The north. Somewhere in the curling stone bricks of the tower, there lurked a treasure. Lieze took one glance at the sturdy architecture, imagining how long it would take to pick apart those walls until something of value turned up. She decided that she didn’t fancy the commitment, and so decided on the only natural course of action.
The Manticore’s body tore and convulsed as it looped up to the distant skyline and came crashing into the tower with as much speed as it could possibly build. The bricks dissolved like sea foam beneath its heft, causing the rooftop to collapse and rain shingles upon the long reeds. Lieze and Drayya observed the carnage from a distance, keeping an eye out for anything of import dislodging from the walls.
Drayya was tempted to utter a set of familiar words. She managed to keep a lid on her objections until a minute or so had passed of watching the Manticore crashing into the tower. “Is this wise?” she asked.
“You just missed it.” Lieze pointed her finger towards the middlemost layer of the tower, which had been thoroughly dismantled, “Something fell out right there. It looked like a journal.”
Drayya redoubled her gaze as if it would do her any good. In a moment of hesitation, she had pulled her eyes away long enough to miss the most crucial moment. There was something to be said about that difference between her and Lieze - the two of them were worlds apart in their conviction. A pang of guilt overcame Drayya’s heart as she recalled Lieze’s piercing accusations from weeks ago.
Before she could blurt out a sudden apology, Lieze was wandering in the direction of the rubble. “Let’s go take a look.” she said. Drayya allowed her emotions to fall into the cracks of her mind, following after the girl as she kneeled down to sift through the half-crumbled brickwork.
“Here it is.” She tore a tattered journal out from underneath the mess. It was a miniscule thing, with pages barely large enough to hold a single diary entry. It was a miracle Lieze had been able to spot it falling at all. She sifted through the ink-stained entries, which appeared to be written in that same language Drayya had no hope of understanding, but which Lieze parsed with all the ease of reading her native tongue.
The girl nodded to herself, evidently rather satisfied with the discovery. “This is exactly what I was looking for.” she said, “It’s a key for those ciphers. I just need a few minutes to cross-reference it against the tomes, then we’ll be able to enjoy their secrets to our hearts’ content.”
Quest ‘The Key’ Complete! Reward - 5,800xp
Drayya was pleased if Lieze was pleased. Their trip hadn’t been a waste of time, and for that, she was grateful - more grateful than she would have been comfortable admitting. Lieze’s half-concealed smile faded when she noticed Drayya’s relief. “What are you looking so proud for all of a sudden?” she asked.
Drayya tilted her head, “Do I seem that way? Proud?”
“All the time, but now more than usual.” She answered, “Is something bothering you?”
The question sent Drayya’s mind spinning. She wasn’t sure how to react. “What makes you think that?” She asked, “Aren’t I smiling?”
“You mean to say there isn’t?”
Drayya flashed a crooked, embarrassed smile. She was toeing around the subject in plain view of the one person who had her completely figured out. “No.” she shook her head, “There is.”
“I also have something I’d like to speak to you about.” Lieze retrieved the Portable Home, her fingers brushing against the grooves, “It will take me some time to cross-reference the key with the cipher, so it gives us a good opportunity.”
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Lieze would never admit it, but she adored the sanctity of the Portable Home. She had trouble recalling how she managed to remain sane without a quiet retreat to escape into every now and again. The tiny space was her very own personal slice of the world, filled with nothing else but whatever happened to interest her in the moment.
Deciphering the tomes Drayya found was only a matter of time. The work was so monotonous that she was glad to have the company, although Drayya’s troubled expression evoked a resilient response in her heart.
“Would you have turned out differently if the two of us had never met?” The raven-haired girl spoke with intention, finding her words pouring out naturally, “Compared to when we were children, you seem so invulnerable now. Is that the result of how the Order treated you?”
“‘Invulnerable’. Is that how you would describe me?” Lieze’s eyes were glued to the pages, “I wouldn’t use such a positive term. I’ve been steeped in a mixture of hatred and frustration. I learned quickly that any statement, no matter how agreeable, would always be met with retaliation. So I separated myself from the world, my emotions, and the vulnerability of my soul. That was the only way to preserve my sanity.”
Drayya unfolded her arms, “-But you could have been different.”
“I don’t think that’s true.” She replied, “Without that hatred, I wouldn’t be the person I am today - an identity I wouldn’t trade for anything else. I see the point you’re trying to make. There’s no need to blame yourself for something I’ve already forgiven.”
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“That’s not what I meant. We’ve only found ourselves in this tower because you’re seeking a reason to continue this crusade.” Drayya said, “If it wasn’t for me, you would never have lost faith in our ideals to begin with. I’ve only wasted your time - dragged you away from the decisions that matter.”
Lichdom. Mercuria. Faith. Lieze compounded the desires and benefits that had been destabilised by Drayya over the course of her conquest. It was true that things would be far simpler if she hadn’t entered the picture to begin with - if she had remained with Sokalar up to the moment of his reappearance, and met her end against Lieze on the field of battle.
But, with that said, she wasn’t disappointed with Drayya’s presence.
“...Our ‘ideals’ are nothing more than a set of lies.” She said, “There is no salvation. No hope beyond death. No ‘immortality’ in the realm of the Gods. We are made to suffer, to worship, and to proselytise those who stoke our fury from the heavens. I was on the verge of giving up, knowing that our carnage had all been for nothing.”
She broke her attention away from the cipher, “Can I be honest with you for a moment, Drayya?”
Her partner smiled, “You mean ‘vulnerable’, not ‘honest’, don’t you?”
“If it’s so funny to you, then we can keep this conversation for another time.”
“No! No…” She insisted, taking a step forward, “I want to hear it.”
She had the expectant eyes of a dog awaiting a treat from its master. Lieze couldn’t help but shrink away from her hungry gaze, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her next words.
She cleared her throat, “The possibility of this venture turning up fruitless… it frightens me a little - no, it terrifies me. If our crusade has been for nothing this whole time, if I can’t find a way to justify the lives I’ve taken… I’m not sure what I would do.”
Drayya was no longer smiling. “What do you want to do?” she asked.
“I want to save this world.” She answered, “From despair. From pride. From pain. I want to unspool this coil of mortality that binds us. I want to experience the beauty of a soul laid bare for all to see, unconstrained by pettiness and hatred.”
“Death has always been our solution to that problem.” Drayya continued, “But it turned out to be a lie.”
“Yes.” She nodded, “The more I learn, the more impossible my tasks seems - the more ‘evil’ I become. But my purpose has been penned in blood, and now there is no other path I can walk. If this detour of ours reveals nothing of importance…”
“It will.” Drayya said.
“How do you know that?”
She folded her arms, “I don’t. And if I turn out to be incorrect, then punish me however you see fit. But we live in a world too wondrous and too strange for there to be no answer. If this tower turns out to be a useless endeavour, we’ll plunder the next, and then the next after that. We’ll scour the world for any trace of your beloved ‘salvation’.”
“-And if we don’t find it?”
Drayya frowned, “Stop saying things like that!”
The volume of her outburst gave Lieze pause. The two of them had experienced their fair share of arguments over the decades they’d known one-another, but rarely was Drayya ever pushed to the point of shouting. “You’re compromising yourself!” she continued, “All of this pessimism, this doubting - can’t you see that you’re only succeeding in defeating yourself!? This isn’t the Lieze I know! The Lieze I know you want to be!”
Who she wanted to be? That was a simple enough question to answer. She wanted to be the shepherd that led the world from suffering. She wanted to be the leader of the Order. The great conqueror who would dominate the continent. She wanted to be affectless, impenetrable - but also unconditionally content with her lot in life and perceptive of her own emotions. She wanted to be everything, and in doing so, was slowly eliminating her concept of self.
“I recognise that look in your eyes.” Drayya said, “You don’t know, do you? Maybe that’s for the best. You were never aware of it to begin with - all of this self-loathing and pessimism.”
“Isn’t that exactly who I am?” She shrugged her shoulders, “I’ve never known another life.”
Drayya stepped forward, “What you know isn’t important. What you desire - that’s what I want to hear!”
“What I desire doesn’t matter in the least.” Lieze said, “My identity is nothing compared to the scope of my ambit- ah!”
Drayya yanked her out of her chair by the arm. Suddenly, their bodies were pressed together, faces separated by an inch. Lieze could smell the sting of sea salt mixing with soap in Drayya’s hair. She didn’t seem fazed in the least by their proximity, having grown accustomed to Drayya’s habit of sudden intimacy.
She was rather surprised, however, when the distance between them collapsed entirely. Lieze inhaled sharply through her nostrils as Drayya’s lips connected with her own, refusing to part even as she reared her head in shock. Drayya had closed her eyes, obfuscating her expression while a faint redness bloomed on her cheeks.
Lieze lost the ability to keep time. It may have lasted a second. Maybe two or three, or five, or ten. When their lips parted, there wasn’t any time for her to fit a word in edgewise as Drayya beat her to the punch. “I’m not taking this anymore!” She declared, “No more compromising, secretiveness, apathy, self-denial; no more isolation, or loneliness, or loathing - and I don’t care what you think about it, before you ask, or how you feel, because it’s done now, and there’s nothing you can do about that!”
Her cheeks were flushed. Her hot breath blew against Lieze’s face. She was flooded with embarrassing confidence, trying to maintain a straight face but only revealing just how nervous she was in the process. Lieze hadn’t seen such an expression painted on her face in a very long time.
Lieze allowed a beat to pass, “...What was that all about?”
“Very funny.” She replied, “Hilarious, actually. But I already know this is how you cope with embarrassment. You jeer and joke as if nothing matters, trying desperately to steady yourself.”
“This is sexual harassment.”
“Is it?” Drayya tilted her head, “Is it really?”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“-And that’s really your problem, isn’t it?” She pressed, “Always wanting, but never asking. Terrified of happiness. Terrified of feeling anything. I can only imagine how wonderful it would look if you were true to yourself for even a spare moment.”