level_main_13-04_beg

The fog grows thicker. The entire forest seems to swim in it.

I'll confess, I'm not so familiar with Kazdel at all. By the end of the Banshee's Court's part in the war two hundred years ago, I was gone from that city. It was in the Convallis of the Banshees I came of age.

I had asked my mother why, being one of our 'Six Heroes', she would choose to leave Kazdel, the city she once fought to the bitter end for.

My mother issued no response at the time; she plucked a few reeds from the riverbank, and wove a necklace for me. Their stems twisted about each other, head to tail, tail to head.

It was beautiful, and I treasured it in the most genuine sense. Yet very soon, it withered and faded, and fell to scattered pieces.

My mother told me how this was the Banshees' most traditional artform. We weave song and incantation, just as we weave necklaces of grass.

But now, we had the entire Convallis.

They needed not be foraged, needed not be bothered, and so year after year, they grew forever.

We Banshees sang our elegies, but the elegies were no supplication of the end; rather, they were anticipation of new life.

There is the Sarkaz's need—not to hold a dead city standing, but to grow.

This is a highly disconcerting environment, Doctor. We were in the thick of a forest only moments ago.

What laid before us became nothing alike as the fog settled in.

A... convallis.

Is this all an illusion, Logos?

The Doctor is considerably wounded, but their tone of voice is steadied once more.

Ascalon silently carries the still-unconscious Amiya, taking the very front.

She remains as ever, lips sealed. But I can sense that her current silence is a more... bleak one than before.

I remember, at the time of her hurried rendezvous with me, that flicker of an expression I found hard to discern.

Mirages are spin from nothingness. Their scenes are mere fictions in the mind, bound to return to nihil no matter how lifelike.

But this place is not.

Everything here truly did exist, once upon a time.

Constructing a 'mirage' like this requires not just intelligence and information, but time, and space.

It's too difficult.

A bone whistle?

I know this Convallis.

I've always loved it.

Yes, the whistle of the Banshees. It doesn't necessarily entail Originium Arts.

When we were young, we'd learn it by the riverside. We'd sit among the underbrush, and wait still. Until great fin gobbled small bug, until fowlbeast snatched up great fin.

That is when the bone whistle is played.

What's this scenery doing here? How do we get out?

I'm trying.

Originium Arts hasn't this power. The power this is of can only be something more ancient.

But it shouldn't come about in this battlefield at this moment, not on Londinium's periphery.

Everything we're seeing and hearing could pass for real. Our squad is <i>not</i> in good condition. We need to up our vigilance.

At the Convallis's other end, there seems to stand someone, dead still, silent.

...Mother.

Logos, what's wrong?

...Nothing.

I say try to tear this landscape apart directly. It carries some risk, but it's the best solution.

I don't know whether it'd be safe to leave this place, Ascalon.

Ascalon nods, handing Amiya over to the Doctor, who strains to hold her up by the arm that isn't hurt.

Ascalon, master assassin, vanishes in a blink into the mist.

I shut my eyes and prepare, conceiving of destruction, imagining reconstruction.

But the figure appears again, this time atop one of the Convallis's crests. She seems to be looking at me, but she is as if a thin slice of the past, stuck frozen in some older time.

I know that crest full well. When I was young, I would practice incanting there, until twilight fell, and she would show up behind me.

I would never know when exactly she had come, but she would just stand there, as she does now in this mirage.

And once I exhausted myself, we would go home together.

I feel for my bone whistle. It's cold as bale ice. Just like the time I was first given it.

Not long ago, I sounded it to the closure of Damazti's Court.

But the time before that, that was back in this Convallis.

I'll be leaving tomorrow, for Babel.

Yes.

You're master of the Elegiac Court now. Remember to send Her Highness Theresa my greetings.

It still doesn't feel real to me, Mother.

I'm too young to be master of a Royal Court.

Now, now, what makes you say that? Anyone could see how remarkable you are.

Keep this safe.

Oh…

Your bone whistle. I've tuned it for you, and given it a Royal Court crest.

And of course, a kiss full of magic too.

...Alright.

Simply sound it, and all the Sarkaz will know it as the will of the Knell.

Mother, what should a Lord of the Banshees do?

Do what you believe you must.

I once talked to you about those... ravings of mine.

The fettered Sarkaz have no escape, just as the necklaces you used to weave together for me became naught but pieces in the end.

Yet what fetters us is our identity, to what we belong.

The 'Royal Court', and perhaps, 'The King of Sarkaz'.

But still you bestow this aspect on me.

Our rotting bones will never again be given new life, should annihilation reach its destination.

And yet... that is the rule.

We sound the Knell for all, for others, for ourselves.

But it is a necessary burden.

If you feel our timeworn inheritance has been reduced to naught but a stepping stone to new life, then it is for you to ascertain that yourself.

Supposing that does not change your mind—

—then 'from death comes new life'.

I rest the whistle to my lips.

...*exhale*.

My, my, now, well done.

Oh tender little Lord of the Banshees, for whom does your first fledgling Knell toll?

...For myself.

For the Royal Court that would rot, past and future all.

The Sarkaz must write a new verse.

'What meaning is there in a stagnant landscape?'

With the words, power bursts forth.

This is…

The Vampire's witchcraft.

But the Vampire could never construct the landscape we were just in. I fear there's some other presence helping him.

What is the Vampire planning to do with these Arts Circles?

Laboring to keep Amiya supported, the Doctor lifts their head with some worry, taking in the giant, sanguine-colored crystals.

The loop here isn't even complete. But... some of its symbols are legible.

'PURIFY'.

It's trying to affect our blood somehow. Affect Sarkaz blood.

This Artistry... is tied to the Sarkaz's power.

The Doctor gives no response, seemingly lost in thought.

Hey!

Heh, they finally ran out of patience.

I detected them long ago; a handful of boorish wanderers. The derangement of our spacetime was masking their figures, and now, with the mist abated, they finally show themselves.

Already, the silver glint in Ascalon's hand has cut across their necks, while bone-writ incantation blocks their attack.

A clump of dirt? It's crude as a child would be.

Wait!

I told you they were real!

Those ghosts were the real deal!

Ah, it <i>is</i> a child.

Is that you...?

Does the Doctor know this Sarkaz girl?

Uhh...

You're that, uh, 'Doctor', right? I saw you once in the munitions factory in Highbury!

What are you doing here?

And the knocked-out Cautus, and... Sarkaz?

You were supplying goods to refugees in Norport.

How did you know that?!

Don't—Don't let it slip! I was just, uhh—

I don't think that Cautus girl is looking too good, is she? And your arm is all...

I, um, I'm gonna guess you guys are... fine hanging out with these Sarkaz?

I think we ended up back where we came. But did we do it for real this time?

I've met enough haloed monster things for one day. This is out of whack.

Paprika, what are you talking to the ghosts for?

One... in a hood, one unconscious bunny, and a Sarkaz?

No! Driver, they're real!

As in real?

This Sarkaz steps up to me, skeptically looking me up and down.

I can tell with a glance that she's never taken the battlefield. Her hands are callused in the wrong places.

Just now, did the young Paprika girl call her Driver?

Hello.

Blaagh!

Miner, come check this out, it's real!

Your... your clothes must've cost some money, didn't they?

Maybe take a closer look! No, never mind, trust you Ursus bumpkins not to know.

Quit it with the 'ooh I'm from Kazdel' already, Shopkeep, like you matter! All you do there is run a grocery store!

Oh, wait, forgot, you sold your store so you come pick fights out here! Ha!

Shape UP a little! Stop getting carried away in front of people!

Hello, hahah... you may have met me in Kazdel before. My grocery store was a fairly popular one...

The man nicknamed Shopkeep rubs his hands, eyeing me with ingratiation.

His dagger is equipped with an auxiliary Originium Arts control apparatus; never an affordable piece of kit. A shame it's all-new, dagger itself included.

You... must be part of the Royal Court, yes? I can tell by your regalia... I take it you're the—Child of Soil and Stone?

So he hasn't the first clue about any Court at all.

...I am the Banshee.

A boy Banshee? I thought Banshees were meant to be all girls?

Correct.

Huh. Never heard about any boy Banshee while I was in Kazimierz... uh, not that I mean to be impolite or, you know...

Paprika, you're friends with celebrities like him and you never told us?!

Uh... no, I dunno if we <i>know</i> each other...

Are you moving things?

Inside their truck, I notice an uncovered spot, where a few blood-streaked crystals are poking out.

Where are you transporting these goods to? Aren't these ritual materials?

Er... I don't really know how to explain. We're just patrolling along our route map, 'cause some Arts Circles might be a little damaged, and we need to repair them.

The Doctor makes brief eye contact with me. I have some inkling. A Sarkaz truck—a vehicle that can take us through the battlefield.

With Amiya's current condition, we won't be rendezvousing with the main unit on foot.

I can sense Ascalon all set to go in the shadows, ready to strike at the amateur squad before us.

But evidently, the Doctor already has a better idea.

Noble Banshee, sire, we won't cross the battlefield alive at this rate. I beg you, just let us go.

I can comprehend the Doctor's gist, but... I'm really not well-versed when it comes to this.

I commandeer your transport squadron. We are on a special mission of the utmost nature, but were assailed en route. For your assistance, I will memorialize you forevermore.

Haha, it'd be our honor to serve a member of the Royal Court, Your Highness!

It's just... being 'memorialized' by a death-tolling Banshee... doesn't seem like much of a fortune. Could you...

Here is your payment.

Thank you, coins that Mechanist stuffed in my bag.

Haha! Thank you, sire!

But our transport duty...

I'll explain to your superiors afterwards.

A special mission? Why bring these two outbloods along?

...They are my captives.

Captives? But you, um...

Okay... but once this is over, you guys are gonna come see General Manfred with me.

For now, we'll go sort out some positions.

The Doctor comes to my side, voice grave.

Logos, figure out a car for Ascalon too.

The Confessarii attack was no simple one. They and the Vampire were working together, but in the process, they estranged Amiya from the ship.

Doctor, are you worrying?

Closure and the Self-Salvation Corps troops don't have any suitable combat personnel between them. Kal'tsit's wounded. Shining's powerful, but the Confessarii are sure to have methods prepared just for her.

...I understand.

The state Amiya's in may not be curable with medication. What she needs most right now, before she comes to, is not to fall into the Confessarii's line of sight.

Operating under this squad's support will be safer.

I'll get Ascalon to back up Kal'tsit. We've got you here.

Besides...

The Doctor looks at the sanguine Arts Circles. A pit forms in their stomach.

Say no more. I know far too well.

These crystals... aren't just simple Originium.