Capítulo 1952: 182
My name is Pyrrha Nikos. I am alone, in a manner of speaking.
I don't know how long I've been wandering, but without the help of my faithful companion Juniper, I'd have likely gone insane by now. Thankfully, Juniper has been a great help to me, though she can't seem to speak like a majority of the Afterans.
I wonder why.
Maybe she can speak and just delights in pretending that she can't. Regardless.
I suppose this all started about… almost a hundred years ago now by my reckoning? The flow of time in the Ever After is very strange.
Regardless.
The way it all happened was… simple, I suppose. We all fought bravely in Atlas, but Jaune, despite his strides and growth as a fighter, still wasn't any match against the assassins that ganged up on him. I suspect the fact that his Aura pool is so large was the only reason why he survived the onslaught that forced him over the edge of the meadow that protected the relic.
…
Only now do I suddenly realize that, after so long, Jaune's joke about falling off a cliff before we all left ended up being true.
He really did fall off a cliff.
He's going to laugh so hard when we reunite.
Ahem.
Once Jaune fell, the rest of us naturally went down only a short moment later- Ren was the first to react, using his grapples and speed to dive over the edge and catch Jaune, the combination of my panicked blast of Polarity and Ren's Stormflower hooks allowing us to halt his fall and start bringing him back onto the platform. The best laid plans go awry though… I was too distracted. I was thrown in soon after Jaune and Ren and Nora tried to catch us and… well. It didn't work out very well, obviously. It turns out the thrust of her Magnhild Rocket isn't made to handle four bodies riding at once and with the situation in the relic room becoming untenable… we couldn't make it back up to assist. I hope they did okay up there, but… as for Team JNPR…
We all fell into the abyss and woke up on the shores of the Ever After- though we didn't know where we were at first.
It started simple. We found each other there on the shoreline, dried off as best as we could with our weapons, did some maintenance with what little we had, and…
We went to go find shelter and food.
We found… a tree instead. Not that tree. Not the Tree, but a tree that grew fruits like clocks. As soon as we plucked one… time began reversing. And we all began to fall back in time as well.
One by one, we all vanished. Nora, then Ren. Then Jaune.
I think Jaune got sent back the farthest.
There's been rumors of a Rusted Knight floating around, but I've never been able to find him or the other two. I can only assume that Ren became the Lotus Rogue and Nora became the Wild Valkyrie.
As it was… when I finally got broken out of the reversing time, I was… lost. Adrift. I wandered for ages doing… exactly what Jaune was likely to have done- but I think from further afield. As I recall, the Rusted Knight was found in the southern quadrants of the Ever After, and though I searched for ages… I never found him. I must have found my way to the western quadrants though, and I have since gotten… stuck , for lack of a better word. I've yet to find passage back to the southern quadrants no matter how many Acres I cross.
I think I'm being kept here for a reason- for narrative convention, for lack of a better word. This world works strangely, and it seems like telling stories is the most important part of everything.
Ahem.
Once I began wandering the western quadrants, I found Juniper rather quickly- the jackalope steed with horns like gold, swift as the wind, that the Tarnished Lady rode around on her never ending quest to bring justice to the Afterans in the vast and wide open plains and grasslands of the western quadrants.
And so it was that I did.
Jabberwalkers seemed to be an indelible plague in the western quadrants- no one ever spoke about how there was more than one. I wonder why. Maybe time flowed extra strangely in these parts of the Ever After. Regardless, Juniper and I journeyed far and wide, looking for the edge of the western quadrants that would lead us to the south, where Jaune likely was.
No use.
All of the bridges between acres were sealed off with thorn walls and brambles and try as I might I was never able to find a way back- not when everything I ever tried would fail to actually get there. Sometimes I would rush through an opening in the brush only to find myself on the exact opposite side of the western quadrant, sometimes I would just wake up where I'd started that day.
Still, though, I kept journeying. I helped Afterans set up their stalls in the morning, fixed broken items, helped lift heavy objects, saved Afterans that were trapped or hurt… I don't know if I made a difference. A real, big difference… but I think I made all the difference to the ones I helped and saved. Regardless. I don't think I've found myself a village like Jaune likely has by now.
The Tarnished Lady was never spoken of being someone who settled down in one place, the story only ever seemed to mention that the Tarnished Lady was always the wanderer, and that the adventuring group in question found her as she set up camp near the edge of the thickets of the impassible woods- a place that only the Curious Cat knew where to go and how to pass through the dense trees and vines and thorns and rock walls and…
Ahem.
I miss them.
I want to hold Jaune's face in my hands. I want to hug Ren. I want Nora to crush me in a hug so tight my ribs creak.
I haven't had solid physical contact from any of them for… so long. I wish they were here.
I know I'll find them again… I just don't know when. I don't know where. All of the myriad and fascinating creatures and places in the Ever After seem halfway recognizable, but I have yet to figure out if it's time yet. They don't keep track of time here the way that Remnant does.
Time is… thick. It curls and winds and latches on. You can live in the same moment forever. You can rush through weeks in an instant. My body seems to have aged some, and there's a few streaks of white in my hair now. My armor is… I've given up on trying to restore it. The Tarnish never seems to wipe off, never seems to go away no matter what I do.
I think the world itself is trying to keep me like this until the right time. Time for what, I wonder. Time for me to make it back to Remnant?
There's a story that needs to play out, and every piece has to fit exactly in the right place, it seems. I'm so dreadfully lonely.
Juniper helps, but…
I love Juniper. She's been my only stable companion for gods know how long. I wonder if I'll be able to take her back with me- I've practically raised her from a baby, after all. She's… a part of me that I don't want to let go. A reminder of my team, a reminder of the past, a reminder of the future.
…
…
I've made camp near the woods for months now.
I've been trying to keep track of things in a journal about as well as I can, but there aren't many journals around, so I've just been keeping a loose record every time I seem to feel more lucid than normal…
As time has gone on, it's become easier and easier to slip into this state of… not quite insanity, but of focus and rush, of simply performing a duty with no real care as to how and when I snap out of it. Is this how the Afterans feel? Going through the motions like automatons, reveling in the burst of pleasure and happiness they get from fulfilling a purpose?
I hope they're happy. I really, truly hope they are. Those fugue states are… terrifying to me. I'm not used to losing time like that.
Regardless.
I've been camping near the woods for as long as I can hold out from trying to fulfill that endless burning need to wander that's been stuck in my soul for gods know how long. I've been here for a few days now, and although I'm worried that I might not be in the right place or the right time, I feel like…
Something tells me…
This is the one.
That this is the time.
And…
What's that sound? Someone approaches.
Is it them?
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