Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A body.

A body that belongs to none.

A body, floating through a vast expanse of darkness.

Yet there appears light.

Warmth envelopes the body, encasing it with heat, bringing forth a soul, and life.

Through this, a sputtering voice sprung forth.
Belonging to the clumsily moving body.

A hand reaches forward.
A hand that belongs to no one.

Their eyes open, suddenly their vision is blinded by the brightness, and colors flood their sight.

This is me.

—

A muffled voice reached their ears, eyes unable to open, almost as if something was preventing them from doing so.
They tried moving their hands, legs, any part of their body, and yet they were restricted.

However, the feeling in their body returned, and they instinctively fell forward-
Before a force unknown to them stopped the fall.

"Who..?"
They spoke meekly, opening their eyes and wincing, it was quite bright.

"Greetings," a voice responded. "I am Cyalm. I've summoned you here as I'm in need of assistance, and I believe you're able to provide it."

Adjusting to the light surrounding them, they noticed that they were supported by a cloud beneath their body, preventing them from falling a great height.

They looked up and saw a small figure with a white fading to cyan gradient, with a 6 pointed star on his face, alongside a mouth.

"I have reason to believe you are the second coming of the ancient Tailor. And your abilities may be greater than theirs in comparison."

At the mention of the Tailor, they grew a bit curious. They were a famous figure in their home, holding a festival in the hero's honor after they saved reality from the Shadow Seamstress 300 years ago.

"If you don't mind me asking, what.. Are you?"
They spoke, averting their gaze from the man as he only gave them a small smile.

"I am a part of a group of celestial beings called 'Points', we bring forth and represent several aspects of this world and harbor power from them. However, a new threat has arisen for us, named Celesteal."
He brought forth two small clouds, forming them to create a miniature replica.

"Whoa.."
They looked fascinated, you could almost see stars in their eyes.

"Centuries ago, only the Tailor was able to harness the Threads of thought, and sew reality back to its former glory."
He looked up at them and smiled warmly.
"But I believe you can do it. And in time, the others will too."

He stood up and gestured for the clouds behind him to part, revealing a large building floating in the sky.
"Let's head over to the Sky Emporium, from there, you will be able to access the other points' areas and be able to reach them."

Their clouds started moving and the alarm bells in them rang repeatedly, until they planted their hands gently into the dense surface and sighed in relief.
After a bit of waiting, they got down from the clouds outside of the Emporium, gazing at the sight in awe.

"This is so cool.."
They muttered under their breath, seeing Cyalm standing in the middle of the room, they went to approach him.

His lips curled up into a smile.
"Greetings once more, Tailor!"
It was then they realized the height difference between the two of them, they were at least one head or two taller than him.

"Hello Cyalm! So, give me a bit of a run-down of what I should do first?"
They said, looking around the big room, noticing a machine near the portal to 'Vacation Cruise'.

"The Emporium will act as a hub area for your various adventures as the new Tailor. I think it'd be best if you talk with Solgon at the tutorial center, just to know a few of the basics."
His symbol flickered, they didn't know what it meant but kept their lips shut.

"There's also the bonus level shop, they're not mandatory, but Naen would greatly appreciate it if you stopped by, quite the fellow he is."

They looked behind him, the Tutorial Center was beneath the Bonus Level Shop, and the only way to get up was a jump pad.
"Man, sure hope I don't hit my head trying to get up there.."

Cyalm chuckled, looking up at them.
"I assure you, you'll be alright. You won't feel a scratch."

They looked over to the left, noticing a door that had a symbol on it.
“How do I unlock that one?”

“When you gain Shallare’s symbol, it’ll open for you.”
He gently took hold of their hand.

"I don't mean to be pushy, but, you can visit Solgon now."
He pulled them over to the entrance of the Tutorial Center and waved hello to the other Point before turning his attention to the Tailor once again.

"Isn't this..?" They started, looking down nervously waiting for him to confirm.
He nodded.
"Most of the items used in the Tailor's adventures helped them defeat the Seamstress all those years ago."

Another Point, who Tailor now knew as Solgon leaned against their palm as they rested their arm on the counter in the corner.
"Welcome to the Tutorial Center! Feel free to read up on some adventuring basics. Sewing reality back together isn’t exactly the everyday quest..”

Cyalm left the Tailor to read up on everything they needed to know, and it took them quite a while.
The other Point fell asleep around this time, and was probably unaware of the fact that they were still in the Tutorial Center.

When they did wake up, a small blanket was draped over their shoulders. And the Tailor was long gone.
They smiled to themselves, folding up the blanket and using it as a pillow.

‘I wish you luck, Tailor.’

—

“So, you think you’re ready, Tailor?”
They shifted on their feet slightly, still feeling quite nervous about being the new Tailor, fated to sew reality back together.

“Well, I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”
Cyalm smiled at their response, stepping aside to let them enter Vacation Cruise.

“Good luck! I’ll see you in a bit.”

As he watched them go in, they gave the portal a solemn expression.

Chapter Text

The Tailor dropped down from the sky, landing on smooth wood of the giant ship.
They looked around, noticing other people, but they were dressed more formally.
“This must be Vacation Cruise, huh?”
Not even one step forward on the ship, a loud voice tore through the silence on the ship.

“Has the new Tailor arrived yet?!”

Then came a Point, with a gray fading to orange gradient, dressed in white with a navy vest.
Immediately, they took notice of the three-pointed star that they assumed was his symbol.

A smile bloomed on their face as he approached the Tailor, and they felt comfortable already.

“Welcome, welcome! I’m Shallare, captain of the S.S. Venture. It’s nice to meet you.”
He took their hand and initiated an enthusiastic handshake, letting go after.

“So, Cyalm told me you were interested in becoming the next Tailor, eh?”
They nodded, waiting for his response.
“Alright, collect a thread and I might consider giving you my symbol.” His smile was then turned into a cheeky grin.
“There are plenty of threads around the cruise, so finding one should be easy enough.”

“Jeez, mind giving me a hint?”

If he had eyes, he would’ve done an eye roll motion at their response.
“Fine, fine, just for you. Check out the engine room.”

Their eyes lit up at that, already mapping out a route in their head.
“Noted! You can go back to your duties as Captain, I’ll go ahead and find a few threads.”

“The more, the better. I’ll be at the bridge if you need me.”
He said, as he walked away, leaving them to their own devices.
Running around the cruise ship, they got side tracked from actually finding the threads of thought, and instead explored the ship.

Eventually though, they did find all threads of thought laid around the ship, with some loose threads alongside them.

It had been a while since he last saw the Tailor, so when he exited the bridge, he didn’t expect to see the Tailor practically springing from area to area.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down there, Tailor! What’s got you so jumpy?”
He gave them another warm smile, trying to see what they were so excited about.

“Sorry, ‘ve just never been on a cruise ship before, never knew it was like this!”
They said excitedly, stretching their arms out and twirling around, feeling the wind flow past them.

Shallare shook his head, laughing at the display.
“Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself, Tailor. But do you have those threads?”

They nodded, and he looked closer to see that the iridescent threads were wrapped around their arms, how clever.
And under the perpetual light of the sunset, they kept warping into magnificent colors, some he couldn’t quite place a finger on.

“You’re practically shimmering in this light..”
He said in amazement, admiring them for quite a while.
A cozy blanket of quiet surrounded them, time slowed as Shallare kept looking at them.

They were mesmerizing, he’ll admit. Like a siren, but not one that was out to get him.
Slowly brought out from the trance, Shallare fake-coughed into his fist, grabbing the attention of the Tailor.

“You still need to get my symbol, you know.”
They straightened up, nodding as they followed after him towards the front of the ship, keeping a languid pace.

He waited for them, gazing at Tailor fondly even though they were still quite unfamiliar with each other.
He was warm, welcoming, how could they not warm up to him?
Meanwhile, they brought a sense of familiarity to Shallare, even if he didn’t know why exactly.

Once they finally arrived to the bow, he brought his hand forward and his symbol materialized on it.
“As promised, I will be giving you my symbol for gaining all threads.”

They raised a brow to him, and he laughed at their suspicion.
“Alright, alright, fine. There is a catch.”
A knowing look of satisfaction sprouted on their face.

“I’ll need to see how you manage in a specially designed challenge course, to test your abilities one last time before you leave. Are you up for it?”

They hummed. “Will this be something I’ll always go through after getting all the threads in the others’ worlds?”

“Yep. They’ll need to test you a little more before they fully trust you, just like me. To see if you’re worth the title of the new Tailor.”

“Sounds a bit harsh, is this gonna be difficult?”

“Not at all. Since you’re starting out, my course is quite simple. As you move forward though, it’ll get harder, so be sure to keep yourself in top condition.”

They nodded.
“Okay, I’m ready.”

He smiled, the symbol from his hand disappearing as he clasped his hands together.
“Wonderful, I’ll take you there right away. Do well!”

A gust of hot air rushed by them and the atmosphere of the cruise drastically shifted. From a comfortable, dream-like feel to velvety, almost romantic area.
Not like it wasn’t a welcome change, they appreciated the effort Shallare put into the challenge.

Observing the area around them more, they were at the very rear end of the ship, which led them to the assumption that they needed to reach the bow again.
Some areas are blocked with barriers in the form of his symbol, so they knew they needed to get creative on how to return to the front to gain his symbol.

Fortunately, arrows directed them throughout the course, and by diligently following them, they had reached the bow in no time.
All workers were lined up in two columns, separated by an orange carpet that they took their time to walk on as they saw the symbol waiting for them, with Shallare standing beside it.

“Fantastic work, you’ve completed my course without a hitch. My symbol is yours for the taking, noble Tailor.”

They smiled at him and took hold of the symbol, feeling a searing sensation course through their body for a moment, before it disappeared.

“If you’d like, you can stay here a little longer before returning to the emporium?”

“I’d like that very much, thank you, Shallare.”

Chapter Text

Not long ago, Shallare had brought them back to the Sky Emporium, where Cyalm was patiently waiting for them.
“I take it you had your fun?”
They stretched and let out a relaxed sigh, which the Point snickered at.
“Well, that’s all I need to know.”

“So, I’m able to open this up now, right?”
They said, approaching the door with Shallare’s symbol, waiting for him to follow suit.

“Indeed, go ahead and try it out.”

Tailor drew closer, and the door glowed before opening up and allowing them access to a walkway that reached to another part of the building.

“Whoa..”
Cyalm took their hand and walked forward until they reached the other side.
The interior of the room they entered was predominantly a faded blue, supporting a small archway with a sign above it reading ‘Small Studio’.
On the other end of the room, there was a portal with ice spikes surrounding it, labeled ‘Frozen Wasteland’.

He looked up at the Tailor and smiled.
“This is one of my favorite rooms in the entire emporium! And it’s not just because I’m the one who built it.”

But what caught their eye was the fact that Shallare was in the middle of the room on a raised platform that had a bridge connected to the archway, probably admiring the decorations.

The raised platform however, was built on water. But it was no issue, they could always jump over to it.
“Before you go ahead to Small Studio, do take note that Signol is quite shy, so don’t be too loud in there, okay?”

“You got it, Cyalm.”
They jumped on the platform, slightly startling Shallare which they chuckled at.

“Tailor! Hey there, how are you, after relaxing for who knows how long on my ship?”
The pair laughed a while and talked for a bit, before they proceeded to the entrance of the Studio.
It really was small, but it was large enough that they could enter.

Compared to their entry on the S.S. Venture, it was less whimsical and magical and more like they were walking through a long corridor to reach another room.
When they finally did reach the studio and opened the door, their ears were filled with a soothing melody.

They knocked twice to hopefully gain the attention of Signol, to no response.
Sighing, they closed the door carefully and started exploring the place.

It really lived up to its name, it was quite compact compared to the cruise they were previously on, but the cold temperature made up for it.
They took note of a locked room in the studio, taking a mental note of where it was for the future.
Now, the Tailor’s already found two threads, yet there was still no sign of Signol.

Going back to where they started, they found a figure slumped against the back of a chair, muttering to themselves.
“Hey, are you Signol?”
The sounds stopped before they turned their head to look at the Tailor.

Their symbol was quite unnerving, and their gradient, a dark gray fading into red at the bottom, looked out of place with the studio’s color scheme.

“Uhm.. Yeah, my name’s Signol, I own Small Studio.. I’m guessing you’re the new Tailor?”

They nodded, awkwardly standing and staring at them.
This went on for quite a while.
And after a few minutes, the awkwardness set in.

“So are you gonna move- or anything-”

“Uh- I was looking for you since I needed your symbol, you know-”

“Oh.” They paused, and looked down to the pen and paper they were holding. “Uh- do you like- want to start now or I could wait, if that’s what you want..”
They had trailed off, but thankfully the Tailor responded before anything could get more awkward.

“You can stay here and do your own thing for a while, I’ll still be getting those threads around the studio.”
Signol only nodded before going back to writing.

It took them a while, but they managed to find all the threads (with the loose ones) in the studio and returned to them, and unsurprisingly they were lost in writing, curled up in an unnatural position.

They looked at him for a few minutes, noticing the way he held his pen and how his lips were pursed, trying to think of new ideas for what he could write down.
A knock on the wall made their presence known, and he turned his head once again, symbol flickering before assessing them.

He stood from his chair and adjusted his blazer, and only now did they notice he was taller than them. Guess he’s smaller when hunched over in a chair.
“I apologize for not introducing myself properly earlier, but as you know now, I’m Signol,” He smiled warmly. “Owner of Small Studio. I’m guessing you want my symbol, yeah?”

“Yes sir, I do.”

“I’ll spare you all the details then, let’s get this show on the road.”

With a simple clap, they were suddenly transported to another section of the studio.

Due to the size of the area, they assumed that the challenge course would be a cake walk.
They were right for a while, but once they reached the door that was previously locked, a long hallway filled with traps and floating music notes.

It was time consuming, taking them almost half an hour to get through as they were being cautious with the many music notes coming out all at once. Better safe than sorry.

Occasionally, the songwriter would call out encouraging words to them while they went through the course, bringing a smile to their face.

When they did manage to reach the end of the course, they were met with a proud Signol in front of the symbol they’re supposed to collect.

“I was sure to upgrade my course for this, yet you prevailed! The symbol’s all yours, Tailor.”

As they reached for it, a familiar heat coursed through them again before vanishing.

Silence washed over the two, and Signol’s expression fell slightly.
“Are you okay, Tailor?”

They looked up at him, and nodded. That was all he needed to be reassured.
“Well then, I’ll teleport you back to the Sky Emporium now, yeah? If you need me again, you know where to find me, okay?”

A small chuckle fell past their lips.
“Got it, Signol.”

Chapter Text

Returning from Small Studio, they noticed that Shallare was gone, the raised platform empty.
Assuming he went back to the Cruise, they looked for Cyalm, noticing he, too, was gone.

The lights above them flickered, they flinched and looked up, but let out a sigh of relief that nothing was above them.
Though, were there always that many lights up there?

They brushed it off and proceeded to the next world’s entrance, staring at the spikes sticking out of the ground near it.
Its name was quite frightening, ‘Frozen Wasteland’ was quite a turn of theme considering the worlds they’ve gone through so far.

Nonetheless, they stepped inside of the portal and were whisked away instantaneously to a cold, foggy area.
They couldn’t see much except anything in their immediate vicinity, and what was there was snow.
Snow that seemed to slowly swallow them deeper in its grip, and whatever they tried, they couldn’t seem to escape it.
There was no warning or anything that could’ve helped them identify it was dangerous, unless it was covered by the fog and they were too far out to see any signs.

Just as when they were about to fully submerge into the snow, closing their eyes to submit to their fate as they couldn’t do anything else, they were fished out of it.
Audible panting from their rescuer as they fell downwards to solid ice.
They were panting, and so was their rescuer. Maybe it was because whoever rescued them pulled them out of snowy quicksand.

“.. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

They opened their eyes and blinked. Once, twice, and then sat up.
“No, I’m okay, I think.. I probably should’ve been more careful though, right?”

Heavy boots came over to them, kneeling down to get a better look at the Tailor.
He stared into their eyes and they did the same.

They saw his symbol, an 8-pointed star was on his face, his head colored a light gray.
They noticed the lack of facial expression, not even his mouth was visible.
Aside from his facial features, they took note of the blue parka he wore with several buttons, reaching to his knees.

“You’re the new Tailor, yes?”

“That’d be right, yeah..”

“Let’s get you up then.”

He stood up and reached out to them, taking his hand, they were guided away from the area and to somewhere much safer.
Surprisingly, it took them quite a while to get there, and when they looked back, they could barely see the area.
Part of them wonders if it ever existed in the first place.
“This wasn’t how I expected our meeting to go, but at least you’re relatively safe.”

They were shivering, it wasn’t an exaggeration when it said that it was cold.
“Ah- you might need these.”
Looking at him again, he had a smaller parka and gloves in his hands.
They took the clothes from him and put them on, feeling significantly warmer.

“My name is Compale, the Point of Frozen Wasteland. As you can see, the climate’s quite harsh here.”
They tried burying themselves into the parka, still feeling cold.
“You already have a sufficient amount of threads already, but if you aim to gain more, especially here.. I’ll let you indulge.”

They started walking off to another side of the area until Compale called out to them.
“Make sure you know where you’re going! My world can be quite unforgiving, I’m sorry I can’t do much to help.”
They nodded to him and disappeared into the fog.

Their vision was constantly blocked by the thick mist surrounding them, and at times they wandered aimlessly in search of a path that would lead them to a new thread.

Thankfully enough, most of the Wasteland stayed on the ground, and they only had to climb up once.
When they did, they were surprised to see the fog didn’t stop there, but the further up they went, it gradually cleared.
“Goodness gracious..”

As they looked down, most of the land was enveloped in fog.
Grimacing, they went to go get the rest of the threads to not keep him waiting, it’d be rude of them if they left him there to stand in the frosty weather.

Fortunately, they came back not long after they left, most of the threads were in one area branching out into three paths, save for the one they had to climb for.

Despite the lack of expression, he greeted them with a warm gaze.
“Tailor, you’ve returned.. Now, are you more confident in your abilities?”
They nodded, trying to hide the fact their teeth were chattering.
He hummed, and gave them a small smile.
“I wish you luck, Tailor..”

The challenge course was quite short, despite nearly slipping up a few times, they managed to make it to the end unscathed.
They were transported to another area, less cold than the wasteland they were previously in.

Compale stood in the middle, patiently waiting for them without the parka and boots.
Tailor removed the clothes they were handed and gave them to him, which he sent away
“Where are we?”

“It’s a fleeting escape, Tailor.” He responded. “You may have completed my challenge course, but there is another trial you must go through before you fully gain my trust.”
They raised a brow at his words.

“You must prove yourself to me in combat.”

Tailor stiffened at his words, looking up at him in disbelief, to which he simply responded with a smile.
“Grab the yellow sewing needle when it appears in front of you, it shall be your weapon in battle.”

“Oh- okay, okay!” They replied excitedly, before giving him a look of concern.
“Wait, won’t you get hurt?”

“Not at all, this’ll simply be a test of your strength. You don’t have to worry, but thank you for your concern.”
They gave him a bright smile and watched as he floated upward to the other side of the arena.

A sewing needle appeared in front of them, and as soon as they brought it into their hands, the atmosphere of the place shifted.

Snowflakes and icicles were thrown their way, which they had no trouble with, but when he moved to release a shockwave by pushing down on a bigger icicle, it got slightly complicated.

It all went so fast, but they didn’t mind. All they could recall during the battle is the rush it gave them, how Compale’s attacks were relatively easy to dodge, and battling him with ease.

Things changed when he reverted to his true form, however.

They had to stop themselves from staring and focus on fighting him, though he did find it quite amusing how they were lost in thought before remembering they had to attack.

When he shifted the arena’s direction, it threw them for a loop, but it made them more enthusiastic about the battle as a whole.
They would never admit it, but having icicles directed to them while being restricted in a closed space was quite exhilarating.

Words were tossed around during battle, all kind and never malicious. Some words even made the lighter part of his gradient rise.

At the end of the battle, they were quite worn out, but very satisfied.

“Such a brilliant show of expertise! You’ve truly proven that you’re worthy of being the next Tailor.”
The pair exchanged smiles as Tailor reached for his symbol, the searing heat making them let out a sigh of relief.

“That was so awesome! Can we go again?”
Compale looked at them fondly and laid a hand on their head gently.

“Maybe after you’ve defeated Celesteal, yes?”

“Sure! Man, I can’t wait until I kick his butt to the stratosphere!”
They said, making hand chop motions to which he chuckled at.

“Would you like to return to the emporium? Cyalm is surely waiting.”

“One more thing-”
He looked at them curiously, before feeling arms wrap around his waist.
“I feel like you need this, since you’re always so cold.”
It took him a bit, but he hugged back.

“Alright then, off you go, Tailor.”

They smiled up at him one last time.
“Bye bye, Compale!”

Even after they left, he could still feel their warmth.

He really was cold.

Chapter Text

They opened their eyes to see they had returned to the entrance of Frozen Wasteland.
With Signol and Compale’s symbols gathered, they approached the door, which glowed before giving them access to the next room.

Walking in, they noticed Cyalm resting inside a gazebo, reading a book and having a cup of what they assumed was tea.
They rushed over to greet him, the sudden taps of rapid footsteps alerting the Point.
“Oh, Tailor! Quite the outside area, don’t you think? Ploque has truly outdone herself this time.”

They tilted their head in confusion. “Who are they?”

“Ploque is the Point of the next world you’ll be going to, Wooden Wilderness.”
Cyalm turned his head to look and Tailor followed his gaze, to an area near overgrown vegetation, almost looking like it pooled out of the nearby portal.

They gasped, looking at him again.
“I’m going in there?”

He nodded, giving them a slight smile before going back to his book.
“You best be off now, you wouldn’t want to keep her waiting, yes?”

Nodding, they exited the gazebo and walked over to the portal, hesitant to enter due to being slightly intimidated by the amount of plants near its entrance.
They shrugged it off, and eagerly wandered into the portal.

What they didn’t expect to see was more overgrown vegetation, but this time, it was covering an area they assumed was important for getting out of where they stood.

Looking around, they saw a cleverly hidden blue button, they shucked the vines off of it, and pressed it.
The sound of rustling vines behind them caught their attention, and they looked back to see that the plants had parted, granting them the ability to walk to the other side, which they did.

From there, they climbed a few vines to reach the top, and when they did so, they saw a wide expanse of land covered in plants, trees, and flowers.
They stood there for a while, admiring the rows of flowers that looked as if they shifted colors every few seconds.
“How am I supposed to find threads here? It looks like it stretches out forever..”

They got down from where they were and walked north until they could hopefully find something.
Lo and behold, there laid a giant tree. So giant, they couldn’t even see the top of it, only seeing large branches that looked like it could house several hundred people.

“So.. Big! So cool!”
They circled the tree and counted the seconds it took them to finish fully going around the tree, before they realized they were going in circles because they forgot to set a mark on where the circle would end.

“Okay! Focus, let’s look for threads!”

They slowly turned to the tree.. They did recall seeing a hole in it, so there must be a thread in there, right?

After spending a few minutes climbing it, they got their answer. Yes, there was indeed a thread up in the tree.
Tailor then moved to the flower fields, finding a random ditch on accident by falling face first into it, but it wasn’t a serious issue.
Exiting and climbing out of the narrow tunnel, a few flower petals had found their way to their clothes which they dusted off.

Looking up into the sky, it reminded them of the cozy view they saw on Shallare’s ship, warmth came to their cheeks remembering the fond memory.
They marched back to the tree, hoping to find Ploque as they had gathered all the threads they could find, counting and recounting to make sure they were the same amount of threads they found in previous worlds.

Thankfully, they did indeed find who they assumed was Ploque, as they hadn’t seen anyone else but stray wildlife, who had a brown gradient that faded into a sandy yellow at her feet.
A flower crown was on her head, and she was canopied by vines that broke free from the ground.

She looked distracted, so they took the time to make sure they were confident and they had every thread her world had to offer, because they could never live with themselves if they had to give her an excuse for getting more threads when they had plenty of time to do so when she wasn’t around.

Taking a deep breath, they approached her cautiously, threads coiled around their arms.
“Hello?” They said to garner her attention, which they successfully did.

A smile bloomed on her face as she stood, walking towards the Tailor with grace.
“Greetings, little one. Are you the new Tailor I was informed about?”

They nodded, presenting her the threads on their arms with a large grin.
“I got all the threads!”
They didn’t know what made her feel so motherly, but beneath her warm gaze, they felt like a child.

She gasped softly and laughed at the display, bending down to their level.
“How wonderful! Tell me, what’s your name, treasure?”

Their smile fell, and they pursed their lips in thought.
“I.. I don’t know.”

She kept her expression, yet something about it felt slightly solemn.
A flower sprouted from her hand, tucking it behind their ear.
“That’s okay, but you’ll figure it out one day, yes?”

They nodded, but soon switched the topic.
“I think I need to get your symbol, would you please take me to your challenge course?”

“Of course treasure, watch your step during my course though. Thorns can get quite sharp.”
With that, they were carried away by vines, some reaching up to cover their eyes to conceal the changes in their surroundings.

They tried to pry off the vines, to no avail. It took them a few minutes but eventually the vines fell from their eyes, revealing that most of the areas they had explored were blocked off by her symbol.

The challenge course itself was fairly easy, almost like a combination of Shallare and Signol’s.
They just hoped they didn’t have to prove themselves in combat like they did with Compale, but that seemed highly unlikely with Ploque.

Once they reached the end of the course, she was in the same position she sat in when they saw her for the first time, canopied by vines near the large tree.
Except, the large tree’s stump seemed carved out, revealing her symbol.

“Well done, Tailor. I knew you could do it.”
She gave them a smile and waited for them to come to her.
“If you ever need any sort of advice, you can come to me. I’ll do my best to help.”

They felt a grin grow on their face and hugged her, and she reciprocated.
“Feel no pressure, defeating Celesteal will come naturally to you if this is the pace you're going at, little one.”

They nodded and headed for her symbol, the heat no longer bothering them as much.

“I’ll transport you back to the emporium now. Stay safe, Tailor.”

Chapter Text

They walked down the steps from Ploque's portal, seeing Cyalm waiting near a doorway, presumably for them.
"You may find some Points that seem hesitant on giving you their symbols. Don't let that discourage you though, it'll just take some more time before they.. Grow on you."

He chuckled as they groaned at the terrible pun.
"But really, they just need time. Celesteal has everyone on edge, and I don't blame them."
He paused, glancing over to the next room.
"Those two in particular.. It'll be hard to gain their trust."

Tailor looked at the door in front of them, which was quite big.
"Will I have to work harder for them?"

"No doubt that you have no other option but to."
They held a worried expression before Cyalm put a comforting hand on their shoulder.
"You'll do good, Tailor. I'm sure of that."

“But what if something goes wrong?”
He sighed, gently taking hold of their hand.

“Tailor, with all the effort you’ve put into gathering threads so far, I doubt anything would go even remotely wrong. Trust me, all your hard work will pay off and you’ll gain their trust.”
He gave them a knowing smile, letting go of their hand.

“I just know it. Now go in there, can’t leave them waiting after all.”

They smiled and thanked him, before he stepped aside and opened the large door to let them enter.

What they saw was mesmerizing.

It was quite the spectacle; stars and clouds roamed about in the room aimlessly, and in the middle of the room was a floating moon.
Their first instinct was to try and catch one of the stars, and they failed horribly.

Looking to the left, they saw a glowing white portal with the words 'Dream Domain' above it.
Observing the entrance a bit more carefully, they noticed a cloud coming out of it, and it joined the rest of those in the room.

They then took notice of Signol staring at the hovering sphere.
Underneath it was nothing special, it was simply a reflective surface, similar to a mirror.

Walking over to them, they expected the talk to be awkward but in a turn of events, he started it.
"There's a secret room around here somewhere, I wonder if you can find it?"
That piqued their interest, but they didn't want to go find it just yet.

“Sounds cool, but I don’t think I can do that right now.”

Signol gave them a thumbs up. “'S okay! Once you get back, you’re totally finding it though.”

Just as they were about to leave, they saw Compale looking out into the blue sky, mumbling to himself.
It was almost uncanny, not having fog surrounding him.
Eagerly approaching, they gave him a hug from behind, to which he flinched before feeling his hand grip theirs.

"Hello Tailor, was Ploque's world nice to you?"
They disconnected from him and nodded.
"Good, I'm glad she's alright. Lately she hasn't been coming out and we're concerned. But that's a story for another day, you go and get your next symbol."

"Yes sir!"
They playfully said, jogging over to Dream Domain's portal and entering.

When they looked at their surroundings, raised columns of marble were the first things they saw.
Climbing upwards, they noticed the purple and blue stars illuminating the area around them, realizing that everything was darker.

"Maybe it's just because I'm down here. " They said, continuing the climb upwards.
When the climb ended, they noticed a gate with two people guarding it.

"Excuse me?"
They looked down at the Tailor, much smaller in comparison to them.

"Who might you be?"
They said in unison, making them flinch at how loud they were.

Shifting their feet, they took a deep breath.
"The Tailor? I need to get threads and the next symbol."
They felt nervous, the cold setting in on their feet as they stared up at the two.

Silence.

It was the most uncomfortable they felt, under two pairs of eyes that could be judging them underneath their metal coverings.

“Please, enter.” Their voices boomed, the gate opening with an audible creak.
Swiftly running past, they muttered a small thank you before looking around as they moved forward.

The sky was painted with hues of blues and purples, together in tandem to form a beautiful sunset above.
All their worries seemed to evaporate as their shoulders fell, watching more clouds and stars float around them, some even brushing against their face.

They saw a ramp and a figure with a yellow-orange gradient standing with their front facing a fountain positioned in the center of the world, so they ran over to say hello.
Tailor noticed the light yellow shirt and beige vest they wore, with matching brown pants to match.
Before they could utter a word, the Point started to speak.

“I never thought I’d be there when a new Tailor would step out into the world once more..”
He spoke in such a soft voice, that they could barely hear it.
“I suppose.. I owe you a more formal introduction to this place.”

He turned around and wings sprouted from his back, framing him like an angel.
They supposed he was, considering how his world looked so far.

“I am Anshine. Welcome to Dream Domain.”
His symbol was a normal 5-pointed star, likely the first proper star as a symbol.

“This place feels like home!”
Tailor beamed, amazement written in their features as they looked around.

He smiled at them, though something about it felt.. Off.
“I’m glad. This place is home to many others, mainly to my dream guardians.”
From the tilt of their head, he knew he had more to explain.

“Dream guardians are those who guard the vivid realities of those constructed by ones asleep,” He spoke, referring to those below them.
“They help keep those below us safe and happy, but I can’t always guarantee they’ll be okay in the end.”
He added, tone becoming somber.

“At least you try, right?” They said, keeping their smile from before. “It’s the best you can do.”

He gave them a fond expression.
“Thank you, Tailor. I appreciate your thoughts.” He looked lost in thought for a bit, but gave them a small grin.
“But don’t you have threads to collect? I think that’s more important right now, yes?”

“Oh, yeah!” They said, looking at the tower behind him.
“Thank you for reminding me, I’ll go and get them now?”

“Take your time, I won’t be far, Tailor.”

They certainly did take their time, wandering around Dream Domain and looking into every nook and crevice it had to offer, even under the ramp they went up from.
When they passed by, he would gaze at them to see where they would go, and chuckled when they bolted in the other direction.

On the Tailor’s side, they spent a lot of time exploring, backtracking, looking around, and making turns and twists to find anything else that was in his world.
Sometimes they’d get distracted by the surrounding area, pacified by the view of swirling lights and stars, stopping them from acquiring more threads.

Finally, Tailor had acquired all of the threads in the domain. Or at least all of the threads they thought there’d be, they swore they counted!
Waltzing back over to the fountain, Anshine greeted them and stood from his sitting position.
“Well, do you feel confident enough in your abilities?”

“Ab-so-lutely! Got all the threads right here!”
They showed him their arms and he couldn’t fight the smile that rose to his face.

“Creative, Tailor. Now, let’s get squared away.”

A sense of displacement set in after Tailor had been moved from their position.
“I’ll never get used to that, will I?” They said, walking forward to climb the stairs beside the fountain.

The sky had turned darker, making some things hard to see.
Every other area was blocked off with his symbol, and for the first time they tried walking into it.
It felt like a solid wall, so they didn’t try again.

Though the challenge course was more difficult than anticipated, they prevailed and met Anshine near an area they’d never been to before.
“A good show of skill! I’ll give you my symbol like I promised, but I’d like to talk to you about something first.”

They nodded, and his symbol lit up, presenting a holographic bubble with an image of the first Tailor and the Shadow Seamstress.
“I never brought it up with anyone else, but I found you to be an exception. A very important one.”

He proceeded to tell them how the details of the battle between the Seamstress and first Tailor fall awry with how the story usually goes.
Rather than having the Tailor return after the heinous villainess’ defeat, they too, vanished along with her.

“It might have been 300 years since this happened, but something about it doesn’t feel right. Which is why I’m telling you,” The hologram disappeared, his symbol’s light dying down as he looked at them. “So you’ll know the real fate of the first Tailor.”

A shiver shot up their spine, it couldn’t be! The memory of their ancestors’ ancestors weren’t real? Did they not see the return of the first Tailor three centuries ago on that day?

“It’s a lot to take in, I know, and I apologize for that, but you’re the only one who can listen. Cyalm is insistent on keeping my mouth shut about it, and I don’t know why.”

Silence fell between the two, a veil of thinly hidden tension sprouting.

“It’s okay.” Tailor finally said, letting out a breath they didn’t even know they were holding in.
“I.. Just don’t know how to feel, I guess?”
A sigh escaped their lips, unsure of how to process it all, feeling utterly clueless where they stood.

Anshine stepped aside, revealing the brightly colored symbol, which they gingerly touched with their hands.
The heat felt significantly hotter, and they didn’t know why. Maybe it was because they’re already on their 5th symbol, which was a win in their book.

“Thank you, Anshine, I appreciate you trusted me enough with what you know, even when Cyalm told you to keep quiet about it.”

He smiled at them fondly.
“Of course, it’s no big problem for me at all.”

Tailor was about to give him the same expression back when they suddenly yawned, covering their mouth right after to hide their embarrassment.
He chortled and patted them on the back, reassuring them that it’s no problem if they slept in Dream Domain, as he knew it could have that effect.

“So.. Could I sleep here?”
They said curiously, sitting beside him near the fountain.

“Of course. If you do, I’ll make sure to defend your dreams while you’re at it.”

They thought about it for a while. And it continued, until-
“I’m.. Gonna go to sleep, okay?”

“That’s fine with me, Tailor.”

“Thank you.”

He sat, a sleeping Tailor resting in his arms, hushing them whenever they showed signs of waking up.
It stayed like that for a while, before they eventually woke up with a slightly sore neck due to the position they were in.
“How long was I out?”

“Couple of hours.”

They furrowed their brows, taking a look at their hands.
“Huh..”

He hummed, looking at them as they laid in his lap a bit more.
“Didn’t know time went so slow here.”

“Or, it could be going quite fast. None of us know, not many of us, anyway.”

They gently pushed his arms away, reaching up and stretching their limbs.
“Alright, I think it’s best if you head back to the emporium, yes?”
They slumped over, groaning and letting out incoherent noises.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Almost in an instant, they were back in the starry night room they were in previously.
Signol and Compale had both gone, but they didn’t really think much of it.

Looking at the floating moon and what causes its reflection in the first place and jumped straight into it, feeling no leftover ‘water’ from where it originated from.

And in front of them were the words,
‘Moonlight Melancholy’.

Chapter Text

Water.

It was so unexpected, but seeing as the previous room in the Sky Emporium had water, they shouldn’t have been so surprised.

They were on a platform made of sandstone, surrounded by water that was only mere inches away from reaching them.

“Ookay.. This is.. Whoa, okay.”
The only thing in front of them was a small parkour segment which they got through easily, and eventually, they got up to a much higher point than they were before.
Looking out into the water, they gave it a puzzled look.

“Weird.. If I started out down there, why do I have to go here?”
As if on cue, the high tide came in and engulfed all the platforms below in water.
Tailor turned pale as they looked out to the water, that they could’ve been swallowed by the sea if they hadn’t been fast enough.

“No going back there then.. Alright..”
Turning around, there was more area compared to where they were previously.
However, there was no sign of the next Point they were supposed to meet.

Unless the tide was a sign..
They turned back again to see no one, and shrugged their suspicions off and started to march off, looking for Threads.

It took them longer than usual to find the pieces of twine, mostly because some areas had to be accessed in very specific ways, leading them to rack their brain a little more to understand.
Nonetheless, through very questionable places and tiring obstacle courses, they had acquired all the threads.

Looking at their arms again, they sighed. No loose threads appeared to be there, unless they weren’t looking hard enough.
“I’ll check around this place one more time,” they said, unaware of the platform that was rising behind them. “Then, maybe I’ll find the Point of this place.”

Off they went, looking for more threads possibly laying around, lily pads and lotus flowers sprouting near the waters they passed by.
Turning a corner, their eyes brightened at the sight of a loose thread.

As they rushed to get it, the platform the thread was on suddenly shot upwards, shoving the Tailor back quite a bit, causing them to land on the rough stone beneath them, almost falling into the water.

“What was that about?”
Groaning, they sat up and slowly brought themselves to stand.
Crossing their arms, they huffed. How could the thread have just run off like that? It didn’t make much sense to them.

They ignored it, searching for another loose thread, typically the one they’d always find last.

The amount of lily pads and lotuses increased, practically taking up almost all the space of the water spread out around the world.
Eventually, they came across a loose thread lying innocently on the ground, which they approached way too carefully for their own tastes, thinking it would be taken away from them like the one they sought earlier.

In one quick motion, they snagged the thread and held onto it tightly, afraid it would float away or they would get launched into the air. But there was nothing.

They braced themselves for the impact, too. Closing their eyes and protecting their face.
After a few seconds, they let their guard down, but remained cautious.
There could be something out to get them and they would’ve never known.

While still unsure of what could be out there, they counted the amount of threads on their arms, including the one they held in their hands.
It was all complete, except for the one they failed to get due to the pillar rising out of the blue.

Taking a deep breath, only now did they notice the abundance of plants surrounding them, growing from the ground below to which they suspected, which it did, for a while.
“What in the..?”

Going back from when they started, they were surprised to see most of it had completely changed over the time they were gone.
They also noticed something very, very strange.
A thread on a platform that was never raised before, and they assumed it was the one that got snagged away from them.

Tailor then tried to find a way to climb it, wanting to get that final thread and qualify for the next challenge course.
Little did they know who would be waiting for them above..

Reaching the top, they set their eyes on the thread first and tried reaching out for it.

“I don’t think that belongs to you.”
Said a cold voice, cutting through the silence.

They turned, confused and trying to look for who said it. Did they do something wrong? They’re just trying to collect threads for Cyalm.
“Uh, I’m supposed to get these?”

“Don’t.”
The voice boomed, and the moonlight shone on them as if they were brought into the spotlight.

“You’re making a grave mistake. Leave at once or I’ll gladly force you to.”
They started thinking about why they should leave, and they didn’t really see a reasonable answer, so they promptly responded with a no.

“I don’t understand, what’s so bad about me collecting all the threads?”
They felt a gust of wind breeze past them as the voice finally had a face to recognize.

She had a black fading to purple gradient, and wore a light purple sweater.
On her face laid her symbol, a purple crescent moon facing downward.
Quite visibly, she was angry. The way she stood so still across from them gave Tailor shivers.

“You might think me a fool like the rest, but I’ve seen what you’ve done, I know what you really are!”

Two crescents suddenly charged from the side, which they jumped over just in time to avoid them.

“I’m sorry if this bothers you but, I really, really need to get your symbol!-”
She kept attacking, and Tailor tried their best to dodge, unprepared for the sudden battle they were having.

The brief ambush stopped, and to that they let out a sigh of relief, looking up at the Point who just tried to gravely injure them.

“You actually went out and gained all the threads in this world..”
She paused, glancing at the thread behind her.
“Except that.”

The thread came to her, and she tossed it upwards where they couldn’t reach.
Tailor was visibly alarmed at this, voicing their concerns.

“Hey, I needed that!”

She scowled at them, crescents surrounding the platform they were on.
“Your journey ends here, and if I must be the one to help you see that, then fine.”

Without warning, the water from below had risen up and taken them down, quite horribly at that.
They couldn’t breathe inside the water, so panic overtook them until they were set down on the sandstone.

Symbol walls surrounded the area, and they already knew what they had to do.
The challenge course wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t too hard.
“I’d give it a 5..” They said under their breath, finally reaching the Point in another room.

“If this is the way I’ll put an end to this, so be it. You will face my wrath.”

A familiar yellow sewing needle was brought out and they suddenly felt cold.
‘Resolving things with violence won’t always work..’

They thought to themselves, taking hold of the needle.
‘But I don’t have any other option here.’

The fight itself was exciting, it really pushed them to their limit to test what they had learned so far and put it in combat.
When she flooded the arena with water, it gave them some time to breathe from all the moving they had to do, which was a relief.

This continued for a long while, until she revealed her true form, where her symbol changed to reveal an upside down crescent below the other.

“Leave, now!”
She said, sounding utterly livid, crescents spawned at her side.

“Not a chance!”
Tailor replied, brandishing their sewing needle.

The battle continued, and crescents were constantly being thrown their way, but with a little smart dodging and small ways to attack, they prevailed!

“Oh- oh man, oh wow, that was, heh-”
She stood in the middle, symbol just beside her but kept an unforgiving expression, showing no concern as they tried to catch their breath.

When they did stand to get her symbol, she said one final thing.
“You think you’re something special? You’re nothing but a fool who doesn’t understand what they’re getting into.”

They sighed, suddenly feeling cold again. “Can I have.. The thread you took earlier?”
She was silenced, but brought forward the thread and gave it to them.
“Thank you.. And I’m sorry.”

No other words were exchanged as she brought them back to the emporium.

Chapter Text

Arriving back at the Sky Emporium, they sighed. Maybe they’d take a break for now, maybe go ahead and chat with.. Naen? If they were right, Cyalm did mention him before.
Seeing Solgon, they gave him a brief wave from outside of the Tutorial Center before going on the jump pad that led up to the Bonus Level shop.

It felt quite strange knowing that they could get bonus levels and go through them, but ultimately the threads they would find would serve little purpose other than being decorative.
They’ll give him credit, it’s a very creative idea. But it hardly struck them as being a lucrative career.

Walking in, they were greeted with a whistling Naen as he cleaned a counter, putting away the cloth at the sight of Tailor.
“Greetings, welcome to the Bonus Level shop. Levels are purchased here at the front counter, if you’d like, you can view all of them by entering the door to your left.”

Green, green everywhere.
That was the first thing they took notice of besides Naen’s symbol, a green 6-pointed star, and what he wore.
They smiled at him, attempting to spark small talk. “Quite the establishment you have here.”

They noticed the coffee equipment behind him, did this place act as a cafe, too?

“Yes. Cyalm gave me the job and I graciously accepted, quite the gentleman that one.”
He didn’t seem to make much eye contact, probably not used to being talked to, or the fact that he has no visible eyes.

Growing curious, Tailor got more daring.
“How many visitors do you get? And- how long have you been working here, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He hummed, looking to his fingers to count and thought about it for a few more seconds than they liked.

“Around a century. Sold levels after their builders wanted me to advertise their creations and got this job. Eventually I was sought out by Cyalm and that’s how I’m here. As for visitors..”
He trailed off, taking a breath and continuing.
“Not many come here, not as often as they did anyway.”

Their expression fell, walking over to him and sitting on a stool. “I’m sorry about that.”
He gave them a tired smile.
“No need, Solgon empathizes with me, the poor fellow is quite lonely himself.”

Before the awkwardness set in, they asked one more question.
“So, why don’t we talk a little bit more about ourselves?”

Time had passed and before they knew it, they were talking to him about past memories they didn’t even know about.
“- And that’s why I stopped going there. Not to mention the color was tacky.”
He chuckled. “I can’t expect anything less from a business that stands on stilts for height.”

They fought a snicker at his analogy, glancing behind them to see Cyalm.
Turning fully, Naen looked up to find him leaning against the entrance.
“Well Naen, like them?”
He nodded. “Yes sir.”

He then turned his gaze toward the Tailor.
“Think you’re ready to open the next door?”
They mumbled a small ‘mhm’ and bid him a quick farewell before following the Point.

With the previous three’s symbols acquired, the door glowed and opened to reveal a library, with large bookshelves lining the walls.
“Be sure to keep quiet, yes?”

They nodded, and the pair walked inside as the door closed behind them.
As they looked around to explore, they noticed Cyalm walking away.
Waiting a while, they thought they might catch up after a few minutes.

Just as they were about to turn the corner, they heard a conversation between him and someone else.
Now, eavesdropping wasn’t nice, but this might be useful, so they crouched down and peeked from behind the bookshelf.

“- You’re not giving me any proper answers, how exactly did you come to know about Celesteal?”
They could see Anshine and Cyalm talking to each other, the former being visibly upset.

“I already told you, I found them throughout my travels, their power was greater than I could ever imagine, hence why I brought in a second Tailor.” He replied calmly.

“I can’t bring myself to believe you if you don’t give me any details.”

“I don’t need your faith, I need the Tailor’s.” He responded coldly.

Anshine fell silent, his symbol’s light dimming. “Is that so?”

“You and Ulipse are very much alike, causing nothing but trouble.”

They argued back and forth for a bit more until Cyalm went deeper into the library past Anshine.
‘Maybe later,’ They told themselves. ‘I’ll tell him I heard it all.’

Tailor looked through the books until the Point eventually came back.
“I think it’s about time you go onto the next world, yes?”
They nodded, not bothering to bring themselves to give him a verbal response.
“Let me direct you then, come along.”

Through the bookshelves, they came across a tent with books surrounding it, a small electric lantern lit on one pile of them.
A wooden sign hung from the ceiling, written in fancy calligraphy with the words ‘Enchanted Myth Gaiety’.
“Go along, and if you slide down, let it happen. Arrolin tends to change entrances.”
They looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Enter and find out.”

Thankfully, whatever slide Cyalm was referring to wasn’t how they entered, instead, they felt a gradual change in their surroundings before turning and being greeted by a wide area full of creatures that felt straight out of storybooks and fairytales.

Noticing a figure surrounded by these creatures, they walked up to them.
As they got closer, the figure became.. Bigger, not that everyone was the same size as them, they had grown used to all of the Points being taller, or shorter in Cyalm’s case.

They also noticed a tail coming from them, which they avoided stepping on, afraid of causing a violent reaction.

Arrolin, or at least who they assumed was her, greeted them with a small smile.
“Welcome to our humble home! I take it you’re the tailor, yeah?”

They fought back a laugh seeing the fairies pull at her clothes.
“Yep, that’s me.”

“I’m kind of..” She looked up and down on her body, just absolutely swarmed by them. “Occupied right now, you think you can get some threads while I work them out of my own?”

“Sure, no problem!”

Leaving Arrolin to fend for herself, they walked around and saw dragons resting in caves above, bringing whatever gold and jewelry to their own hoard.
They saw what was in store first hand after following a trail to get a thread, and promptly rushed out when they were told to.

Aside from the fire breathers, they also ventured underwater, seeing mermaids and sirens bicker amongst themselves as they hurriedly swam away after acquiring a thread from the Kraken’s domain.

Honestly, they were quite unsure of how they were still alive, but they didn’t care!

Now having collected all the threads, they walked back to greet Arrolin, who pried the last fairy off of her just in time.

“Alright then! I presume you want to go through my challenge course now?”
They nodded, and with a very enthusiastic clap of her hands, the whole vibe of the place changed.

Tailor secretly prayed that there wasn’t going to be any octopi, dragons or anything else chasing them during the course, and thankfully nothing did.

Landing on the ground, she sang loud praises at their speed and precision.

“Completed with elegance and finesse, definitely the type of Tailor I want to root for!”
Arrolin said, making way for them to grab the symbol, the warm heat from acquiring it making them let out a sigh.

“I aim to please, thanks Arrolin.”

“After this, you’ll be headed to Cell Barranca, which would be my pal Mino’s world! If you’d like, I could give you some company.”
She tapped her foot on the floor, eagerly awaiting a response.

“Ooh, that so? I’d be happy to have you come along.”

“Aw, yeah!” She pumped her fists into the air. “Speaking of, we can go there now! Why waste time?”

“Oh, well I was just-”
They were cut off before they knew it, transported by Arrolin back to the Emporium.

Chapter Text

Recently exiting Arrolin’s world, they now tried making it out of the library while producing as little noise as a half-dragon and robloxian could.
This proved to be difficult when you’re trying to exit as quickly as possible.
Not to say it wasn’t an easy feat, but it took them less time than expected.

“Heyhey, I gotta tell you something.” Tailor said, looking around to try and find a certain someone.
Glancing at them, Arrolin asked. “Yeah? What?”

“I need you to give me a bit of privacy if we find Anshine on our way there, yeah?”
Her symbol compressed a bit, much how you would express suspicion with the exception of not having an eye.. Or eyes.

“Why so? I know the guy’s cool, but is he that cool?”
Their expression turned serious.
“It’s not ‘cause he’s cool, it’s because I need to ask him something.”

She dragged out a long ‘ooh’, looking at them with a smile.
“I see, I see.. Well, good luck with that then!”

Fortunately, they did see Anshine sitting on a chair with his arms folded and head placed between them. He probably dozed off.
Tailor stopped in front of his table, which caused him to wake up and rub his symbol, so their light returned.
“.. Mmh, hello?”

“Hey, Anshine, wake up.”
He yawned and rested his head on the wooden surface. “Is it important?”

They looked to the other end of the room, only to find that Arrolin was gone. “A bit, yeah.”
He yawned once again before sighing.
“Go ahead, tell me.”

“So.. I heard you and Cyalm talking earlier-”

At that, he shot up and turned his head to them, a horrified look on his face.
“You heard what?!” He whisper-shouted, unable to bring himself to yell in a place where they’d get punished for doing so.

Tailor brought their hands in front of them as a defense.
“Whoa whoa, wait, I don’t plan on telling!”
Anshine looked at them, then at the table he was sleeping on, then at them again.

“You listened in?” He asked curiously, wondering how they managed to do so without getting caught.

They nodded. “I just went to look for Cyalm, and then you two were arguing, but I didn’t hear the whole thing.”
Anshine sighed and put his head in his hands.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that, I was just sick of not getting any answers from them.”

They gave him a pat on the back.
“Trust me, it’s alright. But I’ll tell you one thing.” As Anshine stared up at them, they looked down.
“It was kinda messed up, how he said he didn’t value your faith.”

“Eh..” He looked to the side. “I’ve learned to not question it now, it’s always been like that with him.”

“Geez, sounds rough.. Well, I need to go find Arrolin, see you soon.” They gave him one last pat on the back before leaving.
“Goodbye, Tailor.”

Exiting the library, they were met with a sight they shouldn’t have been so surprised at.
It was Arrolin talking with Ploque, Tailor assumed they were in their own world and tried to walk by without interrupting them.
They couldn’t really make it past two steps until the Point of Myths called for them.

“Oh, hey Tailor!”
They really wanted to curl in on themselves as they approached the two, preferring collecting threads and symbols over talking for long periods of time.
It grew on them, they’ll admit.

“Hey, you go ahead and talk to Mino first, I’ll catch up with you, is that alright?”

Oh. They didn’t expect that, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
“Sure, Arrolin. See you there!”

Reaching the portal to the next world, they felt quite uneasy, for a reason they couldn’t put a finger on.
Brushing it off, they entered the portal and the first thing they saw were many, many pipes.
Looking to the side, they observed how large the fall would be if, hypothetically, they did fall.
And man was it a nasty fall, even with water to save them.

They climbed on the first few pipes and got onto another gray platform, seeing a robot, who also had a symbol displayed on the inside of their ‘face’.
Looking at them a little closer, they wore gloves and attire you’d usually see a librarian in, which felt quite strange to Tailor.
Approaching them, they were surprised when the bot started speaking.

“All data systems online, user interface restored.. Initiating ‘WELCOME’ message..”
They didn’t quite know what to do, so they stayed there until Mino was finished.

“HELLO! Welcome to CELL BARRANCA. Please attempt to enjoy your experience, as it gives me JOY.”
They didn’t know how to say it, but they were terrified. Something about the certain emphasis on words just unsettled them.

“I’ll.. Try?” They said, unsure if their response would be recognized by them.
The Point-bot fusion didn’t have a mouth, but their response,
“Your attempts will succeed, I know this.” Made it sound like they had a smile while saying it.

Sending themselves off, they went to explore as much of the world as possible, narrowly avoiding water puddles that were too near electricity despite usually being quite brave.
They found a mini library stored away somewhere, in a small hut hidden away from all the big objects.
“What could this place be used for? Looks kinda old, like nobody’s been here for ages..”

As they left the hut, they thought about the robot more as they went to collect threads around the place, running around from area to area in search of loose threads or anything else they might have missed around the world.

Once they made sure that yes, they had every thread, loose or not, with them and that they were qualified for Mino’s challenge course.
Walking up to Mino, they gave Tailor the head tilt of acknowledgement.

“Client has collected ; 48 threads.. Processing..”
Their symbol spun like a loading icon, which they found quite creative.
In those little seconds, where they waited for them to process- something, they felt an unreasonable feeling of being stared at.
They glanced behind them, focusing on their own breathing and the turning of gears behind them.

“Is the client ready for the challenge course?”
Mino looked at them, waiting for an answer.

“Yep! I’m good to go.”
They responded, still slightly on edge from a few seconds ago.

“Well then,” Their voice suddenly changed, to something more organic sounding.
“Let’s begin!”

They teleported back to the start of their world, and they decided to perform an impromptu ‘speedrun’ through Mino’s world.
Honestly, every thought besides getting through the challenge course was abandoned in exchange for full focus on what was in front of them and how they could get past it.

To say that it felt like mere seconds since they were at the beginning would be an understatement, even Mino seemed surprised.

“Challenge course completed. System has recognized the client as ‘New Tailor’. User asks; how did you manage to do that?”
They paused, looking at them, then their symbol, then at their surroundings.

“I’m.. Not quite sure.”
A mechanic hum came from them as they stepped aside.

“Take the symbol, proceed to Disorder Nirvana.”
And so they did, the heat barely affecting them now.
After being transported back, they stayed around.

“Why is the client still present?”

They sighed, looking at the start with tired eyes.
“Arrolin was supposed to come along with me.”
Tailor failed to notice the lighter hue that came to the bot’s symbol.

“Client recognizes Arrolin?” They asked curiously, stepping closer to them.
They chuckled, “Quite well, yeah. Her world was pretty fun.”

As if on cue, footsteps came from their right and she was running toward them with a large smile.
“Heyah there you two! So what’d I miss?”

Tailor’s face warmed up. “Nothing much, just talking with Mino.. Hey, are they really a ro-”
Arrolin hushed them up quite loudly and even placed her hand near their mouth.
“Don’t!” She leaned closer, confusing them and Mino.

“C’mon Tailor, don’t say the ‘r’ word!”
They leaned back, placing their hands in front of them.

“The.. R word?”
They looked to Mino, who was more confused than anything else.
Turning their gaze back to Arrolin, they made a very bold mistake.

“You mean- robot?”

Chaos erupted right then and there.

Chapter Text

After the chaos that erupted within Cell Barranca after they said the ‘r’ word, they went over to the library to relax before heading to the next world, as both Arrolin and Ploque told them they needed it.
What they found strange was that Mino only told them to brace themselves, and nothing more.

They wondered what could warrant the need for a break, they had gone from worlds back-to-back in the span of a few days now, and even that couldn’t stop them.
So why now?

In the many books they had read, there was a cryptic message on all of them, telling Tailor that something was ‘Down below the symbol’.
The symbol presented was like the upright version of Ulipse’s symbol,

They didn’t quite know what that meant and nobody else was around in the library, and they didn’t feel like seeking out Cyalm so they wallowed in confusion.

Under the impression that they’ve had enough time to relax, they went out to the beam and looked around, seeing that very same symbol on a wall near the entrance to Mino’s world.
They walked over to it, and just as they were about to jump down they heard someone call out to them.

“Tailor?” The softness of the voice felt uncanny as they knew who it belonged to.

“Uh, hey..”
They greeted her awkwardly, realizing that they didn’t know her name. All that fighting really got to their heads, didn’t it?

“Ulipse. I know in the heat of the moment, I never said my name, so.. There.”
They nodded, so she was the one Cyalm mentioned while he talked to Anshine..

“I’m sorry. For what I did. I was just so clouded with anger, I didn’t know how to respond, so I just- I reacted violently.”

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m sort of over it now, you don’t have to apologize.”

“It’s the least I can do, after all.”

Things felt awkward after they both quieted down, unsure of who would speak next.
Ulipse kept her hands behind her back during the exchange and Tailor- they didn’t know what they were doing.

Looking back down, they could see small specks of red and orange swirling, and a faint crackling sound.
And then the lightbulb went off in their head.
“Hey, Ulipse?” They asked, crouching down to hopefully get a better view of what was down there.
Snapping out of her small daze, she looked down to them. “Hm?”

“Mino mentioned something- Disorder Nirvana? That’s where I’m headed to next. Any warnings on what it’s like down there?”

She fell silent.

Getting up, they looked over to her with a worried expression. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head, looking away.
“Yeah, yeah, ‘m fine.. Nirvana’s quite contrary to its namesake, but bringing in the first part should tell you everything.”

That didn’t exactly help, but it was better than nothing at all.
“I’ll head down now, okay?”

“Be careful, Tailor. Don’t get hurt.”
They expected her to say ‘or you’ll pay for it’ after, but they batted that thought away.

“No promises, but I’ll do my best.”

They fell from above, quite literally, to land on a small piece of land surrounded by a black, viscous liquid. They assumed it was oil, based on its consistency and how it looked. And even though they could hypothetically dip their hand in it-

Those words were said too soon and now Tailor has their hand covered in oil.
“Oh, ew.. I didn’t know what I expected from that one, really.”
They hoped that the point inside this world could help them out with this unfortunate incident.

Looking around, they found themselves on a beach, surrounded by pixels that looked extremely out of place with everything else.
.. Scratch that, no, everything else looked worse, at least the beach was mostly clear of these pixels.
A pleasant buzzing came to their ears, which felt oddly calming to them despite currently being in what most people would see as ‘Hell’.

Walking around, they stuck their arm out, not wanting to get their clothes dirty.
“I wonder where that Point could be..”
They saw a sign that had a triangle and an exclamation point, and they were slightly confused at the warning before hearing spikes shooting up from the sand below them.

‘Oh, that’s what it was..’
They climbed a nearby rock, looking down at the spikes which receded back into the ground.

Elsewhere sat a figure on top of a mountain, looking out at the Tailor below.
“So, this is the new guy, huh..”

The voices surrounding him talked onward, by this point, heh- he learned how to tune it out and relax with the silence in his own head.
“Guys, what do you think?”
The chorus of voices proceeded to jab several ways he could play around with this visitor, when he already had a plan in place for them.

Jumping down from the mountain, he took his place on a rock by the lake he made, waiting for the Tailor impatiently, trying to find ways to entertain himself while they were busy collecting threads.

As they climbed down from the mountain filled with lava and things a mountain should not possess, they walked along the beach and saw a figure relaxing on the other end of where they stood.

They looked at the sand before charging forward, careful to jump over the tree with planks attached to it.

“Well, that certainly was a show.”
He said, standing up from his sitting position and yawning.

“You took a while to show up.” Tailor said, with a hint of concern, but it was mostly masked by the scolding tone they delivered along with it.
He scoffed, giving them a glare.

“And you,” He said, accentuating his words by pointing his finger to them. “Took a while to get that thread in the mountain. Why is that?”
He grinned at them mockingly.

“Things take time, okay?” With an exasperated sigh, they lowered their hands before realizing they had something to ask of him.
“I need your help, I kinda messed up.”

He gave them a smug smile before they lifted their hand that was still covered in oil.
“Can you get this off? My hand’s getting itchy.”

The red alerts in his head turned on, absolutely flabbergasted with the fact they were so calm with this.
“How did you even?-”
He was quickly cut off.

“Dipped my hand in some earlier, can you help?”

He wordlessly helped them get the oil off, muttering something about this being the 3rd time it’s happened.
After that, they thanked him and went exploring to collect more threads around the place.

When they did come back though, he coughed into his hand and tried to get back into character.
“So, are your ears bleeding yet?”

“Quite the opposite! I like the buzzing noise.”
He tried to hide the confused look on his face and said his next lines.

“You think you’re ready for my challenge course, yeah?”
They gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

Their surroundings turned dark, and almost everything besides the pair stopped moving.

“No, you’re not.”

They felt dizzy, almost getting the urge to puke, but they stuffed it down and looked around.
It was like most of the Nirvana had vanished and all that was left was speed conveyors and floating T.V.s that shot out lasers to anything that remotely moved.

Eventually, they came to the end of the challenge course and met up with the black and white Point, surrounded by a concerning amount of pixels on a floating platform.
“Hey there, uh-”

“Ixol.” He responded, eager to move on with the conversation.
“Got it, got it, continue?”

“My challenge course wasn’t difficult enough for the likes of you, eh?”

He switched into his true form, what looked like an eye formed by the extra line underneath his upwards crescent for a symbol.
Pixels closed in on them, slowly trapping them in a suffocating prison where they felt like they couldn’t breathe.

“At least I’ll get a chance to toy with you now.”

The battle between the two was the most intense one yet.
Tailor never had to deal with perspective changes and feeling so detached from their body, watching it move from the fixed spot they had to stay in.

The large mouth opened to swallow them whole, but they were saved by the platform Ixol mercifully granted.
He didn’t stay in his true form thankfully, but when the change came, they expected it to be abrupt.
It was anything but.

The laser that he fired at them proved to be very effective, it had them practically running around, trying to dodge.

The game was cat and mouse, but the latter seemed to be winning.

When the battle finally ended, Ixol was nowhere to be seen.

However, he left his symbol behind, so they felt the heat course through them one last time.

And then it all turned black.

Chapter Text

“- Ilor? Tailor, can you hear me?”
They could barely process anything, a dull ache resonating throughout their body as they tried to get a grip on what was going on.
They tried moving their hands- or, hand, since they couldn’t quite feel the other yet.

Stretching their fingers, they groaned in pain at the sensation, what had happened when they were out?
Arms had picked them off of the ground they were on, hands dangling uselessly at their side.
They guess the fight took a toll on them, maybe all that perspective changing messed with their head.

Everything was black again.

Waking up, they instinctively covered their eyes from the bright light, worried voices suddenly invading the silence they craved.

“Tailor?! Tailor! Are you okay? Speak to me!-”
It was Arrolin, they could see it. See her, and Ploque too! They were there, but they didn’t have the energy to respond.
So they opted to tap her gently, with their weak fingers and half-lidded eyes.

“Oh my gosh, you’re alive! Thank goodness, what did Ixol do to you?”
She sounded devastated, if they could, they’d hug her, but that wasn’t an option right now.
Until they had feeling in their limbs again, Ploque would look after Tailor.

Gradually, they started to feel again. The softness of the bed they laid on urged them to stay, but they knew Celesteal wouldn’t stop for them, so they had to force themselves up.

As they laid their palms on the bed and tried hoisting themselves up, vines came in and slowly pulled them back down.
“You’re not better yet, little sprout.” She frowned, sitting beside them. “Give it time, you can’t possibly go out in this condition.”

They grumbled and laid back down, wishing time would go by faster so they could finally see what’s behind that last door with Cyalm.
Speaking of, where was he?

They started wondering about that and it seemed like little time had passed by when Ploque spoke up.
“I think that’s enough rest, but I don’t want you straining yourself too much, okay?”

Tailor nodded and stood up, wobbling a bit at first but slowly regaining their balance.
Their next move was to start heading to that door. Yes, she told them not to strain themselves, but how bad could it really be out there? Besides, they were sure they’d feel better.

On the way there, they noticed significant changes in all the rooms they had gone in so far.
Signol and Compale’s room was lighter in color, and the latter’s world entrance had a large spike removed from it.
The gazebo they saw Cyalm sitting in that time had disappeared, leaving behind more growing vegetation.
Some of the library’s bookshelves had vanished.

They stopped to say hi to the other Points, and asked them too about Cyalm.
He was nowhere to be seen, and frankly, they grew concerned.

Reaching the final door, it glowed and the last three symbols they had acquired prior glowed in their respective light before the entrance itself disintegrated to reveal Arrolin on the left, Mino standing in the middle, and Ixol to the right, arms crossed and staring at an open door.

Their arrival prompted the first Point mentioned to trap them in a hug, which they eventually let go of as the two stared at the other door.
Leaning against the wall, she tapped Mino. “Can you get a read on this place, Mi?”

“Certainly.” Their symbol spun for a while, and then resorted to its usual position. “Negative. I cannot seem to find this location’s information on my database.. However, a virus was detected.”
The two heads turned to them as they looked to the side at a certain someone glaring at a door.
“That could just be Ixol.”

The two laughed, with Mino attempting to replicate the sound with an automated and expressionless ‘Ha, ha’, but at least they put in effort.

Tailor approached Ixol, the latter offering them a grin.
“Someone left this door open, you know who it is?”
When they were about to respond, they were cut off by him.
“I’m just kidding around!”

His tone shifted.

“I know it’s you, Cyalm.”

The place was quiet for a while, with him intently staring at the door while the other three in the room watched. After an extremely awkward silence, he finally spoke again.

“Cyalm? Hey, you there?”
No response.
“Huh.. Being quiet, eh?”
He turned to look at the trio, a wicked smile on his face.
“Looks like we’ll have to pull them outta there ourselves!”

Entering the hallway last, Tailor saw all the Points gathered in the hallway, some commenting on the passing breeze being too cold for their liking, or that the loudmouthed Point was wrong and Cyalm wasn’t there.
Stopping by Anshine, he only sighed as he looked at the end of the hallway, where all of the Points were heading after hearing Ixol say that Cyalm’s around the corner.
“Something disastrous is about to happen, I can feel it.”

Tailor gave him a small smile, walking forward with him in tow.
“Celesteal doesn’t stand a chance when I’ve got all these threads! See?” They said, showing them off as the yarn clung to their arms.
“Let’s just hope that’s true..”

Turning the corner, everyone was surrounding Ixol as he stood in the middle, all of a sudden unresponsive.
“Your belief that Cyalm lies here seems to be fallacious, Ixol.. You’re sure that he’s here?”
Compale spoke, and across from him, Shallare nodded.

“I don’t see him here either, sorry..”

Ixol fell forward, screaming.

It was deafening, and everyone but Tailor, who tried to see what was wrong with Ixol, put their hands at the side of their head.

Anshine winced, still trying to muffle the sounds that erupted from his mouth.
"Where did this come from?!"

"THE VOICES!" Ixol shouted, reaching out to grasp at air while Tailor tried to hold him back.
"GET OFF OF ME!— THEY'RE SCREAMING IN AGONY! THEY’RE KILLING MY FRIENDS!"

"Ixol, please!" Signol cried, kneeling down on the floor on the verge of falling over. "I'm sorry for what's happening with the voices, but you have to calm down!"

"CYALM! HE'S- HE'S KILLING THEM!"
The pain in his raspy voice was apparent, and at the mention of Cyalm, Tailor nearly let him go.

"Uh oh."
Arrolin simply said, going silent as Ulipse spawned in her crescents.

"That's it! That 6-pointed freak is going down."

Ploque's expression grew serious as she looked to the entrance.
"We don't have to wait long."

Cyalm sauntered in, lips curled into a smile. “What seems to be the issue?”

Ixol looked like he was glitching out of existence, lurching forward, breaking free from Tailor’s hold as he reverted to his true form and elevated himself.
“YOU! YOU HAVE COMMITTED GENOCIDE ACROSS COUNTLESS PLANES OF EXISTENCE!”
He rushed at them, readying himself to fire a laser straight toward him.

“I’LL MAKE YOUR DEATH INSUFFERABLE!”

Cyalm tsked, stopping Ixol in his current position in the air.

“Now, now.. This won’t do.”

Tailor was separated from everyone else, taken to a room that had ‘Please stand by’ plastered on the walls around them.
Suddenly, they were pulled out of it, arriving on a small platform surrounded by clouds, sitting in a chair near a table with cups and a pot.
Looking around, Cyalm and Anshine were the only two seated in the other chairs.
“I’m glad you decided to come to my tea party.”

Anshine was more alarmed, and Tailor was downright uncomfortable.
“What- is this? I need to contact the others, we can’t be here!”

Cyalm ignored him, pouring Tailor a cup of tea as they looked at him with a look of fear and betrayal.
“Tea, Tailor?”
They shook their head, shrinking into their seat.
He shrugged, pouring one for himself. “Suit yourself.”

They glanced at Anshine, noticing a glowing halo they had never seen before above his head.
“Compale, Ulipse! Are you both there?”

“Right behind the two of you, in fact.”
The former said, appearing behind Cyalm, giving Tailor a nod.

“Bringing in unwanted guests? Quite impertinent, don’t you think?”

“We’re putting an end to this!”
Anshine pulled Tailor down with him and ducked to prevent Ulipse from crashing into them.
“SHADOW ECLIPSE!”

It was like time had stilled, nobody else moved but Cyalm, who crossed his arms and sighed.

“You’ll never learn, will you?”

They were again teleported to the room with the words on its walls, and all they really felt then was fear and anger.
Why the sudden change? Didn’t he want to take Celesteal down with them?
They wanted answers.
Finally, they were teleported on shards surrounded by a vast, open sky.
In front of them laid a portal, and on floating shards above them read the words “Coiled Fragments”.
Taking a deep breath, they walked through the portal.

They made their way up the shards, and saw a very heavily altered Sky Emporium, with three familiar Points standing at the front.
“Look what the clouds dragged in.” Ulipse commented as they came into view, a neutral expression on their face.

Tailor sighed, giving them a tired face. “All of us want answers, don’t we?”
“That we do.” Anshine responded, looking at the Emporium’s new interior, where the floor was covered in threads that had needles tied together.

“Well, we haven’t found Cyalm yet. He’ll have the answers we desire, though I’m not quite sure he’d hand it over willingly.” Compale spoke up, lowering himself to the ground.

Their expression grew irritated. “Fine. We’ll wring it out of him then.”

“Are you sure, Tailor? No doubt will this take a toll on you. Ploque had told us about your previous injury after all.” With a tilt of his head and some words, he had managed to silence them.
‘Oh shoot..’ They hadn’t thought about that one.
They sighed, bringing their hand to their chin and thinking.

“There’s a way, I’m sure of it.”

“We believe you, Tailor.” Anshine said, a reassuring tone in his voice. “But be wary, the color isn’t the only thing that’s changed about this place.”
They only responded with a thumbs up and smile before moving to get into the building itself.

Looking inside, Naen and Solgon’s respective shops were blocked off, along with the entrance to Vacation Cruise.
The needles and clumps of thread had charged at them, but they were faster, so it wasn’t an issue.

‘What has Cyalm done to this place..?’
They thought, approaching the entrance to what used to be Signol and Compale’s room.
Noticing Ixol in the corner, they decided to go near him before hearing soft sniffles.

“They died.. All my friends, killed just like that..”
He was surrounded by pixels, most likely due to how hard he was crying.
They tried reaching out a hand to him, before it came into contact with one of the particles and zapped them.
Wincing, that prompted Ixol to turn around, showing the inky black liquid pouring out of his symbol.
“What are- What are you doing here?! Stop looking at me, out!”

Backing off, they heard the intensity of his sobs increase and a frown made its way to their face.
They wished they could hug him, but with something like that harming them there was no way.
Looking back, he was shuddering and shaking.

All logical thought went out the window as they approached him again, slowly, and bent down to hug him.
Obviously he recoiled, looking at them in disgust.
“What? What was that for? Are you trying to make this worse for me?!”

“I’m trying to comfort you, I’m sorry I can’t do much.”
It was silent for a while, but Tailor sat on the floor and opened their arms to him.

He glared at them, but they weren’t leaving, so he decided to nestle himself between the space they gave and let them wrap their arms around him.
It was a bit uncomfortable but, after a bit he got used to it.

And then he leaned into their touch.

And started crying again.

They gently shushed him as they pet his head, trying their best to ignore the staggering pain in their veins, leaning themselves against the wall to properly cradle his head in their hands.
It took Ixol longer than expected to stop crying, and even when he did, he was still sniffling and leaning into Tailor’s side.
Before parting with him, they gave a few reassuring words, and that they’ll try helping him however they can once they’ve talked with Cyalm.

“Kill him.” He responded, his smile returning.
After a short pause, they replied. “I’m.. Not sure about that, but, if need be, I will.”

They proceeded, and in the next room, they appeared on a very small raised platform, the floor beneath it covered in thick strands of yarn, with other platforms like it slowly rotating around them.
Quickly catching on, they eventually came to a small spiral staircase that went two ways and led them on top of the moon in Anshine and Ulipse’s room.

“It’s not as cozy as it was before.. I hope I’m getting close.”
They looked to the balcony, remembering the moment where they surprise-hugged Compale, seeing something else in his place.
Using it and making their way to Ploque’s section of the emporium, they saw Signol standing in the middle of the room.

“.. He’s really done something with the place, huh?”
They laughed nervously, going silent the next moment. “Really, I, uh.. Don’t like the new changes.”
Signol’s expression fell. “I really don’t.”

Tailor rested a hand on his shoulder.
“It’ll be alright! I’ll be sure to tell him about this.”

His arms crossed, mouth forming a line.
“Knock him down a bit, he deserves it.”
“You got it!”

A teleporter was in place of Ploque’s portal. Stepping onto it, they were transported to Arrolin’s room.
They felt arms wrap around them, pulling them into a hug.

“Tailor!”
“Arrolin?”

Both of them talked for a bit, then Shallare and Ploque joined in on the conversation.
Tailor asked if they had seen Cyalm anywhere, but unfortunately, neither of the three had seen him.
Before venturing into the library to get to the other side of the room, Ploque had warned them that the library had shifted into a maze, and that they should be cautious.

After one more hasty chat, they moved onward and despite the many, many twisting bookshelves and dead ends, to find Mino near the exit and walkway to Cell Barranca.

“He is nowhere in the immediate vicinity, however,” Their gaze shifted to the walkway, now split apart.
“There is still a way to the other side. Find it, and you shall be met with him.”

“Thanks, Mino!”
They gave them a thumbs up and went back to standing idly.

It took them a good while. A very good while, but eventually, they managed to make it to the other side relatively unscathed.. They thought.
Checking around their body as they looked up to more threads and needles sticking out of the ground.

“You’re kidding me!”
They brought their hands to their face in irritation, before sighing and taking deep breaths to calm themselves down.

“One more time, c’mon Tailor!”
They jumped around the obstacles, wanting for all the running and jumping to end so they could have a conversation with Cyalm.

‘Well,’ they thought, momentarily stopping. ‘Not really a conversation, unless he decides to explain everything he just did.’

Approaching another teleporter, they teleported to the hall all the other points and they themselves were in earlier, seeing him at the end of the corridor.

They practically bolted through the hallway, never minding the stray grazes and scratches around their clothing and body, they wanted to get to him, and fast.

Eventually, they did, sort of.
He was looking at them, and they hated it. He did it in such a way that unsettled them.
Finally reaching the end of the hallway, they approached him with a scowl, something they never thought to give him before.

“Now, I know you’re wondering. Why would Cyalm do this?”
They nodded, crossing their arms.
“Well, that I can’t answer just yet. However, if you were to ask if I’m evil..”

He switched to another form and stopped them before they could move.
“The short of it all is; yes.”

Tailor was transported to another platform after a T.V. transition, which was starting to get to their head.
Everyone else was standing in the middle, his symbol beneath them.
Clouds still surrounded them, preventing the view to the outside.

They headed to the front and nodded to the others, Cyalm in front of them.
“There’s nowhere else you can go, give it up.”
Anshine said, frowning.

“And no more of those transitions! I hate those..”
Ulipse grumbled, a hand reaching to hold hers in an attempt to calm her down.

“Rest assured there’ll be no more of those, Ulipse.”
He said, giving her a sneer.

“You’re in a state of weakness, Cyalm. Backed into a corner, I’d say,”
Compale commented, hands in his pockets. “It’ll be easier this way.”

He laughed. And that only made everyone else more irritated.
Ixol momentarily shifted to his true form, his pseudo-eye glaring at him.
“What are you laughing about?! You’re defenseless like this! We should just kill you right now!”

He stopped, brandishing a sword similar to his color.
“Is that really the position you think I’m in?”

Tailor grew alarmed, and stepped forward, taking note at some of the other points shielding each other in case Cyalm decided to do anything.

“Quite the contrary..”

He rose into the air, slashing the sword around causing the clouds to part away from the platform.
“I was just waiting for the Tailor to arrive!”

Ixol looked up at him again, infuriated, while they held onto his arm.
“To someone like you, we’re just playthings, isn’t that right?!”

“What was that about?” Signol asked, momentarily silencing everyone else, even with their voice shaking.
“You killed Ixol’s friends, why?”

“Not voices, higher beings, in fact.
They were getting in the way, it was only natural for me to execute them.”
Cyalm nonchalantly responded, looking disinterested as Ixol proceeded to go silent in Tailor’s hold.

“Just because they were in ‘your way’?! That’s not justifying anything!”
Shallare yelled out, this was the angriest he’d been, it was almost scary.

Tailor zoned out a few minutes into them talking back and forth, focusing on Ixol and tuning into Cyalm’s tangents every so often, until they heard it.

One thing that caused their heart to sink.

“You’re all nothing more than characters to my story. Made to fulfill a narrative, I, the master of it all, created.”

A spur of confidence shot through Arrolin, who gently pushed Shallare to the side.
“You think you can walk all over us because you don’t see us as real beings?!”

“I’m entirely aware that you’re more than that. But, as I assume the stance of a god, I will not treat you as such.”
He looked at them from above. A small, mocking smile on his unreadable face.
“Perhaps it’ll bring you peace to know you were never meant for this purpose, but I reformed you to who you are today.”

They tuned it out. Almost all of it out. Bits and pieces of their conversation were heard, but never a full sentence.
Tailor can’t remember when they were brought to their feet, but Ixol looked at them with the most sincere expression they never thought he’d show.

“- I’m surprised you’re still able to hold onto your dignity after this.. Tailor, they’re also nothing more than a construct of my grand creation.”

“You’re wrong.”
Anshine’s voice cut through the thick air.
“Even if they are another construct of your narrative, they’ve proven to be a hero we can rely on. They’ve gone through thick and thin to prove themselves, and came out victorious in the end.”

Compale nodded.
“Indeed.. We may have nothing else, but we do have you, noble Tailor.”

Tears gathered in the corners of their eyes as everyone started encouraging them.
All of them gathered near Tailor, who tried to calm their weeping.
From happiness that they believed in them, or from the sadness at finding out they weren’t real, they didn’t quite know.

But they stared at Cyalm from below, his indifferent expression sending a pang of disappointment through them.
It was foolish, they thought.
How he’d be there, to see them fight with Celesteal.

Now they’re here, with him.
But not in the way they wanted it.
Pitiful, what Tailor was thinking.

But they pushed it away.

Everyone else around them,
Voicing their support, their faith in them,
It brought them joy.

Confidence.

A sigh brought everyone’s attention back to him.

“I see.. If this is your decision, then I must first destroy the source of your hope.”

Clouds engulfed his form and every one of the other Points too.
Tailor couldn’t see where the others were, frantically trying to swipe away the clouds.

Once it finally cleared, they were gone.

They were face to face with Cyalm now, who lowered himself to the platform to make it more ‘fair’.

“Farewell, Tailor.”

Chapter Text

His sword was gleaming, but the power of the sewing needle glowing in their hands had the two at an equal level.
“You continue to hang onto a thread of lies, all made by me to give you false direction, which simply led you here.” He taunted, flashing them a sly smile as they defended themselves from his attack.

“Whatever my purpose was, it won’t matter to you after you’re beaten! Everyone else is counting on me, I’m not about to let them down!”

He hit hard, but they hit much harder, and much quicker. But not quick enough.
They weren’t unscathed, and he knew that.

Cyalm had a lot to go through before they could see their true weakness displayed, in a cacophony of distress provided by his other creations when they marvel at Tailor’s demise.

As the idea stirred in his head, he felt two harsh hits directed towards his chest, laughing as he saw the angered expression of Tailor coming into view.
“I’m so happy, you know?”

“Clinging onto this belief, continuing to fight, it brings me joy.”
He said, as he blocked their attack, the sewing needle’s blinding light forced their eyes to close, which prevented them from dodging the swift kick Cyalm gave to their feet, causing them to fall.

Fortunately before he could stick his sword into them, they rolled to the side and stumbled upward, glancing back to see him grin.

“Though, it’s not amusing when you’re not enjoying yourself, why the negativity, Tailor?”
He frowned as he summoned needles from all around to piece through them, which proved to not work as they avoided it all.

The lack of response made him frown further, a tired sigh escaping past his lips.
“You’re no fun.”

He then opened a small portal, where thread wrapped around their ankles and kept them in place.
Drawing near the struggling Tailor, who was attempting to get out of their hold, he stared at them from where he stood, and they couldn’t tell if he was mocking them or admiring them.

Either way, they wanted to wipe his symbol clean off of his face.

They tried to tune out whatever he said, and it worked, for the most part.
Obviously, he made sure that they were listening when he talked, thankfully he only did it twice in the moment.

When the thread finally did release them, they interrupted whatever he said and managed to slash the needle at him.
Unfortunately for them, it only made a tear in his suit.

The fight continued, and after an extensive and excruciating amount of time, they had worn him down.
Even if he didn’t need to breathe, he huffed as if he needed to, with them doing relatively the same thing.

One slash to him.
Nothing, he had dodged.

Another slash, more powerful this time as they channeled their anger to the swing.
“Is that really all you can do, Tailor?”
He jeered, his lips curling to make a grin.

“I thought you had grown!”

Their attacks grew more dynamic, they were getting so, so sick of him.
His jokes and taunts were getting to them, they’ll admit. But it helped, even a little.
If it were to be his cause of death, their anger, he’d laugh about it for a long while. Even when they wouldn’t.

There were moments in the battle previously where they’d hesitate on attacking, still unable to let the fact that he was now their enemy fully sink into them.
Maybe they shouldn’t have gotten so attached.
Maybe they were a fool.

Tailor’s attacks were weakened when they were like that.
They wanted to know if he felt the same.
Not wanting to attack.

But all of this was wiped away with his progressive taunting, prompting a fit of rage out of them in the form of more or less precise attacks.
They wanted to scream at him.
Pull him by the collar and tell him that what he’s doing is stupid.

Shaking their head, they focused on the battle at hand, his condescending smile burning into their mind.
A smile they thought stood out from everything else.
They never thought it’d be used against them like this. And never in this type of situation.

They wanted to cry.
Cry, and be vulnerable. Sob and break down on the platform. From the scratches and cuts or the emotional pain they felt, they couldn’t figure out.

They swung their sword to him, trying not to take their eyes off of his movements as it could cost their entire chance of winning.
Even if they did..

Would it even be worth it?

They heard a thud that snapped them out of their thoughts, and they turned their head to see him kneeling on the floor, trying to use his sword to support himself.

Guilt washed over them.

What did they do?

It was clear they were panicking, awfully so, but they stood still as they heard his heaving and small laughs followed by coughs.
Tailor fully turned but remained still, unsure of what to do, standing like an idiot.

They were teleported to another platform, the sky’s color changing from a vibrant blue to a violent red.
“Tailor!? Is that you?”
‘Anshine.’ They thought, turning around to see the other Points. ‘Thank goodness they’re okay.’

Some of them approached and started hastily asking questions, which they did their best to answer before Anshine quickly quieted everyone down as they might’ve felt overwhelmed.
They all talked for a while, Tailor being more than a bit paranoid that Cyalm would come back and do something.
Questions continued from everyone else as their mind kept wandering.

This didn’t go unnoticed and Shallare laid a hand on their shoulder, causing them to flinch.
“Are you okay, Tailor?”
They shook their head, a worried expression making its way to his face. “What did he do to you?”
They didn’t answer, so he simply patted them on the back.

“It’ll be alright, once he shows his face again, we’ll pummel him!”
It sounded funny, coming from him of all people, but they couldn’t bring themselves to laugh as Cyalm came into view.

“You have a lot of nerve, don’t you?”
Ulipse commented as he remained positioned in the air.

“More so fortitude, Ulipse.”
They could tell that everyone else was readying themselves, Ixol being the most obvious as he switched from his regular form to his true form every few minutes.

“What do you have there?”
Compale spoke, and Tailor’s eyes widened as he flaunted a glowing object in his hand.

“Oh this?” He twirled it in his hand. “Nothing much, simply the sewing needle they used against me. I managed to take it from them just in time.”
Their fists involuntarily curled in on themselves, unable to focus on anything but the item in his clutch.

“How unfortunate, to take the trust I’ve built with them and to see it all come down..”

Ploque stepped forward.
“Explain.”
He raised a brow.

“Explain! We were never meant for this, were we? So what did you do, what caused you to ruin our lives like this?!”

“I was simply fulfilling my narrative, Ploque. Your existence was by my hand, I had nothing to ruin then.”

“You don’t mean..” Anshine shuddered. “You’re our creator?”

He hummed, and thought about it.
“Not exactly. I stepped in and took control, I’m not the original.”

“I don’t get it, why take the place of our creator then?!”

He remained silent, until he started to tell them about his arrival to their plane of reality, how the power of the threads enthralled him, and he set up a simple battle between the first Tailor and the Shadow Seamstress.
Turns out he was the latter, but that was the least of their concerns.

“It was the beginning of my sublime narrative, a thrilling story of adventure and hope! I had never seen anything like it..” He looked down at them.
“I care not for the power of the threads anymore, only what I could’ve made with the second Tailor.”

“You sent them on this quest for nothing?- Did the threads ever really matter?!”

“Quite more complicated than that, you see.”

They gripped their head, aching like never before.

“This is all because I’m an artist, an extraordinaire to the most elevated degree, and you, all of you, are my creations.”
He went on a tangent- bearing a grin the entire time, clinging onto the words he said yet recoiling at his tone. They felt violated in a way. Disgust apparent in their expression.
Cyalm detailed how he stripped them of their humanity and reformed them to his desire, essentially rewriting, or in Mino’s case, rewiring their minds.

It made their skin crawl.

“I’m not afraid of death. My impact on reality is so magnificent, that even if I succumbed to the maws of demise, I would have something left of me, here.”
They gazed at everyone fondly, another symbol materializing in his other hand.
“Do you remember this, Anshine?”

“.. The symbol of the Shadow Seamstress, yes.”

He smiled. “One of the first symbols I created.. Such a beauty.. I eventually swapped to the 6-pointed star I displayed but, nothing passes the classics!”
It hovered over his hand, slowly turning.
“If I combine the two, we may see Celesteal in the flesh!”

“Celesteal- aren’t they another lie you made up to make the Tailor collect threads?”

He chuckled. “They’re very real, I assure you.”

“Well then,” Ulipse readied herself. “Bring them out here!”

“Oh, Ulipse.. Always jumping to conclusions, are you?”

“Stay back!” Compale warned, turning away from Cyalm. “Something’s about to happen!”

In that small window of time, when the light inundated his figure, they pieced it together.

Cyalm, he was-

“Celesteal.”

The clouds cleared, and a smile settled on his face.

“I am the final obstacle you must face.”

The entire fight was a blur to them.

Running from the threads and needles, and the clouds that sometimes obscured their vision threw them for a loop, almost making them trip over themselves with how they haphazardly bounced around.
Sometimes they even fell, but Celesteal encouraged them back on their feet.

Without the sewing needle, they resorted to dodging, which resulted in a lot of moving around, something they were accustomed to.
That is, until he took the sewing needle from them.

Now dizziness came to them more frequently, which they tried their best to ignore and distract themselves from, focusing on keeping themselves steady and upright.
‘Hold it together,’ they thought. ‘I need to hold it together.’

As much as their body begged and pleaded for them to slow down, they couldn’t let that happen, forcing their legs to move despite the fact it felt like they were burning from the inside out.
They spotted their friends’ symbols and rushed to collect them, every time, knocking Celesteal down a notch.

If they could do this, just a little more, they could beat him, and everything would be back to normal.
So they did, and it repeated several more times, to the point where they thought they’d die on the verge of getting Ixol’s symbol, their vision being blurred by clouds.

When he delivered the final blow, they didn’t expect to see a weakened Celesteal, one hand against his chest and the other on the floor, which prevented him from falling.
The sky had returned to normal, at least.

Ulipse wanted to go and give him a piece of her mind, evident by the crescent moons appearing in her hands as she marched forward until Tailor rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Can you let me talk to him?”

She wanted to object, but the look in their eyes told her everything she needed to know, that being they weren’t going to back down on what they asked for.
“Fine.”

They inched closer, and was met with Celesteal’s shallow breathing.
Tailor crouched down and rested near him.
“.. Well, this wasn’t exactly how I expected this battle to end..”
He laughed weakly, bringing a suspicious expression to their face.

“Reality didn’t work in your favor?”
They asked, and the other shook his head, grunting as he struggled to stay up.
A quiet silence washed over them as soft murmurs in the background were heard.
When they opened their mouth to speak again, they noticed the sky.. Fading?

“What’s going on?”
No response, only his shallow breathing.

They tipped his head up, to see a small smile.
He knew.

“What’s going on?” They repeated, sounding more desperate, glancing up to see that beyond the fading horizon, was nothing but white.
A weak laugh slipped past him, as he coughed.

“Remember what I said? My impact on reality is.. Truly magnificent..”
Then the worry set in.

Everyone else took notice of the fading sky, and were promptly alarmed.
From where they were, they could hear panicked words from Signol- or Arrolin.
Anshine and Compale were attempting to calm the others down.
They didn’t hear Ulipse or Ixol, and that felt like a bad sign.

“Tell me what’s going on, please.”

He looked up at them, with a neutral- almost solemn expression.
“I went too far, Tailor.” He said in a quiet voice, averting his view to the floor.
“Reality can’t go on without me, I suppose.”

Tears welled up in their eyes, going quiet at his words.
This was a trap.
Panicked whispers escaped them as loud voices came from behind them, be it pleas or cries, they couldn’t distinguish.
They never would’ve thought their journey would end this way.

Celesteal looked behind the other and made small quips about them, most likely to distract Tailor of their inevitable death.
It didn’t help one bit, the tears still streaming down their face like a waterfall.

Knowing they were to meet the end soon, they thought about their friends one last time.

Tailor thought about saying sorry to them, for causing everything to happen.
Looking back, they’ll never be able to fulfill promises like the one they made to Compale long ago.
Nothing they did now would make it hurt less.
They couldn’t bear to look behind them, they couldn’t deal with the pain of seeing them vanish, not like this.

“Oh, poor Tailor..”
They heard him say, his hand reaching up to pat their head.
“It’s okay.”
In the midst of their weeping, they gave in, wrapping their arms around him and leaned into his neck to cry.

Hugging them back, he pulled away slightly to look at them in the eyes.
“You were never meant to stand against me.”

They didn’t know if this was an action of pity or another trick, but they didn’t care.

It was quiet.

Tailor’s quiet sniffling was the only thing the two could really hear.

Celesteal- no, Cyalm. This was Cyalm, who was in front of them.

He was fading, and they were too.

“I’m sorry, Tailor.”
It sounded so genuine from him.

“I’m sorry for everything.”

Chapter Text

Admittedly, they really should’ve seen it coming.
But the two in the emporium were none the wiser, resting in the Bonus Level shop talking over coffee.

They didn’t know it would end like that, dying in each other’s arms.

“You know,” The red point started, a shaky smile on his face. “I wanted this to be more- formal, you know? Like, we’d be out on a date, and-”

“Please,” Naen begged. “Tell me, Solgon.”

He laughed nervously, and fake coughed, trying to avoid the fact that the two wouldn’t have enough time for their confessions.

He took a deep breath, looking at his symbol.
“Naen. I really, really like you, and uh-”

“Keep going.”

“You’ve always been a really great friend, and I used to wish we could be together, but I guess-” He looked at them with an awkward smile.

The other pulled him closer, effectively cutting him off as he tried to ignore the sight of Solgon’s lower half slowly fading.
“You could’ve told me all of this earlier.” He whispered into the crook of the other’s neck.

“I’m so sorry, I couldn’t be brave enough-”

He tried, he really did, to close the gap between them before the two of them were gone forever.
“You don’t need to apologize now, Solgon.”

He chuckled weakly. “I can’t help it, Naen.. I’m really sorry it had to be like this, I wish we had more time, in the emporium and with each other.”

“None of it is your fault, okay?” He said, refusing to look down as he felt himself become lighter.

“.. I love you, Naen.”

“I love you too, Solgon.”

The two faded in each other’s hold, Solgon doing his best to be happy in their last moments together, even if it wasn’t for themselves, but Naen.

Their lips could barely brush against each other before they faded away.

…

The Sky Emporium was now truly empty, devoid of any life inhabiting its halls.

With the disappearance of Cyalm himself, the portals to each of the Points’ worlds vanished along with him.

No longer did the S.S. Venture have a captain to lead them.

A pile of papers rested on a desk that would never be touched again.

The fog had overtaken the Wasteland, concealing it in obscurity.

Without anyone to watch over them, the plants and vegetation had been left to rot,

With the dream guardians losing the one they looked to for guidance, the ones below were plagued with nightmares.

The water had vanished, the sand deep below unable to sustain the lotus flowers, wilting.

Dragons, fairies, and other creatures alike were laid into an eternal rest deep in Arrolin’s former home.

Power had shut down in Cell Barranca, even if anyone visited anymore, they’d only come across ruins of a place that was once alive.

Disorder Nirvana was a much different case.
Since Ixol’s influence had vanished from the surrounding area, it slowly healed itself in his absence.

Lots of things went back to their natural way of living without the Points to watch over them.

Perhaps, it was better this way, don’t you think?

Oh, now, don’t act so innocent.

You led us into this. You led the Tailor to vanish, and my friends followed suit.

How does it feel? To finally reach the climax, the end of everything, what’s meant to be the final close of curtains?

It was you.
It was always you.

You let it progress this far.
You were the cause of it, you made me do this.

So what? Are you happy now?

Are you satisfied?