"Our leader is trapped in an underground cell, jailed by Tieze of the East herself."
Their voices resonated with Lyn as she found herself in a farther section of the sandy city, carving a hidden path underneath a nearby sewage manhole with her bandit blade. After dropping through, Lyn angled her elongated arm and clenched her right fist, breaking through a sturdy section of the sewage walls. Massive spews of unkempt and foul water blasted Lyn's unphased face, revealing a weakened section of an underground jail.
"We've narrowed a chokepoint underground where the walls of the prison are more fragile than others. With your strength, you should be able to break your way through and drill a hidden passage inside."
Lyn allowed all of the water to pass before grasping both sides of the wall where she punched through. She allowed her supernatural strength to tear through it easily, revealing a narrow rusted tunnel available for her to crawl through. She stepped inside, unphased by the rotting bones and corpses of rats, flies, or any other unspeakable repulsive terror within. Signs of the Rot were apparent. The tunnel was decorated with their acidic saliva splattered across the ground, which was potent enough to damage Lyn's skin and body frame.
"Unfortunately, the Rot has transpired underneath. But knowing your strength, you should be able to deal with them without a single issue."
After rushing through a section of the hidden tunnel, hunched back infected Rots appeared to block Lyn's path. Their mottled and pus-filled skin were merged with numerous rat corpses, held together by the bones of the deceased. They rushed towards Lyn as she sliced her way through with extra care of their acidic tongues.
"Men used to guard this prison. Now the monsters do it for them."
Lyn pierced through a Rot's corpse, pushing herself out of their infectious and burning blood. When a single drop landed on Lyn's skin, she clenched her teeth to bare the pain while focused on another weakened Rot. She snatched one of the final Rot's arm and yanked it off before sending a devastating killing blow on its tongue, shredding it off with her elegant combat style.
"The only way you'll be able to find her is to locate their nest. They've kept our leader's cell on high security, so be careful."
After carving her path toward the end of the tunnel, Lyn found herself in a darkened section of the prison. Chained Rot patrolled the jail, feasting on corpses of resistance members and criminals alike. Their bodies were riddled with tendrils that the Rot's parasitic influence transpired upon them. No one was safe, but that didn't matter anymore.
Lyn watched as prisoner corpses arose from the dead, approaching her with the intent to feast. Her fearless and robotic demeanor was her greatest ally, for nothing penetrated her indominable will for Alfaic. She decapitated them with ease, pushing several of them back as soon as they began to outnumber her.
"We've heard that the infectious influence spreads down below. So you'll need to manage your distance between the prisoners. The thought of those poor souls down there, all reanimated; an unsightly and twisted thing to behold."
After shutting a large section of the prison by closing an iron cell, Lyn left the reanimated Rots hungry without any flesh to dine upon. She entered the cafeteria section of the prison hidden from sight, seeing the reanimated rot walk free among the premise. Tables split apart from the Rots unadulterated strength. Bloodied glass shards, pipes, and shattered pieces of metal riddled through the grounds as evidence of the previous prisoners' struggle against the Rot. The inhumane method of Kaiden placing trust in the Rot to keep prisoners in line forced Lyn to harbor a slight tinge of error within her.
Lyn sped through the cafeteria after sensing a disturbing force approaching her behind. The prisoners chased after her, normal mouths agape with expanded tendrils that sought her blood. They were fast, but not as fast as Lyn's agility. After leaping through the exit from the cafeteria, Lyn began search for cell numbers, placing her hand across on the bloodied wall to sense for their leader's presence.
"Before communications went down with our previous informant, they tracked our leader down. He was a brave man. Cell Number 62 in Prison B. That's where you'll find the nest."
Lyn scanned through Prison B, finding most of the cells emptied. On her current level, which was Level 4, there were barely any of the Rots roaming around. She peered out the side of some railings, looking above to find the nest. Alas, there was a massive pulsating red globule with tendrils peering through its many holes. It was clear sign of their leader's presence from within.
She stepped on the railing and jumped from level to level, finally approaching Level 6 after ascending two flights. She placed her blade away and equipped her stowed away rifle, blasting the nest into bits. Tiny Rot larva spewed out of the nest, dumping itself all the way down into Level 1. The gun sounds rang loud and clear, leaving Lyn a sitting duck to attract all of the Rot who kept their nest safe.
On Level 4, the previous Rots who were held back by the bars in the cafeteria, broke free. Their gulps and moans for human flesh drove them toward Lyn's location, ascending several flights of stairs to search for her.
"And once you find our leader, she'll call for a passcode. When she says "The Sands of Our World," you will say, "Have Swept Away By From Time."
Lyn peeked through one of the only dimly lit cells on Level 6, revealing a hooded figure tattered with shredded cloth and dirt, appearing nearly nude among the rest of the poorest conditions in the prison. It was a woman, judging from their slender body. She lifted herself up from the ground and wrapped one of her bloodied hands around one of the cell's bars before stating quietly, "The Sands of Our World..."
"Good luck, hero."
Lyn copied her movement on a separate bar with her left hand. "Have Swept Away From Our Time." She responded correctly before opening the cell with her bare hands. She entered from within and found a section of her prison cell almost chipped away with rocks and sharpened materials. The woman took Lyn inside the section away from sight as the reanimated Rots rushed through. Both of them kept quiet as the Rots failed to detect the two of them, rushing away to find more prisoners to feast upon.
After a minute passed, Lyn and the woman returned to the main cell. The woman removed her hood, revealing a young pale face with dirtied red hair. Small cuts and blemishes from the Rots were infected upon her face, muddling her complexion with brown and pus black. Segments of her fingernails were gnawed upon without hesitation. Her skin was mottled with grime and poor maintenance, cut with the taste of death from the Rot.
"You're safe now." Lyn called. "We must leave."
"No," She said in a hushed tone, keeping them safe from the Rot. "No one must hear what we say. Not even the organization I lead."
Lyn stopped, watching the woman's uncanny gaze shift to the left in sorrow.
"I am Aema," She continued. "I know you're here to save me. But I have no intention of leaving."
"Why?" Lyn asked.
"There's nothing waiting for me out there," Aema continued. "I've been betrayed. Dishonored. Deceived. Even if I were to escape, there is no use in returning to the home that I once lived in. I pledged my life to Kaiden, and he replaced me..." She slammed her fist against the bars, leaving blood to gush down her wrists. "That scoundrel bitch!"
Lyn stood still, no words left to speak besides unveiling Aema's anger.
"Tieze of the East," She continued, turning to Lyn. "My Kaiden... Ever since she entered the palace, he's been different, and he's never like this. The cities are sinking. Lives are being lost. Including mine," Aema sat down on the cell ground, resting her back against the wall. She placed her hood back on. "I failed to stop him. This is all my fault."
Lyn sat beside her, pressing her palms together after dropping her weapons to the ground. "Who... is she?" Lyn asked.
"An absolute monster," Aema emphasized, grasping her red hair locks and nearly tearing them apart with how firmly she tightened them. "She came to the palace with the intent to seize Kaiden's affection from me. And it worked. It... worked. That bitch. I've caught onto something. She must have cast... a spell on him! My Kai... my dear Kai... how could he do this to me? How could he..."
Aema finished her rant by diving her head into her bloodied knees, silently crying her tears of anguish at Kaiden's betrayal of her. Lyn watched, indifferent to her suffering. But there was something inside her that made her raise her hand out, much like Ardine and Dorothy did. And while she ravished her broken heart into infinitesimal shreds, Lyn managed to harbor a sense of similarity between herself and Aema, despite the differences of the two.
"I know." Lyn said.
Aema continued to cry.
"I... I know." Lyn continued to say, placing her hand on Aema's shoulder. "I do."
Looking up from her anguish, Aema looked into Lyn's eyes, confused.
"It was the first person I had ever met," Lyn began. "I hadn't learned what trust was at the time. But, little by little, Blade taught me what it was like to hurt. Blade told me that it feels like a hole. A hole of eternity thinking about what we could have done to change what has happened. Because that pain is invisible."
Aema remained quiet, looking down upon her knees.
"I have been hurt, many times, over and over again. But Blade makes the pain go away. Blade gives me trust in people. Blade makes the hurt go away. Blade-"
"Makes you happy?" Aema asked.
...
...
...
What is this?
"Happy?" Lyn asked.
"Makes you smile?" Aema continued.
...
...
...
I cannot comprehend this feeling.
"Smile?" Lyn asked again.
"Strange name for a man. But this Blade must love you as I do for Kai."
...
...
...
Love me?
"Blade is..." Lyn looked down at her knees with Aema. "Blade loves me?"
"Oh, my dear," Aema arose from her depressive state and approached Lyn, grasping both of her hands. "The way you have described this man was exactly what my Kaiden was. And I cannot bear to witness him suffer any longer. I love him so much. But I cannot reach him. Even if Tieze were to perish, nothing would change. She has changed so much."
Lyn's ears drowned out Aema's voice, as she placed her hands on her stomach. A glowing breath, signaling a small rapture enveloped within her system. It was an indescribable sensation, creating rapid tinges of water within her blood, flowing down towards her toes with seraphic testimony.
The feeling was only temporary. The memories of it vanished the instant her mind connected with the soulless template her body contained. Aema's voice penetrated through, and it vanished without another glimpse.
"But I know why you're here," Aema continued. "You're here to kill him, aren't you?"
Breaking free from her disillusionment, Lyn nodded.
"I am." Lyn said.
"You mustn't," Aema seized control of Lyn's previous decision. It was the decision that she and the others around her had made all along. "You can't kill him. He can change. The Kai I know would never do this. And I can prove it to you." She kneeled in front of Lyn's body and held both of her hands tightly.
"Take my life instead. The pain is unbearable. My pain... everything I've experienced down here... for months... I cannot bear it any longer. And when you're done, I want you to kill Tieze."
"I cannot kill you," Lyn said. "There is no purpose in taking your life. My purpose is to eliminate the Lords of METIS and-"
"I thought you understood my pain," Aema interrupted. "But in the end, you're nothing but a pretender. A machine. A soulless husk."
Lyn stared into Aema's eyes before looking at the ground beside her. "You are right. I am. But you are the leader of a resistance. And you have your goal to be with him. That should not stop-"
Aema seized control of Lyn's bandit blade by the edge and impaled her own chest without hesitation. Blood seeped from her mouth as she kneeled herself up to prop her against the wall. She pushed down upon Lyn's shoulder as Lyn reached over to grab her slumped weight. Aema's chin rested against Lyn as her darkened pitted eyes gave one final message aloud.
"Now go kill that bitch." Aema spat in contempt before she collapsed to the ground, dead from her self-inflicted wound. Her body was much too weak to survive even the slightest injury. Blood seeped into Lyn's feet, causing her to stand up from their position.
There was something creeping up to Lyn, fearfully, but her own will was beating it back. What was it? She did not know, for she could not sense it any longer. But it was lingering, pulsing, deep within, wanting and needing the tiniest sliver of life to cling upon. As she looked down upon Aema's corpse, the flashing sign of the mermaid doll seized control of her vision momentarily before she reached her breaking point with her senses.
She kneeled down, covered Aema's eyes with her palm, and pressed her palm against her knees. The memories of Cethe reached her mind, causing her to act on instinct for a chance she would have never received. "Rest well." She said before retracting her hand. As she stood up and escaped from the cell, a newfound determination arose in her mind, breaking free from the temporary code that started her journey.
To kill someone she was never meant to.