Love's Long Shadow

Love's Long Shadow was a virtual representation of one of Kassandra's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
==Description==
Kassandra spoke to Bryce after defeating the mob who threatened to kill her.
==Dialogue==
Outside the Dread Ruins, Kassandra spoke with Bryce, who reminisced on her use for them.
*Bryce: This place was ours—Ligeia's and mine. A forbidden place for forbidden love.
Kassandra commented wryly on the building's dilapidation.
*Kassandra: Not much of a love nest. I've seen more romantic funerals.
*Bryce: I found scraps of her clothes leading to the Writhing Dread's lair. Please, we need to hurry.
(Accept – "Let's go.")
*Kassandra: Time to find Ligeia. You lead the way.
Kassandra followed Bryce into the valley, where the trees were twisted unnaturally and orange, luminescent ore shone through the thick fog.
*Kassandra: What happened to these trees? I shouldn't be here.
They made their way further into the valley.
*Kassandra: ...What is this place? It's empty of life.
*Bryce: We enter the realm of the Writhing Dread. Listen... It's as if sound itself is afraid of what the fog veils.
*Kassandra: It's getting hard to breathe. Even the air is... dead.
Kassandra noticed several statues of soldiers, life-sized with fearful expressions.
*Kassandra: These statues are unnervingly lifelike... and their faces are contorted in fear.
*Bryce: It destroys all living things, transforming them to stone and leaving them frozen in fear for all eternity.
The trench opened into a small bog with a ruined stonework.
*Bryce: If Ligeia—if she's... if she's stone, how will we bury her? She'll never meet Charon.
In the distance, a woman's howl rang out through the fog.
*Bryce: Ligeia? LIGEIA!
Bryce sprinted in the direction of the howl.
*Kassandra: Bryce! Wait—
*Kassandra: Maláka... better go after her.
Before following her, Kassandra noticed a rag on a nearby stone. It matched the garb of the Daughters of Artemis.
*Kassandra: A scrap of clothing—my guess Ligeia's. Whatever tore it from her was savage...
Before long, they had both reached the steps of the Petrified Temple. It loomed menacingly with sleek architecture not of the Greek world's making. At the sealed entrance, they heard the howl once more.
*Bryce: Ligeia! That's her! Kassandra, she's alive.
<tabber>
|-|(Accept – "We need to get inside.")=
*Kassandra: We need to get inside, but I see no openings... and the walls are too smooth to climb.
*Bryce: She shouldn't be in there. She should be in my arms. Her breath, her smell...
|-|Wait.=
*Kassandra: That scream came from someone in mortal danger. By now - if that was Ligeia, she's beyond my help. I wouldn't hold out much hope for her. Chaire.
Kassandra walked away.
*Bryce: Malákas misthios! You know nothing of love or hope. I will be with Ligeia again, in life or in death!
(If players return to her.)
*Bryce: Ligeia's still trapped and - I-I need your help.
(Back to the first choice)
</tabber>
Bryce reminisced.
*Bryce: Every night we'd meet at the Dread Ruins. I was late, just once. I wanted to find her a rose—something as perfect as she is.
She looked down, blaming herself.
*Bryce: This is my fault. If I'd gotten there in time—
<tabber>
|-|It's your fault.=
*Kassandra: This is your fault—what were you thinking meeting in a cursed valley full of fog?
*Bryce: We didn't believe the stories—
*Kassandra: You invited death. And when it answered, Ligeia faced it alone.
*Bryce: But I will make it right.
|-|It's not your fault.=
*Kassandra: Then you'd both be trapped inside.
*Bryce: Together.
*Kassandra: You were searching for a rose, a gift. Never regret an act of kindness, Bryce.
*Bryce: Thank you.
Kassandra nodded and turned her head back to the door.
</tabber>
*Kassandra: What do you know about this place?
*Bryce: Ligeia's a Daughter of Artemis. Her people trained here long ago. A legend tells of an ancient artifact they recovered in a pit full of snakes. She believed they still had it, hidden in their village on Chios.
*Kassandra: I'll find it.
*Bryce: There's also a mercenary, a man who claims he killed the Creature—
*Kassandra: Impossible.
*Bryce: But many believe him—he might know something.
(If players asked "Where exactly is the key?")
*Kassandra: You said Ligeia knew how to get into the lair—where exactly is the key?
*Bryce: The Daughters of Artemis hide their most prized possessions in a cave in their village. It's protected by wild beasts and fierce warriors. The key is shaped like a disk. If they have it, it'll be there.
(If players asked "Where can I find this mercenary?")
*Kassandra: This mercenary, the "Slayer of the Writhing Dread," where can I find him?
*Bryce: He waits in a temple atop the hill in Ancient Pearl. Champions from all over seek to challenge him to build their reputations, but there's no way he killed the Creature. If he did, how was Ligeia taken?
*Kassandra: Did you see the Creature yourself?
*Bryce: No, but only the Writhing Dread would be strong enough to take Ligeia! She's too fierce. ...And too stubborn.
(Leave – "I'll be back.")
*Kassandra: I'll find a way inside, and then I'll kill this Creature.
*Bryce: And I'll find Ligeia the rose I should have given her that night.
Bryce turned towards the steps and recited the work of Sappho.
*Bryce: "Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us."
*Kassandra: The poet Sappho.
*Bryce: Our favorite. Please, Kassandra. Hurry.
Kassandra took her leave and pondered where she should go.
*Kassandra: The region of the Ancient Pearl.
==Outcome==
Kassandra escorted Bryce to the Petrified Temple, then departed to investigate a means to enter and slay the Writhing Dread.
==References==
*Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Category:Memories of Kassandra
Category:Memories relived using the Animus HR-8.5
fr:L'ombre infinie de l'amour