DISCALIMER: I DON'T OWN IT!
AN: If I'm referring to "She" it's most likely Momo. Yes there is self insertion, but it's to make the story go along.
Just so no one gets confused.
Puraya: age 20 (Referred to as "older woman" usually")
Momo: Age unknown, probably around 17-18. (Referred to as She or "Younger woman")
Takeru: age 10. (Referred to as boy or Takeru)
Red headed girl: age 9 (Older little girl)
Hikari: age 6. (youngest girl)
The wierd spacing is to emphasize a storytellers speech cadence.
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"Why does he have horns?"
"He looks funny."
"Is he cursed?" The young woman didn't know how to deal with these questions. All she knew was that she had woken this morning in a strange land, with no recollection of who she was, or what she had been doing. Then a large horse had appeared, limping with a broken leg; she hadn't been scared, it had seemed familiar somehow. And they had discovered a baby, with horns, in what appeared to be an empty pool.
She wasn't stupid, she knew a baby with horns wasn't natural, but it was WRONG to leave a helpless baby alone, so she had picked it up, and followed the horse, since it obviously knew where it was going. But as they'd reached the exit a lone figure had appeared and offered a choice.
"I can take you back to civilization, and I will, no matter what. But, you have a choice, you can raise that child, and while you do I will keep you from harm, or you can give the child to me and I will leave you in the city of your choosing."
As previously stated...she wasn't stupid, she also had grown a little fond of the restless boy in her arms. Which was strange, seeing as she didn't remember liking children...she couldn't remember if she liked anything really. So the figure had nodded and moved so that it no longer eclipsed the sun. She had been startled to see another woman.
"Who are you?"
"I am called Puraya. And you?"
"...I...can't remember." The woman had raised an eyebrow.
"I see. Can you ride?" She had blushed profusely, holding the squirming child a little tighter.
"I can't remember that either. But even if I could, I don't think the horse is well enough to carry a rider..." Puraya had looked at the stallion and frowned.
"Well that won't do. Oi! Agro!" The horse had perked up, hearing what must have been it's name, and warily limped forward. The older woman smiled and took what looked like an herb out of a small pouch.
"Eat up friend." Surprisingly the large horse had obeyed, and soon was walking as though it had never been hurt. She had asked how they were going to leave since there appeared to be no way but to walk across a vast barren land. The other woman had merely smiled and held up a small, shiny coin.
"This. It's called a Deus ex machina, watch." And she had placed the coin on the ground and simply said 'bridge'. The rest was in the past, and now she stood holding the small horned baby being bombarded with questions by the village's children while Puraya made some sort of deal with the headman.
"Well...you see...I...ah..." And as if thinking her name had summoned her, she is there, grinning like a child given to many sweets.
"We can stay in the cottage by the stream, near the woods." As she turns back to the headman, her eyes are shadowed but her voice is strange.
"Because we have a deal." And suddenly the tension is broken as one of the little girls tugs on her saviour's sleeve.
"But WHY does he have horns?" She can only watch as the strange woman smiles kindly and asks-
"Would you like to hear a story?" The children cheer and she cannot help but follow them as Puraya leads them all into the woods.
"Once upon a time, there was a young boy; whose dream was to see the entire world.
But one day, when he returned to the village where he had grown up, he discovered that his dearly beloved friend had been sacrificed.
For the Elders believed her destiny was cursed." One of the boys groaned.
"Is this gonna be a LOVE story?" She shrugged.
"It has love in it, but if you don't want to hear about the giants, by all means go play."
"Giants?"
"Are you going to let me tell the story?" The young girl could not help but smile as the boy hung his head and nodded.
"Alright then.
He was very upset, and yes it was because he loved her.
But he knew it wasn't in him to kill another person, so instead he borrowed a sacred sword-" She held up a hand before the boy could ask
"I say borrowed, because he had every intention of returning it, once his task was through." It looked like it didn't sit well with him, but the boy nodded again.
"So he took her body, the sword and his only friend in the world: his horse; and went to a cursed place, called The Forbidden Land.
There, he lay her body upon the alter, and prayed, prayed with all his heart and soul for God to bring her back." The two little girls looked at the woman, starry eyed.
"Did he? Did she get all glowy?" Puraya smiled sadly and shook her head.
"No. She did not come back." Both girls seemed to wilt a little.
"But, a voice answered his prayers.
It asked him, if bringing her back was what he truly wanted.
He said yes.
In return, the voice said it required he perform a service for it, which would be very dangerous, and that even if he succeeded, the price would be very, very high.
It asked if he still wanted to save her.
He said yes."
"Moron." The boy muttered, yelping as the older of the two little girls kicked him in the shins. But the older woman simply ignored them, leading the way through the trees, her voice weaving a web of golden light.
"The voice approved, and laid out the terms of the deal.
If the boy would destroy the sixteen gargoyles in the temple, it would bring back his true love."
"That's dumb!" The young woman blinked as the baby in her arms whimpered, and turned to face the boy.
"Why do you say that?" the boy huffed crossing his arms.
"He's only gotta destroy some stachoos. What's so great about that?" The youngest girl, a little blonde with big green eyes, glared.
"Shut up Takeru! I wanna hear the story!"
"But Hikari-" The older of the two stuck out her tongue and flipped her red hair over her shoulder.
"No one's listening to you, so shush!" Puraya sighed and continued.
"However the Idols were each as tall as a house, and made of heavy stone.
'I do not have the tools!' the boy cried, despairing.
'I know this' the voice replied.
'That is why you must destroy the incarnation of each statue, all sixteen that roam the land.
Do you still wish to bring back your love?'
'Yes.'
So the voice told the boy of the special abilities of the sword he had brought, if held up in the sun, it would reflect the light to show where each statue's incarnation roamed, much like a piece of bewitched crystal .
Armed with this information the boy and his horse began their journey.
The first incarnation he found in a sandy valley after climbing a steep cliff.
It was there the enormity of his task sank in.
For the incarnation was three times the size of it statue, and wielded a large club!
Surely he could not beat such a Colossus!
However the sword was truly a magic blade, for while he held it the weakness of the giant was revealed." Takeru huffed but didn't interrupt for which she was grateful. She had a feeling that this had something to do with the past she couldn't remember. The older woman continued telling the story as the reached the clearing that held the cottage that was to be their home.
"When the giant was defeated, the boy sought to return to the temple where he could report this success, but just as he turned away, the evil in the incarnation attacked, attempting to take over." Hikari gasped softly, eyes wide.
"But the boy's will was strong, he would not let it rule him, he still had fifteen giants to defeat, to bring his true love back to the land of the living.
So he pulled it back, and contained it.
But in doing so he lost consciousness.
When he awoke he was back in the temple, his horse nudging him gently.
The statue of the Colossus was gone, and in it place a single dove rested on the altar where his beloved lay.
The voice provided him with cryptic hints and help as he battled his way through the evil giants roaming the strangely empty, yet beautiful, Forbidden Land.
For every Colossus that fell, another dove arrived.
But for every kill, the evil of the newly dead joined the evil already contained within him, and the warrior began to change.
Not mentally for he was a pure of heart as always.
His love did not falter, nor did his purpose.
His appearance however began to shift.
He became deathly pale, his once auburn hair turning a dark shade of lilac." All three children were now enraptured, and even the baby in her arms seemed to be listening.
"What the boy did not know, was that as he defeated the thirteenth giant, ten men from his home had come to take back the sword, and stop him."
"Why?" Hikari gasped.
"He was killing evil giants! That's not doing anything bad!" Takeru seconded.
"...It's 'cause it was the 'Forbidden Land' right?" The red head looked at Puraya solemnly. The older woman nodded.
"The boy could feel the effects of his battles wearing on him, but he was so close to his goal.
The fifteenth giant was a fearsome one, with a stone cleaver and hooves of a dark metal stronger than iron.
Still the boy fought, and won.
His awakening in the temple was abrupt as the second to last idol exploded in a flash of green light.
His horse had returned from the barren lands he'd been forced to leave it loose in, and he had never been more grateful.
His life had been saved by his best friend more than once, and he felt the terrible loneliness of the cursed land sharply that day.
The voice was stern, telling him he had little time.
It knew of the men that came to stop him and urged him to haste.
The sixteenth Colossus was on a far off cliff, near the large ocean.
The boy rode hard, desperate to reach it before the men reclaimed the sword.
But the Forbidden Land is cruel, and the bridge leading to the giant collapsed as they crossed.
The horse bucked him off just as the stone crumbled beneath its feet, saving its masters life yet again." The children gasped and she could not help but join them. For a horse to be so loyal, the boy must have truly been kind.
"So the wanderer faced the Sixteenth Giant alone.
It was no wonder this was the last, for it was the largest, taller than any prison tower, with armor, made of the strange dark metal and glowing bands that shot thunder and fire with deadly precision.
Even so the boy did not give up.
His horse had given everything to help him achieve his goal; he would not belittle his friends sacrifice by giving in to hopelessness.
His love awaited, just this one last battle and she would be alive.
She would talk again, laugh again, look at him and smile again.
The battle raged as the young boy used hidden tunnels and the ruins of fortress walls to make his way close enough to scale the enormous creature.
And then, after much flailing and near misses...it was done.
This pain was the worst, the evil overflowing, but he would not submit!
His love awaited him...
But so did the men.
They arrived in time to watch the sixteenth statue shatter, and their cries were not of joy, but of despair.
For the voice, had not been God.
God is a colossus himself and only the very foolhardy scale his length to make themselves heard.
No, the voice was an evil being by the name of Dormin.
He had been imprisoned in the empty temple, in the harsh yet beautiful forbidden lands, his power split up into sixteen pieces..."
"No way! You mean he didn't get his girl back?" She almost laughed at how offended the boy sounded, but her rescuer was shaking her head.
"No, even though he was evil, Dormin did not lie. He brought her back."
And suddenly it made sense. She was the girl, she knew this now. She barely heard the end of the story as she opened the door to the decrepit cottage. The temple where she'd awoken, the crumbled ruins of statues, the limping horse...She looked at the baby in her arms. It must be Him...at least, the good left in him after Dormin was sealed away forever. A memory drifted through her mind, faded, like an old painting, left out in the sun.
"Wanderer, we used to call you...now I think I will call you...Ewan." the door closed behind her and she turned to meet the warm smile of the woman who had taken her from the forbidden lands.
"May I ask...how you know all of this?" The older woman smiled.
"My name, in my native tongue, is pronounced, Player."
OWARI
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AN: It was crap, I know! I'm sorry I just finished the game and I had to get this out before it got away from me and decided it wanted multiple chapters. Yes I'm still writing Parallels and Captain my Captain, just please, give me time.
And Review please, even though it was odd and most likely awkward, my ego needs the boost. Flames will have their spelling and punctuation edited (grammar as well if I feel like it) then returned to sender for reposting.