TW!: This chapter has a bit of self harm, blood and a bit of nudity!
Who was she?
Right now she couldn't remember, but that didn't matter.
She was just walking through a forest with trees with huge blue leaves and dancing flowers and other exotic flora.
Everything looked bigger for some reason or maybe she was just smaller, looking down at herself she was wearing a cute little dress and her features looked like a kids.
She looked up to see a sky full of stars, pointing up she drew pictures by connecting the dots. Look a flying pig, a clothesline with laundry on it, and there is a dude playing a harp or something! The lines formed at the tip of her finger as she touched the sky from the ground, finding more and more.
Then the ground began to shake.
Trees began to fall.
The land began to rupture all over.
Fire rose from the ground.
Smoke made it difficult to breathe.
There was no hope to save anything.
So she fled.
She went as fast as she could.
Screams filled her ears from people she couldn't find or help.
She kept dodging falling trees, rocks and the fire.
It felt like she was going in circles, like she wasn't going anywhere.
Then next thing she knew she was drowning.
Deep underwater.
She kept going down deeper and deeper.
It got darker and darker until there was no light.
Yet there was something familiar about all this.
Then there was complete and utter nothingness.
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And then there was something.
She turned and looked at a figure that had her shape.
It looked vaguely like herself but completely dark, no major features could be seen, its 'eyes' were the only source of light, with some intense eye contact.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"I'm a piece."
"A piece of what?"
"A lot of things, stars, minds that weren't ours, an explosion and more, but I'm also a piece of you I guess. Sorry, existence is a complicated thing, I'm confused too."
She tilted her head, the figure did the same mirroring every moment she made.
"Why are you talking to me?"
"To help you,"
"Help me do what?"
"Create."
"How?"
Everything after that was strange and confusing, it was like they were speaking in a language that she would never understand and yet knew all too well.
The moons below them shined and the light flowed into her hands.
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Ã̸̡͔͉̪̟̺̫̫̫̍̊̍̃̚Ś̶̹̻͙̹̝̊̐ ̴̻͎́͗̒̐̽̔͠͝͝ͅA̶̜̻̬͇͋̑͆̄͑͜͜͠B̵̝̯̹̤͊͋Ọ̵̢̣͍̺͇͚̊V̵̧̰̺̦̈́̽E̴͈͚͚̼̓̃͐͑̃̐͌̕̚ ̷̨̹̜͎̿̐S̴̗̽͂̍̉̆̾͝Ȯ̵͉̱̳͍͝͝ ̶͍̘̎̍̑̃͆̀̓̈̔B̴̧̡̭̠̮͕̪̻͒̏͛̄͑E̸̮̣̝̱̎̓̑͐̈́L̴̘͍̜̖̙̱̂͊̿ͅO̵̢̢̭̙̯̔̏̇͛͋̒͂̉̄́W̴̧̘̖͎͇͉͙̬̻̕:̵̢̡̟̟̪̤̯̜̟̅̊̄ ̷̥̫͍̹͈͙̫̊̎̔̚S̴̮̹̻̻͙̙̮̭̓̊̆͛̎̃̾́Ò̵̢̱̹̻̘͖̲̌͌̀̑̕͠͝ ̴̣̣̫̅̾͗̈́̎̊̓Ÿ̸̨̗̣̯̺̥̳̣̬́͑͂̈̆̍̄Ő̷͓̼͔̦̪͙̻̓͒̀̎͘Ü̴͔̟̒͋́̚͜ ̷̛̳͉̐̔̊ͅČ̴͇̲̰̝̗̫A̷̮̗̾̔͌͂͒͛͝Ṋ̷̺̩̎͝ͅ ̶̞̥̫̲̩̭̺̿̐̉͝C̷̯̼̾̀R̴̢͔͙̱̤̪̹̃̌̃̚͜͜͝ͅȨ̵͎̮͋̾̒̂̇̚͘A̸̢̟͓͇̯͌̔͊T̶̨̩̼͖̲̓̿Ȩ̸̫͇͉̞͇̯̖͉̈́̀̒͆̑͋̅̚͝ͅ ̴̡̲̥̖̜̗̦͔͕̺͐͗̍̓̓̀͑A̸̧̛͉̺͍̱̗N̸̤͂̈́̌D̶̡̡̝̼̻́̐̈́͆̿̿̓͝ ̷̛̛͓̳̩̜̗͖̣̽͒̆̎́̀̄Y̷̨͈̭̾̐̈́͑̔͋͑͘͘͠Ȏ̷̢͈̗̩̙͎͇̦̰͕̂U̴͉͍̽͛̄̆̋̈̓̐̾ ̸̳̞̜͚̳͍̅͛͂̉͛̑C̵̘͉̭͍̯̺͎̆̅̈́̏͜A̵̡̯͙̳͚̻̣̭͒̐̂̈́́̀͘͝͝N̸̻̞͍̠̭̖̈́̊̿̒̏̀ ̴͇̗̑̒D̴̢̜͉̉͊Ȇ̵̘̋̂̐̕S̷͍͙̉̓̄͝T̷̟͇̝̠̊̓͐̂͒͛̚͜Ŕ̷̞̅̐͂̌͑͘͜O̴̫̫̪̤̎̎́̇͆̈́̇͜Y̵͖̱̫̻̙̼͕̮̣͎͊͊͘.̷̧͉͇̝̬̲̤͓̀
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Then she resurfaced, gasping for air.
She paddled back to shore with one hand, and dragged herself the rest of the way onto solid land.
She took a moment before walking forward to see a seared landscape.
The fires scared the land, now dark with ash, silent and full of crevices.
The sky was full of smog, only gray painted the horizon.
Nothing remained but the charred remains…..
Then she realized she was holding something.
It was a creature, or at least that's what her mind was telling her, it was just a round blob of sorts that glowed many different colors.
She just looked at it for a while, not sure what to make of it.
She wanted it to run fast across the land and be able to get past any rough terrain or over any obstacle, to be able to make it across the whole world without any help.
It began to change its shape into a vague quadruped form, it was still a blob of sorts now with strong horse-like legs, it grew bigger until she was riding on top of it and it began to run quickly across the burned domain.
She held on, taking in the landscape as passed by.
They reached a canyon with stone spikes doting it and a tall cliff on the other side . The creature jumped from formation to formation, climbing up, higher and higher, until they reached the top.
And then it kept running, and jumping from platform to platform across the ruins, the sky now showing colors of blue and pink among the clouds.
She noticed small specks of color that stook out so she got the creature to stop.
She got off and went to take a look for herself to see what it was.
Sprouts bloomed from the black ashy soil. Life was managing to grow back.
She looked back at the creature, and wanted it to be kind so it can help heal the wounds inflicted by cruelty.
It got a lot smaller, and now had a bipedal form of sorts, it was just an orb with little stick appendages and floppy ears, it climbed up her arm and rested on her shoulder.
She began to walk, the creature made a noise every time she was about to step on a seedling.
Gently and carefully she walked past the growing plants without crushing any of them.
She just continued to walk across the now green lands.
Until they made it to a big crater.
She looked down, to see two big eyes looking back up at her.
The ground shook again as the entity emerged, towering over them, it was dark and encased in shadows, but it had a head and hands but no neck and arms, flames started back up again all around the hole and from it the monster unfazed like it didn't even hurt, there weren't any distinct features of the creature but she could see a row of long sharp teeth, and it's shiny white claws.
It raised one of its clawed detached limbs up high over the duo.
She started to run away grabbing the little creature off of her shoulder, in another direction before the entity slammed into the ground.
The thundering steps grew louder and louder.
She found a small opening in a strange structure (she was unable to tell if it was made of wood or rock) and ran inside. It would only be a moment before the entity found them again.
She didn't know how to defeat the monster, somehow she knew no matter where she went it would find her somehow.
She looked again at the creature now in her hands. She could tell it was looking right into her eyes at her despite it not having eyes of its own.
So she wanted it to have the power to defeat any foe and to be tougher than any metal.
The creature began to grow once more, jumping from her grasp and onto the ground, now it resembled a proper humanoid, with well toned muscles and towered over her. It struck a pose while flexing before running outside.
The sounds of the fighting stung in her ears, yet she could only see glimpses of movement outside, she stayed in the little hiding hole for a while.
It took a while before she got close enough to the entrance she saw the battle.
The two beings clashed, the creature ran up once again to deliver blows again and again. But the monster was unfazed by the assault. The big brute swinged its hand, swatting away the glowing fighter.
It took awhile but it got back up on its feet again charging head-first at the Entity again who had gotten even bigger. This time it managed to hit it right in the shadow menace's face causing it to stagger backwards a bit before rushing in once again.
Blows kept being exchanged between the two but the glowing creature was in the most trouble, slowly but surely it was losing steam while the dark beast seemingly kept getting bigger and bigger. The bright creature was knocked away again.
Brute strength wasn't working, what the creature needed was an alternate method to disarm and get the better of enemies.
She wanted the creature to be clever and smart, so that he can make fools out of its opponents and to make the right decisions for any situation.
It began to change again, growing a tail, big pointed ears and an extra set of arms, becoming more animalistic in its movements and appearance less toned than before, and having a mussel or beak of sorts .
It ran towards the shadowy entity(who grew in size yet again) once more. The beast sent down its fist once more. But the creature managed to dodge and run straight underneath the shadows.
It ran to a tall stone structure, climbing up it quickly up to a good height in the middle.
The dark monster quickly turned around and snarled before it attempted to attack the shining being. Who once again dodged the blow jumping off and away from its perch and good good distance away, the attack insead broke the mountain causing the rock to crumble and fall on top of the behemoth burying it completely.
It was completely silent, no one dared to look away from the gigantic pile of rubble to see if it would arise again, but it was completely still, the only movement was dust floating down catching light beams hitting the ground.
The creature just stood there looking at the remains. Unmoving.
It was oddly serene.
She walked up to the creature, but then it began to spasm and screech. Its body transformed from thing to thing, one moment it had wings and floppy ears, then Long, skinny, furry, next multi armed, and legged and square.
"山卄ㄖ 卂爪 丨?"
A giant black detached hand emerged from the pile of rocks and came down on the poor creature with a loud THUD.
Then it was silent.
The giant hand rose once again and slipped underneath the rubble once more.
She quickly went down into the crater that was made, to see the creature smooshed into the ground, back to the first form she saw it as: a simple orb blob but now it wasn't glowing, it was shadowy just like the monster. It took awhile but she managed to get it unstuck from the ground.
She just held it and looked at it for a while…
"I'm Sorry,"
She was taken aback, by the new voice, it was soft and had a strange but comforting sound to it, but she knew it belonged to the creature.
"I know you want me capable of running across the entire world and getting past any obstacle, but I'd ultimately be back where I first started, with nothing changed.
I know you want me to be kind so I can heal wounds, but kindness is taken advantage of and is a tool to hurt as well.
I know you want me to have power to defeat any foe and to be tougher than metal, but power can't solve a lot of serious problems and metal warps and breaks just like any worn and old things do.
I know you want me to be clever and smart, so that I can make fools out of others and to make the right choices, but it's impossible to know everything. I will never have all the answers, I will be an idiot, one way or another..
I know you want me to be a perfect hero….. But I just can't….
I can't be who you want me to be.
I have no choice but to slow down, and to be stopped.
I got to be selfish and do some cruel things, in order to heal myself.
I need to have weaknesses, I have to be able to bend to not break.
I have to make my own decisions, conclusions, mistakes and bad calls.
I need to be my own being.
So… who am I then?"
She didn't know what to say…. She knew she asked too much from the creature, she racked her brain as much as she could, but it just wouldn't work. She didn't know what to do, so she asked a selfish question.
"I don't know, but at the very least if you can't be a hero… Could you be a friend?"
"I'm not sure if I can, I don't know how to be a friend but I'll do my best."
She hugged the creature close to her chest as color and light returned to it, her feet not touching the ground anymore as a forest of stars and planets bloomed around them.
Betilla's eyes began to open waking from her deep sleep due to the bitter cold of morning air and the sunlight reaching her.
She had an extremely weird dream, but what it was about began to fade with her regaining awareness.
She got up and rubbed her eyes, why did she fall asleep in her garden?
Oh yeah… she got robbed last night.
Her memories of the day before came back when she saw the plant she grew as a makeshift patch in her fence.
She groaned to herself. Things just seemingly kept getting worse and worse. It would probably be a smart investment to beef up her home security so that no one could steal her stuff anymore. Unfortunately she probably had to put the guardian's creation on hiatus to do so.
But first she really needed to eat, she only had light snacks, and a quick lunch to eat yesterday. She was absolutely starving.
She went back inside and flew to the kitchen to see what she had. Lets see she had some plums, limes and other spiky fruit, some turnips, an eggplant and carrots out on the counter. Looking in the fridge, she found milk, some juice, eggs, and more. She just decided on scrambled eggs, she grabbed the ingredients she needed and started cooking.
She managed to make the eggs and plate them, which was difficult using only one hand but she did it.
After she finished eating she went to the bathroom, she went ahead and brushed her teeth. She put the toothbrush on the counter then put the paste on it.
Afterwards she washed her face and brushed her hair, for some reason she had trouble.
Anxiety kept rearing its head every waking moment of her mind, thoughts of what happened yesterday kept swarming her.
Having her plans exposed.
Her sisters being cold to her (minus Voodoo Mama).
Being chewed out by the other Council members.
The Magician's words.
Being robbed of nearly every magical item in her home by zombie chickens.
It was all too much, all Betilla wanted to do was lay in bed, maybe read a book and ignore everything in bliss.
But she could't, problems rarely got solved by doing nothing, running away would be pointless. Besides if she did nothing then she would probably make a terrible habit of doing so in the future.
But this didn't help the bitterness building up in her one bit.
Taking a deep breath she set out to clean up everything, starting with the magic samples she got yesterday and sort them out.
She decided to start with the biggest one; the jar with her transformed magic with hints of voodoo mamas. But she had trouble picking it up.
Wait, why was she only using one hand to do everything?
She looked down, to find she was carrying something cradled in her other arm. How long was she carrying it?
She held it in both hands, it was a strange glowing orb of sorts.
She tried to make head and tales of what exactly she was holding, it pulsed with a strange energy she had never felt before, yet it was familiar. It wasn't warm, but it was bright. She never has seen or read anything about whatever it was before, and that's saying something being the head nymph. It was completely disconnected from everything, and that's saying something as magic always pulled from a source (mainly the great protoon). It was a paradoxical existence of everything she knew.
But the most astonishing thing about it: is what she could tell about it.
It was a heart; a magical core.
A feeling of relief filled Betilla (alongside a lot of other unidentified feelings).
And just like that panic set in once again when she noticed it becoming see-thought and feeling it's power getting weaker.
The realization hit her like the zombie chicken from last night.
A heart without a body is bound to stop pumping. It's why she got so many materials, once she had the heart she could easily make the rest of it using the magic items….. That a majority was stolen yesterday.
She was completely unprepared but if she did nothing, this miracle or freak of wonder would just end up dying.
She quickly took a deep breath and tried to think… What was the next step of creating a guardian?
She looked around, most of her notes were gone but she put the instructions on what to do in one of her drawers.
She opened up a few before finding a notebook with her scribbles on it.
Ah ha! There it was! It was mostly just a TL:DR version but it was better than nothing!
She quickly glanced over the notes and got started.
Opening the biggest jar she put her hand in. The magic flowed around her fingertips and followed her hand when she took it out. The sparkling mixed magic spiraled around in her palm, she then let it flow around the heart completely surrounding it.
She could still see the heart just barely though the enchanted mists. She quickly opened the other jars, one by one she took her sisters magic and raped it around the orb, there were significantly less magic so she could only rap the magic around at least once. Making a strange muli striped sphere with all sorts of colors, Betilla and Voodoo mama's mixed magic could still be seen in the gaps. She then began to channel her raw magic (trying to give the guardian strength and knowledge) until it completely covered the orb now floating between her hands.
She sat on the ground panting holding the ball of weaved magic, somehow, despite it all, the guardian was stable…. For now, but it wouldn't survive to see the next day in this state.
The red haired nymph looked over her notes once again, after she weaved the magic around the next thing she needed to do was to add components and mass to it that would be compatible with the heart, namely magical items.
She quickly headed into the other room and scrounged up the remains of the magical items. She first took the magical paintbrush and tried to incorporate it, but only the hair was accepted, the rest were pushed away by a strange force.
She threw the handle and the ferrule away, and quickly grabbed the next item. The tongue was assimilated but half of the potion was not. Parts of the broken bagpipe (or at least she assumed as it broke into a lot of pieces when she tried) and the ball for some reason was taken. So were the gems and marbles, but none of the plants.
Betilla kept trying with all the scraps, until everything was used. Some were accepted, others were not, she knew it wasn't enough. She needed to find more things it was compatible with.
The weaved magic began falling apart, signifying how little time she had left.
She quickly flew into the kitchen in a blind panic. She needed more materials, just a few more!
She grabbed the things on the counter and tried to incorporate them into the core, just haphazardly throwing them in all at one. But the items as a result got thrown all around in all directions. Getting a plum smashed in her face in the process.
What exactly was her line of thought there, that normal vegetables could be used to create a magical guardian?
She quickly grabbed a towel from within a drawer and wiped her face off.
She had to take a deep breath. Where would she get some physical matter that had magic imbued in it, with what little time she had?
Then she saw it inside where she got the towel from.
The knife that was gifted to her. It was made out of a claw, a fang, a metal handle with some leather wrapped around it. It was kinda impractical to cook with, but it gave her an idea. She knew one way to get some magical infused matter quickly, but it wouldn't be pretty or pleasant.
Grabbing the knife, she took a deep breath and with some hesitation before stabbing her hand. Tears welled up in her eyes before she forced them open to see what she did. The blood dripping was falling onto the orb, being absorbed. She quickly took the knife (it had a bit of her skin on it) and gave it to the guardian heart.
Betilla watched as the red-stained dagger disintegrated, the particles now a part of the creature she was making.
She kept allowing herself to bleed (and unknowingly crying) on the orb until it became one singular color with no loose ends, perfectly roundish, signifying it had (bearly) enough material for the next step of its creation.
She grabbed her first aid kit and treated her hand. Putting magic ointment (from research she knew would be a bad material) and bandaging her wound.
She finished tying the bandage around her injury. Then she went to the closet and made as many lums into skull coins as many as she could. They were easier to carry around that way, gave her one less bag to carry and the weight stayed the same and the lums could be turned back into normal later.
She grabbed the sacks of lums strapping the bags across her shoulders. Carrying the last bag in her left hand and the not yet born guardian in her right and began to fly to the protective circle, because if this last part doesn't go well (and it most likely will, considering how much of a mess this has been already) then she wanted only one casualty to this endeavor. She had very little to lose at this point (at least that's what she's convinced).
Betilla flew right in the middle of the circle, setting the sacks of lums and skull coins right outside the edge for now.
She focused, closing her eyes, she began to meditate, she needed a clear mind and calm breathing for this next part.
Once she was ready she tapped into the energy that the protective circle stored up to hold the orb in mid air. She then opened one of the sacks of lums.
The lums began to orbit around the heart.
She opened up another bag, and another. Turning the skull coins back into lums and continue to add them to the growing rings of light flying around the heart. Causing a bright light to be seen across the forest, unknowingly attracting attention of some certain beings but Betilla was unaware of them as she was hyper focused on
Very quickly she ran out. Betilla just continued to focus and make the guardian take form.
She tried again.
And again.
Tears started falling again….
It wasn't enough… it was never gonna be enough.
She didn't have enough magic, materials, or even lums.
All of that work ultimately for the final fate of her creation to fade away.
And there was nothing she could do about it but pray to the creator to help her complete something that could very well be the only thing that could kill him.
Leaving the orb suspended in the air she let herself fall to her knees. Unable to watch it isapear she just hid her face behind her hair.
"Your just an overgown silly little fairy Betilla," she said to herself.
Then she heard a giggle.
She turned around to see the last thing she expected to see: an election, the strange little pink creatures were so elusive a lot of the members of the council thought they were just a myth.
She noticed another one and another one soon she found a bunch of the little critters. It was rare to see one that wasn't orbiting around the great protoon but a whole group like this? Even stranger, they were just standing around, looking at her and the heart, the little pink creatures never stuck around when they were seen.
She had to be dreaming the next part, for it was totally unimaginable unless in a deep sleep or on some substance (wouldn't be the first time).
The electoons…. They entered the protective circle and began to orbit the guardian just like the lums. She just stared as the mystical little creatures became a part of her creation.
Betilla just kept looking on in wonder, but then she snapped her self to her senses and flew up again to the heart.
Once again she tried to have the guardian take form….
This time it worked.
It took a little while but it happened. Somehow against all odds it happened.
The little ball of energy and magic flew from her hand and up above.
Strange lights flowed around it, forming strange symbols and circles.
It surprisingly split into five different parts. The middle part seemed to have an o shape spot on it.
The being then dropped down to the ground, its features becoming more clear now that the light was fading away.
Betilla looked at her creation that was now living and breathing, curled up in a little ball…. She didn't know what to expect, creating a being of unknown power and strength but she definitely didn't think it would be… this strange.
The newly created creature had two hands both with three fingers and a thumb, two feet with toes, and a head but it didn't have legs, arms or a neck, making it a limbless being.
It's skin tone was similar to hers just a different shade. It's torso was sorta lean but had a pudgy belly with surprisingly a bellybutton and a….. Well it was probably male thing so she guessed it was a male (there did exist females with them as well).
He had a big nose, and big eyes(or at least big eyelids cuz they were shut tight at the moment) and a few tufts of golden hair on his head.
She scooped up the creature with only one hand and it snuggled closer for warmth, it was really tiny. If she didn't know better, she would've guessed that it was a new born Ray, mostly because she had never seen one before.
She sighed, and began flying back to her house, trying to ignore the weird ache in her arms, legs and neck that was probably due to sleeping outside and the feeling of disappointment.
(she didn't want to acknowledge the strange feeling of happiness that welled up in her when the limbless snuggled closer to her in the crook of her arm)
There is no way this strange little being she made could ever be a hero.
In the branches of a ginormous tree that grew red-orange fruit, there were tunnels and holes. But most importantly: a tree house, or maybe it was some kind of tent?
The structure housed a big strange bearded frog-like entity, who had black round sunglasses and orange hair. He held an umbrella in one hand and in the other, a mouthpiece of a hookah, the rest of the device was by his side. He lounged on a jumbo pillow.
He breathed in, taking the substance as well and breathed out, but instead of smoke bubbles came out.
In the bubbles were different images, of creatures and places and if you could get close enough you can actually hear what was going on.
Few of the smaller bubbles turned pink (and a few black) they sprouted eyes, hands, feet and a lock of golden hair and began sporting a grin before running up to the big frog but he paid them no mind, something caught his attention.
In the bubble he saw a certain red-haired, freckled, green clad fairy cleaning up the mess in her home. But he wasn't interested in her picking up the scattered produce on the floor, his eyes were on her creation cradled in the book of her arm.
"My, my….. What an interesting creature that has been born. I wonder what exactly you are capable of? Only time will tell…."
Betilla spoke to herself, voice emanated from the bubble:
"Where the hex did the eggplant go?"