Ranbu no Izayoi
&
Eve “Grayscale”
The next morning, Izayoi awoke before dawn, quietly creeping out of camp. She moved with purpose past Eve, who had been saddled with last watch, back in the direction of Atsu.
Several minutes away from camp, Izayoi would eventually be found kneeling before two small, shabby headstones on the outskirts of the village, lighting incense as she murmured softly.
”I found her, Isshin. She was here.” She said to the first, slightly larger headstone.
”You will be avenged, love. You would not want me to, but there is nothing left. She was looking for me. I brought this calamity down upon you, our daughter, and the entire village. All I can do to make up for it is to bring myself to ruin once more to deliver justice for you.” Izayoi ran a hand across the grave marker, bowing her head before facing the second one.
”Suzume…I wish you nothing but the best at the Goddess’s side. Be a good girl for Father. Mother…” She choked back a sob.
”Mother shan’t be joining you for some time. Or ever, I fear.”---
Dinner was... pleasant, of course, the food tasted appetizing, fortunately, Eve still had enough Sollan parts in her to be able to enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. Still, if she was traveling alone, she wouldn't even have second thoughts about indulging herself, but now that she had no less than eight other companions - all whom needed these sustenance to live - the Pseudolon couldn't fully suppress her discontent at being forced to waste a portion for herself.
Speaking of such peculiarities, unless she was exhausted or afflicted with some kind of malady, her body wouldn't demand sleep. Circadian rhythms were an alien concept for the chimera and she often made full use of this quirk via expediting her solo travel by camping as sporadically as possible or, when traveling with others, be the designated nightwatch unless someone else insisted to take their turn for one reason or another.
Right now, she was among those assigned to provide overwatch as the sun began to rise in Atsu. Being awake, she undoubtedly noticed the taller Mystrel of the group separating herself from the party. What was her purpose here?
"..." How... curious.
...and that was how the albino black mage found herself observing Izayoi performing her mourning rituals.
---
Izayoi’s ears twitched. She heard the rustling of grass. Footsteps. Someone was watching. Her sword was already partway out of its sheath by the time she turned to see who. Ah. The horned girl.
She gave Eve an unamused stare, sliding her blade back into the scabbard and returning to kneel before the headstones.
”This was not for you to witness.” Izayoi forced a measure of coldness in her voice, so as to cover up the sorrow. The mourning she’d never quite had the time to properly have in six months.
”Leave me to my grief.”---
Of course she'd be noticed, slight stature and muted colors could only do so much, especially when there was nothing else around her to attract the veteran warrior's well-honed instincts. It was a matter of when, not if.
"I had the notion." Now that the lizard was out of the bag, Eve had no qualms to simply start approaching the taller woman, regardless of her request, take it as 'compensation' for forcing her to waste food last night,
"..." The draconic chimera roamed her crimson gaze over the pair of gravestones,
"I never had the chance," She murmured, pausing briefly,
"To bury my mother, that is." Then Eve turned to look up at the Demoness of the Blade,
"But I did avenge her, the Valheimr responsible are no more." Another pause,
"I'll help you make them pay. The empire has destroyed enough families as it is." Eve declared, and in contrast to Izayoi's callousness-veiled sorrow, there was burning, seething
hatred just lurking underneath the black mage's fauxly detached tone.
---
The notion that someone
understood at last was of no small comfort. The girl’s utter loathing of the Valheimr was something that Izayoi could understand in turn. She didn’t turn around, but nor did she give any further demands for Eve to take her leave.
Izayoi simply stared at the gravestones in silence for several more moments before speaking again.
”My husband was a doctor. Our little girl was three years old. And the Valheimr still massacred them with the rest of the village. Most likely, they’d come for me in the first place.” A bitter, mirthless chuckle.
”Would that I hadn’t gone up the mountain to pick herbs that day. They could have killed or captured me, and everyone in Atsu wouldn’t have had to die as a result of my absence. It would have been easy for those tin soldiers, as well. I hadn’t so much as held a sword from the war’s end until then. I’d cast my blades aside, thinking I’d not need them ever again.”A deep, shuddering breath.
”Your mother. What was she like?”---
"I wouldn't put it past them to do such things." If the scumbags could justify creating a thing that should
not exist like herself, what was stopping them from massacring innocent men, women, and children just to draw out a single person? After all, both of these involved toying with lives.
"Three... now I know why you weren't surprised at my... existence. After all, children are just yet another resource for the empire to exploit.""Hmm." She acknowledged Izayoi's musing about the what could've been, but just like her mother, what's done is done, they should focus on the present, preferably by killing everyone that swore allegiance to those genocidal tyrants,
"Keep your blades, never let them go again, at least not until we behead the emperor from beyond the ocean."Speaking of her mother, it's... complicated, usually Eve would've just given a non-committal generic answer, mentioning that she was a wonderful woman or some crap like that, but it didn't feel... right, especially not to this warrior who had to outlive her husband and infant daughter,
"...what do you know of Bahamut, Izayoi?" ---
”Bahamut?” Izayoi blinked, her head turning to look quizzically at Eve.
”The King of Dragons, eldest among all the Eidolons? Very little beyond that, save for what is common knowledge regarding all of their kind.”Whether it be as eidolons, espers, or primals, the great spirits of the land were known by several different names depending on the culture, though the most common moniker was Eidolon. They regulated the flow of elemental aether within their domains, and it was rumored that they would contract with worthy individuals to lend their might when the need was greatest.
A thought came to her mind. Izayoi looked Eve over again, frowning. Surely not…
---
"Un." Eve acknowledged. So the samurai already knew, that should make things easier,
"Project Grayscale..." The petite chimera whispered,
"Valheim's foolhardy attempt at creating their own ‘Bahamut’, one that'll wield the same nation-ending power as the King of Dragons yet also obedient like a well-trained dog. Hubris made manifest." She continued with the explanation with a flat detached stare, yet within the quiet confines of Atsu, the tell-tale signs of indignant rage were just visible enough to be perceived.
"They infused several specimens with Bahamut's distilled essence, in which only I was stable enough to survive beyond the embryo stage," She idly wondered if she could've lived with a sister or two had they made it,
"Mother, Doctor Evangelina Zhidkova, was one of the project staff, assigned as team lead for the cultivation of any surviving subjects." Eve allowed herself to curl a small smile as she spoke her name,
"She was the only one who treated me like a person, without her... I probably wouldn't be here-... no, I definitely wouldn't be here." Though her tone remained as aloof as ever, her red eyes stuck opened as wide as they could be as her pupils narrowed into ominous reptilian slits,
"She set me free, but paid for it with her life." Her gaze turned back down toward the gravestones as if Dr. Zhidkova was the one buried there,
"For this transgression, I shall wield Bahamut's power against the very same despots who wished to enslave me... I vow to never rest until Valheim burns."—
It was as she had assumed, then. Monstrous. But what else had she expected from Valheim? Izayoi simply afforded Eve a quiet nod once her explanation was finished, stewing in her own thoughts.
It wasn’t unexpected that some Valheimr might deign to grow a conscience at one point in their life or another. Eve’s mother was just one of the few that managed to act on it. Still, that didn’t change the fact that the majority who took up arms to invade and oppress had to die. It seemed they were in agreement on that, though.
”Thank you for telling me.” Izayoi rose, bowing her head to the gravestones one last time.
”Our goals are in alignment, then. Come. We ought to return to camp.”She turned and started walking, leading the way. Best not to look back. It could be the last time she ever beheld those graves, for all she knew. Had Izayoi stewed on those thoughts any longer, she wouldn’t have been able to push herself to leave.
---
Eve's furious eyes returned to normal shortly after Izayoi's acknowledgment, it had been some time since she shared her history, the catharsis was welcomed.
"It's the least I could do after disrupting your peace." The faux eidolon turned and walked beside the mystrel samurai upon her invitation to return.
"And for our mutual benefit, I must tell you that despite my physical appearance, I'm no child, furthermore, I do not require sustenance other than aether." There, no more excuse of forcing her to pointlessly consume rations.
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