-??-
Cyanic ignited eyes stared up at the ceiling above as the foreigner laid in bed; mostly nude and wrapped up within the confines of her blanket…yet…she could neither truly feel the comfort nor the warmth…even though…she could feel such…the experience was flat and numb, nevertheless. Her mind throbbed…her eyes burned along with her muscles, bones, and limbs; she was exhausted…yet, nevertheless, her eyes remained open…her thoughts preoccupied…though by no choice of her own.
Every time…she closed her eyes and tried to fade away, all those recent happenings…would simply flash on repeat…replaying themselves over and over in her thoughts and mind…each scene of each death thoroughly engraved into her eyes; each shout, each cry, thoroughly encarved into her ears.
She could not get those denizens and their…noises…out of her mind and being; she could still hear them…their withering echoes crying out from beyond…demanding to know why she had failed…demanding to know…why she did not save them…despite the reality that she so…easily could have.
Ah…leaking out…so many things were…leaking out from those quarantine-walls which so surrounded her mind’s rotten shadow…memories and sounds and thoughts and realizations…
Indeed…this was always the pattern…wasn’t it?
Throughout most of her existence…throughout most of all of their existences…they never really were able to save a single one…in any proper and true sense.
Yet, nevertheless, they had always continued trying and trying…relentlessly…always expecting a different result each and every time…even though…
No…they really did not try, did they? Maybe…that was it…they all had expected the same result?…truly…maybe that was why…they all had failed so? To presume failure…only just resulted in that very same presumed failure…a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’, thus it was called…
She sighed…what was she even doing anymore? She had no idea…whatsoever…nothing made sense...nothing had made sense for so…so long…
Yet…all she could do now…was simply…let her mind fade away…into slumber’s obscurity as her eyes…finally…after a time untold of being so wide-open…began to wither; slowly but surely…they closed shut.
Yet…so many lingering things continued…to infest her aged rotting mind; once again, those quarantine-walls which so kept her mind’s shadow at bay…were beginning to crack. The shadow was leaking out, infecting as it dragged her mind and essence into that very abyss…from which she always so desperately tried to escape.
Yet, like the pull of a singularity passed the point of darkness,
There is no true escape, only a single converging point of certain inevitability
-|||-
“Oh hello, you! Nilia! It has been a few days longer than I expected!” so greeted with charming enthusiasm that same receptionist as always, observing the foreigner stumble in at the same usual early-morning time…being dragged along with her…a filled heavy sack of turquoise glow-crystals.
“I greet you” the foreigner replied as she dragged the sack all the way over to the main counter area, tossing it right over and right next to the standing receptionist; “the first of the…sacks…I have the other, also” she remarked.
“Ah, I see, so you…were collecting both targets at the same time, then? I mean…it is glow-stones, so same location…so that does make sense…but…” the receptionist replied…before her eyes looked…straight at the stuffed sack of 60 turquois glow-crystals…realizing; “All…two quests in one single…wow, you really are…stronger than you…look…huh” she murmured.
“Not truly, it is a simple ‘skill’ of me…and my arms greatly hurt…I think” the foreigner replied …rather flatly, slight cyanic snow-dusty wisps…emanating, ever-barely visible, from her arms and skin. She promptly departed away, silently, before any response could be made.
The receptionist immediately stared as the foreigner so…abruptly left in such away…tilting her head; “Huh…?” her breaths mumbled out…confused somewhat…for indeed, something felt off about the foreigner this day, more so than usual; she was starting to pick-up on it.
Time passed before the Guild hall’s doors once again sprung wide-open as the foreigner came stumbling on in…dragging yet another stuffed sack of now…58 magenta glow-crystals. “I have come back” she announced.
She dragged this new sack to the counter in kind…before quickly lifting and tossing it right over…each individual cell in her arm muscles complaining with angst as she did so, kept only alive and well due to her essence’s automated repair protocols.
“Uhm…welcome back?” the receptionist greeted…as she stared at the second utterly stuffed stack…before returning her attention to the foreigner now standing before her; “I see that you did this…by yourself this time…what happened to…that wagoneer who was helping you?” she inquired, curious.
The foreigner stared with silence…before looking down and away…contemplating, before looking back; “He is gone; no longer here” she stated, rather matter-of-factly.
“Oh…?? Really now?” the receptionist replied in a blurt, rather surprised to hear; “oh Gods’ sacred, well someone is not going to like that news…not at all…especially since there was not even a goodbye” she murmured somewhat quietly to herself. “Well, where did he go, then? He seemed very eager to help you finish these quests, so I am…a bit confused” she inquired and remarked.
The foreigner tilted her head, contemplating; “…we had the…disagreement…and…I also…put him in the bad danger and so…he went to the better place than here, or that is…what he said to me…before leaving” she replied…still rather matter-of-factly…albeit evasively.
“…” The receptionist stared…rather blankly…“Huh? So…wait…because of some disagreement and endangerment…while helping with a well-known danger-filled profession…he ditched you?…really?” she inquired, bewildered somewhat…in mind, seemingly.
The foreigner simply nodded; “Yes.” she replied straightly and with no ambiguity in voice.
“Huh…and here I thought he was a more of a pleasant and courteous man…pfft, I guess men truly are like that sometimes…without any regard for the struggles of a lady…hegh” she remarked…perhaps somewhat…projectingly so.
The foreigner, silent, simply and with rather the speed, took out the two quest-sheets from her backpack, placing each onto the counter; “Here” she said with flat affect, sliding the sheets to the receptionist’s end.
“Oh…right! Of course! Wow, look at you, not having to be prompted by me this time!” the receptionist replied and remarked…teasingly but clearly cordially.
“You do the coin thing; I am going to go to the board, if that is allowed” the foreigner stated as she tossed her coin-pouch onto the counter before promptly making way straight for that quest-board, without even waiting…for any explicit approval.
“Yeah…sure…that is…fine, I suppose…hmm…” the receptionist…replied…somewhat mumbily; indeed…even though the foreigner was never one to be easily read…something really did not seem right at all.
Though, regardless, the receptionist focused on her tasks at hand. She quickly stamped the two quest-sheets for completion…taking out that ever-thick quest identification registrar…and doing same in kind…before promptly beginning the process of reward dispensing.
She prepared a total amount of 1,516 silvers, which were almost evenly split between 15 golds and 16 silvers, placing the prepared columns of stacked coins into the foreigner’s coin-pouch before tying it all up.
The foreigner returned shortly after, with two new quest-sheets in hand, which she hastily placed onto the counter, sliding each to the receptionist.
“Welcome back! And here is your…provided reward” the receptionist said…somewhat lowly as she attempted to retain her charm despite the disconcert, handing the coin-pouch, which the foreigner immediately accepted and swiftly affixed to her carry-belt.
“…oh, rightly, I give…the thanks to you” the foreigner thanked…after rather the delay.
“No…problem” the receptionist replied…somewhat awkwardly…before turning her attention to the quests now on counter.
The first one immediately caught her eyes with no surprise, she sighed; “Of course, straight to the…same exact one…” she remarked with desensitized breaths before promptly stamping without any hesitating thoughts. Assuming the next quest was just going to be just another copy as always, she immediately stamped it in kind…and then looked at it.
“…” her mind immediately blanked out…as realization too hold; “…w-w-wait! Hold! This is one…this one is different!” she remarked in slight panic, having already provided her stamp.
“Yes” the foreigner replied rather bluntly, “it is different”.
The receptionist stared at her…and then at the quest…“This is a…minor glow-golem bounty quest…Steel-ranked, are you…serious?? While…I understand that you have been…having a great time with those glow-spiders but these golems are completely differe—” the receptionist was explaining, but “And?” the foreigner began to interject indifferently, “I can handle it, most likely…and it is in the same cave as the glow-crystals, so the overlap…makes more of the efficiency”.
The receptionist stared…with somewhat bewildered eyes…her heart racing with tension; truly, out all the times she had betrayed her procedural diligence with a deference to her expected assumptions…ugh; “Next time, tell me in advance if you are going to…ugh—I am so…ugh” the receptionist remarked in sudden irritation, pinching at her forehead. She sighed; “Fine, I trust you to come back alive…just, do not test me like this again…please” she said…begrudgingly.
The foreigner simply nodded, not bothering with pointing out the fact that the receptionist was the one who had not bothered to even inspect before stamping. She immediately attempted to slide the stamped quest-sheets off the counter, but the receptionist immediately took them from her.
“Hold hold! Goodness, patience! I have to actually…sigh…mark their quest-codes with your name…” she stated…somewhat irritated, before she once again opened that large registrar and began to look up these quests’ unique identifier codes…writing the foreigner’s name next to each.
“There, now they are officially yours” the receptionist stated as she closed the quest registrar book and plopped it right back into its usual spot.
“I give thanks…” the foreigner thanked…though rather hollowly, before she finally took the quest-sheets, shoving them into her backpack. She waved a simple goodbye before she began to make way to leave without any delay; “I will take the leave and I will come back when done” she stated with a wave.
The receptionist…staring with…worried eyes, reached her arm out; “Wait!” she called out, the foreigner immediately halting as she turned back around, staring. “…N-Nilia…are…are you doing…alright? I mean…you always kind of came off as distant but…not this distant and cold…and I mean…we all have our bad lowly days so…just tell me…what is…with you today? You clearly are…not your…usual self” she inquired…concerned and disconcerted.
The foreigner stared, tilting her head somewhat…rather confused about what this sudden affair was all about, for she was no different than her ‘usual’. Yet then…she suddenly realized…oh…right…she had forgotten to don her charming smile…
She had not smiled this entire time…and in fact…she had forgotten to don any affect at all. Her demeanor…her half-masked face…her voice…they had all been hollow, flat, and empty…not filled with anything to contextualize her words and expressions.
Having realized…she took a deep sighing breath, as her lungs…in-took rather the air; she lightly shook her head somewhat…gently stroking her own cheeks in kind, relaxing her muscles and mind.
“Do not worry of me!” the foreigner finally replied as her usual pleasantry and charm were so suddenly, once again, donned in her voice and face; “I am well and fine…I am simply…tired today; I will be sure to return alive, so…do not be scared and worried, for I know…I…know, what I am doing; trust me” she said in full and with rather the smile…yet her exhausted and bagged mask-obscured eyes remained so very frigid and empty in absolute.
The receptionist…staring…sighed deeply; “Well…if…you insist, and yes, please…do come back alive…seriously, do not become so up your head…” she replied, her voice…normal and cordial, but her mind remained…unconvinced; in fact, that sudden shift from such apparent empty flatness to such apparent charming pleasantry…was rather…uncanny…in more ways than not.
The foreigner smiled a pleasant feinting smile as she did a gracious bow; “I will take the leave then, if that is all” she said again before turning back around and began to depart away. As soon as she stepped out back into the world and city beyond…her smile instantly faded, her face becoming flat and devoid of affect; so uncomfortable and unnatural…such a ‘warm’ smile was…every moment of doing it made her feel sick…she hated it, even if she could not comprehend such feelings…she hated it, even if she did not even know…why.
The receptionist, seeing the foreigner depart away, sighed yet again…as the Guild hall’s doors came tumbling shut; “…sometimes sweet could be sour on the inside…or maybe sweet becomes sour…I do not know…but I hope she is fine in mind…something bad had clearly happened…” she remarked to herself somewhat quietly.
Suddenly, a door behind popped open as the receptionist’s peer finally returned from…whatever it was she had been so doing this entire time.
“…” The peer stared…rather blankly…as she lingered at the opened door, her perceptive eyes immediately noticing; “…well, you look mopey” she remarked blankly as she finally the shut the door behind…and made her return.
“You are finally back from your kitchen adventure” the receptionist replied in equal blank kind, before sighing; “and…it’s nothing, Nilia just stopped by, that was all”.
Her peer stared at her…blanker than before; “And you did not immediately fetch me!” she lambasted with a pucker in cheek; “ughh…and here I stood hoping to speak to that handsome wagon-man again…pfft” she remarked with an even greater lamenting pucker; “you know how hard it is to find such a rugged-looking man like that who isn’t some tail-slobbering adventurer or wannabe-warrior? Pfft!” she added and sighed; “Oh well…maybe the next time…and speaking of the next time…you’ll be busy alright, mhm”.
The receptionist, however, immediately tensed up…awkwardly glancing from the corner of her eyes at her peer next and near, evading only to refocus…only to evade…yet only to refocus.
Her peer, noticing this…rather peculiar behavior, stared ever-more blankly with a slight tilt to the head; “…wha..what? What is it? Why are you doing…that?” she inquired with unamused eyes.
The receptionist straightened into a frozen still, clearly nervous and anxious, odd for someone usually more of the calm sort. She swiftly ahemed; “…yes…uhm, well you see, about seeing that…man again…uhm…so Nilia…had informed me…that…uhm so—ahem…I regret to inform you that…” thus began to timidly explain…the receptionist to her listening peer…and supervising other, who ultimately took the news…rather indifferently, for such was merely life.
