Chapter Text
Clancy may have wandered off too far this time.
This place, it didn’t even look like Trench anymore. In all honesty, he wasn’t even sure if what he was seeing was real. Lately he hadn’t been able to tell dream from reality…
While Trench was a green paradise with gorgeous scenery, this place was even more vibrant. The forest was much thicker, the sun was barely reaching the moss covered forest floor through the foliage. Clancy heard the noise of water crashing over rocks, though he couldn’t yet see the source of the sound. Through the trees, he caught glimpses of pink and red treetops and white stone.
The sight was drawing him in, prompting him to walk farther and farther, until he was out of the thick forest and on the edge of what looked more like an abandoned garden than the wilderness of Trench.
The white, worn marble turned out to be ruins of some kind of a temple. The architecture didn’t match anything from Dema. The cracks in the stone were already cultivating moss, grass and pink flowers. Vines wound up and clung to the stone. A little farther, a waterfall roared as it crashed from the cliff into a pond below. The sun shone down on the scenic view, brighter and warmer than in Trench, and definitely more than it ever was in Dema.
Clancy considered himself difficult to sneak up on. He was a different man to the scared and oblivious citizen he used to be, especially after his time as a prisoner and performer in Dema. That time in the city especially had made him more vigilant.
Because of this, Clancy was very startled when he heard a voice behind himself, “Are you lost?”
Clancy spun around towards the source of the voice and found himself face to face with a cloaked figure that was difficult to describe. His skin was charred, similar to the blackened neck and hands one got after smearing, however it was his entire skin that was like that. He wore a mask, much like Clancy was at the moment. His mask was white, cut off just below the nose, with green lines forming an insignia across the eyes, and with golden details along the rim. His cloak was a dark shade of green with golden rims, much like the mask. He wore golden chain necklaces around his neck and had an ornate sword strapped to his back. His expression was difficult to pinpoint as half of his face was covered, but with his lips visible, Clancy saw a serene smile. His sword remained undrawn. He didn’t seem bothered to be meeting a stranger.
Clancy couldn’t say the same for himself. He reached for the antlers at his waist in a defensive motion and stepped back. “Who are you?”
The figure tilted his head and his smile grew even gentler, perhaps he was trying to reassure Clancy. “You can call me Vessel. And who are you?”
This Vessel person was standing a bit too still, something about him seemed inhuman. Despite his calming tone and kind smile, Clancy was still unnerved in his presence. “My name’s Clancy,” he said, still eyeing Vessel warily. “The name doesn’t really answer my question. Who are you? And what… What is this place?”
“You’ve found yourself in Arcadia. Me? I am not anyone important. Just a devotee.”
Clancy frowned. “Of Vialism?”
Vessel shook his head. “Of Sleep.”
“I wasn’t aware there were other practicing religions in Trench.” The Bishops’ mandate of Vialism as the only religion in Dema had been long passed, but even outside of the city walls Clancy hadn’t heard of a deity of Sleep.
Vessel stepped forward and despite his panic, Clancy stood his ground. However, Vessel simply walked past Clancy. At the moment that he was the closest to Clancy, he leaned over and said, “Well, you aren’t in Trench anymore, are you?”
Clancy turned around and followed Vessel’s peaceful, slow pacing with his gaze. “I’m not? Arcadia isn’t a part of Trench?”
Vessel hummed. “No, not really.”
Clancy lowered his weapons. “Is it… real?”
Vessel grinned. Despite it still being a rather kind-looking smile, his canines were sharp, his teeth a little bit too exposed. “Do you want it to be?”
“Why are you so mysterious?” Clancy asked, at this point a little tired. He’d thought he finally figured things out, that he was finally able to tell lies apart from the truth. Now? Things weren’t making sense again.
Vessel shrugged. “This is an odd place. Sometimes even I wonder whether it’s real or not. I don’t have all the answers either.”
“If not you, who does?”
Vessel walked up to a cherry blossom tree and plucked a flower from it. “Only Sleep has all the answers.”
“Right. Vague and foreboding,” Clancy muttered to himself, but Vessel must have heard him in the serene silence of this place, because he chuckled. “And how can I get home?”
“Where to?” Vessel asked.
“Home,” Clancy repeated.
Vessel shook his head. “Where is your home, Clancy?” He walked over and handed Clancy the flower.
He didn’t take it. Why was this man speaking in riddles? “You are exhausting.”
Vessel shrugged and opened his palm, letting the wind blow the flower away. “Well, you can always find your way home from here. Assuming that you know where that is.”
“I do,” Clancy said confidently.
Vessel said nothing to this. No more riddles or cryptic questions. He walked off in the direction of the ruins. Clancy glanced at the forest behind himself. If he went there, would he return to the Bandito camp? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t even know if he was dreaming or not. He looked back at Vessel, his cape fluttering behind him in the wind.
Clancy sighed and jogged up to him.
“So what exactly is this place?”
“This is where we come to get away from our duties. The worship. I shouldn’t say it, but it does get exhausting.”
“Worship? You sound like a Vialist,” Clancy said. Other than the inhuman mannerisms, perhaps it was this aspect of Vessel’s character that made him uneasy. “Wait, who’s we?”
“The other devotees. There’s four of us, well, four of us who’ve been able to come here so far, anyway.” Vessel glanced to the side at Clancy, or at least he assumed he did, Clancy couldn’t see Vessel’s eyes through the slits of his mask. It had four too many, or did he genuinely have three pairs of eyes? “Which makes your appearance here most curious.”
“You don’t get any other, uh, non-devotee visitors here?”
“Not really,” Vessel said.
“You don’t seem concerned.”
“Why would I be? I’ve found this place because I needed it. While strange, you may have needed it too.” Vessel leaned against a broken marble pillar. Although Clancy couldn’t see his eyes, he could still feel Vessel’s gaze on himself.
“Maybe…” Clancy didn’t quite understand any of this, but it was pretty nice in Arcadia. He could see himself sitting by the waterfall and forgetting about the Bishops and the oncoming fight, even if only for a little while…
“Looks like your time is up,” Vessel then said.
“Excuse me?” Clancy asked.
Vessel pointed in Clancy’s general direction, which prompted him to look down. Sure enough, his hands were growing faint—literally, his body seemed to be fading out of sight.
“What’s going on?” Clancy asked with panic in his voice.
“You’re going home,” Vessel said calmly. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find your way back here. It was nice meeting you, Clancy.”
“Vessel—” Clancy didn’t get to say anything else before everything went black.