The Maid and Her Princess

There's Still Life Here (part 5)

V.

"Audrey?" Madoka screamed, rushing over, Over all the noise and everything she had gone through, her heart roared the loudest. "P-Please, you can't leave me here!"

The pain nearly tore her apart. She rolled Audrey over, inspecting her from head to toe. No wounds. Madoka's hand trembled as she felt the girl's slender neck. Breathing. Then whose blood is this? She raised her hand to her face.

Just one sniff and she felt faint. The effect was so powerful she nearly collapsed on top of Her Highness. This was poison? Yet Audrey appeared to be in a deep slumber. Whatever plant or creature hit her with this potent danger was gone, but now the princess was out cold. Madoka could only pray to the kind gods that she would wake soon. Judging by the girl's breathing patterns, it truly seemed like she was locked away from the waking world for now.

「 Warning. Entity in need of cleansing and annihilation has been relocated in the Harmosis Harp Major - Soundbox.

Servant of the Holy One, please proceed to the provided lift. Be advised, battle is at hand. 」

Madoka ignored the voice and quickly moved the fallen princess behind the desk as the room darkened, her own legs still wobbly from the poison. The wall was closing, but she noticed that the basin was now completely empty of the black mud. Her vision went blurry and her pounding pulse went mute. Then everything else went quiet. No thoughts, no voices.

Hopelessness fell upon her like a falling star. Without Audrey by her side, how was she supposed to face the Vale Bá alone? What was the point of doing any of this without her?

No, no, no, this— This is nothing! Madoka thought furiously to herself. You've fought all kinds of things and survived.

She wiped the nasty goo off on her cloak and threw it to the side, but she still struggled to stand up. She checked her waist. Magnolia II gleamed in the pale light, offering to be her friend for now in Her Highness's stead. It was heavy, but it had not stopped her from walking normally before. The pistol was weightless. The grogginess from sniffing that liquid still had not lifted and the fog was starting to return.

The princess, though she was breathing, must have been struck by a lucky hit before they even entered the terminal room, then. Madoka could endure, but the heavy axe made it difficult to be mobile. Even as this part of the Harp rattled from everything moving on it, she could barely maintain her balance.

Sorry, Madoka apologized to the axe in her head. She tossed it into the portal and took out one of the human rifles. I'll save you for another time. She needed to be able to use her energy wisely, now. Collapsing from sickness or succumbing to poison now would end their journey for good. At this moment, she looked towards the center of the room. A small hatch opened up, and bright light began to filter down through it.

It was then she noticed an epigraph etched onto the wall, bordered by a black metal plate. Madoka recognized the flourishing symbols of ancient Pnaumic Scripture. Even now, the writing seemed precious and out of Time itself.

— Long have we played this song, begging for Her forgiveness. —
— The screams have taken all of them and I, Plaetrolsis, shall become this Harp. —
— I can only hope the horror will remain locked away for a bit longer. —

Horror? Madoka shuddered. That meant the voice from above she was hearing belonged to none other than the Harp itself. The ground started to rumble, and things were cracking apart. There was no longer any time to worry over such mysteries. The true horror was inside that metal orb, and the being Plaetrolsis wanted her to destroy it. Madoka had to obey. For Audrey's sake and her own fate.