Dragon Quest - I - Chapter 3, Part 5

5 - A Red Rain (pp129-134)

There was only one day left in the Month of Minotauros by the time Aleph had returned to the Rain Shrine with the silver harp.

The end of Minotauros and the beginning of the Month of the Unicorn marks the coming of Autumn to Alefgaard.

130

However, excepting the cold and rain that eclipsed the shrine, the rest of Alefgaard was still suffering under a dry heat.

“So this is the fabled silver harp,” murmured the witch once Aleph brought it before her. Her voice trembled slightly, and her face was pale. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

The witch hadn’t expected him to return with the harp even in her dreams. To have him bring the harp here, to have him willingly hand it over to her - that was the only proof she would have accepted of Aleph being a descendant. Even witches can be taken by surprise.

“Well done, truly,” she said with obvious effort.

“Now hand over the Staff of Rain,” replied Aleph with a sharp look. “We had a deal!”

The witch gave a deep sigh and retreated over to the window, where she gazed out at the fog rolling by. The sound of the crashing waves against the reef below could clearly be heard. The witch took a deep breath, twirled around, and smiled. She was ready.

“Descendant of the hero,” she began, delicately pulling the staff out from behind her fan with her fingertips.

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“Listen well. This Staff of Rain, as I told you, is my one and only memento of him. Of Loto, the only man I’ve ever loved. Treat it well, understand?”

With a flourish, she handed it over to Aleph. It was heavier than it looked.

“Now, if you’re done here, please leave.”

“Thank you. I’ll defeat the Dragonlord, you’ll see. Without a doubt,” replied Aleph.

The witch chuckled softly. “You can’t fight your blood, it seems. You’re just like him. Loto said something similar, before he left me. And never came back,” she said with a sad smile.

Aleph said his farewells and exited the cave to the rocky terrain outside.

Now I’ve got the Sun Stone and the Staff of Rain, he told himself. What’s left is - then he stopped in his tracks, hearing the soft echoing sound of the silver harp.

A beautiful melody flowed out from the witch’s room. It was a melancholy tune. Aleph turned his back to the music and began to walk away, but then the sound was cut off, and a woman’s scream resounded through the fog.

Aleph, sensing something was wrong, spun and ran back into the cave and towards the witch’s chamber. He opened the door and was dumbstruck.

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A group of rotten corpses and undead killers were baring claws and fangs, surrounding the witch. Her playing of the harp had summoned the monsters that Garai’s playing had sealed away.

“Damn you!” Aleph yelled, showering the creatures with flame from his Gira spell. As they recoiled, he ran forward, pulled his sword out, and began swinging wildly. Reaching the witch, Aleph took the silver harp from her fingers and plucked the strings himself.

Pling! Pling!

Once the sound of the harp filled the chamber, the monsters immediately began screaming and cowering, and soon completely faded to nothing. The harp’s magic had once again sealed them away.

“Are you alright?” asked Aleph, pulling the witch up to a sitting position.

“Don’t worry,” she replied through bloody lips, “this is how I planned it. Please, go…”

“You can’t mean --” began Aleph, then lost his words in shock. “You played the harp intending to summon those monsters?”

The witch smiled faintly. “I only… wanted to do something for my beloved… I was thinking about how much this would have meant to him…

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That’s why… I gave the Staff of Rain, the source of my life… to his descendant…”

“What do you mean, source of your life!?”

“That staff… is the reason I’ve lived so long... Whosoever has the staff can make it rain forevermore… R, rain is my… life force… As long as I have rain, I could live for a thousand… even ten thousand years… B-but I’m done… Now, I can finally go… and see Loto… Now I can finally be with the man… that I love… So please, go…”

“I can’t just go!”

“I’m going to… die, anyway… I’ll turn into a… shriveled hag, appropriate for my age… I’ve lived so long, I… I can’t even remember the months and years… I don’t even… know how old I am… Please, go… I don’t want anyone… to see me turn old and ugly… I want to remain… a woman…”

“I, I understand,” said Aleph, and lowered the witch to the floor. “Goodbye,” he called.

But she didn’t answer. She couldn’t, anymore. She simply smiled faintly.

134

Aleph slowly walked from the room, and hesitated. Then, as if deciding something, he closed the door behind him. Farewell, he called again from deep within his heart.

The room was quiet now, and only the sound of the waves crashing could still be heard. A strange smoke began to rise from the witch’s body. Bit by bit, her body rapidly aged, first wrinkling and then becoming bony, and finally a corpse. Then the corpse began to dry up and bits broke away, turning to ash in the wind and drifting out of the open window.

As Aleph left the cave, a streaking, thread-like, blood-red rain began to silently fall. Seeing the red raindrops, Aleph knew the witch had died. Perhaps this rain is the witch’s farewell tears to this world, he thought with a sigh.

Aleph looked down at the staff she had exchanged for her life. Resetting his resolve, he left the shrine behind him.

The red rain was said to have continued for thirty days. Then once it lifted, it’s said that the clouds departed and the sun shone brightly down on those plains for nearly a hundred years.