Glåugust '26 entry 5: Where the Cast-down Angel Dreams (in the Land of Twilight)
The Cast-down Angel
A mirage shimmers upon the grassland: heavied thoughtstuff pools here.
Within is the land of twilight eternal. An angel lays in the grass where they crash-landed and slumbers. O angel, do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty? When all the world turns away, leaving you lonely. All too calm you hide yourself from reality.
The twilight gloom thickens at one's approach and forms a ghostly host of its colleagues. They call to the sleeper,
"You're down there alone again, in your sweet insanity"
"You will cry all alone, but it does not mean a thing to me"
"You can't see the sun! Ever in the darkness"
"You do not mean a thing to me"
Tears run down the angel's cheeks at the words. They wish to be alone: if someone approaches they will lash out with a sword of remorse and the distance swells. They dream-whisper, "Consolations are there, in my dreamland to come."
A Lover's Request
His eyes as ice. Hair backlit by ego-weight. An angel, he laments nearby,
"If you feel you loved me in vain, why not re-live your guilty love affairs in this warm breeze you cry? No one but me will love and serve you in this cold place, criminal. That is your final consolation. Now hang on to me in the cynical world."
He begs of those who will listen,
"Good intentions were lost in thin air. They were craving for affection, and I failed them! An invitation lead them to this cynical world and left them dashed upon its shore. Please, take them to the land where their yearnings were born. They will not listen to my love. I will dwell down here with them in this land of criminals and fairytales, if only they would understand my conviction."
He will give proven heroes a crystal bulb lantern to pass through the mirage. The bulb wards off remorse as a candle wards off gloom.
In the Land of Twilight,
encounter apparitions as real (roll d5, cross them out as they appear):
- the angel, researching. "How do mortals love? Show me. I want to learn to live." They will only be satisfied by real love.
- the angel, in court. "I believe in fantasies invisible to me! In the land of misery I'm searching for the sign to the door of mystery. I'm searching for the secret sun in mortal hearts." Prosecutor's case: 'Lights from heaven cannot dance with shadows. Love should be perfect only.' PCs are defendants. If unswayed, the judge machine pronounces: the angel and their empathizers will never feel warm again (no save).
- the angel, fleeing from siblings x6: HD 8 (35 HP), AC 18, MRL 10. 1d8 searing sword. Searches as swat team. Environs are a romanesque space station until angel is captured or saved.
- the lover, as imagined by the sleeping angel. He is wrathful and willing to kill at the smallest slight. Fumes about "that betrayer near to the dark!" Stats as "sibling" (above), but acts twice per round.
- the angel, as imagined by themself: hideously transformed. "Look away! I reached for the secret sun and found only poison. Look away!" They weep and are trying to tear their own skin off in vain.
When all apparitions are exhausted:
- the angel, real, curled up in the grass. To mortals they say, "Till the darkness comes to sleep with me, come to me. I will tell about the secret of the sun. It's in you. Not in me. But it does not mean a thing to you."
Only true conveyance of their lover's feelings or leading them to find peace with their version of love can wake the dream-mirage. If so, a boon to one: Key of the Twilight, when otherwise alone, bearer is visited by the angel's presence. They will comfort the bearer and watch over them. Also, party falls into good graces with them and their lover. They dwell here now.
If unawoken, the dream persists and festers.
This location was inspired by (and largely lifted from) lyrics written by the incredible Yuki Kajiura as my fifth entry for Glåugust 2026. I took pieces from across her discography, but especially her works for the .Hack and Xenosaga series.