Agatha found herself once again wandering across the desert, her body battered and her skin scorched by the relentless sun. Her gasping mouth longed for a single drop of water, and her legs could no longer bear the weight of her frame, her strength was failing. With each step, her feet sank into the sand, turning even the simplest stride into an odyssey. Yet she pressed on, placing one foot before the other, until at last her soles touched solid ground. She staggered, unaccustomed to firm earth after so much loose sand dragging her down, but she rejoiced at the feel of stability and stepped into the rocky valley, hemmed in by titanic mountains.
Continuing her endless trek, she threaded her way through the stony floor, flanked on either side by sheer cliffs that blocked every ray of sunlight, casting dread shadows in their wake. The cool, damp breeze brought a brief relief, but only made her crave even a sip of water all the more.
Her mind, clouded by thirst, failed to notice the yawning chasm that lay before her. Then, with a misstep, she plunged into the bottomless abyss, tumbling down over jagged rocks until she struck the earth with a splash.
Sensing liquid envelop her limbs, Agatha wasted no time and tried desperately to drink whatever it was sheâd fallen into. When her lungs screamed for air, she thrust her arms into the mud at her sides, lifted her head, and drew a great gasp of oxygen, and beheld her surroundings.
In the pitch-black pit, the only sign of light came from tiny fissures in the walls, where water seeped through to form the pool around her. But what truly captured her attention were the paper lanterns floating at the heart of the crater, buoyed by a pale blue glow. After a few more frantic gulps, she waded toward them, mesmerized by their spectral luminescence, which seemed to swirl in a perfect, unbroken spiral of flame inside each scarlet shell.
Completely enthralled by the hypnotic light show, Agatha stared so long that strange visions began to flicker before her eyes. In one lantern she saw the knight academy: a young Agatha training with unbridled diligence and passion, striving to become a swordswoman at last. Another lantern revealed her knighting ceremony, the captain of the royal guard placing the title upon her with solemn pride. A third showed her swearing the oath to the crown, smiling earnestly as she pledged to protect king, queen, and commonfolk alike.
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Tears streamed down her reddened cheeks, yet she longed for more. She yearned to escape into that idyllic, nostalgic world. Sorrow mounting, she sank deeper into those lost memories, until the vision of her fallen homeland appeared, and the grotesque hooded figure who had stolen everything she loved flashed before her. Overcome, she vomited, then, seething she tore the lantern from its tether and flung it upward, watching as it drifted in a straight line toward the sun, itself obscured by the towering peaks and an ominous ring of darkness in the sky. The lantern vanished into the void.
As the dark halo swallowed the light, a fierce exhilaration coursed through her veins, and she laughed, wild and hollow. She seized another lantern, one holding a sorrowful childhood memory, and rooted it from the earth, letting its light be devoured by the gloom. With each lantern she plucked free, the oppressive weight sheâd borne since that fateful day seemed to lift.
Driven by the euphoria of emptiness, she continued tearing lanterns from the crater floor, oblivious to the poolâs waters turning thick and inky at her feet.
âMore! I want to feel hollower!â she cried, her eyes wild.
At last there were no lanterns left to pluck, and the crater lay in utter darkness. The lightness within her swelled until she felt as if she floated, unable to distinguish the earth from the sky, her feet neither touching ground nor water. She was utterly disoriented, even unable to sense her own body, nothing but pure weightlessness remaining, her only proof of existence the flow of her thoughts.
A sense of contentment filled her, as though she had finally found rest, until a viscous black liquid seeped into her mind, dragging her into misery. Every moment, the anguish deepened, weighing her down until thought itself became impossible. She was drowning in despair.
From those shadowy depths came a single desire: to rise again into that rapturous void of lightness. Clinging to that wish, and terrified of sinking further, something within her ignited. An amber flame pierced the gloom, pushing the darkness back to the pitâs depths and granting Agatha the strength to lift herself free. She raised her hand toward the turquoise sky once more.
Standing again in the desert sun, her body cracked but her spirit renewed, she resumed her march across the sands, her legs trembling but her resolve unbroken. And at last, after endless wandering, she arrived at the gates of the kingdom of Aequitus.