2024-11-24: The Calling
- Cutscene: The Call
- Cast: Shari Loom, Elisa Kafim
- Where: Outskirts, Fujinomiya City
- Date: November 24, 0099
- Summary: In the darkness calls a final message. For the sake of a world she can yet save, Shari answers.
"Shari Loom. I have Seen the truth of the last timeline, as you have. I wish to meet with you in the spirit of dialogue. You have my word that I shall not harm you. I prefer to discuss our common enemy.'
"If you should accept my terms, then meet me at a location of your choosing. Send me the sigil of calling, and I shall arrive."
Shari found this message on her bathroom mirror in the morning. More specifically, Gerardo found it, shouted in alarm, and Shari dragged herself out of bed after him to see what it was.
A sigh later, she gave her boyfriend a hug and pushed him back to bed. She'd deal with this herself.
-=-=-
Her decision had been made more or less immediately, though she wavered over it most of the morning. Gareth asked her what was wrong, and she just said, 'girl stuff', which was enough to ward him off for the moment. Maybe horrible god-witches and messages written in mysterious liquid really are 'girl stuff', but Shari just didn't want to try to explain. It's good that he was showing interest in her mental state, but...
These things are dangerous. Way too dangerous for younger brothers. ...Too dangerous for older sisters, really.
But of course she was going to go. Over Gerardo's concerns, she had to go. ...Because there wasn't a chance in Hell Shari was going to welcome Elisa Kafim into her /home/, but she sure had to talk to her.
So Shari left a message at the PPL and set out for a park, deep in the woods.
-=-=-
Shari knows some people think that the best focus for Void runes is blood, but it's just not true in her experience. A powder of green fold quartz does the trick just fine if you can't inscribe them on metal and mineral directly.
The 'sigil of calling'. Shari constructs it in the dirt, a large enough circle for someone to rise up into. It feels... strange, to do it like this, instead of through microchips and harmonic modulators. But analog works just as well. She traces the last line.
The sigil glows brilliant green. A column of darkness appears, and suddenly Elisa Kafim arrives.
Shari can't out-dress a horror witch; Elisa's black robes are perfect, her heels knife-sharp, her makeup completely ideal. But she's done her best to present herself as strong, capable... together.
And Elisa says, "Shari. You have called me, and so I have come. I am pleased that you accepted my terms."
"...Yeah," Shari says, and rises to her feet, looking over the taller Elisa. She's less afraid than she expected to be. But then... She saw the truth, too. "It's been a while," she says.
"Yes, it has. You saw the Truths issued by my dragon..."
"And the people it ate, yes." Shari's voice is flat, but she doesn't continue from there. Instead, she changes tack, "...I saw that you were changed as much as I was. I'm glad you don't blame me for it. I couldn't really do anything else."
"Yes," Elisa answers. "I do not blame you... And it is my hope that you do not blame me for the actions of our shared enemy, for I need your aid."
"My help, huh?" Shari says in her own words. "...I couldn't close the Gate before. I'm not sure what you expect me to do when I couldn't beat her in the end."
"The other girl, the girl with your face. /She/ could not. But you have more expertise than she ever had. The girl that the Empress punished you for... She could not. But you are older, wiser. Stronger. And I cannot take credit for that. You broke away, to forge your own life."
"...Yeah, I did," Shari says. "So that's how it is? You think we're all different people now, so it doesn't have to be the same?"
"That is correct. And we shall have our vengeance, Shari. Together, we can destroy her for good. ...And I will leave the Earth, and the Void will threaten your realm no longer."
"We should be enemies," Shari points out. "If that 'other girl' was right, we should be trying to stop you /and/ her."
"Perhaps that is so," Elisa says. "But we were allies once, in this time. And the Empress harmed the both of us. I wish only my vengeance, and to leave with my wife. ...This world will be yours to steward. Perhaps you shall learn ambition enough to conquer it, in time. Perhaps not. It will be up to you."
"And you'd give me that chance," Shari says. "...Why? I wasn't strong. And you believe strength is everything."
"You are now," Elisa answers simply. "...And I feel..." She looks into the distance, past Shari. "No. It is not important. You are strong now, Shari. And I am interested to see the life that you will build without my interference. I will not be here to see it--but you will still have all your knowledge and power."
"...I did fuck up your dragon," Shari allows after a moment.
Elisa inclines her head. "Yes. You did 'fuck up' my dragon, indeed."
"All right," Shari says. "But I'm not doing it for you. I did enough for you and Yuliana both. I'll help, but on my terms."
"Very well," Elisa says. "...Perhaps, in the end, your approach has merit. Ours has changed me into... something other. I would not change what I am now, but I wonder what could have been."
"Yeah. But maybe and what ifs are nothing anymore. We live the life we have. ...So all right. Go do your fight. And I'll lock the door behind you."
"Good," Elisa says. "...Before that, however. To fight the Empress herself... I have a design. A design that requires your expertise to bring to fruition."
"Grant it unto me, and you shall have all my research that I leave behind. And your freedom, for all your days. For I shall silence the Voice that crept into your mind along with those strange Whispers of yours."
"...I'm not gonna use the blood stuff," she says. "The Void doesn't have to take lives in order to have power."
"As you wish," Elisa says, and stretches out her hand. "...Come. Look upon my design. I shall return you here."
"...All right," Shari answers.
One more time, she steps into the space between this world and the next...
"But I gotta be home for dinner. So I'll work on it at the lab if I decide it's worth doing."
One more time, she goes to the Silent Castle.
"And we're doing it /without/ human sacrifices," she adds as they disappear into the portal.
The woods remain dark. The sigil's light is extinguished.
The sounds of life continue. The forest breathes its relief.