The Promised Canaan Episode 1 Part 1

Narration begins by talking about how most people would know of the story of the Great Flood and the Ark before delving into it a bit anyways for exposition’s sake. There was once a great flood that washed away all vices into the bottom of the abyss. Once that was done with, all that remained on the surface were ‘those made into the innocent’ supposedly.

However, the leader of the blessed, surviving ‘just people’ pointed at the man who was like his child and Canaan and spoke thus: “I curse you, you who strays from the correct ways of love and nature!” They said that that love should not exist, and the faith they dedicate to their lord refers to it as something to be forbidden, punished, and scorned.

“Thou is lower than the slave of a slave. Thine false love ought sink,” they said. And so the flood filled the land and covered the descendants of Canaan. Eventually even the land itself became known as Canaan. History repeats itself. When everything was washed away, the same events unfolded once more.

Narration then changes the subject a little to talk about how many scriptures have said that on the brink of its death, Canaan had five promises that they passed onto the ones who inherited the world next. 1) Love demons. 2) love thievery. 3) love humans. 4) love lewdness. And finally, 5) Hide the truth.

Title card pops up, and this chapter is called The Loveliest Person in the World.

Things then pick up from where the prologue left as Astarte gives her name and insists that she is clearly a soldier of Canaan as she demands you to identify yourself. You give your name, though you can append a maybe onto it. She says she’s never heard your name before. You then ask about Canaan and if that’s the name of the place you guys are at.

Astarte briefly pauses before defensively confirming it and asks what you think is strange about that. She then decides to be nice and answer any questions you may have. You decide to ask if this is the sea floor or why is the sea up in the sky. Astarte initially thinks you’re playing dumb before shrugging and answering.

Astarte prompts you to look into the distance where you ought to see several towns while she assesses your reaction. She explains that those are the cities known as Sodom and Gomorrah from above ground. She asks if you know those names if you did come from above. You either say you don’t, recognize them as the cities of immorality, or ask if they had sunk below the seas.

Going B, Astarte confirms that and says they were burned by heavenly fire and sank beneath the Dead Sea. There are other cities down there that met the same fate, as well as that Incomplete Tower behind you.

Astarte says the people in those cities didn’t all die though. There’s still people down there living in them right now. She then describes Canaan as a world that is hidden and protected at the bottom of the deep sea. Their great ancestor holds a great pillar that supports the deep sea water.

You ask about the ancestor bit or the part about the world being a place that protects an underwater city. Astarte however decides it’s her turn to ask questions and warns you that she’ll attack if it turns out that you’re lying about being amnesiac. She demands to know who you really are and where you came from as she presses in closer. You can either be alarmed at how close she’s getting, tell her you don’t remember anything, or comment on how beautiful she is.

Not choosing C, Astarte says she won’t stand for you looking down on her. If you call her lovely or anything similar she threatens to tear you apart. You either react with fear or find her phrasing strange. Either way she decides to be more direct and asks if you serve the Water Dragon King Yam.

You don’t recognize the name of course, so Astarte says he’s a shameless scoundrel who would proclaim in front of the great forefather that he is an ancestor as well. She yells that she can see through the villainous plots he’s thinking up, then demands your answer before wyverns screech and interrupt her.

The mobs appearing attack you as they swoop in, but Astarte pushes you out of the way. As more land, Astarte says they’re followers of Yam who are always following her around. Since they’re hostile to you, she takes that as evidence that you aren’t with Yam. She apologizes for that and tells you to get behind her. You ask her what she’s doing.

Astarte proclaims that as a soldier that fighting is her job. She challenges the mobs to come at her. They in turn get riled up by her taunting and haunch up to flap their wings. This turns out to be enough to blow Astarte off her feet, and even the mobs are baffled by this. You ask if Astarte is okay, be surprised at how weak she is, or comment on how the wyverns seem confused.

Astarte tells you to shut up in embarrassment and claims she doesn’t need to be worried over by a civilian. She prompts you to run, but you either say you won’t, sigh and say you’ll help, or just move in front of her. Astarte repeats that she’s a soldier and prepared for whatever happens. She asks what you can do as someone who isn’t a soldier when she’s surprised by you summoning your sword from thin air. She asks what’s going on before you start the episode battle. More story afterwards.

After the battle the story picks up near the end where you use your sword and cut off the sharp ends of the wyverns’ claws. You then order them to drop the fight and hold your sword up as a show of force. The mobs lower their claws and stare at you. One eventually hesitates as it inches towards you before licking you to your surprise. They all then leave as narration describes them as looking back at you guys in loving ways.

You find this conclusion to be anti climatic before shrugging it off and wondering if you got through to them. Then you notice something shiny on the ground, which you describe as a heart shaped shell. When you turn to check on Astarte you’re taken aback by how hard she’s glaring at you.

Astarte comments on how strong you are and asks what the deal is with your sword. You try to tell her you don’t know what you did and that it was there when you noticed. She thinks you’re messing with her and calls you suspicious. Astarte walks up and says she can’t leave you alone and says she’ll bring you to the great ancestor when Astaroth somehow speaks to her and interrupts. She complains about their constant annoyance to her.

You don’t see Astaroth, so it just looks like Astarte is suddenly getting pissed at someone invisible. Astaroth tells her to stop making such horrible expressions and stop speaking so brashly, but she gets pissy and says she’ll do as she likes. You try to ask her what’s going on, but Astarte doesn’t notice.

When Astaroth stops talking to her Astarte is taking some deep breaths, and you try to ask in some trepidation if she’s okay. She remembers that you’re there and is embarrassed to be seen acting that way before trying to say she’ll have the forefather judge you. She commands you to follow along and says you can’t run. You comply since you don’t have any better ideas and are curious about this ancestor.

Astarte approves of you going along with her and tells you to be ready to hear this judgment. You either be polite or worry about what awful place Canaan might be. Scene shifts to the city itself as Astarte prompts you to hurry up, pointing out the temple ahead as where the forefather is. You take a moment to comment on the town area and how relaxed the place is. You also comment on how lovey dovey everyone around is.

Astarte notices you staring at her and asks why you’re doing that. You admit that you thought the people here would be more scary like her. She says nothing as her expression holds, but her ears are noted to be wiggling. She eventually talks to herself about how you think of her as scary. You get worried about her getting mad before you notice that she actually seems happy about that.

Astarte gets embarrassed again and claims she’s not happy, adding that she should naturally be feared. Random townspeople start talking to her and call her lovely as usual. She doesn’t seem pleased while you cheerfully comment on the townspeople liking her. She snaps at either you or them, though the townspeople aren’t phased as they bow and pile offerings at her feet.

You take note that the offerings are the heart shells like the ones from before, and Astarte stalks off in annoyance as she grinds her teeth. You chase after her in a mild panic and ask if it’s okay for her to leave it all behind.

Some time later you both reach the temple and Astarte says you’re late while The Analyst starts playing. You either try to catch your breath or ask her to actually accompany you if she’s gonna escort you somewhere. She sulks a little before telling you to quiet down since you’re in the presence of the forefather Dagon. You ask about the name and say no one seems to be here though. She prompts you to look up.

You look in shock at how big Dagon is, and by your estimation he’s at least 20m/65 ft tall, but way more than that. Astarte reports to him about finding a suspicious person and bringing them to him. Dagon thanks her before turning to you and calling you foreigner or stranger. He introduces himself as the ancestor of Canaan.

You introduce yourself politely and can swoon over how cool he is. Astarte tells you to lower your head you disrespectful dip. Dagon however waves the need off and apologizes for Astarte’s antagonistic behavior towards you, saying she’s just too passionate towards her duties. You say you understand and know that she’s kind, say she helped you, or nod.

Dagon thanks you for your understanding and calls you kind. He then stares, so you try to ask about this. He claims it’s nothing and proceeds to welcome you to Canaan. Astarte tries suggesting he need not quite treat you so warmly. He eventually says that, even if you’re a demon/dragon exiled from some world or an unforgivable sinner, he swore that Canaan would accept and love all.

Dagon prompts Astarte to remember what their promise was. She concedes the point. Dagon then decides to ask about the clothes she’s wearing since he thinks it’s odd. It takes Astarte a moment to understand since she didn’t realize she was wearing that school uniform Astaroth had on. When she does notice she apologizes and says it happened without her noticing.

Astaroth starts talking to Astarte again, saying they aren’t weird like she said they were but lovely and fitting on her. She yells at Astaroth to shut it, which either shocks you or prompts you to say she’s doing it again. When Astarte gets a hold of herself again she apologizes to Dagon and claims she heard things.

Dagon asks if she’s overworking herself and suggests she take a break. Astarte tries to refuse, but when Dagon says he’s worried about her she gives in. Dagon then laughs and admits that if she were left alone she’d probably spend her time training.

Dagon turns to you to ask what your plans are, so you either tell him you don’t have a place to go and ask to stick around. He laughs and says you can because Canaan is the promised land that accepts all. Since you’re here, he considers you his child no matter who you really are. That said he does have one condition to attach to this.

You ask Dagon what he means, so he shows you one of the heart shells, and you comment on seeing them from either the wyverns or from the townspeople. Dagon explains that they’re called Promise Shells and are a way of expressing love for someone. He also mentions that there is one promise made by everyone living there, which is to show endless love. The shells are used to measure how much you’ve received, and Dagon says it’s his wish that love spreads through the city.

Back to the point, Dagon asks you to get as many shells as you can. He also asks you to make offerings to him. Dagon then changes the subject a little to say you’ll be given one of the empty houses in town and orders Astarte to show you around tomorrow. If there’s anything you’re unfamiliar with, Astarte can help you. She accepts the job obediently.

Some time later you and Astarte leave the temple as she shows you to your new place, which happens to be next to hers. You thank her for everything, though she downplays it as Dagon’s orders so you don’t need to do so. She then asks you what’s wrong, so you realize you’re hungry and ask for food.

Astarte sighs and tells you to wait. After a moment she fetches a vase filled with an amber liquid and tells you to drink it. When you do you say you’ve never had anything tasty like it before and ask what it is. She’s surprised you don’t know and says you really must be a foreigner. Astarte then explains that Canaan is the promised land of milk and honey, and that you can easily get this from the rivers outside town.

Astarte suggests that if you don’t have any work lined up, you could just go fetch the milk and honey and deliver them to nearby homes. It’s heavy labor, so there ought to be a lot of people who would be happy if you did that.

Astarte asks if you have any other questions before she goes home. You decide to ask something personal, which she prompts you to say. You can either ask why she chose to be a soldier, ask why she’s protecting the town, or ask if she hates being called lovely.

Going A, Astarte gets defensive again and says she doesn’t need to tell you something you don’t need to know. Astaroth starts annoying her again and tells her she doesn’t look good as a soldier and calls her lovely. She demands they leave her and calls them stupid for fighting with her before she realizes she’s doing it again in front of you. She looks away in embarrassment.

Astarte eventually asks if you think she’s weird for shouting at herself and stuff, almost accusing you of thinking she’s crazy. You deny it and shake your head. She’s surprised, so you repeat yourself. Solomon flashes through your head, which intrigues you in turn. Astarte goes quiet for a sec before she asks your name. You either are shocked she’s asking now, tell her, or note that she never actually used your name before.

Astarte says she’ll remember your name and tells you to be glad about that. Anyways she excuses herself there and tells you to rest, bidding you good night as she leaves. Scene shifts back to Dagon’s temple as he watches over the town. He mutters to himself about how some of his brethren have sunk to the abyss and wait as though dreaming. And on that note the episode half ends.