Eliza the Witch: Seasons Change
- A New Testaments: Secret of Mana Sidestory -
By ClaudeLv250
Introduction: Eliza is a character featured in my collaboration story, New Testaments: Secret of Mana, and is the niece of Elinee from Secret of Mana. This story actually takes place 1 year before NTSoM, which would place it 9 years after the original game, but that's not important. This is just going to be a somewhat humorous look at two character's lives in the world of Secret of Mana. Eliza has to stay with her boring old aunt and entertain herself...which might cause all kinds of catastrophes. Garr is a young werewolf separated from his pack, and has a lot to learn about human culture and the world beyond his scope. Some events in the story link up to NTSoM, and most of the characters introduced here will be featured in main story, so this will actually serve a purpose in the long run.
Disclaimer: Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu, Elinee, and all SoM characters are the property of Square Enix. Eliza, Garr and any original characters are my creation unless otherwise specified.
Summary: What can I say? It's the misguided adventures of a witch-in-training and a teenage werewolf separated from his family. It takes place over the course of one year, eventually leading into New Testaments: Secret of Mana.
Chapter 1: Her Arrival
Seasons change, and with them, life. Or some lives, anyway, for one elderly woman who lived a now peaceful life in her castle secluded in the dark forest would have her usual routine shattered abruptly by a family member.
Elinee hummed to herself as she worked over an old stove, wooden chairs that were magically brought to life nonchalantly stepping to the tune in tandem. The aroma of cooking meat and vegetables wafted through the castle. She reached for a knife, which casually slid into her grasp, to cut more fresh vegetables when the sound of someone knocking against the castle doors rang against her eardrums. She let go of the knife (which guided itself back onto a rack) and strolled out of her kitchen and down the hall, with the chairs galloping behind like loyal pets.
The rapping against the door continued until Elinee reached for the large handle and tugged at one of the double doors. She was greeted with a gust of wind and rain, whipping against the brown shawl draped over her old shoulders. A figure quickly darted inside, in which the chairs agitatedly leaned forward as if to pounce on the stranger at any moment. The figure, wrapped in a soaking wet black cloak, revealed herself to the old woman struggling to close the door against the raging winds.
"Hey Auntie," she said as the black cloak fell on the floor in a clump over a concealed bag. She wore a pointed blue hat with a pink ribbon tied around it atop her long, blonde hair, one thick strand reaching down to her emerald eyes. A blue top and a short blue skirt, tied by a pink cloth wrapped around her waist and knotted like a large pink bow in the back complimented her body. On her feet were blue heels, and a short, transparent pink cape trailed down her back. Two blue armbands covered the length of her forearms.
Elinee's aged eyes squinted at the figure. "Eliza...?" Her wrinkled face mouthed in disbelief. A flash of lightning temporarily lit the corridor and the downpour of rain increased. Eliza dived in for an embrace, in which the house furniture replied by letting their guard down now that they felt the strange new woman wasn't a threat.
"Wha...what are you doing here?" Elinee could barely get out when she parted with her niece.
"Didn't they tell you...? You know...inheritance and stuff." Eliza said casually.
Elinee narrowed her eyes. Her younger sister had always despised her and hated the fact that she lived in such a large castle. She had always wanted to inherit the castle for herself, but had settled for having her only daughter eligible for inheriting now that she was 18. It was only a matter of time, she felt, until Elinee would conk out, and she sent her oblivious daughter Eliza to make sure that she was there for that moment. Being the manipulator that she was, she would most likely find a way to nonchalantly usurp the castle from her own daughter's possession if it ever came to it.
Eliza had taken it upon herself to look around the hallway. "I haven't been here in years," she said to herself. The furniture swayed with her every step, as if expecting her to jump at them at any moment.
"Mmmm, something smells good!" she exclaimed, picking up her old black cloak and bag and carelessly throwing it onto one of the chairs. She walked down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen, and had her heels not been clickity-clacking against the floor so loudly, she would have heard the sound of growling coming from the animated seats.
Elinee grabbed the cloak from off of the chair and smiled. 'A little bit of youth might be just what this old castle needed.'
"The Lower Lands are quite far away from your home," Elinee murmured. "What do you plan on doing while you're here?"
"I dunno!" Eliza replied, bubbly. "I never thought about owning my own castle. My mom literally dropped this 'inheritance' business on me just a couple of weeks ago." She raised a spoonful of soup and took a sip, having since settled down for dinner with Elinee. They sat at a small wooden table on two of the few chairs that weren't brought to life. "But honestly, I was thinking about practicing my magic."
Elinee gave her niece an incredulous look. "How exactly do you plan to do that? Mana's been gone since the Tree and the flying Fortress..."
Eliza set the spoon to the side and leaned forward, giving a shady look to three chairs sitting in the corner. If they had eyes, she would have sworn that they were staring. She then muttered under her breath, "...I managed to get a spark of magic working last week."
Elinee nearly toppled over. The chairs approached, fearing that something had happened to their master until Elinee straightened herself and whispered, "...how did you manage that?"
"I don't really know...I was bored one day, tried a spell, and got a little spark as a result. It wasn't what I was trying to do, so..." Eliza's carefree attitude didn't seem to reflect her understanding of the magnitude of this knowledge, Elinee thought. But the girl had no reason to lie.
"Goodness! Do you think it's possible that mana could be...returning?" Elinee asked, not even believing what she was saying herself.
"Well, I'm not a history buff," Eliza remarked, taking another spoonful of broth. "But...I have heard the saying that history repeats itself, and the world is never without mana for too long."
"Well, that's true," Elinee confirmed. "Various legends tell of cataclysmic events that resulted in the fluctuation of mana, but not once did things stay in a state of crisis. And if mana were to return, I wouldn't be able to sense it...since I lost my magical prowess years ago," the old woman said, her gaze becoming distant as she reflected on memories of the past.
"Speaking of magic, do you think you could...teach me some things?" Eliza asked innocently.
"What? You mean a few spells, do you?"
"No, I mean...teach me all you know about magic!" Eliza batted her lashes as she gave her aunt her most charming smile.
Elinee was taken aback, as were the chairs. "You want to become my apprentice? Eliza...why?"
"Magic runs in our family. We're all adept with it." Eliza stared down into her soup and sighed. "Well, everyone else in the family...I know a few things, but I've never had any kind of formal training. And though my mother would never admit it, you are the best in the family."
"I...I don't quite know about this just yet, Eliza." Elinee's old face was riddled with worry. Eliza was right about her magical roots, but Elinee wasn't quite sure if such a 'burden' needed to be passed on. After all, she had turned towards the dark side of magic before losing her powers completely.
The meal continued in silence shortly afterwards. Elinee had eventually stopped eating altogether and began to think long and hard about passing her knowledge down to her niece. Eliza on the other hand didn't want to nag her aunt in the case of ruining any chance of getting a 'yes' out of the old woman, and instead let her mind wander until the distant growl of thunder met her ears. It was familiar, and reminded her of the one thing she couldn't believe she forgot since she arrived.
"...where's Spikey?"
Elinee was caught off guard once again, this time overridden with dread. It was something she had not thought about at all – how to break the news of Spikey's death to Eliza, who had always been close to the monstrous tiger. It happened so long ago, and for such a selfish and petty reason too. She wasn't sure which would hit harder: the fact that Spikey was dead, or why he died.
"Auntie? I haven't seen Spikey in years! I missed him so much...I'm almost ashamed that I forgot to see him since I've been here!"
The happy, longing voice of Eliza and her fond memories only made it that much worse. Elinee's voice cracked.
"Eliza...Spikey...he's..." Elinee croaked. She didn't want to ruin the mood of such a cheerful girl, but she could not tell her niece a lie. The chairs across the room teetered on their front legs, watching the drama unfold.
Elinee sighed and gave her answer as quickly and bluntly as possible. "Spikey is dead."
"Wait...what?" Eliza's face showed her obvious confusion. "Is this some kind of bad joke? Because it's not funny!"
"No, Eliza...I'm serious." Elinee knew she'd have to do some explaining. "It was about nine years ago when he died...it all happened so quickly, and I wasn't in my right state of mind..."
"You're lying! I would have known if Spikey had died!"
"I was so worried about keeping my powers by sapping the energy out of innocent people. Thanatos wanted the boy, Dyluck, and then they stormed the castle and..."
Eliza suddenly stood and slammed her hands onto the table's surface, knocking the chair out from under her in the process. "Who! Who stormed the castle! Who killed Spikey!"
"Please, Eliza, calm down..."
Eliza complied, only because her mind was still reeling from the news to really do anything else.
"As I was saying...," Elinee was finding the story harder to tell, and refused to make direct eye contact with Eliza. "...they stormed the castle and broke through all of my defenses. Instead of surrendering, I led them into Spikey's lair, hoping he'd stop them. I had no idea who they were. Who he was."
"...Who?"
"Randi..." Elinee turned her head closed her eyes. She never talked about what happened that day. The memories of her life at that time were too painful to relive.
"Who's Randi?" Eliza's voice quivered. It seemed that the pain of Elinee's memories spread to others and continued to hurt even after occurring so long ago.
"He is the Mana Knight."
Eliza's face turned into one of horror as she gasped in response. "You...you sent Spikey to fight the MANA KNIGHT?" Her anger quickly returned, and she pointed accusingly at her aunt with misty eyes. "You sent Spikey to his executioner," she whispered harshly.
It stung Elinee to her core to have the truth told to her for the first time, by her niece no less. She had always known it; acknowledged it, to an extent. But it sounded and felt completely different to have someone else speak it. It hurt even more. She had loved the overgrown tiger herself. He was her own pet, after all.
"I didn't know who he was at the time..." Her excuse fell on deaf ears. Eliza had left the table, her face hidden behind the rim of the floppy hat atop her head, the clicking heels strapped to her feet leading her out of the dining room only by memory.
The chairs had scattered in a desperate attempt to avoid Eliza, some even running into walls. She ignored them as she passed by and out of the room. They seemingly turned to Elinee in response, and approached the old woman. Their wordless support seemed to somewhat help subside the anguish she felt.
The first day had gotten off to a glorious start.
Eliza cried that night.
She buried her face in the pillow on the soft bed that resided in the room she had called her own so many years ago. Her cloak and bag sat on one of the few chairs in the castle that wasn't animated. They had remained untouched since she had arrived.
Her aunt's words reverberated in her head, replaying the scene over and over again. Her mind eventually trailed to memories of Spikey. The first time she had met the looming tiger, she bawled like a baby until her aunt proved how gentle and caring the beast could be.
She chuckled at her young innocence and naivety. It reminded her of the present.
"Why am I crying?" She whispered to herself, rubbing her eyes. She was too old for that, and according to the story, Spikey had died so long ago. It wasn't for a good reason, but she tried to understand just how the circumstances led up to it.
She had heard that her aunt had been tempted by evil at that point and time. The changing atmosphere of the castle undoubtedly affected Spikey. Randi – the Mana Knight, must have felt the same way she did when she first saw Spikey. The tiger was no pushover. Randi most likely had to defend himself, and live on to achieve greater things...like fulfilling the prophecy and saving the world.
"Spikey, you fool..." Eliza muttered with a chuckle, "you should have stayed in your room." She was starting to come to terms with what happened, but it still hurt.
Outside of her door, Elinee listened with the faint hint of a smile on her wrinkled face. Maybe Eliza's stay would get better and more eventful. The weather outside had only temporarily coincided with the mood of the castle as the remnants of the last summer storm began to dissolve.
Some author's notes for you:
This story will be around 9 chapters in total. This is the introductory chapter (perhaps even a prologue in disguise!), the following chapters will be longer. Garr will be introduced in the next chapter.
A little confession...I hadn't planned on posting this story until I had completely finished it. Right now it's about 42% complete. I didn't want people to think the New Testaments project was dead - far from it. The pitfalls of collaborative work is that if one person isn't pulling their weight then everyone feels it, so chapters 18 and 19 have been floating in an "in progress" status limbo for over a year now. Until a certain somebody gets their act together, you can enjoy this sidestory a little earlier than intended.