>"You pay me some very high compliments, and I thank you. And, you say what we are doing is meaningless? Am I correct in inferring you've already tried to handle it on your own?"
> "There is nothing
to handle, Hieda. There is simply not enough power left in this world to bring about any meaningful change. Oh, your enterprise to end the tournament itself might succeed. We might even have a few peaceful months before the next crisis. You have to understand, however, Hieda, that
this world is already dead. It is a lifeless husk, being held together by a few desperate individuals who simply cannot let go."
>"What do you know about the one at the top? What other realities of the situation do you know?"
> "It would be better if you were told directly by them, but I will indulge some of your curiosity. It is, after all, a travesty that you, the land's lorekeeper, should operate under this pathetic lie of well-being. Come."
> She leads you inside the shrine's main building.
> "No doubt you are aware of the rumours of a world outside this land, a Barrier standing between us to prevent strays from moving across? And that, sometimes, things and people come across, anyway?" she says, her expression mocking.
> The Shrine Maiden's eyes narrow, and a deep hatred contorts her features and anger tinges her voice as she points to the central shrine, a pedestal with various accessories and paraphernalia standing underneath a
torii gate.
> "It is a lie. There is
nothing beyond that gate. A wondrous world, a great society? That is what
this land was - millions of times bigger, millions of times richer. And it was all
lost,
squandered to foolishness and arrogance. Do you want to know the real reason the Barrier exists? To keep this land from eroding
even more. And the "strays" that come through? They contributed to the erosion in the
first place. Do you know what the gods and spirits of the land did about this?
Nothing. They sat on their domains, playing their petty power struggles while the world around them fell apart at the seams."
> The Shrine Maiden stops to catch her breath, her shoulders heaving up and down, tears of anger and frustration running down her face.
> "We were glorious once."
