Gate of Memoirs/Halcyon Days

Amidst the snow-touched steppes of Eiros, mother and daughter find themselves at a point of no return.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Evie: Mama!
*Evie: Mama, come see!
 	
*Miriam: What is it, Evie?
 	
*Evie: A birb!
 	
*Miriam: Bird, my dear.
 	
*Miriam: Oh...It's only a hatchling.
 	
*Miriam: Did it fall out of the nest? We should put it back.
 	
*Evie gently picks up the shivering puff in her little hands and follows Miriam's gaze upwards into the pine tree.
 	
*Miriam: There are times when not even the most dedicated parent can save its own child...
*Miriam: Nature is a vicious mistress.
 	
*Evie: But we saved it, Mama! Isn't that great?
*Evie: Wouldn't the bird's mama be happy?
 	
*Miriam: ... ...
*Miriam: Of course.
 	
*"To save or be saved...Are we, too, not at the mercy of higher beings?"
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Land of Giants"	Music: "Land of Giants"
 	
*The grey landscape peels itself back to reveal snow-touched steppes.
*When Evie comes to, there is a pale feather clenched in her fist and the phantom image of a small, dead bird.
 	
*Evie: (This is...Eiros.)
 	
*Ahead, Miriam stands with her hands folded behind her back, surveying the vast expanse of white.
 	
*Miriam: Illness was to claim me here. Did you know?
*Miriam: Your father would follow me to my early grave out of grief, and you...would have ended up in a mage guild.
*Miriam: You would live and die, not knowing you had parents who truly loved you.
 	
*Miriam: Ridiculous...
 	
*Evie: ... ...
 	
*Miriam: Then...your father died. Of illness. Do you see the irony in that?
*Miriam: That was when I knew the decline had begun.
*Miriam: No matter what I did or how much I sacrificed...Nothing changed.
*Miriam: I would always be the outsider... The Alethi witch.
*Miriam: The looks in their eyes. The whispers in court.
 	
*Miriam: How, despite everything I did for the good of a country I was born in...
*Miriam: ...I was only a second-rate citizen, and a dark stain in the pure bloodline of House Valen.
 	
*Miriam turns, her face twisted into a wry smile.
 	
*Miriam: I swore that I would make them see...
*Miriam: That there were worse fiends hiding in human skin.
 	
*The shadows rise and descend upon the Queen like a mantle of darkness.
 	
*Miriam: You have chosen a path from which there is no return.
*Miriam: You have chosen to stand with someone who would destroy our—no, *your* legacy.
 	
*Miriam: My dear, dear Evie...
*Miriam: Everything I did was for you. To protect you.
 	
*Evie: You're wrong.
*Evie draws her channelling dagger and points it straight at her mother.
 	
*Evie: Father told me....to do as my heart tells me to.
*Evie: To do what I believed was right, even if you thought otherwise.
 	
*Evie: You saw only darkness in every heart, because that was all you'd ever known.
*Evie: You were blinded by lies and paranoia.
 	
*Miriam: My own daughter lectures me about *my* life. 
*Miriam: Tell me. What have you been through?
 	
*Evie: Your every machination. Your every call and command.
*Evie: You set me down your path of fear and made me your substitute.
 	
*Miriam: ...?!
Music: "Nothingness" 	Music: "Nothingness"
 	
*Evie: I questioned nothing and did as I was told, even as your instruction grew ever stricter.
*Evie: Vera was my only friend, and even she was an extension of your control.
*Evie: I...didn't want to let you down.
 	
*Evie: I watched silently as my beloved mother....my Mama....became cold and cruel.
*Evie: I watched as she took the reins as regent and made Elysia strong....by slaying everyone who got in her way.
 	
*Evie: But I could not stand by and watch her attempt to *kill* my own beloved aunt.
*Evie: Her own husband's sister!
 	
*Miriam: YOU UNDERSTAND *NOTHING!*
*Miriam: I see now... My disobedient daughter is already too far gone.
*Miriam: It falls to me now, to bring you to heel.
 	
*At Miriam's command, the dark mantle wraps around her, coalescing into a terrifying nightmare.
*Despite the overwhelming psychic screech assaulting her mind, Evie readies her weapons for the battle to come.
 	
*Evie: Wrong.
*Evie: I understand one thing: that a demon is *destroying* the Mother I love!
 	
*Evie: Give. Mother. Back.