Aer - Memories of Old, Part 10
As told by Auk
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Now as before, I was barricaded into the present room by spires of rocks, and the square light pillar shone before me. One shame I felt over all this was that I would be the last to see these wonderful works of architecture. Surely nobody could repair these places from their rocky destruction.
On my flight south to the Lighthouse, I passed a tablet set between a statue of the Spirit Fox and one of the Spirit Crane, near the fallen great statue of Koroku. I had missed it before, and I was not going to miss it again.
Praise the spirits of the lands: The souls shining through the Veil as pale stars and the animals walking the earth in daylight. Remember the gods that once guarded the lands: May they find a new home amidst the stars. Sing of the Great Dreamer that sleeps in Eternity: May she dream of good times forever and ever. Let a spirit kindly touch this stone: May it guide our people with the wisdom of the Priestess, then and now.
While I certainly could have encountered it on my first trip through the region, I felt it made more sense now, especially after reading the legend of the gods traveling the stars in the temple. It was almost like this tablet was here for me.
When I returned to the Settlement, I noticed that Medvin was out of his cave and sitting by the fire, and Erin was standing nearby. However, John managed to greet me first, in his usual spot just beyond the limits of the camp. “Hi again, Auk. I’m so thankful that Erin is back. I must say she was very thorough in her field trip. To think that she paid such attention to detail. So I struck a deal with her! If she promises to tell me first, she can go play along the island’s outskirts. Who knows what Erin might achieve one day? She might even become a Guardian of the outer lands in time. Or search for ancient scrolls, like your mentor.
“But I can feel the disquiet in the air, you know. With luck, these dark and strange things will go away, and the lands will find peace again. Actually, I think you’d better talk to Medvin. You two know most about what’s going on, and he told me he wants to see you.” I nodded and stepped around him, heading for Medvin first. I’d speak with the others in short order.
Medvin looked disappointed in himself, and I had a feeling that I knew why: I doubted that much I had spoken with the Caretakers about would appear in any scrolls. “I don’t have any more clues, I’m afraid,” he confirmed immediately. “The cave-in, the black rocks, Karah’s Light, temples opening up again… it’s all very vexing. You met with the last Caretaker, at least? For some reason, it feels like it’s your pilgrimage that became my most important task. Not my own.
“The world isn’t right. Snow creeps south, and animals are found dead. And you are different somehow. Like you are glowing, but not with light—more like a presence, or warmth. And yet the world itself seems to have grown colder. Karah prayed by the Lighthouse to seek her answers in the old days. It’s your turn to do the same now. I’ll meet you up there.”
Next up was Erin, who gave no preamble before chatting about where I had last found her. “It was a great adventure! You think so too, right? I was aaaall the way to the other side of the island and I discovered lots of stuff. Dad was kind of mad when I got home again. I had to promise to tell him when I want to explore.”
She paused, and the mischievous look in her eyes told me she probably wouldn’t live up to her promise. “It’s not as fun when they know I’m exploring. I am old enough to go on adventures by myself! Next time, I might take the sky boat. And go to far away places. But you can’t tell them I told you, okay?”
Her mother was just across the campfire. I didn’t have to tell her; I’m sure she heard it. Speaking of whom, I made my way over for my last chat. “Hi, Auk! I am glad you are back. So you visited the last Caretaker?” I nodded. “You are truly amazing. Did you know, Erin went on an expedition. I knew she would. Call it a mother’s intuition. Or influence, I guess,” she chuckled. “I hope she will take after you as well. If we are lucky enough to be around for so long in the first place.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, dread evident in every movement. “Something is wrong. I feel it. Like the world holds its breath. Talk to Medvin about what happened at the last Caretaker. See if he can make sense of everything.”
I moved back around to Medvin, but he shook his head at me. “I can’t help you more. Go to the Lighthouse and seek answers. I’ll meet you there.” With nothing else to do, up I went.
The path to the Lighthouse wrapped around from the Settlement to the west and was peppered with its own ruins, though these more seemed to be stout walls in the same architecture as that of the nearby Onn. Birch trees grew in the gaps, and butterflies flitted about nearby. The Lighthouse itself floated in the air above its base, which was a hexagon awfully similar to the one I found at the Creator’s Shrine. However, there were a few key differences. One was that the sections with the slants and stairs were raised above the ground a little higher, showing a brightly-glowing diamond within the slopes. At the end of each slope was a separated triangle with an orange trim around the edges, and a raised hexagonal section in the center—which housed the triangular pillars, rather than them being at the edges of the platform—had a glowing rim where it met the platform upon which it stood. And on top, in the middle of the raised section, were images of the three Keys. I took a closer look, aligning my map and compass with the images before me.
The first two keys pointed directly towards where they were found. And the third was exactly opposite its direction, perhaps to complete the triangle rather than form an unbalanced pattern, but it was an indicator all the same.
I stepped back and moved my right hand to my breast, then thrust it forward, summoning out the three fragments of power with which I had been bestowed. They came together before me, rejoining to form a complete and perfect medallion. The pattern within resembled the many symbols I had come across on my pilgrimage: a downward-facing triangle in the center, with a smaller, upward facing one above it, and rays of the sun around the top, aiming towards a bit of text. Below the triangles were two sets of arcs like the moon symbol within the outline of half of a gear, and three more dots appeared at the bottom. And the top and bottom halves were marked separate by two triangles on the sides. The symbols of the keys glowed, and I looked upwards to the Lighthouse itself, where a brilliant beam of light now shone straight towards where I knew the Creator’s Shrine to be.
I turned around to see my friends all standing behind me, and moved to speak with each in turn, starting with John.
“Goodbye for now, Auk. I hope to see you soon again. Blessing be with you, young pilgrim.”
“I am not quite sure what’s happening, but I think this is all meant for you, Auk,” Daina said. “Follow the beam to the Creator’s Shrine.”
I skipped over Medvin to leave him for last, moving to Erin, furthest to my right. “Auk, what’s happening? Where are you going? Promise to come back! You will have to tell me everything about it!” I smiled, but I couldn’t promise that. I had no idea what lay ahead.
“Auk! Are you all right, child? This is eerily similar to the text I translated: ‘The Lighthouse shone a brilliant beam…’” … And that was what started the Great Divide, I remember. “At least it’s not another Divide. What would we even call it? The Greater Divide? I don’t think your pilgrimage ends here, I’m afraid. Even though you have already gone further than all before you. Whatever it is that you will face at the end of this path, I am confident that you will, as always, come home safely, full of interesting news. You have found out so much. So much I never would have dreamed of understanding of the Ancients and our past.
“Go on now. Find out what lies at the end of this light beam. And Auk, please be careful.” I reassured him, then flew away.
The door to the Creator’s Shrine had opened for me, and so I entered right away. However, unlike the blue skies immediately outside, the entire place was dark, with a green fog… like in my visions. I felt uneasy but made my way further inside anyway. And then a noise like that of my visions echoed off the walls, and I stumbled, and dropped Karah’s Light. And fainted.
I don’t know how long I was out, but I felt myself lifted into the air by a magic not my own. Groggily, I looked around, and I spotted a flickering ball of fire. And Karah’s Lantern had gone out behind me. The ball dropped me to my feet and flew ahead, deeper into the Shrine, so I followed. At a narrow section of stone above the badly collapsed and crumbling floor, it stopped, and I did as well.
“Auk, wait.” I blinked. The voice was coming from the orb of flame. “Listen to me,” it said again. “Do you know me?”
I shook my head.
“I am Karah. Time is short, but I’ll try to explain,” she said quickly. “You are of my blood. Once, the Creator infused me with some of his light. His hope and his dreams. His power. At the time of the Great Divide. This power is yours, too, Auk. It has saved you from The Void’s touch. He is stronger here, however. I will shield you for as long as I can, but we don’t have much time. You are about to enter the prison of The Void. His prison is outside our world, and there I cannot help you at all. Follow me!”
I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but Karah was already off and flitting through the halls of the Shrine. As she passed some floating rocks, they began to glow, as in the place where I found Lifla just a short while ago. The rocks helped me to follow behind at my much slower pace than Karah’s ball of fire could move, but eventually she let me catch up again.
“Do you understand, Auk?” she asked when I was close enough to hear. “I am a memory of my old self, and now that I have left the Lantern I will soon fade away. I can only speak to you here and now. There is no turning back. This is the only chance we have. The People of the Sky closed their hearts to The Void, but it was not enough. He has almost broken free from his prison. We can’t stop him from devouring our world. Not without you. You can put an end to what was started so long ago.”
I was starting to feel like my conversation with the Spirit Bear was more important than anything else in figuring out what was going on. Was I… that fourth part?
Karah stopped one last time for me, the door to the prison barely visible through the mists ahead. “I am sorry,” she said mournfully. “There are so many things I want to tell you. So many things I would like to ask you. But we don’t have the time. These last steps are not for me to wander. It’s up to you now. It’s up to what you really are. This door leads to a realm in between our world and Eternity, and this is where you will find The Void. You must finish what the Creator started, and make whole what was shattered. I know you can do it, Auk.
“This is goodbye, I’m afraid. I will watch over you with all the might I have left in me. I believe in you.”
Karah moved forward towards the next door more slowly than before, illuminating its surface that showed the diamond with wings from not so long ago. She stopped, and moved closer, and I reached out my right hand, putting it into the flames. She did not burn, but was a soothing warmth. And then the glow faded a little, and flowed into my forearm, leaving me with a lasting light even among the green gloom. And the door opened, and I entered it.
The interior was not unlike the exterior, though slightly less crumbled and more with rocks that flowed up the supporting pillars along the hall almost like growths of moss. A short walk downwards led me to an enormous bridge, its sides marked by a guard and four huge pillars of a similar type to the ones before, just three times as wide. The bridge was black and trimmed with orange, and now I could see flecks of something black flowing upwards, like a malicious dust I had disturbed. And beyond the bridge, the gloom flowed in closer, thick and heavy and I could no longer see my path more than a few feet ahead.
My pace slowed. I cautiously crept forward, not knowing the terrain upon which I walked. And when I stopped, I heard the noise of The Void.
It had appeared behind me, from where I was sure the bridge had stood, though no evidence of it now existed. The head was the triangle I knew so well, but at the much, much closer distance at which it was rising, I could see a pattern atop it of crisscrossing lines, as though it had instead once been a piece of a work of art. And up rose an enormous body, dwarfing me entirely, wings and arms stretching out to its sides. The center of the body was nothing at all, just emptiness, and when the bridge of its waist was visible, it swung its left arm back, then forward as to smack me across the room—and it bounced off my right arm.
Bounced?
The Void looked at its hand, as surprised as I was. The back of said hand now glowed, and as I watched, a bracer of glowing glyphs spread down its forearm to match my own. Slowly, slowly, it reached forward again with the same arm, but not with the violence of before. It was… curious? And now I understood my task.
As The Void’s closest finger neared me, I reached out with my own glowing arm, and touched it, and everything went white.
And that’s it! (There’s nothing more in the game, either. The ending is up to you to determine, I suppose.) Thank you so much for joining me on this journey! It was much longer than I expected, but I feel like I improved for it. Also, I definitely made more connections in what the story was telling me this time around, since I actually had to read and understand things. I think I mentally skimmed the game when I played.
Now, time for you to guess how long this game was. Hint: this series was 26,220 words, and a picture is worth a thousand words. So how much is video?
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Time’s up! Did you guess… four hours? That’s all there is! I finished this game in a single sitting, and it was pretty much the shortest game I’ve ever streamed. That’s a big part of why I picked it. I figured I could write the whole thing in a week or two and upload it right away! Boy, was I wrong, and I’m not totally sure I’ll do this again, now that I know this. If I do, you can be sure I’ll be at it for even longer. I’ll get back to doing my own fiction for a while. This was a lot of work!
Oh, and if you want to watch the video of my playthrough, here it is. You might notice some additional text and descriptions here and there throughout this story that weren’t in the video. I didn’t make them up! I still have the game, so I played a little when I noticed that I missed something.