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He woke up on an aluminum platter all by himself. His eyes blinked around in curious fervor. His stomach held a hunger for something he could not name yet.
"Oh, thank goodness!" a voice cried out from above. "I really did it after all!"
He looked up to see a giant that peered above him. She had long, flowy white hair and a white hat on top of her head. Everything about her looked white, actually. It was almost hard to tell where everything was on her body.
Her eyes were filled with warmth and happiness. Tears pricked at their edges, yet she made no effort to wipe them away.
Her giant hand reached down and offered a single finger in front of him.
"Welcome to the world, my little Creation," she smiled.
Tentatively, he sat up, and nuzzled back into that ginormous finger.
It was soft. It felt nothing like the metal he had been lying on.
And there, right then, was when he learned of his first emotion: Love.
After their first initial meeting, the mysterious lady sat down to get a proper good look at him.
"Hello," she greeted. "I am the Witch of Milk. I am your...Creator? Baker? Mm, well, it's not as if Mother would be correct for this context..."
Mother. He liked Mother the most out of those three choices, so much so that she became startled when he took to the moniker right away. It felt good and warm, and it made his dough buzz in the same way as it did when he first woke up.
"Okay, okay!" she laughed. It sounded like bells jingling. "If it pleases you, you can call me "Mother", then. And your name is...hm."
Her hand tightened into a fist as she put it right in front of her mouth. Her eyes squinted as she went into deep thought.
He was confused when this first happened. Why was she hesitant on giving him his name?
"Formally, it should be the "Fount of Knowledge", but..." she muttered. "Isn't that a bit too fancy for a regular name? But the Witch of Light said it would be best if they only went by their titles..."
He mimicked her contemplative look. It seemed to give her trouble, so by that logic, it would cause him trouble too.
She hit her fist into an open palm as her eyes lit up. "I know! In front of the others, I'll call you the Fount of Knowledge."
She put her arms down on the table crossed over each other as she leaned into him.
"But in private," she continued. "How does Shining Milk Cookie sound?"
Now it was his turn for his eyes to light up. He nodded fervently, the galaxy pattern on his hair sparkled as much as his eyes did.
Shining Milk Cookie. He liked that name a lot.
Today marked the 7th day Shining Milk Cookie had been brought into this world by his Creator.
He had learned a lot of things since he got his name. For one: he was what Mother called a "Divine Emissary". He would guide beings-Cookies-like him into a better world. Apparently, there were four more others like him, but only he and two others so far had been properly baked.
For another: he learned the distinction between "Cookie" and "Human". He was a Cookie, and Mother was a Human. As such, there were a number of things he couldn't do that she could. There were also a number of dangers he needed to take careful consideration of. For her, a splash of water or a light hit with something blunt would be no small issue, but for him, it could very well mean his inevitable crumbling!
How horrifying it was to learn how fragile his body was. And yet, how fascinating it was all the same. Like his official title, he craved Knowledge as much as he wanted to give it out.
His current mission as of this moment was to learn all that he could from his Creator, as she had claimed according to someone called "The Witch of Light".
If she wasn't running around completing basic errands, then she sat down and taught him everything she knew about the world and the magic she used. His mind worked with eidetic memory: every single thing she ever said got catalogued into his brain for him to pull up for another Cookie at any time if need be, unable to be forgotten.
The hardest part came when she tried to teach him magic. As a human, her sigils were much larger than Shining Milk Cookie was, so big in fact, that he wasn't even able to replicate it, even with the fraction of her power that was stored in his Soul Jam.
So together, they worked tirelessly to transcribe her sigils into imagery that could be replicated by Cookies. The formula itself was incredibly simple: there was basic activation, channeling the magic, and releasing the desired output. Even then, there were so many different types of inputs and outputs and other finicky things magic liked to work with Shining Milk's head nearly spun and fell off trying to learn them all!
But every day spent with his Mother was a day well spent in his eyecings, and he was only a tiny bit tempted to fumble the scriptures just so Mother could pay attention to him more, but he wouldn't be a very good Creation if he did that, now would he?
Today, Mother was going to teach him the beginnings of healing magic, her strong suit.
That was, until, a different human crashed into her personal kitchen.
"Ms. Witch of Milk! Ms. Witch of Milk!" the young girl sobbed. "Please help meeeeeee!"
"Oh dear!" Mother exclaimed. "What happened?"
"She burned her hands trying to make taffy for her hero's hair," another girl said as she stepped in. Mother tenderly held the pink girl's hand with worry. She lightly pressed on it until the girl hissed and tried to yank it away.
"Don't worry, I'll heal it up for you," Mother promised.
The Witch of Milk grabbed both of the young girl's hands and started to chant, "Eburne alligo, fracta sanio. Dolorem expello, sum tuus ex morte salutaris."
A soft blue glow began to brighten at her fingertips. Dark blue ribbons flowed out from the inside of her gloves. They wrapped around the young girl's hands tight, and then another set of pale blue ribbons did the same thing. As her chant progressed, her hair began to move through some mysterious force.
Once the pale blue ribbons finished wrapping themselves around the young girl's hands, the blue glow dimmed. She lifted her hands up in pure wonder and knocked them together in curiosity.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Witch of Milk!" she cheered.
"You're welcome," Mother said. "Now, wear that for around 3 days, and don't get your sister to help you take them off, alright?"
"Aww, but what if my hands start to itch when they're in these casts?"
"That won't happen, I assure you. Those blue ribbons you saw will numb whatever's trapped inside, so there'll be no itching sensation at all."
The young girl jumped in place and started to bound out of the Witch of Milk's kitchen. "Wow! I gotta make sure my hero can do this too! C'mon sister, let's head back to our kitchen!"
"Come on sister, the Witch of Milk just said to not do anything with your hands..." the other girl chided as her voice faded away into the distance.
"Mm, those two are always so lively," Mother absentmindedly commented.
"Who were those people, Mother?" Shining Milk asked.
Mother finally turned her head to see him near the edge of the table, brimming with curiosity.
"The one I healed just now was the Witch of Sugar," she said as she sat down, "And the girl that came in after her was her sister, the Witch of Salt. They're also baking Virtues for Cookiekind, just like me."
"Do you mean those other Virtues will be just like me?" he asked.
"I...I don't think so. Those two have very different ideas about what a hero should be compared to me."
Shining Milk's eyecings lit up. He didn't know there was extra information about his creation. "Can you tell me what kind of hero you had in mind? Please?"
The Witch of Milk looked away with an unreadable expression. "...I guess it's fine."
Thus, Shining Milk Cookie's introduction to White Magic was postponed in favor of a much more interesting story of how his Creator conceptualized his existance.
Once, the Witch of Milk placed a tiny incubator in front of Shining Milk Cookie.
"This was the first ever Cookie I baked," she explained. "I think I accidentally added too much milk into his dough, so the Witch of Light gave me this incubator to place him in. I nearly cried for hours when I realized I failed to consider the proper ratio of milk I should put in a Cookie. He's not very responsive right now, but if you'd like, you can consider him your older brother."
Shining Milk Cookie took a long, hard stare at the Cookie trapped inside the cylinder.
Frankly, it looked pathetic. He didn't want to be related to a dough ball like this.
He didn't say as much, of course, but Mother seemed to get the hint, because that was the last time he ever saw that tiny little Cookie again.
Today marked the 64th day Shining Milk Cookie had been brought into this world by his Creator.
A day he could've done without, really, because today was the day that he would be leaving the Witch of Milk to learn under the other Witches for his Virtue.
He was incredibly upset when he learned of this on the 31st day of his existence, but even though Mother had caved when he whined about it, the Witch of Light refused to budge.
"He is the Virtue of Knowledge," the Witch had spouted. "He needs to know as much as he can, and there's only so much you can teach him, Witch of Milk. He'll learn better under the others."
And that was the end of that.
Mother had been horribly clingy with him up until the end. She was terrified that he was going to crumble the second that she took her eyes off him.
Hah, a ridiculous notion to be sure. He's no simple Cookie, he's a Divine Emissary! He won't be stupid enough to cause his own crumbling a minute away from home!
...But if Mother were to keep him close by because of that worry, he supposed he could stay. For her sake.
He only faintly remembered everything the other Witches taught him because he didn't bother to consider them worth his time, Witches or no. Even if he didn't give them his full attention, his brain still soaked up all the Knowledge they were ever so kind to bestow upon him. If it didn't interest him, he simply saw no point.
Though he will admit, learning about the life of a performer from the Witch of Sprinkles was certainly amusing.
Today marked the 116th day Shining Milk Cookie had been brought into this world by his Creator.
An important day for both of them because that was the day Shining Milk Cookie would be brought into the Cookie World to officially begin his duties as a Virtue.
He wished that he could've fought back on this decision too, but the Witch of Light was stubbornly resolute.
If there was any silver lining, it was that Mother promised to check in on him every single fortnight to make sure that he would be doing alright. It...it would be fine, it would! As long as the Witch of Milk was by his side, he could push himself through any trial or tribulation.
He was carried in Mother's two giant hands somewhere, and the next thing he knew, he was in the Cookie World. Carefully, he climbed out and watched those gentle gloved hands he's loved all his life recede into the sky.
Before he could wallow in his sorrow, a Cookie with a Soul Jam on her head and simple white clothing appeared before him.
"Hello," she greeted. "I am the Flour of Volition. It's nice to meet you, Fount of Knowledge."
"...Hello," he said back. "It's...nice to meet all of you too."
The Flour of Volition stretched out her hand to him. "Come. I'll take you to where the Observer is. It's been a long while since another Virtue has joined me."
Shining Milk Cookie stared at her hand, but declined the offer. He chose to keep his hands glued to his staff.
The Flour of Volition said nothing and walked onwards, clearly expecting the Fount to follow suit.
Begrudgingly, he did.
He was brought into a plain conference room that only had one other Cookie inside. He looked like an absolute brute; his chest was bare, a ring of fire was behind him, and in each of his four (four!) hands was a weapon sharp and ready to break something, with two more crossed over each other.
Shining Milk Cookie shuddered. How was he supposed to work with someone like him?
"Observer," the Flour of Volition called. "The next Virtue is here."
"Hah! I've told you so many times now, Flour!" he laughed boisterously. "Herald sounds much nicer than Observer, doesn't it?"
"Your Witch introduced you to me as the Observer of Change, take it up with her if you want to be called a Herald instead," she replied coolly.
The Herald of Change waved her off. "Bah, no need. If it's only you, I'll convince you to Change eventually. Heh, get it?"
The Flour of Volition said nothing. Her eyecings said all of her discontent of that joke for her.
"In any case, who are you?" The Herald asked. He pointed one of his equipped arms towards Shining Milk Cookie. The latter instinctively stepped back.
"I-I am Shi-the Fount of Knowledge!" he declared. "I...will be helping in the efforts to govern Earthbread, together with all of you and the other two Virtues who have yet to arrive."
"Well, here's to a peaceful Earthbread!" the Herald cheered as he lifted all his arms up in celebration.
"To a peaceful Earthbread," the Flour of Volition repeated whilst raising one of her hands in solidarity, though with much less excitement than the Herald.
"To a peaceful Earthbread," the Fount of Knowledge repeated, not lifting any of his hands at all.
At some point or another, the last two Virtues finally arrived.
They came together as a set, the Sugar of Happiness and the Salt of Solidarity.
They were nice, but the Sugar of Happiness was a bit too bubbly and the Salt of Solidarity didn't even say much to them.
Or did he? It was easy to forget his presence when he never spoke much.
Shining Milk Cookie sighed. He wanted to go back to the Witch of Milk's kitchen already.
It's been about...a month since they've all begun their duties as Divine Emissaries for Cookiekind. A month, right? He doesn't bother to keep track of the days in this world.
Day in, day out, Cookies ventured to his Spire of Knowledge to ask whatever question they had on their minds. Day in, day out, the Fount of Knowledge answered them all without a care in the world.
It was a boring routine, but a routine that kept his mind in check. And besides, Mother had left him a list of questions that he had every right to refuse answering that he could answer with "I must contact the Witches for your answer."
It was a small lie, but it was a needed lie. He doesn't know if he could handle any more Cookies that wanted to ask him how to plot a murder of another Cookie they didn't like.
If a little Deceit was needed to spread the doctrine of the Truth, then so be it.
Shining Milk Cookie's staff spun in his hands.
...It would be fine. This would be fine.
For Mother, he would make it be fine.
"Shining Milk Cookie, are you alright?"
Shining Milk Cookie looked to the sky when Mother asked him this question during their 8th meeting in Earthbread.
"I'm perfectly fine, Mother," he replied as honestly as he could. "It's just...the work of a Virtue is rather tiresome, that's all."
"So it seems," Mother mused from beyond the stars. What did she look like again? He barely remembered anything about her features except for the white gloves that descended every now and then to cradle him. She wore all white, yes, but what kind of blue accented her features again?
"I'll see if I can talk to the Witch of Light about giving you more support," she promised.
"Really?" Shining Milk Cookie asked.
"Really." she swore.
In the end, that help never came, but Shining Milk Cookie never faulted her for trying.
At some point, Mother stopped calling him "Shining Milk Cookie", and only ever chose to call him variations of "The Fount of Knowledge".
She said that the Witch of Light found out and asked her to stop, to prevent him from getting too attached and neglecting his duties.
He didn't care. He still wanted her to call him "Shining Milk Cookie" like the good old days, but she refused. She was too afraid of disobeying her savior, it seemed.
Alone, the Fount of Knowledge repeated the name "Shining Milk Cookie" over and over and over again to never forget it.
In the midst of all that repetition, there lied a wish that the Witch of Milk could've made herself more brave. It was never spoken aloud.
Virtue work. Virtue work. Talk with the Witch of Milk. Virtue work. Virtue work.
It felt like the Fount of Knowledge was counting down the days until his next meeting with the Witch of Milk to relieve himself from all the stress created from his work at the Spire.
A few days past the deadline felt unbearable, but it would be okay. It would all be okay.
He didn't want to disappoint her. He wanted to prove he was a good Creation.
Because if he wasn't a good Creation, then why did Mother spend so much time with him? Why else would she had been so reluctant to let him go?
It would be alright. It would be alright.
As long as he could still hear Mother's voice.
At some point, the Witch of Milk stopped responding to his calls.
Frustrated and desperate, he tried again. And again. And again. And again, again, again, again, and again.
He even tried to contact the other Virtues for once in his life to ask questions. They couldn't contact the Witches either.
He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do in a world without Mother in reach.
In the end, he chose to play pretend. He pretended that the Witch of Milk was simply...busy. Busy, busy, busy, like a Witch of her caliber was. And in the meantime, he would have to be the best Virtue he could be to make her proud.
It would be alright.
...Right?
He doesn't know when he stopped trying to contact the Witch of Milk.
He doesn't know when he gave up hope.
He doesn't know when one unsolved question led to a multitude of other unsolved inqueries.
He doesn't want to remember the name the Witch of Milk used to call him anymore.
He was here, trapped in the Silver Tree, with all of his questions solved.
The Witch of Milk saw it. She saw the chaos he inspired in Bakers-Yeast, and she hated it.
So she, along with the other Witches, casted down the Silver Forks and locked them away.
In that hollow silver space, he laughed. He laughed until his throat went sore.
So that's why the Witch of Milk let him go in the end.
So that's why the Witch of Milk stopped calling him her secret name for him.
So that's why the Witch of Milk stopped responding to his prayers.
So that's why, only here and now, did he find evidence that she was still alive after decades of neglect and loneliness.
At last, at last at last at last at last at last! The Fount of Knowledge had the answer to every single question!
What a relief! Now he could answer any question in the entire Cookie World with certainty and precise execution!
Huzzah! Huzzah! Three cheers to the Witches! Three cheers to those nasty backstabbing Creators! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
If only his traitorous heart wished he never found the Truth at all.
If only his traitorous heart wished she had thrown him away into the Cookie World to begin with.
If only his traitorous heart wished that the Witch of Milk was never his Mother.