Hard Truths

Chapter 1: After the Discovery

Greetings! The Draigg speaking here before the story starts, and I just wanted to say a few quick things. Firstly, this story contains spoilers for Cyrus' and Tressa's Chapter 2 stories, so be warned in case you haven't gotten that far into Octopath Traveler yet. Secondly, whatever characters and overall story presented here is owned by Square Enix, not I. You all know this, but it's good to cover the bases. With that said, let's get to the story!

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The attitude around the inn table was one of glowering somberness. What other attitude was appropriate after seeing the horrors hidden in the sewers and passages that lay hidden away under Quarrycrest?

Some of the members of the traveling caravan of adventurers were already hesitant to make the journey out the way to Quarrycrest. Therion and H'aanit saw no real value in deviating off of the beaten path of their quests to go visit some mining town on what felt like the edge of Orsterra. Olberic, Primrose, Ophilia, and Alfyn were content to be swayed by Cyrus and Tressa's arguments for visiting. Perhaps now they were somewhat regretting that decision, even if they weren't vocalizing it.

Instead, the only sound that was being made around the group was the scraping and clattering of the group's cutlery as they ate dinner at the end of a long, long, dreadfully long day. It was hard to get any food to stay down after what they saw in Gideon's lair, but they needed to eat at some point.

Someone needed to step up and at least try to get some conversation going. Begrudgingly, Olberic tried to open up some discourse. "…Look, today has been… difficult. But keeping quiet about it won't help."

"Difficult?!" Therion suddenly spat out, glaring at Olberic as he clattered down an empty ale mug. "I told all of you going here was a waste of time. And now you're implying that it was a bad idea?"

Primrose quickly jumped into the conversation with, "Therion, we had no idea at the time that—"

"That what, it would be better not to come here at all?" Therion shot back.

Cyrus placed a hand on Therion's shoulder. "Therion... it was by my insistence that we come here. If you have anyone to blame, it would be me. I pushed for it, and I know that we can never un-see what we saw."

Therion crossed his arms. "I'm glad we agree on one thing. Because I do blame you. And Tressa too."

The others looked mortified at Therion laying on the blame thick. It was clear that Tressa was the most affected by what they had witnessed down in the catacombs. The color still hadn't fully returned to her skin, and she had remained silent the entire time spent getting back to the inn and ordering dinner. Alfyn had to pretty much take care of any question asked at her for the past few hours.

"Okay, Therion buddy, that's enough," Alfyn insisted strongly. His voice was noticeably lacking the normal country charm and warmth it had.

"Please, just leave the poor girl alone," added Ophilia. "She's had enough for one day."

At those words, Therion abruptly stood up from the table. "Good. So have I," he curtly said before walking towards the hallway back to the rooms they were staying in.

Ophilia immediately stood up to try and stop Therion from leaving, but she in turn was stopped by H'aanit gently grabbing at her arm. "I wouldn'st try," she said. "His minde hath been maden up."

Ophilia sat back down, dejected at not being able to help. In some ways, she knew that H'aanit was right. There was no real way to calm down Therion at that very moment. He would just have to simmer in his own anger for a little while before he cooled down. Besides, Tressa obviously needed her help as well.

Instead of staring blankly at her plate and slowly eating, Tressa now had her face firmly buried in her hands, not even sobbing or anything. One would think that she was a mere corpse, preserved and stuck in a slumped forward position. Ophilia let out a sigh at how sad the image was.

"Tressa… do you want to go to your room?" Ophilia gently asked. That got her a very slight nodding of the head from Tressa's otherwise motionless form. At that, Ophilia then stood up and walked over to Tressa, before gently taking the young girl's hand and helping her to her feet.

"We'll be retiring for the night. Good night, and I will see you all in the morning," Ophilia cordially bid farewell before leading Tressa back down the same path Therion had departed down moments ago.

Olberic merely took a deep swig of the flagon of ale in front of him and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's too young to see such perversity…" he said to nobody in particular.

"I don't think anybody of any age should really be seeing that kind of thing," replied Primrose.

"You said it," Alfyn agreed, rubbing his temples.

"At the very least, we stopped that madman," added Cyrus.

H'aanit nodded in agreement with Cyrus. "Agreed. T'was no man in those caverns, t'was a monster in human guise."

That was a fact that the entire group could agree on. Gideon was easily the most depraved and morally bankrupt person the group had encountered on their journey thus far. To use men and women as mere resources, materials to be merely calculated and alchemized, was truly the most sickening aspect of his former character. All of Orsterra was now a slightly better place now that he was dead. However, that didn't mean that any of the travelers had to like how they had discovered his lab or put an end to his plans, felt Olberic.

XXX

The final blow on Gideon was struck by Olberic's mighty sword slash. It sent the dark sorcerer reeling to the floor on his back, gasping and feebly grasping at the now bleeding wound on his chest seeping out blood. In a fury, Olberic picked up the wizard by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

"Don't think you are to die yet, wastrel," Olberic growled at Gideon. He motioned at Cyrus to come closer. Undoubtedly the professor still wanted to follow his lead on the tome he had been searching for, and now would be the last time to get any clear answers.

"I'll ask you once more," Cyrus firmly said, "why perform this ritual? What directed you to do it?"

Gideon responded to Cyrus' questioning by spitting upon his cloak. He let out a raspy, choking laugh as he saw the dark blood of his spit staining the scholar's fine silk cloak. "Sorry, academic… that knowledge isn't for you."

For a brief moment, frustration flashed in Cyrus' eyes before turning away from the dying man. "Then you're responsible for what comes next," Cyrus responded.

On that cue, Olberic stopped holding Gideon by the throat and instead grabbed him by the sides of his head. Positioning his thumbs over the mad magician's eyes, Olberic summoned upon as much strength as he could to press his thumbs into the man's eye sockets as hard has he could. Gideon's raspy laughs eventually devolved into screams that rose in octave as his eyes exploded from the pressure, and the sides of his eye sockets started to fracture from the sheer crushing power of Olberic's hold. No longer holding himself back, Olberic started to bash Gideon's head against the stone wall until the dying man's screams stopped. By the time Olberic was done, the contents of Gideon's skull were so thoroughly pulped that they could be used to paint the side of a house.

Letting the corpse fall to the ground, Olberic turned to face the rest of the group as Cyrus started to search Gideon's corpse for any helpful clues. He faintly heard Cyrus discover a book in the man's robes as he walked over to where the others were assembled.

The rest of the group wasn't a very pleasant sight. Both Alfyn and Ophilia were desperately trying to stabilize the half-dead victims of Gideon's mad process with their medicine skills and healing magic respectively. Therion was furiously trying to scrub all the blood off his poncho, which had come from both the blood-suctioning equipment and from stabbing Gideon in the side during the previous battle. H'aanit was gathering up her arrows that she used in the fight, with an expression of cold rage plain on her face. And finally, in a corner of the room, was Primrose and Tressa. Primrose was doing her best to comfort Tressa, but it clearly wasn't working. The poor merchant girl was uncontrollably heaving and vomiting up the contents of her stomach. Olberic honestly couldn't blame her. The sheer depravity on display in the hidden lair would cause lesser men to faint on the spot.

Walking up to Primrose, Olberic asked, "How's she holding up?". Olberic had to admit to himself that it was a rather obvious question, but he couldn't just let a comrade in need just lay in despair like that.

Primrose continued to rub Tressa's back as the girl continued to hack and gag. "She's… not doing so good."

"Tressa? Can you hear me?" Olberic gently asked. At that, Tressa turned to face the knight in red-stained blue. The poor girl was trembling in place looking at Olberic. "You were very brave to come in here, Tressa," Olberic continued. "And you also helped to stop a very bad man. Not a lot of people could do what you've helped us do."

However, Olberic's attempts at trying to comfort Tressa didn't seem to be taking very much. "I-I-I need to go h-home," she stammered, "My p-parents must be so w-worried, and they h-have a sh-shop they need my help to r-r-run, and… and…". She then turned back around to unleash more bile from her mouth into the corner.

Olberic let out a heavy sigh. He wished that it would have never come to this. People like Tressa didn't need to see the utter depths of the moral abyss men could sink to. She had a lot to look forward to in life. Something like this could leave a black mark on a person's soul that could never go away. And what if Philip saw something like that…

Olberic shook that thought out of his head. Grappling with such an idea wasn't too healthy, especially just after a large fight. There was a time and place for that, and it was certainly meant for later rather than the present.

At that, Olberic then turned to Alfyn and Ophilia to help Gideon's living victims up to their feet. It was something else to focus on. Focus was all that mattered at the moment.

XXX

"I don't regreten killing that man," H'aanit firmly stated, knocking Olberic out of his recollection. "Justice was broughten upon him."

"Nor I," added Primrose. "I don't think anyone would say that bastard dying was a bad thing to occur."

"Yes… but the real question is what to do now that we know that Gideon was only part of a larger design," mused Cyrus as he pulled out a small red book and absently flipped the pages. "I must investigate this copy of From the Far Reaches of Hell at haste. Once I've conducted my analysis of the book, I'll tell Odette what I've discovered."

Alfyn nodded along with Cyrus' out-loud thinking. "Yeah, checking out that freaky book would be a good idea. Maybe we'll be able to find who's behind it all and stop them. Someone causing that much harm simply can't be allowed to continue."

Standing up, Cyrus billowed out his cloak with dramatic flair. "Fear not, I will discover this tome's manufacturer by the morn! Now, if you will all excuse me, I need to take a closer look at the make of this book."

H'aanit stood up as well. "I shall retiren as well," she said. "Linde needen some food for the night." With those words, she grabbed her plate still covered in potatoes and lamb and headed back towards her room. Cyrus followed after her.

Only Olberic, Primrose, and Alfyn remained at the table. Primrose pushed around some uneaten radishes around her plate with her fork, suddenly feeling hesitant to continue the conversation. Olberic continued to silently sip on his ale. Alfyn, however, then decided to vocalize some of his inner thoughts.

"Ya know, as an apothecary, I can't say that I wouldn't have seen wounds like that sooner or later," he admitted. "But I can't just shake one thing. The lab equipment in that dungeon was more advanced than anything I've seen, and those books on his desk were all medical in nature, ones that I haven't even dreamed to get my hands on. So why would someone who had all that knowledge chose to hurt people? He could've been a great doctor or apothecary! But instead he chose to maim, and hurt, and kill. I just can't split it. It's the most gods-damned unthinkable thing I've encountered."

Primrose gave a defeated shrug. "Sometimes people are just born evil. Like they're missing some fundamental part of themselves that others have, but they don't possess."

"You sound like you speak with experience," said Alfyn.

"Life is a harsh teacher, and an even harsher experience," replied the dancer.

Olberic's shoulders slumped. "If only we could so easily understand people, the world would indeed be a much more tolerable place."

"But that's why we're here, right Sir Olberic?" asked Alfyn. "We just can't stand idly by as people get hurt."

"Indeed, the oath I once swore as a knight of Hornburg and the oath of the apothecary do overlap in that regard. But even I will admit that sometimes it's hard to see why we do what we swore to perform. Orsterra is an unfair realm," was Olberic's jaded response.

"Then I pray to Aelfric that your vision clears. I sincerely do," said Alfyn without any hint of irony or malice. Then, Alfyn quickly downed the rest of his drink and stood up from the table. "We'll meet here in the morning for breakfast, yeah?"

Olberic nodded. "Right. I bid thee goodnight, Alfyn."

"And to you as well, Sir Olberic," bade Alfyn as he departed.

Now that Olberic and Primrose were alone, the dancer turned to the knight and placed a smooth hand on his armored shoulder. "Should we retire for the night as well?" Primrose asked.

"I suppose we shall," decided Olberic. "I have the feeling that we will need every bit of rest after the events of today."

"That goes without saying," Primrose agreed.

Leaving the table behind, Primrose and Olberic left to the room they had rented at the back portion of the inn. The both of them couldn't help but shake the feeling that in spite of their desire to rest for the night, neither of them would get much sleep. Or the rest of the caravan, for that matter.

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To be honest, this story idea has been kicking around in my head ever since I finished Cyrus' second chapter. It's really quite dark compared to where Cyrus started off in his first chapter. Thus, it's a section that's ripe for some character examination, especially if the entire party was there to witness it. Hopefully you're all interested in how this will play out, since I personally haven't seen character stuff like this elsewhere. Let me know what you think! This has been The Draigg, and I'm signing off this chapter for now.