Hello there. It's been a long time since I've uploaded anything and I am very nervous. I spent a long time debating whether I should upload this, but I had a sudden rush of courage to put this out despite its imperfection. Call me impulsive. Feel free to say whatever you'd like; I welcome your opinions (even if it's negative) as long as it is justified!
I stole the cover off kittyanimelover's photobucket. Is that okay?
And I apologize for the length... I hope I do not bore you!
At the brink of dawn, a girl stood atop a towering bridge with her head bowed over the side. She viewed her brown locks and a tear-stained face in the rippling reflection. Tentatively, she pulled herself onto the stone barrier. Large rocks were tied on each of her wrists. When she stood straight, the wind blew her forward. Her immediate reaction was backing up from the edge, and she contemplated once more about her intentions. Urging her on, voices announcing her stupidity echoed in her ears.
"You're so stupid! He is mine, was mine, and will be mine! We are engaged!"
"How can you be so stupid?!" She pointed angrily towards sick sheep. "Your feelings can never get in the way of your work!"
She was a compassionate and strong person. Strong people don't commit suicide from a heartbreak had sent her job, friendship, and mental state shattering into pieces. However, her excuse was that she was nice. That was why she jumped. As she fell, her weights speeding her descent, she convinced herself that her decision was a smart one because she was ridding the world of another idiot.
...
Lie to Me
Chapter 1
I woke to a light flutter of wind blowing against my face. My eyelids were heavy, but once I pried them open, I saw a pair of large, chocolate-brown eyes.
"Dr. Jin!" the owner of the chocolate-brown eyes stepped back and called towards another room. "Angela is awake!"
I immediately regarded everything in this foreign room while the girl's attention was directed elsewhere. The walls were unusually white and bright, as if enhanced by magic, and the silver tools spotted at three-o'clock were glinting in the lantern light.
Lantern light?!
I snapped my head towards the ceiling. The source of light was no lantern. An unnaturally white light streamed from a rectangle on the ceiling. I was completely distraught by everything foreign in the room. I began to edge back until I was sharply jerked back into my original position. I unintentionally cried out in shock, attracting my captors' attention. I realized that I was restrained, bound by a long, white rectangular thingy on my left arm and right leg.
I eyed the chocolate-eyed captor warily as I examined my left arm more closely. It was attached to a metal pole by a translucent tube that slid under the white rectangular things that covered my entire arm. The corner of the the translucent tube read "Property of Harp Clinic."
Did it mean me? That only meant one thing. I was held prisoner by the woman with chocolate eyes as a test subject in this white room.
My captor's accomplice entered the room with a stunned expression. The raven-haired man pushed his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. "Never in my experiences have I ever seen of a patient who has woken from a coma in three days," he said in awe. "And one with unstable emotions."
An old lady materialized behind him and remarked, "Angela is a strong young lady."
"I personally wouldn't put emotional strength and suicide together," he retorted.
"Excuse me, Dr. Jin," the chocolate-eyed girl snapped.
The raven-haired captor sighed. "I apologize, Anissa," he turned to me and said, "Angela." He reached for a transparent container filled with water. "Now that you are awake, I assume that you are thirsty?"
I relaxed.
Finally, something that was not foreign. I stared at the water, channeling all of my inner strength. I mentally chanted a spell to use the water to disable all of my captors and free herself from my white bounds.
And the water did the unthinkable- it did not stir. I tried again, but nothing happened. When the raven-haired captor reached the foot of my bed with his arm outstretched to hand me the water, I intensified my glare on the substance.
Why doesn't the water move?
"Miss Angela?" he called, surely believing that my mental condition was unstable.
No response from the water still.
"Is she unable to speak?" the old lady asked.
The water didn't obey my commands. How?
"Please say something, Angela," the chocolate-eyed girl begged.
I concluded that the white bounds were enchanted to inhibit my spells.
"Please, Angela."
My eyes flashed spitefully to my chocolate-eyed captor. "State your business."
I did not understand why they kept persistently asking about my condition. Shouldn't their research prove enough?
At the sound of my hostile tone, all of the captors displayed confused looks on their faces. The raven-haired man lowered his outstretched arm and placed the glass on the table next to me. He crossed the room to scribble something on yet another unnaturally white and glossy object while the eyes of the other captors remained fixated on me the whole time, observing every blink. I returned the gesture.
Finally, I saw the old lady lean towards the chocolate-eyed captor and whispered, "Could it be amnesia? She doesn't seem to recognize us at all."
Well, I guess it wasn't a whisper since I heard it, but the chocolate eyed captor widened her eyes in surprise.
She rushed over to my side like I hadn't heard the old lady's guess.
"Angela, do you not remember me?" Her voice was shaking. "I am Anissa, your friend." She beckoned towards the old lady. "That is Irene, and Dr. Jin is her grandson. They're doctors and-"
"Stop, Anissa." Irene's expression darkened. "If she truly has amnesia, you need to give her time to take things in."
"Correct," Dr. Jin agreed. He pushed up his glasses. "You have to first tell her who she is. And, would you like to drink some water?" He held the glass over Anissa's head.
I eyed Anissa, who was kneeling by the side of my bed one last time before I reluctantly accepted the water. I vaguely appreciated the soothing sensation of cool water running down my dry throat while evaluating whatever situation I was in.
I was most likely residing within someone else's body. My hand, I observed when taking the glass, was tanner and more angular. My knuckles were reddened and irritated, and my nails were cut short. My voice was deeper as well. I was so panicked initially about being captured that I missed all these details.
But something was strange about their behavior. These captors were obviously skilled in witchcraft to be able to seal my magic and hide their auras so that I cannot uncover their weaknesses. Then why are they so unconfident about their skills in soul-swap?
Their experiment clearly succeeded: the original owner of the body, Angela, was acting out of character, which obviously meant that another soul was residing in the body. They should be overjoyed that I was acting strangely.
"These people did not put you here," a bell-like voice said.
I looked to the person who spoke. However, it wasn't a person. It was a palm-sized creature with a large head and unproportionally small body. It donned an orange elf hat and outfit, but it was no elf. It had a small pair of wings and orange fairy dust trailing behind it, but it was also not a fairy. It was a Harvest Sprite, a creation of the Harvest Goddess, whose mission in life was to protect the well-being of Castanet.
"You're very accurate. I like you already!" It chirped. "My name is Finn."
"Your name is Angela and you are a farmer on Castanet," Anissa said. Following his introduction, Finn bowed, sprinkling fairy dust in front of Anissa, but she looked past him, straight at me.
"I'll keep things simple," Finn explained. "Only you can see me because you are not human."
"You attempted suicide three days ago," Anissa continued with a grimace. "You washed up on the banks instead of sinking in the river like you had intended, which saved your life." She began to sniffle. "And I am so thankful you're alive, Angela!"
I blinked and was grateful of my ability to multi-task: listening to two people speaking at once and absorbing all of the information was no easy task.
"Actually, I will leave it to the Harvest Goddess to explain this to you," Finn said. "And," he smirked, "You are correct again. I am able to read your mind."
"I can't believe you forgot about us. I am sorry I wasn't there for you. And now it doesn't even matter," Renee said as she wiped her tears away.
Irene patted Anissa's back.
"We don't want to overwhelm you with too much information, especially since you just woke from a coma," Dr. Jin added.
"Don't mind me, I am fine," I replied while watching Finn who dangled his tiny legs over the side of the table where my water was. He was grinning foolishly.
"I can hear you," he sang.
There was something about Finn's voice that irked me. Despite the fact that reading too much italics would be annoying, of course. That could be solved by telling Finn to shut up.
"Hey!"
"Do you have any questions?" Dr. Jin pressed.
"My memory was wiped and the facts I know about myself are as follows: my name, my occupation, name of my town, and my act of attempted suicide, and you ask me if I have any questions?" I asked bitingly.
"I apologize," he said immediately, clearly taken aback.
I instantly regretted my harsh tone. "Do you mind telling me about everything?" I asked with a softer tone.
"Well, don't ask him anything about yourself. Yourself, as in Molly," Finn interrupted. "Ask anything about Angela."
"Firstly, explain to me why you have me tied up," I continued.
Irene frowned deeply. "Your right leg is broken and left arm was bleeding profusely."
"-And after everyone is asleep tonight, we're going to the Harvest Goddess Spring to visit the Harvest Goddess," Finn rambled. "She can answer all of the questions you have about yourself, such as 'Why are you in the body of some random stranger?' So wait patiently."
"They are kept in the same position so that the bones can reconstruct and reattach themselves properly," Dr. Jin explained.
"So I am tied up," I concluded. She read the doctors' frustrated expressions. "What, I cannot move because of this rope of yours. Isn't this being tied up?"
"Oh my goddess. He's a doctor. Why would he do that?" The Harvest Sprite commented.
"It is not the same,"Dr. Jin sighed. "We have no ill intent-"
"Alright, fine, I understand," I interrupted impatiently. "This is your form of treatment, and I will comply. However, I must ask when I'll be freed from this cradle."
"Cradle?" A smile almost cracked on Irene's serious face.
"Why yes! The definition of a cradle is 'a bed where an infant is nurtured,' which applies to me except for the fact that I am not an infant, and," I reasoned, tapping the three-inch high wooden railing on either sides of the bed. "You even have a little barrier to prevent the careless from rolling off."
"You can get out of bed in three days, Angela," Dr. Jin said with a smile. "But, you may ask if you will be 'untied.' We will take off your cast in a month."
"For that long? I thought that I used to be a farmer. If I don't get back to work right this instant, there would be no food for you guys, then you will starve and die, which renders you incapable of taking care of me, and therefore I die too. You guys should have taken pre-emptive measures to ensure my safety..."
...
An hour later, Dr. Jin became annoyed with my questioning. Well, I could barely help it.
To my defense, the only fear that I have (that I know of) is not knowing something. I hate being kept in the metaphorical dark.
Actually, I haven't even introduced myself, I'll take this chance to. I apologize. The first hour of my new life was… hectic, I suppose.
First hour, you ask? On my sixteenth birthday- also I don't know how long ago that was and what day it is today because a soul takes several days to be accustomed with the new body and "wake up."
"Actually, what day is it today?" I asked Dr. Jin.
"September 6," he replied. His eyes shifted from me to his white rectangular object called "clipboard" and proceeded to suggest that I rest.
As I was saying, on my sixteenth birthday, I died. Me. Molly.
On September 3, while waiting for my friend Bo, by our usual spot, I died.
Whoever said "the more the better" is absolutely wrong, as my death refutes that statement. I was the Witch Princess' daughter, and my father was blessed by the Harvest Goddess and Harvest King. The powers and blessings of these immortals caused my body to be unstable. It was as if I was an atom, and because of my birth conditions, I had more neutrons than everyone else. A lot more. So my body did what an atom would do if it had excess neutrons: decay. You know what happens when atoms decay. They emit radioactive radiation and/or explode. Depending on the number of protons.
And so, now I am here. In the village Castanet, which was just outside of the forest I spent my entire life in. In my isolation, I spent every day waiting for my unstable health and powers to finally end me. As I vaguely listened to Anissa, Irene, and Dr. Jin talking and moving about the room while drifting off to sleep, I smiled. I was alive.
…
"Molly!" someone called.
There was something special about that voice. I would naturally be drawn towards the sound and picture the fascinating green irises, adorable sprinkle of freckles, and disheveled sand-colored hair of my only friend. My feet mindlessly took me down the forest path and reached the clearing of young pine trees. In the center, where the soft autumn sunlight permeated through the shorter branches of younger pine trees, stood a figure. I instantly smiled at his thin shoulders.
My father, because of my weak health, used to say, "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." And that was actually a quote he stole from somewhere (Gandhi), but he continued in his own words, "And the strongest people might be found where they are least expected. Like a secret weapon."
Bo may not be the smartest, strongest, or best looking person. In fact, he may be considered physically weak compared to young men his age, but that does not mean that he lacks power. His kindness was boundless; using the little strength he had, he devoted his time off to do something unnecessary and tedious. It was strange how no one truly knows his worth, or worse yet, exploit him because he has a hard refusing requests.
With the flick of my wrist, my body shrank and wings sprouted. Purposefully trailing blue sparkling particles behind me, I floated towards Bo.
"Hi Bo!" I sang.
As usual, I began circling Bo while excessively sprinkling glittering particles until finally landing on his messy locks. I petted the ends of his sandy hair that appeared golden in the sunlight. It was beautiful.
"Molly!" Bo laughed. He reached into his hair and gently tried to push me off. "You're pulling my hair!"
I yearned to see his glittering emerald eyes and adorable splatter of freckles across his face. I giggled foolishly before snatching his white headband and flying out of his reach.
I watched his nose scrunch up slightly, and his green eyes narrowed. "Catch me if you can!"
"That seems fair, using your wings!" he cried.
"While you're busy keeping track of my abilities, this fairy is just gonna fly higher and higher!" I prompted and carried out my taunt.
Chuckling, I threw the headband on a high branch and sat on top of it. Between branches, I saw him quickly scaling the tree. When our eyes met, his green ones twinkled, and he quickened his pace. "I can see you clearly!"
I was about to reply, but a cough escaped instead. My breath, for the next minute, was completely stolen by a string of coughs. I was unable to suppress it as droplets of crimson began to stain Bo's white headband, and I felt as if I was swallowing needles. There was a sharp ringing in my ears, like the screech of some animal. Bo continued to scale the tree, oblivious to my coughing attack. When he grabbed the branch I sat on, I slipped off the side. I crashed against branches, none slowing my descent. I fell, each second putting more and more distance between Bo and me, who never once looked down. My cough stopped, but my mouth was full of the red substance of life. When I tried to call out, only a gurgling blubber sounded.
In an instant, I was jerked upwards when my back and butt crashed landed on the forest floor. My cry of surprise had propelled a mouthful of blood out of my mouth, gracefully creating an arc. The substance splattered across my thighs, my legs being the last to descend. I heard a crack, and a neuron shot an electrical signal up my pelvis, up my spine, and into my brain, rendering indescribable pain. Since it was only a few milliseconds after experiencing the force of the fall in my pelvis, I forgot to curl inwards to absorb the rest of the fall in my shoulders instead of my head. I lay there on the ground, my ability to think and comprehend quickly fading. An awkward root prodded my cerebellum and the top of my neck.
I tried to think of Bo or a moment of complete bliss, but I was unable to think of anything but breathing. I forced fast, shallow, labored breaths to get oxygen to my lungs, but it seemed like they were collapsing. It felt like needles were pricking my trachea, and with every breath, my chest seemed to throb with more and more pain. It began to feel heavy until I began to start losing my ability to sense. I felt warm liquid oozing from my middle quickly, and tears came to my eyes.
So this was death. As I laid there, unable to move my hands, legs, anything, I wondered.
Or, at least, I wanted to think about something one last time. Anything. Voice my regrets, how I literally did nothing in my life. Wish for something unattainable, like leaving Fugue Forest. Compare the amount of pain I experienced to die to the amount of pain I usually experience during my convulsions and conclude that they're about the same.
But my brains were most likely as busted as my body was.
So I laid limp and waited for my life to flow away, leaving but an empty vessel behind.
Which is disappointing, because I had always thought that my brain, the more competent aspect of me, would outlive my feeble body.
If the health issue that killed me was a villain, he would have truly won if he asked the proverbial, "Any last words?" because I would have nothing to quip.
Mother's voice distracted me from perishing such a pitiful death.
"My daugher. You have lived harsh life. But as your mother, I will free you from your miserable life and guide you to the next, where you will experience true joy."
All the pain disappeared, and I felt myself being lifted in the air. The forest scenery dissolved into pure darkness, my periwinkle blue light, the color of my magic power, the only illumination. While losing consciousness, I noticed a small creature. It cried, and I instantly recognized the sound. The screeching, I discovered, was the cry of a cricket.
…
I woke to the sound of a cricket. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was an orange Harvest Sprite.
"Hello!" he greeted. "I put you to sleep earlier and asked the Harvest Goddess to teleport you here once the doctors went to sleep. Welcome to the Harvest Goddess Spring!"
I grimaced both in pain of using my one working elbow to push myself into a sitting position and in confusion.
I lay on a narrow stone bridge the middle of the pond. One end connected with a mossy bank and a dark forest beyond it, and the other connected with the island in the middle of the self-illuminating pond. The pond seemed approximately twenty feet deep, and seemed to emit light. The silver scales of swimming fish reflected the moonlight, so the aquamarine water appeared to twinkle and wink at me in welcome. I do not fancy swimming in pond with microorganisms and fish dung.
"Welcome, Molly. I have been waiting for you."
I stared at the tree sitting purposefully on the island in the middle of the pond, which I knew was the source of the voice.
The water glimmered and sparkled as the teal orbs floated out of the water. The illuminating bubbles condensed at a point under the tree, forming first a circle, then a silhouette, then the Harvest Goddess.
As depicted in books, her signature teal hair flowed freely in the evening wind. Her eyes were large and were the color of clear, crystalline water on a sunny day, mostly cerulean blue but specked with prismatic hues that shimmered with the ripples created by a soft breeze. She wore a long teal dress made of silk and a sheer turquoise shawl that together flowed in the wind like waves.
The Goddess' facial features were soft. She eyed my bandages and waved a delicate hand. She smiled as the frame of a chair made out of swirling water from the pond materialized under me. "Thank you for allowing me to take a seat."
The Goddess nodded once with a warm smile, but it did not reach her eyes. Based on what I've read and judged just now based on appearance, the Harvest Goddess seemed more like the goddess of the water. Her temperament was supposedly mellow like the warm and gentle waves of Toucan Island, but according to my mother, who had seen the Goddess' worst in the centuries she as her nemesis, the Goddess was like the unrelenting sea. People forget its strength until a tsunami.
"Surely you are confused about your whereabouts, since you are supposed to be dead," the Harvest Goddess said. Her voice was so light and elegant, I forgot to be wary until now. My distrust towards the Goddess was like acknowledging the fact that water has both the power to erode even the strongest rocks and give life at the same time. I found it frightening that the Goddess held so much power.
"I presume you realized by now that this is not your world and not your body, correct?" The Harvest Goddess snapped her fingers and strings made of water formed around her. With a wave, the magically enhanced spring water flew straight at me. Being aware of my magical inferiority, I shut my eyes and accepted it, without knowing if it was harmful or not. I wouldn't have been able to stop it anyways. When I opened my eyes, I leaned forward in the magical water chair to view my reflection in the spring. I saw that the wet marks on my face and clothes caused by the water had begun to glow a teal color, forming a large Japanese kanji word for "indifference" across my body. Instantly, the numbing pain from my limbs were soothed. I stretched my left arm, which had a disgusting gash across it, and felt no pain. I couldn't move my broken right leg, but I also felt no pain.
"I must inform you that the nightmare you were having before Finn woke you up was completely fictional except for the words of your mother," the Harvest Goddess began.
Oh, good. I wasn't able to come up with honorable last words cursing my condition at the time, and now I get a second chance.
"As you suspected, the owner of your body, Angela," the Goddess continued, "is an acquaintance of Bo. But you will have to exist as only an acquaintance to your crush.
"I apologize for the fate of your romance, but your grant of a second life cannot be filled entirely of benefits. Disadvantages must exist to neutralize advantages in order to maintain a balance in the universe. That is the rule in the use of alchemy and witchcraft."
"That is why the 'Divine Law of Immortals' exists," Molly said, nodding.
"This will be much easier to explain since you are informed. Your mother broke that law by granting you a second life. You died, but had a strong will to live and meet Bo again. A village girl, named Angela, was completely healthy but lost the will to live. Using spells from her most knowledgeable field, the dark arts, your mother swapped your souls. As another immortal, I am obliged to punish her and get in the way of her selfish plot.
"However, I do pity you and your previous life. You spent sixteen years of your life plagued by death, and I was one-third responsible. This was all due to the immense hate the Witch Princess, the Harvest King, and I had for each other. It was regrettable that the blessing the Harvest King and I bestowed upon the savior of Castanet, your father, turned out to be poison to his daughter. All because the power of the Witch Princess, Harvest Goddess, and Harvest King could not co-exist due to the polarities in our views and specialities in magic. It would be like putting ice together with fire and expecting both elements to remain unchanged.
"Thus, you spent the every moment of your life within the domain of the Witch Princess so that she could attempt to suppress her powers in a way that her power present in your body would not clash with ours. If she allowed her dark magic to run free within you, our white magic would battle hers out until your body is destroyed and the repelling magics are freed from the containers which they share. They simply cannot coexist.
"In normal circumstances, I would have shut you down. Your mother's soul swapping spell would wane in a season and a half of time, and your respective souls would return to their rightful places. If you were just the Witch Princess' daughter, I would have sealed you in my Spring until the time limit and prevented your second life from happening. Luckily for you, I owe the hero of Castanet a favor. I also wish for your well-being. I will help your mother by creating a loophole in the law.
"You see, the law commands me neutralize selfish uses of magic. You can already see where I am going, don't you," the Harvest Goddess smiled. "You are not bestowed with privilege to use Angela's body in however way you wish. You must complete my mission, and the time you have remaining until your soul returns to your body may be spent however you wish."
"Allow me to guess," I interrupted. "I must fix Angela's life so that when she returns to her body, she can live on." The Harvest Goddess smiled at me, so I continued. "What exactly do I have to do to consider it 'fixing her life'? First of all, I find that particularly vague. And second of all, from the Anissa's brief summary, her life didn't seem ruined."
"How so?" The Goddess questioned.
I did not understand why the Goddess disagreed. Without missing a beat, I replied, "Angela was rejected by her crush. Big deal."
The Goddess laughed. The sound was like the ring of a triangle. "You mimicked Anissa's diction at an alarming speed."
"Yes, she'll talk a little bit more like the town folk, but I'm not sure about her random topics of discussion..." Finn added.
"So let's say Angela's romance was ruined," I continued. "Given the time, she can easily move on to her next love interest. There was certainly no need to grieve for days over a love that never began. In her depression, she neglected her crops and animals, and most of them weakened and nearly died. Her best friends, one a farmer and one a rancher, came to rescue and saved her crops and animals. But, they were angry at her irresponsibility. Believing that she was hated by all, she jumped."
"Yes, the summary is correct," the Harvest Goddess said.
"This doesn't make sense. What do you mean, 'fix Angela's life'? Didn't she ruin it herself? She lost her will to live because she was rejected by one man. She thought she couldn't live because she didn't receive love from this one man who never loved her to begin with! It was not like they were married and he was caught in an affair. It was just some crush! I can't help some girl who would die for love-"
"And yet, your dying wish was to be able to see Bo again," the Harvest Goddess said quietly.
It was strange, whenever the divinity spoke. No matter how quietly or loudly she spoke, her voice was clearly heard and resonated in my ears. I wondered if this was charm or charisma.
"What makes you any different?" She asked. I stared into her bright blue eyes and watched the iridescent specks dance. "Well?" she prompted.
I didn't know. I blame the Goddess for distracting me from coming up with something to defend myself with. But I was certain that Bo was irreplaceable because... "Because Bo makes me happy," I said carefully. I was not the same as this weak-willed girl named Angela. "He is the only friend I've ever made by of his greatest ambitions is one to improve the ecosystem of the Fugue Forest. He has proven to me that humans can be compassionate. That they are more than just a bunch of axe-wielding apes venturing into Fugue Forest for a bunch of materials."
"Biases towards your home aside, you weren't yourself when you approached him," the Harvest Goddess said. "You casted a spell to disguise yourself as a fairy."
"But what of it? That has nothing to do with Angela's pathetic end."
"She never acted like herself in front of everyone," the Harvest Goddess whispered, like it pained her to say it. "She was affable and always surrounded by people. She laughed off and smiled through her times of stress, but she did not have boundless optimism and thick skin like Luke. She was actually much more sensitive than she appeared to be. Enduring the pain certainly doesn't make it go away. In the end, she was trying to please everyone and forgot about herself. And gave up.
"Everyone in town were surprised about her suicide attempt because they thought that she was emotionally invincible. They expected her to laugh it off, tell herself 'maybe next time,' like she does with everyone else. No one thought to say encouraging words to her, even her closest friends."
"I am still confused about what to do to restore her happiness," I said. "Angela miscommunicated with her friends. Everyone. Is my mission to make everyone understand her true self?"
"As sharp as always."
"How?"
"Well, firstly, you have to impersonate Angela, which is not too hard with her face and your acting skills," the Goddess began.
"But I thought the way Angela was acting prevented her from gaining friends whom she could trust."
"That is incorrect, she never confided to them about her troubles," the Harvest Goddess said.
"So I act like Angela, but not quite like Angela because I'll complain, unlike Angela."
"You could say that."
"That seems like a very simple way to save someone's life. To complain to other people."
"It's not just that, of course."
"Of course."
The Harvest Goddess paused, clearly thinking how to summarize it all. "Simply speaking, I want you to one, allow everyone to know Angela for who she truly is, two, eliminate her enemies and three, get her the thing she wants the most."
I sighed. "I am not Angela, and neither are you, so how am I supposed to complete those three tasks? The elimination one is easy, but the others are vague and open for debate."
"The Harvest Sprites and I have been watching over her for a few years now," the Harvest Goddess looked among her Harvest Sprites. "We are quite certain what we need to do to complete these three things."
Other than Finn, who wore orange, a red, yellow, green, blue, and purple Harvest Sprite fluttered around the Goddess. The six Harvest Sprites grinned at at Molly foolishly. So it was only her who didn't know.
"You won't tell me specifically what to do? Then how am I supposed to complete your tasks?"
"I have assigned Finn to follow you around to give you hints if you need his guidance to make an important decision," the Harvest Goddess replied.
"As mentioned already, can't you tell me the specifics so I have an idea what to do as Angela? Specifics include what Angela's true self is, or who I am supposed to eliminate, or what is the thing Angela wants the most," I said, exasperated. I was tired with the loopholes.
"I apologize. I should rephrase that. I want you to identify Angela's enemies and reconcile with them," the Harvest Goddess continued.
"Like I said, who are they?"
"I can't tell you," the Harvest Goddess said.
"Then how-"
"Don't you get it?!" The red Harvest Sprite screamed.
"The Harvest Goddess wants you to figure it out yourself!" The yellow one said.
"And don't ask why!" The blue one pointed at me warningly.
"Or how!" The green one added.
Something as vague as being your "true self" may be hard even for the person themselves to identify. It's not like I can just ask her since she's technically dead.
"Thank you, you all," the Harvest Goddess said. "In life, answers are discovered, not given. And I know that normally, specific missions are not given to certain individuals," she said.
I blushed. So she could read my mind, as I expected. Since she made no comment about some of my prejudices, I suppose I am off the hook.
"My hope is that while helping Angela, you will gain valuable life experiences," she continued.
"I thank you for your kindness," I said, still surprised that Mother's nemesis could be so sympathetic. "But, acting like Angela's true self without knowing what she's like seems impossible."
"To assist you, every night I will show you a set of dreams. These are actually Angela's memories. Pay attention, because that is all you will hear from me. Lastly, despite your opinion of Angela, you two are actually a lot more similar than you think. After a few nights, I believe you will know how to act."
I nodded solemnly.
"Any final questions?" The Goddess asked. "Dawn is arriving, and you must go back to town."
"Where is my mother? May I see her?"
"Regretfully, I am obligated to seal her inside the forest. You cannot speak to anyone as 'Molly,' including your mother and Bo. No one is to know of the soul swap. If you ignore my orders and act as you wish, you will also be sealed until your soul returns to your body on its own."
The Harvest Goddess waved her hand and I was lifted from the water chair. I began to glow a blue light and felt drowsy once more. "And finally, you are free to add some character in your interpretation of Angela. Like in acting, not all actors interpret a character the same way. You do not need to feel like you have to completely mimic the Angela who appears in your dreams. In the end, you do whatever is best to achieve the three tasks I gave you."
She smiled at me one last time, flashing me those perfect pearly whites once more. Finn flew from her side and tucked himself into my pocket. The other five Harvest Sprites surrounded me and lifted their tiny arms. Together with the Goddess, they began to cast a spell. "I am sorry I couldn't answer all of your questions. I wish for your success."
And then, after a blinding flash, all went dark.
I hope you guys and girls enjoyed it! Again, feel free to say whatever you'd like. I welcome your opinions (even if it's negative) as long as it is justified!