Diary

See disclaimer in Entry #1

:Fallen City:

Since there've been rumors of demons again, we're heading off after our three-day-long break in Elendia, traveling this time towards the sunken city of Tetyth.

According to Fia and Cierra, Tetyth was a city built by angels after Riviera was purged of demons. It was very magically advanced, and was comprised largely of libraries and churches; it had been noted for the grandeur of its architecture and the goddess statues in the Flaybell Cathedral, which stood in the center of the city. However, the angels who originally founded the city were said to have been outcasts, fallen, ostracized by the Magi in the gods' stead after Ragnarok.

The legends go that Tetyth was punished for its arrogance and extravagance with a flood; these days, Cierra told me, the ruins of the city, inhabited only by Undines, lie in the center of a vast lake, and that only the floodgates have kept the water out of the main parts of the town. According to Claude and Soala at the Magic Guild, there are demons and maybe one of the Accursed all over the place now.

The story reminded me a little of something Ledah told me while we were traveling through Heaven's Gate, but it was a bit too creepy and surreal to tell the girls.

Heaven's Gate is mostly built around the Sacred Scale, a gigantic set of stone scales that was said to've been created by the gods long ago. We had to travel over the scales to get to Riviera, actually. But Ledah told me very seriously that fallen angels used to be tried and sentenced there, cast down from Asgard to the lower realms, or even Hel, based on their sins.

I wonder if the angels who built Tetyth passed through Heaven's Gate, as well, and what they must've felt if they did. If they'd been afraid of the gods' judgement or if they'd just been happy to get out of Asgard… If it were me, I wouldn't have known what to do. Asgard is my home, and if I'd been banished from it…

That reminds me… Ledah was acting sort of strangely when he told me about the Sacred Scale, and just after that, he said some weird things to himself… I think he remarked on how ironic it was for him to come to Riviera that way, or something.

I wonder…

But that can't be, can it? I mean… it's just not Ledah. He's always been so devout in his faith; he was a priest before he became a Grim Angel, after all, and has never forgotten it. He's one of the best people I've known… it doesn't add up. Ledah, a fallen angel?

He must've meant something else, I'm sure of it…

Tetyth is only a few days away now. Fia says that we're looking for a cave that will take us beneath the lake and into the outskirts of the city itself. Once we're there, we'll have to go through the city looking for the Accursed and destroying any troublemaking demons we see.

I still don't really like the "killing" aspect of this journey…

But that aside, it feels kinda nice traveling with everybody like this, now that Rose and Cierra have joined us. Ledah's absence is still a huge hole in my heart, aching whenever I notice something that might've interested him in some way, like the libraries that are said to be in the city—Ledah loves reading. But it's an ache that's soothed by having Rose with me. She and I haven't known each other nearly as long as Ledah and I have, but we did work together for about a month before we left to actuate the Retribution. It's nice to have someone familiar with me (wow, that was a really bad pun) with all the strangeness of Riviera and the dangers of our quest.

Lina and Serene are good friends. Fia's a sweet girl who's really easy to rely on. And as weird as Cierra can get, she's really smart and actually kind of cute, if you're into semi-ditzy girls with red hair. Even as badly as I miss Ledah, it makes me happy to have so many good friends. My life was never like this in Asgard…

There is no loss without gain.

So maybe… it'll all be okay, after all…

I hope so…