Well, here we are. My second oneshot.
I got the idea for this quite recently. You know how it is from there.
Anyways, my school's college branch is doing a musical, and for the orchestra they have a sign-up sheet in the high school for anybody who wants to play. Guess who signed up for 2nd violin?
That's right. Me. (H.W. puts on some shades.)
Yeah. We're doing Parade this year. It's such a violent musical, though. For those of you that don't know about it, think West Side Story based not on Shakespeare but on a true story with a little bit of The Rite of Spring sprinkled in.
Meanwhile, I'm also extremely busy. Besides this kind of thing, I have club duty, fencing classes, orchestra rehearsals, and, well, you know how it goes. I still find time to do this, though.
Anyways, for the disclaimer: Riviera: The Promised Land does not belong to me. It belongs to the guys at Atlus and Sting. Any characters you don't know are mine.
I'll also be doing footnotes for this one, seeing as how there are lots of things here that need explaining.
Anyways, here you go. Enjoy!
The Magic of Love
The light of day seeped into the clearing in the forest, the leaves of the trees scattering the light as they danced in the wind. There was a small, circular flower bed in the center of the clearing that housed all kinds of lovely flowers. Some of the pedals were colored bright scarlet, others were tinted a dark magenta, and there were a few scattered here and there that were the color of the clouds that swirled over the world.
The presence of wildlife was fairly concentrated into this spot. A bird chirped overhead as a squirrel was busy digging a nut into its little spot in a tree. As all this was going on, a bee buzzed over the flowerbed, landing on the pedals at liberty and taking in the nectar it needed to live.
Two people slowly entered the clearing. One was a woman in bright red clothes that looked to be in tatters from the waist down, and yet it was really not in tatters. The scarlet of her clothes matched the scarlet that her eyes and hair wore, and on her head perched a black hat with a red buckle with a tip that tipped back a little. On her arms were a set of cloves, also scarlet. The other was a man with hazelnut hair, sapphire eyes and what looked to be commoner's clothing. He wore shorts with two different shades of purple, a mostly beige shirt with a white undershirt, and a cape whose color matched the sky perfectly.
"Well, Ein," said the woman. "This looks like the perfect place to start looking for magic ingredients."
"It does?" asked the man. "I would not be too sure of that, Cierra."
"Ein!" said Cierra. "Look at this place. There are probably several unidentified herbs here that could come in handy for the study of magic!"
"I know, I know," said Ein. "But why do you insist that we look for herbs nobody's discovered before? Why can't we just use normal herbs and take it from there?"
"Because it's good to experiment with herbs nobody knows about," said Cierra. "Change has to happen eventually."
Ein sighed heavily. At a time like this, there was no convincing Cierra against doing what she wanted to do. In this case, she wanted strange herbs, and strange herbs were what he knew she would be leaving the area with by the end of the day.
Ein stepped into the clearing and began looking around for herbs. As he did, Cierra began looking for herbs too.
As he was searching, Ein felt something bump into him, and then he tumbled over so that he found himself lying on his stomach.
"Oh!" shouted Cierra suddenly. "I'm sorry about that, Ein."
"That's okay," said Ein, who then stood up and brushed the dust off of his clothes.
As he brushed the dust off of his clothing, he noticed that some of the dust stood still in the air at certain points.
"Hm?" he mumbled. At this, he walked towards the area where the dust was standing in midair, and brought his finger down so that he could touch the dust. As he did, he thought he was able to feel foliage.
"Cierra," said Ein. "I think you may want to look at this."
"What do you want me to see?" asked Cierra, turning her head so that she was facing Ein. She had been searching for tree-bound herbs when Ein had asked her to see something. She noticed Ein crouching towards a suspended column of dust.
Cierra walked over to where Ein was crouched, and she went down to touch it, but first removed one of her gloves. When she touched it, she was able to feel foliage.
"Ein…" said Cierra.
"Is this…" said Ein.
"This is an invisible herb!" exclaimed Cierra. "The Guild will be thrilled by this find."
"But how will we find other herbs like this one?" asked Ein. "After all, it is an invisible herb."
"I guess we should scatter dust like you did to find this one?" asked Cierra.
The two of them looked at the flower bed, and then back at each other.
"No," they said simultaneously, both knowing that the flower bed should not be disturbed.
"I do feel a strong trace of magic from this invisible herb, though," said Cierra. "I guess we could transcribe the magic trace to my staff and then we could use the staff as a tracker to find it."
"Agreed," said Ein. Cierra took out her staff. It was a fairly large staff with a meticulously carved wood overhang that hung over the ruby that perched atop the staff. Cierra muttered a chant, and then the two of them saw some sparkles travel from the herb to the staff.
Ein plucked the invisible herb from its spot on the earth before the light completed its travel, as the staff detected herbs in the ground, and it would start its noises that indicated there was an herb nearby.
As soon as the light ended its travel, however, the staff immediately began to sound, emitting a slow sound, pausing for a short time, and then resuming its schedule. Ein was perplexed. The staff should not have been sounding because the herb was not in the earth anymore.
Then, Cierra walked around with the staff in hand, and as she did, the sound began sounding shorter and more rapidly than before. Finally, the sound droned for a very long time without pause. Cierra bent down, felt some foliage, and pulled out another invisible herb.
The staff stopped making noise.
"Well, I guess that worked," said Cierra.
"Indeed," said Ein.
"Well, that's one new herb we've discovered," said Cierra. "What do you think we should name it?"
"I don't know," said Ein. "Does 'Herb of Invincibility' work as a name?"
"I wouldn't think so," responded Cierra. "Most people at the Guild prefer fancier names for such a major discovery like that."
"Hm…" said Ein. "Perhaps 'Unsichtbarkeit'(1) will work?"
"I think so," said Cierra. "So, shall we continue looking for herbs, or should we go back with this new find?"
"Maybe we'll find something else that's new?" asked Ein.
"Okay," said Cierra, who resumed her search for tree-bound herbs.
Ein resumed his search along the ground. Cierra was truly somebody who appreciated strange new herbs. After she explained what they were, she would spend days in the magic laboratory testing out the effects of the new herb on people and places. Oftentimes, the herb would have no effect, but sometimes, the herb did something completely unexpected. When that happened, the Guild wrote the herb as an official magic herb, and then sent the list out to the Academy of Magic based in Valhalla.
Ein thought a little about Cierra as he worked. Her scarlet eyes were penetrating and powerful, and while she could be very clumsy, she was still a great person to work with.
He continued his search for herbs while thinking those thoughts.
It was evening in the Magic Guild of Elendia, though it was hard to say that due to the absence of windows. The crystals on the walls reflected what little light there was in the Guild as if to amplify the strength of the light.
The Magic Guild was located in the Crystal Caverns of the town of Elendia, and it was something of a place where magicians of all areas in Riviera would go to research magic, due to the size of the magic laboratory. Earlier that month, though, the visits slowly began to lessen.
Anton sighed as he thought about this. He had gone to the guild once and had liked it, and had since moved into Elendia so he could have access to the guild. The guild was a very nice place, and Anton wondered if people seemed to notice it anymore.
His golden eyes darted upwards from the book he was reading to see what was going on. To his right was a man with lime-colored hair and eyes to match, sifting his hand through some of the library shelves in search of books. Anton knew that face from the first day he had stepped into the Guild; the man was Claude, a dryad who was always looking through books to see what he could find. He was very studious, and he rarely left the library, if only to get something to eat. He was also very resourceful, and had helped Anton quite a bit when he had no clue which potion was supposed to do what.
Hovering above Claude was a small fairy that was looking around the room looking for something.
Oh dear, thought Anton. Soala's got Momo looking for ingredients again. I wonder what she's doing this time…
Soala was a witch that lived and made a livelihood in the Guild. She, like Claude, was very studious, albeit in a very different way from Claude. Where Claude turned to books to study, Soala was always doing something in the laboratory, be it brewing a potion nobody had ever heard of before, or trying a chant that would do something outrageous. No matter what she was doing, though, she was either too busy or too lazy to get ingredients herself, and that was where Momo came in. Whenever she was doing something, she often needed something, and to get it she often told Momo to get something. Anton had always told Momo where the ingredients were whenever she asked, so her job was a little easier.
Anton felt a little something step onto his unkempt indigo hair.
"Anton," said a voice.
Anton put the book down.
"Yes, Momo?" he replied.
"Soala sent me to find an applecot," said Momo. "I haven't found any, and I'm afraid she will be very mad at me if I don't find it!"
"Ask Lina where there's one," said Anton indifferently. "She probably knows where there's one, since she's always hogging them after she picks them."
"Okay." With that, Momo flew out of the Guild's entrance.
Anton thought about Riviera's saviors. There was Ein, a rather familiar acquaintance to everybody in the Guild. Anton had learned about Ein from his close friend Cierra, who was another witch that worked in the guild. Ein was a fallen angel who had a brave heart and was a little nervous whenever he was in front of one girl. There were more people that had saved Riviera along with him; there was Fia, the rather kind grand-daughter of the village elder, there was Lina, a young, playful little girl who was always around either a fruit tree or a circle of children, and there was Serene, a spunky young woman who was the last of her race of sprites. Anton knew them all to be good people, but he sympathized with Serene especially, for he too knew what it was like to be the last of a race of people.
Anton was the last of the Zarathustrans(2), a race of sprites that was war-like and often utilized magic in their battles. However, while Anton was away at the Magic Guild studying, he had been given the news that his tribe had been eliminated by the Entregoths, a very barbaric race of sprites.
Anton's eyes returned to the book he was reading. He was reading about sword magic, a very strange form of magic that had been established as a formal magic only recently. Anton was very interested in new magic, and would have loved to be the one who would be the start of a very different kind of magic. What kind, he had no idea, but he knew he would jump at the chance whenever it presented itself.
Anton thought he heard footsteps running into the Guild. When he looked up from his book, he saw Ein and Cierra barging in with a small pouch.
"Ein!" said Anton. "Cierra!"
"What did your latest search yield?" asked Claude, apparently noticing their entrance.
"We found something new," said Ein, taking something out of the pouch.
Soala came in, her violet hair flying in the wind as she did so.
"What did you reel in this time?" asked Soala.
"An invisible herb," said Cierra. Ein dropped something on the table that was right in front of them that nobody was able to see. Anton's hyper-sensitive ears picked up the sound of something dropping.
Immediately, Ein took out another pouch, and when he tipped it upside down, a cascade of dust came down on a certain spot on the table where he had dropped the thing they were not able to see. When the cascade ended, Ein picked something up, and the dust seemed to levitate. Some of the dust particles fell off, though.
"Here," said Ein, handing the mass of dust to Anton. "Take it by the edge where I'm holding it."
Anton wrapped his fingers around the spot, and when Ein knew Anton had a handle on the herb, he let go. Indeed, Anton was able to feel foliage on his fingers.
"Hm." Said Anton. "This is interesting. Here."
Anton passed the herb to Claude the same way, and then Claude opened his eyes in shock.
"Indeed," said Claude.
"What's it supposed to do?" asked Soala.
"We don't know yet," said Ein. "However, we did find another of that kind for research purposes."
"Hm…" said Anton. "Perhaps we should send it to the lab and then see what we can do from there?"
"That would be a good idea," said Soala. "How large is the herb?"
"We had Serene do the measurements," said Cierra. "The second sample we picked up was long enough to be cut into several sections."
"Good," said Soala. "Hand me the sample."
Ein went through the first pouch and handed Soala the sample. Soala felt foliage on her hand, and she gripped it.
"Interesting…" said Soala. She went back into the lab, closing the door behind her.
"Ha!" said Anton. "I figured that would be the first thing she would do!"
"Well, at least we have a sample we can keep over here," said Ein.
"We do need something to hold on to here, for if anything happens to that one, then we can use this," said Claude. "By the way, what did you two name it?"
"Unsichtbarkeit," said Ein.
"Interesting name for an interesting herb," said Anton.
"Well, we know what to do with this herb," said Cierra. "Mind running this down to the greenery, Anton?"
"Sure," replied Anton. He went to the right to a secret door that led to the herb greenery. Once the door opened, Anton went down two flights of spiral stairs and a hall to get there. Once he was in the herb greenery, he planted the herb in a plot in the greenery, and then watered it.
Upon his return, Anton thought he was able to hear a light beeping sound from Cierra's staff.
"You had to track it with an energy signature to find it, I assume," said Claude once Anton returned.
"It has a very strong magic signature," said Cierra.
"I see," said Claude.
"Well, I'm going back to the housing area," said Anton, stretching his arms out. He didn't care that the sleeves for his long gray robe had fallen down.
"Good evening, Anton," said Claude.
"Good evening," replied Anton.
He went through the secret door again, and this time went up a set of spiral stairs to the housing area, which was where the people that stayed at the Magic Guild lived. Ein and Cierra were the only ones in the guild who did not live here, as they lived in Fia's house.
Anton walked down the hall until he reached the twelfth or so door to his right. He then entered his room.
It was a nice, homely little room with a bed off to one side, a desk and a dresser to another, and an elaborate rug in the center. Behind the rug was a door that led to the town of Elendia.
Anton sat in bed thinking. He often mused upon what he had learned at the magic guild during the day whenever he was sitting in bed the very same evening. In this case, he was wondering what the invisible herb could do. Anton figured that if it was a literal herb, then it would make the user invisible. Of course, there was always the problem of making the said person visible again, so Anton figured that they would have to find an herb which would reverse the effects of the potion unless it wore off on its own.
Then, there was the fact that it could be a figurative herb. If it was figurative, there was no way of knowing what the herb did until it was tested with the colored boil. The colored boil was a device meant to show what the effect of a figurative herb was. The herb would give off a certain color when boiled in water with a drop of heilkraut dew added to it. The color given off would then be matched with a color on the spectrum, and with the color, there was usually a one-word description of what the herb's effect was.
Nevertheless, Anton was mesmerized by this invisible herb. His father always said that there was an invisible herb somewhere, and now Anton had seen such an herb.
He sat in his bed musing on the herb.
"We're back!" shouted Ein upon entering the modest house he and Cierra lived in.
A woman wearing a lime-colored dress that matched the color of her hair turned to look at the source of the voice.
"Ein! Cierra!" said the woman. "Anything new today?"
"We found an invisible herb, Fia," said Cierra.
"Wow, an invisible herb?" said a young girl with orange hair and clothes to match. "Lina wants to touch one!"
"Sorry, Lina, but we only found two samples," said Ein. "When we grow more of this invisible herb, I promise I'll get one to you straight away."
"I wonder how you can find an invisible herb anyway," said a young woman with blue hair and clothing. "I mean, you can't see it, right?"
"Serene, it takes great energy to make something invisible," said Cierra.
"I see," said Serene.
"Dinner is on the table for you two," said Fia. "It's getting a little cold because I thought you two would be here earlier."
Ein looked at the three girls with a look that dictated a form of anger that was certain yet joking at the same time.
"The three of you ate without us, didn't you?" asked Ein.
Serene and Fia did not say or do anything, however, Lina was nodding her head, cheeks reddening at full force.
"That's okay," said Cierra. "Right, Ein?"
"Yes," said Ein. Inside, he did not consider it alright, since they almost always ate together as a sort of family unit.
"So, I guess its dinner for two then?" asked Cierra.
"Uh… I suppose so…" said Ein, a small red dot developing on his cheek.
Cierra laughed.
"I thought so," said Cierra. "Come, I think we should eat."
"Okay…" said Ein. He took Cierra's hand and walked three steps to the right to the door that led to the dining room, opened it, and let Cierra walk through first before he himself went through the door, closing it behind him.
Later that night…
Cierra sat in bed, thinking. She was thinking about Ein.
True, he was nervous whenever he was alone with any woman, but he had been getting especially nervous around Cierra. Formerly, she had not given much thought to it, but lately she had been noticing a feeling within her towards Ein. Lately, whenever Cierra had been around Ein, she had felt secure and comfortable. Cierra was normally a very clumsy woman, but around Ein she never felt clumsy.
Cierra wondered why this was. She knew of an emotion called love, but she didn't exactly know what it was to be in love with somebody. After all, she had spent most of her life in solitude, dedicating her life to the magic arts.
Cierra decided she would ask Anton about her feelings towards Ein the next day.
With this on her mind, she finally removed her hat and set it on the night table that was by her bed, after which the hat fell to the floor with a soft thud.
Cierra laughed lightly as she picked up the hat and laid it down on the night table so that it would not fall off of it again.
After this, she let her body rest on its side in bed and closed her eyes.
Anton was in the herb greenery. There was something about walking in a room full of herbs that refreshed him every morning. He figured it was probably the sun seeping in through the panes of glass that ran throughout the greenery.
He looked to his right to see a rather large herb with a stem. It was actually not an herb, but it was a weed with magical properties. To his left was the pot in which he had planted the herb the previous day.
Anton knew Ein and Cierra would be in the Guild that day; it was customary of the two of them to spend a day of rest in the Guild once they had found an herb. They would just talk to whomever, look up the properties of some herb, and help Momo gather ingredients for Soala.
As he was thinking about this, he thought he was able to hear some footsteps.
He turned his gaze from the herbs to the entrance of the greenery to see Cierra walking in.
"Ah!" said Anton. "Good morning Cierra."
"Same to you," replied Cierra, who rested her hand on one of the tables. "Listen, I need to ask you about something."
"Yes?" asked Anton.
"I… I've been feeling a little strange around Ein lately," said Cierra. "I don't know what's going on, but whenever I'm around him, I'm not as clumsy as I usually am. I also feel secure and comfortable around him, and…"
"You like the guy?" Anton added.
"Yes," said Cierra.
Anton stood thinking before he turned to face Cierra.
"I think you might be in love with him," he said. "Has anything risen where you've been paranoid about Ein's health?"
"When he got bitten by the poisonous herb we have here," said Cierra, pointing to an herb a few feet away. Anton knew how it had gone since it had happened only a week and a half ago; Ein and Cierra had been searching for herbs like they normally did when they came across a green bulb. When Ein reached for the bulb, it split in half and the two halves came down on Ein's hand. When they returned to the Guild later that day with a new herb, Ein had begun to feel faint and had passed out in the library. Anton hadn't noticed he had fainted until Cierra had said anything about it, and she had been the one who was always by the bedside. Finally, it was determined that the plant was poisonous, so Soala came out with an antidote, administered it to Ein, and everything ended happily.
"You are," said Anton.
"Really?" asked Cierra. "How do you know?"
Anton began pacing around the greenery.
"Cierra, I was in love with a woman of the Zarathustrans before I moved here," said Anton. "She died in the invasion of the Entregoths, though. Anyways, I asked my father the same thing about love that you are currently asking me. He told me that love was a wonderful yet obscure feeling. He told me to think about it as a kind of magic that can only be felt by two people to each other."
"Love being a magic?" asked Cierra.
"It seems to work wonders on whoever is ensnared in love," replied Anton. "I'm not sure how, but it does."
"I see," said Cierra. "So, what do you think I should do now?"
"Give him time," was Anton's reply.
"Why should I give him time?" asked Cierra, a little irritated. "I want him to know about this right now!"
"Because he needs to develop his feelings for you for any of this to work," said Anton.
"Oh," said Cierra. "I see. Should I use a love potion?"
Anton laughed very loudly.
"Please, Cierra," said Anton. "Love never really succeeds in the presence of supplements."
"Oh," said Cierra. "I see. I… I want to thank you for giving me the advice."
"You're welcome," said Anton. "By the way, Soala mentioned that she needs help in the lab earlier today. You think you can help her?"
"Sure!" said Cierra. She began to leave.
"Just be sure not to drop anything," Anton called after her.
She stopped at the entrance. She didn't turn to face Anton, but he was already laughing lightly because he figured she was blushing madly. After a minute or two, she stepped out of the greenery.
"Okay, I need you to hold this for me," said Soala, handing Cierra a piece of heilkraut.
"Soala, does this job in the laboratory involve me holding something?" asked Cierra. "I know there are many out in Elendia who would rather do this than me."
"Trust me, Cierra, it gets interesting once we actually get to use the boiler," said Soala. "That's when we can read colors."
Cierra had been helping Soala in the laboratory with the colored boil for what felt like ages. Apparently, there was no immediate effect, and so they were working around that to see what they would be able to find with the colored boiler. An inconvenience with this was that Soala had forgotten to set up the boiler the night before, so she and Cierra were working towards making the heilkraut solution that they would boil the herb in. It turned out that the heilkraut dew took a lot of magic to extract.
"Okay, now, I need you to hold the heilkraut very still," said Soala. "If you must hold it in the palm of your hand, that's alright."
Cierra held out the herb, and Soala held her hand in front of the herb, and recited a short chant just under her breath. Cierra watched as the heilkraut emitted a light, and dew came out of the leaf. After she had the dew, she moved her hand over the pot, and closed her hand, thus canceling the magic as the dewdrop fell into the murky water that was waiting for it.
Immediately, the water began to bubble.
"Looks like we're just in time," said Soala. "I have the herb. Now, Cierra, there's a table on the table over there that shows what color signifies what. When I tell you the color, I want you to locate the color on the spectrum, and I want you to say what word is underneath. You must do it quickly, because it changes colors rather quickly."
Cierra walked over to the chart, relieved that she would get something interesting. She heard the soft splash of an herb falling in boiling water.
"Auburn!" shouted Soala a couple seconds later.
Cierra's eyes scanned the table quickly, looking for the color Soala needed. She found it, and under the color there was written a word.
"Nullify," said Cierra.
"Good," said Soala. "We know that this herb nullifies something. Crimson!"
Cierra wanted to shout at Soala for saying the color of her clothing and hair, but she decided not to since she did not have time to do so. Her eyes scanned the table nervously, and then she found crimson. The text underneath surprised her.
"Nervous?" said Cierra, more as a question than as an answer.
"Okay, so this herb does not make you invisible," said Ein.
Cierra had related the results of the color-boiler to Ein, and the two of them were telling Fia, Lina, and Serene the news.
"Aw, man!" said Lina. "Lina wanted to play hide-and-seek invisibly!"
Serene laughed. Lina had wanted to become invisible ever since she had heard of the herb, but they knew now that it would be impossible.
"Then what does it do?" asked Fia.
"If brewed into a potion, it can clear the nervousness from one's mind," said Ein.
"I guess there's one person here that will be in need of it, right?" asked Serene.
Ein's cheeks were flushed with red after Serene said this. Cierra laughed as this happened.
Ein blushed because he knew that deep down inside, he really did need a potion like that. He was in love with a girl, and he was afraid the nervous aspect of his personality would let him down.
"Now, now, Serene, I'm sure everybody has their own little things that they are nervous about. Right?" asked Cierra, hinting towards something.
"Ehm…" Serene's cheeks reddened at an incredible speed.
"Serene is in lo-ove! Serene is in lo-ove!" sang Lina teasingly.
Ein couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, stop it Lina," said Fia. Ein stood up.
"Where are you going?" asked Serene
"I'm going back to the Guild. See you all later," said Ein.
Ein stepped out of the door of his house.
Claude walked around the Guild. He was looking for the spot in the shelf that the book that was in his hands belonged in.
As he walked, he thought he heard some music in his head. He noted that it was a rather strange type of music, and when he analyzed it carefully, he realized that the suspensions of the music were being held over a chord or two. Claude thought it was interesting, but he was a magician, not a composer. Thus, he casted the music aside.(3)
He heard a series of footsteps behind him. He turned around to see who was there.
"Oh, hello there, Ein," said Claude.
"Hello, Claude," said Ein. "Listen, you know about the effects of the Unsichtbarkeit, right?"
"Yes," said Claude. "Why do you ask me that?"
"Would you mind brewing a potion with the herb for me?" asked Ein.
"Why do you need it?" asked Claude.
"It's a personal thing," said Ein.
"Ah," said Claude. "I'll get started as soon as I can."
"Thanks, Claude," said Ein.
"It's the least I can do to repay you for helping my magic research during your travels," said Claude.
"I see," said Ein. "When do you think it will be ready?"
"Probably by tomorrow," replied Claude.
"Thanks, Claude," said Ein. With that, he left.
Anton had been listening to the scene. He had pretended to read his book so that he could listen to the scene undetected. Now that it was over, Anton put his book down and began to think.
Hm… he thought. Perhaps it's about Cierra...?
The next day…
Ein whistled as he walked down the cobblestone street.
The day had gone pretty well for him. Claude had finished the potion as he promised, and he was now carrying it home. Now, he had one thing left to do.
That one thing left to do was to ask Cierra out to a moonlit walk.
He approached his house and entered. He found Cierra sitting on a sofa in the middle of the parlor.
"Hello, Cierra," said Ein.
"Hello," said Cierra.
"Cierra, do you mind if I ask you something?" asked Ein.
"No," said Cierra.
"W… would you mind accompanying me on a walk in the forest tonight?" he asked.
Cierra sat there for a couple of seconds, thinking.
"I don't have much to do at the Guild, so I think I can," said Cierra. Ein was relieved at the answer, as Cierra was usually doing something in the Guild late at night. For the past few nights, that trend had pretty much stopped, so he figured it was the perfect time to ask somebody out.
"Great!" said Ein. "When do you think we can start walking?"
"When the sun sets, of course," said Cierra.
"Good," said Ein. "I'll be in my room."
"Alright," said Cierra.
Ein walked up a set of spiral stairs to his room. There was a bed in one part of the room, a dresser on the other, and a night table next to the bed with a candlestick on top. He took the vial of potion from the area in his scarf where he had hidden it, and then placed it on the night table. He got a couple of things out from the dresser. First, he took out a much cleaner scarf than the one he had on and wrapped that around his neck. Second, he pulled his sword, Einherjar. Of course, he knew that a sword was not the best thing to bring on a romantic walk, but a bandit attack was imminent once night fell on the forest. He was sure Cierra wouldn't mind.
Ein then sat on his bed and waited for the sun to set. A few minutes later, it did. The moonlight soaked into the room, and Ein stepped off of the bed and walked out of the doorway.
He then walked down the spiral stairs and looked at the doorway. Cierra stood their waiting. Her attire was the usual.
Figures, thought Ein. She does her laundry, unlike me.
"Hello, Cierra," said Ein.
"I guess our walk starts now, then," said Cierra. She took Ein's hand, and the two of them walked out.
That night…
Ein sat on a rock in a clearing, and Cierra sat on a rock next to him. The moonlight seeped into the clearing, which illuminated the leaves swaying in the cool breeze of the night. The leaves were the only things one was able to hear, and the stars shone down on them in a light that was overpowering yet restrained. Ein definitely wanted this night to be the one where he confessed his love for Cierra.
"It's a lovely night, no?" asked Cierra.
"Why, yes, it is," said Ein.
"It's the only night I've seen around Elendia that doesn't have clouds," said Cierra.
"I… I think so," said Ein.
Ein realized that he had hesitated in answering there. That's when he realized an overwhelming feeling inside of him. As he realized this, he couldn't help but ask himself why he was feeling so nervous.
"You know, back where I used to live, the nights were always stormy," said Cierra. "I used to have to go to sleep in the rain. It was hard for anybody to walk out in the light of the moon just to walk."
"I see…" said Ein.
And then, he realized a fatal mistake he had made.
He had forgotten to drink the potion Claude had brewed for him.
Oh well, thought Ein. I guess I'm on my own now.
"You know, Cierra, I have something I need to tell you," said Ein. He figured that he would have to get his proclamation out of the way as quickly as possible so that they would be able to enjoy the light of the moon without him feeling nervous.
Cierra turned her head towards him, a strange light in her eyes.
"Yes?" asked Cierra.
"Well… I…" said Ein. He was having trouble coming out with the word he so desperately needed. "I… I li… Um, give me a couple of seconds, Cierra. I need to sort my words out."
"Okay," said Cierra.
Ein turned around so that he was facing away from Cierra. He was sorting his words out, but he was also punishing himself for being such a fool for not thinking his words out before he went into the clearing.
After a few seconds, he finally found the words— and the courage— to tell Cierra.
He turned to face her.
"Cierra, I love you," said Ein. He didn't even wait for Cierra to acknowledge that she was listening.
A kind of shock came over her features.
Great! thought Ein. Now I'm done for.
Cierra sat there in silence for a few seconds. Her features suddenly melted into one of complete acceptance.
"Ein…" she said quietly.
She sat up on the rock, and then she lunged at Ein, pressing her lips on his.
Ein was very surprised by this action, and it took a couple of seconds for him to realize that it was her way of saying 'I love you too'.
Ein slowly closed his eyes, and leaned into the kiss.
In that magical moment when their lips met, only the two of them and the area existed. For a few magical moments, the only things in the universe were him, Cierra, and the clearing.
The moonlight wrapped their tender embrace as a temple bell a large distance away rang ten times.
Footnotes:
(1) German for "invisibility". Don't ask.
(2) I was trying a little too hard to come up with a name for Anton's race that was related to music, and when I wasn't able to find a good name, I kept thinking about Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. Then, I said to myself, "hey, Zarathustrans doesn't sound too bad." You can figure out the rest.
(3) For some strange reason, Claire de Lune kept popping up in my head every time I saw Claude in Riviera: TPL when I played the game without the volume. I decided to talk about it here, and, well, hopefully you all know something about Impressionist theory.
Author's Afterward:
Well, there you go. My second oneshot.
Well, as promised, I will start working on A:LoD sometime tomorrow.
Review away, and until the next chapter of A: LoD, peace.
-Herr Wozzeck