Fear and Despair, but Hope.
An Intimidating Goal Part 1
By
Dragon Fist Gaming
Elizabeth had seen this scenery before. In fact, she had seen it many times. It was a wonderous sight:
cosmic in scale and beauty. What appeared to be nebulas spanned unfathomable distances. Stars
twinkled in every which direction with no planets in sight. At first glance, there appeared to be a giant
golden door somewhat in the distance with five squares running down the left and right sides of the
door. The top and bottom pairs of squares on the two sides of the door had a circuler swirl pattern on
them, while the other squares had pictures of eyes looking this way and that. However, on closer
inspection there was what appeared to be a young man hanging, as if crucified, with arms and legs
outstretched, bound by rope to four parts of the door nearby. "This is a sight only a God would be able
to experience" she thought to herself. "That, or a wielder of power". She smirked to herself, pleased with
the humor of the sentence she had thought up. She was able to come to this place at will via
teleportation. In fact, she had to.
Once a year, a monstrous creature named Erebus would appear in this place. The creature was the
manifestation of humanity's unconscious desire for death. Its goal was to communicate this desire to an
other worldly god named Nyx. It had done so nearly eight years ago; the result could only be described
as apocalyptic. An avatar of Nyx had descended from the heavens to turn all of humanity into shadows.
Shadows were monsters that took different forms but were mindless, only seeking to attack whatever
unfortunate soul they came across. However, a small organization named SEES, the Specialized
Extracurricular Activity Department, had fought valiantly against Nyx even though it was impossible to
defeat her. But hope was not lost. Through the hope of the members of SEES toward their combat
leader, Yuki Makoto, he was able to turn his soul into the giant door in the distance. This prevented
Erebus from being able to reach Nyx. However, the door was not invincible. That's where Elizabeth came
in. She had agreed with SEES that she would be the faithful guardian of the door against Erebus. For her
it was a simple task. She was one of the wielders of power: beings who lived in the velvet room, a place
between mind and matter. This made her extremely powerful, allowing her to defeat Erebus with a
single strike. However, humanity's desire remained, so every year Erebus would return.
Elizabeth had grown rather close to Makoto before he became the seal. She was quite unfamiliar with
the world outside and he had shown her more about it. One day, she had even shared a romantic night
with him. She was sad that he was gone, however not all was lost. It had been reasoned that if humanity
stopped wishing for death, Erebus would disappear and Makoto would no longer need to be the
messiah of the world. Elizabeth had vowed to do everything in her power to reach her goal of doing just
that. She had been working diligently over the past eight years towards her goal. However, it was quite
the intimidating task and she had not made much progress. She sighed. Eight years was nothing to a
wielder of power, however she had hoped to accomplish her task by now. She had heard rumors,
explored lost ruins, and delved into deep chasms in dark oceans, but still she had found nothing. She had
had a lead at one point though. A couple of years ago, a group of tricksters calling themselves the
Phantom Thieves had discovered the metaverse. In this metaverse, the collective subconscious of the
public could be found, named Mementos. If one could control Mementos, one could eliminate the
publics subconscious desire to die. However, only one person had the capability to do this. He had tried
to make the world a utopia by controlling Mementos and fusing it with reality. The result was that when
he changed Mementos, reality changed as well, making him like a god. The Phantom Thieves ended up
defeating him in the end though and he lost his ability. Elizabeth had debated if it was morally acceptable
to interfere with humanity's free will like he did, but it ultimately didn't matter.
Sighing again, she looked over at Makoto's soul. "What would you do?" she asked, her words piercing
the total silence. She knew she would get no response. Like a family member visiting the grave of a
loved one, she came here often to speak to Makoto. Suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine. She
thought "Is there no way to free him?". She had felt a gnawing in the pit of her heart for around a year
now ever since the thieves defeated that man. Suddenly that feeling overwhelmed her and she dropped
to her knees. The feeling was fear and despair. She had managed to keep it at bay up until now but
could hold it back no longer. Tears streamed down her face as she cried, with no one to hear her. She
had tried and tried but nothing had worked. "It wasn't fair' she thought to herself, overcome with
emotion. She wanted to go shopping with him, to go do the dance club again, to feel his embrace once
again. Anger took her suddenly. She screamed in rage. She was angry at Nyx, at Erebus, angry at
humankind, but most of all she was angry at her own helplessness to save the one she loved. After a
while she sat in silence, saddened by the poor state of affairs she was in in relation to her goal.
Suddenly, the cellphone she had in her pocket ringed, its noise going into the seemingly endless void.
Wiping away the tears from her face, Elizabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone. "Hello,
this is Elizbeth" she said, her voice slightly horse from all the yelling she just did. "Hello my darling" said
a man's voice from the other end. Elizabeths eyes opened wide. She recognized that voice. It was the
voice of Igor, the head of the Velvet Room and her former master. "Master, it's been so long since we last
talked" she said. "Indeed" Igor said, his voice containing a tint of sadness. "Me and your siblings have
missed you ever so much" he said. Elizbeth smiled, "I must admit, I have missed them as well" she said.
Elizbeth had three siblings: Margret her older sister and her younger brother and sister: Theodore and
Lavenza respectively. "My dear" Igor said, "I know you said you would not return until you have achieved
your goal but I think I might have a lead that would help you to accomplish just that". Elizabeth was
surprised; she had not expected this. "You have?" Elizbeth asked Igor. "I have" he responded. Elizabeth
said "Alright I shall return post haste". Laughing, Igor said "We will be looking forward to your arrival".
Elizbeth said she understood and hung up. As she put the phone back in her pocket, she heard what
sounded like a whisper on the breeze, despite there not being any breeze here. She heard the words "I'm
counting on you". Astonished she turned toward the door but it remained the same as it always had
been. Elizbeth smiled. She felt hope welling up in her soul. She thought to herself "Thank you" and
opened a portal to the Velvet Room, feeling rejuvenated and ready to do whatever she could to free her
friend.
End