After all they endured; holding fast to hope even in the darkest of days, watching one another slowly torn apart before their very eyes, offered only brief moments of reprieve to slowly rebuild before the cycle began anew. Day and time lost its meaning and the only constant was uncertainty of who would be next. The crux of the problem is that it was always worse to be the one who watched. To be incapable of doing anything to ease the pain for someone they cared about.
Now...that would come to an end. One final act that was clearly intended to remove them from the gameboard entirely. Himeka didn't know if she'd ever felt so low. The hope they'd clung to had kept them afloat only to carry them to this moment--watching Abel burn is not something she wants to see, but she doesn't want the last thing she sees to be an enemy...to see the joy of the gathered crowds.
Maybe. Maybe they can just be strong for a little while longer. Until the last.
Then a light breaks through the darkness. In the sky is a large formidable dragon of a kind she'd never seen nor heard of in this world. And before them...allies, friends! The selfsame people that Abel and Himeka had been thinking of when they would speak of what they would do once they escaped, who they would meet again.
Yanked back up from the bottom of the well, her heart beasts wildly in her chest. Bound to the stakes as they are, Himeka tries her bonds as she looks across the platform towards Abel, eyes wide. She speaks of hope renewed without uttering a word.
They're here for us!
But they are not alone. Father Paul stands with them, a devout figure as he has always been. ]
the pyre; abel, himeka, & paul
After all they endured; holding fast to hope even in the darkest of days, watching one another slowly torn apart before their very eyes, offered only brief moments of reprieve to slowly rebuild before the cycle began anew. Day and time lost its meaning and the only constant was uncertainty of who would be next. The crux of the problem is that it was always worse to be the one who watched. To be incapable of doing anything to ease the pain for someone they cared about.
Now...that would come to an end. One final act that was clearly intended to remove them from the gameboard entirely. Himeka didn't know if she'd ever felt so low. The hope they'd clung to had kept them afloat only to carry them to this moment--watching Abel burn is not something she wants to see, but she doesn't want the last thing she sees to be an enemy...to see the joy of the gathered crowds.
Maybe. Maybe they can just be strong for a little while longer. Until the last.
Then a light breaks through the darkness. In the sky is a large formidable dragon of a kind she'd never seen nor heard of in this world. And before them...allies, friends! The selfsame people that Abel and Himeka had been thinking of when they would speak of what they would do once they escaped, who they would meet again.
Yanked back up from the bottom of the well, her heart beasts wildly in her chest. Bound to the stakes as they are, Himeka tries her bonds as she looks across the platform towards Abel, eyes wide. She speaks of hope renewed without uttering a word.
They're here for us!
But they are not alone. Father Paul stands with them, a devout figure as he has always been. ]
...Father Paul, you can put an end to this now!