Dang, last night was wild. Who woulda guessed that the culprit behind the missing students was the head librarian, of all people?
After I spotted him kidnapping Claire and Alexia, I saw him tie them up amid that weird fog. Gotta say, that's pretty creepy.
It's fairly obvious the guy was a deviant. Despite being conflicted about his own nature, though, he wasn't able to bring himself to stop.
Everyone's got their own raison d'être, but when those goals run contrary to what society deems acceptable, people are forced to make a choice. They can follow their hearts, or they can snuff out their dreams.
I fall into the former camp, and so did he.
The fact that the mastermind behind the disappearances was just a pervert doesn't quite play into my whole shadowbroker narrative, but there's no arguing with the cold, hard facts.
When morning comes around, the academy is swarming with people from the Knight Order. I assume they're investigating the whole librarian situation.
"Huh? Is that who I think it is?"
There's a dark-haired girl trudging past the knights with her head hung low.
"Yeah, that's Claire all right."
It's always a massive headache when she spots me, so this is the point where I'd normally go hide, but it seems like that won't be necessary today. Doesn't look like she's gonna be noticing much of anything like that.
"Hum-dee-dum, dum-dee-dum." I hum an idle little song to myself and bask in the morning light.
There I am, a perfectly unremarkable student.
The question is, how should I react when I "find out" about the librarian? Should I go for the classic background character freakout, or should I tremble in subdued fear?
As I'm trying to make up my mind, I walk past my sister.
"Hold it right there." She catches my collar in a vise grip.
"H-hey there, Sis. You noticed me?" I turn around to find her glaring daggers at me.
"Of course I did. You got anything you want to say to me?"
"G-good morning?"
"Good morning, Cid. Anything else?"
"Not, uh...not that I can think of," I reply after pondering for a moment.
I'm trying to remember if there was anything I needed to talk to my sister about, but nothing springs to mind.
"I'm depressed, Cid."
"Oh."
"My shoulders are slumped, and I look listless."
"Uh-huh."
"I would think that there's something any good brother would say to his sister at times like these."
"Uh..."
I allow myself three seconds to think.
"You look down. Is something wrong?"
"…You pass. But just barely."
"Just barely?"
"You need to be more worried. Also, you need to intuit what's wrong from the get-go."
"I think you're setting the bar a bit too high."
"Still, it sounds like you're curious, so I guess I can tell you."
"I don't think I ever said I that was—"
"You're curious, right?"
"Oh man, I'm totally curious!" I say as Claire wrings my neck.
"It's too noisy here, so let's find somewhere else to talk."
"Uh, what about getting to class?"
"School got canceled today." Claire turns and looks back at the school build-ing. "The head librarian died."
I decide to respond to her hushed reveal with shock, just like any good background character would.
<<•>>
I'm sitting in the fancy parlor and leisurely drinking my milk tea.
Apparently, this is some sort of special room where only big shots are allowed in. I have no idea why they let a backwater noble like my sister in.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you any details. I don't want you getting dragged in," Claire says with a grim expression. "But the Knight Order is trying to hush up the truth about the librarian...and I'm helpless to stop them. It's so frustrating..."
"The truth about the librarian, huh?"
It makes sense that they don't want word getting out about what a pervert he was. The Knight Order's plan to protect his reputation has my full support.
"There are some things that are more important than the truth," I offer.
Claire shoots me a scary glare. "Are you implying I'm in the wrong here?!"
"That's not what I'm saying. It's just..."
"Just what?"
My sister's body language is making it abundantly clear that if I don't consider my next words carefully, they might be my last.
"The world's darkness runs deep. Not everyone's prepared to accept how deep it goes."
"…You're saying there would be panic if the news went public?"
"Yeah, probably."
I mean, think of how traumatized all the girls who'd ever gone to the library would be.
"But that doesn't mean it's okay to just sweep everything under the rug!" Claire cries.
"Of course not. That's why it's important to have people cracking the case in secret."
''Cracking the case in secret'..."
"Yeah. Even when the truth gets buried, that doesn't mean things have to end there."
"Oh, I see... So it's up to me to crack the case."
"Uh, there's really no need for it to be you."
"I know the truth, and I'm free to operate unfettered... Sure enough, I've been chosen." She clutches at the bandage on her right hand.
"Uh, you really haven't been."
"I'm the only one who can protect you, Cid."
"Uh, I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself."
"I know, I know. You don't want me to worry about you." She hugs me so tight, I hear an ominous crack. "But I'm going to protect this academy, this nation, and you, too. I'm going to protect all of it."
"...Fine. Knock yourself out."
"I'm not letting things end like this. No way, no how."
Still trapped in my sister's arms, I take another sip of my milk tea. Gotta say, this stuff really hits the spot.
<<•>>
School is canceled for the day, so I head back to my dorm and immediately get accosted by Skel and Po.
"Dang, that was messed up," Skel says. "I can't believe the head librarian got whacked like that."
"Right?" agrees Po. "The you-know-which organization might actually have been behind it."
"Feels like this just got real serious all of a sudden."
"Yeah, everyone's freaking out."
The two of them are drinking top-shelf Mitsugoshi coffee and lounging about like they own the place.
They don't, though. It's my room.
"Shouldn't you two be doing your extra assignments?" I say, putting more weight in my voice to make the subtext clear: GTFO, guys.
"I'll just do it later," Skel replies. "Now that we've got the day off, I've got loads of time."
"Yeah, same," Po adds. "If we get so hung up on homework that we let all the little joys of life pass us by, then what are we even living for?"
The two of them loudly slurp their coffee.
"Sure, but none of that explains what you're doing in my room."
"Cause this is where the high-end Mitsugoshi coffee is, duh," says Skel.
Without so much as asking permission, Po fishes through my drawer and tears into a package of chocolate. "And you've got high-end Mitsugoshi sweets, too."
"Dude, those are mine."
"It's fine," Po assures me. "We're all friends here."
"And if we're being honest," Skel adds, "there's no way you get enough allowance to be able to afford this stuff."
"We've thought it was weird for a while now."
The two of them get dead serious out of nowhere, and they turn to look back at me.
"I-I, uh..."
They've got me dead to rights.
A single cup of high-end Mitsugoshi coffee will run you north of two thousand zeni. It doesn't make sense for a broke-ass aristocrat like me to constantly have it stocked in my room.
That said, it's not my fault Gamma keeps sending me cases of the stuff.
"Fess up, Cid," says Skel. "You've been buying on credit, haven't you?"
"Huh?"
"If you have, you gotta tell us, man," Po urges.
"No, wait, back up a minute. What's this about buying on credit?"
"Dude, we found flyers for it all over your room." Skel shows me one. "Mitsug-oshi Bank's Hot New Service, Mitsugoshi Installment Payments.' If you knew about this awesome new way to borrow money, why didn't you tell us?"
"M-Mitsugoshi Installment Payments?"
With a sinking feeling in my gut, I read over the flyer and discover that it's advertising a payment plan that would've looked right at home back in my old world. Now that I think about it, I guess I did explain to Gamma how payment plans worked, huh?
"D-don't tell me you guys went and borrowed money, did you?"
"Of course we did," Po replies. "They lent me two million zeni, no questions asked."
"And I borrowed a cool mil," Skel says. "Now all I gotta do is make the fixed monthly payments of twenty thousand zeni apiece. How sweet is that?!"
"Oh boy..."
They're doomed.
"What's up, Cid?" Po asks. "You've got that face like you just realized something."
"What's the interest rate on those plans?"
"Two percent a month, I think?" replies Skel.
"Yeah, twenty-four percent a year. That's dirt cheap, compared to other lenders in the capital."
I stare vacantly into space.
"Let me get this straight," I tell them. "You borrowed a million zeni at a twenty-four percent annual rate with twenty thousand-zeni monthly payments, right?"
"Yeah."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Have you guys done the math on how long that'll take you to pay off?"
If they've got a 24 percent rate on a million zeni, then their annual interest sums up to two hundred forty thousand zeni.
If their monthly payments are twenty thousand zeni, then their annual payments sum up to two hundred forty thousand zeni.
Two hundred forty thousand zeni in interest, two hundred forty thousand zeni in payments.
In other words, all they're doing is covering the interest, and they're never gonna stop having to make payments for the rest of their lives.
"I dunno, like, five years?" Po says.
"Why would I bother calculating that stuff? All I gotta do is make my monthly twenty-K payments," adds Skel.
"The fact they don't make you do all that math is how you know Mitsugoshi is running an honest shop."
"...I think you guys might wanna consider bumping up the size of your payments."
"What are you talking about, dude? If Mitsugosh's fine with us just paying twenty K, why would we go out of our way to give them more money?"
Po agrees with Skel. "Yeah, you're talking nonsense. I've heard of students who borrowed as much as ten million zeni from them. They'll lend money to anyone, from aristocrats on down to students. As long as your family's got property, you're golden."
I stare up at the ceiling.
"Now," Po announces, "let's get this party started."
"We just borrowed a bunch of money, and you know what that means," Skel says.
The two of them produce a deck of cards.
"Really? More poker?"
"What, too chicken?" Skel teases.
"If you thought we'd let you quit while you were ahead, think again," Po tells me. "Now we've got full war chests."
"Nah..."
I let out a big sigh. Then I slam a pile of bills on the table.
"…Let's go double or nothing."
<<•>>
"Dammit, we'll get you for this!" wails Skel.
"B-but that's impossible... Y-you cheated! You must have cheated!!" whines Po.
I grab the two of them by the scruffs of their necks and toss them out into the hallway. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's late, so try to keep it down."
"Hold on! At least let us play one more hand!"
"We can't go out like this! Not on a loss!"
"Sorry, but I don't have any use for guys with empty pockets. Good luck with your payments."
After slamming the door shut behind them, I lock it.
I hear hushed murmurs come from the other side.
"How? After all that time we spent honing our cheating?"
"I can't believe it. Did we seriously just lose everything?"
"Did we seriously just get cleaned out?"
"It seems so impossible, but here we are..."
"Dammit. Let's go to Mitsugoshi and borrow some more money."
I nipped all their attempts at cheating in the bud, of course, and as soon as they tried to cheat me, I gained the right to return their trickery in kind.
I gather up the winnings piled on my table and smirk.
"Looks like Skel and Po just became my new piggy banks. And I couldn't have done it without you, Mitsugoshi Installment Payments."
As soon as money flows from Mitsugoshi Bank to Skel and Po, I'll be right there to scoop it up. That's the law of the jungle for you.
"Hum-dee-dum, dum-dee-dum."
I hum an idle little song to myself as I stash the money in my War Chest.
Then I turn and call out the window, "Sorry about the wait, Zeta. You can come on in now."
A golden-haired therianthrope soundlessly appears in my room. "Happy birth-day, Master."
"Huh? Oh yeah, that's right. I guess I'm sixteen now."
Sure enough, the date's rolled over. And whaddaya know, it's my birthday.
"Congratulations."
"Thanks."
Honestly, I don't think that's anything to be celebrated. I've only got about six hundred years of life in me, and now, one of those years is gone.
To think that I still haven't become the perfect eminence in shadow yet. Human life spans really are fleeting.
"Do you not like birthdays?" Zeta asks me.
"They're not my favorite, that's for sure. Each one that passes means my life has that much less time left."
"I get how you feel." Zeta offers me a small, relaxed smile. It's rare to see a smile so genuine out of her.
"Sometimes, it feels like life's too short to achieve my goals."
"Mm. I feel you," she agrees again. Then she looks at me with a serious expression on her face. "I came to talk about something important."
"All right."
Is this about money?
Zeta's done a lot for me, so I wouldn't mind lending her a thousand zeni or so.
"You want eternal life, right?"
I give my answer instantly: "Yeah, of course."
There's a bit where I wait a hundred years for people to start forgetting about me, then reappear out of nowhere and have them all go, "Wait, is he that guy from the legends?" and with eternal life, I could run that bit as many times as I wanted. As long as I'm alive, I can push the reset button on my eminence in shadow setup over and over again.
My original plan was to use magic to live for six hundred years, but that's nowhere near long enough to enjoy everything life has to offer. I just want to keep on being me forever.
C'mon, God, do a guy a favor and build me a system where I can buy years off people who don't wanna grow old.
"I understand how you feel, Master."
"Uh-huh."
"So I'm making moves to get you there."
"Uh-huh?"
"Do you remember the first day we met?"
"Uh-huh."
It was raining that day, right?
"It was snowing and bitter cold."
Ah, snowing.
"When I got the possession, I learned how ugly people were."
"Uh-huh."
"And I thought. About the people chasing us. About how stupid the world is."
Her gaze turns cold.
For as long as I've known her, she's always gotten that look from time to time. It's pretty darn badass, so l've secretly taken to mimicking it.
"People repeat their mistakes over and over, never tiring," Zeta continues. "The world never gets less stupid."
"Uh-huh."
"I thought I wanted to die. My dying wouldn't change the world. My living wouldn't change the world. But when I met you, I saw there was something I needed to do..."
With that, Zeta launches into her story.
<<•>>
The tribe the girl was born into was one of the highest-status groups among all therianthropes: the Golden Leopard clan.
Allegedly, even the therianthrope king showed deference to them.
The Golden Leopard clan had conquered countless smaller clans, and the girl was the firstborn daughter of the family that ruled over them all. She was given the name Lilim.
Lilim's immense talent was obvious from a young age, and her family raised her with pride, realizing that it would be more valuable to keep her rather than to marry her off. Her father, the clan patriarch, imported books so he could give her the best education possible. Even for the comparatively intellectual Golden Leopards, doing so was all but unheard of.
The girl took to those books like a fish to water, and she waited with bated breath for the day she could use their knowledge for the benefit of her clan.
Lilim was loved by her entire clan, and she grew up in the blink of an eye.
When she turned twelve, disaster struck.
That was when the black bruises started showing up on her belly. They were small at first, so she didn't pay them a second thought, but when they started spreading, Lilim got worried and went to her mother for advice.
Her mother went pale.
Then, without saying a word, she called for Lilim's father. When he showed up, he went pale as well.
That was the point where Lilim realized that something serious was going on.
Her father took another look at her belly.
"…It's the possession," he said, barely able to get out the words.
The possession. Lilim turned the term over in her head. On an intellectual level, she knew what it was. After how many books she'd read, she was confident that she was the most learned of anyone in her clan.
No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't reconcile the knowledge in her head with the black bruises on her belly.
The possession.
She pondered it over and over and over again, and before she knew it, she was crying.
Lilim was a clever girl, and once she came to grips with what was going on, she knew exactly what would happen to her. The possessed were unclean, and that filth needed to be purged before it had a chance to spread. That was the clan's rule.
It was a big problem to have such a stain born into the patriarch's bloodline, especially for a clan as esteemed as the Golden Leopards. This didn't affect just her; the situation could bring down her entire family.
Lilim wiped away her tears. "Father, you have to burn me to death."
"But..."
"The bruises aren't that big yet. The impurity is still small. If you burn me now, you save the family. Surely, that will satisfy the clan."
"But—!"
"Please, Father. For our family. For my little brother."
Lilim glanced down at the baby her mother was cradling. He had been born only half a year prior, but someday, he was going to be the head of the family.
She bowed her head as she pleaded. "Please... You have to. You have to!"
"…I won't."
"Father!"
"I will not! It said it in that elf book—it said there's a way to cure the possession."
"There's no proof it's true!"
"It said there was a panacea that could cure it."
Her father began eagerly searching for the book in question. He normally seemed so large to Lilim, but in that moment, something about him felt terribly small.
"What's come over you, Father? Pull yourself together. This isn't worth putting your faith in. Mother, talk some sense into him."
However, her mother just hung her head and said nothing.
"Here, look. It's written right here."
"Father, get ahold of—"
Lilim stopped halfway through her sentence.
There were teardrops falling on the cover of the book her father handed her. It was the first time she ever saw him cry.
"Father..."
"I'll find it, I swear. Please, just trust in me and wait."
"Father, I..."
Lilim felt her father's warm arms wrap around her, and her mother joined in.
"Father... Mother..."
Lilim had been fighting back the tears, but at that point, they began falling freely.
The next day, her father set out on a journey.
"He said he will return within a month," Lilim's mother explained as she wrapped a bandage around Lilim's belly. "You'll have to hide your wound until then. Don't leave the house, no matter what."
"Yes, Mother."
"Don't you worry. It's going to be okay. I'll make sure our family stays safe."
Her mother offered her a gentle smile.
Lily touched the bandage her mother wrapped and smiled as well. Something told her that everything was going to be okay.
<<•>>
A month later, Lilim was awoken in the dead of night.
It was noisy outside. Perhaps her father had returned. She followed her mother outside.
There, she found her father. He was bound in rope and kneeling on the ground.
"Fa...ther?"
Surrounding him was a throng of torches, and his clothes were stained with blood.
Her mother bravely spoke up. "What do you people think you're doing?"
"Word is, one of you is stained." A torchbearer stepped forward from the crowd. It was the chief of a Golden Leopard branch family. "Stains have to be purged. That's the rule."
"...…"
Lilim's mother stood before her daughter wordlessly.
The branch family chief pointed his sword at Lilim's father's throat. "Who's the stained one? Fess up."
"…I don't know," her father choked out.
"Oh, really now?"
The branch chief plunged his sword into her father's shoulder.
Blood gushed forth, and the sound of bone snapping followed.
Lilim's father didn't scream. He simply remained motionless, his head hung low.
"Pathetic." The branch chief thrust his sword again.
"Stop this at once!" Lilim's mother cried. "If you think you can get away with attacking your chief, you're wildly—"
"Oh, I can get away with a lot. I'm the new chief of the Golden Leopards. This sad sack betrayed the clan."
"What proof could you possibly have for that?"
"A Holy Teachings priest came to the village and told me. Said that he smelled the possession. Out east, the Church is in charge of gathering up the possessed and purifying them."
Another man strode forth from the group. He was dressed in priest vestments and wore a thin smile. "The possessed must be purified without delay. If left untended, their blight can spread, sending entire villages to ruin—"
Lilim's father's hoarse voice cut in and interrupted the priest. "Liar."
"I'm sorry, therianthrope, did you just say something?"
"I called you a liar, human."
The priest shot Lilim's father a glare positively dripping with contempt, and her father met it head-on.
"And what exactly am I lying about, pray tell?"
"Everything. The possession is a hoax, cooked up by the Church."
"What a riveting theory." The branch chief laughed. "Looks like he finally lost it."
The crowd around them joined in and chuckled as well. Meanwhile, Lilim and her mother found themselves unable to comprehend what her father was talking about.
All the while, the priest and Lilim's father continued glaring at each other without so much as blinking.
"What proof do you have, therianthrope?"
"The Golden Leopards have a bloodline dating back for generations, and all that time, they've been passing down an epic from one patriarch to the next—an epic about the therianthrope hero, one of the three that took on Diablos."
"So a silly legend."
"It's a legend, all right, but it's a little different from the one the rest of the world has heard. Our version casts the three heroes as women instead of men, and it calls the possession a blessing rather than a curse."
The priest's gaze harshened. "Everything you just said is blasphemy against the Church."
"I'd wondered about that for a long time. Why was the Golden Leopard version of the story so different from the rest of the world's?"
"That's a stupid question. Legends shift and change over time. That's what they do."
"I'm not so sure about that. Generations of patriarchs took great care in passing down our epic. They wouldn't have let it just shift like that. And most importantly, we're the Golden Leopards—descendants of one of the three heroes who defeated Diablos, Lily the Golden Leopard. That right there is your answer."
"…What are you implying?"
"That the version of the story the Golden Leopards passed down is the truth, and that the Holy Teachings took that truth and distorted it," Lilim's father declared with unclouded eyes.
A long hush fell over the gathering.
Eventually, quiet chuckling began spreading like a contagion, eventually growing into raucous laughter that rocked the entire village.
The branch chief clutched at his chest as he howled. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! That's great. That's a riot! I can't even remember the last time I laughed this hard!!"
"It really is funny, isn't it?" The priest laughed as well. In his case, though, the look in his eyes was as far from mirthful as could be.
"Okay, okay, let me get this straight," the branch chief said through his chuckles. "You're saying that the possession is a hoax cooked up by the Church, and that the possessed are really descendants of the heroes. That's why there's no need to cleanse the stain. Do I have that all right?"
"Yes."
"Bullshit!!" The branch chief's roar shook the air. "You would risk the entire clan over some delusional fantasy?!"
"You might not believe it, but that's the truth!"
"Quit spouting your lies!"
The branch chief plunged his fist into Lilim's father's face. He hit him once, then again, then again and again and again.
Lilim stood stock-still. Her knees trembled as she stared in horror.
"All right, enough playing around." The branch chief wiped off the red stains on his hands. "Who's the stained one?"
A small smile played at the corner of Lilim's father's mouth. "...…"
"If you don't tell us, I'll put the whole lot of them to the torch."
"You'd do that no matter what I said. All you're here for is to torment me."
The branch chief fell silent. That alone was answer enough. "Have it your way, then," the branch chief finally said as he wrenched free his sword.
"S...stop it!"
All eyes gathered on Lilim.
"I-it... It's..it's me..." Her legs trembled beneath her. "I-I... I'm.the p-pos-sessed..."
She could hear how pathetic she sounded.
Her vision swam with tears. Then she met the gaze of the man looking straight at her—her father.
"Listen to me." His voice was uncharacteristically gentle. "The Golden Leopard clan is descended from Lily, the hero who once saved the world. Our bloodline is something to be proud of. The question is, why did Lily entrust us with her tale? Why did generations of our patriarchs pass it down? There's a reason for that. It's because we have a duty."
"Father..."
"The hero's blood runs thicker in you than in anyone. You're smart, and you're strong, and I couldn't be prouder of you. You have to head east, Lilim. There's someone in the Midgar Kingdom who can cure the possession. That's where our duty lies."
"B-but, Father... I can't—"
"You can do it, Lilim." With that, her father turned to his wife. "Look after them."
She gave him a small nod, then pulled Lilim in close.
"You really think we'll let them get away?"
The therianthrope men already had them surrounded.
"I'll make sure they do," Lilim's father replied. "Even if it costs me my life..."
A loud creaking filled the air.
It was coming from inside her father's body. Something inside him was pulsating.
A moment later, a tremendous amount of magic exploded from his body, sending his restraints flying.
"Wh-where'd that power come from?!" the branch chief yelled.
"The veins of Golden Leopards run thick with feral blood. I just took mine and set it free."
Her father's golden hair shot outward. It was like a mane, like he was regressing from a person to a beast.
"Th-that's impossible. No one ever told me about—"
"This is a forbidden technique taught only to the clan's patriarch—one that shreds its own user's life."
Tears of blood ran down her father's cheeks. His muscles rippled, veins bursting and blood spurting out.
"GRAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
With that, he became a frenzied beast and sent the other therianthropes flying.
Then he positioned himself between his family and their foes. "Go!!" he bellowed. "Run!!"
"Come with us, Father!!"
"I can't!!"
Her father looked back over her shoul-der, and when Lilim saw his face, she gasped.
"....….."
It was almost completely bestial.
"Your father is eventually going to become totally feral. We have to get out of here before he does..."
"N-no! Father!"
Lilim reached for her father's back. However, her hand never got there.
"What a fascinating ability. I never imagined I'd find descendants all the way out here."
The priest cut in and swung down a reddish-brown chain.
"GRAHHHHHH!!"
Her father swatted away the chain. The spiked weight on its end went flying.
"Goodness me, this is incredible stuff... I just came out to retrieve a possessed, but it would appear my journey's borne unexpected fruit."
"Hurry, Lilim!! Get out of here!!"
Her father tackled the priest. That gave them a tiny opening, and her mother used it to scoop Lilim up and run.
"Father... FAAAAAATHERRRRRRRR!!"
The last thing Lilim saw of her father was him looking wonderfully large.
<<•>>
Still carrying Lilim, her mother sprinted through the dense forest. Her footsteps made no sound; the woman was a master of stealth.
However, their pursuers drew ever closer.
Some members of the Golden Leopard clan had exceptionally keen noses, and some of them must have joined in the hunt.
"We need to split up."
When they got to a river, her mother stopped and set Lilim down. The forest was bitter cold at night, and there was a light dusting of snow falling from the sky.
"I'll head southeast along the river. Lilim, you cross here and head due east."
With that, Lilim's mother took the small boy off her back and made to hand him over. "Take care of your brother for me, Lilim."
"No...! I want to stay with you, Mother!"
"Don't be huffy. This is only for a bit. We'll meet back up in Midgar." She hugged Lilim tight.
"But then why.why are you giving me my brother?"
"Lilim..."
"I don't know how to fight. And I can't run well like you can."
"Lilim, listen to me."
"Surely, he'd be safer with you!"
"Listen to me, Lilim!!"
"No..." Lilim buried her face in her mother's chest and shook her head.
"Lilim..."
"If I hadn't gotten the possession, if you two had just burned me to death... Father would still be... This is all my fault…!!"
"Your birth changed him, Lilim. All he cared about before was fighting with his sword, so when I saw him reading you a picture book, my heart skipped a beat. He went around bragging to anyone who would listen what a genius you were."
"Father..."
"Getting to watch you grow up is the happiest we've ever been. Lilim...you might not know how to fight, but you're such a smart girl. You have the knowledge to get you through any adversity. That's why I know you'll be okay."
"Mother..."
"Please, Lilim. Look after him."
Her mother handed her the small baby. Her brother looked up at her with confused, innocent eyes.
Large tears rolled down Lilim's cheeks as she took him.
"Thank you, Lilim. We've been so happy, ever since you first came into our lives."
"Mother... Promise me we'll meet in Midgar..."
"You have to go now. Cross the river and hide your scent."
Lilim stepped in the shallow river and did as instructed, then headed into the eastern forest, looking back over her shoulder every few steps.
After making sure Lilim and her brother had gone, her mother took off at a sprint and followed the riverbank to the southeast.
Her loud footsteps echoed through the darkened woods.
<<•>>
Lilim went east.
East, as though pulled by some invisible force.
She ran through the dim forest. The winter night chilled her to the bone, and her hands and feet felt like they'd been frozen solid.
Then, right as dawn broke, she emerged from the woods.
"I know this..."
It was the first time she'd ever seen those sandy shores or that water that stretched onward to the horizon, but she knew exactly what she was looking at.
"It's the sea."
She licked the surf, just to be sure.
"It's salty."
There could be no mistaking it.
"Father...there's nothing here."
Lilim let out a foggy breath. There was snow falling from above.
She sat down on the cold beach and hung her head.
"I went east...and there's nothing here.
Where's my duty? Where's Midgar? I want my mother..."
Her feet felt like bricks. She couldn't move another step. The black bruises had spread all the way up her chest, and it throbbed with pain.
However, she was still holding her brother in her arms. She'd been entrusted with his tiny life, and she knew she had to protect him.
"Let's go. Let's cross the sea."
She knew there was a country across the sea. She didn't know if it was the Midgar Kingdom or not, but her father had said it was, so surely it must be.
Her mother was waiting for her there. Perhaps her father was, too.
If she continued along the beach, she would eventually find a fishing village.
Somehow, she was going to have to persuade them to give her a ride on one of their boats.
Lilim set off again.
Right as she did, though...
"Ohhh, so this is where you went."
...the priest arrived. Blood dripped from his rattling chains.
Lilim shuffled backward with trembling footsteps. "S-stay away from me..."
"Now, here's the question. Where's the possessed?" The priest smiled evilly and held up a severed head. "It wasn't him."
"F…Faaaaaaaaaaatherrrrrrrrrrr!!"
The head belonged to her father.
Seeing how bloodied it was, it wasn't hard for her to imagine how valiant his death had been.
"Wasn't her, either." The priest held up another head.
"Mothererr!!"
That one was her mother's.
She had died with her eyes wide and her gaze fixed on something.
"Why…? Why?!"
"That just leaves two options."
The priest tossed the heads aside and strode toward Lilim.
"Nooooooo... Father... Mother..."
"There are nearly no reports of males with the possession, but that doesn't mean they don't exist."
Tears streamed down Lilim's cheeks as she hugged the baby tight. "S-stay away...D-don't you lay a finger on my brother..."
"Now, which one of you is the possessed?"
"I-it's me. I'm the possessed, so please, let my brother go—"
"There's a good girl. I appreciate your honesty." The priest patted Lilim's head with his bloodied hand.
"Eek..."
"You and I might end up spending quite a bit of time together, so perhaps I'd best introduce myself. My name is High Priest Petos, and you, young lady, are an extremely valuable test subject."
"Wh...what about my brother…?"
"Don't worry. I have no use for children without the possession." Petos tapped her brother's head with his chain. "I'll be sure to give him a painless death."
Blood splattered.
Lilim felt her brother's head tumble from her arms.
"AaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH-HHHHHHHHH!!"
As Lilim screamed, Petos looked down at her and let out a manic laugh. "Heh-heh. Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. Let's celebrate, shall we?"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Why?! Why would you do that?!"
"What an auspicious day this has been. You've opened a path for me straight to the Rounds."
Lilim scooped up the three heads lying on the ground—her father's, her mother's, and her brother's.
"Ahhhhhhhhh.. I'll kill you... I'll kill you dead!!"
Hatred burned in Lilim's eyes as she screamed.
However, Petos ignored her cries and turned his back on her. "Did you finish?"
When he called over to the forest, a group clad in strange robes appeared from within it.
"With no survivors," one member replied.
"Show me."
A collection of heads rolled across the sandy beach. All of them belonged to Golden Leopards.
"We took out the entire Golden Leopard clan. Now we don't have to worry about that information leaking."
"Ah, isn't that nice?" Petos directed his reply over at Lilim. "Look, your father's killer is dead."
With a laugh, he tossed one of the heads over to her. It belonged to the branch chief.
"AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHH-
HHHHH!!"
Lilim took a running start across the beach and charged at Petos. However, he knocked her away with his chain.
"Koff... K-kill...you... Kill..."
She couldn't summon any strength. Her consciousness began fading.
"Get her tied up and bring her to the Variola lab. I need to lay some groundwork with the faction..."
And then she passed out completely.
<<•>>
When Lilim woke up, she found herself in a carriage. Her hands and feet were bound, and her mouth tasted of blood.
"I'll kill them... I'll kill all of them."
Her mutter earned her a bemused scoff from the man guarding her.
"I'll kill them..."
Her tear ducts had long since run dry. At that point, the only thing keeping her going was hate.
What she needed was power.
Knowledge was useless. It couldn't protect anyone. The only thing that could free her was pure, unbridled strength.
So she prayed: "I want power.." Power enough to break her bindings, power enough to kill the priest, power enough to—
The voice seemed to come from nowhere. "You want power, do you?"
"Huh..?"
Lilim looked around, but the only person there was the guard.
"Do you want power?"
That time, she was certain she heard it. The voice was deep, like it was rumbling up from the depths of the abyss.
"I do! If I just had power... If I just had power!!"
"Ha-ha, the kid's lost it."
Apparently, the guard couldn't hear the voice. However, it reached Lilim's ears loud and clear.
She didn't care if she was just imagining things or if that voice belonged to the Devil himself. That would have been fine by her.
All she cared about was power.
"If it's power you want… then power I shall grant you."
Suddenly, bluish-purple magic materialized in the carriage.
"Wh-what is that light…?!"
The carriage skidded to a halt, and men piled in from outside.
"What happened?! What's up with the magic?!"
The magic broke into fine particles and began spiraling.
Then a figure appeared in the middle of the spiral. It was a boy dressed in a jet-black longcoat.
"How the hell'd he get in here?!"
"Grab him! Get him out of the carriage!"
"I AM..."
At the spiral's center, the boy raised an ebony blade aloft. The air itself trembled from the raw vastness of his magic.
Lilim watched as the unparalleled power gathered in the boy's sword.
That right there—that was what she was looking for: enough power to crush everything in her way.
"…ALMOST ATOMIC."
The magic exploded outward.
All sound vanished, and the whole world was drowned in bluish-purple light.
<<•>>
"Eh, I'd give that, like, sixty out of a hundred. Still needs some work."
Lilim awoke to the sound of the boy's voice. She must have passed out.
"This isn't enough. Not for what I'm trying to achieve..."
The boy was muttering from the center of a crater. The carriage had been blown away, and the creepy group had vanished without a trace.
Lilim trembled. But not out of fear.
"E-excuse me…," she started to say.
"Huh? Oh, you're up. Here, lemme fix that possession for you."
With that, the boy released a burst of bluish-purple magic. After enveloping Lilim's black bruises in warmth, the magic flashed and returned her skin to its original condition, as if it had wound back time itself.
"No way... It can't be."
By the time the magic faded, the bruises were completely gone. The possession had been tormenting her, and just like that, he'd cured it.
"That one, though, that one I'd give ninety-five out of a hundred. My control was almost flawless. That said, it did wear me out a bit."
"He was right..." Heartfelt tears began welling up in Lilim's eyes. "He was right...Father was right..."
"Huh?"
"He said that the possessed were descendants of the heroes... And that there was someone out east who could cure the possession... He was right about everything."
"Dang, I had no idea our story already spread all the way out here."
"So, why? Why did Father and Mother have to die...? Why? None of them did anything wrong!"
The boy scratched his head for a moment. "It's 'cause of the Cult of Diablos. All the bad stuff is their fault."
"The Cult of Diablos?"
"Yeah. Those men just now weren't from the Holy Teachings Church. They were secretly Cultists. They hid the truth, and now they're trying to eliminate the heroes descendants with history none the wiser and revive the demon Diablos. For them, the heroes' descendants are a threat." His black longcoat flapped behind him as he spoke. "We are the Shadow Garden. We lurk in the darkness and hunt down shadows."
"Lurk in the darkness and hunt down shadows..."
Lilim's heart trembled.
Everything was all coming together.
"So Father was right after all."
"Yep."
"He told me there was someone in Midgar who could cure the possession. He told me that was where my duty lay."
"Huh? Yeah, for sure."
"You must be my duty."
That was her duty.
Her father died, her mother died, and her brother died. All of them had sacrificed themselves to keep her alive.
"I need power... Please, give me the power to hunt them!"
"Very well. She'll be along shortly."
"Who?"
The moment the question left her mouth, there was a flicker in the dark. That flicker turned out to be a beautiful blond elf dressed in a black bodysuit.
"I told you to wait up! We can't keep up with your speed," the girl groused.
"Well, the mission's finished."
The elf girl shot the boy a reproachful look. "I can see that, yes. That's definitely a Cult carriage, albeit one that's been smashed to tiny bits. How many times do I have to remind you to leave enough evidence for us to collect?"
The boy scratched his head for a moment.
His elven counterpart heaved a defeated sigh, then looked over at Lilim. "So she's the new one?"
"That's right. I trust you can handle the rest."
"Huh? Wait, hold on!"
The boy turned to Lilim. "You can go ahead and get the details from Alpha." With that, he vanished into thin air.
"I swear! He always does this, just disappearing out of nowhere."
"Um…who are you?" Lilim asked.
The girl gave her a warm smile. "Sorry about all this. Looks like you got quite the scare. I'm Alpha, the first member of the Shadow Garden. It's nice to meet you."
[+]
"Alpha... I'm—"
"Don't." Right when Lilim was about to introduce herself, Alpha cut her off. "You're going to be living under a new name from now on."
"Huh?"
"We lurk in the darkness and hunt down shadows. For us, our public personas are only just that. Only in darkness do we truly exist. Even though that means we may never be able to return to the light." Alpha held out a mask and fixed her beautifully clear blue eyes on Lilim. "If you have enough resolve to do the same, then take this and become the Shadow Garden's sixth member, Zeta."
"Zeta," Lilim murmured, reflecting on the name. "I'm...Zeta..."
"Sounds like your resolve is firm. You have strong eyes. But..."
"I want power."
"You have plenty of talent. You'll become powerful in time. But someday, that hatred of yours will..."
Alpha was about to say something, but she stopped herself. Her blue gaze lingered on Lilim for a good while longer.
"No, it's nothing," she said sadly.
Up above in the night sky, the white snow continued falling in silence.
<<•>>
"Hmm. That's rough."
Once Zeta finishes her story, he offers a short comment as he looks out the window.
His words are blunt.
However, they encapsulate everything they need to. Zeta wasn't looking for cheap sympathy.
As such, she gives her reply just as bluntly. "Yeah. Rough."
She's taken her hatred from that day and sealed it deep within her heart. Unnecessary emotions will do nothing but get in the way of her plan.
Before she even consciously noticed it, she began cutting down on her word use to avoid accidentally letting any of her feelings slip out.
However, Zeta prefers it that way. Every time her feelings or body evolve, it makes her feel like she's getting closer to her goal.
"I'm a stray cat. Just a tiny kitten you took in. That's why I've thought a lot about what kind of world you want. You wouldn't tell me, so it's been a bit hard."
"Has it?"
"Yeah. It has."
Her master lifts his wineglass.
Zeta swiftly grabs the bottle and tops him off. Then she nestles up close to him.
"You want eternal life. Now I understand what that means."
"I'm surprised you picked up on that."
"You're looking at the distant future. So am I."
"I see..."
He gazes into the deep darkness beyond the window. Zeta looks out at the deep darkness as well.
"I'm going to revive Diablos," she says.
"I see."
"So you aren't stopping me?"
"I have no intention of rejecting your choice."
"You're too kind, Master. Too kind to make that choice yourself."
"Is that so?"
"Kindness can't change the world. Your kindness is shackling you."
"…Is it, now?"
"It is. But I'm not kind. I'll revive the demon, even if it puts the world in danger."
"You'll be reviled."
"Fine by me. The world needs this" —Zeta leans hesitantly against his shoulder—"so I'll take their revulsion in your place. That's my duty."
"I see..."
Zeta steps away and turns her back on him. "If the time comes, cast me aside."
With those final words, she vanishes into the night.
<<•>>
Zeta stands on the nocturnal rooftop and looks down upon the academy. Her golden tail sways in the cold winter breeze.
"It's time," she murmurs.
"At long last?"
"I see you've made your decision."
There are two figures standing behind her.
One of them is Victoria. The other is a girl with her hood hung low.
"I'm going to revive Diablos," Zeta declares.
"What did Master Shadow say?" Victoria asks.
"We talked. That's all."
"Did you get his permission, then?"
"That was never my plan. But if he was going to stop me, I would have stopped."
Victoria smiles. "I take it that means he has to tell you to stop."
"Nope. From here on, I'm acting of my own accord."
"You know this means betraying the Shadow Garden."
"I don't care. Alpha is too soft. She has no vision for after we crush the Cult. But I do." Zeta narrows her icy-purple eyes. "I'll revive Diablos and obtain eternal life. Then I'll control the world forever."
Victoria's cheeks flush with ecstasy. "And Master Shadow will become a god."
"You'll be reviled," says the hooded girl, who'd remained silent throughout the rest of the exchange.
"Master wants eternal life. I'll shoulder all the sin."
"Let's do this, then, shall we? Long live Master Shadow."
"…The plan proceeds."
Victoria and the hooded girl vanish without a sound.
Now Zeta is alone on the rooftop. She stares intently at the academy's lights.
"I'll steal it all-eternal life and control of the world. Then...we'll finally have a perfect world where mistakes never happen again."
The lights waver in the darkness of the night. They remind Zeta of the torches from that night so long ago.
"This is my duty."
She squeezes herself tight to double-check.
Good, her knees aren't trembling.
Her heart is still.
Standing alone, she releases a long, foggy exhale into the night. Then she follows it with a few words.
"Father... Master... I'm strong now."