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La Cite des Cloches
Eden’s eyes snap open.
Rain is pour down on him, sprawled out on cobblestones in some kind of town square, as people mill around him, going about their day to day lives. This isn’t Thebes, the temperature and quality of the air is wrong, the people are dressed differently, even the architecture is different, and it isn’t Daybreak Town either. He’s on a world he’s never been to before.
A set of thunderous bells chime from nearby, drawing his attention over to the massive dual-towered building of stone that dominates the town, rising high above the square. Those bells must be ringing loud enough to be heard for miles, he notes to himself.
“Chirithy?”
No response.
“Hey. Chirithy. Where are you. Where you be. Be you where.”
No response.
Eden sighs, swinging to his feet. No Chirithy, which means no way out of this world. He’d better start figuring out where on earth he is.
---
Inside the vast, two-pronged stone building, there’s the clang of metal echoing off the cavernous walls, and distant voices.
“... You fight nearly as well as a man.”
“Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you.”
Eden ducks behind a pillar, watching the speakers out of the corner of his eye. One, a man with golden hair and golden armour, has a sword in his hand, while the other, a dark-haired woman in bright colours, is fending him off with a long, metal candle holder.
“Spying on people?” A much more familiar voice says. “That’s beneath you.”
Chirithy? No, not his Chirithy. The Black Chirithy, materialising at his feet, watching him with its expressionless button eyes. The clattering of metal continues nearby, the two combatants having seemingly not noticed them.
“That didn’t take long,” Eden remarks.
“You’re easy to find,” the Black Chirithy says. “Skulking into another world to hide, and as surely as you crafted the destruction of Thebes, ensuring that it too will fall.”
“S’a little harsh.”
“You bring calamity wherever you go. It’s in your nature,” the Black Chirithy replies. “And I already told you: I’ll destroy however many worlds I have to if it means bringing you down.”
Eden flashes a wry smile. “You know what I’ve figured out? You won’t actually act against me, not without someone to be your proxy. In Thebes, you needed Hades to play at being your ally before you could make a move, right? You must’ve had someone giving you permission in Daybreak Town, too. Think you’ll find somebody here who’ll let you be their benefactor?”
“I’m almost certain of it,” the Black Chirithy replies.
Nearby, the two combatants have stopped fighting. “So,” says the woman, “if you’re not going to arrest me, what do you want?”
“I’d settle for your name,” the man says.
“Esmeralda,” says the woman.
“Beautiful,” the man says softly. “Much better than Phoebus, anyway.”
The doors to the vast building are heaved open at that, as men in armour shuffle and worry at the edges of the boundary, as if they’re unwilling to step inside, and a man in luxurious black robes towers at the threshold.
“Good work, Captain,” the robed man says, stepping inside. “Now, arrest her.”
“Ah,” the Black Chirithy says quietly. “I do believe I’ve found my anchor.”
They keep talking, some nonsense that Eden doesn’t understand about ‘sanctuary’ and the ‘sanctity of the Church,’ but his attention is now fully on the Black Chirithy, padding across the stone floor.
“You’re trapped here, aren’t you? All your power expended from getting away,” the Black Chirithy says. “I know, because I -- well, it doesn’t matter. When this world burns, you won’t be making an escape.”
He vanishes, fading into black miasma. Eden’s attention snaps back to the woman, as the man in black follows Phoebus and his guards towards the door.
“You’ve chosen a magnificent prison,” the man in black calls to the woman. “But it is a prison nonetheless. Set one foot outside, and you’re mine.”
Rain is pour down on him, sprawled out on cobblestones in some kind of town square, as people mill around him, going about their day to day lives. This isn’t Thebes, the temperature and quality of the air is wrong, the people are dressed differently, even the architecture is different, and it isn’t Daybreak Town either. He’s on a world he’s never been to before.
A set of thunderous bells chime from nearby, drawing his attention over to the massive dual-towered building of stone that dominates the town, rising high above the square. Those bells must be ringing loud enough to be heard for miles, he notes to himself.
“Chirithy?”
No response.
“Hey. Chirithy. Where are you. Where you be. Be you where.”
No response.
Eden sighs, swinging to his feet. No Chirithy, which means no way out of this world. He’d better start figuring out where on earth he is.
Inside the vast, two-pronged stone building, there’s the clang of metal echoing off the cavernous walls, and distant voices.
“... You fight nearly as well as a man.”
“Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you.”
Eden ducks behind a pillar, watching the speakers out of the corner of his eye. One, a man with golden hair and golden armour, has a sword in his hand, while the other, a dark-haired woman in bright colours, is fending him off with a long, metal candle holder.
“Spying on people?” A much more familiar voice says. “That’s beneath you.”
Chirithy? No, not his Chirithy. The Black Chirithy, materialising at his feet, watching him with its expressionless button eyes. The clattering of metal continues nearby, the two combatants having seemingly not noticed them.
“That didn’t take long,” Eden remarks.
“You’re easy to find,” the Black Chirithy says. “Skulking into another world to hide, and as surely as you crafted the destruction of Thebes, ensuring that it too will fall.”
“S’a little harsh.”
“You bring calamity wherever you go. It’s in your nature,” the Black Chirithy replies. “And I already told you: I’ll destroy however many worlds I have to if it means bringing you down.”
Eden flashes a wry smile. “You know what I’ve figured out? You won’t actually act against me, not without someone to be your proxy. In Thebes, you needed Hades to play at being your ally before you could make a move, right? You must’ve had someone giving you permission in Daybreak Town, too. Think you’ll find somebody here who’ll let you be their benefactor?”
“I’m almost certain of it,” the Black Chirithy replies.
Nearby, the two combatants have stopped fighting. “So,” says the woman, “if you’re not going to arrest me, what do you want?”
“I’d settle for your name,” the man says.
“Esmeralda,” says the woman.
“Beautiful,” the man says softly. “Much better than Phoebus, anyway.”
The doors to the vast building are heaved open at that, as men in armour shuffle and worry at the edges of the boundary, as if they’re unwilling to step inside, and a man in luxurious black robes towers at the threshold.
“Good work, Captain,” the robed man says, stepping inside. “Now, arrest her.”
“Ah,” the Black Chirithy says quietly. “I do believe I’ve found my anchor.”
They keep talking, some nonsense that Eden doesn’t understand about ‘sanctuary’ and the ‘sanctity of the Church,’ but his attention is now fully on the Black Chirithy, padding across the stone floor.
“You’re trapped here, aren’t you? All your power expended from getting away,” the Black Chirithy says. “I know, because I -- well, it doesn’t matter. When this world burns, you won’t be making an escape.”
He vanishes, fading into black miasma. Eden’s attention snaps back to the woman, as the man in black follows Phoebus and his guards towards the door.
“You’ve chosen a magnificent prison,” the man in black calls to the woman. “But it is a prison nonetheless. Set one foot outside, and you’re mine.”