Story Reader / Affection / Liv: Limpidity / Story
Liv: Limpidity VII
Between dream and reality lies a thin membrane, as if you have sunken into the deep sea.
A low, solemn rhythm pulses in your ears like a lingering echo.
You glance around the dimly lit cabin... It takes a moment to remember: this is Liv's "secret base."
Ah... finally awake?
You try to speak, but break into violent coughing, as if you've swallowed mouthfuls of seawater.
Liv asked me to bring you here. Said this place is far enough from town to keep us safe for now. Pretty much everything else has already been swallowed by the storm.
Thanks to you, it's stable now. But your Mind Beacon was outputting way too much power. By the time Liv found you in the storm, you were already unconscious.
That's why she asked me to get you out. The center of the town is not a good place to be right now...
She should be at the old windmill tower. Place hasn't been maintained in years. It's not exactly stable. She just... wanted to protect...
Before Vimine can finish her sentence, you stagger to your feet and burst out the door.
With a loud burst, the thin membrane shatters. A torrent of ice-cold rain hits you like a physical blow, and the world dissolves into a roaring deluge that steals the very air from your lungs.
In that moment, you finally understand that suffocating sensation of being submerged in the deep sea when you first awoke.
What are you thinking? We handed almost all our vehicles over to the refugees. It'd take over an hour to walk to the town, and that's if there was no hurricane—
Ignoring Vimine's warnings, you lower your center of gravity, dig your heels into the churning soil, and raise your arms in a defensive block, fighting for every inch toward the town.
The storm batters you without mercy. For a terrifying moment, you are lifted, weightless, only to be slammed back into the ground...
Through the blurry veil of rain, you see her—that small figure, smiling.
You claw your way back to your feet and lunge forward, stumbling through the gale. You reach out for her, desperate to pull her into your arms.
But your grasping hands close on nothing but air and rain before you collide with a solid, unyielding surface. A loud thud echoes, swallowed by the wind.
It's an aircraft, pinned down by the wreckage of tree branches. "Gray Wing-537."
Little fairies, can you help me find that person?
Please watch over that person, wherever they may be. May happiness find that person, even before we find each other...
Both you and the aircraft are drowning in this tempest. Neither of you belongs here, grounded.
"Back to the sky... to bring her home..."
With a manic, desperate strength, you tear away the branches, revealing the scarred hull of Gray Wing underneath.
Upon closer inspection, you see that despite its ordeal, the aircraft has miraculously suffered little more than lost paint. All its critical components appear completely intact.
Oof... my poor old cannon turret... Finally got those branches pulled off me...
You bet! We've been maintaining it for years!
It was the old master's order. He said someday, the little master would come back. That she'd board this aircraft and take flight...
But the little master... she has disappeared.
You're really going to use Antonia's aircraft?
You know the Gray Wing was built for tough winds, but a hurricane? That's pushing it. A sudden wind shear could be catastrophic!
Look, these storms blow through fast. The worst of it is already passing. Just hang on a little longer... it'll be over before you know it. Liv will be okay.
Huh?
Don't cry... don't cry...
You had to leave little Liv alone in the howling wind.
Thank you, Commandant... I'll take my leave now.
You had to watch as the pure white girl rushed alone into battle.
Memories carve into your tender heart as her silhouette fades away alone, time and time again, as if by cruel destiny.
...
...Come back to me safe. Both of you.
And make sure you bring Gray Wing back in one piece. We've been maintaining it for years.
The mechanoid and you push Gray Wing into an open area. And you finally board the cockpit and wave goodbye to the two.
You take a deep breath and pull the cockpit lever. The engine's roar deepens, gathering energy from the shrieking wind. It no longer needs to be powered by manual labor.
With a lurch, the aircraft surges upward through the murky curtain of rain. For one heart-stopping moment, weightlessness grips you; Gray Wing is airborne.
The world outside instantly becomes a spinning vortex. Trees, rain, and sky twist into a nauseating smear across the viewport.
Teeth clenched, you fight the control stick, struggling to stabilize the bucking fuselage, while water rushes mercilessly into your nose and mouth.
The engine screams in protest as Gray Wing skims the treetops, and sensation suddenly floods back into your limbs.
Mommy said these paper airplanes are little wind fairies.
Without any conscious command, the aircraft automatically adjusts its wingspan, catching the wind currents to find its balance.
On your way to find me, they'll keep you company, warm your heart, and guide you to my side.
Though the turbulence still ravages every bone in your body, the worst is over. You are through. Now, you are flying straight into the eye of the storm...
Alone, the girl in pure white walks through the church atop the windmill tower, countless tattered pages fluttering around her feet.
People come here—the place closest to the God of Wind—to write their wishes and entrust them to the breeze. Some are forgotten, never sent; others drift aimlessly, only to be carried back by the wind.
Rumble... Rumble... As if pounded by a giant hammer, this sanctuary, which has blessed countless souls throughout the ages, now teeters on the brink of collapse in the hurricane's fury.
Huff... Huff...
By using her frame's lifting power to carve out a small diversion channel, she manages to significantly reduce the wind pressure on the structure. It is all she can do.
Even with the tower stabilized, the wind still pierces through the church like divine spears.
Pages swirl violently in the air.
The yellowed papers are covered in crooked handwriting, their corners, edges, and even centers worn away by time.
She walks among these "lost wishes," gathering them one by one, holding them carefully to her chest.
What might her own wish be?
O God of Wind, you've seen it, haven't you? Another hurricane has torn through Vennquis... The forest groans under the lightning, and the very sky weeps with the rain.
And in this gust... I thought I saw her. My mother's face, so frail, smiling as she waved goodbye.
Her frame's energy drains rapidly as she maintains the wind diversion.
I've never asked you for a thing since she left...
I have so little to call my own... I only ask that you watch over those I hold dear.
Please... don't take [player name] from me. Don't let my little gray raven be carried away...
Don't let that person drift and suffer any longer.
She rises slowly and begins to make her way back at an unhurried pace.
May your winds forever bless us.
One step, two steps... She feels the wind suddenly shift, a sensation of weightlessness beneath her feet.
Thud—the pages in her arms scatter completely, dancing in the air above the church.
Watching them flutter, she is reminded of that childhood dream. Every time she tried to hold [player name] close, [player name] would scatter just like this, torn away by the raging wind.
...[player name]?
In her daze, she hears someone call her name. Her gaze drifts instinctively toward the window beside her.
Around the tower, curtains of rain crash like waves, obscuring the land below.
The wind grows colder with each gust, making her feel as though she is trapped inside that sorrowful fairy tale without an end.
A voice echoes from within her M.I.N.D., freezing her in place. She looks outside again... the same desolate view, not a soul on the earth below.
Commandant!
...Huh?
The girl looks up in disbelief, only to witness a scene straight from a dream.
Through a sudden tear in the low-hanging chaos of the storm, a glimpse of higher, serene skies emerges.
For that split second, a delicate ray of light fractures the gloom, struggling to etch its brilliance upon the darkened world.
And not just them, you'll also meet someone who will love you very, very much.
That person... That person will come riding the wind, and whoosh—fly to your side.
...That person's here...
A minuscule silver speck, almost motionless, drifts down the ray of light before streaking unflinchingly toward Liv.
It flickers like a meteor swimming against the current, its brilliant navigation lights carving a luminous trail into the night before it plunges into the churning sea of clouds.
An instant later, the thick gloom swallows the light whole, and the girl's heart leaps into her throat.
Commandant! Watch out!
As she grasps the true danger of piloting Gray Wing through a hurricane, a cold fear—the terror of losing what she'd only just found—twists her heart.
Then, a glimmer: the silver light rises once more from the cloudbank.
Instinctively, she leans from her window to fly toward it using her frame's lifting power, but a violent gust whips past, a brutal reminder of the impossible distance. Her frame could never bridge that gap in the storm.
Helpless, she can only track its path with a desperate gaze, terrified it will vanish in the split second of a blink.
Around her, pages from the church flutter noisily in the wind, scattering like the little gray raven from the story...
I don't want... that kind of ending...
I want to see you more than anyone else does. I want to stay by your side more than anyone else could ever want to.
But I don't want you to vanish like that little gray raven did...
So... as long as you come back safely, I'll wait. However long it takes... Okay? Promise me...
The human voice echoes throughout her M.I.N.D.
Mom never got to finish that story... but we still have so much time ahead of us.
Gray Wing.
It's an aircraft born to brave strong winds,
wings grown to reach Liv,
and the blessing Antonia left behind.
...But it turned into scraps of paper... scattered by the wind. How will she ever find it now?
Navigating through the turbulence, you slowly begin to speak, continuing the unfinished fairy tale.
The little gray raven, soaring skyward, shattered into scraps of paper, scattered by the raging winds.
Little gray raven, where are you?
Suddenly, a faint glow pierced the gloom—starlight, pure and true.
The stars themselves guided her to the little gray raven's scattered pieces.
She gathered them, pouring all her strength into making it whole again. But the act of healing had drained her completely.
It's so cold here... Please, don't stay. Return to your world, little gray raven.
But my wings no longer have the strength to carry me in flight.
...To the mortal world.
Through the raging storm, the raven spread its mended wings and enveloped the maiden in an embrace.
Together, they fell from the cold Eden, plunging through the dark canopy of clouds toward the warmth of the world below.
Yet the storm was relentless. They lost their way in a labyrinth of lightning and thunder. The little gray raven's wings grew heavy, soaked through by the lashing rain, and its flight began to falter...
This is far enough...
The maiden said weakly.
Please, go on without me. Leave me here. You will find your way home.
Still, the little gray raven refused to leave her behind. It fought to carry her through the tempest, but its strength was utterly spent, its wings no longer able to beat against the storm.
Buffeted by the wind, the flightless maiden could only watch in despair as the little gray raven was torn from her, drifting further and further away, while she plummeted helplessly downward...
The human voice cuts off abruptly, and the flickering silver light once again sinks into darkness.
Commandant—
In mere seconds, you feel your body hurled into a deep, maddening vortex. The air drives rain like volleys of arrows, roaring past your ears in a deafening scream.
—Gray Wing has penetrated the hurricane's eyewall.
Within moments, all light vanishes. That suffocating pressure returns, a visceral certainty that to open your mouth is to let the raging water force its way in.
Scan instruments. Interpret data. Execute maneuvers. Commands fire through your mind as you and Gray Wing navigate the abyssal depths of the storm.
The eyewall is not borderless. You must go to her. You must break through...
A hazy point of light bleeds into the darkness ahead, slowly swelling...
Yes... You'll come to me, and I'll come to you.
A voice echoes, bright yet gentle, like a waking dream.
As she draws closer, her words flow gently, weaving the rest of the story together with you.
The maiden fell alone through the endless sky, a pale streak against layer upon layer of cold mist and dark clouds.
Then, in the deepening gloom, tiny points of light began to rise around her, cutting through the shadows.
"Are you lost?" she whispered. They gave no answer but drifted closer, merging with her body in a wave of gentle warmth.
"So warm..." It was a warmth that she recognized. The creatures of the earth, the very souls she had once healed, saw their angel falling. And from the world below, they all reached out.
Trees sent towering vines spiraling skywards to catch her. A flock of white doves transformed into wings of light at her back... The world itself returned the gift of life she had once bestowed upon it.
And so, the hazy point of light flickers, taking the form of a girl. It swells, clarifies—a silhouette emerging from the storm's heart.
Abruptly, the roaring chaos stills. The gray-white tumult parts like a curtain drawn back on the world's stage.
—The eyewall recedes. The eye of the storm arrives.
You stare into the sudden, dazzling sun as her silhouette merges with the maiden's from the fairy tale.
The deity, her power restored, finds her wounded little gray raven at last. She calls to it, but it seems no longer able to hear her cries.
She flies to its side, gathers its broken form into her arms, and presses a kiss to its feathers.
Thump. Thump... A heartbeat, sudden and vigorous, a fledgling cracking its shell.
Thump. Thump. With every pulse, a shower of dreamlike, silver-gray feathers erupts.
She watches, breathless, as the form of the "gray raven" expands, shifting, rising, becoming the silhouette she has waited years for—
My Gray Raven... my love...
You reach out—to the weeping child, to the maiden forged in suffering, to all the long years of waiting.
Your hands find her, and you pull her into a final, unbreakable embrace.
Just having you here now is more than I ever hoped for.
I never dared to ask for more from God. I never wrote down my own wishes on those paper planes.
Because I hoped they would find you, keep you company, and guide you to me.
That wish alone was selfish enough, and you... you already made it come true.
I still believe in them, you know. In the paper planes, in the fairy tales, in happy endings where lovers stay together forever...
You might've already known it... But if this is our fairy tale...
Please let me be selfish, just this once... Let me tell you how I truly feel...
I love you.
Sunlight flickers before your eyes.
In the midst of the flashes, in a moment when your vision turns pure white... all the noise of the world falls silent.
—A touch as soft as a feather grazes your lips, her kiss arriving on the breeze.
It is touched by the droplets carried in the wind, slightly moist and cool against your skin.
"How long must she wait for her beloved to come to her side?"
Beneath the vast, clear blue sky, the girl who had searched for the answer since childhood finally finds it.
Into that single kiss, she pours everything: the bitterness of passing years, the sweetness of dreams, and the longing and affection too profound for words.
Restrained yet firm, poetic yet sincere.
Through raging winds and pouring rain, through countless storms of separation and loss, the two souls cling together beneath a crystal-clear sky.
And after a long moment, her kiss gently lifts away, carried off like a feather on the wind.
...The wind's calmed down, but it's still not safe to stay up here too long.
It's getting cold. Should we go back?
The aircraft spirals through the sky with the two of you inside.
In its wake, pristine white clouds unfurl—a spiraling stairway descending from the heavens.
Hand in hand, you walk down steps like piano keys, each one a note in your descent.
Step by step, moment by moment...
"Gray Raven" guides the angel back to the mortal world.
To my dearest Liv
The Maiden of Eden
——THE END——
Under a vast sky and beside a sea of crystalline blue... you spend your last day in Vennquis walking with Liv along the sun-warmed, soft sand.
...I still can't believe Ms. Vimine agreed to illustrate the ending for us... It turned out so beautifully.
It's a little sad, though. Once we let it go, we can't ever put it on display back in Babylonia...
She unfolds the paper she has been carrying. Between lines of text lies a painting—a scene set in Vennquis, with Liv herself as the subject.
In the drawing, a girl smiles joyfully, her expression bright and tender, like something out of a fairy tale's final page.
Yeah... It's a painting meant to be sent to Mom, after all.
Now that we've finished her story in our way, I'm a little worried... I don't know if she would like it...
...Hmm?
...! Yeah... I've already found my own happiness.
With a gentle smile, Liv links her arm with yours once more.
Together, you fold the page that holds the story's ending into a paper airplane and launch it toward the sea.
