Exploration, floor 5 b
That's when Pwie pushed past the others and walked up to the curtain.
Their tiny hand reaches out toward the curtain...
The curtain ripples gently. The way is now open.
<I think we can get inside now.>
The strangers of the Fount have welcomed flesh and blood into the song. Thus have they made themselves witnesses to depletion.
My faithful child, champion of mine. Smite with thy hammer the nascency and deliver it to death, for it is good that all births end in death. Only then shalt thou stand eternal beneath the name of Sisyphe.
Thus spake the Voice: verily, here lieth the archenemy, seedbed of avarice and excess, hunger and thirst. Only void shall exist at the uttermost end of its rebirth.
With a great hammer in her hands, the giant figure slowly stomps toward us - toward Pwie's cocoon.
Just our luck... Cornered at the one time the kid can't even run...
Judging by the Voice now resounding... it may have bided its hour until young Pwie fell aslumber.
<We've climbed this far... Hopefully they won't be able to chase us further.>
It seems... we have emerged atop a dining table. I hope our arrival has not unduly intruded upon their meal...
Well, we're not exactly in a position to mind our table manners. At least now we can finally catch our breath...
O children who know not nobility, I say to thee: thine every fall of foot shall bore a nail; rise thou might, yet thine shall be the lot to halt at every floor.
Yup. Me and my fat mouth...
Why is your mouth fat?
*huff* Let's just say... sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut.
Laid my hands on the curtain, and it began to ripple as though I'd just touched the surface of water.
... Is it over?
Oof... Fighting all day really takes it out of you. Or am I supposed to say my mind's the part running on fumes? It's a simulated world, after all...
<... I don't think any more Le Noirs will make it this far.>
<Is Pwie all right...?>
Unharmed. And... likely to awaken soon.
I... keep yawning.
I'm sleepy... My eyes feel so heavy...
... like... I'm about to fall asleep again...
The battle was arduous indeed. There is no harm in stealing a brief rest.
Maybe... it won't be too brief after all...
Be that as it may, it is well.
<Yeah... We should take a moment to get a breather, too.>
…….
I hope you'll still be here...
... when I wake up.
Like you were before... Like you are now.
... We will do so.
Rest your worries and sleep.
... Mhm.
Dream of sweetness, Pwie.
The layered crimson folds swelled and sank like some enormous organ breathing in its sleep...
Whew... Clothes really do make the kid, huh? So, can we get into the restaurant now?
... Mhm.
Hm... Your voice is mellow and your shoulders hang low... Does your mind yet linger with Wriggley?
…….
Wriggley? Oh... that little screecher floating over Meursault's shoulder going "scree" every time?
What exactly happened down there...?
<Pwie... ate Wriggley. And they'd cared so much for it, too...>
A-ate it? Huh... Is that supposed to be normal in the weird common sense of this place? Didn't the kid love that thing to bits?
Soon, the soft rhythm of sleeping breath filled the air, and crimson folds began knotting themselves wildly around Pwie.
Then, just like the cocoon we had encountered before... a red membrane closed over the child.
They became a cocoon...
Certain creatures... must shed their former shape through metamorphosis afore they mature. The butterflies of my homeland behaved thus.
Like a chrysalis, huh...
Gregor's face stiffened for a moment as though a bad memory had surfaced...
Then he shook his head and returned to his usual composure.
Boy... We're in deep with this foster-care business now, huh?
If none remain to protect the slumbering child... they will surely suffer.
Well, Pwie did get us all the way to the fifth floor. Wouldn't sit right to turn a blind eye now.
Soon, tendrils with mouths at their ends suddenly burst out of the cocoon, quickly devouring the food set on the table.
They appear to be... sating their hunger.
<... The Noirs will descend on us soon.>
... A powerful tremor approaches from behind us... and that wailing, too.
This tremor...
Manager. It seems the "being of eld..." will be here shortly.
When...?
In approximately 3 seconds.
…….
Gwoooooorgh!!!!
We must first deal with the being of eld in pursuit, Manager.
The unclothed ones who dare stand unafraid before the gaze... have sown a calamity born of avarice. Hearken to me, my children! By my divine authority, I banish the obstruction of time to thy rising! Now visit upon the Adversary their due.
Hold on. That announcement just now... Am I the only one whose alarm bells are ringing?
... We would be wise to prepare for battle at once.
There! I see the strangers!
<Meursault. Don't stop - keep moving forward.>
... Understood, Manager.
<... We're going to have to protect the cocoon.>
... Strangers. Ye of the Fount, whose steps are bound not by the floors... Ye whose footfalls ever point upward.
Word of ye hath reached me long before your feet did.
Heard have I that ye have hewn the Alterationist of the present generation, to whom I have trusted the weaving of my fabric.
The Alterationist of the previous generation, whose hands created this armor, embarked on a runway venture long ago... And so I must bear with the weaving of fabrics that springeth from the realms below.
<…….>
The abomination ye shelter... shall one day devour this department store down to its very bones.
Foretold it hath been... 'tis a future as fixed as fate.
Know ye not that the very essence of this creature lieth in falsity? Give me the way, and the blame shall not be laid at thy feet.
... To my eyes, Pwie is merely a child full of questions, caught between nature and volition.
And... did we not make a promise? A promise to meet them again at the time of their waking.
Yup, we did. This is why you don't throw promises around lightly...
In thy folly, thou hast been bewitched by that profane creature.
<…….>
<If she's telling the truth, then Grand Magasin Sisyphe will be depleted... and we'll wind up at the same ending all over again.>
<Which means... everything we've done will have been for nothing.>
<... Even still, and... I can't explain why, but I... I want to protect Pwie.>
<Because right now... my gut, my heart - keeps telling me to.>
The bearer of the hammer charged us at full speed, her blazing halo searing our eyes.
And in that same instant, a question rose to my proverbial mouth.
<Meursault?>
Yes, Manager.
<Will I... will we come to regret this choice?>
…….
Yes. There is a high probability that we will.
However... the important thing is -
A thunderous impact drowned out the rest of Meursault's answer.
So... lemme get this straight. I heard the rough version back in the restroom, but we've basically been playing chaperone for this P - uh, Pwie kid all the way up here. Is that about right?
<That's about right.>
To have guided a lost child upon their way... was a kindly deed. Department stores are places most apt to swallow one's bearings, after all...
This corridor's pretty damn long, though... Looks like we've still got a hike ahead of us.
Hear me, all who dwell within the Grand Magasin.
At long last, the Buffet is served. Let none among you ever scrape an empty plate again...
... and we - I - shall devour this department store from foundation to apex.
Wait no longer. Weep no longer. Desire... no longer.
Tear and chew. Leave not a morsel before your eyes.
Come, join me on the fifth floor. The doors will be open for everyone. Let us feast upon every delicacy they kept beyond our reach.
Let the banquet begin!
Le Noir, Le Kaki, Le Rouge. The vanities of the Beauty Hall, the marble deco of the Luxury Hall. The trumpets of the Public Address Room and the limelights of the Furniture Hall. Boucher of the Food Court and droplets of pus from the Dyehouse. Beached things of the Shore, discarded hides, and the Golden Hide packed into every crack in the wall...
Let all of it be laid upon my table. Let us eat and drink together.
... Do you not feel the need to move forward anymore?
Everything can be filled here. We can eat when we're hungry, and drink when our throats burn with thirst.
And in time... we will have filled ourselves to the point where there will be no room left for the wish to move forward.
We searched every reach of the vast tabletop, but found no path to the sixth floor.
With nowhere left to go, we sat off to one side and watched as Buffet feasted.
*crunch*
The first thing Buffet swallowed was a single slice of bread from a waiting plate.
Next came a steak slick with running juice...
Then an enormous cake, decorated with immaculate care, vanished into Buffet's mouth without leaving so much as a crumb.
After that... it became impossible to tell what Buffet was chewing, let alone what Buffet had decided was food.
Plates. Spoons and knives. The tablecloth... everything, without distinction, disappear into Buffet's ravenous mouth.
Buffet's hands close around the next thing before they've even finished swallowing whatever was in their mouth before...
... as though even the brief pause required to enjoy the flavor and taste were a luxury their hunger could not afford.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
There is a large plaza, so vast that its edges can barely be fathomed. At the center of the plaza stands a tall building, and at its base people come and go in busy strides.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
Faint ray of light shimmers through the gloom of the stiflingly narrow tunnel. There are mounds of cans sitting along the walls, constricting the already cramped hallway. People are crawling through the passage that is more like a cavernous crawl space.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
People are shouting and hollering at each other. It is hard to make out what it is they are yelling about, but... the sight is reminiscent of a trial.
The corpse of a Noir. Blood seeps into the black suit, turning it dark crimson.
The corpse of a Rouge. Its once-swollen outfit has sagged, weighed down by blood soaking it.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
Schools of fish are swimming gently through the water beyond the glass window. A large crowd is walking between the glass walls, exploring the aquatic life.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Nail and Hammer]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[A Nail, Hammered]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Festival]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Oblivion and Hunger]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Smoke and War]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Paradoxical Abundance]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Age of Barbarism]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Emptied Mind to be Mindful of]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The Tree, Serpent, and a Fruit]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Giants]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The Tower]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Gallows]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The Black and the Red, the Red and the Black]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Age of Enlightenment]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[A Giant's Fall]
…….
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The Great Fracturing]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Age of Severance]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The Golden Bough]
<... These seem to be the history of this department store.>
Light cascades in through the tall window.
Can't see anything.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
After fixing it in my gaze for a while, the patterns begin to dance and ripple.
<... This is...?>
Things that should not be visible begin to unveil themselves.
Can't see anything.
Can't see anything.
A blurry shape can be seen.
[Those Who Topple]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[What once rose high are fated to sink.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The deepest basin of the extravagant department store. Nauseating, foul sediments.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Though the clew's thread was followed to the exit, only the severed tip of string waited at the end.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Unable to rise, unable to forfeit, endlessly twining threads.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[One hand cradles the swollen belly; the other, the hungering mind.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The flavor once reached, yet never to be found again.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[What are fleeting and passing are fragile things.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[In a faded corner, waiting for the moment to return.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Authority follows constriction by equal measure.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The more the gaze entangles, the more do they follow along.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Everyone needs faith.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The sense of awe is often reserved for those who are dead but living.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[None shall scorn those who have collapsed.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[At least, the decision to collapse was theirs.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Though one hand may cradle the hungering belly, the mind prospers.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Hunger isn't filled; it is what one seeks out to fill.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Nailing oneself with every step.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[At the pilgrimage's end, only the one who has been pinned by the nails of the multitude remains.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[For what does one climb?]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[Knowing that only the fated descent awaits.]
The deacon who once conveyed God's words has absconded the responsibility.
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The drifters. They allow themselves to be carried by the currents of the flow.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The anchored. They have pinned themselves down with black fabric.]
Light cascades in through the tall window.
[The affixed. They have pinned what lies inside on the outside, thereby affixing their outward appearances.]
Phew... we made it here, but... huh. I can't say if we can even get through the entrance.
The entrance appears obstructed by something decidedly unusual... I much doubt brute force shall avail us.
…….
Pwie silently placed a hand against the entrance to the fifth floor,
only to lower it again with a shake of the head.
... We can't go in. Both you and me.
We don't have... enough virtue yet...
<"Virtue"...?>
Bingo. That little runt is just waaay too lacking in virtue... Still nowhere near refined enough for a highbrow place like this.
Kromer...!
Sorrow beyond understanding is leaching out from between the black threads.
Currents of dark, black waves weave around our ankles, trying to sweep us away.
... Pwie is alone.
We must return to the restaurant as quickly as our feet would take us, Manager.
<It came after us. It... came after Pwie, to be precise.>
It must be the Golden Cocoon's - Wriggley, by our designation - parent entity.
<I remember... It came after us, having followed its "snuffling".>
<…….>
<For now, let's focus only on how we can defeat it.>
<Pwie's waiting for us.>
Mm... Its form disappeared traceless in the dark, its presence in both past and present nowhere to be found...
Yeah, then it popped right back into existence. And to make matters worse, it was hard to get a hit in with the only reachable part of its body that tail-like thing.
Darkness is not so significant a deterrent. Remain calm, and we will outmaneuver it.
<... Good. Let's take this on with a cool head.>