Story Reader / Main Story / 35 Echoes Adrift / Story

All of the stories in Punishing: Gray Raven, for your reading pleasure. Will contain all the stories that can be found in the archive in-game, together with all affection stories.

35-1 Monologue

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She treks through a desolate wasteland.

Where... am I...?

Ruins stand jagged and tangled, as birds carry off bleached bones and mournful songs.

Her coating peels away bit by bit under the relentless wind and sand. With a heavy tombstone strapped to her back, she stares vacantly at the endless road stretching before her.

Who... am I?

Her wandering gaze drifts to the crumbling walls beside her, a blurred visage flickering in the shattered glass, as a lone snowflake slowly settles on her eyelash.

Snow...

I was... born in the Snowfields...

The Snowfields...

I heard she killed the priest who raised her since childhood with her own hands, right there in the Snowfields.

No... It's not like that...

It's as they say, people who come in contact with the witch will...

I didn't...

Get outta here! Outta our city! Demons like you aren't welcomed here!

Who... am I?

The stains of grime cling to her garments...

A nun... or a witch?

How useless. You couldn't even finish off a Corrupted. What a coward.

When I learned they called you "witch," I was hoping you could be a merciless leader who never hesitates... How laughable!

Who is talking, and who... is watching me?

What I've believed in... is it truly right?

Who am I, really?

What "role" am I meant to take... in this world?

The gravel beneath her feet turns to mud, sucking her down into the swamp's hungry whirlpool.

And there she sees it—herself adrift in the Red Tide.

Bianca

I...

Her voice catches in her parched throat, her hand stretching out in vain as the Red Tide's corruption seeps deeper, pulling her consciousness away from her body.

She can't fall like this. She knows she can't...

Darkness swells, devouring her vision.

Bianca...

Who... is calling me...

Without warning, her visual module shuts down, plunging her into absolute blackness.

<color=#ffffffff>The witch plunges into the deep sea.</color>

Vonnegut's Temporary Base

Vonnegut's temporary base.

Mister... This is not the "awakening" time we agreed on.

I'm aware. I decided to wake you earlier than planned.

We need to begin breeding the Red Tide ahead of schedule.

But... this will...

There have been some unexpected complications. The facility beneath the Copperfield Aquarium... it can no longer wait.

The man flips through his notebook and speaks calmly.

I've lost contact with the <phonetic=Hetero Tower><color=#ff4e4eff>Tower</color></phonetic>.

The Tower...

The purple-haired ascendant who was just awakened is clearly still in a drowsy state, unable to immediately grasp Vonnegut's meaning.

Do you mean that Tower you mentioned before, Mister?

The agent detects his confusion.

I haven't heard anything from <phonetic=me in that tower>that place</phonetic> in quite some time.

Something might have happened, so...

We need to start the Copperfield Aquarium's plans ahead of time.

Then... what about the aquarium's lower third level...

Leave it be for now.

With his expression hidden behind his mask, the man quickly flips two pages, snaps his notebook shut, and fixes his gaze once more on the purple-haired ascendant.

Be quick. We don't have much time left.

...Understood, Mister.