Chapter: To The Stars
Disclaimer: I don't own any copyrighted materials owned by any authors.
"This isn't what I imagined my life to be. I want to be recognized by everyone, not to become a slave to their every whims and having their judgments rained down on my head like a guillotine. "
Thick red blood had been splattered all over the walls and floors of the stores in the shopping center, painting parts of the area the color of copper red.
Red lines of blood were dripping down very slowly from the bloody red strains smeared on the walls into the floor below, had slowly trickled, pooling into small thick red sticky puddles on the floor.
Sliced parts of bodies that were laid scattered through the ground along with blood leaking out of the area they had been severed, the area where they had been separated from each other, had been cleanly sliced apart.
The lone figure wore an armor that covered her entire body, standing there and looking through its visor at the blood soaked scenery with eerie calmness in her eye as if it was a normal sight for a person to see.
She held a sword in her right hand, as drops of blood had started to roll down the smooth metallic surface of the sword, dripping by drop into the cold ground.
Due to the metallic helmet that she was wearing, she couldn't smell the metallic smell of iron drifting off from the clotting blood that had pooled from the sliced parts of the bodies and the floor of the shopping center been smeared with blood during the bloody battle where body parts had been thrown about very haphazardly.
Her eyes that had seen so many terrible things committed, so heart wrecking and mind wrecking that people who were witnesses to these events, had trouble eating and sleeping, normally.
Meanwhile in the next descending level of the shopping center, groups of armored soldiers holding weapons in their hands were attempting to stealthy move forward up the flight of stairs to exterminate any enemies that they encountered in this building.
As the armored soldiers had finally scaled the staircase to the next level, the armored figure had vanished leaving nothing but a bloody mess behind; the blood had been dripping from edge of the hole in the middle of the floor surrounded by the see- through gates into the lowest floor of the shopping center.
As Madoka and her friend, Sayaka didn't have any class to attend now, they had decided to use to the computers in the computer room in their break. The computer class wasn't currently been used by any of the teacher to teach the lesson, so any students from the school were free to use to the computers.
As Madoka and her friends entered into the computer room, walking through the door that had automatically slide to the side to let them in as they walked in it closed behind them, some of the computer in the computer lab were preoccupied by other students either doing their homework using references they had found on the internet or having plenty of time on their hands to browse through the web for interesting topics.
They had quickly found places to sit next to each other, as they logged on to the computer with school accounts that they had created for themselves, before they had enrolled into school.
Sayaka wasn't shy about giving her opinions on about the latest gossips that she found to be very interesting as shown and peppered with excessive details in the social medias on the connect network.
As Madoka had found out as a foreign screen sent by Sayaka had pushed all of the other holographic screens on the computer that she had been reading on right behind it.
"Hey Madoka, check this article out," Sayaka pointed to an image of a green haired girl – a celebrity, she had found on the website as she put it up in the holographic screen and sent to Madoka for her to read, "It says here that Annie, the Girl of the Star, is going to be here at the festival, in the city." She and Madoka were going together to the festival, "Did your mum say it was alright for you to come with me to the festival."
Madoka looked on with curiosity at the image of celebrity as she read the website, "Mum said yes but she is a little bit worried about how crowded, it is going to be there." The amount of people that would go to the festivals usually depended on their personal preferences on what they disliked and liked, the other factor would be how popular were these celebrities that were bounded to appear on these special occasions. Normally the sponsors or organizers would organize for celebrity to appear and give their support at the events hosted by them.
Sayaka sighed dreamily, resting her head on her hands, "I wish I was like Annie, then my life would be extremely easy. I could be so rich that I can buy anything, I want in life without my parent telling me off."
"I don't know… I know that money can help bring you some happiness but I doubt it can you give eternal happiness." Madoka had put a pin through her friend's bubble of optimism, deflating it into a mass of wrinkly plastic.
"Still, money make the world spin around on its axis." Sayaka wisely told Madoka as she turned to face her, people had ran on money like how engines run on energy even if money had disappeared, people would still find other things to place a value. "Even if money can't bring me happiness, something is better than nothing."
Moving on to another topic. "So Madoka, what did you score for your exam." Sayaka asked as she further commented on her attempts to study for the exams. "I didn't even study for the exam, I had to cramp it in all in the last minute. Too caught in the latest movies."
Madoka nervously scratched her cheek. "I don't know, I haven't checked my student account."
"But the results were released on the students' web, a few days ago." Sayaka said, giving a strange look at Madoka."Didn't you even check what you got for your result?"
"Well, I'm afraid of failing my exams and failing my parent as well." Madoka confessed her fear of not only failing her exam but as well as seeing the disappointed looks of her parents on her result.
Sayaka still sitting on her seat had patted Madoka on one of her shoulder in the attempt to comfort her as she heartily said. "Don't worry, I didn't even studied properly for the exams." In support of her friend, she confidently told Madoka "I'm positive that you passed the exams. But even if you didn't, you will have to face the music. Your parents are going to find out sooner or later.
The green haired girl flickered through the long list of requests on the computer that were literally pleading for her presence to be over at the events that they had organized, along with that she had received her manager's recommended advices to her on what would be the best events out of the list to attend. This was a strategy to boost her status over other celebrities in society.
She stared listlessly at endless line of requests given to her. It was like a trail that had endless led on, beyond the horizon; it could have done nothing to relieve her of the eyesore that she saw.
Despite that this long list of requests had been already been filtered by her manager, it didn't be seem to get any shorter than the list of requests she normally would have received perhaps looking at made her head ache and tired even more, made her mind play tricks on herself.
Standing up from the chair to walk around the room for a breather. Walking could put her mind at ease before she had to look through the list, again, which she had not been looking forward to do.
She walked through the doorway of the bedroom; several plushies were essentially like hollow skins that were stuffed with synthetic cotton, all very innocently looking down at her from the shelves of the cupboard.
They were all hollow and heartless inside like the devil, she had made contract with to fulfill her desire at that time.
Their shiny beady eyes that stared at her, reminded her of how she had been deceived and tempted.
The what-if ideas nagged at her mind, what if she had taken another pathway in the crossroad that she had encountered. Where would she end up in life on the road not taken? The possibilities were endless.
She had regretted making this contract with this devil. Nothing could absolve the grimes that the devil had casted on her.
After all, all the easy routes taken in life, all of them led to hell. This was the price she had to pay.
There was nothing, she could do to change her life.
The occupants that had returned home from work had lighted windows in the building that had stood among the other buildings in the city.
A little girl wandered through the mostly dark lonely unit, all by herself. Most of the unit's light source had been switched off to save money, as there wasn't anyone in the unit except for the little girl.
She wanted to be like a star, being high in the sky and shining like a star, where she could be admired and seen by everyone.
She had admired the people that were shown on the social media, on the screen of her computer. They were wealthy and lived with ease; they were financially secure which meant they had no worries in their lives.
The digital clock in the living room, had display the time in green neon light: 6:00pm. There was only one person in the unit, all alone at night.
Her parents were working late again, and couldn't arrive home to eat dinner together as a family, again.
Her mother had cooked her daughter some dinner last night and left it in the fridge with a note telling her how long she should heat the food in the microwave before the food.
"Dear Annie, if me and your father are not home by six pm, then go to the fridge and take the fried fish and rice out of the fridge. Heat the fried fish for one minute and the rice for one minute as well in the microwave."
After heating the food in the microwave, she took the plate into her room and sat down on chair in front of the computer.
Turning on the computer, she watched movies stored on the computer as she silently ate her dinner on the desk. Only sounds from the computer's monitor broke the silence that permeated the unit.
As the green-haired girl sat watching a movie on her computer, she could suddenly see a stretched shadow shaped like a feline.
Turning around on her chair, she could see a white creature sitting on her dresser.
The white rabbit looked at her with a pair of white ears that stood straight on its head, its cute disguise had fooled young Annie who didn't know any better and thought it look very cute.
A smile had graced its face as it spoke. "My name is Sagan and I can grant you anything you want."
Annie couldn't believe it. "You can grant me anything that I want, right?" Could she trust this creature, how could the rabbit the size of small plushy harm her?
"Of course, I can grant you anything, you want. I can bring any miracle, you desire to come true to change your life for the better." Still the white rabbit sat on the dresser as it continue to smile at her. "But I can't help but wonder where are your parents, generally all parents come home from work to eat at the table as family with their children." It turned its head around to look about in the room as if to see if there was anyone else in the unit.
The girl stiffen at the personal question directed at, her parents had taught her an important lesson at a young age to never talk about the family business to strangers. But something had compelled her to tell the truth to the rabbit. "My parents are still working late at night to earn more money to save in their bank account. So that, just in case if there is an emergency, there is money that we can use from the bank."
"How often do you and your parent sit together to have a nice warm dinner, together?" The curious bunny inquired looking very curious at her home life. Digging into the girl's personal life like a knife with pressure applied on it, slowly digging into the flesh.
"Not very often, the last one I remember was two weeks ago but that was at a restaurant." Not often did the girl have dinner together with her parents at home even rarely at a restaurant, She often ate dinner by herself usually in front of the computer. "My family don't often take me to restaurants, it is often cheaper to eat at home."
The rabbit insisted that she make a wish as it cheerfully swished its tail. "Then what are you waiting for? You can always wish for your parents to be home with you all the time or if you have money problem, you can wish to be wealthy. It is simple and easy solution to your problem."
"But if I wished for my parents to be with me all the time, how are they suppose to earn money by being with me all the time." That couldn't work, her parents had to work hard to earn the money to save in their bank accounts. The girl stared deeply at the rabbit as she tried to think of a solution that could solve all her problems.
"You can always think of something outside of the box, remember I can only grant you only one wish." The white rabbit didn't hesitate to remind her that wasn't just one solution to her problem.
While she was wealthy, she still felt poor about the direction that her life took. She had regretted making her wish.
Nothing in her life had changed at all.
Ever since the media had casted the spotlight on her, people had started to take more note of her, her name had continuous to appear on the social media in the Internet. Soon everyone knew she was.
When the media slowly noticed her, her parents was caught up in the wave. Being the parents of such popular figure, they were quickly noticed by the sharp eyes of their superiors who eventually promoted them to a higher position.
Ever since then they became busier with their new jobs that demanded even more of their attention away from her. But they still tried to make time for their daughter, tried more involved in her life.
So still she was left alone, like an empty husk acting how everyone had expected of her to act. Nothing more than a puppet acting to fulfilled people's fantasy.
The crowd had admired and was inspired by her so much that young girls who were barely the age of teenage or the ones who were, had decide that they wanted to be like a complete copy of their idol. Girls dressed up in the same lines of clothes that Annie would generally wear for people to see and try change their personality just to be like her.
They had never known whom the real 'her' was, the one hiding behind the façade, that she had put up for the public to see.
Her face was pasted on so much merchandise sold to the public; they had started to objectify her, boys wanted to date girls who look and acted like her, and girls were expected to be like her.
She had even received reports from the police that they had found gynoids whom body and facial appearance was modeled after her. She was disgusted when she first received news of it but wasn't surprised; she felt that her body was been exploited, eventually she got used to it. She didn't need to ask why did those robots looked like her or why were they found in the shady parts of cities, packed in craters, ready to be shipped to their destinations.
She was no longer simply known as 'Annie' but as 'Annie, Girl of the star' to the public."
She had spent the other parts of her life, fighting and killing dangerous creatures that had appeared in city.
As she jumped into the sky, a big creature with mass of eyes on its head had leaped into the air as well to follow her.
All of its eyes were locked onto her as she continued to rise into sky from the force that she was applied beneath to propel herself forward.
She approached the entrance as she propelled herself down toward the beast's mouth that was full of razor-sharp teeth, gleaming at her. She aimed the face of her palm to gapping mouth that was ready to swallow her.
A beam had materialized from her palm and rammed into the beast. It had quickly scorched the beast, burning the flesh but before the beast could howl in pain; its flesh had turned into ashes.
These flakes of ashes had fell down the sky like snow, shading the sky in a hazy darkness.
The rest body of the beast with a huge hole had fell into ground with loud snap as blood began to fill up the crater that the body had made as it slammed against the ground.
Annie didn't look back as she flew away in the blue sky.
"Annie!"
"Annie!"
The massive sea of people chanted her name as they swarmed the city, she could spot in the crowd that there were people who dressed like her.
She looked down at sea of people screaming her name through the windows of tall building.
One of the assistants had walked up to her. "Miss Annie, the crowd is waiting for you."
Codex: Wishes
Through out their lives, people have often made wishes in their mind, hoping that would they would eventually come true but knowing very well that no matter how much they wish for, it will never immediately come true unless they do it themselves or it will eventually happen as times had passed.
People, the contractee who make contracts with the incubators are able to make their wishes born from their desire to become realized.
It should be noted that contracting with the incubator doesn't require the users to start off by saying these exact words, "I wish for such and such."
While the moral of most old tales from different cultures boil down to basically "Be careful for what you wish for or else you will regret it, later." This moral is true but as usual, people don't always take heed tales from the past, brushing it aside as some kind of tales that shouldn't be taken seriously or are unable to see much further into the future, the long-term consequence of their wishes.
People making contracts with the contractors; don't always think of the consequences of what would happen when they wish for it.
Making selfless wishes that are presumed to the contractree to be selfless and pure especially the ones that are not properly thought out, doesn't always guarantee that the wishes will go according to plan of what the contractee had in mind or had thoroughly thought out the consequences of the wishes; it can change depending on the circumstances that arises.
An example of an unintended consequence of making a 'pure' and 'selfless' wish, a child that lives in area where water is a scarcity, may make a contract for water for their village, depending how it is worded and how it is thought of, water might spring out from the ground.
It should be noted this could attract in the wealthy people to live there who can drive off the villagers to use the area for themselves or the people who lack morals, who want to use and make a profit from this resource. But the question here is how could have the child could known about these problems that could arise from this wish.
Was it possible to say a lack of education, has caused the child to be unable to think out of the box? Or was it the pressed problem that has spiraled out of control, out of the child's control, that has caused the child to impulsively wish to end this all?
The problems that arise after making these wishes can be sorted into different categories based on different circumferences that have induced the wish to spiral out of control for the wisher.
These different categories will later be explained. An example of where the wish has gone wrong is shown in the case:
Annie who is famous celebrity with massive hordes of fans, is known to the public by epithet as 'Annie the Girl of the Star.' Annie's wish is an example of type of problem that is encountered in the later future after the wish is made. Where the benefit brought on by the wish, become too much and eventually become detrimental to the person that the wish is no longer seen to be a boon but curse, a reminder of what they had brought on themselves.
Author's Note
I wonder if I should put in details on what her soul emblem and witch form should look like?
(I would like to write about the minor characters like ones in the Madoka's classmate in the classroom, it will be hard giving them personality, as the series don't give them much detail on they act like.)
I would like to have constructive criticism for this story as well as other stories on my profile as they have elements from Puella Magi Madoka Magica but are not in the category itself, so that I can improve on my writing.
Annie was once normal girl who eventually unwitty through her wish become a celebrity.
She is tossed into a life of celebrity where she has to endure unsavory side of being a celebrity as well as the expectation that is demanded of her to do.