animus_network

I didn't.

[Quietly.] I'd forgotten completely. I knew what I had done at home, but I had no memory of actually doing it. It's natural for someone to grow old and forget their childhood.

Oh...

[Diarmuid looks away suddenly ashamed of his previous assumptions.]

I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how you felt then. You must have had such an emptiness inside of you.

...I don't want to ever feel that way again. I'm going to hold onto my memories for as long as I can, and before I can forget what it means to be outside of the tower, we will escape.

[The determination is back in his voice. For Aleph, he can't let even this stop him from achieving what he needs.]

[Diarmuid nods and looks back at Aleph happy to hear the determination in his voice. He doesn't know the other man very well, but somehow it seems wrong for him to sound as defeated as he had a moment ago.]

Have you been to floor 100 yet? They say that when you go there you see an image of the place you love the most. It's false, of course, and your hands pass through anything you try to touch, but it is something. Perhaps while there you will be able to see the sun you so love, even if it is just an image.

Though, I find it interesting that they suddenly give us the ability to see what we love, when before they would only let us see our worlds as destroyed. I wonder what changed.

They could have been running out of ideas. It was a pretty big project they undertook.

[So maybe changes are done with for now?]

Yes, perhaps and that doesn't make me feel any better.

[A concerned look crosses Diarmuid's face.]

Why do such a big project now? And what was with that post? What horror are they preparing for us now?

There isn't really a way to know. All we can do is be prepared for something to change at any time - like we always have to be, here.

I suppose you are right, though I don't have to like it.

[Diarmuid sighs and looks out toward where Aleph's demons are fighting.]

I can't remember if I asked you this when we first met because some of my memories of that time are getting fuzzy. How did you meet them? I mean, how did you originally get them to agree to working with you? Did you have to fight them?

A demon summoner usually either contracts his demons or fuse them. When attacked by a demon, if you impress them enough, they may ask for something in return for their service. Money, items, energy, a reply to a question that suits their own philosophy, whatever they might want. If you refuse their first offer they might still negotiate or cut off negotiations entirely and continue to attack. Accept, and the agreement is binding.

Or, fusing demons is like it sounds. Two demons becoming a completely different demon.

[Diarmuid rubs his chin with his hand as he listens.]

So something like not unlike the contract between a lord and his knights, though it would be the knights coming to the lord and not the other way around. And fusing them allows them to get stronger. I'm guessing that's not something they can do on their owns?

[Aleph shakes his head.] The process is complicated and even most demon summoners don't know how to perform it on their own. Thankfully those that do know don't usually charge... I wonder what they get out of it.

[A look of confusion crosses Diarmuid's face.]

That's a good question, actually. It would be odd for anyone just to do it on their own free of charge. What are these people like? Do they tend to keep teams of their own?

The people who run Jakyou Manors are... Nobody really talks to them much outside of requesting fusion. They don't seem unfriendly, just very eccentric.

They are human, though, right? Or am I assuming wrong?

[This is all so strange to him that he's decided he wants to make sure he's not misunderstanding something.]

Yes, they're as human as the rest of us.

Hmmm.... It's interesting then that they know this when others can't figure it out. Oh well, just one of those mysteries I guess.

[He pauses a moment, seeming to debate something for a moment, before continuing.]

Forgive me if this is prying too much, but why is remembering how the sun feels so important to you? Is there a special reason?

I guess it's just an example. I've only spent six months outside the tower, so even things like that that normal people take for granted, I could easily lose.

Besides that... There was once a group of mutants that were forced underground by the Tokyo Millenium, the new government - because they had mutated, they were clearly cursed and not fit to be seen. What the mutants wanted most wasn't to get back at the ones who had oppressed them or to be cured, they said, but only to see the sun again.

That's stuck with me.

I imagine it would. The sun is a powerful image anyway, but those experiences make it even more so. I really hope that you will be able to see it again soon.

[He tilts his head, curious when Aleph mentions the mutants. He can guess what the word means from what other things that Alpeh says, but it's still unfamiliar to him.]

What turned these people into...mutants in the first place?

There was a nuclear war, before my time - a war fought with powerful weapons meant to wipe out cities rather than armies. It leaves horrible side-effects for those few who are able to survive the radiation from the blasts.

[Diarmuid shakes his head at this. Even as a knight who had fought in many battles himself, it is hard for him to accept the idea of the destruction of war on such a great scale.]

It is so hard for me to imagine a weapon so strong. Or a cause that would justify taking so many lives and damaging the world so badly at the same time. How does the world even begin to recover from that?

Well... my world didn't recover, really. As far as I know, besides my city, there are very few livable areas on the planet.

[His world is very post-apocalyptic.]

Do you think your world will ever recover? Or is it a lost cause?

[Even though it's not his world, Diarmuid can't help but be saddened by the lost of any world. So much beauty, so many people, so much promise...gone.]

Not to the point it once was, probably. But the people who are still here? I think they'll do all right.

[Diarmuid smiles slightly. Some hope, no matter how small is better than nothing.

He nods his head toward the demons.]

So who do you think will kill the most?

From an impartial standpoint? Beelzebub. Though Lilim might be able to charm some into killing each other and that could get bloody fast.

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