Chapter Text
Whip slipped back forward, steering back towards the Vigil. But rather than kneeling, this time, they sat facing the uncolored flickering candles. Pix’s deaths.
“I know you aren’t here.”
Whip’s words were quiet, barely whispered, barely audible.
“I know what the legends say about you. Wandered off into the desert to never return. An empty grave in the old crypt. Died with the crown still on your head. The Copper King overcome by his own oxidation, declaring himself unworthy to Keep.
“You weren’t here at the end of the world. Pixandria fell without you.”
The winds blew distantly, some tiny sandstorm, some unbounded hourglass.
“As long as I’m…here. I might as well. Explain what I did.”
Their cloak was still at the top of that building. No extra cover here.
One does not approach the Vigil in any form except their most honest.
“I was in this…dying world. Ephemeral. We knew it would die, we joined knowing that. There’s no going back to that world, it’s wherever deleted worlds go. And yet…I helped make a Vigil. We weren’t able to finish it. Me and Orien, the one I was working with. They kept the central flame. I kept a candle. It looked a lot like this one. The central pillar, the lit candles. We got as many deaths as we could. But it died too quickly.
“I didn’t have a name then. Neither of us did. I wasn’t named Whip. Cu didn’t even exist. But after Ephemeral, we ended up in a different world. Many of the people came with. Some of them didn’t. Some were new to this world. Etern1ty.
“I didn’t. Want to leave it unfinished. I knew it would have to be unfinished, there is no way to turn back time. No matter what people try to do. But I suppose I was like you. Carrying guilt, a weight, an unlit candle.
“So I started one. A different kind, though. I didn’t want to do it in the desert, so I found a cherry grove instead. Each person got a tree, each tree got a death count. I followed you close for a while. A candle for one death, a lantern for 12. I reached 144. You were…never able to get there. I use copper bulbs for it. You…didn’t exactly leave a guide. Plus, you didn’t have those. A shame, really, you would’ve gone insane over them probably.”
Far off in the distance, Whip could see vultures circling. Something must’ve died.
“...were you impartial? I tried to be impartial, I swore I did but. Well. Cu exists.
“Perhaps it’s a mistake to look up to a dead man. All I have is the memories, the archived, the unknowable histories.”
There was no one else here.
“Is this enough? Am I enough? Can I even do this justice?
“Would you even approve? Of this?”
Of me?
The dead do not respond.
Of course they do not.
And, almost unrecognized, a tear dropped into the sands.
“I hope. That this is alright. That this doesn’t. Disrespect you. Your work. Gods, I hope this…”
What do you even say when you’re standing in the shadow of Ozymandias?
…Whip’s voice had died in their throat.
So they just sat at the Vigilkeeper’s grave.
Until, finally.
They could find the words.
“I hope this isn’t a shame. I’m trying my best.
“I hope that’s enough.”