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eee-isat-au-blog · 11 days ago

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Encore Et Encore: Act 1, Chapter 1: Terminal Velocity

Full Game Spoilers for In Stars And Time, including Twohats!

CW: Mentions of death, Vauge references to suicide, Vauge references to allergy related death, Mental spiralling, Brief panic attacks

Siffrin walked. In what direction, he couldn't tell. All around him was lightless, he could've been walking inside out for all he knew.

Oddly, the lightlessness of the void around him didn't seem to translate to himself. He looked down and was able to see himself as if he were in…

He struggled to find the right mental analogy. A sunny field? That worked well enough. Regardless, the point was he was brightly lit in shades of darkless.

Wait, why was he thinking about the color of his robe or whatever?? Where was he right now? He racked his brain, trying to think of the last thing he remembered.

Right. He died. Come to think of it, he knew this place was familiar. Back when he was in the loops, he always hovered here for a moment before looping back. But this.. this death was different. What was it? He was with his family, he remembered that much.

...Oh.

Old age, huh...? He was surprised he'd died before Odile… looking back on it, the loops definitely played a part in that… Welp. Not a bad way to go out, surrounded by your family, after living a long happy life.

What to do now, though? Was he just meant to wander this void forever? Stars, this wasn't going to be fun.

✦: "You could say that again, stardust~"

...Huh?

Was that..??

✦: "The one and only~"

The voice snickered, as if what they said was a joke.

Siffrin whipped their head around, and who else do they see standing in the void but Loop, holding open their arms in a welcoming gesture. Loop was here?? He guessed that made sense, they were both Siffrin after all. Seems eternity in the void wouldn't be so ba-

He cut himself off. To his surprise, he had jumped into Loop's arms to give a hug, that they returned. Something was wet on his cheek, that checks out, he was crying, after all.

✧: "Oh, Loop, you don't even know how much I've missed you!"

✦: "Heh, you're giving me a pretty good idea of it at least, stardust~!"

He pulled back and wiped his eye, still sniffling.

✧: "Where are we...? Is this where you went after you disappeared?? Oh stars, I'm so sorry-"

✦: "Ah-ah-ah, none of that now~! I believe there's someone else who wants to talk with you."

☄: "SO GLAD YOU COULD JOIN US, SIFFRIN."

A voice spoke loudly in Siffrin's head, as if his own brain was a speaker. From the look on Loop's face, seems they heard It too.

They both turned to where Loop was standing in front of. There was a figure Siffrin hadn’t noticed before. …or maybe It didn’t want to be noticed before.

The figure was… large. Or maybe they were very close up? Siffrin couldn't tell. They wore a long cloak, not unlike his own, but instead of the simple darkless of his, the figure’s cloak was like that of a galaxy, constantly swirling and moving around their lower body, with stars and lights occasionally twinkling among the…. colors.

The colors? Right, he remembered seeing one of those “colors” when he turned on his friends all those years ago. But these… these were different. Unlike the near death experience met with confusion like last time, this time he immediately understood them. The blues, the greens, the yellows, all of it woven within the tapestry. Woven within the figure Itself.

Looking up to where the figure’s head would be, what sat atop the shoulders was… an abyss. An abyss with a singular eye dead set in the center. A lightless orb with pure light swirling around to resemble a long hat, and shaggy hair. It looked familiar.

It looked like him.

Something about that made Siffrin finally realize that he looked the exact same as he did back during the loops. Not old anymore, looking as young and dumb as he did when that rock first crushed him.

He started to panic. Was he gonna go back again?? He couldn’t, HE COULDN’T!!

He felt two hands on his shoulders. Looking up, he saw that one belonged to Loop.

✦: “Stardust, look at me, it's ok..! You aren't going back…” The look in their eyes seemed to tell otherwise.

The other hand belonged to the figure. One of Its hands held his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It helped a bit.

☄: “MY APOLOGIES FOR THE CONFUSION.”

It spoke in Its booming voice, unaffected by any laws of physics. Siffrin had a feeling It’d sound the same no matter where he was in this void. The figure put all 3 of Its hands to Its chest, they floated aloft, not attached to any limbs, and none of them seemed to be right-handed or left-handed, somewhere in between.

☄: “ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. IN A WAY YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.”

One hand gestured to Siffrin.

☄: “YOU ARE THE TRAVELER.”

One hand gestured to Loop.

☄: “THEY ARE THE STAR.”

The final gestured to Itself.

☄: “I AM THE UNIVERSE.”

Siffrin stepped back hearing that, and Loop did the same to match. This being... that looked like him... was the universe?? Loop didn't seem nearly as surprised.

☄: “PLEASE, STEP FORWARD. I WISH TO DISCUSS WITH YOU.”

Both Loop and Siffrin stepped forward again. Loop didn’t look happy.

The Universe

spoke.

☄: “THE LOOPS. A TRAGIC CONSISTENCY, NO? OUR OWN INSECURITIES HAVE DAMNED US TO ADVENTURE.”

Siffrin looked up at the figure, confused. It paused, then held Its hands up.

☄: “I SEE. LET ME SHOW YOU.”

All three hands snapped their fingers, and Siffrin saw as the void around them showed… versions of himself. Some with slightly different clothes, some with slightly different party members, some with their own versions of Loop, some without, all trapped within their own loops.

Crushing. Crying. Slipping. Slicing. Choking. Freezing. Losing.

Dying.

Siffrin’s face turned to one of horror. A face The Universe seemed to have memorized all too well.

☄: “I WAS THE FIRST, YOU KNOW. THE FIRST TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS. MY MISTAKES CAUSED A RIPPLE EFFECT UPON THOUSANDS, MILLIONS, BILLIONS OF SIFFRINS. IT IS A CURSE TO BEAR. BUT IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO ASSIST EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM.”

What...? The Universe Itself was one of you too...? Then why...

✧: "Why even put us through the loops?? Why torment us like this???"

☄: “...THINK OF IT LIKE SO.”

☄: “IT IS THE NATURE OF THE GAME.”

☄: “WIN ONCE, AND TIME SHALL FLOW AGAIN.”

☄: “YOU WILL NOT START YOUR QUEST ANEW.”

☄: “YOUR BODY FREE FROM SCARS.”

☄: “YOUR MIND HEAVY WITH THEM.”

☄: “THE ONLY WISE ONE IN A WORLD FULL OF FOOLS.”

☄: “MANY HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THIS MESSAGE. TO MEAN THEY MUST BEAT THE KING. I CANNOT BLAME THEM FOR THE CONFUSION. BUT AS YOU KNOW, THE KING WAS NEVER A FACTOR.”

☄: “WHEN PLAYING A GAME, THE GOAL IS TO WIN. BUT IT IS THE GOAL THAT IS IMPORTANT, NOT THE WINNING. TO WIN IS TO OPEN ONESELF TO YOUR FAMILY.”

☄: “THE UNFORTUNATE PART IS OUR EQUAL STUBBORNNESS.”

Siffrin looked around, wide-eyed at all the other versions of themself, eventually meeting eyes with Loop, who looked away uncomfortably.

✧: “...Aren’t there any that have escaped besides me and Loop?”

The Universe snapped their fingers again, cutting the ethereal ‘footage’ to be replaced with an equal amount of different siffrins, living different lives, but all are happy with their family. The ones that got away.

☄: “THERE AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF SIFFRINS THAT HAVE ESCAPED THEMSELVES AS THERE ARE ONES CHASING THEMSELVES. THOSE ESCAPED, THOSE TRAPPED, ALL TRAILING OFF TO INFINITY. SOME OF THE FREE ONES ARE WITH THEIR LOVED ONES, SOME ARE DEAD, AND HAVE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH ME BEFORE.”

Loop felt Siffrin’s heart sink in their collective chest as he spoke.

✧: “B-but why tell us all of this?? Why make it feel like we can’t escape??”

The Universe

was silent

for a moment.

☄: “YOU MISUNDERSTAND. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO DISCOURAGE YOU. THIS IS MEANT TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR CHOICE.”

✧: “My choice…?” Siffrin spoke in confusion.

✦: “His choice…??” Loop parroted the statement.

☄: “NO, THIS IS A CHOICE FOR THE BOTH OF YOU TO MAKE, INDIVIDUALLY. YOU CAN PART WAYS HERE, OR YOU CAN CHOSE TOGETHER.”

The Universe held out two objects in two hands, with Its third at Its chest.

One object was an orb shaped star, sparkling in Its grip.

The other was a crystal ball, displaying…

The Island. It was populated by various different Siffrins and Loops all wandering and waving at each other like a community. The land was rich and colorful, oh Stars above, it was all coming back to him now.

[image of the universe holding the two options]

☄: “I SHALL STATE THIS PLAINLY.”

☄: “YOU CAN CHOOSE TO START AGAIN, ASSISTING ANOTHER SIFFRIN IN THEIR JOURNEY BEFORE MEETING ME HERE AGAIN TO CHOOSE ONCE MORE.”

☄: “OR YOU CAN CHOOSE TO QUIT THE CYCLE, LEAVING YOUR LIFE BEHIND AND JOINING THE FREED IN THEIR PARADISE.”

Siffrin felt a tug on his throat, he resisted the urge to start bawling.

Loop took a moment before kneeling down to get on eye level.

✦: "Stardust. It's gonna be ok. Breathe with me." They both breathed in, and out.

✦: "I'll be with you no matter what, ok?" Despite the lack of a mouth, Siffrin could tell Loop was smiling reassuringly.

After a moment, Siffrin pulled back, looking up at The Universe.

And reached out his hand.

#encore et encore #in stars and time #in stars and time au #isat spoilers #isat siffrin #isat loop #eee loop #eee deloop #isat the universe #eee eve ruins

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