Story/Lasting Eden Chapter 2

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Path: Insight
Added: Version 5.0.0 (2023-09-27)
Note: This story's name changes to Severed Eden after viewing Entry 16-7.
== Entry 16-1 ==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Purchase Lasting Eden Chapter 2
Requirement: Clear Technicolour
Transcript
Passing on always seems so sad, and wouldn't it be wonderful if it could be more than that?
When a soul parts from the body, and flies into the air...
When it passes all boundaries, when it is, thereafter, adrift...
There is a world that feels the same way. "Wouldn't it be wonderful? Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful..."
You see, that world called out to you.
Ah, you: you fell into a world of light. Ah, wasn't it wonderful? You fell from a soul like a tear, beautiful 
and new. You sparkled as you fell. You crystalized, and came alive. Ah, the beauty of it as you came 
into a world of memory and, rare thing, still bore a bushel of memories yourself...
A girl with two-colored hair and two-colored eyes. Telling. There was another like that already here, 
you know? But her two and two colors are pretended. You: you are real.
This last tear shed of a forgotten and departed life came down from on high, and down through a 
sky without clouds, resting finally amidst endless old ruins. It was a dark night that you fell into. Half 
this world in fact is dark, and you would wake beneath the stars.
The stars in this world – this world called "Arcaea" – are actually violet. You opened your eyes to a 
mauve-shaded sky, and squinted at the strange shapes dancing and glinting across it. Glass, in the 
sky: something magical, and called, too, "Arcaea". They are shards, it seems, of memory.
You knew all this; you knew the name "Arcaea" but you—you "remembered" nothing of the place. No, no...
You only remembered "yourself".
Oh, such a terrible heartache filled your chest. Oh, what dreadful things you had done. You had left 
a world behind. You had left a world to ruin. A veil of sins felt as if it was weighing upon your shoulders 
and blending with your body, seeping in. An ichor-like thing it was; you felt as if you carried what was 
left after that great and terrible wound which you yourself had dealt. You cried, you sobbed into your 
hands. Ah, ah, a beautiful sorrow...
There was one thing you forgot: your name. You do not truly know who you are. Is that a shame?
Shame or no, you dried your tears and stood to your feet.
In truth, you may have never "been" anyone at all...
But your feelings were so very real. Those memories were real—no mistaking that.
And your new name... Hm, "new name"? Were you ever even bestowed a name—? Oh.
It seems this world did indeed decide to give you a name, and what a lovely name it is.
It seems this world wished to call you "Maya".
== Entry 16-2 ==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-1
Requirement: Clear Logos
Transcript
Maya, you are exceptional—do you realize that? You are made of stuff that no one else here is.
"Made of stuff" can be taken two ways, in fact. You are made of stuff unusual, stuff none of the others 
have when they come here. But, also, you are made of "stronger stuff". That is a turn of phrase, Maya. 
It means your "heart" is strong. You are, perhaps, the most wonderful thing in a world of endless wonder.
Although, that is hard to say absolutely.
To most, this world has always been bright. An endless daylight once shone down over everything 
from an unseen star. But after you awakened, you wandered the darkened world.
For you, shadows were all around, and yet you still stepped bravely into the unknown—maybe 
unthinking, but it was no doubt admirable. So, Arcaea, Arcaea...
You found a world of mirror meanings. You found a world of the dead, giving life. You found a world 
of day, and also night. You found a forgotten place full of memories of light and conflict. It seemed 
to remember elsewhere always, however—and never itself. Does "Arcaea" fear itself and what it has 
done? Do the girls here also feel that way...?
It's a question for philosophers: is this world of second chances worth anything at all when most 
can only see this chance as their first? Is this sealed world worth anything at all, when it can't seem 
to progress into anything beyond itself? It is a question for scholars. It was also, indeed, a question for you.
Given what you were, who you were, what you'd done—why were you here...? Memories after memories 
flocked to you, showing sorrow, and what point was there in that...?
At one point, when you stood between light and darkness, it seemed almost a mockery...
But the secret answer is very, very simple.
Arcaea is a meaningless world.
It is simple, yes, but that is why it is admirable. And you, Maya; you came to notice it, right?
The world came to warm you. When you felt sadness and horror, the world brought you the gentle 
embrace of old stories, remembered here. Yes, you... found it distasteful for quite some time, but after 
you walked into the light! Poetic! Meaningful! What a show it was!
To think this world of a shattered heart could put on such a marvelous show...
Torn between two paths, and brought low by your suffering... you wished for ease and received it! You 
wished for pain and received it!
And so suddenly...! Everything changed! Or, had it changed long before? When did it change, 
when...? Difficult to say, really...
Why, it doesn't matter. A burst! A shadowed path appeared before you to Heaven, and you 
walked it, Maya!
You faced the guilt inside of you and chose to pursue the light. Ahh...
So selfish... though you deserve only judgment, Maya...
That scene, it was sublime, almost providence...
But not quite...
And so—!
I decided then, and there, to come and find you.
== Entry 16-3 ==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-2
Requirement: Clear Primeval Texture with Maya
Transcript
Maya, we haven't yet met—it's tragic. Yes, you and I, we are unfamiliar, but I feel like I "know" you.
And it is frustrating... Ah, it is frustrating how little that I do "know". It might be the first time—I swam 
in floating seas once, you know? Seeking "mermaids"... I had read about them, and felt that I knew 
them too. They were so simple when I found them, though...
You, Maya: I know your name. I know your heart, and your pain. I know that you are still sad, Maya. 
I know that when you sleep, the remnant shadows of what "you've" done continue to haunt you 
and you always begin to cry. But, why should you cry when you weren't even responsible? 
How cruel! Why should you smile, when "you" were? How audacious. I need to see you.
==Entry 16-4==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-3
Requirement: Clear Technicolour with Maya
Transcript
I saw you through an eye I had cast through a hundred thousand veils and when it spotted you, 
well, I couldn't help but watch. I had seen, too, this world's history, but I was so very drawn to you. 
Of course, it wasn't only you that drew me—it is that you are "two". I said that, right? "Telling". Two-
colored hair, two-colored eyes—you aren't only you, Maya, and you aren't meant to exist, and yet 
you are. You seem more than what could ever be shaped... You are a miracle of miracles amidst a miraculous place.
Miracles, really, are rare outside. Where I'm from we had miracles in all our hands, but—I left there. 
We had a song, a lullaby, a prediction—and why, I will admit that it unsettled me. Quite literally, 
I left where I was settled. I wanted to find "true" miracles, not from hands that would one day 
fade into dust.
So I will come in, with my aim being you and one other.
==Entry 16-5==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-4
Requirement: Clear Logos with Maya
Transcript
Hands fading into dust... What did I mean? There was a song...
"There are no angels, only here
What we shape, what we hold dear
We shape together, never ending.
Where ever: the sky, the earth, the meer
I shall hold you very close, my dear
Even as strange light finds us, descending."
...A sad song. It would leave anyone miserable. I try not to think of it. Now—Arcaea, Arcaea: how 
many have come down to its pale soil? Well, a duller pale, now... And you know I feel it as I circle it, 
near it—why, I daresay it doesn't seem to want me here at all, Maya.
But, shame of shames: Arcaea is weak, you know? Absolutely powerless to do anything about it.
I will "be". I am alive. That place needs to prepare for a third aberration.
I will burst into that world, even if it rips at my skin and rejects me, and when I am there:
I will listen only for you, Maya.
==Entry 16-6==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-5
Requirement: Clear Ego Eimi with Maya
Transcript
I've traveled across starlight to see you. I've traversed stormful skies for you. I have bent so many 
realities and torn others asunder to reach you, Maya! And it is awful! The journey here has been 
awful, for while I have traveled I could never hear your voice, Maya! Your voice—! You like to sing, 
too, right? Or, you always sing so it feels safe to assume. I've remembered your songs while going 
to you, Maya. Those sincere, driving memories...
You may be the first to set my heart this much to flame, but a flame, a flame—it really is always like 
this. I love—so very much. I love with all of my being. I love what I can find amidst what has been 
left throughout All by dead creators, by pantheons, by human hands—I love these worlds that I find, 
and oh, those lives which one may pluck out of them...
I have lost count.
And finally, it will be today... Ah, today we will finally meet!
A graying white film like the surface of a giant's eye is before me now!
Just you wait...
Whatever it takes, I shall make my way in...!
I draw closer to Arcaea's sky from outside; to this pale and too-massive sheet, crawling with some 
queer feeling of "memory", like fingers running through shining, blissful dirt... I grab hold of it with 
my own fingers, and dig deeply in—
The world at once rises against me. Light and clouds launch out the atmosphere and latch onto 
my body as tendrils. The air around me vanishes, even as I create more to replace it. I am pushed, 
rejected—rather strongly, too, I'll add. Automatic, fierce, and the trajectory always remains true no 
matter how I cast it away, my... But, I could swear that "rule" was abandoned, here. Arcaea... might 
it still have its own heart? And a heart that seems to hate me...
Because I'm not dead? Why, let me make my case before you try to take my life!
I'll have you hear it once I'm on the other side...
I will open eyes again on the other side. I bring an invisible gaze to life, staring up to above.
After all, I really want to see this...
A grand and splendid entrance...
Let me show all here a ray of hope!
==Entry 16-7==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 15-6 and Entry 16-6
Requirement: Unlock Arghena
Transcript
The skies all converge on one point. A vortex—a funnel forms, as vast as that sky itself. The firmament 
is shaped as if it is draining downward, and then suddenly it shifts entirely in a hundred, thousand 
ways. Color spreads out across the heavens.
A maelstrom of color, all draining downward and crackling!
The purity of light finally and utterly shifts to colors more than prismatic...
New color! Heretofore unknown and powerful color!
And ah, yes—I think it's the perfect timing! Let's start a storm!
Below, Maya witnesses my entrance, until the whole world's sky turns red.
That color inverts. Shifts—Shifts—Shifts! And finally, my hand passes through.
Lightning and rain begin to fall with might. A storm, a storm! Winds turn and throw towers down—
throw walls and buildings down! Snow and ice pelt the earth. The sky ripples as my own colors 
bleed all around me—coat me.
I descend into Arcaea, as weather—as life—as nature all come with me, and I grin. For I will leave 
the sky unbroken, hmhm...
Amidst the chaos and storms I have brought, I land gently to the earth before you and of course 
I curtsy, and I bow. As my hair and yours are cast all around in the gale I say—
"Hello, hello, Maya—
I have so wished to meet you."
When do I reach you...? I take no time stepping over to you... holding you, embracing you...
Feeling you...
These shoulders, your spine...
Your stomach and side, your fingertips... this hair of yours, oh...
Don't you tremble, now. I am only looking.
Ah, and of course, your face... I softly hold your breaking, crying face.
What might you be thinking as you look upon me with those quivering, two-colored eyes?
I am thinking about plucking out your red eye, and examining it more closely. It, in particular, is 
intriguing and beautiful. Oh—don't worry, I will leave it there, and instead simply find who you 
took it from...
But what are you, Maya...? What are you in this world already so incomprehensible...? I simply 
must have "you".
Holding you with one hand at your back, I snap the fingers of my other and take "time" away.
Listen now: every world is made with something in mind, but I already knew that Arcaea 
stood out with exception.
It has been said and said: Arcaea was made with "heart".
Still, without fail, within every world I have been able to find three "parts":
The surface world, the law underneath, and underneath both of those the seed of a wish and 
its tangent desires spreading like roots.
As I stop time in Arcaea, and look past the first and second layers, all suspicions are solidly 
confirmed that this world's fabric has no "weaving" at all.
No, it is instead more like a sea. Arcaea's fabric exists as an ever-shifting, almost 
incomprehensible thing which one tends to describe with terms of emotion: calm or raging, 
dark or peaceful.
Ebbing, and flowing...
You would ordinarily see gorgeous lines of order establishing a world's rules beneath the first layer, 
and yet there are none in that gold and cobalt underneath.
The only establishing lines there are a strange and sketched mess past the second layer—frenzied 
white scrawlings vaguely marking the bounds of an almost infinite black canvas. Each twisted and 
errant thing there is a clear-cut "wanting". It is all sorrow... and hope. Only these define this world.
And like you, Maya, I love it. It is wonderful...
But as I try to add a new idea as a line amidst all the others, perhaps to wrest some true control 
here, Arcaea rejects me again. Why? That makes it tougher and tougher to manifest my domain...
It seizes my fingers and stiffens my arm. It even seems to want to rewrite "my" existence—until 
in fact it removes my whole spasming limb. My arm separates from me and begins color-shifting, 
dithering in midair, rapidly vanishing and unvanishing... Time even resumes, and in this new 
chaos you, Maya, witness a very terrifying sight.
My apologies...
It takes great effort as Arcaea tries to pull me out of this reality, and even sever my body along space 
and time, but I would do anything for you, Maya. Through any storm, through any sickness, through 
any power overwhelming I would and can do anything...
With snaps and pain and nausea, feeling not "here" but "there" and with a strange vision of a dark 
room in midday filling my head, I will my arm back to my body and reach out to Arcaea's fabric. 
Reach out... Reach, reach!
Leave "me" here!
World of memories! From this day forth, you shall never forget me!
I carve the last and most beautiful idea—the most beautiful line in Arcaea's fabric:
I carve into Arcaea my own true and hallowed name.
And it's set, and it's done: an eternal and immutable change. I am now "here", forever. So, I'll 
waste not a second more.
I begin to split time and space apart myself—behind me. At last I open a black and shining gate 
to "mine" and gently, Maya, while you're so still from shock and fear and confusion, I begin to pull you in.
And there, there, you begin to unravel.
As your fingertips meet with the boundary, your voice is lost and you start to unravel into glass threads.
You unspool from your hand, past your arm, and to your chest and your body in a beautiful, silvery sight. 
Little wondrous splits without a single spot of blood continue all throughout your skin and where there 
might be inner parts... In waves of countless, brilliant, almost prismatic threads, you are drawn through 
the dark hole I have opened.
Your shape now is like a melting harp waving through the air; its strings made of the prettiest white 
quilt being split down slowly at its seams...
Ah, ah...
Fall into the best place, Maya...
And stay away from here forever.
When the last thread of you passes time and space, I close the gate shut.
White begins to overtake the sky once more.
I gaze up above as the storm begins to die down.
And watching it fade, I remark to this world that hates me:
"Arcaea, Arcaea...
"Hello to you as well."
==Entry 16-8==
Type: Text Log
Prerequisite: Unlock Entry 16-7
Requirement: Clear Abstruse Dilemma with Maya
Transcript
My storm finally and completely disappears. The last vestiges of the color I left in heaven die.
But oh no, no, I am still here, Arcaea—still here.
What an agonizingly long journey it has been.
Yes... I am here now. I, who saw this place through a passing glance between realities and simply had to visit.
I am thinking, even, of staying.
You know, this world is broken now... but it's still here. That is beyond incredible. I have never seen 
something "shaped" this terribly and this greatly; I really need to dig into it—I need to know more 
about it. I need to learn about it, I need to find those who live their second lives here. In one case: 
a third! So, so incredible! And ah, what a lovely story of three lives!
I run my hand through my hair as I think of it. Rainwater runs down over my skin, and I cannot help 
but laugh again. I hug myself, and soon find myself chuckling, and laughing, and laughing all the 
more until it almost hurts...!
Because isn't it a shame? It's a shame, you know!? You see: this world has been missing a god! Ah, it had a 
god but for an instant! For a fleeting moment, it was whole and just after—ah, it shattered at its very core! 
Have the people here been worried ever since?
Oh, oh, there's no more need to worry. No, no, none have need of worry at all!
This fading, sorrowful, wonderful world has been once again blessed...!
In my grace, in my providence, you will all find happiness again...
Yes... a god has come here to set everything right and well for you all.