A/N: This was a request fic to explore the origins of the Nu in the Cursed Woods.
Come What May
It was sleeping in one of the hidden rooms in Enhasa when the Kingdom of Zeal began to fall into the ocean.
The violent shaking awoke it, and it suffered a brief moment of disconcertion in which it tried to make sense of the tremors and the screams filtering through the walls. Seized by desperation, it was caught up in the need to leave immediately, regardless of the fact that it was still unsure of what was going on. Grabbing one of Belthasar's tomes lying about, the Nu exited the room via the bookcase and was greeted by madness.
The humans were panicking, stumbling over the cracking marble floors as they stampeded the doors. The beds were abandoned and books were scattered, fire crackling over the pages of one and water dancing on the leaves of another. Hefting its own book under its arm, it too made for outside. There was a clot of people struggling to get through the doors, and the Nu, with its large size, only compounded the problem, acting as a momentary stopper that blocked the flow of the crowd. With a frenzied cry, the humans shoved it roughly across the threshold and spilled across the grass, running to the Land Bridges at both sides of the island. The Nu, like most people, opted to head for the closer bridge to the west.
There was chaos at the Land Bridge. People had thronged upon the raised podium, cramming their bodies into even the tiniest available space. But the Skyway could only transport a limited number of people to the snow-drenched continents below and no one was willing to wait their turn or forfeit their spot to allow the current group to pass through.
Over on the larger continent, Zeal Palace was toppling. The Nu could see people running down the path that led through the caves. A reckless few were attempting to scale down the mountain walls, feet skidding and kicking up rocks, gaining momentum that became, ultimately, too great and sent them tumbling head over heels to the plateau below.
A sudden uproar from the crowd trying to push their way to the Skyway drew the Nu's attention. All eyes were skyward.
"Save us! Please!"
Circling around was the giant Blackbird, an intimidating presence when stationed at Kajar, but now it represented the soaring hope of salvation. People's arms were raised, clamoring after the plane as though someone would stick a hand out a window and scoop up a lucky person. Even the Nu was jumping up and down, trying to make himself noticeable, loveable, saveable.
However, the Blackbird sailed low across Enhasa and then climbed higher into the western sky until it was nothing more than a glint in the sunlight.
"Come back!" someone shrieked, eliciting the beginnings of high-pitched hysterics from the others, but a terrified "Look!" cut them short.
People were falling off the main continent. The land was tearing itself apart and those fleeing to the Skyway got caught in the widening rift. There was a disbelieving hush from the group as they watched the victims plummet. Some were swallowed whole by the clouds and some were merely engulfed by haze, so that they seemed to dissolve as they fell, dissipating, dissipating, until they were forever gone.
Suddenly, the ground gave a downward jolt and everything became blurred as the kingdom proceeded to sink. The air sounded of stilted screams overridden with the roar of tremors, and the sky was white, dotted with bodies. All the Nu remembered was lying face first in the dirt, trying to cling to an unstable ground with one hand while keeping the book tucked under its other arm.
Finally, the continents broke through the clouds and the ocean stretched out beneath to catch them. Zeal had been reduced to a jumbled landmass, looking like someone had crumpled up the entire kingdom in the palm of their hand as though it were nothing more than a piece of paper. The ground shuddered viciously and the Nu was suddenly weightless. The ocean had claimed it, blue water swirling and humming all about. The Nu breathed in and thought that, so far, death was pretty painless.
Then it was spat unceremoniously to the ground and it quickly changed its mind. Behind it, there was a sound like a screech being sucked back into the mouth from whence it came, but when the Nu turned to look, there was nothing but trees.
It sat for several moments in wide-eyed, unblinking disorientation. The Enlightened Ones had mentioned a concept of the afterlife, and the Nu wondered if this was it. However, the throbbing ache in its bottom convinced it that it wasn't quite dead yet. Gazing around at the surrounding woods and catching glimpses of the darkened, hazy sky between the treetops, the Nu concluded that it had somehow made it onto the Earthbound continents. That explanation made sense, though it was conveniently ignoring the absence of the perpetual snowstorm and the very fact that it had somehow survived the descent through the sky intact instead of smashed flat.
But Nus are simple-minded creatures and the complete destruction of its world and its own miraculous survival was enough for it to deal with. Little discrepancies were just too much for it to comprehend at the moment. So, it rose from the ground, gingerly dusted itself off, and, hearing the nearby trickle of running water, headed in the direction of it.
However, the path through the trees was unexpectedly blocked off by two imps, who ushered the Nu back into the clearing. They were cackling and sneering, sticking their slimy tongues out in taunt and kicking rocks at its head. The Nu hunched in on itself and the imps doubled over in laughter, thinking they had found a defenseless creature they could tease mercilessly without consequence. Little did they know that the Nu was preparing to launch its trademark attack, and in a sudden lunge unexpected of its great size, the Nu shot itself at one of the imps, smashing it to the ground. Wheezing and rasping, it managed to crawl away. The other imp also made a hasty retreat into the bushes and the Nu, its path clear, wandered down the canyon trail.
After a time, it spotted a human wandering about the foothills. He was dressed in a manner the Nu had never seen before, equipped in a rather primitive armor. An Earthbound One, the Nu concluded, and began to approach him.
The man spotted it coming and jumped back in alarm. "A Mystic!" he yelled, brandishing a spear. Behind him, three other armed humans appeared and charged at the Nu. Frightened, the Nu sprinted down the trail until it had reached the edges of a town. Spying the forest on the outskirts, it ducked into the trees and ran until it had lost its pursuers.
Humans were best avoided from then on.
--
The following days were cold and unkind to the Nu. The greatest injustice it suffered, however, was the gradual realization that Zeal was now nothing but an unbelieved rumor. The recording of time was unheard of back in the magic realm, so it had no idea how many days had passed since the fall of everything it knew. But it was long enough for castles to be re-erected, though the one whose turrets now skimmed the forest trees could never compare to the splendor of Zeal's Palace.
The use of magic had also been replaced by sticks and stones, and there was no longer any distinction between the humans. They were no longer separated into categories of "Enlightened" and "Earthbound", which it supposed made sense since they all technically were earthbound. But now the distinction was between "humans" and "Mystics", with the former trying to prevent being conquered by the latter. The Nu found itself disinclined to care about the fate of the humans. Back in Zeal, Masa was always complaining that humans were so odd, probably because they were surprisingly resilient for something that seemed so weak. Somehow they were still thriving despite the continued threats to their existence coupled with their own prejudices. Having become an outcast amongst former allies, its non-human appearance labeling it a Mystic and thus an enemy, the Nu began to understand Masa's derision for humans.
So it kept its contact with people scarce. It spent its days in the forest near the castle, maintaining distance of the guards. The closest encounter it had had with the humans was a brief one, yet it discouraged it from associating with them from then on.
A group of children had gathered around one of their elders, pleading for him to tell them a story. "There once was a land where magic flourished," he began, and the Nu, who happened to be passing by in the bushes, caught ear of the tale and immediately stopped to listen. "Everyone who lived there could use it and they all lived happily in a castle in the clouds. But eventually, people began to abuse their powers. It got so bad that they actually destroyed their castle and were forced to live on land for the rest of eternity."
"Did that really happen?" the youngest child asked.
The old man chuckled. "Heavens no. It's just a fairy tale. But one with a very important message that you kids should take heed of…"
The Nu crept away, making sure that it was far enough out of range that it could no longer hear the wheezing voice of the elder. The glory of Zeal reduced to nothing but a child's story, painful to hear in all its ignorance. Everything was lost forever, alive only in memory and within the pages of Belthasar's book that the Nu still had with it.
Struck perhaps with a touch of homesickness and nostalgia, the Nu found a sunny clearing in the woods and proceeded to leaf through the tome and lose itself in things of yesterday. It flipped to a random page and began to read:
""The Mystery of Life" Vol. 841, Ch. 26 All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu…"
Many of the notes didn't make sense to the Nu, but most of it sounded like the ravings of a man slowly losing his sanity. As the volume went on, there was a touch of desperation to the words. The writing became sloppier as the pages went on, hastily written down as though to put thoughts onto solid paper before they drifted away never to be caught again.
There was a section devoted to the Mammon Machine, the Ocean Palace, and Lavos, the source of energy that Zeal had thrived on. In the margins of one the pages, there was a doodle of something that the Nu couldn't quite make out. It looked like a headless porcupine, but the caption labeled the creature as Lavos itself. A final paragraph accompanied the drawing; all the rest of the pages in the book were blank.
"Lavos seems to feed off the energy of the planet, even as it slumbers deep within the core of the Earth. This energy represents the whole of life on this planet starting aeons ago until present day. Being in the hall of the Mammon Machine and feeling Lavos' power is extremely overwhelming, and many have reported feeling faint when in the vicinity of the hall. Even asleep, Lavos is a dangerous force. However, the Queen's plans to construct the Undersea Palace and bring the Mammon Machine closer to Lavos and its unlimited energy could prove disastrous if the creature were to awaken…"
The Nu sat in the dappled light for a while and pondered this piece of information. It thought that if it had a pencil, it would write in exactly what those proven disasters were.
Humans were truly bizarre creatures. Completely capable of obliterating themselves with a stupidity that had appeared to weather the passage of time…yet, somehow…
And then a thought struck. Was Lavos still…within?
--
Dogs were extremely vile creatures. They drew attention with their rasping barks and ran freely through the streets of Truce. The Nu had found itself on the growling end of these dogs time after time after time. It only ventured into town long enough to steal into the back alleyways and scrounge up food from the trash. But when confronted with the dogs and their menacing snapping, it always forfeited its meal scraps to them. It was better to placate the dogs instead of allowing them to create a ruckus and risk the humans coming to investigate. So it was more often than not forced to rush back into the forest when the animals were preoccupied with chomping down the food it had found.
Nearly at the brink of starvation, the Nu decided to set off for the west, wandering the forest in search of better circumstances. Unfortunately, the trees eventually dwindled down and led the Nu not only to open ground, but also to a bridge riddled with humans. Spotting the telltale spears and catching the gleam of polished armor in the sun, it realized that they were actually soldiers. And as twilight set, the orange glow of torches spaced along the railing showed that they weren't leaving anytime soon.
Across the channel, the Nu could see the twinkling lights of a small village, their reflection waving in the dark waters. It wondered briefly if there were many dogs there. But even if it had been desperate to cross to the southern continent, the only way it could do so without being spotted was to swim the channel. This option was out of the question since the Nu had developed a fear of water ever since the fall of Zeal. Left with no other choices, it decided to head back to Truce in the morning and see if it could make peace with the dogs.
The moon was high in the sky when a clamor on the bridge aroused the Nu from its slumber. There were shouts and the thunderous gallop of footsteps across the wooden planks, and for a sinking second, the Nu thought it was back in Zeal, except this time it was plummeting through storm clouds. However, when it finally regained sense of where and when it was, the Nu was confronted with a most surreal sight.
All manner of ghouls and goblins were invading the bridge. Walking skeletons were rushing in, their bones making a whispering chatter as they moved. Large creatures in armor and helmets came tromping after, delivering heavy blows to the soldiers. Bats and rats came scurrying as well, causing general confusion and chaos as the former beat about the soldiers' heads and the latter ran about underfoot, tripping many a person. There were horned beasts with long teeth and sharp-beaked birds swinging blades. Behind them all, standing at the other side of the bridge was a big green creature, commanding the other beasts forward in a tone laced with malicious delight. The humans were quickly falling in the face of the onslaught.
"The Mystics have launched an attack! They're breaking through our defenses!"
"This is our last line of defense! We must let no one through!
"Death to the Mystics' enemies!"
"Burn it! Burn the bridge! Don't let them get across!"
The Nu watched as the soldiers grabbed torches and scrambled off the bridge to light fire to the support beams. It would have been a foolish tactic since they left the bridge wide open, but the green fellow was calling all his troops to retreat. The railings were burning and in an impulsive moment, the Nu darted out from the woods and ran for the bridge.
"What the…? Get it!" It heard someone shout, but it was already halfway across the bridge and no one dared follow. On the other side, it joined the cluster of Mystics who were whooping and hollering, stamping their feet as the bridge collapsed into the water with a resounding crash. The Mystics spent several more moments cheering and spitting threats to the soldiers on the opposite bank before someone ordered them all back to the castle. The Nu followed along, wondering if perhaps it would be best to join this band if it meant it no longer had to hide out in the woods.
"Who're you?" one of the birds carrying blades demanded, jabbing it roughly in the side.
"I am Nu," it said.
"New, eh?" The jabbings became more good-natured. "We thrashed those filthy humans good! Whadya say?"
"Indeed."
The bird cackled. "These stupid humans. They're lookin' at their last days, they are. Magus has something special in store for 'em!" Several Mystics within ear range of that last statement began to snigger. The Nu looked round at them blankly.
"Oh you prob'ly don't know, being new an' all," the bird said. "Well, they say a creature lives within the center of the Earth. Called Lavos. Magus is gonna summon 'im and when it wakes up, it'll destroy all the humans!" Every Mystic in the nearby vicinity was laughing outright by now. The Nu felt distinctly queasy.
This confirmed that Lavos was still alive, and worse, this Magus person was going to reawaken it. The Nu had seen the devastation that monster was capable of. These foolish Mystics probably weren't even aware that the destruction of the humans also entailed the destruction of themselves. Well the Nu was definitely not going to have any part of this group, or this suicidal plan. It began to slow its pace, dragging behind until it was bringing up the tail end of the group.
The Mystics turned east toward the village in the distance, allowing the Nu to continue south unseen. Dawn was breaking on the horizon when it came upon a forest threading around a lone mountain. It wandered into the trees and wondered how far away the Magus' castle was. Not that it mattered it supposed; there was nowhere to hide from Lavos.
--
Cursed Woods read the sign.
The Nu had thought the name laughable. Sure the place was crawling with snakes and frogs, but he had thought the humans were overreacting by giving this part of the woods such a moniker. That is, until it saw the really big frog strolling down the trodden forest path.
It cowered in the bushes, watching as the frog strode past. As though its rather abnormal size wasn't strange enough, it was dressed in human's clothing and walking on its hind legs. The Nu thought that perhaps it was another Mystic and it hastened to scramble away as quietly as possible, not wanting to get caught up in their group again. However, the frog still spotted it anyway.
There was a silent standoff, neither daring to move or speak lest they startled the other into action. The frog watched it unblinkingly for some moments, while the Nu stared into its bulbous yellow eyes and still hoped that maybe it really hadn't been seen. The calm anticipation was overwhelming, and the Nu huddled into a defensive posture, the one that signaled the beginning of its offensive strike. But the frog impassively began to edge slowly towards the end of the clearing, its eyes still trained on it. It reached a lone shrub of bushes and suddenly seemed to disappear within them.
The Nu watched and waited, seemingly unable to uncoil its body and run away. It wondered if the frog was gone for good and if it was safe to finally leave and how far away could it get from these cursed woods when the frog reappeared. It poked its head out of the bushes, looked around until it caught sight of the Nu, and then ventured back out into the clearing. The frog tossed something onto the grass in front of it that looked to be a sizable chunk of meat. Again there was stillness between them. Finally, the frog spoke.
"'Tis difficult to find food 'round these parts," it seemed to chide gently. Its voice was a deep croak, words tumbling about in its throat. The Nu regarded the offer, but in that instant, a snake darted out of the bushes and pounced upon the meat.
"Urchin! 'Tis not for thee!" the frog admonished.
The Nu, still hunched up, jumped forth from its hiding place and smashed the snake. It gave a piteous squeal and slithered away while the Nu grabbed the meat and ran back into the bushes. The frog looked upon the scene with an expression that might have been termed a smirk on its paunchy face before turning back to its abode.
The Nu devoured the food. It was the most generous meal it had had in ages.
From then on, the frog always provided food for the Nu, though their relationship was rather one-sided since the Nu had nothing in return to give. Aside from their first meeting, they never really associated with one another. But they were both content to be able to spy each other wandering about the woods, knowing that they no longer bore the burden of ostracism alone.
And so the days passed uneventfully. The Kingdom of Zeal was now no more than a long ago dream to the Nu, a rather fitting end for a land that thrived on them. Every once in awhile, it would page through Belthasar's book and remember the threat that Lavos still imposed on the planet. There were rumors drifting through the town to the south of the woods that Magus could be stopped. But a legendary hero and a mythical sword seemed more like the wishful thinking of a doomed species. Not that it was the Mystics that humans ultimately had to fear, but rather their "secret weapon" and the havoc it could wreak.
Then one day, they appeared.
Hey.
The Nu looked around.
I remember you! It's been ages.
Tromping through the trees was a familiar trio. There was the boy, his hair akin to a bushel of flames and with lightning tracing through his veins. He was accompanied by the two girls who commanded ice and fire, an antipode walking hand in hand. The Nu remembered them from Enhasa. They had somehow unlocked the secrets of the books and entered the hidden room. There the Nu had challenged them to a battle, handing over a magic and speed tab when it lost. They had left, it had fallen asleep, and then…Zeal fell.
But somehow, they were here in this era.
…You recognize these humans.
In their hands, the Nu spotted a rusted blade. It never would have recognized it from sight alone, but instead it sensed the long forgotten presence: it was Masa and Mune.
They are trying to stop Lavos. The wind trickled through the woods.
I know what you're thinking. But they are not at fault for the Ocean Palace disaster. Our past is their future. Thus the kingdom was destined to fall.
"Eep!" the girl with the ponytail cried out as she tripped over an exposed tree root. The boy quickly extended an arm to steady her.
"Why did he choose here of all places to live?" the girl with a bowl on her head huffed. Her weapon was drawn, but not at the ready as she picked her way through the damp undergrowth.
It was a rather angering sight to see them, bumbling along on their quest, clueless as to the damage they would inflict, the lives they would ruin, the pain, suffering, and loss that would be borne on their account. Even if nothing could be changed, that did not permit them to create such devastation so easily.
We've already tested them. The breeze stilled and the statement was felt with a sentiment of finality.
And suddenly the travelers were upon it, staring at the Nu impeding their path. Such vile creatures.
"Stop it, you dog," it said, voice a begrudging snarl, before it skirted off into the bushes.
"What did we do?" it heard the blonde whisper.
"What a weird creature," the other girl said. "Stop what?"
Lavos.
The Nu figured that if the outcome of both their futures was still undetermined, let come what may.
The frog disappeared shortly after that encounter, and the Nu resorted to stealing into the southern village to scrounge up food. Happy gossip was circulating that Magus had finally been vanquished with the Masamune and the Nu breathed a sigh of relief that Lavos wouldn't be awakening anytime soon. Perhaps the spirits of the sword were correct to place their trust in those three.
--
"All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief! …At least, for now."
Once it had a dream that the Ocean Palace had been resurrected and could be seen floating in the northwestern sky. But then it awoke and there was nothing there.