Signs of dust and erosion slowly waived itself from the walls.
Despite being here for an undetermined amount of time, the walls did not reflect such a sight. Sache lined her fingers across the walls lit up by the crimson torches, there wasn’t a speck of dust.
“Who’s cleaning down here?” Sache blew on her finger. There wasn’t anything that flew off.
Her heavy footsteps made their way down, turning this circular staircase endlessly. An ominous atmosphere of dread weighed the air. Even so, Sache acted the same as she did, this wasn’t the first time she had gone into dark and dreary places like this.
As everything has to come to an end, the circular staircase finally stops. Sache saw one very clear detail that stuck out at the bottom. There was a giant square pool of some unknown reddish-orange hue of liquid. Resting in the middle, a young man floated with his arms laid out.
“A visitor…? After so long?” The young man turned his head, all of his features were laid bare. Getting out of the pool, he calmly walked over to greet his guest. His pale skin and long silvery hair only served to emphasize the darkness of his gaze.
Sache quickly turned her gaze away for the young man did not have any clothes on. Taking out a set of clothes, she threw it at the young man. “Wear something proper!”
The young man held the set of clothes in his hand and oddly stared at it. This wasn’t the kind that he was familiar with. It had more of a practical focus, rather than the elegant core of being a refined gentleman.
He granted the girl’s wishes, too bad that the set she gave him was of her own clothing. It was slightly tighter than he would’ve liked but not something that was impossible to wear. He had worn something tighter back then, so if anything, this was a welcome change.
“I’ve dressed up as you wished. What year is it outside?” He leaned in closer, reaching out his hand in the manner of a noble.
“Ahem!” Sache coughed out all of her embarrassment and shook his hand vigorously. “It’s the 515th year after the Epoch. First things first, what’s your name? I’m Sache! Nice to meet ya!”
The childlike innocence she still held on was a treat. Always kind and tender towards others.
The young man was confused by the sudden movement Sache showed. He stared at his hand, slightly weirded out by the immense shift in etiquette. “So, it’s Lady Sache. My name is Valde von Reichter Scunthen. It appears that my Tale has already been forgotten by now. Seeing as to how you’re here. Tales still do exist, correct?”
“Hmm…” Sache narrowed her eyes. “What’s your Tale?”
There was one problem, one massive problem. Sache had slightly expected Valde to be the Epic she was after. It was a surprise to find out that...
Title {Endless Blood}
Name {???}
Reputation {4 Civilizations}
Honor {???}
Gravitas {???
Affiliation {None}
Blessings
Inscribement {???}
[???]
[???]
Engravement {???}
[???]
[???]
Achievement {???}
[???]
{Additional Lock: ???}
"Finally a lead after so long! But... who's this Valde guy? Curious."
This person before was someone she didn’t expect to be here. The only thing Gaelhe had informed her was that this Epic, Endless Blood, had something that resembled immortality. Things were getting weird.
“It’s of no consequence. Seeing as my appearance doesn’t ring a bell, that’s all for the best. Lady Sache, if you don’t mind, is the nearby kingdom still thriving?”
“It’s still doing fine but… what are you doing here? You’re not the one I expected to be here. Is that the Endless Blood pool behind you? Excuse me.” Sache completely ignored him. She went to the reddish-orange pool and started observing it.
This grotesque-looking pool seemed to be much more alluring to her than Valde’s appearance. Something that Valde had never experienced before. Although he could ignore Sache's disregard for his status due to her not knowing, he was quite confident in his looks.
“Lady Sache?” Valde tried to get Sache’s attention. Seeing that she was completely focused on this mysterious pool, he had to use a bit more forceful method. Sache just seemed to be far too focused on this pool that he would be hard-pressed to learn anything from her.
“I didn’t want to do this but I need to know what’s happening in the outside world. I apologize Lady Sache but now that I’m free, I need to learn the dangers of the outside world.” Valde grabbed Sache’s shoulders and turned her towards him.
He locked gazes with Sache, his dark and deep eyes lured Sache deeper in. He was acting upon his Tale, to use such power to his advantage. A charcoal aura erupted from within him, causing this underground room to slightly shake.
Valde felt that this was enough, if he went any further then Sache’s mind might just break. He calmly let go, prepared to receive what he desired.
“Lady Sache, why have you come to this ruin?” Valde placed his hands behind his back, ever so naturally. It had been a long time since he had interacted with another person yet the mannerisms he had way back then didn’t disappear.
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“To find out more about the Endless Blood. I’m looking for any traces of immortality after all.” Sache casually answered. Valde just seemed a little too aggressive that she just played along.
“Immortality? That Myth? I’m afraid that you’ve gone here for nothing. That doesn’t exist-” An unexpected firm slap. Valde’s mouth was wide open. This was impossible.
“You… How are you…” Something broke the very core of his common sense. This was an impossibility. For something like this to happen was equivalent to finding out that the world had been destroyed.
“Take it back.” Sache gritted her teeth. For the first time in a long time, she showed an emotion that she had never used. “You don’t know that!”
The previously whimsical girl Valde found to be kind suddenly changed her tune. She acted like one of his lovers when they found out he mingled with other women. Yet for some reason, it was a much rawer emotion.
That slap did not leave as much of a mark on his face. He was stun-locked due to something else.
“How are you not affected by the Void’s Stare? Are you also an Epic?” Valde chose to ask the more practical question. He ignored Sache’s emotional outburst.
“You want to leave right? Then leave me alone! The door’s right there.” Sache pointed out to the staircase. If she was going to be insulted like this, he might as well leave. She wasn't the kind to be furious but there were even things that greatly sparked her wrath.
Twisting her dream and shoving it down the gutter, it was a feeling that she firmly held on. An obsession she was willing to pursue to the very ends of the world no matter what.
I did it again... Sache caught herself at this moment.
Valde’s expression changed. This strange case of his ability not working was far too odd for him to ignore. “Lady Sache, I don’t think you realize what your resistance to my power means. Tales have always been perfect, always true to their abilities. This current scenario does not conform with the world. I ask again, why are you not affected?”
“I'm sorry. I don't know. Please leave me alone.” Her clenched fists were tight. If she were to open her palms at this moment then there would be deep marks on her palms.
Holding her arm, she looked away. "I apologize for slapping you. That was wrong of me and-"
“If you don’t want to tell me then I’ll find it myself.” Valde’s figure disappeared. He traveled the distance between them in less than a blink of an eye. He no longer held back.
An oddity of the world was something he was wary of. Something that even Legends feared. He didn’t stay within the confines of this small room for countless years for no reason.
At the very next moment, Sache was held up in the sky by her hair. Valde was clasping her head, emitting a menacing black mist. He had his own method of finding out the truth from an unwilling party.
“The Fool Who Dreams Of Immortality.” Valde raised her a little higher, looking at her face. “That looks about right.”
“Let me go!” Sache raised her hands, trying to pry him away from her. But his grip was rock solid, she had no way to get rid of him. She was at his mercy.
“Oh, you’re able to see the so-called ‘truth’ behind everything. That makes sense but… it still doesn’t change the disparity. Between the clashes of two different Tales, the greater story prevails over the other. Lady Sache, you’re nothing but a Tall Tale meanwhile I’m an Epic. Do you see the problem here?
“Valde, let me go!” Sache twisted her body, kicking him to the best of her abilities yet she could not do so.
“Very well.” Valde simply let go. His expression turned a little odd. He was a little… confused.
She fell down with a thud. Immediately increasing the distance between them and taking out an item in her backpack. She seemed to have held the majority of her belief on this little item.
Pushing on with his observations, he noticed one small odd detail, “Seeker, that’s the ability of another well-known Tale. I don’t know what you’ve done to get this particular ability but I’ll have to give it to you. You’re resourceful.”
Sache held the item in her hand tighter, it was a small note that held a lot of words within it. She was gasping, trying to keep herself in check. The best she could hope for was for Valde to leave her be and move along on his own.
“Someone’s protecting me! If… If you come closer again you’ll regret it!” Sache stepped back. Against such an overwhelming figure, the best she could do was run away. But that was the problem, she couldn’t run away.
Valde retained his distance. Even as weak and feeble as Sache seemed, there was just something about her that kept forcing him to feel a sense of oddity. The traces of a Legend on her body made clear that she wasn’t lying.
But compared to the wrath of a Legend, knowing the truth was something even more important for him. The war that birthed the end of the world, the very same war that had forced him to go into hiding. If such a scenario were to ever occur once again, the world would not be able to bear the burden any longer. It was best to nip this problem in the bud.
“You’re never going to find immortality. No matter what you do.” Valde kept his noble disposition despite just having physically abused a feeble girl. An irksome sight.
“You don’t know that! The Endless Blood is here! Gaelhe wouldn’t lie to me!” Sache firmly believed the letter that she was given. She had believed in the kindness he reciprocated.
"For someone who's able to see the truth, you're blind." Valde shook his head. This girl was playing with forces that she should not have even come across.
“Gaelhe…” Valde seemed to reminiscence about some archaic past. “So that’s why this little one found me.” This did not change the fact that Valde was still hostile to her.
“If you’ve been searching for immortality with such passion you of all people should know. It doesn’t exist. All the crumbs you found were nothing but lies. Isn’t that right?” Valde walked ever closer to Sache.
“Stay back!” Sache matched his pace. Her nerves were taut, at any moment she could break down. Yet she had come this far, she couldn’t do that. She had been searching for years but this was the first one that had any tangible results.
“And I don’t even need to read your mind. You were excited, weren’t you? So happy to finally find some kind of hint for immortality. But at the cusp of learning more, you found me.” Valde stood in place.
It was for a simple reason, Sache was backed into a wall. She could no longer step away any further. If he walked a single step forward, Sache might do something both of them might regret. Despite the sheer disparity between them, Valde knew that even cornered prey would fight back, no matter how futile.
“Lady Sache, I’ll tell you exactly what you want to know about the Endless Blood,” Valde spoke of its Tale. For the first time, she was on the receiving end.
Valde looked at the poking instrument from Sache’s bag. He lets a small chuckle escape. “A Bard? You should stop crying, isn’t your job supposed to make others happy? Start smiling.”
----------------------------------------
Endless Blood
We love, we care, we hope, a moment that’ll last forever
Motions for the day, motions for the year, such an endeavor
Mother woke up, she welcomed the morning with a smile
Father slept, he finished the ever-daunting trial
-o-
Bond of familial ties are forged through blood, not water
Work until the skin shrivels, until the ignored daughter
Forgets what she has, what she is, what she said
Until she looks beyond, she’ll mourn the dead
----------------------------------------
Sache somehow manages to form some kind of half-terrified, half-gleeful expression. Both tearful and joyful. Mixed together, it was not a face that suited Sache.
“There you go, a Bard is never complete without their signature smile.” Valde manipulated a whip of pure darkness, taking the lyre that Sache has always kept on her person.
"No!" Sache instinctively reached out to grab her lyre back but couldn't. She was far too slow to do anything. This was a lyre that held extreme significance for her. It was to the point that if she ever performed, she would always use it to sing her song.
“Look at that small carving there. 'Sache, keep telling us your wonderful songs. From Mom and Dad.' That’s sweet isn’t it?” Valde gripped tighter, causing there to be a slight crack. Going through her memories, he had already figured out everything.
“I’ll give you a choice. Give up this stupid journey and live your own life. Or you can keep being so-”
“Break it.” Sache was firm with her decision. She still held those memories within her so it shouldn’t be all that bad, right? That’s what was important, the memories. It could always be fixed at the end but the promise she wanted to keep can only be broken once and never again.
“So be it.” It took no effort on his end, shattering this lyre into shards that could never be fixed ever again. Cementing this even further, Valde gathered the shards and turned them into a fine dust. Never to be reassembled again. “If I see you trying to seek for immortality again, I will not be so kind as today.”
And just like that, Sache was alone. Alone to wallow in her own despair.
Crawling to the bits of wood dust and stripped strings, she curled up. Held within her hand was nothing but sand, her lyre was still there surely. It had to be. It just needs a little bit of work like always and it’ll be just like it was brand new. Like how it looked like the first time she had it.
“I still have my… memories. I won’t forget. No one can ever make me forget. Never ever. Never… ever…” She closed her eyes yet the tears never stopped flowing.