|
SloppyDoughnuts posted:Do you know the name of that organ track Hisako plays, or the more dramatic version that plays right after? I've been trying to find that song played during that cutscene for literal years. It's called "The Gates of Paradise are Open". EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkOgKTiCLs Skip to 52:30 VoodooXT fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Sep 16, 2016 |
#
?
Sep 16, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 07:09 |
|
|
So glad to see you finishing this. Your original LP (sans the video quality) was everything I was looking for in a horror game LP since I've always been interested in these kinds of games but really not able to play them. Looks like I'll be starting over on all the videos and watching from the beginning again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2016 03:18
|
|
|
Christ, just independently listening to the Siren soundtrack is severely unsettling. Good loving show there, composers.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2016 03:53
|
|
|
Keldulas posted:Christ, just independently listening to the Siren soundtrack is severely unsettling. Good loving show there, composers. I love driving late at night with both the Siren and Siren 2 soundtracks going. It's pretty awesome. EDIT: The first soundtrack was done by Gary Ashiya and Hitomi Shimizu, two incredibly well-known J-horror film composers. Siren 2's composer, Kuniaki Haishima, came from television, mainly anime and tokusatsu. VoodooXT fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Sep 17, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2016 07:53
|
|
|
Flac posted:This game is extremely good I... am not entirely sure what happened. Of course, I'm one of the idiots that needs things in this game explained to them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2016 08:03
|
|
|
Drakenel posted:I... am not entirely sure what happened. Game's not over yet, bucko.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2016 21:25
|
|
|
SloppyDoughnuts posted:Game's not over yet, bucko. Oh I know that. Far, far from over. NEXT LOOP time shenanininininigans. I just wasn't sure if this was a completely random 'this timeline hosed up, here's the anime end to it, lets try again' or not.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2016 22:52
|
|
|
Keldulas posted:Christ, just independently listening to the Siren soundtrack is severely unsettling. Good loving show there, composers. It's pretty stellar, isn't it? The soundtrack and SFX do more than anything to build the creepy atmosphere. VoodooXT posted:I love driving late at night with both the Siren and Siren 2 soundtracks going. It's pretty awesome. Huh, looks like Haishima also worked on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Sakebi. A good watch if you like his other films such as Pulse/Kairo or Cure. He also did the music for the Siren movie and Metroid: Other M. So, you know, they can't all be winners. Drakenel posted:Oh I know that. Far, far from over. NEXT LOOP time shenanininininigans. I just wasn't sure if this was a completely random 'this timeline hosed up, here's the anime end to it, lets try again' or not. Yeah, you're not expected to know what's up with that scene yet. You get that one pretty much every time you finish a day three objective at this point. This was just the first time for this playthrough, but I won't be re-posting it when it pops up again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2016 00:49
|
|
|
I don't look around LP nearly as much as I used to, but I am so, so glad I checked out the new LP thread on a whim. I literally screamed out lout at 6:30 in the morning seeing this was back. I've been praying to the LP gods for your return for years, not to brown nose too badly, but this is literally my all time favorite LP, and the only survival horror to ever spook me just watching someone else play. I haven't checked out any of the new updates yet, it's been so long I'm going to have to go back and watch from the beginning again. What a tragedy. Thank you SO much for coming back!
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2016 11:37
|
|
|
       Archive 064 - Tsuchinoko reward poster   Compare with Archive 15. Archive 084 - Tamon Takeuchi's organizer   Archive 086 - Aerial photo of Hanuda village  Note that the layout of the village is in the shape of the Mana Stone. Archive 087 - "Brain Cell Revival" game  That's a pretty literal translation. Think brain teasers. After collecting this archive there is an actual minigame available from the title screen. Watch someone else play. Basically, line up like colors to make them disappear and get points. You can hit a button to add more random(?) units to the board, but they also appear over time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 01:50
|
|
|
And I'm finally caught up to my favorite LP after starting over from scratch. This game, were it not so frustratingly hard, might have been the one to topple Silent Hill's empire (I am aware of Keiichiro Toyama's involvement in the creation of both games). I've never seen a game do "Show, don't Tell" so masterfully, nor have I seen one that is able to capture the feeling of HP Lovecraft's style of there being much to a mystery that we simply aren't equipped to understand, and in the end are helpless to the machinations of. I love how the creepiness level just slowly builds as the game goes on, and the playing with space and time means we only get to see glimpses at a time. The Nest really reminds me of this one Junji Ito story, "The Town Without Streets", where a similar town has had wooden structures spring up, connecting everyone and eliminating all privacy. It's a very strange one, even for Ito. My only complaint with the game so far is what we saw in video 84. We might have been shown too much or it was too humanoid shape to really match the tone. Also, I think I have an idea of what's going on, thanks to all the supplemental material, but then, much of it is kinda contradictory, and leads to so many possibilities.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 15:25
|
|
|
I still love how like...the siren you hear starting from the title sequence is usually the kind used to warn of incoming disaster, right? But here it feels repurposed. I get this vibe it's more like a loud trumpet announcing the arrival of royalty. Like...King in Yellow royalty. And the shibito...They're so much scarier than zombies, or plain fanatical cultists. If the town had been full of crazy cult people from the beginning it wouldn't be as bad. And if they were totally braindead that'd be less scary too. But these people..it's like they've become demented. It's horrifying that they were once nice people, and now they joyfully eat gore.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 15:55
|
|
|
I want to say that Toyama has said in interviews that he had some traumatic experience as a child where sirens went off (possibly lived through a rough earthquake?) and it is something terrifyingly eerie to him now. And he's right. For some odd reason my small podunk Michigan town has like, 8 different siren tests a month. I don't know what they'd do if there was a real reason to use it, but I live pretty close to one of the speakers and it suuuure is creepalicious when it goes off. Though it's funny often to hear all the dogs that live around me all join in. If you have played the first Silent Hill, you may recall that he used the sound as a harbinger in that game as well, which has mostly been ignored in subsequent sequels, possibly because of it becoming so important in this franchise.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 16:05
|
|
|
FAT BATMAN posted:I still love how like...the siren you hear starting from the title sequence is usually the kind used to warn of incoming disaster, right? But here it feels repurposed. I get this vibe it's more like a loud trumpet announcing the arrival of royalty. Like...King in Yellow royalty. Not to mention the last level as Tomoko you see what the world looks like to them and as horrible as it is, it's beautiful. The light of angels and the peaceful patter of rain, forever. There's always a sense of purpose to the Shibito's actions, too. They get at the uncanny valley where they're doing things recognizably human (cops patrol the streets, people eat in cafes, families relaxing at home, hunters standing in their blinds with their rifles, gardeners tending their plants, people working on construction) but in every case it's twisted to some mysterious, uncanny, or horrible end (the cops and hunters are out for the living, for instance). Even before they turn into even more alien horrors, they're just human enough that you can get what they're doing, but alien enough that you can't see WHY they'd be doing it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 17:45
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Not to mention the last level as Tomoko you see what the world looks like to them and as horrible as it is, it's beautiful. The light of angels and the peaceful patter of rain, forever. Not to mention they do all these activities in such unsettling ways. Like Mama cackling as she slaps a knife against a clean cutting board.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 18:40
|
|
|
All of it feels like something is trying to make the shibito act human, despite not really understanding human behavior at all. The breathing sounds forced, and not like its serving any real purpose. (They're undead) And hey, humans are happy when they work right? Giggle while you do just about everything. They're omnivores, so they'll eat anything right? Well, that gore/corpse of someone who didn't make it to shibitohood will serve, even if they technically don't need to eat.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2016 20:22
|
|
|
Hell, then there's the small semblance of remembering things, like Akira recognizing Tamon after he was long Shibbed, or the principle calling out to Harumi and hunting her explicitly. (The Onda sisters are another good example). Also some of the stuff in the supplemental material posted, like the webpages, make me start to think that maaaaaybe we're not necessarily seeing things from the most honest perspective...
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2016 03:46
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:My only complaint with the game so far is what we saw in video 84. We might have been shown too much or it was too humanoid shape to really match the tone. I do like the part where Hisako is like "Finally the arrival of our God! We're saved!....Oh gently caress he's a really gross shrimp dog. I'm out of here."
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2016 04:38
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:I want to say that Toyama has said in interviews that he had some traumatic experience as a child where sirens went off (possibly lived through a rough earthquake?) and it is something terrifyingly eerie to him now. And he's right. For some odd reason my small podunk Michigan town has like, 8 different siren tests a month. I don't know what they'd do if there was a real reason to use it, but I live pretty close to one of the speakers and it suuuure is creepalicious when it goes off. Though it's funny often to hear all the dogs that live around me all join in. zA Zombie fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Sep 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2016 08:45
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:If you have played the first Silent Hill, you may recall that he used the sound as a harbinger in that game as well, which has mostly been ignored in subsequent sequels, possibly because of it becoming so important in this franchise. Hearing that sound as you go through the tunnel under the school and then come up into a twisted version of it was one of the scariest experiences I ever had in a game. zA Zombie posted:Chicago's tornado sirens are fairly creepy on their own and I really understand where Toyama is coming from when he says they can be terrifyingly eerie. Jeez, those are creepy. I imagine even more so when a tornado is actually coming. By the way, here's a little bonus video I should have posted with Update 36. I'll go back and add that in. When Harumi is escaping from the house at Tabori, it's entirely possible to get into Tomoko's room while she's still inside to collect the archive and the toy monkey: Bonus Video 3
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 04:26
|
|
|
I mean, it makes sense. A warning siren is usually a sign of something you can't do poo poo about but hide and pray. That fits horror really well.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 04:37
|
|
|
   Archive 088 - Will left by Kei Makino's stepfather   Signed Reiji Makino. See Update 18 for his story. Egomaniac fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Sep 24, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 04:25
|
|
|
Shiro is a really weird man.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 04:39
|
|
|
I couldn't actually tell who the brain from Harumi's stage was.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 06:38
|
|
|
zA Zombie posted:Chicago's tornado sirens are fairly creepy on their own and I really understand where Toyama is coming from when he says they can be terrifyingly eerie. It reminds me of some of the creepier tracks from Earthbound. Also, just chiming in to say it's great to have this LP back, Egomaniac!
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 06:38
|
|
|
Yeah we barely got to glimpse the brain there, no time to see who it was. Speaking of, are we supposed to know the crying Shibito in her stage's intro? She looked unique from here. Also, dammit Shiro, you researched these things! You of all people should know death is a fast track to getting Shibbed!
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 11:04
|
|
|
Discendo Vox posted:I couldn't actually tell who the brain from Harumi's stage was. We get a decent side view of it. If I looked at it right, it's Eiji.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 12:02
|
|
|
Well, headshots don't stop you from becoming shibito so uh... wasted bullet there.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 12:41
|
|
|
Drakenel posted:Well, headshots don't stop you from becoming shibito so uh... wasted bullet there. I don't think he's been exposed to the red water. edit: I mean enough to become a shibito if they die. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Sep 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 20:50
|
|
|
Discendo Vox posted:I don't think he's been exposed to the red water. I'm pretty sure everyone has been, considering the constant rain. That's actually why your characters regenerate HP slowly. They mention it in the instruction manual.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 20:58
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:I'm pretty sure everyone has been, considering the constant rain. That's actually why your characters regenerate HP slowly. They mention it in the instruction manual. I dont know if the rain is enough to turn someone into a shibito Unless they suffer prolonged exposure to it We should also take in consideration that there seemingly is one other mean of not becoming a shibito (not sure if I should downright mention it, as it was more or less shown on multiple cutscenes before, but the game did not explain it exactly) And shiro is seemingly fully aware of that method considering what he does to kyoya and yoriko But then again the game really does not go into detail during that cutscene, or even ever gets around to making clear how shiro would know of it Though considering he has side objectives to find both yoriko's and Kyoya's student ids, maybe its related to that?
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2016 23:29
|
|
|
I have no knowledge of the game outside what we've seen so this is just a guess...but maybe transfusions of non-red water blood? Is that what he did to Yoriko and Kyoya?
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 02:07
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:
I think it was Risa maybe? Who was the lady that Hisako set on fire with her magic powers? Edit: I assumed that if you are close to death but the water brings you back to life, then you're not a shibito but you're screwed (somehow?) because you've consumed the red water. If you do die completely, having contact with the water means you'll become a shibito. I just always assumed any player character who we see as a shibito later in the game but whose death we don't see just got killed in some random way off screen.  I like to think shibito become more monstrous as the game progresses because your player-character is killing and injuring them. They keep coming back to life but the water is making them slightly more monstrous as they are revived and they evolve into more monstrous beings. That's my story rationalization for the mechanic of late-game enemies. Moscow Mule fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Sep 24, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 06:14
|
|
|
Discendo Vox posted:I couldn't actually tell who the brain from Harumi's stage was. It can be tough to get a good view without getting caught but maybe I can go back and do another quick bonus video. Arkanumzilong posted:We should also take in consideration that there seemingly is one other mean of not becoming a shibito (not sure if I should downright mention it, as it was more or less shown on multiple cutscenes before, but the game did not explain it exactly) For anyone not sure about this and who doesn't want it explained outright, go back and take a look at Miyako's video from the morning of Day Two and Shiro's from later that afternoon. Moscow Mule posted:Who was the lady that Hisako set on fire with her magic powers? That was Ayako, Miyako's older sister. We see them talking in the very last Day One video and her name appears in some archives, but she doesn't show up very frequently. Moscow Mule posted:I like to think shibito become more monstrous as the game progresses because your player-character is killing and injuring them. They keep coming back to life but the water is making them slightly more monstrous as they are revived and they evolve into more monstrous beings. That's my story rationalization for the mechanic of late-game enemies. As a point of interest, the official documentation refers to the humanoid shibito as "half-shibito". They're also the only type that are never controlled by Brains.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 07:09
|
|
|
As long as we're throwing theories out there, the stuff in that supplemental website, "The Truth behind the Hanuda Incident", where they talk about a guy killing normal people back in the 70s, bearing a description matching Kyoya in the post day 3 ending cinematic. Plus, investigation into Hanuda finds the villagers grumpy and quiet, busy repairing damage from the landslides. It almost seems to suggest that what the protagonists are seeing is also not the truth, just as much as shibbified people see things differently. Maybe a sort of "They look like monsters to you?" twist?
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 07:12
|
|
|
Red water explanation: The red water heals you completely, to the point of Yoriko no longer needing glasses after she gets a transfusion with the stuff, and Kyoya healing from a bullet wound. At the same time, it can turn you into a shibito by two means: 1. Exposure to too much of the water turns you into a shibito. Hanuda has a religious tradition of bathing in the river when the siren goes off. Most of the villagers bathed in the river at the beginning of the game, which turned them right away- or they had drank the red water in ceremonies before, so the siren turned them immediately. 2. Death after some low amount of exposure also turns you (Mina and Risa Onda are a confusing special case I won't cover here). It appears that some of the player characters have hit that limit, so they're living on borrowed time. There's one way to become immune- to have blood from Miyako. Kyoya, and then Yoriko, have both received that blood. Shiro, who has figured out how the red water works, may have also dosed himself, though that's never made clear. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Sep 24, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 18:19
|
|
|
I just spent the last few evenings getting caught up on this LP, i'm really enjoying it and i'll be sad to see it come to an end. I didn't realize you were the one who LP'd the Siren:Blood Curse that I enjoyed so much a few years ago. So uh, thanks for the many hours of free entertainment.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2016 04:55
|
|
|
Just spent the last few days watching both this LP and supergreatfriend's LP, and I'm thoroughly creeped out and eager for more. This is possibly the best horror game I've ever seen, even though I know I'll never dare to play it myself. Unlike Silent Hill the plot is actually compelling for me - don't ask me how it holds my interest when Silent Hill's plots don't. How much of the game would you say is left? (How many updates, rather?)
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2016 05:34
|
|
|
 Takaaki Yoshimura / Katsuaki Yoshimura 1989 16:33:12 Karuwari / Church at Irazu Valley Persona / Shadow A persona is a psychological mask one creates under pressure from the external environment. Individuals suppress and hide their true feelings and desires, creating for themselves a public personality fit for society. Such an individual must learn, adapt and change in order to survive in the world. The world demands much of man, and man responds with action. The shadow is also formed from that psychological pressure, the second part of man's dual nature. Desires that are denied in everyday life are collected unconsciously deep in the mind. Like the public persona, the hidden shadow also may be formed by the choices an individual makes in life, becoming another self. The conscious mind continually struggles to suppress the shadow and lock it away in the unconscious, but when the pressure becomes too great it may break free in a furious clash. Nonetheless, the shadow is an intrinsic part of the self and can never be cut away. The shadow exists as a separate half because of suppression and denial. Only when consciousness becomes one with unconsciousness can one claim to have truly found oneself. The Pale Lamb Faintly comes the voice of a young girl. The same dream since he can remember -- the bitter moaning of the dead and the painful cries from afar. Fading in and out, the girl's voice seems to convey a warning. --Please... Don't trust that woman... Fragile white snowflakes fall in a soundless flurry. The young boy looks up at the sky -- the light gray expanse filled with a million glittering crystals. He follows the path of a single snowflake through the air, letting out a cold, desolate sigh. Little by little, the white powder builds up on his ill-fitting black robe. He does not notice the cold seeping into his small pale fingers. The boy stands silently in the church graveyard filled with Mana crosses. Dried, shriveled trees, cracks in the tombstones, a scene of utter desolation. Were it summer the moonlight would reveal an array of wild colors, but now there is only the blanket of snow that covers everything. He sees the backs of the villagers who have gathered. They shovel dark earth, digging a grave. (The priest... suicide...) (Don't be stupid. There's no reason to think that. He hadn't been well for a long time...) The villagers lower their voices, and he can only hear brief snippets of their conversation. (...I heard a new Miyako was born to the Kajiros last night...) (A new Miyako must mean a new priest...) Startled by the sound of cracking ice, the young boy looks up. There before him stands another boy, sharing the same face, the same form. (That's the Miyata boy... They look so alike. It must be because they're cousins.) (What are you talking about? They're brothers... twins. On the day of the landslide...) The two boys stand in silence. (Just like that, one of them became a priest, the other went to the Miyata family...) (Well, they may look alike, but I can definitely see those handsome Miyata features... Oh, they're looking at us...) The second boy stares at the villagers coldly. They cease their whispering. For a brief moment the boys' eyes meet. Feeling a painful chill emanating from the other, the first drops his gaze. For some reason he does not understand, this mirror image of his always exudes such a feeling. His brother, separated at birth -- sharing the same face, the same flesh. Do twins share dreams as well? The young boy ponders a question deep within his heart -- a question he dare not ask. "Your Holinesss, it is time to offer the final prayers to your father." The boy wakes from his reverie and begins reciting the prayer. "Those whom we have lost will continue to live in our body and our blood. The gates of heaven have opened, and his soul has been accepted into the stream of eternity." The air fills with the low hymn of the villagers. Their chants echo off the surrounding cliffs, making the gathering seem like a great throng. Earth begins to cover his father's face. That face bears a relaxed and serene expression. Perhaps it is the relief of leaving his spiritual burden behind at last. Though he was revered and respected, he also carried an immense weight on his shoulders. The shoulders the boy remembers, hunched in prayer in the cave beneath the altar. When he thinks of that altar, hidden in darkness, his grief is overcome by a different emotion. Terror. The truth about the darkness for which he must now take responsibility sends a chill down his spine. (No! I'm afraid! I don't want to know! I can't do it!) The boy dreads accepting the weight, the horror. His body is pierced by fear and the biting cold. He shivers. Suddenly, he feels the weight of a pale hand on his icy shoulder. A gentle heat radiates from the fingers, and he turns to see the owner of the hand. The warm, smiling face of the priestess looks back at him. Nonetheless, the boy feel an inexplicable loneliness. The priestess seems to be staring through him, her benevelont gaze fixed someplace beyond. She places the hereditary Mana cross around his neck. The villagers look at him expectantly. "Do not be afraid. I will watch over you, forever and ever..." The screams of the girl from his dreams echo in his head. --Please, don't trust her... Doubts flood into his mind. He feels as though he is forgetting something important-- But it escapes him. (Forever and ever...?) The priestess whispers in his ear. "Do not let yourself be consumed by evil ideas. Listen to me. There is nothing to fear. Trust in me, Father..." Her soft, reassuring words soothe him, gently stealing away his former thoughts. His nightmare dissipates, sinking deep below his conscious mind, as though it never happened. --What must I worry about? While the priestess is by my side there is nothing to fear. --I need only do what is expected of me. The boy's concerns melt swiftly away. Already he is deaf to the cries coming from the dark. He looks around. His mirror image with the cold eyes is nowhere to be found. The Black Sheep The short winter day has ended, and the sky is an inky black. The last glimmers of daylight are reflected only in the thickly piled snow. The boy is on his way home. Brushing snow from his shoulders, he passes beneath a gate bearing the sign "Miyata Clinic". He opens the door on which is hung a paper stating "The doctor is out" and enters an empty waiting room. As he passes before the hallway mirror he pauses. Staring at his reflection, he feels a strange and disquieting thrumming in his chest. This face -- eyes, ears, nose, mouth, chin, they all have a copy. --A stranger with an identical face. Does he also have the same dreams? The same dream as far back as he can remember, of a girl calling to him from the darkness. In the deepest shadows, he hears her sighs and pleas. --Please, listen to my voice... I'm begging you... Someone hear me... He sympathizes with her loneliness. The boy knows what it is to feel trapped. --Surely, a twin must have the same dreams...? He climbs the stairs to the second floor and stands in the hall before a private room. Taking a deep breath, the boy drives his prior thoughts from his mind and opens the door. "It's Shiro. I'm home." His ailing mother sits up in bed. Her hands as smooth and white as ever, she looks still like a young girl. With her small features and deep black eyes, the way she stares at him reminds the boy of a tiny bird. "Thank you for attending the funeral in my place..." Upon speaking, her eyes fall to the snow on his shoulders. "It must have been freezing. Here, give me your hands..." She heats his hands with her own. His body stiffens with discomfort at her touch, but she does not seem to notice. "Shiro... What was your impression of the new priest?" "... He performed the rites well, and received the Mana cross of his ancestors." "I see. Then you must also become a great doctor..." For some time the boy has been staring at the scraps of paper at his mother's bedside. It is a letter, torn apart in a fit of rage. His mother follows his gaze and whispers to him. "How many times have I told you not to go along with those naughty girls? You mustn't let vermin near you. I'm so ashamed. And that new young priest is such a good boy." It was a letter from the girl who always watches him. The image of her kind and gentle face forms in his thoughts. A dark, burning hatred begins to bloom inside him. --That hatred sparks memories from his childhood. His beloved doll, clutched in his arms wherever he went. For some reason, it brought the boy comfort. One day his mother took it and flung it from the second story window. It caught in the branches of a tree, exposed to the wind and the rains, bleached and decaying. His mother would force him to look at it from the window every day and whisper. "Look at that. It's your fault. Because you cared about it more than your own mother... You must love your mother, Shiro. Forever and ever and ever..." She grips his shoulder tightly. "Become a good doctor and make your mother happy... Children who don't please their mothers get thrown away. Well? Say something." She squeezes tighter, her nails digging into his shoulder. ".... Such a stubborn child. That other one is a good, obedient boy. But he belongs to the church. Instead the Miyata family received a wicked boy like you." The words, her curses, ring in his ears. He is the rotting doll. Bound, restricted. Disappearing into oblivion... His features harden even more at these thoughts. "You must still be cold. Let me warm you up." She draws him close to her body. The boy buries his face in her chest -- the sickeningly sweet smell of his mother filling his nose until he almost chokes. Intense disgust mingles with a strangely pleasant feeling, making the bile rise to his throat. He pushes these emotions deep below the surface, covering them with the mask he wears every day -- the mask of the Miyata Clinic's heir, and a good son. "I need to go. It is time to study." Before his disguise can crumble, the boy leaves his mother's sick room. He passes soundlessly down the hallway past the director's office. His father must have returned first, but he was not in the sick room. He must be at his desk. The boy's inner turmoil and memories of the coolness of his father's gaze darken his mood further. Beyond his mother's insane obsessions, the boy knows his father sees him as an obstacle to be removed. --If only he had never been born, never part of this bitter discord -- he knows himself outside the bonds of familial love. The boy feels a sudden pang of longing in his heart, but he suppresses it quickly. He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a small ring of keys. The stolen keys to the basement. Step by step he approaches the forbidden entrance. As he opens the door the odor of chemicals and decay assaults his nose. In the dim light beyond a row of iron bars he sees what appears to be a hospital ward -- from inside comes the sound of something slurping. --He feels something watching him. The boy focuses his eyes on the shadows just beyond the bars. A black form is moving. He aims the beam of his flashlight, illuminating the shape in the gloom. An old woman clothed in filthy rags crawls on her hands and feet, scampering toward him on her impossibly thin, animal-like limbs. Her bloodshot eyes fix on him, each moving independently. She opens her mouth. From the space between densely packed rows of sharp teeth comes a gust of fetid breath and a steady drip of sputum. The chains on her legs clatter as she approaches. She lets out a low, harsh sound, an unnatural smile on her lips-- Overcome with fear and disgust, the boy cowers. --What is this thing? Why is it here? What is it for? He imagines he hears another sound. His mother's high, mad laughter seems to echo through the emptiness. "Shiro... you're different from the priest. If he is the light, you must be the shadow. Study hard and live for the day you that take over the Miyata Clinic. Dirty your hands. Stain them with blood--" The boy clasps his hands to his ears, trying to shut out the curse. Suddenly he feels a sharp pain. The old woman has reached through the bars and sliced into his arm with one long, talon-like nail. Crimson blood begins to flow. He has awoken at last. From the darkness comes a voice -- the voice of that girl. --Listen to me.... Seek me out.... Put an end to this eternal world.... With the girl's voice, deep in his mind he sees a shining pair of figures, wrapped in light. --Is this to be my role...? Why mine and not his...? The boy picks up a scalpel that has fallen onto the floor and stares into the darkness. The Reborn The outlines of an idea begin to come into focus. Vague fragments of consciousness glimmer and disperse. Suddenly I recover my sense of self. I am "me". I feel as though I dreamt of a memory long past. The funeral of the former priest, and the moment I first wore the Mana cross around my neck. The other me who watched that day -- the younger brother who is my other half. --Farewell, big brother. Yes, in that moment it was finished. I extinguished my other self. The sound of a gunshot, and darkness swallowed "my" consciousness. "I" vanished -- Must have vanished. What am "I"? What does it mean to refer to "myself"? -- From that day to this one "I" did as expected of me as though I had no notions of my own. Though I was aware of both a world of light and a world of dark, I lived as if the light was the only path. Perhaps this is a punishment for complacency, like an egg guarded by a mother hen, content enough in her warmth never to hatch and leave the nest. Now the egg is hatched, the mother hen is gone, and I feel the unsteadiness of a newborn chick. By myself, I confront the loneliness of this vast, open world. A desolate wind blows. I concentrate, enduring though my consciousness threatens to fade. In this way I come back to "myself" -- This is my punishment. Punishment for shutting out my other half. --What is this place? I look about with hazy vision. Where am "I"? Is this where the real "me" belongs? It is unclear. I only know that I will stand alone for the first time. I look for some way to prove that I am "myself". I try to pick myself up -- but find that my arms have no strength. The will to move burns inside me, but there is nowhere for me to go. Suddenly, a queer splintering sensation plays at my mind. One by one, I focus concentration on the sensation of my fingertips. I try to feel my nails raking the earth beneath. --What...? What is this...? An indescribable fear floods through me. The deepest dregs of my subconscious rise to the surface. The forbidden, endlessly squirming things concealed in the cave beneath the altar. Entwined, blending together, writhing in chaos, their cries of agony echoing in the darkness. Tangled, trembling.... reduced to formless wretches-- "I" let out a rasping breath. --No.... How can this.... be? "I" have reawakened in unfinished form, as a thing unable to be called human. I am cursed with life eternal, a pitiful misshapen lump of flesh. I try to scream in despair. But my attempts only set the mound that is my body quivering. Not a sound is released. A wind from nowhere sets to fluttering a piece of plastic stuck in the crumbling debris. From somewhere far away comes a noise like rolling thunder that rumbles through the earth. It is an omen of the end of the world. The eternal cycle is broken, and in the midst of infinite chaos the pitiful lambs are doomed to wander forever. Until the day the world begins to play a new melody.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2016 00:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 07:09 |
|
|
So does this mean we'll get a chance to see what's in the cave that's underneath the church?
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2016 02:39
|
|