Everyone in this town is dead or has left for the hill. The snow tears apart everything in its way, and there's no message from Waylon Hoyles about his well-being. The librarian, the cleric, and the Tin Man were the only ones staying here, for they were about to leave this town for good.
They'd been trudging through snow that climbed an inch every five minutes—still nowhere near the yellow house. Fortunately, many had abandoned their homes, giving them temporary shelter. But nothing lasted—the blizzard tore through everything like paper.
However, they didn't need to walk for long, as they found the yellow house by the edge between the port and the town, where it seemed to have been scratched by those who had stayed there longer than them. The building looks sturdy, unlike many houses around, but it won't last any longer in the blizzard's fury.
"There! Yellow house!" Eve pointed out.
"Quick, get in before—"
Crack! The Overseer falls to the ground, tearing nearly the wanderers from behind.
"Before that! Now, go in!"
The three wanderers quickly search for a tunnel or a creak inside, breaking any wall within the houses until they find something similar to the map. It didn't take long until the librarian's foot slipped on a carpet covering the floor below my foot. Their way out has been here all along.
"Where is it? Where is that tunnel?"
"I don't know. It should've been around a wall like the paper said!" Eve checked.
"You sure it was wall not well?"
"I know what I'm reading, Charger. And it won't be me who's wrong when the truth lies with me." Eve argues.
"Or maybe the truth is...the man didn't want you to know about it..." Cyrus opens the carpet below Eve's foot.
"Looks like he kept it cold and fresh for us..."
"I know that!" Eve argued.
"Really? Because the truth says otherwise..."
"Shut up..." Eve pats his head.
At first, it seemed too easy—until the librarian discovered the passage was cloaked in complete darkness and mystery. There was no guarantee they'd make it through without stepping on something dangerous. Fortunately, the Tin Man had brought a lantern, its light casting over the slick rocks beneath their feet.
"My, it's too dark down there. Shouldn't we have something to light those darkness?"
"I suppose your truth is enlightening enough?" Cyrus jokes.
"How about your faith, Cyrus? Give us the sight!" Eve replies.
"Hey, you two! I have a light! It'll be fine!" Charger raises his torch.
"We know that."
Something fishy is lingering in the air, and they can't hold our noses forever on its smell. The librarian could tell the ocean was waiting on the other side, even if they could not see anything from there. The three wanderers push forward into the darkness, holding only the lantern bore by the Tin Man on our way.
"Any reason you're afraid of darkness, cretin?" Cyrus mumbled.
"It's my people's trait. We are all afraid of darkness..." He replies.
"And do you know why you are discomforted by that?"
"Not sure. But seeing one really makes us so...troubled..."
"*Sigh* I guess my followers can say the same about it. If only I could save them so they don't have to save themselves by that fake fear of theirs..." Cyrus lit a match.
"Why are you so clingy with those people? Did you even know them outside of churches and sacraments?" Eve doubted.
They have nothing to hold in this city except for its legacy and history. They couldn't tell what happened on the surface while they walked below. But thinking about it in this darkness makes some of us uneasy, as the cleric seems to be the one leashed with such horrors.
"Maybe because I was busy doing my job when I had so many people to care for! My job is important, Eve..." Cyrus utters.
"Your job is a bunch of lunatics to me." Eve berated.
"Wow, so now it's about time you pull that word on me?" Cyrus glares in disappointment and anger.
The saddened cleric could only weep on his walk as he was about to leave his followers into their own faith. The thoughtful librarian awaits another world in a quest to spread the knowledge and truth about this town. While the Tin Man awaits something—either for his personal gain or an interest in charming the fate.
It was not a conflict but a share of heart. Some had too much, and some had less. But the three wanderers have no lies to hide in this place, for they await only a chance to better themselves in another place. The librarian could not be more proud of her friends.
"I don't understand why you were so negative today! Is leaving people really worth our lives?" Cyrus mumbled.
"I'm being negative? I'm not! I'm trying to leave this place for good! Know that!"
"Know what? We're suffering because we're humans! We don't deserve to judge them!"
"Yes, we do! We are its witness! We're the only ones who know everything more than they do! If we don't judge them, we'll make this city worse!"
But each second they spent in the cave, the air grew only more sickening than ever. The passage hasn't yet revealed its light, and the three wanderers were trapped beyond an outside's help. Yet the oceanic smell is still strong, so there was no doubt the passage was a dead end.
"The Tophats ruined my life when I was young, and no one dares to see how! They let them roam free and now they get away stealing everything they've never had in the first place! You saw them, and you still sympathize with them!"
"Because they are people! If they hurt you, I can't do much! It's my job to help everyone no matter the case! No one's left unequal with another..."
"So you're admitting it! You're just a cheap papa for a man and woman who can't fight for themselves!"
"Failed? For whom am I failed? That I cannot help you direct that wisdom for a better reason? Maybe you weren't supposed to be a judge because you have no faith in anything but a note! You failed yourself, Eve!"
The suffering began from the tongue. The wanderers' words grow bitter and ungraspable in the darkness, with only their legs keeping up where they are going. Sooner or later, they'll tire themselves in that straight line they've been going in an hour.
The two ramble across the empty hallway.
"Oh, yeah? What about that day you failed your cult because you couldn't just accept those people are sickened??"
"How dare you! The only reason your library is always empty in the first place is because how judgemental and cold your perception was! Who wants to be in a world where you can't have enjoyment because everything has to be true??"
"In a place everything true, nobody else need to feel guilt of mistake!"
"That's absurd! Everyone feels guilty if they can't feel happy!"
Yet, the Tin Man dared his fate for a personal need. Darkness could not claim him—he said. But it's only a mad word that brings others to misery. He flouted misery and tried tearing the wall with his claws—an impossible and absurd idea for a tunnel. But what truth can be brought into a madman and his scrap-loving skin?
"Enough!!" Charger yelled.
"I can't focus on all these nonsensical berate of your ideology! You're making yourself a struggle when there's something more dangerous we could've faced!"
"Like maybe! This isn't a tunnel! It's a dead end!"
"And a dead end is not a game!"
Crack!
To everyone's surprise, the wall of this darkness cracked by his mere fist. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but the Tin Man unveils a light and the sound of the ocean from the other side. The paths were all laid and buried before the librarian. But at least the three finally made it out.
From the ground to the surface, a sweep of a wave brushing through the floor in a sullen place is the first thing she sees when she ascends the ground. The port is right above their heads, and it is there that boats are docked on the freezing ocean for a leave.
"Woo! Light!" Charger praises.
"Woah...that was tricky," Eve mumbled.
"The man should've been more precise when he said this..."
"Look! The Tophats are leaving...!" Cyrus whispers.
A lot of crooked hats but no sailors' caps—Only people who wanted to get out of this town as swiftly as they could. The librarian saw in dismay as the river ran ice and solid, where all the Tophats pondered at a dead end. Where else would the boat send them in such freezing temperatures?
"Be sure to leave nothing valuable! Mr Hoyles wants everything clean and ready at the ship!"
"Do not slack off! We have no time to wait!"
"We've collected enough skiff and boats from the citizens, but we're not sure if any of them can fit all of us!"
"Gentlemen! Don't forget the ladies! We need some fun on the boat!" Waylon entered his ship with a few henchmen.
There was no time left to waste. The three wanderers slipped past the Tophats' watchful eyes and went to the boat. Gusts of suffering kept sweeping over their shoulders, their soaked, tattered clothes clinging to them. Slowly, the ice began to reveal its truth to the guilty.
"Stop them!! Hey!" The librarian rushes through the slippery floor.
"Huh? What the..."
*Jab* Eve punches one in the face.
"Get off of that boat now! That's not yours!" Eve pushes.
"Who are these people?" The man in the driver's seat yelled.
The roof shatters, the port falls, and the Tophats won't spare any more time. All boats are occupied, and a ship is ready to sail away from one town to another. But one boat belonging to the wanderer was still stuck on the crumbling port.
"You're not taking our boat! Leave this place now!" Eve fights.
"This girl! Where have you been, young lady?" The man slaps her by the face before leaving a slight slice on her waist.
"Aagh!"
"Eve! Hey, get off of her!" Cyrus joins in the fight.
The remaining Tophats were the only obstacle they had to face. The wanderers had to confront these thieves with a bare fist. But they do not fight justful with them. Their blades swung nearly from the librarian's head, but they could not aim clear with a cold.
"Get off, kid! This is no game!" The man punches Cyrus by the tooth.
"Aagh! I think I broke my jaw...oh, maybe it's my tooth!" Cyrus lay weakened.
"Fight them! Don't let them win!" Eve yelled with a bruise on her cheek.
"Kill them! They're just a hunch on our back!"
*Jab* One last blow to corner Eve and Cyrus down.
For a moment, the wanderers are on the ground of defeat with a cold end. Their inexperienced combat annoyed the Tophats, as even one was enough to take them out. But right as the Tophats were about to finish, there was a plot twist by the Tin Man.
"Come on! Leave them! We don't have time for this!"
"They're taking our boat away! We need to stop!" Eve limps to the boat.
"Speak for yourself! I merely can walk here!" Cyrus crawled.
"Aw, no! NO! We're fucked!"
"Hey!" Charger yelled.
The Tin Man strikes unmatched, never been seen by the librarian. His scrap arms swing a small but fierce jab into the man with such damage. His ever-mysterious presence turns the battle unfair for the Tophats. They weren't prepared for his strike, yet they were bigger than him.
"Aaagh!!"
"What the...what is that??" The driver looks in confusion.
"Give me my boat, you wicked crooks!" Charger mumbled.
He fought dirty like the gang—spreading his arms as wide as he could until he had not one but three of them lying on the ground. The Tin Man hooked on the man's cheek with his fist. A blow enough to put the man on the ground.
But he gave him three to seven on his face just to put him at ease. He slipped another by his foot before landing a kick to put him to sleep. He jumps into the driver, beating him and the passenger on his boat alone. They stand no chance against him.
"Aagh!"
"Get away from my boat!! You're not taking it!"
"Come on, come on! Why didn't it start??" The driver struggles.
"You're not going anywhere with my boat! And if you think I would go easy on you for stealing that, you're so wrong! Ha!"
The port is at collapse, and the path ahead teetered between life and death. The Tophats, stranded and scattered, were no longer a threat. Without hesitation, the three wanderers leapt onto the boat—now abandoned by the Tophats, who were no match for someone like the Tin Man.
"What...? He can do that...?" Cyrus stands up.
"I don't know...but I don't like the idea of him being able to..." Eve replies.
"He's an adult? I thought he was a kid!"
"Same...I guess that means no more spoiling..." Eve replies.
"Aah!" The driver and the passenger were thrown out of the boat.
"Come! Don't waste my scraps now!" He took the driver's seat.
The motor started, and the boat swiftly launched into the frozen river to the ocean. The men awaken in such a bad time, watching their only escape gone for the three wanderers. The snow is coming down their eyes.
"Wow, looks like those people also fixed some ugly scratch on the wall. Not that it was mine originally, but..."
"Can you just start the boat now?"
Brrt! "There. Those black-hatted bandits didn't even pull the key right. Hang on, we're leaving now!" Charger turns the key on.
At last, before the river ran cold, the Tin Man's boat departed from the dock. The Tophats stood in shock, left to decay as a final gust swept them into oblivion. That was the last time the three wanderers saw them—or the town—again.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Come back here! Don't leave us, you wretched children!"
"We're adults, you gold-sniveling bastard! Hope you don't mind with the snow!" Eve yelled from a distance.
"Aaah—"
BWOOSH! The snow crushes the ports into rubbles. The last voice from the Tophats was a scream.
Along with the other Tophats, their boats row behind but uncaught. They do not plan to follow them, for they have another wave to follow. The barrister Waylon seems happy with what he has, owning all his assets in his exquisite ship while his henchmen can only row in a smaller boat.
"Woah...that was close. What a tension—and now for what? We're really are leaving innocents for this..." Cyrus contemplates.
"Ugh, even after a year, you still believe they adore you, Cyrus? I told you many times they were only looking for you—"
"Shh!" Charger silences the two.
Soon, a divergence formed between the Tophats and the wanderers. As the river split—one branch toward the Mediterranean, the other toward the North Sea—the wanderers slipped quietly into the northern current, hidden by the darkness. From that moment on, the town never saw their faces ever again.
"Finally! The winds here are much calmer than on the Wailstone. I'm leaving this town for good and never come back!" Waylon yells from his deck.
"Boys, head for the south! We still have one island to conquer in Talio!"
"Aye! Aye!"
"Alright—this is our breakpoint—we're going to the north..." Charger whispers. His grip is tightened on the steer.
Where everything falls, the prince stands atop—ruling in a favour beyond their understanding. The last sight the wanderers watch in the town is the blizzard wrecked into the hill with storms. There was something to learn from that moment, but also something meant differently for the librarian than just a lesson.
"Wow, he's ruling a ruin now. What an fool," Eve commented.
"I think he got what he wanted. Either a sweet death with his name on that ruin, or that he somehow lingers as spirit in it," Cyrus commented.
"I guess if my followers were to find an interest in that—if there's an afterlife for them along with him..."
"The truth prevails...but it could've prevailed over the Tophats. Perhaps someday, they'll find out their enlightenment..."
There was dust, there was a storm, and there was terror everywhere. It was a perfect finishing for everything evil within Gold Creek. Yet, only if the Tophats get to be there and suffer alongside. Maybe someday, the librarian will get to exact wisdom.
"That fight I've had with those bandits better be worth where we going. So where we going, boys and girls?" Cyrus sat for a rest.
"We're going to another world. A world of above and bright! That's where the two of you can immerse in a joy beyond nobody here!"
"And how are we going to get there?"
"Oh, believe me, Cyrus. If you were to talk to me, the answer would always be a surprise for you." Charger steers through the icy fog.
"Not for me. I just don't like how odd it is," Eve replies.
"Next destination, The Dusk Isle!"