It was cold, cold, cold, and everything hurt. She didn't even have the strength to open her eyes, before she blacked out again.
The next moment, she was lying on top of the book piles. A shriek erupted in the distance. She scrambled up and dashed in that direction, just in time to see Brøø's scimitar cut through the shadowy humanoid's chest. With another shriek, it dissolved to a puddle of ink, leaving only an empty book cover on the ground.
"Rest in peace." Brøø made a fancy gesture, after sheathing her weapon and picking up the book cover. She must have seen it somewhere before—the Church of Saint Lisa had a strong presence in northern Capitoline, even though she couldn't remember the myriads of sacred gestures they used.
"You are back!" Brøø turned back at the sounds of her footsteps. "Have someone saved you? Are you okay now?"
"No idea. My body's not doing too well, though." She winced. "Oww."
"Well, you don't look like you are dying anymore, buuut, just to be sure," Brøø gently put down the book cover, and walked to her side. "Maybe you should try and rest again?"
Despite the temptation to snuggle up to Brøø and empty her mind, she shook her head. Last time was nice, but still embarrassing, and she didn't feel like being so...clingy anymore.
"Oh, okay. Anything else you wanna talk about?"
She glanced over Brøø's scimitar, before shifting her sight to her right arm. Only then did she notice that her bracer wasn't there.
"Hmm, yes. How do you get a weapon to work in this place? Were you fighting something, when you—" She paused. "Got stuck here?"
Brøø shook her head. "Na-ah. I don't go to bed with my blade. It's not like a giant teddy bear. Don't think it would've helped, while the entire street was being gobbled up by a rift."
"You died...in the last Resonance event."
She shouldn't have sounded so shocked. She wasn't even there when the disaster struck. But the aftermath was bad enough, and those who had fought the extradimensional threats head-on, who saw the fabric of space-time break apart with their very own eyes—there was a mutual understanding between them that she could never quite share.
"Aww. Don't be sad. It didn't hurt, and I didn't even wake up!" Brøø put a hand to her shoulder. "Oh, and weapons, you say? You just think really really hard about it, and it will pop up."
That didn't sound too difficult. She closed her eyes, and when she opened her eyes again, the bracer was there. She instinctively pressed the switch, but the blade didn't shoot out. She turned to Brøø, frowning, and when she looked back, the bracer was gone without a trace.
"Huh?"
"Hey! You're doing great!" Seeing her skeptical look, Brøø added, "No, I mean it. Your stuff just has a lot of moving parts, and when you stop thinking about it, it goes away. It'll stay with enough practice."
How she could gather enough concentration to stop her weapon from popping out of existence, in the midst of an ambush by creepy shadow people...she had no idea. But sooner or later, she'd have to make it work, and she couldn't let Brøø protect her all the time.
So she just sat down, trying her damnedest to make a mental blueprint of the spring mechanisms and the blade, only opening her eyes to check on her non-existent progress from time to time.
After twelve, or twenty attempts, she still didn't hear that satisfying click. But when she sighed and looked up, the little CPU's phantom was standing in front of her again.
—She took a deep breath and slammed the wooden door shut behind her. After weeks of standing in front of the office door, listening to her sister flip through the paperwork, she had finally mustered enough courage to step into the room...
...While no one was inside.
She gritted her teeth. She shouldn't be so scared. Once she finished the promised talk, she wouldn't have to face the round of annoying reminders every time she sneaked out to meet Ubi. Or start avoiding her.
Her determination was faltering, however, as she looked at the faded banners, and Lady Cyan Heart's giant portrait on the opposite wall. Her sister was very careful in keeping the Basilicom free of dust, but, judging by the glimmering polish of the glass frame, she must've been extra careful with that painting when cleaning it.
She shuddered at that thought, half out of frustration and half out of dread.
The temptation to just run out of the office was growing stronger by the seconds, until she groaned and covered her eyes. Was this all she could manage? Getting bullied into quitting again? By a drawing?
Finally, she stood up, and grabbed the handles of a nearby cabinet. She needed something to distract her from that stupid drawing. Anything. Even if rummaging through her sister's stuff felt really wrong.
There was less dust inside than she imagined, though she still sneezed when she pulled the doors open. Just as she expected. Only old books and cartridges, nothing more. She bent down and shoved the books aside, trying to find a cartridge that didn't look all dated and boring, until she caught a glimpse of something shiny, lying behind a stack of books at the very back.
She stepped into the cabinet and grabbed the shiny object. Before she could take a good look at it, loud footsteps rang through the air, coming closer and closer towards the room. Without thinking, she hurriedly slammed the cabinet doors shut and curled up in the darkness.
"Take a seat, please," Lynka said, after closing the door. She frowned at the extra clicking sound. Her sister never locked her office door before.
"I was not expecting a surprise visit today. Please forgive me for the lack of refreshment and proper greetings." A pause. "If I may ask, what do you want from me, Fragment of the First Goddess?"
The mysterious visitor let out a low chuckle. "Call me Filina. You know exactly what I seek."
She gulped a little when she heard that name. Lynka would never bring up any troubling news in her presence, but her sister couldn't do anything about the gossip between Basilicom staff. This "Filina" person had done something really bad in Lastation City, and they were glad about her deeds—she had no idea why.
"My apology. I respect your age and experience," Lynka sighed. "But the Hospitium does not extend to every visitor that sets foot on Tari's soil. Tari's Goddess has to officially declare them a special guest. To my greatest regret, our nation is no longer at the height of its power, and I cannot risk the fury of our neighbors, especially after your...recent actions, under Lowee's tacit permission."
"Tacit permission? They were planning to get rid of me the moment I finished their dirty job. Just so they could pretend to be the savior of Lastation City." Filina snorted. "And do you really believe my memory to be so spotty, child? I was there when Rei Ryghts put her laws into motion."
"No. Forgive my..."
She chuckled in response. "If Rei was here, she'd be questioning what a mere maggot like me could possibly offer her, in exchange for Tari's protection." A small ruffle. "Do you recognize this shard? This is what I'm offering you."
"Pardon me?"
"And I thought Maria had drilled the entire history of Tari into your head." Filina sighed. "The greatest traitor in Tari's history. Rei's Oracle. First of the Golden One. Don't tell me you've forgotten her name?"
Lynka's voice was shaking, when she started speaking again. "I-I thought Aktivis had left our continent, after the Great Shock?"
"Oh, she'd been hiding in the PC kingdoms, behind that silly little "Mediagenic" alias, until I lured her back. Compared to her performance in our first battle, her current state is laughably pathetic. Didn't even put up much of a fight."
"...A shard of her Gold Crystal," Lynka mumbled to herself, like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.
"I've only snatched away a single piece after shattering it. But no worries," Filina's cheerful tone was enough to send a chill up her spine, "Rei would be happy to see the fate I subjected her to. She's mortal now. May as well make the ages catch up to her at a faster pace."
"I'm very grateful for your...aid. But I'm afraid your gift does not hold as much value as you believe."
"Is that so? Then you must be hopelessly out of touch with your nation's history."
She could imagine a smirk on Filina's face, as she said these words. It took all of her restraints not to leap out of the cabinet and punch their visitor in the face. That rude jerk, who...who did she think she was?
"Rei hated to admit it, but at the height of her power, Aktivis could rival the Goddess she used to serve. She couldn't crush her ex-Oracle with ease, and had to put her hope on potential backstabbers when she issued this decree. Whoever kills the greatest traitor in Tari's history will be entitled to a demand that its Goddess has to fulfill."
"Lady Cyan Heart had issued many decrees, and most of them are...no longer valid."
"Oh, I know. Forcing your Basilicom staff to give up their birth names and refer to themselves with two-digit numbers? If you did that, you'd drive away adherents faster than your older sister, and this building is already empty enough."
She'd be fuming by now, if anyone talked about Lynka in the same way. But there was only silence. Why? Why wasn't Lynka angry? Why wasn't she talking about how...awesome and caring her older sister was?
"Speaking of fair Maria? After the New Tari fleet's return from PC Continent, she salvaged the records from the ruins during her reconstruction of Tari. She looked through the old laws, and picked out the ones she wanted to renew. Guess which decree is amongst them? Go on. Look it up yourself."
There was a thud, followed by the sound of flipping pages. "My predecessor has, indeed, renewed that decree. She also added 'requires concrete proof' in the annotation."
"I don't think new golden towers have popped up recently. Or perhaps you'd like me to lead you to hers? If this shard isn't enough of a concrete proof already?" Filina sneered. "I am entitled to my demand, and all I'm asking for is simple protection. Does the promise of your first Goddess mean nothing to you? Maria would be ashamed of your cowardice."
The silence that ensued was suffocating. Her palms were sweating, and she had to cover her mouth, because she was close to screaming out some really nasty things.
"...I will not go against Lady Cyan Heart's wish," Finally, Lynka whispered. "By the term of her ancient decree, You are a guest under Tari's protection now. But there is one thing I will not tolerate."
An alien coldness crawled into Lynka's voice. "If you use your Lifedrain power on any of Tari's citizens, you will be exiled at once, and if you don't comply, I'll end your existence myself. Is that clear?"
"So you do have some of her fierceness in you. Not enough, but pretty impressive for a failed Candidate," Filina laughed. "Don't worry. The Gold Energy from Aktivis is enough to sustain me for a while, and I may help you take care of some of your angry neighbors, if you treat me well enough."
"I hope it does not come to that. Enjoy your stay."
The door soon creaked open, and Filina's footsteps faded away into the distance. She could only hear her sister's shallow, rapid breathing, before a chair was pushed aside. After another wave of frantic footsteps, the office door slammed shut.
For a while, she just sat there, until she finally broke out of her freeze and pushed open the cabinet doors with a shaky hand. As she emerged into the sunlit room once again, she suddenly realized that she was still holding the mysterious object in her other hand.
Wiping the cobwebs and grim off the glass, she soon saw her sister's face inside the photo frame, albeit much younger in appearance. When this photo was taken, Lynka clearly didn't know how to squeeze out a convincing smile while she was sad.
The other woman in the photo, wearing a colorful sash around the waist of her regal black dress, had the same stone-cold eyes as Lady Cyan Heart's portrait. She wasn't smiling.
In fact, it was almost like she didn't know how to smile at all.