portal--our only, desperate means of escape--had been incomplete. Unfinished.
Had one of our comrades lent us their aether?
It mattered not in the end. Anyone who knew was gone, and we were here. The last of our kind.
What was her reasoning for throwing her life away so recklessly? Perhaps I would never know, and I hated her for it. For leaving me alone in this uncaring, sickening world. For not even giving herself the chance at reincarnation.
She had wished to expunge despair's claws--to start anew and build a new paradise. Instead, they were dug deeper.
Every scream, every wail of loss, dug deeper upon their hearts.
"Why?" they would ask. "Why are we born, just to die, and start again?"
I could not give them an answer. There wasn't one.
There was no rhyme or reason to their existence. It was imperfect; incomplete.
For the world we had lost, and to save the living from themselves, we would march on. Endlessly, until naught remained.
For what should have been the first rejoining, all were present. Be it on the Source, or the Thirteenth--all had a part to play, for there were so few of us at the time.
For some, it was to sow the seeds of chaos, and others, to simply watch and observe.
I had been given the duty of carefully observing the Underworld during this most crucial of moments. To watch was my duty, and I did so without omitting any painstaking detail. Each flicker of aether, or merging of souls would not escape my notice.
And so I sat, perched upon the ruins of what was once our magnificent city, awaiting their arrival. Why Igeyorhm had chosen this location, I knew not. Perhaps it was to make a statement. Not that any would be alive to remember it.
Pointless as it perhaps had been, we had nevertheless hollowed out a cave around a section of these ruins, though their entry remained hidden. Were it not for the dim illusion of light I had woven, it would have been pitch black inside.
There was only so much that could be unearthed, however. While the reflections where, generally speaking, as the name suggests; there remained some slight differences in terrain and climate.
On some shards, the ruins were in the ocean. On others, like this one, they were buried deep beneath the earth, though this particular version was partially within a cave that lead into the ocean. Some strange combination of both.
Myriad sea creatures had made their homes upon its walls, and the atmosphere was wet and cold.
Gloomy as it was, it was not hard to notice the immediate presence of our awaited guests.
The girl was doe-eyed as she gazed around, but her moment of wonder was cut short when her companion revealed herself.
Far back as I was, the warrior was unlikely to notice my presence. Their battle was fierce but swift. Her inexperience showed in her fumbling movements, and her primitive attempts at piercing the enemy would amount to little.
To think that this was the strongest among them was an insult to the very beings they'd been sundered from. It was a pitiful display.
As Igeyorhm landed the killing blow, the girl collapsed to the ground, heaving and wincing at her many wounds. Her other companion rushed to her side, begging for her to hold on, but it was no use.
I descended from my perch with a huff. "If that is all these things have to offer, they'll be dead without our interference."
"I would remind you, Emet-Selch, that you are one of the few who still refuses the benefits of an associate. Do you truly intend to while away the eternity in solitude?"
"I am perfectly capable of enacting my duties alone, Elidibus. You should know this by now."
"Still, I would implore you take the opportunity, and accept the boy. He is no stranger to traveling, I hear, and should be well versed in combat having worked alongside the strongest of the Thirteenth's Warriors of Light. At the very least, he could lessen the burdens of Azem's responsibilities from your shoulders."
My jaw clenched in irritation at that. "I will not entrust Azem's duties to some sundered boy."
He sighed. "Still, I must insist you at least meet with him."
"Fine!"
The emissary lead my down a hallway, to where the boy was waiting.
His hair was scruffy and brown, similar to how I had once worn my own. There was a tattooed symbol on his nose, and he bore the features and markings of one belonging to the feline race born in the aftermath of the sundering.
He startled at the sound of our footsteps, turning to meet his visitors.
Mismatched eyes of pink and orange bore a sadness in them as he seemed to stare longingly at everything and nothing. It was not unlike the one I bore upon coming to terms with the reality of the loss of our own world.
It was then I noticed the necklace hanging atop his robes. It was incomplete, with the symbol at its top only partially formed, but it was unmistakably hers. But that was impossible. I held the original right here, and to recreate it would be impossible without her aether.
My eyes grew wide, and I was sure I must have looked as if I'd seen a ghost.
"You-- Where did you get that?"