That's How You Know You Messed Up - Log (short story)
Title: That's How You Know You Messed Up
Author: Yukito
Looking tired, Yukito plopped down at the edge of the pier and plopped his journal down onto his knee. He thumbed through the pages until he reached a particular entry, and began to scan it, yawning into his fist.
You carefully open your leather journal, revealing the smooth pages of floral vellum within.
The page, written in Common, reads as follows:
Today is Volnes, day 1 of the month Eoantos in the year 5121. It is 11:29 by the elven time standard. It is currently mid morning.
The fateful evening has come nigh on the Isle of Caligos.
I arrived at the pier in the middle of the village, and the place is mostly deserted. There are calls for the rest of the people inhabiting the island to hurry here, but the folks that still worship Ghezresh have retreated to the caverns. There are arguments in our heads about the morality of our being here at all, and interfering with these events. I am rather at peace with how things are going, and interested in just watching. The people that remain have made their choices, as have the people that have left. The animals have been evacuated, so I personally feel that the arguments are pointless.
All that is left now is to gather the rest that want to escape.
The mists soothed and attempted to lull us before, but now they seem to drain us of our very spirit. It feels harmful, and it hurts, at times. I was concerned, at first, and I wonder what the purpose of this is. I know that I personally made no pacts to dedicate myself to this spirit. Olienne has resorted to taunting, which either proves that she is afraid, or that she is attempting to instill fear in us.
Those that are driven into a corner can be desperate, and if she is attempting to taunt us, she may be trying to illicit a certain emotion.
So, I lost everyone for a moment, and it turns up that we are following Ollienne, which, yes. Seems insane. There is a ghostly eel floating with us, and a lovely disembodied voice telling us to head off to the temple. Which doesn't seem ominous at all.
Nevertheless, we march along. I am rather searching for someone to hide behind, at this point, as I only have a pen and journal in my hands for protection. Ollienne is explaining the ethos of what is happening here, a bit. The preservation of the way of life that they have here on the island, without the need for things to pass beyond the gate. There is a fair bit of a debate on that point. She calls Charl, "The Fork", and "The Rusted Flatware", among other things, so perhaps there is a bit of anger lingering under the surface there. It's a little hard to tell.
Apparently she believes that Charl will act as judge and executioner to the island that she wishes to save. She asks those that wish to see the truth, and to save the island, to go with her. Some few walk away immediately, one going so far as to shout something toward the sky along the lines of, "See Charl? This is me -- going!" but most follow along out of curiosity. There are questions asked about the mist, which are called protection for the isle.
I will note here, that Veidae made a portal for people to escape to. All the while that we are taking this scenic stroll, there is a massive storm lashing the island, and we were being offered the chance to step through it in that tent. It had crossed my mind to go and hear Ollienne's side of the story, so that I could write a few things down, but I was surprised to see quite so many people standing beside her. As she walked along, people kept asking her to clarify what the grand "plan" was, and she was vague on that point.
We saw Kellipso slip into the temple with us, and the artist quickly painted a scene on the ground that was familiar. It was the painting of people wandering up to a peak, and tossing their valuables down below. I glanced at the heights around us and slid toward the back of the group a bit, because I figured that I knew where this scenario was going. Others voiced their misgivings as well, and I am not certain, but maybe we lost another person or two as we wandered toward the box of candles.
She told people to take a candle and light it. I pretended to ignore her and kept scribbling words down, others just flat out refused. Some grabbed their candles and began chanting praises to Ghezresh, so thee is that. Most, it seemed, were willing to play along. I wondered if there was a plan in the works here that I was not privy to, so again, curiosity compelled me to follow as well.
We reached the summit, and were told to place our candles on the altar and choose our flavor of sacrifice to Ghezresh. At which point I closed my book, turned on my heel, and attempted to bid the group a fair evening.
Unfortunately, the mists had me locked in place at the ankles, and I was unable to shift my feet. I will admit that I was vexed by that, and even more so, by the fact that my thoughts became so sluggish and muddled that I could not communicate my thoughts properly. Panic began to well up inside of me, and I grabbed Daevian, attempting to hide myself under the arm of his coat. Unable to explain to him why I was so upset made me even more frantic, and I began to frantically move my fingers, trying to get anyone to hear me.
Then Magister Svala leaned in and whispered in my ear that I should not hide my gaze. Staring into her snow white eyes jarred me to my core, and grounded me in a way that no one else could ever have done in a heartbeat of time. I took a breath, and immediately corralled my thoughts, nodding firmly, even though I still clung to Daevian like a burr.
Yukito sat back and sighed, staring out across the pier blankly, before bending back over his journal. His quill brushed his cheek as he wrote, squinting against the morning sun.
So. All that happened.
What followed irritates me, but was also fascinating when I allowed myself to calmly observe it. We were dragged to the altar one by one, and told to participate in the ritual. Thinking on it now, I remember details that I will not commit to these particular pages, but cause me to wonder even more. I had thought that Ollienne's words and actions were very calculated, and that toward the end, she might have even been a bit frantic. Our actions toward the end did, indeed, help her I think. Just not in the way many might believe.
If I am correct, there is a brilliance to it all. I could almost applaud her efforts for their brilliance. Or would if our dead bodies were not collectively bumping into each other like undersea wreckage while our spirits glared down at her smug face. Still, points for style. Other details are lost to me because I snapped back to life with the taste of raw eel in my mouth, and an urgent need to immediately get on a boat.
I believe that is was fine to help the people on the island find another home that wanted to. Same with the animals. If asked if it were alright if Charl wanted to sink the island, I would say that was between Charl and Ghezresh; having spent time in the inn and tavern seeing images of what was happening to that poor Neriad, Ghezresh had what was coming to him.
Caligos was a beautiul island, and there was much that I will miss about it. There was a wall, past the graveyard, that I would sometimes go to touch, that a person could see a sort of history of the sinking of a ship, and a tidal wave. It was an eerie place, but I did like to go there. I could never truly understand that mist. There was a place with bloodstains in the back of the apothecary where it seemed to originate, but I could never understand it. And the vines strewn around the island certainly seemed as if they might have something to do with it, but I am not savvy enough on plants to ascertain that for a fact. So many things could have come together on that island for such a unique rising of that spirit to become an Arkati.
I do not feel threatened by the rituals. I rather feel that, like all the other Arkati, a person has to use, or pay homage to a domain to empower someone. Ghezresh was weakened when his followers left. He needed new ones. Ollienne provided. A person doesn't have to worship to believe. We are all aware of Ghezresh, and some now think that he has a hold on them because of what she did. She's done her job, and I have to applaud that. Whether or not that proves to be a fact... I suppose we will see. The more people believe it, the stronger he becomes, the harder it will become to break such bonds.
I think I am strange for still being fascinated by this. One thing is for certain, I promise to be VERY certain of what the actual "plan" is before following a villain as they monologue, in the future.
I mean... REALLY? What was I thinking?
You gently close your leather journal, taking care not to bend any of the pages.
"That's How You Know" - The Nicol Kings