Chapter 78: A Fiery Finale! (Part 3!)
Often, one might use music to set a mood or to restore hope in weakened spirits. In a turn of events, Vega was going to use it for restoring her spirits.
“So… can I? I’ll feel better and… ya-ya can make me feel smart-smart. Please?” As she lay there all hurt, Vega never had seemed more vulnerable. Not wanting to disobey the person who saved her, Sorbet gave it up.
“Awww… fine.” Sorbet nodded her head, allowing Vega to have a little indulgence.
“..play something. That’d be nice.” Reaching out for her guitar, Vega lazily placed it on her lap. She thought of a memory far in the past, when she was a humble servant in Cold Cavern.
The air was cool from the coast, and she felt the sun’s warmth light. All of it a serene and calm glory. Her head felt lighter, as if resting on a pillow instead of Sorbet’s lap.
Memory of happy faces, of the Priest, of Mayor Dismas, of making people smile and happy when they were down. In her own weird way at least.
Only managing to string a few chords together, Vega felt a flush of magic return to her. As the melody continued, the Soul Gem on her hip glowed and something else besides light emitted. The jar opened up, and Vega felt a great jolt of energy, as if had just drank a gallon of juice.
Wait… then that means…
“How the fuck-fuck do I know what juice tastes like?” Vega immediately stopped playing and tried to touch her animated mouth.
“Shush! What are you…” Skaldi stopped to see the magic, seeing the cracks on Vega’s skin reform and sew themselves together. Plenty of them remained, but they healed themselves and stopped when Vega ceased playing.
“Oh… what did you do?” Sorbet asked, gently pressing her finger on Vega’s scars.
“I don’t know-know! I was just thinking about a memory, something very comfy. And now, I feel …great!” Giddy with newfound excitement, Vega jumped into the air. As she jumped, the Soul Gem on her hip clipped off and Sorbet dived to catch.
Sliding on the ground with dust around her, she stared at the Soul Gem. A sunrise of green erupted around and calmed. The gem encrusted jar, and she turned it so she could see what was written on it, with the peridot gems shining.
“Rouge… wait a minute.” Sorbet sat up on her knees as the other two gathered around to see.
“That’s makeup right? Kinda wish I had that before I did that girl disguise thing.” Skaldi crossed his arms, speaking on the event pleasantly.
“What girl-girl disguise? What the fuck-fuck happened when I was gone-gone?” Vega asked, all confused.
“Uhhhhhh-”
“Shush Skaldi. I’m thinking…” Sorbet squinted at the jar, thumbing the gems on it. As she pressed her finger on one, a crack on Vega’s leg disappeared.
“Hehehe! That tickles!” She laughed, never having felt that strange sensation before.
“The jar? It’s labeled Rouge! Rouge is sometimes made up of strawberries, maybe that could be it? That means Vega can keep fighting!” Sorbet announced, lifting Vega off the ground.
“What? So she can just restore her energy and health? That… is incredibly busted but also really really helpful.” Skaldi wiped away a sweat droplet, relieved to hear the news.
“Well, not exactly. Look, look closely.” Sorbet put Vega on the ground, and put the jar close to her eyes.
The tiny gems initially didn’t seem to have anything wrong, but as Vega focused she could see two of the gems had fractured apart and weren’t glowing as brightly as the others.
“Ah, I got-got it.” Vega put her fist in her hand, understanding a bit more intimately on what was happening.
“This Soul Gem is binding with Vega… it's a part of her now.” Sorbet told Skaldi, who gasped. Never had something like this happened before. He had heard of Spirits using Soul Gems to extend their lifetimes, but not bonding with the Souls inside.
Vega got what Sorbet was saying, she could feel it back in the crumbling tower. Like a Soul, just as powerful and amazing as her own. Like two fires joining together, burning in unison. Separate yet together. Chaotic yet unified.
“...I use its power, it shares with me. If I take-take damage, it takes damage. And if I use a particular memory, it grants me something in relation to it.” Holding the Soul Gem, Vega held it to the chest.
“Hmm, maybe I am good at this whole Soul Gem explaining thing. Maybe I should steal more stuff.” Sorbet thought aloud. She had been used to just riding along side the party and not contributing more than questions and basking in the new world she was in. But now, she felt like she was really pulling her weight.
“Regardless, this is some pretty good news.” Skaldi thumped his chin, and tilted his head. “Sadly, I do think that’s the best we’re going to get with this-”
“VEGA! Get your weak ass out here!” Runtaii screamed out, immediately giving everyone shivers. Like their names were called for execution.
“Shoot. He’s here, and we still don’t know if Krimm’s done yet.” Skaldi ducked down, as Sorbet and Vega huddled behind.
“The fuck’s a Krimm?” Sorbet asked, also all confused.
“We’ll explain later. Vega, you think you can keep going?” Skaldi held her shoulder and looked into her eyes. His eyes looked a little scared but determined nonetheless.
If she were honest to herself, she wasn’t quite as sure since the Soul Gem and her emotions being so volatile. Vega wished not to experience so much damage and pain again. However, she took a look at her guitar, seeing that if she can hone it and focus they’ll all have a chance.
“These Soul Gems are kinda con-confusing. I was thinking it might just give me some stupid face makeup. Also, I think I need to cry-cry.”
“You can cry later, we still need to take down that mean guy.”
“Promise?!” Vega smiled at her, hoping that she will be able to.
“Promise!” Sorbet patted her on the shoulder. “But I think I understand what’s happening to you. These Soul Gems are overloading your emotions, but if you keep on that specific emotional line, you should be fine. If you do need to switch or something, maybe focus on a particular memory to get you there.”
“Huh, if I get real mad-mad, it's a speed boost. If I get real sad-sad, I make roses? What the fuck-fuck is this magic system?”
…Uh…not going to comment on that.
“Emotions aren’t as simple as that Vega. I think it matters more on how… you reflect on it and manifest it. Remember, you did summon hay when you got mad once.” Sorbet corrected, not wanting Vega to think her options were limited. Of course, she knew only slightly more about it then her, but she needed Vega to be versatile in her arsenal.
“Well… no matter the circumstances, we gotta push-push through!” Vega held her pickaxe and her guitar high, leading Skaldi and Sorbet. Scattering into the individual parts of the apartment, each person took a position best suited for them.
Sorbet headed to the top, where she could give intel on enemies coming in and if worse came to worse drop whatever was there onto Runtaii.
Skaldi went to a row of windows that overlooked the street, seeing Runtaii outside with many Snake Skins beside him. The amount terrified him, making him brush his eyepatch in horror. He gritted his teeth and waited for a chance to strike.
Having every intention to stand up to Runtaii, Vega chose to step out of the apartment’s front door. Wind blew past her as dust and debris flew down the street, and she started to approach Runtaii.
“Oh good. I was thinking that you might have died from the little scuffle we had.” Runtaii looked at his fingernails, seeing the dirt and the blood underneath them. He felt a mild pride, so glad to prove himself a mighty warrior. “But it seems like you’re running out of steam, since that fool went out to save you.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“There isn’t any-anything wrong with being saved. And ya are even a bigger fool if ya think ya could kill me.” Vega held the guitar and her pickaxe at her side, wondering how she should do this plan.
“Well, go right ahead. I want to see how you defeat me. How you… destroy me… Will you go to strike at me with that pathetic pickaxe of yours, or will you show me your magics? Go on then… show me your real strength!”
All she needed was Runtaii after for a little bit, that’s all she needed to hatch the plan with the Snakes Skins. To give them a choice, to free them from their chains. Like she had done for herself.
Then again, if she could attack Runtaii now, she could end it quickly. Playing music and maintaining focus enough to communicate to the Snake Skins would be a hell of a task, even if Runtaii was distracted. This would be a gamble on an idea she hadn’t even tried before.
For a moment, she went to put her guitar away. But just then, Sorbet called out to her.
“Vega! There are a ton more troops incoming! And I don’t think they’re friendly.”
“Finally! I have been waiting an hour for this. Better make your move now!” He raised his spear and voice at her. Be it spear or fist, Vega will die by his hand.
What choice will she make? How will she break their chains?
Vega knew, and searched her memory for a proper answer.
“...My friend Florato taught me a song. I’m… no good-good at it, but-but it sounds really pretty. I want ya to hear it.” Holding the end of the guitar, she pointed not at Runtaii, but at all the Snake Skins around him. Strumming her guitar, Vega tested the strings. Tuning one till it sounded correct, Vega took her time as if there was no threat.
“...what is she doing?” Runtaii murmured to himself.
“...you got this…” Sorbet whispered to herself.
Skaldi looked at Vega, methodically fixing her guitar, and could sense what was to happen next. Instead of throwing any daggers or getting ready to fight, he closed his remaining eye. Using his senses power, he took away his sense of touch, smell, sight, and taste. With that, he enhanced his hearing and prepared to hear her song.
“...all of this… all of it has been worth it.” Skaldi rested his head against the window, feeling a delicious chill come to his ears.
Raising her left hand, everything became silent around Vega, as if the whole world was quietening down to hear her. And, like a star being born, she shot her hand down at the guitar. Strings casted a thunderous melody, with each break building up tension. An electric heartache!
“My love! The endless line! The horizon!” Out from the guitar strings, sprung out thin vines, dark green with thick thorns. As they grew, there was a stirring among the Snakes Skins. Like they could hear what Vega was singing. What she was singing came out and reached the deepest parts of their bodies, parts that had been chained and restrained.
“My love! The expanding line!” While her singing was clear, Vega’s pain began to return once more. Cracks formed anew, but Vega continued to march up toward Runtaii.
The rest of the soldiers were approaching, their feet becoming heavy drums.
This made her nervous but she summoned herself to continue, not letting fear take her.
“But still, I can never reach it! I can never breach it!”
“Enough!” Runtaii kicked the side of his horse, and raced after Vega. His spear point gleaming, Vega only tilted her head to the side, feeling the blade glide along her face.
A long cut formed and tufts of her hair fell, but Runtaii hadn’t met his mark. Just as he was going to attack again, he noticed something off.
“...never…” A deep voice, from one of the Snake Skins. His eyes closed, and there was another. Then another. Then another. The Snake Skins, they were listening to her.
Each of them, like being woken up from a nightmare filled sleep, jittered and shook. When they opened their eyes, relief came.
Like taking a breath of air after being underwater for centuries. Their wounds, their bruises, they healed ever so slightly.
And their chains, the ones Ani Arma had confined them in, they broke one by one.
They were being set free, set free from those that believed them only to be tools, to be weapons. Now they had a choice to be heroes.
Breaking out of their formation, the Snake Skins went to join Vega’s side. Recognizing something with her song, a type of sorrow. A type of long forgotten hope, trying to reach something that was always thought to be unreachable.
But that’s the thing really, you forget that it isn't always about completing and succeeding, but by choosing to reach out. By attempting, by giving it a shot despite the odds.
“My love! The expanding line!” The scarecrow sang!
“But still, I can never reach it! I can never breach it!” The Snake Skins sang as well!
Joining her in singing the song, the Snakes Skins cried out with her, with the song becoming majestic in its beauty and violence. As they sang, the Soul Gems restored their health and vitality, their eyes moving and searching.
“My love. My endless love. My expanding love. It will cross wasteland and valley!” Vega sang, just as her heart pained. With each additional moment, her playing of the guitar grew greater and greater.
The Snake Skins sank down and sat around Vega, now admiring all that it could sense. Their faces full of wonder and hope, a hope that was robbed from them. A hope that they would not be made slaves, the tools of evil men.
Vega envied that look. The look a person has when all of life and experience in a singular moment was acknowledged as good and all the past was justified. But now, she had that same look on her face and achieved it.
Chirps from the birds high in the sky added to the somber strums and strings. his head on the shoulder of Vega. In that moment, I know, there was peace made.
All the happenings, histories, and events in her life and her friends’ lives lead up to this unifying joy, therefore all that pain was worth it.
Assembling behind Runtaii, a company of soldiers stood at the ready, prepared to hear the conqueror’s orders. However, Runtaii held his words, intent on hearing this scarecrow sing. Afterall, he had never heard a scarecrow sing before.
Much of what they were seeing was a shock. Nothing in their bearings or plans prepared them for this event. The soldiers saw the faces of the Snake Skins, as if they were a still pond showing their reflection. Murky and warped.
The soldiers held their eyes open, amazed and awful. Awful and full of awe.
The soldiers… they felt a great sinking in their bodies. That this scarecrow, these Snake Skins, they’re themselves singing from a place they had either long forgotten or were forced to forget.
A humanity, a sentience if you will. A sentience that bonds all living things. Mortals and Spirits. The damned and the blessed. THe ghost and the citizen. The soldier and the supposed enemy.
The soldiers realized how these boundaries are small, small enough not to really matter. But with Runtaii there, staring with violence, they would not be let to
Sorbet stood over the ledge and could not believe what she was seeing. Vega wasn’t fighting them, but was with them. In a yarn ball of sorrow, ugly yet enchanting, chaotic in its form but united in purpose. A union of vulgarity and tranquility.
“The mountains in the distant plane! The river of the far off lane. My love, the untouchable lone. But I will never be alone! ALONE!” As a one and yet as a community, the Snakes Skins and Vega reached out to the horizon with their souls.
Finishing her song with a flourish, Vega staggered in place. The magic hurt a bit, but she had completed her object. And now, with the Snake Skins, they stood an actual chance.
Clapping with his bloodied gauntlets, Runtaii laughed at Vega, not having truly noticed what she had done.
“Nice! Another damn overly sentimental song… now you can die with a chorus beside you.” Runtaii laughed, full of pride. Raising his hand, his soldiers formed a spear and shield wall, almost seeming impregnable to Vega.
“We will be your undoing.” A deep voiced man announced. His body tormented by arrows with one in his throat, his voice didn’t seem one bit disputed.
“...what?” But Runtaii was.
“Runtaii.” Another Snake Skin, that of a young lad that was enslaved. In his arms were two curved sabers drooping in blood and viscera. And they were raised in Runtaii.
“You have stolen our hearts.” Not speaking through their mouths or throats, the Snakes Skins spoke through Vega. More specifically, through the Soul Gem on her guitar.
“Our minds.” One more stanced up, speaking their first words that they had chosen to in decades.
“Our Souls. Turning us into ghosts.” Another said with misery, but took on a position of hope.
“But you haven’t taken one thing that the construct has. A thing that we can all do now…” A woman spoke, with numerous cuts and wounds on her body. But her eyes did not close and she did not fear. For she had something that could not be stolen.
“Her ability to wander, and to wonder.” Stepping out from the apartment, Skaldi stood side by side with Vega. Stroking his hair with his left thumb, he did not care for Runtaii for one second. He and the likes of Ani Arma had brought it on themselves.
By shouting down, by insulting and hurting Vega and everyone around them they had sealed their fate. By seeing themselves and others as mere tools had denied them a good future.
And Runtaii hated that. That he would not discover the secrets of the magics of Runtaii and Vega. Not because he wasn’t strong enough. Not because he wasn’t determined to prove himself.
He wasn’t strong enough to be gentle. To be kind. To be considerate.