Quoted By:
Maybe you’re still adjusting to the lack of light. Perhaps your brain is trying to untangle itself. It might just be the meteoric pace at which this quest is going. Whatever the reason, you find yourself having trouble parsing what your new friend(?) said to you, not that you had any trouble hearing her talk.
I’m not gonna lie, you begin, giving your temples a well-deserved massage, I have no clue what you just said.
“Oh?” Volka replies with concern leaking into her peppy voice, “Well that’s okay, stranger–which part was confusing for ya?”
<span class="mu-i">All</span> of it, you reply. Can she just, like, start with the basics, please? You’re still on Post 1 here.
“Wow,” begins your armored ally in a tone usually reserved for a parent about to explain the Birds and the Bees, “You must have been underwater for a while to be this confused! If we hadn’t dredged you out you’d probably be <span class="mu-r">Jhekk</span> chow!”
See, that’s what you’re talking about right there, you interject, pointing a finger at what you assume is her direction, she’s talking like an extra from that old show ‘<span class="mu-i">Space Trip</span>’.
“Show?”
Forget it. Just… where <span class="mu-i">ARE</span> we right now? What is this place?
“Mitaar’s light, you’re really confused, aren’t you?”
Make it as SIMPLE as you can, you reply as you pick up the warm towel from earlier and give your forehead a dab.
“Where do I even <span class="mu-i">start</span>?” Volka asks as you hear a claw scratch something rough and leathery. “Well you’re in <span class="mu-b">Zoral</span>, of course… though most folks call it the <span class="mu-b">Darklands</span>. You know, on account of the-”
The <span class="mu-s">DARKNESS</span>, you interject with a sagely nod, yea, you noticed. Is that-
“Normal? Well for most people, yea…” Volka replies in a slightly less-sporty tone. “Some folks were around before light went bye-bye, but a lot of them are really old… or crazy.”
And why did it go bye-bye, exactly? You hear a clatter of metal around the girl’s shoulders far above you. A shrug.
“Plenty of theories to choose from,” she sighs. “Some people think <span class="mu-b">Mitaar The Sun God</span> got angry with us. Others think someone just sealed all the light away…”
What does <span class="mu-i">she</span> think happened?
“Aww, I’m not too good at that philosophical stuff…” Volka replies bashfully. “But my dad has a lot of theories about it–maybe you can ask him!” She pauses. “If, erm… you didn’t plan on swimming more, at least.”
Yea, you’re not exactly jazzed about doing that again, you reply. And it wasn’t because you <span class="mu-i">wanted</span> to–you were on a bridge and some devil cut it loose-
“Woah woah WOAH, a <span class="mu-i">DEVIL??</span>” Volka interjects with a laugh in her voice! “Now I <span class="mu-i">KNOW</span> you’ve been breathing water! There’s no devils in the Darklands!”
“What’s this about devils?”
>CONTD.
