2.11 I Destroyed Her

Content Warning: mild gore, understated existential horror, something adjacent to ideation.

‟What... what happened?" Flora stammers, too shocked to get closer to all that blood.

To the stench of it...

‟I destroyed her," Acheron responds, voice weak. ‟I wasn't sure, but... I knew it might go this way."

‟That's a particularly weird way to say you killed her..."

He did not kill her. A killed being would return in later cycles, Kerykeion's little voice is only in Flora's mind, again; Acheron is too injured to lend her any energy to manifest. Mnemosyne is lost forever.

Flora swallows. ‟Axe, what do you know about all this?"

I know what Acheron knows. Mnemosyne is a counterpart to Lethe; they guarded aspects of reality that have long since fallen into disrepair. Many past lives ago, Mnemosyne's sanctuary was disturbed by a witch. For rescuing this witch, Mnemosyne cursed Acheron. He remembers that life, and every subsequent one, because of her curse. She gave him awareness that no mortal should have. After living through so many cycles, he knows the checkboxes of his own fate. There are things he cannot change, even with foreknowledge. Trying to prevent these fixed events only causes them to happen in different, sometimes more awful ways. He cannot even choose to not become a parent.

‟That doesn't make se..." Flora doesn't complete her sentence, as her imagination begins to invent increasingly horrifying ways for it to make sense.

He came here to destroy Mnemosyne, so his next iteration could be free of this curse. Destroying a fairy also destroys its magic.

‟But... but he has a kid! He has to get home to his kid!"

Acheron coughs; it's the nastiest sound Flora has ever heard. Too wet. "I wish that was possible."

‟Axe, can you get us out of here?! He needs a doctor!"

‟Use her power to... shatter this place. It'll take you back to your last location." Acheron is mumbling, requiring greater and greater effort to speak.

‟That's deep in the Temple of Heaven, there's no doctor there!"

‟Flora, I died. I'm stuck. Grim can't get to the spirits of anyone who dies here."

Flora gasps, involuntarily, because this is the creepiest thing she's ever heard.

‟Collapsing the realm would be the kindest thing you could do for me."

There is one way to help him...

‟Acheron, I don't know if you can hear her, but Kerykeion says there's a way to help."

‟Please just go," Acheron sobs.

You can give him my magic. Direct it out of the axe, and into him.

Acheron grits his teeth against the pain. ‟That would take all the power she has. We would be trapped here."

If it is done at the same moment you wish to destabilize this pocket dimension, it should work. I should be able to accomplish both tasks.

‟She'll do too good a job... you don't... understand.... Flora... you don't understand..."

‟Kery... what is he talking about?"

Those I heal carry spiritual scarring. It follows them into subsequent iterations, amplifying their sensitivity to magic in ways that aren't reversible.

‟I won't exchange one curse for another..." Acheron's pleas fall on ears that just do not understand.

His natural inclination towards precognition may become uncomfortable.

‟How can you care about that when the alternative is death?!"

‟How are you... so sure... I don't deserve death?" Acheron groans.

He blames me for how each reality is starting to bleed into the next.

It was not my doing, though.

It would have happened without me.

There is much he does not know about the nature of this universe.

Flora takes a deep, steadying breath. "Axe is sure. And she sees into our souls to communicate with us. Right?"

‟Over...simplification..."

‟I'm not going to let you die. What if you're only here because of me? I'm not going to let you die."

Flora holds out her hands, summoning Pangu's Axe with all of her determination and emotion.

She feels Kerykeion's energy and thought fragments, as if they were her own...

Her arms swing as if she's possessed, bringing the blade down towards Acheron.

This should scare her, but it doesn't; she couldn't say how she knows, but she knows she will fix this...

Flora is back in the Temple of Heaven, standing exactly where she was when she was pulled into some bizarre aquatic fae realm.

Less than an hour has passed since she last stood here... though she is certain she was in Mnemosyne's realm for weeks, if not longer.

There is no sign of Acheron. Flora's surety from before evaporates—until she remembers, with a small flicker of hope, that he must have been somewhere else when he was transported to Mnemosyne's world. He would have been sent back to his own last location, not to Flora's.

Flora has no idea where Acheron is from, or what path Acheron took for theirs to cross. She can only hope he is in one piece, and he can go home to his son.

She makes her way through the Temple of Heaven slowly, searching for where to place the Eyes of Horus. She was told there would be an ‟obvious" place for them.

As the smell of Acheron's blood and guts fades from her nose, she begins to wonder if her confusing experiences were real.

Maybe she dreamed it up. Maybe she had a vision. Or a hallucination.

She's no psychologist, but she can reflect on some things... like how she felt no strongly that Acheron should return to his son. An echo of her own childhood experience, watching her siblings' father not return...

The axe is silent, even when Flora calls for it. She can summon the object, but its power to reshape reality and create doorways for her is gone. Maybe Kerykeion needs to rest, Flora thinks.

Or maybe the part of Kerykeion that could speak is with Acheron, now.

If Acheron was even real.

It's all a little... confusing.

But then, there are the circles in the wall, where Flora must place the Eyes of Horus...

After escaping the Temple of Heaven, Flora makes one final trek to the countryside, and into the Dragon Cave...

 
...where she must search for Dong Huo himself, in newly unsealed levels of the tomb.

 

Y̸̛̹͙̠̥͉͍͕̺͕̜̣̠̖̊͗̍̚͝ȏ̵̯̩̭̣̖̩͍̪̠̌͑̈́̽ų̴̝̖̝̖̈́͊͑͆͗̅̉̀͜͝'̶̡̨̢͇͕͉͙̻̩̤̼̫͍͖̄͊͗̍͆̑̈̎̂̿̾͝͝͠ͅr̷̨̡̭̻̗̽͌̈̿̎̔̆̿͋̄̔̿̏̚͠é̵̦̩ͅ ̷̢̨̡̣̖̺͖͙̰̲̓̈́̊̃͆̐̓͌̔͗̄͋̃g̵̞̱͈̠͈̦̔̆̑̍̈́̾͋̔͛̎̏̊ͅͅo̸̢̨̩̱̹͈̟̥̠̍͗̓̅͑̀̅̔̆͆͛͠į̷̧̼͖͕͔̥̰͛̈́̈́̔n̶̛̮͖̟͑̂́̓̆͌̾̆̈̊͘̕͝͝g̵͎͉̬͉̼̮̖͊̐́͜ ̶̣̣̫̦̰͒͂̐̂̓̚̚t̶͉͆̀́̿̃̔̊̏̇̂͊̚̚͝͝o̶̡̧̰̲̗͂̑͘͘ ̷̨̝͓͙͔̱̘̜̯̳̤̦̪̹̳̓͌̀̿̀͑̉l̴͉͓̬̙͖̹̮̥͍̜̖͈̓̉͝ô̸͈̻̅́̂̋̒̆̎͐͘o̸̢̼̫̩̫̥͆͂̅ṭ̴̛̻͇̭̪̈̍͊͗̏͋̊̅͆́̇͋̕ ̶̜̗͙̀̽̐m̴͈̞͖̣̤͛͒̌́͋̐̈y̴̨̼͉̪͇̪͖͍̱̲̭̹̝̋̿͛̋̆̓̏̽͆̋̊͑̄̚͘ ̶̘͔͔̉̀͌̈́̕̚͝͝ş̵̹̰͉͚̅͂̆̍̿̈̇͑a̷̧͚̘͈̜̣͈̫̎̑̑͌͘͝r̸̞̘͔͖̈́́̈̕͜c̷̭͇͋̒̕o̷̡͖̪̗̮̭̲̳͉̗̤͑ͅp̶͔͍͇͔̬͔̩͊́̽̊ḥ̸͚̯̦͛̈͒̑̀͆́͗ā̷̪̠̲g̵̨̡̫̰͇̈̉͌̾͂̐̽ư̷̜͕̗͉̖̙̌̿̿̅̈́̌̍͗̈́͆͘s̸̝̟̹̞̻͊̄̂̈̀͛͘͝͠?̵̨̲͓̲̤̙͛̈̓̀̐̒́̈́͊̓̚͝ ̷̡̛̹͕̝͕͊̆̄̔͛̏̀́̀̕͝͝R̸͇̭̮͕̦̼̝̙̀͋̾͊͋̓̅͗̄̈͆̂́í̵̧̖̪͖̪͗̈̑͗̑̀̀̉̈́̚͜g̵̡̗̟͓̤͔̺̮͈̥̱̞̟̀̆̄̀́͜ḧ̶̡̨̼͎͇͓̈́̓͛͛̃̉͠͝ť̵̛͔͔̫̺̰̦̎̐̕͜ ̶͖͙͉̞̿̀̚i̴̬̞͙͕̤̮͛͑́̓͗̍̂̃̇͆̍̚̚n̶͈̊̈́̇͊́͛͜ ̴̤̹̗̙͕͉͕̦̦̞͖̓̂̀̽̄͋͆̈́͑̎͗̾̂f̸̢̡̡̧̲̻̭̤̻̰͓̞̝́̒̄͑̕r̸̛̛͇͔̖͉̜̟̎̌̍̃̿̓͋̐̐̉̚͝o̷͎̍̾͂̀͒̈́̀̏̊͆̕n̴̢̛̯̻̹̆͊̑͘͜ṫ̷̡̛͈͕̲̟̤̮͎̼̺̺̩̦̫̾̉͋͋̂̏̎̈͝ͅ ̶̟͖̼̟̖͔̅̌͂̄̎̂͂̇̉̾̈́̓́͗͝ͅo̶̡̯͙̪͙̭̝͔̦͍̞̭̞̎̌̂̈́̆̍̀̎̀f̶͚̼̤̽̎̊͑̓͗̔̌̏͝ ̶̡͇̟̲͔̦͖̙̞̑̓͌̈̏ṁ̴̛̱̕͜e̸̗̺̩̣̳͖͇̘͈̪̳̜̟̎̒͂̒̌̈̅̍ͅ?̶̞̮̹͙̲̹̻͕̜̮̇̆̇̈́̎͛̔̅͊͠ͅ 



‟Well, I thought you might be in there!"

 

______________________________________________________

Etc.: Womp, womp. It's Dong Huo.


Click to read more about Dong Huo.


Acheron (as well as the mixing / butchering of various mythologies) might make more sense if you've read my other legacies. If not, don't worry about it.

This was not the same iteration of Acheron that appeared in any other legacy. His first confrontation with Mnemosyne happens in a blog I haven't posted publicly as of this writing. So this is like a crossover episode where you haven't watched the other show so it's just kinda ??? why did I do this to you???

Kerykeion (Caduceus, to the Romans) is a staff from Greek mythology. Among its many alleged powers is bringing the dead back to life. In the real world it has no connection to Pangu's axe. You can read about Meng Po and Mnemosyne and Lethe on your own time. The characters in my stories with those names are not meant to be those gods; they are powerful entities named after those myths.

Mermaidia commentary / review:

The Mermaidia tombs are gorgeous.

They were also challenging (though I was not mentally at my best when I attempted them, so maybe they're actually easy, ymmv). I was puzzled about where to start. The Adventure Board only gave me quests to do University style dares, so I didn't think the board was the intended way to begin the Mermaidia tombs, and if it was I'm sorry I was a fool and I and missed the world's story. But I don't think there was one.

 

A lot of the tombs have the keystone to another tomb waiting as loot. I did not know this would be the case, so I spent a long time thinking I had glitched the game out, unable to get very far because I didn't know which tomb I was supposed to start with. I eventually used cheats to break into my first tomb, and I regret that. I'll have to go back and discover the proper order some other day, with some other adventurer.

Some of the tombs feature fail states that prevent one's progression if one chooses incorrectly. This is great or not so great, depending on your preferences. It's not as forgiving as the EA tombs!

 

They're all visually amazing, but my favorite of the Mermaidia tombs is the one on the nectary lot. 

 

Oh, and the dive spots! For the very first time, I skilled diving. I never realized snorkeling was so lucrative! I could have had Flora doing that on the homeworld as a teen. 

 

I want to note again that many of the screenshots were taken without reloading the game after arriving in Mermaidia. That means a few things were NOT, graphically, what they were intended to be! Upon reload, the greenery is replaced by jellyfish and corals! I used a bunch of the "unintended" screenshots for my blog because they're still nice, and I didn't feel like going back and re-taking them. I'm sorry. I have too much going on right now.

To get a real good look at Mermaidia, I recommend downloading it yourself.

2.10 Odd Little Things

Content Warning: violence, blood. Skip this chapter and the next if you want to avoid it. All you'll miss is how Flora escapes this aquatic fairy prison.

 

The objects are arranged in a circle. 

 

It took Flora many trips outside of 'the library'—as she came to call the place she met Acheron—to find these odd little things, scattered throughout the realm.

They are more than they appear to be.

She doesn't understand their significance, though Acheron has tried to explain.

 

After finding one or two things on the list she'd stumble back to 'the library', having almost forgotten herself. She remembered she needed the items, and she needed to get back here...

Acheron helped her remember who she was. Her name was Flora. She had a mother and three siblings. She had a spouse named Ariel, who would be waiting for her to escape this cursed place... and she needed these things, to escape... but Acheron could not get them for her.

 

Who was he? Did she know him? His answers left her unsettled.

He had to stay hidden here, he said. He had to maintain the wards that kept the library safe.

After some rest in the sanctuary, near Acheron's somehow stabilizing presence, clarity always returned.

Everything he said about her was true.

Everything he said about himself... well, she had no way to know if that was true.

‟What the Resolute Fist calls destiny... it's that, but it's worse," Acheron sighed. ‟We think our choices are our own, but the universe has a way of arranging itself to manipulate us. I've come to think of it somewhat like the elasticity of a brain. If a portion is damaged, but the person survives, the brain tries to create new pathways so it can go back to doing its same old thing, just in a more roundabout way. I thought I was here for my own reasons and mistakes, but I wonder now, if the real reason I'm here is the universe led me here to ensure you escape."

‟I'm sorry if it's my fault," Flora replied, always sincere. ‟I don't understand anything you just said, but I can see you are suffering."

‟Don't say that... don't apologize for what you couldn't have known or prevented."

She wasn't sure how long they had been there, but in her heart she knew it had been too long, and she had come to understand some of the things Acheron would not say—that he was tired, and frightened, and lonely.

 
Acheron did not sleep. Not that Flora ever saw, anyway.

He startled at every noise.

(Did she sleep? She couldn't remember. She must have.)

Flora dreaded it, but once she came back to her senses she had to once again leave this sanctuary Acheron created—this bubble of semi-sanity—so she could find these objects.

Find things. Put them in a circle. Summon the dragon-fairy thing. Beat it up or something. Go home.

 

Easy. Flora could do this.

 

 

 

 

 

The objects are arranged in a circle at the steps of an altar.

Acheron tells Flora a misguided witch had used these specific objects many cycles ago to summon an elder being beyond the witch's understanding. The objects belonged to this realm, now. They were 'lost'.

"Mnemosyne," he whispers, and the objects begin to emit a soft, pleasant humming noise.

‟What did you do?" Flora asks, through the haze in her mind that she attributes to this enchanting noise.

‟She won't be able to focus on anything except what is in this circle," he answers. "True names have a certain... power, you know."

‟Meng Mihuntang's true name is Mnemosyne?" Flora guesses.

‟Yes."

‟And... I need to stay in this circle?"

‟Yes. The plan is that she's looking at you."

‟At me," Flora repeats slowly.

Is the humming a song? Does she know it?

‟Who am I?" Flora groans. ‟Who am I?"

‟You... are Flora, granddaughter of my grandmother's half-sister... unwitting conduit for lost magic.. and in this cycle... Chosen One of the Resolute Fist... and in this moment... unable to be killed."

‟Unable to be killed..." she looks down, murmuring the words, trying to remember.

‟If you die now, it breaks the timeline. So it cannot happen."

‟So I'm destined... to leave here..."

‟Yes," Acheron's voice shakes, ‟but I want to leave also."

Flora steels herself with purpose. ‟I will help you."

‟Mnemosyne!" Flora's shouts ring across the waters.

Flora's voice is hard, almost angry. Acheron told her that the fae would grow more aggressive if they sensed any weakness... even if it was a mere tremble in one's voice.

Acheron and Kerykeion stay hidden. 

‟I'm scared," Kerykeion whispers.

Acheron considers casting a silence ward on her. ‟I'm scared. You're a shovel..."

‟I'm sorry," Acheron says quickly. ‟That was cruel of me."

‟It was," Kerykeion murmurs.

 

In the distance, Flora continues shouting, challenging Mnemosyne to appear.

 

 

‟Why didn't you tell Flora the truth?" Kerykeion's tone never wavers from one of innocence.

 

‟What truth? What do you think she needs to know?"

‟The elderfae didn't banish Mnemosyne to this realm. You did."

 

Acheron takes a moment to reflect on the events of so long ago, then shakes his head. ‟The way I remember it, it was mostly you..."

‟But you still lied."

 

‟The others left Mnemosyne to her fate. It's as good as having sent her here themselves."

‟Why don't you want Flora to know?"

‟I need her help, and I can't risk confusing her even more than she already is—"

Flora's last shout becomes a yelp as the ground shakes, knocking her to her knees.

Mnemosyne resisted the summoning as long as she could, and the effort has enraged her.

"Who are you that you know to do this?"

Mnemosyne demands answers, but a choked throat cannot reply.

This creature looks like a delicate thing, with wipsy wings and thin limbs, yet her strength has her lifting Flora off of the ground with one hand.

(Totally disappointing, that she didn't show up looking like a dragon.)

Flora doesn't remember much after being choked.

Her vision blurs, and things are over as quickly as they began.







When Flora comes to, she is surrounded by the sparkling glitter of a fae's demise...

...and Acheron is seriously hurt.

2.9 Just Can't Remember

 

‟Let's see," Acheron mumbles, raising a hand as if to shield his eyes while sigils of light pop up from his other hand. ‟Hmm... I don't think it was a single piece of turquoise that brought you here. You're saturated with this place's resonant energy. You must have come across dozens, maybe hundreds of artifacts touched by Mne-... er, the one you called Meng Mihuntang... for this to happen. Eventually you absorbed too much and you were transported here."

‟Where is here?"

 

The floaty lights vanish.

 

Acheron takes a deep breath before he attempts an explanation. ‟This is a piece of reality that belongs to the fae. There is no physical exit. No solid connection to the world we came from. One cannot walk between these worlds, one has to be pulled here, by a metaphysical link." He looks her up and down, expression neutral, but sees nothing helpful on her person. ‟As it stands, Old Lady Meng is enjoying watching you wander, waiting for you to lose your mind. She is sadistic and cruel."

‟...Old Lady?"

‟The fae go by many names, depending on whom they're interacting with. To her worshipers in the Resolute Fist, she is Meng Mihuntang. Meng Po was the goddess of oblivion in a Chinese myth. Mihuntang... literally, 'the waters of oblivion'... is a soup Meng Po gives the dead so that they forget their life and reincarnate without problems."

‟And you're saying this mythological character is real?"

‟Meng is a real entity. The myth is just a myth."

‟But she inspired it?"

‟Other way around."

 

‟Okay. Why is she angry with me? Why did she pull me here?"

 

‟She didn't. This realm is where she was imprisoned by the other elderfae. She's stuck here as much as we are... but she wasn't always, and coming into contact with her old stuff, absorbing all of that energy, is what made the universe decide you must belong here. With her. And you're not the first mortal to fall into this trap. She loves it when new toys fall into her cage."

Flora doesn't know what an elderfae is, and doesn't really care. ‟How do you know me? And what did you mean you remember me differently?"

‟We've met. Time's a loop. You just can't remember."

‟We've had this conversation before?"

‟No. This is the first time we've met here. Do you have a family, Flora?"

Flora is stunned by the sudden change of subject, but answers honestly. ‟Well, I'm married."

‟No kids or anything?"

"...No."

Acheron nods pensively. ‟I have one. A little boy. I was starting to think I wouldn't see him again. But... we're in luck. There's one thing Meng Po can't account for."

 

 

He smiles, almost triumphantly. ‟You are destined to get out of here."

 

 Flora laughs nervously. ‟Well, I am a Chosen One."

Acheron does not laugh.

Flora's expression falls into a small frown again. Part of her is so relieved to finally have company, so overjoyed to hear another voice, she wants to hug this stranger. Another part of her finds him extremely unsettling. She's used to the Resolute Fist saying things she doesn't quite grasp, but this is different.

‟And why are you here, Acheron?"

 

 

Acheron won't look directly at her.

‟Meng can see us through any large enough amount of water. So I had to hide in these caverns. These books represent the knowledge I was seeking. You must have noticed this place will try to shape itself to give you things you understand, things you're familiar with. Anyway I was looking for insight into Meng's mind, so I could devise a way out, so I was drawn to a repository of information, but there's nothing I can use here. Most of the pages are blank and the ones that aren't blank are worse."

 

Flora nods along, struggling to keep up but holding on to one possibly vital nuance. ‟I asked why you were here... and you told me why you were in this room. But why are you in this realm?"

 

‟Meng knows I'm here somewhere," he evades her question again. ‟If she finds me, she will kill me."

‟But why?"

 

‟There's no point discussing that."

‟And what about me? What will she do with me?"

‟Nothing, directly. She'll watch you slowly go mad and die here. No one has ever escaped this place."

 

Flora thinks about Master Yuan's vision. It can't be a coincidence. ‟This is going to sound weird... since you seem stuck here in hiding... but I was told by one of the masters of Resolute Fist that I would fall into a trap, and a man would be able to lead me out of it."

‟I'm hoping you'll save me more than I'll save you. Meng doesn't hate you like she hates me, so... yes, I have the very basics of a plan. Let me know what you think..."

 

‟Okay..." 

 

‟I help you find Meng. You distract Meng. I surprise her while she's busy with you, and once I've taken her out and ended her influence on the realm, we can use Kerykeion to destabilize this little pocket of spacetime and that should cause us to pop back to our last stable location."

‟Take... her... out," Flora repeats, slowly.

‟No way around it," Acheron says.

‟Master Shen Yu told me I should try to make amends with her..."

‟Amends? How?"

‟I have to give her something of similar value..."

‟That won't accomplish anything. This is her prison; she doesn't know how to open it and let you leave. Even if she wanted to help you, she couldn't."

‟Couldn't it be worth talking to her?"

‟Every vision says no."

‟You one of those vision-havers, too?"

‟My precognitive abilities don't work well down here. That's not important. Please just listen: I doubt Master Shen Yu has met Meng. I have. She cannot be reasoned with."

‟You're the one who sounds unreasonable. Straight to murder." Flora folds her arms defiantly. ‟Then again, I guess she is a dragon? Is slaying a normal response to dragons?"

Acheron looks puzzled for a moment. ‟Maybe she was a dragon to Master Shen Yu's ancestors, but she won't take that form here. Don't go in expecting a monstrous serpent."

‟What is she, then?"

‟A fairy."

‟Like, a little winged thing?"

‟You'll see when we summon her."

‟I haven't agreed to anything, yet! I don't know if I can trust you. For all I know you were sent by this Meng Mihuntang to test me."

‟Test you? ... Fae don't think like that, but I'll forgive you for not trusting me. It's not as if I have a way to prove anything I'm saying is true. Keep doing what you were doing if that will make you feel better... keep wandering aimlessly... but I think you know you don't have much of a choice but to work with me."

Flora chews on her lower lip, deeply uncomfortable.

Acheron lets the silence hang there for a while before he says, not a question, ‟You don't want to go back out there, do you." 

‟This place... is doing something to my head," Flora whispers. ‟I can't go on alone. I'm losing my mind."

‟Well I'm not a hallucination. I promise. I'm just a prisoner here, like you."

 

‟I'm sorry I haven't been more help," a third voice, familiar to Flora, enters the conversation.

The ghostly entity doesn't startle Acheron like it startles Flora. ‟Good of you to join us," he says.

‟Axe?" Flora gasps.

 

 

‟Kerykeion," Acheron corrects her. ‟I could sense her presence. I've never seen her manifest like this though."

‟I'm not used to having such... intense... thoughts of my own..." the spirit confesses. ‟It's your energy interacting with mine. Making up for the... gaps..."

‟Ghosts don't have physical brains, that's why mediums sort of lend them their processing power," Acheron explains to Flora. ‟Same principle here. Except what Kerykeion is attuned to is— never mind, this is all out of your wheelhouse. It's our combined auras that's giving her extra power, that's all you need to know."

‟She never told me her name. The Resolute Fist called her Pangu's Axe."

‟In the right hands she's an incredible tool. You and I aren't powerful enough to use her full potential."

‟Is she a tool, or a person? I don't get it."

‟Is a tool. Was a person."

‟Don't be offended on my account, Flora. My only wish... now... is to leave here," Kerykeion says.

‟She only has words because we're giving them to her," Acheron tries again to explain, but he can see Flora shaking her head, unable to follow. ‟She was an elfling. The elves were, uhm, they were becoming something. They were on the verge of change. The fae didn't like this. So they went to war with reality. Or, something like that. I can't actually explain it to you without showing you things that will harm you in ways that will follow you into subsequent time loops. The only person I met who might have had a chance at untangling our history went mad from the attempt."

Flora looks from Acheron, to Kerykeion, and back, obviously not comprehending.

‟Your axe is frightened because the fae murdered her," Acheron punctuates every other word with a slow emphasis, doing his best to spell this out so they can move on.

‟That's a lot to take in, Acheron."

He shrugs, failing to keep the snark out of his voice, ‟Take all the time you need."

Time. As if she wants to spend another second in this eldritch location.

‟You said we could use Kerykeion to destabilize this dimension or something." Flora was so hung up on the killing Meng bit, she couldn't stop to question the unfamiliar word—Kerykeion—and how it played in to Acheron's plan. Now she knows he meant Pangu's Axe.

‟Kerykeion can warp reality to reshape her surroundings. Don't you know that?"

‟Yeah, but she's been... uncooperative."

‟She'll function properly again once we get rid of Meng."

‟I want to help," Kerykeion says softly.

2.8 The Faraway Dream

‟But... I didn't even take the gem!" Flora complains.

She receives no answer.

 

 

This landscape is like nothing she's ever seen. Pieces of it float in the open sky, where the cloud swirls — if that's what they are — form beautiful spirals. 

 

Aside from the sounds of water stirring against rock, it is crushingly silent. Flora is used to being alone deep in temples and catacombs, but being alone here is spooky.

 

 

She walks towards a structure in the distance, walks for hours, only to eventually find it is a lighthouse on an island in... a lake? A river? An ocean? The water goes further than the horizon, and that's all she can say about it, without knowing where she is.

‟HELLO?" Flora screams.

There isn't even an echo, there's just a soreness in her throat, where the sound tore out of her.

 

 

An abyss, where jellies float through the air...

Flora comes across a few buildings, carved from rock. 

 

 

Their cavernous interiors have things like tables and chairs, and Flora guesses this was meant to be a home. For who, or what, she couldn't know.

A haunting portrait on the wall is her only clue so far. It depicts a man, woman and child. A family? Friends? The woman and the girl aren't human, or at least are dressed up or painted to not look human. A funerary urn sits on a small table under the painting, along with some toys. 

 

Did the child die? 

 

Did the child leave the toys to keep the deceased company after one of the parents died?

Flora shivers. This place is damp, and cold, and she very much wants to leave it in peace.

 

She breaks into a run when she gets above ground again. 

Flora thought she had a keen sense of direction and a good eye for landmarks, but she finds herself confused here, going in circles.

 

The ache in her legs seems real... but dreams always seem real when you're in them, she reminds herself. And the longer she's here, the more that thought bothers her. The longer she's here, the more her actual life — the life where she has a home and a family and an important quest to complete — feels like the faraway dream.

 

 

 

She strives to reach another big structure in the distance... a castle-like thing, with many domes. Entering it is as easy as ascending the stairs.

 

It's almost homey. There's a kitchen, a piano, beds that are soft and inviting...

 

 

 

The woman and child again. The human isn't with them this time. Flora is filled with an unreasonable sense of loss.

 

 

 

Exploring on her own two feet has brought her no closer to escape, so Flora sits her butt down for some meditation... not for answers, as those don't tend to come to her in meditation, but for zeneports.

It only takes minutes now to empty her mind and become one with her surroundings. Her body is flooded with energy, and begins to float off of the cold ground...

 

 

Flora zeneports to one of the floating "islands" above where she just was a moment ago.

 

She knows a chest full of valuables when she sees it.

Inside is a keystone, much like the ones she was hunting down for the Resolute Fist.

If this place isn't a dream, then it must have been created to mock her.

 

The well is deeper than it could possibly be, given where it's situated. 

 

Either it's an optical illusion, or Flora has discovered portals.

It was portals!

Not that the greatest scientific discovery of all time is doing her any good right now, with no understanding of how it works nor anyone to tell about it.

She uses the power of her magic axe to cut through the wall.

I don't like it here, it whispers to her, its voice tiny in her mind, I want to leave.

‟Can you do what you did in Al Simhara? Rearrange my surroundings so we can leave?"

I'm scared.

Flora frowns.

 

 

She tries to engage the axe in conversation a few more times, as she explores, but it has fallen silent and now won't even manifest when she tries to summon it.

 

‟This is laid out like some kind of art exhibit," she murmurs, contemplating the illegible plaques under the images of merfolk. Some are composed—portraits made to be dignified—while others depict violent acts...

‟Maybe it's a museum?" she tries again.

No one answers her.

 

The fire doesn't harm her skin, but the pain is intense. 

 

Still, Flora does not wake from this dream.

 

She wonders how much time has passed.

 

She has tried to follow the moon phases... but every time she goes somewhere she can't see the sky, the moon changes on her.

Her mind has emptied of all things, except for the drive to find a way out... and yet, while she's sneaking past this arrow trap, Flora rolls a wish to have her first child.

Every keystone she finds has a place.

Pick them up and see where they go, or leave them... it doesn't seem to matter what she does. She isn't rewarded for either choice. Everywhere she goes, there is only loneliness.

 

Finally, there is nothing to explore but the lighthouse. She zeneports to it.

 

 

And only after she finds it empty does she consider...

...there is somewhere else she hasn't looked.

The currents are aggressive—too strong to fight. They pull Flora down.

Yet she doesn't drown.

Whatever it is, she cannot communicate with it effectively...

...and perhaps it was never there. It zips off, fast as a fish, and though Flora is a strong swimmer she cannot keep up, and begins to doubt she's chasing anything but a hallucination. 

A hallucination that led her to this treasure chest, but still.

At first she thought it was a skull in the sunken trunk she opened...

...and then she thought... again... how did I get here?

‟Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down?" someone answers her, their tone lyrical and dreary.

 

‟Hello?" she whispers.

 

She follows the sound of footsteps to a room that is unmistakably a library.

 

 

Bookshelves, chairs, a table-shaped coral...

 

"Alright, alright, I'll show myself."

Where there was nothing before, suddenly there is a person, waving his arms to dispel the magic that kept him hidden from her eyes.

 

‟Hey, Flora. What are you in for?" He greets her casually, as if they know each other.

 

Flora stays rooted to the spot she's in. ‟Are you... Meng Mihuntang?"

 

The man chuckles, the sound melancholy. ‟Goodness, no. Name's Acheron."

 

Flora tilts her head.

 

He seems to have expected a response. ‟Ehh? No comment? You're supposed to say ‟like the river Acheron?" and I deny it. ... ... No? Nothing? ... ... Oh, you've never heard of it?...  Well, maybe you're on a different quest today. You're not the know-it-all archaeologist I remember. So, uh. What happened? Chosen One of the Resolute Fist again? Mummies or vampires this time?"

‟I was on a mission to reseal Dong Huo," she says, tension deflating but confusion rising. ‟I touched a piece of turquoise, and was transported here."