Epilogue: Blessing
…
Rover woke up in a space of white. There was no floor, no horizon – it was as though Rover's sense of depth had failed them, and Rover had fallen into a sheet of paper.
There was a white-clad man in the distance with a broadblade of sunlight. He walked towards Rover. Then he was near.
The man positioned the tip of the broadblade over Rover's heart.
The tip sank in. Rover could feel every individual fiber of flesh, cartilage, and bone sunder and crack in the path of the blade. It was only half an inch deep, and it felt as though Rover would become unconscious. It took minutes for the blade to reach Rover's heart, and the thought that it might be the end proved false. The broadblade kept going until it had passed all the way through and then sunk all the way up to the hilt: the broadblade was longer than Rover was tall.
Only when the broadblade had halted for a full minute did Rover's body release, and they crumpled on the floor, choking at the feet of the white-clad man. Rover's blood stained the white-space, making a large, maroon puddle.
With all the effort Rover could muster, they got on their hands and knees. Rover spoke, but no noise came out.
"This is a dream," said the man in white.
How… could a dream hurt this badly! I feel like I'm going to die.
"My authority knows no boundaries. To sleep so near to one of my overseers, you exposed your waveform to me. The old Arbiter would never have made such a mistake."
Did… I ever stand a chance?
"To move in this domain… you would have needed to absorb more than spectro and havoc. The old Arbiter managed to escape with three elements – to fight within it, five."
Rover clenched their hands as hard as they could. Am I… going to leave Phrolova so soon?
The man was silent for a few moments. "That's your choice. This broadblade in your chest… it is a test. If you have told a single lie to Phrolova, you will never wake up."
Thank… God. Rover gave up staying on their hands and knees. They landed on their side, the broadblade sticking out far behind them. I'm going back.
Although the white-clad man wore a mask that covered his mouth and nose, he smiled with his eyes. After a minute, the man spoke again. "Phrolova's heart was singing, but she was so afraid at the same time. To think she'd go so far as to nullify her emotions… doing this much is the least I could do to take responsibility."
You're the leader of the Fractsidus, yet you would give up an overseer so easily?
The man chuckled. "For someone representing the hope of humanity, you're surprisingly inhuman… I've watched her grow into a fine lady. She's so slow to love, but when she does, she loves so deeply… she has endured horrible evil, Arbiter. If you die now, it will hurt – it won't kill her, though. But if you live… you must carry the weight of her love for the rest of your life. For the life she's lived, she deserves at least that."
For the first time in the white-space, a sound came out of Rover's mouth: a bubbly laugh. Every morning… I will find a new reason to love her. All the little things we keep between us – I will parade as many as them as she allows and make her prideful. For all her minute interests and hopes, every passing remark and musing, I will support her and make a life's worth of my effort fit in a week. I want to make her heart a Carnevale every time she sees me, and I'll love her so much that every minute feels like an hour away from her. In the intimacy of our bedrooms, I-
"Enough." The white-clad man adjusted the collar of his jacket and cleared his throat. "After saying all of that, you better live." He turned away from Rover and walked into the albino abyss. Even as he shrunk into a dot floating in the distant white, Rover could hear his voice as though he were right next to them. "When you wake up… tell Phrolova that she has my blessing. And as for her loyalty to the Fractsidus, she knows our creed: defy your destiny."
As droplets of blood floated next to their head, Rover laughed. With all the strength left in their body, Rover sat up with the support of their arms and looked up. It was as though Rover were sitting in the middle of a meteor shower pointed towards the sky.
The sensation of a soft kiss on her forehead woke Phrolova. She stirred, cracking open her eyes. They slowly adjusted to the shade of the tent; yesterday, everything was so bright. Removing all of her constraints had made the world shine – the one who shone brightest lay next to her now.
As those alluring pieces of topaz watched on, Phrolova settled back down, curling a bit deeper into the crook of Rover's neck.
"Wakey wakey~," Rover whispered, pressing their lips against the top of Phrolova's head. She groaned.
"Another…" – a yawned interrupted Phrolova – "another couple of minutes." Rover kissed the top of Phrolova's head until she stirred again. "Still got this much energy after yesterday?" Phrolova asked. She finally raised her head to look at Rover. "…What's with that smile?"
Rover pressed their foreheads together. Phrolova made it into a contest, playfully pushing until she gave in, and Rover's breath was on her ear. Rover whispered the good news.
When Phrolova didn't know, her body was relaxed – then as Rover progressed, she became tense, then she separated, eyes wide. She waited for Rover to break character, say it was some joke, but Rover's smile only grew larger. Phrolova stared, then her hands made a tent around her mouth and nose. Her eyes became teary, and she curled back into the crook of Rover's neck.
Rover hugged her against them, until she shot up and landed one kiss, then another. It was like yesterday all over again. When a lull opened between them, Rover landed one last kiss on Phrolova's forehead and whispered, "I love you."
All the tears kissed away, there were only two perfect eyes – all traces of doubt and hesitation erased. "I love you, too."
A/N: Another story done, and finished before 2.1, no less. I was always interested in Phrolova, but it was only when 2.0 dropped that I got enough material to make a story about it, especially in Act 3 of Rinascita where she appears in the finale.
Her aesthetic just goes so crazy. She had a great showing in Rinascita's Act 3 finale, but there's also some chuunibyo in how she covers her eye without needing to, which indicates an immature side. So, we get the interpretation of Phrolova in this story. She has some poise, but that's also propped up by her constraint gauze. She has some passions and things she is proud of, but she keeps it close to her chest, only for a select few to see.
Regarding "His Excellency", there is little available about them in the game. He sounds like an important, seemingly monarchical figure for the Fractsidus, so I gave him a spin of my own with the little information we had. Given the power level I gave him, it's also implied that he is immortal, but there is some ambiguity of how old the Fractsidus as an organization is. Given that I made His Excellency immortal like Rover, then I would speculate the Fractsidus are as old or older than Rover. Regarding the theological references, I put that in there because of the speculation it drives on the nature of the Lament, although in-game there have been few or no clear cut theological references that I know of.
The rest of this is going to be rambling about the Fractsidus belief system and speculating/theorizing about what they are. This will have spoilers up to Rinascita's Act 3. This by no means should infringe on the interpretation of the story the reader has, even if I thought one way or the other. We're all just having fun here. Thank you for reading the story.
I enjoyed developing the worldview of the Fractsidus, but I also think that's where most people will have pause. The fact Phrolova believes in this does make her, in fact, a non-zero amount of evil. However, I wanted to avoid the story pitfall of authors saying "they have a point, but they go about it the wrong way (killing people)" then not addressing the point. The fact that the enemy is violent can't be an excuse to not engage, especially when the author holds the pen.
If the goal is important (here, humanity surviving), non-violence must be an option that works in order for violence to not be justified, or there must be a method of discovering the proposed change was not worthwhile before things escalate to violence (through science proving that merging with tacet discords is not possible or would cause too many bad effects). Given what we know, I believe in-game the development of the Fractsidus is going to take the path of having had their methods disproven but clinging to them anyway, like a cult. Or if the version of His Excellency that I made up exists, then the Fractsidus would be the dark mirror of the Black Shores, the Black Shores being founded by Rover (the Astral Modulator) and the Fractsidus being founded by His Excellency.
The way to refute the Fractsidus has to be an internal critique. In other words, you must prove they would fail their own mission even if they got what they wanted. To be a newly-evolved human is supposed to be what lets humanity survive, but human experience is inseparable from humanity. Thus, by morphing humanity into something with a completely foreign experience (to the point that they would even have a different concept of morality), you have destroyed humanity, failing your own mission with your own methods. This refutation was really only fully delivered by Rover in chapter 10, though part of it also appeared in chapter 9, but in that chapter it remained ideological. Experience as such is different, which is why I believe chapter 10 is what allowed Phrolova to give in.
Alternatively, the Fractsidus could maintain human experience but advocate merging with tacet discords in order to withstand the Lament. Then, their goals are more comparable to the science done by Huaxu Academy, except instead of creating weapons and devices to beat back the Lament, the Fractsidus alter the human body to withstand it or no longer be antagonistic with it.
However, I didn't pursue this version of the Fractsidus, the important reason being that the overseers seem to be ideologically against human nature. Scar seems to genuinely dislike humanity, the part of the main story being against the masses and in favor of the "black sheep". What Phrolova has revealed is that the world's story seems to be that of a Dark Satire. What is being satirized? It seems to be human nature, and likely human culture and governance as well. The most poignant example so far being that of the corruption of the Holy Maiden, and the Order making her a martyr anyway because the truth would destroy the myth that unifies Ragunna (and perhaps Rinascita). In other words, the overseers we've seen have been ideologically anti-human – or, pro-newly evolved human, which would be different from humanity. That's why I made the jump of Fractsidus leadership outright believing humanity needs to fundamentally change in their nature, not just change in their ability to survive the Lament.
Regarding whether Phrolova being against human nature would interfere in Rover's romancing prospects, I don't think so. Rover is kinda special like that, and Scar had tried to get Rover to join the Fractsidus before.
I don't want this author's note to become longer than the chapter body, so I'll leave it here. Thank you for listening to my ramblings, and thank you for reading the story.