healingbonds (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
healingbonds) wrote2020-06-11 07:24 pm
healingbonds) wrote2020-06-11 07:24 pm
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Prelude to the Festival and Justice | Chapter 9
Chapter 8 << | index | >> Chapter 10
Woman: Stop! Don’t take my child away!
Child: Mother, Mother!
Man: This child is a wizard; he was seen manipulating the waters of Mesa’s sacred fountain!
Woman: No! I’m begging you, don’t kill my child!
Man: Wizards disrupt order! When they become adults, they’ll have even stronger power! We have to kill them and turn them into stone before they get the chance to grow up!
There’s no reason to mourn. The wizards’ stones fetch a high price; they’re the source of Mesa’s prosperity!
The man walks away with the child in his arms.
The woman who seemed to be his mother falls to the ground and breaks down in tears.
Arthur: Wait.....!
The figures vanish in front of Arthur’s eyes just as he chases after them. Meanwhile, scenes of the lively marketplace continue to play out around us.
Akira: (This is simply an illusion of Mesa in the past....... There’s nothing we can do now.)
(To think that something like this happened in the ancient city of Mesa.....)
The illusions of Mesa continue to change and distort around us like a kaleidoscope.
People exchanging bright smiles with each other. Wizards being seized and surrounded by crowds of people.
People giving thanks in return for their everyday blessings. People gathering up the wizards who have turned into stone.
And shining brilliantly in the palm of their hands, the stones that used to be wizards.
Arthur murmurs, dumbfounded.
Arthur: ........So Mesa’s prosperity was built on the sacrifices of wizards......
Cain: To think that such an era existed......
.......If they had to bear witness to such times, then it’s no wonder that the Northern wizards who’ve lived for such a long time came to despise humans.....
......Why would they do such a thing......
A feeling of sadness creeps over me, and I clench my hands into tight fists.
What saddens me the most about the people of Mesa is that they did not wear the faces of villains blinded with desire.
The people of Mesa smiled warmly at their families and friends with love and pride for their city, a sense of justice written in their gazes.
They believed that turning wizards into stone was the correct thing to do: as if they were simply defeating man-eating wolves and stripping them of their glorious furs.
They had the faces of kind, normal people—people who worked their hardest, people who gave their all to protect their comrades.
Akira: (What is justice...... What is the correct thing to do...?)
(If I had lived in this city, would I have gone through life hating wizards and coveting their stones......?)
(Without once doubting if I were a kind person......)
Just as I was about to be swallowed up in a crisis of self-questioning that would yield no answer, the sound of a zither strikes up.
In the green space next to the fountain lying beyond the ruins, the bard—the youth from earlier—sits with his zither cradled in his arms, looking terrified.
Bard: ......N, no one is listening to my song...... If this goes on, the king of the spirits will come to destroy Mesa......
The king of the spirits...... No, he might be a god...... He of terrifying power who conquered the spirits, with eyes like frozen flames......
A year ago...... I desperately begged for my life, in the face of his rage at the deeds committed by the people of Mesa......
"Please wait one year. I’ll make them change their ways within the year. I beg you to forgive us...."
Yet I........ Forget changing the people of Mesa, I couldn’t even come out and say that I’m a wizard......
.........And I’m about to give up on everything now....... I’m about to abandon Mesa.....
People of Mesa: It’s that bard! The bard who’s been singing inauspicious songs about the fall of Mesa!
Throw stones at him! Chase him out of Mesa! Does he still think he can remain in Mesa even after we’ve burned his house and destroyed his property?
Get out! Leave!
Bard: ......You bloody fools..... Ah, I’ll leave. Keep lusting insatiably for riches all you want......
Even as you remain unaware that the king of the spirits and of the wizards — Oz is coming to destroy Mesa!
Crying out, the young bard takes off running from the side of the mountain.
His shadow flickers like a mirage, and gradually disappears from sight.
Arthur: ......Oz......?
The moment Arthur murmurs Oz’s name—
The illusions stop in their tracks.
They turn their heads to look at us, with eyes devoid of emotion.
People of Mesa: ......Oz......
......Oz...... Why......
Cain: ......They’re acting strange. Akira, don’t leave my side.
Akira: .......Y, Yes.
The people of Mesa twist and distort limply, gradually losing their human shapes.
They stagger towards us, even as they dissolve into rustling sand that falls to the ground, leaving gaping holes for eyes and mouths.
People of Mesa: Why......Why......
(Illusions fading away)
Their crumbling arms reach towards us in a gesture that seems part lament, part anger.
Arthur: They’re coming!
Akira: ............!
Chapter 8 << | index | >> Chapter 10
Woman: Stop! Don’t take my child away!
Child: Mother, Mother!
Man: This child is a wizard; he was seen manipulating the waters of Mesa’s sacred fountain!
Woman: No! I’m begging you, don’t kill my child!
Man: Wizards disrupt order! When they become adults, they’ll have even stronger power! We have to kill them and turn them into stone before they get the chance to grow up!
There’s no reason to mourn. The wizards’ stones fetch a high price; they’re the source of Mesa’s prosperity!
The man walks away with the child in his arms.
The woman who seemed to be his mother falls to the ground and breaks down in tears.
Arthur: Wait.....!
The figures vanish in front of Arthur’s eyes just as he chases after them. Meanwhile, scenes of the lively marketplace continue to play out around us.
Akira: (This is simply an illusion of Mesa in the past....... There’s nothing we can do now.)
(To think that something like this happened in the ancient city of Mesa.....)
The illusions of Mesa continue to change and distort around us like a kaleidoscope.
People exchanging bright smiles with each other. Wizards being seized and surrounded by crowds of people.
People giving thanks in return for their everyday blessings. People gathering up the wizards who have turned into stone.
And shining brilliantly in the palm of their hands, the stones that used to be wizards.
Arthur murmurs, dumbfounded.
Arthur: ........So Mesa’s prosperity was built on the sacrifices of wizards......
Cain: To think that such an era existed......
.......If they had to bear witness to such times, then it’s no wonder that the Northern wizards who’ve lived for such a long time came to despise humans.....
......Why would they do such a thing......
A feeling of sadness creeps over me, and I clench my hands into tight fists.
What saddens me the most about the people of Mesa is that they did not wear the faces of villains blinded with desire.
The people of Mesa smiled warmly at their families and friends with love and pride for their city, a sense of justice written in their gazes.
They believed that turning wizards into stone was the correct thing to do: as if they were simply defeating man-eating wolves and stripping them of their glorious furs.
They had the faces of kind, normal people—people who worked their hardest, people who gave their all to protect their comrades.
Akira: (What is justice...... What is the correct thing to do...?)
(If I had lived in this city, would I have gone through life hating wizards and coveting their stones......?)
(Without once doubting if I were a kind person......)
Just as I was about to be swallowed up in a crisis of self-questioning that would yield no answer, the sound of a zither strikes up.
In the green space next to the fountain lying beyond the ruins, the bard—the youth from earlier—sits with his zither cradled in his arms, looking terrified.
Bard: ......N, no one is listening to my song...... If this goes on, the king of the spirits will come to destroy Mesa......
The king of the spirits...... No, he might be a god...... He of terrifying power who conquered the spirits, with eyes like frozen flames......
A year ago...... I desperately begged for my life, in the face of his rage at the deeds committed by the people of Mesa......
"Please wait one year. I’ll make them change their ways within the year. I beg you to forgive us...."
Yet I........ Forget changing the people of Mesa, I couldn’t even come out and say that I’m a wizard......
.........And I’m about to give up on everything now....... I’m about to abandon Mesa.....
People of Mesa: It’s that bard! The bard who’s been singing inauspicious songs about the fall of Mesa!
Throw stones at him! Chase him out of Mesa! Does he still think he can remain in Mesa even after we’ve burned his house and destroyed his property?
Get out! Leave!
Bard: ......You bloody fools..... Ah, I’ll leave. Keep lusting insatiably for riches all you want......
Even as you remain unaware that the king of the spirits and of the wizards — Oz is coming to destroy Mesa!
Crying out, the young bard takes off running from the side of the mountain.
His shadow flickers like a mirage, and gradually disappears from sight.
Arthur: ......Oz......?
The moment Arthur murmurs Oz’s name—
The illusions stop in their tracks.
They turn their heads to look at us, with eyes devoid of emotion.
People of Mesa: ......Oz......
......Oz...... Why......
Cain: ......They’re acting strange. Akira, don’t leave my side.
Akira: .......Y, Yes.
The people of Mesa twist and distort limply, gradually losing their human shapes.
They stagger towards us, even as they dissolve into rustling sand that falls to the ground, leaving gaping holes for eyes and mouths.
People of Mesa: Why......Why......
(Illusions fading away)
Their crumbling arms reach towards us in a gesture that seems part lament, part anger.
Arthur: They’re coming!
Akira: ............!
Chapter 8 << | index | >> Chapter 10