endbook_rogue_2_3_2

Ishar'mla is defeated.

He calmly accepts the punishment of we many, but cannot understand how He, who was born to fight, lost to mass of dead branches walking.

Regardless, after that battle, His path will no longer be the trajectory explored by we many. Since He is no longer needed, He will also seal Himself away and enter a deep slumber, allowing the consciousness named Skadi to resurface once more.

Skadi dreamt a dream.

In the dream, she raised the tides and stepped across the land, trying to search for something in the realm above. But just as soon as she was ready to set off, the dream abruptly ended.

After she awakens, her memories fade along with the dream. She tries hard to cling to something, but her brain is flooded with things sent by we many.

That is not what she wants.

She does not belong here.

Skadi herself does not understand why she would generate these kinds of thoughts about her kin. They were always so kind, even willing to give their lives for her if necessary.

There is no fanaticism or manipulation behind their actions. Only equality, only altruism.

But between continuing to swim alongside we many or casting them aside, Skadi still chooses the latter.

A kind of disgust emerges from the depths of her heart. Even in the face of death, she does not wish to be among the Seaborn.

As for why, she does not know.

How could a Seaborn come to hate her own kin?

Skadi cannot answer.

The land... The land...

Her subconscious leads her to swim towards the land.

Someone she wishes to see is there.

Why would a Seaborn want to see a human?

Skadi does not understand.

Her consciousness conflicts with a Seaborn's instincts on every level, so much so that her own actions are incoherent.

But eventually, she makes her way to the shore and surfaces, her eyes scanning the empty, endless beach.

The silhouette of a hooded human appears in her vision.

She feels elation and begins to involuntarily recall that human's face. Then, fragments of the two of them deepening their relationship. Then further behind that, the Abyssal Hunters. Ægir. The ocean––

Memories rush back into her mind like a flood, shattering her soul.