Luna is standing by a festival tent in Central Square, right by the arcade. There is a flash of electric blue light as Patrice materializes before Luna. Central Square seems to be a lot more festive than usual. Many festival tents and balloons are set up all around the Square, with speakers placed all around the area. Looking up, they see large banners announcing the SOLAR ECLIPSE MUSIC FESTIVAL happening Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - an event hosted by the Agency of Arcane Affairs - Bureau of Commerce. On the banners, various bands are announced to be playing, but they're nothing you've ever heard of yourself. Considering the sheer amount of bands announced, either there are multiple stages planned throughout Capital City or this party will be nonstop to accommodate. The crescent moon's sky provides an odd serenity to the otherwise chaotic scene that is Central Square. It's super busy out there, tons of people shopping and partying as per usual. A timer above the Square counts down the time until the Eclipse reaches total coverage. It seems to be happening at 5pm local time, Monday April 8th.
"Hi there," Luna smiles to Patrice. "Ready to see what Elara's up to?"
Patrice nods, "Here's to hoping."
"So unless something's different, I should be able to teleport us into her bedroom rather easily. I set an anchor point when I was there last." Luna holds her hand out to Patrice while furrowing her eyebrows in focus. "Please take my hand." Patrice holds onto Luna's hand with her right hand. Luna snaps her fingers, but nothing happens. Unbeknownst to her, Patrice can see an odd red text above Luna, almost like a floating hologram. This text states:
ERROR. ANCHOR POINT REMOVED.
Luna growls and curses under her breath, "Wha-- what the fuck just happened? Where's my anchor point?"
Patrice looks above Luna, "Gone, it seems."
"Eh? What are you looking at? Did a bird crap on me?" Luna looks up and squints her eyes.
There is no bird crap on her.
Patrice shakes her head, "No, nothing of the like. The Anchor Point is removed, it says."
Luna looks over at Patrice, and then back up. She then shakes her head, "I don't... see that. Are you feeling o-- ugh whatever. Welp uh guess we'll have to go through Lunar District. What a pain." Luna starts walking towards the Eastern exit towards Lunar District.
"Ha."
Patrice stares at the red text, unamused, before following Luna. Eventually, they reach Ganymede Grocery, a convience store right out of the Church of the Full Moon. Upon reaching the church at the very end of the road, they see countless robed cultists walking in and out of the church, many of them hanging out or doing their daily tasks. The stained glass window in the very front spire seems to show a thick curve of yellow atop an otherwise blackened out circle. Behind this circle are various clouds. It is very similar to the current moon phase, a waning crescent moon. Judging by the sheer amount of people near the entrance of the Church, there is likely no way to enter undetected.
Alongside a strange red arrow pointing towards something the red text above Luna changes to:
"Look for another way in. Like over there."
Patrice glances up at the text and mutters "Is there another way into the Church? Like a side door or something of the kind?"
"Maybe? Wouldn't surprise me honestly. But where?" Luna is looking everywhere and finding nothing.
The arrow seems to exist in three dimensional space, despite being a hologram. As Luna turns her head, the arrow only points towards something in the distance much like an odd compass. A vague yellow glow surrounds this something. It appears to be a doorway leading inside one of the rooms in the Church. When Patrice squints further, she notices the door is unattended and no cameras exists. The red text changes to:
"I want to help. Please do not tell Luna about me. These messages are for your eyes only."
Patrice raises an eyebrow towards the text.
"I promise I will explain more soon. Just trust me okay? Call me... Error."
Patrice nods. "Think I just spotted an open door."
Luna looks up at Patrice with a smile, "Wait really? And here I am the one with darksight. Lead the way." The arrow once again points towards the secret entrance and the glow, one only Patrice can see, strengthens. When they arrive at the glow, Luna now notices the door. "Whoa, cool! You're the best Patrice!" Upon opening the door, it leads into the Library of the Full Moon. Massive stacks and shelves of books from all sorts of places and times can be found in here. The library, unfortunately, isn't empty, but there are tons of places to hide from wandering eyes. Luna is in awe from the sheer amount of knowledge stored here, her eyes glowing a deeper blue than usual and a wide smile on her face.
“Welcome to the Library of the Full Moon. And I am glad that entrance worked. It’s super difficult to glitch entrances like this. I recommend finding a place to hide."
They find a place to hide and with some surprisingly good RNG, they’re able to make their way towards the exit of the busy library undetected. Near the end of their journey, they overhear two FMS cultists’ chat.
Cultist A - "So did you hear? The Leader's daughter killed her father?"
Cultist B - "What seriously? No wonder she always looks awful."
Cultist A - "Yeah I feel bad for Elara, but that's what she gets. She gets a one way trip to this shit hole. Wait, fuck."
Cultist B - "Artemis is over there! Are you insane???"
Cultist A - "Right. This church is very very nice. I am happy to be part of this family... even if they're a bit psycho..."
[Cultist B chuckles as the two walk on.]
Afterwards, they escape the library narrowly avoiding Lunar ADMIN Artemis’s line of sight and begin heading up the stairs towards Elara’s bedroom in the spire. Upon reaching the top, they find the door into her bedroom wide open. Tears threaten to drop from Luna's eyes. "Gotta be strong." Then Luna enters the bedroom.
"Already doesn't look great." Patrice takes out the pocket knife and follows Luna.
On a table near the open window, they see three items: the broken infinity friendship bracelet that glows pink, a giraffe shaped plushie with a light blinking red on its snoot, and a handwritten letter. The writing is easily legible and readable. Luna's infinity bracelet glows blue while near the table. She doesn't know what to do, so instead she goes up to one of the plushies, the large shark and just hugs it while crying quietly.
Patrice closes the door. She walks over to the table, and starts reading the letter.
It reads:
Ml8WWBKZ79s - Elara’s Lament
|
Dear Luna, I wanted to protect Solaire and FMS from the tragedy coming on the 8th, but instead I believe I've made everything worse. My birth father returned to the picture. As you can probably guess, he never died. In fact, I was gaslit for most of my life into believing I murdered him with my Magic, a lie told to me by Tsukuyomi and Sol. This was something that I couldn't fight from. Point is. I'm sorry. Even if we're not sisters by blood or last name, I still consider you two as my family. You've been there for me. I'm still fighting The End even if... I'm part of it. Dad wants this to be a family affair, but I don't want any part of it, especially considering your brother is back. Fuck Chandra. FUCK. CHANDRA. TO THE MANY HELLS BELOW. Gods. Heh. Gods that felt good to write. Anyway, uh. Don't come looking for me. I can't have them know you know. Even if... Chandra, being the absolute fucking cunt he is, probably knows by now. Look, I’ll fight him off. I'll stop him. And I'll stop dad. Even if it means killing them for real. Right before I go, I do have a two pieces of information for you. 1. I was the one who leaked the transmission. Do you see Renge over there, the giraffe plushie? Press the flashing button on his snoot, it'll decrypt the whole transmission for you. Why do you think I carry my plushies everywhere I go Luna? <3 2. My father's name. I... can't tell you his first name. But I can tell you my real last name shares with his. Estelle. You might be able to solve a lot more with this. I know you can do it Luna. And if you can't, you have a bunch of really fucking smart friends who I ***KNOW*** can! Lean on them. They won't let you down. Last thing before I sign off, tell Riri that I love her heavily as a friend. And that I'm watching over her. No matter what. No matter what happens, a part of me will always be there for her. Shit. Right I gotta go. Peace Luna and anyone else reading this, like that Patrice lady. She's cool. With love, your sister from another mister, |
Patrice puts the letter away in her pocket and hands the giraffe plushie to the crying Luna. “Luna, here.” She presses the snoot and a blinding white light engulfs the entire room as Luna screams from the sheer pain of her memories being unlocked. Luna white-knuckle grips Elara’s bedding and parts of her face, causing her to accidentally cut herself on the cheek.
[Memory Archives]
ALAIS - MENTAL LOCK - UNLOCKED. IDENTITY OF THE END - CLEAR! PROCESSING.
Krystal - Wait. The message. it was completely unlocked. Wait. The Transmission was the Mental Lock???
After a few minutes, the light dies down and the red text changes to:
“As I had hoped. Mental Lock - ‘Identity of THE END’ was unlocked. Please stay by her side Patrice. These are extremely painful occurances.”
Patrice glares at the text, finding the sentiment painfully obvious.
"S-Sorry. I guess the screaming made that obvious. Look, I'm... used to dealing with people who need the obvious pointed out to them. Being a Creature of Legend is uh. Exhausting sometimes."
Afterwards, Luna gets up with a slight smile on her face. This smile is quickly transformed to fear as extremely loud pounding on the locked spire door is heard, as well as a woman’s shrill voice. "ELARA! OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR OR SO HELP ME TO THE GODS ABOVE YOU WILL BE ARRESTED FOR THE MURDER OF YOUR FATHER!!! DO NOT FUCKING TEST ME!" Luna quickly grabs the shark plushie, Renge the giraffe, and Elara’s broken pendant. They then disappear right as Tsukuyomi manages to bust down the door. “SHE ESCAPED!”
Luna and Patrice make it back outside. They are in front of the arcade. A disco ball seems to be spinning and a song is playing. People aren't dancing, as it is rather late even for Central Square, but the music doesn't stop. "Fucking hell. That was not fun. I don't like my creator." Luna drops to her knees.
Patrice nods and kneels down next to Luna, "No, I get ya. Any bigger and it's gonna be a red blanket."
"Indeed." Luna sighs while catching her breath.
"Crimson. Look, I'll make sure to make it up to you Patrice. I promise I'll reveal myself after the Eclipse. And I don't break those, as is my creed. I’ll see you all soon.” The red text disappears. As soon as Error leaves, the song playing changes to something a bit more upbeat though something about the lyrics seem strange. Young Girl A Luna picks herself up. “Well I gotta get back before Hinata thinks I died again. I’ll talk to you soon. Thank you for all of the help with my Mental Locks.” The two of them then disappear heading back to their respective Worlds.