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open | an alenroux press release
[A couple weeks after the conclusion of the Exalt Oracle trial, a communion message goes out to all Kenos’s shard-bearers — at a brisk mid-morning hour for Springstar residents, and evening for those night owls in Highstorm. Surely an agreeable enough time for all, yes? The voice will be familiar enough to anyone who listened in on the ambassador talk a Kenos month ago; it’s Liem, mayor of Alenroux Meridian’s resident straight man.]
Greetings, everyone. I have some updates to share regarding efforts to make Alenroux fully and safely inhabitable, which I hope you will be pleased to hear.
Last month, prior to the events surrounding the Oracle, a contingent of Springstar military overseen by several shard-bearers launched a multi-pronged expedition north into Alenroux’s forests, in order to locate the source of the monsters that continue to infest the woods. While I’m sure those of you who frequent Alenroux will have noticed that the flow of especially dangerous, augmented creatures mostly died off after the dismantling of Aetós’s underground facility, we have not been able to expunge the general monster population from the forest despite ongoing efforts, so this was an attempt to remedy that.
These expeditionary forces succeeded in locating three separate cornerstones and portals that were previously disgorging monsters. At this time we think it likely that they were connected to the timestream in some way that allowed creatures from other worlds to come through, but the portals themselves proved extremely hazardous to life attempting to breach from this side. All three have now been destroyed, and while we cannot say with certainty that there are no further portals out there, we are optimistic that this will allow the danger to those living in Alenroux to be further reduced by the joint forces still stationed there.
If you have further questions, you may direct them to me, or to Hayame, Akua Sahelian, Keitaro Miura, Gray, Byleth Eisner, Link, Kim Dokja, or Dee. [He means D.]
Greetings, everyone. I have some updates to share regarding efforts to make Alenroux fully and safely inhabitable, which I hope you will be pleased to hear.
Last month, prior to the events surrounding the Oracle, a contingent of Springstar military overseen by several shard-bearers launched a multi-pronged expedition north into Alenroux’s forests, in order to locate the source of the monsters that continue to infest the woods. While I’m sure those of you who frequent Alenroux will have noticed that the flow of especially dangerous, augmented creatures mostly died off after the dismantling of Aetós’s underground facility, we have not been able to expunge the general monster population from the forest despite ongoing efforts, so this was an attempt to remedy that.
These expeditionary forces succeeded in locating three separate cornerstones and portals that were previously disgorging monsters. At this time we think it likely that they were connected to the timestream in some way that allowed creatures from other worlds to come through, but the portals themselves proved extremely hazardous to life attempting to breach from this side. All three have now been destroyed, and while we cannot say with certainty that there are no further portals out there, we are optimistic that this will allow the danger to those living in Alenroux to be further reduced by the joint forces still stationed there.
If you have further questions, you may direct them to me, or to Hayame, Akua Sahelian, Keitaro Miura, Gray, Byleth Eisner, Link, Kim Dokja, or Dee. [He means D.]
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[ Her more than the others in their expedition, she had Seen something, vague and disjointed.
She'd tried her damndest to unravel the vision of blood, thrones, stars and Nothing, but it led her to more questions than answers. It was a certainty — there was no Death in her future. Something more.
Her path was uncertain, but the meaning was clear. ]
Though since we have...reconvened, I have found that they do not linger much. Reality bent itself into a shape, but it was ironed out neatly.
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Why you… ? Because the portal showed your world, do you think?
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It is not... physical, but...
[ Mental, is what she suggests. ]
It may also be the effects of a heart lingering on what it cannot have.
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[... Is Link's hand still wizened?]
Perhaps it was merely another trap. One of Aetos'.
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[ She sounds less certain, but she cannot describe why. The portals themselves were of Aetós, but what of the magic within? Was that even magic? Did it have a signature? She could not truly say. Not without further testing and time. ]
They are an enigma, I fear. I do not know if they wish to harm us, or help us, truly.
They pulled some of us to save the Blight, you know.
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If the Blight had taken all of the islands and all of the people, what would that Aetos have had to their name, even if they survived?
It could merely have been self-interest, through and through.
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Which matters more, Hayame? The intent, or the act? Does one doing something Good become lessened if one does it for self-serving reasons?
How much must one be motivated by others, for it to be considered otherwise?
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It is not a matter of more or less.
I have done plenty good in this place, and I am no hero, because [almost] all I do is to return to my home or fulfill my duty.
And Aetos-
[There's the sense of fingers curling into fists, tight and white-knuckled.]
I refuse it.
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That you would not consider them an ally if the opportunity called for it?
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[(foreshadowing…)]
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We all make allies with those whom we may not wish to, Hayame.
If one of Zenith's most loyal who had wronged you converted, would you not put aside your disagreement for the greater good?
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[... She sounds pretty confident.]
If they were one of Zenith's most loyal, then such a person has proven themselves unworthy of my trust already. I am expected to believe they simply "had a change of heart"? I am supposed to forgive them?
I will not.
Any "good" they might bring to my cause, I will find another way to obtain. One that can be counted on not to stab me in the back.
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[ She sounds... sad, actually.
For all that Akua has confidence, and stalwart belief in what she is doing... she still committed the greatest crimes of all. Tirelessly, she had worked to ingratiate herself to Catherine and her friends. Endlessly she had worked. Only to be told over, and over, and over again: that she would never convince them.
Guilt did not matter.
Redemption was unachievable. She would never be able to make up for her crimes.
She had given her life for it. Willingly.
Hearing that from Hayame stung, even if she could not explain why. ]
I do hope that it will not lead to our defeat, to be set in your ways alone.
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If she lives, she has to do so with the weight of what she has done, surely never receiving the forgiveness of those she had wronged... ]
Rest assured, Akua.
This faction has never heeded my words or what I advise. To them, [to you?] I am the cruel, heartless beast who lurks on Meridian's borders and bites when they weep and debate instead of war.
They will never make me their commander. If we are defeated, it will be in spite of my efforts.
Not because of them.
[... She sounds sad, actually.]
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You deride yourself, and it is unseemly. [ She says, and it is not harsh, but it is firm. ] Is there something wrong with being a cruel, heartless beast? Is there something wong with being the iron grip that keeps those who need it in line?
[ A flicker of something, that flash of darkness that was so cold, so vast. It was destruction and fire and hell and everything in-between. She was a villain in those words, and she was proud of it. ]
You already do what needs be done. If you were to accept those whom approve of your measures, regardless of where they come from, or who they used to be, I think you would find yourself commander of more than simply your own person. You may be a powerful warrior of your own, but you need those to watch your flank.
no subject
They deride me.
[And she hates it. Why can she not hate it?]
There is nothing wrong with those things if you are a villain.
[She doesn't say it like "villain" is an insult, because... she had been one, too. She had made herself into a villain to her own kind in order to survive and reach for dignity and a chance at personhood. But wasn't-
Wasn't she trying to redeem herself? How the hell is she supposed to do that if-]
Leave it, Akua. Set has already tried to lecture me enough this day.
[They just don't understand. (She doesn't want to understand, to have to understand.)
And she doesn't want to talk about it anymore on godsdamned communion.]
no subject
Very well.
[ She doesn't, because it should be simple — pragmatic. Hayame wanted to win, why shouldn't she? Why wouldn't she accept all of what others would offer? Any advantage?
Were their worlds not worth every sacrifice?
Though. Perhaps she had not been forced to do so yet. She wondered if she would. ]
Let us speak no more of it, then.
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... Not tonight, Akua.
[... She's so tired of not being allowed to be the rigid, unbending steel.]
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[ A cooling desert, the warmth of the sun fading, to be swallowed by the howling, cold winds of the north. Like an invasion of chill and darkness, as Calamity retreats. ]