Rose Blumen ~

(Aïsshean)

As much as I could now guess or hear elements of the past leading to this palace blowing the ether from its source across the world, my concern lied elsewhere.

Understanding elements of the past was an intellectual necessity for planning the future. And my main worry had been proven true.

The Tamźródlo, this source, far from calming down and cooling steadily since its explosion, it was instead growing gradually in instability.

It would erupt again someday, if nothing was ever done to prevent it.

The future, I could foresee it painfully clearly. The end of everything.

Because the pale cataclysm would occur again. I couldn't yet predict when, but I had seen already it was far from empty here, and not calming down either. One way or another, the limit to this trend is clear.

I had rapidly understood some of these aspects as parts of my brain and body rushed to adapt to this. I coughed more dry things. Now my body is beginning a change I won't be able to consciously stop.

I have to return to the surface of the palace, for Aïssheas...

~

These statues I saw were the tip of the iceberg, the protrusions of a buried weaponry that had erupted a shot once. And now that parts of it were damaged, it was leaking.

It would fire, uncontrollably, maybe even worse. And then again...

Until nothing from the world we knew was left.

There wouldn't really be any next era if nothing is done.

And sadly I'm the only one left standing here on this day, and not for much longer either.

Nor can I foresee right now what the next visitors will have in mind for this place.

I begin to fear seriously further accidents. Other catastrophes if nothing is done to protect this dangerous place.

Because others will eventually come.

And sadly I realised there is nothing here Aïsshea's will could succeed with. This place and thing is not to be broken with just our bare hands. It needs more than that...

And I don't see how my lost sister could manage to raise a benevolent will to convert this place from such spoil and ruins...

We're trapped between different bad outcomes... All I can do now, it's to pray.

To help protect this place with my flesh, and to pray.

That someday Aïssheat or Aïssheas, will figure out a real way...

Attie is already out there, and I still believe in her. She was the brightest mind of the family.

Azzie, I need to bring outside...

I reached the landscape under the sky, over the bleached open sights. I couldn't really feel anymore the icy bites from the winds.

Our fate terrifies me.

But there is nothing better to do in my sight for now.

If I can, I will later build doors to the sanctum of this place. But first, I must free my sister and also believe in her own foresight.

Right now it was impossible. We didn't bring any weapon or tool able to break the source safely. But she has seen it too through my eyes.

She will find her way.

I got closer to the edge, trembling, dragging her.

My last words were for her.

This source of destruction we couldn't unmake together right now. In hindsight we were rash and lacked too much knowledge. This is too immense and too hazardous now. It's a volcano ready to pour even more magma and ashes out already. But to destroy it may not be impossible still...

The cold and formless mass she had become, it listened with intensity to my unsteady words. We were freezing cold, and she understood the moment.

Right now we needed something else. Someone else. Able to stand here longer. Able to mutter more.

Some help she would find...

I extended my arms holding her above the void to let her escape this floating grave.

I would try to keep watch, in another form.

I would try to keep things steady here meanwhile, until a solution comes from my sisters.

An - I will wait little sister... Come back, with the sharpest sword...

I let go of her, losing my last words.

She disappeared in the clouds below.

The mountainous Carpathian lands, I could no longer but guess below.

~

I felt my body erupting.

Doors would grow.

Wishes would be made.

To the extent I could reach through my back horns linking me to the source below, it would go a little more steady now.

It would hold on, for a while.

That last will was also my final bargain however.

I fell to my knees, bubbling all over.

My soul was now sold for good... For a chance.

For the good of all...

I lost countenance and my mind turned around, shifting abruptly to the other side of reality.

My back arched and grew, soon bursting in easing pain, and exploding.

My being abandoned all that had been left or preserved of my humanity.

The monster of myself hatched out like my own reincarnation, hollowing my old shapeless form now crumbling into dust.

The darker thing I vanished into seemed to roar, signifying its existence in fading sanity.

My new voice was lost as my awareness continued to fade into it.

My thoughts and mostly fears in my heart for myself, they became true, losing control.

The monster stepped aside its pupa and husk, feeding from this charged air it was breathing more easily.

Many legs keeping it steady, and two thin threads from my back turned into two heavier tails for my new world's body.

A hardy and scaly skin, holding off the worst of this light at bay, and keeping an armoured sight in lines.

It moved around and scratched the ground where I had just died, thoughtlessly.

Without a care...

I embraced the oblivion where I was now powerless and falling.

I just prayed.

For our name to someday bring salvation.

~

Aïssheah supported our family's legacy. He wanted to help anyway

Aïssheat drifted away to mean evolution. Aïssheas will strive to bring the conclusion...

I will try to keep everything up here steady, until they find a better way.

They all fell outside and distant from me, as my past humanity did from me.

Marks and stains remained. But now I held myself in a different form of reality, far, far away from old biology.

Aïssheat will refine her ideas. Aïssheas her sharpness and strategy.

I will hold the fort.

Until someone else eventually finds it. Until our existence and thoughts vanish.

Trying to achieve maturity and stability, vainly.

Trying to reach out for help maybe... Protecting what can be.

And someday, seeing the end of the source's story.

Reaching its conclusion, up in flames or down in earth, but somehow free from its loom.

I hear the distorted echoes of its now fragmented memories.

I even see myself back as I once was, now a part of me forever marked and stuck within these walls.

My hopefull memories in this place trapping time.

My promise.

For our name and time, drifting but real.

I will wait.

I will wait forever for you...

~