Part 78: Desolation

Chapter 11: Desolation

A good two month sleep really focuses one in on what needs to be done. All this empire shit was amusing and all, but it really distracted from my true purpose here, to destroy this miserable rock. I have the horrible personal tragedy of others to thank for being reminded of what I'm really in this for.

I woke up to the melodic sounds of Diness whining.

VIDEO




Food, food, food, hooray~ What color is our food today~
...
But... Lady Diness... You just ate an hour ago.
You are to address me as 'Your Majesty the Queen'!
I-I apologize, Your Majesty the Queen.
Well I don't forgive you!
Useless cowards incapable of protecting me aren't worth the dirt I walk on.
But maybe, just maybe, if you apologize enough, you'll receive some forgiveness.
Your Majesty the Queen... I'm truly sorry.
Hmhm... you can be a good little boy when you want to, Dio.
As a reward, I'll sing you a little lullaby to make you feel all better.

Her lullaby didn't make me feel all better, though. It freaked me out, because I know I've heard it before.



Now, get some rest, my dear Dio.
Th-that's...!
What was that?
Oh, awake again? Heh. That's funny. You woke up in the middle of a song meant to put you to sleep.
Y-Your Majesty... where did you learn those words...?
Hey! I gave you an order! Now fall asleep!
Y-yes, ma'am... *snore*
That's right... it's nice, isn't it?
Layna taught it to me in my dreams. You've been talking to yourself a lot lately, Dio. I've been worried.
Now, sleep tight.
Forma lleya, lisami, Fascineya, sephami,
Ferme ello anyarei, Sopha neya mi...

What. What? What?! WHAT?! I killed that worthless bitch. How the hell is she teaching people creepy songs about sleeping until the morning blooms in their dreams?



Kid...?
I don't wanna hear it.
Hey, why are you so pissed? It's not like the song means anything.
...
Oh my oh me what seems to be the trouble~ Oh me oh my don't wanna burst your bubble~
Come on, smile?
Swing set of tomorrow, sandbox of the past~ Searching for the jungle gym where we will meet at last~
Uh, okay...
Hey, pal! So you look pretty upset.

Luckily, Lobo already had a lead on some people for me to butcher. That might help me feel better after all this creepy singing.



Here, check out the map.
Here's the empire, and to the southeast is the cliff that used to be our hideout.
Well, right before that is the Maize Forest. You know how it got its name?
The Dio clan used some family magic to seal away a World Eater in there.
Anyone unlucky enough to wander in gets lost forever. And you won't know you're stuck till it's too late.
The day you wander in is the day you never set foot outside the forest again.
Am I crazy, or are some cities... gone?
Hehe. Yeah, I got rid of a few annoying flies for you. Some of 'em got away, but the rest... hehehe.
Yup. But I think the ones that got away are planning something...



Hey, ol' buddy ol' pal, you mind swinging by that way and helping me out?
Alright, let's do it.
Sure, whatever. I guess we can help out, if it'll help you sleep better at night. You better be thankful.
I'll go, too.
What happened to your babysitting job?
Trish died.
Doesn't matter.
Hey, pal. Careful with her, okay?
We had a hell of a time getting her to stop messing stuff up when it happened.



So we headed out to the old Yesterwind headquarters. On the roof were a bunch of humans and dracons, all of them magic users. They seemed to be preparing, well, something. I don't know or care honestly. They were alive, and that's good enough criteria for me to kill them. Shauna seemed to agree.



Who are they?
You... the All Eater!
So, we've been found out.
We knew this was inevitable.
Oh, gee, ya think? You didn't really think this was through, did you?
Whatever. Who cares. She's gone, so it doesn't matter.
Everything about this world is wrong.
So I'll smash it all, and everything can just disappear.

Feinne on Soul Nomad:

Oh, where to start on this? Well, first, Gig's wrong. Haephnes' lullaby 'does' mean something, as we saw in the normal path. The words mean: "Sleeping now, so calm and mild... Safe and sound, my sweet young child... In my arms, until the morning blooms."

More importantly, this map is likely to absolutely kill you if you don't prepare properly. It's chock full of huge dracosage and pyremage rooms that will static lance and terror blaze you out of existence. It is absolutely vital that the hero's room has one of two décor for this map. You either need a Silent Walk and Burning Blood to ensure you kill all the dracosage and pyremage rooms before three turns are up or you need a Picket Line to negate the damaging field tactics. Don't come in without one or the other. You might win, but you might just get arbitrarily killed.

Picket Line, by the way, comes around shop level 10-11. It's rare and expensive, as befits one of the best décor in the game. Silent Walk is cheap and easier to get, and as long as you've been boosting your ACT and have a Burning Blood or Living Now to burn is pretty much just as good as Picket Line here.

We swept the weaklings from the roof. They were no challenge at all.



Hmhm... we've done our job here.
The others... will do the rest!
Everyone's gathered... there.
And we, too...!
E-everyone... back to Levin the Undying!
Huh? Levin? Who the hell is that? I don't remember any Levin.
He's the only one... to ever make you, the All Eater, retreat... he's the strongest man in the world!
Oh, that stupid gatekeeper? So what, he's a hero now? Geez, the world's really gone to shit, huh?

Oops. I guess we never remembered to go back and kill that guy after I broke off the fight to get something to eat. How embarrassing that they now think he's some kind of super hero because I couldn't be bothered to remember to slaughter him.



S-stay away! I'll never tell you!
Here, I'll make you eager to talk.
Should be simple enough.
N-no! Leave me alone!

Shauna's damn good at torturing, by the way. I'm thinking of asking her to teach a class.



Everyone... I'm sorry. I couldn't be stronger...
...I may never see Raide again... But I can die... with hope in my heart.
That's enough... to make me ha-gh!
Happy? There is no happiness in this world.
You were particularly vicious that time, kid.
Feel better now?
Not really.
It's cuz of that name, isn't it? Levin?
Yeah, it pisses me off, too.



Damn straight.
Lobo said if you were gonna go somewhere, he wanted you to stop by.
No time! He just wants to follow us around again. Forget him, kid!
Nah, it'll be fun.

After we get Lobo, we're heading for Raide. Levin the Undying...

Hah! We'll see how their hope fares when I butcher that moronic Sepp trash and everyone else I find in Raide. Soon, very soon, even the stupidest among them will be forced to see that there is no hope. There is only death.