Heart Game: Sol [#01]

[idolpro]

Note: please be as cryptic as possible regarding any specific actions your character takes when discussing them in the game channel to avoid influencing everyone else!

Comments

[bluerosestyle]

[ftr, the goblins are dissolving into particles of light as they speak! he looks down at his leg, then back at the goblins]

Mm, I can heal this much. This place should still have enough spatial resources for it. But I thought we might need them to fight, so I didn't want to spend them all yet.

[sleeplessknight]

Spatial... resources?

[sleeplessknight]

—Ah, wait!!

[brb, running back to try and find... the food from before, sob]

[bluerosestyle]

[The food is still where it was! I hope you wrapped everything very carefully.

Anyway, Eugeo watches from afar... ???]

[sleeplessknight]

[well, the cider wasn't wrapped or anything, but everything else was, so she picks it up and returns with it]

H-Here! I'm sorry! I can bring more cider in a second!

[bluerosestyle]

Cider? There's no need, I have enough water for b--





Eh? What's all this?

[sleeplessknight]

Bread and meat skewers... there's some kinda party going on?

[bluerosestyle]

Ah, that must be for the Tree of Life festivities... Since the tree became like this, they've been holding a party every night before a rest day.

[are you coming back? If you are, you'll be able to see a key lying on the floor where the goblin's body used to be! It's glowing in a light blue color.]

[sleeplessknight]

[yes, she was planning to sit with him again...

picking that up first, tho]

And you never go to the parties?

[bluerosestyle]

Item: Door Key

I went once or twice, but it felt wrong to be there. My duty is here, and besides... they don't like me very much. If I'd come back with Alice, maybe...

[sleeplessknight]

[glances at the key in her hand for a moment, but no... first this]

Who is Alice?

[bluerosestyle]

She was my childhood friend, and the Village Elder's daughter. One day when we were children, we went to the End Mountains to get some ice, and she fell down... Her hand crossed the border and touched the Dark Territory, which is prohibited by the Taboo Index.

The following day, an Integrity Knight came to take her away, never to be seen by her family or friends again.

[sleeplessknight]

What...? Just because she touched that place?

Where is she now?

[bluerosestyle]

I left the village to look for her. Kirito and I found her years after, but she was... changed. She didn't remember me at all. That's what they do to all Integrity Knights-- they change their memories to ensure loyalty to the Church.

So in the end, I couldn't save her. The Alice I knew was gone forever. I hope the person she became as an Integrity Knight is still alive and well, but there's no way I'd know.

[sleeplessknight]

[oh no...]

—But none of that was your fault!

[bluerosestyle]

[soft sigh. are we eating?]

If I'd defied the Taboo Index on my own, who knows... But I didn't think that was possible before Kirito helped me fell the original Gigas Cedar.

[sleeplessknight]

[he should eat!!!

glancing at the tree over there, like, ?????]

[bluerosestyle]

[he wants you to eat too :\ gestures at the food, eating alone is sad]

That's the Tree of Life. It's not really the Gigas Cedar, same as I'm not really alive, you know?

[sleeplessknight]

W-W-What?!

[bluerosestyle]

The Gigas Cedar was an enemy of the village that everyone wanted gone. What you see here is a demon tree just like the Gigas Cedar, but it's what is keeping me and everyone here "alive" now, as long as I fight and betray everyone I care about over and over again.

That's why I have to cut off most of the branches. It's not ideal, but it's all I can do.

[sleeplessknight]

What? What?!

[bluerosestyle]

[laughs]

It's fine if you don't get it... I can't really make it clearer than that.

[here, have some water!]

[sleeplessknight]

[takes it but doesn't drink]

What are you talking about?! Who are you betraying or fighting?! That's just wrong!

[bluerosestyle]

Yeah. But it's true. I'm always fighting my unitmates, and betraying myself by hurting others.

[sleeplessknight]

Stop hurting yourself!