Chapter Text
In the middle of a weepy forest where decay took root deep within its earth pulling and dragging life from its roots, a man stood. A thick green poncho enveloped his upper body like a child’s oversized winter coat. This clearing once held a beauty of flowers and a hive that rested on a branch nearby but all is gone. The grass is dead, flowers long wilted and any creature still here is suffering from starvation.
But the staff can solve it…a simple thing that had been promised to provide the answers to the plague of this realm. He could only hope that it was the truth. He couldn’t stand by any longer…not when it had gotten this bad. With a sharp movement and a strength he couldn’t remember possessing, the man in green brought down the staff’s sharp end into the earth. The sleek shape pierced through the grass and dirt like a knife through butter, swiftly followed by a burst of white light that lit up the ground around him and caused fissures to break through like lightning streaking through the sky. It sent loose dirt and grass catapulting into the air around it as a high-pitched noise, almost like a church bell, began to increase in volume and the globe in the middle of the staff began to pulse blindingly purple
Then everything calmed down like all he’d done was stab a useless stick into the ground.
If it weren’t for the woman.
The creature.
Who stared at him with cloudy eyes and a drooping head, black claws almost the size of his torso laying uselessly as sharp black horns poked out from beneath hair. It pressed its chin to the grass and stared up at him. Then it chirped, like a bug, and he stepped back with a childish queasiness.
The witch lied. The witch had tricked him with lies to make him summon a demon. He had unknowingly summoned a demon upon this defenseless village despite his desire to help and he didn’t know what to do…unless…
It would be simple. Just like slitting the throat of a duck or a deer. The dagger on his belt slipped from its hilt and into his palm deftly as his grip tightened, this was not a time for cowardice. All it would take is one…simple…motion.
“The noise came from over here! The murderer must’ve gone this way!”
Irene damns it! The sound jolted him from his thoughts as he pulled his gaze up in a panic. If they caught him now…especially like this, he wouldn’t be able to escape in time but he couldn’t just leave this beast here to wreak havoc on this village-
But the footsteps were close, too close, and he needed to move. NOW. Stumbling and staggering as he stood, the only thought screaming away in his head like a warning siren was one of escape while the dagger lay long forgotten. A lapse in judgement he regretted and would rectify if not for the increasingly dangerous situation he found himself in. Sparing nothing but a glance at the collapsed form on the ground, he teared through the air, stepped into the portal and sealed it shut behind him.
• ｡⋆𓇼˚ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 ˚ 𓇼⋆ ｡ •
“This way! I swear I heard it from over here!”
Golden eyes flickered in her vision, soft and warm and not here anymore. Where had they gone…? Where…?
Thumping, thumping, thumping. Footsteps vibrating a little away from her, filling the ground with little tremors that she swallows up and digests. They’re going to be here in three minutes but who are they in this case? She is she…she knows her name but who is she and where is she? Why is she here and where had she come from? Owww…her head hurt like it had been smashed to bits and pierced in two with a warmish feeling like blood trickling down her nose. She would’ve wiped it, if she could move her hands.
“Over here Sir Magnus! I see them!” Had it already been three minutes? The two forms moved into view, blurry and grey and…a little shimmery in the sunlight. They were wearing armour. Chainmail and something else she didn’t know the name of. One was much shorter than the other with a slight slouch and had a nasally voice. There was a big red feather on top of his helmet. Like a rooster.
The other stood properly and was built like a brick wall.
“This is not the murderer Zenix. I doubt she’s capable of even moving.” The larger moves and bends to place two fingers to her throat, feeling the fluttering of her pulse. “Although she is alive- Gah-” His hand jolted back like it had been burnt, he’d touched one of her gills and was now staring at her fully.
Was this going to end the way with that man from before? “What? What was it?” The other, Zenix, moved over and got a proper look at her before reacting similarly and rushing back from her. “It’s a demon!”
What’s a demon?
“Don’t be foolish! This woman is obviously a human, it’s more likely that she was cursed. We should take her back to Phoenix drop and ask Emmalyn.” Cold steel pressed against her stomach and she felt a shiver run through the form holding her. Magnus was certain she wasn’t a danger…but he also had never felt a human have such…thin…skin.
“Don’t touch her like that! Who knows what kind of skin disease you’ll get! Just look at her!” They were wearing full-body armour, there was no possible way of contracting anything. Although, now that Zenix mentioned her, he noticed that the woman was barely clothed. Something must be done about that.
“You’re right Zenix”
“Exactly see- wait what.”
“Give me your cape.”
“WHAT?! Absolutely not! I just got it from Meteli! Why do you need it anyway?” It was almost amusing how defensive Zenix was over a piece of cloth, Magnus smirked under his helm before moving to tear the cape off and wrap it around the woman in an impromptu dress.
“Because she’s almost entirely unclothed and we can’t have that.”
“Why do you need to use my cape?!”
“You were the one who pinted out her skin and made me notice it, besides it should help you learn not to comment on someone you know nothing about.” Zenix made a sound of indignance as Magnus finished wrapping the cape around the woman, tying a knot just over her shoulder. Lifting her up was like lifting an apple, she was too thin and was too easy to carry for a grown woman.
The best course of action would be to ask Emmalyn for help and get this woman something to eat…he’d consult Donna on that course of action, he didn’t know how to handle a person in such a state of malnourishment.
“Come along Zenix, we’re done here.” More indignance and complaining, this time about bringing a ‘creature’ into the village and not just leaving it out here for the wolves.
Aster didn’t pay much mind to it, exhaustion returned to ache and groan in her bones. It felt so relieving to finally give in and slump against the man’s form, allowing sleep to swallow her up.