OCTale: Pacifist [Editing]

11) A Wish for Peace [Edited]

[Tyler's POV]

Me and Castellar walk down a long corridor with puddles of water dotted here and there, and baskets of blue flowers lining the walls. They brighten up the path with a magical glow, and I can hear them...whispering to each other? As I listen closer, it seems there's a conversation going on between them.

"So, don't you have any wishes to make?"

Castellar stops walking, hearing the words spoken. Seems like she recognised it.

"Castellar? What are these flowers?" I ask.

"These are Echo Flowers. They repeat the same thing over and over again. They can keep messages like that one for a millennia. They never wilt, after all."

" Ah, that's pretty cool. Have you heard this conversation before? "

"Maybe...I thought it sounded familiar. Let's listen to the rest."

We walk along, and soon enough, the next part of the age-old conversation continues.

"I have one..But it's kind of silly."

"Aw, c'mon Cassie! Make a wish! "

Wait...Cassie?! As in...Castellar? And that voice, too... is that Impact? So that's why Castellar found it familiar!

"...If I say my wish, do you promise you won't laugh at me?"

"Of course I won't! Just tell me already

As we walk into the next room, I see a lone echo flower next to a ruined statue with wet feet. A broken ping of a music box comes from within. I feel as though in another time, it would be chiming out a pretty song...

I sit down and put my ear against the flower, Castellar sitting down next to me.

"One day, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Looking at the stars above, feeling the fresh air....That's my wish." The young Castellar admits.

A young Impact giggles.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!"

"Heh...sorry, it's just funny..."

"That's my wish, too." I hear Castellar repeat what is echoed over the flower.

"Me and Impact used to come here all the time with Aunt Kristen...but we slowly stopped going once Aunt Kristen married Grillby, and then even less so when they helped pay for our house. Maybe I'll convince Impact to come here again one day." Castellar smiles sadly, remembering the good old times.

" Do you still have the same wish, now? " I ask, Castellar simply nodding and grinning.

"Don't tell Impact...But when he's not home, I sneak into his room and read his car magazines! I'd love to get a beautiful car like those ones, one day..then I could feel the sun on my skin, the wind in my hair...it would be my idea of freedom...wait, I don't have skin. Oh well. " Castellar fantasises, then giggles.

As we continue forward, I notice a bin full of umbrellas. I point Castellar towards it, and she picks out a green one which she puts over her head. I pick out a red one.

I guess we needed those umbrellas for a reason, because the next room has water dripping everywhere from the ceiling.

"Y'know...Crimson isn't so bad once you get to know her, Tyler. She just gets really pumped up when she thinks about freeing all monsterkind... And she's just really hot-headed sometimes. But she's a nice person if you're, uh, not a human." Castellar comments, and doubt fills my mind. I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes. She threatened to kill her own best friend!