Delphi

Delphi: The seals? The Shards? I can't feel them. What happened? Did my whole reason for living just...vanish?
Delphi: Gaaah!
Delphi: Well, even if my mission is null and void, the power that permits me to fulfill it still gnaws merrily away at my being.
Delphi: In fact, not only is it still present, but without the Shards' protection, it will likely soon steal my life...
Delphi: Shion...

Delphi: *cough* The Other? Alive and well. The king? Consumed by madness. The seals' power? Lost forever.
Delphi: But that's not enough to take this power. If anything, the mana within me grows impure even more quickly.

Delphi: So long as I have it, I lack hope. The end is clearly nigh, and... Hmm?
Shion: Are you feeling better? I brought you something to eat, just in case.

Delphi: Set it down, yes? Just over there.
Delphi: While you're here, have you given more thought to attending that boarding school?
Shion: I already told you, I'm not leaving you so I can go off to some fancy school!
Shion: I know how hard it is to deal with your power. With the seals and Shards gone, there's no telling WHAT it could do to you.
Shion: I keep thinking about you saying ＂I'm fine, everything is fine,＂ and then just going off and collapsing in a corner somewhere.
Delphi: You have dreams, yes? Focus your efforts on those.
Delphi: Also, you speak as if I am some bedridden invalid. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself despite the— *COUGH* *HACK*
Shion: Uh huh. I'm not going anywhere.
Shion: Besides, after all the support you've given me growing up, I have to do SOMETHING to repay you.
Shion: I've made peace with not remembering our parents' faces, but I'm not going to let yours fade out of my memory.
Shion: So we'll just have to find some different solution for all of this—together.
Shion: For now, we should start with a bath.
Shion: Hang on, I'll get a towel.
Delphi: If only working together was an option...
Delphi: But we haven't the time for such. Not anymore.
Delphi: So long as I exist, he will let his life burn out for my sake; his kindly nature will permit him to do naught else.
Delphi: And in the mean? This accursed power will rot me from inward out. And when it's had its fill of me, it will surely turn its greedy eye to my brother.
Delphi: Ever since that day the seals vanished, I've been naught but a burden to him. I feel this most keenly.
Delphi: There is but a single option: the forbidden ritual.
Delphi: I must free my soul from the cycle of mana and banish this power from the world for good. Only a successor to the Tutelary tribe's power is permitted this ritual.
Delphi: Even if it means I never see him again.
Delphi: ......
Delphi: Enough. The choice is made. Duty calls.
Delphi: Shion and I? The last of our tribe. But with nothing left to protect, the power serves no purpose.
Delphi: So farewell, my precious brother. I pray you live a long and happy life freed at last from my weighty burden.
Shion: Geez, why do we hide the towels so far in the back? Anyway, I think we're finally ready to...
Shion: Delphi? Delphi, where are you?!
Shion: Don't leave me alone! Noooo! I'm scared to be alone!

Delphi: I thought Emile might be persuaded to aid me, but it was a fool's errand.
Delphi: But giving up? Not an option. I yet need someone to... Hmm?
Bandit Boss: Well, lookit what we got 'ere, boys! This one smells proper rich, so 'e do.
Bandit Boss: What say ya spare a few coppers for us poor starvin' lads, friend?
Euden: That's clearly a threat dressed up as a request. You really should reconsider some of your life choices.
Bandit Boss: Oy! I'll show ya what 'appens to folks what question me life choices!
Bandits: HAAAAAH!
Delphi: That's the youngest prince of Alberia!
Delphi: I know not his purpose in this place, but it works to my great advantage. I must ensure he wins the day!
Delphi: Stay back, Your Highness! These rabble are mine!
Euden: Huh? Who are you?
Delphi: Perhaps not the greatest time for the sharing of pleasantries? No. Not at all. Now pray stand aside as I work.
Delphi: I call forth the power of the Tutelary! Restrain these villains! Purgatorial Cage!
Bandits: Aaaaargh!
Euden: Wow. That was just...wow. Who ARE you?
Delphi: *pant* Nnngh...
Euden: Uh, are you all right? ...Hello?
Euden: Uh oh. He's passed out. And he's running a fever. I need to get him back to Cleo.
Delphi: ...Wh-where am I?
Euden: Glad to see you up and around. Oh, and you're in our castle.
Euden: I brought you here after you collapsed.
Delphi: Apologies. Many of them, and most keen. I meant no burden to you.
Euden: I'm happy to help. But if you feel up to it, could you tell me a bit about yourself? You seemed to recognize me earlier.
Delphi: My name is Delphi, and I am a member of the Tutelary tribe. We guard the ruins where the Shards sleep.
Euden: Tutelary tribe? That sounds familiar...
Delphi: Some 300 years ago, King Alberius charged us with creating and maintaining seals on the Binding Ruins. This we did unfailingly, until the recent past.
Euden: That's right, now I remember. Er, but what happened recently?
Delphi: The seals? Broken. The Shards? Purloined. Thus have I left the ruins and come in search of a royal family member.
Delphi: As our tribe now lacks a purpose, I seek to use my power to conduct a final ritual.
Delphi: But said ritual? It requires the cooperation of a royal family member.
Euden: That's a very specific requirement.
Delphi: Our power is sworn to the Alberian royal family; thus do we require your consent.
Delphi: This boon. Will you grant it?
Euden: Yes, of course.
Delphi: ...I'm sorry?
Euden: It sounds like our family owes a great deal to you and your kin.
Euden: Repaying that service is the least I can do.
Delphi: ......
Euden: There's also the little matter of you saving my own life back there with those bandits. Anyway, you're welcome to stay here and prepare for the ritual as long as you need.
Delphi: No. That imposition? Too great.
Delphi: You must let me aid you in return.
Euden: Well, if you're dead-set on pitching in around here, you could use that power you demonstrated. Frankly, I've never seen anything like it.
Delphi: You speak of the power of the Tutelary tribe. This emblem? On my forehead? It permits the wielding of that power.
Euden: So the emblem is a blessing of sorts? That's quite fascinating.
Delphi: Blessing? No. A curse.
Euden: How so?
Delphi: Apologies—my mouth ran where it should have come to heel.
Euden: Er, okay? Anyway, it should be nice to have you around. I'm guessing we're pretty much the same age, right?
Delphi: I am ten years your senior, at least.
Euden: Wait, really? I had no idea. You look so...um...
Delphi: Boyish? Youthful? Green? I am not. The power gives all who wield it the mien of a younger self.
Delphi: This power has been mine for as long as I have been me, such that my chronology and appearance are increasingly at odds.
Euden: Huh. Okay then. Well, maybe it'll be more of an older-brother thing, then.
Delphi: Brother?!
Euden: Well, an older-brother figure, at least. Honestly, there are a lot of folks here who I think of in that kind of way.
Euden: Anyway, now that you're going to be one of us, I should introduce you to everybody. Hang on—I'll be right back.
Delphi: Your Highness, wai...
Delphi: *sigh* I've no right to be called a brother by him.
Delphi: But his dragonblood? Essential. So I will do as I must!

Delphi: That looks to be the last of them, Ranzal. We should return to the castle—I tire.
Ranzal: No surprise with how much butt-kickin' ya did. That power of yers is the real deal!
Ranzal: Gotta admit though, it's kinda surprisin' to see a kid like you takin' down a whole mess'a crazy fiends.
Delphi: Our power was designed to seal away the Other. So fiends? A simple matter.
Delphi: And I am no ＂kid,＂ as I have stated.
Ranzal: Ah, crap! Sorry. It's just that babyface'a yers what makes me forget, yeah?
Ranzal: Say, is yer little bro the same? Does he look six or whatever?
Delphi: Shion? No. My brother possesses not my Tutelary power, so his mana has been unaffected—thus his appearance as well.
Shion: *pant* *pant* THERE you are!
Delphi: Shion! What are you doing here?!
Shion: Looking for YOU, you idiot! Where have you BEEN?!
Shion: You can't just wander off without a word and expect me not to come looking! Now come on—we're going back.
Delphi: Cease this at once!
Ranzal: Okay, everybody just calm down.
Ranzal: Look, the boss brought Delphi here, so we ain't just gonna let him walk off what if he don't wanna.
Ranzal: So what say we all head over to the castle and figure this out, yeah?
Delphi & Shion: ......
Euden: ...So you came because you were worried about your brother's health? I see.
Euden: I didn't know Delphi paid such a price for his power—but I suppose something that pollutes a person's mana wouldn't be great for their health.
Euden: That must be why he collapsed when we first met.
Shion: Likely so. Each time he uses his power, the strain on his body is tremendous— which is why I'm trying to get him to come home with me and RELAX.
Shion: But if you're going to keep him here, then I insist on staying with him.
Euden: I don't have a problem with that. But what about you, Delphi?
Delphi: ......
Delphi: Forget me, Shion. Leave this place. Continue your life apace.
Shion: Forget you?! No! I can't ever for—
Delphi: I grow weary of you, boy!
Shion: ...What?
Delphi: Your presence is a burden. Your very appearance a misery.
Delphi: This power? It was meant for you. Yet now it lies heavy upon MY brow.
Delphi: All because of the accident when our parents tried to pass it down to you.
Delphi: I've a power which drains my life, two parents moldering in the grave, and a brother near to useless.
Shion: Delphi, you...you can't mean this! You've always been so kind to—
Delphi: Kind? No. My actions were no kindness. Only a sort of pity for a boy too foolish and inept to care for himself—a pity that made me shoulder YOUR burden.
Delphi: I've endured it these long years for the sake of our tribe. But the tribe? Gone. So now my mind can be spoken freely.
Delphi: Now go. Leave me. Never return. The very sight of you sickens me.
Shion: I...
Shion: Why are you doing this? Whyyy?!
Delphi: I did not mean for you to see that, Your Highness.
Euden: That was really harsh, Delphi.
Delphi: This matter? Pray set it from your mind. It is personal—nothing more.
Euden: Well, I suppose I've no right to judge another's family.
Delphi: That aside, my preparations for the ritual near their end at last.
Euden: That's good to hear.
Delphi: There is but one final thing I must ask of you:
Delphi: Dragonblood.
Euden: Dragonblood?
Delphi: Our tribe's sacred mission? Assigned by your ancestors. Codified by their bloodline.
Delphi: The ritual requires proof of consent. The dragonblood serves as proof.
Delphi: I need but a few drops at most. May I ask it of you?
Euden: Well, your family HAS gone through a lot to protect the seals...
Euden: And I don't think I'll miss a drop or two. So yes, Delphi. That's fine.
Delphi: My thanks, Highness.
Euden: Can I just say one thing, though?
Delphi: Continue.
Euden: I don't know what's going on between you and your brother, but I know nothing good comes from familial strife.
Delphi: You sound very like my brother in this moment, Highness.
Euden: In what way?
Delphi: ...You are kind.

Delphi: Mom? Dad? Shion? Where are you?
Delphi: Are you over here? Wh-what's happening?!
Delphi: AAAAAAAH!
Delphi: Ugh. That dream again. I've not had it for some time. Perhaps it returns as the time for the ritual grows nigh?
Delphi: ...Ah, look here. The portrait Shion painted of me. I'll not look at this again, I wager.
Delphi: The likeness? A sad one, at best. Yet he put so much effort into it, I could not bear to discard it.
Delphi: He really is a blessing of a brother. And so ADORABLE!
Delphi: Hmm?!
Euden: I, uh, brought that blood you wanted. ...Bad time?
Delphi: Your Highness! Did you see...?
Delphi: Ahem! Yes, well. My composure? Momentarily lost. Might you be so good as to never mention this to anyone? Or erase it from thought altogether?
Euden: I certainly won't tell anyone, but I don't know if I'll be able to unsee it.
Euden: It's clear that you love Shion very much— which makes how you treated him earlier all the more confusing.
Delphi: ......
Delphi: You speak truth. My brother? Adored. Which made my words from earlier all the more difficult to utter.
Delphi: But it's best for both that I am no longer at his side. The sins I have committed are too great for his involvement.
Euden: What do you mean?
Delphi: I had hoped never to speak of this...
Delphi: The deaths of our parents? My offense. Mine alone.
Euden: What?!
Delphi: I believe I spoke once before of how an accident happened during the ritual to pass this power from my parents to my brother and claimed our parents' lives.
Delphi: But alas, that is not the story entire— the accident occurred only because of my own meddling.
Delphi: I missed them on that day, and so set out to see where the three of them had gone. In doing so, I stumbled on the site where the ritual was underway, interrupting it.
Delphi: I remember little after that, save that when I awoke, it was to the sight of our parents' cold and lifeless bodies.
Delphi: My brother was stricken. Grief-wracked. His hands were clamped to my shoulders, shaking me as if to unseat the world.
Delphi: And when I looked in a nearby mirror and saw the symbol on my forehead? I knew what I had done. The power— Shion's by rights—was now mine alone.
Euden: So that's why you called it a curse.
Euden: Still, you shouldn't blame yourself. It's not like you set out to harm anyone.
Euden: It was an accident—not a ＂sin.＂
Delphi: Intention is no matter. Thanks to me, Shion cannot even recall the faces of our parents.
Delphi: His life? His happiness? His joy? All stolen by my hand.
Delphi: The only way to atone is to give him some modicum of happiness in return.
Delphi: And the ritual is that way.
Delphi: If the ritual is a success, the power that has consumed our tribe's mana for so long will finally be banished from this world, along with my troubled soul.
Delphi: My brother? He will finally be free. This is my greatest and only desire.
Euden: Wait, hold on! You didn't tell me this ritual involved you DYING!
Delphi: It is for the best.
Euden: I have serious doubts about that. You two care so deeply for each other.
Euden: Delphi, I want you to reconsider this. I'm sure we can find a better way.
Euden: At the very least, sit down and talk to your brother once more. Otherwise I'm not giving you this dragonblood.
Euden: I'll find Shion and ensure he meets with you. Just hold on until then.
Delphi: ......
Euden: I arranged for the two of them to meet, but I don't know if it will do any good. Delphi seems to be in a bad way, and...
Euden: Huh? Who's there?!
Euden: Aaagh!
Delphi: Do not struggle, Your Highness. This is the Impenetrable Cage—it will wear off after a matter of hours.
Euden: Delphi! What are you doing?!
Delphi: I cannot do what you ask of me.
Delphi: Even with the Shards, the life of a Tutelary is a short one. No doubt that was why our father tried to give his younger son his power—to extend the life of the elder.
Delphi: But they are dust now, and my end approaches with all speed.
Delphi: It could be a year. Six months. Tomorrow.
Delphi: Each day that passes will only serve to remind my brother how few are left. It is the height of cruelty, and I will not stand to see him suffer so.
Delphi: I have your dragonblood now. The ritual can begin.
Euden: Delphi, no! Don't do this!
Euden: DELPHI!

Delphi: (After this, all will truly be over. The Shards and seals? Lost. The tribe's mission? Forgotten.)
Delphi: (Now to banish this accursed power to the oblivion in which it belongs.)
Delphi: (All will be well now. He will be...happy.)
Delphi: (And yet...)
Delphi: I wish I could have seen your smile one last time...
Shion: WAAAAIT!
Delphi: Huh?
Shion: *pant* *pant* Did I make it? Are you still not dead?
Delphi: Shion?! What are you doing here?
Delphi: I knew I wanted to see you again, but I'd not thought the feeling so strong as to bring on hallucination.
Shion: I'm not an illusion, you idiot!
Shion: Now stop this ritual right now! If you don't, you'll die!
Delphi: Ah!
Delphi: N-no! Unhand me! I'm almost there!
Delphi: Your happiness has never been closer! Do not prevent it from happening now!
Delphi: ...Wh-what?
Shion: Did you ever stop to think about MY feelings about this plan of yours, you big idiot?!
Delphi: I... I didn't...
Shion: You think this will make me happy?! How can I be happy if you're DEAD?!
Shion: I NEED you, Delphi! You raised me! You're the only family I have left!
Delphi: And yet, the Tutelary power. So long as it and I exist, your suffering will continue.
Delphi: And the cruel words I spoke to you? All said with malice aforethought.
Delphi: Would you claim to need me after all that?
Shion: YES!
Shion: I KNEW something was fishy when you starting saying all those terrible things.
Shion: You did it because of me, didn't you? To make me leave so you could go through with this bonkers plan of yours.
Delphi: Shion, I—
Shion: I'm not a kid, and I'm not a fool! Your plan was thinner than old sheets!
Shion: If you really hated me that much, you'd just poison my food or something.
Shion: I always ate whatever you made without question, you know.
Delphi: No! I must atone!
Shion: Dying is a REALLY crappy way to atone, Brother. You can't make up for anything when you're six feet underground.
Shion: Now stop this stupid ritual thing and let's figure out some other way to get you free of this power!
Shion: I'll help you this time, and we'll find a solution together.
Shion: You may think you're a burden to me, but you're actually anything but.
Delphi: ......
Delphi: My actions. My schemes. I thought to make you happy, but all I did was encumber you with more pain.
Delphi: I'm sorry, Shion. I'll stop the ritual.
Delphi: Also, I must make amends with another.
Delphi: Your Highness? I betrayed your trust. Stole your very blood. There are not words enough to express my regret.
Delphi: I will accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate. Merely name it.
Euden: Raise your head, Delphi.
Delphi: But Your Highness...
Euden: I had a feeling it would come to this. ...Well, maybe not EXACTLY this, but something rather like it.
Euden: And seeing as how you still draw breath, I take it you called off the ritual?
Delphi: After my brother pleaded with me to stop. Our ideas on what constitutes happiness are...different from what I assumed.
Euden: So you've made up?
Delphi: We have. I swore to atone for my past mistakes by living rather than dying.
Euden: Then I'm willing to forget the whole ＂trapping me in a magic binding spell＂ bit.
Euden: Honestly, I'm just happy that you and Shion are getting along again.
Delphi: I am unworthy of such grace.
Euden: BUT! If you insist on doing something to right your wrongs, keep helping us.
Euden: We've all come to depend on you a great deal, you know. So what do you say?
Delphi: Of course. On behalf of my tribe, I shall serve you as long as I live.
Delphi: I pray that will be a long time indeed.
Euden: In that case, welcome back, Delphi. We're happy to have you.