Fractured Memories
| Fractured Memories | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 10 December 2012 |
| Location: | Beach |
| Synopsis: | Left to recover in an abandoned hotel after the battle for the portal, Leida awakens on a dark beach as Manhattan falls to darkness. |
| Cast of Characters: | Leida |
As she fell her mind began to race with questions born of fear and apprehension. Did I fail? Will they hate me now? Is this my fault? Am I going to be alone again? These and a million others like them assault the girl, accusing her of weakness, of being useless, a burden that drags everyone who tries to take her in down. She thrashes violently against the torrent of pain and sorrow even as her body is pushed up from the cold ground by gentle hands.
A voice cuts through the maelstrom, different than her own, drowning out all of the interrogation and denuciations until they are naught but a faint buzz in the background. Its touch is shocking but soothing, like being submerged in a basin of ice cold water on a hot summer's day. She embraces it as it comforts her, wrapping herself in the dark promises of shelter from all of the horrible things she's seen and done.
Rest now, it says. Close your eyes and you will see that everything will be fine, just last the last time.
Slowly, she complies, her body lifted into the protective clutch of the shadowy arms of an entity she knew more intimately than herself and would never actually see.
"I'm... so tired..."
Before the darkness can comfort her again, pain assaults her unlike anything she's ever known. Light, pure and magical invades her body, seeping into the shadows and driving them back. A hissing shriek rips out of the gloom as the illumination touches it, antithesis to everything that is it and represents. The darkness retreats, deep down into the very innermost pit of her soul where even the hateful glow cannot find it.
The girl cries out silently as she feels her protector fleeing, leaving her soul bare to the things she wished hidden away. The light begins to fade, its damage done, leaving her raw like flesh with the skin burned away. Exposed, helpless to fight back the tide of memories, she can only stare into the emptiness and the...
Fading light marks the land with its subtle touch, painting the fallen leaves with a gentle golden hue that brings out their reds and oranges in greater contrast with the deep browns of the dirt. Thick trees, tall and majestic loom like ancient sentinels overhead, their watchful eyes hidden within the last remaining clusters of foliage that have yet to accept their fate in the face of the coming winter. The girl crouches, wide eyed and silent as she watches the prey shuffle about in the distance, completely unaware of her presence.
With the onset of the cold season just around the corner, now is the last chance for the hunters to gather the precious meat necessary to keep their families alive through the bitter cold when nothing grows and the animals go into hibernation until the spring. She breathes in shallow huffs, tiny wisps of her breath turning into white mist. The deer hasn't seen her yet, its beautifully horned head lowered to drink from the trickling stream. To find such a prize as this so late into the season is unusual. The spirits will have to be thanked properly when she returns.
Slowly and with the utmost care the bow is brought up, a wide steel-headed arrow already nocked. There is a faint sound as the string goes taunt, the wood creaking slightly as it is bent by powerful arms. Just a few moments more and...
The buck's head snaps up, suddenly alerted to the presence of enemies. The arrow is loosed but it wheels away, darting into the forest with elegant bounds that carry it through the underbrush and out of sight in mere moments. The girl looks down, lifting her foot to stare at the fallen branch under her foot, split neatly in half by her careless step.
"You stupid little wench!" Her brother's voice rings out through the now empty clearing, punctuated by the rustle and crunch of the carpet of fallen leaves as he stomps towards her, his bow now empty. She winces reflexively and lowers her head, waiting for the impact that she knows will come. The blow staggers her sideways and the salty tang of blood touches her tongue as her vision is filled with...
***
Stars spread across the dark blanket of the evening sky, an uncountable number of shimmering sparkles arranged into patterns and webs discernible only to those who know what to look for. She could pick out a few of the celestial bodies, knowledge gleaned from the few attempts her brothers had made to instruct her in the ways of wilderness survival. One in particular she knew by heart for it hung forever over the lands of her family and would always be a beacon to guide her home if she were to get lost.
Of course, that had never happened. She rarely ever got to leave the castle, too clumsy and useless to be trusted on her own and too valuable to allow the chance that someone might capture her without guards. Not that her family was particularly attached to her as a person but as a noble daughter she represented political power that could be tapped for their gain. Which was exactly why she found herself, for the first time, making her way through foreign lands aboard a small simple carriage.
Her father had wanted to give her something larger and more luxurious. Not because he was worried about her comfort but because it would send a message to her would-be husband that their family could afford such things. However, the path through the mountains to reach her new home was treacherous and narrow and only small wheeled vehicles designed for practicality not luxury would be able to make the journey. Instead, a small chest was locked down under the seat, filled with silver coins and a few trinkets. Nothing particularly extravagant but as the tenth child in her family, her dowry wasn't that impressive.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the carriage came to a halt and she peeked out of the lacy curtains again. The contingent of soldiers sent to guard her meager life were lining up in two rows before the path to a large building; a fortress from the looks of it. Across the way, in front of the gates was another group of men dressed in livery that she knew from what she had been told was that of her new husband. She peered around, trying to pick out which one among them was most likely to be him.
The sound of the carriage door swinging open caused her to sit upright in startled fright. A large man, dressed in armor and draped with the furs of wolves appeared in the open portal, arms crossed over his massive chest. His face was rugged but not ugly, marred only by a single scar passing from the temple down to his jawline that seemed to add to his presence rather than detract from it. She stared at him quietly, not quite sure what to say and cowed into silence by his sudden appearance.
After a few awkward moments, the man smiled and reached out his hand. Instinctively, she flinched, knowing that she must have insulted him by not responding right away and waited for the reprimanding blow to land. Instead, thick fingers wrapped about her wrist, lifting her hand up to be wrapped gently in his much larger palm. A deep voice filled with mirth rumbled through the carriage.
"And you must be the Lady Castillon. A pleasure to meet you, my wife."
She looked up, the shock clearly visible on her face. "You... you're my...?"
"Husband? Well, it's not quite official yet, we've got a ceremony all planned out for it. It might not be as lavish as what someone from your illustrious family is used to but we're a simple people up here in the mountains." He laughed at that and despite herself she felt a faint smile touch her face, her fears melting away in the light of her personality.
"There, that's better. It won't do to have your new subjects see you cowering like a field mouse. Come, let's get you acquainted with your new home."
She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, taking the steps out of the carriage carefully so as not to trip as she so often did. The snow rose up to brush the sides of her feet when she put them down on the ground, her simple sandals not designed for such weather. Upon seeing her discomfort, her fiancee grunted and leaned down to sweep her up into his arms, giving her a knowing wink at the squeak of surprise this earned.
With his prize in hand, the man trudged up through the rows of soldiers, nodding curtly at their uniform salute as they passed off their duty onto him. Silently, she gazed up at the rugged stone-hewn castle as they approached, wondering for the first time if she might truly be able to feel...
***
Happy was not an expression her father worn often, despite the fact that he was the single most powerful man in the land through careful military and political machinations. No matter how much strength he gained or what riches he plundered, his only true happiness seemed to come from seeing those around him suffer. Many had attributed his trait to an illness of the mind but no one who spoke of such things publicly survived long to do it again.
As she sat in the snow, watching the fortifications and soldiers of the great mountain castle burn with tears streaming down her face, her father looked happy.
Several times over the years since she had come to these frigid mountains, little more than a political deal made to further her family's ambitions, her husband had ridden off to war to aid them as part of their agreement. Each time he returned looking troubled by the things that he had witnessed, the atrocities commited by her father etched across his face but he had not the heart to tell her these things. Not until that fateful day one year ago.
Plotting with the other lords of the land, her husband has arranged for her father to be led into an ambush. Being the honest sort and knowing that this would hurt her more if she found out from another source later, he confided in his wife this secret. Torn between her love and her loyalty to two families, she decided to send a secret message to her father warning him of the ambush. That message had doomed her husband and all of his lands to destruction.
Even at the last minute he had never suspected her, holding her tightly like he always did before sending her out to be with her family once again. She should not suffer this ignoble fate because of his treachery. The irony was painful but she could not bring herself to shatter his illusions and acquiesced to his final wish. Now she sat in the snow and watched all that she loved consumed in flame.
There lingered a hope, a tiny spark of selfishness within her, that this act of loyalty would finally be the thing to break down the barriers between her family members. That spark was snuffed out almost the moment that she arrived in their ancestral castle. Her brother greeted her with a sharp backhand moments after she had slide from the horse that carried her across the mountains. She spun from the blow, landing face first in the grass.
"Stupid woman! Do you know how much trouble your damned marriage has caused us?" He kicked her in the side, knocking the air out of her lungs. She curled up, hangs wrapped about her stomach and coughed painfully. Behind him her two older sisters laughed cruelly and added their own jabs.
"Can you believe it? She actually sold her husband out! Warned father of his plans. Why if not for her, that furry beast would probably be the strongest in the land. I guess even she knew how absurd such a thing would be."
"Look at her face! She actually expected us to be thankful for it! Ahahaha! She actually wrote to me, you know. Said how happy she was with the arranged marriage. And yet still she betrays him? Unbelievable. I guess your poor husband found out what happens when you put faith in someone like you. Ahahaha!"
"No... please..." The girl reached out to them, still struggling for breath. "Why won't you acknowledge my sacrifice...? Why do you hate me...?"
The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the heel of her brother's foot rising up above her head. Pain exploded all around her, the word turning into a dimension full of needles and ice. Blood filled her vision, painting the world in hues of...
***
Crimson and black ichor stained the walls, the spray of gore heaped haphazardly on top of each other like the strokes of some mad painter. Fern-frond patterns and long horsetail fans left by pressurized explosions of vitae decorated everything. Red hand prints covered the furniture all around the wide chamber where men had tried to prop themselves up as the last of their life drained out into the pool of red liquid that still covered the stone floor.
Bodies drifted like discarded flotsam in the tide. Some were torn completely asunder by some clawed thing, ragged bits of flesh dangling from the wounds while others seemed whole and untouched, though their faces were twisted in a visage of unknowable horror. A few soldiers were among the dead, their lamellar armor visible among the ruined silks and furs. Swords and spears lay scattered and broken, useless against the devastation that had visited this place.
The girl stood in the center of the room, her eyelids heavy and half closed as she surveyed the scene of carnage before her. She had no idea how she had come to this place. Her memories were blurry, a dark fog clouding her mind. Was this hell? Had she finally died and paid for her incompetence and treachery?
Something brushed against her leg and she turned to look at it. A body had drifted against her and she reached down to turn it over, ignoring the pungent reek and the cloying touch of the blood. The face of her father greeted her as it rose up out of the muck, recognizable even through layer of red stained fluid. A look of terror, true terror was frozen into his features and for some reason that made her laugh.
It started out slow, a faint twinge of amusement at the sight of such a powerful and intimidating man reduced to blubbering fear like so many of those he had crushed in his wake. But all at once it built into a wellspring of maddening hilarity at the realization that she was responsible for all of this. The girl whom everyone had treated like garbage, little better than a pest tolerated because of its usefulness, had brought everyone low.
'Yes, they got what they deserved.' A voice echoed out of the corners of the room, familiar and strange at the same time. The shadows seemed to close in on the girl as she laughed, swirling up out of the blood in a tide of black that wrapped itself lovingly about its new soul mate, this one act of hellish nightmare binding them together more tightly than any pitiful emotions could ever hope to achieve.
'Just like... I wanted...'
The voice that speaks is both hers and not at the same time, two souls working in tandem to cloud the world in darkness. It was the only way she could be happy, the only way she would ever forget the things that had led up to this point. Even as she thought these things the two felt the barrier of reality crack as something powerful, emboldened by the fear and death she had sown her, gave one final heave.
The Heartless came then. It did not know how it knew their name but it did not need to. Such is the way of things sometimes. It felt them erupt out of the dungeons below where the door had been kept secret since the beginning of time, felt them flood into the castle and spill out into the world, devouring everything in their path like a wave of locusts in a wheat field.
Even as the shadows poured into the room, the girl continued to laugh, pain and sorrow fueling her spiral into madness. The last thing she saw was the inky ooze rising up protectively about her, turning her world to...
***
Darkness persisted as Leida opened her eyes. Tiny pinpoints of light twinkled overhead, punching minute holes in the curtain of night. She felt the touch of cold water brush her legs and the roaring sound of crashing waves in the distance. Her fingers clutched tightly, the sandy beach giving way under the girl's hands as she pushed herself upright.
The faint glimmer of a memory tickled the back of her mind, something long forgotten fading once again into obscurity as the shadows moved in to wash it away like a shell on the beach. The familiar presence in her heart was there again, silent and slumbering but still nearby. She exhaled a sigh of relief but couldn't figure out why it made her feel so happy.
Perhaps everything had been a dream. The world full of towering buildings and strangely dressed people. The voice calling her to that place was absent now. Perhaps it had never existed at all. So many questions and no where to start looking for the answers.
Lifting her head, Leida scanned the horizon, looking for a place she might find other people. Being alone was something she hated more than anything. A rural village, a road-side tavern, or even just a small farm - anything to have the presence of another person nearby.
Fortunately, the moon was full and low on the horizon and its pale light was silhouetted by a massive structure. Far in the distance scaffolding of some sort hugged the wall of a tall bluff, layers of metal sandwiched between tall struts that divided it into floors. Most notable was the massive protrusion near the top of the mountain, a long cylindrical object jutting out over the ocean.
The girl smiled faintly. Surely such a place would have people. She could ask them about those strange memories. And perhaps get some food. Her stomach rumbled at her as if in agreement. How long had it been since she'd eaten? Again, she couldn't recall. Climbing unsteadily to her feet, Leida began to make her way down the beach, humming a soft haunting melody to herself.
