act29side

Why not?

Life is short. Why must we approach its conclusion knowing nothing?

The forbidden is forbidden for a reason.

If you won't abandon your pursuit, then you'll have to die here.

Thousands of threads rain down from the void behind the Lich, faster than a gale and thicker than a deluge.

They wrap themselves around Arturia's cello, her bow and strings, as well as her hands and torso.

Exile.

The old Lich has no plans to allow her to return to Laterano. He wants her to disappear completely.

Arturia smiles. She draws her bow, perhaps for the last time.

Forgive me my ignorance and arrogance, Herr Fremont.

But I'd rather die the very next second, fall into the void, be lost to chaos...

Than stop playing.

The last note sounds.

Before she is swallowed by the infinite void, Arturia knows her performance is complete.

Do you see it, Ermengarde?

Thanks for the heads-up. There are so many threads here that my soul was almost shaken from my body before I could see clearly.

That's the Genesis Horn.

It looks so much like the Witch King's legendary spire...

The dark cloud cracks.

It is like a great eye, slowly opening up in the void.

Reflected within is none other than the dark spire last seen twenty-three years ago.

Right in between the Twin Spires, right where it used to be.

Was the Genesis Spire ever truly toppled?

Did Herkunftshorn, the Witch King, ever truly die?

Did every Leithanian's nightmare just return, or did it never leave?

The sound of the cello is gone?

...Arturia.

Herr Giallo!

The knot is moving.

It's a warning from Lessing and the Lich.

This place isn't normal. Extinguish your candle, Frau Droste... Don't use any Arts.

I have no idea what's going to happen next.

The stairs... they've changed?

Is this some kind of Arts?

An illusion created by Frau Giallo's music? Or something else?

Herr Ebenholz?

Only faint footsteps...

Soon, not even that.

The spiral staircase continues to extend further and further, until its end is no longer in sight.

Am I walking up, or down?

Viviana feels her consciousness grow distant.

All she knows for sure is that she is alone on these stairs.

The Ge—the doctor will be here soon.

*cough*, *cough*...

Are you crying, Viviana?

I don't think I have the strength to wipe away your tears anymore.

You're too kind, too gentle...

I often think back to the day we first met.

I had come from Zwillingstürme to Sturmland just to take you out of Werner's spire. You huddled in the back seat, holding onto your tiny suitcase and leaning gently against my chest.

I was wondering: Was this little girl scared to leave her father? *cough* Scared of life in foreign Kazimierz?

But no. You were just trying to stay low, so no one would see your horns and cause trouble for Werner.

Even though it was so late at night, and no one would have paid attention to a car leaving the great spires of the Kurfürst.

You were so little back then...

I don't remember that.

Nein. You do.

You can lament, you can blame, you can mourn, you can regret, you can rage... *cough* All that, and only then can you...

Please... don't leave me...

You're the only one I have left.

Let me 'see' you... one last time.

I'm right here.

I'm so glad I can't see the expression on your face right now...

You deserve a better life than this, Viviana... If there really is one...

Tall as the empress's tower is, it is not endless. Or so she believes.

The spiral staircase extends before her, but direction itself seems to be torn apart by some unknown, irreversible power. She keeps moving forward, but she can't make any progress.

Viviana is tired, and when one is tired, it is easy to notice what one has lost.

Not unlike the twenty-two years of her life.

Are you lost?

Viviana looks up.

She sees a young Caprinae woman, whose face is filled with curiosity and concern.

Sorry, I must have bumped into you in my hurry.

It's alright.

Are you okay? You look very pale.

I'm fine... I was just thinking about something.

Do you know this place well?

Ja, I live nearby.

Where does this lead?

Didn't you come here on your own?

Where it leads is entirely up to where you want to go.

Take care, now. I'll be going.

Where I want to go...

Viviana's fingers brush the handrail next to her. Ochre paint covers the emblem of Urtica under a thick layer of dust, so bright it could have been painted yesterday.

The Witch King.

She recalls the historical novel <i>Die Glut</i>.

When the Witch King first ascended to the throne, he gave his builders a blueprint of the Genesis Spire, a monument so great, the likes of which Leithanien had never seen.

Simply gazing upon the plans was enough to make one short of breath, as though standing before its foundation.

The Witch King was scrupulous about every last detail of the Genesis Spire, down to the materials and paints used for every fence and railing, which must never fade in color.

It would become the sole symbol of Leithanien.

Has the Genesis Horn fully descended?

But that woman just now...

Viviana comes to a startling realization.

The Caprinae who just passed by was like one of the young people living on the outskirts of Zwillingstürme. In the prime of her life, busy and tireless, her voice emanating the warmth of a fresh cup of tea.

She should not be here. Neither at the empress' spire, nor in the Genesis Horn.

Viviana turns around. No one is there.

What about you, Viviana?

Why are <i>you</i> here?

Why did you come back to Leithanien? Why did you leave?

You couldn't say goodbye to your father. You couldn't return to the spire of your childhood, that tower you memorized along with the rain and wet moss.

You watched Cora die in your arms. You couldn't take her away from this dusk-scorched city.

What can you stop? What can you change? What can you possibly accomplish?

If the Witch King isn't dead, if he sits at the end of this endless spiral, would you beg him for enlightenment, just like those fanatics?