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The Fatalità's Kiss - Episode 3
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Suddenly, the pecka-pecka all waddled back to the bird, as if they remembered they had somewhere to be.
Like lifting a mikoshi, the pecka-pecka banded together to lift up the creature.
They looked like ants carrying food, the way their little limbs worked in tandem, orderly and surprisingly rhythmic. Onward and onward they went.
Murr: Ooh. Are you guys bringing this back to your lair?
Rustica: They’re quite strong for their size, if they’re bringing something so much bigger than them back home.
Gently, a cold wind blew.
A faint voice, carried on by the gentle breeze that brushed past us, said:
???: …… sama.
… Heine sama.
Mithra & Owen: …?
It was a delicate, sweet voice, that of a young maiden.
It must have come from the vision of the maiden that we saw earlier.
Somehow, I knew for sure that it had to be the maiden’s voice. Cain, Murr, and even Rustica — I think we all shared the same thought.
Murr & Cain & Rustica: ………
Ring-a-ling, chimed the icicles. The muted voice sounded like it was about to fade away at any moment, but I heard it speak again.
???: It’s an honour to be your guest.
Everything that I am is yours, my lord…
Please, feast upon this flesh and blood to your heart’s content…
The voice faded, like it was snatched away by the wind. Owen glanced in the direction of the wind, and he muttered:
Owen: … What was that just now?
Cain: … Mithra, Owen, do you guys know anything about the maiden bride that was offered up to Heine?
Mithra: Bride? Are you mistaking the live sacrifice for a bride?
Cain: Well, you’re not wrong exactly, but…
We saw a vision of a young maiden and a large man in this forest earlier. That voice just now was probably the maiden’s.
And what’s more, this place is touched by the Calamity. I don’t think it’s out of the question for Heine and his bride to have something to do with it…
Mithra: (long sigh) Isn’t it more likely that it’s some people Heine ate, and they hate him, or something like that?
You know, like that thing people talk about? The lingering grudge of the dead.
Owen: Either that, or maybe they were brought back to life by the Calamity’s influence? That happens pretty often too.
Or, if we head after them, we might learn more. Look, the pecka-pecka want us to follow them.
Owen pointed into the fog, where I could see the outline of a deserted building through the trees up ahead.
The flock of pecka-pecka waited for us in front of the doors to the building.
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke!
They were seemingly in high spirits, merrily hopping around to communicate an invitation to us: ‘Come on! Over here!’
Owen: That’s Heine’s abode.
[ Heine’s Manor ]
Akira: Hello? Anybody home…
Owen: That’s enough. Quit the antics and keep moving.
Owen paid no mind to our confusion as he made right for the manor in the distance.
We raced after him and entered the manor. Its interior was painted in dark colours, and a grave mood lingered in the air.
Even Saccie stuck close to me as it bobbed about in midair.
Murr: What a handsome home! Though I gotta say, the windows are all fogged up, and it’s a lil dusty everywhere.
Rustica: Perhaps he’s no good with housework? Just like me.
Cain: Hey, you guys? Is it okay for us to just barge in like this…?
Mithra: Yeah, why not? He hasn’t attacked us anyway.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke!
The pecka-pecka continued their forward march, and we followed them into one of the manor’s halls.
We were indoors, but it was so cold that our breaths formed white mists, falling down to the carpet as frost.
In the middle of the hall was a large table, long and extravagant. It reminded me of the exact sort of table that nobles would dine at, but…
Cain: Eugh, what’s this…
Laid atop the table were half-frozen animal carcasses, rotten fruit and berries, and various other foods piled up upon each other.
The pecka-pecka didn’t seem to notice – or care – that we all had furrowed brows. They simply used their stubby limbs to heave themselves onto the high table.
They worked together to maneuver the bird corpse up onto the table laden with food. Finally, one of the pecka-pecka squealed loudly.
Pecka-Pecka: PEKE, PEKE!
A moment later, coming out from behind the doors, under the furniture, even between the gaps of the drapes…
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke.
(clicking noises) Pekepeke……
Akira: Eek. Wh-what on earth?
Rustica: Oh, my.
Murr: There’s so many of them!
They must’ve been hiding everywhere in the manor. From out of every nook and cranny, more and more pecka-pecka poured out into the hall.
Their cries grew louder as they swarmed around our feet.
Cain: Whoa there, that’s dangerous! You’re gonna get stepped on!
Owen: Fufu, they’re telling you to get onto the table.
Cain: The table? What for?
Owen: They’ve been clamouring all this time, squeaking, ‘Look how much food we brought home! We need to lay them out on the table!’
You guys have been nothing but tasty morsels to these little guys all along.
Akira: No way?!
Cain: Man, you knew that was their plan for us, and you led us in here anyway? That’s not funny.
Rustica: Ahaha. We’ve been nothing but plucky adventurers all day, so maybe that’s why they think we’re particularly delicious?
Murr: How fascinating! I love being treated to a good meal, but it’s not every day that you get to be the meal!
Murr’s emerald eyes glittered as he curiously eyed the mounds of food, as well as the warm hospitality (?) that the pecka-pecka was extending to us.
Murr: Judging from the state of the manor and all this rotten food, we can infer that the owner of this manor has been away for quite some time.
And you little ones — you took over and turned this place into your lair in his absence?
So why did you gather up all that food only to leave it to rot?
Pecka-Pecka: Peke… peke……
The flock of pecka-pecka’s confusion at Murr’s barrage of questions was plain to see, but without skipping a beat, they went right back to work.
At that moment, we heard a crack, or a creak, of something moving.
Mithra: Is someone there?
Mithra squinted his sleepy eyes, and then he approached one of the chairs.
There was nothing on it, yet his hand moved as if he were wiping something down with a cloth.
It was like watching a magic trick. As his hand moved, a white piece of cloth fluttered into view—
And a young maiden appeared before us.
Owen: ………
Akira: (Her face is see-through. This is another vision…)
She had skin paler than snow itself. She looked like a sweet and lovely girl, with a face like spring blossoms, so pretty it took your breath away.
Her face shimmered like a mirage, and I heard the same voice from before as a dull echo in my mind.
Young Maiden: … sama, Heine sama…
I am your bride, a sacrifice for you alone……
Everything that I am is yours, husband mine…
Quietly, she vanished.
—— And in her place, there was a skeleton of her exact size dressed in a modest gown.
Akira: …!
Saccie, who had been idly floating at my shoulder, squirmed back into my arms when it heard me gasp.
Cain: Don’t tell me… That girl in the vision from the forest is…
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke!
All of a sudden, the pecka-pecka gathered before the skeleton.
They seemed to want to tell us something with how they glanced from the bones to the long table and back. A few of them let out some clipped cries.
Owen: … ‘This is food for Heine,’ ‘Food for Heine who loves his bride.’
‘The bride waits for Heine’s return’?
Pecka-Pecka: Pekeke!
The pecka-pecka all nodded in agreement to what Owen said.
Their incessant movement jostled the skeleton, causing the white cloth draped over its skull to slip and fall.
Rustica: That seems to be a bridal veil. What’s more, the skeleton’s clad in a white dress…
Rustica took the skeleton’s hand in his, and he spoke to it, gently:
Rustica: O fair maiden, the visions we saw earlier must have been of you, of who you were in the past.
Were you the one who brought us down this path and into this manor?
Of course, a skeleton told no tales. But the hand that Rustica held responded. The tips of its finger bones moved ever so slightly.
Following that, its skull, angled in a downward gaze, jerked twice, or maybe thrice.
Cain: Did it just nod…? Whoa.
Owen: Get out of my way. Aha… you are that maiden after all.
While all of us had our attention focused on the skeleton, Owen reached down to the floor and lifted up the hem of her dress.
Then he nodded, as if everything made sense now.
Mithra: You had skeleton friends all this time?
Owen: Of course not. I saw her back when she still had flesh on her bones.
You see, long ago, I was about to get eaten by Heine too, in this same mansion.
Akira: Wait, what?!
Owen: Hm, how long has it been? It was during that one fight to the death with Mithra, I stumbled into this part of the woods, and then I died…
When I came to, I was served on that table.
Back then, she sat in the exact same chair as she is now. She had an injury right here.
Murr: A deep cut across the back of both her ankles, so deep that it sliced right into her bones…
I wonder what could’ve inflicted a wound like that. A hatchet, or a sickle? With legs like that, she’s not walking anywhere by herself any time soon.
Akira: But… why would……
Murr: It’s so she can’t escape! Duh! The village probably crippled her just before they offered her up to Heine.
Like she said, she’s his bride, a living sacrifice just for him.
Rustica: Oh, oh goodness… How heart-wrenching. It must’ve been so terribly painful for her.
next episode →
Suddenly, the pecka-pecka all waddled back to the bird, as if they remembered they had somewhere to be.
Like lifting a mikoshi, the pecka-pecka banded together to lift up the creature.
They looked like ants carrying food, the way their little limbs worked in tandem, orderly and surprisingly rhythmic. Onward and onward they went.
Murr: Ooh. Are you guys bringing this back to your lair?
Rustica: They’re quite strong for their size, if they’re bringing something so much bigger than them back home.
Gently, a cold wind blew.
A faint voice, carried on by the gentle breeze that brushed past us, said:
???: …… sama.
… Heine sama.
Mithra & Owen: …?
It was a delicate, sweet voice, that of a young maiden.
It must have come from the vision of the maiden that we saw earlier.
Somehow, I knew for sure that it had to be the maiden’s voice. Cain, Murr, and even Rustica — I think we all shared the same thought.
Murr & Cain & Rustica: ………
Ring-a-ling, chimed the icicles. The muted voice sounded like it was about to fade away at any moment, but I heard it speak again.
???: It’s an honour to be your guest.
Everything that I am is yours, my lord…
Please, feast upon this flesh and blood to your heart’s content…
The voice faded, like it was snatched away by the wind. Owen glanced in the direction of the wind, and he muttered:
Owen: … What was that just now?
Cain: … Mithra, Owen, do you guys know anything about the maiden bride that was offered up to Heine?
Mithra: Bride? Are you mistaking the live sacrifice for a bride?
Cain: Well, you’re not wrong exactly, but…
We saw a vision of a young maiden and a large man in this forest earlier. That voice just now was probably the maiden’s.
And what’s more, this place is touched by the Calamity. I don’t think it’s out of the question for Heine and his bride to have something to do with it…
Mithra: (long sigh) Isn’t it more likely that it’s some people Heine ate, and they hate him, or something like that?
You know, like that thing people talk about? The lingering grudge of the dead.
Owen: Either that, or maybe they were brought back to life by the Calamity’s influence? That happens pretty often too.
Or, if we head after them, we might learn more. Look, the pecka-pecka want us to follow them.
Owen pointed into the fog, where I could see the outline of a deserted building through the trees up ahead.
The flock of pecka-pecka waited for us in front of the doors to the building.
Pecka-Pecka: Pekepeke!
They were seemingly in high spirits, merrily hopping around to communicate an invitation to us: ‘Come on! Over here!’
Owen: That’s Heine’s abode.
[ Heine’s Manor ]
Akira: Hello? Anybody home…
Owen: That’s enough. Quit the antics and keep moving.
Owen paid no mind to our confusion as he made right for the manor in the distance.
We raced after him and entered the manor. Its interior was painted in dark colours, and a grave mood lingered in the air.
Even Saccie stuck close to me as it bobbed about in midair.
Murr: What a handsome home! Though I gotta say, the windows are all fogged up, and it’s a lil dusty everywhere.
Rustica: Perhaps he’s no good with housework? Just like me.
Cain: Hey, you guys? Is it okay for us to just barge in like this…?
Mithra: Yeah, why not? He hasn’t attacked us anyway.
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke!
The pecka-pecka continued their forward march, and we followed them into one of the manor’s halls.
We were indoors, but it was so cold that our breaths formed white mists, falling down to the carpet as frost.
In the middle of the hall was a large table, long and extravagant. It reminded me of the exact sort of table that nobles would dine at, but…
Cain: Eugh, what’s this…
Laid atop the table were half-frozen animal carcasses, rotten fruit and berries, and various other foods piled up upon each other.
The pecka-pecka didn’t seem to notice – or care – that we all had furrowed brows. They simply used their stubby limbs to heave themselves onto the high table.
They worked together to maneuver the bird corpse up onto the table laden with food. Finally, one of the pecka-pecka squealed loudly.
Pecka-Pecka: PEKE, PEKE!
A moment later, coming out from behind the doors, under the furniture, even between the gaps of the drapes…
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke.
(clicking noises) Pekepeke……
Akira: Eek. Wh-what on earth?
Rustica: Oh, my.
Murr: There’s so many of them!
They must’ve been hiding everywhere in the manor. From out of every nook and cranny, more and more pecka-pecka poured out into the hall.
Their cries grew louder as they swarmed around our feet.
Cain: Whoa there, that’s dangerous! You’re gonna get stepped on!
Owen: Fufu, they’re telling you to get onto the table.
Cain: The table? What for?
Owen: They’ve been clamouring all this time, squeaking, ‘Look how much food we brought home! We need to lay them out on the table!’
You guys have been nothing but tasty morsels to these little guys all along.
Akira: No way?!
Cain: Man, you knew that was their plan for us, and you led us in here anyway? That’s not funny.
Rustica: Ahaha. We’ve been nothing but plucky adventurers all day, so maybe that’s why they think we’re particularly delicious?
Murr: How fascinating! I love being treated to a good meal, but it’s not every day that you get to be the meal!
Murr’s emerald eyes glittered as he curiously eyed the mounds of food, as well as the warm hospitality (?) that the pecka-pecka was extending to us.
Murr: Judging from the state of the manor and all this rotten food, we can infer that the owner of this manor has been away for quite some time.
And you little ones — you took over and turned this place into your lair in his absence?
So why did you gather up all that food only to leave it to rot?
Pecka-Pecka: Peke… peke……
The flock of pecka-pecka’s confusion at Murr’s barrage of questions was plain to see, but without skipping a beat, they went right back to work.
At that moment, we heard a crack, or a creak, of something moving.
Mithra: Is someone there?
Mithra squinted his sleepy eyes, and then he approached one of the chairs.
There was nothing on it, yet his hand moved as if he were wiping something down with a cloth.
It was like watching a magic trick. As his hand moved, a white piece of cloth fluttered into view—
And a young maiden appeared before us.
Owen: ………
Akira: (Her face is see-through. This is another vision…)
She had skin paler than snow itself. She looked like a sweet and lovely girl, with a face like spring blossoms, so pretty it took your breath away.
Her face shimmered like a mirage, and I heard the same voice from before as a dull echo in my mind.
Young Maiden: … sama, Heine sama…
I am your bride, a sacrifice for you alone……
Everything that I am is yours, husband mine…
Quietly, she vanished.
—— And in her place, there was a skeleton of her exact size dressed in a modest gown.
Akira: …!
Saccie, who had been idly floating at my shoulder, squirmed back into my arms when it heard me gasp.
Cain: Don’t tell me… That girl in the vision from the forest is…
Pecka-Pecka: Peke, peke!
All of a sudden, the pecka-pecka gathered before the skeleton.
They seemed to want to tell us something with how they glanced from the bones to the long table and back. A few of them let out some clipped cries.
Owen: … ‘This is food for Heine,’ ‘Food for Heine who loves his bride.’
‘The bride waits for Heine’s return’?
Pecka-Pecka: Pekeke!
The pecka-pecka all nodded in agreement to what Owen said.
Their incessant movement jostled the skeleton, causing the white cloth draped over its skull to slip and fall.
Rustica: That seems to be a bridal veil. What’s more, the skeleton’s clad in a white dress…
Rustica took the skeleton’s hand in his, and he spoke to it, gently:
Rustica: O fair maiden, the visions we saw earlier must have been of you, of who you were in the past.
Were you the one who brought us down this path and into this manor?
Of course, a skeleton told no tales. But the hand that Rustica held responded. The tips of its finger bones moved ever so slightly.
Following that, its skull, angled in a downward gaze, jerked twice, or maybe thrice.
Cain: Did it just nod…? Whoa.
Owen: Get out of my way. Aha… you are that maiden after all.
While all of us had our attention focused on the skeleton, Owen reached down to the floor and lifted up the hem of her dress.
Then he nodded, as if everything made sense now.
Mithra: You had skeleton friends all this time?
Owen: Of course not. I saw her back when she still had flesh on her bones.
You see, long ago, I was about to get eaten by Heine too, in this same mansion.
Akira: Wait, what?!
Owen: Hm, how long has it been? It was during that one fight to the death with Mithra, I stumbled into this part of the woods, and then I died…
When I came to, I was served on that table.
Back then, she sat in the exact same chair as she is now. She had an injury right here.
Murr: A deep cut across the back of both her ankles, so deep that it sliced right into her bones…
I wonder what could’ve inflicted a wound like that. A hatchet, or a sickle? With legs like that, she’s not walking anywhere by herself any time soon.
Akira: But… why would……
Murr: It’s so she can’t escape! Duh! The village probably crippled her just before they offered her up to Heine.
Like she said, she’s his bride, a living sacrifice just for him.
Rustica: Oh, oh goodness… How heart-wrenching. It must’ve been so terribly painful for her.
next episode →