Wait, weren't elves rare in this world? Wasn't Satella half-elf? And on that topic, was she the person that they had come to meet?
Thoughts such as these flooded Flugel's head, and they soon began to mute the outside world.
Was this the forest that... that...
Didn't somebody freeze a forest?
Wasn't it really important to somebody that they couldn't find any elves?
Why couldn't he remember? Was this the person who was supposed to be important to him?
Pandora must have tampered with his memories when she sent him here, and whatever she had blocked off seemed to be a person who was related to elves. It is a very annoying thing to not recall this person, but once a memory is gone, there is no way to simply remember what was lost.
"Flugel?"
A tap on his shoulder jolted Flugel out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see an emerging crowd of elves, with Minerva standing right next to him with a concerned expression.
Echidna was not to be seen, but Flugel assumed that she was taken inside somewhere because, despite what that Witch pretended to be, she was definitely not fine. During their walk just a day earlier, he noticed that Echidna struggled to keep a decent pace, and that was compared to him after being hungry and exhausted.
Back to his immediate surroundings, the middle-aged elf that he had first seen, who was dressed in a white and violet unitard with knee-high boots, broke away from the crowd and approached Flugel and Minerva. "Welcome to Elior Forest," she greeted, "I am Kosia, the chief of the elven village here, and we are glad to host you as guests. I recognize Minerva, and what would be your name?" she asked Flugel.
This wasn't Satella, so breaking out of his brief stasis, the teen confidently Travolta-posed and answered, "My name is Flugel, and as of yesterday, I am now Echidna's Instigator! It's nice to make your acquaintance!"
Nobody made a sound as all of their eyes were fixated on Flugel and his peculiar stance. Sweat dropping, Kosia bowed in customary respect. "We are glad to hear that Echidna has found somebody to help her achieve her goals. Now, for what reason do we have the pleasure of a visit from this group today?"
Minerva stepped forward. "Echidna's book told her that-" She cut off, glancing at Flugel. Echidna had instructed her not to say anything, and after a second of deliberation, Minerva decided to keep her word and remain silent about the fine details. "It told her that she came home today, so we came to talk to her. I'm sure that Echidna wants to recruit her to help save the world in our own way, so we flew over."
Kosia seemed confused, and she looked back into the crowd of elves to see if any of them knew about what Minerva was talking about.
All that she was met with was shrugging shoulders, so Kosia turned back around. "Are you suggesting that Satella is coming-"
"Ahhhh!" Minerva explained, her arms flailing. "We weren't supposed to say her name! This was supposed to be a surprise to Flugel!"
"Oh, I am truly sorry about that," Kosia apologized quickly with remorse, "but that was honestly a surprise to me as well, and I am sure that everybody behind me shares this sentiment."
Minerva squinted her eyes to examine all of the elves in the small crowd, and she saw that every single one of them was nodding their heads.
"So," Flugel interjected, "does this mean that Satella isn't here yet?"
"Eh?" Minerva gasped.
She quickly turned to Flugel and grabbed his shoulders, her sky-blue eyes staring into his brown ones. "Do you already know Satella?"
"Well..." Flugel mumbled. "Yes but no."
Before Minerva could complain about the vagueness of his response, Flugel added, "Let's just say that she changed a lot between now and when I came from."
Minerva's eyes and hands broke contact with Flugel, and she began to think. "Does that mean that she's a granny by then? I know that elves get pretty old, so I suppose that what you say makes sense."
Flugel winced at the inaccuracy of this perfectly logical guess. Satella's fate was a tragic one, so there was no way that anybody could predict it.
Minerva, who didn't notice this small wince, turned back to Kosia, who had no idea what the pair were talking about. "Are you sure that she's not here? Maybe this is a really elaborate surprise that Echidna set up, and she really is here now!"
"I am afraid that we must disappoint you, because Satella is not present. In fact, she has been away for an entire season," Kosia explained.
As soon as Kosia said this, Flugel felt as if his shoulders became a lot heavier, and the hairs on his body began to stand up.
"Wha-" he spat out as the weight on his body suddenly increased by many times and forced him to faceplant on the ground.
There were muffled gasps and shouts from above him, and as soon as he fell, Flugel found himself being helped up.
"Oh, no! I'm so sorry! I didn't expect anybody to be right there!"
This voice sounded both familiar and alien to Flugel, and as he stood back up, his heart skipped a beat and his face began to feel warm.
Holding onto his arm and freaking out about crushing somebody was none other than Satella, and something about her appearance stirred something odd within Flugel, although he couldn't identify what it was.
Awkwardly chuckling and ignoring the slight pain that he actually felt, the resilient boy shook his head. "Nah, you're good! I have no idea where you just came from, but I always consider it to be good luck to be crushed by a falling girl!"
"E-Eh?" the half-elf stuttered. "This is a good thing?"
Elves began to rush toward Satella, and for some reason, they looked alarmed, which confused Flugel. He looked at Satella for any indicators, but her face hadn't changed at all. She still looked worried about crushing him, and that was all he could discern.
As Flugel tried to figure out what was going on, Satella turned around with a flip of her dark purple cloak, and suddenly, an injured man was visible.
This unconscious man had a dirty ponytail of red hair, and his bony face looked unkempt. His torn clothes told of bad times, and Flugel couldn't help but think that he would have been in a similar condition had Echidna and Minerva not found him as soon as they did.
As he thought of Minerva, the Witch of Wrath appeared in front of him, reaching down toward the man. "What happened to him?! Who is he?! Don't tell me what happened, because it's too sad!"
Minerva's quick questions flustered Satella, who didn't expect to see a Witch here. "Um- I found him like this, and he needs a healer! He-"
"I've got this!" Minerva exclaimed as her fist balled up.
"No!" Satella yelped before Minerva could punch the man. "I know you can heal him, but don't! I know about your power, so let's just let someone else do the healing!" Turning to the elves, she asked, "Kosia, is Isa here? He's really good at healing now, right?"
The chief ran up to Satella and took a knee next to the unconscious man. "Yes, he is here, but you highly overestimate his abilities. This man requires healing from injuries unrelated to physical wounds, and I doubt that most healers, much less Isa, could heal this man."
Satella gasped in honest shock. "I know that he was getting much better, and by now, I assumed that he would be an amazing healer!"
Kosia sighed. "You are too generous in your evaluation. He is better than when you last visited, but no living being can improve in that much time as you imagine that he has come."
"Eh?" Satella yelped. "Does that mean that I have to let Minerva heal him? I came here because I didn't know exactly where any other healers were, but letting Minerva heal is the same as hurting people!"
"Umm... Can someone fill me in, because I don't really understand what the problem with Minerva is."
Satella turned to Flugel, who looked and sounded helplessly confused. "It has to do with her power, but we can explain that later!" Her face looked conflicted for a moment, but it passed as she ordered, "Minerva, hit that man before it's too late!"
With tears welling up in her eyes, the Witch of Wrath drew her arm back once more, preparing to heal the red-haired guy.
"Wait!" Kosia exclaimed with an outreached arm.
Stopped for a second time, Minerva began to stomp on the ground in frustration. "What is it this time?! This is stressing me out!"
Kosia pointed at a nearby building. "Echidna is in there."
"Really!?" Satella gasped in delight. "Why didn't you say so sooner? Echidna is the best at any magic!"
"Well..." the chief hesitated a little before answering. After looking back and forth between Satella and the small hut-like building, she continued. "You see, Echidna collapsed upon her arrival only minutes ago, so she is currently resting."
"Oh no!-"
"BUT," Kosia interrupted, seeing as the half-elf was beginning to look very distressed, "Of course, there is a chance that she is well enough to perform healing magic." She motioned over to the onlooking elves, and what seemed to be a couple went to check on Echidna.
Almost immediately, the Witch of Greed's voice could be heard by everybody in the center of the village, despite the chatter among the elves.
"Yes, yes. I could hear the commotion outside, so please allow me to escort myself to the source of this furor. I am not so frail as to be treated like an impaired individual."
With these words, Echidna came into the open, and the few elves who were between her and Satella parted, making way for the slowly walking Witch of Greed.
She seemed to have recovered quite quickly from her collapsing, but because of how slow she was walking, Flugel couldn't help but wonder how much Echidna was struggling to keep this up.
Meanwhile, Minerva began impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. She knew Echidna well, so she didn't say anything to rush her companion, but this entire situation was very nerve-wracking. First off, Satella came out of nowhere with a hurt man, and then nobody let her punch him, and now, Echidna was taking forever to get to him. Wouldn't it be faster just to carry him to her?
Satella, however, thought none of this. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, Echidna! I was worried because Kosia told me that you fell, but you've always been good about bouncing back, so I knew that you would be fine!"
"Indeed, I am delighted to have successfully encountered you today," Echidna said as she forced a perfect smile. "Now, you have brought an unconscious man for healing?"
The half-elf nodded her head quickly. "I found him in the middle of nowhere, and since he looks almost dead and I didn't know any healers close by, I came here!"
Echidna sighed as she made it to the man and examined him while remaining upright. "I can heal him for all external injuries, but any condition such as exhaustion and starvation cannot be cured with conventional magic. However, with proper rest and care, he will be back to a stable condition within two days. Obviously, he-"
"Yay!" Satella exclaimed, a wide smile replacing her worried expression. She gave Echidna a full embrace, and Flugel couldn't help but feel as if something wasn't right. After all, the Satella he knew was a lot gloomier, and that wasn't even accounting for how much of a yandere she acted like when she was the Witch of Envy.
The innocent half-elf looked up from her hug and beamed a smile at Flugel. "So, who are you?" she asked genuinely. "I got so caught up with getting this man some help that I completely forgot our introductions! My name is Satella, so what's yours?"
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Flugel gave the same short introduction to Satella that he did to Kosia, and by the time that he finished it, Echidna was already finished with her healing magic.
"I have performed all of the assistance that I am capable of providing," she announced as her Instigator finished telling Satella the basics of his new identity. "Now, I recommend that he be given a bed to rest in and soft food for when he wakes."
"Thank you," Kosia exclaimed to Echidna as she walked past Satella to hold the red-haired man. The chief motioned to the remainder of the elves that were still standing close by, and when three of them came to help her carefully carry the man, she took a moment to address the half-elf. "As you have returned with us unprepared for your arrival, we will not be able to cook the usual feast until tomorrow. Please forgive us for the inconvenience."
Satella shook her head and waved her hands around. "No, don't worry about it! Every time, I say that you don't have to make it, and I'm completely fine with eating a normal dinner!"
Kosia grunted as she shifted the man's weight in her arms. The three elves helping her bowed their heads to Satella and began to walk toward the building that Echidna came out of only a couple of minutes ago.
"No, I insist! It's an honor to have you with us again, so please let us show you our appreciation!"
With that, Kosia got the last word in the conversation, and Satella was left silent as the rest of the elves also bowed their heads and began to filter away. They all seemed to all respect Satella, but for some reason, it seemed like none of them wanted to come greet her personally.
Flugel wanted to ask about this observation, but he knew better than to ask questions that could be very sensitive.
Echidna, on the other hand, had no issue with being blunt. "Hmm, it seems as if your own people are too full of themselves to consider that too much respect, and by acting so, they have become disrespectful. They believe that they must treat you as some sort of minor deity or figure of untouchable importance, so they turn away from treating you as a person! Ah, how terrible this must be for you! I cannot imagine that you are pleased with living here in conditions such as this, so you should leave Elior Forest with us today, on a long-term mission! Join Minerva, Flugel, and myself as we venture to save the world! With you by our sides, our chances of success drastically increase!"
The Witch of Greed had a smug expression after expressing her offer, but her grin was wiped off of her face as she realized that Satella was no longer there.
As it turned out, Satella turned away from the trio as the Witch of Greed was monologuing. As she slowly walked away, she mumbled "I'll think about it later," and then she disappeared into the rows of houses and toward the direction of the trees that surrounded them.
"Wow," Flugel dryly commented when Echidna was finished talking, "that was really smooth, Echidna. You're just as socially clueless as I would imagine that you'd be."
Minerva scratched her head. "Wait, is she? I thought that she made some really good points, so I was sure that Satella would say yes right away!" The blonde Witch couldn't ponder any of this situation anymore, so she stomped a single time out of irritation. "Nothing is going the way that I thought it would! We keep on trying to help people, but it never goes right!"
Watching Minerva get frustrated over this made Flugel smile. She really cared about others, and the fact that every little thing that stopped her from helping others made her upset made Flugel's chest warm.
With a subtle chuckle, he told the two Witches, "And that's why I'm here now. I'm the Instigator, so I'll make sure that we are successful in the end! I'll go talk to Satella, so try not to do anything too weird while I'm gone."
"Naturally," Echidna scoffed. "I would never degrade myself to performing acts of the witless, so please feel untroubled as you persuade Satella to join our group, for she would be a vital ally to gain."
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As Flugel walked around the edge of the village, his thoughts wandered as much as Satella did.
This seemed to be pre-Envy Satella, so what happened for her to take in a Witch Factor? If he could stop her from taking it in and getting the power to destroy the world, wouldn't he technically save the world? This would be something like a reversal of casualty, so to save the world, all he needed to do was save Satella.
When he properly met her for the first time in Sanctuary Echidna's Castle of Dreams, he vowed to save her, and maybe this is what he was meant to do.
"The first step is to recruit her into the group that Echidna's putting together, so I guess that I should try a little harder to find her..." Flugel mumbled after he passed a tree that looked familiar.
The teenager stopped for a second and began thinking very hard about where Satella might have gone.
Behind closed eyes, he thought, "I've never been here before, but if I just came back to town after doing my own thing for a while and I wasn't at my house, where would I be?"
His first thought was the park, but he was currently in a forest, so that option was voided.
"Oh wait, she's a girl, so I need to adapt a little to figure this out." Shifting his thought process around, Flugel put himself more into Satella's shoes and began reconsidering her whereabouts.
"Going by the tropes, she'd either be in some kind of open field, probably with flowers in it, or she's by some special tree or something."
The black-haired teen nodded his head in reassurance and began to stretch his search farther into the trees. When he was stuck in Vollachia in his own time, Flugel was stuck in a much more unfriendly forest, so however hard it might be to find Satella, this search wouldn't even compare to his time there.
Sure enough, finding the half-elf wasn't even that difficult because she was sitting in the middle of a grassy opening that wasn't that far outside of the village.
When she saw him coming, Satella gasped. "E-Eh?" She hectically spun in a circle, not sure if she should run away again or let him approach.
The decision wasn't made in time, so it was decided for her when Flugel smiled and sat down right in front of her.
He gently reached his hand out to her, and a wave of calmness swept over Satella's anxious mind, making her feel oddly at ease with the boy sitting on the ground. Not knowing why she felt like this, she tenderly took Flugel's outstretched hand, and he guided her down so that they were sitting facing each other.
"Yeah, about what Echidna was saying earlier, I'm really sorry. It seems like you know her pretty well, and that's just the way she is." Flugel sighed after saying this. "Of all the things she didn't know, I guess it had to be people skills."
Satella giggled at this, and a cute smile crept through her barely composed facade. "You don't have to be sorry, because I promise I wasn't mad. I think I was just a little sad-" As she said this, Satella bit her lip, stopping herself from talking about whatever it was that she was going to say. The smile dropped from her face, and now a forlorn expression settled in on her face. "Never mind," she said dismissively, "don't worry about it. I really appreciate her offer, and if that's what you're here for, I'm sorry, but I have to say no."
Flugel grimaced. "I won't lie to you, so I'll admit I came after you to get you to join us. But now, that doesn't matter. I can tell that you're hurting on the inside, so do you want to talk about it? In my experience, that helps a lot."
"Huh?" Satella asked with a breath of a whisper as she pulled her legs into her arms. "Why would you want to listen to that? We just met, and you just want me to join your team."
"Not really," Flugel countered, "I'm just a guy who's trying to help a girl out. At the end of the day, I'm only me, and if you don't want to come with us, I don't have the right to force you to do anything that you don't want to do."
Satella silently absorbed these words, and as she did this, Flugel continued talking. "Like you said, we just met, but I can already tell that you're a really nice person. You saved that random guy, and by the way, what was your reason for doing that?"
"It's... because I want to help people. That's what I do," the half-elf said as she began to regain her composure. "Have you not heard of me before? The way you act so relaxed near me is kind of weird too." She said this in a way devoid of pride, so it must have come from actual curiosity.
Flugel shook his head. Dispelling his thoughts about his past life and his version of Satella, he answered, "Nope. I'm pretty much a baby when it comes to knowing people here besides Echidna and Minerva."
Satella sighed, but this wasn't a sigh of frustration or annoyance. This seemed more like a sigh of relief. Looking up towards the sky, she explained, "I'm pretty good at Yin magic, so I use it to help a bunch of people."
Flugel edged himself slightly closer to her, intrigued to hear what Satella's life was like before she absorbed the Envy Witch Factor.
He waited for several moments, but he was met with silence.
"And?" he prompted, wanting more details.
Satella turned her head downwards to look at him with a dumbfounded expression. "Wait, there's more?" she asked, genuinely confused.
Flugel wanted to facepalm, but out of consideration for the genuinely perplexed half-elf, he refrained from doing so. Instead, he patiently allowed an understanding grin to cross his lips. "Well, people usually go into a bit more detail about things like this, but that's all you feel that needs to be said, then I'll be happy with that too."
Satella smiled, and after realizing what she was doing, she quickly covered it with a hand. She hid her smile, but she didn't hide her joy as she said, "I don't know why, but the way you say things makes me feel good about myself. People usually say things out of respect or something, but everything you say feels... more real." Finally looking Flugel in the eyes, she asked, "Does that make sense?"
The teenager found himself dumbfounded by the amethyst-colored eyes that met his with so much vulnerability in them.
"Y-yeah, I think so," he stuttered. "Sometimes I come off as a little blunt or a little eccentric, but in times like these, I like to be able to have an honest one-on-one with somebody. Being able to communicate how I really feel about something is important to me, and that's just how I am."
Satella's cheeks felt as if they were warming, and she broke eye contact. Focusing on the ground in front of her and beginning to rock back and forth, she said, "I like that..."
After a pause, she continued. "And just so you know more about the real me, I was born with really strong Yin magic, but my parents didn't raise me. Kosia actually raised me because she's my aunt. That's why she talks to me more than the other elves do."
She glanced up at Flugel to see his reaction, and she quickly dropped her gaze when she saw that his full attention was on her words.
"But that's not important, because Kosia is the only mom I've known, and Isa is like my brother. Anyway, since I'm super good at Yin magic, I use it to go to battles and I try to stop them, since there are so many these days."
Satella paused, and this gave space for Flugel to ask, "With spells like Shamac?"
Pleasantly surprised that he knew about Yin magic, Satella asked, "Are you a magic user too?"
"About that..." Flugel grimaced, "I also have an affinity for Yin magic, but my gate is totally destroyed."
Satella gasped. "Oh, no! Have you asked Echidna to take a look at it? She's the best mage in the whole world, so she can surely do something about it!"
"Don't worry about me," Flugel said, "I've already come to terms with it, but if you insist, I'll go to Echidna about it." After this, he added, "And by the way, have the two of you ever done anything together? Echidna seemed really excited to meet you again, so I was just wondering if you had a more personal kind of connection with her."
The silver-haired girl nodded her head quickly. "We went on an adventure once, but that doesn't matter! I'm going to take you to Echidna to have your gate checked out!" Satella took Flugel by the wrist and stood up, pulling him along with her.
This surprised the teenager, and as his brain jumped from focusing on the hand that was holding him to the discussion that just happened, he gently resisted. "Wait," he suggested as he planted his feet in the ground, "don't you still want to talk? You don't have to go just because of my gate."
"I'm super sure!" Satella assured him, "When somebody needs help, I can't waste any time!"
Flugel looked at the half-elf earnestly as she slowly overcame his strength. While vaguely feeling a sense of deja vu, he pulled some insight from his own past experiences and softly asked, "But sacrificing your life to help others... Isn't that lonely?"
Satella stopped in her tracks, her hand no longer pulling on Flugel. A single "Eh?" escaped her lips as her legs suddenly began to shake. Flugel's words made something in her chest ache, as if she was missing something, and before she realized it, a cold tear painted her face with an emotion that she had not revealed to anybody for a very long time.
Without a trace of hesitation, Flugel moved his arm away from Satella's hand that no longer held him, and he pulled her into a sudden embrace.
This was the most care anybody, including Kosia, had ever shown Satella, and she couldn't muster a strong face. Nobody had ever shown this amount of compassion or understanding to her, and in the emotionally starved state that Satella was in, Flugel's hug brought an unprecedented feeling of happiness.
The cold tears felt warmer now, and Satella stopped trying to hold them in. Hugging Flugel back while crying into his shoulder, she let all of her pain out with words. "I've been alone for so long..." Her voice was muffled, but that didn't matter. Flugel knew what she was saying, and even if he didn't, he would have listened anyway. "I-I really care about helping other people, but I wish t-that... I could be happier too! I've been so lonely... traveling all alone... but I told myself that I could be strong. Other people are in a lot more pain, so I could be a big girl and not complain!"
At this point, the half-elf's legs were shaking even worse, so Flugel gently sat both of them down. As he did so, he also patted the top of the head that was crying on his chest. "You might not believe me," Flugel said with a vulnerable pain in his voice, "but I know how you feel. Doing things all by yourself is really hard, so I learned that I need to reach out."
Reminiscing about a conversation he had long ago with the Satella of his time, of all people, Flugel added, "And you should be included among the ones you want to save."
"W-What do you mean?" Satella brought her face off of Flugel's chest and wiped her wet face, her voice shaking slightly as she still cried. "I-I don't need to be saved."
Flugel shook his head firmly. He knew of what happened to Satella in his original timeline, and she was very much in need of saving. Becoming the Witch of Envy would be the worst possible thing to happen, and although this interaction here was already taking her a step closer to a different life, he needed the half-elf to realize something that he understood only after so many people had helped him: you can't save everybody on your own, so reach out. Trying to solve everything on your own is lonely and painful, so let other people help you.
Of course, the two situations being compared are not entirely similar, but Flugel understood what it felt like to be overwhelmingly lonely and to suffer alone, and he understood pain.
As Subaru, he swore to Satella that he would save her. Now, as Flugel, he did the same.
"Satella, I promise that I'll save you from a sad future. I'll be your shoulder to lean on, and I'll take your hand whenever you need somebody to help you move forward. If you accept this promise, I swear that you will never be lonely anymore."
The recipient of this vow didn't expect it at all, and it shocked her enough to stop her tears. In fact, for a moment, it seemed as if the entire world stopped, and Flugel's echoing words were the only thing that existed.
At first, Satella could only see Flugel's body in front of her and hear his promise, but slowly, her senses came back. At first, it was the sound of her thudding heart that returned, which was followed by the warmth of Flugel's body and the rays of the sun that bathed the two of them. Next came the sight of the familiar trees that stood around the field, and in a final whoosh, everything else came back at once.
This odd experience occurred in a fleeting moment, but the feeling it gave Satella was one that would never leave her heart.
Could this be what love feels like?
Satella didn't know, but she did know that in the very short time that she and Flugel had talked together in this field, she had felt happier than she ever did before.
Holding her hand to her thudding chest, Satella nodded her head, accepting Flugel's unexpected vow. "Does this mean that I get to travel with you?" she asked, hope now appearing in her eyes.
"Wait, you want to?"
The half-elf stared at Flugel, not verbally admitting that her stance on the matter had completely changed but inversely establishing that she was firmly set on joining the group.
"Well then," he announced, "Welcome to... uh... The group name doesn't matter, but welcome, Satella! Welcome to the team that's going to save the world!"
Well, I didn't upload the chapter as soon as I thought I could, but nevertheless, it's here! What did y'all think about it?
I'm not gonna lie, I can't help but get emotionally invested in some of the romance here as a reader, and I'm rooting for certain things to happen even though I'm the one who is writing this stuff. As the writer, my heart is breaking because of just how sad all of these Witches' backstories are and because of certain other things happening here.
And to guestimate the next upload... I'm planning on having the next one out by the end of May. And with that said, I'll see you next time!