~|~ 1st Stead - The Lie-Eating Dragon and Crimson Liar ~|~
"In this town, you will call me Eko, no more excuses, no more slip-ups, none of that. You hear, Efi?" Eko said.
I nod, "You're leaking lies, Eko," I licked my finger, stood on my toes and wiped away the black ink-like sludge dripping from the corner of his mouth.
It's tough, considering Eko is almost over twice my height, but monkeying my way towards his face is simple enough. He'd never drop me intentionally, even if he lies about it. It's been far too long now for the both of us.
Eko's eyes twitched briefly, "I FiGuReD I FiXeD ThAt."
Instantaneously, I feel the very core of my being shiver in a mixture of excitement and hunger. Yep, that's a lie alright. Better start counting, three, two, one...
As I expected, the sludge on my finger began to expand outward like lungs taking in air. The non-human ooze always gained sentience first, then their eyes would form; coloured like golden fish pills, culminating in the appearance of rows of black teeth and tiny appendages. That is my gift, my magic, my power. The ability to manifest lies and then eat them for power.
As it was, it was way too puny to harm me. So I plucked it from my finger and plopped it in my mouth making sure to stare at Eko while doing so. Lies oft taste like cotton candy to me, it's so light and fluffy and sweet with a hint of sourness.
"Yummy! What should I have next? Maybe... The big liar?" I hadn't broken eye contact, in fact, I only intensified it.
Eko scratched his chin as he forfeited our staredown, "Been there. Done that. You've been munching on me for the past... Oh, I don't know, three months!?"
I swallow, "And yet, you're still here."
"Are you...? Do you want to get rid of me?"
"No, of course not silly. I wanna get you all better again. Eko, this..." I took some time to gather my thoughts, it still surprises me how much he still remained himself, "You're better than this, better than this mantle of lies you're caked in."
"I dunno, Efina. It sounds an awful lot like that this is exactly the way I am meant to be. The fox may lose its hair, but not its cunning."
"Tell me that's a lie, please?" I rubbed my forehead.
I've learned to discern most of his lies by now, but there are still so many times it slips through my fingers, like white summer sand. Eko is unrivalled in the art of lying, it's his job, it's who he forged himself to become in order to survive. But, I miss the old him. Not the one Cyril corrupted, not the one he was forced to be at the cost of hundreds upon hundreds of lives.
Eko smirked. A hint of red shows behind his silver contacts, "ThE TrUtH hUrTs, DoEsN't It EfInA?."
I couldn't follow that up, no witty retorts to combat the truth. The truth does hurt and until I either restore you, or we manage to find Cyril, everyone in Golden town continues to suffer... With Brett, the Captain and Iris all caught in the centre of that maelstrom of lies, the Draconian Police Force was left severely hampered. The three of them were the very best they had and now crime soared to an all-time high.
But that's why I am here now, to stop everything.
"Are you certain the target is here, Eko?"
He snorted, "Get real, you saying I don't have good sources?"
"Eko... Just tell me already, you've left me in the dark quite long enough."
He produced a document from the pocket of his crimson blazer, "Aye, aye. The target is Sari Shinohara, twenty-seven, born and raised here in Chrome town. She went missing five years prior after she won second place in the Argent Music Festival, she was last seen conversing with a person matching Cyril's profile. Once she returned, she came back to rule the music world that had once rejected her. Within the last year, she became the continent's most revered guitarist. Yet, as her fame continued to skyrocket, cases of fans losing their vitality and talent proceeded to appear left and right."
Eko produced a knife from the many holsters he has concealed within his clothing and sliced the document in four pieces, which he then handed to me. I took a deep breath and from the core of my stomach, I used the power that I had consumed and turned it into heat and with that, I exhale. The smell of burning paper and the fluorescent lights of the flames pulled me back in the moment. I stared past the flames and onto the concert hall where Sari would play tonight, visitors are flooding in at the front gate.
"It's not unrelated, is it?" I asked.
"If it were, we wouldn't be here. This is the first real lead we have on her since Golden Town. Don't do anything stupid."
I chuckled, "Woosh."
"What?" After a second of pondering it seemed to finally click in his mind, "Ah crap, you were just being coy. You little brat... I'm going, screw this..."
Eko, clad in red with black coloured formal attire began to pace around the complex, his words were incongruent with his actions. If he really didn't want me to follow him around he wouldn't set his walking pace to be similar to mine. It's the small things like that that give me hope still. He is in there, somewhere...
Even though his scent is overtaken by lies, he's still my Papa.
Author Notes
All rights are reserved purely for the original creator of LiEat, Miwashiba, so do all of his/her characters, locations and lore of the world of LiEat. I, Gem (Gin-Ex-Machina) solemnly swear not abuse these rights and claim ownership on anything but my own locations, characters and additions to the lore of the world.
That said, ever since one of my close friends gifted me LiEat for my birthday, it immediately struck me as a game worth playing. Unfortunately, due to my exams, general happenings in real life and unrivalled procrastination skills, almost all of my stories here fell into obscurity along with the game he gave me. Since I recently graduated from the Dutch equivalent of high school, I finally had some time for myself to enjoy writing and video games like I did before. LiEat then proceeded shitstomp my need for sleep as I played all three games in a row in a single night (very healthy habits, I know). I quickly fell in love in the small, yet quaint world Miwashiba created, especially the lead protagonists Leo (no spoilers here), and Efina who share great interactions and relationship as a whole.
If you happened to follow my stories, you would know that I'm such a big sucker for expanding the world of a small fandom in an original way. That's sorta my niche, and while it'll never get me popular here, it is what I enjoy doing.
InLieU—Lies will focus on the bad ending of the third game as it the most open-ended story wise and gives more than enough wiggle room to shape characters towards satisfying and dramatic conclusions. It will be a series of small self-contained arcs written like one-shots, hopefully no larger than 2500 words a chapter.
If you ever feel bored and in need of a time waster, I highly recommend LiEat. It's a fun trilogy for how densely packed it is.
Regardless, I wish all of you the very best of reading pleasure.
Sincerely,
- Gem