#i can't WAIT to learn more about the party (and Siffrin!) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

storyboard-sketch · 1 month ago

Note

what happened when the two crossover groups had to say goodbye?

This has been sitting in my inbox for a while and.... now I had the energy to do this. While it's not enough to warrant posting on Ao3, you can have this little snippet. @anxiousapplepie

=========

"Hey! Look at that!" That call came from Mirabelle up ahead as she pointed out the spiral of strange colors through which a small town could be seen. "Looks like we found a way out of here!"

"Finally..." You heard Battle-dile sigh, looking relieved that an exit had been found.

"Wolf, what do you smell?" That came from your double, who had been calling you "Wolf" to keep the two of you separate.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath in, taking in all the scents that came from the breeze blowing out of that portal. "....Flowers, bread, and....a sweet smell. But otherwise nothing big to note."

You opened your eyes, you knew that smell.... all small towns in Vaugarde used to smell like that during the time of the King's Curse. Time Craft. It was faint due to how slow the curse was....but it was there. This wasn't your exit. This....wasn't for your family.

"Great, that means we can finally get back on the road properly." The Housemaiden beside you let out a relieved breath and he visibly relaxed slightly. "Let's go everyone, we have a country to save.

As the other team all started to make their way towards the exit, you glanced around at your family members. They all seemed to understand what you had said about what scents you had picked up except Owlbon who needed to be grabbed by Mira who shook her head. That was when Travel Mira noticed your team wasn't following.

"Wait, aren't you guys coming?" She stopped and turned to look back at all of you in confusion.

"Sorry but....this isn't our stop." Sif responded, trying to hide his face under his hat.

"What?!" Chef looked hurt and shocked as he turned around to properly face all of you. "Why not?!"

"Siffrin....we can't." You could hear the pain in Mira's voice as she responded simply.

It wasn't like you WANTED to leave them all. They were family as much as all of you were. The last two days had been so much fun! Living and traveling together, everyone learning so much about each other. But....it couldn't stay that way. You all knew that.

"It wouldnt be a good idea for all of us to come with you into your world." Rekishi explained when all of you were unable to find the words. "While I myself might be alright, the rest of our party are copies of all of you! We wouldn't want people going around asking about such a thing. Besides....you all are a year behind us timeline wise! We can't go having such paradoxes..."

"Shi's right." Bonbon agreed with the eldritch god, the young researcher frowning but...understanding. "It might cause a lot more problems..."

"But....But we don't KNOW that!" Traveler Mira was rather distressed at the idea of splitting the group now. "You guys are so strong! If we had your help...the King wouldn't stand a chance! And I'm SURE we can figure out something for Wolf and Vee! Please..."

"Mira..." Your double seemed to know she was upset but....he likely understood that you didn't have a choice. "It's not something any of us can risk."

She frowned even more at hearing his words, clenching her fists at her sides. Everyone looked upset in fact. Saying goodbye....was never easy... You...didn't want to say it. You raised a hand to your shoulder, tracing the seam where your Housemaiden double had helped you with patching your shirt. You didn't think you had anything you could give to them, nothing to let them know you'd see each other again like how Loop had promised Sif. You had one of Housemaiden's little Change God statues in your pocket, a little travel token. But...you didn't have anything you could give back....unless....

You reached in your pocket, you didn't carry much with you. But you had this, handy for quick patches when it had been new...but now.

"Housemaiden, catch." You tossed him the tiny object and saw him raise a hand to catch the little wooden spool. "It's not much but... it's something that won't cause a stir if anyone else sees it."

It was just a little empty wooden spool. The thread having been used up. There was no markings, no dents, nothing that would set it apart from any other wooden spool. And yet....it meant a lot to you. BOTH of you. You had used it up during this strange event to patch your shirt. It was simple and meaningless to anyone else....but for you, for him, it held the memories of this encounter. You hoped it would bring him some comfort... it couldn't be easy carrying the fate of a country on his shoulders. And with different criteria than what you had known...

"This is...." He was looking at it, seeming to understand.

A strange sound behind you made you spin on your heel, tossing a ball of Rock Craft at the Sadness that had come out of the forest. One of the bad things about this place was that it had gained the Sadness Swarms of Housemaiden's world. There was over a dozen of them creeping out from the trees now.

"A Sadness Swarm!" You heard Travel Mira behind you gasp.

"Go! We'll hold them off!" You called over your shoulder to the other group.

"But--" Chef hesitated, you knew they were looking at the odds you all were faced with but... you glanced back to see the exit had shrunk.

"GO!!!" You heard Sif hiss desperately as you focused ahead. "The portal is CLOSING!!! You guys HAVE to go!"

"But those things are still coming!" Battle-dile had noticed the numbers. "You'll be overwelmed!"

"M'adame....I am sorry for this." You hear Mira say before you heard her familuar roar and felt the heat of a wall of fire behind you.

The Sadnesses had noticed all of you and you saw Rekisi raise her hands to send out a wave of ice across the area. You charged ahead to smash any Sadnesses that had been frozen, it didn't get all of them but it got a lot of them. You raised your gaze to look at the other group across the wall of fire that Mirabelle had put up. You locked eyes with your double who seemed....torn on what to do.

"GO!!!" You commanded, knowing this was hard. "You have a country to save! Don't worry about us! JUST GO!!!"

You saw his expression shift from a stunned state into pain and then he finally managed to tear himself away from watching the fight to turn back to his own team.

"You heard him!" He told his group, instructing them all towards the portal. "Let's go..."

You saw Travel Mira cast one last heartbroken gaze back at all of you before all of them vanished through the strange exit. They had barely reached the other side before it snapped closed. You felt the pain in your heart but couldn't allow yourself to cry. Turning back to the battle at hand, the Sadnesses were still coming.

"Never was one for 'goodbye'...." Odile commented as a sharp slice of Paper Craft carved right through a Rock Type Sadness like butter.

"These things don't quit!" Siffrin complained as he pulled his dagger out of one of the fallen creatures and then immediately focused on another.

"Well....good thing none of us die easily, right?" You cracked your knuckles and put on a smile.

"CAN WE NOT TEST THAT PLEASE?!?" Squawked the owlbear cub beside you, claws pinning one of the smaller Sadnesses.

"Give it everything we've got!" You heard Mirabelle growl, her blade sweeping through a line of Sadnesses. "If that portal reopens! We hold the line here until it's our turn to go home!"

#don't worry the others got to go home a few minutes later #isat crossover #isat isabeau #in stars and time #isat #isat siffrin #isat mirabelle #isat bonnie #isat monster au #isat role!swap au #isat odile #isat au #isat au crossover

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maryonmega · 1 month ago

Text

Long awaited

The party makes it to Bambouche. Family reunion time.

It's time.

Your group decided to do the last dozen meters by foot to not attract too much attention.

You all stand back, allow Bonnie to go ahead, give the siblings some degree of privacy. You even try to stay out of sight of other people to not cause any stirring on a village.

You watch Bonnie run to the front of a house of modest size, and knock. You see a young woman open the door, an anxious look in her eyes.

It's a bit too far to know what's being said, but you watch her expression change in less then ten seconds. You se her eyes widen in disbelief, then realisation, then relief as they fill with tears. You see Bonnie grin ear to ear and open their arms offering a hug, and she doesn't only accept, but picks then up as easily as if they were a baby, but tightly, bending over then like a shielding attempt, even if now they're safer then ever. You don't blame her.

She doesn't let go any time soon, she sits on the steps in front of the house, Bonnie on her lap, both you them with tears treaming down their cheeks, with Bonnie putting more effort on wiping hers than their own. People come to look, but don't step too close. This is their moment.

They're speaking, you can't get what exactly, but you do see Nille check on them in that way caretakers check if anything's hurt, still taking breaks to hug them again.

Then, you see Bonnie let one arm go, and extend to where your group is, and... move their fingers... telling you to join...

You hesitate, and they pout.

"JUST COME!!"

Oh!

It's not as faster or eager a process. It's kind of awkward, to approach such an intimate moment. Nille was a big lady, but still young, maybe younger than Mira. You already had a lot of respect for the lady, but now even more. You can barely grasp being responsable for someone else as is. Just the thought of being it alone, and at your youngers years...

She smiles at all of you, her eyes still full of tears.

"Thank you, for keeping them safe when I couldn't."

Mirabelle gave her a gentle smile, her fingers intertwined.

"We would never forgive ourselves if we didn't."

You know that very well, don't you?

Being thankful is one thing, traveling with her sibling with a group of people she doesn't know is another. That she asked for time with her sibling before making any big decisions is not only very reasonable, but reason to be glad.

It's autumn, not the favorite time for beach activities, even early autmn, but, it's still a beach, and you all will have to wait anyway. There's no reason to not try and enjoy a little bit. It's the reasoning Mira gives. The nervousness in her gaze makes clear what that's really about.

"... Dormont is nowhere near a beach too, so I never learned to surf. Why not when there isn't a lot of people also trying to learn to compare mys- ahn, filling the place?"

You won't comment if she doesn't.

"The House gives surf classes too. I'm not even surprised at his point."

"Oh! You... saw classes in the loops, Siffrin?"

You, haven't talked about that before?

Makes sense, actually. It's not like you could talk while flying, too much wind.

"Well, I can use some time to catch up on books. And you two, anything in mind?"

You can see how Odile looks at Isa just a little bit longer.

You get the feeling that there's some teasing there.

"Of course I do. I just don't want to tell now."

Oof! Blunt! Where did this Isa come from? He sounds cool! And it looks like Odile wasn't expecting that either.

"Of course... How about you, Siffrin?"

"I'll just go with the ride for now."

"Can you come with me for some surfing lessons, then?"

OH!

"Y-yes of course!"

Mira nodded along your response, more serious than you feel like would be due for something so simple.

Did you do something wrong? Did she offer out of politeness? But, would be awkward to pull back now?

You didn't pull back either way.

You think she got nervous before the time came. A talk was pushed back to when she's done with the first lesson. The swimsuit is cute and modest. Fits her.

You enjoy watching her. You do. She has such a determined look on her face.

You watch a larger wave approach, and break, trowing foam all over the people on the shallower areas.

And...

A small, eel-like form emerged from the thick layer of foam, small wings flapping and sending drops in all directions.

Bonbon! You regornizes, even in slightly different shades! Clothes influence the shades?

And then, another form emerges, clawed paws raised. You- You only see the form for a moment, before it wraps around Bonbon and pulls them back into the water, but you can still tell it's Pétronille!

You see her whip to the surface, and throw Bonbon with her tail. They don't try to fly, they hit the water nose first. The movement repeats, then the two stay underwater again. In one, you see Bonbon paddling, trying to get out of Nille's literal claws before going down again, then emerging, flying higher, then by the water again. You watch them boop noses with Nille before all but shoving their tiny body into her arms.

You stand on the sand, and watch. Nille dragging and throwing Bonbon, in a way that reminds you of a lonely dog playing with a toy, but not as rough as one. You know, if they could, they would be laughting.

That first moment was weeping. This one is playful.

And you got to see both.

You'll never forget either.

#isat #in stars and time #isat spoilers #in stars and time spoilers #isat fanfic #in stars and time fanfic #isat au #in stars and time au #Draconic Vaugarde AU

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cyten0 · 4 months ago

Text

A Symphony in Crimson

Act 1: A Movement in Black

Chapter 14

Finally. Back at this storage room. It took a while, you made sure the party got through without a scratch on them. The scent of blood isn’t as bad anymore, you can control yourself, but it still feels horrible to smell, for many reasons.

The ONE thing you nee to do right now is keep them safe, that matters more then anything else, even a drop of blood makes you feel like a blinding failure. What’s the point of all of this if they get hurt? You’ve already failed them before, you won’t let it happen again if you can help it.

It makes them a little nervous, seeing you puppet the sadnesses about, making them flee, or tear each other apart. But it’s fine. As long as they're safe.

This is now YOUR lair, not the kings. And you’ll never let them get hurt here.

But right now, they're trapped here. And it’s past time to fix that. Your family watches as you grab the book about wishcraft from the shelf and flip it open, searching for answers.

◉ “What do you have there Siffrin?”

✦ “A book on wishcraft”

...Oh they probably want to know why your looking into it. Hm.

✦ “… It’s likely how the king got the power over timecraft.”

▲ “Oh Crab!”

◉ “T-That seems important!!”

◆ “Mind if we take a look?”

They can’t read it but they don’t know that. So you just show them the book. As expected, they look at it frustrated, before handing it back.

✿ “Those were bad letters.”

◆ “Honestly surprised you can even read it.”

Perhaps you should go into detail. They might have insights.

✦ “I’ll translate, and explain. Take a seat.”

▲ “Awfully serious huh? “

◉ “Reminds me of the teachers here… I guess that makes this an extra class!”

You nod. Teacher angle makes sense. You’re a little tired to make all the normal expressions, but you’re frankly excited to teach this again! Properly this time!

✿ “Do we have to? I don’t want to do school again.”

✦ “You sure? You’d learn how to do real miracles. But I guess if you aren’t interested...”

✿ “I am now very intepid.”

◆ “Interested.”

✿ “That.”

▲ “Wait, hold on a second, you said actual miracles?”

You give Isa a grin. You have everyone's interest!

✦ “Take your seats, and we can begin.”

They sit down around the nearby table, while you skim the book quickly to make sure you’re ready.

◆ “Very well, professor Siffrin. Whenever you please.”

Alright. Best start with the basics first.

✦ “Now then. Wishcraft is, as the name implies, the ability to craft with wishes. Specifically, it is the art of turning raw belief in a desire into real force by drawing from elsewhere. This is done through any number of rituals, which help translate and amplify your intentions to the stars in the night sky. Then, your will to see it done sways them into granting that desire.”

▲ “The stars? They can do that?”

Ah, you should explain this again. You briefly explain the stars, other worlds, their craft energy, and so on.

◉ “Wow, that’s… So, every time we make a wish, we’re taking from hundreds of other people?!?”

✦ “Billions, but... No, it’s more complex then that. Like I said, We’re also a star to them, and they can draw from us. It’s more like sharing, on such a wide scale we can't tell. But more importantly, it’s normally borderline impossible to draw anything meaningful normally. That’s why rituals need to be designed for this.”

◆ “And what do these rituals involve?”

✦ “I’m glad you asked! Every star has affinities for certain actions, desires, objects, and so on. In order to contact several, you have to find stars close enough to each other that work together. But, since we don’t have a say in what these affinities are, the rituals can get… Unusual.”

✿ “I wanna know one! Tell us, tell us!”

Well, you know one like the back of your hand, so...

✦ “Well then, let’s go for something you’re familiar with. Favor trees.”

▲ “WAIT WHAT!?!”

◉ “THEY CAN GRANT WISHES?!?”

✦ “Yes! They can. It’s not the strongest ritual, but it can work small miracles. Like learning a skill effortlessly, giving good luck, or with strong desire, even stuff like transformations and small bits of magic-like abilities.”

▲ “I-It can’t be as simple as just clapping your hands can it? We would have known by now!”

✦ “Right. Visiting the tree is just one step. The actual ritual goes as such: First find a leaf that represents yourself, whisper the wish into the leaf a number of times significant to you, or just three if you want, fold it closed, and then set it loose in the wind.”

They all just take a second to process that.

✿ “That’s so weird.”

◉ “Kinda complicated. And nothing like what we were taught…”

You feel a little annoyed at that, for some inexplicable reason.

✦ “Hey, designing rituals is tricky. Finding a specific combination of stars that even respond to favor trees took MONTHS of work, and after that you just have to work with what’s available to make something even doable at all. The fact there even IS one is a borderline miracle.”

◆ “No need to get upset Siffrin. It’s not like you designed it.”

… Wait

… Oh. That’s why it’s so clear in Siffrin’s memory. And why you know so much about this from them.

...AND they could tell from your silence.

◉ “...Oh Change.”

✦ “I tried, okay?”

▲ “Hey it’s a good ritual, you did your best.”

✿ “Yeah, but why’d you never tell us! I would’ve totally used it yesterday!”

✦ “...I forgot.”

They have a bit of a chuckle at that. Oh stars, that’s really embarrassing…

Siffrin wanted it to be a gift for their neighboring country. You barely even remembered it. It would have been the perfect thing to share.

◆ “So, these rituals contact the stars. But that leaves me with a few questions. For example, how do they make sure it goes to the wish, and not something else? And what about contradictions, such as if two people wish for opposing things? And also, what kind of ritual did the king use for their powers? Is there a way to disrupt it?”

Huh. You can’t quite remember. But it seems important. You start flipping through the pages…

✦ “Hm… Not getting much. It seems those first few points are handled by something called an Arcanum, but it doesn’t mention much about them. And this book doesn’t actually list many rituals, more just how Wishcraft works.”

◉ “Then we should keep an eye out! I’m kind of invested now!”

✿ “I really wanna know more magic stuff!”

You nod, and everyone gets up. Alright. That’s a new insight! You might have talked a LOT there, but the recap was important, for them and you both. The headache is mild, since you were mostly reading for that knowledge. Worth it.

And it served as a bit of a distraction. The reality of you being in the house suddenly comes back to you in full force. Right. You have to keep them safe till the next book. Now you need to make extra sure you don’t loop until the end, or else you will have to do all that over again.

You walk out the door, and see a sadness. NO. You sing, and it rips itself apart. You stab it for good measure, before the others even get out the door.

◆ “...Gems, that never gets any less unsettling.”

You hear Isa whisper under their breath.

▲ “(Back to cold Sif, I guess… Hope their okay.)”

...Oh. You… haven't been putting effort into being expressive lately, have you…

...It’s fine. Save your energy for the parts that matter. Even if you have to go a bit monster in between.

>>>

Second floor. You ended up having that talk at that diary in the library, and… let them know that that’s where you, and wishcraft come from. It felt important to mention this time.

It was. Nice, how they comforted you afterwards. But, you assured them it was fine and moved on. You can’t accept comfort for that. They’d never forgive you if they found out the truth. No one would.

Still, you made your way to the secret library. And searched the shelves for that book. You hope it has what you need… Perfect!

✦ “Guess what I found! A book on constellations, their rituals, and it has a section discussing Arcanums!”

▲ “CRAB Yeah!”

◉ “Yes! Please, tell us all you can!”

✿ “I wanna know if there’s any magic wish stuff I can do!”

◆ “Yes, if you would be so kind?”

You nod, and start skimming through… Hm. This is rather interesting.

✦ “Okay, so first off, the Arcanum is a construct of sort, that helps focus a specific constellation to our world. But it also says here it… ‘Puts wishes in the hands of the patron star’.”

◆ “What does that mean?”

✦ “Can’t see what this stars name is, gives me a headache trying but… Apparently they act as some kind of. Controlling force? They sort of manage the wishes, make sure they go right.”

Wait, something catches your eye.

✦ “Apparently this involves fixing contradictions, increasing efficiency, and… even merging similar wishes together?”

▲ “Huh. That makes sense. If a bunch of people want the same thing, it makes sense to just bundle it into one.”

… That might be it. Your wish wouldn’t have done this, but if it got mixed into another, bigger wish, then maybe THAT is what’s causing this? But what wish could be doing that… What wish could have enough power to repeatedly turn back time?

◆ “Interesting. Still, if this Arcanum is important to the efficiency, then disrupting it would weaken the king, yes?”

✦ “Maybe? But unless he made it himself, it’s probably back on the island. Still, a wish this intense typically comes with a caveat or two.”

◉ “… Is there a way to check that?”

Hm. That would be useful. You skim through the pages a bit.

✦ “Apparently if we can find an Orrery, they come with ways to trace wishcraft to their constellations. I’ll take the book with us in case we find one, and can cross reference.”

▲ “Sounds like a plan!”

✿ “...Okay, that’s cool and all, but can we get another cool magic ritual?”

Oh yeah, fair, that would be nice! You flip through the pages, seeing if you can find anything interesting...

✦ “Let’s see… Oh, here’s an interesting one. Who here knows how to make a paper crane?”

Nobody except Odile raises their hand.

✿ “...You better teach me, Dile.”

◆ “Sure. Now then, what do you do with them?”

✦ “Apparently, if you successfully fold one thousand paper cranes consecutively, without tearing or damaging a single one, and whisper your wish into each one as you do, on the final one, your wish will be granted.”

◉ “That sounds… Difficult.”

✦ “Maybe, but this is a strong wish! It can do some crazy things. Stuff normally impossible. Like learning a complex skill instantly, Create things from nothing, Gain the power to control the elements, and so on.”

✿ “… I am SO gonna do this one.”

✦ “Interested to see you try! Let me see if I can find another… Oh hey, here’s the favor tree one! Discovered by-”

You freeze in place. That. That can’t be right. You can barely stand straight.

◉ “Siffrin! A-Are you alright?!?”

As you stumble, Isa grabs you. Holds you upright.

That...That was Siffrin?!? You… You killed… You pretended to be… You can’t breathe…

▲ “Sif! Take deep breathes, buddy, in and out, like you always do, come on.”

You-! You-! You…. In and Out. In. And out. In. and. Out.

You're still shaking. You can’t… You absolute monster. You can’t believe….

✿ “What’s wrong Frin? What scared you like that!”

✦ “It-It’s nothing! Just… M-Might have been some backlash from… memory stuff! It’s fine! It’s fine.”

Odile looks at you suspiciously.

✦ “…Just... shouldn't have read about myself... I’ll hold onto the book for now, but I think we’ll save reading until relevant.”

Your family reluctantly accepts, and you start to put yourself together. Those words burning in your mind.

You’d known Siffrin was important, but you never had any idea it was anything more then maybe some notoriety in a field.

If you had known, you’d never have pretended to be him. Masqueraded as him. Dragged his corpse around as a common traveler. Let the scant few survivors you’ve met, even if only in the depths of their subconscious, think that he was still alive...

Discovered by Crown Prince, Siffrin Polaris.

… You really are an absolute monster.

>>>

You are on the third floor. Your family is a little nervous, since you’ve been a little tense since the secret library. And have been taking that tension out on the sadnesses. You’ve started getting a little creative with how you make them kill each other or themselves, and aren’t exactly letting them run away. Or at least, if they do, you make sure they're dead within seconds of leaving line of sight. You don’t let it get in the way though, your family is as safe as always.

Oh. This door.

You’ve seen this odd, star shaped door before, but never gone in. Couldn’t read the text. But. You can now.

The name of the Star Blessed kings shall always be welcome.

… You don’t deserve to say it. To stain that name any more then you already have, by letting this twisted mimicry of it’s last member speak it.

But… There might be something important in there. It feels horrible but...You speak it, barely above your breath.

✦ “Polaris.”

The door opens.

▲ “Huh? Did you say something Sif?”

✦ “Don’t worry about it. Let’s head in.”

You walk in and. Oh! Guess you were right.

✦ “Well that’s lucky. Found our Orrery.”

▲ “Oh, okay! So that’s what that is.”

◉ “Hehe, it’s fun seeing Siffrin be the expert for once!”

✿ “It looks kinda weird. I don’t get it.”

◆ “Agreed. Care to show us how it works?”

You nod, and take a closer look. Even if you didn’t have Siffrin’s memories, mechanical stuff like this is your forte!

✦ “So, it can be used in two ways. The first is to map out how our world looks from the outside in, which is used for a lot of star based things. For reference, this ball here in the center is the sun, and this tiny ball here is where we live.”

✿ “WHAT!! That’s so small!! Why is the sun so big!”

✦ “It's actually scaled down quite a bit. It's much bigger, We’re just really far away from it. If it was accurate, with the sun at that size, the earth would be a pebble, and the distances would make this thing bigger then the entire house!"

▲ “That… Wow. That’s... Way bigger then I thought. I can't even picture that in my head.”

✦ “It puts things into perspective doesn’t it? We’re really just a tiny speck in the scale of everything.”

◉ “It’s a little overwhelming…”

✦ “Really? I find it comforting... Anyways! Let’s move on to the reason we need this… Hm…”

You look around a little bit, find a loose rock frozen in time, and place it against a scanner at the base.

The machine whirrs to life, spinning into the right position, matching when the constellation would be most visible. Then the room grows dark, as a misty circle of shadows forms around you all. You watch as you all go slightly transparent within the crafted illusion, and a series of lights is highlighted against the edge, lines connecting the phantom stars like dots.

▲ “CRAB!!!”

◉ “WHAT?!?”

◆ “GEMS!!!”

✿ “WOAH!!!”

You give them a second to adjust before explaining.

✦ “Look like this ones pretty fancy. Normally it’d just be a projection around it, but this is much cooler!”

You point to the highlighted stars. The whole is overall shaped like a heart with a dagger. There’s a lot of stars in it too!

✦ “There’s the constellation! Let’s see if it matches up to anything in here…”

▲ “This is actually really crabbing cool….”

◉ “It’s really beautiful!”

✿ “I can see through my hands!!”

You search through the book, going through the high power constellations first.

✦ “Oh, yeah, here it is, let’s see if there’s a caveat or something… Oh… That’s…”

◆ “Hm? What is it?”

This… Dear goodness. You knew the king was insane but this is just…

✦ “I’m going to give a warning ahead of time and say this ritual is… Gruesome. The king is clearly messed up to even attempt this.”

The others take a pause, look at the constellation, and nod. You take a deep breath in, and out.

✦ “Take a piece of iron. Mix your own blood, freshly spilled, into it’s metal every day for one hundred days. Then, on the one hundredth day, forge it into a dagger, and then pierce your own heart. Should you survive unaided from dawn till dusk, without removing the blade, it will fuse into your heart. So long as the blade remains and your heart still beats, you will be given the power to see your wish granted.”

…

Your family is left speechless.

◆ “...Gems alive…”

◉ “That’s horrible!”

▲ “How desperate was he?”

None of you know what to say to that.

✦ “… Guess that means killing him really is the only option.”

◉ “I… I guess.”

✿ “… But we know it’ll work, right?”

!?!?

✿ “I-If the magic stuff only works while his heart's working, then when he’s dead, it’s gonna stop, right? Everything will go back to normal, right?!”

Bonnie is on the edge of tears.

◆ “I… Yes, Boniface.”

✦ “Yeah. It will. And… If they're willing to go that far, then we don’t need to feel bad about it. Someone like that… Would kill to get his way.”

You know that from experience…. Can still remember how they…. You look at the constellation on the wall. Such a twisted ritual. But…

✦ “It says here… that this ritual was once used by the most loyal knights, dedicated to protecting the world itself. Only those willing to risk everything for the people. To bleed and die for the ones they care for..."

A faint memory scratches the back of your mind. Someone you looked up to?

✦ "It’s sick, seeing him twist something like that into this.”

Mirabelle looks at you, determined.

◉ “… We’ll put and end to it.”

...Monsters, twisting what few bits remain of your home into nightmares. The King. And You…

You’d best check your own wish, while you’re here. You place your hand against the monitor. And the device shifts and spins, highlighting the favor tree constellation. You suppose your wish IS involved then. But…

◆ “Checking your own wish, hm?… Why does it look… Cracked, I guess?”

It does. The stars and it’s patterns are leaving cracks on the display. They're also far brighter then it should be. That means it’s likely under considerable strain. Could be a result of the wish going wrong.

But more notably, the stars at the center seem the most strained, and no other stars are highlighted at all... Which means...

The wishes bundled into yours were also done at favor trees. Otherwise, other stars would have been at least somewhat highlighted. And the favor tree isn’t a strong constellation. To pull this kind of power from it, so focused, it would take an absurd amount of will. Which means it was done by many people. But what wish...

✦ “No idea. Still, that’s enough for now.”

That’s a lead to look into. You turn the device off, and the illusion fades.

▲ “Guess we learned a lot, huh?”

◉ “… We did, Didn’t we? Thank you Siffrin.”

You nod. You’re glad they were here to help with this…

But what now? You guess you need to figure out what people wished for at the favor trees. See if you can find a consistent theme, something that would work.

You guess it’s time to head to Dormont… You lead your family out of the room first though. You don’t want to die in a room like that.

◆ “...Before we go any further, Siffrin... Is there something you aren’t telling us?”

Huh?

▲ “Madame?”

◆ “You’ve been acting off since yesterday, have known how to navigate the house nearly on instinct, and clearly have far more understanding of the king and his methods then beforehand. I doubt you learned this Sadness control craft overnight, but it’s not the only thing that’s off. So. Mind telling us what’s happening?”

✦ “… Don’t worry about it, it’s fine.”

◆ “… Oh really. So, you’re not dealing with any timecraft yourself, HM?”

Oh. Oh no.

◆ “I had my suspicions for a while, but the way your wish looked back there practically confirms it. You’ve established that Wishcraft can alter time, and you’re practically an expert on that field. If anyone could craft a wish that could turn it back, it would be you.”

◉ “H-Huh?!?”

◆ “Which would explain a lot of things. Your sense of calm, even to traps, your knowledge of where each key in the entire house is, and several other things. How else would you know all this, unless you’ve done it before?”

▲ “That… would explain some things.”

◆ “I don’t mind secrets, but this is VERY important to us. And the fact it looks damaged means that something is wrong, correct? You even admitted a favor tree wish couldn’t do that. But Clearly yours wasn’t normal. So tell me. What. Is Happening?”

… Blind it. She’s angry again. Of course she is. You’ve kept them all trapped here for so long. You greedy monster. This is all your fault. It’s YOUR wish that went wrong.

✦ “… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to trap you all here….”

The others react in surprise, as you confirm her suspicions. And you turn towards a nearby tear.

✦ “...But it’s alright. I’ll fix it soon. And you won’t have to remember any of this.”

◆ “What?!?”

You unfurl your body, grabbing the tear before they can react.

《《《

…Blind it all. You HATE them being upset with you. You KNOW you messed up, seeing them also be upset at you is horrible. You’ve turned this final adventure into a horror story for them.

But it’s fine, right? You’re a very gentle monster. You won’t hurt them. You just need to help them out before you can’t keep up the lie. Then their story won’t be tainted. Then they can have their happy ending, never fearing the monster they escaped.

You just need to fix this, and it will be alright. You just need to fix this, and then they’ll be safe.

✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸✸

Oh, dear researcher, too clever for your own good~ But it doesn’t matter! This whole terrible affair will be over soon.

… Royalty, then? You guess that make sense. Where else would you have gotten the ability to summon something like yourself? Probably stole that power from his corpse in your gullet, back when you were Stardust. A power like that could only be used by those blessed by the red star.

… Hm. A little input from your patron. How interesting~ Guess that confirms it!…

You wonder what kind of nation it was, for their kings to have craft as bloody as that. Combined with that ritual Stardust found, and you’re getting the impression your former home had a turbulent history.

You guess it makes sense if you and Stardust came from there! Where else could such abominations be born?~

...Not that it matters in the end. You both are getting close. Close to finding the answer to this issue. Close to the ending. You can feel it.

#in stars and time #isat #isat au #carrion!sif au #SymphonyInCrimson!au #The threads start to unravel #revealing the truth #A very informative chapter! :3

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