Memories of Eris Aintree, the Demon’s Voice…

“Let me guess…” I tease, wagging my finger at Anna. “You’re asking about the bards of Sharmarli, aren’t you? Oh, and Eris Aintree!”

“Oh my!” Anna exclaims skittishly. “Was it that obvious?”

“Judging from the redness all over your face… I’d say yes!”

“Hehe…”

“Don’t feel bad about it. I’d feel the same if I was talking about my favourite idol.”

“Ah! Do you have one? Back in your world, or…?”

“Eh. Not really…”

“Oh. Umm… I think you’d make a great Bard!” Anna declares sweetly. “Especially with this new outfit of yours! I bet you’d be very, very popular!”

“Until I open my mouth!”

“I’m sure the Studio and your Manager will work with you on that…”

“Meh. I ain’t changing for no one! Unless it’s you, Anna. Maybe.”

“I’ll be your Manager, then! Hypothetically speaking, of course!”

“Sounds like a plan! But then… I dunno if being a Bard’s the life for me,” I tease playfully, gesturing invitingly at my chest. “I don’t think folks are ready for the raw sex appeal I’d unleash upon their daily lives!”

“That’s quite true…” Anna answers sheepishly, hand on her reddened cheeks as she looks at where I’m pointing with my fingers. “They’d be devastated!”

“Yeah. I know, right? So I figured my place is at your side, Anna. Y’know… being your Healer and the Hero this world needs! It’s a lot of busywork!”

“Oh, Arisa…”

“Heh! Anyway, that’s enough beating around the bush. You wanted to ask me about Eris Aintree, right? Y’know… that pretty Bard with long brown hair and icy teal eyes, who sings all those sappy songs you like so damn much?”

“Hey! You take that back! They’re not sappy at all…”

“Yeah… and I’m not a Healer!” I tease playfully as Anna crosses her arms and pouts her lips. Okay, I’ll admit that some of them are pretty good! If I could get them in my phone’s playlist somehow, I'd have some of them in there.”

“But you met her in your timeline, right?” Anna asks innocently. “Had she not retired?”

“Retired? What do you mean?”

“Umm… about three months ago before you arrived… I heard news from her Studio that she retired from the spotlight! Mom was speaking to representatives from Miss Aintree’s Studio regarding Miss Aintree’s upcoming album… and that’s what they told her. They said she wanted to take an indefinite break!”

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“Huh, okay. Well, damn. That’s a shame.”

“I know, right!? I really, really like her songs, Arisa! Even all the new ones that other people claim aren’t any good…”

“That’s odd, though. In my timeline, she didn’t retire.”

“Really!? Does that mean that we got to… umm… you know…?”

“Meet her, you mean?”

Enthusiastically, Anna nods. I clutch her hands tightly as I think hard about how best to explain how it all went down with Eris Aintree in the previous timeline. The Oracle offered the task of searching for and rescuing her in exchange for her Lesser Shard. We were in the right place at the right time, after all.

But it didn’t go the way we wanted it to be. We did what we had to do. And yet, I…

“Umm… is something wrong, Arisa? That look you’re giving me right now…”

“Eh!?”

Good grief. I’m frowning, aren’t I? That’s not good. Unfortunately, it’s just how I am – I wear my heart on my sleeve! And I’m anything but subtle. Fuck me for that, I guess.

“You can tell me if it’s bad news, Arisa…” Anna says quietly. “I can handle it.”

“We killed her in my timeline, Anna…” I state solemnly. “It was the only thing we could do to save her. That’s why we… yeah. Fuck.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we got to the Holy City in my timeline, Eris had already been missing for a week. People were looking high and low, organising search parties all over the city and the surrounding outskirts,” I explain sorrowfully as Anna’s frown deepens. “We joined in because it was the right thing to do… and Lady Mezalune promised us her Lesser Shard. When we went looking for Eris… we ran into the Demon Cult.”

“Demon Cult!?”

“Humans and Elves who worship demons. It’s a catch-all term for those who do it. They’re loosely organised into little gangs and covens largely separate from each other.”

“But why would they…?”

“Greed? Hatred? Ambition? Revenge? Who knows. Either way, it’s all kinds of fucked up.”

“I’ve never heard of such a group…”

“They’re mostly on the mainland,” I answer, shrugging my shoulders. “And uh… it’s still too early in the timeline for them to show up. Or not. Who knows at this point, really.”

“We did encounter and slay that Shadow Fiend and those Imps in the Highgrove Warrens…”

“Yeah. If there are demons on Nisha… the Demon Cult is definitely out there. They believe the demons’ return will reward them.”

“Will they be, truly?”

“Heh. They’d be lucky for even a clean death from a Demon.”

“The Demon Cult hurt Miss Aintree, you said?” Anna asks cautiously. “They were the ones who abducted her, right?”

“They did far worse than that, I’m afraid,” I answer, my frown deepening. “They wanted her to be the Voice of the Demon Lord. She wouldn’t do it, of course… and so, they broke her.”

“That’s awful…”

“I see,” Anna interjects disappointedly. “But then…”

Her worry transforms before my very eyes into steadfast resolve. Determination. It’s that same fire in her eyes when she stopped me from going alone into the Highgrove Warrens to face that Shadow Fiend and its minions. Truly, it’s… heartening to see. It really is.

“Everything you’re telling me happens much later in your previous timeline, right?” Anna asks quietly. “I think it’s only been close to a month so far ever since you got here…”

“Yeah. We completed Saint Alyssa’s trial and left for Sharmarli after six months at the Chantry. This time, we’re getting through things at a breakneck pace together!”

“Oh my! Have we done so much in only a month!? To think I’ve grown so quickly as a Paladin in so little time! I’m amazed… and grateful! It wouldn’t been possible without you, Arisa…”

“Hey, what can I say? We have an affinity for each other!”

“That’s what Mom thinks too… that your experiences with the Anna of your timeline, rubbed off on me. Oh! Now that I’m saying out loud like that… it does sound rather awkward…”

“Yeah, it’s a bit awkward. But you’re the only one for me,” I say, touching my heart as I look her in the eye. “There’s only one Anna across timelines and across worlds – you, and only you! Just like how there’s only one of me across them all!”

“Arisa…”

“I’m thinking what you’re thinking, though…” I say resolutely, smiling reverently as I lovingly caress Anna’s hair. “We’ll save Eris Aintree from the Demon Cult. Hell, we’ll even stop that fucked up shit before it even happens! We’ll do it together. Count on it!”