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VIRIDESCENT SHADOWS III
GEMMA CHRONICLES
BY DARING D.D. DANGER
Almost 500 years have passed since the biggest mistake of my afterlife. I’ve lost so much of my time to studying, tracking, and preparing to fight what I created. The day is fast approaching now . T he destination is a town called Trolberg. Today, I will make my final chronicle of the events that lead me, and my departed friend Cicily , to several lifetimes of fear. These logs will likely be the last thing I write . Th e last act of Gemma.
LOG ONE: LOST SPELLS
“Gemma, I found it!” Cicily tripped into the room, launching the book she was carrying. I extended my hand and caught the book.
“Look at the page I folded!”
“Why can’t you just use a bookmark?” I complained as I opened one of Huld’s old books. ‘Today I will create the first member of my army to take over the world,’ I read.
“We already know about the origin of the Marra,” I said.
“Next page!” Cicily demanded.
‘I can’t control it, it’s too powerful. I couldn’t even kill it. I fear it could actually kill me instead, so I sealed it away forever, dormant. I will try making my army again, this time with a girl, and only girls from here on out.’
“Alright, I see where you were going. This is a lot of reading though. Can you summarize the rest?” I asked.
“Huld used a boy as the first Marra, but it became something incredibly powerful that Huld had to hide away forever. Maybe we can find it and use it to destroy the soul fragments and free the others!” She jumped like a schoolgirl.
“Alright, but we need to take care of the camp first.” The pair ducked under a tree.
“Fuck the rainy season being right on top of us as we make this discovery.” I loathed the tropical weather but this bog was an excellent hiding spot.
“It’s fine, the girls can handle the rainy season without us!” Cicily was as overconfident as ever.
“Fine, we’ll go after this thing. Where to?” I asked.
“Closest warp is the original Huldrawood,” Cicily saluted.
“Ah, perhaps we’ll see Eva," I noted.
“Hey, the spiders,” Cicily pointed up. In the overhang were hundreds of spiders, native to the area. They always gathered like this during breeding season.
“Bloody fucking spiders.” I shot a ball of fire, igniting the whole tree and walked off.
“You don’t need to burn a whole ecosystem because you hate spiders,” Cicily whined.
“Fuck spiders,” I said angrily.
We pressed into the camp. I reached the main firepit, grabbed two pots and smashed them together.
“Alright, Cicily and I will be taking a trip. You girls will be in charge of the camp for the first part of the rainy season. As always, Yang is in charge.” I put the pots down signaling everyone to return to business. Yang was currently the only member of the camp who was also a Marra. Cicily and I agreed that it’s better not to mess with life cycles by making people immortal. Yang was a particularly exceptional leader, however, and we made an exception. Those living in the Huldermarsh were not informed about what a Marra was, and considered Cicily and Yang to be exalted by myself, the bog witch. Where even was Yang?
“Where do you think Yang has gotten herself?” I asked Cicily.
“Hunting, more than likely. She gets some sort of joy out of it, being able to climb trees like a spider.”
“Fuck spiders,” I noted again.
“If we’re leaving long term we need to seal all the magic books, check all the glamours, and talk to Yang.”
“I can check the glamours, you seal the books.” Cicily ran off. I ducked back into my tent and started hexing my stacks of books, one by one. One of these times I’d invent a mass hex for books.
Cicily returned as I finished the spellbook on invisibility, one I’d never quite managed to grasp.
“Glamours are stable,” she saluted.
“You sure?” I asked dubiously.
“Illusions are your specialty. They are always stable,” Cicily smiled.
“I have a handful of books left. Did you see Yang?” I asked.
“She was walking into camp carrying 3 boar,” Cicily assured.
“Always going to the extreme, that one," I mumbled. “Go get her.”
Cicily returned with Yang, a short but very muscular girl, with jet black hair.
“You’re leaving, ma’am?” She asked.
“Yes, I’m taking Cicily too. We won’t be back before the rains start," I said.
“Are you sure that’s wise? There are only three Marra for hundreds of human girls.”
“You just brought home three boar in an afternoon. You alone can feed them, and they can feed you in their sleep.”
“Are you certain?” She was still dubious.
“How are the young ones doing?” I asked.
“Everyone is well.”
“Are the structures doing well?”
“No damage to report." She shrugged.
“How’s the weapons stockpile?”
“Excellent, ma’am.”
“If you knew all of that on your own, what makes you think you cannot lead?” I ask.
“Understood.” Yang left with a shooing motion from my hand.
“Good girl, that one," I chuckled.
“Let’s make our final preparations and go see our friend Eva.” I retired to the bath hut and threw off my rags. The girls often stared when I took my baths. Perhaps they assumed part of my routine is what made me not age physically a day past 17 in several decades. I had created the bath hut myself. The water flowed naturally from underground, so it was cleaner than the rest of the bog water. I allowed myself to sink near the mouth of the fountain, just as a bucket of water was dumped on my head. I looked up and saw Cicily snickering.
“Foolish,” I said as I splashed her and whispered a spell to flash freeze the water, locking her to the ground. She continued laughing. Shortly, she joined meto help comb my hair out.
As we reached the hut once again, Cicily ran up to me, in one of her nicer dresses from before the marsh.
“What will you wear?” She asked.
“Obviously my white gown,” I noted, I wore it anywhere important. It was a simple garment and it flowed in the wind. I gathered the dress and our books and we turned to the fire pit.
As we approached, I pulled out my spell circle powder. I drew half the circle, then threw the bottle to Cicily to finish. I began chanting the spell and the fire turned the same sickly purple Huld’s had been.
“Shall we?” I extended a hand to Cicily, and she took it as we walked into the blaze.
This log certified accurate by the high witch Gemma Oket