2011-10-31 - Cutscene: Rekindled Divine Flame

EARTH CRADLE, SERIL'S QUARTERS 0117 HOURS

She had been avoiding it. Not once in the past months has she boarded it, entered the hanger, or even gazed upon its visage in pictures or old broadcasts. The monster that destroyed her home.

No.

The monster that made her destroy her home.

Even now, she's certain it is still there in its specially-built heat-resistant storage gantry. Silent, unmoving, waiting. But she won't give it the satisfaction. No. After thinking long and hard about it, Seril Vaskell has decided she will no longer be the puppet of Yatagarasu.

The girl furrows her brow in determination, then pulls the covers up over her head in an attempt to sleep. It's been getting harder and harder, lately...

 -MY DIVINE FLAME- 

Seril's eyes snap open, wide with fear. It takes a second for the shocked squeak to escape her when she realizes she is no longer in her bed, but the hanger, standing before the dormant form of the Yatagarasu.

 -My Divine Flame.-  ~YOUR SELFISHNESS IS MAKING ME ANGRY~

It moves. Impossibly, the godmachine rouses from its slumberous posture and hunches forward, golden eyes fixating on Seril. Terror clutches her heart, parilyzing her body. The heat begins to rise.

 -TO END SUFFERING, WAS THAT NOT YOUR WISH?- 

Something explodes. Ammunition. The hanger fills with fire and alarms. Still as a statue, Seril can only stare up at the enraged godmachine. More ammunition cooks off, hilighting its sinister shape in profile. Impossible flames consume the mecha around it, the floor and stone walls beginning to melt before the Yatagarasu's rage.

 -DO NOT-   -IGNORE-   -YOUR DESTINY- 

With a scream, Seril shoots bolt upright in bed. Panting, sweating, she stares blankly at the foot of her bunk for a long moment. She fumbles suddenly, groping for her datapad, and finds that there is nothing at all happening in the hanger. Relieved, she realizes it must've been a dream, letting the pad slide from her hands to rest on her lap.

It felt so real...

Steaming hot tears well up in Seril's eyes, sliding down her cheeks as she stares down at her trembling hands, "I can't...ignore...My destiny..."