This is a non-commercial fanfic based on the universes of The Witcher and Disco Elysium. All rights to the original works, characters, names, and elements of their respective worlds belong to their respective copyright holders. The author of this fanfic does not claim ownership of any of them. Age rating: rated R (18+). The text contains profanity, alcohol, fictional drugs, violence, and other themes intended for an adult audience.
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart… for love is strong as death.”
— Song of Solomon 8:6
What can I do? I will always be in love with you.
What can I say? It can never be another way.
One day you’ll see you will always be a part of me.
‘Til the end of time, our fire eternal.
— Lord Huron, “Fire Eternal”
NARRATOR – …An infinite amount of time passes… At last, consciousness returns. You’re lying on soft grass. A clearing in the middle of a forest. Gloomy trees surround it on every side like sentries. Their branches are perfectly still; not a single leaf stirs. And yet here, on this tiny island of calm, the sun shines brightly.
YOU – Damn it… What is it this time? Where am I?
WOMAN’S VOICE – Just look at you, Geralt… Battered to pieces again. And you’re not exactly a boy anymore… Who did this to you this time?
NARRATOR – A woman with raven-black hair steps slowly out from between the trees. She wears a black jacket and skirt that stand in sharp contrast to her milky-white skin. She moves lightly, almost without a sound, as though the forest itself were making way for her. Her violet eyes regard you with the compassion and weary tenderness of someone who has seen you like this far too many times before.
DISCERNMENT [Easy: Success] – The scent of lilac and gooseberries…
UMBRA [Challenging: Success] – It’s her. The same stranger who wrote you that letter. The woman you spent so many years trying to forget… and now cannot remember at all.
CODEX [Impossible: Failure] – Before you stands Zorya Vechernyaya. Maiden of the Last Light. She who is seen by those who wander between twilight and dawn. In legend, she wears upon her breast a silver key to the gates of heaven and locks the road behind the sun when the world descends into darkness. Each night, Zorya brings a little death upon the world… only for new life to follow once more. Ex morte vita.
DIALECTIC [Medium: Failure] – Sounds convincing. But does that mean you’re already dead?
KEEN EYE [Trivial: Success] – Incidentally, she doesn’t seem to have any silver key.
YOU – Hello… So where’s your silver key to the gates?..
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Hm… I suppose I left it on the bedside table. Next to the comb and hairpins…
NARRATOR – The faintest smile touches her lips, but her violet eyes remain serious.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – So what happened, Geralt? Why did you call me?
YOU – I… called you?
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – You did. We’re in a dream right now. But your mind was trying so stubbornly to reach me on the astral plane that… well, here I am. Not in the flesh, perhaps, but here all the same.
YOU – I don’t understand…
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Of course you don’t. You rarely understood what you were doing when you tried to find your way to me. So why now? What is there left between us that still needs to be said?
YOU – There’s a letter from you in my bag… You called me “dear friend.” And it smelled like your perfume.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – I merely repaid you in kind… dear friend. It was a reply to that long-winded letter of yours — one you should never have sent, and I should never have read. Much less answered.
NARRATOR – You try to catch her eye, but she stubbornly looks away.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – I’ll say it again: what is past is past. Time does not heal, but eventually the wounds at least scar over and stop bleeding at every careless touch. Try to forget. It took me almost four years.
YOU – Ha-ha! I already did! I don’t even remember who you are. I don’t remember a damn thing!
MASQUE [Challenging: Success] – Maestro, that is hardly something to be proud of, and your cruel laughter is entirely out of place. Show some restraint. You are, after all, attending your own funeral.
NARRATOR – She bends gracefully and plucks a flower. You don’t know its name.
CODEX [Challenging: Success] – No, you do know it… A dark anemone.
YOU – Is that supposed to mean something?
CODEX – Undoubtedly.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – There, you see. So you managed it better than I did.
YOU – But… why does it hurt so unbearably to look at you, then? Why does the scent of your perfume make me faint? Why?!
NARRATOR – For a moment, something like fear flickers in her eyes.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Oh, Geralt… I never said it would be easy. Losing your memory doesn’t mean the pain disappears with it… Sometimes it remains, like a scar when you’ve long forgotten what caused it.
UMBRA [Medium: Success] – The memory of her is still alive in your heart. That was enough.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – But you need to stop looking for me. Stop thinking about me — and about the girl you once called your daughter.
REFLEX [Medium: Success] – Well, that’s unexpected. Could little Enna have been right when she guessed you had children?
YOU – Wait… Did we have a child?
NARRATOR – The woman closes her eyes and slowly runs a hand over her face.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – We couldn’t have had a child, you damned drunkard. We’re both sterile.
NARRATOR – The words come out sharp and angry. Beneath them lies an old, lingering sorrow.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – None of that matters anymore. There is a man in my life who loves me, and I’m happy with him. I don’t cry when I’m with him. He doesn’t wander through stinking sewers, killing revolting monsters for a handful of coins. He doesn’t drink himself into oblivion with his friends and then appear in my dreams, demanding that I relive everything I’ve spent so long trying to bury.
WHISPER [Challenging: Failure] – This is turning into a rather strange conversation with a goddess. Why, with death at your doorstep, are you arguing about your relationship instead of discussing spiritual matters?
YOU – For some reason, I’m beginning to think you’re not Zorya Vechernyaya at all…
KEEN EYE [Trivial: Success] – And she still doesn’t have a silver key.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – What a nightmare…
CODEX [Medium: Failure] – Perhaps she has assumed human form. Goddesses do that sometimes. Probably.
UMBRA [Challenging: Success] – No. She was never a goddess. You were the one who elevated her to that rank. And now your mind cannot find a less exalted name for her.
NARRATOR – The sunlight over the clearing begins to fade. The shadows of the trees slowly lengthen.
VICE [Easy: Success] – And that’s a really bad sign, kumpel!
YOU – Right. Wait a second… That’s usually how my medallion talks. What’s going on?
VICE – Well, think of me as filling in for it. It can’t talk to you here.
YOU – Fine, but where exactly is this “here”?
VICE – Somewhere up your r— No, kumpel. I’m not stooping to that. Contrary to what you may think, I’m nowhere near as crude as that hideous wolf face. Long story short: things are fucked.
YOU – Thanks, I figured that out already…
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Geralt, stop staring into space like you’re in a trance. You’re not yourself. You need to understand: you’re insane, and you’re dangerous — to everyone around you and to yourself.
FORTITUDE [Challenging: Failure] – Don’t let her leave. You lost this woman once already, even if you can’t remember how.
YOU – Please, don’t go… I can’t lose you again.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Oh, don’t worry about that. You’ll see me again when night falls. That’s how it has been, and how it will remain until you finally manage to scour the memory of me from your soul. Remember: love and separation walk hand in hand. I had to leave you.
YOU – And where exactly did you leave me? IN FUCKING HELL?!
UMBRA [Challenging: Success] – The first death always happens in the heart. You managed to forget, but you never managed to let go.
FOREBODING [Medium: Success] – Your mind erased her name. Your heart did not. Which means you’ve already lost. Amnesia merely had the mercy to let you forget that.
NARRATOR – You hear the rustle of wings. A small bird with unnaturally black plumage flies out of the depths of the forest and lands on Zorya’s shoulder.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – A kestrel…
YOU – And the man who’s with you now… Do you… love him?
NARRATOR – The goddess smiles mysteriously as she strokes the bird’s breast. It tilts its head to one side, studying you with a gleaming eye.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Let the kestrel answer. Tell me, little bird, what is love?..
BLACK KESTREL – Love is a shard of ice.
NARRATOR – The bird spreads its wings. At that same moment, the sun finally slips behind the dark treetops.
ZORYA VECHERNYAYA – Farewell, Geralt. Until night falls again — until the hour when I once more lock the gates of heaven.
FOREBODING [Trivial: Success] – That night will come very soon. But for now… it’s time to return to the world. To keep turning like the cylinder of a broken barrel organ.
YOU – It turns in the void. No one is listening anymore.
FORTITUDE [Challenging: Success] – Wake up, witcher. Welcome back.