"Ryda!"

She was right there in front of me, her back turned. I could see every scar on her back from the years she'd spent as a bandit. Under Arvald's care, and his right-hand woman. As I ran towards her, reaching out my hand, she turned... and her form started to slowly change. Long, light brown hair that fell past her shoulders in slight curls, and the familiar swoop bang that Alisha had. And then, as she faced me, she changed into the Alisha we'd met outside of Lastonbell.

"No- Ryda-!"

"Have you forgotten?" Alisha asked, a smirk on her face. "My name is Alisha Diphda... and I will be the one to rend this world in two..."

I woke with a start, jolting up into a sitting position. A nightmare, about Ryda and the Alisha from Lastonbell. I wiped my forehead with the sleeve of my jacket before looking out the window. It was still raining. Pendrago was always raining thanks to Cardinal Forton and her weird need to keep people under her thumb. It made me wonder how long she'd been like this, and just how long she'd been keeping Pendrago in such a torrential flood of rain. Was it a year? Two? I didn't really know, nor did I want to know. Getting out of bed, I pulled my boots on before picking up my bag and re-attaching it to my belt.

"We're going to go to the Shrinechurch. Zero, you can hide us from her vision, right?" I asked. Zero yawned in the back of my head, and I heard a groan like she was stretching.

"Yeah... I can do that once we're there. Gonna get the jump on her?" Zero asked sleepily.

"Need to. If we're going to stop Sorey from learning about killing as salvation so soon, then we need to get to her before she does... Well, beyond the whole Rayfalke scenario, that is," I said, heading out into the hallway after making sure I had everything. I went into the lobby of the inn, handing back the key to my room and thanking the innkeep before heading out into the rain. Thankfully, I'd closed up my jacket and pulled up its hood before exiting the inn. At least now I was somewhat protected from the rain. At this point, Sorey and the others would be headed here to Pendrago.

I just had to send them off to Goddodin and get them on the path of the trials. I could frame it in a way that would help Sorey in his quest, but... I wasn't sure if he would buy it, especially when the rain stopped. Heading in the direction of the Shrinechurch, I passed Sergei and the knights running after one of Forton's men. A hellion, I realized, but that was obvious. The specks of malevolence in the air told me that this was a hellion's domain first and foremost, and there wasn't much I could do about that until I killed Cardinal Forton. My thoughts went back to Rose, and how she had dealt with it before. If memory served right, she kept Sorey from staining his hands with blood by killing the Cardinal.

I would just have to stain my own hands, it looked like, to keep Sorey from staining his too soon. I knew the Scattered Bones' typical assassination line, so I could pass it off as an assassination from them. But how would I go about talking about that if I met them before then? Regardless, I had to get into the Shrinechurch first.

"Zero, invisibility if you'd please." I said.

Alright, one invisibility bubble coming up! Zero said with a laugh, and a bubble appeared around me. It would hide me from view, but for how long? I decided to run to the Shrinechurch and see, finding that the bubble didn't shrink with each step I took. Was Zero that powerful to be able to keep it up? How long had she been alive as a Seraph? Questions I wanted to know the answer to started popping up in my head, and I had no way of asking for now. Zero would need all her concentration on the bubble so we could sneak in and kill the Cardinal before she realized we were there. That way, the rain would stop and the land would dry so the crops could be replanted and Pendrago could get out of the rut it was currently in.

Heading through the raining city was easier now, though I had to weave through the passerby in cloaks who were running from one place to another in the rain. Trying to minimize their time in it, I supposed. I should be doing the same, but rain didn't bother me here like it did back home. Back home, it meant that the power would go out regardless if it had thunder or not and leaving us without a proper ETA of restoration. Here, it wasn't as bad. Pendrago didn't have a power grid, or electricity. Things were fine.

I made it to the Shrinechurch after a bit of running, opening the doors and letting myself inside. The feeling of the Cardinal's domain was pressing against my own, and it made me shiver a little. Like she was probing for intruders to petrify and turn into eternal statues, which she'd done to a countless number of people. Sergei's brother was among her victims, and I didn't want to think about how horrifying it must've been to have your body turned to stone. It reminded me of Blank from FF9, but without the Supersoft to rescue any of them. If only I knew what went in it, maybe I could've saved these people from being statues forever.

I couldn't think of that, though. I couldn't think of how to save them, only of how to save those still living here.

For those we have lost, for those we can yet save.

I continued into the Shrinechurch, shivering whenever the Cardinal probed around my domain. She saw it as an intrusion, and was trying to get to me. I had to get to her before Zero's spell broke and my advantage was lost. She would be in the back, "praying" for the rain to continue falling and for fear to continue gripping the hearts of those in Pendrago. The puzzle I had to do to get to her was ridiculously easy, mostly due to already knowing the layout of it. Metaknowledge came in handy, especially with how things were going so far. And when I saw the statues, I kept myself from making any comments.

"I know you're here," the Cardinal said, her back turned to me. "Why is it that you think you can sneak in without me knowing you were here?"

So much for that. Zero said, frustrated.

She's been probing at the domain since we got here, she would've known regardless. Eizen retorted. It was a good idea, but one that didn't have all of its points figured out.

"So, you caught me." I kept my eyes closed as my voice dispelled Zero's invisibility barrier. "Congratulations, Cardinal. You caught me. But don't think I don't know about your game. I'm not going to let you keep doing this. The rain has gone on long enough, and it's time you paid!"

"This rain is the reason people are desperate for the empire's victory. And it will be what brings said victory to them." She slid over to me, much like a snake. I could hear it despite my eyes being closed... and it unnerved me. "You will not interfere!"

"I'm interfering as much as I want! Fylk Zadeya!" Armatizing with Zaveid was the clear choice here. With him, I could keep my eyes closed and make out her movements with the guidance of wind. Or, as they'd said in the game, "Read the wind". It was kind of funny, using this ability despite the fact I could see. But with the threat of being petrified a constant with Forton, I had no way of actually using my eyes to see anything unless I wanted to be turned into a statue for the rest of my life. Dodging out of the way of an attack, I jumped back a bit before sending swords of wind her way. They hit the tile as she avoided them, heading straight towards me. This was like cheat mode or something, with her coming at me and me just... dodging out of the way. A weird sort of song-and-dance, if you would.

"Jesus fucking tapdancing Christ, she's not giving any leeway for a proper attack!" Dodge number... 32, if I was keeping count, really. "Any ideas?"

"You will be a sacrifice for the victory of the empire!" The Cardinal said, attacking. Dodging out of the way, I sent more swords of wind after her. A few of them hit, but the rest hit the ground. Plink, plink, plink, into the tile they went. This was stupid. So, so stupid. All I could do was dodge and make sure she didn't hit me because that would be it. The pain would make me open my eyes, and then she'd get me. And then there'd be no hope for any of us. At all.

Zaveid, Rani, swap me in and keep your eyes closed! Zero said, voice breaking through my thoughts. We need more than one on her. Zaveid, keep her distracted while Rani and I use Wind Artes to tear her up.

"Alright!" Releasing the armatization, I kept my eyes closed and raised my hand up in the air. "Fethmus Lkwi!"

Instead of the bow, swords of void appeared behind me much like a wind armatization. It was interesting to see she was different from the others- though her focus was the bow, I could use her armatization like I was armatizing with one of the others. Zaveid had his eyes closed, and was getting Forton's attention- and was flirting with her. Of course he would, of fucking course. I had to stop myself from laughing aloud at the sheer audacity Zaveid had to flirting with a fucking Hellion and focus on the Cardinal herself. Zero and I worked well together, with her guiding me to hit where the Cardinal would hurt the most while Zaveid kept her distracted as best as he could. However, Forton soon turned her attention to us. I had to take this moment and use it for what I could. Dismissing the armatization, I ran towards her...

And sunk my dagger into the same spot Rose had in the game.

"May these weary bones find peaceful rest," I said, taking the calling card of the Scattered Bones and using it despite not being a part of the group. The malevolence dispersed from the Cardinal, leaving behind her human body. Dead, as she should be. A quick check of her pulse showed none, which meant my attack was successful. What I didn't expect, however, was the cracking behind me. Getting up and turning around, I watched as the petrification crumbled off of those who had been victims of the Cardinal. Including Sergei's brother, Boris.

I quickly took out my cloak and covered myself with it. Zero and Zaveid de-materialized, returning to me in little orbs of light that went inside of my chest. I wondered if that was where they rested, but I didn't really know what being a Seraph's vessel was supposed to be like beyond letting them reside in you. Maybe I could ask Lailah about it when I met up with them. Using Zero's invisibility, I watched as they caught a glimpse of me just as I disappeared from their view. Running out of the Shrinechurch, my feet hit the watery cobblestone and I dismissed the shield before shoving my cloak in my bag and heading towards the Inn.

The rain had stopped. With the Cardinal's death, things could go back to semi-normalcy now and people could pick their lives back up once the water dried up. The sky was starting to clear up, with some of the overcast dispersing from the time I'd killed the Cardinal to now. I... knew it was for the people, but killing someone didn't sit right with me. I had to suck it up, though. I had to.

"Rani!" I saw Sorey run up to me, with Rose not far behind. "We were looking all over for you! You just disappeared last night!"

"I had a couple things to do, so I left early." I gestured towards the Inn. "The rain's cleared up, though."

"Yeah, we noticed. Kind of funny, seeing as the locals say it just abruptly stopped about fifteen minutes ago." Rose put her hands on her hips. "Maybe this is their prayers finally getting answered."

"Let's hope it stays like this." I headed towards the Inn. "I'll see you two here once you're done with whatever it is you need to do. Catch ya later!"