act17side

We haven't paid attention to that sort of thing since 'Deep Color in the Sea.' It's a topic that's all too familiar, you see.

Ha... I wonder, what music would you put to Iberia? The most surprising thing I've found at my age is how much still surprises me.

As we discussed, the Inquisition will prepare a means for you to travel to the Eye of Iberia as soon as possible, Kal'tsit.

You will eliminate any obstacles in your path.

...That Sea Terror. The one that's embedded in the guy.

There's the scent of an Ægir on it. A different scent though, one more like us. The scent of the sea.

What?

Thiago's steps are small, but quick. He seems burdened by age, yet surprisingly energetic.

It was all Jordi could do to keep up with his pace. He said he wanted to see the ocean.

He did not know why he said that. Even now, he does not know whether it is he who wants to see it, or Thiago.

'I'm an Ægir,' Jordi thinks. 'The sea is my home.'

'But how do I breathe down there? How did my ancestors live underwater?'

Questions pop into his head one after another, questions he had been curious about from a young age. But Thiago is Liberi, and cannot answer his questions.

The Ægir came from the ocean. Why would they drown in the ocean?

The sea...

When was the last time I saw it?

If the Penal Battalion were still here, they would've taken us in for questioning by now.

S-Sorry for asking to do this.

...It's fine.

Look at the coastline. Barren and decrepit. Decades ago, we had big dreams of building an impregnable fortress here.

Today, there's a Penal Battalion outpost several clicks to the northeast, and another on the cliffs to the west.

Everything else? A lie... or perhaps a dream in the true sense. Reality is before our eyes, reminding us that the old Iberia will never return.

Thiago whistles. Jordi rarely sees him do so.

A change seems to have come over the normally gloomy mayor, turning him into a young worker once again, passionate about building his home.

Tsk, it's all in the past. We failed. Gran Faro is the final resting place of our failures.

You mentioned your parents, didn't you lad?

I did...

I don't remember much of the ocean. Everyone talks about Ægir and the Islanders, but none of it feels real. I was born on land.

Aye. Your parents, or more accurately your grandparents, came from a place called Ægir, a great country deep beneath the ocean.

That's where you were from, lad.

Ægir.

Years ago, the dream we had for Gran Faro wasn't the lifeless town you see today. It would have been a fortress, one that laughs at any siege.

We would have built defenses on the coast around it, protected our country from calamity, heralded her revival, and rebuilt our home. All with our own hands.

We really thought so.

Jordi does not interrupt. Thiago grows increasingly excited, a light returning to his dull and cloudy eyes.

Every hair on his body stands on end. He changes his posture. The sea breeze brushes against his brow, and he even looks grander somehow.

The last step of our grand design, spanning half a century, was to return to the Eye of Iberia and relight the lighthouse.

The lighthouse?

A relic of the Golden Age, spared from destruction by the Profound Silence.

Not even calamity could break us. We marched ever forward, our hearts filled with hope.

Marin wore that blue hat of hers. She said we'd become heroes, that our names would live on.

Your grandparents, your parents... two generations of Gran Faro gave everything they had for this blueprint. Their greatness should have been immortalized forever.

But...

But now there's nothing left.

You see that ship? There used to be many ships at the port. The Penal Battalion should have taken it, but they've forgotten all about it.

All that's left is some junk, a town out in the middle of nowhere, more troubles than I can count, people stuck in a dead end, and—

And that ship.

Yes. That ship.

My parents, and the grandparents I've never met... were they proud of their duty?

This isn't the first time you've asked that.

You asked it when you first learned to talk, and when you started working at the chapel. You asked it many times, pointing at the dust-covered notebooks and schematics at home.

I... I remember.

Yes, lad.

No matter how many times you ask, my answer is always 'yes.' No matter the outcome, they never lost hope after that great disaster, and gave their all to the cause.

Your parents even volunteered for our final attempt to reach the Eye.

Don't blame them for abandoning you. They were carrying what was left of all our dreams. So many years had come and gone. We HAD to succeed.

The last we saw of them was when their fleet set sail from right here.

They were heroes. Marin said we would all become heroes, but now none of us are, except for the dead.

I see...

So my father and mother...

But you know what laid waste to it all? In the midst of despair, we managed to muster the hope to relight the lighthouse. And what came of it?

The Inquisition. They arrested the Ægir. They said there were Church of the Deep spies among us.

We were fighting for Iberia, but the Inquisition took everything from us—our pride, our dignity, our dreams... everything.

Do you understand now?

Leave this hopeless town, leave Iberia and go as far as you can. Go to another country, go to a better place.

There's nothing left here, in Gran Faro.

The sea!

This is the wrong way. Are we just gonna leave our instruments in that damp room?

No, I can smell the waves. The sea is just ahead.

What do waves smell like?

Like cotton.

Using olfactory vocabulary to express visual elements...

But you're right. The sea's right up ahead.

You...

An Ægir, and of a different breed from the ones who grew up on land. You must be that strange sort of Ægir.

What did they call you again? Oh right, Abyssal Hunters.

Gladiia frowns. She rarely expresses her emotions in such complex ways.

It came from her instincts as an Abyssal Hunter, as a Consul, as an Ægir technician, as a soldier.

You are... AUS.

You know them.

Yes, by chance.

Why so mysterious? Well, whatever, I'm just glad our name is known even among the Ægir.

Alty once visited that ship, following your scent trail. But this is the first time we've met in person.

I'm Aya, main vocalist of AUS. Dan here is our drummer.

Greetings, guests from the sea.

You're of the sea too. A pleasure to meet you.

When I came to the land, I sought Kal'tsit to learn more about you—about your terrestrial kin.

Oh... if you're talking about the things on land, then I guess we're kin, technically. Not sure I can say the same about the ones in the sea.

What are you here for? The doctor?

Just an appointment.

We seek a way back to Ægir.

Back to Ægir, huh... The three of you, together?

We are not so easily separated.

Aw, what a great friendship. What about the one in the back? Is she shy? Why doesn't she say anything?

Something doesn't seem right with her. Her brain is tormented. Is she sick?

You could say so.

Poor thing.

—Mm!

What is it, Dan?

I just felt something up my spine. Like an electric shock to my brain, then a strange—