3 3 304 AniZhuanchangEnd Dear Selena, I just came back from visiting your mother as I'm writing this letter. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
4 4 304 She looked better than before. She wouldn't stop talking about how good your opera was. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
5 5 304 It was obvious that she was still proud of her daughter's achievements. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
6 6 304 Seeing how proud she looked, I couldn't help but think how nice it'd be if you were here to guide me right now. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
7 7 304 That's right. I need a guide, a mentor who knows about stories to show me the way. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
8 8 304 Simply put, I hit writer's block. A bottleneck in the story. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
9 9 304 It was the first time I realized that writers do want to bang their heads on the wall in situations like this. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1 1
10 10 304 Luckily, it wasn't a particularly stubborn block. Your mom expertly suggested how the story could progress once I mentioned my predicament. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
11 11 304 I know she's a talented vocalist, but her insights on storytelling also impress me greatly. cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
12 12 304 Was that how you grew up, surrounded by their wisdom and knowledge...? cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
13 13 304 How did you convince them when you decided to become a Construct? cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
14 14 304 Had you moved the family that loved you so much with the same earnestness even before that? cc82cfff 1 Assets/Product/Texture/Image/BgStory/BgStory00.png 1
18 18 301 AniZhuanchangEnd Cold, hunger, unprompted fatigue and pain keep hitting Flora's body in waves.
19 19 301 Her throat dry, her voice harsh-sounding, the weariness from speaking the lines for so long is tormenting her.
20 20 301 She wants to be comforted and cared for as every child does.
21 21 201 1 500433 14
22 22 301 1 Flora Ugh... what would Mom do at a time like this? 1
23 23 301 The young girl tries to find comfort in her memories, but soon she shakes her head.
24 24 301 Flora Hmm... I can't think of anything. Mom is usually more anxious than me in situations like this. 1
25 25 301 Hunger and cold are constants for Scavengers, so there is nothing scarier for those who have found shelter and warm food than returning to those days.
26 26 301 Whenever the conservation area is hit by Corrupted or supplies stop because of natural disasters, the people living there will return to the horrifying nightmare.
27 27 301 Flora remembers her mother holding her in fear when that happens, her mother's trembling lips humming an out-of-tune lullaby. The pride her mother would show when their family performs or sings with neighbors is nowhere to be found.
28 28 301 The young Flora does not understand this. All she knows is that sometimes her mother is even more delicate than her, needing someone to look after her.
29 29 301 Flora Then... what would I have done? 1
30 30 204 1 1
31 31 301 She thinks for a second, then smiles.
32 32 301 Flora I would say, "it's okay, Mom. The things here aren't really that scary. They are all pretty if you don't just look at what they are now." 1
33 33 301 Flora suddenly points at a dent in the audience where a pool of still, stale water sits.
34 34 301 Flora Look, look! Millais' Ophelia might have floated past here along the creek in the distance. 1
35 35 301 She does that a lot. Her father taught her everything.
36 36 301 She turns and points at the remaining half of a stone pillar, its surface scored with marks of weathering, a standing record of time passed.
37 37 301 Flora Look, there! Perhaps David was watching this place with his pebble, waiting for Goliath's arrival. 1
38 38 202 1 1
39 39 301 Every view she sees, every color it contains... they were all once beautiful at some point in time.
40 40 301 In Flora's world, all fear is gone with all this beauty. Flora's mother would always hold Flora intensely afterward, her trembling hands caressing Flora's cheek until she would calm down and smile... the gentle smile that she would normally wear.
41 41 301 That is what she would do. That was what she was doing the night before her father left. That is how she can comfort her mother.
42 42 301 Flora raises a finger suddenly.
43 43 201 1 500433 1
44 44 301 1 Flora Look, that ray of sunlight! It has showered this earth for billions of years, and it is still shining today. 1
45 45 301 Flora It is an eye, a compassionate eye that carries warmth. Its tender gaze has brought this land prosperity. 1
46 46 204 1 8
47 47 301 Flora It... ugh... Cough! 1
48 48 202 1 1
49 49 301 A breeze blows by, lifting the curtain and shaking off the dust on it. Under the ray of sunlight, the dust turns into glistening ripples, reaching Flora's nose. She lowers her fingers before coughing constantly as she breathes the dust in.
50 50 301 After a brief moment of having trouble breathing, Flora is half-kneeling, half-sitting on the floor, realizing she cannot even stand.
51 51 301 Without her parents' warm embrace or hot food to feed herself, her small, frail body is aching.
52 52 201 1 500433
53 53 301 1 Flora Maybe I should tell myself what I'd tell Mom now... If they can make her smile, then I can... smile too. 1
54 54 301 She whispers to herself. Struggling to stand up, she leans on the wall.
55 55 301 Flora Then, another story. 1
56 56 301 The wind flips over the script by her feet, sending her a shiver through her thin jacket. Flora sneezes, but she tries her best to maintain her impassioned voice.
57 57 301 Flora This one is a story of an old gentleman. 1
58 58 301 Flora This gentleman's name is Pieter. He is a hero of the conservation area. He is our hero. 1
59 59 301 Flora He can travel to the place the sky-dwellers retreated to, and he can bring back a lot of stories from their haven! 1
60 60 301 Flora One of the stories he brought back—the one that was the most interesting and impacted me the most—was an opera. 1
61 61 301 Flora It was called "The Acadia Evacuation", written by a young playwright from Babylonia. 1
62 62 301 Flora My friends and I, as well as our parents, would gather and watch the opera on a big screen, guided by Pieter's narration. 1
63 63 301 Flora It was an emotional and magnificent story. Every one of us was moved. 1
64 64 301 Flora Dad... left very quickly that day. He missed our dance. 1
65 65 301 Flora Hmm... The dance... It was just me and my friends trying to do something to express our feelings while we still had the strength to do so. 1
66 66 301 Flora I didn't know what we could do to express how we felt except for moving our arms and legs and dancing. 1
67 67 301 Flora Regardless, I took Reed and the others, and we started waving our hands, celebrating the hero's ending in the story. 1
68 68 202 1 1
69 69 301 With her back against the wall, Flora lifts a hand, imagining the day when she danced with her friends.
70 70 301 She is dancing the lead role. She imagines guiding her friends into graceful dancers.
71 71 301 She does not know how many times they would have stepped on each others' toes if she were actually dancing with them, unsteady as she is right now. But she is enjoying this solo dance in her imagination.
72 72 301 All of a sudden, she reaches her hand upward as if asking the sunlight from the gap in the ceiling to join her.
73 73 201 1 500433 1
74 74 301 1 Flora Right, didn't I ask Uncle Pieter to dance with me as well? 1
75 75 204 1
76 76 301 Flora He refused. His frame was too big to dance with someone like me. 1
77 77 204 1 8
78 78 301 Flora closes her eyes and thinks for a second, then sighs.
79 79 204 1
80 80 301 Flora I did try, thinking I could jump and dance at the same time, but I messed up all my steps. 1
81 81 301 Flora Luckily Uncle Pieter was very encouraging. Out of nowhere, he looked at me and said I reminded him of his child. 1
82 82 301 Flora Uncle Pieter's son likes stories as much as I do. He'd jump up and down every time he heard one. 1
83 83 301 Flora Uncle Pieter remembers that his son asked him to return soon to continue his story on the day before the actual Great Evacuation. 1
84 84 301 Flora But he was too busy carrying statues, or... paintings, or something for the sky-dwellers. Anyways, he didn't tell his son how that story ended. 1
85 85 204 1 14
86 86 301 Flora Hmm... What a shame. I've rarely heard an incomplete story. How difficult it must have been for his son to have to wait for the ending of the story. 1
87 87 301 Flora If I can meet Uncle Pieter's son... oh, he must be old enough to be my uncle too. If I meet him, I have to talk to him about this story of his. I hope I can comfort him with how agonizing he must be with only half a story. 1
88 88 301 Flora But every time I told Uncle Pieter about this, he would look like he was about to cry... He said he probably wouldn't see his son for a very, very long time. 1
89 89 301 Flora I said something to him to comfort him. 1
90 90 301 Flora Right... What was it I said? 1
91 91 202 1 1
92 92 301 Flora looks at the seats and lowers her voice as if asking the statues, the paintings, the silent artworks that have stood here for a long, long time.
93 93 301 She looks up after a while.
94 94 201 1 500433 1
95 95 301 Flora Oh, right. 1
96 96 301 1 Flora I said... there must be a lot of stories he can tell his son when they see each other again. 1
97 97 301 Flora I know that... war is a very terrifying thing. But as horrible as it is, it can't cover up all the good things ahead of us. 1
98 98 301 Flora ...Just like what Dad used to say. 1
99 99 202 1 1
100 100 301 Flora raises her arms in joy, hugging the air as if embracing her parents. She imagines the veteran storyteller standing nearby, ready to tell the next tale.
101 101 201 1 500433 2
102 102 301 1 Flora Ah... It worked. 1
103 103 301 Right then, Flora realizes she is smiling as she hugs herself. She is smiling because of what she envisioned, and her smile is as endearing as her mother's when comforted.
104 104 301 It reaffirms what she believes—her sincere performance and imagination will touch her mother, and her mother will understand how she feels... how her father felt.
105 105 301 1 AniZhuanchangBegin She picks up the script once again.
