Apeirophobia 0.25

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Translating FFFFFF/090-3...

• Children laugh at the railing of the ship. The fog is closing in and the end is nigh. These children are to be thrown off the planks soon. Precisely because they are not children, but immortals in a child's body.

: Can you tell me about a certain something?

: It is not our job to answer the questions of the curious. You'll have more luck with whoever called us here.

: Just, you're just children. You have a bright future ahead of you. You shouldn't...

: The believer doesn't believe.
: The believer doesn't believe, doesn't he?

• The children grab ahold of the man's sleeves and gently lead him to the deck. The fog continues to grow. The time of sacrifice is near.

• The children try to push the man overboard but the man resists them. He looks at them, having the suspicion that these children must not be what they seem to be but he let it go, giving them the benefit of the doubt.

• So the children try again. They push the man harder, and this time the man fights back. In doing so, he accidentally throws one of the children to the sea.

: Why did you do that?!

• That ought to teach them a lesson. He then picks up the other child and throws them off. The children can swim, fortunately, and successfully clings on a side of the ship. The man spits on them and walks back down.

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• In that part of the ship I saw someone staring at nowhere. The sky was none of my concern—fog problem. I wasn't sure if this person was a he or a she and I didn't really want to approach a stranger so I just stared at them. This person has the beautiful long hair tied on top and by the sides like that gorgeous character from a Chinese anime.

• Later they came to the eating area, and came to me saying they just found out I was the pilot of the ship. They're a he. He, yes... He has a very beautiful face. He's enchanting.

• He asks me about the destination of the ship. For one, that is kind of suspicious, and suspicious shit like that doesn't bode well with me. But he's beautiful. The ship is going to cross the threshold. It's not going "anywhere", per se, since we don't have a set destination. He's confused. Of course, he is, that beautiful bastard. He probably doesn't know anything about the children. The not-children children.

• Later that evening he visited the helm without permission. But then I started hearing his voice in my head. He started speaking without opening his mouth. I think he can also see without his eyes. I should've considered the possibility that he could be a fanatic. This guy started ordering me through my brain that I should go to the deck and look beyond the fog. I'd obey him anytime, with those looks. So I did, taking my binoculars with me, pretending to be brainwashed, as he followed me to the fog. When I got up there, I saw that I wasn't the only one there. Everyone else from the ship's crew was there too, and alongside each and every one of them was this beautiful man's duplicate. This guy must be a fanatic. Holy shit they're really hardcore when it comes to this stuff.

• So apparently this beautiful man was the priest presiding over the whole sacrifice thing. Cool.

• I was kind of hoping that a big tentacle eldritch horror would come out of the water. I didn't expect that the priest guy's face just explode into flaming bones and start skinning those children not-children one by one. The children lay silent. They don't say anything. It's creepy...in a good way. When all of them are the same red bleeding sacrificial goats, and the others are ready for the plank. We lead those bleeding beings towards the plank to jump without touching them. There are two planks, one for each of them. Just when they're about to jump, a mask appears at the sea, and when the mask opened its mouth, it sucked the sea. The children jumped to it, their blood changing its hue. The priest, alongside the followers of the cult, looks at them, and then says the incantations, which, based on my experience, means "Oh the dreary darkness nightmare solidarity hivemind, we offer to you this tribute for you to keep not hurting us and granting our wishes."

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: I didn't expect that there would be this kind of place on the ship.

: Haven't seen one before?

: Not on a ship.

: What do you think of today's presentation?

: I hope the mask is satisfied with our tributes. Immortals are rare, and those that do not desire to die already are even rarer.

: The hunters did a good job capturing them before the law.

: The law will hear about this soon enough if we're not careful.

: I know they would. Would you like a drink?

: Do you have some green tea?

: Yes. Wait here.

. . .

: Here. Green tea.

: Thanks.

: What do you think about that priest? It was uncanny of people like him to just brainwash the crew into going into the deck. We could've just made an announcement.

: They do what they want to do. Let them. They follow the will of the cards.

: You should clean your ship after this voyage.

: Oh, you didn't know? This is the Apeirophobia's first voyage.

: Oh dear. Wasn't this ship the Hermetisia?

: The Hermetisia is disfigured. Soon it will be fed to the mask as well.

: I feel quite bad about the Hermetisia. I would like to ride it once again, one more time before it goes away.

: We can go there before it's scrapped. I'll take you.

: Your pilots won't be happy with this.

: I doubt they'll hate it. We need a set destination. We could always land in the Hermetisia; carouse the museum before it closes.

. . .

: How about payments? The cult must pay you for this.

: Oh no worries. They paid us upfront.

: Strange. You chose this job for a ship's first voyage?

: Nothing strange about it. Technically, there's nothing magical about it.

: It doesn't feel You. Did someone else choose this for you?

: No. It's all me. What do you mean it doesn't feel "me"?

: It stinks too much of "I won't get paid much". What happened to the guy who I thought loved money more than anything in the world?

: Indeed, well, I wonder what happened to him?

: ...did you get recruited?

: Go to Hermetisia. You'll figure it out.

: Holy shit, not you too...

: By the way, that green tea is worth 10 copper coins.

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[Hermetisia] is not quite known, even if it was the third ship that crossed through the dungeon and landed in the safety outside the vaults. It carried a far higher population than the last two ships: the first one ( Ouranos) and the second one (XXXXXX) which were only able to carry less than a hundred people, consisting of only the most brilliant humans. The Hermetisia's first voyage is towards the continent of the Cyrillian Empire, carrying about 3000 humans from different classes, along with approximately 600 domestic creatures they call pets. It continued its trips to transport people to the now-called Cyrillian Empire three more times, which made up most of its current population. However, the Cyrillian Empire itself does not remember the name of this ship.

After its three roundtrips that took a total of twelve earth years, it stayed at the vault to be used as a support cargo ship for the last generations that chose to stay. Throughout those six years, Hermetisia was passed on to co-captains, relatives, and lovers who either did not care what the ship was named or hated changing its original purpose. Then, it was owned by a person named Joaquin, who then repurposed the Hermetisia as a library cruise, and renovated it to be used for travel instead of delivery. It became popular in some parts

Let's see ah.... 12 + 6 + 3.4 years I think? More or less twenty years, give or take. Then went the generational death. Joaquin let go of the Hermetisia early after those about three and a half years of good business, even when it was still doing well at the time. About a year later though, Hermetisia was forgotten by all except those who went there before. Prices increased, you know the drill. The solution they came up with is to either scrap it altogether or send it outside the vaults. So it did let it out, another two years of journey since Hermetisia was an old model after all -- they couldn't bear to change its engines or something, as it would mean demolishing some rooms for the travel scene.

We don't exactly know what happened on the way, only that we heard from the news that it was hijacked, weaponized, and sent to return inside the vaults by a certain cult that obeys the mask. Once the ship was back in the vaults, it was used as a lair by said cult. As time went by, it became more and more dilapidated. Some fans of the former cruise ship tried to buy it from the cult but ended up joining the cult.

About 25 years since its first trip to the Cyrillian Empire, the cult made two sister ships for it, seeing that people liked its layout but hated its outdated equipment: Apeirophobia, which was set to be used as a transport ship, and Apeirophilia, which was supposed to be a luxury travel cruise in the vaults, as well as a ship for the ceremonies.

Only a few people know that someone from outside the vault has made a deal to purchase off the Apeirophobia after its first voyage. The price for the ship is the sacrifice of two immortals disguised as children; murderers in plain sight, long been able to blackmail ordinary people, and some of the cultists into breaking the laws. In honor of this person, a priest blessed by a mask with beauty and youth performed the sacrifice on the ship itself.

It was a beautiful sight. It was redemption.

Days later, the same person who bought the Apeirophobia proposed yet another deal to the cult. This time it's a threat. "Give me Hermetisia. Dismantle it, and I will kill your god. Give it to me, and I will pay you with gold. Follow me outside the vaults, and I will target you."

This person offered too high of a price for the wrecked ship, a total of 600,000 gold. It was too good to refuse, but most of the younger but high-ranking members were agitated by the "I will kill your god" suggestion. So they burned the Hermetisia.

"THE MASK IS A LIE."
"THE MASK HAS NO POWER!"
"THE MASK DECEIVED US!"

The cult dissolves. Many of them, including those who burned down the Hermetisia, began screaming and rallying people to kill them (but to no avail).
"I want to die specifically in green fire."
"I want to die specifically in green fire, where the mask can't laugh at me."
"Please burn me! In green fire!"
"It's all a lie. It has always been a lie. We must burn! All of us must burn! The green fire makes the mask bleed, it's our only hope!"

In one of the bazaars in the center of the vault, a familiar ship docks. It was waiting for a certain group of people to come inside and begin its Expedition, which had little to no information for those who applied for the job of being new crew members. Many thought it was the Hermetisia, but it was actually the Apeirophilia, heading to an uncharted location outside the vaults.

In the bazaar, there are sometimes those kind of vendors that accept information as currency. The crew members of the Apeirophilia would tell them stories of the cult's downfall, but most of the time they tell one of these three statements:

"Twenty-four, each representing an hour in the original Earth. Hermetisia will live on for another twenty-four missions before it perishes into the area in between the vaults and the timeless biomes. "

"The Apeirophilia will carry on the Pyrolysis."

"The vaults will soon be isolated very quickly. There isn't enough time to escape to the biomes, but if you're lucky you can still die in a green fire to escape the mask."

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Translations complete. Sending info to the Pavilion.