The Lake and the Butterfly (after battle)

… … …. …

The Mermaids... I think there's less of them now...

Someone stood there, waiting for us. He must have arrived here much earlier than we have.

Quite the arduous journey you've endured.

The butterfly we were following folded its wings and settled gently...

... into his sloshing head.

The figure's voice was clear and precise unlike that of the Mermaids.

And not like an Abnormality.

…!

I didn't expect to find any unharmed survivors...

<No, wait. Is he... a Distortion...?>

Oi, clockhead. You friends with that bowlhead?

A Distortion? Like... that Bingbong's Bar & Fryers owner from earlier?

I see that many of you are rather flummoxed by my appearance.

This is but one of the many ways one may choose to understand the journey that is the world.

So, please do not be so wary.

Oooh... Thy head... splishes and sploshes so.

Under the night sky where the stars have gone out, I await the coming dawn.

Call me Rim.

…….

We're not here to introduce ourselves. So why don't we cut to the chase.

Explain yourself. You must have some reason for coming to this mad Mermaid-infested place.

And we didn't see any other boat than our own by the docks of this structure. So explain how you -

I have no need of ships should I wish to cross the ocean.

I am simply here to have a look at all of you.

Wow~ We're really starting to put our name out there!

You are those who follow the bough's golden ray.

Okay, if you're here to see us, knowing what we're looking for...

... No way, are you about to tell us where the Golden Bough is?

Huh, isn't it obvious that he's here to stop us from -

Yes, indeed I am.

... Man, I'm really off my game.

To seek the bough within this structure is to understand the futility of time.

I still can't sense the Golden Bough this deep into the Branch; there was truth to what he said. The Bough was no longer here.

Then to where must we journey?!

I am certain that you are already aware that there are parties other than your own that are interested in the Boughs.

You have surrendered one to them after toiling for it, in fact.

Tsk...

H-how do you know that?

The Whale, once fated to roam the Outskirts for all eternity... is now drawn by that same incandescent, gilded calling.

You're saying that the Whale came from the Outskirts all the way to the Great Lake of U Corp. for the Golden Bough?

Quite. And swallowed this structure whole with that delicate Bough.

The Abnormalities here have also left with that magnificent yet fragile Whale, drawn by that selfsame calling.

What you seek is no longer to be found here.

Excuse me, why are you sharing this information with us?

It matters not who lays claim upon the Golden Bough, or to what end they use it. It is no more than a mere fluttering of wings.

We simply seek to steer the echoes of that fluttering toward a better direction.

We? Who are you talking about?

We are those who watch all, those who bide the time. Those who will be sovereigns of a Star.

Yet, we are those who cannot all embody the same Star.

A red mark briefly flashed on his head.

I've seen that mark before.

…!

Those who watch, you say...

Yi Sang shot a silent gaze in Rim's direction.

Rim.

Have you also watched the breaking of the League, then? Have you any idea of what fate has befallen our old fellows?

I do.

Yet you have done... naught but observe?

…….

Is he one of your old... friends, Yi Sang?

A part of my life that you have witnessed afore.

One of those who left when the League of Nine scattered into the winds.

You have last uttered to me that you would journey to the ocean, yet...

Indeed, I was one of them. Once.

I shall answer your question, Yi Sang. You ask whether I have done naught but watch?

That is a question born of vacuity.

For you, the League is dead. Yet, for some, its death was but a beginning.

I am certain that you are... well aware of that yourself.

When does something end? When does something begin? The distinction is arbitrary and signifies naught.

The shattering of the League was a beginning for Brother Young-ji as well.

…….

I see... You have cast it aside long, long time ago.

My eyes were simply opened to the stem of this world.

The singular, yet all-important stem.

Once your eyes are opened to it... everything else becomes...

... As hollow as the fall of wilted petals.

I just need to know one thing.

If... the Golden Bough is inside the Whale that devoured this place... And if the Golden Boughs can really...

Somehow... counteract the Pallidification effects...

Ishmael's breathing was quick and light. She couldn't finish her sentence.

It can be said that, indeed, what you believe, what you wish to be true, is correct.

…….

I see.

I hope I have been a useful signpost to you all.

To where do you seek to depart again?

I was once a mere pond who only knew where the sea, the rivers, and the City were.

Now I seek to reach there with my wings.

That is all.

Stop right there... You know too much! Think we're about to let you leave, just like that?

Pity. Try as you might to hold me now, I flow betwixt your fingers.

Well, then.

With that, he stepped into the puddle... and disappeared into its depths.