Part 2:
Mary's father returned, and made his way down the shallow crater. Mary was worried what would he say. How would he react to the beast that floated near by. But then the Beast Transformed, becoming a glowing golden symbol. That had a inverted arch atop a pointed rod, then the creature rushed forward. Embedding itself into Mary's stomach, causing a sharp cutting pain. Mary yelped and grabbed her stomach, this caused Harold to quicken his pace. he didn't see what happened but he knew his daughter was in pain. Mary removed her hands from her stomach, and upon looking at them. Saw no blood, she sighed in relief. The pain had already faded and she turned to see her father. He was quickly approaching and had a worried look upon his countenance, He spoke.
"Mary, are you alright?" He asked, Mary nodded and smiled the best she could, replying.
"Y-yes father, i feel fine just a cramp from walking" she said, Harold placed a hand under his chin and spoke.
"Are you sure Stardust, you seemed to be in pain just a second ago" he said, Mary nodded fervently in her usual energetic style. She quickly responded.
"Yes i am perfectly well, can we go home now?" She asked. Harold sighed and strode forward and stood in front of his daughter. He then leaned over and gave her a hug, replying.
"Yes Stardust, we can go home i think mother has been waiting long enough for our return" he said. Mary smiled and followed her father as he led the way.
At dawn.
Mary Awoke in her home, a comforting sight to say the least. She rolled over and stared at her room. The mostly empty chamber holding only, her bed, a small dresser, and a chair. But besides those mundane things it held. Her most prized possession a gift from her father. That had cost him a great many coins an actual glass mirror. And this was what drew her attention, as she stared into the mirror. The reflection of the wall opposite to it staring back at her. She became resolute again, sitting up and swiftly wiping the sleep from her eyes.
She shifted her position, legs going over the side of her bed. And her feet gently yet firmly making contact with the ground. She removed the blankets and looked down, noticing her clothes. She had been extremely tired when she and her father originally arrived home. So she had no desire to change her garments. The dress she wore was fit for a commoner, and wrinkled to seemingly no end. She stood finding the action took slightly more effort than before. And walked across her room to the mirror, she studied herself. Spying all her normal features, long blonde hair, fair skin, golden eyes-. She froze then slowly approached the mirror.
It Wasn't a trick or an illusion, she had golden eyes. At a loss for words she reached up and touched her face, fingers just bellow her eyes. Looking at them from every angle, she didn't know weather to feel. Awestruck or horrified she just stared, then she remembered what she got out of bed for. Gulping and building up the courage she reached down. And lifted her dress, revealing her stomach… and a curious mark. Upon the skin of her stomach in between her ribs, and above her navel. Was the same strange symbol the small beast had transformed into. A pointed stick, with an inverted arch atop it. Almost resembling a person with their arms slightly raised.
Then there was a knock at the door. Mary fixed her clothes and went to answer the door. She turned the knob and opened it slowly. It was her mother Julia. her own blonde hair flowing free and curling at the end. She spoke.
"Oh Mary your already up, thats good news" she said. Mary responded hoping her mother didn't notice her drastic change in eye color.
"Indeed i've been awake for only a little while though" she said. Julia looked her daughter up and down once, before remarking.
"Clearly, you haven't changed at all get out of that dusty dress, so i can soak it after breakfast" Julia said. Mary nodded and closed the door, feeling as though a weight was off her shoulders. She changed, brushed her hair, and than did something else. She knelt down at her bedside and clasped her hands together. She started to pray.
"Um, hello Greater Will, i've Eh… never really done this before, but i thought since you said it was hard to talk to me, i'll try and talk to you…" she said. Feeling slightly embarrassed for her informality, she then began to speak.
"Aghem… Greater Will, I know you told me to wait. And trust me i'm going to but, what do i do with this time?" She asked, Mary's eyes were closed. so she did not notice what was happening but soon, she felt it. Unbeknownst to her the symbol on her stomach. Began to glow and from it sprang the infantile Beast. Coiling and swirling through the air, and landing on Mary's bed right in front of her. Upon feeling something leave her, and a power she had no idea she had diminish. She looked up and was startled, not expecting to see the Beast there. She spoke.
"What are you doing?!" She asked, quietly but firmly. The Beast tilted its neck the single glowing dot on the end of the long appendage. Giving the impression of an eye, narrowed as if to say.
"What?". Mary got a good look at the Beast for the first time. It was a long creature, looking almost like it belonged in the ocean. With a long neck that ended in a rounded tip, with two almost fin like protrusions. Upon its back and a long tale that ended in a smooth, pointed, golden tip. But what confused Mary was two nubs, on either side of the Beast. Just above where the tail met the body. She squinted and the Beast noticed her staring at it. It rolled onto its side, and began wiggling the nubs. Mary spoke.
"I suppose those are meant to be legs of some kind hmm?" She asked, the Beast rolled back to an upright stance. And waved its neck up and down, apparently nodding at her, she sighed and placed a hand on her forehead. Then she heard her mother calling for her.
"Mary hurry up darling, the food is getting cold!" Her mother said. Mary stood and the Beast levitated off the bed. It swam through the air, twisting, and curling until. It hovered in front of Mary's Abdomen, and then transformed into the golden rune returning to its hiding place. Once more causing the sharp pain to corse through Mary. She put a hand over her mouth muffling her cry. She grew angry and punched herself in the stomach, speaking.
"Ouch, little bastard!" She said quietly, rubbing her stomach to sooth the fading pain. Mary left her room and walked down the short hall to the main room. The main room was both dining room and kitchen, no walls separated them. A medium length table sat to one side of the room. Chairs pulled up around it and two of them where taken. Harold sat at the head, eating some sort of sausage that. No doubt his wife had made along with the mystery meat Mary noticed. Some verity of eggs, along with bread Mary's stomach growled and she realized how hungry she was.
Upon noticing her, Julia spoke.
"Well there we are darling" she said before continuing.
"I was starting to worry, your father told me about last night you know, very strange them sky-boulders are dear you never know what they might do" she said. Mary nodded her head emphatically and spoke in a semi-sarcastic tone.
"Indeed mother quite unpredictable indeed" she said, pausing for a brief moment. Before looking to the iron stove across the room and speaking.
"So whats for breakfast?" She asked. Mary's mother pointed over to the iron cooking station. And spoke.
"Whatever is left i suppose, your father has been eating more than the mountain serpent" she said, looking at Harold. In response Harold narrowed is eyes at his wife. Speaking, the words muffled by food.
"You know i'm a working man Julia, working men have to, eat even Numans" he said. waving his finger up and down at the last words. angling the gesture towards Julia, who sighed and placed a hand under her chin. Resting her elbow on the table and turning her head to Mary. Speaking in a slightly tired voice.
"Take whatever you wish stardust, i've already eaten" She said, Mary nodded.
A few hours later Mary had wandered off. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her, she often walked the long winding roads when she was bored. But this walk had another purpose she needed to be alone. She had felt some sort of power earlier and while she was. Unsure of what it was, she wanted to test it away form prying eyes. Eventually she found a secluded spot behind a field of hills. And there she breathed a sigh of relief, she spoke to herself.
"Finally alone at last…" she said. she then wondered what to do next, she had never thought about. How to excess this power so she went with what her gut told her to do. She raised her hand vertically and imagined a spear. Then as if on command golden light flashed around her. And the rune that resembled a person, arms raised towards the sky. Flashed briefly in front of her, then golden particles swarmed up from her body. And shaped themselves into the shaft and head of a simple, glowing, golden spear. She grasped it, and it was almost weightless… almost there was just enough weight. To remind her that she was holding something, then almost with out thinking. She threw the spear hard and with purpose, it flew straight and hit the ground. Shattering into golden fragments that swiftly disappeared.
Mary jumped slightly and yipped at the sudden event. She looked at her hand and pondered, was this the limit of her power?
She lifted her arm horizontally, and didn't think of anything in particular. Simply that she wished to fire her power at something. Then once more the golden light flashed around her, and the rune was seen. A small blast of energy escaped her palm and flew quickly away. Hitting the ground and causing a small explosion that made Mary jump in fear. She stared at the tiny smoldering spot she had created for minutes on end. Thats when she thought of something, she approached the burnt smoking mark in the grass. And kneeled down extending her hands, and closing her eyes. She thought happy and pleasant thoughts and she felt the power shine through her. Than she opened her eyes and saw that the patch of burnt plant life had been healed. She smiled and stood thinking of what else to try. She tried, swords, bows, rings of light, and then she thought of something else. She looked from left to right and made sure no one was around. Then she gathered the other worldly power into her arms, than her hands. She braced herself planting her feet firmly in the ground, and looked skyward. She than spread her arms letting the power grow, and become more potent. Then she placed her wrists together palms facing outward, then two golden spheres. Appeared in both her hands, they were around the size of a person's head.
And then they fused into a sphere the size of a wagon wheel. Than she released the power, a large golden beam of energy blasted into the sky like a beacon.
Mary stopped the attack, and marveled at the shower of golden sparkles it created. She than realized that someone may have seen what she had done. And nervously as well as quickly she began to walk home. As she began get closer to her family's home she became concerned. And spoke to herself.
"H-has the chimney always put out that much smoke?" She asked, almost frightful. She quickened her pace and upon cresting a hill she saw the whole picture. Clear as day, her house was burning to the ground a sickly yellow flame engulfing it. Holes where the fire had broken through the walls, poured fire like water from a falls. The door was broken, or burned down and the humble cobbled together overhang. Lay broken and burning on the ground just in front of it, the chimney. Which Mary had thought was the origin of the smoke, leaned over sideways somehow melted. And now that Mary looked hard enough at it, her house wasn't burning it was melting like ice. Mary ran towards her melting home as tears welled up in her eyes. She shouted.
"Mother, Father!" She cried, hoping to get some reply. Hoping that her family would be somewhere out of sight. Also watching the blaze but as she ran she got no reply and worst still. The melting had increased in pace, by the time she was close enough to feel the heat. The sickening yellow flame had melted the house into a indistinguishable pile of sludge. The flame still roaring on top of it.
Mary fell to her knees and started to cry. The tears falling down her face were even hotter than the fire. She balled as she listened to the sound of the ugly yellow fire burning. Than she felt something leave her, she looked up. Tears falling down her cheeks as her blonde hair stuck to her features due to said tears. The infant Beast had emerged from the rune on her stomach. It twisted and coiled in the air before landing on the ground, it turned its single glowing dot. Back to look at Mary, then it reared its neck and what could be assumed as it's head upward. The air around it rippling as what appeared to be a river that looked like. A night full of stars ushered forth from the Beast pouring over. The burning pile of what was once Mary's home now quickly becoming liquid. As it crashed into the sickening yellow fire it extinguished it, slowly but surely it was put out.
Mary looked at the Beast with tears in her eyes. It was too late to save her home or her parents, but then the Beast flashed gold and flew upwards. Its golden tipped tail curling and twisting in sync with its neck. As it swam through the air, towards a wooden steak. That had been nailed into the ground. Noticing this Mary arose, wiped the tears from her eyes the best she could. And walked towards the object noticing the infant Beast had grown tiny arms. And was trying to pull the steak out of the ground, Mary shooed the Beast away and stooped down. Plucking a piece of parchment from the earth and looking at it. Mary had not been an expert in reading but her father had taught her a little. She was soon surprised however as when she looked at the page. She could understand everything, almost like she had gained great knowledge without even knowing it. The note read.
"We don't know your name, Avatar Of Order. But we know that this old fool and dirty hag are not you. The Greater Fool would never pick such pathetic stock. You will come to us or your loving family. Will become one in the Flame".