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— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
There was only silence. The atmosphere turned into a bleak nothing — grains of flour drifting aimlessly through the air like snow. That was how everything was meant to be. Aimless. That was the perfect world. No conflict, commotion, empty words, greed and ambition. There would be no more of that. Existing would only bring in an age of despair. Even when you are created, controlled and carefully watched by your Creators, things will still go awry. That is the nature of existence — to create pain in a world where there is none.
The Creators did not even watch anyway. What was the point of continuing a world not worth a single ounce of scrutiny by the Gods?
Perhaps that was why everything went so wrong. 5 virtues. Protecting the world. The Creators who set that in motion could not care less if that order was carried out. Apathetic to the outcome of the world. Fine, that was fine. If the Creators were apathetic, cookiekind would slowly follow suit.
In the distance, a singular grain plant sprouted in the white sand.
Mystic Flour Cookie slowly progressed towards the plant, feeling a distinct sense of warmth emanating from it. It reeked of nostalgia and conversations she may have had in her little chamber filled with growing grainstalks, sunlight peering into the stained glass windows with teacup reverberating by the sheer loudness of her Creator's voice. It reeked of the smell of animals and farmland and stems.
Mystic Flour took its stem, plucked it from the sand and held it in her hands. The grain dissolved into little grains of flour in her hands.
A figure emerged from the distance.
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
First Grain could not imagine a world where plants wilted away instantly and where new life would be born to immediately wither away.
Life was meant to blossom. It was meant to experience the world consisting of other living things. It was meant to thrive, persist and survive. It was also meant to suffer, but not too much, and not for the rest of its existence. Life was meant to compromise to help other lives, but not too much to the point where that life dies from lack of sustenance. You can give your nutrients to other plants in need, but you must also take nutrients from the soil to survive. Grainstalks are planted right next to each other, bathing in thr sun and drinking up the soil. They were meant to grow in harmony, never to be alone. They were meant to survive together.
That was what Eithne First Grain hoped for the cookie world when she was a Witch. She wished for a world of moderation — where people would help but also thrive on their own. Where people would feel pain sometimes but learn and grow from it. Did you know lotuses grow from the mud? We can all be a lotus and grow from the worse circumstances! But of course, we should also try to prevent these conditions in the first place by placing fields of fertile soil to let beautiful flowers bloom.
Creating cookies... it brought her nothing but joy. First, it was Yummers, a cookie that meant the world to her. A cookie that she still took care of to this day. Yummers was just a little experiment that went successful. The second... Was made of flour. Flour was special to her, as it is harvested by grains and can be used to make all kinds of pastries. Bread, cakes, cookies... Flour was the key to make all kinds of things! Because of that, flour is abundant in the cookie world because everything was made with pastries. Just how the Witches willed it. First Grain did not know this cookie anymore, though. She used to talk with her daughter all day, but after the… thing happened, she could not talk to her anymore. First Grain often wondered how that cookie was doing. How her volition fared. How it let her make decisions and progress with life as it was. Yes! Volition was the virtue she chose to create. First Grain did not want to rely on great, explosive power. The mind was enough to make things happen. Decisions, made right, were enough to make things happen. That was why she chose volition instead of something like knowledge, (Bless First Milk, though! She has a beautiful soul!) which felt way too overwhelming for her.
And now, there was nothing. Pure white. But not in a battery, sweet, endless possibilities way. Instead, in an ashes, grovelling to consume dirt on the floor, world-is-ending way. This was not the beautiful, colorful world her and the other Witches had created. What had the new witches done to the poor world? Or, was it not them? Well, First Grain did not know. She did not know the new witches that well. She worries about the handling of the world, but they seem rather absent. Perhaps they just do not care about the world. That made sense, as they were not the ones who created it. Pastry Cookie(Another beautiful soul! I hope she is helping herself to a freshly baked loaf of bread in the dining room right now!) told her about… religion. Perhaps one of the new witches started a religion for themselves? But, they didn't even create the world!
Either way.. whatever happens, First Grain will always help in the way she can. She will help the people residing in her Temple and the surrounding land. She will help the other Witches whenever they need some food. And she will defend against First Egg… because that's the only person that is threatening her right now.
She saw a figure in the distance, holding a little grain. It was the only color she saw in the world of white. Squinting, she could see the features of the figure in question… A swaying headdress worn by a cookie with pale complexion. Oh! There is life in this wasteland, how peculiar! As she got closer to the cookie, she caught sight of the cookie’s white hair, tied into a loose bun over her head. Hey, that’s familiar. Oddly familiar. Almost too familiar. Hey. Wait! The cookie obviously has burns all over her skin… How did she not notice that first?
The grainstalk began to wilt.
“Oh no!”
First Grain found herself in front of the cookie now, cupping her palms and letting another grainstalk grow. The woman that smelled like flour did not say a thing and instead stared blankly.
”Do you need help? You look hurt!”
The cookie shook her head.
First Grain focused. Her eyes widened.
”Prophet of Volition..?”
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
It was strange, how this cookie still remained after everything returned to flour. How the world had turned into a white mist of what the world looked like before the Witches reformed it into something new. It was strange, how it was just the two cookies in this apathetic world.
It was strange, how this cookie knew that name was lost in the wind.
It was strange, how this cookie looked so much like her MotherCreator.
”Shedding tears over a small grainstalk, insistent to keep it alive when everything and everyone was meant to return to flour from the very beginning. It seems like you are still burdened with your wants and needs. Embrace apathy, and you will join the rest of the world.”
It was strange. Mystic Flour’s creator had long, beige hair. She remembered that her Creator would always have sweat upon her brow — sometimes bearing mild sunburns on her skin. The Creator would tell Mystic Flour Cookie that she came back from a day in the fields, harvesting her crops so she could feed herself and the other Witches. Mystic Flour never got to meet the other Witches, but that was okay, because she loved her mother. Mother was the one who kept telling her to keep going, that everything was going to be fine. Mother was the one who told Mystic Flour about the beauty of desiring things, of wanting to better themselves, of wanting to learn more and more… Living in a world without pain, or at least with as little pain as possible. Mother allowed Mystic Flour to make her own decisions — to help or to simply watch. Mystic Flour chose to help, of course. A foolish decision.
Cookies will simply want more and more.
Even Mystic Flour Cookie wanted more flour to exist in this world.
It was strange, how devastated Mystic Flour was when Mother stopped talking to her. Little Prophet of Volition wondered when She would come back. Little Prophet wept for weeks when she finally realised that Mother would never come back. Little child wanted to update Creator on the wishes she had granted, the cookies she had let into her land. She wanted to tell her Creator about the cookies who were no longer starving because of her, no longer stuck in a brutal war because of her. She wanted to tell Creator about the selfless decisions she had decided to make in her own Volition. She wanted to make Her proud. But Creator never came back. But the grainstalks growing in the audience chamber started to wilt and wilt and wilt. But the Witches abandoned them. But the Witches abandoned them.
Mystic Flour wondered how Mother looked like when The Witches had to seal the beasts away… but that apparently did not happen either.
It was strange.
It was strange.
It felt strange.
“That cookie is no more.”
Are you ashamed? Witch Eithne? Do you feel remorseful for the creations you abandoned? Well, you do not need to feel that way. You do not need to be burdened by the past, by your regrettable decisions. Simply, all you need to do is join your creations in this world of apathy so you never have to feel pain again.
”It is useless to dwell on the past when you have embraced apathy. That cookie you speak of has dissolved into the flour. I remain.”
Do you have burdens you want to get rid of, Eithne?
Do you face the selfish greed of others, Eithne?
Do you want to return to flour or ash, Eithne?
Why did you leave us, Eithne?
Why did you leave us, Eithne?
Why did you leave me, Eithne?
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
First Grain was dumbfounded. Was her memory failing her? This was nothing like the cookie she had lovingly created who-knows-how-long ago. But, this cookie looked like her. Her senses within her body were telling her that this was her — and we all know that motherly instincts are never wrong. This was definitely the tasteless(It did not matter that she was tasteless. Prophet of Volition was not made to be eaten) cookie she had created to be powerful and free. This was the cookie.
”What… happened to you? No, wait, that is a rude question to ask. What’s your name? I am First Grain Cookie!”
First Grain was overjoyed when Prophet of Volition used her will to help cookies. First Grain felt like she was doing what she could not do in her lifetime. First Grain could feed her villagers, but only for a bit before they spiralled into sloth and greed, forcing her to run away. The little farmer wanted to help the more, knowing that they would starve once she left. She had to leave for her safety, but she wondered if she should have just died so they could feed themselves.
… The cookie world was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be peaceful. It was supposed to be filled with cookies who wanted to help one another and survive together. It was supposed to be better than the human world, even if it was created in the human world. The human world was ruled by evil people who were filled with greed. The cookie world was supposed to be ruled by people who thought of the well-being of other cookies. Ruled by people who cared about the world and its citizens. First Grain pushed Prophet of Volition to care for everyone so she could be that good ruler… but people never change, and cookies never change. When First Grain built her domain in the cookie world, it was immediately apparent that things were not that different, let alone better. Villages of cookies were starving, betrayers roamed around freely, and everyone’s default was fighting and stealing from one another. It was supposed to be different. What happened to the 5 virtues once the Witches had died?
It was clear that Prophet of Volition changed courses long ago. While First Grain was happily spending her days with her people, it seems like her creation had spiralled into this mindset of… apathy? Apathy. What was the point of living in such a beautiful and delicate world when you are apathetic about it? Cookies are supposed to care. Cookies are supposed to connect with the nature around them. That was what they were made for! So, how, how did this world become a colorless void — the exact opposite of what it was made to be?
”This grainstalk is alive, so that means it matters! It means that it should be preserved and cherished. Lives are valuable, you cannot just throw them away as if they are nothing. Cookies have a limited lifespan, that is true, but doesn’t that mean that life should be even more valuable? If we do not live that long, then we should spend each day appreciating everything we have and loving to the best of our abilities. I do not understand this ‘apathy’ thing or ‘returning to flour’ thing…”
Grains were used to make flour. Back then, First Grain had to do it manually. It was very hard work. While she could grow fields of grains in seconds with her magic, she could not magically harvest them all, so she still needed to labour to feed the other Witches. Of course, she did not mind. First Grain loved harvesting and converting all of the little grains into something useful — flour. While flour did not taste that good, it was found in every baking recipe they used. Flour was very important, and it grew to be something First Grain especially cherished. That was why she chose flour as the main ingredient for Prophet of Volition. Now, cookies have windmills and automated machines to do the job. That was fine and efficient. Flour is still just as important to First Grain as ever, really.
”Flour is one of the essential building blocks in this world. With this oasis of flour, you could build a new world! Is that what you want to do?”
First Grain giggled.
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
Foolish. She would not be so lighthearted if she had seen what Mystic Flour had seen.
”Mystic Flour Cookie.”
What happened to you, the reality of the world hit, of course. Cookies only care about their own survival. When they are not in danger, they care about their comfort next. And when they are as comfortable as they can possibly be, they will wonder how much they can take from others from their ‘higher ground.’ They may even wonder if they can take anything from those who are ‘higher- than them when they are kind and compassionate. When they help and help without expecting anything in return. Soon, even this grainstalk will want more water to grow taller and taller. Because it is alive, it will want more and more. This is why it must crumble into dust before it can do so.
This is why all cookies must return to flour before they get the chance to do so. If they are left alive in their broken states, they will cause nothing but havoc. All cookies will become that. You may shield a cookie from the influence of gangs and troublemakers and they will still find out somehow. They will still become them somehow. Being kind is the outlier, it is the action that requires the most effort. Cookies do not often go that path, and the Prophet of Volition spent all of her energy to help others every single day. All of that, and nothing changed. Nothing will change. And that makes action meaningless.
“Life is just a fragment of time, dandelion spores floating away in the wind. Life does not need to be celebrated for simply existing, as it only takes, rarely gives. What makes this grain different from every other plantation in the world? What could this plant offer in this volatile world, now that everything is gone? The only reasonable course of action is to let it go. Let it return to its natural state.”
It is strange. Her Creator is claiming to be a cookie now. How did that happen? Humans were something entirely different to cookies. How could it be that they just became cookies? Who would want to become cookies when the world remained like this? Just stay in the human realm, where you have all the power and control in the world. Just stay in the human realm, where you do not need to worry about every single little stalk of grain that grows in your farm. Perhaps, nothing mattered in their world too. It is useless to create a world that differs when your whole world is bleak. The world you create will naturally become just as bleak, no matter who you are or how hard you try to help the world you have created. Your efforts are meaningless. Everything is meaningless. That is what Mystic Flour Cookie learned all those years ago.
”…”
First Grain looked… shocked. As if she did not know this took place. Did she not look around at the world wondering why no cookies were talking about the 5 virtues? Did she not notice what changed in the world? Surely there were many changes that took place as the beasts were sealed away — stuck in that tree because Silent Salt Cookie and Elder Faerie Cookie decided to betray them. Of course, that seal was broken, rendering their efforts useless. Nothing lasts forever. Not when it comes from cookies. Not even the Witches are forever, that was something Mystic Flour learned today. It was useless to feel anything on the matter anyway.
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
First Grain’s first instinct would be to question Mystic Flour. She would gaze down at her beloved daughter from the human world and ask her why she made the decision to ‘embrace apathy.’ What good was apathy when it means forfeiting all of your joy — the foundation of the world! What good was apathy, when cookies were created to care about the world and one another and everything in between? What good was Volition when the decisions she makes hurts the world rather than helping it grow? The world was meant to thrive and ascend to new heights! First Grain would not even mind if cookies were able to master magic only the Witches could wield if that is achieved by cookiekind working together. Some other Witches would mind, and that is totally understandably really! But First Grain… she would not be too angry.
First Grain used to ask Prophet of Volition about her thought process after she made any decision. This was so she could gauge how her daughter was faring. Witch Grain could not read Prophet of Volition’s mind, so this was the best way she could understand her daughter. Understanding — that was very important to Witch Grain back then. How could you love someone if you do not truly understand them? Understanding is still important to First Grain, really. She wants to hear the voice of all of her villagers. She wants them to express their thoughts, even if these thoughts are negative or hateful.(Towards First Grain, she will not tolerate hurtful words towards her villagers!) She would be able to clarify doubts and misunderstandings then. It is much easier to do so when you understand the person!
Now, her daughter stands in front of her, eyes tired, covered with burns and dressed with tattered clothes. Wouldn’t the natural course of action right now be to ask her how she is feeling? What was her thought process when deciding to run towards apathy? Just as First Grain asked Prophet of Volition about why she helped certain cookies and what stories she heard from them, First Grain can ask Mystic Flour Cookie about the stories she had disregarded now that she has ‘returned to flour?’ Some other Witches may have been angry with them, chastising them for turning to darkness and not fulfilling their purpose in the world. Some other Witches would want to punish them, even. Perhaps rain down the Forks and start anew. Witch Grain would never, even if Mystic Flour Cookie herself came into the human world just to stab her in the back. She will simply ask her: “Why did you do that?” And wait for her response while bleeding out on the floor.
No, it should be a no brainer. After all these years, she still… still loves her creation. She will never stop loving her daughter, even if that daughter is gone now. Even if that daughter has changed. Even if the world turned into a big heap of flour and nothing more.
”I see… Okay then, Mystic Flour Cookie.”
First Grain took Mystic Flour’s hand in hers, the grainstalk tangled in between their fingers.
”Then, tell me about apathy. Tell me about your journey towards apathy.”
”Tell me everything.”
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
Hm.
First Grain should have crumbled by now, but if she needed to learn about apathy to help her return to flour, then that is something she must do. Mystic Flour Cookie nodded and then took a breath.
”The greed of cookies multiply and multiply — it never stops multiplying. You may give them everything they could have ever wanted and they will still want more. That is their inherent thirst for more that will never go away.”
”I cannot deny them to quench their thirst. That would be a foolish struggle.”
The things she had seen in that cocoon were revolting. Her people could not last even a single moment without their wishgranting leader. They could not bear not getting everything handed to them on a silver platter. They could not do some work temporarily while their leader exhausts her strength and magic to meet every single request. It was revolting. Their leader — the cookie who saved them from poverty or war — needed some rest from their incessant demands, and that was too much to ask for? They ransacked her palace, hurt the haetaes that suffered to protect their master. That was unforgivable. They slashed open her cocoon before she could become the Leavened One because they were too impatient… That was unforgivable. Everything her people had done was completely unforgivable.
It really hurt the little Prophet of Volition, too. It stabbed her in the guts to see her people suffer without her. They argued amongst one another, they stabbed each other and stole from one another. They believed that the cocoon was filled with treasures. They believed that their leader wanted to hide things from them even though the leader in question granted their wishes all day every single day. Prophet of Volition could have given them the whole world and they still would want more. That was why everything was useless, as everything Prophet of Volition had ever done was inconsequential. That is what she told First Grain, her benevolent Creator.
”Even Volition falters in the face of greed. Maybe a singular cookie’s wants seems too small to warrant anything, but when you have crowds of cookies throwing their pitchforks and staging a rebellion outside of your temple, greed becomes a weapon that cannot be stopped. Volition alone could not beat them. When you are restricted in making decisions, Volition means nothing, just like everything else in this world. When your cocoon is destroyed, when your temple is raided, when your people become monsters… There is nothing I could do. There is nothing anyone could do.”
”The person who started that rumour exercised their volition. They decided to start the rumour. Perhaps they truly believed that my cocoon was filled with treasures, perhaps they just wanted to make some noise. The crowd of raiders had exercised their volition. They decided to act on their selfish desires like mindless peasants that hungered for money instead of food or water. I decided to follow apathy after that, seeing their morphed faces. Their distorted faces. They did not look ‘human’ or ‘cookie.’ They looked like rabid, wild dogs ready to hunt their prey, mouths dripping with saliva. They were not my people. They have returned to their primal instincts.”
”This is why apathy is the answer. When they all return to flour, greed will also disappear. When they all return to flour, no one will feel pain anymore. No one will trap themselves to serve others. No one will use up all of their magic to no response. This cookie world will cease to exist — as it is supposed to be. Not existing is less painful than existing.”
”You can build everything anew with all of the flour, that is true. However, there is no reason to do so. The new world will be the same as the last, and the cycle of pain will repeat until it is put to rest. There is no point in suffering any longer.”
Isn’t it strange, First Grain?
How pain resonates and echoes when happiness disappears easily?
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
First Grain fell silent, considering Mystic Flour’s every word.
”I see.”
First Grain would be lying if she said she did not understand Mystic Flour.
It happened to her too, after all.
Eithne’s villagers were starving. Her villagers were dying left and right while she had no strength to weep. She was basically skin and bone — if you touched her you could feel her skeleton underneath. Her cheek bones basically protruded out of her skin. That was the same with every other villager in the village. There was no food. There was no water. The Gods were not answering them… Until they did. But, instead of giving them abundant food to survive, The Witch gave one singular girl the powers to grow crops in the most barren of soil. All of the villagers’ needs were immediately put on the young girl’s shoulders, and she immediately went to work. She immediately filled the fields of cracked soil with rows and rows of vegetation — grains, tomatoes, apples and oranges… She made sure there was everything needed to feed her village.
At first, everything went well. The villagers were fed, even though some of them fell sick because they ate too much. After a period of starvation, human bodies have a harder time processing food when it eventually enters their system. Some villagers became ill and even died because of that. But, mostly, everything was alright. People regained the strength to build better houses and knit better clothes for themselves and others while young Eithne was busy harvesting the fruits and vegetables. That was fine, as the people often created clothes for her and gave her shelter to thank her for everything she had done.
The thing about hardship is that you forge bonds with it. Hardship as dire as this should not exist, but when it does, people tend to form friendships. People need other people to survive in this hard world, that has been true since the hunter-gatherer times. Eithne had formed many friendships during the drought. They starved, but at least they starved together. Friendships born from trauma has a different feeling to it, really. She feels like she has stronger emotions for every single one of those villagers — she wanted them to be happy and to succeed. She wanted to help them in every way she could. Now that she was given magic, she could do that. So she laboured and laboured and laboured. So she never stopped growing more foliage. When they wanted to host a hearty feast, little Eithne toiled along her manmade fields under the beating sun. They seemed to want a hearty feast every month, even if there was no festival to accompany it. That was fine, they just starved for years. They deserve to eat whatever they wish.
Then it turned to every week, then every day, then multiple times every day.
Their clothes were better, their houses were better, and they did not starve anymore. Villages who suffered from the same famine would have dreamed for a reality like that. They were grateful at first, too… but that sentiment seemed to dwindle as time went on. Once they realised they could have all the food they wanted without having to do anything, they started to… want more. Of course they wanted more. That was a natural and reasonable thing to want. After starving for your whole life, wouldn’t you want to have the feast of your lives when food became readily available? Eithne could not be mad at them for wanting more. Eithne also wanted to eat more, really. They just… It just became way too much. There was a long period of time where Eithne spent her whole day just toiling on the fields for a midnight harvest they told her about just on that day. It tired her out, but everything for her friends. Everything for her family.
… It was only until they started to be violent was when Eithne first thought about leaving. Eithne was too slow, apparently. Eithne had magic yet she hid it away from the community that needed her, apparently. Even if she spent all day growing new food for them, apparently she wanted them dead… or something. The villagers did not have to do anything for their food, it was only Eithne. All the villagers had to do was sit and wait for Eithne to be done… and they found that they could not even do that. They started to ask: ”Why was Eithne the only one with magic?” Eithne wondered the same thing. Why did the Witch of Light give her and only her the power to help? Being a saviour was too overwhelming… too much for a little girl…
In the end, she left and became a Witch. That was the end of the story.
So, yes, First Grain understood Mystic Flour Cookie. She still remembered every detail of her past. She still remembered the sensation of feeling starving — the way your limbs feel incredibly heavy despite the fact you have barely any flesh on them and the way that your vision blurred and your stomach rumbled. She still remembered her first meal after the blessing. Her hands were too tired to put food in her mouth, so she just ate like a caveman groveling on the floor. First Grain remembered all of it — the rough soil beneath her feet as she ran away from her pitchfork-wielding villagers. Their faces had so many wrinkles from their aggravation that they started to look less human by the minute… Hey, that sounds familiar.
”I… I am sorry that happened to you… when I was not with you.”
Heaviness struck her chest. How could she not have known about what her daughter went through? She had constantly asked Prophet of Volition about how she was feeling every single day, yet she could not sense a hint of exhaustion that her daughter must have been going through. These feelings do not just appear one night, they build and build for years before they explode and consume. Mystic Flour did not just decide to cocoon herself one day. She must have pondered about it for ages before finally deciding that she could not go on any further. First Grain thought she was observant… but it was not enough. She did not notice what her daughter had been going through, even though she had gone through the same.
First Grain should not have shoved all of that responsibility onto her child. She knew that suddenly being blessed with great power and responsibility was too much to bear for a young one, so why did she impart that same fate on the one she baked lovingly? Why did she give Prophet of Volition the power to grant wishes and thousands of people and assume that she would be fine? Why did First Grain not step up? Why did First Grain not help her daughter? Why did she… why did she… First Grain would not wish anyone the same pain that she went through, and yet she gave that pain to her daughter.
She could not be mad at Mystic Flour Cookie. It was not her fault.
But… First Grain did not turn out this way. If apathy was the only outcome out of all of this pain, then First Grain would have returned to flour a long time ago! What was different between the two of them? What caused Mystic Flour to drown in a colourless world while First Grain was able to surface and hold love for life again?
Her eyes darted to the grainstalk again, which started to slowly dissolve into flour.
”But, you are wrong, Mystic Flour Cookie.”
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
The walls they have been standing within were not really walls. They felt vast. There were walls but there were also no walls. The air was dry but also damp. There was flour but also no flour. Mystic Flour Cookie could not tell if there was nothing or everything in the room… It felt strange. It felt like everything was overlapped with static silence that seemed to subtly consume everything around it. The cookie in front of her was the only thing that seemed… loud. First Grain seemed unaffected by the surreal environment around her.
Right, Mystic Flour just learnt that Silent Salt Cookie was the one to seal the beasts away. They were fighting in a pointless war that will amount to nothing. Dark Enchantress’ plan always sounded pointless. She was so willing to go through pain even though she did not know that her plan would work. Pointless. It was all pointless.
Now, Mystic Flour’s creator is standing in front of her telling her that she is wrong about everything. It was pointless to continue to listen to her, but there was nothing else to do in this ‘room,’ so she stayed and listened anyway. It felt strange, hearing her voice again. She had lived through centuries of her audience chamber being completely silent, waiting to hear the Witch’s sweet voice again. Mystic Flour remembers her voice to be rather melodious. After a stressful day of granting wishes, her mother’s voice would soothe her to sleep. Her voice existed in tandem with the birds chirping from the treetops and the cold, mountain wind passing through the temple.
It was pointless to think back to those times — when Mystic Flour still believed in goodness. When the Witches were still watching over the world they created. When everything felt… better. When she could hold a piece of grain without it wilting in her hands.
It was pointless.
Pointless.
Pointless.
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
“Yes, that is true. Cookies are greedy and always will want more and more. Do you know why that is? I think it is because these cookies know that their lives do not last forever, thus, they want to make every day better and better for themselves. That may come in the form of relationships or wealth. I want to apologise… apologise for not being there for you when that happened. You did not deserve any of that. I understand. Please, trust me, I understand.”
First Grain inhaled deeply. The air was dry and smelled overwhelmingly of flour. It was as if she opened up a sack of flour, stuck her nose in it and took a huge breath.
“There exists pain from the greed of others, but that does not mean that they corrupt everything good that exists in this world. You know, cookies want to survive. And do you know what is very important to survive? Working together. Just like humans, cookies are sociable creatures. Cookies do care for each other for their survival. We have to talk to people to survive. Sometimes, that leads to sacrifice. But it is all worth it, isn't that right? You are not the only person that is sacrificing for other people. I know many good cookies that would do anything for their family, for their friends. Cookies will always want more in their limited lives, but they will seek for more within the company of others. How do you think the world has progressed while you were focused on different things? The countless communities around there, perhaps within the biggest kingdoms or small, remote villages… I am sure you will be able to find families there, linked by hardship instead of jam.”
“I owe you, and the rest of the world an apology. I am sorry that my friends and I were not able to stop pain from creeping into the world. I always wondered if we could bring the formidable bonds formed by hardship into the world of desserts without having to bring hardship as well. I wondered if there was something we could put in cookies’ DNA that would make them more inclined to find friends that would die for. for them. I wondered if there was some way to make a world without pain, a world without suffering. No disease, no famine, nothing… But, it was hard. It was hard to do so. It was because humans are so inclined to be hurt and to feel pain that we could not imagine a world without it. It was because we lived in a world filled with pain. We could not break away. We tried to cast a spell… a ritual to unbind us from the confines of pain so we could better the world… But, we.. we failed. That was what happened. We failed and we fell asleep for a long time.”
”Even though we failed, the world still is beautiful with all of its flaws within it. Just because it is not perfect does not mean we must erase it out of existence. Even in this broken world, there are still things worth fighting for. Why? Well, this world as all cookies have. This world is all we can fight for. There is no point trying to change things that are unmovable — but that does not mean apathy is the answer. We can still wonder about the unachievable. We can still wonder about space travel, or conquering distant galaxies, or solving world hunger, or creating a new world where there would be no pain and suffering… Reflecting on these wondrous things may not result in action, but it does what is so important in our lives — it makes us think. It makes us wonder. It makes our creativity gears tick and tick until we find a solution that satisfies us. Cookies were made to wonder. Cookies were made to figure out that there is a world beyond them. Cookies were made to be creative, to invent, to carve out a fate that we may have never imagined. Cookies are wonderful.”
”We created them to be more than piles of flour and sugar.”
”And! Besides, even if we cannot change the fundamentals of existence itself, we can still change the small things! Think of the fruits that could grow if you planted a row of them in the soil. Think of the harvests you can reap! Think about the mouths you can feed! No, you have fed enough mouths already… Think about feeding yourself. Think about preparing yourself a fruit basket and enjoying it in your temple as you stare out of your window as the rays of sunlight kiss your soft, pale skin… Think of that! Think of relaxation, think about smiling. Think about that little haetae that pledged loyalty to you because they loved you that much!”
”I love you, Mystic Flour Cookie. I am sorry.”
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
Think about that.
About the way sweat dripped after a long session of granting wishes to her people, haetae bringing a towel to wipe the sweat away and comforting her by offering to play… when she could not play, they just sat on her lap. That was enough.
About the way the sunlight hit the audience chamber floor, how it split into different colors because of the stained glass. The yellow of sunflowers, the pastel pink of the peach baos that grow on mountaintop trees, the green of grain stalks and farmland, the red of a rural barn. There was a sun pattern at the bottom of her chamber. Her Creator was the sun that lit up her days… Her limited days.
About the way she had been so excited when she wrapped herself in her cocoon, ready to awaken and ascend to higher heights so she could help more of her people. So she can strengthen her magic to grant more wishes. To become the Leavened One just so she could do more and more and more and more and more and…
About the way the audience chamber felt so empty after the last day the Creator would ever talk to her. Left nothing but the frigid mountain wind sweeping through the chamber, soon garnering layers of rust that covers every window, floor, shelf and statue that resided there.
About the way that the freezing chill of her tears felt when she heard from the other Virtues that the Witches had left them to fend for themselves.
About the way the piercing emptiness made her feel so heavy inside the cocoon, crumbling apart when she thought she would metaphorphize into a higher being.
About the way that slash cut her body and cocoon into half. Prophet of Volition would never come back.
About the way that her cocoon was empty instead of jingling with coins like the people said.
Think about that.
Think about that, Mystic Flour.
”It is alright. Nothing matters anymore.”
She felt the grainstalk they have been holding and found herself hoping it would not dissolve for some peculiar reason.
— FIRST GRAIN COOKIE —
They shared a hug that day. The hug was cold — but it did not feel devoid of care. Whoever Mystic Flour Cookie’s claimed herself to be now, it was clear to First Grain that there was more beneath the surface.
First Grain smiled as she left, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. It was good to know where her daughter was this whole time. It was good to talk to her after so long. Really, she did not know why she left so fast. No, she knew. She had people to take care of, people outside of this wasteland of flour.
First Grain hoped that Mystic Flour Cookie could also break free from the whirlwind of flour grains keeping her enclosed in the world of apathy.
She may have created this world, but cookies often need help breaking free of worlds that they have created — worlds of sorrow that they inflict onto themselves.
They all deserve better.
Cookies deserve better.
Mystic Flour Cookie deserves better.
— MYSTIC FLOUR COOKIE —
There was nothing but silence for a long time. A world of white with no noise, with Mystic Flour Cookie and a singular grainstalk.
She held it in her hands, it did not wilt away.
The way that everything hit her was way too overwhelming. It should have not existed in the world apathy.
The way that Mystic Flour hoped that this insignificant grainstalk would stay alive despite the inevitability of death.
The way that Mystic Flour smiled softly and participated in idle laughter just once with her Creator, who was now a cookie.
The way that tears pricked in the corners of her eyes…
It was strange.