Empty Frames

A man walks into an empty house. He passes by empty picture frames as he continues in.

But to him, they aren't empty. They show pictures of his friends and loved ones. In those pictures, he’s having fun and smiling. To us, those picture frames are empty. The house is completely empty, without a single piece or furniture or decoration in it. Everyone he has ever loved has been forgotten.

To him, this house is full. The cushions still have a slight warmth to them, as if people had just been sitting on them, joyfully talking with one another.

He sits on the floor. He plays with invisible cards against invisible people on an invisible table. He loses the game. He laughs, but notices that one of his picture frames have been knocked down.

“Now how did that happen?”

He walks over and picks up the fallen picture frame. It’s also empty. But to him it shows hundreds of pictures of the same girl. A girl with black hair and a long fluffy tail. She’s smiling happily in every photo, often times making cute poses for the camera. His eyes rest momentarily on one memory, in it her back is facing him, beautifully outlined in a golden sunset.

He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t seem to react in any way. Perhaps he’s just reacting in hundreds of ways at once, but all of those emotions are cancelling each other out.

In the empty house, there is but one thing that takes up all the space. Hung above the empty fireplace is a large mirror. Physically, it doesn’t take up much room, but when you enter the house it is impossible to ignore at any point. The mirror used to reflect the man perfectly, but over time it has become foggy, as if there is a haze separating the man from his reflection.

Sometimes the man speaks to the mirror, to try and reach beyond the haze. But it has been a long time since the mirror has responded, perhaps even longer than the time that this house has stood empty. The man draws power from the mirror once more, reluctantly, as he knew this would be the last time.

“I am the apprentice to the Forgotten Witch, I will always remember you.”

The mirror used to at least reflect the man’s outline.

Now it only reflects the empty frames.

- - - - - - -

Who are you?

What would Eris do right now?

Eris was strong. But not just physically. She was kind and always looked out for her friends. Hah, she was a bit aloof and had trouble sitting in one spot for long periods of time. But she was always smiling, even when things were hard. Yes, her smile saved me many times.

I see, so right here Eris would…

She jumped out into the storm of bullets, dancing nimbly with death. A red arrow left a shallow cut on her thigh, but she managed to get to the first assailant relatively unharmed. With one strike, one man fell. With a swift step, another was within reach. He too fell in one strike.

Unfortunately, the others were not so close. Hiding behind a small boulder, Eris took cover from the storm of attacks. Her gamble hadn't been for nothing though, because now Djyn was hiding somewhere in the midst of the attackers’ ranks. Three of them had already fallen. Derrick was now also able to make a move. With the combined power of 3/7ths of Misericorde Strike team (still a horrid name in her opinion), the enemies could barely put up a resistance and fell like dominos.

And so they kept moving. It had only been a few minutes since Eris had been watching Pax single handedly defend against the attacks of dozens of mages. She couldn’t help but respect his strength and perseverance to reach that level of strength. Maybe the other Eris could have stood beside him at that moment…

In any case, none of the trio currently with her had been able to react when the walls of the spire had suddenly moved to close off doorway going into the spiral staircase. But not a single member had considered retreating at that moment. They knew that the other team would be pressing on, so they just had to catch up.

In a direct confrontation, they were easily much weaker than the other half of the team, but they were much better at sneaking and subterfuge. The trio didn’t have to fight every enemy they came across, so perhaps they might have been able to move faster than the other team.

At least, that’s what Eris was hoping.

- - - - - - -

“We’re strong enough to press on without them,” spoke Pax confidently. There weren’t any calculations going on in his head, he just didn’t care to wait for the other half of the team to catch up. Probably.

Unfortunately, Vincent trusted his words and Ivy didn’t care to stop the bull-headed men she found herself with. And so, they climbed up the beanstalk.

Well, they didn’t exactly climb up the beanstalk as much as the beanstalk carried them upwards. Ivy’s manipulation of the bizarre plant was enough to both protect them and carry them towards the top of the spire. Pax had to step in a few times to kill the stray mage every now and then, but it was clear that, past the lower levels of the spire, there simply weren’t that many defenses set up. Perhaps this would be different when they reached the top.

But for now, Pax and Vincent could catch their breath for a moment.

Unexpectedly, the trip to the top only took a few minutes. Though, the stairs didn’t lead directly to the roof of the spire. If Pax had been scared of heights, he would have gotten dizzy when he looked down. The staircase appeared to spiral endlessly, making him wonder how long it would take for the remaining trio to catch up.

“Don’t worry, if the rest of the team reaches this stairwell,” said Ivy as she patted one of the leaves of the beanstalk. “She’ll let me know and bring them up.”

With that, they went down the only corridor on the floor.

- - - - - - -

Who are you?

That voice was thundering louder than usual inside Eris’s head. Perhaps it was the growing exhaustion, or maybe it was just the slow accumulation of living a fake life that was finally getting to her. Something just felt wrong.

No, this feeling was too strong to be coming only from her mind. Her body was acting strangely.

Poison.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Djyn’s face was close, but his voice sounded far away. She unwrapped the bandage over her thigh, revealing greenish pus coming from the shallow cut. Djyn’s face looked grim when he looked at the wound. Derrick hurried over to look at it, his face also turning a few shades paler when he saw the wound.

“Neither of our healers are here right now,” Djyn said shakily. “Pax would be closer but we might have to fight through more enemies to get to him than if we just returned to Sakura.”

It was the first time Eris had seen Djyn so shaken up. For some reason she felt that she should comfort him, though she didn’t know the words to do so.

Would the other Eris have known what to say?

Eris chuckled internally at her frivolous internal turmoil. She was the one dying right now, so she shouldn't have been thinking of Djyn at the moment.

Derrick placed down the backpack he always carried with him and pulled out a strange metal device. It had a long needle and–

Before Eris could inspect it further, Derrick stabbed it into her thigh. She gasped slightly, but noticed that the fogginess in her head had cleared up a bit.

“That was a Mercurian healing instrument,” Explained Derrick. “It’ll stabilize you for now at the cost of some mana and physical strength, though it’ll only last a few hours. We’ll look for Pax, and get you healed, alright? I think we’re close to the stairwell now anyways.”

They all nodded and continued forward, this time with Eris behind the others.

- - - - - - -

Even now, the sword felt strange in his hand. It was a treasure that had been passed down in his family for generations. His cousin had even used it against their grandfather, though he still couldn’t imagine her putting up much of a fight.

Of course, Prince Kai Lagrimas hadn’t been particularly close with Raya, only seeing her on occasion during large social events. Still, it felt strange to hold a sword that belonged to someone he once knew. She had been holding this blade when she died, would he?

Honestly, he didn’t even feel like he deserved to be wielding it. Yes, the sword had chosen him, but in his eyes he couldn’t see himself as anything but a fraud.

Because being able to wield Ryuzu’s Fang did not mean that you were strong.

To think that I would see her magic once more. Prepare yourself boy, I don’t wish to see you dead so soon.

The sword spoke into Kai’s head in its old raspy voice. It rarely did so, making it impossible for Kai to get used to it. Of course, the words that the sword spoke were much scarier than the voice itself.

It was then that he noticed he was standing in a different spot than he was a moment ago.

It’s an eclipse. Reality has been shrouded in a version of itself from five minutes ago.

“An eclipse! Shit, what kind of psycho did those Old Artenians send our way!?”

Bah, it’s probably nothing to worry about. If that witch actually had come back then you’d already be dead.

Somehow Kai didn’t feel reassured by Ryuzu’s words.

His uncle was still standing in the center of the control room, one hand on the orb resting in the pedestal, and one hand throwing massive fireballs at the incoming ships. At the same time, the man was receiving information from his subordinates and sending orders through the large magical device set next to him.

“I’m beginning to wonder if this job is going to be a bit harder than what father said it would be.”

Under Duke (Sorry, that’s King now) Lagrimas’s orders, Kai was to defend the top of the spire. His uncle, and the king’s brother, was the general in charge though. All Kai had to do was defend his uncle. Perhaps he would have been annoyed at being relegated to such a menial position if he hadn’t seen how stressful being in charge of anyone actually was. At eighteen years of age, he was still inexperienced but desperately wanted to prove himself.

Of course, he wanted to stay alive much more than he wished to prove himself worthy as a New Artenian Prince.

Nope, sorry kid. You’re fucked. Run for your life right now or you won’t live to see tomorrow.

As shocked as Kai was by the sword’s words, he couldn’t help but wonder if Ryuzu had been this talkative with his predecessor.

He turned his head towards the sounds of footsteps marching up the stairs to the roof. That wasn’t supposed to happen. There were hundreds of soldiers dispersed throughout the spire, but none were allowed to be in the control center other than his uncle and himself.

Three people, with the shortest one in lead, popped their heads from the stairwell. Kai moved his hand towards the sword on his hip instinctually. The intruder, who looked like a young boy, saw this. Somehow Kai could tell that the boy was indescribably angry, as if he were wrath incarnate. The pressure in the room doubled as the boy’s foot took a heavy step forward.

SHIT!

Years of training. He had put blood, sweat, and tears into refining his swordsmanship and magic. He did not hesitate when he leapt into danger. Ryuzu’s Fang was unsheathed alongside a blinding light. The sword passed cleanly through the boy’s gut. Kai knew that, and yet…

“Fast, but Raya would have killed me hundreds of times over by now. And she had been nothing but a stupid child.”