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White Lily Cookie’s knees buckled as some of the smoke cleared.
The battle had overextended the limits of her soul jam and now the landscape was dissolving in a nauseating, kaleidoscopic whirl as strawberry jam oozed from some of the cracks in her dough. Despite the overwhelming pain of her state, she refused to let go of her staff.
Dark Enchantress Cookie’s horde was weakened. She just had to hold on. One more blow then this would be over. She had to hold on. Her friends were depending on her. The fate of Crispia…The horde was at the borders…
She tightened her grip and lifted the staff off the ground with all the gathered force from her remaining strength and rammed it sharply against the ground.
The chorus of feral shrieks and the deafening pounding of thousands of misshapen limbs still remained and the gap between them and Crispia was rapidly diminishing.
But her last efforts didn’t go to waste.
Right before the border was crossed, a radiant burst of Lily Bud erupted from the soil, followed by green vines engulfed with searing radiance that snapped outwards to aggressively shove the monsters back into Beast Yeast. Muffled racket of the creatures’ wails and screeches continued from the other side but quickly died down as their desperate actions proved utterly futile.
It was finally over.
Her feet faltered as her breath battled to steady itself with her head throbbing uncontrollably.
Now, it was up to the rest of the Ancient Heroes. Her dearest friends. She had managed to protect them or at least buy them time. They would be fine now. Crispia was safe.All the cookies were safe. Her friends were safe.
Some strawberry jam dripped from the corners of her mouth.
It would be alright for now. The threat was stopped for now. It was over. For now.
The rest of the smoke slowly retreated as some scattered flags came into view followed by a rhythmic stomping of hooves coming in her direction. Soon enough a horse came into view with what appeared to be a knight mounted on its back. Before White Lily Cookie could properly process this, her body gave in; she plunged downwards, helpless to whatever was coming next.
🖤🖤🖤
Silent Salt Cookie slammed the leather reins hard against the stallion’s neck as he closed the distance between him and the failing light.
The last of the flare shattered with a few stray sparks drifting off with the wind as a heavy, long-forgotten instinct pulled at his chest, compelling him to look down at the delicate, fractured blossom collapsing into the fog.
The horse came to halt and Silent Salt Cookie swiftly got off, his boots hard against the battle-scorched earth and made his way towards the silhouette he saw in the distance and safe to assume, the source of the light.
She looked so vulnerable: her delicate figure on the hard, ash-covered ground with most of her dough covered in cracks and pristine white hair now stained with strawberry jam and dirt. Her chest heaved in ragged intervals and knuckles clenched tightly on her lily staff.
Even now she was fighting to survive.
The fierce determination was captivating to him. By the looks of the area, she had soloed the entire horde herself, taking the weight of what an army could have managed on her own shoulders—and won. After all that, as she lay close to the brink of certain death, she still refused to give in; her physical fragility was defeated by her pure, unwavering resolve.
She was too precious to be left behind like this. Far too beautiful to rot in filthy grounds of war.
He wanted to take her away, keep her safe from the cruelty of this war-torn world…
But how could he? The bleak, darkness that he was cursed to suffer in silence had already tainted him.
He bent down and reached out his hands to pick her up; it felt wrong for someone like him to touch her. It was as if he’d infect her with the curse that had contaminated him.
A pinch of salt can kill a white lily yet he couldn’t let this sentiment control him. He couldn’t leave her to die.
He gently brushed off the jam with the end of his cape and ripped some of his cape to tie it around the biggest crack in her dough. He was still hesitant to touch her but he dismissed the thoughts as he softly pulled the staff out of her hands and tied it around his sword that was slung across his back. Finally, he carefully slid his arm around her back and his other arm under her knees. Slowly and cautiously he lifted her off the ground.
In his arms, she was like a dainty flower captured in the grip of darkness. The staining and murky darkness. Gross, filthy, toxic…
Only for this moment it felt ,to some extent, ‘alright’ to let it touch her. To even be around her in this situation.
He couldn’t let her be withered to crumbs like this and he wouldn’t. No matter how far gone he was in this abyssal vortex of the poisoning darkness, he wouldn’t let this cookie’s story end like this. Even he, the feared beast of silence, wouldn't be strong enough to witness an end like this.
With that in mind, he mounted his steed and adjusted one hand on the reins with the other holding the cookie close to his chest. He nudged his horse with the heel of his boot and off they rode to the Land of Silence.