Galen Vesa

My feet touched the ground without kicking up dust or subjecting me to any excess force. Out of all landings I could recall, this was the softest one I had in my memory. Even by Erta’s standards, this was a perfect landing. Or so I think based on the few memories that leaked out of her sleeping mind.

Shaking off water droplets, a remnant of a cloud I descended through on my way to this island, my wings folded on my back then vanished.

A solitary island among raging oceans. A single rock someone drilled a hole in and filled it with lush greenery. Within the center of that unusual forest, an unnaturally circular path of uncovered dirt met my eyes when I circled ever lower above this island. My wings brought me to the edge of that odd clearing. How well prepared this place was.

The alien will that guided me to this place disappeared along with the wings. Once again, fate left me to my own devices, giving me the illusion of a choice. A choice that someone already made for this dolt.

If that’s how it was to be then, why should I even care? I picked up the solitary stick that, by some unexplained twist of events, appeared to be of the right length as wells as it found itself by my feet just when I thought I may need one. Oh, how convenient.

I began drawing shapes in the sand, once more propelled by the alien will that brought me here. Rune by rune, I’ve built the spell that should… solve everything. I didn’t even have time to look around. Draw! Came the unspoken order. Everything else was unimportant.

“It’s your own damn fault, you lying, fat, snoring lizard. You should have told me sooner.”

Oblivious to my complaints, Erta scratched her giant, scaly rump in her dream then rolled over. It made me pause what I did and look around. The runes I’ve drawn so far covered about a tennis court sized plot of land. Not even a tenth of the entire spell. Not even a fraction of the place prepared in this hidden valley.

“Well,”

As I gazed at the setting sun, one solitary thought rumbled through my mind.

“This will take a while.”

And a while it took. I’ve spent entire nine days and nine nights in a daze, scribbling the odd squiggles in the sand. Without sleep, without rest.

Draw, draw!

The alien will nagged me. Now that I think of it, this suspicious clearing had the perfect shape and size to accommodate my spell. The packed sand was hard enough to resist my footprints while at the same time it gave way for my stick and the shapes I made with it did not fade. Even my mind could no longer deny this peculiarity. Somebody prepared this place ahead of time. Made it just for me. Or for some other unlucky slob that would find itself in my shoes.

Quite the deduction my, oh so perceptive master.

“Why, thank you my oh fairest twiggy.”

Master, I think I prefer your lame jokes to your lame compliments.

“Do you now?”

I gave the spell matrix I made one more glance, it looked perfect. No longer necessary, I tossed away my faithful stick and went for the familiar looking shrub at the edge of my magic circle. Up to this day I have no idea what the locals call this thorny shrub, but it sure does bring back memories. This was the same shrub I used to hide my scrawny ass in on that first island. Way back before the spirits and all other mess. What an odd way to make a full circle.

Nightwatch. The humes I knew called it the nightwatch or a guardian weed.

“Is that so? What a fitting name. Those thorns indeed can deter unwanted visitors.”

But not me.

I wiggled my ass underneath the thorny canopy and laid on my side waiting for drowsiness to take me. My body must be tired. That much I’m sure of. Nine days and nights without sleep must’ve put a lot of stress on it. I need to take a nap to load up on my mana anyway before I’ll attempt to activate the spell. Or so the memories told me. Or so the fate compelled me.

Following what those odd memories showed me, I closed my eyes and lied still, waiting for sleep to take me.

That is, until someone else wiggled in to lie beside me. It became even more unusual when her hands hugged me, and her face smooshed itself into my pillows. Pillows, hah?

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‘These are no pillows, dolt.’ Those were the words she used to quip in such moments. I had no idea how much I missed that one single voice in my head. I came to depend on it for so much. I had no idea how much I missed her blue eyes. My left eye began to leak again. Perhaps it had something to do with Guilt growing up an inch or two. An inch here and there. Now that I looked at her, she no longer had the body of a child but seemed more akin to a teenager. A teenager hiding in a corner of my decrepit mind. Her body covered in fresh cuts. Names. Names I failed and left behind. The biggest name I saw cut in her forehead. My name.

“So, twiggy, care to explain yourself? What’s this all about?”

Perfecting my ability to sigh and escaping Guilt’s gaze, I addressed the oddball trying to drown herself in my chest.

“Idiot master.”

She spat back at me from within my pillows and tightened her hug. For some odd reason, my left hand went to stroke her head while odd warmth kept coming off the lantern locked around my wrist.

“It’s all right twiggy. Whatever happens, your core should be safe. You can move it to one of your daughters just in case...”

“Nothing is all right, you idiot!”

Pellicora screamed at my face then vanished with a pop. Did I saw it right? Were her eyes red? I have no idea why, but her core seethed with anger at me. Has she spoken with Guilt? Well, it won’t matter in a day or two. I thought as I fell asleep. The wet spot on my chest dried out soon after that.

I did not dream of anything or at least I can’t remember any dream I could have had when warm sunrays awoke me. Not sure what to expect, I opened my eyes and I found myself underneath the shrub canopy with sunrays filtering in between its tiny leaves. What a surprise. I awoke where I went to sleep. I still had my clothes on me. No one has beaten me to a pulp or burned to a crisp. A pleasant surprise I must say. Past few months showed me I can’t count on such simple things whenever I fall asleep.

“Cora?”

Nothing. The dryad refused to talk. Well, I tried.

I also tried not to think about the result of what I came here for. The big snoring lizard will get a chance to reconcile with her daughter. That’s what I should put my mind on. That’s what I focused on. That’s what those strange memories whispered to me.

For a while I thought about leaving Erta a note. Saying I was all right doing this and that it wasn’t her fault. That she should focus on her daughter. That I wish them all the best. In the end, I wrote nothing. I gave up on the note. It didn’t feel like a proper thing to do. Knowing that mopey dragon she would overthink everything. Instead, I crawled out from under my thorny shrub and just zigzagged towards the center of the matrix I drew in the sand. All it lacked was its final component. Me. Best I get it over with.

Positioned within the circle center, I closed my eyes and reached towards my mana. Last thing to do before I start. Today, it too wasn’t too keen on my prodding. It had some idea what the spell would do to us. It’s an odd thing when a sentient ball of cosmic energy treats you like this old comfy sock that you really like and can’t get yourself to throw it away. However, the alien will once again compelled us. I made my ask and my mana listened. It came with me to the surface. Now all that remained…

My memory faltered and I drew a blank. Odd. This is not how it was supposed to go.

Released from the trance that brought me up to this moment, I opened my eyes, blinked, then stared at my arms. I stared as eight dryads wrestled my arms away from my body while a ninth one locked me in a choke, her legs closing around my waist anchoring her to my body.

“Cora? What are you…”

Countless vines sprang out of ground, engulfing us to the point only my eyes were visible. My personal maid parasite even wound a creeper through my mouth, gagging me in the process.

What’s the meaning of this? Twiggy, answer me.

I thought at her, my body struggling to move withing her grasp. Dragon’s flame or not, I could not move a pip. Oh, right. Being a part of me, the same dragon flame that burned in my blood, flowed through her veins. It even infused her wood.

“You have made your choice, my idiotic master. I have made mine.”

Cora’s tenth body entered my view as she scoured the constellation of runes for something. Finding what she looked for, Pellicora cleared the dirt with her foot then knelt to replace a section of my runes with ones of her own making. What was she…. No! Not this! She tried to apply the changes that weird entity shown me. How could she even know this?! I’m sure I was the only one… oh. The way the wolf looked at me when that thing took over Altina’s body. She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking beyond me. Her words were meant not for me but for the dryad.

Stop it! I order you! Revert the spell to the original one that I drew!

But Cora did not stop. Even though my orders smitten her to the ground in pain, the dryad lift herself up on her arms and coughing out blood, continued her scribbling.

Enough!

I smashed her true name with all my power, yet it only managed to explode her fake body. At once she summoned another one and continued modifying my spell against my will.

How?

“A dryad must be ready to cut off a rotting branch to save her tree. You have no idea my idiotic master, how much will it requires to harm your own tree. To raise your hand at the one you love beyond yourself.”

Dying and respawning again and again, Pellicora kept rewriting the rune matrix that I made. Each stroke of her finger destroying my plan. Each line that she made invalidating my sacrifice.

Why are you doing this? Please, stop. I promised her… Please. We are so close.

“Not at such price.”

Rasping in convulsions, Cora’s auxiliary body came to rest against my bound frame. Her blood and her expired shells littered the clearing meant for the ritual. Her entire being fighting against my will.

“Conscious or not, I’m sure the lizard agrees with me. Her selfish wish is not worth the cost. Not at the cost of yourself.”

She tapped my prison and the vines moved, exposing the left side of my chest.

“Now, be still my master so I won’t miss.”

A long wooden spike grew out of her trembling palm. I could see sap trickling out of its pointed tip.

“Be very still and trust me for this will hurt me more than it could ever hurt you. I do not want to repeat it.”

She lied.

Oh gods, how she lied.