Story Reader / Interlude / Song of Flowers / Story
Echoes of the Ancient Bard
She walks forward.
She has been walking for a very long time, uncertain where to go.
But when she reaches this place, she feels like she should stay here for a while.
She walks past ruin after ruin, tallying the patterns and marks she can barely recognize. She even sees a hideous plate that says "Evacuation Site 184—Acadia Evacuation".
Walking along the ruins, she finds an underground theater. Its spacious hall and the dilapidated interior tell the story of the theater's past grandeur.
There is no music in this place, only two dying figures. One of them is quite young, the other fairly senior.
The girl is clearly sick, her hasty breathing seemingly blowing away what little life she has left.
The old soldier leans on the crumbling backdrop, his injuries suggesting that he was in an intense battle. The red lights from his wounds are particularly blinding.
They seem to be infected with some virus. She should remember the name, but she cannot.
Aargh... C-calling conservation area 184... I've found the missing kid...
I was attacked by Corrupted during the mission... I'm damaged beyond the threshold... Please send reinforcement...
She knows those words. She has heard them before.
Not here. Somewhere far away, where a young girl cried in the same way.
She does not want to hear that cry anymore.
She steps forward, hoping to assist the two figures.
But as she approaches them, the girl's breathing gets faster, and the limping body of the soldier tenses up.
Did... she do that? Hesitant, she stops. She dares not to get closer, seeing how their conditions worsen.
Suddenly, the soldier raises a hand, seemingly trying to get up. His damaged frame gives in soon, however, falling forward after moving a few inches. But she finds his trembling finger pointing toward her.
She looks down and sees a device.
The gap in her mind seems to be filled up perfectly by the shape of this device.
It is a transmitter, she realizes.
She turns on the device that the soldier cannot reach. After a brief pause, she decides to input the soldier's cry from earlier as well. Then she leaves before her memory returns to her like a deadly tempest.
...
She keeps walking forward.
She has been walking for a very long time, uncertain where to go.
She seems to be traveling in a universe. Not that she remembers what a universe is exactly, but she can feel the boundless space when she thinks of that word.
Then, she stops.
Light purple petals enter her view, spreading all over the field.
As if the boundless universe suddenly opens a purple eye, she is drawn by a tender but unwavering gravity.
She reaches the eye. She can hear the rustling of the flowers by her feet. For a moment, she is surrounded by the gravity of love, and the empty void of space leaves her in an instant.
Then she hears a call. She turns around.
The stars that have watched this planet for millennia turn to watch her.
She feels dizzy and dazed in their gazes.
But she does not stop looking.
She watches them one by one, going over one eye after another. At last, she stops on one of them.
She can see it blinking. It seems to be singing to her.
She feels compelled to respond.
So she sings, quietly, to the star.
