#as soon as she finished the quest cause she was afraid the game will crash again if she tried to keep catching pokemon there

[pastlight]

just finished watching a Pokemon SV playthrough

[viciousalicious-blog]

Scarlette couldn’t sleep that night. Despite being in the care of a djinn princess, it wasn’t danger that bothered her anymore. Every time she shut her eyes she relived the moment of only a few hours ago. She watched as vampires, the strigoi, surrounded her on the midnight streets, the full moon pierced through the dissipating rain clouds giving more light than the old street lamps would. And just as her fanged oppressors made their move, her mother Renae appeared in a crash of lightning.

Until then, her mother was nothing more to Scarlette than a loving parent who supplied for her, and was blissfully unaware of the secret world of magic and mythos. But there she was, staring down an army of vampires with a ornate silver staff, and a fierce glare that scared even Scarlette. She never saw anything but a smile on her mother’s face until then.

Renae fought the strigoi with both grace and power, using magic as if it were second nature. But the strigoi began to outnumber her. And just before they turned to attack Scarlette, Renae froze them in place, suspending them in chains and cuffs made from electricity. Scarlette was backed against a telephone pole as one of the vampire’s sharp claws was just out of reach of her neck. It was then she heard her mother’s last words.

“Scarlette.” Renae said, using all of her might to tether the vampires in place. “I’m sorry for lying to you… but you must finish this… no matter what happens.” The electricity surging around the area began to amplify, crackling, buzzing, and hissing. The trapped vampires began to growl and scream in pain. “I love you, Scarlette.” Renae raised her staff into the air, and a lightning bolt struck down. All that was seen was a flash of light, and then everyone was gone. Her mother, the horde of vampires… gone.

After a night of heartache and tears, Scarlette simply couldn’t calm down. Where did her mother go? Was she even alive? What did her mother know about all of this conspiracy and plots of chaos and evil? After hours of restlessness, Scarlette swung out from her bed and moved into the library of her host’s home. There she browsed through ancient tomes and scrolls, using a magic lens to decipher text she couldn’t understand. She spent all night, moving from book to book, creating an ever growing pile on the table, chair, and soon floor. Morning came, and before long Scarlette’s friends James and Azura came to check on her in her room.

Azura knocked once. “Hey Scarlette, you up? We have some work to do.” There was no response. “I know you’re still upset after what happened last night but… we don’t have all the time in the world. We’ll find your mother, trust me. But first we have to go find that artifact.” There was still no response. “Scarlette?” Azura said, slowly opening the door. She found the bed vacant, and the window open. “Scarlette!” She shouted, running to the window and seeing no one outside.

James called from the hallway, “Azura… come look at this.” Azura ran into the library and found James standing over the mountain of books Scarlette had perused the night before. She looked around at the many books, and stared in silent confusion. “Scarlette’s gotten quite resourceful. It was like pulling teeth to get her to do anything… but when it meets her agenda…”

“What was she looking for?” Azura questioned. “All these books…” Another voice called out from behind them. “Answers.” The two turned and looked at their other friend on the balcony overlooking the library. It was Nuri, the host and djinn princess that kept them safe. Nuri tossed a book down at the two. After catching it and glancing through the pages quickly, James furrowed his brow.

“This is…” James paused.

Nuri nodded. “She was desperate… and rightfully so.”

“You helped her.” Azura stated. “But this… this will lead her to—“

“I knew exactly what I was doing.” Nuri said, sternly.

“You’re going to get her killed!” Azura shouted.

“No… just some clarity.” Nuri said, turning and walking out of sight. James and Azura ran out of the house into the back yard and into the forest. They clambered over branches and bushes, crying out Scarlette’s name in hopes that they’d get her attention and warn her of danger. But Scarlette was far ahead of them, and even their cries wouldn’t stop her. What started as a brisk hike through the warm summer forests behind Nuri’s home, soon became an ominous trek.

Scarlette had marked her arms with painted black runes, and muttered cryptic ancient sayings with each step. She kept her path very specific, and soon enough the once green and humid forests soon became cold and bitter. The wind stopped brushing through the canopy and the trees became dead, and covered in frost. It wasn’t long before she started seeing owls in increasing numbers, all of them staring at Scarlette as she continued her march.

Soon she heard an echoing laughter of a woman surrounding her. The owls soon filled entire tree branches, lined up wing to wing. Scarlette was still determined and wouldn’t let fear strike her down this time. She spun around, searching for the woman who was well aware of her presence. She had turned around at least three times before she stopped to see a woman sitting on a tree branch. It was only her bare legs and hands she could see, her nails sharp like talons. The rest of her was masked in a cloak and cowl, and creeping out from under her dark attire were the ends of wings. Scarlette wasn’t sure if it was part of the clothing, or the wings belonged to the woman, but at this point she didn’t care. More peculiarly was the steaming teacup the woman held in her hand.

“Come closer, dear… Everything will be grand.” The woman said, her accent sounding distinctly Irish. Scarlette stepped forward. The owls continued to stare at her. “You wasted no time coming here.”

“You… you expected me?” Scarlette asked. “Then you know why I’m here.”

The woman laughed. “To be sure I know. It’s me business to know.” She took a sip of her beverage. “You be wanting answers… and you wanted them so badly you came to me.”

"Who are you?" Scarlette asked.

"I go by many names, dear. Just like you do, blood child. I've been called Morrigan... Lilith... Moirai... been even called Cucuvea from time to time by the wandering caravans."

“If any of those names are real then know where my mother is, so tell me. Nuri warned me about striking up a conversation with people like you.” Scarlette shouted.

The woman crossed her ankles over each other. “Now, don’t be rude. Come have a cup of tea. It’s mighty cold out here, you know. You might catch a cold… or worse.”

“No! I’m done with riddles. I’m done with all this cryptic… BS. This whole secret world crap. I’m done! My mom, who I thought was the one person I could rely on to be totally normal, was in on everything this whole time, and now she’s gone. Poof! Even Nuri doesn’t know! What am I supposed to do!? You’re the only one who can tell me where my mom is! And I want answers, and I want them now! No quests. No trades. No exchanges. Nothing! Just answers!”

Scarlette couldn’t see it, but she felt the woman was grinning at her. “Ah, what a fearsome human you are, ruffling your feathers like you’re something terrible. But you know… it’s quite troubling to be blathering to me like that. I hope you don’t talk to all the others gods that way... unless you’re looking to get hurt. Most don’t put up with such disrespect… especially from a human. A sweet… tasty human.”

Scarlette glared forward. “I’m not afraid of you.”

The woman leaned back a little. “I can see that, dearie. And ‘cause I know who you are I ain’t in the business to be harming you… yet. You have some work to be doing… and I’m not gonna get in the way of that.”

“You mean saving the world? I told everyone, I’m not cut out for that. Find someone else. Besides what do you care? You’re on the side of chaos… you’d rather see this world burn.” Scarlette said.

The woman chuckled. “Not all of us evil ones be evil. We don’t all want to see the world go out. We live here. And we thrive on much more than destruction. If this world burned… I’d burn up with it. And if a shining lassy of good is gonna be saving it… let her.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. I still want to know where my mom is.” Scarlette demanded.

The woman remained quiet for a time. “I can’t help you.”

“What?” Scarlette questioned. “That’s… what do you want? Fine, I’ll play your stupid game. If—“

“I can’t help you, lassy. No matter what price you offer.”

“Why not?!” Scarlette shouted, stepping forward.

The woman shrugged. “Easy. I don’t know where your ma is.”

“But you see everything! In all realms! Dead or alive.”

“That might be true. But I only see what ain’t hiding from me eyes.”

“You mean…” Scarlette softened, relaxing her clenched fists.

“Your ma don’t want to be found.”

Scarlette’s legs buckled before she fell onto her knees. “But… but why?”

“Everything’s done for a reason… your ma had hers. I might not know where she is… but I can tell you why she’s hiding. And I think you already know the answer to that.”

Scarlette gripped the leaves at her side. “I have to finish it…”

“Aye…” The woman sipped her tea again. “I can see into the future. And I don’t see your ma ‘til the job be done, lassy.”

Scarlette sighed and stood up. “Sorry to bother you.”

“’It’s all right Scarlette. But, if the fate be true and you do save the world, you best not be coming in my forests again. Hearts like yours taste extra sweet.” Scarlette nodded. “Now get out of me forest.” With a wave of her hand, Scarlette was swept into a sudden vortex of leaves and dust, and with a few spins she was teleported back to Nuri’s backyard near James and Azura.

“Scarlette!” James shouted.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Azura asked.

“I’m fine.” Scarlette said, standing to her feet. She stood and faced Nuri, who stared at her with her arms crossed.

“I see she told you exactly what you needed to hear.” Nuri said. Scarlette nodded. “Then let’s go… we have work to do.”