cancry | Luxuria Intro Log

Luxuria Intro Log

PROCEEDING...
With the real super power of teamwork, the Executors have successfully managed to make their way through the Gula Underside and defeat the previous Authority there. With Gerda now freed from her past regrets and given the power of an Executor, Gula and its inhabitants seem to be in safe hands... for now at least. More interesting – or concerning, perhaps – is the tentative ally you've gained in the form of Birdie, the mysterious girl who attacked some of your number in the Superbia Underside. While she seemed to be nothing but an enemy back then, a surprising connection has been formed with who you now understand to be the Authority of Purgatory itself. While she doesn't necessarily believe the Executors will be able to repair Purgatory, she is at least willing to admit that she shares their goals of wanting to see Purgatory restored... either to its former state, or to something new. But what does that mean for the Executors? And what does that mean for Rei supposedly born from the Authority's discarded heart? There are still many questions the Executors need to answer and as a blast of dry, hot air blows up from the next layer, you can only hope that Luxuria holds the key to at least some of them...
LUXURIA
♪♫ Wet & Dry – Sakuzyo After the humidity and noise of the Gula Underside, passing down to the Lust Layer of Purgatory initially seems like a relief. The air here is dry and sharp and though you hear noise drifting up to meet you and see a whole rainbow of lights clustered together in the dark, it doesn't seem as though it'll be quite as overwhelming as some of the bustling Layers you've had the pleasure of exploring before. But as you set foot down into Luxuria and feel the heat of the ground under your feet, you begin to wonder if you might just have hopped out of the frying pan and into the fire...

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[ Mona hesitates, but she nods. ]

... There's still plenty of time. So I don't think either of us need to worry about it too much yet. And... if it's something you can't figure out on your own, all of us are here.

...well. Why is it you care now, Mona? You don't even like me.

What?

[ she looks genuinely alarmed by that. ]

I've never disliked you... I know we don't always agree, but why would that mean I don't like you? If anything, I thought you hated me... so I always tried not to bother you.

I suppose I've just been thinking a lot down here, that's all. Pay it no mind, then.

[ hmm. Mona closes the book in her lap and speaks, cautiously: ]

... Will you... tell me about yourself, Wolfsbane? You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to, just— what your life was like, and where you're from. I want to know more about you.

Very well. Where I come from, all but the barest traces of magic have been sealed away for a thousand years. The story is that in the wake of a catastrophic war, a mage enclave known as the seven sages decided that magic was to blame, and locked it away in a pocket dimension. That became known as Magiaconatus.

But there was one failsafe: a competition. Once a generation, mage families who keep their links to their ancient ancestors and so can still use magic enter their heirs in GRANBELM. That means that, on the night of the full moon, those young mages enter Magiaconatus and craft magical machines from their desires, then pilot those against each other. If a rival's magic stone is broken so they can no longer use magic, or, more rarely, if they're killed in action, they are eliminated. And it goes on until only one remains.

The goal is that Magiaconatus will find the winner worthy and bestow upon them all the power inside that has been lost. That person would become the Princeps Mage, the one and only true mage in comparison to the trickles of power the others have been stuck with for centuries. And I spent my life intending to become that person.

[ that's — she can't really say what she expected. it's always been obvious that Wolfsbane lived such a different life to her that there was no way Mona could picture what that life involved. the world she describes is so far from Steel London; the people there had lives of their own, but Mona could still have related to any one of them in some way, their daily struggles and menial tasks. but Wolfsbane... ]

I... can't really imagine it, but... it sounds like it must have been hard to live that way.

[ even if maybe Wolfsbane didn't think so. relative to a quiet life in Steel London, it must have been difficult. ]

What would you have done, if you had been the winner?

[ because surely it can't just end at winning. how could that be the whole point? there must be a reason to win. ]

..I don't know. I must have had a reason of my own, aside from simply wanting to win because my family line had always competed. Maybe bringing magic back to the world, or making the world better. But I think by the time I died, it no longer mattered. I simply wanted to win.

[No -- she wanted to beat Ernesta, to destroy Ernesta, and nothing else mattered. But she can't tell that to Mona, Mona who won't understand, who gets so upset at the conflict they do have.]

One gets carried away with these things, I suppose.

[ "one gets carried away" — she's not so sure about that. with the little things, certainly; it's not as if Mona has never felt competitive before. in her lessons with Lupin, there came a point where the learning didn't matter so much, and all she wanted was to beat him at the game. but what Wolfsbane is describing is far, far bigger than that. it seems impossible for all of that to come down to winning.

maybe she's wrong, though. or maybe Wolfsbane just doesn't want to talk about it. Mona won't push, not when she asked to hear the story. ]

I see... Thank you for telling me about it.

[ she means it, sincerely. ]

I won't lie and say that I understand. I've never experienced anything like that. But... now I can see a little bit better why certain things are important to you.

I was the rightful heir to my family's legacy. Even if they would've preferred Ernesta instead. Ruin always hated when I talked about it, too -- went on about how one's birthright is more of a curse. It's why we never got along.

[ ahh. so it's about something else, too. Wolfsbane says that name with too much bitterness for it to be inconsequential. even though Mona lived a happy life, it's not a hard connection to see: that if Wolfsbane's family chose someone else over her, she would want to prove herself. to win. ]

Ruin never told me about it, but... Maybe it was a curse, to him. If he didn't have a choice in the matter, I'm sure it would have hurt. Just like it hurt for you.

I think... maybe I was, too. The heir to something. And it... didn't make me happy, to remember it.

Why?

[Her head falls down, glaring at the tiled ground of Luxuria, body radiating heat in the already stifling sun.]

If you were lucky enough that the gods smiled upon you... why waste that? Countless rabble don't even get the chance, and the world is unfair enough that they can devote every speck of their soul to their passion and still be crushed under the powerful. ...Is that why you didn't feel anything at first?

[ Mona is listening, interested though not entirely understanding Wolfsbane's vehemence regarding this — until the last question comes, and she startles, physically flinches at it, her hands jerking suddenly where they rest in her lap, fingers curling as if the journal they rest on has burnt her. ]

No. At least — I don't think so?

[ is that why you didn't feel anything at first? it's a question that has bothered her more, lately. for a while, it had ceased to be a concern; what did it matter if she seemed to have forgotten more than the others, when all her memories since were of a life where she was happy and loved? but... in that memory of Father, something wasn't right. the dim quality of the feelings that came with that memory were familiar. if that emptiness she woke up with in Limbo wasn't because of Purgatory's effects — if she was like that in life, too — ]

No, um— I just know that my father said something to me, once. He told me that... that I would "lead the people from God's cradle to the expansive world of knowledge."

[ she hesitates. her voice is quiet: ] I don't think I wanted anything like that. In my memories... I was happiest just spending time with the people who I cared about.

Well, that certainly sounds like you. Wanting to be ordinary and all. Why would your father give you a mission like that? Don't tell me you were one of those children paraded around on television by their families to sell books about heaven or whatnot.

[ to sell books... about heaven... Mona gives her a puzzled stare. ]

I... wouldn't know anything about that. I didn't know what a television was until Invidia.

No, Father was a revolutionary inventor and alchemist. He created Steel London, the steam-powered fortress city that I lived in for a while. Maybe... he meant that he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. [ that's the only explanation she's been able to come up with. but then why— ] ... But he never taught me anything.

[ that much, she can be sure of without further memories. the one who taught her about alchemy for the very first time was Fran; the one who taught her about machines was Impey; the one who taught her the history of Steel London was Saint-Germain. all of that information was new to her. in two decades, her father told her nothing of his work. ]

Well, that's highly irresponsible of him. Unless he had a different heir for all of that and thought you were born for something else -- that's common enough. If he wanted you leading the people to knowledge, but didn't want to give it to you yourself... No, that's ridiculous. That would mean you were the knowledge, like some sort of magical construct, and who would have the power to do that?

... The Horologium.

[ the word will mean nothing to her, but what Wolfsbane said apparently struck some kind of chord; Mona grabs for one of Wolfsbane's hands suddenly. ] Wolfsbane, that's it—! Maybe he was talking about the Horologium! Ah, and the name I had before... He gave his magnum opus to me so that I could live. Father really did leave his legacy with me...

... But... I don't know what I was supposed to do with it.

[Wolfsbane freezes, eyes wide, but doesn't pull away.]

What -- like the constellation? The one that's supposed to resemble a clock?

[ she shakes her head. her other hand goes to her chest, pressing down on something hidden just beneath the collar of the dress she's wearing today. ]

There's a gem... embedded in my body. It's something like a Philosopher's Stone.

I don't know why, but my heart doesn't beat. According to Dr. Frankenstein, the only thing keeping me alive is the stone in my body. The Horologium that Father created.

A gem inside you...

[It sounds familiar in a way that calls to the gaps in Wolfsbane's memory. She thinks, shakes her head.]

So you must have some great power, in that case, wouldn't you? That would explain it handily.

[ Mona takes her hand back from where it gripped Wolfsbane's, and she stares at it. ]

... Mmm... I think my great power is just being alive when I should, by all medical evidence, be dead.

What, nothing else? You mentioned you were a civilian where it "wasn't normal to fight," so perhaps you just haven't seen what else you can do.

I suppose it's possible... Van Helsing did train me in self-defence, but I doubt I would ever have had any reason to fight someone.

[ she never thought she was special, in any of those memories. but... maybe that's why Lupin took her in at all? she doesn't like that idea. it makes all of the time they spent together... different. sours it. ]

I mean, it really wasn't a normal thing, in London. Not unless you were a man enlisted in the military, like Van Helsing. And even then, the only war that happened recently was against the vampires in England.

Wait, what? Vampire war? You said your world was ordinary.

... Are there... not vampires, where you come from?

Luxuria Intro Log

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