Fourth Session

Dirt cracks beneath my feet, the sun beating us both. At the foot of the mountains, a wide grey road of small rocks joins me. Along the road, far in the distance, a town’s wavey image has difficulty forming at the horizon.

My steps speed up, despite me at the edge of exhaustion, the image of a hamlet forms more clearly. The collection of short houses is a motley landscape of colors, in sharp contrast with the piles of dirtied rags people wear as they wander listlessly. In a circle of buildings, a faint and colorful image of a statue appears, looking out over the quiet settlement. 

Passing the sign for a bus-stop into the hamlet, I see unreadable writing of all colors, spreading from one side of the hamlet to the other. The statue is covered less, the image of a uniformed soldier still clear, the words more readable. Stopping in front of it, I see several slurs and curses around the legs and on the slab at its feet.

“criminal”

“TYRANT”

“Monster”

Under its boot, untouched by graffiti, is the clear image of a Council member. The Warden of Chaos, reaching out to me in anguish.

The slab in front of the statue is covered in dirt, blocking words, almost making it all unintelligible. 

“End of the Holo War”

I crane my neck, and look up to the statue, that of a proud woman some years older than me. Red eyes and a devilish smile are etched on her face, an eyepatch beneath all the paint, blocking her left eye. A weathered right arm holds outwards what looks like a sword hilt, the fragile blade long gone, nowhere on the ground below. Her hair’s tied back into a discolored bun, ruined by layers of paint. I reach for my ribbon, still tied into a sloppy bow against my chest.

“...Mei?”

Continued in Again, Part 2: The Tyranny of Empress Nanashi