Chapter 280: The Entire History Of You, Part
“Wherever are you off this late in the night, little Sera?”
A pale beam of moonlight behind the rims of a lone spotlight, illuminating the hand-painted backdrop of a deep forest green. The scene was set, away went the music, the choir, emphasizing the stillness, the quiet of the night.
“You’ve never wandered off on your own before without letting me know beforehand. Whatever happened to upholding the rules? My, adolescence... could it be that you are of that age where secrets start to sprout in abundance? Time really flies, doesn’t it?”
Every noise seemed to resound, the creak of a carriage parked beneath a tree, the muffled thud of leather boots, the quake of breath in the cold of night. The only thing soundless, the only thing silent... was her. It’s always her.
“I don’t mind if you don’t share. I too have my things that I prefer kept unsaid. Secrets. We all have them. I also don’t mind if you break a rule or two... the world would cease to function if it’s always kept governed. You’re allowed to grow, you’re supposed to... and you’re allowed to make mistakes, it’s how we learn.”
There were many eyes glued to the stage, no one spoke, no one even dared a whisper... it was a deafening quiet utterly captivated. Leon played his part so well, we could all be forgiven for thinking we were actually there.
When he breathed into his palms, we too felt the bitter chill. When he bent a knee and leveled himself, we felt the dewy strands of grass graze at our ankles... and when he met with her eyes, flushed golden, gleaming bright in the night, we too felt her stare.
.....
“That being said, my dear Sera,” He took her hand in his, and clutched in firmly. “This is not a mistake I will allow you to make. You go, you’ll find nothing out there for you. I do not say this to spite you, I never will, I say this for I do not wish to see you hurt any more than you already have been.”
Sera’s backstory was mostly told through lines and lines of text you’d read in a codex entry, aside from the bits and pieces you’d also inevitably uncover through a playthrough... there wasn’t really anywhere else you’d find more about her.
So this dialogue between them here was new... probably written in by some scriptwriter behind the scenes to fill in the blank spaces left by the developers to better tell her story.
I was sure that in actuality this wasn’t exactly how the scene played out. But Sera’s stare, to my right, seem to claim otherwise. I looked at her, peering deep behind the violet veil, I wasn’t seeing the stubborn, belligerent, quick-to-anger advocator of death no more.
No, there was just a girl there now... who was just very lost, very confused, and very much conflicted, and with no way to ever express it out to the world, no way for anyone to hear her.
Nobody at all, except...
“Let’s go back, Sera,” Leon said, tugging at her arm gently. “Let’s just sleep through the rest of the night. At dawn we’ll... we’ll pack up the carriage, we’ll leave this place. We’ll go elsewhere, we’ll forget about this – you’ll forget about this. It was a mistake to come here in the first place.”
The child didn’t budge, and when Leon tugged a little harder, she pulled herself away, a single step broadening the distance between them.
Surprise flickered briefly in his eyes, but was gone almost immediately. Smiling, Leon tried for another attempt, treading his voice on the line of caution.
“You’re a smart girl, Sera. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t even be doing this. I know you heard the rumors... I know the murmurs of our recent customers did not escape those sharp ears of yours... and I know not for sure whether if it is indeed true or not. Your resemblance to the queen and her daughter is not a fact that can be easily overlooked... and indeed as you grow older, I’ve no doubt you’d be just as beautiful as her royal highness, if not, then perhaps even more so...”
He took a step forward.
“You’re curious, I know you are... you always have been. But Sera, I beseech you, do not attempt to appease that curiosity of yours for just this one instant. No good would come out of this. The King’s renowned for his fierceness, and for you to show up out of the blue... a halfbreed bearing the face of his beloved daughter, his devoted wife... whatever is he to think? Trust me when I say that this absolutely will not end well for every party involved.”
Another step inching closer, another hand out in offer.
“Sera, please, I’m afraid I have to insist... come back over here, get back into the carriage. Sleep, and just forget about it all.”
Whoever it was beneath the cloak and hood has got Sera mannerisms down to perfection.
It’s the little things that did it. How she stared, how she stood... even the way she growled back at him in response.
Couldn’t even tell the difference.
Meanwhile, the Sera at my side looked the total opposite. Onstage, she raised her head defiant, but here in the audience, she had it tilted, slanted... almost remorseful.
Almost ashamed.
The sorcery took a breath, his sigh heavy.
“I promised you long ago that I would help you find what it is you are looking for – and yes I know it may seem like that you found it finally... and indeed, it might really be so this time but – ”
Sera vehemently shook her head. The two of them did. Both in perfect unison.
“Yes, I know I – ” He twitched, showing fleetingly a troubled expression. “I did not lie... I swore I would help you find it, and sincerely I tried... sincerely I...”
Sera kept shaking her head, kept taking paces back... the look in her eyes taking a shape very much familiar... cold, angry, bitter.
“You... I... I suppose you’ve figured it out already, haven’t you?” Leon said quietly, seeing her scowl. “Yes, see? You are a smart one, indeed. Smarter than I’ll ever be...”
He tried for a smile but faltered, shutting his eyes for a long, long while... only opening them up again, once only facing them upwards to the sky.
“Yes, I knew long already what it is you are looking for... immediately, as soon as I first laid eyes on you I knew. You look too much like her for it to be just a mere coincidence. You have to be – no, you are – the long-lost daughter to the Queen of Astra.”
Sera could be heard stifling a breath. Which one did first, I couldn’t even tell.
“It was merely a theory at first. She had only borne but one child, and you were a half-fey wandering the village woods at the furthest end of the nation. I thought it simply unfeasible. I thought it just as that... a mere coincidence. I thought nothing of it again until that incident in Creekwood.
“How your own kind shunned you, despised you for no apparent reason at all aside from... aside from... that’s when I finally knew with absolute certainty. I didn’t tell you beforehand, because... well, I couldn’t see you hurt again. I didn’t want you to bear that pain again. If your own kind couldn’t bear the sight of you... then what of your own kin? You are but an innocent child, you don’t deserve that.”
Her stare meeting his lingered a bitter resentment. Those eyes, the emotion stirring within, more prominent than any that came before. The unmistakable look of betrayal.
“I didn’t tell you, because I wanted to protect you... shield you from any more harm. I knew that if you ever came to find out, you’d come to hate me for doing so, but in spite of that, I chose to do so anyway. Yes, I kept a secret... and I’m not sorry that I did.”
Logically, his defense was sound. The motivation he had to do what he did was understandable, rational. Sera was anything but right then. She would never come to understand why.
Not until it was too late.
She took another distancing step.
“Am I not enough?” He asked so suddenly. “To you. Just what am I to you? I’ve done the best I could, and I truly do care for you as I would a daughter. Is that not enough? Must you insist on searching for this thing of yours that may not even exist? Sera, I exist. I’ve always been there for you, and I always will be. I ask, is that not enough for you? After everything, after... all this time?”
Sera paused, only just for a moment to ponder... but what would come to him as his answer, was the faint steps on the ground gradually growing distant.
That was when he stood, that was when he heaved.
“Sera,” He said, his voice firm. “If you take another step, I’ll have to stop you. I won’t let you go.”
And then Sera spun, Sera growled.
“See to reason, I beseech you! She won’t you, she won’t have you. Why can’t you realize that? She left you nothing, she gave you nothing. Why? Why do you insist?”
Just as she would never understand, likewise, the sorcerer would never understand her either. Why was it that she kept hold of her violet cloak tight, why her amber eyes stared infuriated, stared wounded. That this was more than just finding, this was feeling.
The first feeling she’s ever felt... he could never give him that.
“Not to mention, the chaos your arrival would bring The implications. Asteria cannot afford their King undone. Not with Terestra at their doorstep. No, you can’t go.”
He spun around to the carriage, and reached for his staff propped against it. He moved too fast, so Sera reacted just as quick.
A grave mistake.
The gasp of the audience resounded, overpowering his. The clatter of his staff hitting the ground was magnified in the sudden silence that followed immediately after.
To me, to Sera... it was a scene very much familiar. From her cloak emerged a mangled bony appendage, quick as lightning. Like a blade through the heart, it struck... into and through his lavish robes, sparing no moment for anything else, no other words exchanged, no more glances shared.
As quick as it emerged, it vanished, retreading back into the narrow slit of her cloak. Blood seeped out, even more trickled, gushed... spilling out of his chest and down to his feet.
“Oh, I see.”
In spite of it, he could only chuckle.
“I suppose... I wasn’t enough after all,” He knees hit the ground once more, as he breathed his last, smiled his last. “I’m sorry I never was...”
The curtains fell on the stage and the scene ended, leaving a darkness, a stillness, that no one was surprised to see coming... and yet still nobody was ready for.
Sera leaned back into her... her amber eyes like rims of golden light in the dark. I noticed she never blinked once, just simply stared away, her gaze etched to where the sorcerer took his last breath.
She looked as if she wanted to say something, obviously though she didn’t ’cause she couldn’t. Maybe she wanted to apologize, maybe now with hindsight and time, she understood him better now.
Maybe if only she understood him then, maybe perhaps she’d know... that he was plenty enough, after all.
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