Fae took in her new surroundings, finding them chillingly familiar.
Makes sense. This Location was in my drawings.
She and the others stood in the hall of an old, dark house, at the bottom of long stairs ascending into darkness. The hall to either side extended into darkness as well, and behind them was the door they’d entered through. Patterned wallpaper, faded in spots, adorned the walls, and up the stairs were paintings on either side, all the way up, as far as Fae could see.
“What’s the deal with this place?” Jupiter asked, looking around. “I mean… is this supposed to be the front door?” She tried the door they’d entered through, but the doorknob rattled uselessly in her hands. “It… won’t open? Are we trapped here? Is this a freaking ghost house?”
“Calm down,” Mercury said with a sigh.
“The house is illusory,” Toryu said. “All that truly exists here is Folly’s Stair — and the Echo of Truth Fae, Olivia, and Sonya must visit.”
“Wait, the halls don’t exist?” Jupiter asked.
“They exist only as far as you can see them,” Toryu said. “Do not tread into the deeper darkness.”
“What happens if we do?” Sonya asked. She had her notebook in hand, taking notes as she listened.
Toryu chuckled, puffing on his pipe twice. “That is better not discussed,” he said.
“Nonexistence,” Ciel said, gazing down the hall. Even though he’d recovered memories from the Silver Star Sanctuary and no longer wore the mask that hid his eyes, he still often spoke with a barely-emotive voice.
“So we’ve gotta brave the stairs, right?” Mercury asked.
The sojourner pulled forth the amulet of the Orphan of the Dawn with Fae’s hands, checking where its light indicated. “Up the stairs,” Fae said, but the sojourner, at her instruction, didn’t echo her words. Everyone else could see plainly.
“Well, it’s the only place we can actually go, right?” Mercury asked.
“The darkness up there is like the darkness down the hall,” Olivia said. “Is it safe?”
“It looks the same, but is different in nature,” Toryu said. “The stairs lead to a test. It is likely that the Echo lies beyond that test.”
“What kind of test?” Sonya asked. She adjusted her glasses, narrow oval frames. Not for the first time, Fae was struck by both similarities and differences.
She and Olivia have the same face and voice as I do. And yet…
Only Sonya and I wear glasses, but I like big, wide frames. I’d never wear glasses like hers. And Olivia keeps her hair in that elaborate single-braid that looks like way too much work for my tastes.
And even though they speak with the same voice, how they speak… it sounds more different the more I listen to them.
“A test like the name of the Location implies,” Toryu said.
“Folly,” Neptune said. “I haven’t been here before, but the Cartographers told me of it when I trained with them. The climb draws upon each person’s anxieties and doubts, turns their inward thoughts towards the potential folly, foolishness, uselessness of their journey and actions.”
“And it’s really the only way out of here?” Jupiter asked.
“Even if it wasn’t, it’s still where they need to go,” Madeline said. “The Echo of Truth is up there. So we can’t turn back.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jupiter said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “I just…”
“Coming to this place is rarely something one intends,” Toryu said. “For most who arrive here, they do so because they must. Some deep part of them requires this test, to know themselves, the nature of their convictions, and see if they are up to the task of continuing on whatever path they have set themselves upon.”
For a moment, Fae thought of the candlestick bell.
An easy way out of anxieties and doubts. Just ring it, let hope come…
But…
All she had to do was look down to hesitate. Her body, below her, that she no longer controlled.
I can’t touch it. I can’t ring it.
I could trust it to Madeline or Mercury, but…
She looked up the stairs, at the darkness, and the test that awaited them.
It’s a test. It wouldn’t be right to cheat it.
We’ll just have to brave it. After all we’ve endured so far, this can’t be such a challenge.
…Right?
“We’ll stick together,” Mercury said, coming up alongside Fae and looking up in the general direction of where her soul floated, but not meeting her eyes. “It’s easy to handle anxiety and doubts when you’ve got friends along for the ride.”
That gave Fae just a little bit of courage. Just a little bit of hope. She looked up at the stairs, and then spoke, with the sojourner echoing her words. “Let’s go.”
They started to climb. Not all could walk side-by-side, but it wasn’t such a narrow stair that they had to walk single-file. Fae and Olivia led up front. Sonya, Madeline, and Ciel were behind them, and then the Star sisters, with Toryu taking up the rear.
Fae felt cold. Not in a physical sense — she could no longer feel temperature on her skin. And yet there was that sensation, a sort of chill beneath the skin. She looked aside as she approached the darkness, examining the paintings on the wall.
Her eyes went wide.
Perhaps responding to Fae’s shock and fear, the sojourner stopped climbing with her body. Fae kept staring.
The painting was of Wasuryu. The Wasuryu she’d seen, his grotesque, incomplete physical form beneath Silver Star Sanctuary. And he was staring straight at her. Grinning, as much as that melting face could grin.
Fae opened her mouth, but couldn’t find words. She wrenched her eyes away from the painting…
And found herself staring into Wasuryu’s face. Not a painting, no — the real thing. He stood on the stair above her, and she heard his throaty chuckle, saw his clawed, oozing hand reach out towards her.
“G-get back!” she cried, flailing, but just as she was about to fall, Wasuryu caught her by the wrist.
She could feel it. She felt his sickening touch on her wrist, and felt her own feet on the floor of the stairs. She felt the wicked Dragon’s warm breath on her face, and smelled its foul stench.
“Such soft, smooth skin,” Wasuryu said in a soft, chilling voice. “Such beauty, such youth.”
Fae stared at him, eyes wide, breath caught in her throat, stomach turning in revulsion.
All of a sudden, Wasuryu tossed her aside with a roar. “Stolen from me!” Fae tumbled to the floor, and when she looked up…
The Dragon was gone.
Up and down the stairs she looked, clutching her hand to her chest, trying to rub away the foul touch of Wasuryu.
She was all alone. Back in her body, but…
No Olivia or Sonya. No Madeline, no Star sisters, no Ciel, no Toryu.
Up the stairs was darkness. But down was also darkness. And even as she stared down the steps, they seemed to warp and twist, and then that way was up. Forward and back, both saw stairs climbing high into darkness, and Fae sat at the base of them, in the center, caught between choices, choices without any indication of which was right.
If that way was down a moment ago, then it probably still is, and is the wrong way to go. But…
What if I’m wrong?
It was hard enough just to try to move. She was terribly cold, shaking all over both from the chill and the fear of Wasuryu’s attack. Would he return? Was he waiting for her somewhere?
Did I really escape him at all? After all Toryu and the sojourner did to try and protect my body from him using it…
“Stolen.”
My body isn’t his. It can’t be his now. But…
It isn’t mine anymore, either. Is it?
And what am I? Just a soul, adrift, with a body that no one can guarantee will be mine again. I escaped one tormenter only to have my body turned over to another being I don’t understand. Supposedly benevolent, but…
Give me back my body!
She slammed her fist into the wall, gritting her teeth, glaring at the floor. But in this show of anger, tears stung her eyes.
What good am I without a body? I can’t talk to them, not really. All of my words come out lacking emotion and inflection, lacking my own speech patterns. It’s my voice from my body, but it doesn’t even sound like me. I’m dragged along, and I get to choose where to go, when to go, what to say and when to speak, but…
How long can that last? There’s so much left for me to do. So much I still want to do. But I can’t do any of that without my body.
What good am I anymore? What use is continuing on like this? Another Echo of Truth, another tiny step on the way to the Orphan of the Dawn, and all along the way, just hope, no facts or actual information, that I might get my body back. That I might be able to be normal again.
What…
“What did I do to deserve this?” Fae pulled her knees towards her chest, resting her forehead against them. Tears flowed freely now, despair and confusion overwhelming her.
I was called by my drawings. Apparently the Orphan of the Dawn called me. Olivia, and Sonya, too. All we did was follow what we were called to, and yet all three of us fell into Wasuryu’s clutches.
But what did any of us do wrong? What did I do wrong? I saved Olivia and Sonya. I defeated Wasuryu. I saved the Fates, I saved Nocta with Shana and Chelsea, I destroyed Collapse…
What did I ever do wrong? What point is there in all of this? I didn’t bring this on myself, so why? It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault that Wasuryu had a trap planned all along in the Silver Star Sanctuary. It’s not my fault that I ended up just some prisoner waiting to be rescued. I didn’t do that! I didn’t do anything wrong!
So why… why can’t I… why can’t I have my body back?
“I’m sorry.”
Fae looked up at the voice. There, standing before her at the bottom of the two-way stairs, was the sojourner. Her golden tumble of curls framed a sorrowful face. She didn’t have much of an expressive face, Fae thought, so then…
It’s her eyes.
She saw it, then. All of the sojourner’s emotions were in her eyes, and they carried such an astounding depth of emotion that Fae was stunned into silence for a moment. But when the sojourner said no more other than those two words…
“Why?” Fae asked. She rubbed at her eyes, embarrassed to be seen like this, especially by a stranger.
“Because I have caused you such pain,” the sojourner said. “And I never meant to. This… was never supposed to happen. I called to you, and you answered, and yet the road has been so long and hard. I… this happens. All too often. It is difficult for me to communicate, and rare indeed for me to communicate with someone like this, with your words. I… even as I tried to save you, my own plans and preparations with Toryu have only caused you greater sorrow. I am so deeply sorry, Fae.”
Fae couldn’t take her eyes off of the sojourner. Even now, gazing upon this woman, this fragment of the Orphan of the Dawn’s soul who operated her body, formed a knot of dread in her stomach. And yet…
The knot was loosening.
“You’re… not supposed to see this,” Fae said, shaking her head. She tried to push herself to her feet, but stumbled. Before she could hit the floor…
The sojourner caught her.
Fae gasped. The woman’s touch was so warm, so gentle. Helping her to her feet, the sojourner then stepped away, and Fae immediately missed that warmth.
“Th-thank you,” she said softly, staring at her feet. A long silence stretched between them, and then Fae shook her head. “I… should apologize, too.”
“Whatever for?” the sojourner asked.
“You… really are trying,” Fae said. “Doing everything you can to save… a total stranger. I… hate this. I hate not having my body. I hate being just a soul dragged around. It makes me sick, having someone else in my body, controlling it. But… you never wanted this to happen. You never wanted it to come to this, and I… I know you’re… trying. To make the best out of the worst.”
The sojourner was silent, which frustrated Fae. What else was she to say? What else could she say?
But the longer the silence stretched on, the more Fae understood. And that knot of dread in her stomach tightened.
She’s waiting.
She looked up to the right, then the left. Two stairs, identical in appearance and trajectory.
I have to make a choice. I…
I don’t like my choices. Not at all. But…
I’m the one who decides what happens next.
She understood, without knowing how, where each of those staircases led. After a long moment of deliberation, Fae turned to the left, and started up the stairs. The sojourner followed at a distance, saying nothing.
I understand. As much as I can understand.
Hope… isn’t a guarantee. Sometimes… a lot of the time, lately…
Hope is more painful than I can bear.
Slowly, she raised her head, fixing her gaze upward, into the darkness she approached.
But… it’s always a choice.
And even though it’s painful… especially right now…
I choose hope.
The darkness parted like a curtain, and the stairs ended.
Fae could no longer feel her feet against the stairs. Could no longer smell the faint musty scent of the air.
She was a soul, floating above her body, piloted by a stranger. All around her were the others — Olivia, Sonya, Madeline, Ciel, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, Toryu. All were accounted for, all had passed their tests. Some were smiling. Others looked pensive.
But all were present and accounted for. And before them was a door, a door that Fae recognized.
The third Echo of Truth.
No words were shared as Fae, Olivia, and Sonya entered the Echo. Just like the last Echo, Fae’s body was left behind, as the room slowly lightened to reveal its murals, its clues at the truth of their journey.
“Fae?” Olivia asked.
“I’m here,” Fae said. Olivia and Sonya both nodded, having heard her voice. Fae hesitated a moment. What she wanted to ask… it felt strange. But… “You guys okay?”
Olivia, to Fae’s surprise, smiled. It was a small smile, the kind of smile that suited her. “I learned much about myself,” she said. “It was difficult, but in the end… I believe I came out stronger for it.”
“I…” Sonya started, bowing her head. “I wouldn’t have made it through. Not if it hadn’t been for both of you in the first Echo of Truth. When you rang the bell for me, but more than that… when you helped me understand.” She held up her hand, and her fingers flickered with a crimson, flame-like aura. “This is my power, not something the Dragon cursed me with. And I must learn not to fear it, but to understand it. Thank you. Those memories helped me through my own test.”
“I wanted to share something,” Olivia said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a familiar piece of paper. “My message in a bottle. I… kept it to myself, back then. Not because it was something bad, but because it felt… personal. I wasn’t prepared to share it. But… I am now.” She held out the message for the other two to see. Two phrases:
Free now and forever from the Dragon’s hold.
The Blade of Dawn can cut the seals.
A small smile creased Olivia’s lips, just for a moment. “I believe the freedom from the Dragon is true for all of us,” she said. “Wasuryu will never have our bodies for his use. We will never be his Vessels.” A small silence was shared among the three. Fae bowed her head, taking those words to heart. They seemed especially powerful after what she had seen on the stairs.
“What does the second mean?” Sonya asked.
“When we visited the Garden of Memory,” Olivia said, “the Guardian told me that my memories were sealed. He said ‘the seals are breaking,’ but hinted that perhaps they would not all come undone on their own. Whatever the Blade of Dawn is, I believe it awaits me at the Orphan of the Dawn, and will be the final link to reclaiming all of my memories.”
Fae felt a pang of guilt at Olivia’s declaration. Because in all that had happened since then…
I forgot that there’s so much she can’t remember. And even most of what she can remember is more fact than actual memory, like looking at an encyclopedia entry on yourself.
She barely remembers any actual experiences of her own before becoming the Sealed Vessel… and yet…
That small smile doesn’t come out very often. But it’s one of the most genuine smiles I’ve ever seen.
“I destroyed my message,” Sonya said. “Because it made me so frightened. It was just the one word: ‘Wellspring.’ I think I finally understand why that was my message. ‘Wellspring,’ delivered directly to me… it’s my power. A gentle, albeit vague, reminder that it is my power, and I must not fear it as I have.”
Fae, in the midst of this conversation, felt slightly left out. Her message had been the word “Vicious,” and while that had been a clue as to the identity of the villain that had been behind so much wickedness, including Wasuryu — Alexander Salazar Greyson — it had also been given her by him, her own crafty “invitation” to his announcement at the Seat of the Seven.
Still, I’ve had so many things along the way that have helped show me who I am, who I’m meant to be, and guide me along this journey. But these two… they’ve only very recently escaped from the trauma Wasuryu inflicted upon them. It was more important than ever that they receive something to help them keep moving forward, to understand who they can be.
Finally, the girls took a look at the mural in the Echo of Truth. And Fae was stunned at what she saw.
“That man,” she said, approaching the far wall. “I saw him. Just before waking up in… my body, after the sojourner took over it.”
There in the center of the far wall was the painter she’d seen just before meeting the sojourner. He sat at his easel, fedora tilted downward to aid the shadows in hiding his face, aside from the amber gleam of his eyes.
“He told me… that it wasn’t quite time, though he wouldn’t say for what. And he said… ‘Whatever happens, don’t be afraid. There is always hope, for those willing to seek it out’.”
The words nearly caught in her throat. And the final words he’d spoken to her did catch in her throat. Because she finally understood.
“And… don’t be too angry with her.”
“So we don’t know who he is,” Sonya said. “But this… is very interesting.”
Fae and Olivia followed her, all three making their way around the circular wall of the Echo. The man wasn’t just sitting and painting in his study, no — he was scattering art outside, beyond his study. Paintings fluttered in the wind, and there were musical notes, and pages of written text, as well. They traveled across many places, some Locations that Fae recognized — Starlight Spires, the Plains of the Fallen — and many that she did not. But again and again, the scattered pages, paintings, and musical notes came to a shadowed person. And each one seemed to point the way upward, so that the three girls finally looked at the ceiling’s portion of the mural.
Light. Golden, beautiful, like a perfect dawn.
Down on the floor beneath them was something like they’d seen in Otherwhere after departing the Celestial Shore. Crystalline stonework, and all across it, the various symbols that had formed their map to the Orphan of the Dawn. But scattered within those symbols were many they didn’t recognize.
“I think I understand,” Sonya said. “That man… perhaps he works for the Orphan of the Dawn? I’m not sure, but the art that he sends out… each one points a light towards the Orphan. But then on the floor, symbols, including the ones from our map. Everyone who is called the Orphan gets a different map.”
“But ours is the same,” Fae said. “All three of us have the same map.”
“We’re connected, somehow,” Sonya said. “The Dragon wanted all of us as his Vessel at different times, after all, thinking each of us could be his True Vessel. And… despite what seems to be a great deal of time between Olivia’s departure and yours, Fae… all of us were the same age when we finally met.”
“I do not believe coincidence is to blame,” Olivia said. “We don’t yet hold all of the answers. But for whatever reason, the call that went out to each of us was meant for the three of us to follow together.”
“But we each ended up going alone at first,” Fae said.
“And it isn’t until we came together that the clues started becoming apparent,” Olivia said. “None of us knew of a map or our final destination as the Orphan of the Dawn, not until all three of us were together.”
Fae felt a small, smoldering ember of rage begin to ignite within her. But it sputtered and went out when she remembered the sojourner’s apology.
Things weren’t supposed to go this way. This wasn’t how she wanted it.
It’s not my fault that I ended up forced from my body. And it isn’t her fault that this road has been so long, winding, and difficult.
“We’ll be able to ask her, properly, when we reach her,” Fae said. “But until then…” She looked up at the ceiling, at the golden dawn. And she remembered the past two Echoes. The first, with three in darkness reaching for three in the light. And the second, with each of them — Olivia, Sonya, and Fae — stumbling alone on their way towards the Orphan.
Separated by more time than we yet know. And yet…
We were always meant to take this journey together.
Not fully understanding, but holding tight to all they’d uncovered so far, Fae turned towards the door from the Echo of Truth. Together with Olivia and Sonya, she started forward, to continue the long journey.
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