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The Miracle Mind of Serene: the Tale of a Girl and a Ghost (Chapter 4)

Previous Chapter

Index

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26/01/2018

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“... Is that the psychic?”

“Well-”

“This is my friend Selena. She’s always getting mistaken for Serene, she’s absolutely sick of it.”

“Uh… Yes! That’s right. I’m thinking of getting my name changed, even…”

Aura looked at this catgirl, who looked oh-so-similar to that Serene lady she’s seen on the news, and then to her brother Terra. Do they really think they can fool her so easily? “And how come I never met this suspiciously similar stranger?”

Terra’s smug little grin was odd. This is obviously Serene, he wasn’t going to be able to-

“You got no room to argue, you didn’t even know about Tim until I broke up with him!”

Fuck! “Y-you were barely with him!” Aura did her best to defend herself, but being exposed like this in front of a stranger was already embarrassing enough.

“Only if you think a whole fucking year is “barely”,” Terra reiterated. “Is it?”

They… they were together a whole year?! Aura did her best to dismiss the embarrassment with a huff, marching off. Her previous suspicion of “Selena” completely forgotten from how absolutely embarrassed she now was.

Indeed, she marched directly into the woman’s bathroom and made her way to the sink, running the water to wet her face and chill her nerves so that she could think straight. “Did I really not know my brother was dating him for a whole year?” she grumbled to herself, looking straight in the mirror. “He’s got to be fucking with-” a deep involuntary gasp escaped her lips, before she stopped moving.

But not by choice. Something else was moving her body.

“Finally, an employee,” she heard her own lips speak, as she felt her head look down and a hand check the nametag on her shirt. “... Aura, is it?”

Who’s… what’s happening?! It was like she was a puppet on a string, helpless to do anything but watch as her own body stretched.

She started walking, only to stop at the last second, forced to look at her face in the reflection. “Sorry about doing this in the bathroom, it’s the only place that there’s any privacy.”

She didn’t even think about that, but the realisation made her furious. Not that her body showcased any of that, instead moving back into a focus. This pervert was now in control of her! What was he going to make her do?

When she made her way to the kitchen and grabbed one of the knives, she knew what the stranger was likely intending.

And she couldn’t do anything to warn anyone.

---

“In fact… that guy over there, see how his cup’s right on the edge? If you knock it over it’ll certainly give him a fright, and you can even make sure he doesn’t lose his drink.”

Serene was quiet, looking Terra right in the eyes. She had only one reaction to his suggestion. “Seriously?”

“Well- Alright, say no more.” He was quick to relent, leaning back in his seat. “Just thought you might find it fun to kick back and actually use your…” he looked around the restaurant briefly before turning back to Serene, “...skills, to entertain yourself.”

“I’m not a fancy toy, you know.”

Terra’s ears immediately flicked back at that remark, shaking his head. “I just thought you might find it fun, promise.”

Serene let out a small sigh, eyeing Terra. “You don’t know what I find fun.”

Terra raised a finger to speak, only to find himself pausing. “Okay, okay, true.” He lowered his finger, looking Serene in the eye. “But neither do you.”

“I-” Serene cleared her throat, blushing lightly from embarrassment.

“Think, what is something you really like to do? Even if you don’t usually do it?”

Serene let out a sigh, putting a hand to her chin. “Well… my job is-”

“Psh, not your job,” Terra affirmed. “Something fun, something you do when winding down from a job.””

“Well…” Serene thought to herself some more. What about… wait. “I like to read,” Serene said with a hum, satisfied that she was able to come up with a real answer.

“Yeah, what about?”

“I really like reading up on other people. N-not real people, like… stories about how people lived.”

Terra let out a chuckle. “I thought your answer was gonna be stories about psychics.”

“Actually…” Serene paused a little bit, rubbing the back of her head. “I don’t like reading about people with psychic powers. It just feels… weird, you know?”

Terra tilted his head slightly at that, something had caught his intrigue. When one of his ears flopped down over his face, he let out a small huff to blow it out of the way. “Read any from before you were born?”

“Huh? No, why?”

“Well-” Terra paused. “... Nevermind.”

“Okay…” Serene cleared her throat, looking around. “What about you? What do you like to read?”

“I mean, I’ve checked out a book every once in a while, but I’m not a huge fan.”

“Well surely you do something, right? You don’t just go to the park day in and day out, do you?”

Terra let out a small chuckle, nodding. “Actually, I’ve been thinking of getting into hiking.”

Serene took one look at this lil’ bunny, shorter than she was. “Really?”

“Rea- yes of course!” Terra called out. They got a look or two, and thankfully nobody recognised Serene in that exchange. “I’m tired of being stuck in this little slice of the city, I love to get on my feet and see where the world takes me.”

Serene nodded. “Ah, I can relate.”

Wait, what? … No, she does relate. But why?

Terra let out a small chuckle, grinning wide. “In that case I should take you along with me, take up hiking together.”

Serene put a hand up to decline, but paused. She was not under surveillance for a whole month. She wasn’t going to do any training for at least a little bit after what happened. She needed to do something with that free time. “...You know what? Sure, I can come.”

“Great!” Terra called out. “It’s a date~” Innocent language, but Terra’s cheeky grin made it clear that it wasn’t so innocent.

“Wha- I- uh-” Serene’s cheeks went bright red at that. He meant a real date? She… was not expecting that.

Terra let out a cheeky giggle, grinning wide. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. But don’t worr- EEH!”

His chair moved on its own, he was certain of it. And with that Terra came tumbling down onto the ground, but the impact was… a lot softer than it should have been.

Hearing a laugh or two, Terra let out a small grumble before he trudged back onto his feet. He saw Serene giggling and, more importantly, that behind her mask her eyes were glowing a faint white.

“You know what, you’re cute when you’re fumbling around.” Her embarrassment was gone, probably because she had just taken control of the conversation’s pacing.

Normally, Terra would be more annoyed at knowing someone tripped him on purpose. But not only was she cute, but it meant he was totally right. She would enjoy messing with someone with her psychic powers, if given the right push. Brushing himself off, he let out another chuckle. “I take it back, do worry because this is gonna be a date to remember~”

Still blushing, Serene let out another chuckle. “Well… okay, okay, I’ll be there~ When?”

Terra took out his pen and notepad as a waiter, and began writing down some numbers before passing the piece of paper to her. “Here’s my number, may I have yours? Then I’ll ring you when I can confirm my next day off.”

Serene let out a soft hum, writing down her own number. “That sounds nice. I can’t wait!”

---

Damion was in a confusing situation. His daughter, Aura, now had his wife, Amanda, held hostage with a knife to the throat, and was asking about Richard.

And he knew exactly what to say.

“Who?”

He did not know who Richard was at all.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Aura snapped in a low growl, something that was quite uncharacteristic of her. “Richard’s a regular at this restaurant, loves the place. So tell me where he is, or failing that, something that will help me find him.”

This was the worst possible moment not to know someone. There is nothing more that he’d love than to save his wife, but… he didn’t know how.

Amanda yelled out with fury, the knife at her throat only barely keeping her from turning around and punching Aura then and there. “You do not treat your mother like this!”

Aura was quiet at first. Maybe whatever was going on they had snapped her out of it?

“So she’s your daughter…” What?

Aura moved the knife away from Amanda’s throat before kicking the woman down onto the ground. Before either of them could move, she put the knife to her throat. “Tell me what you know about Richard. Or she dies.”

… No… This must be him. The ghost that was in the newspaper with that psychic girl. “Mortis.”

The bunny woman in front of them said nothing in response. But there was no doubt in his mind. This wasn’t Aura at all, it was Mortis controlling her.

Amanda picked up on it too (though whether it was on her own or from her husband’s deduction was unclear), her rage entirely gone in an instant. “Stop… I’ll tell you, just-” she wiped away the tear in her eye. “Please don’t hurt my baby girl.”

Hearing his daughter chuckle in such a sinister tone with a knife to her throat was the most frightening thing Damion had ever seen. “What are you waiting for?”

Amanda nodded, making her way right to the computer. “I don’t know where Richard lives, BUT-!” She was quick to add the interjection, just in case Mortis took it the wrong way. “He always swings by in the same limousine, and I can get the licence plate through the security cameras.”

“Good.”

---

“And there you have it,” Terra said with a grin as he tucked away Serene’s number, leaning back. “I’ll make sure you feel like the luckiest girl in the world~”

Serene let out a small giggle, stashing away Terra’s number within her purse. “If you think about it, I kind of already am.”

Terra blinked, looking back to her. Then his smile came back. “Yeah, of course, you scored a date with me, that’s some real luck.”

Another giggle. “No no, I mean… Not everyone has psychic powers, right?”

Terra notably shrugged in response. “So? Is that special to you?”

Is that- Serene stammered at the question. Nobody had ever asked her that about psychic powers, of all things. “I mean- obviously? So many people would kill to have them, and there’s people scared of me just because-”

“That shit sounds like other people thinking it’s so special. Are they special to you?”

Serene… had to think about it. How special were her psychic talents to herself? “I…” She found herself thinking back to earlier that very night, how strange it was to act without them. “Honestly… it feels normal. Like it’s just me.”

Terra nodded. “That’s good to know.”

Serene let out a small sigh, looking down to her phone. “You’re not worried? About the powers?”

“Pffft, why would I?”

“You’d be the first…”

Terra leaned forward in his seat, looking over to Serene. “... I don’t give a shit if you can fire death rays out of your eyes, you seem nice.”

Serene gave another small giggle, which left a warm smile on her face.

Then Terra abruptly got to his feet. “Well I gotta go, if I don’t get new orders barked at me then they’ll think I’m slacking off.”

Serene nodded. “Thank you. I should be getting ready to go too. I’ll see you before I leave, though!”

“See ya then!” Terra smiled wide, making his way straight to the kitchen, ready to hear whatever new orders his mother would give him.

Strange. Usually at least one of his family members was in the kitchen with the other cooks. Maybe they were having a meeting in her office.

---

Mortis had memorised the licence plate by now, grinning. “And there you have it.” Mortis said with a pleased hum, taking the knife and stabbing it into the table. “Your daughter lives another day.”

“Don’t think we’re not going to tell,” Damion said with a glare.

Mortis grinned wide, looking over to Damion. “How do you arrest a dead man?”

… Damion was silent.

But not Amanda. “They’ll arrest the psychic girl that’s with you.”

Mortis began laughing at that, gently patting Amanda on the head, knowing how on edge the two of them were. Then the laughter turned into an intense coughing fit, as he dropped to his knees. Then the coughing turned into sobbing.

Damion moved right in, hopeful that it at least meant his daughter was back. “Aura?”

“I’m sorry,” Aura choked out through heavy sobs, curling up into a ball now that she was in control of herself again. “I’m sorry mom, I’m sorry dad, I couldn’t do anything.”

Amanda moved in to help her up - only for Damion to gently put an arm in the way. He sat down with her, holding her in his arms as he began to cry as well. “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault…”

Amanda looked down to the table, letting out a growl of anger as she swung a punch at it - all this achieved was hurting her own hand, leaving her to hold her fist as she looked for something softer to punch. “Damn that little fucking shit to hell!”

“Mom? Is something going on?” The three of them all looked up to see the door handle open up, Terra walking right in. “Did a customer spit on you or-...” Seeing Aura and Damion on the floor was all it took for Terra to realise something big had happened.

Aura looked up, tears still in her eyes. “I- I was taken over. By that ghost…”

Terra’s eyes widened. “Ghost? Like… The one on the news? With that girl Serene?”

“Yes, him!” All three called out in unison.

Terra was silent, before looking back to the doorway. “I’ll be back in a second. It’s directly related, I promise.” Before they could answer, he rushed back out the door - swiftly walking back to where Serene was…

---

Serene saw the ball of flame that was Mortis flying back towards her, flying around her quickly.

“What? What is it, Mo- uh, you?” Serene asked softly.

The fireball started moving towards the exit, before flying back to her.

“Leave?” Mortis’s movement of up and down clearly suggested a yes.

“Just a moment, Terra said he was going to come back.”

With that Mortis began moving more frantically.

Serene let out a huff. “Just because you’re done with your business doesn’t mean I’m done with mine, you can just wait.”

It was then she could see Terra popping back into view, where she gave a friendly wave. He seemed to be approaching quickly.

The ball of flame then moved towards the phone, a horrific digital noise ringing from the phone throughout the restaurant.

Serene quickly lowered her head and put a hand over the phone. “S-sorry…!” She called out.

Once the noise died down, she picked up the phone to look at Mortis.

“We’re done, we need to-”

“He’s here anyways, so you can just wait a minute.”

“We’re not here for-”

“Just wait!” She had to hold herself back just to make sure she wasn’t yelling, glaring at her phone.

“... Just let me talk to him first, then. Just a few seconds.”

Serene let out a sigh. “... Fine, fine. But I’m not leaving until I’m done talking with him.”

“Deal.”

Finally Terra reached her, leaning in close. “Serene, did-”

“Hang on,” she said softly, passing over her phone. “Mortis wanted to talk to you first, I don’t know why.”

“But-”

The phone went on loudspeaker, letting Mortis speak up. “It’ll just take a few seconds,” the digitised voice spoke up.

Terra glared at the phone, slowly putting it up to his ear. “Listen here-”

“No you listen,” the voice spoke up, unheard to all but Terra. “I can only guess you figured out what happened-”

“Damn right I-”

“And,” Mortis talked over Terra without missing a beat, “if you tell her anything I won’t just kill you, I’ll kill every single one of them.”

Terra froze, glaring even harder. Nobody bossed him around.

…But there was nothing he could do, and he knew that. Ghosts were well known for their ability to not be touchable. “...Understood.”

“Good. I’m done talking to you, as long as she doesn’t know what’s going on, I don’t care what you say.”

Terra passed the phone right back to Serene, still glaring. “Serene?”

“Yeah?” Serene asked. “What is it?”

“He’s an asshole.”

Serene let out a sigh. “I’ll… talk to him.”

Terra let out a sigh. “Don’t trust him.”

“What? He’s a nice person, he helped me,” Serene said. “He’s just… rough around the edges.”

“He sure does have a lot of edges.”

Serene wanted to continue defending Mortis. But… “Yeah, he does.” Even she had her limits. “I’ll see you on the date!”

“The what?” Mortis’s voice called out from the phone.

“Shush,” Serene spoke quickly.

“Yeah, the date…” Terra said softly, not even pretending to be excited unlike prior.

Serene let out a hum, waving goodbye as she got her things. “But I should get going now, Mortis is really impatient.”

Terra let out a dry, low chuckle. Much more venom than previously. “Yeah, he’s really full of flaws, isn’t he?”

Serene let out a sigh. “I’ll… make sure he’s not present for our date.”

Terra let out a sigh. “... Thanks. I’ve got… important business, so I gotta go. See ya, ‘Selena’.”

Serene let out a small giggle. “Bye, Terra.” She thought about opening her arms for a hug, or kissing the back of his hand. She should… but that would be inappropriate, wouldn’t it? They hadn’t even gone on one date yet, afterall. But isn’t that what they do in the books?

She blinked, and realised that Terra had already hurried back out. She cleared her throat, gathering her things before walking back out the front door. “So what did you find?” Serene asked softly, holding the phone up to her ear.

“Oh, I know the licence plate for his limo now,” Mortis said with a small cackle. “Richard, we’re one step closer to catching you, you little w-... uh, you little traitor…”

Serene let out a hum. “Okay, that’s good.”

Silence.

“Aren’t you going to ask how my night went?”

Mortis let out a small huff. “What’s there to ask? You clearly had googly eyes for that little twig.”

Nevermind. “I’ll just… go home, then.”

---

Terra made his way back to his family, about to speak.

“Where did you leave in such a hurry!” Amanda yelled out off the bat, glaring at him with fury.

Terra cleared his throat. “I met Serene just below, I was just checking if she was involved!”

“You should’ve called the cops if you knew she was in there!”

“Actually,” Terra spoke up. “I don’t think she’s involved, because Mortis had threatened all of our lives if I told her anything, so she really does have no idea.”

“Did you tell her?”

“Fuck no!” Terra called out.

“Coward.”

“Cowa- what can I do about a murderous ghost, mom?!”

“Don’t let him walk all over you!”

“Don’t dodge the question! Tell me! What can I do?!”

“SHUT UP!” Aura cried out, fur stained with tears by now. “Both of you, just shut up!”

Amanda zipped up, glaring right at Terra.

Terra, however, let out a heavy sigh. “... Sorry.”

Aura let out a sigh. “I… I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

Damion nodded. “I think the best thing we can do is to take some time off.”

“Time off?” Amanda called out. “We need to keep the store running for some cash.”

Damion glared right at her. “Really? We’re all on edge and you think the best thing to do is to keep the pressure of work on us?”

Amanda let out a sigh, slumping back into her seat. “... Yes, you’re right, my Darling Damion. I’ll close the restaurant for a week.”

Damion walked up towards Amanda, gently hugging her while she’s in her seat. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. You all are.”

For some reason, Terra certainly didn’t feel safe, despite his father’s reassurance.

Not when he was in a psychotic ghost’s sights.

And Serene.

She had no idea what she was going to go through.

#Serene Cirillo #Mortis (character)#Terra Twigs #Amanda Twigs #Damion Twigs #Aura Twigs

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numbugwritingblog · 3 months

Text

Welcome to the New Realm! (Chapter 4)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

04/05/2018

Ah, the potion of waking.

While it cannot stave off sleep indefinitely, it’s more than a suitable option when you only need to stall sleep for one extra day.

Jett knew it was the last potion he was provided for a reason, so that Grace could at least afford him the chance to relax from the radio. Indeed he drank it all down at once, giving Grace a distinctly casual kiss on the cheek before teleporting off.

Indeed, Jett knew that Grace would not be offended by that like most people would, that was as usual of a goodbye as they ever gave.

Trailing a finger along his bag, checking that he had all of his potions at the ready Speed, Strength, Echolocation, Tracking, Reverse Injuries, Invisibility, Teleport Sense, Reverse Injuries…

Yep, check.

Oh?

There’s a potion of Crustacean Strength, too. He was not going to get up close against Scythe, but he supposed it’s there if he needs it.

Finally, he checked his spare ammo and emergency vials of arcane energy - he still did not understand how any mage can do that yet alone Grace, he’s tried to store arcane energy like that and kept accidentally casting spells.

All good.

So Jett began walking forwards towards where he can tell Scythe’s presence is. The short but uneventful walk was quickly stopped as his echolocation picked up two people, with something in their hands - presumably guns by the way they were carrying it and their posture. “Halt! Identify yourself!”

Jett stopped as instructed, waiting patiently. “General, another intruder is present.”

Even behind his sunglasses, his raised eyebrow was barely visible to them. “Are the other intruders one who speaks like an animal and another who’s been described as pale? I’m here to stop them.”

“Stay right there!” Soldiers alerted.

Well cooperation’s out of the question now. Bullets could be a threat to him, but with his potions readied up hitting him in a vital area is an unrealistic problem. Still though, best to avoid conflict.

“Sure, I’ll wait right here. You don’t mind if I take a drink, right?”

“I guess that’s fine…”

Good. Jett trailed the potions carefully, selecting the potion of invisibility and drinking it right down. He could feel his body - skin, internals, even his eyes - shifting and morphing to match the changes made by the potion.

Light no longer reflected off of him (nor his clothes, after the New Realm experimented with the spell for about 300 years - he would’ve hated the idea of stripping entirely just to use this), instantly rendering him invisible.

“Open fire!”

Jett leapt right past them before they could even pull the trigger, leaving the two of them shooting at nothing.

Being invisible also meant being blinded, but that didn’t mean anything to someone who was already blind.

But it did mean that Jett had to be far more stealthy from here on, largely relying on foreign sounds for his echolocation to avoid giving himself away.

Not that he was particularly worried, he’s trained in invisible stealth precisely as one of the few mages who could utilise it without drawback, and that’s with the New Realm knowing that it’s realistically possible. No, his only concern was how his targets would deal with him.

Afterall, he knew Valentine’s speciality…

---

This treasure hunt was nearing its end.

Valentine made no attempt at stealth - she didn’t need to with her bodyguards and her magic combined - instead casually walking forth with Scythe in the front. Trailing right behind was an absolutely massive lizard, carrying a large, two-handed axe in one hand.

Her excitement at being so close contrasted with his dull expression, despite doing everything he could to guard the rear end.

Not that there was much need. Scythe’s magic was a perfect counter to firearms, most soldiers only getting a single shot before she reflects it into a vital organ and striking them dead immediately.

Indeed, these ten guards in the hallway in front of them were technically the greatest threat they’ve faced so far.

Yet eleven bullets was all it took to incapacitate them, and Scythe took the moment to slice into each and every one, the rapid necrosis doing the job of killing them.

“It would be more efficient to let them live,” the lizard at the back spoke up, his helpful words in direct contrast to the venom in his voice.

“Thoroughness is of the utmost importance until we find the Final Spell. A living soldier could serve as a distraction or even speak on their strange devices to destroy it.” Besides the cruelty behind killing everyone they came across, Valentine had no reaction to any of it, besides one. “Besides, none of them are of any value to us alive. This is their punishment for daring to oppose us while they’re as weak as they are.”

The lizard let out a low growl, glaring directly at Valentine, gripping his weapon.

Valentine stopped, prompting Scythe to stall in kind. She turned to the lizard, grinning wide. “Well, Winter Tundra, you wish to oppose me?”

The lizard, codenamed Winter Tundra, let out a low growl in response, gripping his weapon - the posture making it clear he was quite capable of wielding this two-handed weapon with one hand. Then he ceased, anger fading away as he lowered his stance.

“Good boy.”

Anger flared back up, Tundra swung his weapon without a moment’s hesitation towards Valentine! Nobody demeans him like that!

The weapon passed through Valentine like she wasn’t there, before she approached him and flung a pin-point “needle” - one that was pure black as it pulled in nearby light - which pierced through Tundra and knocked him down onto his hands and knees.

Effortlessly defeating him, she put a foot on top of his head. As she looked down to him she grinned wide. “What are you?”

Tundra growled in a low tone.

“Say it.”

He hated this with every single fibre of his body, and yet he could not disobey. “... I’m a good boy.” Just the words sickened him.

“No, you’re a naughty boy, thinking you stood a chance against me. Remember that for next time.”

Tundra growled once more, and yet stayed still. Even as Valentine put her foot off of his head he remained still.

Valentine let out a small chuckle. A chuckle that instantly stopped. “Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to hear you, Jett?”

Silence - and yet all three of them could tell, getting into position. The fact that Scythe and the lizard man were both staring at him told Jett that they had trained in fighting while blinded, exactly as he had assumed. There was no point in hiding from them.

“I don’t know who you are, but there’s very few people who know my real name, I’ve made sure of it. Scythe, reduce it by one.”

Forgot who he was? Jett reached for his gun, and the auto-aim flicked his arm right out to aim right at Valentine. “You really don’t remember me? Because I’ve never forgotten you…” It took him a moment to focus, his aim flickering over to Scythe instead.

Scythe walked past Valentine and Tundra, and yet she did not leap in yet. This witch hunter has fought her twice, and lived both of them. It’s likely that he was already expecting her to act hyper-aggressive, and so she wouldn’t be able to overwhelm him.

Jett fired out a single shot and dodged the incoming reflection easily. He did not approach nor retreat, however. When both of them could teleport, such movements only mattered from moment to moment.

It was then Scythe teleported, Jett’s automatic aim flicking right behind him - forcing the lurcher to awkwardly twist his body just to avoid injuring himself - a moment that allowed her to strike into him with her scythe, immediately kicking him away towards Valentine.

A free victory on a silver platter, and yet Valentine did nothing.

As such Jett could heal himself up quickly with one of his healing potions. Then he got back up to his feet, swinging at Valentine.

As he swung through, she briefly vanished from his echolocation before promptly reforming. With that alone he could tell that she was either teleporting or becoming non-solid.

Scythe charged in at the attack on Valentine, hissing loudly.

Jett leapt away from the attack, landing on the ground before unloading his entire clip at once. Every shot at him he had to avoid, but he jumped ahead in the way of Valentine and her silent enforcer.

They went through Valentine, like Jett had predicted. But they struck the lizard well and truly, but then he heard the shells land on the ground.

Winter Tundra was not harmed by the barrage of bullets.

That could be bad.

Growling, he lifted up a weapon to attack, only to be stopped by Valentine raising her hand. “Stand aside, Winter Tundra.”

Jett ducked underneath Valentine’s swing, swinging his gun into her with enough force to send her colliding with the roof. He leapt up to finish the blow, only for Scythe to teleport away once more.

Jett collided against the roof before launching off just as easily, landing on his feet. He launched towards one wall in this hallway, and then the other, and then back to the first one, each leap sending him closer to Scythe.

She swung her scythe to defend herself, Jett leaping onto the side of it, pushing himself off the inner end of the blade to punch her in the face.

But even with the impact Scythe was not mindless, lifting the scythe just enough to cut to his arm. “Dammit,” Jett muttered, shuffling into his bag for another potion.

She knew it was another healing potion, and so without wasting a beat she thrust straight into the glass container.

She only realised her mistake once the glass bottle shattered. Jett dropped the already empty potion before it even collided, as instead his hand swung down to catch the wooden stafflike part of the scythe and pulled it in with all of his force.

His kick to the face was enough to forcibly drop her grip on it, and he quickly dropped his gun to have a free hand in order to bring out an actual healing potion, uncorking it with his teeth as he drank it down.

Before Scythe could get close Jett swung it 180 so that the blade end faced her. This wasn’t good, but she has had her blade stolen from her before. She can-

“That’s enough.”

Scythe immediately backed away, glaring at Jett - and at her own weapon.

“I’m impressed, Deadeye.” Immediately, Jett knew what that meant. “Your recruitment shall begin now.”

He had only one option.

He threw the scythe directly at Tundra, prompting the giant lizard man to defend himself while Scythe simultaneously dashed in to grab her weapon.

Jett then teleported straight to one of the dead soldiers, rapidly feeling for the speaker and gripping it tightly. “Destroy the final spell! It should be an old parchment with unknown-!”

He was knocked off of his feet from an attack by Valentine, flung across the hallway until he collided with the opposite wall. “If you’re lucky they won’t destroy it before I’m done with you!” Valentine hissed out as she formed more “needles” in the small gaps between her fingers, each one held aloft purely by her magic. Even she didn’t want to touch them.

Jett coughed, grinning wide despite the attack that sent him tumbling. “Clock’s ticking, then.”

Valentine wordlessly glared at the still-invisible Jett. Walking towards him. She was furious, and her silence alone told Jett just how much.

And yet…

“Winter Tundra, you handle recruitment. Scythe, search for any leads to the Final Spell. With any luck I’ll have everything I need by the day’s end.”

Jett slowly got to his feet, grinning wide in the knowledge that his plan worked, quickly teleporting behind Valentine and Scythe to ensure neither of them would strike him as they passed by.

Then his grin faded.

Everything she needed? No, that meant…!

Jett jumped back to avoid a heavy swing of the axe, feeling a cold chill spread out as he dashed away.

Tundra lifted one hand from his axe, swinging it out to flick out a bitter spray of ice cold water at Jett.

Contact instantly made him start shivering, hypothermia was suddenly a concern when it wasn’t moments ago. “Grr…”

Krios then lifted an arm up, the cold water around Jett instantly freezing into ice and leaving him trapped in place. “You’re lucky that she wanted you recruited, otherwise I’d have frozen you on the spot. Actually…”

He paused, thinking through what he was saying.

“... No. No, you’re not lucky at all. Death is better than this.”

Jett needed to get out of here!

He needed to save Grace and-!

If he just teleported to them, Tundra is going to follow and then him and this mystery foe will just team up…

Jett needed to go somewhere else.

He lifted his arm to cast a teleport spell.

Only for his arm to freeze. He let a sharp inhale at the sudden sting of the chilled ice, unable to break free.

Tundra let out a huff as he finished the spell, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you escape this… ‘recruitment’.” His gruff tone softened up the last word, and - even though Jett wouldn’t be able to see it - he looked at Jett with soft eyes, the harshness he had for Valentine replaced with sympathy.

Jett grunted again, gripping his gun with his free hand. Immediately he pulled the trigger, letting the auto-aim take complete control as it harshly flicked his arm towards himself, a single bullet flying out to hit the icy shell trapping his arm.

The arm holding the gun was frozen in response. But it was what Jett needed.

With his hand free of the frozen ice, it meant his hand was completely dry.

He reached down to his belt of potions, pulling out one before Tundra could freeze the rest and downing it immediately, so frantic that some spilled over his lips and he even coughed up a bit that threatened to go into his lungs.

Tundra pulled his axe out of the ground, charging at Jett to swing down on him again.

Deliberately avoiding lethal strikes, he swung into Jett’s gun arm, making the lurcher yell out in pain.

And he continued yelling, his good arm starting to shake.

“It’s futile,” Tundra said softly, kneeling. “The only choice I can give you is to go whole or to go with broken bones.”

Jett continued to yell out in pain, something growing across his arm. Hard, inflexible, brown. It shattered the ice covering his arm, layer by layer, as it slowly took shape. His arm had grown far larger, resembling that of a crustacean like a crab or scorpion.

Jett let out a small chuckle, his teeth still bared to keep himself through the pain. “Alright then. Let’s break some bones.”

His only hope was that he’d be able to get to Grace and Sal in time.

---

Scythe wasn’t even checking which doors were locked and which weren’t. Just one quick slice at the hinges was all it took to send each of the doors to drop down and fall over - no matter whether they were reinforced or not.

Those who so much as raised a weapon at Scythe met a grisly, painful death. But those who weren’t a threat weren’t treated as such.

To an outsider observer it might appear that Scythe was wildly trashing each room she was visiting, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She was searching. Searching for what will have text from a New Realm language on it.

Room after room.

Kill after kill.

Document after document.

She came up empty.

This next room didn’t even have anyone armed. These scientists backed up and hid in a corner, one brandishing a pipe as a makeshift weapon. They were all in a corner, they weren’t a threat.

As usual Scythe pulled into the drawers, tossing out paper after paper - giving them only a quick glance to confirm what type of language they were using.

Nothing.

She was about to leave when she saw that there was a potted plant on the bench, from a casual glance it looked healthy, but Scythe knew it was in need of something. She should continue on her mission.

But…

Valentine never said she couldn’t water this plant, if she was quick about it.

She approached the potted plant without a noise, raising a hand. She gently placed a finger on it, purposefully weak magic surging through it.

Then she knew what was missing. She raised her hand and cast a small spell to pull in the vapour from the air, which condensed enough to fall into the potted plant all at once.

Satisfied with watering the plant, she continued on.

---

Valentine was far more focused.

She wanted the final spell, and she wanted it bad. She knew that she would find it eventually, the vision she was told meant that the odds were in her favour, but that same vision said she would die by the very witch hunter that was in this base.

It didn’t make sense. She was going to add him to her allyship, he shouldn’t have been a threat to her. Maybe she should have committed to recruitment…

No. No, securing the final spell is more important than getting him out of the way. She just needs to find another way of dealing with this threat.

Right now, her only threat was these military idiots destroying the paper before she could reach it. They’d be throwing away unimaginable potential if they did that. They might even stand a chance against her if these Old Realmers learnt the spell’s secrets.

Destroying it only benefits people who will not help them.

A locked door. Valentine focused on the aura of light absorption she had around herself, expanding it until it covered the other end of the door - and making the area within colder as a direct side-effect.

She dropped her internal thoughts entirely, quantum spells require the utmost concentration…

And she casted it, so now she stood on the other side. “Surrender or die.”

Gunshots, so typical. Valentine stood still, her focus on the quantum disentanglement, letting the bullets harmlessly pass through her atoms.

“So you choose death.”

She condensed matter down, so much so that the light bent around it was barely visible as a pitch black needle, which she “flung” out to the idiot that tried shooting at her.

Unlike her recruits, who were useful alive, this one died instantly as the needle pierced through their vitals, the wound so small that even a mage like her could not see it without magnification.

But she didn’t stop at the one. One of them attacked her, so they must all die.

Needle after needle after needle.

None of them stood a chance.

Once every living person was a dead corpse, Valentine waltzed on into the room. Out of her own shadow, she could see that this was for organising files. If the search didn’t have its own dedicated room, this is a likely candidate.

She opened up the first box, sorting through the papers within.

Results of examination on subject Cirillo- pass.

Results of examination on subject Sánchez- not interested.

Test subject acquired, begin preliminary tests on super soldier project- like these Old Realmers could make anything worthy of being called “super” without magic.

As Valentine searched deeper and deeper, her mind was free to think about the future once more.

She doesn’t know who Jett is, but that name is too familiar to her. It can’t be deja vu, she must have met him before… Especially since he seems to already know her name. Someone who met her and lived to tell the tale…

It doesn’t make sense. He’s a Witch Hunter, so he can’t be some Old Realmer she’s all too happy to ignore. But he clearly knows to search for missing witches in the Old Realm, and she has yet to hear of a Witch Hunter who seriously entertained the thought.

Is he a former witch she crossed paths with? Maybe he turned himself in to avoid the death penalty?

She was about to dismiss the thought, only for something far more important to come to her attention.

New Realm text.

Her eyes were glued to the old parchment as she effortlessly read what this military could not translate.

[translation available at the bottom of the page]

To whomever hath discovered mine final letter.

I has't discovered a spell that is truly horrifying. Its benefits seemeth innocuous at first, but from mine analysis of the spell effects, overuse within a population wilt guarantee the end of all life on the New Realm within 1 year. coequal if 't be true I convinced mine peers of this fact, they’ll just resort to casting this spell in the Fusty Realm and doom those folk to the same fate.

The Fusty Realm might beest filled with fools who want the true glory of us mages, but I still cannot sitteth content with either realm coming to an end. I must destroy all traces of the spell.

I must, and yet can I calleth myself a true wizard if 't be true I doth not preserve the knowledge that I findeth? I cannot betray mine true calling. The only compromise I can bethink of is to hide hence mine knowledge. I has't hath found somewhere secluded to hide hence the instructions on casting the Final Spell, and - just like whither this letter wilt end up - t is within the Fusty Realm.

If 't be true thee art a mage like I, I has't but only one request. Please doth not alloweth the knowledge of this spell falleth into the hands of anyone else.

Teiwaz, the most powerful wizard of New Realm Year 307.

This is a real letter. It fit with everything she knew, even matched Teiwaz’s handwriting. This letter was telling her exactly where the Final Spell was hidden, and it’s the real deal.

And yet.

Yet this stupid egg hunt had just been extended by another step! Why every single time it looked like she was finished there’s just another arbitrary obstacle in the way! It made her want to just-!

No, no, remember the vision. This is good news. Jett’s most likely to kill her once she actually finds the Final Spell. This means that she has longer to prepare for the inevitable. This is… good news.

Frustrating news. But good news.

Now let’s hope her new recruits are ready.

---

Translation of Teiwaz’s letter:

To whomever has discovered my final letter.

I have discovered a spell that is truly horrifying. Its benefits seem innocuous at first, but from my analysis of the spell effects, overuse within a population will guarantee the end of all life on the New Realm within 10 years. Even if I convinced my peers of this fact, they’ll just resort to casting this spell in the Old Realm and doom them to the same fate.

The Old Realm might be filled with fools who lack the true glory of us mages, but I still cannot sit content with either realm coming to an end. I must destroy all traces of the spell.

I must, and yet can I call myself a true wizard if I do not preserve the knowledge that I find? I cannot betray my true calling. The only compromise I can think of is to hide away my knowledge. I have found somewhere secluded to hide away the instructions on casting the Final Spell, and - just like where this letter will end up - it is within the Old Realm.

If you are a mage like I, I have but only one request. Please do not let the knowledge of this spell fall into the hands of anyone else.

Teiwaz, the most powerful wizard of New Realm Year 307.

---

Vote for the next chapter here!

#Jett Harker #Scythe (character)#Winter Tundra (character)#Grace (character)#Valentine (character)#Sal Vagilattea #Welcome to the New Realm #Buggyverse

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numbugwritingblog · 4 months

Text

Arceus vs Solaris: a Battle of the Deities of Light (narration)

Pre-narration note: this is a companion piece to a discussion over on my lore blog, which you can read here.

---

… What?

This woman was standing alone in confusion. With long, curly platinum blonde hair, and an all black outfit comprised of a v-neck dress shirt and pants with a coat and scarf overneath and high heels at the bottom, she held a red and white ball in her left hand. One thing was very clear to Cynthia, she’s not in the Pokemon battle she thought she was going to be.

When she took in her surroundings she was even more confused. She was at a stone platform, broken marble pillars standing at both sides, resting on top of a mountain’s soil. She knew this place, it was Spear Pillar, resting on top of Mt. Coronet. But the surrounding sky didn’t suggest that, instead looking like a void, all sorts of colours mixing in and out without breaking through the endless purple that covered all of it.

And then she saw that she wasn’t alone. There were two people, one looked like some sort of child wearing old fashioned clothing - styled after the Hisui era, was the woman’s first guess - laying on the ground unconscious.

The other was an elderly man - white hair that connected to an equally white goatee and beard, wearing what looked a mix between a royal white robe with a suit, orange neckline and shoulder pads resting atop an electronic device attached to the front, with big, brown boots. He was on his knees, looking forlorn to the sun.

Wait, no… That’s not the sun.

“It’s too late…”

Something bad was happening, that’s for sure, and so she approached the old man and kneeled in front of him. “What’s going on?” Getting some answers was the most important thing to start off with.

The man looked over in surprise to Cynthia, before slowly looking back to the sky. “Solaris refused to listen to me. And now it is going to bring all to an end. This is my fault…”

“Solaris?” Cynthia matched his gaze to the sky, squinting until she could make out what looked like… An eagle? No, it can’t be that…

Then she heard something behind herself, looking back to see that the child had awoken. They took one look at what was going on and their eyes widened, before looking over to the surrounding region. Staring at Spear Pillar…

Then, without saying a word, they brought out their flute and put it to their lips, playing an ethereal tune.

[azure flute theme]

Cynthia didn’t see anything at first, until the child began walking forwards, their feet ascending into the air as if they were walking on air.

Then she blinked, and the stairway of glowing light was illuminated. Stunned at first, she quickly rushed after the child, matching their pace up the stairs.

She knew what she saw at the top, though she could not believe that it was real. A being of golden, shining light, standing on four legs in the vague resemblance of a deer, an X-shaped cross through its body - wait, no, it stopped at a ring placed right around its waist.

It was Arceus. A shiny Arceus.

[Team Arceus theme | Team Solaris theme]

THOU DARE HARM MY CREATION

She did not hear a voice speak out, and yet she knew exactly what words were said. She also knew that they weren’t directed at her. She looked back up to the sky.

THOU THREATEN TO TEAR IT ALL ASUNDER

Arceus then began flying right in front of Cynthia’s eyes - no, it would be more accurate to say it simply willed itself up, like the very concepts of gravity, weight, even space itself held no meaning.

THEN THOU SHALT FACE MY JUDGEMENT

Arceus used Judgement!

The X-shaped cross turned a light purple as a hail of beams from the sky rained down upon Solaris, completely consuming it in the purple light.

Only for it to fade, leaving Solaris’s unnerving white glow behind.

“It’s no use.” The old man was delayed in getting to the top, due to his old age and poor condition - whatever had happened prior to all of this had clearly worn him down. “Solaris is truly invincible.”

“Arceus created the world…” Cynthia was quiet, but that’s all that was needed for her to be heard. “If anything has what it takes to get past that, it’s Arceus.”

Arceus’s eyes flashed, one an everlasting blue and the other an ever present pink, and like that two more Pokemonexisted where they didn’t before.

A dark blue, four legged beast with what appeared to have silver armour pieces resembling a helmet, a chest piece, and a fan-shaped tail was on one side.

A pale pink two legged beast with thin purple stripes along its body, a long tail, and an elongated neck leading into a straight frill was on the other.

Cynthia stared upon them, mouth agape. “It’s Palkia and Dialga, masters over time and space!”

Arceus backed up as the other two Pokemon fought, focusing itself as the glows in its eyes vanished, replaced by a black void in each.

Palkia used Spacial Rend!

Palkia lifted its arms up and slammed them together, before sliding one arm up and the other down - all of space in front of it distorting to mirror its movements, right over Solaris. Then it spread its arms apart, the affected space splitting in half to match.

And yet Solaris was fine, an orange orb - with an ethereal eye that stared at whoever looked upon it - opening up and firing out a purple spiky ball. Palkia evaded the attack effortlessly - but yet when it reached where Palkia used to be the being still flinched back as if it were hit, stumbling back.

“The eyes of Solaris,” the old man said. “As it exists throughout all of time… So do its eyes perceive all of it.

Dialga used Roar of Time!

Dialga roared out immediately afterwards - to Cynthia it lasted only a moment, to the old man it lasted for an hour, and to the child it didn’t last any time at all, causality ripping apart as the roar spread out to Solaris, pushing it back.

Immediately the one orange orb became many orbs, countless orbs, firing off more purple spikes at the two Pokemon.

Palkia began dodging once more, this time distorting space itself to redirect the spikes away from where they once were.

Dialga joined in, distorting time so that the spikes just skip past Dialga without traversing the time in-between.

Then Solaris fired a laser directly at Arceus, launching the Pokemon back, so far back that it can no longer be seen.

Palkia briefly turned to Dialga, and was met with the other Pokemon turning back to it - the two briefly nodding.

Palkia used Spacial Rend!

Dialga used Roar of Time!

Palkia drew its arms in together, folding space down into one singular point ahead of the two Pokemon, while Dialga let out another roar, reaching directly into the impossibly small space, tearing all of time contained within asunder.

Still Solaris was unharmed, ready to launch more at the two of them.

Only for something to grab it from behind.

Giratina used Shadow Force!

It was a shadow from the void, no distinct features besides the glowing red, devilish eyes it possessed and four black tendrils wrapping around Solaris.

“What’s that?” the old man exclaimed in shock, eyes wide. For the first time, hope returned in his frail old body.

“Giratina,” Cynthia said softly, her eyes still locked at the battle for reality. “Even the Renegade Pokemon was summoned to help…”

Arceus used Calm Mind!

The summoner, Arceus, returned with a fierce glare. Its mind and spirit focused solely on this battle as its allies fought for it.

It fired out another Judgement, piercing even harder than it had before.

Solaris flinched from the hit, a piece of its armour breaking off, pale blue fragments floating off into the void.

Just as it looked like victory was night, a new type of orb formed alongside the orange ones.

Blue orbs, which formed right on top of Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

Palkia instinctively bent space until it was no longer near the orb, watching as the remaining three were instantly crushed away into nothing - only for a barrage of purple orbs to bring down Palkia moments later.

“No!” Cynthia yelled out, reaching an arm out to the sky. Then she dropped to her knees, arm still held up high. “No…”

So that was it. This thing was going to destroy everything…

It was over…

… No. It’s not over yet. Whatever this thing was, she wasn’t going to let it have its way as long as she drew breath. Cynthia grabbed one of her Pokeballs, ready to fight.

THOU SHALT NOT DESTROY MY CREATION

She stopped in place. That was… This peaceful, golden light… Cynthia looked back up to see the source of the light. She couldn’t make out any details behind it, but she knew. This was Arceus, still. But how?

As if to answer her question, the sky suddenly became filled. More Arceus than the eye could see. More Arceus than she could count. Not even the purple void of a sky could be seen, as everywhere she looked was just more Arceus.

Each and every single one of them focused their power together.

Arceus used Judgement!

Together, an endless barrage of light, flashing and glittering in all 18 colours, rained down upon Solaris’s body, the being yelling out in pain and agony. The combined power was too much for it, as more armour broke off from it…

And then it expanded its light, destroying every single one of the Pokemon in a single flash of light, turning up to the golden light that was their source.

FACE MY JUDGEMENT

The two beings focused their raw power, the inhuman white light clashing against the life filled golden light.

Cynthia, the old man, and the child all shielded their eyes. This light… it was too much… They… can’t… even…

…

Cynthia blinked, looking around. What was-

“Hey, your Pokemon?”

That’s right, she was about to fight a trainer who had challenged her for the position of Champion. Still, something lingered in the back of her mind even as she threw out Spiritomb against her opponent, shouting commands for it to follow.

It was almost like she had forgotten something.

---

Post narration note: for those of you who didn’t realise it, the child is meant to be the Hisuian protagonist (and were left nondescript on purpose for you to apply whatever appearance you personally imagine for them), and the old man is meant to be the Duke of Soleanna, who lacks a personal name unlike his daughter Elise

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Pokemon #Arceus #Almighty Sinnoh #The Original Spirit #Solaris #Solaris the Sun God #Cynthia #Duke of Soleanna #Protagonist (Pokemon Legends: Arceus)#Protagonist (PL:A)

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numbugwritingblog · 5 months

Text

Just Your Ordinary Invincible Bystander (Chapter 3)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

19/7/2018

Jane didn’t much care for the clothes she had on.

These plain pants and shirt just pulled her body in the wrong ways, and the coat she had on was all one size too big.

But she only had a few more minutes to deal with this, as she walked towards her house, her home. Given how much she caused the cars she climbed in to tilt, she wasn’t sure how public transportation would take it. Her weight was definitely above human norm.

Still, it wasn’t long until she got home. Lawn was mowed and the front yard was cleaned up. Thank god Legacy had looked after her home, her brother. She made her way up to the front door. It had been 5 months since she disappeared, but to her it felt like only two days had passed.

She rang the doorbell.

Already she heard running, someone practically crashing into the door in order to swing it wide open.

It was Scooter, staring right at Jane, grinning wide with tears in his eyes. He then swung the wire door wide open, running to hug her as quickly as he could, sobbing loudly all the while. “You’re here! You’re back!”

He was taller, only a few centimetres but she could tell immediately. She could also tell that his grip was as tight as he could make it, she felt every ounce of strength and yet not feel at all squeezed by his grip.

“I’m sorry for taking so long,” Jane said softly, hugging him back.

“Ow!”

Jane flinched back at her brother’s yelp of pain, and upon realising it was from her let out a quick apology. Even as he felt his sore back, Scooter continued to look Jane in the eye. “... Hug me… Please…”

“But-” Jane paused, she knew that she’d have to get into the whole thing right away to explain why that hug had hurt. “... I’ll be as soft as I can.” She pulled him in for a hug again, this time making sure to put absolutely no pressure on his back at all. It felt stiff, uncomfortable, and unnatural to be hugging like this. But it was how she had to hug him now.

Said hug lasted for a while, even as Legacy came walking in and keeping quiet. Jane didn’t want it to end, she wanted Scooter to know how much she wanted to be there for him the whole time, and how much she hated missing out on five months. Just as much, Scooter didn’t want it to end, he wanted Jane to know just how much he missed her, and how he kept his promise the whole time.

When the hug finally ended, Jane looked over to Legacy with a warm smile, walking up and offering a hug - before awkwardly retracting it. Scooter couldn’t handle it, she didn’t want to hurt Legacy. “Thank you so much for looking after Scooter while I was missing. It's so good to see you in person after so long too, I just wish it was in better circumstances.”

Legacy let out a sigh and tried to pull Jane in for a hug. Her weight threw Legacy through a loop, but it took just a moment to regain her balance with Jane’s strong support, and she instead held onto Jane for her hug. “He lost his parents and his sister, I couldn’t let him lose his home too.”

In mention of his parents, Scooter stood up and walked back along the hallway, retreating to his room. Not a word, not a moment of hesitation, he was just gone.

Legacy watched him leave silently, letting out a sigh. He didn’t want to think about his parents, did he? She turned back to Jane, breaking the hug. “What happened?”

“I…” Jane closed her eyes, thinking back to that base she woke up in, having to flail her way out with how her body was like now… “Not now. I promise I’ll tell you, but right now I just want to lay down and sleep in my own bed.”

Legacy nodded. “I kept your room clean, but I didn’t go in it besides that. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of anything while you were just missing.”

“Thank you.” Jane made her way to the bedroom, seeing that it really was left pristine, her sheets made and her clothes all put away. She closed her door, trudging to the bed and dropping down right onto it.

-SNAP-

… And she broke the bed. Ah well, that’s a problem for future Jane. For right now she just let herself relax, closing her eyes as she let this complete exhaustion catch up to her. It was the earliest and the fastest she had fallen asleep in her life.

…

And just over in the next room, Scooter had gotten to his desk, pulling out one specific comic book. One he had not read yet. One that he didn’t even put in his collection yet. His hands were shaky. His sister was back, and he had kept his promise. And still it was hard to accept it was real.

Could his parents come back too?

No, no, don’t think about that! He can’t! He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he waited for Jane for a reason, and slowly flipped open the first page.

---

20/7/2018

-KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-

The sun was barely over the horizon, morning light basking the few rooms which had their curtains open. Legacy was deep asleep, and Scooter was snoring peacefully.

The only one awake was Jane, having fallen asleep rather early. She’d get to her feet, making her way over to the front door. She’d peek through first, seeing two wolves in suits, one white furred and the other black furred. They better not be travelling salesmen.

She opened up the door, not saying a word as she looked at them through the wire door.

It was the white wolf who spoke up immediately. “I am Agent Pepper, and this is Agent Brine, we came as representatives of the United Federation government.”

Oh.

“And what do you want?” she said in a distinctly negative tone as she eyed the two wolves with suspicion.

“We want you to remain silent about the actions of former General Thomas.”

Jane was silent for a solid few seconds, glaring at the two of them with utter incredulity. “I don’t know what you did to me, but from what I can tell you’re crazy if you think you’ll be able to kill me.”

“No, we know,” Agent Brine clarified. “We’re here to negotiate your silence.”

Jane raised another brow. “And what are you offering?”

“$100,000 dollars.” Agent Pepper presented a check right off the bat, holding it shy of the wire door.

“Make it double-”

“Deal.” Agent Pepper interrupted Jane, putting the check away to write a second one.

“And,” Jane spoke in a louder voice, glaring at the white wolf for interrupting her. “I want to know what you did to me.”

“That’s classified.” Agent Pepper spoke up immediately.

“And so’s my fucking back, so if you want my silence you can at least tell me what you shoved in there.”

There was silence as the two wolves looked at each other. “We’d better call HQ,” Agent Pepper whispered to his ally.

The black wolf shook his head and turned back to Jane. “Very well, you can know.”

Agent Pepper lowered his sunglasses, eyes wide. “But-”

“She already knows classified secrets, if the press gets to her before she’s agreed then that classified information is leaking out.”

“Good,” Jane said with an exasperated sigh.

Agent Pepper scowled at his partner, but otherwise kept silence.

“You might as well tell my brother and my friend, there’s no way they won’t see whatever it is on my back, and you said you wanted to keep it a secret, didn’t you?”

The two wolves let out a sigh in unison as Jane opened up the door. That was an agreement if anything was.

“Would you like some coffee? Tea?”

---

By now Scooter and Legacy had both woken up, the former happily eating cereal (dinosaur egg oatmeal, his favourite) as the latter was sitting with Jane and the two agents. In front of them, two contracts laid on the table, signed by both Jane and Legacy. The two had just signed to keep quiet.

“So everyone’s awake,” Jane said softly. “You can tell us what’s going on.”

Agent Pepper glared at Agent Brine for a moment, before speaking up. “What you have in your spine is-”

“You have something in your spine?!” Scooter called out, unwittingly spitting milk and oatmeal out of his mouth from the shock.

“... Is an unknown material we discovered, unlike anything else we’ve ever catalogued. It’s heat resistant, cold resistant, and the most durable material we have ever discovered on the planet, and we have tried every form of testing that would not otherwise leave any long term effects on it to test. Only former General Thomas knew how to melt it down, and even that was by a process that takes multiple weeks each time.”

Jane glared at the mention of General Thomas. “And what did you do to me?”

Agent Brine turned to Agent Pepper, giving a slow nod. “He discovered that, when supplied with an electrical charge, the metal supplies its properties to nearby material, as long as it is partially encased within.”

“Or further.”

“Given the difficulty in un-melting it once it cooled, it was agreed to begin experimentation on deceased individuals donated to us.”

“Deceased?!” Jane got to her feet, eyes wide.

Legacy gasped, looking over to Jane, and then back to the agents. “You mean… Jane…” She put a hand to her face, fighting back tears.

Even Scooter picked up quickly, leaving the room immediately (leaving his cereal abandoned).

“Yes,” one of the agents approved. “Nobody questioned anything at the time because we knew we’d have to install it before muscle death set in, it was the first subject available in months.”

Jane was completely silent, staring down at her hands. She…

She was dead?

For five months?!

The first question on her mind was clear.

“How…” She took a deep breath in, steeling herself for any possible answer. “... How did I come back?”

The answer she got was the one she was expecting the least.

“We still don’t know. We integrated the replacement spine immediately and then kept it on low charge while we got our first tests ready. You gained consciousness the moment we switched to a high charge.”

Jane dropped down onto the soft chair, hearing a creak as her weight pushed against it. Speechless.

It was Legacy who turned back to the agents. “What… Is Jane going to be alright?”

Agent Pepper gave a nod. “We’re at work on a replacement charge as we speak, as the material’s weight will cause pain - and eventually death - if the charge runs out - and we’re working on creating custom furniture, given the additional weight caused by the device. Along with that you have a new doctor you will be seeing from now on.”

“Very… generous.”

“We need to handle accommodations ourselves, given the confidential nature.”

This time it was Legacy who spoke up, her face pale from hearing that her friend had died. “… Who did this, again?”

Agent Brine took a breath in to speak, but it was neither of the agents who got a word out.

“General Thomas.” It was Jane who spoke, her tone in a low growl at just thinking of that man. “What is going to happen to him?”

Both agents were silent at first, before Agent Brine finally spoke up. “Former General Thomas has gone missing following the incident. He is currently wanted for the incident, and will likely face life in prison without parole.”

Jane curled one hand into a fist, so tightly that it would’ve crushed anyone else’s. “He killed me.”

“We know-”

“HE KILLED ME!” Jane swung back to her feet, rage building within herself - both agents uncharacteristically flinching back. “YOU JUST LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT?!”

Agent Pepper shook his head. “We’re upset about it too, this is already a public scandal and he’s left billions of dollars uselessly tucked away in the back of a civilian.”

“Billions of- HE KILLED ME!”

“And he will answer for it.” Agent Brine stood up after speaking, nodding. “You can be sure of that.”

Jane just let out a sigh, this time carefully sitting back in her chair so as to not break it anymore than she already has.

Silence took over the room, the two agents entirely unflinching while Legacy was looking about awkwardly. “How- how about we…” she lost the words, unsure of what to say.

“Get out.” Jane said to the two agents. “I don’t want to hear another word ever again.”

The agents gave a nod, one offering a card to Legacy. “If there’s any issues relating to the spine, call us.”

“There is one,” Legacy spoke up.

“Can’t you remove it? Then she can live her life as normal?”

Their complete silence only served to give Legacy an answer. “... You can’t, can you?”

More silence.

“... Did it mess with her spine?”

“It replaced her old spine.” Agent Brine made his way to the door, opening it up and letting Agent Pepper through. He turned to the three of them, opening his mouth to speak, only for no words to come. After a second, he gave up. “This will conclude our meeting. Remember, this never happened.”

He then closed the door, leaving the three alone.

Jane looked down to her hands, her breath heavy. “I can’t believe it…”

Legacy got up, wincing in pain as she made her way over to Jane. “It will be okay.”

“How?” Jane called out. “I died, got my back carved out for some scary tech, and now if I don’t do the softest of fucking hugs I risk breaking my brother’s back! How will it be okay?!”

Legacy was quiet for a moment, leaning in to gently hug Jane. “Because we’ll be here for you.”

Jane looked back to Legacy. She said nothing, but the tears filling her eyes said everything as she leaned in to - very gently - hug Legacy back.

“You’re right,” Jane said softly. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

---

21/7/2018

“Hello, Mr. Stanley’s office, what can I help you with?”

Finally gotten through to the office, Jane let a small breath in. She didn’t want to do this, but that sum of money wasn’t going to last forever. “Hello, this is Jane Shawcross, I called in to see how soon I could resume my job?”

“Resume? As in?”

“I am an employee at your boss’s company, I was absent because I was kidnapped. How soon can I resume?”

“Let me see the work file…”

Jane let out a small sigh as she waited for approval, twirling the cord on her phone all the while. It should be just a moment before she-

“Apologies ma’am, but there aren’t any openings to resume your job from 5 and a half months ago.”

“What.”

“You will need to apply for a different job at the company. Our interview is on the website.”

“I’ve been there for a whole year!” Jane called out as she got to her feet. “You can’t just kick me out, I-!”

“I hear you,” the lady said. “But your old position’s been filled, there’s nothing I can do.”

Jane let out a heavy breath in, feeling her body clench up. “It’s- I need to- you- why?!” It took her a second to realise that when she clenched her fist she broke the phone. Great, jobless and now she broke the house phone. She dropped the broken pieces onto the table, resting her head on her now spare hand. She had to make that money last until her next job, and everything she wrecked was going to add onto that tab.

Relax, relax. It’s 200k, it’s going to last long enough.

---

22/07/2018

“What’s wrong with the car?” Jane asked aloud, opening up the hood of the car.

Legacy let out a sigh. “I don’t know, it just stopped working today.” She sat down on the front bench, watching Jane at work as she shuffled through her purse. “I’ll get the keys ready! As soon as I find them…”

Jane opened up the car’s hood, taking a look inside. “Shouldn’t need them. Let’s see…” As Jane worked on the mechanics inside the car, she found herself still needing to control her strength. But at the same time, tools she needed before to manage certain things she could now circumvent with even a tiny bit of her strength put in, leaving her with just the precision tools to manage.

“... This looks like the problem,” Jane said aloud, leaning in closer to the car - her weight already enough to tilt its weight amongst its four wheels. Tinkering deep inside… “And… done!” Jane very carefully closed the hood of the car, careful not to damage it by accident.

“That’s great!” Legacy called out eagerly, finally managing to locate the electronic key from within her maze of a purse. “And look! I found them now, we can take it for a test drive!” She leaned an arm out, pushing the button to unlock the doors.

The flash of light as the car unlocked stole Jane’s attention for a moment, the wolf’s body tense as she blinked mindlessly.

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Legacy said happily, clueless to her friend’s reaction. “I can even turn it on from a distance, watch!”

Before Jane could say anything the lights flicked back on right in front of her face, Jane’s eyes lost within the light.

This… Was… That night. She was heading home, when… That car… Thomas! He’s going to run her over…! She knew she couldn’t get away, she couldn’t run, all she could do was wait for the inevitable. She jerked a hand out to defend herself.

The hard metallic crunch and loud, awful scraping snapped her back to reality. It had all happened in less than a second, and yet she was already panting heavily, fur on end as it took her a moment to realise what just happened.

Legacy’s car… The front of it was snapped open. The car folded in on itself from the force. A wheel even came loose. The gate behind the car didn’t fare much better, about a quarter broken off entirely, and another quarter barely hanging on to their posts. She punched it.

She punched it.

She punched it! “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Jane quickly yelled out as she turned to Legacy. “I- I don’t know what came over me!” Still panting erratically, she walked right up to Legacy to hug her - but she stopped just shy. She didn’t want to hurt Legacy.

“...” Legacy was still silent, just staring as her car had been ruined in less than a second. Finally she realised that her friend had spoken to her, turning to Jane in the eyes. “You? What… happened?”

Jane paused to think back, her fur still on end. What happened? She… “I panicked.”

“What?”

“I saw the lights on, and then… I panicked.”

“You mean the car lights?” Legacy asked aloud, turning to the wreck. “But why would… Oh! Did… Was that how he?”

Jane gulped, turning back to the wrecked car. “... I don’t want to talk about it.”

Legacy let out a sigh. “I understand… I’m sorry for bringing up-”

“I don’t. Want. To talk. About it.”

Legacy nodded, turning back inside. “... It will be fine. I can bring Scooter to school on the bus tomorrow. Then we can buy a new car and pay to have it fixed.”

Yes. More money to spend. Maybe the 200k won’t last as long as she thought it would.

---

24/07/2018

Jane was waving goodbye to Scooter and Jane, smiling wide as her brother was about to attend another of his classes. She waited until they were on the bus before she turned around to go back in. She needed to start her job hunting right away, afterall.

-SNAP-

… She broke the front door right off its hinges. This was going to keep happening, wasn’t it?

---

26/07/2018

It was early in the morning. Still half asleep, Jane got up to her feet to start the day. Stumbling over to the window, she slid it open to let the fresh air in.

-SHATTER-

… And broke the window from the force of sliding it, glass shattered across the floor.

---

27/0702018

Jane was walking down the street - with her car at god knows where and Legacy’s absolutely totalled, walking was the best bet she had.

But she wasn’t alone on her trip today, no Scooter was along with her. Afterall, she was walking to the comic book store for him, might as well take this excuse to make him get some exercise too, and then he can pick the specific comic of his choice (not that he was going to pick anything other than Wild Wolf…). Besides, why shouldn’t she treat him for a week of studies going well?

“This is so great,” Scooter said excitedly, tail swishing back and forth as he followed right along his sister. Jane should absolutely do this more often, what with how excited he is about-

“I get to tell people I have a real life superheroine as a sister!” Wait, what?

“Scooter…” Jane let out a small sigh, shaking her head. “I’m not a superheroine.”

“Yeah you are!” Scooter called out as he defiantly huffed his chest. “You’re like.. Super strong! And you're invincible! I mean you’re probably going to find out a new superpower in like, a week!”

“Superheroes aren’t real, they’re little guys in comic books going around saving people. I’m just Jane.”

“You’re a good person.” Scooter wasn’t having it. “I know you’ll save people when it really comes down to it. It’s just like Steamroller!”

“I’ve got work! I’ve got you to look after!-”

“Hey, I’m 12! I’m a big kid!”

“-I can’t just throw that away whenever some crisis calls!”

“Yeah you can!” Scooter got in front of Jane, crossing his arms.

His sister hurriedly stopped at this, letting out a faint grumble. “Scooter, you’re not supposed to stop in front of people. Especially when they’re so strong they can accidentally break your back just because they didn’t stop in time.”

“You just need a costume!”

“Think of how long it would take to get changed.”

“And a base!”

“With what money? The government cash needs to last.”

“You’ve got the powers, the heart, the tragic backstory-”

“Woah woah, what? Tragic backstory? I mean it’s just me.”

Scooter opened his mouth, before he went silent. Ears drooping down.

Wordlessly, Jane understood what he meant, her ears drooping down in kind. “... It’s just me.”

Scooter took a deep breath in, looking Jane in the eye. “You’ve got to.”

“Scooter…”

“Mum and dad would be proud.”

The glare Scooter got from his sister immediately told him that he said something he shouldn’t have.

“Home. Now.”

“Wha- but the comic book!” Scooter yelled out.

“Don’t you dare use mum and dad like that. We’re headed home right now, you can get your comic another day.”

“But-”

“Now.”

Scooter huffed, crossing his arms as he stomped back from right behind Jane, grumbling under his breath all the while. “Didn’t want the stupid comic book anyways…”

Jane shook her head, putting a hand up against it slowly. Hopefully this is the worst of her problems…

---

Blistering snowstorms kept this well hidden, a thick white veil ensuring anyone who came without some means of navigation wound up lost and dead.

Fortunately, he always came prepared.

Kicking open the door of the old, abandoned lab open, Thomas dragged the heavy crate in alongside the four heavy lifters he had hired. “And that should be $10,000 each for the trouble,” he said, casually passing over the money to them.

They pocketed the cash, counting amongst themselves as Thomas made his way to the generator, powering it up. In a burst, the lights all came on at once, as multiple devices began booting up at once. His private lab, away from the seeing eyes of anyone who would go after him.

“Remember,” Thomas said. “Not a soul is to know where this is.”

“You got it,” one of them answered, pulling out their map to navigate a way back.

All the while Thomas made his way to the main computer, waiting for it to finish booting up. He was going to get his weapon back. No matter the costs.

And to do that, he needed to plan.

#buggyverse #Just Your Ordinary Invincible Bystander #Jane Shawcross #Scooter Shawcross #Legacy (character)#General Thomas (character)

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The Miracle Mind of Serene: the Tale of a Girl and a Ghost (Chapter 3)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

26/01/2018

The Delicious Den.

A restaurant that had been founded by a small family 50 years ago, and which had been going strong ever since. It has seen its glory days come and go, but the restaurant is still going strong, with even some high class elites choosing it as their restaurant of choice.

But Terra didn’t care about any of that. He just worked here because his mother, the restaurant owner, demanded him to. Not like he had much of a choice, given he didn’t have the money to move out, nor will he on this income.

So here he was today, handing in the last lunch receipt before his scheduled break, the swan lady at the table looking at it with fury. “Forty five dollars?! For this?!”

“Yeah we’re not a charity,” Terra, the small little bunny with eyes devoid of any life in them, answered back without missing a beat. “Forty five bucks.”

“This meal isn’t worth anywhere near that, I’m paying thirty and not a cent more!”

“Miss, that’s theft.”

“You dare accuse me of stealing?! How could you-”

“Duh,” Terra flat out interrupted her while rolling his eyes. This tight waiter’s outfit was a bigger issue than she was, at this rate. “You already ate, so you pay up.”

“I’d like to speak to your manager.”

A small smile creeped onto Terra’s face. Not only could he end this silly argument early, but he also knew this woman was not ready for the hell on Earth she was about to conjure. “Sure.”

---

Terra was seated at the table upstairs, though by now the screaming had ceased to be cathartic, and was just annoying background noise. Why did he think it was a good idea? He couldn’t even focus on the news he was reading - albeit hearing that another rich person - this Cirillo lady - wasn’t charged with the crimes she clearly committed wasn’t particularly compelling to him.

Finally the screaming had subsided, and he watched the lady practically bolt out of the manager’s office, a bitter looking older bunny glaring at the lady in the process. “AND DON’T COME BACK, YOU THIEF!”

The bunny, Amanda, then let out a sigh as she pulled out a hand mirror and checked her reflection, bits of hair adjusted so as to not look like she was just screaming for 20 minutes.

She then turned to Terra, scowling. “What did you do?”

What? Terra let out a huff as he hopped to his feet. “What do you mean? She was the one who didn’t want to pay.”

“Don’t you get like that with me, son,” she snapped back, glaring Terra in the eyes. “Every time it’s something you do.”

Well maybe he didn’t want to get stuck in this crappy, dead-end job. But there’s no point wasting breath on what has already been said. “I didn’t do anything. This time.”

She continued glaring, her expression unchanging. “You’re on in 10.”

“What?!” Terra grumbled, glaring at her in the eyes. “Breaks last for an hour-”

“Your break lasts half an hour, we’re understaffed as-is! Understood?”

Terra continued glaring at her in the eyes. She could probably end the understaffing issue whenever she wanted, for all he knew. But they both knew how this would go. “Loud and clear, mother.”

Amanda knew that tone, and so she continued to stare at him. Little ungrateful shit having an attitude with her. But she didn’t want another argument if she could help it, not while her throat was sore. “No excuses for being late.” She then walked back to her office and slammed the door shut.

Terra let out a heavy sigh, guzzling down the rest of his coffee. Back to work…

---

Serene was standing in front of a mirror, looking at her reflection - no, more like staring at it.

This sparkling, dark blue dress was an absolutely gorgeous dress, and it certainly paired well with the black high heels and matching socks she had on - and that’s not to mention the silver domino mask with a moon motif that adorned her face. She certainly looked pretty.

But did it really suit her?

“Mortis, what do you think?”

“Just choose.” He was no help even at the beginning, but especially not now - Serene only needed to hear his voice through the phone’s audio to know that he was absolutely bored out of his mind. “Something. Anything. Just pick, we need to go.”

She’d glare at her phone, before looking back to her reflection. “You don’t understand how tough it is to hide my identity while still looking good.”

“No, I just don’t care for any of this formality. You won’t even need to do anything besides show up and keep an eye out.”

“Exactly! I’ve never gone to a fancy restaurant on my own.”

“You don’t need anything but a mask!”

“I know, but-...” Serene paused, failing to find the next words. But what? This was clearly important to her. But the moment she’d stop to explain why, it failed to reach her mind. She looked back to the reflection, letting out a sigh. She was just going out to a restaurant, disguised as some rich stranger.

What was she missing…?

“Come ooooon!”

“Alright, alright!” Serene snapped out, psychically bringing her phone, purse, and hairbrush to herself. She brushed her hair to get the nerves out before setting it back down, psychic powers taking it back to where it rests. “I’m done.”

“Thank fuck, finally.”

Serene let out a sigh, making her way to the front door. “Remind me to never invite you to dinner.”

“I can’t even eat without a body, and I doubt you want me borrowing yours.”

Serene’s phone then hovered up next to her ear, so that she could pretend she was talking to someone.

Already, Mortis reminded her. “Remember, normal girls don’t have psychic powers.”

“I know, I know,” Serene huffed, putting her hand on her phone. She then reached out to grab and open the front door. It wasn’t difficult by any means, but it felt so… strange, doing it manually. And it was going to feel stranger, with one hand occupied to keep chatting with Mortis, leaving just one to handle everything else.

It was more distracting than she ever imagined it would be, having to hold off on using this gift she’s had all her life. By the time she had gotten onto the bus it really made her feel like she WAS another person, not just pretending to be one.

It felt like she was missing something.

“Remember, you just go in and keep a lookout for Richard. I’ll check where the customers aren’t allowed to go.”

“I know,” Serene said with a nod. “If he shows up, I’ll be sure to greet him for you.”

“No? I’ll be right there? Just keep him from leaving.”

Serene let out a sigh. “No, you won’t be at the restaurant in time, that’s why I’ll let you know. Via the phone.”

“Serene, I-” There was a brief silence. “Ah.”

Serene let out a small giggle in response, despite Mortis’s protests. “I’ll let you know, okay?”

Mortis let out a digitised huff. “I’ll find something to do while we wait.”

“Alright, just… Don’t look at anything I don’t want to see later. Okay, bye, have a good time!” Serene sighed, tucking the phone away into her purse. It felt a bit clumsy, and definitely slower than just using her gift. Is this really what everyone else had to do? No wonder people sometimes get annoyed.

Or maybe it just felt wrong to her…

---

Furiously scrubbing away at the dishes, Terra’s still absolutely fuming at his break being cut off short.

“Okay, what did you do this time?”

Terra glared at one of the only other people in the room, a bunny that was slightly taller than he was, gloves, apron, and hairnet designating her as the cook. “Nothing. She’s a psycho.”

“You both are,” the other bunny answered, dumping soup ingredients into the pot with water before flicking the stove right on. “Whatever she did, you did something too.”

“Shut up, Aura.” Terra rolled his eyes and turned away, scrubbing harder.

“What? A sister should never lie to her big brother.” Aura would stick out her tongue at him right after, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “So what did you do?”

“I told you, nothing!” Terra’s voice got heated at that, shoving the now thoroughly scrubbed dish onto the rack, making the rest of the kitchen quiet down. He noticed the sudden silence, but he didn’t care.

Aura, however, did, so she rolled her eyes and continued cooking. “Fine, I’ll believe you… for now.”

Terra huffed, scrubbing the dishes once more. That just meant she didn’t believe him.

It was then that a large, bulky armadillo busted into the kitchen, dumping a large sack of food on the table for the other employees to get to. “Terra, Aura, there you two are!”

“Hey dad.”

Neither sibling was particularly enthusiastic about his presence, instead continuing with their jobs.

Their father, Damion, let out a sigh, shaking his head. “What was it about?”

“What?” Terra immediately piqued up.

“You fought with Amanda, I can tell. What was it about?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Terra called out, shoving another dish onto the rack. “I just sent some idiot that refused to pay to her and then she’s acting like that’s somehow my fault! Then she cut my break in half on top of that.”

Damion would nod, letting out a hum as he put a hand to his chin. “Just like that, huh? I’ll go talk with her. Do you want to go back to waiter duties?”

“Oh, yeah suuure,” Terra called out as he rolled his eyes. “I just love to talk with stupid idiots that think the world revolves around them.”

“Great!” Damion called out, seemingly oblivious to his sarcasm. “Go get out there, and I’ll finish these dishes.”

“No, I-”

“I insist.”

… Terra could do nothing but roll his eyes again, drying his hands off before marching off. The only reason he didn’t argue further is because his dad won’t budge when he thinks he’s helping, no matter how well you explain it to him.

Should’ve kept his mouth shut.

---

Finally, they were here. The Delicious Den. Serene was going to help this ghost find peace, and then… they’ll find out what happens to him after. He was certainly lucky to find her for this, wasn’t he?

Serene made sure her mask was on properly before making her way in. Awkwardly opening the door (with her hand…) and taking a deep breath. Nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her…

…

Terra immediately recognised her. Great, another celebrity who thinks they can waltz in with a mask and expect everyone to be none the wiser. He couldn’t think much more than that as he suddenly felt something tiny grabbing his back. “Hey!” He flicked his arm against whatever it was, getting the grip off of himself.

He then turned to the offender, seeing a child fascinated with his fluff. “Bunny!”

“Back off!” he’d snap, a small instinctual hop to get away from the grabby hands.

“Bunny!” The child cried out again, arms outstretched as tears started to form in their eyes.

The child’s father turned to Terra upon his child starting to cry, glaring. “Hey, apologise to my son right now!”

“Well teach him to keep his little grubby hands off!” Terra turned away.

The father then stood up, clearly ticked off. It was clear just how much taller this man was compared to Terra, and yet the bunny looked more annoyed than anything resembling fear. “Don’t you dare talk about my son that way.”

Terra maintained direct eye contact, glaring at him. “I’m not a petting zoo for every toddler that walks in!”

“Well he absolutely loves bunnies!”

“Excuse me.”

Both Terra and the man looked over to the girl Terra had recognised. Though the man seems to have not put it together.

Serene took a small breath in now that eyes were on her, why did she just jump in? “I’m sorry, but this is a public restaurant, if your kid really can’t control himself then you should make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“But-”

“I know, the bunny was rude.”

“Just saying it like it is,” Terra huffed, glaring at Serene.

Serene took another breath in, nodding. “But you wouldn’t like being grabbed out of the blue either, would you?”

The man let out a sigh, slowly shaking his head. “... Right, I’ll keep my son in line.”

“Bunny!”

“Listen, if you really want a bunny, we’ll visit a pet store tomorrow…”

As the situation seemingly resolved itself, Serene made her way over to the front counter, pulling out her phone and tapping on it, before putting it on her ear. “Okay, we’re good to go…” She then saw Mortis leave the phone and immediately fly off to the employee section.

Terra, meanwhile, let out a sigh of relief, silently yet quickly backing away from the kid. “I don’t like other people butting in,” Terra began.

“Oh!” Serene put a hand to her face. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…!”

Terra let out a sigh. “Buuut you probably saved my job, so uh…” He paused for a bit. “... Thank you… Serene.”

Serene stammered, awkwardly pointing to the mask. “What- no, I’m not Serene, just-”

Terra looked at her with the most deadpan expression. “You’re a celebrity. You really think people will forget who you are just ‘cause you got a mask on?”

Serene went silent in response, awkwardly fiddling with said mask.

“... I’ll keep quiet, just make an order and I’ll put it on.”

Serene nodded. “Yes! I would like… boeuf bourguignon, and some water, please.”

“Is that all, ma’am?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Terra nodded, backing up slightly. “If you could wait at table #3.”

Serene nodded, taking a seat at the table as she waited, pulling out her phone in the meanwhile.

---

Mortis had slipped into the backrooms, unseen and unnoticed by the employees, and he intended to keep it that way. Phasing through walls, appliances, and even people, possessing none of them as he surveyed the area.

From the looks of things the first floor was mainly about the restaurant itself, with the front area for customers to eat at, a kitchen for the food to be cooked and dishes cleaned, a storage for all of the food, and the bathrooms - if absolutely necessary, he noted that location as a possible spot to possess someone. The real area of interest, past the break room, was the office - complete with a computer and all sorts of documents organised into neat piles.

So of course Mortis started his search here.

The computer was a bust unless he could get someone to search through it for him, and the stack of papers would take far too long to sort through, not to mention that his presence was absolutely going to be noticed early if he tried that. But he could at least look at the piles, see if any of them potentially involved customers.

…

Nothing besides a moderately sized list of banned customers on the wall, which obviously didn’t feature Richard in any of them. So he needed to possess someone. Pretty simple, he just needed the prime opportunity.

---

Terra approached table #3 with Serene’s boeuf bourguignon, placing the bowl down in front of her, before swiftly yet carefully placing the glass full of fresh, clear water. “Dinner is served.”

Serene smiled, tucking out some cash. “Thank you so much, mister…?”

“Terra,” he would answer back, accepting the tip without hesitation, counting it out quickly.

… $200?!

What the hell, that’s the most generous tip he’s ever got! She hasn’t even started eating it yet. He would immediately pocket that tip away, grinning wide at the nice score.

Serene smiled. “Terra’s a cute name.”

“Yeah I didn’t choose it,” he answered back, his grin slowly fading away.

Serene let out a small giggle in response, holding a hand near her mouth.

Terra’s grin returned at her giggle.“Yeah, you can thank my ma for that, and not much else.”

“Hm? Why’s that?” Serene asked softly, tilting her head.

“Ehhhh,” Terra backed up slightly, brushing off the question without a single word. “I should be going back to work.”

“Oh, okay,” Serene said. “If you get a moment, you’re always free to chat with me!” She paused slightly, before quickly adding “I mean- if you want to, of course.”

Terra looked back to the front desk. Nobody was in line yet. Everybody was busy eating, so he didn’t need to bring out any checks yet. Then he looked back to Serene. “... I guess I do have a moment right now.”

Serene smiled in response, offering up a chair for him to sit on. “So what do you like to do for fun?”

Terra let out a hum, smirking. He didn’t take the chair, instead continuing to stand. “I usually like swinging by the park, doing a bit of exercise and just taking in nature. Though I’d really love to go on vacation to somewhere I’ve never been before…”

“Oh? Like where?”

Terra’s eyes lit up, something resembling a genuine smile finally appearing on his lips. “Beautiful looking beaches and sweet volcanoes, that giant rock that looks different as the sun hits in different angles, hell even the snowy hilltops are cool I guess. That’s not even mentioning the new people to meet and cultures to soak in!”

Serene listened intently as Terra would explain all of the places he wanted to visit, nodding her head slowly. “That’s pretty interesting! Where have you been so far?”

“... Nowhere, but I’ve been saving up,” Terra admitted, ears flopping back. “Hoping I can get going by uh… Was it 9 years or 10…?” He would shake his head, puffing up. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll get out there someday!”

Serene let out a small giggle, smiling wide.

“Hey!”

“No no,” Serene quickly defended herself, smiling wide. “It’s cute is all, I hope you get to go out soon.”

Terra let out a small sigh, letting his annoyance flow away. “Well what about you?”

“Hm?” Serene blinked, tilting her head.

“Your hobbies, I mean.”

“Oh!’ Serene hesitated to answer, clearing her throat at first. “Well I… uh… I like dressing up pretty?” Her questioning tone made her even more unsure. “I guess I like puzzles too…”

Terra raised an eyebrow. “... You don’t know your own hobbies?” He would quickly shake it off. “Sorry, it’s not my place to judge.”

“Well, I never had any friends to discover hobbies with,” Serene admitted.

“You don’t need friends to- wait, you’ve never had friends?”

Serene shook her head.

“... How?” It probably wasn’t his place to ask either, but he just needed to know.

Serene let out a small sigh, clenching her glass. “Well… Everyone knew about my gift growing up. They were afraid of…”

“... You blowing up their minds in a fit of spite?” Terra finished the thought for her, to which Serene nodded. “... Have you?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Serene’s voice got loud as the catgirl was now defensive, her eyes gaining a very faint white shimmer.

“Then they were a bunch of assholes,” Terra snapped back, seeing the faint white shine fading away. “I mean how long was-”

“Hey is everything alri-” Aura would approach after the yelling, stopping to look at Serene. “... Is that the psychic?”

Serene gulped a little to think of how to answer. “Well-”

“This is my friend Selena,” Terra answered super casually. “She’s always getting mistaken for Serene, she’s absolutely sick of it.”

“Uh… Yes! That’s right,” Serene answered. What would “Selena” say…? “I’m thinking of getting my name changed, even.” … Maybe it wasn’t something that was missing that was making her feel so off…

Aura raised an eyebrow suspiciously, turning to Terra. “And how come I never met this suspiciously similar stranger?”

“You got no room to argue, you didn’t even know about Tim until I broke up with him!” Terra snapped back, to which Aura immediately went red in embarrassment.

“Y-you were barely with him!” Aura called out.

“Only if you think a whole fucking year is “barely”, is it?” Terra answered back with a smug grin.

Aura let out a frustrated huff, marching off.

Terra then turned back to Serene, with a smug smirk on his face. “That’s my sis, Aura.”

Serene was silent at first, looking back to Terra for a moment. “... Thank you, you didn’t have to do that…”

“Pssh,” Terra huffed dismissively, waving a hand away. “I love messing with her when I get the chance.”

Serene looked at him strangely, hesitating to speak. “I… see.”

Terra let out a small chuckle. “It’s fun, trust me. In fact…”

---

Amanda was busy with paperwork as Damion made his way in. Looking up to him, Amanda immediately let out a sigh, smiling softly as she let her exhaustion show. “My Darling Damion, it’s so good to see your face.”

“My Astonishing Amanda,” Damion would answer back, continuing the alliteration as he closed the office door behind himself. “It’s so good to be back with my family.” He moved the spare chair over to the back so that he could sit with his wife, kissing her on the cheek with a big hug.

She leaned back against his chest, smiling. “Oh they’re not grateful at all,” she sighed, resting her hand atop his. “Aura barely talks to me, and Terra keeps getting into trouble on purpose. It’s exhausting with those two.”

Damion let out a small hum, his breathing slow to let her relax. “They’re not kids anymore. Hell they’re not even teens. You didn’t think you were going to be in charge forever, did you?”

She let out a sigh, leaning back to look him in the face. “No, but they’re going to inherit the restaurant once we retire, they need to be prepared for that.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t give them a break, does it? Like earlier today, you got in some fight with Terra-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Amanda sighed as she turned away.

Damion nodded. “I know. All I wanted to ask is if you even know what Terra did.”

Amanda let out a huff, her exhaustion seemingly vanishing in an instant. “He got a customer mad enough that she refused to pay.”

“And how did he do that?”

“He-!” She paused, trying to think of what exactly happened. Then she slumped back down, a long sigh coming out. “I don’t know… But it must have been something.”

Damion let out a soft, reassuring sigh. “Maybe, but you remember your younger days when you had customers that you just wanted to grind into a soft dough, right?”

“... Yeah…”

Damion then leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Some customers are still like that today. Just now Terra has to deal with them instead of you.”

She sighed, nodding slowly. “Alright, alright! I’ll give him a day off tomorrow.”

“And that’s why you’re my Astonishing Amanda,” Damion said with a smile, kissing her once again.

Then there was knocking on the office door. Immediately Damion stood up, placing the chair back where it was. At the same time, Amanda’s exhaustion vanished instantly as she sat formal and proper once more. “Come in.”

It was Aura, but immediately they could both tell she was walking strange, something behind her back as she closed the door behind herself.

But Aura’s their daughter, being strange probably meant she was having an off day.

Amanda stood up with a warm smile. “Aura, what is it you-”

She didn’t get to finish as Aura suddenly grabbed her, keeping her in a grip around the throat. She then revealed the chef’s knife that was hidden behind her as she held it close to Amanda’s throat. “Make any sudden noises and she dies.”

Both Amanda and Damion were in utter shock at what their daughter was doing, but they kept quiet for Amanda’s life.

“What do you want?” Damion asked in a clearly hostile tone of voice. Even if it was his daughter, nobody dares threatens his wife!

“Tell me where Richard is.”

---

Next Chapter

#Buggyverse #Serene Cirillo #Mortis (character)#Terra Twigs #Amanda Twigs #Damion Twigs #Aura Twigs #The Miracle Mind of Serene #The Tale of a Girl and a Ghost

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Welcome to the New Realm! (Chapter 3)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

03/05/2018

It was just like any other morning. Jett would wake up in his home, reach over to his desk and sort out the potions he’d have for the day. After taking a moment to read braille names, he would take the potions of speed, strength, and echolocation, as he always did.

He’d then spend a few seconds making a clicking noise, until he was sure that the potions had taken effect. With that he’d get ready for the day, changing into a clean set of clothes and eating his breakfast (Old Realm toast with some New Realm golden jam spread), before finishing up with gathering a selection of potions he may need for his job. Tracking (to track an individual through unique features, typically one’s DNA), Reverse Injuries (to heal up), Invisibility, and Teleport Sense (to sense when someone would teleport and where to) were the first four he took, as always. Though a quick check would confirm he was down to his last potion of Reverse Injuries.

That should be fine for today, right? Jett considered it briefly before putting it in his belt and continuing as normal.

With everything ready, Jett would recite the spell to teleport, focusing on the verbal version given he was safe to do so. Instantly, he was at the front of the bounty hall. The New Realm had more traditional methods of tracking criminals, but with the flexibility and power of magic it was easy for specialised witches to slip through the cracks. So bounties on them, with specialised witch hunters to track them down, were set up, and were a part of most New Realm governments (though Jett could recall that Anmacca still refused to do so).

Making his way in, as he would often do when he wasn’t already working on a bounty/taking time off, Jett would confidently stroll up towards the front reception, putting an elbow at the desk. “Hi, pretty~” He’d say with a hum to the receptionist.

“Hi Jett,” the squirrel woman said without flinching, putting a small book onto the desk. “Here’s the current bounty list.”

“Thank you,” Jett would say, taking the book and sitting on the nearest available chair. He flipped it open and put a finger on each page one at a time, the book’s enchantment letting him know of its contents without needing to read. Frankly he’d prefer braille over the strange impulse abrupt knowledge gives him, even if he can trust the methods have been tested for safety.

He would stop once he reached the one on Scythe, growing silent. This is… an interesting bounty, to say for sure.

Name: Scythe (presumed alias based on weapon of choice, real name unknown)

Gender: Cisgender female

Date of Birth: Unknown

Place of Birth: Unknown

Equipped with: Enchanted scythe

Known spells: Echolocation, enhanced senses (sight, smell, and hearing), speed, strength, and weaponry (scythe: inflicts rapid necrosis on injuries); plant growth (niche combat application if any), reverse injuries, teleportation, teleportation tracking

Combat style: Highly aggressive, relies on speed to land hits early and let necrosis finish off targets.

Appearance: Black, full body cloak; glowing red eyes. Appearance is otherwise unknown. Does not speak, but displays understanding of languages from common language spells.

Wanted for: Kidnapping (6 known cases), presumed murder (6 cases); murder (117 known cases), murder of a witch hunter (12 known cases), trespassing (6 known cases).

Reward for capture/death: 30,000 crystals.

Accept with extreme caution.

… That was a disturbing amount of kills under her belt. Despite that, she should’ve been good for Jett to take on, not many combatants even had a firearm from the Old Realm, yet alone went through the effort to enchant it and its bullets. He should be able to subdue her if he kept his distance and has his healing potion at the ready.

“‘Ey, there’s the #1 hunter!”

The short fennec fox woman approached Jett with a wide grin, peeking over to see the bounty.

Eugh, Luciana. A reminder of one of the reasons he even became a bounty hunter.

“Scythe, huh? I’m goin’ after her too, so I guess we’re competition today.”

“You can’t be serious, right?” Jett turned to face her, scowling. “She’ll slaughter you!”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s the highest bounty this week. Or, this month now that I think about it. … I think she’s even the largest bounty this year…” She stopped, putting a hand on her chin as she considered what other bounties she’d seen… She snapped herself out of her thoughts, a grin abruptly forming on her face. “I’ll be set for a while once I claim her head.”

Jett shook his head, getting to his feet. “You won’t need to worry about it. I’ll catch her. Alive.”

“Oh that’s boring!” She huffed out, turning her head to the side. “Why are you a bounty hunter if you don’t even try killing them?!”

… And that’s why she was such a reminder.

She evidently caught onto his grim demeanour, rolling her eyes. “I guess I’ll never figure out the mind of the #1 bounty hunter. What’s your secret to catching twice as many bounties as even #2?”

… Why would he tell her that most bounties hide off in the Old Realm, when hunters like her are the norm? No, she’d just endanger the people living there as well. “... Generally, people tend to fight less when their lives aren’t on the line.”

She broke out into laughter at that, falling down onto her back. “Pfft hahahah, you’re too much! Hahah!” She finally got herself under control, wiping away a tear as she sat up. “Everyone knows that if you’re bad enough to get a bounty you’re gonna be sentenced to death anyways, so why bother wasting time catching them alive?”

Jett let out a sigh, shaking his head. “When one of my bounties isn’t given the death penalty, I’ll be sure to rub it in your face.”

“Oh fuck off,” Lucianna said with a huff, turning away. “I was willing to let you tag along, but now Scythe is all mine!”

Tag along? Not in a million years.

Jett walked back to the receptionist, putting the book back onto the table. “Can you get me Scythe’s signal?”

The receptionist paused, hands clenching up. “... Alright. It is your job.”

Jett would let out a chuckle. “I know, I know, every job is one I might not come back from.”

She would force a smile, nodding. “Right, it’s just… nobody who has gone after Scythe so far has come back alive.”

“I know, I’ve read the profile,” Jett leaned on the desk as he brushed off the concerns.

“No, I mean that she’ll track teleports to finish off the job, both the witch hunter and every witness. It’s how we know of so many counts of murder on her profile.”

“...” This was concerning. But also good to know.

“Please, I want you to reconsider.”

Jett would gently place his hand on hers. “Thank you. I appreciate it, I really do. But if I refused a bounty because I was scared for my life I’d never have started.”

She would blush lightly, taking her hand away. “Oh… That is true… Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t be,” Jett said with a hum, holding his hand out to receive the sigil to track Scythe. “It’s good to know when people care for me.” Wordlessly, she’d pass it over to Jett.

With the sigil in hand he’d teleport back home.

But he wasn’t going to rest just yet, it was still fresh in the day. He drank down the potion of tracking, the tracking sigil in the other hand, and then he waited for it to kick in.

…

Most witch hunters would be stumped at the lack of a signal being provided by now. Jett, however, knew what it meant.

He’d teleport once more, ready to track wherever she was in the Old Realm.

---

“Don’t come back until you have a new subject.”

That was the order Scythe had been given. And whether she wanted to or not, that was the order she was going to follow.

Today’s location was a small tropical resort on an island nation. As a popular tourist location, it had people from all over coming in to visit. All Scythe would have to do would be to wait for nightfall, where there’d be less witnesses. She was only waiting because she was ordered to minimise her known presence when possible. A cloaked figure such as herself was still conspicuous no matter what she did, but a long straggler or two would be quick enough to grab to make up for that.

“Hello, are you here to book a stay at our hotel?”

Scythe’s attention was taken by the woman - a receptionist, from her guess. She glared at the woman, not saying a single word. Then she’d shake her head.

“Then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

She would let out a faint, yet deep and guttural growl. She’s going to stay whether this woman wants her to or not.

She would turn around and begin walking, still growling. She didn’t want to let this stranger tell her what to do, but she was ordered to minimise her presence. As much as she hated it.

Even outside, as the sun’s warm rays shined down on the busy streets, it would seem to fade before reaching Scythe’s face, keeping her visage cloaked in darkness.

She walked, on the lookout for anyone on their lonesome.

…

It was a few minutes when she found someone. A child, sobbing at being lost. It would be so easy, and so quick. The realisation that this might be the choice made her freeze up, not moving a step…

… Fortunately, she was not ordered to find one as quickly as possible. Only to not come back without. With this came a faint breath out, but no other external reaction from the cloaked figure.

She would keep on walking, leaving the sobbing child alone.

…

As she continued looking around, a lot of people were going around wearing sunglasses. Normally this wouldn’t be worth noting, but she’s sure that she saw one of them more than once. A lurcher who certainly wasn’t dressed up for the beach. What with his open coat flowing free.

He wasn’t looking at her, though. This might be a coincidence. Scythe then took a left turn, walking for a bit as she’d continue looking around for anyone alone. Him again.

Another left. There he was.

Another left. It was no coincidence now.

Another left put her back where she was. There was no reason for him to go a loop around the block unless he was following her. Well if he wanted to volunteer so freely, he should’ve just said so. She just needed her weapon first.

She would keep walking, feigning ignorance until she saw a turn into an alleyway. Instantly taking it, she would vanish the moment she was out of sight.

Jett stopped at the turn into the alleyway. Scythe was gone. He casted a teleport tracking spell, and just as he figured she had teleported. Back to the New Realm? But why? Following her through was an easy trap, so Jett waited, hand near his gun.

A faint scrape of metal served as his warning, Jett leapt up to the rooftop as a claw grabbed the air he occupied a second earlier, Scythe’s sneak attack barely failing. Jett whipped out his gun just as she whipped out her scythe with a loud screech.

Before even landing Jett swiftly casted a teleport spell, landing in the middle of an empty field over in the New Realm. Immediately he began backing up, weapon at the ready. She was going to follow in 3, 2, 1…

…

Maybe a few seconds off, but his prediction was otherwise spot on as she appeared in the field as well. To which Jett fired off a single bullet.

Kaching!

… What?! She wasn’t even facing him, and yet she had just contorted her body just for her scythe to deflect the bullet back at him. He nearly tumbled from dodging the shot, and was certainly not ready for her launch forward. With a burst of searing pain through his leg he knew that he hadn’t backed away in time - despite that (or perhaps because of it), he immediately kicked forwards, feeling a heavy thud as his foot connected.

Jett didn’t even stop to check the wound, taking out his healing potion and taking a swig immediately, before the necrosis could set in. Even before the wound finished healing Jett fired out his gun at full automatic - only for the bullets to be deflected back at him one by one, her body - especially her weapon - moving at blistering speeds.

Taking quite a few shots as a result, Jett bared his teeth through the sharp pain and the bleeding wounds.

Deflecting bullets. One singular spell that wasn’t on her profile was enough to ruin the planning he did. He couldn’t just escape, she would follow him and finish the job.

… Unless…

But first he needed a moment to cast the spell. He was on his knees, vulnerable, Scythe would absolutely predict he’d flee from her.

Instead, Jett charged forwards, getting ahead of her weapon’s overhead swing and tackling her. He dodged out of the way of the scythe’s return swing, immediately casting the teleport spell in front of her.

Open fields replaced with an open sky, a blue ocean right below, Jett steadied his breathing, fumbling for his potion to drink some more (a prospect made more difficult with his freefall). He managed to take a swig, bottling up what he could before taking a deep breath.

Landing in the cold waters, Jett steadied himself. Jett would keep himself still as he waited for his weapon’s aim to take effect. Once he felt his arm abruptly jerk forward, gun perfectly steady, did he know Scythe had followed after him.

Even then he wouldn’t fire yet, keeping himself steady until he heard a splash, as Scythe landed in after him. Some flailing made it clear she wasn’t expecting this sudden dip, and with that Jett fired from below.

He was still struck with bullets in kind. But, just as he predicted, the extra weight the water imposed lead to some bullets hitting her. So he kept on firing, bearing the pain and the salt water. Until his aim stopped. He resurfaced and took a deep breath of fresh air, before he frantically tracked where the teleport led.

Then he went back home instead, soaked and panting.

Taking the last of his potion, Jett felt the pain vanish as his wounds spat out the salt water before closing themselves up.

Okay. Good news, he wasn’t dead, and he knew one more spell she had access to. Bad news, he was out of healing potions, and he was freezing cold.

Okay. Warm up, dry off. Then he could plan.

---

04/05/2018

Jett was ready to continue, having drunk an extra potion on top of that. An instinctive dodge potion, so that he’d be able to dodge his own bullets as well. Not often he needed one of those.

… He still lacked a healing potion.

…

No, he should be fine. If he’s fast enough to dodge bullets he’d be fast enough to dodge her scythe. Besides, she should still be recovering after repeatedly getting shot in the cold ocean.

With some help of a map maker, he managed to pinpoint Scythe’s new location to be in the middle of an old, abandoned prison in the New Realm. And that meant he should be good to teleport nearby and find an opening.

He teleported, ready to take her down once and for all.

---

“She doesn’t want to go back home until her name’s back to normal.” Jett finished explaining his perspective to Grace, from first going on this mission to finding and saving Sal, and everything that had happened since then. “And that should be everything.”

“Jett, dear,” Grace shook her head. “Don’t ever go on a witch hunt without a healing potion. Please.”

Jett let out a sigh. “What? It worked out fine enough, I managed to save Sal here thanks to that, right?”

Silence.

“... Sal?”

“She’s asleep,” Grace explained. “I’m not surprised, with how much has gone on.” She stood up, grabbing a blanket and gently laying it down on Sal, who would instinctively cuddle up to the blanket.

With that Jett stood up, reaching over to grab a walking stick (left just for his visits in the Old Realm). “Do you have her, then?”

“Excuse me?” Grace asked aloud, turning back to him.

“I need to restock and then go after them.” He hadn’t even reached the door before feeling a firm hand against his shoulder.

“You should get some rest too,” Grace insisted.

Jett - gently - forced the hand off of his shoulder, turning back to Grace. “I can’t. The Final Spell isn’t some ordinary spell.”

“Then what sort of spell is it?” Grace asked, moving around until she was in front of him.

“Nobody knows what it does, but it is known as a spell that’s so powerful you would never need to learn another spell again, and one that was feared to end the world. They cannot get their hands on such a spell. I need to stop them as soon as possible.”

“Then you can at least wait for me to prepare some potions, can’t you?”

“I guess…”

“Great! I’ll get started now, but I want you to get at least some time off. Then you can go, and I’ll keep an eye on Sal here.”

Jett let out a sigh, taking a seat back on the chair. He leaned over to the radio, flicking it on to check what channels were on.

---

Valentine was furious. Scythe had personally killed countless witch hunters on their trail, and yet she couldn’t handle one who relied on some Old Realm weapon. But there was no need to dwell on that, to Scythe’s benefit.

After all, she’d die by that very weapon in the vision. This Jett must’ve had some clear strengths to achieve that.

More importantly, the Final Spell. She’d have her hands on it. Ultimate, unstoppable power would be within her grasp.

So instead of punishing failure, Valentine stood in complete darkness, the only light present being the small, dimly lit orb in the middle of the room. Valentine put a hand on top, funnelling arcane energy directly into it to charge it up. Tracing her claw slowly, carefully, deliberately. “I named her Calamity. She has escaped from me. I need you to find her, and show her to me.”

She then pushed her index finger down onto the very top, the faint glow coming to life as it showed some type of city. From the layout Valentine recognised it as Old Realm architecture.

She pushed her index finger down further, and it focused from that city down to a rather large singular building. One sign naming it as an orphanage. “Hiding amongst children? Poetic.” She pushed her index finger down further, the orb starting to crack from her claw piercing the shell. With that, it would show Sal asleep in the room, Jett sitting down next to her.

Then the orb cracked open, the vision vanishing instantly as her hand sunk in abruptly. She slowly pulled her hand back out, completely unharmed amongst the broken shards of glass.

“This is perfect.” Valentine turned to the darkness behind her. “Change of plans. Scythe, you are to follow us in our next step. The hunter is after you, if he takes the bait we’ll be able to get our newest recruit back without competition and kill the only one of them that is worth considering as a threat.

If not… We’ll get closer to the Final Spell without resistance.”

Scythe let out a low growl from within the shadows to indicate her approval.

“Ouroboros.”

“Yes, mistress?” a new, feminine voice spoke out from the darkness in a distinctly formal tone.

“When we leave, either bring her back… or kill her. We cannot have a loose factor that can see the future against our wishes.”

“Very well.”

Valentine let out a wide grin, her canine teeth illuminated off the only light they were getting. Then, that one little light went out, seeping into complete darkness.

---

Next Chapter

#Jett Harker #Scythe (character)#Valentine (character)#Welcome to the New Realm #Luciana (character)

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Moustrapped: In the New Realm Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Index

---

06/05/2018

This was a living nightmare.

No, it’s worse than her worst nightmares have ever been.

Her son, gone! All on his own, literally lost in another world. And her only hope was the very mage responsible for his disappearance in the first place.

She was packing her bag up with everything she’ll need to look after him until they get home - first aid kit already sitting at the bottom, as she was currently packing food.

Ruhl, the mage who so carelessly got him lost, was frantically trying to help, was adding meat into her bag from the fridge.

“Stop.” She’d take it back out, to which Ruhl looked in confusion. “I still don’t know that you’re a mage, and not just insane, and this isn’t helping your case.”

“I’m a mage!” Ruhl would call out, frantically looking around… before grabbing one of the cups of water from the cupboard. “Watch.” He’d fill it up with water from the tap, holding his arm up as he’d go through his memorised process with the other hand, and…

The water in the cup froze solid! … As did the water vapour immediately surrounding the cup…

“Ah!!! Cold cold cold!” And so did the water vapour surrounding Ruhl’s fingers.

He’d panickedly fire off another spell, a bolt of fire shooting out against his hand - melting part of the ice off in an instant. And setting his hand on fire.

“Ah!!! Hot! Cold! Hot!”

Vanessa would frantically grab another cup, not even looking as she heard one fall and shatter on the kitchen bench, filling it with water and splashing it against the fire on Ruhl’s wrist.

“Ow…” Ruhl would whine out, looking at his hand - sore from both the rapid freeze and rapid burn he just inflicted on it.

Vanessa would pause on packing up the food, pulling the first aid kit back out of her bag to pull out the instructions. “Freeze burn… burn…”

She would then start the tap, waiting a moment for it to heat up to a warm temperature. Then she’d put a bowl underneath. “Put your hand in.” While Ruhl did so, she’d get a second bowl of cold water ready.

“So you’ve proven that you’re a mage with that… baffling display. As soon as we’ve treated your… freeze… heat… burn, you’re going to get my son back.”

Ruhl nodded. “O-of course, ma’am!”

Vanessa let out a sigh of relief. “Good. It will just be twenty minutes to an hour, and then you can go to this “New Realm” to find him.”

Ruhl nodded, suddenly looking a lot more nervous. “I… know someone who can.”

“...”

Ruhl’s nervousness would only increase at the silence.

“Can’t you teleport?”

“... No.” He did mention that before, but now’s not the time to be reminding her.

Vanessa facepalmed, letting out a long sigh. That’s alright, she can deal with this. Anything for her son. “... What’s their phone number?”

“What’s a phone number?”

“You-!” What’s a phone number?! Is he-?! No, no, calm down. Phillioune is her priority right now. “... Where do they live, then?”

“O-oh, at 102 S. Amaranth Boulevard.”

Finally some progress. Vanessa would pull up her phone to type in the address, asking Ruhl again to make sure she typed it in correctly. While confused, Ruhl would still answer.

Vanessa would pause upon seeing how far away it was. “... That’s 2 days by car.”

Ruhl would let out a small whine. “Really? Got anything faster than that?”

Vanessa would shoot another glare at him. “No, and the sooner we get there the better, so you just sit there while I get us ready.”

Ruhl would nod. “Right, I’ll just tell them what’s happened, and they’ll fix it like that! They might even be able to teleport us back so we won’t have to drive.”

As Vanessa would be packing, only one thing would be in her mind. She hoped to god that Phillioune was safe. Somehow, some way. Please.

---

Phillioune was a good kid, well behaved.

Lost in an unknown place, no idea what to do, the best idea is to wait. That wizard knows what he’s doing, he’ll save him.

That’s what Phillioune was thinking for the last hour. But now?

His mind is focused on how cold he is, and how hungry he is. He’d look through the spellbook that got him into this situation again, ears perking up at the gentle sound of the ocean far below. He’d keep seeing what was clearly a fire spell. That would be so helpful…

Then he could make his little campfire. Maybe even try cooking with it, it can’t be that hard after all!

If only this book were in English, though…

…

Well, there are small symbols on the edge that sort of look like hand symbols. Maybe he could mess around with them?

Let’s see… hold his hand out in a fist. Open, spin sideways, and then close every finger but the pointer.

He’d slowly repeat the instruction, and his ears would perk up again. Not at the noise, but this strange, indescribable feeling inside of himself. Besides that, nothing.

But that was strange. So strange, he was sure mom wouldn’t even have a word for it, and she’s very smart. It was enough to convince him to keep trying, balling his hand into a first, opening it back up, spinning sideways, and then pointing.

It wasn’t a coincidence, every single time he tried he felt something inside of himself. That strange, strange feeling. But why wasn’t he getting anything more?

Hm… the hand symbols are only in three symbols, not four… maybe he’s supposed to spin his hand while opening it?

Worth a shot… He’d ball his hand into a fist once more, spin while opening up his hand, and then- eep!

As he pointed, a tiny little spark erupted at the tip of his finger, giving him a big enough fright that he tripped over onto his tummy.

…

Wow! He’s a wizard now! How rare is that?! Ahhhh he’s got to keep going!

His worries briefly forgotten, the little mouse would continue trying to practise the fire spell, his eyes lighting up in sheer curiosity every single time he’d make even the tiniest bit of flame. This must be like… lucky!

---

“Oh yeah, anyone can practise magic,” Ruhl would explain, his burnt hand now in the cold water as he’d sit in the passenger side of the car. “You just need arcane energy for the spells.”

Vanessa would gently place her bag - packed with any essentials she can think of in case her son needed rescuing - into the backseat, before taking a seat in the front of the car herself. “

“How do I get that?” Vanessa made her way into the front seat of the car, hopping right in the front. This talk of magic might appear to be idle curiosity on the surface, but to Vanessa it was anything but. Magic put her son in trouble, and it’s her only chance of getting him back out of trouble.

“It’s everywhere!” Ruhl would call out.

Vanessa would look at him with a flat face. She didn’t even need to say anything, Ruhl eventually realising what was being implied. “O-oh, uhm… Everywhere in the New Realm…” After a moment of silence, his eyes widened up. “Oh I must be low by now, I really shouldn’t be casting anymore spells until we get there!”

“Great…” Vanessa’s heavy sarcasm was the last thing she said before powering up the car.

Ruhl would lean back in his seat, eyes wide at the sudden shaking in his seat. “Wha- earthquake?!”

Vanessa would stare at him again. “... Do you know what a car is?”

“... Yes.”

More staring.

“... second hand.”

Still more staring.

“... Okay all I know is that they can move fast and people make way for them.”

“You don’t have cars or phones in this “New Realm” you come from?”

Ruhl would pause a little, thinking about how to say it. Then a small smile came across him, rare confidence as he knew exactly what to say. “We don’t need them! Magic handles all of that for us!”

Looking back at Vanessa would reveal that he, in fact, did not say it in a good way, Vanessa’s irritation clear even as she was looking ahead at the road.

“S-sorry…”

---

Phillioune had been practising for the last hour. By this point he could do the motions in about a second, and each time he tried a burst of fire would shoot out of his fingertip, falling over the edge of the cliff, surely landing in the ocean.

This is so cool, he’s a real wizard now! A gust of wind would knock his thoughts back into reality, instantly shivering really badly. Ah…! Right, right, he’s freezing cold!

He’d slowly get to his feet, looking around. He probably shouldn’t be firing his new spell at the nearest patches of grass… But he shouldn’t need to, there’s a forest just nearby! He’d get to his feet, closing the spellbook. He had nothing on hand except his pyjamas and his spellbook, but he felt like that’s all he needed right now.

He’d follow the trail left behind when that… eugh, that thing dragged him away. That didn’t look like any animal he knew! He didn’t exactly want to, but it at least meant he could get back home…

Or at least where home should be. Why is his home missing? Phillioune would stop, his ears drooping down as he’d look back to the same cliff he’s always known. Is it more than his house that’s gone? It’s like his mum was never here… Is she even still around? Does that wizard even know him now? Is-

A shiver up his spine would snap Phillioune back into reality, turning ahead and - with a small, hesitant step - entered this strange forest. This is fine, this will be quick, he’s just got to collect some wood, that’s all.

As he walked, he’d pick up any and all loose twigs and sticks he’d find, no thoughts as to which ones are going to be the most important or even usable. Wood is flammable, clearly, so wood will be good for a campfire. He did this for a good few minutes before he eventually reached the spot that he first woke up, the gentle ambiance of running water easing his mind.

This is probably enough wood.

So Phillioune would drop them down on one spot, gathering them up together. He doesn’t want the fire to be big, afterall.

And a quick cast of his new spell would light up the improvised campfire, Phillioune taking a seat to warm up…

…

… Most of the sticks aren’t lighting up. The fire’s clearly close enough to burn them, why isn’t it lighting them up? Ah well, he’ll just need to shuffle closer to get whatever warmth he can manage from this flame…

… This isn’t working. He’s still freezing cold. Why isn’t the fire big enough? He’d cautiously reach out to the edge of the pile, grabbing one of the sticks. Hm… He’d chuck it into the fire, watching it light up as it passed through. Of course, it’s that simple!

He’d grab another stick, chucking it into the flame to light it up as well. And then a third. And then a fourth- huh, this one feels a little cold. Ah well, in the fire it goes.

… Ah. It didn’t catch on fire. Maybe it’s cold because it was in the water?

Okay that’s simple. Phillioune would still only reach out to sticks away from the fire, but armed with his newfound knowledge he’d check each stick. If he thought they were too wet, he’d chuck ‘em away. If not, he’d chuck it into the fire.

With each dry stick thrown back in, the fire would grow more and more, and Phillioune could feel the warmth behind it.

There was just one problem with Phillioune’s little plan. He was not a good throw, and so for every stick that landed perfectly in the pile, there was also one that’d bounce around a bit.

He wouldn’t notice this, however, and would keep tossing sticks until he felt the fire was big enough. Eventually, one of the sticks would bounce off and roll across the floor, lighting the grass on fire in the process.

FWOOSH!

The sudden jump of flame frightened Phillioune immediately, the little mouse tumbling back. When he lifted his head he immediately saw that the fire was spreading , and quickly. In a panic, he’d turn to run - only to pause long enough to pick up the spellbook. He can’t forget this…

He’d then start running again, splashing his legs against the cold, chilling, freezing water as he’d pass the small creek to the other side.

…

Mom’s not going to like hearing that he burned down the forest with his first spell.

As the fire whipped close to the creek, Phillioune would instinctively jump back, only to see some plants moving on their own. Dipping their tips into the lake they lined up with, they’d turn back and fire out a concentrated stream of water at the fire, dousing any that got too close.

Oh.

As the strange plants defended themselves from the fire, putting out Phillioune’s little accident in the process, he was left confused and bewildered. Did they just… Can plants do that now? Could they always do that? Wait, his home is gone, maybe they used to do that but can’t anymore? Is this the past?

… There used to be magic in the past?!

Phillioune’s mind would race with the possibilities as he’d go collecting sticks once more, this time taking only the dry feeling sticks as he walked down the creek. While it’s certainly nice that there’s water spouting plants now, he doesn’t want to start another forest fire if he can help it.

---

The sun was setting. Vanessa had been driving all day by this point, only stopping for essentials like gas or the bathroom. Vanessa would soon pick an out of the way spot just off road to pull up, parking her car.

“... What are you doing?” Ruhl asked aloud.

“I’m not going to drive all night,” Vanessa explained.

“... Where are we sleeping?” Ruhl would ask next.

Vanessa pointed to the back seats. “Get comfortable.”

“What?!”

Ruhl looked to the back of the car, eyes wide as he’d stare in shock. “But-but-but- don’t we have somewhere to stay?!”

Vanessa would look him in the eye. “Unless you’re willing to pay for a hotel, I want to save my money as much as I can.”

Ruhl let out a sigh of relief, bringing up a small bag. “That’s fine, I got plenty of crystals to pay!” As if to demonstrate his point, he’d open the bag to show some assortment of crystals, all identical to each other. While it would be valuable in the New Realm, here they were just some sparkly but otherwise ordinary crystals.

Vanessa stared at him blankly.

“... What?”

“... You’re welcome to try next time we pass by a motel.”

“I will!” Ruhl would call out confidently. “There’s gotta be one nearby, right?”

Vanessa sighed, turning the car back on. “I just hope my darling’s able to sleep safely…”

---

Phillioune was now dry and warm as he laid within the campfire he had set up, staring up at the night sky above. The night sky was different than his home, so many stars blinking and twinkling together, all forming a singular bright stretch of dazzling white. It was a magical sight, and helped ease him from the pain of missing his mom…

… And the pain of sleeping hungry for the first time in his life. He has to eat tomorrow, even if it kills him. Wait, don’t say kill.

… Too late, now the fear of what’s got him in this situation has settled in. This was going to be a tough night…

#Mousetrapped: In the New Realm #Phillioune #Vanessa #Ruhl #Buggyverse

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Mousetrapped: in the New Realm Chapter 1

Index

---

03/05/2018

The sun was just starting to peek up from the horizon, its blinding rays shining out across a lone house set up near a cliff, fencing set up all around to ensure nobody would trip over by accident. This lone, two story house was situated a little bit aways from the actual cliff, giving those on the second floor a perfect view of the rising sun over a deep, beautiful ocean.

There were two people living inside of the house. The first, a rather short and chubby mouse woman, was yawning as she had gotten dressed, a yellow dress with black highlights on as she made her way across to the room of the only other inhabitant - her son, a young mouse boy. “Phillioune,” she said softly, knocking before she’d open the door. “Phillioune, it’s time to get ready for school,” she said softly.

She soon got a response, her son slowly lifting his head and letting out a long yawn, not a single noise peeping out of his lips. He slowly rubbed his eyes, looking over to his mother. He slowly got out of bed, his little patterned pyjamas doing their best to keep him warm without the comfort of his blanket. He grabbed a little notebook from the desk, flipping it open to the first page - which seemed to be a list of generic lines. He made his way to his mother before he pointed at the very first one, which read “Good morning, mom!”.

“Good morning,” she said in a pleasant hum as she knelt down and picked him up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to prepare breakfast now, you go get dressed,” she said softly, Phillioune nodding in response. With that she put him back down before walking back out.

It was a few minutes before Phillioune came downstairs, dressed up properly in his school’s uniform, though with a blue scarf hanging around his neck, a metallic weight hanging from it down to his chest which read his name on both sides. By the time Phillioune was ready, his mom had already finished getting breakfast ready, serving a bowl of cereal with juice. Phillioune climbed up into his stool and began eating without hesitation.

His mom sat on the nearby seat, smiling as she ate her own food alongside her son. “Are you looking forward to school today?” Her tone was encouraging, smiling as she looked to Phillioune.

He gave a nod, smiling wide as he began using sign language while cereal was in his mouth. “Yes! Today has…” he paused as he swallowed the cereal, looking at his hands as he tried to remember the next word. “... Art! And sign practice.”

“You’re such a good artist,” Vanessa said with a warm smile, leaning in to kiss him on the forehead - her eyes briefly glancing over to the fridge with Phillioune’s latest drawing on the front.

Phillioune beamed at the compliment, keeping still just long enough for his mother’s kiss before leaning in to eat more breakfast. Waiting until she can see him again before he’d continue. “Miss Doodles is nice!”

Vanessa would let out a small giggle. “She’s gonna make you such a good artist when you grow up, isn’t she?”

Phillioune nodded with a wide smile, taking another mouthful of cereal. He was so excited, he’s been spending all week thinking about what he’s going to draw next!

---

Phillioune was staring at his painting, tongue sticking out to the side in concentration. It just needed a little something more…

Hm…

Ah, yes! He took the yellow paintbrush and scribbled it down onto the painting, before standing back to look.

The gecko in the picture had his proportions all wrong, with its tail missing, with his skin painted entirely flat and his wand looking more like a brown coloured line.

But that didn’t matter to Phillioune, what mattered was that it was clearly a wizard shooting out a fire spell. And for that, it was perfect.

It was then that his teacher, Bianca Doodles, was walking through to check the paintings of each student that was in her class. She always started a little bit early, to give the paintings the proper time to evaluate them.

She was a dark brown lizard, tail ending in a stump while her hands and feet bore claws. She had this eternally unamused look on her face no matter when or where she was. She was currently wearing an art apron over her plain dress to protect it, putting on her glasses to get a more detailed look at the artwork.

Phillioune was standing a bit nervous, putting his paintbrush down as he waited for his examination.

Finally, the teacher made her way to his painting, putting a chin on it. On the one hand, it didn’t phase her in the slightest. On the other hand, Phillioune doesn’t think he’s ever seen her phased by anything.

“Impressive use of colours, little one,” she said in a soft voice, nodding faintly. “You’ve given it a real vibrant look without it being overbearing.”

She then points towards the limbs, very careful not to touch the painting. “However, I would recommend practising steadiness with your arm, so that you can make your lines straighter.”

… What’s stediness? Phillioune began reaching for his book, but stopped before he touched it. That’s right, the paint on his hands…

His ears drooped as the teacher moved on to the next painting, before looking back to his own painting. What does he need to practise??? An ear drooped as he stared at his painting. What was wrong with it?

---

It was lunch time, and Phillioune was munching down on his sandwich as he watched the other children out in the yard, playing. He was eating a bit slow, still lost in his thoughts about his earlier painting.

Then one of the kids playing ball was called over by a friend, and rushed off without a moment’s notice. This left the other kids looking around confused. That is until one of them noticed Phillioune sitting nearby.

“Hey, wanna play?!”

Phillioune looked up after a second, taking a moment to realise they were talking to him. The moment he realised, however, he was nodding like crazy - wolfing down his sandwich in a few seconds (briefly coughing). He’d then jump to his feet, approaching the group. “What’s your name?”

He lifted up his scarf, his name emblazoned on the side, to tell everyone, only to be met with blank stares.

“... Sorry, we don’t read.”

Phillioune would drop his scarf, letting out a soundless sigh.

“Do you know how to play?” another kid asked, and Phillioune gave a quick nod.

Like that, the game had begun once more. Phillioune wasn’t very fast, or skilled, or particularly athletic, but he was having a blast trying to kick the ball back with the other kids.

Once lunchtime was nearly over, the kids began gathering their things and putting the ball away. “Thanks for playing, mouse!” one of them said with a grin, though they otherwise began dispersing.

Phillioune’s ears slowly drooped, as none of the other kids stayed with him. He made his way back to his belongings, picking them up before making his way to his signing class. If only he could play with them more often.

---

The rest of Phillioune’s school day had gone without anything of note, and that night he had spent as much time as he could with his mum, though when she was busy he’d resort to reading.

That’s what he was doing now, half an hour after bedtime.

He was hidden under the blanket, night light held in his mouth while he had his favourite book opened up. It’s only been a book he’d been able to read in the last few months, and even now he’d come across words he’d struggle to remember the meaning of, stalling quite a bit.

“Phillioune?”

Aw, did she have to catch him now? He’d peek his head out from under the blanket, smiling sheepishly now that he knew he was caught.

“Mrr…” Vanessa stifled a yawn, making her way into his bedroom to gently reach out for the book. “You’re supposed to be asleep, young man.”

Phillioune moved his book away, pleading to his mum with his eyes.

Vanessa let out a sigh. “You’ve got school tomorrow too, Phillioune, come on.”

He began pouting, but passed the book back to her as he turned away.

She gently sat down on the bed, gently patting her son on the head. “I know, little darling. But you’ve got to be ready, and I’ve got to sleep for work…”

He slowly turned back to her, tilting his head. “Do you have friends at work?”

Vanessa blinked at the sudden question, enough for her to delay her answer. “I, uh… yeah, I do have a work friend.”

Phillioune looked down to the ground, letting out a small, wordless sigh.

He didn’t need to say anything for Vanessa to know exactly what that meant. “Oh darling, you’ll make friends real soon, promise.”

He looked back up to her, though he didn’t say anything else.

“What if we baked cookies together on Sunday, and then you can bring them to your to-be-friends at school the next day?”

He tilted his head, and then gave a slow nod.

Vanessa smiled, kissing him on the forehead once again. “It’s a promise. Goodnight, Phillioune.”

“Goodnight, mom.”

She stood back up, smiling wide. “Now get some sleep, alright?”

He gave a nod before Vanessa left, and he laid down back in bed. He’d take the night light out from his mouth, turning it off before putting it to the side. His mum was so smart, of course they’ll love cookies. He’d just have to wait a few days for it…

---

05/05/2018

Phillioune was in his playroom, focused intensely on the paper in front of him as he continued scribbling. He was going to get a new drawing of him and his mom ready in time. He did his best to ignore the heavy rainfall that was going on outside, even as he could hear the ocean down below crash against his home’s cliff.

That was when he heard knocking on the door, his ears perking immediately. He curiously looked back to his mother, who was equally surprised as she got up and walked down the stairs.

She got to the door and opened it up to see what looked like a panda, absolutely soaked in water - he was dressed weirdly, wearing a long robe that covered his body and what looked to be a large, conical hat. “H-hi,” he said somewhat awkwardly. “Is it alright if I stay here until the rain stops?”

She blinked at the sight of this stranger, pausing for a second. “Y-yes, you can, but may I ask how you ended up caught in the storm in the first place?”

He let out an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. “I was testing out some spe- uh… stuff, and I lost track of the time. And the weather.” He let out an awkward chuckle as he took off his boots, leaving them at the front door to dry off, before stepping in. “The-the name’s Ruhl.”

“Vanessa.” She walked off to grab a towel to dry him off.

By this point Phillioune had gotten out of his seat, walking over to see who it was that entered his home. He looked up to the panda with a small gasp, holding his notebook in hand. He looked just like a wizard! He continued staring, watching to see what the panda would do.

Said panda let out a small sigh of relief, bringing out a thin book, briefly putting a hand on the pages to confirm that it was dry. “Thank goodness this didn’t get ruined…”

He looked up only to notice the child staring at him in awe. The mere presence of Phillioune gave him a shock, nearly dropping it from how hard he fumbled with it, before he finally hid it behind himself. “H-hello there, what’s your name?”

Phillioune walked forward and opened up his notebook, flipping to the first page. “Hello, my name is Phillioune.” Despite literally pointing to a pre-written line, his face showed all of the unrelenting curiosity about that mysterious book Ruhl had, struggling to keep his gaze on the panda properly instead of trying to peek behind as if he had x-ray vision.

“Phee-lee-own-ei?” Ruhl asked aloud for the pronunciation. “How come you’re not talking?”

Phillioune then pointed to another line in his notebook “I am mute.”

“O-oh.” he cleared his throat, nodding slowly. “Sorry about that.”

Phillioune tilted his head in confusion, before flipping through his notebook until he got to a new page. He then pulled out a pencil and scribbled down into it. “Are you a wizard?”

“Yeah-” he paused briefly, clearing his throat. “Uh, no, sorry, I’m not a wizard… I don’t know anything about a New Realm. O-or magic.”

… The fact that it didn’t phase the child at all told Ruhl all he needed to know about how bad of a liar he is.

“That’s Phillioune, my son,” Vanessa abruptly called out, back with a towel as she wrapped it around Ruhl. “Sorry for the wait.”

“No no, it’s fine,” Ruhl insisted, holding the towel tightly for warmth. “Thank you, Vanessa. So, Phil-ee-own, right?”

He gave a nod, waiting for the panda to speak up.

“What is it that you, uh, tend to do around here?”

Phillioune held up a finger as if to say to wait just a moment, before rushing out of the room. He made his way to the bookshelf, looking through the section he was allowed to… B, C, D… Here it was! He pulled out his favourite book, making his way back to Ruhl to show it with a wide grin.

Ruhl gave a small nod, forcing a grin as he sat down. “O-okay, let’s take a look.”

Phillioune sat down with the book close to the both of them, the two of them reading it at once, easily sinking into a chapter.

After that Phillioune turned back to him, smiling expectantly.

Ruhl gave a nod. “Y-yeah, it’s good so far,” he said softly. “So you read this all the time?”

Phillioune then put his notebook down underneath the story, opening it up to scribble down. “It’s my faverite, but some words are still tough.”

Ruhl felt the need to correct the spelling error but kept it down. “I can see why you like it.”

“Want to be friends?” Phillioune would look up to him with a wide, cheerful smile, as if they already were friends.

Ruhl blinked, smiling somewhat awkwardly. “I don’t…” seeing the little mouse’s cute, pleading face… “... See why not?”

He wasn’t expecting the little mouse’s face to absolutely light up in joy. “Uh… you’re welcome?”

Vanessa then came back. “Would you like a cup of tea, Mr. Ruhl?”

He gave a small nod. “Yes please, and you can just call me Ruhl. I’ll talk to ya later, Phill-ee-own, okay?” He gently patted the smaller mouse’s head before standing up, towel still around himself.

Phillioune gave a nod, smiling wide as he grabbed his books. He’s just made a friend! And with a wizard of all people! Best! Day! Ever!

---

It was late at night, Ruhl had his own bedding set up on the spare couch in the attic, and was loudly snoring away. Vanessa, even, was asleep in her own room, ready to bake those cookies tomorrow morning.

But little Phillioune couldn’t fall asleep, and it wasn’t because of the snoring. His mind was racing with thoughts about his new friend, Ruhl. He was a wizard, he had to be! That book had to be a spellbook! Thoughts of this strange panda fellow wandering about, flinging out magic in flashy and epic duels flooded the mind, and so he’d be laying in bed excitedly. He couldn’t even remember the last time he was awake like this.

…

Finally, his patience wore thin, and the little mouse ever so quietly climbed out of bed. He got his dressing gown on, followed by his warm little slippers, and he ever so carefully made his way over to the attic, carefully climbing up the stairs.

He looked over to the sleeping mage, looking to see if he had the book in hand. But he couldn’t get too close, dear no, that would run the risk of waking him up. Who knows what would happen if you angered a wizard, no.

He was just about to give up and return to bed when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a faint glow. At the top of the bookshelf, definitely out of reach, it was like a glowstick hidden in the binder of a book. That had to be it!

He made his way to the bookshelf, and paused for a moment. He looked back just to make sure nobody was going to catch him. Then he began climbing up, getting little footholds as he could. He was still young, but as a curious mouse he was good at climbing. He made his way halfway, trying to get some footing…

Plonk!

He nearly tripped and fell as he stepped on a loose book, hanging on as the book fell down to the ground. He paused for a moment, seeing the figure of Ruhl rise up… Only to drop back down, the panda rolling over in his sleep.

He let out a soft, soundless sigh. Waiting a few extra seconds just to be sure, he continued climbing his way up, making it to the top of the bookcase. He carefully slid the book out, and held it in one hand.

…

How was he going to get down with it?

Well… he did just want to peek at it. So he carefully leaned it against the other books in the bookshelf, opening it up.

This was it, alright - the book was glowing ever so faintly in strange sigils arranged like words, which he had no chance of reading. The drawings, however, did seem to give an idea of what it was meant to be.

A hand coated in fire in one image, and then a campfire in the next. No way, this has to be a spellbook!

He eagerly flipped to the next page to see what else is in here, his mind eagerly figuring out all of the spells within!

It started off with simple spells, simple enough that he could tell just from the images alone, ice spell, water spell, a light spell, and a speed spell.

But it was the later spells that were more difficult to parse, an eye spell, a bubble spell, and a… wall spell.

After that was a… was this a sweating spell? Phillioune would particularly struggle with this one, it just couldn’t be a sweating spell that didn’t make any sense. But any other ideas on what it could be escaped him, forcing him to give up and flip to the next page.

And the next spell had two images on it. That’s strange. It was a cloud breaking up into a lot of small clouds - with a person in the middle. Is it a cloud breaking spell? How’d you even get up to the clouds, they’re so far away. There was another picture, that of a hand shape. He’d flip to the next page, only to see that it’s blank.

His mind was racing. This was a wizard, a real wizard! He’d flip the page back, looking at the handprint curiously. He really should put this back now that he’s learnt that it is indeed a wizard book.

… But what’s one little spell hurt? The handprint must be in order to control the weather, so maybe he could make this rain end early. He’d curiously put his hand against the handprint, and-

The freezing burst of wind immediately met him. Looking down would show dirt and ground far below. If he could talk, this would be the moment where he’d scream. But all he could manage to do was flail his arms before he impacted the ground moments later.

---

06/05/2018

Vanessa was yawning as she had gotten dressed, ready to take her son over to school once again. “Phillioune,” she said softly, knocking before she’d open the door. “Phillioune, it’s a lovely morning,” she said softly.

… Even opening the door, there was no reply. Strange, he normally would wake up at around this time. She walked into Phillioune’s room, making her way to the bed, upon which she immediately knew something was wrong. “Phillioune?!” He wasn’t in bed. “Phillioune!”

Immediately her worst fears came to life, and she rushed up the attic to see that her little boy wasn’t kidnapped. The panda was still asleep (having fallen off the couch at some point), so it couldn’t have been him. “Ruhl,” she spoke up in a hurried tone. “Ruhl, I need you to wake up.”

It took a bit, but Ruhl was soon yawning out, stretching slowly as he sat up from his bed. “Mrrn… morning,” he mumbled. “What is it?”

“Did you speak with Phillioune last night by any chance?” Vanessa called out in a hurried tone.

Ruhl shook his head. “No. Why?”

“He’s missing.”

He blinked awake in shock, slowly getting to his feet. “Missing?” Such a worrisome thing to hear about a small child. He better help look, it was the least he could do. But first, he should make sure he had his-

Where’s his book?

He left it on top of the bookshelf, out of reach of the little kid, where is-

Seeing the book on the floor (and distinctly remembering the room was clean last night), Ruhl’s eyes widened. “No. No, no, no.”

“I know, we need to find him!” Vanessa called out.

“My book’s gone!” Ruhl called out in shock, fumbling back and tripping over the couch.

“... Priorities.”

“That book’s how I get home!” Ruhl yelled out in defence. After the weird look he got from Vanessa, he elaborated more. “U-uhm, I’m a mage, and… that book has a teleport spell planted in it, just in case I ever ran out of magic…”

More blank silence.

Wait.

Ruhl’s eyes widened further. “Oh no.”

Vanessa let out a frustrated sigh. “My son first, then we can look for your… roleplay book.”

“I- I think- I think he got teleported!”

Vanessa froze, turning back to him. “... You’re pulling a cruel prank, aren’t you?”

He shook his head slowly, eyes wide in fear.

“...” Vanessa was staring at him with daggers in her eyes. Then she abruptly screamed out, making the panda jump and trip over the couch again. “Then where is Phillioune?!”

---

The sound of running water was oddly peaceful… Phillioune was feeling relaxed in his dream, gently being carried away… Like he was flying over the world…

Splash!

A dash of cold water to the body jolted him, and he flicked his head up. What?! What’s going on?!

He looked around in a panic, quickly seeing that he was being dragged by the legs! Looking forward, he’d see… uh… something. Dragging him. He panicked, flicking his limbs about. This clearly startled the… well, whatever it was, slinging back its vinelike limbs and letting out a screech. The both of them ran in opposite directions in perfect sync with each other, equally afraid of each other. The young mouse was panting out in shock and fear, eyes wide as he looked around. Why was he outside?! Why’s his pyjamas covered in dirt and mud?! What happened?!

It took only a few seconds to notice a line in the ground, and thinking for a moment Phillioune realised that must’ve been him. Especially since it stopped at the small creek.

He looked the other direction, seeing that weird vine thing going into this… absolutely gigantic woods. Why were the trees so tall? Was he in some kind of giant forest, they were like skysca- skyper- sycra- the really, really tall buildings!

No, no, focus. Focus. He would continue to follow the trail, making his way along out of these massive trees, until he saw a familiar hill. He’d run up to the top of it, panting as he looked over to the sunrise. He’d know this sunrise at any moment, it’s the same sunrise he and his mum would wake up to every morning…

But…

But his home’s gone! Where did it go?!

He would look left, and then look right. Nothing, nobody. Looking down, though, he did notice something. It was a book- wait, no, it was the book. Ruhl’s wizard book, now glowing a bright purple. He’d open it up, seeing all of the same unfamiliar runes. Why did this happen? He was looking at the spells, and-

The weather control one. He’d stare at it a bit longer, trying to piece everything together. As everything came back to him, it all started to make sense… This book took him somewhere. Well, getting back should be easy. He put his hand on the handprint, and…

…

……

Nothing.

He’d move his hand back before pushing it back in, his arm starting to shake.

Still nothing.

He’d slam the book shut, opening it back up to shove his hand against the page with force.

Why wasn’t it working?!

He closed the book up and held it close, looking around. He was all alone, he couldn't yell out for help, he had no idea what was going on, and all he had to keep safe was his pyjamas and a book. Oh, and he was already wet and cold.

This was the most afraid he’s ever been in his whole life.

---

Next Chapter.

#Phillioune (character)#Vanessa (character)#Ruhl (character)#New Realm

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