Deepwoken: Divers

Betrayal: For whom does the bell toll...

The same day, our friends arrived at the shores of Erisia.
"Kevin's gonna be worried about us..." Pakki said.
"Well, he should be worried about... Etrea, in general, with that guy as the leader..." Colt replied.
Faust started walking, leading them. "so if my memory serves me correctly... It's this way."
Faust led them through Erisia, stumbling across a camp. Suddenly, a man in brown clothes charged at Pakki, before being hit by a flying spear.
Pakki drew his katana. "What the..."
A blonde man about his age walked up, yanking the spear out. "Sorry about that. These bandits are all over the place." He was wearing a blindfold, though there was a glowing eye in front of it.
Faust smirked. "Thanks for the save."
Pakki poked the man's arm curiously to which he tilted his head. "What... Are you doing?" He asked.
Pakki took a step back. "Are you really blind? If yes then how'd you see me do that?"
Colt facepalmed. "Pakki that's not..."
The man looked at Pakki. "...Well I still see about 50% more than you... It's because I'm a blindseer. What are you guys here for anyway?"
Faust took a step towards him. "We're looking for Duke Erisia. Or his manor, more specifically. On behalf of... The Lord Regent or whatever his name was. I'm Faust, that's Colt and the idiot is Pakki."
Pakki crossed his arms. "Heyy!"
The man nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Pat Rashet. If you really wanna get to Duke Erisia you have to go through the Burning Stone Gardens. It's quite dangerous, filled with stone golems made by the Duke himself."
Faust nodded. "Yeah. We know, but--"

Pat interrupted him. "I know a better route. Through this bandit camp here, you can get atop the mountains and skip all of his golems. I could guide you if you want."
Colt stepped forward in response. "Yeah... That'd be great, thanks."
Pat nodded. "Right... Follow me." He climbed up the camp, then onto a large body of rock and slowly onto the mountain.
Pakki tilted his head. "Not to be rude but... Why are you helping us?"
Pat fixed his blindfold in response. "It's my oath. I vowed to see only which is real and through that knowledge, help others."

Soon, with Pat's help, they reached Duke Erisia's manor. "Right, this is as far as I can take you... Good luck on your adventures." The blindseer said.
The trio smiled. "Yeah... Thanks." Pakki responded.
They jumped down, opening the gate. Inside a few bloodsuckers awaited them - hideous bat-like flying creatures with sharp claws.
Alongside them waited several people - all of which were wearing a uniform and blindfolds.
"WOAH! Wait we can talk about this... It doesn't have to end this way!" Colt said as he backed up, one of them attacking him with their bare fists.
Pakki grabbed one with his shadow magic, slamming it against another. "No... They're not human. Not anymore. I don't know why but... I can tell."
Faust looked at him. "Like those golems we saw down there?"
Pakki nodded. "Yeah... Just like those."

Colt narrowed his eyes, shooting it in the face. "Just what the hell is that Duke up to..?"
As Faust and Pakki advanced, there was a sudden rumbling before the entrance collapsed, blocking Colt from going any further.
"Shit! Colt, are you okay?!" Pakki asked, looking at the rocks that blocked his exit.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine.. You guys just... Go on without me, alright? I'll figure out a way to get rid of these!" Colt answered.
Pakki looked over at Faust. "Hey, what are you waiting for--"
As Pakki turned to look forward where his friend was looking he saw it - a man with two glowing green and black swords. "To think that I'd find you like this... That you'd even get out... ...Brother, it's seriously annoying." He said.
Pakki started sweating as he looked between them. "Oi.. W-What the hell are you talking about? He's just crazy... Right?..."
Faust took out his greatsword, looking at the name etched into it. "No... Kevin told me about someone who has the same last name as me."
Pakki looked at him, his only remaining red eye's pupil tinying.
"But I thought he was dead..." Faust continued. "...Melodias Ytreshi."

Melodias looked at Faust, his emerald eyes almost lacking sympathy. "I don't regret anything... Come on."
Pakki drew his weapons. "Hey, it doesn't have to end like this. You don't even know why we're here!"
Melodias glared at him. "I know EXACTLY why you're here. To stop the Duke. It's why everyone comes here. But I won't let you. You're just gonna go down like the others."
Faust created a flaming halo atop his head to heal him as a wisp. "We'll see about that."
Melodias spun around, creating massive winds to push them back. Faust blocked it with his sword, though Pakki couldn't, and worse - the wind started to cut into him. A moment later, he was slammed onto the rocks behind him.
As soon as the attack was done, Melodias spun his swords around. "One less..."
Faust charged up an attack, as the quiet sound of chimes came in.
Melodias looked at him, spotting the tiny bell on his waist, his eyes widening. "When the hell did you--"
Before he had time to react, Faust almost teleported in front of him, leaving behind bright particles, delivering a heavy overhead kick to Melodias' face, knocking him back. "That's for my friend..." Faust said, getting back into his fighting position.
Melodias quickly got up, his face bleeding. His mind raced with ideas - "How the hell did he unlock his resonance? I'm sure he used it in that moment -- but that was radiance magic... So how..? Was it the movement? No, that was radiance too."
Faust darted to him, swinging his greatsword at him. "If you won't attack, I will."

Melodias waited for a moment before going under the sword, pushing it to the side with one of his swords, stabbing the other one into Faust. He yanked his sword out, spinning around and slashing him with the other one to knock him back.
Faust clenched his teeth, quickly stumbling up. "Damn resonance.. How the hell's it work..?!"
Melodias stood there, his two swords held to the sides, blood dripping from both. "The song. You can copy other's ability to use the song."
Faust looked at him. "What... Did you say?"
Melodias glared at him still. "Judging by your eyes... you became a visionshaper. And you used flamecharm. That means you couldn't have learned that diver's radiance magic, but you used it. In conjuction with your bell, no less. That leads me to believe your bell's ability is to copy other people's usage of the Song."
Faust held his wounds with one hand as they slowly healed. "Why the hell would you tell me?"
Melodias' expression didn't change one bit. "Because I love you, little brother. Even if you ARE working for the evil in this world."
Faust was suddenly cut by phantom-like green projections of Melodias, three times before being knocked back again.
Melodias continued. "Even if you are fighting for the most horrid people in the world. Do you know why you were in the Depths in the first place? Because of my desire to help the good in this world. You were a sacrifice. Was it 1394..? I discovered the Duke. How he uses Galebreathe, just like me. How he wanted nothing more than another chance to save the world from the second Drowning. I wanted to join him. He asked me for a sacrifice, to prove it. That.... ....Was you. That's why you were in the Depths. I thought I'd lost you forever... But now, here you are. With my old sword, to go against my plans. My plans to save everyone. You even joined the Union... They won't accomplish anything. I know for a fact they won't. Only those with power can change anything. And that's Duke."
Faust just looked at him for a moment before Pakki stumbled out of the rocks, his voice raspy. "Stop fucking with me... You're just a piece of shit... 'Good' and 'evil'... It's all bullshit. We all harm each other in some way... We all have our goals... It's just that some people stand in the way. But that doesn't make them 'evil'... You. You're the one who can be described as 'evil'. Killing a three year old doesn't change anything.. Killing everyone who comes here doesn't change anything! Only those with power can change anything, but you're weak!"
Pakki slowly approached Melodias, another burst of wind pushing him back into the rocks, making him yelp in pain, but not stop. "Don't you dare give up... That's not why we came here... To the surface... To give up... You have to make sacrifices if you want to be strong, but.. But you have to give meaning to the sacrifice! If you keep making them one after the other but never following through you won't change anything!" He stumbled out, only to be pushed back again. "And I'm not letting her sacrifice be in vain! So stand up... And fight!" Red sparks came off of his body once again.

Melodias scanned him, thinking again. "What was that..? Those red sparks, I've never seen anything like it.. Was it a resonance? But if so... Why isn't there a bell on his waist? Why didn't I hear that?!"
Pakki continued. "Fight! Prove you're not the same, weak Faust you were back down there! Prove that that sacrifice was enough for you! FIGHT! FIGHT EVEN IF YOU CAN'T ANYMORE!"
Faust slowly stood up, his halo disappearing as his wounds closed up, stopping the bleeding. "I'm gonna get to the Duke... Even if I have to kill you in the process. Do you know why? ...Because I'm awesome."
Melodias narrowed his eyes, using the wind from his blades to dash at him. Faust swung at him to stop him, and the moment their blades met, Melodias found himself somewhere else. In a grey place, where he was ankle-deep in water. As he turned to look around, he was met with a heavy punch to the face from a Nautilodaunt, making him drop his weapons.
No matter how many times Melodias tried to get out - it just would not stop. Hit after hit it just kept going - until Melodias opened his eyes. It was all an illusion, in reality he was merely kneeling on the ground, having dropped his weapons.

The quiet sound of a bell chime could be heard as Faust combined Melodias' galebreathing with his flamecharm to cast a massive flame out of his palm. "I need to create some kind of connection through the Song... Linking our minds just so happens to perfect."
He grabbed onto his greatsword, slashing at Melodias to knock him onto his back. "I'm not going to let you... Or anyone else for that matter govern my life anymore. I'll be the emperor of my own life." He said spiralling high pressure wind above his palm. "So I'll call it Emperor 's Will. As for this...." He looked at the wind for a moment before his pupils got tiny, enraged. "This is for the 18 years of hell you made me go through." He shot the blast of wind onto Melodias, killing him.