Delilah stepped out onto the Ruby Balcony and gazed in awe.
Like the painting that Selphine had shown of it at Eventide Archive, the Balcony was a grand, pearlescent, sweeping structure that looked out upon a vast ocean of glittering red stars. It truly felt like looking down at space, for there were no stars in the dark sky, no clouds, just a midnight-blue veil above, and below was the expansive sea of starlight.
And…
“Wait, this is it?” Alice asked. She, too, looked out at things with a sense of wonder, but she was also clearly disappointed by the fact that, compared to previous Daylight Bastions…
This was a very small place.
“Don’t be rude,” Isabelle said, pursing her lips in annoyance as she looked up at Alice. “Who cares how big the place is when it’s this beautiful?”
“Is this really all there is, though?” Delilah asked, looking around at the totality of the balcony. It was perhaps the size of Grimoire Manor’s entire first floor, but being entirely open like this made it appear smaller. There were pillars that supported a dome-shaped roof that covered half of the balcony, but different sections of the space weren’t even clearly partitioned off. There was a collection of beds and night stands here, a grouping of couches and chairs near a fireplace there, a long dining table here, an open kitchen there, a smattering of bookshelves everywhere.
There were no doors, no corridors, no stairs to higher floors.
“This is a Bastion that was intentionally left to be Lost,” Marcus said sadly. “Part of that is its size. There were some Paladins who believed we could allocate our resources better elsewhere, for the Ruby Balcony has some… quirks… that require a rather robust staff to keep it operational. Its field of defense overlapped with two other, larger Bastions, and so… we left it behind.”
“But knowing what we know now about how the darkness has been able to learn and bypass our defenses,” Maribelle said, “they likely made the wrong choice. We can use all of the Bastions we can get.”
“So we’ll restore it, right?” Delilah asked.
“It doesn’t seem like Sen and Valgwyn even came here,” Alice said, looking around. “So it should be easy to save it, right?”
“Its restoration will be temporary,” Marcus said. “Just like the Abyssal Sanctuary, we can restore them for a time, but unless a Paladin or Sub-Paladin takes up residence, it will slowly fade away once more. I’ve put in a request for the Abyssal Sanctuary and that will likely be answered, but…”
“We’ll need to convene a council to get any chance of support for the Ruby Balcony,” Maribelle said.
“So let’s just restore it and move on,” Alice said. “Nice and simple. As long as it’s still around for a while, you can have that council after we save Kodoka, right?”
“That’s Lady Kodoka to you,” Isabelle said, glaring. “Show proper respect.” Alice shrugged, looking away wordlessly.
“It’s true,” Maribelle said. “We can wait, at least long enough to finish the task at hand.”
“But how do we restore it?” Delilah asked. “I don’t see a Light Catcher, or a font of Hikarescence… any of the usual things.”
“They lie below,” Marcus said, nodding over the railing. Delilah leaned out over the railing, looking down, but she didn’t see anything save the ocean of starlight.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Stairs,” Alice said, nudging Delilah and nodding past her. Delilah looked and saw a flight of stairs she’d missed, one that descended out of sight.
“I’ll lead,” Marcus said, striding ahead. “There’s no telling what dangers might await us. It may be that Sen and Valgwyn have not come here yet, or that they decided not to do anything, but it’s also very likely they’ve been here before us and laid some kind of trap.”
“Of course there wouldn’t be a horrific scene like at the Abyssal Sanctuary,” Maribelle said. “No one was staffed here.”
“No one to kill,” Alice said as she followed after Marcus. “Keeps things neat and tidy for them if they want to plant a trap for us.”
“Alice, is Rabanastre recovered?” Marcus asked.
Alice frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Not yet,” she said.
“Let me know when he is,” Marcus said.
Does it really take that long for Summons to recover after being wounded?
But then…
His wound was…
It would have killed anyone else.
Delilah stayed close to Alice as the group followed after Marcus, hoping she could provide at least some small measure of comfort. They descended the stairs, which curved back around beneath the balcony… and kept going, down into the sea of stars. Delilah stared in surprise as Marcus led the way, the waters rippling around him as he walked boldly down, until he was fully submerged.
“But…” she started.
“Looks fun, doesn’t it?” Alice asked, grinning as she took Delilah’s hand and led the way. Delilah hesitated, but she couldn’t resist Alice’s pull, and was dragged along down towards the water.
It really is water…?
Then what are the stars?
Delilah’s feet touched the water, and it rippled outward. A few more steps down, and it was up to her knees, and she flinched at a sudden chill. But on Alice went, grinning all the way, and so on Delilah went. The water was up to her waist, then her chest, then her neck…
Instinctively, she took a deep breath just before she descended so that her head was submerged.
But…
Suddenly, it didn’t feel like water. And it wasn’t cold anymore either, but cozily warm.
And Delilah couldn’t think about breathing now, as she stared in awe at the wondrous world beneath the surface of the sea of stars. Her hair and dress flowed in that ethereal way that they would underwater, and yet…
She wasn’t wet anymore. She could breathe, too.
And…
The sights were incredible. The stars that had first seemed to have been sitting atop the water were submerged within it, and they weren’t stars, but brilliant, shimmering rubies that floated at varying depths, bobbing and flashing here and there. Whenever they knocked against each other they burst with a wondrous display for a brief moment, before drifting apart.
“This is awesome!” Alice cried, grinning. Her voice came through the air muffled and strange, as if it were underwater, and yet…
“What is this?” Delilah asked, spreading her hands and feeling the strange sensation of the air – water? – around her. It flowed over and around her, rippled and brushed against her, and yet…
“One of the wondrous mysteries of this universe,” Marcus said from farther down. “I don’t know precisely what it is, nor have I met anyone who does.”
“So it’s been around for a super long time,” Alice said.
“Keep going,” came Isabelle’s voice, now submerged behind them. “You’re blocking the way for Mari.”
“Let’s go,” Delilah said, now leading Alice as they descended after Marcus. It was darker down here, but not unpleasantly so, and just like above the water, there was a sort of…
Mystery to it all.
“Tell me again why anyone would abandon this?” Alice asked.
“Because some value function and efficiency above all else,” Maribelle said, now submerged with the rest of them. “Beauty for its own sake doesn’t appeal to everyone.”
“Idiots,” Alice muttered. “Who can’t see the value in this?”
Delilah smiled. She couldn’t agree more.
The stairs continued about two stories down below the water’s surface, leveling out at a second balcony, half the size of the one above. Glittering rubies floated here, too, shedding their light into the pearlescent space. And here there was a Light Catcher, its surface blank, its four corner crystals devoid of luster. There was also a font for Hikarescence, but it was empty. And at the far side of the underwater balcony was a door.
“Where’s that go?” Alice asked.
“Paths to other Bastions,” Maribelle said. “Though it’s likely it will only take us where we need to go next: the Luminescent Globe.”
“But how do we restore this place?” Delilah asked.
“That’s right, I did it myself at the Abyssal Sanctuary,” Marcus said. “The two of you should learn properly now.”
“I can do it,” Isabelle said, raising her hand.
“Really, squirt?” Alice asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“She did it again!” Isabelle cried, pointing at Alice while staring up at Maribelle with wide eyes.
“Do you think you could show them how to restore the Bastion?” Maribelle asked, squatting down so she was at eye level with Isabelle. “It’s important for them to learn. They’re going to be Sub-Paladins just like you in time.”
“I can,” Isabelle said, pursing her lips.
“Show them how it’s done, Belle-Belle,” Maribelle said, running her fingers through Isabelle’s hair as it flowed through the water.
Isabelle nodded and rushed over to Alice and Delilah, leading them to the Light Catcher.
“You have to light the corners,” the little girl said. “Then you give the mirror a Light Pulse, and it’s done!”
“Light Pulse?” Delilah and Alice asked in unison.
Isabelle looked up at the two, conflict clear in her gaze as she looked back and forth between Alice and Delilah. Finally, she nodded, centering her attention on Delilah. “You just put your hand against it,” she said, holding out her hand, palm facing forward, “and then send a little pulse of light into the mirror.”
“I’m not sure I know how to do that,” Delilah said. “Do you think you could explain in more detail?”
Isabelle bobbed her head back and forth, then walked up to the Light Catcher and indicated the first corner gem, at the bottom left side. “It’s like… a will sort of thing, rather than a technique sort of thing,” she said. “It’s how you light the corners, too. You just touch the crystal and focus on sending light into it, and it’s done.” She demonstrated, placing two fingers against the corner crystal. She closed her eyes, and after a few seconds, a burst of white light shone within the bottom left corner, sustaining its light even when Isabelle stepped back. She looked at Delilah with a smile. “You try it!”
“How come you’re nice to her?” Alice asked, eyeing Isabelle.
“Because she’s always nice to me,” Isabelle said. “She helped me get back home.”
“Let’s try it,” Delilah said, stepping up to the Light Catcher. Alice did so alongside her, and they each focused on one of the top corner crystals. Placing two fingers against the one on the right, Delilah closed her eyes and focused.
There was… something… inside her that she’d never noticed before. It was like when she’d put on the bracelet at Eventide Archive – fire, wind, light, all coursing through her veins, her nerves, every part of her in unison.
If I can take hold of that…
Delilah reached out to the power flowing through her, and found that it reciprocated. It wasn’t her power – it was a greater power, one that she couldn’t control.
But it would willingly work with her towards a proper, worthy cause. Here was one such cause, and the light spread out through her fingertips, releasing from her body into the world.
Delilah opened her eyes.
Her crystal in the top right gleamed with light.
A smile spread across her face, and a thrill of excitement ran through her.
I did it!
Next to her, Alice was frowning in concentration. But her crystal remained dull.
“It’s okay,” Delilah said softly, placing a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Feel that power from when you put on the bracelet. Don’t try to make it yours – just ask for its help with what you’re wanting to do. It won’t reject you.”
Alice’s tense expression of concentration softened. After a moment, light gleamed at her fingertips, and the crystal she was touching was restored to light. Alice opened her white eyes and her lips split in a wide smile.
“Thanks,” she said, pulling her hand back and looking down at the fourth crystal.
“It’s all yours,” Delilah said, nodding. Alice knelt, closing her eyes as she touched the crystal. After a moment it, too, gleamed with light, and Alice stood back up.
“Now you finish it off,” she said, looking at Delilah.
Delilah took Alice’s hand in hers and reached towards the mirror’s glassy face. “Together,” she said. Alice grinned, nodding, and both girls placed a hand against the glass, closing their eyes, focusing together.
Delilah felt that power again, made her request of it again, and felt it respond, spreading out from her and into the mirror’s face. She opened her eyes, and saw both hers and Alice’s hands gleaming with light. That light spread like a glowing wave, outward in all directions until it covered the entire face of the mirror. Delilah and Alice pulled back, and the light gently faded, until the mirror was restored, and showed the reflections of both girls.
“They don’t normally reflect us, do they?” Alice asked.
“It’s not reflecting me,” said Isabelle, who was standing between the two girls.
“It’s a recognition of who restored it,” Marcus said. “You two will always be reflected in this Light Catcher whenever you stand before it.”
“Like our own personal Light Catcher,” Alice said, her eyes gleaming in the ruby light. She turned to give Isabelle a sidelong glance. “You could’ve had yourself reflected in it, but you didn’t. Thanks, squirt.”
“I have a name!” Isabelle said, grumpily stomping her feet. But she seemed to smile a little as she turned away.
“So that’s it?” Delilah asked. “We’re ready to move on?”
“Thankfully things went smoothly here,” Marcus said. “And the two of you advanced your training greatly. Truthfully, I have not seen Sub-Paladins restore a Light Catcher while they were still in training. You’ve advanced faster than I expected.”
“That’s because we’re the freaking best,” Alice said, taking Delilah’s hand. Delilah smiled.
“Let’s go!” Isabelle said, starting towards the door.
“Maribelle and I shall lead,” Marcus said. “We must not lower our guard.” The two oldest of the group opened the door together and proceeded through. After a short silence, Maribelle called back for the others to follow.
“She sounds worried,” Isabelle said, hurrying forward. Alice and Delilah followed.
The door opened to a short, dark corridor that then opened into a wide, circular room with a single door, unattached to any wall, in the center of the room. Marcus and Maribelle were staring at it worriedly, and the others soon saw why. There were dark words scrawled across it.
SING A STORY.
“It’s another addition to the riddle,” Alice said, the least perturbed of the group. “Fits right in with most of it. Not just dancing, but also singing… a story, though?”
“Like a musical,” Delilah said. “The song, the dance, it all comes together to tell a story.”
“They really are putting on a performance, huh?” Alice asked.
“We must hurry,” Marcus said, opening the door. “They are ahead of us again. If we can stop them before they reach the Drowned Palace, that would be best.” He strode through the door first, vanishing, and Maribelle followed. Then went Isabelle, until Alice and Delilah were standing in the room alone.
“Ready, sister?” Alice asked, giving Delilah’s hand a gentle squeeze.
“I’m ready,” Delilah said, smiling at Alice.
The two stepped through the door together, leaving the restored Ruby Balcony behind.