| NPC | Enemy | Trivia |
Kreide is an NPC in Arknights. He is the deuteragonist of Lingering Echoes.
Background[]
Kreide is one of the Witch King's distant descendants who, like Ebenholz, was kidnapped by the Witch King's Remnants as a child to be used as a subject in their cruel experiments.[1] The Remnants forcefully implanted a fragment of the "Voice of Terra", a musical Arts that possesses the Witch King's consciousness, into his body in hope of "resurrecting" their majesty. However, the experiment was so brutal that all the other subjects except Kreide and Ebenholz died. Even Kreide almost lost his life and was thrown aside by the Remnants as a mere corpse.[1] After the Twin Empresses purged the Remnants' experiment, they assigned a secret agent to keep an eye on Kreide who was found out to be alive. This Infected Feline man would eventually be Kreide's adoptive grandfather for the rest of his life.[2] Due to the long timespan, Ebenholz and Kreide forgot this part of their lives and treated each other as strangers on their subsequent reunion, with Ebenholz even believing him to be long dead.[3]
Following their arrival at Vyseheim, Kreide and his grandfather decided to settle there for a quite, peaceful life as they had been wandering around the country due to the social discrimination against their Oripathy. Unfortunately, Kreide's fragment of the "Voice" was not properly sealed within his body and was constantly "leaking out." The power of his Voice not only affects his body by temporarily keeping his Oripathy dormant, but also quietly accelerates the progress of Oripathy in the Infected around him, a phenomenon which he noticed as time passed.[4] To this day, he feels a deep guilt at this "curse" that he brings to others around him.[5]
Side Stories[]
Lingering Echoes[]
Kreide practicing together with Ebenholz
Kreide auditioned for Czerny's farewell concert under the impression that performing at the concert would come with a large amount of prize money which he needed to pay for his grandfather's treatment. Upon being informed otherwise, he was devastated, but Ebenholz offered to pay for his grandfather's medical expenses on the condition that the two of them perform together. Ebenholz and Kreide would audition to play "Morgen und Abend", Czerny's composition for piano, flute, and cello.
Kreide and Ebenholz practiced intensely to fulfill Czerny's expectations, but there were still hitches in their cooperation. Ebenholz did not regard Kreide's rhythm, while Kreide was too focused on cooperating with Ebenholz to bring out the brilliance of his own piece. However, the two Caprinae developed a friendship as they practiced, and the flaws in their playing also began to disappear. Kreide also stood up for Hibiscus when she was being threatened by the locals for being a Sarkaz due to a rumour spread by Lachmann. Unfortunately, Kreide's borrowed cello was damaged in the scuffle, so Ebenholz bought a new cello for him. Ebenholz also paid for Kreide's performance clothes, as Kreide did not have the funds to afford it.
Things did not go as expected, and Kreide was informed of Gertrude's plans to use the concert to massacre the district's inhabitants, as well as the "Voice of Terra" residing in his body and his past with Ebenholz. When Lachmann unleashed a swarm of Originium Slugs on the city, he played a duet with Ebenholz in order to invoke a resonance between their "Voices of Terra" and drive the slugs away. Inspired by this, Czerny composed a new song, Licht und Schatten, to try and draw out the two youths' "Voices" into himself.
Kreide performing Licht und Schatten alongside Czerny and Ebenholz
Czerny, Kreide and Ebenholz performed this new piece during Czerny's farewell concert, but Gertrude's interference caused the Voices to destabilize and threaten to consume everyone in the concert hall. Ebenholz decided to try and sacrifice himself by taking both Voices into himself, but Kreide's worsening health, coupled with his self-sacrifical nature and his satisfaction from the events leading up to this moment, caused him to take both Voices into himself instead.
Ebenholz readying himself to put Kreide out of his misery
Despite his body and mind degrading from the unstable Voices, he kept his sanity until the concert ended, where he told Ebenholz to not let their past misfortunes define them, and to look fondly at fate's blessings instead of cursing its woes. As Kreide finally asked Ebenholz to stop his oncoming rampage, he transformed into a towering, monstrous Arts Creation as the Witch King's consciousness fully consumed him and began trying to destroy everything in the vicinity, forcing Ebenholz to oblige and put Kreide out of his misery.
Ebenholz eventually defeated Kreide's monstrous form, and Kriede died in his arms despite his frantic denial. As Ebenholz embraced him, the active Originium spikes on Kreide's body pierced Ebenholz's skin and infected him with Oripathy. However, before his death, Kriede delivered an encouraging speech to Ebenholz, which would change the other Caprinae youth's outlook on the world forever and eventually prevent him from falling into despair and bitterness.
| “ | Live on, Ebenholz, and walk through the long night. Fight injustice, and treat others with generosity and charity. Only by doing so will I live on in your memory. I'll ask you, how did your day go, Ebenholz? And you'll tell me proudly that you had a good and productive day. You'll tell me about the challenges you face while doing good, and complain about how fate is a miser. And it will be okay, because I'll be listening. It's alright to complain a little, when you've worked so hard. Only by doing so will you rise above pain and suffering, and find peace in your heart. Remember that we've fought together against cruel fate and won. When you think of me, laugh. Don't cry. And Ebenholz... I'm sorry. I haven't thought about what token... to give you... | ” |
| —Kreide's last words |