Soon came dawn - Unlike the Overworld, which was said to have a singular sun and a black line through its skies, the Trial had five suns, already far above the horizon line, never once moving - each one letting the sky have a haze of a differing color, the blue serving as a backdrop for the multitude of gradients. In the form of the constellation, Cassiopeia, they seemed to spread their warmth over the trial of the Orb, their knowing gazes watching the luscious fields of gold.
Paper rose up, stretching with a groan. He didn't really get to eat anything last night, due to it being late at night, and admittedly feeling a miniscule discomfort at the idea of waking the poor woman, Aster's mother, up.
Though, his minor thoughtfulness seemed for naught - at the edge of his bed were a better sewn pair of brown shirts and trousers, and pair of shoes he could only imagine would have cost a fortune of money up in the Underworld.
Naturally, he didn't give it much thought other than a mental 'hell yeah!', though the logic of the situation started to feel...
Twisted.
Why?
She must've spent hours at night making the clothing. Despite all the hatred Aster had for her, she truly had nothing but love for him. How? How had she put in this much effort for a son who never gives back?
Well... The clothing was comfortable anyways, but these were things that weren't typically available to the poor. And he was sure that Aster's family was poor. Not as poor as Paper, back in the outskirts for sure, but still impoverished. They shouldn't be able to afford this. Perhaps Aster's father was rich and loving elsewhere, paying strange amounts of child support? Though he did doubt it.
Child support wouldn't exist within the trial of the Orb, surely.
Was it truly simply because he may lose his life? If that was the case, why the clothing? Why waste it on a dead man? What could Aster's mother possibly be doing?
Paper shook his head, sighing.
'Whatever. There should be... something. A reason. I just can't gleam it.'
He was pretty good with people, Paper. He prided himself on it too, for he had more than once on many occasions saved himself and Ink from being gutted like fish from a druggy with enough lies and truths mixed into it.
He always knew their reason, too. They wanted to feed their addiction, so he used that against them. The same rule fell for people he didnt know - they were always driven by something. He wasn't always driven to kill Nobles or cause the death of parents so desperately, yet here he was, because of his sister. But his sister did love him, and he loved her - enough to willingly die moving mountains if she had asked.
But Aster didn't love his mother. So why did she do this to herself? Suffering for a kid who'd never love her back?
He always thought he could ascertain reason behind people's behaviours and use them to help himself, but this time... he seriously could not tell.
'Probably just trying to make it easier for him to survive. Surely. Has to be.'
He stepped out of the slightly decrepit house, taking one last look back before walking to his right, across the golden foliage, approaching the army.
But... he had two questions he needed the answer for. The first was how his powers worked here - faking death is... of use when something only looks to snuff the life out of you and not devour you instead, which was incredibly hard to find amongst Dormant Beasts already, and that was excluding Predators, Marauders, and the rest of the bunch.
He could instinctually feel some sort of grasp of the power whenever he thought 'false death', however he didn't wish to test it on himself.
And the second question... when he saw the world rewind, there were only fifty soldiers. But now, there was fifty-one with him included. Was this good or bad? Wasn't it already a bad idea to break pre-existing notions?
If so, was the future he saw pre-existing or what had to happen?
Had he known the answer, he'd know exactly what to do... but he doesn't know the answer. And he isn't exactly here to play nice. It seemed that they did only need fifty to destroy the Marauder, from the vision he had of time moving backwards.
Not just that, but the Orb did not like a sudden break in any sort of character. It already showed him that earlier last night.
Yet here he was, breaking Aster's role. Because he, as Paper, needed to, while Aster was never meant to become a member of the siege, nor was he ever meant to want to.
Which means that he was already pushing whatever flow the Orb demanded wide enough. He didn't know if the Noble knew, but as an Assailant, he didn't care.
He had a job to do.
And it was to claw his way back to the top. If the flow couldn't accommodate him, he'd make it have space for him.
He approached the group of men, searching for the most irrelevant one... who had some sort of leather armor. Something light, wearable, that he himself could use. After all, he was told to improvise something for his armor.
Thankfully, many fit that description, but he also needed to be strong enough to take one on. Or cunning enough... He then also had to be able to drag him out and away from the crowd. Maybe someone easy to provoke?
He just had to be cocky, angry, and violent to somebody who looked already frustrated.
Through the crowd of men and farmers, he finally saw one that looked easy enough to eliminate. A stout man with a beard by his lonesome, just as tall as himself, complaining halfheartedly under his breath as he kicked the floor under him. He seemed to glance at something every now and then, his shoulders slouching before squaring up again, then slouching once more.
Frustrated, conflicted and short. Perfect combination.
"Oi. You." He glared, pointing at the only man who was shorter than him. It was only by a centimetre, but it mattered. The leather armor he wore too was conveniently very Aster-sized. Paper wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
The stout man frowned, turning to him.
"Somethin' the matter, laddie?"
Paper examined the man quickly. There was a ring on his ring finger, one of copper, and around his neck was an amulet left open, which had a picture of the man and a... dog. A white dog. The thing he was glancing at, surely. The fact the amulet was open and that the man was hunched over it spoke measures to Paper.
'...hm. Okay.'
"You leave your wife at home and go to fight in a siege? I haven't seen a man more selfish than you."
The man flinched, raising an eyebrow as Paper crossed his arms.
"...? Boy?"
"Something the matter?" He continued without hesitation. "Look, okay, precious resources are being used up by your continued existence here. The supplies have been counted and its pretty much only enough for a raid of fifty members." He lied. "We are missing a set of armor and a weapon, and you see, I happen to be one of the villages better fighters yet I have neither any armor or weapons." He spoke with ruthlessness laced within his voice, an underlying threat whispered within it.
"...Boy." The man squared his shoulders, turning to Paper. "I understand. But you see... I'm willing to give up my life for the sake of my wife. For the sake of my daughter whose yet to come... for the sake of Hugo, who gave his life up for mine."
Wow. Okay. Paper wanted to backtrack out of this desperately. He didn't need to learn a strangers backstory, he just needed the damned armor and for the stranger to not come on the siege!
"Your daughter isn't born yet?" He asked with an unimpressed frown.
"No, boy. She will be soon, though."
Soon to be born daughter... the guilt of Hugo, whoever he was, dying for his sake, mustve ended up causing this odd numbness. Due to that, he was calm enough for Paper's provocations to not work properly.
Perhaps he could try to guilt trip him? But is that really within the reasonable bounds of Aster's character? Hm...
Perhaps, actually. If he did it rudely enough, it'd be in character.
"So you'll go on, leave her without a father, and die fighting in a battle in which there'd be less casualties if I were in there with armor and weaponry instead?" He snarled, lifting his head as he looked down on the man.
Or well, as much as he could.
It had the intended effect though. The man avoided eye contact in shame.
"...Look, boy. I-"
"There's nothing for me to look to, man. Your here willing to die and put the sacrifice of Hugo behind as if he didn't want you to live longer, and your abandoning a woman who loves you and a daughter who would also love you. Your crazy. I hope you know that your selfish."
Though Paper didn't believe in his own words for a second, he felt it necessary to say to try and aggravate the man into leaving.
The man's voice came out strangled this time, choked instead of frustrated. Mournful instead of furious.
'...uh?'
"I...I never meant for... for that to be how it looks like. I'd be... I'm willing to die for my family. I just... want to protect them."
These words resonated with Paper slightly. He too would be willing to die for his sister. Sensing the somber mood and the kindred spirit, he decided to just... test the flow of the Orb slightly. To try and speak some words of comfort.
"...if you are ready to die for them... you must make sure to live for them, first. There is no greater thank you to someone's love than to live for them, all the way through."
The world turned silent as the man started to glare at him, the other soldiers turning to him with eery slowness. He felt a chilling feeling permeate his bones, yet he maintained his aloof demeanour, switching back to a glare flexibly.
"So, fuck off and give me your armor, you stupid bastard."
The world came to life once more, a shaky sigh of relief mentally releasing itself within Paper's mind.
The man blinked, before choking out a laugh, shaking his head. Paper could almost see the weight of guilt leaving the man's shoulders as he moved to take off his armor.
"Your a funny boy, Aster. Fine. Good luck on the siege. My weapon was a rake, but I'm sure the lady prepared something special for you."
'A shame she has to die... though, I should also get to test this power.'
He nodded, rolling his eyes as he picked up the pieces of armor, fumbling with putting them on which caused the man to laugh heartily and help him.
"Don't die, okay? I'll feel terrible if you do." He grinned at Aster, patting his back. Paper couldn't help but kiss his teeth for a second.
"Me? Die? I don't know anybody as resourceful as myself."
'False death.'
Using the point of contact between the man's hand and his back, he felt a flow of energy surge into the man's body, leaving Paper drained. The man fell onto Aster's body, his heart stopping. Paper used it as an opportunity to mask it as a hug from the man, groaning under his weight as he broke concentration on the magic rapidly.
'Undo undo undo undo undo-! How do I undo this!?'
Thud, thud.
The man's heart started beating again as he blinked, standing up hurriedly off of Aster.
"..a-apologies... don't know what came over me there. Anyways, safe journeys." He walked off quickly, almost in burning shame as Aster stifled a grin and groan from the loosening pressure of coils tightened around his heart.
'There we go. Perfect.'
As soon as the man left, the army was back to original numbers.
Fifty.
The Noble started to march across, her familiar, slender longsword in one hand, and a crude yet sturdy looking spear in the other. She wore her helmet this time, looking like a Knight from the royal cast as she handed the spear to him wordlessly.
She headed to the forefront of the men, her hips swaying only slightly as she paced with a measured stride, her very posture radiating fierce determination.
The spear felt good in his hands. Long enough, sharp enough to cut, while weighted surprisingly well for what seemed to be something made on a whim. It wasn't a Starbound weapon, sadly, yet that was okay. A real weapon didn't fade away either when you ran out of magic, but was more likely to break, and didn't have any sort of anti-thievery.
Her blade suddenly pierced the ground, her voice roaring out to the people, with enough force and liveliness in it that everybody within the village would have heard it.
"ONWARDS!"
And so, with a raucous multitude of roars, the march had begun.
The siege of the blackwood castle... was tonight.