Arcadia, the Land of Demons…
Icy flowers shimmer lightly under the warmth of morning sunlight. Snow and crystalline grass glisten like polished crystals, slick with half-frozen morning dew as I open my eyes anew. In this place, where destiny is made… there’s no blood. Only death, and the demons who've warped this realm into their twisted, frozen image of ice and shadow.
But I’m… alive. Still in it. Somehow. But the Demon Lord still stands. The Runestone – the key to fulfilling my Prophecy as a Hero summoned to the world of Nisha, taken away from me by that Demon bastard. In the distance, where the World Tree stands timeless amid the frozen heart of the Land of Demons, sparks of darkness tear up the skies in arcs of deep purple.
Good grief. I have to get over there. Right now! For I, Arisa Ishii… gotta do what I gotta do. Kill the Demon Lord, for one. But then… close to me… upon the snow… my Paladin…
“Anna!”
“Ari… saa…”
Bloodlessly, she stares into my eyes as I rush to her side, hers dilated and delirious. Ascalon, her ever-trusty claymore, lies close to her, shattered fragments sundered upon the snow. I reach for my own weapon, the angelic staff Elizabeth, its bladed wings of light broken like the shards of what had once been the mighty Ascalon.
“Don’t worry…” I gasp, extending a hand glowing white and blue towards her, mustering the strength to cast Heal as my grip upon Elizabeth tightens. “I got ya!”
“Conserve your Mana…” Anna rasps as she pushes away my hand, ruefully shaking her head as she breaks out a pained smile. “Use it… stop… the Demon Lord…”
“What!? I need you, Anna. I’m your Healer, and I…”
“I used that spell of mine, Arisa.”
My grip upon Elizabeth loosens and it falls to the snow as those words of hers register in my brain. Desperately, I stare into Anna’s eyes. For something. Anything. And as I do, she lets out a pained chuckle. For that spell of hers – Divine Intervention – is a life for a life, sacrificing the entirety of the caster's lifeforce to fully mend the wounds of another person. It is our holy covenant as Healer and Paladin of the Order of Selene, sealed within this final, ultimate spell.
And I… fucking hell! This sinking, choking feeling… as I…
“I had to. I’m sorry. I saved this for a rainy day… and if I didn’t… you’d…”
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“Pretty sure I’m the Healer here…” I state quietly, closing my eyes, my body quivering uncontrollably as I feel Anna’s hand slowly reaching for my cheek. “I really oughta be the one to…”
“You are, always. But I’m your Paladin.”
“You really are, Anna.”
“I did my best… didn’t I…? Arisa…”
“You did!”
Wearily, Anna forces herself to smile. Her eyelids are heavy as she looks at me, eyes half-closed as she caresses my cheek with bloodied fingers. Her grasp is… tenuous. Shaky. Her muscles are fighting against her every step of the way, giving out slowly but surely despite her best efforts.
“Talk to me, Anna. Please…”
“Tell Mom that I love her…” Anna rasps weakly, as I desperately squeeze her hand. “Tell her I wasn’t afraid… and that I wish…”
Before my very eyes, she turns to dust. Crumbling away, falling through my fingers, scattering into the frigid winds of oblivion that sweep this evil fucking place. She was my Paladin, and I was her Healer. And now… it’s just me.
“Anna.”
I reach for Elizabeth once again, eyes set upon the World Tree as I walk towards it, the ground trembling with each step of mine. In there, with the Demon Lord, there’ll be an ending to things. Rinnah willing, my Prophecy be done.
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In the sacred heart of the World Tree…
Before me lies a hall of snow-swept stone ensnared in the timeless grip of icy leaves and white roses in bloom, each step marred in black, inky blood. From the walls, large antique windows bring the golden light of the morning sun, and it stings.
This place, ancient even when the world of Nisha was young, is the cradle from which existence itself was born. It is the beginning and the end, where time itself began. And… fuck this place.
Just a few steps forward, and I see the Demon Lord once more. Runestone gripped tenuously in shadowy claws, it stands before a massive antique clock plastered upon the wall ahead between those big windows, ancient gears slowly turning to continue the passage of time. Not if I can help it!
Good grief. What was that saying again? Oh, yes. ‘A frail oath was interwoven into my birth, binding me always to chase the light’. Don’t really know what the fuck that means, but I know damn well that I’m gonna kill the Demon Lord dead. After that? No idea. I’ll cross that bridge later.
“You motherfucker…”
Reeking heavily with the stench of death, the Demon Lord turns around to face me as I approach with Elizabeth in hand. Eyes, red and black with demonic taint, glower upon me with arrogance and annoyance as it clenches rows upon rows of scythe-like teeth, of what might very well pass for a smile... and a grimace of pain.
“Just now, that didn’t count. Let’s give this one more go… you son of a bitch.”
Holy Fire surges forth from my hand in a raging, blazing, blue inferno that engulfs the Demon Lord in sanctified flames that burn it away, tearing into it. Dark, icy talons retaliate with the sharpness of a hundred knives coupled with the force of a sledgehammer. Behind us both, that antique clock cracks and breaks from our clash, shattering and exploding into a million pieces of glass and stone and metal. Just as the Runestone, too… breaks in the bastard's grasp.
Good grief. Good... grief. Every part of me wants to crumple up like a rag. And I gotta ask… is this how it ends for the Hero…? For me? If so… I’ve no regrets! And yet… Anna… I wish you were here to see this. If only to just be with me… one last time, just a little longer.
I mean... why the fuck not? For in Arcadia… in the sacred heart of the World Tree… I killed the Demon Lord. And it…