Illuminate The Darkness: A Nation Torn Apart

Absolute Astucity, Janalani, and Jinni

Today was a sunny day. When I woke up, I felt the warm rays of sunlight on my body. I dressed myself in some light clothes and did my morning routine. I decided to make the Raktuselmalanian coffee today. It was as delicious as ever. I went outside my apartment building and to a local square.

There, a large group of men with the same long purplish white hair as Edelfried sat on benches. One of them said: "Hi! We want hugs!" So, I ended up giving all of them hugs. This was a bit weird, but, I liked hugs and I had no problem with giving out free hugs. I asked one of them who he was. He replied: "Oh, me? I'm just another little ray of sunshine, another speck of dust in the wind. If you wish to give me a name, you can call me Ezekiel." I immediately remembered someone. Kashin. She introduced herself in a similar way. About Kashin, I hadn't seen her in a while. Was she hunted down by Nexus Corp before I defeated them?

I wanted to check up on Kashin to see how she was doing, but, I didn't know where to find her. That is when I remembered the command to summon her. I just needed to think about her, and she would appear in front of me. So, I visualized her image in my mind, and a puff of dark smoke congealed before my eyes. Upon seeing the puff of smoke, all of the men left in a hurry.

Kashin appeared, looking exactly the same as before. I greeted her and asked her bluntly: "What are you?". She laughed and responded: "Me? Don't you already know? Or did you forget? Doesn't matter. I am Faustland's child, and Faustland's retainer. I am everywhere and nowhere. I am everything and nothing. You know everything about me, what else is there to know?" I asked her where she came from. She replied: "A gust of wind brought me from the abyss to Faustland, and I became its child. Born in the abyss, but raised by Faustland...I am Faustland's adopted child. Like I said before...Just treat me as a Faustlandian, it'll make things way less confusing." She was certainly not going to give me any definitive answers about who she was or where she came from. I was getting sick of this game. I wanted to know what exactly Kashin was. I needed to get answers from her, and I swore to myself that I would get them, no matter what I had to do.

So, I ran towards Kashin and attempted to rip off her mask, but failed. She gently pushed away my hands and calmly said: "Sorry, Konrad, I can't let you do that." I then took out my gun and was ready to shoot her, but she took it from my hands and put it in her sash. She said, calm as ever: "Please calm down, Konrad. I don't know what made you so aggressive, but, you must calm down. Aggression is not welcome." I was astonished. How was she so calm!? I literally tried to shoot her, and she was still so calm...It felt as if I was nothing compared to her, and she wasn't going to be agitated by the actions of a pathetic worm like me. She then said: "I think that I know how to calm you down. Listening to an interesting story can always help people relax in tense situations. Sit down on the bench over there, and listen closely to what I'm about to tell you." Despite the fact that I desperately tried to rebel and try to attack her again, it felt as if I was under some kind of spell cast over me by her, so, I did as she ordered. I listened closely as she told me a story:

One day, Mr. Revir Konulur was struck with a realization. If you have a lot of resources laying around unused, why not put them to use? And that is exactly what he did. He began crafting without a definitive plan or goal. He just crafted day and night, until he finally created something. What he created was the ultimate weapon. Sword, claymore, polearm, chainsaw and rocket launcher all in one. Although, this wasn't the most marketable invention. So, he continued crafting, this time with the goal of creating something that was not only unique, but also marketable and useful. However, all that he crafted ended up being useless for most people. For example, a a huge hamster wheel that would transform its spinning force into energy. So, if it is filled up with lots of hamsters, all running within it, it would produce lots of energy. Although, most people don't have enough hamsters to make this device work. Another example is a large-scale water filter. It could filter out any contamination within large bodies of water. Although, it needs a lot of energy to function. To add to that, it is powered by Revirium, a new element discovered by Mr. Konulur and named after none other than himself. The element is extremely rare, and the water filter can only be powered by this element. The ultimate weapon, the hamster wheel powerhouse, the Revirium-powered water filter...All useless. So, Mr. Konulur needed an advisor. The advisor, who was preferrably a marketing specialist, would tell him what kinds of things were popular among consumers. The advisor, surprisingly, ended up being Mr. Clitopho Romano. He had no experience in marketing, but was a fellow inventor. They could work together, but, continued making stuff that no one could or would use. And, so, they needed to find more people for their team. People who could not only help them with crafting, but also help them with marketing. They ended up working together with many skilled scientists and physicians, but, they still could not find a marketing specialist. So, they just continued experimenting and crafting. In total, they ended up crafting some pretty impressive things, but no one cared. They were just a bunch of goofy nerds, after all.