It feels like I'm falling through a thick sludge. I desperately claw my way up as I get more and more lightheaded. I finally make it to the top of the sludge, I pull myself up. Once on top of it I seem to be unable to fall through. I start hacking up bits of sludge. After im done getting all of the black sludge out I lean back sitting for a while. My chest hurts, a lot too. Its almost as bad as that first night on the forgotten shores. No I shouldn't start thinking of the past. We need answers, and whatever this place is, is how I'll find them. I stand up, seems I had started to sink. Looking around I see paintings floating in the air. I go to the first, it shows a woman screaming as chains wrap around her while 6 eyes each different in design looking down at her. I put my hand on the painting and it goes through. I've seen this kind of thing in shows, i didnt fully think it would work but it was my best guess. I pull my hand out, for a few seconds it stays in the style of the painting. I check if it can move correctly, and seeing that it can, I step into it.
I find myself in a destroyed, rotted, landscape. Sitting on the ground is frozen singer, who's covered in 6 large chains, and also not frozen. In the sky are 6 figures all blacked out. She has a confused and lost expression.
"What....?"
Her eyes slowly turn upwards looking at the blacked out figures. A voice rings out, soft yet with a authority that makes me kneel, even if this is only a memory.
"You are the seal on the the first human god, entropy. Nothing more, nothing less."
She stares up a almost hopeless look on her face.
"You are to keep that god contained, do not waver"
wind sweeps up dirt and dust, when it finally disappears the figures are gone. I'm able to stand when they disappear. My legs are a little shaky due to being almost slammed down. Frozen singer looks around, staying down for a while before she finally moves. She tries to stand but falls, like a baby would. If those figures had truly been the gods then... did they override the original individual and make a whole new person in heir body? That's horrifying in its own way. She finally is able to stand up, when she finally takes a step she almost falls. I'm thrown out of this first memory. I land back on the black sludge. I get up slowly rubbing my arm that I not so gracefully fell on. I start walking to the the next one. It shows frozen singer in a nighttime forest with a harp in her hands and soft light coming down from above. I take a deep breath and i step inside.
I find myself in the beautiful forest, as she plays the harp. I sit next to her as she plays with her eyes almost closed. The moment seems so much more peaceful then the last. She even starts humming softly. I feel eyes, not quite on me but the spot I sit at is being watched. When I look at who's watching me, its a awakened i think. About 26 or so i would guess. Their face is blacked out and its hard to tell if its a man or a woman. Slowly they come closer, and closer, then even closer, until they sit next to singer on her other side. They seem to be in awe of her. This goes on for some time until she slowly stops, looking up from the harp at the individual. "You've been watching me for some time" they jump a little
"I'm sorry! Its just that-"
they go on to ramble explanations rapidly. Their voice is layered, a masculine and a feminine voice both speak at the same time. She lifts her hand with a slight smile
"its fine. I am not angry, nor am I bothered."
They seem to get flustered, its hard to tell when I can't see their face. I wonder why its blacked out.
"Oh i understand my lady, i would hate to bother you."
I'm then thrown out of the memory. This time i land on my feet sliding back a bit. I fully stand up wiping myself off and i go to the next one. It shows her holding a child about 5, one that can't be related to her, while more run around her with a wooden building behind her. I look down at my hand, with a heavy breath I enter the painting.
A bunch of kids all run around screaming and shouting, its uncomfortable to be around. Their loud, annoying and not doing anything useful. In the middle of it all just watching is frozen singer, one comes up to her pulling on her cloak.
"Ms director, can I get some food"
she lifts her hand, I flinch i dont know why, and she pats the young girl on the head.
"I don't see why not"
she stands up going over to a apple tree. She floats up taking a apple down. A few other kids come over, all crowding around the first. This seems to be some kind of orphanage or daycare. She floats down holding the apple. She lifts her other hand over it and it splits into pieces. Then she lowers her hand and the kids swarm each taking a piece. There's a collective
"thank you Ms director"
and the group splits up, all going to go play. One kid almost falls but stops mid air and is lifted back onto his feet. She chuckles going back to her seat, watching the kids. This goes on for a bit before the individual, now around 50 I would say, enters the small yard. The children all look at them and theres a small chorus of
"teacher!"
The teacher laughs as their swarmed. Each kid tries the yell over all the others, all trying to show off.
"Kids kids calm down!"
Frozen singer looks on with a fond smile as the teacher tries to
"Scarlett, a little help?"
Frozen singer, her name is Scarlett apparently, laughs while covering her face. I'm thrown out, this time i easily stop myself from sliding. I stand up fully. I go to the next one, it shows her face, its stopped in shock and horror, in her eyes is flames. What could have happened? I enter the painting after a while of studying it.
I step over a torn apart corpse. There's enough dead bodies to make up a army. Their in the uniform of the kingdom of war. In the center of it all is Scarlett, holding the teacher, with the children all around in. Their all in pieces, dead. She tries desperately to put them all back together
"No-no-no you aren't really dead, you cant die- this isnt happening you cant be dead. This isnt possible its- its not possible. Not here, not now!"
She tries to shake the teachers shoulder trying to wake them up
"I killed them all, i did it. You all can wake up now. Its safe again please wake up you have to. Please wake up!"
I look around the now burned village. I can see where she came from, there's nothing but a hole left. She seemed to arrived too late to save them. It appears to be right before the doom war started, or the very very start. She screams like a wounded animal as she holds their dead bodies. A tragic but not all that uncommon sight in my time. I'm thrown out right after that. I waste no time in going to the next painting. Its the last with this kind of frame.
I land in, wait it recognize this place. Its the place I met war! She stands staring off at the endless white dunes of snow. A figure approaches her, completely blacked out like the gods.
"Hello, weaver."
There's a long silence. Its weaver, Scarlett is speaking to weaver itself
"you've called me didn't you? Why not say why you have?"
She clenches her hand, almost angry in a way.
"I want to make a deal with you"
weaver takes a few steps forward, its presence isn't quite oppressive but its more heavy then anyone else.
"deal? You want a deal?"
Scarlett makes no attempt to look back. Although her shoulders raise as if angry
"Yes. I want to make a deal"
she grabs the chain still hanging from her neck even after countless years
"I still have more to do"
weaver makes a small noise, as if slightly confused
"And why would I make a deal with you?"
She let's go of the chain around her neck, keeping her arms to her side
"That epigone of yours. He will need help will he not?"
Weaver scoffs but doesn't seem shocked
"now why would you believe that?"
She finally turns around her eyes had been filled with anger.
"We both know why. When they made these chains they gave each a small part of their power."
Weaver says nothing before leaning forward
"yet that doesn't answer my question does it?"
She laughs, in its face
"no i suppose not. But still, we both know that boy could very well die. Fate is a powerful thing, but if your true plan comes true, there's a good chance he would die while fate is broken"
waver leans back
"you seem to know a lot, don't you?"
She nods lifting her hands, showing a drop of blood that seems to shift colors
"the god of entropy was quite powerful, even if it was the thrashing of a mad woman. She got a drop of their blood each. Its a useful catalyst"
weaver stares at it for some time.
"Maybe that is a good reason to make a deal with you, don't you agree?"
She laughs
"of course it is. I'll put in my very soul to fuel your creation, just give me the ability to save my last child"
weaver seems to freeze
"you've met that one?"
She shakes her head
"no, but i can see them through the very strings that bind you. I may seem delusional, but i was not made to be sane, only to seal the god of entropy."
Weaver stays silent for some time before lifting a arm, or i think so
"well then, it seems to be a deal, will you take it?"
she walks forward and takes weavers hand
"of course it is."
And I'm thrown out. With more questions then answers. Frozen singer made a deal with weaver to become a echo? They injured the gods, well more the gods avatars but still. Why didn't the gods kill them? I need to find out more. I look to the next paintings, they have a silver frame and not a wooden one like the ones I've been going into.