Tales of the West : Night of Fractal Horizon

**Tales of the West : Night of Fractal Horizon**is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Avalon and follows the perspective of the young exorcist Mary Maark. It is a sequel to Tales of the West : Land of Divine Melancholy and is followed by Tales of the West : Infernal Desire Voyager.

## Main Arc

### The Letter and the Neverending Night

Mary Maark, exorcist and newly appointed Saint, receives yet another mysterious letter in the silence of her home. She is asked to investigate a strangely chaotic night, which seems to have been frozen in time. Alongside her friends, the rival exorcist and dragon-slayer Sigrid Fafnir and the playful mahotsukai Sayaka Chuda, she decides to investigate.

She is first opposed by Willow Fae, an old (albeit weak) rival, then by Viola Variosa, a mysterious musician who enjoys the eternal night. She then arrives to a strange edge of Avalon, part of its dreamworld Mindscape, defended by the unicorn Innocent Esperin. The latter claims to help Avalon's Alice conquer her dreams. Mary defeats her, then moves forward.

### Towards the Dream's End

Three opponents bar Mary's path in the dreamworld : Capris, Leona and Aspic Bestia, the Chimeriad trio. The powerful Dreamworld inhabitants prove to be too much for Mary, but Sayaka and Sigrid support her, each woman fighting a different part of the Chimeriad. Defeated, the three sisters accept to lead Mary to their queen, the queen of Avalon's Dreamworld.

The queen, excentric rabbit-girl Maddie Marchhare, tells Mary that "Alice" within the dreamworld is about to see "what lies beyond the horizon" and asks Mary not to interfere. While the exorcist refuses, Maddie engages her in a formidable battle of illusion and madness, only being defeated by Mary's experience with this category of attacks, having already fought Lockie Yggdrasil. She then manages to reach the dream's end.

### Under a Fractured Sky

Mary finds a young woman in front of a slowly fracturing sky, only slowed down by the time stasis. The girl, Serenity Starre, tells Mary they are in a fake, artificial paradise : Avalon is an artificial world and she desires to see what lies behind its prison-like walls. Serenity's ritual slowly erodes the boundaries of Avalon. A panicked Mary attacks Serenity but the latter holds her off with her magic of space and stars. When Mary defeats Serenity, it is too late : the walls of Avalon begin to fracture. However, behind the horizon, there is nothing. And slowly the paradise is being destroyed.

Desperate, Serenity seeks to repair the boundaries, but it is too late ; the world is ending. Mary then sees a column of light within the Yggdrasil temple. She flies towards it, fighting once again Willow whose power has increased tenfold and defeating her despite that. In the temple, she fights Brienna who has been chosen as a trial for Mary, her powers also increased. Mary fights the druid even as she summons visions of the past, twisting time itself in order to make Mary fight her past trials once again. Mary finally wins and Brienna steps aside, a door to another realm appearing.

### Facing the Absolute

Beyond the door, Mary finds a young girl : Utopia Avalon, an incredibly powerful Akashic being who holds dominion over past and future. The creator of Avalon, Utopia is no longer interested in the world who rejected her creation, and is content with letting Avalon's individuals perish due to their own mistakes. As Mary prays to her, Utopia accepts to wage Avalon's existence on one last battle with Mary, warning her that the exorcist puts her life on the line.

The battle with Utopia, however, turns out to be nothing like before : the godlike entity easily warps the laws of time and space, striking Mary down with fragments of reality itself. Thankfully, Sayaka and Sigrid rush to Mary's sides, helping her survive and giving her a part of their essence for her to keep going on. However, even with this support, Utopia remains much more powerful than her. In order to have a single chance to hit her, Mary infuses her life force into a **Last Spell**, and while Utopia crushes her within pocket dimensions, Mary manages to break the walls and strike once Utopia before dying of exhaustion, all her energy consumed in a single attack.

Mary wakes up in her room, still tired but fully healed. Avalon has been repaired, and a smiling Utopia - who has apparently taken no real damage from the attack - applauds Mary for her courage. However, Mary cannot help but feel weak, judging herself for being "unable to properly sacrifice herself". Utopia then shows her visions of another Timeline where she died in order to show her all her mourning friends and acquintences. Shocked, Mary understands the value of her own life, and promises Utopia to take care of herself. Utopia then leaves, while a still shocked and disoriented Serenity remains in Mary's house for the time being.

## Characters

* Mary Maark : Aspiring Saint Exorcist
* Sayaka Chuda : Twisted Kind Mahotsukai
* Sigrid Fafnir : Draconic Dragon-Slayer
* Willow Fae : Playful Determined Will'o'Wisp
* Viola Variosa : Musician of Melancholy Skies
* Innocent Esperin : Unicorn of Chaste Dreams
* Capris Bestia : Chimera of Powerful Dreams
* Leona Bestia : Chimera of Courageous Dreams
* Aspic Bestia : Chimera of Wise Dreams
* Maddie Marchhare : Final Guardian of Wonderland
* Serenity Starre : Dreamer with Star-Crossed Eyes
* Brienna Crowfax : Embodiment of World's Memory
* Utopia : Supreme Phantasm Transcending All Existence

## Trivia

* Still refering to the **Touhou Project** series, Night of Fractal Horizon possesses a **Phantasm Stage** in the guise of Utopia.