Horizontal Waterfall

**Horizontal Waterfall** is the thirty-second episode of Reflection.

*REALM OF THE DEAD! Onward to Beleth! One last stop before the ferry that will carry them to the swamps below! But even before their arrival, demons drink the blood of gods, glutting themselves in the swamp that rests in the shadow of an ancient battle.*

## Summary

Laughter finds himself once again in the vision of a dead world his suit has been transmitting to him. A projection of Sei leads him to a large building she calls the Chemicary, where the leaders of this long-dead world fashioned instruments of war and other technological innovations. Inside the Chemicary, they discover a holding cell meant to bind something peerlessly dangerous, but before Laughter can find out what it is, he is forced into another vision in which a horde of Flametouched demand that he join them on their “crusade” against the living. He rejects them and is pulled into yet another vision, where he watches the final moments of the God of Fire’s fatal duel against Upwind. He learns over the course of the vision that the God of Fire did not actually want to kill Upwind, but rather his body was forced to by some unknown power. When Laughter finally awakes, he finds Mic standing in front of him in a burnt-out village somewhere in Beleth. Elsewhere in the swamp, Basil sits on a rock while she gets used to her new body. After some time, she sees a group of refugees led by Stephano, and pretends to be a mascot plushie. A little girl picks her up, but Stephano takes Basil from her after he notices the presence of the Pristine One. Basil explains her situation and Stein tentatively lets the girl “keep” her as he runs back the way he came. Up in the Sylt Islands, Treble delivers Ruth to the brig of a battleship as she calls on the next rotation of FLOW members to assist her in fighting off the Court of Logic.

At the edge of Sylt, near the waterfalls connecting it to Beleth, Willow’s strike team arrives on a border island while waiting for their ship to be prepared. Ridill and Willow jokingly attempt to force Ace to drink their Flames while [[Arg0s has a brief conversation with his Reflection Fateweaver. Back in Beleth, Sei arrives to the burning village where Laughter and Mic are and helps Laughter regain his bearings while Mic catches him up to what happened after he ingested the Godsblood. Stephano arrives soon after, and Laughter and Sei leave the village. On the way out, Sei questions Laughter as to why he didn’t help put out the fire. Some time later, after they are done putting out the fire, Stephano tries to help Mic with her wounds but hears multiple entities rapidly approaching. He grabs Mic and flees the area. Seconds later, a group of Free Will Backup Units, including the now-restored Unit 04, lands in the ruins of the village. They decide to split up into two teams, one focused on hunting down the original Basilisk Id, and the other focused on hunting down Mic. 04 and one other Backup Unit join the Basil team while the rest go after Mic. Back up in Sylt, Ace asks Lyst to donate some Flame, which she does. Meanwhile, Arg0s and Cast speak with Cal. Soon after, their boat is ready, and the strike team descends to Beleth.

After a few minutes of descending the waterfall, Cal hears a noise inside. When he goes to check, he finds a gigantic monster attempting to break into the brig. He alerts the rest of the team, but as they run towards the entrance to the brig, Isaac suddenly appears at the other end of the ship, asking to speak with Arg0s. Ace, Arg0s, Ridill, and Cast approach Isaac as everyone else goes to help Cal. Once they’re alone, Isaac uses his ESP to sever the hull of the ship from the rest of it and drag it down the waterfall. Inside, Willow sees the monster and recognizes it as Skippy, a well-known monster from central Beleth. She uses the techniques her grandfather taught her to grapple Skippy with the help of Isabeau. Back in Beleth, Basil senses an oncoming stampede of large animals, and reveals herself to the group of refugees by jumping in front of them and inflating to a large size, redirecting the stampede away from the refugees. They are a little disturbed but decide Basil is trustworthy enough. In Trailhead, a major fortress-city in central Beleth, Sei tends to Laughter and Mic and Stephano talk. The Golden Knight arrives and drops off groceries before going to check up on Laughter, who returns to the vision of the Chemicary. Now with access to the vault, he finds a lone mote of Pureflame, described as the “Flame that will end the world”. When he awakens, it is already nighttime.

Meanwhile, on the waterfall, Skippy wrests itself from Willow’s grapple and attempts to attack a nearby rescue ship. Willow grabs Skippy yet again, and this time takes him with her as she drags him towards the swamp below. On the way down, he impacts Isaac’s ESP field, causing the Pyromancer and the detached hull to also fall down towards the surface. Ace decides to pursue, and eventually Arg0s grabs Ridill and uses his own ESP to slowly float down after everybody. Elsewhere, Basil continues talking to the little girl that “adopted” her, when eventually the refugee group sees Saru engaged in fierce combat with a large serpentine creature. Yet elsewhere, Stephano helps another group of refugees and is shocked to see Isaac approach him. He asks if he can help Stephano out with his mission as equals instead of as master and butler. Finally, at the Wisp Family residence near Trailhead, Grandpa Wisp surveys his family as they have a meal, when he notices a growing dark shape in the skylight above. As it rapidly descends, he yells at his family to scatter as Willow and Skippy slam through the ceiling.

## Characters

### Player Characters

* Ace Galatine
* Basilisk Id
* Arg0s
* Willow Wisp
* Ridill Arondite

### FLOW

* Ascalon
* Lugh
* Twice
* Aura Pridwyn
* Lyst Solais
* Ruth Galatine
* Melli Luxity
* Charybdis
* Robin
* Breach
* Justice

### OPIA

* Mic
* Cast
* Cal
* Isabeau

### Demonic Courts

* Pyromancer of Laughter
* Golden Knight
* Isaac
* Stephano
* Sei Miscellany

### Other

* Grim Barricade
* Grandpa Wisp
* Pressley
* Upwind
* God of Fire
* Skippy