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cyten0 · 2 days

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A Symphony In Crimson

Act 1: A Movement in Black

Chapter 17

… You can’t sleep. Still worrying about Sif. Their alone right now, dealing with… whatever is happening to them. Crab. You wish you had stuck it out a little longer, saw if you couldn’t get through to them. Helped them, somehow. It’s tearing you up inside, thinking about it.

You tried sleeping, and ended up with a nightmare. Sif crying blood, as something rips them apart from the inside. Not quite how it played out, but pretty close to the mark as far as nightmares go...

Maybe you need some fresh air. You quietly get out of bed, so not to wake the others. And head out-!!!

You’re greeted with a message written in blood right outside the door!!!

I am sorry.

The king will be dead by morning.

My final act.

Farewell.

Oh. Oh No. Crab NO.

▲ “Everyone wake up! We have to go, NOW!!!”

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You’re resting at the tree. You don’t need sleep, but your mind still wants it. At least rest. Trying to process this. Trying to figure out what to do. You haven't even checked on Stardust. Why bother? They won’t want your help anyways. Not anymore.

You don’t feel bad about doing it. Never did. But blind it all. They shouldn’t have had to know. Not yet.

You’re awoken from your musings by a familiar voice, approaching the tree.

▲ “Sif?! SIF?!!! Where are you!!!!”

The fighter? Up this early? They look desperate. What’s happened?

✸ “Oh, dear, What has dear stardust done now?”

▲ “H-Huh?!? Who’s that?!”

You shift yourself outside your realm, right in front of them.

✸ “A friendly helper of our local white cloaked Traveler~”

▲ “W-Wait really?!?”

✸ “Of course! Was quite frankly made for that purpose~”

You take off your mask, briefly, showing the fighter your face. He seems surprised! You suppose wearing the same face as stardust has SOME perks! No need to spend time convincing them~

✸ “With that in mind, I assume they’ve gotten into some extra trouble, if your searching so frantically!”

▲ “I! He left a note, outside our room and-”

✸ “Oh? Let me see really quick~”

You shift your eyes towards the clocktower… Oh.

✸ “Oh dear, that’s not good. They’re probably already at the house then. Hm.”

▲ “Crab, I thought so. I better get the others. We have to do something.”

You can’t sit idly by at this point. It’s all coming to a head. And if Stardust's mental state is this bad, the house might be...

✸ “Allow me to help! I’ll round up the others quickly, and I’ll help guide you through the house. You’re going to need it~”

▲ “Alright, I’ll start heading over!”

✸ “...Actually, could you do something first? Something that might give us an edge.”

▲ “Huh?”

✸ “You want to save stardust, right? With all your heart?”

They look at you. And nod.

✸ “Then… Let me teach you a ritual. To make the favor tree help grant that wish…”

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You’ve been searching around for a bit when the strange person showed up, and told you what’s happening. You’re now just waiting for the others. Oh, Siffrin…

You can’t leave them to do this. Not when their going to risk their life for you all…

There they all are!

◉ “O-Okay! We’re all here! It’s… Earlier then expected, but we were planning to fight through the house anyways!”

✸ “I’m going to stop you there, dear housemaiden~ Don’t be expecting this to be ANYTHING like what you were preparing for!”

◆ “What does that mean?”

✸ “Stardust wasn’t just dealing with 'being a horror monster' issues. If they had been, things would honestly have been fine! No, the real issue is the Timecraft at play.”

▲ “More timecraft? Did the king do something to them?”

✸ “No, I will explain as we go, but Stardust has gone through this house many times. What we need to worry about now are the seeds he’s planted in the sadnesses in prior attempts.”

Seeds? Did he do something to the sadnesses?

✿ “Wait… Is that why that sadness before was movin funny?”

✸ “Very observant, Kid! Yes, stardust can control any living thing he puts a piece of himself inside, like a living virus.”

◆ “Should we be worried about infection?”

✸ “Oh no, don’t worry, they won’t! It has to be done manually, and even if it they did for SOME reason, you’d be able to know and remove it quickly, at least early on. Honestly a bit of Pineapple juice works just fine, and the Kid has plenty!”

✿ “...Why pineapple?”

✸ “Stardust is Allergic!”

✿ “Oh okay!…. Crab, that means I can’t make pineapple stuff for them.”

Hehe, kind of relieving a little to hear such a normal answer to something scary like this! Just allergies! Helps remind you this is still Siffrin… Feels bad, thinking about that? You didn't even see the worst of it, and you're still struggling with all this.

✸ “Regardless, the problem is control isn’t all they can do. If they just eat the sadnesses for strength, we should be fine. But if they made those seeds sprout… be prepared for this house to be far, FAR more horrifying.”

Okay, so you’ve read enough horror stories to get the idea. Kind of a zombie hivemind thing? Um.

◉ “I-I mean! If Siffrin’s controlling them, we should be fine! They’d never hurt us!”

Right? They shouted a bit yesterday, and got upset, but never actually hurt?

✸ “Yes, that was the reason they infected the sadnesses in the first place~ But their still sadnesses, and stardust’s not consciously controlling them right now… Just. Be wary?”

◆ “...The warning is welcome, thank you… I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name?”

✸ “Call me Loop! It’s not a very creative title, as you’ll find out, but it’s what I have!”

You nod. And head towards the Houses gate. It’s been closed behind itself, but not locked. You use a little craft to trigger it and…

…You stare down the corridor. The walls are darkened with the King’s curse, yet living flesh seems to creep through the cracks of the stone, growing out of it like mold, yet beating like a heart. You see eyes stare out at you from the growths, looking around erratically but with the majority focused directly at you all, staring you down. The air seems to shudder within, with a rhythm you can feel but not hear.

You feel the others shaking. Even you are surprised. But. You can’t afford to hesitate. You HAVE to press on.

◉ “… Let’s go. We can do this.”

The others steel themselves, and you march in.

… The strange growths continue, all the way inside. The eyes follow your movements, and it kind of makes you worry a little. But then… You hear music?

You look for the source of the sound. And see something moving up ahead, in the darkness.

✸ “Looks like I was right. Get ready everyone.”

The creature starts shuffling towards you. As it approaches you can see it more clearly. It looks like a sadness at first. But… There is a pale white mask, fused onto it’s face. The openings for it’s eyes are a lightless void. And it’s body… dark tendrils seem to peek out from it’s edges, it’s limbs seem skinned the way flesh has fused itself onto it’s liquid body, it’s hands are formed into cutting blades of bone and sinew, and it moves like it’s being picked up by invisible strings. Yet it doesn’t stop singing.

You ready your rapier. The others follow suit.

You charge forwards, piercing it’s heart, and filling it with craft power. You watch as it barely flinches, even as the injury rips it apart. You back off, as it takes a swing towards you. It’s blow cracks the ground as it hits, but Isa takes the opening to knock it off it’s feet. It falls to the ground, unmoving. But then lifts off the ground, and it’s body twists around towards him. Odile then fires off a paper craft to blast it into the wall.

◆ “Please let that be it.”

You watch as it doesn’t move for a bit.

Before suddenly raising it’s head and charging at you all like a feral beast! It’s so fast, you don’t have time to-

BANG

A hole pierces through the creatures mask, and it stops dead, before dissolving into water and blood.

You turn, and see Bonnie holding a strange device.

✿ “… Eyes glowed funny whenever it got up. Gotta be a weak spot.”

◆ “...Huh. Good eye, Boniface. But also. What was that?”

✿ “Oh, yeah, Frin gave it to me. Said it’s a craft revolver. I wanted to help fight, so...”

▲ “Huh. Sif gave you that huh?”

✸ “That they did. You’re a good shot, Kid.”

✿ “H-Huh!? No, I… I hit Frin last time I used it. I didn’t wanna use it but…”

✸ “You only did that because you were scared!… Look, you might not know it, but you have a very good track record with that thing! You once went through the entire house without ever missing a single shot~”

✿ “Huh? What’s that mean?”

✸ “Like I said, Timecraft~ This day has happened a few times!”

Bonnie looks at the craft revolver.

You look at the stain where the sadness was. Even for horror stuff, that was...

◉ “S-Sorry to change topics but… Did Siffrin… Really do that? Did they… make that thing?”

✸ “Yes~ I hope you’ve gotten used to it! There’s almost CERTAINLY more where that came from!”

▲ “Well, at least we know their weakness. Hit them in the face!”

✸ “Fire would also probably work. Stardust had that fear for a reason, after all!”

◆ “Not that we have much access to that right now. But worth knowing, I suppose.”

You nod. Alright. You have a plan! So. Let’s keep moving.

You go a little further, and- Wait, something’s moving above you!

A sadness drops down next you you, and starts to make a swing!

…? It. Stops. Inches from your face.

It stumbles backwards, and starts to twitch and writhe. It’s singing devolves into screeching!

And then it… stabs itself. Over and over. Until… it drops dead….

✸ “… It seems Stardust is still subconsciously controlling them. Good!”

▲ “That… Crab. That was… brutal.”

✸ “Still, too close for comfort! Best not drop your guard, anyways~”

You can’t move. You… heard something. While screeching. Just for a second… it…

◉ “It sounded. Almost like Siffrin…”

✸ “… At this point, I’d say these things are basically half Stardust… Don’t let that stop you! They’ll still try to kill you, even if part of them will try and hold back~”

You… Nod. And keep moving on… What could have pushed things this far?

>>>

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You all have been making good progress through the house. The deeper in you go, the more odd growths there are, and the more twisted the sadnesses. You’ve even seen entire hands and maws growing out of the walls. This cannot be healthy. Moreover, that eerie rythmic feel in the air just keeps getting worse. The sadnesses singing seems to keep to that invisible tune.... But despite everything, Loop has been guiding you through the paths well.

Loop. Strange character, they are. Oddly cheerful during all this, or at least faking it. They know far more about all of this then you. Best get information, while you all are making your way towards Siffrin.

◆ “So, Loop. You said you were here to help Siffrin? I presume with this?”

✸ “Sort of! I wouldn’t need to exist if the monster stuff was the only problem~ But a different issue exasperated it significantly.”

▲ “Really? Mind telling us?”

✸ “Of course! First of all, I should mention the forces at play~ The first being wishcraft! It’s the power to turn desires into reality, with the right rituals~

▲ "Like that favor tree thing you asked me to do?"

✸ "Correct! There’s more to it, but The king used a different ritual to gain their powers over time. But their not the only one! Another desire gave stardust the power to turn back time in desperate situations~”

✿ “Woah, Really?!?”

✸ “Yes! Stardust knew the rituals of course, they were born in the land that made wishcraft~ But a simple wish they made on a favor tree acted as a lightning rod for a much bigger wish!”

◉ “W-What wish was that?”

✸ “...The wish of all of Vaugarde. To be saved from the king~ A desire as strong as that was more then powerful enough to turn back time many, many times! I think we’re a little over a hundred at this point?”

A hundred?! Awfully casual about that.

▲ “That many times?!? Did we never beat the king?!?”

✸ “That’s the Issue. You did! But something went wrong. By that point, a little flaw turned the whole situation on it’s head~”

◆ “What would that be?”

✸ “Two things. One, Stardust's hunger carried over attempts. And they have a much bigger appetite then the Kid's snacks can do~ I could mitigate that somewhat, pulling in prey for them from elsewhere, even if options were limited.”

Loop rounds a corner, and snaps his fingers, as a sadnesses falls down, it’s head vanished from it’s shoulders, only to appear at Loops feet, who promptly crushes it. Efficient, aren’t they?

✸ “Sadnesses aren’t nutritious, but it’s not exactly like there was a lot of wildlife in Vaugarde to hunt~ Which led to the other issue! By the time Siffrin beat the king, they were too weak to keep up their human disguise for much longer.”

▲ “Disguise? Were they always like… this?”

✸ “Indeed! Their face and name is borrowed from before they swore off their more… Disastrous tendencies.”

◆ “Disastrous? Compared to this?!...How bad was it?!”

✸ “Well, Their old home was a certain Island north of Vaugarde~”

You all take a moment. Hunting your memory for anything… Wait. You. DON’T remember it. But. You remember that’s a thing, isn’t it? That everyone forgot?!...Were they-?

✸ “I see it just clicked~ They most likely didn’t make people forget, probably! But It WAS likely done to stop our dear traveler~ ...But what we do know is that, from what little they remember..."

Loop turns towards you all. Eyes grim. Voice cold.

✸ "Everyone there is dead. Every. Last. One.”

T-that... no way!!!

◉ “Change!”

▲ “Crab!”

◆ “Gems!”

✿ "...h-huh?"

No wonder Siffrin hid this! They're a walking Calamity! An entire COUNTRY wiped out overnight?!?!!

✸ “They don’t remember why they did it. But they’ve held that guilt ever since.”

...None of you know how to respond to that. It’s terrifying, thinking little Siffrin is capable of that. Would ever do something like that. But more then that… How that must hurt…

You remember your mother. How when you were younger, you sometimes felt it was your fault they left. You can’t imagine how that must feel for your entire home…

✿ “...But frin wouldn’t hurt anyone now, right?”

✸ “Not willingly, no~ And it would take a LOT to push them past that point!"

You figured not, but it's still a relief to hear.

✸ "Again, over a hundred loops, and only NOW are they even willing to do anything like this, even to the KING! They’d rather just be human… Which gets to the issue we’re dealing with now.”

◉ “O-Oh, right. You said… they were weak, after the king? What happened then?”

✸ “Stardust’s own wish kicked in! I can’t remember quite what it was! It wouldn’t be my place to say even if I did~ But they believe they’d need to be human after this all in order to do it. And because that wasn’t an option, The wish forced Siffrin back, to try again~”

Believe they would? Worth looking into. But you can see how that turned out.

◆ “I see. But since they only ended up like that because of going back so much…”

✸ “You catch on quick, Researcher! For the past two days, Stardust has been in an unending loop of the same two days, slowly starving to death~ We only recently figured out the cause!"

Not a lot of time to test options then.

✸ "And now? ...Stardust is desperate. So their making a last ditch effort to end things.”

▲ “Does it have something to do with the king? Is that why they came here?”

✸ “Correct! The king can stop time, prevent it from going forwards. And potentially, backwards! What would happen if Stardust stole the King’s wish, and shoved it into their own?”

Hm. There’s a certain logic to that. But that sounds tricky.

◉ “Can that even work?!?”

✸ “Maybe! It could also permanently kill them, since their doing it by force! Which I suppose solves it either way~”

What!?!… So that’s what they meant by their final act! They aren’t planning to live through this!... Gems, your head is running a mile a minute, trying to take this all in.

◆ “… This is a lot to take at once. And we barely know you…”

Loops cheerful demeanor gives way to dead seriousness.

✸ “I was based on stardust. I showed you my face. I have a share of their memories. I was sent to help them through this mess, and I’ll happily die to get them out... But I also understand these actions. The alternative is far worse…”

✿ “No it’s not! Nothin would be worse then frin getting themselves killed! That’s dumb!”

You’d like to agree. Issues aside, Siffrin shouldn’t have to die for this.

✸ “You sure? Because if they kept going, eventually there’s only one food source left. Like I said, sadnesses won’t cut it, and there are no animals. Normal food isn’t enough, not unless supplemented with something bigger. Tell me, what do you think that leaves?”

You think. It’s a given it needs to be a living creature, at this point, given what you know of their diet and how meat based it is. But the only things living at this point are…

◆ “… People.”

The others stare at you. Not knowing what to say. You know who would have been on the menu eventually. And the very idea of that...

✸ “...You get the desperation now, don’t you?”

None of you know how to respond to that…

...They’ve been looking at you all this whole time, their body telling them to kill you all. Fighting it every second. Did they never give in?… No. Loop’s implied as much. That they never would.

◆ “… They never did it though, did they? The way you talk about it, they’ve had ample opportunity. Not like we would remember.”

✸ “But They would remember. They’d happily die before that.”

You look over the twisted house… Siffrin is willing to die to protect you from this…

They’ve been fighting themselves to not hurt you for who knows how long…. You would do horrible things for your allies here. But. It seems your not the only one. This twisted horror show that you stand in, it’s always been there, this entire journey. But Siffrin threw themselves through this hell for you all. And kept it all bottled up inside them, so you all would never see.

...If they’ve taken things this far… What can you do at this point?… They understand it far more then you do. And… They’ve already accepted death...

◉ “… We won’t let it come to that.”

You look at Mirabelle.

✿ “Yeah! Frin don’t gotta get hurt for this! T-They aren’t a bad person!”

▲ “Yeah! We aren’t letting anything happen to Sif!”

...Heh. Gems, despite everything... You believe them.

◆ “I daresay we can think of SOMETHING.”

You look at Loop... Hm? Are they… Crying?

✸ “… Stars, I half believe you when you say that... Well then~ First we have to go save them from the king!”

Right. Best pick up the pace! No idea how much time you have left. You start hunting your notes as you move, for any crafts that might help.

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You'll get Siffrin out of this! You WILL save them!