The Entry Not To Be Acknowledged

Waking of Saturday, November 25, 2017

The Entry Not To Be Acknowledged

Upon starting up my game I was presented with a sidequest banner across the top of my screen the like of which I.... really would never have expected.

David did mention something about it happening in his game, though....

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

It was something about.... if I looked into the night sky for red shooting stars in three different locations....

I suppose time will tell.

I ventured into the desert that evening. Calisa, that heavyset Gerudo who had called me a treasure, was headed that way as well. I walked with her.

As the sun set it became so cold I could see my breath. And soon, it became necessary to don my Warm Doublet.

But as always, the climate did nothing to dissuade a resident population of monsters. I had it out with a Red Lizalfos, and Calisa gifted me with a spicy mushroom dish for killing it.

“Why are there so many monsters around here?” she asked.

There were a lot of monsters. I could hear a group of them yammering through the night in a little hidden depression that the road bent around. It was slow going, walking at Calisa’s pace, but I liked her company in this strange, foreign environment.

As the night entered its depth before the dawn, we drew near the oasis I had seen on my map—the place I had recognized long ago—the location I knew contained one of my memories.

Just before we reached it however....

The Divine Beast roared.

It was a terrifying sound. An awful bellowing that rent the darkness. And the cinematic showed the enormous thing moving in the dusky nothing of the desert air. Lightning crashed about its towering frame as it stomped in the gloom, in the terrifying dimness. Left legs, right legs, left legs, right legs.... Heh, like a real camel, I thought in spite of myself, as it faded beyond the night’s sight.

Kara Kara Bazaar.

I knew there was a memory here.

Calisa walked on ahead, but I stopped to chat with the armor-clad Gerudo standing watch at the oasis’ boundary. Ripp was her name.

“Gerudo Town is still a fair way to the southwest from here,” she said, “If you’re planning on heading there, I’d recommend you rest up for a bit first. Though, you ARE a voe... Even if you made it to Gerudo Town, you wouldn’t be able to get in.”

Guess it’s no boys allowed.

There’s a law forbidding it.

Ripp went on to inform me that the Divine Beast, Vah Naboris, had started acting up a while back, kicking up a storm with its endless treading through the desert. A tempest of lightning seemed to follow wherever it went. That’s why she was keeping an eye on it. It kept to the wasteland for the most part, but there was always the chance it could head for the oasis, or for Gerudo Town.

I could see Calisa far ahead now as the sun began to rise and the ground began to warm.

There was only one sensible thing to do now—I could see it glowing there to the left.

Mmmm but I walked past it first to catch a lizard.

Stalling.

The threat of buzzkill hung heavy in the room....

....

Against my better judgement, I stepped into the memory light, and pressed A.

There were no words spoken.

Running.

Running.

Tension.

Imminent impending—

Flash and clang—

Impasse buzzkill dropped and the moment was marked and the imprint was scarred and the sound was Indian ink on my skin in all the shapes I would forever want to forget but would never be able to because I can’t.

Idiot.

I turned off the game.

And I didn’t apologize for being hurt.