Shattered Footsteps

[Villamvihar]

During the last eight years, the planet of Yulian turned into a hellhole. Already high tensions had erupted into an all-out war on the surface, fought with every weapon available to the great powers that held sway over its continents. Prospering cities slowly became complete wastelands with nothing but a few walls remaining that somehow survived orbital bombardment. Factories were reduced into rubble along with schools, infrastructure, homes and monuments, leaving behind a bleak vista of humans behaving as scavenging hyaenas. What started as a battle between world powers ended as a desperate struggle for resources, a fight between countless groups of survivors.

Recently, however, some things were changing. Strange things were happening on the continents that could not be explained by the sciences, never mind those who managed to stay alive up until now. Various beasts started appearing out of nowhere, sometimes devouring humans, sometimes helping them, sometimes doing unspeakable things that haunted the dreams of people. These things mashed together flesh, machine, soil and any remnants from the start of the conflict, turning already difficult lives into a dangerous gamble. Leaders had to get by their instincts or listen to the half-crazed rumours of those who managed to somehow flee from these vicious creatures.

But there were also those who were not intimidated, like Ceinwen. Though only fourteen years old, she did not have anything to fear from the monsters, because she was one of them. Her fingertips, as scrawny as they might be, could shred reality. Her thoughts, as uncertain as they were, could shackle this world to her will. She could break those monsters in half without even trying, leaving only their stripped, smoking bones behind. It was as frightening as empowering; she had spent several nights crying herself to sleep when she first discovered her terrifying abilities. She had thought herself a freak, an outcast or someone who would be surely tossed out from her group.

She could not have been more wrong.

"Everything good?" asked Ceinwen as she lifted her hands from the formerly injured arm and removed a stray strand of hair from her face, not that it really improved on the picture. The man who had been patiently waiting for her cautiously moved his limb with a skeptical look on his face at first, but then a large smile spread through his visage. He gave the teen an enthusiastic thumbs-up before he turned to marvel at the little miracle she had brought to him. Soft gasps of disbelief and whispers of 'goddess' filled the air as the countless onlookers tried to make sense of these happenings. Ceinwen's cheeks coloured with embrassment as she heard the one phrase she really was not comfortable with.

She was really not one to be looked up to, was she? She was just a lean girl who dressed in whatever rags she could find. Her short, black hair along with her soft, full face were dirtied by countless hours spent hunting down the various monsters, helping the injured, moving various pieces of buildings and trying to make life better in general. Sweat along with grimed worked its way into her skin, transforming her otherwise charming visage into one of a harrowed refugee. But at least she was healthy, if a little thin for her age. Her ragged clothes hid most of her form anyways, along with the hood she wore to protect herself against the harsher conditions.

"Next please," said Ceinwen, her steel-grey eyes landing on the onlookers in order to find which one of them needed the most help. However, instead of allowing her to contemplate how she may be of help to them, they almost rushed her down in their franctic cries for help. A panicked cry escaped her lips and she warped the world instinctively, cancelling gravity around her feet and leaping up into the sky. Her clothes fluttered in unseen winds as she literally vaulted over the crowd in a surprising display of acrobatics, drawing further sounds of awe from the people around her. They simply could not reconcile the image of such a young girl moving like that, especially landing as perfectly as she did.

"One at a time, please," she said as she dropped her manipulations and let reality take its shape once again. Her left hand moved to her collarbone, lightly touching it in what had become a nervous gesture for her when she used her powers. "I can not help everyone at once." Her voice was a little quiet, but it cut through the people as if it was a blade fashioned from sharpened glass. The message hit their foolishness head on and it quickly spread amongst the crowd and allowed for the most injured to step forward. In response, a smile appeared on Ceinwen's face.

"Thank you," she said from the bottom of her heart as she approached and warped reality around her hands yet again.

 

[Howlykin]

The ravaged cities of this planet's inhabitants floated down below along with the clouds. Those on the surface had no means left of monitoring the area from which they observed. And even if they did, at best it would be by the very devices his race had graciously donated to them. Devices that could seldom be applied towards harming them. And so, they were free to watch at their leisure, one – a tall figure with the proud bearing of a noble, the other – a small, faintly glowing female, modestly floating by the first one's shoulder. The screen before them was for now the only source of illumination, with cyan-colored glowing diagrams adding some variety to the otherwise photographically accurate representation of dull greys below their ship.

"As per your instruction, this should be the prognosticated area based on prior fluctuations we have spotted!" The delicate sprite of a woman announced, as though happily informing a long-awaiting addressee that a message they'd been expecting has arrived safe and sound. Brushing a lock of hair appearing as fine as glistening silk from her forehead, she turned her head and smiled, both with her lips and her iridescent eyes. Seeing little emotional response from the man next to her, she coughed into her doll-like palm and continued: "Of course, we still haven't received any decent images of the prospect, but we are quite certain every fluctuation was caused by them. Based on this analysis, repeated sweeps of the area will most likely allow us to pinpoint her location…"

With a wave of the man's hand, the image from the screen dissolved, not the way a screen shuts off abruptly on a screen, but the way a fine mist recedes and vanishes completely. Along with the image, the feminine familiar too gradually fell silent. With the lights gradually turning on around them, his figure came into view. With a long mane of golden yellow hair reaching just past his shoulder-blades and contrasting with the black fabric of his attire, his ears, longer than those of a human and sporting sharp tips, made him look the way one would picture an elf of myth if one ever decided to become a high ranking corporate executive. Synthetic material organized in a hex-like pattern merged with finer fabric to create an expensive-looking suit jacket and trousers. Shoes shined well enough that one could see their silhouette in them and gloves adorning his slender hands concluded the ensemble.

"Open the hatch." He spoke in a tone every bit as commanding as his demeanor would suggest. Yellow eyes with strangely vivid irises looked straight at the door with such focus one might have thought if his familiar hadn't opened the hatch, it would have done so on its own, stared down. But surely enough, she had no reason to disobey and the hatch glided open with a ramp extending into the empty space. Almost immediately a gust of wind entered the opening, blowing through the motionless ship and making his hair billow in the gusts. He seemed unfazed, only closing his eyes for a few seconds, long enough to swipe a gloved hand in front of his eyes, causing a dark-tinted visor not unlike a futuristic set of glasses to materialize on his face. "Keep an eye on the video and audio feeds. Maintain contact. Be ready to run support protocols." He instructed calmly and then… He stepped out through the open hatch.

Rather than plummet down as soon as he took a step on the air, he stayed there, at first on different from standing on solid floor. Then, slowly, as if riding an invisible elevator, he began his descent. As he passed through the layer of clouds and advanced towards the ground below, he would peer into the distance, his glasses acting as a stylish stand-in for binoculars, zooming in and highlighting whatever had life-signs in the area. Surely enough, what began with disparate dots spread out amongst one another, came to an eventual crowd of people with a peculiar signature in their midst. That person was clearly warping reality, using what could only be regarded as "magic" and applying it to the others.

"Looks like they're using healing magic! That's promising, isn't it? Much better than if they were one of those delinquents using their powers for crime!" The chipper voice momentarily broke his composure (though mercifully not his descent) as he winced from her suddenly chattering enthusiastically right into his ear. "Volume control…" He snarled. "Oh! Sorry…" The volume began going down mid-sentence and he continued his observation. Soon enough he was low enough that filters were no longer necessary – he could see the edge of the crowd, all thankfully preoccupied enough with the miracle-worker among them to overlook another one soundlessly gliding through the air. His shoes touched the ground behind one of the main mostly-collapsed walls in the vicinity. "Disguise." He uttered and an additional layer of fabric formed over what he was wearing. A ragged-looking cloak covered the suit, a hood hid his head and sharp ears. His familiar had seen enough refugees to create an "outer layer" resembling one. With this he had the opportunity to approach the crowd and linger at its edge, watching what transpired here.

Surely enough, the girl in the middle of the crowd was seemingly healing people. It was better than most strays, but still clearly imperfect. He watched as people around her rejoiced, though failed to move in synch with all of them when they rushed to get closer to the savior. A moment of panic, and the same girl leapt through the air. Such a rough outburst compared to his own controlled descent earlier. He would need his familiar to mark every person she had the time to heal. Odds were at least half would develop cancer as rampantly regenerating cells found no place in the body and instead developed into malformations or tumors. Just tearing her out of the crowd seemed like a bad idea though. Wait and see what else she does, follow her and initiate contact with less than what may as well have been the entire local population as witnesses.

 

[Villamvihar]

The mysterious figure slipped past Ceinwen's radar as she was far too occupied doing good for the people gathered around her. Even though she was incredibly rough, with her magic having precisely zero structure, one had to be impressed by her focus. She bent reality around herself using nothing but pure brute force, strong-arming the laws of nature to suit herself instead of trying to negotiate with them or attacking them with more subtle methods. Truly, she was like the most ancient of mages, except she had far more power at her disposal than those people would ever dream of. Incredibly dangerous if left unchecked, but at least she was using her efforts for the benefit of her peers rather than becoming a ruthless tyrant. Yulian had suffered far too much to put up a decent fight against someone of her power.

It took her about half an hour to systematically go through every injured refugee, mending their wounds and leaving behind clean, spotless flesh. Her grip on magic was definitely slipping by the end of it all as the constant exertion of having to focus raw mana into a coherent effect took its toll on her. Wild surges of magic escaped from her every couple of minutes, present only for a split second before the teenager regulated herself, but to the man's senses, they might as well have lasted for hours. There were beads of sweat showing on Ceinwen's forehead, not to mention the tell-tale signs of exhaustion on her face. Her eyes were starting to unfocus, her hands were shaking a little bit more than usual and her movements became more clumsy. This was especially noticeable when after she was finished with her job, she was given a huge flask of water that almost slipped from her grip.

Barely managing to catch the precious object by its narrow neck, Ceinwen let out a huge sigh of relief when she realised she would not be spilling any water today. Then she scolded herself internally for getting carried away. It was foolish of her to exhaust her reserve of willpower so much when there was still quite some time until the group headed to sleep, because now she was left with something she could barely control. If the group was attacked by some beast or a remnant of the war, then she did not know if she would be capable of facing it. It really was stupid of her and her hand tightened around the innocent flask, slightly depressing its surface as a slight flare of magic protected her from her own stupidity.

Now, could she take a seat somewhere? She was feeling like she could barely stand on her legs anymore. Fortunately for the teenager, there was a convenient, relatively flat piece of ruined scenery nearby. It looked a little slippery, but it would suit her just fine, so she made her way over there and plopped herself down on it... Only to end up on her back with a loud thud as she miscalculated.
"I'm all right!" she called out as soon as she recovered from the shock of landing on rough ground and reached to pull herself back up. She was in pain, but she nevertheless forced a genuine smile on her face lest she have the crowd rush her again. "Just a little accident," she told the many watching eyes. However, she was all too aware of how much she lied with that statement. Goodness, as much as she liked to help people, she hoped that the next group did not have so many wounded.

 

[Howlykin]

Although the girl wouldn't get to appreciate it at the time, he'd shown remarkable patience. He watched from the shade of his hood as she exerted herself to tend the wounds of every person in the gathering. Of course, in part it was to make an evaluation. He expected her to quit. To stop midway or run out of energy. To apologize to those that she had no power left to heal, or just leap through the air again to escape. Any number of those things were plausible, but instead she just went on until the job was done. Her exhaustion was apparent – another mental note to make, and, perhaps, something to make the ensuing part of the assignment easier. Now she would probably not put up a fight.

He gave her the time to take a seat, nearly collapse, put on a strong face and assure the crowd that she was alright. A few more minutes to let the crowd disperse, then he finally made his move. On the way, he gave a few commands quietly to his familiar. He certainly wasn't going to clean up after her little messianic healing session, but he ensured due protocol would be followed. They had people for that, ever since what was left of the planetary government begged his race to intervene. By the time he was in front of her, there were perhaps two or three people left to observe.

"Are you quite done now?" He asked, perhaps sounding more stern than he ought to. "I said… are you quite done now? You seem about to collapse." She could easily trick the people around her, but it was useless. His visor wasn't just for show – multiple readouts showed him an estimation of how much her reserve had been drained. A formidable reserve, as she demonstrated, but a finite one nonetheless. "You may think that you're doing good. But without proper management you'll harm both yourself and others." The kind of certainty that he spoke with set him apart from normal folk. One could even think he cared, were his words not delivered in such a lecturing tone.

"Have you no shame, stranger? Leave the poor girl alone! Can't ya see she just healed all the folks here?!" One of the refugees intervened, stepping between the hooded figure and the magi. The way the stranger looked at him, one might as well have thought he'd completely forgotten anybody aside from him and the girl he was addressing existed. His response, however, was simple. He merely removed his hood, revealing his inhuman features and looking straight ahead. The man's defiance subsided, replaced by a dawning realization. "I am performing my duty. I suggest you return home."

The refugee could only muster a hesitant nod and stepped out of the way hurriedly. He was gone within moments, whether gone home or to whatever nook or cranny in the ruins could replace one for the time being. Many others either followed suit or at least kept a respectable distance. With all obstructions gone, he stepped closer to the girl, not quite looming over her, but his very bearing seemed to radiate so much calm force he probably would be imposing inevitably. "I am Irris Galasti Sar Abiona. Your powers are currently a threat no matter how you use them. To avert a tragedy, you must come with me." Vivid yellow eyes looked at her expectantly, demanding response. Of all things that he may have seemed at the time, he certainly did not seem compromising.

 

[Villamvihar]

Needless to say, Ceinwen looked up at Irris with a mixture of confusion and surprise. She thought him to be one of the less patient refugees, but that was quickly dispelled when he repeated his question with a forceful undertone then accused her of being able to collapse. Of course, the first thing that went through her mind was a question of how he managed to figure her out. While she was not a great actress, she was confident enough in her ability to fool ordinary people when it came to exhaustion from her powers. It should at least be difficult to know about it. But this man, despite having been fairly distant from her, somehow seemed capable of exposing the lie from an impossible distance. It was not normal.

Then before she could as much as muster a response, the stranger revealed himself and this time, Ceinwen's eyes went wide. She did not know a lot about Irris' people. What trickled down to her, however, both intrigued and frightened her. Primarily the latter as she was facing Irris head on, with his queries being directed at her. She felt her throat grow dry all of a sudden as she tried to muster up some sort of courage to respond to him, only for the man to literally loom over her. An uncomfortable knot grew in her throat while a shiver of fear crawled up her spine as the thought of losing her powers entered her mind. He was, after all, talking about her being dangerous despite her wishes, a fact that she could not even consider given her state of mind.

Grasping for straws, Ceinwen took a desperate gulp of water in an effort to buy herself some time, only for it to go down the wrong tube. A massive coughing fit ensued as a result, but credit where it was due, she never let go of the flask. She seemed to hold onto it with a death-grip, her knuckles, or rather, what was visible of them, whitening from the effort. Then she made a second, more controlled attempt to drink a couple of mouthfuls before she looked up at Irris.

"You... you're here to... to take my powers, aren't you?" she asked him with a bitter expression on her face as she voiced her fears. She was clearly afraid of the man, but she was making at least a decent stand against him. She did not know what she was capable of, however, she had plenty of experience running away from those wishing to harm her. Her whole body language spoke of being ready to flee at any moment's notice even though Ceinwen met Irris' eyes head on. In this moment, she felt almost completely powerless against the man in front of her.

 

[Howlykin]

The man before her eyes betrayed little emotion as he continued to observe her. It was as if his demand still continued to hang silently in the air, with his glance fixed on her. He heard her question, and from it stemmed the kind of realization known only to him. To him and, perhaps to some extent, his familiar as well, the latter of course maintaining silence for the moment. Perhaps out of respect for her master's authority. Perhaps out of acknowledgement of the full gravity of the moment.

Unbeknownst to her, he had made a note of her tension, but he had also taken into account what her very first question to him was. Finally he spoke, giving the no-doubt necessary response: "Only on your own request." There was a pause, as though he was letting the words sink in. At the very least he did not seem to be planning to bombard her with a barrage of information. Which could, of course, be a dubious comfort – perhaps, had he taken the time to explain, there would be less uncertainty in this encounter. Maybe that was why he went on to elaborate, if not to nudge her into more rapid cooperation.

"My duty is to ensure that the powers you and others like you possess bring no harm. Whether I do so by stripping you of this power or teaching you to control it is a choice for you to make." His glance continued to linger on the verge of an all-out glare without quite being it. That balance threatened to shift during his next phrase. "To avert a tragedy, you must come with me." Clearly he was not particularly well-versed in talking to children, but he made it a point to speak in such a tone that demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt which of his words presented her with a choice, and which were very slightly short of being an outright order.

The stalemate may have continued, with Irris' adamant stance, as would the girl's confusion. But a certain breach of protocol that occurred next served to somewhat dispel the brooding, smothering aura of the strange man. Next to his shoulder a miniature figure emerged, a glowing cyan entity resembling a young female of his race. "In other words…" she spoke, seeming eager to get to the point before her master would inevitably show his displeasure at her not managing to maintain radio-silence, "… if you come with us, you could become a full-fledged Magical Girl!"

She spoke in a chipper manner, quite the contrast to the imperious tone of the male next to her. Her appearance, while sudden, eased the gravity at least slightly. Not only did her words offer an alternative summary to Irris' speech, but the familiar would even briefly serve as a distraction. She immediately became the new target of her master's intense glare, though unnervingly he only shifted his eyes without turning his head. Even with implied experience of withstanding it, the little glowing person seemed uncomfortable (and, to be fair, who wouldn't?), her posture faltering slightly, although she still forced a smile.

 

[Villamvihar]

Now Ceinwan was getting more confused than before, not to mention that the man failed to reassure her. Completely. As far as she was concerned, he could take her powers away at any time, because what he said could be easily just a way to calm her down until he worked out how to take them away. The part about her powers bringing harm was suspect too. She had been using them for nothing but helping people, so how could she ever be causing damage with them? Ceinwen had healed hundreds, if not in the very low thousands. She defeated strange monsters when they dared to attack. She willed water to clean itself of whatever diseases it might hold, so how was she hurting anyone with their use? The fact that a seemingly benefical thing could cause more harm than good did not occur to her at all.

The disarray was only furthered in her mind as a small female appeared on Irris' shoulder. Ceinwen visibly jumped at her appearance and a flare of magic at her fingertips involved both of them that they had been on the verge of being toasted. Fortunately, the teenager had at least passable control over her powers, so it was only on their sensors or with their magical senses that they could pick it up. It was especially powerful considering that their subject had spent the last thirty minutes forcing her will onto reality without as much as a semblance of spell structure.

"Look..." said Ceinwen as she finally recovered from the shock of the little thing emerging. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I promise I'm not harming anyone with my powers. I... you've seen the others, right? I healed them properly and made sure that they'd live on. I... I don't know how that's causing harm to anyone. Please leave me alone and let me help them." She was speaking with nervous defiance in her voice, stumbling over her words several times and making it clear that she was not enjoying the idea at all. From the few stories she got to know through her childhood along with the rumours that trickled down to her, she understood that these people were scary. The sooner she got out of their grasp, the better.

Punctuating her message with a hopeful smile, Ceinwen muttered a short prayer in her mind for whatever forces she commanded to listen to her and make it so that she did not have to be abducted. She just wanted to keep helping! How could she do that if she was taken far away from home, without as much as a guide to take her back to her tribe? There would be many crying out for her help, just like before the times she could actually do something. She was not interested in the magical girl business either, especially not coming from a fairy that accompanied the long-eared man. No. Just let her live her little life while she figured out her powers and brought some peace to those she loved.

 

[Howlykin]

There was silence between the two. Whatever onlookers may have been watching at first retreated as the nature of the one confronting the girl was becoming more and more apparent, as were his intentions. Those with power occasionally disappear when these strange beings arrive with their incomprehensible technology. Such was the knowledge of the common folk. Enough to instill fear, a troubled sort of respect. Not all from his race made certain to emphasize it and fuel those same sentiments. But this man with his adamant stance and impassive expression clearly didn't care enough to prove people wrong. His glare briefly seemed to increase in intensity, like a teacher waiting for a student to realize her own unbearable stupidity and apologize. Such an apology did not come, so instead he closed his eyes, uttering a single word in a dry tone.

"Shame…"

And while it may have seemed at first that he'd given up and begrudgingly accepted the girl's yearning for her simple delusions, what followed was a lot different. "Azca. Display images from sectors 3 through 6." The glowing sprite suspended in the air next to him bit her lip slightly as she looked at him, but obeyed deftly. Her smile from earlier faded. As if she were sad that her more cheerful take on what would await this girl couldn't convince her to co-operate. But the images did appear, hanging in the air, transparent rectangles clearly displaying pictures, but still transparent enough to let her see both Irris and Azca.

Though she probably didn't know them as sectors, didn't know the numbers or what other sectors existed, she would recognize the places. From one to another they were cities she'd gone to and done her miracles at. And the images – various footage of people. Previously injured, later cured, but then forced to suffer through something else entirely. A man's skin had cracked like cooling ash, flaking off as he picked at it. A woman covered her eye, a dark liquid seeping between her fingers and her other, visible eye swollen from tears. A small boy with his back covered in rashes. There were others, and many, and whole groups of refugees seemingly suffering from unnatural ailments.

Irris continued to look at the girl through the images as he let her survey the people and, as was his intent, to let her recognize those she'd practiced her unstable magic on. It was true, she'd aggressively overwritten reality to make their injuries go away, but injecting this much power into them and distorting their bodies into healthy forms, but what happened after she left? Azca, too, kept her eyes on the girl, with an occasional aside glance at Irris. Her expression was one of compassion and, to an extent, regret, as though she'd wished her partner, if that was what he was to her, did not choose to bring forth such a brutal unmaking of what the girl undoubtedly considered good deeds.

Finally, the sprite could no longer stay silent. She floated through one of the screen, leaving behind her an image of another instance of spell-wrought body-horror, and spoke and gestured, as though to get the girl's attention. "We've already fixed this. It's okay… But you'll keep doing that to those you try to help, because you don't really know what you're doing. But we can teach you! You'll actually heal people then! That's what you want… right?" She stayed in front of her, and hoped she wouldn't be too shell-shocked to hear her. She expected reprimand from Irris, but he merely waved his hand and shrunk all images into non-existence one by one. They were once again only the girl and her enigmatic visitors, awaiting her answer.

 

[Villamvihar]

At first, relief flooded through Ceinwen. She thought that her logic convinced this man named Irris, because she was not sure if she wanted to be a magical girl. Hell, she did not want to do anything with him! He was a frightening, foreboding man who came to take her away in the first place and he was from a people that she did not hear anything too good about. Yes, let him just leave her alone to her own devices, the little pleasures she attained. He did not need her. She did not need him. That was all. But yet for some reason, he called on the fairy-like thing hovering near his shoulder to show Ceinwen something about sectors. Maybe something to convince her and she was about to ope her mouth to tell him that it was useless. Then she promptly shut it closed with an almost painful click as he showed her true horror.

These were all places she had been. These were people she had cured. Without fail she recognised them even though she had been through many of them. Some of their faces had all but burned into her mind as they smiled at her as if she was their angel, but now they became warped. She did not have to be near them with her magical senses to know that the conditions they were suffering from were unnatural: the tone of their skin, the growths on their arms, the warped nature of the wounds told her all she needed to know. Within seconds of the display, the poor girl felt a lump grow into her throat as she paled. Then bile built up in her throat so the next moment, she turned about to empty the contents of her stomach. Now feeling sick on top of being exhausted, Ceinwen wobbled in place dangerously.

What had she done? Coughing up bits of food and water that remained in her mouth, Ceinwen did not dare to show her face to the two lest she cry her eyes out. She barely heard them talk, something about them not fixing it. But that was not good enough. The teenager felt that she should not have caused them in the first place and guilt grew within her heart as she tried to catch her breath from the harrowing experience. She did not know her magic could do that. Why did not her magic tell her that it could do that? Then she would have only used it to combat against the monsters or perhaps purify water! This was a disaster. Though she loathed to accept the responsibility, though she wanted to run away and never show her face again, she could not. Her heart ached. Her head was held within an iron grip. Her soul was pierced through with stainless steel. Her collarbone burnt.

"Is... is being a magical girl the only way I can prevent something like that from happening again?" asked Ceinwen quietly, still facing away from them. Goodness, she hated herself for saying that. She revolted at the idea of having to work with someone like Irris, but did she have another choice? Her powers refused to show her a way. It was them that caused this in the first place and she had no idea on how to reverse it! But she had to help those people. That is why she started doing this. Because she felt that she should be giving back, that she should be making lives better if she had these sort of power and yet instead, she destroyed exactly as many people as she saved. She could not deny that as much as she wanted to.

Ceinwen also wanted to scream, shout and cry, but she would not let Irris have the pleasure of that. She tried her best not to let it show, but she did a poor job of it. Her body was tense and she was almost like a bowstring, not to mention that even when she looked back at the man, she looked as if she just spent a couple of years in a mausoleum.

 

[Howlykin]

Whether he took any pleasure in the desperation that the unwanted revelation of her errors brought upon the reality-warper in front of him, he showed none of it. The same impassive stance, the same demanding gaze – there was no third option of turning from him. Her powers gone forever or her very same powers reined in and coached into a state of total control. Regardless, it was a cruel mercy. And of the two strangers Ceinwen was facing now, only one reacted with what could be referred to as humane. Ironically – the least real-looking one of them, the little floating figure next to Irris.

She perked up slightly when Ceinwen spoke, although her voice was far more timid now, as though with the guilt and regret in it accounting for both herself and her impeccably composed partner. "Yes… That is correct… If you come with us, we can teach you and you will not hurt anyone again… If you want to, you could learn to actually heal, restore, mend, and help this world and even others. You could even become strong enough to rebuild a whole city!" Possibly a case of too much information for now, but considering how shocked she was, the girl could easily overlook the sprite's implications of there being worlds beyond the one she'd known. She continued to paint at least one of the choices forced upon her as favorable and even worth desiring.

"What do you choose?" Irris demanded, voice at once cold and piercing like a finely honed needle carved from a glacier. He still loomed over her, and even with the shadows on his face, his eyes almost seemed to glow. Still higher in the sky an object slowly descended. Its shape could be described as predatory, an arrowhead silhouette with a beak-like ornament on the forecastle. Where there was no matte black metal there were angular veins laced with an ethereal cyan glow. It made a soft hum and the air around it thrummed with whatever force it was that kept the large metal object afloat. The ship descended, so slow and graceful it didn't seem possible for a solid object.

This was the sky chariot upon which the two strangers came. From which they'd watched her, longer than she could imagine. And the aftermath of her work, bad deeds out of best intentions and inferior awareness of the consequences. The tall man in a suit of strange fabric and the tiny glowing woman accompanying him like a faithful phantom entered this girl's life to change it one way or other. Whatever choice she would make, only one thing was clear at this point – things could never continue being the same from this moment.

 

[Villamvihar]

At least the small, fairy-like thing was reasonable. It was an absurd thought that could only be the sign of an even more absurd situation, but seeing as Ceinwen had been literally warping reality for some time now, she was forced to accept. Slowly, ever-so-slowly, she turned back to face both of them, her face relatively emotionless save for the pale sickness that plagued her. She could still not get over the queasy feeling in her stomach. Nor the slight anger when she noticed that the man called Irris did not show an ounce of compassion towards her. He looked as if he had been carved out of stone or perhaps pencilled into reality. He simply did not seem real and not because he had two lengthened ears. No, it was so much worse than that. Ceinwen was faced with a passive face, a mask-like visage that had no emotion.

Except for a demand that almost made her want to punch the man in the face. She only resisted on the account that doing so would be a very, very bad idea. She also felt unsteady as she was sitting on the piece of ruin she had claimed for herself. Goodness, was she feeling ever-so-woozy... The magical exhaustion along with emptying the contents of her stomach was more than enough to make her feel like an absolute sack of shit. As such, instead of answering the demand, Ceinwen stood up in a smug defiance of Irris' piercing gaze. Had she been less exhausted, her movements would have been filled with teenage arrogance, but alas, she could only manage to meet his eyes head on. Her gaze steel impacted Irris' thick honey, challenging him to dare to deny her the chance of make things right. Then it trailed towards the descending, metallic thing.

What was that? Half-consciously, Ceinwen made an interested step towards it as it descended. She had heard of flying things like these from older people and she half-heartedly remembere- Oh. Look. The ground was coming close to her to embrace her with its hard surface.

In her brave attempt to say yes without opening her mouth, Ceinwen had made the final step towards utter exhaustion. Magically drained, physically sick and absolutely exhausted on all fronts, the young girl fell forwards as if she was a sack of potatoes. It was a sign of how much of her energy she used on these people, that she was willing to go so far for them.

 

[Howlykin]

The brave girl's actions spoke louder than words, even if Irris never flinched when she withstood and defiantly returned his glare. No one stopped her collapse, although Azca let out a yelp of shock and floated quickly towards her. At this point the would-be magical girl wouldn't see much of what was happening and even conversation would likely be muffled, and yet a brief one did commence over her body. Two voices, a ringing feminine one, and the measured one belonging to Irris. The latter swiped a hand in front of his face to dismiss the visor, the accessory dissolving into nothingness.

"Sh… Shall I levitate her aboard the ship?" The sprite asked, looking from the collapsed girl to her commander and back. "No." Responded Irris, taking a step towards the defiant, ignorant child and reaching down. "There is no need to waste magical energy on trivial tasks." And with those words, Irris lifted the limp body in his arms. Right on cue, the ship hovering behind them turned and opened the hatch in the back, extending a ramp leading to its interior. With little effort needed to carry her in, Irris stepped inside, Azca hurriedly accompanying him, as though had the hatch resealed with her still outside she wouldn't have been able to enter.

A mere few moments and the ship ascended, taking with it the reality-warper and the two that came to retrieve them. Glances followed them from the ground. Able only to watch. Just as they would later watch a party of the same species as Irris entering their town and administering another round of healing in an orderly manner, this time with no one applying too much force to be unable to walk afterwards, and with no grisly consequences from errant mutations in sight.

---

An indeterminate amount of time later, the girl would wake up. Around her – a room of mostly synthetic materials and metal. She would find herself in a bed and with a blanket over her – yellow stars and crescent moons on a backdrop of dark blue. The light is dimmed, and yet it's still brighter inside than the dark exterior of the ship would have suggested. Things will have changed since when she was down on the surface of the planet, surrounded by dust and ruins. Her being in what could only be described as living quarters aside, somehow, she had been cleaned from head to toe and dressed in an unfamiliar but close-fitting set of pajama pants and long sleeve top.

Implications of all this left to her, she also had a new accessory to boast – an unfamiliar bracelet on her left wrist. Only half an inch wide and rather close fitting, it was made of smooth light metal, with a single clear gem embedded in it and no other distinctive features. Distressingly, this also meant it had no discernable locking mechanism holding it in place and was not wide enough to be removed by pushing one's fingers together.

The door was not locked and would slide apart were she inclined to approach it. And beyond it would open into the rest of the ship, where, somewhere, her two recent acquaintances were bound to be.

 

[Villamvihar]

Whatever arguement the two were having over Ceinwen, the young teen did not hear any of it because she was completely unconscious. The offer of Azca was unheard, not to mention that Irris' generous gesture did not register. Her world was enveloped by the comfy cushion of complete darkness. Fortunately, she remained still. She might as well have been dead: the only signs of life from the poor girl were her slightly shallow breaths along with the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest. She seemed to be at least a little distressed, but she did not wake. The exhaustion was simply too much for her underdeveloped body to handle, but fortunately, she would recover. She was still young and after some good rest, her reserves would be full again.

Less fortunate was the thing that Azca discovered while she handled Ceinwen. Simply put, there was a foreign object embedded in the girl's collarbone. Composed of a crystal which reflected the steel grey of the girl's eyes, its otherworldly glow identified it as a magical artefact of some sorts. It was surrounded by two thick, metallic rings that transitioned into cream-coloured skin with the characteristic texture of a scar. And to top it all off, a presumably single word presumably composed of nine characters was carved into both of the metal surfaces. The symbols did not match any records of any known languages, nor did the mysterious object match any record of relics or artifacts in the past. It was a complete mystery.

There was only one certain thing about it: It was not causing Ceinwen any harm. In fact, it would react violently to any attempt at removing it.

---

Ceinwen woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling in an unfamiliar place. She opened her eyes blearily and defensively drew her arms to her chest, curling up quickly to defend herself from an unseen foe, but getting stuck halfway through the motion as she saw herself. Was... was that her skin? Were those her clothes? Goodness, she had never been this clean before! Her clothes have never been this clean either! And what was this soft, fluffy thing she was sitting on? Where the hell was she? Confused beyond belief, Ceinwen could only look around in wonder as her eyes took every single wonderous thing in. This... what... how... It was beyond her understanding! She had vague memories of things like these from her very early days, but they were vague at best. Confusing and contradictory at worst.

It took her several minutes to feast her eyes on every little detail and if she was honest with herself, to stop being scared of her new surroundings when they were so surprising. It took her even more time to slowly put the details of what she remembered together and to arrive at the conclusion that she was likely taken on board the flying metal thing she had seen from the ground. It looked big enough to hold people, so that meant that she was flying. As soon as that thought came to her mind, she quickly held onto the bed for dear life, knuckles whitening with the effort to keep herself in place. No, she really did not want that! That meant she could fly off from here at any time, then hit her face on one of the metal surfaces! She did not want to have a flat face for the rest of her life. Not if she could help it.

The next second, she withdrew her hands with an embarrassed flush as she realised how stupid she was. Even though there was no one around to see her, she felt self-conscious about her actions, a feeling that got even worse as hunger started to claw away at her stomach. A little dizzy, most definitely disoriented and wanting to try and get some food, Ceinwen approached the door. She had noted the strange bracelet on her hand, but she was too famished to care.

 

[Howlykin]

Upon exiting her room, she would end up in a vaguely triangular room with the top of the triangle cut off and leading into twin walkways leading up and down. Her room was mirrored on the triangle's other side while at the wall forming the wider base of the triangle was a somewhat heavier-looking door. Inscriptions in an unknown language doubtlessly served to inform one just where this pathway or the other lead. Were she able to read them that is. The larger door opened to a room with a long table with some chairs and a section of the room dedicated doubtlessly to cooking.

There was a small counter, shelves that were more akin to those in a bar, a stove that betrayed absolutely no evidence of valves, nozzles or anything of the sort and its neighbor was a tall rectangular container that felt cold to the touch. Brief exploration would show that the room indeed sported something of a miniature bar with a small assortment of vivid-colored bottles, but it was opening the tall container that would seem like a true treasure-trove.

Bread cut into impeccable triangles, as though by a precision laser, with crisp lettuce and cheese in-between the soft but not moist dough. Fruit of precisely the correct ripeness, where the color alone seemed enticing, and even uncut the peel would sport a pleasant scent. Cartons of immaculate white eggs. Sealed bottles with various chilled juices and at least one seemingly containing milk. Paper-thin strips of salty meat treated with barely detectable spices. All of this was illuminated by a soft light as soon as the ship's guest would open the door of the fridge. Chill air would waft from inside, nearly making the splendor of a decently-stocked fridge seem like an otherworldly miracle.

It would either be while she were gawking at the food, or just a slight time after she would get to dabble in the contents, that a familiar cheerful voice would resound through the room. "Ah! You are already awake! I'm so glad! You seemed really tired down there. What are you d-... OH! Oh you're hungry! I didn't realize! My apologies!" True to the voice, it was indeed the glowing sprite of a woman from before. She was hovering in the air and profusely apologizing.

 

[Villamvihar]

This place is very strange. That was the first thought that went through Ceinwen's mind as she made her way through the door and was greeted by strange amalgams of metal that she had not seen before. The closest thing she knew were the bizzare deformations that she occasionally encountered in the cities, however, they were not nearly this regular. Despite not being educated in such matters, it was obvious to her that this place had design behind it. It was not one of the abominable craters or creatures that she combatted, nor the ruins of her home. It stirred distant memories in her mind, hazy pictures of much more livable times that she may or may not have lived through in her early childhood. It created in her feelings of confusion and curiousity, the last of which joined hands with her hunger to drive her explorations.

Ceinwen's subconscious noted that she was likely trespassing or committing some sort of a crime, but she could not care less. She took the first door that she saw, was surprised to find it open, then she started searching for food in hopes of sating her consuming hunger. Her stomach was at the point that it was starting to ache, demanding to be sated, so she desperately searched for anything that she could eat lest she lose her mind. And that was when she found it.

Whatever the thing was, she could only think of it as some sort of treasure chest or the heritage of something far beyond human. Food... food should not look like this! It was usually unclean, uneven, barely enough and... and... and...! She almost collapsed onto her knees as implications of this hit her while she unconsciously reached out for one of the bread triangles. It was one of the few things she recognised from her previous life. Almost all the others were too foreign to her senses. She even removed the salad along with whatever fillings it had just so she could be sure of the fact that she was not going to be poisoned, not even realising that it was unlikely in such a clean place.

For such a meagre thing, though, it made her mouth water. The bread was absolutely heavenly as it almost seemed to melt in her mouth. She did not care it was cold or that she had to raid several stacks of sandwiches and remove a lot of stuff to sate her hunger; she was both angry and glad that she came across something like this. Seriously, just who the hell were those people? Nothing about them made sense. Then again, she knew almost nothing of them. Only that they took her away from her people and likely lifted her up into the sky. But before she could start to wonder what was happening to those she left behind, a clear voice echoed through the room.

Ceinwen's steel grey eyes focused on the fairy-like thing in front of her and she swallowed before she spoke.
"You..." her tone spoke of anger mixed with sorrow as she thought of Yulian's people. "You... you know you could feed dozens of people with... with this, right?" By the time she finished, she wolfed down yet another slice of bread. She ate five in total, but her hands did not reach for more even though her stomach was still insistent.

 

[Howlykin]

As she first heard her tone, the tiny woman recoiled slightly, as though expecting some heavy reprimand. Perhaps it was to be expected. The girl was taken from what she must have considered home. Few they met were ever grateful at first. "… Uuuh?" It seemed, however, that it was the supplies that aggravated her, oddly enough. The floor was a mess of removed food products. She must have only kept what she'd recognized. The sprite hesitated as their newest charge kept gorging herself on the contents of their fridge.

"You… you know you could feed dozens of people with… with this, right?"

"N… Not anymore we can't after you ate so much…" She noted in a quiet tone. "And anyway! These supplies are supposed to be used for a long journey, rather than to be eaten up by a dozen people in a single day!... Or… just one very hungry person… That stuff you've discarded is some of the best in those sandwiches too…" Azca almost seemed sad at the colossal waste going on. Although perhaps she would have done better by focusing on what Irris would think of what happened here.

"Please calm down." She said finally, raising her hands in a pacifying gesture as if the sheer pace at which Ceinwen ate was a sign of anger. "Right now you don't have to worry about Planet Yulian. It's been flagged so it should be taken care of soon. More importantly…" She smiled the kind of almost childishly gleeful smile only she could muster and adapted a tone far closer to her cheerful manner. "Welcome to this Arenian Union vessel, The Starkite! This ship belongs to Supervisor Irris Galasti Sar Abiona. I am Azca, the assistant assigned to this ship's captain."

Her greeting was augmented with a somewhat cartoony image of the ship they were flying in shown as a hologram in the air in front of her. It definitely looked less imposing this way than it did in reality. "In case you may not have noticed, a bracelet was placed on your wrist while you were resting. This signifies the first step of joining the Arenian Union's unique Magic User Education Program, commonly referred to as becoming a Magical Girl!" There were similarly cartoony stars around her. There was no doubt that's what those five-ray child-like winking figures were. Why exactly she was adding holograms was a mystery known only to Azca herself. Perhaps she thought it made the welcome more impressive?

"You no doubt have questions, and therefore…" Before blurting out "you may ask them", she paused and rephrased: "… I suggest that you get off the floor and get a little more comfortable before asking them!" The holograms gone and only Azca herself remaining in the air, she looked at Ceinwen expectantly, hoping she would not feel too territorial about the recently discovered fridge to move away from it.

 

[Villamvihar]

As Azca mentioned the best part of the sandwiches being discarded on the floor, guilt welled up in Ceinwen. Instincts along with long-honed customs screamed at her that she had done something horrible by discarding the apparently most edible parts of the sandwiches. But what could she have done? For all she knew, those weird things could have been poisonous! Hanging her head as she shamed herself, the teenager displayed nothing of the anger the miniature fairy expected of her. In all honesty, the feeling of guilt was all too overwhelming as she chided herself for her own stupidity for a couple of moments before she collected herself and realised that the strange thing was still talking to her.

Right. She was on a completely alien thing that was possibly very far away from home. Much to Ceinwen's chagrin, the latter thing was spelled out for her on no uncertain terms. She could not help the sour expression that came to her face upon hearing that her home would be 'handled' by people whom she did not know. At the same time, she realised that she was not the best candidate to heal people or make sure that they defeated the monsters roaming on the wastes. The thought of causing so much harm despite her best intentions was still very fresh in Ceinwen's mind and she wanted to somehow make it right. Yet here she was, spirited away.

Not being able to bring herself to match the tiny sprite's cheer, all Ceinwen could do was return a dry smile towards her. The holographic show was pretty and confusing sure, but it did not help her mood very much. Because essentially, she was lost and far away from her home. A position that she tought of as the personification of death.

"I... I don't even know where to start," she confessed as she finally found her voice. Mixed feelings rushed her in place of her hunger along with her guilt. Weird things that she did not know what to do with. A completely new environment filled with silence.

"I'm sorry for being angry at you," continued Ceinwen after a pregnant pause. "I promise not to waste more food. But can you tell me what is edible and what isn't?" Certainly an odd way to approach problems. It probably told volumes of the girl's priorities when it came to the world.

 

[Howlykin]

At least a dry smile still qualified as a smile in Azca's book. The sprite didn't pretend not to know the difference between that and a sincere one though, so she paused the lightshow and floated closer to Ceinwen. Thankfully not so close as to force the girl to cross her eyes just to keep looking at her. "I know it's confusing. I mean, we did just take you from the only planet you've likely known… But that's what this whole thing is about! You will find out a lot of new things. Even about yourself!" She nodded confidently, as though to emphasize her point.

"Apologies accepted. I would like us to get along." She said with a sincere smile and a picture-perfect tilt of her head. "All of us." She restated, looking slightly tenser at that point, as though she, of all individuals, was most painfully aware of how difficult her partner was to get along with. "Ah, well, I guess getting to know what you can eat is a good start."

With that the sprite relocated once again, to the fridge. She gestured her hand slightly and there came a soft humming noise. Several pill-bug like machines crawled out from underneath the counter and scurried about the discarded food-stuffs, scrubbing them and scurrying away, neatly avoiding Ceinwen's feet while they were at it. When the bots were gone, she waited for the would-be magical girl to open the fridge.

"The easiest thing to do is to microwave one of the ready-made dinners! They are packed in these boxes. You can cook them without removing them from the packaging." She announced with a grin. "You… You do know how to microwave something?... Do you… know what a microwave is? It's a kitchen appliance… Do you… know what a kitchen appliance is?... Oh… It's this machine right here. You just open it and put one of those boxes in. This one is called a lasagna! Your people invented it on a distant planet. It has meat and tomatoes and cheese in it. I heard it was delicious! Even Irris likes it!"