#arcaea lasting eden

[mdddante]

lowiro: arcaeas storyline is done!!!

insight: nuh uh

[panoramicpeanut]

Arcaea fans I love and adore yall will you accept these doodles in exchange for little tips and tricks

[cheezyharu]

Random night chat

My cousin randomly asked if I write fanfic or not and I was like. Haha yeah I sure do write *sweeps my ancient ass Zelda fic deeper under the couch*

Anyways fucking hits you with a quick thing for World Ender and Infinite Strife, for the funny.

It was a quiet night in the world of Arcaea, perhaps even more quiet than usual. Aside from the entire commotion caused by a certain airship captain and a navigator from Lanota, there isn’t much for World Ender to do aside from the usual paperwork. But “usual” for him means sitting in place from morning to late night, and even later whenever he has to attend a duel request from Guests. But the point is, he is done with work, and he is more than ready to go and rest from sticking his eyes into those pieces of paper now.

But strangely, he isn’t that sleepy yet, and so he found himself wandering into the garden that Arcana Eden had been taking care of, and lay down on a patch of grass.

He looked up to the sky, head empty: “night” is just a figurative term in Arcaea, where the sky is perpetually white for as far as anyone could see, and the only notable detail aside from that are the streams of Light and Conflict memory shards floating in the sky, ever so occasionally twinkling like the “stars'' he had seen in several memories stored in the castle. 

“Oh? Don’t expect to see you here.” Interrupted by the voice, World Ender annoyingly looked up from his spot. “Ah. Hello, Infinite Strife.” He said as he noticed the girl with a pink rose growing over her eye standing near him.

“Hello hello!” The girl, Infinite Strife, exclaimed, “I thought you would go to sleep at this time?” She asked as she flopped over next to him.

“Don’t feel sleepy, so I figured I should probably visit Eden’s garden for once.” World Ender answered.

“Riiiiiiight, pretty sure this is the first time you’re here since Eden introduced it to us?” Strife noted, before smirking, “I just honestly find it remarkable that our ‘residential sleepy boy’ finally decided to go anywhere but his office or the living quarters.”

“Oh shut it,” He refuted “Isn’t that better than Ms. ‘I work and sleep anywhere but in my own office or the living quarters’?” “No it isn’t!” She denied.

“Yes it is.”

Strife huffed, turning away from World Ender. It was quite awkwardly quiet after that, until Infinite Strife began talking again “...Glad to see that you’re outside enjoying yourself for once.” 

“Whatever you say.”

“I’m kinda serious when I said that, you know?” She continued “It’s pretty concerning knowing that the only places you ever go to is work and sleep… And maybe occasional duels but that felt like a once in forever thing, and we’re basically immortal, Ender!”

“You have to take care of yourself, you know? Things getting too repetitive might make you lose your mind! Common, have we learned nothing from the incident with Ether Strike and Axium Crisis!?” She ranted on, yet World Ender didn’t answer, opting to let the conversation die out by itself. 

After that comment, Infinite Strife turned towards the eternally white sky that he had been looking at. The silence between them now felt much less awkward, and now that she had the time to admire the sky, she had to admit: that though it may not be the most beautiful sky in the Tower, it was more than enough for her.

“Hey, World Ender…” She said, yet heard no reply from her companion. She quickly glanced over to him, only to find out that he had already fallen asleep for god knows how long. “...” She paused in surprise, before softly sighing “Oh nevermind, you need rest anyways.” and returned her gaze to the sky. Soon, she found her eyelids slowly dropping, and she decided to close her eyes for a short while.

…

That next morning, Arcana Eden found herself pausing as she looked at her fellow friends, Infinite Strife, and World Ender, sleeping soundly on a patch of grass in the middle of the garden.

“Well, first time seeing this,” Pentiment commented. “Never expected to see Ender anywhere outside of his office.” “There’s a first time for everything I guess.” She chuckled lightly.

[arcaea-updates]

"What does it mean to 'know'"...?

A fool question that a fool asked.

I know you, Maya, and that your story is "hers": the same.

[umbry-fic]

[Additional] Memory

Summary: [Another] story, of a time that came after the end.

After giving up her heart and her memories to become a true angel, Colette wakes up in a strange world she doesn't recognise.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia, Arcaea Characters: Colette Brunel, Hikari Rating: T Word Count: 4783 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 29/09/2023

Notes+Warnings: This was a fun little idea I've had for a long time. Spoilers for the entirety of Arcaea's main story, and for the Sylvarant arc of Tales of Symphonia. This fic takes place in a mash-up of Silent Answer Ending A and Silent Answer Ending B, long after the events of new Paradise(memory=null). But I think enough context is given here that you don't need to know Arcaea or read the previous fic to understand this one. Though this fic does spoil the previous one! In general, Colette is the main focus here.

Title from Additional Memory by Jin, which heavily inspired this story. (TW for suicide. Once again, I'm reminded how much Ayano is like Colette.)

~~~

Heavy eyelids opened to a blindingly white world.

She gazed at the sky that stretched out endlessly above her - a sky that was searingly bright and utterly empty, unlike anything she’d ever known. Not a cloud in sight, and there was no hint of a sun to be found. Yet there was light, so much that it almost burned, coming from some unseen source.

It took a while of staring blankly, her arms folded neatly upon her chest, hair trapped beneath her back, for a few questions to sluggishly fight their way to the surface of her mind. Questions she pondered, turning over and over in her head as she periodically tried to blink the brightness away. It reminded her of something, but she couldn’t quite recall what.

Where was she? What was she doing here? Who was she to begin with?

It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, it could have been days, that she spent lying there doing nothing but thinking before the memories returned. But return they did, rushing back in a torrential wave that trapped her in its relentless pull, submerging her beneath its wrathful force.

A dying world, fuelled by the pitiful remnants of mana that had crackled and drained with each second that passed. A sacred duty handed down by Heaven, branding her as the saviour of that rapidly deteriorating world, gifting her wings that shimmered in the starlight and stole all of her dreams from her. All those she had met on her journey, the offered hands she had clasped, smiling and praying that they would meet with fortune as she walked steadily towards her own demise.

The people she'd left behind, the shape of them held dear in her heart. The boy with an exuberant grin that had turned into desperate pleas at the end, begging her not to leave as she’d torn herself away.

Colette Brunel choked on nothing as she realised that she was arranged like the dozens of failed Chosens she had seen in the tower, floating and circling the stairs that had led up into the heavens. Silent and serene in death, unable to utter another word ever again. All that was missing was the coffin to complete the scene.

Scrambling to her knees, the illusion of idle silence utterly shattered, she scratched at her neck, at the gold that wrapped around her throat and the red, red, red -

Her nails met soft skin, nearly piercing through in her frenzy. There was nothing there. The smooth surface of the Cruxis Crystal, which she'd gotten used to running her fingers over to pass the long, quiet nights, was gone.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved as she shakily rose to her feet, her tongue tasting like ash, the mana that usually pooled in her back gone, leaving nothing but a void behind. She’d had her wings for less than a year, yet she felt naked without them. Weak and vulnerable in this strange place.

She'd known she would be leaving everything and everyone behind once she released the final seal, but this...

This wasn't Heaven. At least, not the one written about in the scriptures that the priests had always preached about - a paradise born from the kindness of the Goddess, where no suffering could be found and no judgement would ever be meted.

But didn't that mean...

Vehemently shoving that thought away, she set out with hesitant steps.

It would do no good to stay in this one spot forever.

~~~

In her past hours of walking, she had concluded that she was no longer in Sylvarant. Nor was she in Tethe’alla, the place she had once thought of as the moon but had learned was another world lying parallel to her home.

It was a strange world she travelled, what seemed like dust crunching beneath her heels with every step. Devoid of the sun and the moon, the sky itself alive, a writhing mass of what she thought were shards of glass - a roiling sea that refused to be tamed. Everything lacked colour, as if it had been purposely drained, shades of grey smothering every surface.

It was always quiet. Far too quiet. She couldn't be certain whether she'd retained her angel senses, but there wasn't a sound to be heard but her footsteps, the only noise in her head that of her growing panic, doing its very best to claw its way out. There were no signs of life, and she passed nothing but the occasional ruins - buildings that had once been grand but had crumbled to their very foundations.

Professor Raine would have loved it here.

The sudden thought made her come to an abrupt stop, her heart clenching and tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

She was pulled out of her head when a section of the sky fell, pieces of glass breaking away from the flock to approach her, prompting a small gasp to escape her lips. Reaching out with a cautious hand, she flinched when they skirted out of reach, before slowly, slowly floating closer again.

They reminded her, inexplicably, of skittish birds. Like the pair of nestlings Lloyd had rescued from high up in a tree, on a winter morning when she had still been the same height as him, back when their shoulders always brushed whenever they walked side-by-side. The two of them had taken care of the nestlings until the warm winds of spring arrived, heralding the melting of the icicles that clung to her windowsill. At the very beginning, before they’d warmed up to the two of them, Lloyd had constantly gotten his fingers nipped by their beaks. He’d scowled, and she’d giggled and soothed his stinging skin, and -

This time, when she opened her eyes, it was to tears trailing down her cheeks, gasping sobs filling her chest and leaving no space for breaths. Blankly, she registered that the glass had surrounded her, images flickering on their shimmering surfaces, like the strange magi-technology in the human ranches that had reflected impossible scenes on their bright screens.

With how much they swirled around her, it was hard to make out anything from the discordant images. Nothing much - except for a flash of a red sleeve, and the echo of a familiar laugh that wound a string tight around her heart.

She couldn’t help but reach out once more, her hand shaking, even knowing that the cracks in her heart would only spread with each memory she revisited. But then, perhaps it was better this way, that she would be the only one to remember those happy times, now forever shadowed.

Her life had come to an end, bringing the tale of the Chosen to a close. Not the tale of Colette Brunel, for it had never existed in the first place. Her story was one wherein her own existence was forbidden.

Sylvarant would never remember that a girl named Colette Brunel had existed. All that would remain in their memory was the saviour, an angel that would be revered in their history as a blessing delivered unto them from the Heavens. And no matter how much it hurt, she prayed that those closest to her would do the same. That their memories would fade into a dull gray, until it became second nature to brush it aside.

Still, she reached out, straining to reach with her fingertips, desperation flooding her heart.

The shard shot out of reach, and like the fool she was, she stumbled after it. It kept a tantalisingly perfect distance from her - close enough for her to think she could grab ahold of it if she was just a little faster, and far enough that she was forced to follow its strange, winding path, heading for destinations unknown. Even knowing she had sacrificed all of herself to give the ones she loved a chance to create new memories, she still could not bear to let go.

Was this her punishment? Surely she must have failed, must have overlooked some small detail that had caused the ritual of regeneration to come crashing down at her feet, displacing her from Sylvarant and throwing her into this desolate world that found itself with not a single seed of life. She must not have toiled hard enough, must not have carried the weight of the hopes and dreams of the land well enough, must not have…

She must have made a mistake along the way, the fault of which lay entirely with her.

“I can die without any regrets…”

A whisper, mocking her.

What a masterful liar she’d been, able to fool even herself.

~~~

A lone girl clothed entirely in white stood in the silent halls of a grand church, a shard of scarlet red hovering over her open palm. More shards swirled around her, whispering in her ears as they flowed at the edges of her dress, almost as if to lengthen it, to make it trail against the cold stone.

"So she'll arrive soon," Hikari mumbled, paying no heed to the shards and their behaviour. She stared intently into the shimmering surface of the shard of red, almost a twin to the one that had freed her soul from the shackles of lethargic apathy, that she had pressed close to her chest with shaking hands as she’d shut her eyes against the blinding white. Contained within was the memory of the girl whose soul this world of Arcaea had just ensnared. The memory of Colette Brunel - every decision she’d made, every secret she’d kept, everything that defined her and formed the core of her identity.

Normally, she wouldn’t have paid any attention when another lost soul found its way here to live out a second chance. There had been so many, falling through the cracks in the boundaries of this world she had created from a lonely wish. It was not much of a second chance they would encounter, robbed of their memories and unlikely to run into another soul, unable to escape this place that existed outside of time. There was nothing much Arcaea could offer but hollow glimpses of other worlds, other times, other memories where one could only play the role of the outsider, never able to breach the gap. Left to stew in solitude that dug claws into their skin and dragged them downwards, most fell into the abyss of madness, and she cared not to witness their descent. So she turned a blind eye and kept to herself, caring only for her own machinations.

But this girl… She had not truly died, and yet an echo of her had appeared regardless, her memories intact and locked tight in her heart.

Something compelled her to meet with this strange aberration. For she could understand the terrible weight of memories, countless regrets pressing down on one’s shoulders until it buried them.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she could still see Tairitsu’s wide eyes, their light fading as the sword gripped tightly in Hikari’s hand pierced through her stomach. She could still see Tairitsu’s smile, sad and knowing, on every copy’s face as it cracked and shattered on that very same blade, driven into a body painstakingly crafted from glass.

The same events had repeated tens, hundreds, thousands of times. She had long since lost count of how many times she had reconstructed the girl with the curious eyes and a kind smile, how many times she had ended her short life, for Tairitsu never, ever wanted to stay, hand always outstretched towards the truth hiding beyond the horizon. She could not bear to listen to the hatred that would surely twist that sweet voice if the truth came to light, but neither could she bear to never gaze upon that lovely smile again.

It had become routine long ago.

Even then, something in her heart twisted every time her sword found its target.

~~~

An awed gasp left Colette as she craned her head up to drink in the sight of the church before her, the matter of the shard she’d been chasing forgotten for the time being.

It was a massive building topped with an elegant spire that reached tall and proud towards the sky, a far grander structure than the Martel Temple she’d known all her life. It was gorgeous, yet even here, there seemed to be no life to its stone, its entrance dark and cold. Her gaze wandered to the stained glass windows that decorated the top, disappearing around a curve, depicting angels. Perfect angels standing with rigid backs, neatly folded wings and impassive faces, as if they had been sculpted from stone.

Tearing her gaze away from a reminder of all that she was not, she began to cautiously make her way into the church, inching between the piers and melting into long shadows. Approaching the girl that waited at its end, still as a statue.

With each step she took, her heart thundered louder in her ears, sweat forming on her palms, knowing that pale pink eyes were trained on her and had not left her once.

She recognized the madness that swam within them, enough to make her want to turn tail and run. It was not the cruel inferno that had resided within the Grand Cardinals, fuelled by the suffering of others, its tongues licking away at hope until it burned to ash. It was the empty gaze of those that had buckled beneath the crushing weight of despair, a bone-chilling brokenness lurking behind it. Not an inferno, no, but a simmering flame that could easily consume all if allowed to grow.

Not to mention the glass spinning around the girl, an unquenchable hurricane following an unknown rhythm. The shard that had led Colette here had long since disappeared among its fellows, and she had no hope of picking it out from among them. The horde followed the other girl’s every movement, crowning her in glory, as she finally moved. Her white dress swirled around her legs, the strange, sharp contraptions floating by her side snapping into place by her shoulders - mechanical wings that flared behind her.

Here too, in the flesh, were graceful angels, carrying themselves with hardened steel in their spines.

"You've arrived," she whispered, raising her head, a strand of pale hair slipping to rest on the pink rose on her shoulder. "Welcome."

Taking a deep breath, Colette pulled herself upright, certain that every action she took now might determine her fate. This could be an opportunity to learn the truth, to find out how she’d ended up here. Or it could spell her doom once more, the raw power hiding beneath the surface of the other girl poised to explode at any moment.

"Who are you? And… where am I?" she asked, taking care to ensure her voice didn’t shake, the expression on her face smoothing into blankness from years of practice.

“My name is Hikari.” The answer was given to her easily, lips curving into a smile. “And this is a world of memories.”

Memories? Genis would have scoffed and exclaimed the impossibility of everything, yet she was inclined to believe the words fed to her, continuing to search for a single shard among dozens.

“Let me show you.”

That was all the warning she got before an iron grip wrenched her wrist up, those pink eyes now inches from her face. Hissing in pain, she tried to pull away, but was unable to do anything as a single shard shoved itself against her fingertips, a shock of cold slamming into her body.

The world around her warped, greys turning into vibrant green as the heady scent of soil flooded her senses -

The cicadas chirped lazily in the hazy darkness that clung to the space between trees, streaking over sturdy bark and painting them almost black.

Lloyd made a soft sound in his throat when her hand found his, their fingers slotting together as perfectly as they had when he'd first grabbed her hand outside the schoolhouse, grinning as bright as the sun, on the day they’d met.

If she closed her eyes, she could still see the light of the oracle superimposed against her eyelids. Blinding white light that signalled the end of life as she knew it, curtains falling on the daydream she'd lived all this time.

When tomorrow arrives...

"Just so we don't get lost," she whispered, not wanting to disrupt the sanctity of the soon-coming night, the sky still painted with messy strokes of pink and orange.

It was a ridiculous thing to say, a feeble excuse that didn't hold a candle to the lies upon lies she'd already told in the short life she’d lived. She'd walked this path between Lloyd's home and Iselia hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. She could count the exact number of steps needed, knew where to jump over roots that had burrowed through the ground, and knew where to duck to avoid low-hanging branches.

She just didn't want to let go.

Those russet eyes she so loved held a question in them, but he didn't voice it. He only squeezed her hand, his laughter filling the silence, a sound she soaked in, desperate to memorise.

"I won't let you get lost, silly."

She pressed closer to him, savouring the warmth that radiated from his side as they walked ever closer to an ending that couldn't be avoided. Trying to commit to memory the shape of him, unable to bring herself to curse the weakness that had led her to get this close in the first place.

At the end of the path, she told him she would see him again tomorrow, the lie burning her tongue. The words she truly wanted to say stayed locked in her heart, a truth she couldn't divulge for fear of breaking his.

Another promise she would have to shatter.

A goodbye, even if he didn't know it.

The sensations faded as she crashed to her knees, shivering uncontrollably, staring unseeing at what once was a forest and now was the drab floor of a church she’d been standing in minutes ago. Or… What felt like minutes ago. In truth, barely any time had passed at all, Hikari still standing a hair’s breadth away, having let go of her wrist.

It had been so vivid, nothing like her own recollections of precious moments, which seemed so pitiful now. It was like she'd just turned sixteen again, making preparations to leave everything she’d known behind to set out on a journey that she wasn’t certain she would survive. Not yet possessing the knowledge that Lloyd would chase after her, again and again, all the way to the end of her preordained fate.

The words she’d wished so much to say that day were still on the tip of her tongue, and she swallowed them down with the bitter taste of reality, salt stark against her lips.

"This is a world of memories," Hikari repeated as she lowered herself to Colette’s level, the gentleness of her voice sending a shudder down her spine. The shards had come to a complete stop, floating at irregular intervals around the two of them - the calm before the storm. “And I have the power to gift you paradise.”

“Paradise…?”

Naked yearning dripped from her voice, unable to be held back, as her fingers absentmindedly rubbed against the red marks left on her wrist, the physical sensation clashing with the ghostly echo of warmth lingering on her palm. It felt as if her chest had been split open, leaving her heart to bleed all over the floor from its jagged, open wound.

She had once thought that to give up one’s heart until no tears could fall and nothing could bring a smile to one’s face was the worst fate that could befall a person. Yet perhaps it had been a blessing all along, one that had slipped through her fingers. It would mean never having to experience this torment, enough to sunder her heart in two as she witnessed all that she had left behind. From the very beginning, she’d been nothing more than a coward, secretly glad that she would die at the end - for death should have spared her from this.

"It hurts, does it not?" The whispers seemed to come from all around her, despite the fact that Hikari hadn't shifted, her hand raising to cup Colette’s cheek, soaked in tears. The surface of each shard rippled in time with her words, thorns of fear pricking at Colette’s skin at the veneer of kindness presented to her, her breath catching in her throat. "To remember. Those who come here never do. It must hurt, to know that you can never return."

"You can live again," she offered. "I can make a world for you, one where you can be happy, where you will never need to remember all that burdened you in your past life. You have already given up so much. Do you not at least deserve to let go of all that pains you?"

Sitting at a table with a pencil in hand, pondering her math homework as Lloyd snoozed beside her, sunlight filtering through the window and illuminating the dust motes that danced in the air. She nudged him with a shoulder, giggles bubbling from her throat as his only response was to mumble something under his breath. Reaching for her phone, still blowing up with messages wishing her a happy sixteenth birthday, she wondered what tomorrow would bring…

The scene faded slowly this time, bit by bit. The wood of the table, covered in pencil scratches caused by clumsy hands. The sky outside the window, a lovely blue that signified a perfect day. The cosy room, filled with the dreams of a child, whose only consideration for the future was a mild curiosity over what it would bring.

It was perfect - a lovely dream that stabbed yet another dagger into her heart.

“Living a normal life… Isn't that what you've always wished for?"

There it was, the wish she had locked away long ago, the key rusty and lost. A wish she had attempted to forget by surrounding herself with the warmth of her friends. It was tempting, to accept the offer given to her for no price at all, to finally be given a reprieve from the ache deep in her soul. And yet…

She remembered a teacher who had known of her fate, and had done her best to give her a fulfilling life. A young elf who had been unfairly chased from his home, and had displayed such bravery over the course of their journey. A mercenary who never spoke much, but had given her advice on how to weather the angelic transformation. An assassin, who had cared so much for a world that wasn’t even her own.

Most of all, she remembered a boy who had never cared about her role, who had torn through the facades she put up and reached the scared girl hidden beneath.

"I can't." The words slipped out, Hikari’s stare turning frigid as she dropped her hand, shifting away. Perhaps she was sealing her fate, but she couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of her, tripping inelegantly over each other. "I can’t forget what I’ve been through, nor the choices I’ve made. These memories, no matter how painful, are still precious to me.” She shook her head, fingers tightening on the fabric of her clothes. “I don’t want to forsake the truth for an illusion. That would mean dishonouring all the sacrifices that came before me.”

"If this is to be my punishment for not being a good enough Chosen," she whispered, smiling sadly, "then I accept it. I will bear this burden. And I will sin no further by seeking reprieve."

The air itself seemed to turn solid all of a sudden, forcing her prone to the ground with heaving gasps. Above her, shards sliced through the air, faster and faster, until it drowned out all other sounds. She could only watch, words escaping her, as the walls and the ceiling itself unfurled into ribbons of glass, spiralling away to reveal the sky and all that remained of the grand church that had once stood in this very location - broken pillars and scattered rubble.

"You have your wish, then," Hikari hissed, a burning rage erupting from within her that matched the turbulent motion of the shards. "You will not be remembered, and you will never be able to leave. Those precious memories of yours will haunt you for the rest of time. If you so desire to gaze upon the truth, then you may have it."

With a dismissive flick, a single red shard materialised in the air, hovering just within Colette’s reach. She stared at it with wide eyes, watching her own image reflected on its surface.

“May it bring you fortune, Chosen One.”

In the distance, footsteps echoed.

And then there was nothing but blissful silence.

~~~

The truth. What was so appealing about it that people simply could not avert their eyes? It had brought her nothing but pain. To cling to it seemed absurd.

Was happiness not a good enough reason to forsake the truth? Those had been the very words she’d told Tai, over and over again, yet Tai would always find her way to the church, and she would always remember. And she would always die by Hikari’s hands - an inviolable rule of this world, one that she couldn’t bend despite the power she yielded.

The girl she’d left in the ruins of that very same church was similar to Tai, in a way. They had suffered all their life, yet still, they pushed on with a smile, refusing to yield, strength hidden behind soft words and a demure face.

Hikari came to a stop, knowing not where her feet had carried her. It mattered not.

How many days, months, years had it been since she'd first awoken here, surrounded by shards of Arcaea depicting nothing but joy? So much of it that she’d gotten drunk on it, only for it to drive her to the brink of losing herself in its overwhelming brightness.

The girl would shatter, the instant she realised that wonderful "truth". All she had done was for a lie, and in another time, another world, Colette Brunel had already awoken from her curse, clutching a precious birthday present close.

This one was nothing but a copy. Even then, the pain she felt was real. But it was too late to save her. There was nothing to be done but to wait to pick up the pieces.

For now... for now, she would simply make preparations. Her heart sang a single wish, a wish to see that gentle smile framed by black locks once more. She yearned to feel the warmth of Tai’s palm pressed against her own.

She had missed Tai’s embrace so very, very much.

~~~

A few shards of glass remained in the ruins of a church, unheard whispers spreading amongst themselves as they watched the newest arrival - another girl, drowning in grief she couldn’t control. Just as they had watched every other girl, so too would they watch this one, observing the tragedy of her story as it unfolded.

They watched as she reached out with trembling fingers for a singular scarlet shard, hugging it close to her chest. Her grip was so tight that the shard cut into her fingers, causing more red to trail down her arms in a trickling river.

They watched as she raised her gaze towards the sky, perhaps to catch sight of the twinkling stars that had been her companion for many a sleepless night. But there were no stars to be found here, in this strange, alien world. There would be no opportunity to count them, as a gruff voice disguising kindness had told her to do. There would be nothing to refer to as she recounted the stories that had been whispered to her on rooftops, by a gentle boy whose cheeks had been kissed by the cold. There would be no crackling of the fire, no soft breaths coming from Genis as he slumbered next to his sister. There would be no scent of miso soup, still wafting from the thoroughly emptied pot that Sheena had laboured over.

They listened in silence as she began to softly sing, her voice carrying through the air. A hymn, praying for salvation from an ever-benevolent Goddess.

They did not respond, continuing to churn in eternal silence. A song heard by no one, swallowed up by this endless world.

There would be no salvation, now and forevermore.

[hanavission]

lowiro stop making stories end on a cliffhanger only to return with the continuation like months later challenge 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[the-art-in-arthesia-is-loud]

arghena...

you finally found me...arghena...

please...

take me back home.

away from this suffering.

[umbry2000]

I think I have time to edit tonight!!! Yeeee.

Trying to finish this really self-indulgent Colette fic that is also Arcaea-related where no one is having a good time! Hopefully by Wednesday because I suspect Lasting Eden part 2 will be adding to the Arcaea lore again.

[2dkapsddr]

October 5th, 2024 - Arcaea, maimai, WACCA, Chunithm, ONGEKI

finally... the day arrives!!!!! after waiting for so long and trudging through so many lectures that i've had to keep up with at home, the time finally arrived for the elusive arcade event day!!! seeing as i somehow wasn't scheduled for work today (despite it being my last weekend there), i decided to visit the workplace anyway as a customer and not as a worker... and i treated myself to a nice lil' meal before i left to the event!!! ...one that left me Extremely full, but fortunately with enough energy to work on my arcaea backlog, which includes a hard clear on Arcana Eden after sleeping on it for so long!!! with an EX too!!! (literally just cleared it to prove someone on twitter dot com wrong in a comparison to Pentiment, i still think Pentiment is MILES harder especially on thumbs)

alright, but once that was done, it was time to leave for the arcade event and play some of the unique games that i hadn't gotten the chance to play in a while!! starting with the first, rarest, and most unique of all... MAIMAI!!! WITH MY FRIEND!!! WHERE WE BOTH KINDA SUCKED!!! BUT THEN WE PROCEEDED TO SLAY!!!! pretty rocky scores on most of them, but an insane FULL SYNC+ and SSS on RAD DOGS [EXP 10]!!!

after that, i played some WACCA PLUS which was being location tested at the center too!!! it was alright... not great at it, but playing wacca with gloves for the first time was so insanely satisfying and good... a pretty good 980/SSS on Ouverture [EXP 13] too!!!

following this is an even more insanely rare game... ONGEKI!!! been quite a while since i had the chance to play this (5 months since my first play...), but i was back and ready to play!!! ...for just two songs though, it was almost my turn to play maimai after all . yet with the songs i was suggested to play in my very short set, i felt i did... alright i guess?? still a TON of fundamentals i need to learn about this game before i declare myself """decent""", but i'll get there if i put in some more time... but without further ado, here's the two 12s i played!

hopped back into maimai where i got a few Scores that seemed neither good nor bad... but i'd say they were pretty good anyways!!! i even got a color change from green to orange, wahoo !!!!

then, moving on from that to conclude the session, we have CHUNITHM BAYBEE!!! to be frank, this entire session ended much quicker than i would've normally anticipated, but that was mostly because of how Exhausted i was after pumping out the following BANGER scores... like look at all this stuff!!! insane!!! went from 16.01 to 16.09 in a matter of an hour just after finding out acc on 14s was better for rating than S+/SS on 15s!!! (though i Did re-SS a 15 just to Demolish my friend and prove a point www)

and of course, to conclude the day for REAL this time, one last score before i passed out on my bed... that being this INSANE upscore to a 996 on Purple Verse [BYD-10] for a simple arcaea community server challenge... but alas, banger scores are banger scores!!

[redrawthecolorlessworld]

tomorrow is august! august 1st! lasting eden got added into arcaea on august~ and then the next thing you know it'll be september! and do you know what got added into arcaea on september 27th? that's right? lasting eden ch2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and primeval texture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[evilmemories]

read lasting eden chapter one and as always im confused and dont understand what happened i wish arcaea used simpler language augh

[iceslushii]

@marocato your ask made me curious about how many names ive used so i went to try and find as many as i could. the list is kinda long so its under a read more

slushii/icee/ice/rubie (all are oc names. slushii is the only one i still go by and it was the inspiration for my username but there have been some people who call me ice and thats okay :])

aaron (this was the first name i tried. one of my relatives is called aaron so i took that name)

shae (dont know where i got this from. either from a tumblr mutual arlyiahshay or from butyrospermum-parkii. either way i barely used it)

jay (one of the first names i tried out)

evan (from vanossgaming. i still use this name)

seven (was more of a nickname. i only used this to make a 7-11 joke despite me not being american)

mason (around the time a show made by some youtubers i watch called alpha betas released its pilot episode. i like the name and i still kinda use it)

robyn (first long-term name and i think the first name i began using in 2022. this was my main name for about a year; i still like it tho !)

hazel (started using at around the same time as robyn but this one wasnt in use for as long. i recently remembered it existed and now im using the name again)

eli (from elilikesrice, a youtuber who is somewhat associated with the banana bus squad, a group of youtubers i watch. this one didnt last long)

tyler (from wildcat, a member of the banana bus squad. also got it from a friend, who named himself after wildcat)

mizuki, ichika & kohane (project sekai)

max (when i was saving this document, i noticed that one of my files was just called 'names'. i opened it and it was a list of possible names from july 2022. one of the names was max and i had written 'I still kinda use this one but what if I made it a main name'. i dont know when i started using it but i never made it a main name nor did i ever use it again)

neptune (came from an inside joke between a friend and i but i actually started liking the name. it was another long-term name that i still dont mind going by)

eva, eve and ava (none of these lasted very long)

evie/evelyn (evelyn from stardew valley. evie is another long-term name that has, as of right now, remained a long-term name for about 7 months)

kou, kanae, lagrange, eto & saya (all from arcaea. none of these lasted very long)

luna (luna from arcaea and also the song by bombay bicycle club. it was my first favourite song ever and, as a result, it means a lot to me)

phoebe (phoebe twiddle from urbz sims in the city)

emma (emma hatch from the sims 3)

izabelle/izzy & theresa/terri (theresa bullhorn from urbz sims in the city. dunno where i got izabelle from. anyway neither lasted very long)

molly (molly french from the sims 3. ive liked the name for years and decided on using it recently. now its a long-term name)

carter (couldve been my birth name but wasnt)

euonia (a word one of my friends made up)

luka (megurine luka)

rena (member of hey violet)

freya (one of my ocs)

lynn (one of those names that popped into my mind and i went 'oh hey i like that name' and i decided to try it out. the most recent name i had tried out when i made this post)

maya (arcaea's lasting eden side story)

enya (not sure ?)

as of right now, these are most, if not all of the names i have used.

how many different names have u tried out /curious

a lot. i dont think i can list all of em because i dont remember them

[arcaea-updates]

In this storm of revelations,

the clouds of uncertainty scatter,

revealing the sky of truth.

"Severed Eden" has arrived as the first Main Story Pack of a new epoch in Arcaea:

Main Story Act II

Catastrophe

Be unwavering, for Arcaea is changing.

[arcaea-updates]

Arcaea v4.7 brings a new Side Story Pack, "Lasting Eden", with 5 winning songs from the "Imagining After" Contest, a new Partner, and new Story!

She awakens to night. There, distant echoes will light the path.

Follow that path with Maya on 8/18!

[arcaea-updates]

Step into withering light. Gaze at Heaven.

On 9/27, Arcaea brings the Side Story Pack Append, "Lasting Eden Chapter 2", heralding 5 winning songs from Imagining After, and Maya's next Story.

This journey 'twixt night and day is far from over.

[arcaea-updates]

Amidst the night's allure, a dazzling voyage unfolds.

Lift your spirits with 5 electrifying winning songs from the Arcaea Song Contest - 3rd Movement!

The brand-new Side Story Pack, "Lasting Eden", will carry you to new heights on August 18th.