act25side

Hmm... the usual stench of the sewers, and spots where the light doesn't reach.

These alleys are all the same.

Urban planners probably can't afford to invent new ways to do their jobs at the speed these cities pop up out of the barrenlands.

It's just too bad that you miss out on the local scenery if you use these nooks and crannies too much.

Am I right, my good subordinate? Isn't it better to get a view of the city from above?

A gust of wind blows through the empty alley.

All the un-exhaled smoke rings swirl back into the cracks in his metal. The Tin Man wonders if this is an opportune time to hack a few coughs as if choking.

A lighter floats right in front of him as soon as the embers of his cigarette die out.

'Banal' is such a lamentable assessment for a city like this with no history.

...Ho'olheyak.

You were supposed to make contact three days ago.

Oh? I had the impression that you're not particularly punctual yourself.

If you could just tone down your volume. Why did you pick this place for our meeting?

Did you forget? The factory in District 13 is close by.

Did you find the item from the other day?

Yes, but unfortunately there are only fragments left. Fragments of... stars, with no way to guide the lost.

And Kristen? Where is she?

Well...

Are you watching the sky?

You get a clearer view of the sky without the skyscrapers around.

Do you think Kristen might be hiding in a star up there? If so, then how are we supposed to find her?

Ho'olheyak, you went into the library two months ago.

I'm a historian, isn't it basically my job to visit libraries?

We're talking about Maylander's 'library' here.

I don't recall authorizing that.

You know I can't contain my curiosity.

Just like right now...

If I could trouble my employer with... a question that I've been awfully curious about...

What is it?

Your smoke.

Other than the clouds you puff out, the few wisps that slip into your body... where exactly do they go?

Is this why... you have the tip of your tail on my chest?

I smell my favorite scent on you... history.

So if it's at all possible, I'd love to get a good look at every little piece of your body for my research... Where should I start? Your head? Chest? Extremities?

...Ho'olheyak.

Do you really think... betraying the Maylander Foundation is the right choice here?

Of course... not.

Maylander holds most of this country's secrets. And in Columbia, secrets can be traded for wealth... or used as murder weapons.

I spent three whole years before I finally managed to get into the Historical Society, and spent another three to gain your trust.

Do you know what six years means to me? Being a Maylander agent has already taken... one-seventh of my life.

Then you shouldn't be wasting the rest of it behind bars or on the run.

Yes, yes... I know.

And yet... if my time here isn't enough to embrace what I've been yearning for my whole life, then what difference does it make if I live another ten years or one more minute?

Maylander won't allow anyone, least of all a defected agent, to access information they shouldn't be accessing.

A shame you only have me to see in your last moments.

Then I can only pray to the stars... that the dead won't speak so easily.

Fine, let me switch up the question—

—Do you really think you can kill me?

I'll never know... until I try.

Hrgh— Huh?

Your air manipulation shouldn't be affecting me... no, this isn't a K'uk'ulkan ability at all.

You know me just <i>so</i> well, don't you.

But, fortunately, I'm not exactly completely clueless as to what you are. Ordinary Arts have no effect on you, but...

...A curse.

The power of the oldest Sarkaz witchcraft, a soul-imprisoning curse.

It's been an awfully long time since you've had a taste of something like this, hmm?

That one year when a Maylander agent went deep into the Bleached Wasteland to investigate the ruins of the Sarkaz Royal Court, and suffered an unprecedented, life-threatening injury—

I didn't expect Maylander to leave those files intact.

You can't have thought that I ventured into Maylander's top secret database just for Kristen?

I did remind him that documenting everything isn't necessarily a good habit to have, all the time.

Hmph... According to you, only the long-lived would have such an extensive memory, while the rest of us just want to grab as much knowledge as we can, so naturally come up with different methods.

Otherwise, how could we short-lived beings hope to resist the control of people like you?

Huff... hah...

If you really want to destroy this body, you probably need a little more time.

I have two minutes to spare.

So, you're not even going to come out of hiding to greet me...

...Banshee?

Weren't you just talking about how unwilling you are to show yourself?

Like I said, I have no interest in watching you murder your own boss.

But he's more than just that.

Oh? Old acquaintances, are you?

Personally? Not at all.

But my blood knows him.

Fascinating. I've been over it many times, and this guy here... doesn't smell Sarkaz.

Be careful of any tricks he might play. I don't want him to resurrect right after all the trouble I've gone through to kill him.

I won't let him interfere with the next step of the plan.

Hmm... I can't do it.

A delicate trap you've laid. I had guessed that Ho'olheyak might have planted something in the sky, but I didn't expect a banshee's curse to be hidden in the noise of the construction site.

My blood has taught me the power of words, and the sound of machinery clashing and colliding is the language I hear most.

An amazing talent to have fooled even me. There are only a few banshees, including those in the Royal Court, who could make me suffer like this.

Were you born in Kazdel, or the Valley of the Banshees?

It doesn't matter. My blood is not pure enough, and I haven't experienced any grand events either.

Right now, I'm just a engineer living in Columbia doing whatever I want.

*cough*...haha... have you found a home... in Columbia?

What about you?

Ah... so many years have passed by in a flash.

I've heard, that over the past two centuries, those two youths... Theresis and Theresa have finally built Kazdel as a Nomadic city.

I don't even know myself what Kazdel looks like today.

Are the streets still as crowded, the flags hanging on the city walls unchanged for a millennium, the undying furnace in the core still as hot as ever?

Can you relight my cigarette, child?

This little spark can't hold the remaining warmth of your soul.

I know. I only... want to stay a little longer to ask you a few more questions.

What did you see, in Kristen's dreams?

...The future.

Has she actually promised you... a change to the Sarkaz's fate? Do you believe she can do what no one has been able to accomplish over the past millennium?

No, she only showed me a possibility.

A possibility... that came from within myself.

Alright, Engineer Girl, if I could just trouble you to ask my darling employer if he has any last words?

The fire is almost out.

Time moves too fast for an old man like me.