guestservices | CYOA week 3: souji, clementine, alphinaud

[Suddenly, the dreary mansion is no more. The ground gives way to a dim void where a series of large stone platforms loom in suspension, each emanating one of five colors—blue, red, green, purple, and yellow—from the carvings along their stone bodies. The lights penetrate the dense fog shrouding the platforms like lanterns lighting an esoteric path that spans the dimension, while the very air sways as if to guide the lost souls onto it.

However, the sheer distance between each fenced off platform makes that an impossibility. There's no mistaking that this is a holy place—one unintended to be treaded by mortals.

A rancid stench permeates the air where the fog parts around Souji, Clementine, and Alphinaud, who stand near the edge of a darkened platform. The carvings here glow a vibrant red, and the point of a cross-shaped engraving on the floor under their feet directs their collective gaze toward the scene ahead: a veritable hill of corpses, forming a ring around a large pool of red in the center.]

[When they next blink into awareness with the familiar warmth of celestial blood coursing through their reanimated bodies, Souji, Clementine, and Alphinaud find themselves standing in the middle of a large hall. The hall is as dim as the temple whence they came, but it and the moonlit corridors that empty out in each cardinal direction are clear of fog. Unlike the temple, the air here feels more alive.

"Sieghart" and the bodies are nowhere to be seen.]

[The terrain is icy and the air, heavy enough to choke. The party feels a bone-deep chill in their very cores that's only exacerbated by their frigid surroundings.

Farther along the frozen path, a pool of gelid water stirs at their presence. The water churns and rises to harden into the silhouettes of more old faces that glow a chilling blue. They turn brightly lit eyes toward the party.

Passing along the ice that makes up their bodies, their voices are guttural and distorted as they address their counterparts.]

Honey . . . you . . . kept that hair sh-short.

Alphinaud . . . h-how you've grown . . .

S-Souji . . . you look . . better . . .

[The party awakens once more at the temple. The bodies have gone, and the crater that once held their blood is no more, as if neither had ever been.

Across the platform, "Sieghart" manifests again.]

How much longer do you intend to go on?

PRELUDE

MEMORY CORE