A snowish, blizzard landscape. Nothing but the cold white of snow lying ahead alongside the long deceased frozened trees and ice sculptures of the creatures that had succumbed to the infernal snowstrom that was Jarilo-VI, always in an immemorial period of eternal whiteout caused by the Stellaron that inhabited the planet, only recently its people seeming to have gotten rid of such curse, finally able to open their planet and establish connections to the outside Outer Space.
Stepping on it, it was presumably soft. That was what Acheron imagined the feeling would be once she exited the spacecraft, landing her feet on the wintry soil. Alas, the sensation of the chilling cold didn't affected her as the Self-Annihilator body's temperature remained the same. Honestly, she couldn't tell if she should be grateful for not being able tp sense the cold temperature or not.
Morte also seemed pretty unaffected by the blizzard, exercising his arms a bit. "Ah. Nothing better but a refreshing wind by morning to truly wake someone up. Wanna build a snowman?"
"No." Acheron said in a complete unbothered and stoic tone, not even moving her face.
"Spoilsport." Morte replied briefly to her before changing to another topic. "Civillization must be a mile away from here. It won't take us too long reaching there." He said, beggining to walk forward to the path ahead of them, Acheron following him shortly from behind.
"..." That was, until the Self-Annihilator stopped in her tracks and went for her sword, no longer accompanying Morte.
"...Eh. I see." For his own turn, Morte also interrupted his steps, smirking as he closed his eyes and went for his scythe on his back. "So this is how it's gonna be." Opening his eyes, Morte and Acheron were suddenly surrounded by hostile creatures of the Stellaron, emerging from the snow and ready to attack the tresspassers that had invaded the monsters territory. "A cold welcome in a cold planet. Fitting."
"Nowdays it seems to be that in every place." Acheron commented drawing out her sword while still remaining sheathed. "Better get rid of them!"
"Nothing that we both are unfamiliarized with." Morte told her, about to engage in battle against the enemies. "Let's go at it!"
And so the duo went to combat, barely even making a minute since their arrival to this planet. And even less so was the duration of the fight, being done with the enemies in mere five seconds, such was the invulnerability and meagerness of their adversaries, being easily dispatched by Acheron and Morte.
"Tsk! Could barely even call it a warm-up." Morte expressed his dissapointment, grabbing the icy wings of one of the defeated Stellaron creatures before dismissingvily dropping it.
"It seems there are still hostile beings roaming around even after the dissapearence of the Stellaron." Acheron commented, guarding her sword. "We better don't take long in finding our way to an urban center. I'm awful with directions." She then stared at the freezing statues near them, clearly being of monsters of the Antimatter Legion, frozened by blizzards of Amber Ages ago.
"Truly daunting, eh?" Morte speaked, staring to the same statues Acheron was glaring at. "These fellas are forever petrified in a state of limbo. Death still not claiming their bodies nor their bodies and minds operational to function as living specimen."
"A sort of perpetual sleep, enforced by the ice cages they found themselves in." Acheron analyzed. This would be a fate worse then beig forever locked within the Dreamscape of Penacony. At least many of the people there had willingfuly gone to sleep and would be confined to the 'harmonious, beautiful and perfect world' Sunday craved and tried to make it a reality before having his plans twarthed. But this...they would remain freezed while conscious, unable to move, hear or see nothing rather than the vast darkness ahead shortly before their minds vanished from the isolation. "Even if they were freed now, I question if their minds to think and act would be long gone."
"Hmm, I do know what their minds are thinking of right now at this precise moment." Morte closed his eyes for a moment, giving off a smugish smile.
"Release." Acheron made a guess of what Morte was thinking that the statues could be thinking, crossing her arms.
"Yeah. A supplicant wish. A desire to ear that song." Morte told, kinda confirming Acheron's answer.
The Emmanator of Nihility looked to the grinning man, a trace of puzzlement on her face. "A song?"
"Yes. One that every being hears. Usually played at the end. A Song For the Departed. A Requiem." Morte opened his eyes, elaborating it to Acheron. "They've been enclosed as statues for so long that the scenario of 'ultimate' freedom sounds better than to endure and resist to the harsh cold that mobilizes their bodies. They repeat that desperate desire over and over again, no longer baring any other thoughts inside, now eternally waiting for the melody that will free them from such torment."
"A Requiem, hum?" Acheron put a thumb under her chin, reflective about it. "I perceive that would mean these creatures would be getting the actual definitive sleep they yearn for instead of one that merely replicates it."
"Indeed." Morte lowered his head a bit, his voice deeper and sounding more serious...before he begun to walk away. "Welp! But we won't be the ones playing it for them! It's the problem of this people's planet. Someone else will do that job." He said happily, as if he was having enough of the conversation they were discussing.
"That's a way of ending the topic pretty fast..." Acheron said to herself, a bit weirded out on how quickly the man seemed to have changed expressions on a fly before following him.
But it didn't even took her five more steps as Morte stopped walking in front of her, taking in a deep breath with his nose as his face looked graced to be against a more softer and passive cold wind now, the snowstorm seemingly having died out. "Yes. I'm sensing it."
"What exactly?" Acheron asked him, questioning why for the smile on Morte's face.
"Life. The sound of people's countless footsteps. Their crowded voices. The jumbled and erratic pounds of their heartbeats. All of the warmth and condensed in one place when in contrast to this freezing hellhole." Morte said, with a pleasent smile, taking a deep breath from his nostrils, as if he was seeing all of that now. "Belobog. It isn't that far from here." He said in an amused and calm voice, antecipating for his own arrival to the place.
Acheron felt slightly muddled at how apparently Morte was sensing the civilization some distance away from them and the way he used to describe it. "You surely speaked like if you were eager for us to reach there."
"Beetween a city and a place of nothing but snow, freezing temperatures and monsters, pick and choose." Morte replied, pointing at the ice statues near them.
"Hum. You...got me there." Acheron admitted, acknowledging that Morte's answer to her question was a good one despite not being what she exactly wanted to hear. "Still, you better not be planning something on Belobog or else..." She gave a slightly sharper look to Morte the moment his back was turned to her, being cautious of him. She had already told Morte that if he stepped out of the line, Acheron wouldn't waste a second to kill him. For now, it was all about keeping a close eye on him.
Before restarting his walk, Morte lifted up his head. "Altough..." He then moved it to stare at something behind Acheron. "We don't have to search more to also find human life here."
"Hm. So you noticed it too." Acheron brought her hand to the sword before unceremoniously turning around and slashing a tree a few feet away from them. Someone would think she was just imagining things before someone ended up falling from the tree due to the attack.
"W-Woah!"
A person yelped as they fell and hit the snowish ground that cushioned the fall, their body being all covered up in snow now before the person, a man with short purple hair and green eyes, lifted up his torso from it. "Ouch! That was...at least gimme a warn-" The man was saying while rubbing his head before meeting with Acheron's sword tip pointing torwards his face, being very close to him.
"And let you continue to spy on us? I don't think so." Acheron said, having been aware of the man's presence ever since they had arrived to this place.
"Should have made less noise. You weren't as stealthy as you thought you were." Morte talked, trimming the tip of his scythe with his fingernails. "Now I suppose we'll have to kill you. Too bad."
Acheron gave him a baffled look. "W-What? We aren't actually going to-"
"No! Please spare me! I wasn't spying on you at all!" The man begged for his life, puttin his arms in fron of his own face, scared.
"Ah, I get it. So you are just a weirdo whose hobby is climbing trees in the middle of a blizzard, in an area full of monsters." Morte said sarcastically before grinning sinisterly at the other man. "You like to live dangerously, don't you?"
"I was a-actually...s-setting up traps! Yes, that's right! I was setting up traps!" The man exclaimed as if he had came up with something brilliant.
Acheron however didn't seemed much convinced. "For who? Us?"
The relief on the man's face went away, the nervousism returning right back. "N-Not at all! It was for the mons-"
"Yeah, we'll have to kill this guy, Acheron." Morte said, already decided.
"Can you please stop trying to insist that?" Acheron replied back, thinking Morte was exagerrating it.
In despair, the man pleaded once more for his life to be spared. "Wait! Don't kill me! I-I can get something for you! Y-You two are looking to reach Belobog, right?"
"Well, it ain't that hard to figure, is it?" Morte confirmed.
Seeing that he was of no threat, Acheron put her sword away. "I presume you will offer to guide us there. Is that correct?"
"Y-Yes indeed miss!" The man nodded his head, smilling and getting up from the ground. "Sampo Koski! Humble business man at your service!" He introduced himself to the duo.
"This guy is definetly a sham." Morte whispered to Acheron.
"Yeah. I can pretty much tell that." Acheron whispered back.
"Why are you mistrusting me already?!" Sampo shouted in disbilief, having heard what the two said.
"As long as you can guide us to Belobog and not screw us over, there won't be a reason to be skeptic of you." Acheron explained to him.
"Unless of course, you want to screw us over." Morte said, implying a possible threat at Sampo despite speaking with a normal voice.
"Wha? None of that! I'm not dumb to do such a thing." Sampo defended himself. "I know where my limitations are at. So rest assured, I won't try and pull a trick on you. You have my word!"
"Great." Morte said with a smile, patting Sampo in the back, much to hissurprise.
"Huh?"
"It's pleasent to have a businessman who knows how to value and respect his clients." Morte told him, offering an handshake to Sampo.
Initially perplexed, Sampo ended up chuckling, accepting the other man's handshake, thinking he was able to get on his and Acheron's good graces. "S-Sure thing mister! For people like me, a satisfied customer is the most important above all else!"
"Good good." Morte continued with his happy smile. "But we won't be paying you though. I think as first-timers, we are entitled to get a free discount from yours, no?" He said, still with the smile.
"Hum-...Yeah. I-I can do that for you." Sampo obliged, his guts telling that Morte and Acheron were people to not mess with.
"Nice! Understandable bussinessman are even greater ones!" Morte commended Sampo, undoing the handshake.
"I doubt he would really charge us for the travel." Acheron speaked, thinking that was a bit unnecessary from Morte's part.
"It's called bussiness, Acheron. We ain't exactly swimming in rivers of money here." Morte explained it to her
Feeling some urge to start moving, Sampo walked to the front of the duo. "Okay! Then do follow me and don't-"
"Sampooooooooooooo!"
A girl's voice echoed from behind, getting the trio's attention.
"Crap!" The thief cursed to himself as Acheron and Morte saw the newcomer appearing.
"Guess we have a plus one here." Morte speaked.
Meanwhile, Acheron seemed to recognize the small woman appearing in front of them. "Eh? You are-"
"Hm. Oh, it's you. Long time no see, dementia woman." The petite woman of brown twintails and red eyes smiled to Acheron, the two having seemingly 'met' each other before.
"Who's this?" Morte asked to Acheron about the other woman's identity.
The Self-Annihilator tried to remember. "We've...already heard about each other in Pencaony. She's named...what was it again?"
"Sparkle." The small woman said, looking bothered. "Gosh! You really do have a memory of a goldfish."
"Right. You're Sparkle." Acheron finally remembered with that push. "She's a bit of a...trickster." She told to Morte. "I'd say she's not the most trustworthy so keep an eye on her."
"Uuh, a shady clown! Her? Scary!" Morte replied with a smirk, looking down at Sparkle. "What are you gonna do clown girl? Hope it isn't stabbing me in the back."
"Eheh, I appreciate the proposal of the idea, but the mind of this clown can be way more creative than that, thank you." Sparkle giggled, not seeming very affected by Morte's provocation. "Also, I wouldn't be talking of other people's looks when dressed as a guy who looks to have come from the slums and spends all day drinking and smoking while trying to get some hookers." She replied back, looking up to Morte. The difference of the two's heights being quite comical.
"And would you look at it? It seems I am talking with one right now." Morte replied back with a more cocky smug to Sparkle before turning around and walking away from the short woman, lightning up a cig.
"Hmphm!" Pouting a bit at the insult, Sparkle ended up smirking mischiveously at the tall man. "Eh. Talk about a funny guy."
"What are you exactly doing here?" Acheron asked, approaching Sparkle. "No good at all I deduce." She said, not staring very friendly at the short woman. Like Morte, Acheron was aware of the trouble Sparkle could cause through her 'pranks'. A mischiveous fool that loved causing panic around and certainly unhinged at a specific degree. Between her and Morte, Acheron wasn't sure which one she should be more careful with.
"Hehehe, relax, won't you?" Sparkle amused at Acheron's concern. "I don't have anything in mind for this planet in here. As of now, I'm just here to mmet an acquaintance of ours."
"Another Masked Fool?" Acheron tried to figure.
"Yeah. Pretty much that." Sparkle replied before slightly turning her head to look at someone a few meters from her rigth, trying to sneak away from her. "And that goofball of an idiot named Sampo is also here to do other stuff. Isn't that right?"
Having been caught, Sampo just let out a sigh and gave up in trying to avoid Sparkle's presence. "Yes. Being my homeland, I do have a lot of matters to do here most of the time." He said, walking back to the group.
"Of which none of them included leaving me on the middle of a snow storm." Sparkle giggled as she grabbed Sampo by the collar in order for him to get on her height. "You weren't really thinking about leaving me behind were you, Sampo?" She asked, keeping up her sadistic and threatening smile while asking to her companion.
"O-of course I wasn't! You know I never abandon someone like that!" Sampo laughed a bit nervously, some drops of sweat falling from his face.
"Teehee, that's what I thought." Sparkle pretended to be okay with the answer, letting her grip on Sampo's collar go.
"Humm, but by the way, what are you two looking for in Belobog?" Sampo asked the reason behind of Acheron and Morte's visit to Jarilo-VI. "Are you tourists or something?"
Acheron went to answer that. "Well, you could say tha-"
"We're here to wreak havoc on everything these people hold dear." Morte said in a serious and cold voice, exhaling the smoke of the cig out of his mouth, resulting in baffled and shocked expressions from both Acheron and Sampo.
"..."
"..."
"Hum, ironic. I was considering that a few hours ago." Sparkle thought, having liked the sound of that.
"Hm?" Looking to the speechless and indignated expressions from Sampo and Acheron, Morte ended up letting out a wheeze, grinning. "Sheesh! I'm joking! I'm joking! Of course that we aren't here to do that!" He said, laughing. "I mean, what kind of egregious crime these poor people from this snowy land did to deserve that, right?"
"You have quite the nerve, don't you?" Acheron said, displeased by Morte's joke, not finding it funny.
Neither did Sampo. "That was...a bit off."
"I liked it! I'll give it an eight." Sparle side, giggling and finding such chaotic scenario fun to her.
"Thanks, I came up with this one on a fly." Morte replied. "But wow! Meeting someone else at this other part of the cosmos? Maybe the universe ain't that much of a bigger place." He said, ending up smoking his cig, putting it out on his own hand, feeling no burn. "Anyways, better start moving! I don't really have the patience to fight another wave of monsters again."
"Same here. My feet are starting to get cold!" Sparkle's eyes went to gaze at Sampo. "Thankfully, with the 'great' Sampo here, reaching Belobog will be just a few minutes. Right?"
Feeling the menacing remark hidden behind Sparkle's cheerful voice, Sampo gulped as he knew he couldn't wrong her nor Acheron and Morte, as they all would surely make him pay. "Y-Yeah! Every party always needs a Sampo Koski to make it feel more complete!" He pointed to himself, showing a smile full of self-esteem, altough from inside he was shaking, afraid of his life if he ended up leading these three to the wrong way even if without intention.
"Show us the way then." Acheron said, she and Morte, now accompanied by the duo of Sparkle and Sampo, wandering the rest of the path torwards the city of Belobog.
"And we're here! Belobog!" Sampo announced with his arms open to the ohter three as they stood in the middle of the city square.
"For a place on snow these people sure learned how to turn the situation around." Morte looked at the buildings and grand structures that was the city of Belobog, a place with life when in contrast to the rough and harsh snow plains on the outside.
"It shows how much they must have an undying and stalwart will to survive against the odds." Acheron replied, staring at the giant building in front of them that she assumed to be the palace and residence of Belobog's ruler. "I've heard somewhere before that this entire planet follows the Path of Qlipoth, The Preservation. Maybe that is why the people have managed to endure such hostile conditions. Their iron clad desire to preserve life as a civilization that can carry it on a better future is of an enduring conviction, ever since the very beggining with the architects and first Supreme Guardian of Belobog." She gave a good look at the livelihood and sounds of the people all around her in the surroundings. "It is a collective will of a burning flame, refusing to extinguish even amidst the impetuous blizzard."
"Sure thing. Preservation..." Morte snickered lowly, almost as if he was mocking Acheron's remark of Belobog's people, going to light another cig. "The Path of fools trying to delay the doom of inevitability."
"Oh, but you do remember about that! Talk about selective memory." Sparkle replied, thinking how Acheron's mind could remember some random information but not a name.
"I do kinda appreciate that a foreigner like you would know a bit of our planet's history." Sampo said slightly amused. "And I sure hope that this beautiful land known as Belobog can give much more for you to discover miss! But if I can give you an advice, is to be careful with your wallets and possible pickpocketers that can stole them."
"Which means, you." Sparkle said, outing Sampo as a pickpocketer, much to his own annoyance.
"H-Hey! Why are you trying to give these new clients a bad impression of me? Don't I have enough people that don't trust me already?" He complained to the short woman who just giggled.
"Not until it reaches to the six digits numbers!" Sparkle happily said, not caring if her companion was badly seen by others. "Anyways, we will go on our own way now. Same for you I guess. See ya around dementia woman!" She said, her and Sampo about to separate ways with Acheron and Morte.
"I better not hear any possible ruckus from you." Acheron replied back, seeing the short woman walk away with Sampo, hoping that she was saying the truth when stating she wasn't planning on doing her usual trickstery on the people of Belobog. But with someone like Sparkle, who knew? Better that Acheron could do was sigh and believe Sparkle would behave. Deciding to also start moving, Acheron turned around to speak with Morte. "Okay. We're going to-?"
However, when she turned around to look at Morte, she found that everyone was dead. The square that was once brimming with life was now eerily silent and deceased. The blue sky turned into a dark and green colour. Corpses and corpses scattered all around the square alongside the invading snow and ice that would seize the city. Even the flowers had perished. Not a single thing remained and Morte was nowhere to be found. It was as if she was staring at a grim future of the planet.
Acheron just couldn't comprehend it right away, startled. "What am I-"
"Oi."
"Huh?" Blinking her eyes, the Self-Annihilator found herself staring back at the normal Belobog again, the people talking and walking around as if nothing happened. Like if that Belobog she had witnessed for a brief second was just an illusion of a nightmare.
"Are you coming along?" Morte speaked, getting Acheron's attention, already a few meters ahead of her. "If you stay there still, people will start mistaking you for a post."
"...Sorry. Got a bit distracted." Acheron replied, getting out of whatever state she was in and walking torwards Morte, joining him.
"You sure it wasn't the cold wind that freezed your brain for a moment?" Morte joked with a smirk. "Should have bought some beanies, Acheron."
"I already said I'm okay. Let's keep moving and see what this city has to offer us." Acheron said, not even staring at Morte as she walked past him, heading to wherever part of the place she could find some interest in. Yet, that fleeting, daunting vision was still poking on Acheron's mind, making her bring her fingers to the forhead. "What...was I even staring at?"
"So? What do you make of those two?"
Sparkle asked to Sampo as the duo was waiting for the terminal that would transport them to the underworld of Belobog.
"Hm? Well, surely the kind of mysterious duo I wouldn't wanna mess with. That lady seems fine and reserved altough such quietude her face gives, it leads me to believe she hides something dangerous. Still, I think she must be an overall good person. Hell! I wonder how I did not even runned into her at the Golden Hour." Sampo gave his opinion about Acheron. "Now, about the guy...He kinda gives me the creeps somehow. Like, do you think he's a-"
"Follower of Elation? Hm, he certainly has a sense of humor." Sparkle replied, thinking about Morte. "But no. He's a person I wouldn't like to play with, not even for a game of cards." Giving a small smirk, Sparkle put the thumb on her chin. "He's surely interesting, but he goes against the ambiguity that we Masked Fools and Aha stand for." She looked up to the ceilling with some curious amusement. "For someone like that woman to travel alongside him should already be telling of something. Simply a danger not worth the fun. And I think the guy himself knows that. I'm already fine with the material I can work with. Everyone in their own lane as some people say."
"So what you're saying is that he's a psycho to not mess with." Sampo concluded, putting a hand to his face in slight distress. "As if having one crazy psycho roaming around Belobog wasn't bad enough."
"Aww, but I already promised to be a good girl on my passage through here, Mr Sampo." Sparkle giggled with sneer, winking at him. "After all, I don't want to steal the thunder from the future saviour of Belobog, do I?"
"So, Shampoo and Twinkle-Sparkle. Certainly some duo those two." Morte speaked while strolling through the square alongside Acheron.
"They're Masked Fools. Members of that faction and followers of the Elation in general tend to be some peculiar people." Acheron told him how the Path of Aha was full of weird and zany individuals. "Sparkle in particular can always be scheming a trick or play under her sleeves, always looking for mischiveous ways to toy with others.
"Ah, I got that at first glance. She plays the role of a fool really well." Morte smiled. "Jesters are always the ones to speak the most true because everyone else perceives their words as a mere fool's nonsense. That girl makes sure to take chance of that and enjoys it. I can respect that. Altough..." Walking, Morte ended up stepping on an ant, probably not even noticing that it was on his way. "Risk too much and you end up as an actual fool."
"With Sparkle, one never knows." Acheron replied. "Up until today, I only encountered with her one time. And it wasn't exactly with 'her' but with clones of other people she creates with her powers in order to fight the enemy. After that, I still heard about her deeds on the planet we both were at the time despite never having runned into her personally. Guess the same couldn't be said for Sparkle." She recounted the brief 'meeting' she ended up having with the Masked Fool in Penacony as well as her other tricky antics she practiced on the planet of festivities. "I prefer if she leaves the people of Belobog alone, but with a mind of a Masked Fool like hers, I can't be too sure."
"Nah. I'd say you should relax." Morte replied, not seeming very concerned about Sparkle the same way Acheron was. "While a trickster, she definetly doesn't seem stupid. She's aware of the type of people to not mess with."
Looking forward, Acheron noticed a group of people holding cardboards and signs in the air in front of what seemed to be the entrance of a restaurant establishment. "Hm? What's happening over there?"
"Something to kill our boredom." Morte slightly grinned. "Let's go see what's the fuss about."
"WHAT DO WE WANT?"
"CHANGE!"
"WHEN DO WE WANT?"
"NOW!"
Approaching the protest, the duo saw the manifestation up close.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is this about?" Wanting to get context, Acheron asked to a soldier that was also close by.
"Same as ever. People doing protests for one reason or another." The soldier, a young looking blonde man, turned around to answer. "If you want to know the motive in specific, I think you shou-oh!" The soldier reacted a bit in surprise once he saw Acheron-
"Is there something wrong?" Acheron asked him, not knowing why the soldier stopped briefly from talking once he saw them.
"No. It's that...I never saw you around here. You must be tourists, correct?" The soldier asked in return, explaining why for his quick surprise.
"Well, I think it couldn't be more obvious." Acheron responded with a small smile. "But yes, we're travelers who just happened to be passing by Jarilo-VI and the nation of Belobog. I have to say: for a planet in a seemingly eternal blizzard, Belobog is a very pretty city. The story of perserverance of your people is a miracle worth telling across the cosmos."
"Eh, glad you're enjoying the view." The soldier smiled back. "You know, our planet just recently was able to open itself to the outside space that lies beyond its skies, so receiving visitors from other galaxies and planets is still a thing that I'm trying to get used to. To know that there were other worlds out there, with different people, species and culture...It all now feels so surreal to believe we spent many Amber Ages without that knowledge."
Acheron could tell the minor happiness on the soldier's voice. "The universe is quite full of wonders, is it not?"
"If you ever feel like it, go ask for vacations if you wanna visit some." Morte added, resulting in the soldier stare directly to his face for the first time.
"!..." A sudden and short bafflement flashed in the soldier's eyes that widdened at the moment before going silent as he stared deeply to Morte's face with a glare bitter hostility. Noticing that, Morte just raised up an eyebrow and proceeded to smirk as if he himself knew why the soldier was giving him that kind of stare.
Acheron felt something wrong in the middle of this. "Hum, are you feeling alright?" She asked, making the soldier break eye contact with Morte, gaining his attention.
"N-Nothing. It's just...your companion's face seems-"
"Pretty? Wouldn't be the first." Morte joked.
"It striked me as familiar." The soldier revealed."I'm not quite sure, but I think I've seen a face like that before..."
"That's called doubles and lookalikes, buddy. Pretty sure you must have seen someone else with a similar face as mine before." Morte told him.
Doubtful if that was exactly the case, Acheron ended up going with Morte's point. "With the numbers of visitors Belobog must get nowdays, it surely wouldn't be out of possibility that you mistaken him for someone else."
"Yeah. Perhaps was that indeed. Sorry if I was being rude with the sir." The soldier apologized to Morte for the mistake he was making. "As the captain of the Silvermane Guards, Gepard Landau, it certainly stains my reputation. My humblest apologies." He said, introducing himself.
"No need for that. It was just a minor misunderstanding. It happens to the best of us." Acheron replied, not feeling any ill for Gepard.
"Great. I'll be leaving then. Other important matters call for me at the moment. Enhoy your stay!" Gepard gave a brief farewell to the dup before walking away from the scene.
With him gone, Acheron stared to Morte with a judgemental look as the man was smirking while seeing Gepard leaving before looking back at the stare Acheron was giving him, immediatly losing his smirk.
"What's that face for?...Oh come on now! You think I really did something?" Morte said with some displeasure.
"By the way he was staring at you, it did seem he actually knew you from somewhere." Acheron replied, crossing her arms. "Is this truly your first time in Jarilo-VI?"
"C'mon now, Acheroni!" Morte rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Dude's captain of the law of this place. Someone's mind like him must confuse the faces of criminals with those of regular 'innocent law abiding' folks from time to time!" He explained, defending himself. "Ooooor, he just never saw someone as tall as me, eh?" Morte opened up his arms, gesticulating to his own height.
"..." Giving a silent glare, Acheron thought about it. There were few people Acheron had met that could be as tall if not taller than Morte himself, her mind hardly remembering any. Perhaps this was really a non-issue. "Hm. A way to stand out from the rest. Not useful if you're a wanted man by the IPC."
"Eh. I always have other solutions for those problems." Morte smiled at her.
Leaving that topic behind, Acheron decided to just forget about it for now. "Sure." She then glared at the people of the small manifestation. Heading to the person with the megaphone and who seemed to be leading the protests, she made an answer. "Excuse me to interrupt you but, could I know what are you protesting about?"
"Hm? Can't you see the obvious?" The guy, a young man with short silver hair and glasses, replied. "We are on our process of boycotting the so much 'renowned' restaurant, Tastes of Snow!"
"Boycotting? Why?" Acheron made another question, wanting to know why.
"You see, recently, this establishment has introduced a new dish on its menu! The famous apalenian dish, Starlight's Dusk, from Apalenia! Described too many as the best quality food from there! The sweetness and softness of the Crystal Lake Raspberries as well as the crunchy chunks of Golden Moon's Honey make it for one of the greatest foods known across the universe!" The guy was explaining. "You must have tasted it as well at least once, didn't you?"
"Actually, no. Never had one in my life." Acheron replied, never having got her hands on a Starlight's Dusk.
"Really?" The young man looked at her in shock. "Well, it does not matter! What does is that the chefs and owners of Tastes of Snow had the brilliant idea of adding the dish to the menu! An apalenian dish being made by belobogian people who never once stepped foot in Apalenia! What could possibly go wrong? Everything! That's what's gone wrong! The imbeciles had the brilliant idea to add the acrid taste of Sour Flakes in it, completly ruining the original taste of the dish!"
"That sounds...pretty drastic." Acheron replied, finding hard to believe all of this protest was happening because of a dish.
"Now, you might think and perceive it as a sort of innocent mistake done by the chefs and cooks. But we know better!" The young protester exclaimed rabidly. "This was certainly nothing more but a clear provocation to the gastronomy culture and people of Apalenia! An hateful act of pure vitriol and discrimination made by the staff of this restaurant! And we, altough small but loud group of belobogians, will not tolerate this mockery on behalf of our apalenian friends!"
"..." Hearing all that rant, Acheron just stared at him and the group with a deadpan face before glaring at Morte.
"Don't laugh. He might be retarded y'know?" Morte told her with serenity, also finding the situation a bit absurd.
"Sooo, that's why you're boycotting this restaurant now?" Acheron went back to speak with the leader of the manifestation group.
"Indeed! Our goal is that people stop frequenting this restaurant and giving money to them, forcing Tastes of Snow to either remove the dish from the menu and apologize for such heinous crime or suffer the consequences of bankruptcy!"
"Hm, I get it. Then this restaurant won't be seeing a single penny from you again until change happens I assume." Acheron summarized it in short. However, as she had said that, the entire group of protesters stopped protesting, falling into a shy and nervous silence, embaressedly looking at each others. "Hm? What's the problem?"
"Don't tell me the boycott ain't going well." Morte stepped up, facing down all of them.
"W-Well...I actually had breakfast today here."
"Me too. I even tasted their version of Starlight's Dusk. It ain't as bad as we make it out to be."
"Sssh! Silence you idiots! It ain't supposed for the others to know!" The leader replaid back in frustration, not wanting those secrets about the group being revealed in public.
"Look who's talking! You are leading all this boycott thing yet I've seen you going here for dinner three times this week!"
"!" To that, the leader of the group just fell into absolute silence, sweating on all sides.
"Wait. Let me guess if I understood this right." Acheron speaked. "So you want to spread the boycott to the other people and tell them to not go to this restaurant to eat anymore because of a dish that upsets you when you yourselves are still frequenting and spending money on this same restaurant?"
"...Y-Yeah." The leader admitted with a trembling smile. "Like, the food is just too good but-"
"But I know what you are!" Morte said, grabbing the megaphone from the young man's hands out of nowhere and throwing it carelessly to the ground. His voice and face showing some hints of annoyance and distaste. "A bunch of hypocrites wanting to ride on a high horse!" He stared down at the group with an unfriendly face, even scaring them a bit to their cores.
"N-No sir! You got it wrong! The frightned leader tried to defend himself. "We-"
"Oh, I get it! Is for the mass approval and love of strangers on the internet and social media!" Morte cut him short, not even giving a chance. "Picking up low hanging fruits that will make you look like the good saint while everyone else claps and cheers for the great waste of a lame moronic being that you are! You probably didn't even asked to a single goddamn apalenian their thoughts about this! Because you don't give an actual fuck to what they think." Morte said, approaching his face more menacingly to the young man who now was shaking in fear, ending up grabbing him by the neck.
Acheron tried to intervene. "That's enough, Mor-"
"People like you are the most obnoxious kind that I've ever met." Morte said, his terryfying cold glare close to the young man, as if he was looking to the poor guy's soul. "Never had real problems so go around to create ones for yourselves so that you can whine and moan all day and receive something in return. You don't care about others. You only want to feel good about yourself and be well perceived by everybody else!" Saying in a deep and threatening voice, Morte ended up pushing the young man into the rest of the group for them to catch him.
"W-Woah!"
"Go back to your homes so that you can continue to live in your own 'idealistic' worlds where you are the so good moralistic and wholesome people!" Morte told them, grabbing a cardboard in the ground and destroying it with ease. "Your dirty presence here already makes me wanna puke."
Terrified by the tall and hostile figure that Morte was, the entire group of protesters ended up running away in fear, abandoning the local.
"Was that really necessary?" Acheron questioned him. "I almost thought you'd start killing them."
"No one likes fake preachers, Acheron." Morte responded, still with some disgust. "There is nothing in existence more scummy and rattiest than people that preach virtues they lack." He elaborated. "Have you ever met with one?"
"Kinda." Acheron replied, her mind going back to the events of Penacony. "There was this guy, follower of the Order, who wanted to trap everyone within a dreamscape by using the powers of the Stellaron and a substance of an entire star system. He aimed for the goal where everyone could live on an illusory eternal dream where they'd be living the best of lives they always dreamt of having, trapping millions on those never ending dreams, believing such thing would be an harmonious order. But in the end, a dream would just be a dream, having to live in fantasy instead of reality and wasting their entire lives. Myself and others had to put a stop to him."
"Keh! To live forever within an ideal dream life...The person who thought of that must have been stupidly gullible and disconnected." Morte smirked, thinking such concept to be a pathetic joke. "But still, those who act are still better than those who just talk." Lightening up another cig, Morte was calmer. "But enough of it. Let's go to another place. We've already wasted enough time with idiots."
"Thought the same. At least... try to not break out an uproar like you were about to do now." Acheron adviced him, looking around to see where they could go next, spotting a huge building just at one end of the square. "Hmm, a museum about Belobog? That might be interesting. Let's go see what exhibitions they have."
Inside the museum's entry hall, Acheron was standing quiet with her eyes closed until she heard the footsteps of Morte approaching, rejoining her. "It took you quite enough."
"You said to either put out the cig or smoke all of it outside before entering. It was obvious which one I'd chose." Morte replied to her. "We could have gone with my suggestion of just entering but-"
"As if they would actually let someone enter the museum while smoking." Acheron stated once again how they'd be denied entry to the museum if Morte entered while smoking. "I wonder if you can go a day without those."
"Greetings visitors! Welcome to Belobog History and Culture Museum!" Someone speaked torwards them. A short young woman of purple hair, blue eyes and glasses that went to speak with the duo. "In what I could be useful? Here for the first time?"
"..." Looking oblivious, Acheron begun to look around, as if she didn't knew where she was exactly. "This is a museum?" She asked, while Morte tried to surpress a laugh behind her.
"Humm, yes? It literally says it on the billboard outside. Did you just entered this place without reading it?" The short woman asked, being a bit weirded out by Acheron's forgetfulness.
"...Ah." Being reminded of it, Acheron embaressedly put a hand to her face while Morte wheezed behind her. "F-Forget about it. Yes, this is our first time in the museum. We're here to see what this city has to offer us and I thought a museum about this planet's people might be a very interesting thing to start with."
"Hm hm, then you came to the right place for such cultural knowledge." The short woman smiled, adjusting her glasses, glimming for a moment. "Name's Pelageya Sergeyevna. But to keep it simple, just call me Pela. I'm one of the official tourist guides of the museum." She introduced herself to the duo.
"Two shorties in one day. That must be an occurence..." Morte muttered.
"Nice to meet you Pela." Acheron replied back. "For start, is there any special exhibition that is currently at display on the museum?"
"Glad you asked. Currently, our main exhibition of the month that is currently beating all the sorts of visitor records is one about the legendary savior of Belobog: The Trailblazer Exhibition!" Pela happily told to the two, gaining a slight reaction of amazement by Acheron.
"The Trailblazer? He/She has been here on Jarilo-VI?" Acheron asked, not having expected for that information.
"Yes! The Trailblazer is one of the heroes that ended up saving Belobog alongside our current Supreme Guardian. Would you like to begin the visit by going to his/her exhibit first?" Pela asked to Acheron.
Giving a thought first, the Emanator of Nihility decided. "Perhaps we should leave that one for the ending. First, do show us everything else."
Pela smiled and nodded. "Sure thing! Do follow me!"
Doing the guided tour through the museum, Acheron and Morte saw all type of exhibits that the place had, telling the ancient and long history of the civilization of Belobog. The heat crystals known as geomarrow that were the main source of energy to kept the population warm and able to survive the cold conditions of the planet. The robot machines built as inpiration from the old ones designed by the architects on Belobog's war against the factions of Destruction. The relaxing and artistic paintings that portrayed the beauty of the planet's nature and biome, putting it in a more welcoming light.
Acheron took an observing eye and listening ear to the exhibitions and Pela explanation. Even if all of that information would come out of her head and be erased entirely on the next day, she made sure to enjoy this small moment. But what the Self-Annihilator couldn't truly wait for, was the Trailblazer exhibit. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit eager to see the tribute Belobog did to her good friend. What kind of adventure he/she and the Nameless of the Astral Express had on this planet.
"Hmm..." Groaning lowly behind, Morte did not seemed to share the same feeling with his traveling companion. "What a paltry place."
"Not liking it?" Acheron replied, speaking privately torwards Morte in a way that Pela could not hear them while guiding the two. "I think 'paltry' would not fit to describe a place with history."
"History or not, museums are a burden. Places that people go when they can't move on from the past and stare forward to the future." Morte explained to her, revealing his sentiment about the place. "Look around. Just old pieces of junk that people can't discard for whatever reason. They can't let certain things go and instead, decide to preserve them as remembrance of periods of bygone eras. Those things have long lost their utility and meaning, now here just to gain dust. The true epithome of meaninglessness. Who could ever be interested on such waste of time?"
"Maybe because they still have meaning." Acheron replied, not agreeing at all with Morte's point of view. "It's just that they found another one. People's and beings lives can go way beyond their original purposes. A person shouldn't be confined to one label, one job, one lifestyle. If a soldier, that has been borned and raised only for war, only experienced war and surives to see the end of that war, does it mean their life essentialy ends there, having no more reason to keep going? I object that thinking. The soldier now can expand their horizons and dedicate their life to other things. Enjoy the moments of new found peace. Become a traveller who explores new places that they could only dream of before. Or simply pass the days quietly, tending their house and garden by morning, read a book at afternoon and count the stars in the night, making a new mean to their life of those happy moments."
"..." Morte didn't interrupted, continue to let Acheron speak.
"Even machines are no different. Altough the ones here have no longer a lifespan, the people found a new meaning for them, showing how they can be more than mere creations for combat. That their lives continues to have a significance, even after death." Acheron completed, eyeing Morte in the eyes. "Maybe that's a lesson you should know."
To that, the man grinned lightly. He could tell Acheron would be the travelling companion worth the time. "Eh. For one on the Path of Nihilility, you surely don't sound like one."
"The Path of IX isn't one I willingfuly walk on." Acheron replied. "If anything, I aim to break away from it one day."
"Hey, it looks you two are having an interesting chat." Pela speaked, noticing how the two had stood a bit behind from her. "What is it about?"
"About what is the most valuable artifact here to rob." Morte replied.
Pela looked at him puzzled. "Hum, why exactly would you discuss that?"
Acheron sighed. "Ignore him. We were just speaking of trivial things. What's the next exhibition?"
"Quite the timing that question come to!" Pela smiled. "It's the Trailblazer one! Right ahead!"
Acheron gave a little smile back. "Then we better see it already."
Being guided by the short nerdy woman, they arrived to the biggest chamber of the museum. One with an ice sculpture of a person holding a lance in the middle. The walls around having many portraits of that same person, depicted in different artstyles interpretations. A projector displaying that hero's journey to save Belobog from the Stellaron's curse alongside their companions. And various written statements of appreciation and admiration for them, specially a bigger one written by thge current Supreme Guardian, Bronya Grand. That was all of the Trailblazer's exhibition.
Looking right at the face of the Trailblazer's sculpture, Acheron let out a little giggle. "He/She is quite loved here, isn't he/she?"
Pela nodded. "Yep indeed! He/She was our beacon of hope that helped us citizens of belobog to expand our horizons and move forward to a new age of this planet's history after a long period under the Stellaron's curse. Without him/her, who knew where the fate of our lives could be heading?" She said, remembering foundly of the Trailblazer's deeds. "If you wanna know a curiosity, the Trailblazer is also one of the owners of this museum, being one of its main contributors to get it back to activity!"
"Really?" Acheron replied, a bit surprised. "That's...a bit unexpected. Managing things like museums don't strike me as his/her thing."
"To speak like that...Have you met with the Trailblazer before?" Pela asked to Acheron, noticing it by the way she talked of them.
"Yes. You can consider me as a friend of him/hers." Acheron confirmed it. "And I can atest that indeed he/she is a very nice and kind person alongside the rest of his/her crew. That type of person, you want to cherish and remember forever in your life." She put close her hand into a fist, almost putting it next to her chest before looking at the statue of the Trailblazer again. "So it's great to see that his/her deeds and of the Astral Express have spread even to this side of the cosmos."
"Well, by now I'd say it must be an effect he/she has on the people, I presume." Pela replied, also finding the Trailblazer a very endearing person.
"So you're telling me this twink/dollface here saved the planet?" Morte speaked, standing right next in front of the sculpture. "Man, nowdays is always the least impressionable."
"H-Hey! You aren't allowed to stand that close to the statue!" Pela called the man out. "It's against the rules!"
"So what? What do you want me to say?" Morte replied, not giving the slightest care as he lifted his foot and stepped it right on the sculpture's pedestal. "That rules were made to be broken?"
"..." Without saying anything, Acheron was about to go slowly for her sword, not giving any chance if Morte decided to act up all of a sudden.
"Tell me, Acheron." Morte speaked to her, still looking at the Trailblazer's statue. "What type of person is he/she?"
"A good friend. One that will always be there to help. Always leaving his/her mark wherever he/she goes." Acheron replied, still with her hand close to the sword. "A dear person I look forward to meet with again one day."
Hearing that, Morte's lips curled up, seeming satisfied while giving an retrospective glare to the face of the Trailblazer's statue. "Yes..." Turning around, the man begun to leave the room, a smile plastered on his face. What could that smile be? Was it of admiration as well? Mockery? Sadism? Evillness? Anticipation? It could only be labeled as one of very mixed signals, leaving to interpretation of what exactly Morte was thinking as he walked out of the exibhition. "I can't wait to meet him/her too..."
"What a weird guy." Pela said, feeling a bit of sinister within Morte.
"He's a bit...strange." Acheron replied to her as she also saw the man leave, presumably torwards the exit of the museum. Her mind could tell that grin on his face was anything but the symbolization of a good thing.
On the outside of the museum and back to the square, Morte was smoking another cig, contemplating the clear blue sky of the planet without any thoughts in his mind. That was until Acheron approached him from behind, having left the museum shortly after him.
"Was talking with four-eyes as fun as the study visit?" Morte asked her, already aware of Acheron's presence.
"At least you didn't caused a commotion." Acheron replied. "For now."
"Can't ruin the trip that early, can I?" Morte smugged, looking at her before throwing the cig away. "Gotta explore more first."
"Where to now? Any ideas?" Acheron awaited for his suggestion then.
"I sure have some!" Morte told her, about to say it. "This place as an entire city below this one. The 'Underworld' as they call it. Let's go there."
A/N: Being an OC, I always imagined if Morte was an actual character, his VA would be Ray Chase, the one that also gives voice to Neuvillette from Genshin Impact, Noctis from Final Fantasy XV, Master of Masters from Kingdom Hearts and etc. As for his JP VA, it was more difficult to choose, but I would go with the veteran Hideyuki Tanaka, having given voice to Doflamingo from One Piece, BG9 from Bleach, Yusako Kudo from Detective Conan and other roles. That's generally the two voices I imagine fitting for Morte's overall personality and appearence.
