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The Fatalità's Kiss - Episode 2
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According to the Northern villagers, the mysterious bell chimes came from the deep woods to the east of the snowy plains.
In the past, that area had belonged to a wizard.
Akira: A wizard known as… Voracious Heine.
A man as large as a mountain, who gorged himself on the flesh of man and beast alike. Known across these parts as a fearsome wizard…
Murr: Hey, maybe this Heine guy’s a gourmet? Or maybe, he’s just like Mithra, who eats anything and everything?
Rustica: Who can say? He may even be a musician too. I wonder if he’s the one behind the music.
Or maybe the music is from his bride?
The story of Heine the wizard and Heine’s bride was passed down in these lands.
Long ago, Heine feasted on all that walked this place, men and livestock alike, leaving behind naught but a ravaged land in his wake.
In order to escape his violence, a settlement came up with a final, desperate gamble: to offer him a maiden as sacrifice.
‘This is our village’s prettiest maiden. Please, make her your bride.’
And in exchange, he was to let the village live, or so, that was their hope…
Murr: The village was completely destroyed by Heine himself. The maiden bride never returned, either.
The village had gambled on Heine favouring their maiden, thus ensuring their safety, but everyone died except those few villagers that were out foraging during the massacre.
It’s been a few hundred years since that tragedy befell this land.
Cain: Ever since, the deep woods disappeared together with Heine, but according to these villagers, the deep woods recently reappeared, huh…
You think Heine ate the bride too? What a cruel story.
Rustica: You’d never know. There might be another reason he attacked the village.
Murr: And what reason is that?
Rustica: Maybe he was beyond famished?
Murr: Then his new bride would’ve been the best meal!
But then again, a single beautiful maiden wouldn’t have been enough to satiate Heine’s heart and stomach, so in the end, he turned the entire village into his living sacrifices!
Akira: Living sacrifices, huh…
Cain heard me mutter those words from behind him on his broom. His expression grew bitter.
Rustica was the only one who tilted his head in a pleasant, unspoken, ‘Well, who can say?’
Eventually, we arrived to the snowy woods, where the treetops were dusted in white like powdered sugar.
Murr: I hear the chiming! This must be the forest Heine calls home!
Akira: Murr, wait!
Murr sped up and zoomed along to circle over the forest.
He must’ve found an opening in the canopy, because he immediately dove down, piercing through the white-capped trees into the forest below. We made our descent, following Murr’s trail.
As we passed through the treetops, I gasped in delight at what I saw.
Akira: Wow…
Cain: This is…
Murr: Amaaaaazing! Look at all these sparkles dangling off of every branch here!
There was a layer of soft snow underfoot with slender, supple trees growing out of it. The trees’ bark was all black, their forms like ink painted across a canvas.
Along all the tree branches, ice dangled in thin strands like white threads.
It looked like cascading curtains, swaying from the branches.
Murr: Is that a type of icicle? They’re making that chiming sound when they sway on the branches.
Akira: I see, so the one behind the music is the forest itself. That’s so cool. Nature can be so beautiful…
Rustica: Indeed. It’s like the song comes from the heavens above. Mysterious, solemn… It’s a treat not only for the ears but for the eyes as well.
As the cold winds blew, the trees began to sing their song, a whisper in the breeze: ting-a-ling-ling, ring-a-ring.
Murr glanced around us whilst the trees continued their song.
Murr: Yep. Something’s off alright.
This is a wizard’s territory, and if he’s paying any attention at all, we oughta been attacked the moment we set foot in this forest.
Cain: I can’t tell if he’s around, either. Wizards of the North are usually much more murderous and frightening than this.
Akira: What should we do? Should we return to where Owen and Mithra are?
We did say we wanted to figure out where the sound was coming from, and we’ve figured it out, so…
Cain: …!
Something shifted in the distance.
Cain’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword, and he cast his cautious gaze over into the forest.
Cain: There might be a beast lying in wait. Kenja sama, stay close to me.
Akira: O-okay…… (gulp)
The cold winds rattled the icicles. As the chiming and ringing grew louder, the shadowy form of a person came into view by one of the trees in front of us.
Akira: (It’s a girl…?)
She was petite, and she was clad in furs. Wordlessly, she sat down on what appeared to be a tree stump.
Past the hems of her clothes, I could see that she had dainty hands and feet. When I looked up to her little face, I saw a young maiden.
There was no sign that she’d noticed us at all. She leaned closer to the chiming icicles, listening to the sound of its music.
Murr: Her presence feels the same as the < Great Calamity >. Seems like she’s not a living person.
Anxiety gripped me when I heard Murr’s observation. He was right; the girl’s white fingertips were almost transparent, and her face was only a blur.
A moment later, a man appeared, and he looked like he meant to take her away. He was a gigantic man, several times larger than she was.
He had arms thick as tree trunks. He reached towards her and violently grabbed her by her delicate forearm.
Cain: … Hey!
The sudden motion pitched the girl forward, and she fell, toppling over some tree roots. She tumbled to the ground.
The man turned around to look at her, her limb still firmly within his grasp, and he seemed like he had no intention of letting go. His long hair covered his face, so I couldn’t see his expression, but…
Akira: (What’s this strange feeling I have? It feels like déjà vu…)
Suddenly, the two of them were gone. Like smoke, vanishing before our eyes — just like that.
When I looked closer, I realised that neither of them had left any footprints behind; the canvas of snow before us was untouched.
Cain: … They disappeared…?
Akira: That was… they’re ghosts? Or visions of some sort? But, Cain, you saw them just fine.
Cain: Yeah. It wasn’t just the girl who looked transparent. The guy did too.
These visions touched by the Calamity… That guy was pretty damn massive, so maybe he’s the Heine we’ve been hearing about?
Rustica: And perhaps that means the maiden we saw was his bride.
It feels like… Like the remnants of what someone once wished for in life, reaching out to tell us something.
Murr: That means that some part of this forest is afflicted by the Calamity’s influence! Something’s afoot!
An area of the forest long-hidden, now suddenly resurfaced, can only mean that…
Owen: « cur memini »
Mithra: « arsim »
Akira & Cain: Huh?
Murr & Rustica: Oh?
Before I’d realised it, I was floating in midair.
Owen, who was on his broom, had Cain and I hauled up by the collar.
And the other two of us, Murr and Rustica, were in a similar state — tightly gripped within Mithra’s grasp.
Cain: Owen, Mithra! You guys all done with the fighting?
Owen: No, we had to cut it short because of this. You guys can’t play at being tourists in this part of the woods.
This is the wizard Heine’s territory. You never know when he’ll grab you and gobble you up.
Akira: The Voracious Heine…
Mithra: Oh, what, you already knew about that?
Murr: We heard all about it on our way here! Hey, you two are Northern Wizards just like him, right? Do you guys know anything about Heine?
Owen: Well, I know what he looks like. And his name too, I guess. He’s a weirdo that’s been holed up in this forest forever.
Mithra: He doesn’t set foot into other wizards’ territories, nor does he act out or anything, so I’ve never really had to kill him.
Shortly after that, we heard the sound of whispering on the ground beneath us.
I froze, and the whispers passed — along with little shadowy figures that moved right past us to head deeper into the shadows of the trees.
Murr: Ooh!
Perhaps in response to Murr’s voice, a few of the little faces turned around to peer curiously at us from behind the trees.
???: Peke, peke……
Akira: Huh……?
The creatures looking at us were bizarre little things, compact and small.
They stood on two feet and had stubby limbs. Their short and stout bodies were covered all over in puffy fur. A single horn stood proudly atop their heads.
If I had to describe them, they were like bipedal hamsters wrapped up in sheep’s wool, that also had a horn. Sorta like that.
Murr: They’re pecka-pecka!
Cain: They’re a pack-a what?
Murr: Pecka-pecka are a type of magical creature! They can be found living in certain parts of Northern Country, and they travel in flocks.
Pecka-Pecka: (clicking noises) Peke, pekeke.
Peke, peke.
Rustica: Look, they’ve come out from the shadows. It’s my pleasure to meet all of you. How do you do?
We looked at the little critters with wide-eyed curiosity, and they looked back at us with the same curiosity.
They started wiggling their bodies at us, and in response to us waving at them, they tried their best to mimic waving back at us with their stubby arms.
Akira: You know, I think they’re kinda cute…
Sacrificium: ………
Saccie wasn’t on alert around them. It sat on its haunches, so from how Saccie acted, I figured the pecka-pecka wasn’t a particularly dangerous species of magical creature.
Owen: Hey, aren’t you lot those furballs that always scamper around Heine?
Now that the seal’s been lifted from the forest, does that mean that tree finally bore fruit again?
Cain & Akira: Fruit…?
Owen: Don’t mind us. Hey, tell Heine that we’ll be taking these lost people back home.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke?
Peke……
Owen: Damn it, why can’t you understand a simple order? Should’ve known you lot would be just as useless as before.
Cain: I guess they’re not the brightest…
Mithra: They’re not magical familiars. What are they? Almost feels like I’ll crush some of them underfoot because they keep coming close.
Owen: Who knows. I don’t know either, but they just sort of sidle up and act all chummy.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke!
I glanced over at the flock of pecka-pecka, and I noticed that they had with them a large, unconscious bird.
next episode →
According to the Northern villagers, the mysterious bell chimes came from the deep woods to the east of the snowy plains.
In the past, that area had belonged to a wizard.
Akira: A wizard known as… Voracious Heine.
A man as large as a mountain, who gorged himself on the flesh of man and beast alike. Known across these parts as a fearsome wizard…
Murr: Hey, maybe this Heine guy’s a gourmet? Or maybe, he’s just like Mithra, who eats anything and everything?
Rustica: Who can say? He may even be a musician too. I wonder if he’s the one behind the music.
Or maybe the music is from his bride?
The story of Heine the wizard and Heine’s bride was passed down in these lands.
Long ago, Heine feasted on all that walked this place, men and livestock alike, leaving behind naught but a ravaged land in his wake.
In order to escape his violence, a settlement came up with a final, desperate gamble: to offer him a maiden as sacrifice.
‘This is our village’s prettiest maiden. Please, make her your bride.’
And in exchange, he was to let the village live, or so, that was their hope…
Murr: The village was completely destroyed by Heine himself. The maiden bride never returned, either.
The village had gambled on Heine favouring their maiden, thus ensuring their safety, but everyone died except those few villagers that were out foraging during the massacre.
It’s been a few hundred years since that tragedy befell this land.
Cain: Ever since, the deep woods disappeared together with Heine, but according to these villagers, the deep woods recently reappeared, huh…
You think Heine ate the bride too? What a cruel story.
Rustica: You’d never know. There might be another reason he attacked the village.
Murr: And what reason is that?
Rustica: Maybe he was beyond famished?
Murr: Then his new bride would’ve been the best meal!
But then again, a single beautiful maiden wouldn’t have been enough to satiate Heine’s heart and stomach, so in the end, he turned the entire village into his living sacrifices!
Akira: Living sacrifices, huh…
Cain heard me mutter those words from behind him on his broom. His expression grew bitter.
Rustica was the only one who tilted his head in a pleasant, unspoken, ‘Well, who can say?’
Eventually, we arrived to the snowy woods, where the treetops were dusted in white like powdered sugar.
Murr: I hear the chiming! This must be the forest Heine calls home!
Akira: Murr, wait!
Murr sped up and zoomed along to circle over the forest.
He must’ve found an opening in the canopy, because he immediately dove down, piercing through the white-capped trees into the forest below. We made our descent, following Murr’s trail.
As we passed through the treetops, I gasped in delight at what I saw.
Akira: Wow…
Cain: This is…
Murr: Amaaaaazing! Look at all these sparkles dangling off of every branch here!
There was a layer of soft snow underfoot with slender, supple trees growing out of it. The trees’ bark was all black, their forms like ink painted across a canvas.
Along all the tree branches, ice dangled in thin strands like white threads.
It looked like cascading curtains, swaying from the branches.
Murr: Is that a type of icicle? They’re making that chiming sound when they sway on the branches.
Akira: I see, so the one behind the music is the forest itself. That’s so cool. Nature can be so beautiful…
Rustica: Indeed. It’s like the song comes from the heavens above. Mysterious, solemn… It’s a treat not only for the ears but for the eyes as well.
As the cold winds blew, the trees began to sing their song, a whisper in the breeze: ting-a-ling-ling, ring-a-ring.
Murr glanced around us whilst the trees continued their song.
Murr: Yep. Something’s off alright.
This is a wizard’s territory, and if he’s paying any attention at all, we oughta been attacked the moment we set foot in this forest.
Cain: I can’t tell if he’s around, either. Wizards of the North are usually much more murderous and frightening than this.
Akira: What should we do? Should we return to where Owen and Mithra are?
We did say we wanted to figure out where the sound was coming from, and we’ve figured it out, so…
Cain: …!
Something shifted in the distance.
Cain’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword, and he cast his cautious gaze over into the forest.
Cain: There might be a beast lying in wait. Kenja sama, stay close to me.
Akira: O-okay…… (gulp)
The cold winds rattled the icicles. As the chiming and ringing grew louder, the shadowy form of a person came into view by one of the trees in front of us.
Akira: (It’s a girl…?)
She was petite, and she was clad in furs. Wordlessly, she sat down on what appeared to be a tree stump.
Past the hems of her clothes, I could see that she had dainty hands and feet. When I looked up to her little face, I saw a young maiden.
There was no sign that she’d noticed us at all. She leaned closer to the chiming icicles, listening to the sound of its music.
Murr: Her presence feels the same as the < Great Calamity >. Seems like she’s not a living person.
Anxiety gripped me when I heard Murr’s observation. He was right; the girl’s white fingertips were almost transparent, and her face was only a blur.
A moment later, a man appeared, and he looked like he meant to take her away. He was a gigantic man, several times larger than she was.
He had arms thick as tree trunks. He reached towards her and violently grabbed her by her delicate forearm.
Cain: … Hey!
The sudden motion pitched the girl forward, and she fell, toppling over some tree roots. She tumbled to the ground.
The man turned around to look at her, her limb still firmly within his grasp, and he seemed like he had no intention of letting go. His long hair covered his face, so I couldn’t see his expression, but…
Akira: (What’s this strange feeling I have? It feels like déjà vu…)
Suddenly, the two of them were gone. Like smoke, vanishing before our eyes — just like that.
When I looked closer, I realised that neither of them had left any footprints behind; the canvas of snow before us was untouched.
Cain: … They disappeared…?
Akira: That was… they’re ghosts? Or visions of some sort? But, Cain, you saw them just fine.
Cain: Yeah. It wasn’t just the girl who looked transparent. The guy did too.
These visions touched by the Calamity… That guy was pretty damn massive, so maybe he’s the Heine we’ve been hearing about?
Rustica: And perhaps that means the maiden we saw was his bride.
It feels like… Like the remnants of what someone once wished for in life, reaching out to tell us something.
Murr: That means that some part of this forest is afflicted by the Calamity’s influence! Something’s afoot!
An area of the forest long-hidden, now suddenly resurfaced, can only mean that…
Owen: « cur memini »
Mithra: « arsim »
Akira & Cain: Huh?
Murr & Rustica: Oh?
Before I’d realised it, I was floating in midair.
Owen, who was on his broom, had Cain and I hauled up by the collar.
And the other two of us, Murr and Rustica, were in a similar state — tightly gripped within Mithra’s grasp.
Cain: Owen, Mithra! You guys all done with the fighting?
Owen: No, we had to cut it short because of this. You guys can’t play at being tourists in this part of the woods.
This is the wizard Heine’s territory. You never know when he’ll grab you and gobble you up.
Akira: The Voracious Heine…
Mithra: Oh, what, you already knew about that?
Murr: We heard all about it on our way here! Hey, you two are Northern Wizards just like him, right? Do you guys know anything about Heine?
Owen: Well, I know what he looks like. And his name too, I guess. He’s a weirdo that’s been holed up in this forest forever.
Mithra: He doesn’t set foot into other wizards’ territories, nor does he act out or anything, so I’ve never really had to kill him.
Shortly after that, we heard the sound of whispering on the ground beneath us.
I froze, and the whispers passed — along with little shadowy figures that moved right past us to head deeper into the shadows of the trees.
Murr: Ooh!
Perhaps in response to Murr’s voice, a few of the little faces turned around to peer curiously at us from behind the trees.
???: Peke, peke……
Akira: Huh……?
The creatures looking at us were bizarre little things, compact and small.
They stood on two feet and had stubby limbs. Their short and stout bodies were covered all over in puffy fur. A single horn stood proudly atop their heads.
If I had to describe them, they were like bipedal hamsters wrapped up in sheep’s wool, that also had a horn. Sorta like that.
Murr: They’re pecka-pecka!
Cain: They’re a pack-a what?
Murr: Pecka-pecka are a type of magical creature! They can be found living in certain parts of Northern Country, and they travel in flocks.
Pecka-Pecka: (clicking noises) Peke, pekeke.
Peke, peke.
Rustica: Look, they’ve come out from the shadows. It’s my pleasure to meet all of you. How do you do?
We looked at the little critters with wide-eyed curiosity, and they looked back at us with the same curiosity.
They started wiggling their bodies at us, and in response to us waving at them, they tried their best to mimic waving back at us with their stubby arms.
Akira: You know, I think they’re kinda cute…
Sacrificium: ………
Saccie wasn’t on alert around them. It sat on its haunches, so from how Saccie acted, I figured the pecka-pecka wasn’t a particularly dangerous species of magical creature.
Owen: Hey, aren’t you lot those furballs that always scamper around Heine?
Now that the seal’s been lifted from the forest, does that mean that tree finally bore fruit again?
Cain & Akira: Fruit…?
Owen: Don’t mind us. Hey, tell Heine that we’ll be taking these lost people back home.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke?
Peke……
Owen: Damn it, why can’t you understand a simple order? Should’ve known you lot would be just as useless as before.
Cain: I guess they’re not the brightest…
Mithra: They’re not magical familiars. What are they? Almost feels like I’ll crush some of them underfoot because they keep coming close.
Owen: Who knows. I don’t know either, but they just sort of sidle up and act all chummy.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke!
I glanced over at the flock of pecka-pecka, and I noticed that they had with them a large, unconscious bird.
next episode →