Journey | Albedo's Descent Book 3

Chapter 17: Loosing My Mind

"Sounds crazy to me," Rosaria took a small drink.
"That's what Lisa said. She thinks he's still dealing with the side effects of the candles... but I really think-"
"Have you actually seen it?" Diluc asked.
Kaeya looked over at his brother, "no..."
"I don't like that mountain," Rosaria said, "it's creepy and wrong. It's like it's alive... Bad enough things have happened because of it. Frankly, it isn't safe. If whatever-it-is really is real, it can't be good."
"But it has something to do with..." Kaeya's eyes drifted over to Diluc. This was a sensitive subject for everyone in the room, but especially him.
Diluc just folded his arms, challenging him to say it.
"The carving on the wall had the diamond," Kaeya pointed to his eye, "so whatever it is-"
"All the more reason to stay away from Dragonspine," Diluc said a bit more harshly than he intended.
Kaeya stared at him, "I cant convince him to leave..."
"You better," Rosaria pushed his arm, "or you might never get married."
"Don't say that..." Kaeya laid his head on the bar.
Diluc snorted, "if you're so worried, why are you still here?"
"Because Rosaria knows more than she lets on... and I need the emotional support."
Rosaria rolled her eyes as she pat Kaeya's back, "this is incredibly dangerous... I don't recommend pursuing this thing. If Albedo doesn't snap out of it and realize how awful this could all be, I'd say to just pick him up and carry him back. At some point, he's got to realize what he's getting himself into."
"I know... but he's..."
"Just pull out the 'I won't marry you' card," Rosaria folded her arms in disappointment.
"Kaeya." Diluc spoke slowly, "what do you think?"
The others stared at him.
"Do you think this is real?"
"I- I don't know. I mean, there's that carving-"
"What did it look like?"
"A silhouette of a person, but-"
"Then there isn't any evidence it's whatever this monster is," Diluc said sternly.
"But that weird substance-"
"Do you have any proof that its actually from that thing?"
Kaeya clenched his jaw.
"I've seen a lot of carvings around Dragonspine," Rosaria added, "all of 'em are super weird. If it's got your symbol on it, it could just be a reference to the country and not a specific person or thing. There really isn't anything connecting it to Albedo's dream beast."
Kaeya didn't want to doubt Albedo's judgement, but he felt relieved that this thing was most likely not real. But that left an uncomfortable option.
Unfortunately, Diluc was the one to voice it first, which made Kaeya take it all the more harshly. "To me, it sound like Albedo is going crazy."
Rosaria stared at Diluc. She hadn't expected him to say something like that so blatantly. And in front of Kaeya. Was he asking for a fight?
To the nun's surprise, Kaeya heaved a heavy sigh, closing his eyes tightly. "I don't... I just don't know anything for sure right now... Lisa's working on figuring out what's happening with her candles, and I need to just... not think right now."
He ran his fingers through his hair, exhaling quietly, but deeply.
Rosaria looked at him with concern, "just... if this takes a turn for the worse-"
"Rosaria..." Kaeya said tightly.
She pursed her lips, "... I want to go with you. When you go back, take me with you."
Kaeya shook his head, "I can't let you-"
"Then I'm coming myself." She stood up, "you need to talk to Klee, right? Come on, quit procrastinating." She dragged him out of the tavern.
"But I haven't finished my glass..."

"Is this what master wanted me to find?..." Albedo had four of the books open, making a square shape. All the unintelligible writing created the form of what seemed to be a sword or weapon of some kind.
"Or is it Durin?..."
Albedo didn't know. He could try asking? But Durin didn't seem able to speak. But, at least, Durin's poison had stopped contaminating the creatures around Dragonspine.
Albedo heaved a sigh as a cold wind blew through his camp. What was he supposed to do?
The alchemist abruptly turned his head towards the entrance, hearing skittering.
A small snow fox tilted its head at him. It raised its body up to sit on its back legs, staring at him.
Albedo stared back. Occasionally, small creatures would come in to warm up, but this one seemed to be in quite the hurry. The alchemist walked over and peeked outside. There didn't seem to be anything chasing it. If there were, the fox must have lost it by now.
Albedo turned around to find the fox sitting right in front of his feet, staring up at him.
The alchemist didn't make a habit of feeding the wildlife, but sometimes... He walked over to one of his shelves and pulled down some preserved fowl.
He was surprised to see the fox right at his feet again. He chuckled, "at least you're being polite," and handed over the fowl.
The animal happily gobbled it up, then pounced at Albedo's feet, growling playfully.
Albedo shook his head with a smile. "Sorry, I don't have time to play right now."
It tilted its head up at him, then growled and ran around the room. Then it skidded to a stop at the entrance, sitting down and looking over at Albedo.
Albedo walked over and pulled one of the tapestries open, "you can go..."
It looked out, then back up at Albedo.
Albedo gestured outside, "it should be safe now..."
The fox looked out again, then up at Albedo once more.
The alchemist tilted his head. Most of the wildlife on Dragonspine didn't particularly care for him. He speculated that it was because he didn't smell human. But none of them had behaved like this.
The fox took a few steps out, then sat down and looked over at Albedo.
The alchemist paused. This fox was behaving like the Seelie had... He looked inside his camp. He didn't want to leave because Kaeya had asked him not to... but what if this was important?
Albedo was torn in half. He didn't know what was right.
Albedo steeled his nerves. He let the tapestries close, letting go of them with uncertainty.
The fox walked forward. Albedo followed at a small distance. After every few steps the fox would look back at Albedo.
Yes, it was quite unnerving. But it was also kind of cute, in a way...
The fox led him around the Mountain for a short time. It stopped after about ten minutes.
The small animal stared forward as if Albedo didn't matter anymore. Albedo looked where it was staring.
Honestly, Albedo shouldn't be surprised anymore. Of course it was this thing again. He was only kidding himself by entertaining the thought that it wasn't real...
"Half... you're close..." The figure swirled and shifted as it seemed to turn and face Albedo.
Albedo tried not to shiver, but he hadn't been by a fire since he left his camp. "I- I want to make a deal..."
It didn't show any sign it heard him.
Albedo was careful not to move. It seemed to always disappear the second he did. "I... I want you to promise not to hurt anyone if I return your other half."
"Hurt..." It's garbled voice had no inflection, but Albedo got the feeling it was trying to understand something. "Hurt..."
"Don't... don't hurt anyone. I want your word," Albedo spoke breathlessly. He was cold. Actually cold. Was that a result of being around this thing?
"Hurt..." it's voice was lost in the wind. Then it's form shifted and swirled together, getting smaller. It flashed red before taking on a familiar shape.
Klee.
"Hurt," it's voice echoed, mimicking the sound of Klee's. Then big drops of water started streaming down its face as its expression contorted to copy that of crying. But it was so much more disturbing.
"Stop," Albedo choked out. It took everything he had not to move. He was shivering for real now.
The thing froze, staring at Albedo. It's form twisted together again, getting taller.
Bennet.
It lifted a hand that looked just like the boy's and pointed to the bandaid over its nose, "hurt..." It went on to point out all the scars scattered around Bennet's arms and abdomen.
"Yes," Albedo struggled to speak, "yes, that's hurt. Please, stop. That's what I- I don't want you to do-"
It started to change again. This time it took the form of someone much taller.
Kaeya.
Albedo shook his head, barely speaking louder than a whisper at the creature that was a little over five meters away, "stop..."
[as I side note, I haven't mentioned: one meter is about 3 feet, for those of you who don't know]
The thing that looked like Kaeya lifted its hand to its right eye, speaking in Kaeya's voice more clearly than the others. It wasn't as broken a speech, or as garbled a sound, "hurt."
"Stop it," Albedo's foot slid forward in the snow.
The creature, in barely a second, switched to someone new.
Himself.
"I need the other half..." It's voice sounded nothing like Albedo's. It's appearance seemed to be unstable, parts of it shifting in and out of the swirling mess. It held out a hand, "will you bring it to me?"
"Just- just don't hurt anyone," Albedo clutched his arms, the cold biting into his bones. "You have to promise not to, or I won't bring it to you."
It stared blankly at him with lifeless eyes. Then it shifted back into its original form, seemingly unable to maintain its shape. "Half of me... Hurt..."
"I still d-don't know what your other half is. If y-you would just tell me."
"Half of me..." it repeated. It's form split into two, then came back together again.
"It looks the-the same?" Albedo was freezing now. He could feel his face tensing up and his only warmth was from his own breath. And that wasn't much at all.
"Will you bring it to me?"
Albedo felt like he might collapse if he didn't start moving soon, "y-yes, just, please, don't-"
Right when Albedo lifted his foot it was gone again.
Albedo stumbled forward.
The fox before him yipped at him a few times before scampering off.
Albedo, shivering as he was, went back to his camp as quickly as he could. From the look of it, a storm seemed to be about ready to roll in.
Was this thing only able to repeat words it had heard? It always repeated "half of me..." and "will you bring it to me?..." But now Albedo knew that it could mimic voices, albeit rather poorly. And it could maintain a human appearance for a short time.
Things just got a lot more complicated. And he still didn't know what he was looking for.