138. Onset of the Big Red Heart

138. Onset of the Big Red Heart

Darkness clouded her vision. No matter how hard she tried to move in her dark ocean she would only be met with a wave of cold dullness. It felt like she wore nothing. The tickling of her Coat of Prejudice and the constant tightness of her leggings were strangely absent.

... Nav...? Where am I?

Nav did not answer.

Nav? Hello? Nav...? Are you there? Jury? Anyone?

She was completely alone in this strange voyage in the dark. Minutes passed for what felt like hours in this timeless place as she tried to wrap her groggy mind around her situation but came short on any ideas.

Her mind was still skewed. Confused, as if having recently been roused from a deep sleep. Little by little, she felt a slight warmth return to the tips of her fingers.

Her hands... they felt a little larger than usual. Or normal, actually.

They felt like the same hands she had prior to arriving in Elysia.

“Hey... Um...” A timid voice suddenly called out to her.

The world immediately unraveled before her very eyes.

The darkness dissolved away as she suddenly found herself surrounded by a flower field that stretched as far as they eye could see. Small rolling hills and a beautiful backdrop of snowcapped mountains were only the beginning of this magical place.

What is this place? I can’t move my body, but I can feel everything like normal.

She stood at the top of the largest hill; her eyes fixated on a behemoth of a city beyond the flower field. It was nothing like the medieval cottages of Grandis, nor the baroque architecture of the towns and cities of Brandar.

It was like a city from Earth, but it also wasn’t. Because there was no orange glow that highlighted the horizon in this world’s sunset. Only a hazy, slightly blue darkness filled the horizon, originating from a celestial body she could not perceive.

“Are you ignoring me?” The timid voice asked as a series of soft scrunches arrived by Frost’s side.

Her head turned to look down at an unfamiliar girl. She had long hair styled into a ponytail, and round glasses that were so big that it was almost comical. Her apparel was a dress-like uniform, and she gave off the impression of a librarian.

Why did she look so familiar?

Frost involuntarily shook her head, as if controlled by someone else.

“Oh. Sorry, I was dozing off. Did you need something?” Frost spoke in a professional tone.

But more than that, her voice was no longer feminine. This voice was her male voice, yet it was a tone that she did not recognize either.

Indeed. Upon looking down at herself she realized that she was dressed in a highly militarized garb, not too dissimilar from the Hired Arm.

Then she realized...

This is a memory... This was me, right? I don’t remember anything. I can’t even make out this woman’s face.

The woman stood there, hugging a clipboard as her diamond brooch glistened like her sapphire eyes to the blue sunset. These flat plains were just like Brandar’s in a way, except there wasn’t any innate fear of being pounced on by the Impuritas judging by how comfortable they were all the way out here in the wild.

“You’re always lost in thought.” She pouted cutely. “Look at this. I’ve recorded the data for every flower here. What do you think, ____?”

My name’s censored. Yeah... this is definitely a memory. Either that, or a fever dream. I need to wake up. We’re still fighting the Heart of Ours.

The woman held out pages upon pages of illustrations, arranged like an encyclopedia. Frost was taken aback by the sheer detail as his eyes glossed over the impressive write up. He passed the paper back to her, and she cuddled it.

“... ‘What good will archiving do?’. ‘Wasting ____’s resources for a suffocating aspiration’... You know, you never told me what you thought.” She held her hands together and fidgeted in place.

Archiving? Is she... Could she be the Archivist!?

“We’re all trying to make sense of everything. Trying to save whatever we can. If that’s your way of helping, then who are they to judge?” Frost stated in a deep, foreboding voice that possessed little emotion. “Give me the names. Organizations. Positions. Time. Date –”

“Chaos... It’s all just chaos! L.S and Broker are trying to get everyone to run! People are having their hearts ripped out!” Cer exclaimed, kneeling beside Res who tumbled and clawed at the earth in her sleep. “Res! Res! Wake up! Help her! HELP RES!”

“Please help my friends! Angel! Angel!” Stella clutched onto Frost’s feathers, begging her as Aster and the children laid somewhere to the side, muttering in their rest as they groveled and clutched at their hearts.

Frost could only manipulate her Touch of Golds to heal them and provide comfort; but she immediately knew that it wouldn’t be enough. Things were quickly spiraling out of control... No, it already had, and it was going to get worse.

Nav – Anything to note!? Anything new!?

“It’s the same Stolen Heart Condition. But now it has taken its well documented effect. Aspirators are emerging as we speak. Ponea can repel the Condition temporarily thanks to her proficiency in [Cleanse] and [Cure Disease]! But she cannot cure it!”

Nothing short of pandemonium filled the crimson air as screams of grief, terror and anguish replaced the music of the City of Vocals. People drowned in their poisonous aspirations, unable to take control of it as they clutched at their hearts in the hundreds.

Ponea was the only one who could temporarily stop this illness. However, not everyone could be saved. Further away, down the street in the direction of the City of Vocals she found an array of bouncing hearts. They only numbered in the low tens, but no one dared to go anywhere near them.

People were brought to their knees, and had their hearts burst just from mere proximity alone.

Aspirator

AFFINITY : Civilization

LEVEL : 150ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 25,000

ATT : 4,500MAG ATT : 4,500ATT DEF : 4,000MAG DEF : 4,000

MP : 0

RESIST : 250AGI : 12

The bouncing hearts were the Aspirators, and those stats screamed of unfairness. Even the triplets would find it difficult to kill them with those absurd DEF stats.

It had been easy so far, but now when faced with the threat that required the combined effort of all the Ateliers – She realized that no ensemble of Moons could ever dream of taking them down on a whim.

It was lucky that she was able to bolster their stats. That way she and the Hired Arm wouldn’t be the only one who could deal with them.

< “Can you feel it? The heartbeat that thumps outside our chests?” >

< “They were drowned by their own ambitions. So they united into one to stay afloat.” >

But this was not all. The reddening of the entire cavern was attributed to the colossal entity that loomed at the gates of the City of Vocals. A 200-meter-tall heart pumped with enough force to instantly shatter rock within its immediate vicinity.

The red light it emitted illuminated the dark cavern, hence the blood-like coloration that bounced on the walls and painted their bodies crimson.

Big Red Heart

AFFINITY : Civilization

LEVEL : 220ORIGIN : Disorder

HP : 15,000,000

ATT : 0MAG ATT : 0ATT DEF : 15,000MAG DEF : 15,000

MP : 300,000

RESIST : 550 AGI : 8

The sheer size could not be understated. If the Greed Counter was like a multistoried building; then that was essentially a skyscraper. Even though she could see its proportions, her mind refused to believe that such a colossal heart physical existed.

< CONDITION : The Big Red Heart will inflate your aspirations. If your aspirations outweigh your determination, then you will transform into an Aspirator. The Big Red Heart can only be damaged by those DETERMINED >

< Aspirators and those afflicted with Stolen Heart or Aspiring will infectiously convert nearby hearts that haven’t joined the Heart of Ours. The effect is stronger the closer they are to the Big Red Heart and the weaker one’s inherent determination is >

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : Know your heart. Be DETERMINED to uphold your heart’s desires to RESIST losing it >