Nier:Priyet
Priyet
Character Story
Story 1
I look nervously around the classroom, surrounded on all sides by other newly enrolled students. With backs straight and eyes wide, they listen intently as our professor explains about life at the school.
Currently, the professor is talking about roles students can take in order to show their independence. Clever kids join the student council. Athletic kids take up sports. Good-looking kids are hall monitors. Everyone around me had something they’re good at,
and they volunteer for their new roles with enthusiasm.
As roles are chosen and students depart, I find myself growing increasingly sullen.
I’m not a fast thinker, you see, nor am I especially pretty or active.
Honestly, I don’t know what role I
take.
Ultimately, I don’t volunteer for anything—a choice
I attempt to justify by telling myself I don’t have anything to be proud of anyway.
Story 2
, I think.
Someone always stands in the center of the stage, but that someone is never me. I’m too dull. Too plain. Whatever role I have in this world, I know it will be a minor one.
The next thing I know, I find myself sitting in an empty classroom with an orange sunset illuminating the windows.
The clock hands tick, tick, tick, the moments away from my life,
and for some reason I cannot explain, I begin to panic.
I bolt out of my seat and throw open the classroom door,
only to realize I have absolutely nowhere to go.
Story 3
The school is a maze, and I wander its hallways without a clear destination. After turning this way and that, I finally find myself standing in front of the library. The room is empty. Silent. It’s as if time as simply…stopped. After a long moment, I slowly exhale and take my first steps inside.
I feel a deep affinity for the untouched, dusty books that line the shelves, and without thinking, I reach up and take one of them down. I have time. I have all the time in the world. So I begin to read—and as I do so, I realize I have finally found my place of solace.
Story 4
Eventually, the library becomes my second home—one where I always take the seat one removed from the window.
But one day, I’m, startled from my familiar solitude when someone calls from across the room.
“Hey, you’re that girl who’s always here, right?” says the student,
either unaware or ignoring the shock and confusion on my face. “Well, I need your help.”
It turns out the student is in my class, and has been having trouble with a particularly tricky assignment. I pick out a few books that I think could help and think nothing more of it, but a few days later,
she sends me a thank-you letter. Almost without realizing it,
I become the go-to person for any and all things library-related.
The word was out: If you needed help finding any kind of book,
go ask the girl near the window.
Eventually, I become the school librarian.
And while I still don’t have much in the way of confidence or pride,
so long as I can help other people with something, I feel like it gives me just the slightest bit of courage.
Dark Memories
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Recollections of Dusk
Story 1
Ch. 1: Will I Be Like That One Day?
[
]
Every student in school is looking at the girl with wavy hair. She stands tall and bold on the podium as she receives a commemorative gold watch from a professor.
She is my best friend.
“You used the knowledge and power you gained from your lessons to save the townsfolk from monsters. Everyone here is proud of your bravery.”
She stands at the center of the world as the students give her a generous round of applause. She shines under the auditorium spotlight. She is breathtaking.
…And she feels so distant.
When the teacher dismisses us, students crowd around her and sing her praises, but I can’t bring myself to approach her. After all, I’m a klutz. I’m stupid. I’m gloomy.
I’m not the person for her at all.
Dark feelings slowly consume me, and the next thing I know, I’m dashing out of the academy. With nothing better to do, I wander about the courtyard. It’s not much of a courtyard—more like a forest with overgrown trees everywhere—but the crisp air helps me feel a little bit better. Sometimes all I want is to be in empty places like this.
“Hmm?”
I suddenly spot a building I don’t recognize beyond the trees: a shabby stone hut. It’s too large to be a toolshed, but just big enough for someone to live inside. And since the door sits ajar, I decide to peek inside. It’s dark and cool, with a faintly weird smell. I need to go farther in to get a better look, so I step forward and…
“My my!” says a voice as candlelight blooms in the dark. “It’s not every day a student from the academy finds their way in here.”
“Eeep!” is my clever reply. The speaker is an old man in a chair sitting next to a table with a small candle on it. He looks at me and lowers his eyes in a somber fashion.
“Welcome to the house of the dead, dear girl. Welcome to the morgue.”
“The…morgue?”
“Indeed. This is the resting place of all former students who die in battle and have no one to claim their remains.”
As he says this, my eyes adjust to the light enough for me to realize the room is filled with rack after rack of bodies. There are so many, and some are horribly mangled. To think they all used to go to this school…
“Poor things. There’s no one left to mourn them.”
I’m terrified, but my feet are rooted to the spot. I know many students at the school are estranged from their families—including me and my two best friends—and I never once considered that after I finally leave the school, we would simply end up right back here in death.
As I roll this thought over in my mind, a loud thud rings out from beyond the candlelight’s reach. I squeal again as I see a number of former students’ corpses emerge from the dark. Their lifeless bodies stagger and groan as they march slowly toward us.
“Ah, but this is no good,” says the old man. “Run, little one! Run now!”
I do just that, burst out of the morgue and into the safety of the trees. I hear corpses groaning behind me, and the sound terrifies me.
And yet…
It almost sounds like weeping.
Story 2
Ch. 2: Trusting My Power
[
]
Even after I returned to my room, I couldn’t shake the image of the corpses I saw in the morgue. I tried to understand what had happened, and how it was possible for them to be moving. And then, a thought sprang into my mind:
Black magick
.
Black magick is a set of forbidden spells used by only a small number of mages. And while the price for their failure is great, they can accomplish things regular spells cannot. When we learned of black magick in our History of Magick class, our professor told us of a spell that enslaved deceased people to the will of the user, then went on to claim some opposing nations take great joy in wielding such horrid spells.
The look on my best friend’s face when she heard that was one of utter disgust. She shook with anger as tears spilled from her face, then balled her fists and swore to never engage in so foul an undertaking.
Her tears were beautiful, and the sentiment perfectly her; she never could ignore those who suffered from injustice. If she had found the morgue instead of me, she wouldn’t have run away and left them to their fate. Instead, she would have used her amazing spells to undo the black magick and permit the poor dead to have their rest.
If only I could be like her…
I remember how brightly she shone under the auditorium spotlight. She was so far above me, even the thought of reaching her was laughable. But if I could save the poor corpses in the morgue? If I could help people in need? Well, maybe I could be one step closer to her.
It was an idea powerful enough to inspire even a coward like me.
The next day, I went in search of my other best friend. Though I hated to admit it, I couldn’t take on the corpses in the morgue alone. I needed his help for my plan to work.
Thankfully, he was easy to find; his spiky hair made him stand out almost as much as his talent. Upon tracking him down, I walked up and said, “You’re good at dispelling magick, right?”
“Better than any other student in this dang school, that’s for sure!” he said with a wry smile and a charming air.
“Can you dispel black magick?”
“Never tried, but I know the theory behind it.
Why do you ask?”
“I need to dispel some, but I don’t think I can do it alone, so I was wondering if you—“
“Don’t need to ask me twice!” he cried with delight.
After class, we went to the morgue. It lurked quietly in its corner, just like the day before—and as we stood before it, the same familiar fear came creeping over me.
The inside retained its distinctive smell, and was dark as a black cat at midnight. As we stepped across the threshold, we immediately heard a series of groans—and when I raised my staff to light the room, we saw the dead were already shambling toward us. But my best friend wasn’t worried; he immediately began to ready his anti-magick spell, humming quietly.
I knew such things took time to prepare, so I worked to draw the corpses away by setting off little fireworks at their feet. It was a pretty pathetic display of magick, and nearly useless in a fight. But if I lost heart now, I’d never be able to consider myself equal to my best friend in the entire world, which is what gave me the courage to keep going.
Suddenly, a corpse lunged at me, sending me toppling to the ground. I couldn’t bear the thought of what was about to happen, so I shut my eyes and covered my head with my arms. But then…
“Here we go!”
My friend lifted his staff in the air, where it began to emit a brilliant golden glow. The spell quickly manifested around the corpses in an intricate circle, and as it grew brighter, he recited the final words of the spell.
“Okay. We’re good now.”
The light faded. The corpses were now motionless in the darkness of the morgue. Their faces looked to be resting peacefully, as opposed to the enslavement that had plagued them not moments before, but perhaps I just imagined that.
“Our magick has finally given them true rest.”
The next thing I knew, my companion was standing beside me. For some reason, it made me think of my other best friend. Together, we prayed from the bottom of our hearts that our senior mages could finally rest in peace.
Story 3
Ch. 3: The Unthinkable
[
]
Noticing the light from the dispelling incantation, the guard approached the morgue.
“I just can’t believe it,” he muttered. “Two
students
undoing that dark magick?”
After the shock of seeing corpses lying still as they were meant to finally faded, he praised us for being brave, kind students.
My plan had gone so well that I felt like I was in a dream, and my best friend and I remained in high spirits as we walked back to the dorms. The old guard’s words made me forget that I was usually weak and timid. Instead, for a moment, I felt like I was someone special. And I thought that maybe—just maybe—I’d grown one step closer to
her
.
I wanted to tell her what happened today. Would she compliment me like the old guard did? I could feel my heart race as I pictured that happening, but my reverie was interrupted by my best friend.
“I don’t feel like going home yet,” he said as he pointed to the tallest building on campus. “Wanna go up the bell tower?”
“Sure,” I replied. We’d gone up there many times when we were younger, and I knew the views to be quite beautiful. High as I was on the thrill of victory, the idea of being above the entire world was something I was eager to experience again.
We reached the top of the tower, which contained a bell that was enchanted to ring at certain times throughout the day. From there, we could see the forest that surrounded both our academy and the neighboring city of mages.
“It’s such a lovely view,” I said. I’d been scared of the height when I first came up here, but it didn’t bother me anymore. I felt like I was stronger in that regard, which only added to the joy that I currently felt.
“Hey, listen,” said my friend as he sat beside me and stared out blankly into the distance. “I’m really glad your plan worked. I was a little nervous about it, but we made a pretty great team in the end.”
“I couldn’t have dispelled that black magick on my own,” I replied. “Thank you.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. I think you’re incredible for
wanting
to do it in the first place.”
“What?”
“Those dead students were being forced to move, and you wanted to save them. It was so…kind, and I think that’s a great quality to for a person to have.”
I recalled how angry our other friend was at the prospect of black magick, even going so far as to shed tears over it. But now it felt like I and the boy beside me had grown even closer, which caused me to blush in delight.
“We really are amazing together, huh?” he continued. “I mean, we were friends right out of the gate, and now we’ve been together all this time. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped thinking about you.”
My two best friends were so talented. So capable. They were always the ones helping
me
. Luck had brought me into their orbit, but I never felt like I belonged there. And hearing him speak to me now, I almost couldn’t believe I deserved it.
“I think it’s destiny that we met,” whispered my friend. He was always so relaxed, so calm, but now he seemed nervous. “Um, do you think so? It can’t be coincidence, and so I want us to be together for as long as we can.”
I’d only ever wanted the three of us to be together forever, and his words strengthened that resolve in me. “Yes!” I cried. “Yes, I want that!”
His eyes snapped up to mine as a brilliant smile bloomed across his face. “That makes me happy—it makes me so,
so
happy.”
I meant to return his smile, but before I could, his face was approaching mine, and I felt a tepid warmth pressing lightly against my lips.
Story 4
Ch. 4: Not Supposed to Happen
[
]
It was a morning like any other. I stepped into the classroom, rubbing my sleep—deprived eyes, and sat down next to my best friend.
“Morning!” she said. “I didn’t see you at dinner last night. You okay?”
I nodded, which seemed to sate her curiosity. A moment later, a new, chipper voice rang out.
“Morning, you two! You study for your magick history test?”
It was our other friend. The boy.
“Obviously,” she replied. “My review was perfect.”
“Oh ho! Sounds like it’s on.”
“Give it up, champ. There’s no way you’re beating me.”
Their back and forth was as flawless as always, and I was much too slow to keep up. It was odd how things seemed so
normal
.
“Oh, yeah. We should check out the new general store once class is done today.”
He suggested this as if the idea had just come to him, but my other friend shook her head.
“Sorry, I’ve got something to do. But you two go on ahead.”
My chest clenched when she said that.
Oh no.
As I floundered for something to say, she spoke up again.
“I’m obviously going to ask for a souvenir, though.”
I accepted this with a swallow and a nod, not wanting to upset her.
The new general store was so full of things that I almost didn’t know what to get. And though I felt uncomfortable walking next to him, I still had fun picking out something for our other friend. But as we walked home, he said something that made me freeze in my tracks:
“I was glad she didn’t come with us today.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because we could be alone. You feel the same, right?”
“I, um…”
I knew what I was going to say next would wound him, but I absolutely had to clear up this misunderstanding before it went any further.
“I’m sorry. I can’t be with you. There has to be someone out there who’s a better match than for you than me.”
My friend was silent. When I finally summoned the courage to look at him, I saw him smiling faintly—which was not at all what I was expecting.
“You really should be more confident, you know?”
What is he saying?
I don’t understand.
“You’re the perfect partner for me.”
What!?
“Still, it’s cute when you worry like that,” He chuckled at this, then opened his eyes wide. “Oh, hey! I have a present for you.”
He reached out and placed a flower-shaped pin in my hair. I flinched in surprise and jerked back, but he leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
“What? You thought I was going to kiss you?”
“I…”
“We’ll save that for some other time.”
His eyes belonged to a stranger. His gaze felt sticky as it moved up and down and across my body, and it took everything I had not to vomit on the spot. It reminded me how no matter how many times I’d rinsed out my mouth recently, I still couldn’t scrub the feeling from my lips.
“No…”
His whisper played in my ears over and over and over and—
“No! I hate this! I HATE it!”
Every place he touched me was covered in filth. Every glance caused my hair to stand on end.
“I’m gross! I’m dirty! I’m disgusting! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I’m going to be
sick
!”
I took a pair of scissors and jammed them into my bed over and over. By the end of it, my room was a disaster and my throat raw from screaming, but I still felt no better.
“Why…?”
If things went bad between the two of us, what would happen to me and
her
? Oh, but I knew. She’d take his side—of course she would. And then we wouldn’t be friends anymore.
“I don’t want this…”
I was a fool to think I’d gotten closer to her after releasing the corpses in the morgue from their curse. I’d been happy in that moment, but it now felt so very, very,
very
long ago.
I grabbed the flower pin and threw it against the wall as hard as I could. When I pictured how things would go in the days to come, I began to sob as an ocean of tears raged down my cheeks.