424. Heroess, 4

(Rose)

Yaelun gave a last push. A last sprint.

We flew through a wall of wind and snow, over a colourless landscape. The sky and snowy landscape merged as we flew through this wide cloud, making sight a strangely useless perception.

Hostile, white, and still so much Earth.

The ground and its weight was still there, feeling even heavier than usual. As if the land was telling us not to forget it.

Yaelun had to put far more efforts than normal and he was getting out of breath.

As we flew ahead, almost blind, we eventually felt a difference, and began to see our destination.

A wide caldera, barely noticeable.

Above it, at least a hundred metres above ground, floated a colourless island.

It shimmered slightly in the sky and its light. It was casting a faint shadow far below.

Seen from the sky, the crater buried below snow and rubbles, it was visible, and wide.

And lost discretely somewhere in the middle of it, far in the sky, was floating an almost invisible building or rock.

It’s very different from the bowls of flower pots from Nightmare in the colourful city.

That thing floating up there, ahead of us, it has the aura of oddity screaming that its nature is alien, even from here.

It’s not from this world.

There’s no flower producing heavy air, nor bacteria producing negative gravity to lift that thing from below.

Like a bottle floating over the ocean, this thing we’re flying toward is working from its own difference.

Abandoned since it floated to here, drifting aimlessly. Possibly.

A flying ship, built by another than me.

The ruins of another frontier world...

Yaelun kept flying with all his tired might, so he could make it up there in this freezing cold day.

The closer we got, the better we could notice the rocky uneven surface from below that thing out there. It’s as if it was a floating rock or island.

Not a big one, but floating silently there nonetheless.

Yaelun’s wings brought us high enough above it for us to discover the ruins that changed the world.

Seen from above, around the roughly flat surface of this floating island, there were a few buildings, with the rough shape of castle towers. They remained.

Four towers, just a few stories high, all colourless grey and white like everything around them.

A square behind one of these small towers held a hexagonal black tile that caught the eyes. It was the only contrasting element of this all. A hexagon, maybe a few metres wide.

Yaelun finished his circle around as he lowered carefully his altitude. We then landed, in this white land, covered with frost, but not really ice nor snow.

As soon as I set foot there, and began looking at the tower closest to us, the dragon of the ruins appeared to rush at us.

~

I didn’t sense any spiteful aura like monsters usually stink around them. There was nothing in the air to let me guess there would be a monster here already. It’s feeling out of place entirely.

All I saw at first was a dark predatory beast, like a giant wolf or panther, charging us.

Yaelun spat a wall of fire while I unsheathed my sword.

The dark beast jumped across the fire a little haphazardly, surprised by the sudden attack.

While it was recovering its balance, I was putting myself in position to strike at its next leap forward.

R - Come, demon.

The demon thought.

It saw a warrior, human looking and not afraid to face it. And right behind me, stood the full body of a dragon much larger than it was, and ready to fight at my side as well.

The wise demon was suddenly reluctant to fight us blindly.

The six legged beast had stopped moving, and raised its abstract looking head slightly. It spoke.

It spoke to us in the new european language. The tone of its voice betrayed something very important to me.

A - Who are you?

R - You... You used to be human; didn’t you? I am Rose Blume, and this is Yaelun, a child of the lord of Nightmare in the south.

The demon’s shape melted and changed to that of a common daiûa. An androgynous or feminine shape that swallows the light, with two thin lines like ribbons stretching from its back.

We stepped closer to each other to meet. I sheathed my sword along the way.

A - I have no idea of who you are, either of you.

R - That’s kind of refreshing.

A - Why have you come here? I will guard this place with my life, and I won’t believe you just came here without knowing where we are.

R - I came to learn what the source is.

A - Its power is promised to a future goddess to come. I will not open its gates to you.

R - I don’t want power, I want knowledge. Who are you?

A - I’m the god of the past era.

R - No, you’re not. You were human once. I can feel it. You don’t have to play your role with me.

The fake god took a few steps around me, looking at me and giggling.

A - You’re very curious. And you’re smart, I’ll give you that... Being isolated here, doesn’t help me learning how the world is changing. So you’re just curious about the nature of this place? You have no desire for the treasures and powers buried here?

R - Indeed.

She stopped again in front of me. She’s testing me in a way, but I’ve been sincere regardless.

A - Leave your sword with your dragon here then. And I will agree to partake with you the words I remember.

Interesting choice of words already. I agreed to the deal of this daiûa looking human. Because deep down, I knew that truth. She’s not the human she used to be, but deep down, she’s closer to being something like me, than something like them.

~

We entered a small tower. There was no door, just an opening to the outside to walk in. There was nothing but a few rocks inside there on where to sit. We simply sat in this surreal environment. It’s empty.

Her body had hiccups. It’s twisted, far beyond normality. And I could see her humanity struggling to remain.

A - Ever since I died here... I can feel my humanity fading away... But even before. Since the day of the cataclysm, I had begun fading. My awareness. My intelligence. My emotions...

R - You’re becoming that single minded beast you showed us before. Obsessed on guarding the treasure you hold here. I understand. It’s not that uncommon behaviour out there.

A - My family... Will find the solution.

R - The solution to what?

A - To this threat above the world. To the dangerous treasure that I guard. You wanted to know what this place is? I’ll tell you...

I’m shivering.

She knows?

~

A - It’s a weapon.

R - ...

A - In a single shot, it annihilated humanity and twisted nature. I’m guarding its doors so it is not used again by anyone, before someone comes with the power to destroy it...

R - I see... I respect your devotion to your task. But who built this weapon then? How was it used?

A - That... It came probably... from the third sun, city of sun... I don’t remember...

That’s a little sad, to hear only so little.

I could see her struggle to keep a human discussion. I could begin to feel the energetic unrest in this place now. It’s haunted. It’s on the edge of the abyss.

It’s a place where lives can melt in T.I.

This place is far more dangerous than what meets the eye.

There is a giant artefact of power somewhere in this place. I can feel its presence radiating through the ground and walls. A power strong enough to change the world again, through the release of even more T.I.

And it’s unclaimed.

She’s protecting it.

A sleeping power that could shake the world again. She vowed to destroy it to avoid another white day.

She’s waiting for someone from her family to come and release her of her duty.

I see her trembling in there, martyr in that terrified devotion. She has to protect this place.

Or the world could end...

She believes it so strongly and faithfully, I begin to empathise.

R - Your family... Will come to help?

A - ... We... All had a different opinion, about the solution... Whether it’s to destroy it, or to give it someone pure enough to handle it, this threat will be gone someday... My duty... Is to wait and stand guard...

It’s not for her to say. Nothing else.

An endless lonely wait.

R - So if I understand, some in your family want to destroy it safely, whilst others want to create a new god with it? And you’re keeping it safe for when one of them finally returns to you.

A - Yes. I will protect it until I find someone carrying the power to bring one of these solutions to me.

R - That’s an interesting tale.

I wonder what will happen next here.

Though I’m curious about it, I won’t stay here to find out.

There’s nothing for the livings here.

She asked me the date.

A - It’s been... Ten years... Already? Only... Waiting here alone... Ah...

Her body twists itself again.

R - Where is your family?

A - They split up, over Europe mostly. They will find me with their solution, their champions, when the time is right... When they’re ready. I have to hold on until then... Even if it takes a hundred years...

There won’t be much humanity left in her in another decade only.

I feel sorry for her, but it’s not my place to judge.

Although I’d like to see and learn more, I understand I won’t be allowed to see the source without a gruesome fight against her. Even if I was as strong as I used to be, I wouldn’t fight her just for that.

Though it pains my curiosity, furthermore as it’s been left unsatisfied by her meagre answers, I will respect that the doors to her sanctuary will remain shut.

I keep a piece of rock lying around there in my hand, looking closer at it. I want to know who built this place.

A - If you want to follow the story of the city of the sun... Ah... I don’t know much about this legend... I think... The ruins of the second sun are somewhere at the oriental ends of this continent. In the land of the blue sky I think...

I feel a little hollow and sad hearing her.

For many reasons.

In the time being, I will respect this sad ghost in front of me, and leave her to her patient duty.

I’ll be leaving this sorrowful place.

~