Index of Content
1.
Presentiment/EN PREDIVINIATO
2.
Prologue/GINYA
3.
Prelude 1/ENON PERFECTA
4. Chapter 1/AKANOKO (NYP)
GINYA
Breath fogging in the muted twilight. Rain splattering against the ground. I am surrounded by utter motion, surrounded by the screams of madmen who have deadened their hearts against the atrocities of the world. She
is in front of me, just across the bridge, her cerulean hair whipping around her and catching the bloody moonlight.
She is my one hope,my one chance of salvation in the face of this catastrophe, but the harder I run to her the farther away she is, and even now the distance across this bridge seems impossible to cross, but even so, she slowly reaches out to me, holding out her hand.
And even if it is futile, I reach back. Even as the ground lengthens under my feet, me fingers stretch out. Even as she recedes beyond infinity, for the briefest moment, our finger brush, and I catch one last glimpse of her sad smile.
Then she is gone.
I scream her name without hearing it, my hand grasping at the space that held her only seconds before. I feel as if I should cry, but the tears do not come, will not come, can not come, and finally in that moment of raw despair, I trip.
Faltering, stumbling, I fall, rolling out onto my back. The mob is mere seconds away now, but it may as well be a eternity distant. Time has slowed to nothingness, and everything is fragmenting and scattering away. I catch a glimpse of the moon reflected in the knie of one of my attackers... And then there is nothing but
that moon, shining, pale, and yet tinged with a colour I would almost call crimson. Upon it, I swear that one day, I will find her.
And I don't even know her name.
To the old man, I said, "So..." and then more quietly, "so. That's my story, or what I can still remember of it anyway. I woke up two years ago in the gut of an abandoned RICHTER facility, with only the barest memories of my past... That last one was the strongest."
There was a long moment of silence as a deafening gust of freezing wind blasted through the cave. Neither of us really noticed it, Atarashi probably because he had lived here for longer than anyone could remember. As for me...
I smiled, but it was bitter.
"I've been searching for her ever since. I heard of you, Atarashi. They called you a man who could find anything... Even had a name for you-- What was it? The impartial gateway to..."
"▓█▒▓█░ ██▒ ░░▓█", he said.
"Yeah, that. Whatever the hell that is."
"I see... So you can't understand it after all..."He knitted his leathery fingers together. "While I am aware of many of the leaders of the... No. No, I've never known of anybody with the description you provided for me. She's either new, or doesn't operate at that level."
The old man looked at me sharply for a second, and then nodded. "Jeid, are you averse to travelling with a companion?"
"Not at all."
"Very well. While I don't know the lad you're looking for... I think I know someone who could find them." Atarashi paused for a moment and then yelled, "Satasha, come out! We have a visitor!"
I heard some grumbling before a head covered in unruly black hair popped out of one of the hundreds of burlap veils lining the cave's walls.
"Atarashiiiii, I was sleeping!"
"Then you'll have problems later. The sun hasn't even set yet, you know."
"What? No, wait, how can you even
tell!?"
"When you live here as long as I have..." He began, trailing off.
"Apparently." She conceded, stepping out into the antechamber and before glancing over at me. "Who's this, Atarashi?"
"Satasha, meet Jeid. Jeid, Satasha. You'll be travelling together."
"Hey there," I said, extending my hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Satasha."
She stared at my hand for a second before smiling and taking it in a firm grip. "I'm sure you're the first person to really mean that in a few months," she said, before looking over to Atarashi "So, why will we be travelling together?"
"Mmm. You're both looking for something, and I have a certain feeling that they might be connected. Besides that? You can't hold them off forever. Nor hide here."
She nodded as if she expected the answer before abruptly turning away, walking down one of the natural tunnels that riddles the cave. When she was almost out of sight she turned around and gave a little wave. Somewhat bemusedly, I waved back.
She didn't return that night.
Atarashi and I sat in front of the fire for a few more hours. He read various books he had somehow managed to get up here while I just stared into the flames, mesmerized by their flickering dances. Eventually the old man finally sighed and snapped the book he had been reading for the last two shut.
"I'm going to sleep. I have a spare bedroll behind that curtain; you can use it, if you like."
"Thanks but, ever since RICHTER did... whatever they did to me, I've found it more comfortable to just lean against the wall. Appreciate the offer, though."
Atarashi looked at me for a moment before he shrugged. I turned and began to walk to the smoothest section of wall. Just before I reached it, I heard two quietly muttered words.
"Not good."
I turned and leaned back, looking up with a questioning reply on the tip of my tongue, but the room was empty. I was, more or less, alone.
As the fire guttered out, the cold winds of Mt. Silver howled through the room.
But they didn't bother me.
Not one bit.
Unseen, that bitter smile returned.
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