> The sorrow of a setting sun is that it repeats over and over again.
> - A nameless samurai long, long ago.
The Moonflood Festival is a one-of-a-kind festival celebrated by Blood Falls. It occurs roughly every thousand years or so using the universal calendar everyone uses, or Tuesday, whichever happens first. Right now though, the day has been set as a Friday like has it always been since forever, and everyone is all the better for it, save for Reuth Giapain, who is missing a package and a bomb. In his haste to try and set one up over his employers, the drifter missed his appointment to pick up the package he was supposed to deliver and now his deadline loomed within striking distance. He faced this dilemma like he's faced all others before it; by finding a noodle shop with big portions, get a seat that faced the ocean of blood, and start eating silently while music played in the background, somewhere.
"Who are you looking for?" Another patron suddenly asked while Reuth was in the middle of slurping. The drifter squinted his eyes at the sudden question, but something about eating noodles brought out the honesty in Reuth Giapain.
"It's none of your business. Also, I'd like to be left alone to eat my noodles now in peace." Reuth laid out the terms and hoped the fellow patron would get the message and move on.
"Ah, okay. Sorry. I hope your search will be a short one." Reuth scoffed as much as one could scoff with noodles in their mouth. He tried not to think too deeply about what has driven him for this so long and this far, mostly because of the heartache that comes with the territory. But for every reminder, the flashes of her smiling face and gentle eyes seems almost like an apology, which Reuth Giapain was determined to throw right back in-person. Until then though, he'd keep an open eye and-
Any and all thoughts were cut short, and not just those of the drifter, but also everyone else', as a peculiar sight for even Blood Falls was unfolding. An arm, impossibly long, crashed into the bloody ocean and the impact sent a tsunami racing towards the coast. What made this unusual was that the arm was still connected to something, and it in turn, was still back in Blood Falls. It was the world's longest staircase, and a thought came to the forefront of mos of Blood Fall's residents.
I got to get the top before the arm comes loose!
At the noodle shop, Reuth watched as several patrons jump off their seats and made a general mess of the place. None of them dared to leave without paying though, as evidenced by the stack of paper, coins, gems, and assorted goods deemed to have value in Blood Falls. Reuth Giapain followed suit soon after, though he paid his fare with a defensive ward, which the cashier accepted and added to the noodle shop' defense matrix without much fuss.
Once the drifter was out and about, he considered his options once more while Blood Falls roared and swelled with cheers and laughter as well as shouts and screams of terror. Tidal waves surged and swept off the weaker masses to their fates in what was once streets and alleyways, but in his own personal bubble, Reuth Giapain decided that he was going to do a job properly for once. He clacked his heels twice against the pavement and took one step forward. The sight changed from a flooded district to that of a very dry and sterile bank counter. From the other side, a package was pushed out and Reuth Giapain took it, no words exchanged by anyone as the drifter clacked his heels twice once more.
He arrived to the blazing spear tips of the third and final group that controlled the Blood Falls he knew; the Sixty-Six Sextuplet Sextants. No one saw them coming up the ranks until it was too late, and these right-angled ones maintained their control with ruthless efficiency. Of all the groups, Reuth knew them the least and his unfamiliarity became glaringly obvious as he made the error of bowing before his opponents at a nearly ninety-degree angle, instead of precisely at a ninety-degree angle.
He was corrected with a precise blow from above at right angles with respect to the ground, followed by several perpendicular blows upon his sides. Thinking quickly, Reuth made one gesture he knew for sure would guarantee him some safety; a perfect cube made from magic, elevated at the precise elevation as his tormentor’s eyes as to perfectly halve said cube in half. This final peaceful gambit paid off as the blows ceased and he was forced upright to stand as still as a pillar.
“State your intention, intruder.” One guard spoke with an even, measured cadence.
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“I have information on an event in the near future. It concerns the Forty-Fourth. The Trium Illustricate is involved.” Reuth condensed his offer to include all of the relevant information, stressing the last part a bit more than the rest. The lack of faces made gauging the guards’ reaction difficult, but not impossible if one knew what to look. The slight tilt forward of the head, the firmer grip upon their spears, and the more frequent flashes of light traveling through their translucent crystal bodies told more than words could convey.
Finally, a guard with distinctive patches of rubies on its shoulders stared at his peers and nodded to each in turn. With practiced ease, they shuffled off to the side while the locking mechanisms of the gate they guarded clicked and whirled out of the way, revealing a corridor which seemed to go on forever.
Reuth took a tentative step forward before shaking his head and taking another. There’s no going back now. Time to take the plunge. After several more steps inside, he felt the ground beneath him give way to something wet and far softer than rock, but still the drifter pushed on. It was unclear when he passed the threshold, but one moment he was walking in complete darkness and the next he found himself in a lavish, carpeted hallway with plenty of light and furnishings fit for noble company and more.
“A drink, Mr. Reuth?” A servant, immaculately dressed like everything else, suddenly appeared by Reuth’s side, holding out a tray with one drink on it. Reuth tried to shoo the servant away, but still they remained. After a while, the drifter felt curious that the hallway he was in seemed to have no end on either end; a suspicion confirmed after turning his head around and finding the exact same scene stretched backwards far beyond what he could see.
“I’ll take it. Thank you.” Reuth took the drink and gave an experimental sip before quickly pushing down the overwhelming desire to gulp the rest and perhaps even consume the glass itself. It was tasty like nothing else he had ever tasted, and Reuth soon found himself regretting even taking the sip in the first place.
“How is it, my ‘Taste of Her Lips at Midnight’?” A voice purrred at Reuth’s left ear, causing him to jump to the right with arms ready to start blasting away. The owner of said voice simply laughed at the display, tears falling freely before being wiped away by exquisitely manicured hands.
“Oh, it’s you.” Reuth’s voice carried distaste as his mind glanced over memories the drifter would very much like to forget.
“Don’t be like that, Rudy-poo. I’m really glad to see you in here, after such a long time, not since… well, why even bring up the past like that, silly me.” The man towered over Reuth, a creepily wide smile dominating most of the man’s face. “I was told you have something about the Forty-Fourth? Dreadful business, yes, but it had to be done, and now we’re just taking care of loose ends.”
The man snapped his fingers and suddenly Reuth found himself in a comfortable lounge, with servants coming in and putting down various snacks and drinks while slow music caressed his ears. Any irritation felt by Reuth increased tenfold as he saw his new companion draped over a chair while a servant fed them grapes as though they were an aging starlet from days gone by.
"Are we going to do business or not?” Reuth complained even as he devoured a large prime rib in several bites. The other man held up a hand as he opened his mouth and let a servant pour a rainbow-colored drink from a blender, making sure each drop landed inside before closing up and relishing the taste.
“Say my name first and we’ll get right to things, Rudy-poo.” The man flashed his teeth at Reuth, showing off two rows of rainbow-colored chompers. “Say my name and I’ll show you the way to what you really want; a certain old flame of yours with broken-“ Reuth moved then and aimed the tip of his staff right under the man’s chin, primed and ready to paint the surroundings with grey matter.
“You don’t get to say a damn thing about her, punk.” The fire in Reuth’s eyes belied a pain beyond words. “Not. A. Single. Thing. Do you understand me, Melani?”
“Sheesh, you and your ex. Talk about drama.” Melani snapped his finger and a servant appeared bearing a star-shaped crystal with a fuse coming out of it. “Memo-Starfruit. It’s delicious when paired with mangoes and can store one memory in perfect clarity. If you light the fuse and throw it hard enough, it’ll explode and make a portal that’ll lead you to the person you’re obsessed with.”
“What’s the catch?” Reuth said, eyes darting back and forth between Melani and the crystal fruit on hand.
“Why, information on the Forty-Fourth of course. But I don’t think you really have any for me, which means you will need an alternative method of payment.” The wall behind Melani parted, revealing an ominous-looking chair with a helmet attached. A helmet with wires sticking out of it.
“I’m going to need some of your memories. Or all of it. It depends on whether you want to come back at all from the dream.” The chair moved forward until it became the centerpiece of the lounge. “That’s it. That’s all I want from you, my Rudy-poo. A simple affair in Blood Falls, how about that? Do we have a deal?” Melani Melati thrust out his hand right under Reuth Giapain’s nose, the smile on the man’s face a stark contrast to the drifter’s own frown.
Silently, the two shook hands.