pearl of wisdom

[Season 2] Chapter 50.5 - Evanscent moments V

'Zahard is what?' A family leader could hear your stunned voice within his head. With a puff of his cigarette, he repeated in his mind, "He is planning to control fate."

'. . . Do you plan on stopping him?' And you received no response, yet you hadn't cut off the mind link. After a bit of silence, there was a response— Gustang hadn't seem to learn that he could converse with you in his head instead of speaking out loud into thin air, "You should aim for the same."

'I do not take myself for a God.'

"My library has philosophies from all corners of the tower, and the workshop is capable of melting all those books." He took another breath of his cigarette, "It will be a wonderful gathering of numerous proficiencies."

'. . . I understand, with this, the playing field may not be as uneven.' From where you stood, a flower gleamed in your hands, casting a mirage of the twinkling depths where you resided. Ever so often, a bubble would rise from the pattern of waters, iridescent under the shimmering lights. His response was instant and blunt, "You sound doubtful, why?"

'A human is not capable of such feat.'

The man stared out into the false sky, beyond the emblem of pearls and waves, face blank and heart as peaceful as picturesque waves at midnight, "Do not be confined by humanity."

— —

There was no flash of white light or enchanting bubbles that engulfed the scenery to bring you into reality. Instead, you waited in the evaslasting plains for an undisclosed amount of time— if the concept of time even existed where you remained. A luminescent flow glinted in the far distance. You approached it without much thought, mind as tranquil as waves without ripples.

The seashell which existed as a phantom of the past glistened before you, it's form flickering in and out of the space you were in. The arrows upon the shell remained motionless, as though time was a long forgotten concept, just like the long dreams of the deep. The people of Watatsumi once came forth from the darkness, and thus bade farewell to the long dreams of the deep. They escaped the prying gazes of the Dragonheirs in the dark, walking the glimmering coral stair into the realm of daylight.

It was said that at that time, the ocean people took a single seashell as remembrance for their clan. And as for those who had lost theirs, they would be welcomed into a new family. In the ancient tongue, these pure shells became known as the Parcels of Reunion. Two parties who embrace shall not again be parted by an outside force, though this enjoining is not itself eternal. These seashells, therefore, was a farewell to life beneath the waves, and the beginning of a new life under the sun.

But perhaps to you, it was much more than the finale of an epilogue and the origin to a prelude. You reached out your hand to the unsustained shell, eyes flickering shut as though the gentle waves had pulled you to sleep. You didn't know how long you had closed your eyes for, or how long you had held the seashell. But when you opened your eyes, no longer was the united ocean that accommodated many wishes around you.

Instead, around you were pristine walls of an unfamiliar ship. Tentatively, you took steps through the long walls, gloved fingertips brushing past the interior as your tail swayed back and forth like waves dancing in tandem, "Hmm. . . This place must be. . ."

"Madoraco's ghost ship." A vivid burst of flames exploded by your side, a powerful figure as beautiful as moonlit jewels with belowing silver hair appeared smiling in the fire. Evankhell stared back at you with a grin, arms crossed over her chest, "You're [Name], aren't you?"

"Ah. . ." You stared at the unfamiliar face, the sound of rushed footsteps echoing in the distance, "you are. . .?"

"Evankhell." She responded simply, eyes fixated on you as though to stare through the bottomless depths, "The one mentoring Baam right now."