2017-05-19: Someday, together...

• Cutscene: Someday, together...
• Cast: Riesenlied
• Where: Northern Elru
• Date: 19th May 2017
• Summary: Riesenlied returns to a forgotten grave to meet an old friend, in the eve of the invasion...

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Northern Elru is infamous for its snowstorms, creating deeply inhospitable conditions that only the bravest or the most foolish would dare cross. In the many centuries that have passed since the Day of Collapse, the snowfields have claimed many a life in the wake of its frost-white anger.

A single figure walks along a barren path, draped in a thick cloak that threatens to disappear into the mists of white.

The weather had worsened in the past hour. Riesenlied lowers her head, pulling the hood of her cloak closer as she exhales visible breaths. Biting gales of powdered snow sting her faded face, but she remains ardent in her travels. She looks up.

A shattered stone arch looms before her, shrouded in frostbitten moss, largely forgotten by time. The remnants of rotted wood suggest a civilisation that had long been lost to the arctic. But this arch is an entrance to a tumulus, the remnants of which house a sorrowful tale only a few choose to recall.

She takes a single step in, snow and frost spilling over from her boots onto the uneven-hewn stone. A faintly oppressive atmosphere swells around her. But she proceeds, even as the unpleasant howl of the forgotten threaten to tear away at her. At the end of the hallway lies a stone dais, upon which is stacked an effigy. It is little more than a cairn, a stack of sharp flat stones conjured in a shape whose significance has long faded into obscurity.

"It has been... a long time," she murmurs, her eyes closed.

She speaks to nobody, of course. There is no response. Not even the howling winds outside deign to shift and give her space. The darkness that threatens to assault her grows closer. But she is undeterred, inexorable. She continues.

"The world... has not changed.

We still live in a world of borders, divided by impenetrable walls.

The vision that you so desire...

That new world that you sought so dearly...

I cannot yet show that to you."

She reaches to her neckline, and unclasps a silver pendant hidden underneath her high-necked shirt. She holds it tenderly, placing it to the palm of both of her hands, and presses it against her lips for a moment. Then, she lowers it into a jewelry box.

"I do not deserve to wear this at this moment.

I walk down a path that may take me even further from my ideals.

I may yet run the risk of tarnishing the splendour of your memory."

She lowers her head, clutching the box and gently losing its lid.

"The new world is yet still so far away...

But I shall not give up.

I shall not succumb.

I shall never let my spirit be broken.

I shall show you...

I shall show you that the new world you and I seek exists, out there."

Tears roll down from her cheeks, as she draws the box closer to her.

"One day...

When that new world has arrived...

I will return here again, to honour you.

And on that day, someday... our spirits will shine together."