Watching Ball make a cape doesn't make any sense. Stuff just spawns out of nothing? And Ball doesn't even work, just with a touch it makes a shape. It has fluff at the top where it rest on the shoulders. And the cape is cobalt with golden scribbles.
"Ball, how did you do that?" After Ball puts the Cape on me, heat comes. Followed by Cold. Reaching to look at the cape, Ball put fancy symbols on it. Glowing. Is this a cold spell? Ball doesn't answer. Ball hasn't spoken since we met.
[Notice: Entities with access to the System gain the Inventory Function. You can currently store two Objects]
"How do I upgrade it?" I pick up a stick, waiving it in the air. How do I put it in?
[Notice: You can store two objects per Dungeon Level. In order to store a object, think Inventory while touching it]
I drop the stick, nodding. Well, looks like Ball just wants to finish the Gate. Gonna make walls too? Looking to Z, Z also focuses on one thing at a time. Should I do that? Okay! I stand over by Cecil and reach down to set one of the Bowls on the Grave.
"What are you doing?" Cecil sounds as if having been claimed by Demons of The Heart, maybe even the Mind too.
"I'm preparing for the ritual! You take bo-" ???? Everywhere my eyes can see. There is not one bowl. Didn't I make some? I was carrying them. "Have you seen my bowls Cecil?"
Cecil stares for a moment before turning back to the grave. "I wasn't watching... Sorry."
I huff, putting my hands to my sides. I'll have to cheer up Cecil later. All Guest should be happy in The Garden.
Over by Z I don't see anything either. "Z, where did I put my bowls?"
Z's head tilts, looking all round before to me. "You have bowls? You arrived empty handed."
Huh? ... Well, Mother always said to look through the path already treaded. Back I go! All the way to the stump that became ashes. Not a single anything. Only tracks are mine. No bowl tracks or even a little paw! The ashes are still here so I didn't just pretend.
"System! Did I make bowls?"
[I sure watched you make some]
"Where are they?"
[The System is not permitted to provide such aid]
"Why not?"
[Your trials are your own. You cannot use the System to cheat]
Right! I'll do it myself then. I sit down in a cultivation posture. The Garden belongs to me. I only need to search it. For nothing could hide from Father & Mother inside. I can do the same!
As I'm about to spread my Ki through this place, I feel a tap on my shoulder. Turning. There is a hand, along with a little bit of an arm. Dressed in thorns. The Bowls I made floating above it. I take each, one at a time. After, the hand is gone.
"What was that?"
[Notice: This forest has existed for megaannum. Perhaps find a historian to learn of your new home?]
"Hmmm... I do need a Dào Shī. Oh! Maybe Inky knows. I should get back!" To the graveyard I go.
Ball is done with the gate again. I thought it looked good before but now it looks more royal. Or... Ball isn't done?
"Ball! We have stuff to do. You can finish the gate later. Besides, graveyards are outside, not inside. Where are you gonna put the door?" Ball reacts as if it is distraught. Given knowledge it didn't know.
"Cecil, could you get water? Ball! Make a bucket." A simple thing, a wave of the hand. A log turns into a bucket.
Cecil looks to me, a smile. Somber. "Sure." She takes the bucket. Filling it with snow without taking a step. She whistles, a squirrel climbs onto her shoulder. It's fur igniting, melting the snow slowly but surely.
I set up the bowls. One for each grave. Two humans, one animal. There's candles?
"You set up candles?" Cecil says from behind me. Looking over the scene.
"No. They just appeared." I pick up a stick. "I think we have a ghost."
Cecil sets the bucket down next to Mark's grave. "Ghost are real? I don't think so."
"The Garden had plenty of Yokai before. Aren't those Ghost?" Cecil sits back down in her spot, petting the squirrel in her lap.
"I don't know what a Yokai is." Are they not a thing here?
"How did the Dào Shī describe it... I don't remember. What is a ghost?" I sit next to Cecil.
"A Ghost is a dead person walking again. But Ghost aren't real. The dead are gone. If there's something there, it's not what we dream to be a ghost." Cecil tone speaks of reflection. A story I don't know. What did the system say? Why care about a story you don't know? I feel like Mother would hate such a thought. But I know not the answer yet.
"The dead cannot rise again. And if they do, it's a puppet, or nothing more than a corpse. Jiāngshī." Perhaps they were just stories. I don't remember ever seeing a Yokai.
[Notice: The Dungeon Administrator has set up an event! Funeral Rites: Starting in one minute]
"Well!" I stand. Looking to Cecil. "It's time! The Guest are here." Just as the sun says goodbye, the moon rises.
The people Inky brought. One is a girl. Younger than Cecil. Bigger than me. She's also blonde. But one of her eyes is black and white. With a fish swimming around inside. Inky atop her head.
The other is a boy, same height as her. Are they the same age? He is very boring. Short black hair, green eyes. They're both wearing very simple clothes. Like the normal people back home.
Cecil approaches. Standing before them, she's grabbing at nothing. Did she hold her arm when she was troubled before? Z sits next to me.
"What do you think?" Z asks. I look around, Ball is gone.
"It is not the bosses job to eavesdrop. I don't think anything about them." After a small pause. "That guy looks lame though."
"The outside is certainly plain." Z brings me closer to the gravestones. Using his paw to ignite each candle one by one.
"Where did Ball go?" And where did Inky go?
"Perhaps something happened that requires Ball's attention?" Z doesn't sound worried.
"We should fight trouble together. The Bosses work together." I hear yelling behind me, turning to glance. The girl is crying. Cecil is grabbing a spot where her arm would be.
"Working together is hard with such a distance between your strength. No matter the teamwork, if one outbalances the other to such a degree. It simply won't work." I was taught otherwise.
"In The Garden. Mother said no matter the strength, true unity will always produce results."
Z chuckles. "You'll need to do a lot more bonding for such a union. Do you even know Ball's favorite food?"
"Does Ball even eat?" Z looks back to me, his tail shaping a question mark.
"Good question. I've never seen it." Have I even eaten yet? Is my Ki sustaining me? That's bad. I need to eat.
The boy walks between us, setting flowers down on both graves.
"I didn't really trust Mako." The boy looks to me, gazing straight into my eyes. This one is resolute. "Why did you kill them?"
"They declared themselves enemy of The Garden. Enemies die." Why does anyone kill anyone? This land is strange.
"Why is Cecil still alive then?" Another silly question.
"I lost. Ball won. It is the honor of the victor to decide the fate of the loser. Ball didn't kill Cecil. So she is free. The battle is over. The sin was solved. Cecil isn't an enemy anymore. A simple guest." The boys smiles to my answer.
"I can get behind that I guess." He returns to Cecil and the girl.
"Z. Is it really normal for you to be talking?" They don't seem bothered by it.
"I don't know. I've never seen a animal speak the human tongue before." Right. Z has only ever lived here. I guess the three people behind me are ready to get this over with.
I fill a cup with water, holding it over the bowl marking Mark's grave.
"There a those whom on their path to summit cast off their honor. A burden they cannot bear." A drop of water into the bowl. The world around ripples at tune with the drop. Faded visions of countless people appear all around. The Garden of the past.
"At the end, among them there are those who will cast themselves off the summit." A steady stream from the cup flows into the bowl. Flower buds sprout throughout the grave. A song begins to play. One that seems to resonate with Cecil.
"And thus. In Death. Become honored." The flow stops. The flowers bloom. A field of beautiful purple. Accompanied by butterflies of all colors. I've never seen this before. But this Garden is mine. I know it all the same.
"Lavender. Lavandula Angustifolia" I set the cup atop the stone. I go off and sit nearby. Watching them look among the patch. I'll use this time to cultivate. Until they leave. Sleep claims me before I can properly begin.
"Fish." Z wakes me. "The Guest have left." Ball is back too. Making a target board.
"Cecil is still here." The Guest have not left.
"I... doubt she will leave anytime soon. Tell me what you see. You will understand." Cecil is one who didn't know what she was until she wasn't. Nor what she had till it was gone. We both are at the same place on the path. Fallen, to take the first step again.
I approach Cecil. Reaching up to pat her head.
"Life and Death are the same thing. Cast off the demons plaguing your heart and mind." I sit next to her.
"We need only smile."