.
Wild Arms: To the End of the Wilderness
Chapter Thirty Two: A Wound Carved Upon the Heart
Written by Estrelita Farr
.
The afternoon sun shone on the wanderers as they stepped through the stone arch that was the entrance to Baskar Village, boots crunching on the partly grassy ground, travelling cloaks pulled up to shield their faces from the sandy wind. At the base of the raised stone platform that was the Altar of Wind, its keeper greeted them with a little bow.
"Welcome back, travellers, it is good to see you return. Are you ready to stand on the altar and ask for the Western Wind of Hope?"
Cecilia nodded. "Yes, we are ready. We have the Guardian Lords of Love and Courage. Perhaps they can summon the Guardian Lord of Hope."
The keeper smiled. He stepped back and gestured at the spiral staircase leading to the top, and the wanderers began the climb. The wind grew stronger the higher they went, pulling at their cloaks.
The moment they reached the top of the platform, the sky darkened. The wind howled as it circled around them, thunder rumbled as though to strike them down.
"Hey, what's going on?" Jack wondered aloud.
"Shh, listen," Hanpan said. "I can barely hear…"
The Teardrop shone bright. Cecilia clasped her hands around it, closing her eyes, then looked up. "Raftina and Justine!"
As if responding to the Teardrop, two orbs of light shone above, one pink and one gold. The orbs then shifted into familiar shapes, one of a winged woman, the other of an armoured lion.
"This is the Altar of Wind…" Raftina's soft voice said. "It renders the Western Wind of Hope… but…"
Justine shook his head. "We have had misgivings in our faith. Since then, we have been unable to summon the Guardian Lord of Hope."
"We lack a being with unalloyed hope. Doubt is the enemy that hampers the advent of the Western Wind…"
"Wait a minute!" Jack interrupted. "Are you saying we can't call the Western Wind?!"
"Unfortunately so…"
Cecilia lowered her head. "No…"
Silence.
Rudy closed his eyes for a moment, then looked up and stepped towards the Guardian Lords, shoulders squared.
"Rudy?!" the princess exclaimed.
Hanpan's ears perked up. "Right! He's always had hope, he believes in the world regardless of the situation!"
The Guardian Lords gazed down at the boy, who gazed back at them.
"Do you wish to open up the future with your heart and soul?" Justine growled. "But you are not human. How can an artificial heart and soul summon the Wind of Hope?" He swung a powerful hand, the cape flaring. "With all that has happened, do you still have hope for the future?"
Rudy faltered. He stared at the metal at the back of his left hand, a constant reminder of his metal body… but it was also a reminder of his comrades' efforts to save his life despite knowing what he was. He straightened once more and nodded.
"Hey, Justine," Jack said, "This guy will never give up on anything. This world needs a guy like him, with such strong will and determination. He's human in the way that counts!"
Cecilia stepped forward. "Please listen, Raftina, we wouldn't have had the faith to come this far if it wasn't for him. Calling him unnatural is unworthy of him! You can't say he has no place here, there shouldn't even be a question as to who belongs on Filgaia and who doesn't!"
"That's right!" Hanpan cried. "And besides, he's not a demon. He was made by Elws and humans, and he's on our team!"
Rudy's heart swelled at their words. His comrades believed in him, even if he wasn't human, and that was enough. Raising the idol in the shape of a dragon, he closed his eyes and tried to reach out with his heart as he would an ARM, his heart that filled with hope for a bright future.
A brilliant blue light shone from the dragon idol. The wind grew stronger and pulled at their hair and cloaks.
"Light from his artificial heart…" Raftina whispered. "It's reaching out to the future…?"
"This is the beam of Hope," Justine said. "But it should not be… perhaps…"
The idol continued to shine, bright and strong… then faded.
The Guardian Lord of Hope did not appear.
Jack glanced around. "Did we do it?!"
Cecilia shook her head. "We failed to summon the Guardian Lord…"
Rudy closed his eyes. Was his hope not enough…?
Silence.
Then, a small blue spark. A quiet voice came from the dragon idol in Rudy's hands.
"I am Zephyr, the one who rules the brilliance of heart and gathers lost Hope… though your heart is manmade, your radiance was more than enough to wake me from my slumber."
Jack grinned. "So we did it after all!"
"However, there is a shadow that lies upon your soul, that hinders my full awakening. This scar is your fear and pain… your despair. Once you have purged your heart and soul of this despair, I shall appear as the Western Wind. The Western Wind does not blow from the altar, but from your heart…"
One last spark from the idol and it faded, as did the other two Guardian Lords. The dark clouds dispersed to reveal the blue sky once more. The wind slowed to a gentle breeze.
Rudy shut his eyes.
A deep despair… it had been so long ago that he thought he was over it. He had comrades who believed in him, so he thought he was over it… yet the memory was still fresh in his mind.
Monster… monster.
The very thought pierced through him. His heart grew cold, and his body trembled against his will.
No… he was definitely not over it…
Something landed lightly on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. Hanpan's ears drooped as he placed a paw on the boy's temple.
"Rudy…" His voice was soft. "I'm sorry, I had no idea of the anguish in your heart…"
The boy tried to smile and shook his head.
"Is this from before we met?" Jack asked.
The slightest nod.
"An insensitive guy like me can't be much of a help, but…" He placed a hand on Rudy's shoulder. "I can at least listen to you. Anytime you need me, I'll be here for you."
Cecilia smiled. "I've had so much help from all of you, so Rudy, I want you to know, we're always here for you as well."
Rudy returned their smiles, the heavy weight on his chest easing a little.
With them to support him, perhaps… just perhaps… he could face that part of his past once again.
.
-o-o-o-o-o-
.
Their destination was Surf Village, located in a valley some distance north of Adlehyde Castle Town. As they flew over the Inland Sea in the Gullwing, there was a long silence before Rudy began his story, and he did so quietly, hesitantly.
A small boy had broken the village ban to enter the Berry Cave, to get a Holy Berry to heal his injured father. Rudy had gone after him, fending monsters off with a sword, and an earthquake occurred after he plucked a Holy Berry from the tree within. A rotting beast emerged, a monster too strong for him to handle with his novice swordplay, so he fired his ARM… but even when it was defeated, the fear didn't disappear from the villagers' faces. Instead, the fearful stares were aimed at him… because of his ARM.
The stares that had burnt into him back then still felt vivid.
Monster… monster.
Rudy hugged himself, feeling small and vulnerable.
"I see…" Cecilia shook her head. "So that's why you kept wrapping your ARM in that cloth when we first met…"
"But that's not your fault!" Jack declared, hitting the arm rest with a fist. "An ARM is a cursed weapon? Rudy is a monster? What were these guys smoking?!"
Hanpan shook his head. "Honestly I don't know how we can solve this… those that tend to think so are usually set in their ways and difficult to persuade. Let me think…"
They continued the rest of the way in silence, each deep in thought.
Rudy gazed at his ARM… and quietly wrapped it up in the white cloth once more.
The Gullwing landed some distance from Surf Village, out of sight, and the wanderers trekked the rest of the way. As Hanpan had put it, "Because appearing in a big metal bird isn't going to help us persuade them. They might just call us demons for flying in one if they reject ARMs!"
As they neared the village, mixed feelings filled Rudy. Relieved at the sight of the people alive and well, yet fearful at the thought of meeting their stares once more. He pulled the travelling cloak tighter around himself until only his eyes could be seen, hoping he wouldn't be recognised. He tried to stop his body from trembling as he forced himself forward. The others matched his slow pace, occasionally casting concerned glances at him.
But, when they reached the village gates, they stopped.
Surf Village had been a quiet settlement in the frontier, yet the air was filled with noisy chatter. Numerous tents and wooden counters lined up along the dirt path, from which long queues of people stretched all the way to the entrance gates. Rudy's eyes widened, wondering what had changed… then he saw the piles of Holy Berries glowing from the crates within the tents.
Holy Berries. He could never forget that gentle purple glow.
At that moment one of the empty tents opened and a villager shouted, "Come on, get your Holy Berries here!"
A mad scramble for the newly opened counter. People from the back of the line rushed past the wanderers without a second look back, even when both Rudy and Cecilia fell from a violent shove. Jack quickly stepped between them and the crowd to prevent them from being trampled over.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Jack cried. When they ignored him, he gritted his teeth and gripped his sheathed katana. "Why you–"
Hanpan hopped up and down his shoulder with a sharp squeak. "Calm down, Jack!"
When the rush was over and the dust settled, the crowd became quiet once more, the wanderers sighed in relief as Jack helped the two back up–
A gasp and a crash. They turned to see a wide-eyed villager standing over a fallen basket of broken bottles and pointing at Rudy. "H-he's back! The monster's back!"
Rudy froze. It was only then he realised the hood of his cloak had fallen, revealing his face and blue hair.
A group of villagers gathered, whispering among themselves as they cast sideways glances at the ARMs bearer. He avoided their gazes as he pulled the hood back up, wishing the burning eyes would go away…
Then one man said, "Well, even monsters need Holy Berries too, right? Let him, it just means more business for us!"
A few others laughed. "Yeah, that's true!"
And, as the wanderers stared, the villagers dispersed without much of a fuss, returning to their business at hand.
Jack shook a fist. "Look at that! They were so gungho about Rudy's ARM being cursed that they exiled him, and now they care more about selling Holy Berries than him?!"
Hanpan shrugged. "I guess money really changes people."
Rudy placed a hand on his chest. The pain, the despair he had felt when he had left the village… that weight was still there. He thought he would feel better when they no longer cared about his ARM. Yet, that scornful dismissal made it hurt more than ever…
"Are you okay, Rudy?" Cecilia asked.
He looked up at her and nodded, trying to smile.
Jack rubbed his head. "Well, now what do we do? That doesn't exactly give us a proper closure, does it?"
Hanpan held his chin with a paw. "I don't know. I suppose we could look around for a bit… besides, something's been bothering me since we arrived. That smell…"
"What smell?"
"Don't you smell it? It's faint, but it definitely smells foul."
Cecilia nodded. "I know what you mean… it's as if a rotting body is nearby."
The boy looked up. A… rotting body? Did that have anything to do with that rotting beast he had defeated the last time? But he was sure its body had disappeared when he defeated it…
With no leads, they made their way to the less crowded side of the village, if only to get away from the noisy marketplace, and found just how fixated the villagers were on selling Holy Berries. The fields were overgrown, the crops and weeds growing wild, but no one tended to them. The dogs ran around chasing the chickens, but no one bothered to stop them. The stables were filled with fallen leaves and dirt, the horses stood with shaggy coats and no one to brush them.
The travellers asked around about the Holy Berry trade, but no one said anything beyond how well they were doing as they smugly told them to line up if they wanted to buy some. They even met with the village chief, who had once allowed Rudy to stay in his house, but the old man grimly said, "You should leave as soon as possible. We do not trust strangers because of your friend, and there are rumours of him being the cause of the black light around the world."
Rudy shut his eyes. They all turned to leave, but not before Jack shot a glare at the chief.
Just as they headed down a particular dirt path, a high voice yelled from behind, "Rudy! RUDY!"
They turned to see a small boy running down the path at them, a wide grin on his face, and he leapt right at Rudy with such a big hug that they both tumbled onto a patch of grass. Rudy looked up, wide-eyed, breath knocked out of him. "T-Tony?"
"Oh, Rudy! I'm so glad you're okay! Black light fell over the world and I heard many scary things… I was so worried."
He gave a small smile and placed a hand on the smaller boy's head. "I'm glad you're okay too, Tony."
A gasp as he got up. "Wow, you're speaking louder now! Back then I could never hear your voice at all!"
His cheeks flushed, and he hid them with one hand.
Jack gave a cheeky grin. "I get ya. We used to have trouble hearing him too, and the loudest sound he made then was a sneeze!"
Tony grinned back. "Yeah!"
A short round of introductions later, Cecilia asked, "Tony, would you please explain to us what happened since Rudy was here last?"
He nodded. "Yeah, well… remember the Holy Berry we brought back, Rudy? It healed my father really well and everyone started going back into the cave to harvest more." He hung his head. "Everyone says we can make money from the Holy Berries, but I'm scared… they all look frightening, like green-eyed monsters."
Jack scratched his head. "So much that they don't care about Rudy's ARM now."
"Yeah. I was sad at the way they chased him out and took credit for his finding the Holy Berry and defeating that monster… and even now, they're saying the black light is all your fault, Rudy."
Rudy closed his eyes. Once again, he was blamed for something destructive…
Hanpan hopped down onto the smaller boy's shoulder. "Tony, since the–"
Tony's eyes shone. "Wow! A talking blue rabbit!"
He gave a huff. "Actually I'm a Wind Mouse. And don't treat me like a pet, I'm older than all of you put together!"
"Really?"
"Really. Now, back to my question. Since the people started harvesting the Holy Berries, do you think something changed? Like… a foul smell?"
A nod. "Yeah. Some adults say they can smell rotten meat when they go to the Berry Cave… it's faint, but I can smell it on them. I think animals do too, because all the animals in the village refuse to go near them."
He crossed his arms. "Strange… I wonder if it has something to do with the Berry Cave."
After bidding farewell to Tony, the wanderers made the short trek to the Berry Cave. However, the wooden gate that blocked the entrance was bigger than Rudy remembered, and now there was even a group of five men guarding it instead of just one.
"What!" one of the men exclaimed. "Let you in so that you could steal the Holy Berries from us! Of course we're not dumb enough to do that, so why don't you go back into the wilderness where monsters like you belong!"
Monster. The very word made Rudy tremble.
Jack gave a huff as he placed an arm around the boy's shoulders. "All right, all right, we'll leave, no need to be that nasty about it."
As they made their way back to Surf Village, Cecilia shook her head. "What can we do now?"
Hanpan shook his head. "Well, I suppose there's no choice but to head back to Adlehyde Castle and peruse the library there. Let's see if there's something about the Holy Berries there."
.
-o-o-o-o-o-
.
After reporting back to Emma, the team spent the next few hours poring over books in the library at Adlehyde Castle, much to Jack's indignation and Hanpan's excitement. They bickered every now and then, with Jack occasionally tossing a book and the Wind Mouse dodging. Cecilia told them with a sigh to focus, only for the bickering to start again a while later.
Even with the chaos around him, Rudy didn't mind. He didn't want to tell the others, but he just felt relieved to be away from the village, even for a little while. Then he felt guilty. The others were working for his sake, yet here he was, relieved to be away from it…
He shook his head, tried to push these feelings away, and began going through his pile of books.
Aside from the occasional bicker and the sound of flipping pages, the library was silent. The day passed quickly, yet even as the piles of books in front of each person grew, they were nowhere close to finding out more about the Holy Berry.
Cecilia glanced out the window, where the sky was already dark. "Everyone, it's getting late…"
Jack sighed as he leant back in his chair and propped his feet on the table. "I don't think we're going anywhere with this… if we could find it, we would've found it by now."
"This is like finding a needle in a haystack," Hanpan said. "We've gone through just about every book on ancient lore or plants. Surf Village is such a remote place that they all don't have anything about Holy Berries or rotting beasts…"
Rudy closed his eyes. "I'm sorry… maybe it's better if… we stop…"
The others gazed at him with concerned eyes.
Cecilia shook her head. "No, it's not your fault, Rudy. We're doing this because we want to help you, because we care about you." She smiled. "You have always been thinking of us. Even when the subspace was about to consume us in the Gate Generator, you sacrificed your left hand… that was because you didn't want us all caught up in it, wasn't it?"
Silence.
Hanpan hopped over and patted the boy's hand. "Don't worry, we're all here to help you."
More silence.
Jack strode to Rudy's table, pulled a chair and sat next to him. "Look, I know you feel like running away. I know you'd prefer if we just leave that village alone and move on like nothing's happened."
The slightest nod.
"I know the feeling, because I've been there." He closed his eyes. "When I thought I'd lost the person most important to me years ago, I'd been doing nothing but running away from it all in the guise of seeking revenge. I threw away everything and went looking for Absolute Power, because I thought by having it, I'd be able to face my past…"
Silence.
"But in reality, it wasn't. The more I ran from it, the more it chased after my shadow… and it was only when I faced it that I finally realised how futile running away was." He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know you're scared. Heck, I was too. But you know, the world didn't end when I faced my past, and I'm sure it won't when you do. We're here with you."
A pause. Then Rudy looked up with a small smile. "Thank you… I won't run."
Jack slapped him hard on the back, making him jump. "Now that's more like it!" Then he caught sight of the other two gazing at him in awe, and he scowled. "What?"
"Wow, Jack," the princess said. "I think I have a newfound admiration for you."
Hanpan grinned. "I think so too."
Jack smirked. "Well, it's nice you have admiration for me now– hey, wait, you mean you didn't admire me before?!"
A shrug. "Well, I didn't say that. You said it yourself."
"Why you–"
A book went flying past, which Hanpan easily dodged with a grin much to Jack's indignation, and then began yet an epic battle of flying books and wits that didn't end with any amount of Cecilia's shouts.
Rudy couldn't help but to grin as he watched, feeling the weight ease from his chest.
When the excitement died down and they sat at their tables again, they decided to continue searching ("We can sleep when we're dead!" Jack declared) and tried to find out as much as they could before turning in for the night. This time they were focused, working silently on their piles of books.
The warm morning sun soon streamed in through the windows, shining on the figures of the wanderers slumped over the tables among the mountains of books. That was how Emma found them when she arrived, an amused smile on her face.
She crossed her arms and cleared her throat.
They didn't stir.
She knocked on the library door.
They didn't stir.
She shrugged in a don't-say-I-didn't-warn-you manner and opened up her Emulator screen.
That was when everyone in Adlehyde Castle swore they heard the loudest cymbals ever.
The sheer shock of the sound knocked Rudy right off his chair.
"WHAT-THE-HECK-IS-THE-SKY-FALLING-DOWN?!" Jack exclaimed with a jump, eyes wide with hands on his sheathed katana.
Cecilia rubbed her ears. "Oh, what on Filgaia…"
"Are you trying to scare us to death, Doctor?!" Hanpan squeaked.
Emma smirked. "I did try waking you up. Besides, I came to deliver something." She strode over to Rudy and handed him a book. "Here. I got this from someone well versed in ancient lore, so it may be useful." With a wave, she strode back out.
After taking a moment to calm down, the wanderers gathered around Rudy. The book had the title "Little Known Ancient Lores of Adlehyde" and a plain blue bookmark in the middle. Did Emma work all night as well to find this for them…?
Rudy flipped the book open to the bookmark. The page depicted the rotting beast he had defeated the first time he was at Surf Village. Many centuries ago, the people of Surf Village had first encountered the rotting beast on an unknown date. They hired mercenaries and wanderers to kill the beast, yet it kept on reappearing despite being killed, destroyed, mutilated, shattered, burned, buried… all done several times. The foul miasma it emitted kept on growing thicker as time passed, consuming the land to the point where even a single blade of grass couldn't grow, until a travelling priest sealed the rotting beast with a Holy Berry, eradicating the miasma. The priest then planted a Holy Berry tree in the Berry Cave to keep the seal intact.
"Without the Holy Berries to keep it sealed," the page concluded, "The rotting beast will keep on consuming the land until all life is eradicated. Do not harvest the Holy Berry."
The wanderers stared at each other, and Hanpan vocalised their thoughts.
"We have a problem."
.
End of Chapter Thirty Two: A Wound Carved Upon the Heart.
Author's Note:
Here's another difference between WA and WAACF: WA Rudy successfully summons Zephyr atop the Altar of Wind, whereas WAACF Rudy fails and has to return to Surf Village to resolve the situation! Although WAACF doesn't have an actual scene depicting the Holy Berry marketplace, I took the idea from various NPC speeches; they actually say many of the lines in this chapter if you visit them before attempting to summon Zephyr. And of course, the whole library scene is a product of my imagination. xD