nixsoa-blog

[nixsoa-blog]

"Hey girl," a man said, standing over Lucy, "are you still alive?"

Lucy mumbled something, opening her eyes slightly to see the golden haired man, before allowing them to close again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sitting beside her.

"Yeah," she mumbled still half asleep, rolling over onto him.

"You sure, you're covered in blood."

Lucy opened her eyes again, looking at herself. She was in her nightgown, still tattered and bloodstained. She froze for a second, then looked up to the man looking back at her with his clear eyes. She jumped back, falling down when the tree was no longer there to support her. She looked around, then remembered the winged woman from before. She was frozen for a second, then noticed the rising sun.

"Pretty isn't it?" the man asked, standing up.

Lucy nodded.

"Do you want me to take you somewhere safer?" the man asked her, offering his hand to help her up.

Lucy looked at him for a moment, before raising her hand to his, and she nodded. "My name is Lucy," she said as the man helped pull her up.

"My name is Luke," he replied as he led her to a covered wagon nearby. He helped her into the seat beside him, then heard the girl's stomach. Luke reached into the wagon behind them to pull out a small sack. From it, he drew a loaf of bread, tore off a third and gave it to Lucy. She looked at him for a moment, he just smiled back, taking a bite of the other piece. Slowly, she took the bread. She looked down at it for a moment, before taking a bite. She tasted honey, which surprised her. Luke then looked forward, taking the reins. A moment later, they were off.

Lucy plucked pieces from the bread, eating them each by themselves as to savor every bite. As they went, she looked at the many sprawling fields, some of which overtaken by flowers. She looked ahead, to the fields turn into rolling hills. From them came an armoured man on a horse. A crest upon his top showed two overlapping spirals in opposite directions, the one on top was white and went clockwise, while the one below was a light green. The man greeted Luke warmly as he passed. Lucy managed a smile, and a small wave, forgetting the bread was in that hand when she did so.

"I never asked, but what happened to you?" Luke questioned as they crossed the hills.

"I," Lucy started then stopped. She thought about it a moment. She was told that she died, but she couldn't remember how she died. She looked deeply at the bread, as if it would tell her the answer. She plucked another piece off, and put it into her mouth. After she was done chewing, she looked at him, and began again, "I think I." She slid forward slightly, as the horses reared. She looked around frantically, as half animal people appeared on the hills around them, bearing swords and bows, arrows ready to fire. She looked at Luke, who seemed rather calm at this.

"Hello," Luke said to them.

"Give us everything you got," one of the beastial people shouted back. Horns like a elk sat upon his head, and a long blade in his hand.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Luke replied, still rather calm.

"Well we're takin' it anyway," the elken man replied.

"I don't want to fight," Luke spoke again, remaining composed.

"Just gonna stand there and let us kill ya then?"

"I'm sure we can work," Luke started, but was interrupted.

"You're worth more to us dead."

Lucy was afraid, and slouched down into the seat, holding her bead tight. She thought about what they said, that they were going to take everything they had. But it was her bread, and she didn't want to let them take it. She held the bread close to her chest. She stood up, speaking angrily, "This is my bread, you can't have it!"

The beastial folk laughed. The elk one who seemed to be in charge spoke, "Take her too, I'm sure we can get a good price for her."

"Glacio!" Lucy commanded, pointing with her left hand at the elk-man, holding on to her bread as tight as she could with her right. She felt the cold flow from her and then saw the icicles appear before launching themselves at the elk. She watched as he used his blade to cut the icicles in half as they flew at him.

"You thought such a weak spell would be enough to stop us?" the elk replied with a laugh, before ordering his men to advance.

Lucy pointed to the sky, then looked at Luke, "This counts as an emergency, she won't be angry right?" Luke nodded back, unsure what exactly she meant. Lucy looked back to the advancing beastkin, and took a deep breath. "Come forth, flames of the first one, Calima!" The flames burst into life above her, and she felt their warmth overtake her. She dare not look directly at it, but could see the flames reflect on the eyes of those around, all of which had stopped where they stood, awestruck by the flames. A moment later, the bandits fled into the hills. After another moment, Lucy collapsed into the seat, and the flames faded. Luke laid her down, her head in his lap, then they were off as fast as the horses could go.

About an hour had passed, and they arrived at a two story wooden building, with a sign on it's front which read "Timeless Cafe & Inn." the letters were a faded yellow. Luke carried the sleeping Lucy to the door, and knocked.

A woman answered, she appeared to be in her early 20s, with shiny black hair pulled into a ponytail, and she had darkened eyes. The smell of baking bread flowed from the entrance behind her. She looked at Luke, then down to the girl in his arms. "Luke, what happened?" she asked ushering them inside, to a nearby bench where Luke laid her down.

Luke explained where he found her, then about the bandits, and the enormous flame she conjured to scare them away. "I was hoping you'd be able to take care of her while I was in town. I'll pay any expenses when I return by," he added at the end.

"I'll do what I can, see you in a few days then," she said.

[nixsoa-blog]

The young girl stumbled forward, darkness surrounding her. She gazed around, before noticing a light in the distance, moving toward her. As the light reached her, she found that she could once again see herself. She looked down to find herself in her favourite nightgown, though it was torn and bloody. She also noticed that her bones in her right forearm were not inside her, though it didn't hurt for some reason. She winced at this, before looking back up, to find a woman floating before her, of which the light seemed to be pouring out of. The woman had long white hair, and many feathered wings.

"Hello child," she spoke with the voice of angels, "Lucy was your name, I believe."

Lucy stood, afraid, yet somehow calmed by the woman's presence. She nodded, keeping her eyes on the woman, afraid that if she looked away the woman would vanish, and she'd be alone in the darkness again.

"As you're now here, I'm going to assume you're dead, or having quite the nightmare. What is the last thing you remember?"

The girl thought for a moment, trying her best to remember, but then shook her head.

"Then you are dead. That's too bad, you're quite young." The woman conjured a small sphere of white light. She mumbled something, and a bolt of light flew from Lucy into the sphere. "Wow, you are quite the unfortunate one." She pushed the sphere toward Lucy, and as it touched her, she felt warmth overtaking her. Lucy looked down to see her wounds repairing. "Feeling better?"

Lucy nodded again, she was looking down still, thinking about what she just heard, that she was dead. She looked back to the angelic figure before her and asked, "Now what do I do?"

"What do you want to do?" the woman asked back, starting to speak before Lucy finished her question.

"Can I go back?"

The woman moved closer to Lucy, and placer her hand over her heart. "No, you may not. You body is too destroyed to be repaired. Though, if you want to live, really and truly live, I may be able to offer you a better option."

Lucy's eyes met the woman’s for the first time, and she saw what looked like earth reflected in them. The woman blinked, and the planet which she grew up on was replaced by another, unfamiliar planet. Lucy was mesmerized by the woman's eyes, with every blink, the planet changed to new worlds, lost in the cosmos, somewhere. "Can I visit those new worlds?"

"Not all of them, but I can send you to one of them, if you'd like. I'll recreate your body, from before it became so mangled, and place you on one of them. I'll also cure you of your illnesses, so that you may be free to truly live, and not become once more tied to a small room."

"Why, though?"

The woman was confused, and asked what Lucy meant.

"I mean," she paused, trying to find the words to say. "Do you let everyone who dies go live in new worlds?"

"No, those which sin in their lives are punished, while many who are happy with their lives are allowed to rest in a peaceful place. This is not something I do often, only for those which had not got to live while they were alive, and for those who died when they were very young."

"Was I young?"

"Yes. And you spent your entire life ill, and unable to live any of the short life you were given." Their eyes were still fixed on one another's. "You really drew the short straw, so I want to give you a chance to live a fulfilled life. I'll even help you out, what's the one thing you want more than anything else?"

Lucy spoke, her mouth moving without permission from her brain, "I want to not be lonely anymore."

The woman smiled, "I don't think I can grant that wish. If I did, I'd be robbing people of their free will by forcing them to be your friend. Is there anything else you would like?"

The girl thought, trying to remember anything of her old life. She remembered staring at a box. On the box, there were people, and they seemed to never be alone. She tried to remember what they were called. After some time, she said, "I want to be a magical girl, they always have lots of friends."

"Magic? I can send you to a world with magic, and teach you a few spells before you go. Though, I feel like I'm not really granting your wish then. Alright, you think about it, I'll be around to grant it later once you've decided, alright?"

The girl nodded.

"Ok, so first which world should I send you to?" The woman asked.

"How many are there?" the girl asked.

"What's the biggest number you know?" the woman asked.

The girl thought again, trying to remember anything from before she died, though most her memory was fuzzy or missing. "I think, a million?" she said slowly.

"Ok, now take a million of those, then a million of those, and repeat this a couple times over. After a few million million years, you will not have made it very close to the total."

The girl was counting on her fingers at first, then stopped when hearing the last of the words. She looked back to the woman's eyes, her own lit up in excitement.

"This one looks good," the woman said, touching the air before her with a flick of her wrist. As she did so, the darkness lit up to a wide field, an apple tree stood nearby, and a road just beyond that. Not far off the field of grass transformed into wheat fields. "It was created similar to your old world, though magic exists here. Which reminds me, I should teach you that real quick. Everyone in this world has some magical capabilities, so if I didn't teach you, you might get in trouble."

The girl was excited, running around the grassy field, before trying to climb the tree. She didn't very far, as she'd never climbed before, so the woman conjured forth an apple for her instead. The girl bit into it, juice from it splattered out.

"Ok, so it's very important to know that, in this world you have to say the name of the spell you intend to use, with very few exceptions. I'm going to teach you the names of two spells, one to create fire, and another for ice."

The girl looked back, saying happily with her mouth full of apple, "That sounds fun, can we do the ice one first?"

The woman pointed up. "For casting most spells, you have to designate your target first. For you, try pointing. That will help you focus better on what you wish to hit. When you get better at using magic, you won't have to point anymore. Now, we'll target the sky for this, that way nothing gets hurt." The woman watched as the girl pointed to the sky with her left hand, her right holding the half eaten apple. "Repeat after me, Glacio." As she spoke the word, a spray of icicles appeared above her and launched themselves into the sky.

The girl closed her eyes tight and repeated, her mouth now empty, "Glacio." She felt as a cold inside her grew near her heart, before flowing from her body and out of her hand. She looked up to see the icicles flying into the sky. She watched as they flew out of sight, and water drops fell from above back onto her. Her face lit up again. "I did it, did you see?" she said happily rushing over and hugging the angelic woman.

"Yes, shall we move on to the fire spell?"

"Oh, right," the girl spoke, letting go and stepping back, pointing back into the sky.

"Alright, this spell will be a last resort, it's very dangerous. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," the girl said with a nod.

"Come forth, flames of the first one, Calima." the woman said, unleashing a torrent of flames above her. The air around the flames seemed to distort and wave. Lucy could feel the heat, as though she was being burned, despite the flames not coming close to her. The flames reflected in Lucy's eyes. "You're turn," the woman said, looking to Lucy.

"Ca-" the girl started, stopping to breath, then trying again, "Calima." Her eyes were closed as tight as she could manage, and she was hunched over.

"No, you must say the full incantation," the woman said.

"Ok," the girl said taking a deep breath. "Come forth, flames of the first one, Calima." The flames burst into existence for a split second, before Lucy collapsed.

The woman landed, and moved closer to the girl. "Good, that was too much for her." She touched the girl's heart, letting out some of her energy into her. She then moved the girl to the nearby tree, and leaned her against it. The woman smiled, whispering as to not wake Lucy, "when you next awake, you will have a new life in this world. Please live happily." She then plucked a feather from her wing, and laid it upon the girl's chest, before vanishing.