The purgatory that was the Piece of the Fallen Star had no beginning or end. The lightshow forever filled the empty skies as Nav walked its endless expanse with the little Frost in hand.
Her internal clock matched the outside world as she manually counted it by the seconds. Her demeanor never changed. An expressionless guise was all she could muster, even when she could no longer hear the voices of the people she considered ‘friends’.
Nav could not express her grievances. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to feel, and she doubted she had the capabilities to begin with. Her cold exterior matched her artificial innards, made specifically to mimic the living. But even so, there was a strange tickle in her chest that drove her legs forward.
Her mobility was still a work in progress. If the little Frost so happened to walk in front of her, then she’d inadvertently collide with her, unable to stop her legs less she wished to fall onto her face.
It had already happened more than once. Five times, actually. The little Frost orbited Nav, never walking in a straight line like a moon around its mother planet. At each orbit the little Frost would show an emoji, mostly of a smile as she pointed towards the light.
“There is a presence ahead. The Archetype of Desire, I believe. Bizarre that you can sense them.”
The little Frost cheerfully nodded.
“I still have yet to understand why the Alter Frost’s exist in the first place. You do carry similar characteristics as Frost, but there are multiple of you. A little Frost and a Hired Arm. I speculate there are more of you in the wild. Is this deduction correct?” Nav spoke succinctly, as the little Frost abruptly stopped to make a cheerful gesture.
“Alter!”
“Yes. Alter.”
“Frost!”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yeah!”
If Nav could sigh, she would have spent the next few minutes expelling her lungs of air. If anything, frustration was really all she could feel, and somehow, moving towards the light only drained her of what little emotions she had.
“So there are more of you. Intriguing. I imagine Jury would be ecstatic to hear this news.” Nav tried to trick herself into feeling a sense of loss but failed to illicit a single response.
She still felt something inside of her, however little it was.
Her desire on the other hand was warm. She sought for the light like a moth to a flame. By now they were completely alone. No entities could make it any further. She speculated that the deeper one ventured, the bigger the wish that was granted. She based it solely on her observations.
Those that transformed when she first arrived compared to those at the terminating line were drastic, and in her judgement, were more ‘complete’. There were more abominations that arose than man and women with slight abnormalities or defects, if one could even call them that.
“Do you believe Frost is ok?” Nav suddenly spoke, neither in an utter or whisper. The cold voice seemed to hurt the little Frost, who worriedly twiddled her fingers.
“Hurts.”
“You can sense how she feels, I deduce. Meaning the Hired Arm must be aware of what's happening.”
“… mmmmm…. Mmmmm! MMMMM!” The little Frost groaned, placing both hands on her head, thinking hard as Nav temporarily stopped for her, nearly tripping on her own feet.
“I can’t believe that world was advanced enough to make androids, but not advanced enough to iron out the defects.” She grumbled. “Is there something on your mind?”
The little Frost couldn’t properly convey her thoughts as an assortment of images popped over her head until smoke was all she could show, overheating after the immense mental strain. Her eyes spiralled, and Nav could only speculate just what exactly she was trying to convey.
“Enough. Take this. I find it unnaturally irritating to imagine you making another few hundred revolutions around me.” Nav offered her a hand, and the little Frost gladly took it.
A little too hard. She stuck by her side like glue, hugging her arm like a spoiled child as Nav’s movements became natural all of a sudden. Her eyes widened as if having reached a world altering epiphany, and she gazed down at the girl with intrigued eyes.
“I see. You make a good crutch.”
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“Right!”
* * *
Nav could communicate with the Archivist strangely enough, as well as hear the faint, silent call ahead. Like Frost and Jury, she possessed incredible eyesight, attributed to her golden eyes. As vague as the voice was, she could tell they were making a steady pace now towards the light.
It was a beacon of light, rising higher than one could fathom. It matched the description of the Nexus, missing several black and golden parts that were described to accompany it. The sight was mesmerizing, but it never took her breath away as she relayed everything she could to the Archivist, including fragments of Frost’s woes that managed to reach her ears.
< “This is the world they made, and the world I tried to change.” >
< “From then and now. Nothing’s changed at all.” >
This voice did not sound like the Frost Nav knew. On the other hand, the Archivist expressed that this voice was far more familiar than Frost’s. Nav had the impression that Frost had either broken to the point where she lost herself, or something else had arisen to take over her.
Whatever the case was, it brewed within a cursed womb.
“Everyone’s rushing now. I’ve never seen so many Beholders gathered at once before. So this is the Arbiter’s Council…” The Archivist uttered, mesmerized by the sight Nav could only imagine.
No. Nav could imagine such a sight. She had nothing to draw from aside from the monsters and this endless expanse of nothingness. Therefore, she could only picture a little Frost surrounded by monsters.
“Is Scarlet Logic’s Beholder present?”
“Marduk was found dead a while ago. But they’ll just be reborn from what we know. N-Nav. Do we know what’s going to happen to Frost?”
“Unknown. But I highly recommend staying inside of the Floor of Civilization.”
“The Arbiter said the same thing to me. Just as a precaution. But I want to help…”
“You’re helping enough by leaving your Library. Your steps taken have aided tremendously. Please do not forget that.”
“… T-thank you. I’ll do my best then. It’s just that… this book won’t stop burning. It’s everything to me. Frost’s history is all written inside. I’m scared that I’m going to lose it soon.” The Archivist expressed her woes in silence, as if to not speak over the Beholders and the Arbiter, who had finally taken matters into their own hands now that they could leave the Nexus in due time.
< “From the people to myself. I’m still somehow in the center of it all.” >
Nav, whilst listening to Frost’s woes, wondered what the world beyond looked like. What mountains and valleys waited to be seen. She vividly remembered the moment when she, Jury and Frost first left the Black Forest and set their sights upon the world beyond.
How she wished she could have also seen it with them.
Nav held multiple wishes. One was to remain in her body. Another was to be with the others. The next was to see the same sights that they could all see. When it all boiled down, she shut her eyes and whispered to herself, condensing her wishes into the one thing she wanted the most.
“To be with them in person.”
Suddenly, she felt a warm light cast over her.
“Sure…?” The little Frost asked, wondering if that was the truth of her wish.
When Nav opened her eyes, she was greeted by the foot of the light. Somehow, they had travelled an immeasurable distance in an instant. As the Archetype of Desire occupied this space, she speculated that they must also control it.
That being said:
“I believe it is. But it would also be nice to understand what emotions are. I have a suspicion that the full extent of my wish cannot be granted.”
“Incomplete. Fractured. Not whole. Us. Same.” The little Frost said, showing a picture of a pie chart, each populated with multiple other, strangely looking Frosts.
She could have sworn one was a Frost with cat ears, and another dressed in pajamas.
“There was a saying on Earth, wasn’t there? The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Maybe the Alter Frosts are like that. The physical embodiment of fragments of herself. Then, would that mean you’re the innocent part of her?” Nav suggested, and the little Frost only shrugged before she pointed at something behind them.
Turning around, she was dazzled by a sudden flash of light. Standing before her was a girl almost identical to the little Frost, except her long hair was colored white like an Angel’s. Her form seemed to radiate a subtle glow from an organ within her chest. Her dress was radiant, and the more Nav studied her, the more she realized that this perhaps wasn’t a girl at all.
They were androgynous. A being that merely existed, just like the light it emitted.
And moments later, she pulled up its stats and uttered:
“The Star Child…”
The Star Child
< Archetype of Desire >
Floor: Desire
Advent: Piece of the Fallen Star
Beholder: Nil LEVEL : 10 ORIGIN : Archetype
HP : 200
ATT : 0 MAG ATT : 0 ATT DEF : 100,000 MAG DEF : 100,000
MP : 55,000,000
RESIST : 1,000 AGI : 5