I found it at least, the Lost Kingdom of Rosamond, which lies before my very eyes and I saw the lights of flickering wisps moving throughout the haunted forest with vines and roots entangled around the walls of the lost kingdom. There was a broken draw bridge that leads across a lake and deep into the jaws of a kingdom that been lost to time. The long alley I travelled through was flanked by broken and charred buildings from both sides that lacked their rooftops, whose floors within caved in and beside the homes there were human sized and shaped statues that were lying on the floor. I would walk into a large square with a broken fountain in the center and a large cathedral to the east that was in quite the poor state. The wisps’ lights flickered and flew around all over the place until I heard someone sing.
“Little Tommy Tucker sings for his super. What shall you give him? Perhaps white bread and butter?”, I turned to see a boy sitting on the opposite side of the broken well. “How shall he cut it without a knife? How will he be married without a wife?”, he sounded like he was in great sorrow and when I walked up to him, I saw him turn and I saw his pale face along with his rotting skin, I was horrified to discover that he was one of the undead.
“Little Jenny!”, he called me. “Summer is long gone and you are no longer weeping!”, he stepped forward and I took a few steps back. “Little Jenny? I wept for you.”, he said to me.
“I’m not Little Jenny.”, I said. “I am Kirya, Kirya Hennington. What has happened here?”, I asked the boy who took a few steps back and reached for his head. “Little Jenny and I both promised to meet at the fountain on a bright summer day!”, he explained in distress.
“I shook her hands and I left her here…”, he then looked down to the ground where I saw a skeleton lying down on the stone pavement what I speculated was this Little Jenny. “I shook her hands and I left her here on the last bright and summer day.”, he looked down in sorrow and I knew what he meant by the last summer day for it seems the light has forsaken this place.
“But never again!”, he raised his voice and turned to face me. “I will never leave you again, Little Jenny!”, he approached me and I pulled out my weapons, crossing them together and then taking a stance as he yelled at me. “Little Jenny, I shall smite the wicked shadows and we shall return to loving embrace once again!”, the boy unsheathed his sword while several wisps that landed into the ground from which hands and claws emerged of several skeletons that had been lying dormant for many, many years and I should of suspected that this would happen.
Wherever there is a wisp, there is an angry spirit and they wish to take their fury on the living and no one else. So I held my weapons firmed, looked around to see many skeletons rise and worried about what I should do for I was surrounded. This just might be my end. I shot at one of the skeletons whose head broke off, slashes through the neck of the other and then proceeded to kick that skeleton heads towards another fell over like dominos. It was then that Little Tommy Tucker charged towards me with his blade and raised it to strike me until a large stone was thrown into his head that sent him flying northward. The skeletons and I all turned to see Goldilocks and her three bears that stood there smiling at me.
“What did we miss, baby?”, I wondered if she was referring to me or the bear before the baby bear growled and stomped on its four paws before running towards one of the skeletons.
Little Tommy Tucker was stuck under debris and the skeletons attacked us as I hacked through them and slashed, reaching for my revolver that I fired towards several of their heads. Goldilocks and her three bears hacked and slashed through the skeletons with their claws but they kept on coming as the angry souls of the dead just kept on raising more and more skeletons from the deep earth who sometimes wore robes resembling merchants and metallic armor resembling knights. The people that once dwelled here were not only cursed to stone, the majority of them were also murdered and forsaken. Goldilocks and I pressed against each other’s backs on top of the large ruined fountain where she hacked and slashed through those coming at us. I kept firing my revolvers and shooting at whatever approached for they were many, and the three bears took on several at the same time without a problem.
“Hey, Goldi, there’s too many of them!”, I shouted and yet I didn’t hear a response from Goldilocks that just kicked them down, laughed maniacally and then even leaped down into a crowd of them as she hacked and slashed through them with her claws while roots rose up.
The roots pulled several of the skeletons back into the earth and the stars rained down fire that struck several of the skeletons, turning them to ash, and I summoned my arm blades as I jumped into the field to assist her. We fought side by side, like sisters, and had each other’s backs. It was then that I saw Baby being knocked down to the ground and a skeleton was about to claw on it that angered Goldilocks whom turned while I reached for my revolver that I just finished reloading. I shot the skeletons head off and the starfire burnt through the rest of its body as Baby bear got up to fight. It was then that Goldilocks looked at me with a smile and I could tell it was a sign of respect for protecting a member of her family she deeply cared about. We both nodded at each other and yelled as we took up arms against the restless undead.
“No, no, don’t hurt Little Jenny!”, shouted Tommy Tucker in the distance, who ran to the skeleton of Little Jenny and covered her with his own body. “I won’t let you hurt her!”, shouted Tommy and I then shouted back at him. “You’re crazy, kid, because no one wants to hurt her!”
The bears then growled and roared as they fought their way up north as Goldilocks grabbed the back of my clothes, pulling me and placing me over top of mama bear.
“What?”, I was surprised until suddenly mama bear began running and I grabbed hold of her fur while Goldilocks rode on top of papa bears back with baby bear running in between us. “No, get them!”, shouted Tommy Tucker before a stone struck his head and it got crooked due to the blow as he tried to desperately reach for it to put it back in its place.
“Hey, isn’t the exit back that way?!”, I shouted at Goldilocks as wisps kept landing into the ground and the bears kept avoiding their paths wherever they ran. “Well, I am no expert, but I believe the velvet throne is that way.”, Goldilocks shouted back and the bears barked.
“Oh, bollocks!”, Goldilocks looked back. “We’ve got company!”, it was then that horse riders rode in, some headless and others not, each of them firing arrows towards us as the elven tail then snarled and growled that caused the ear bears to flicker before the bears split up.
“Who-ho-ho!”, I was so surprised when we turned down an alleyway and two riders chased after us as one of them then struck a piece of wood, falling off his horse that had also lost its head and crash landed over the ground as I began to laugh out loud.
“Way to go, mama!”, I kept laughing and the bear seemed to understand me as it barked back.
She ran through an alleyway with mist and fog that clouded our vision before we returned back to the main road with baby bear and papa bear with many more riders on our tail. One of them was about to fire his arrow until he struck a hanging street sign and fell off the horse as Goldi laughed until the other raised his own arrow. I then reached for my revolver and fired one rider before firing at the other and the next that kept coming before one of the bears barked.
“Hey, could you stop firing that thing close to mama’s ears?!”, shouted Goldilocks. “I’m sorry, have you failed to notice the living dead that are on our tail!?”, baby bear then shouted. “Really, baby, really?”, said Goldilocks. “What did he say?”, I asked. “He said tails.”, I rolled my eyes.
“I know, right?”, said Goldilocks. “Do you see now what I have to deal with sometimes?”, even though I understood what she meant, I looked at Goldilocks with a little bit of jealousy.
She had a whole family left, even if it wasn’t her own, and the only thing I had was a brother that I had just reunited with quite recently and I hadn’t had time to make up lost time with him. It was then that one of the bears barked and interrupted my thought.
“What do you mean we’re heading for a beanstalk?”, said Goldi and then I turned around with confusion as the riders all stopped in their tracks. “Goldi?!”, I shouted before the fog and mist started to clear in the distance where a large hole started to appear. “Goldi?!”, I shouted yet again and Goldilocks just raised her claws in the air, yelling like a crazy child before all bears jumped.
Yes, all three bears jumped into a large opened gap in the earth and I screamed in terror while Goldilocks was happily yelling out loud for she knew there was no danger below because her bears told her. We all landed in water that was extremely cold and I quickly rose up from the water first before mama bear pushed me up. Goldilocks was then the next to emerge.
“That…”, Goldilocks said calmly. “Was amazing!”, Goldilocks shouted before punching my shoulder. “Did you see that, baby?!”, I looked at her annoyed and she looked around with confusion. “Baby?”, she called for her baby brother who then barked and we all looked ahead to see him standing on a giant leaf that appeared to be in the water that was so wide that it didn’t look natural at all, and so the bears moved towards it only for us to see for what it was.
There was, indeed, a giant beanstalk that reached from the waters and all the way up to the heavens. We gazed upon its marvelous size and its seemingly never ending height as both Goldilocks and I looked at one another, she smiled at me and raised her eyebrows twice to gesture for me that she had her claws to climb while I reached for my equipment to reveal I had a grappling hook. She nodded her head and I nodded mine.
“Well, good luck, love.”, said Goldilocks. “What? You’re leaving me?”, I asked. “Ugh, I ain’t leaving the bears.”, she said and I looked at my grappling hook before looking up.
I then looked at Goldilocks that looked at me confused and I looked at the three bears that seemed to be licking themselves clean off the water before I sighed. I felt like I owe them my life and I I was grateful to them. I turned to Goldilocks, gesturing her to go up with my head and she seemed very happy for she immediately understood what I would do for the bears. So, as we were helping the bears get up the giant beanstalk, along with our own bodies, there was a zeppelin looming about nearby with Bloody Mary and her rabble on board with disco lights lightning up the skies. Bloody Mary sat on her lamb, her hands placed under her chin, and she waited impatiently at the bow of the ship with her scarecrow companion behind her. She seemed to be bored and Big Boy Blue lowered down cup of ginger tea to her that made her happy.
“Thank you, Big Boy.”, said Mary. “Lady Bloodstone!”, one of her scarecrows called and Mary didn’t even bother to turn around. “They arrived to the Beanstalk?”, Mary said to herself. “They made it to the Beanstalk!”, said the scarecrow. “Way ahead of you, sister.”, said Bloody Mary.
“Well, time to get bloody. Pharon, get out there and do all the work for me while I sit back and do absolutely nothing.”, she said while lying back over Big Boy Blue’s hay and Pharon leaped off the zeppelin, propelling her jetpack forward to try and find us.
“And what are we supposed to do?”, asked one of the scarecrows. “Sit back and relax while we enjoy our voyage to Cloud Cuckoo Land.”, this confused one of the scarecrows that looked to the other. “What the fuck is Cloud Cuckoo Land?”, the scarecrow expressed out loud.
“So why did you come back for me?”, we were half way up the beanstalk and nightfall fell upon us when we decided to just hide under a massive leaf, waiting the entire night, and Goldilocks threw me an apple that I caught before I started to peel off the rotten parts while she just eat hers.
“I didn’t come back to you, I went after you.”, she replied and I sighed. “Fine.”, I said. “So why did you come after me?”, I asked. “What made you change your mind?”, she chew on her apple.
“The bears.”, she said and this confused me. “The bears?”, I asked. “Yeah, they told me I could use a friend. You know, besides them?”, she chuckled and I smirked in disbelief. “No, but in all honesty, we were worried about you getting yourself killed.”, she turned her head and looked.
We both stared into each other’s eyes and she bit on her apple, and her behavior for me was odd but I could tell by her body language that she meant by what she said. She is a nomad and her whole life she grew use to being, remaining, nomadic.
“Are you for real?”, I asked. “Yeah.”, she said. “They said that they felt how you are different. Now, I know what you must be thinking. Because you’re a woman?”, Goldilocks smirked. “No, sexes don’t matter to us. After all, elves are only one sex and that’s female, but that’s not why. I just had a good feeling about you too, a feeling in my gut, that you are a good person. I don’t know. Call it a blind elf’s intuition?”, she explained and I looked down, thinking about what she said, because I had a similar feeling about her in my gut and I could see unlike her.
“You came stumbling into our house, sure, while running from the scarecrows that we despise. However, we don’t hate the scarecrows. We pity them. They were children of the forest, after all, twisted by dark magic. So it wasn’t because of that I took a liking to you. I listened to you talk. I could tell a bullshiter a mile away when I see one, but you…”, she looked at me and nodded.
“I could tell from the moment I met you, heard you talk, and sat at a table having porridge with the bears that you’re alright. I think you have some scars though, but everyone does. Everyone has their ghosts, everyone has their demons, and yet despite all that…”, she shook her head, thinking, and staring at her apple she was nearly finished eating up. “Likewise.”, I said to her.
“Likewise what?”, she asked. “I have the same feeling about you.”, I said to her. “But to tell you the truth, I am afraid…”, I revealed to her. “Afraid of what?”, she asked. “If I might be wrong, you know?”, I replied and she focused her attention to me as did the bears.
“I’ve always relied on myself and I always came across travelers, people, and for some reason they can’t let go off the pain.”, I tried to explain to her. “What pain?”, she asked. “You know, their sorrows, their anger…”, I replied before pausing in thought. “Their hate… their doubts… their fears…”, I kept on thinking what else there was that I noticed about people.
“These energies consume their every thought and they are so fixated, focused on them, that they can’t see what they have right in front of them.”, I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, maybe it’s just me or…”, I looked down worried she would think I am crazy or something.
“They’re fixated on their own pain so much that they constantly bring it up and despite how much you want to help them, they cannot be helped.”, said Goldilocks and this surprised me. “Despite how much you show them that there are positive things in this world, they always choose to navigate towards the negative and forsake all else.”, she seemed to understand me.
She looked away in thought towards baby and raised her right claw over his head, petting him, before she would turn her head back to face me and say…
“They’re fixated on that pain so much that they expect so much from you, desperate and hoping to find a cure, and even though you do not ask or expect anything from them in return… sometimes you wonder if they care about you at all as much as you care about them.”, she shared her thoughts on the matter and I couldn’t have agreed more with her, I just nodded in silence.
“I hear you, Kir.”, she then raised her own claw over my hand and patted it, smiling as she did. “You see?”, she then nudged her head on the side and pointed at me with her other claw. “Told ya that I had a good feeling about you.”, she chuckled and so did I as we both chuckled.
“Now, what say you we get some sleep?”, the bears then surrounded us to block the cold wind and then mama bear laid behind me and baby bear in front of me. “They’re gonna help you keep warm. After all, we’re on high altitude, right?”, she explained and I petted mama bear while Goldilocks stretched her arms and laid back over the side of papa bear and we slept.
“Captain!”, back at the TEC-9, one of the crew members ran up to Drakwa. “We found a giant beanstalk!”, this confused the dwarf at first until he clued in. “By Jove!”, the dwarf shouted. “We finally found it?!”, he seemed to overjoyed and grabbed the malfhi crew member that smiled.
“Have you marked it on the map?!”, nodded the malfhi joyously. “Of course, sir!”, she said. “Good, then make sure you unmark it.”, he added and the malfhi bowed her head immediately.
“Wait, wait!”, said the nazirh crewmember. “Why unmark it?”, he asked. “Because every planet has a world tree that holds it together and every time the Empyreals discovered one, they drained it of its power for their own selfish desires and purpose. This giant beanstalk is not just any ordinary beanstalk…”, the dwarf explained. “It’s the world tree.”, said the clued in nazirh
“The beanstalk world tree.”, the malfhi confirmed and the dwarf nodded his head. “I expect all of you here to keep your mouths shut.”, the dwarf explained. “Of course we will.”, said a gnome. “Fuck the Dragon Empire.”, said another. “They don’t pay us well anyway.”, the dwarf smirked at the comment of his crew member before nodding his head. “Carry on!”, the dwarf shouted.
Meanwhile, Naomi Pharon circled around the giant beanstalk tree in search of us and with her eyes she scanned for any signs of life forms that she could find only for her eyes to detect something that made her smile upon noticing it. She stopped moving mid air with her jetpack and boot thrusters before smiling and making her way back up towards the skies. She travelled back to the zeppelin and landed on board the ship, approaching Bloody Mary that seemed to be having her razor sharp red nails done that were shaped like claws.
“I didn’t hear any explosions, Pharon.”, said Mary. “Why didn’t I hear any explosion?”, she looked at her nails before Naomi said. “Because there’s a shit ton of spriggans down there, Lady Bloodstone.”, it was then that Bloody Mary turned her head, smiling towards Naomi.
“Is there?”, asked Bloody Mary and Naomi nodded her head, smiling back at her. “Well, then this might just work to your advantage.”, said Bloody Mary. “Milady?”, Naomi was confused. “We’re taking no chances, you idiot. Now get back down there and kill them!”, Bloody Mary shouted at Naomi, who looked terrified at her leader’s sudden change in behavior, and leaped off the ship before she burst downward with her jetpack and thrusters.
“Big Boy!”, Bloody Mary called and the scarecrow stepped forward. “Prepare your crows just in case she fucks this up, will you?”, said Mary and Big Boy Blue nodded his head, nudging his head towards his scarecrows as they went on their own path to intercept us.
After several hours of sleep, we began our travel up the beanstalk tree that seemingly leads towards the heavens for over an hour. Our journey was perilous and tiresome for the roots are intertwined and entangled as were her branches. We would be able to easily transfer from one point to the other until one of the bears barked only for Goldilocks to focus her eyes.
“What is it, Baby?”, she kept focusing her eyes only to see what appeared to be a large lantern whose windows resembled that of Japanese origin and it was held by several large branches.
It hung from the side of the great tree, overlooking the ruined Kingdom of Rosamond from below, and from here we could see the entire market and the wisps we once faced below. There was a slide door that we saw and yet did not approach, not just yet. I looked at Goldilocks and she looked back at me, we both nodded our heads and I reached for my pistol while she approached the door with me. Mama and Papa bear stood behind while Baby bear stood between us as I slid the door open only to peek in. To my surprise, I saw a shrine in the room where there appeared to be a cauldron and surrounding it there were book shelves leaned against the wall and between them there were large gaps from which the moonlight shinned through the windows. When I looked down and over to my right, there was a cabinet with several shoes beside it that implied to me that someone lived here and the cauldron kept on boiling. Goldilocks looked to the ceiling where she saw small little banners that hung from the ceiling that glowed like enchanted runs and I knew immediately that we must have been in a room of a powerful rune master.
“Looks like nobody’s home.”, I said to Goldilocks until someone emerged from the waters of the cauldron and I immediately pointed my pistol at him while Goldilocks reached for an axe that she prepared to throw to strike whatever it was down.
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The person that emerged seemed to be unaware off our presence but what confused us the most was what he was doing. He had an actual handle along with a scrubber and he seemed to be washing himself, scrubbing his back while standing inside of a large boiling cauldron. I looked at Goldilocks and she looked at me, we both held our weapons wondering what the hell was going on and we were amazed by what appeared to be an old man of nazirh origin. The half-human and half-kazari turned around before he stopped scrubbing himself and his eyes widened. He then had a very good look at us and then just continued to casually scrub his body.
“Stop doing that…”, said Goldilocks. “Why would I do that? I live here.”, the old man replied. “It is you who should be more respectful to your elders.”, he added and Goldilocks sighed. “First of all, you’re not my elder, old man. And second of all, because…”, she looked at his body.
“Ugh, just get a towel, will ya?”, she lowered her axe and shook her head that made me calm down. “But I am not finished.”, he said and then took a bar of soap as he kept scrubbing himself. “We apologize for intruding into your home, stranger, it’s just that we never expected to see a house hanging from a giant beanstalk before.”, I said to the old man that smiled towards me.
“And you’ve never expected to see a giant beanstalk tree before and yet here it is.”, the old man chuckled to himself as I looked on the side, sighing. “If it would be alright with you, good sir, we’d like to inquire more about the beanstalk after you’re done with your…”, I pointed at him, speechless for a moment, before finally finishing my sentence. “Bath.”, I said.
“Yeah, and ugh…”, Goldilocks looked uncomfortable. “If it is all the same to you, we’ll take it outside until you’re done.”, I couldn’t have agreed more with her. “That would be kind of you, thank you.”, said the old man that sunk inside of his cauldron that was smaller than he was.
I walked out of the house, along with Goldilocks and Baby, only for us to stop upon noticing creatures that appeared to be elven, kazarian, human and even harpy. They all had two tails, large porcupine needless protruding from their backs and their bodies greatly resembled the beanstalk tree that we had climbed. One of their tails pulled the needless from their backs and Goldilocks prepared her claws, she was well familiar with these beasts.
“Derangers!”, she shouted. “Derangers?!”, I reached for my pistol. “Yeah, rangers of nature that have gone deranged! People often call them the…!”, I then knew what she was going to say. “The spriggans.”, I looked forth in horror as one of their tails bent into the shape of a bow and their second tail bent a string from it where they placed their needle as if it is an arrowhead.
It is then that Goldilocks jumped in front of me and several of the derangers then stood their ground, not wishing to fire their needles towards me before she turned back.
“Run!”, she yelled at me. “Goldi…!”, I said and then she shouted. “They aren’t after me! They’re after you! Now run!”, it was then that one of the harpies rose into the air to launch one of the needles at me and then Goldilocks turned, shifted so quickly over to my side and kicked me with her right leg that sent me falling off the beanstalk as several harpies flew into the air.
I could see their swarm preparing their needles and I saw a rope tied to me that confused me only for it to tighten before I realized what it was. The rope tightened and several needles flew past me as I screamed and swung back towards the beanstalk. The harpies flew down after me and several elves that stood on the beanstalk’s branches fired their arrows towards me. I swung my body right and then left before I saw an opening in the tree as I yelled only to move through it. I was then swung upward and the rope-line was so tight that I got pulled back down only for a harpy to be struck in his head that sent him falling down into the tree. I then swung backwards and the elves pointed their arrowheads into the hole, grinning and smiling until suddenly I was pulled back so fast by the reel off the grappling mechanism that angered the derangers. One of them that stood on the ledge got struck by me and fell off the tree to her death. I kept getting reeled upward with several needles missing me and then I saw Goldilocks pull me back up very quick as she looked forward towards the harpies that flew into the skies. She looked back to see the other spriggans hold their needles at the ready and then she looked at me as I shook my head, begging her not to do what she was planning to do, and yet she did it anyway. She threw me into the air and then pushed herself to fall on her back as several needles past underneath me and several more that the other derangers fired only for one of the needles to strike my rope-line that broke as I struck the beanstalk tree with my body, hitting from one branch to another and then another until I hit the ground only for hundreds of needles to be pointed at me. The bears leaped on many spriggans and knocked them behind me to give us a barrier on one side. Goldilocks stood in front of me and crouched, growled at the spriggans that pointed their needles at us.
“Hold, fellow rangers…”, then the voice of the old man sounded and the derangers turned to face him. “These are my guests…”, he said to the derangers with one of them, an elf, growling at him before stepping forward and her mouth opened, and her voice did not sound human.
It sounds like a cricket, a bug, or spider… anything far from human or elven for that matter. The old man seemed to understand and so did Goldilocks, whose ears flickered to the sound.
“You, human!”, shouted the old man. “Ughuh?”, I was so out of it that I could barely say a word. “Have you cut through thorns, brambles and/or branches in the last hour, perhaps?”, Goldilocks then saw that I was out of it and turned her head to respond for me. “She did.”, the derangers then all growled in anger and raised their needles as Goldilocks spread her arms defiantly.
“But I fixed them all!”, the derangers then seemed to calm down and they each looked towards one another before looking back to the old man and their elven leader. “We felt tremendous pain because of her!”, she shouted. “And you felt tremendous love from me!”, shouted Goldilocks.
“Please, forgive her…”, said Goldilocks. “She did not know how it hurt and that you would feel such pain.”, the derangers turned their heads back facing Goldilocks. “Please, mighty spriggans, a fellow druid asks you to show mercy.”, Goldilocks then stepped aside and left me lying on the ground in perfect and open view to all of the derangers as the three bears surrounded me.
The elven deranger looked at me and stepped forward. She had her eyes fixated on the three bears with Baby trying to even sniff me and help me out only for Mama Bear to pull him back. The deranger closed her eyes, appeared to be angry at first and then threw her own needle on the ground that impaled itself right beside my head that startled me. I got up and stared right at her, looking into her green eyes as she breathed heavily and then she looked away before walking away. The derangers then lowered their needles and looked away as well, leaving me alone. The three bears were so happy that they ran towards me and knocked me over, licking me and hitting me with their heads to hug me as I laughed while Goldilocks appeared to be overjoyed.
“You are fortunate, little human, to have such loving friends.”, said the old man, who stood there in a green robe from which flowers grew like on open fields of grass. “And unfortunate to have earned the ire of so the Bloodstone Tribe!”, it was then that on top of the old man’s house landed Naomi Pharon herself, looking down towards all of us and smiling only for a needle to hit her.
She looked to her left shoulder to see it impaled into her body and then towards the derangers that all seemed to unleash their needles towards her as she pushed herself away, falling off the house, and the old man opened the door to his home.
“Come, quickly!”, shouted the old man and we immediately ran into the house while the android circled around, firing a rocket towards us only for a needle to strike it mid air.
“Into the cauldron, quickly!”, shouted the old man that then shut his door closed with his staff. “Into the what?!”, shouted Goldilocks and Mama Bear jumped into the cauldron only to disappear out of sight and then Papa Bear jumped after to do the same.
“Wait, hold on!”, Goldilocks shouted towards Baby that then disappeared as well. “Why does everyone just keep on rushing into the unknown?!”, the old man then pushed Goldilocks into the cauldron with her staff and she fell inside of it only to disappear.
“After you, milady.”, the old man said to me as I saw the light of the jetpack flicker outside and the android aim her arm cannons towards the house. “Today, milady!”, I then ran and the android unleashed her barrage on the house as it began to explode and I struck the surface of the water.
I then fell inside of it and it was as if I entered a whole other world. I could see the opening in which I fell in from and the fire only momentarily before the ring closed. I then looked around to see that my head was beneath a surface of natural spiral stone and I swam through the warm waters with my eyes open as I swam upwards only to find myself located inside of a large cave. I saw Goldilocks and the three bears emerging onto a small sandy beach as I quickly swam there. The android watched the destruction of the old man’s house that fell from the beanstalk and she smiled with joy, believing she had killed us in the explosion as the derangers fired their needles at her that annoyed her. She then quickly burst into the skies with her jetpack to the very top off the beanstalk tree and to her surprise it leads nowhere at all.
“Where are we?”, I asked Goldilocks. “I have no fucking clue to be honest.”, she replied. “Wherever the old man took us, anything is better than being back there.”, she implied. “How the fuck did the Bloodstone Tribe find us?”, I asked only for Goldilocks to elaborate.
“The Bloodstone Tribe has eyes and ears everywhere, or so they say. Suffice it to say they have actual crows that keep tabs on everywhere we go.”, she explained. “Yea, I saw them.”, she shook her head to my reply. “No, not scarecrows, I meant actual crows as in birds.”, I then thought about what she said and how many times I came across crows by accident.
“Oh…”, I said.“That would explain a lot of things.”, I said with realization and gazed away in thought until another took its place when the ground shook beneath our feet.
There was a crack that formed within the stone wall before us that split it in two like two huge sliding stone doors. Goldilocks, the bears and I had already prepared ourselves for battle until we saw the old man emerge from the darkness of the newly formed tunnel. He tapped his staff onto the ground below him and several torches behind him lit up in quick succession.
“Welcome to my humble abode, travelers.”, he then turned and walked down into the tunnel as we took a few steps to see it was a grand staircase that lead deep into the earth.
Goldilocks and I looked at each other with uncertainty but the three bears already began to walk down the stone steps. Baby Bear, in fact, ran down and got closest to the old man that seemed to walk beside him peacefully while we followed along. It was then that we got inside of a large lair with plenty more book shelves, cauldrons, fire pits, a singular large stone bed, and lanterns that hung from all around with a fountain in the corner of the room where there were jugs.
“Fancy yourselves some drinks? Just dip your goblet into the fountain and say whatever it is that you desire, and the fountain shall grant it.”, Goldilocks ran to the fountain and grabbed one of the goblets the moment she heard the old man say that. “Blood!”, she placed the goblet into the fountain and the old man rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
“Well, except for things like that. Blood magic is different than arcane magic.”, Goldilocks sighed. “Oh!”, she then raised her head with excitement. “Beer!”, the fountain then gave her what she wished and when she raised the goblet out of the fountain this time, she got alcohol.
“Yes!”, she was so happy as she drank from the jug and I shook my head, rolling my eyes. “Oh, boy…”, I placed the palm of my hand over my face. “Would you like some muffins, pies, cakes, or some other treats?”, the old man offered a platter of plethora of baked goods.
“No, thank you.”, I rejected his offer. “I’d rather get to know you first.”, I said. “Me?”, the old man replied. “Why, I am Jackob Spriggins, but friends call me Jack.”, it was then that Goldi spit out her beer and shook her head, focusing on the old man that she pointed her jug to.
“Jackob Spriggins?”, she asked. “That’s right?”, said the old man. “No, that can’t be right!”, she responded. “You’re supposed to be dead!”, she made her point loud and clear.
“I got better?”, he replied. “Wait, wait, wait…”, I raised my arms and hands, interrupting them. “Can someone fill me in here so I can be up to speed on what the hell is going on?”, I asked.
“Yeah!”, said Goldilocks. “This bloke here was one of the seven magi that mitigated the curse of the old bag!”, this was a reveal that got my attention as I turned back to the old man who bowed.
“Yes, I was.”, he confessed. “And now I am here, watching over that old bag and the child.”, he said much to my confusion. “Watching over?”, I said. “What do you mean watching over the old bag and the child? Are you saying that they’re around here some place?”, I asked and the old man sighed before pointing his staff to a round table with four seats.
The bears were in the corner of their own room and dipped their heads into the fountain, and when they lifted them back out of it I could see their faces covered with honey. They kept dipping their heads up and down to acquire more of it as Goldilocks lowered her jug back into the fountain to acquire more beer. I sat at the table with Jackob Spriggings that placed his staff over on the side. The nazirh was bald, his body covered by all forms of aquatic life and the robe he wore seemed to be made out of kelp with various forms of aquatic life growing from it.
“Do not be frightened, traveler, for this is not the first time I have received a visit from outlander folk such as yourself.”, he said before a knock was heard over a wooden door followed up by more knocks as Goldilocks stared at the door with the beer held in her right claw.
It was then that the door was kicked open and a bright light shun within that blinded me from seeing me who it was. Goldilocks held her beer and her jaw dropped for a moment before she clearly saw who it was. It was Bloody Mary that stepped in first, waving her hand at Goldi, and the elf growled back towards her in an unfriendly matter as did the three bears. Bloody Mary stepped over to the left of the door as I got up from my seat and the old man raised his staff against my check, staring at me with a look that was implying for me to calm down, and then Naomi Pharon walked in that looked at me with an angry look on her face as she walked over to the right. It was then that the third individual stepped into the room and she was different then all the rest. She was the one I heard so much about and never met before until now.
“How do you do, Jour?”, said the mysterious stranger until the old man would respond. “Talia.”, stating her name after he bowed his head. “Goldi?”, said Bloody Mary. “Mary.”, Goldi had her claws drawn and ready while Talia approached the table to stare at me.
It was then that Big Boy Blue, who was on all fours, tried to get into the room only to be stuck at the door and Talia sighed, staring back at him as he struggled to get in. Talia then looked at Mary and Naomi, gesturing with her head for them to help him inside and so they grabbed hold over his arms as Goldilocks smirked, concealing her smile and mockery as I watched.
“So you are the one who has caused my people a great deal of headache around these parts?”, said Talia and it was then that my attention shifted from the comedy to her. “Technically, it was your people that caused a great deal of headache to me first.”, I shared my thoughts before looking aside towards Bloody Mary, who smiled back at me for she knew what I meant.
“She does have a fair point.”, said Jackob. “Your people instigated a fight first and she fought back.”, it sounded like he was on my side. “Yes.”, said Talia, seemingly agreeing with him.
“But she could of also easily chosen to stay away from where she doesn’t belong in the first place.”, it was then that she showed that she was well aware of who I was. “You are not off this world, mortal, and your kind are from no other world that lingers among the stars with the exception of one and what happened to that one again, Mary?”, Talia turned to look at Mary that raised both hands and placed them together before separating them to gesture a boom effect.
“Ka-boom!”, said Mary out loud and Naomi smirked while Big Boy Blue stood there without any sort of reaction but a clear focused gaze on his target, on me.
“That’s right, Mary, it went ka-boom.”, Talia turned her head back towards me before lifting both legs over the table and leaning her back into the seat, laying both arms over the chair. “So therefore, you don’t exactly belong to any world now, do you?”, Talia smiled at me and then I leaned forward while sitting down, placing both of my arms over the table.
“That may be, but if it wasn’t for us migrating from one ruined world onto another after another then perhaps you wouldn’t have been ever born considering half of your blood is human and the other elven? Or could I be wrong?”, Jackob nodded his head and Talia displayed her teeth. “Oh, I am well aware of that, but that’s not the point I am trying to hammer down here. Each of us found our own world to call home. Well, everyone besides you, of course. You see, each world is home to its own wonders just as each home is home to its own horrors, but more importantly…”, Talia raised her lower body and placed her feet down on the ground to lean her head closer.
“Each world is home to its own laws and its own people, and you are not a part of our people and our laws. You do not belong here, you never belonged here, and yet you waltz right in here like you own it, like you were always a part of it. So go back to your own, girl, that’s what I suggest. Go back there and stay there, and if you’re not welcome there either…”, Talia explained before shrugging her shoulders carelessly. “That is not our problem.”, she stated and I nodded.
“You’re right…”, I said to her and Goldilocks looked down, she tightened the grip of her fists because she knew they were right and yet disagreed with it. “And I will leave this world.”, I said to Talia that smiled back. “Then we are in agreement then?”, Talia asked. “After I stop you.”, this reply lead to Talia’s smile to turn to an annoyed and serious glare.
“You might be native to this world, Talia Carabosse, but let me make myself clear to you as well. You divided a people, shattering their unity and ruining their lives. You defiled god knows how many laws of nature for your own selfish desires, whims, and needs. You ruined a kingdom and forever cast a shadow that looms over it, and because of what? Because your brother left you behind, because he found someone to love while you did not?”, Goldilocks was shocked by how brutal and honest I was, not to mention sincere and how many buttons I pushed that even Talia’s own lieutenants stared towards their mistress, wondering how she would react to all of this.
“No…”, said Talia, who looked down towards the table. “Because he betrayed me just like the others had.”, she looked towards Jackob and they both exchanged a look of old memories.
“I did everything for my brother.”, Talia explained. “Everything!”, she then looked back to me with a look of anger and fury unparalleled. “When our parents abandoned us, it was I who raised him. It was I who was there to guide him, to nurture him, to believe in him…”, she then raised her head. “I never asked anything from him, nor did I expect anything in return and yet he forsake me, he forsook all of us and for what? For that woman, of course, Aurore Rosamond, I always hated the bitch for she always told everyone I was evil, that my heart and soul were tainted as they come but it was hers that was tainted!”, the way she worded that then reminded me off what Goldilocks and I were talking about when we were climbing the beanstalk.
“She never even knew me! She just believed in whatever the locals told her about me and what’s worse, she believed in it so much that it became their truth. She never knew any of us and she judged us, she judged all of us, and the people were just eating it up like candy. They eat up whatever lies she fed to them about me and overtime they managed to convince the people that her lies are truth about me, a truth that even my own brother started to believe in.”, the more she spoke about it, the more that fury began to seep from her and an dark aura emerged from her.
“I always wanted the best for him. I always wanted him to be happy and his happiness came first above all else. So I allowed all of them to keep making their lies about me, even my own brother. Lies that I was an irredeemable witch without a conscious, without a soul, and even if he knew I wasn’t any of these things…”, it was then she growled and the feral nature of the elf came out, her eyes turned bloody and she glared at me with fury in her eyes.
“He chose the kingdom over me.”, she then leaned her head forward and stared deep into my eyes. “He chose a kingdom for fame and fortune over his own flesh and blood while I was forgotten, while I was abandoned, while I WAS FORSAKEN!”, she raised her voice at me and then her psychopathic behavior came out as she said happily. “And so that’s when I decided to take everything from him, from his whole entire family...”, she chuckled while she said that.
“And do I have any regrets?”, she asked. “Only one.”, she stated. “For not acting sooner on my own choices that would lead about to the ruin of Teyvat and the rise of a new kingdom from the ashes of the old.”, she explained, clearly devoid of any emotions for those that suffered because she hated them, she hated all of the people of the kingdom for the lies they made about her.
“Yes, I cursed the child.”, she confessed. “Because I wanted to watch them suffer.”, she implied. “I wanted to watch them all suffer!”, she raised her voice and then smiled, which made Bloody Mary smile too and yet Naomi Pharon was emotionless like Big Boy Blue was beside her.
“Everyone was praised throughout the kingdom, everyone was invited, everyone was welcomed besides his own flesh and blood.”, she stated. “I didn’t care about the banquets, the golden cases with their fancy utensils. No!”, she reminded me. “I just cared to watch him suffer!”, she stated loud and clear, laughing maniacally as she did and then she got up, raising her right claw.
I was then lifted into the air and I could feel a grip over my neck that tightened, it felt like a giant’s claw held onto my throat so tight and was squeezing the life out of me.
“Talia, you…!”, the old man got up and then she raised her left claw towards him that knocked him back down onto his chair while Goldilocks and the three bears rushed to assist me. “Shut up, old man!”, shouted Talia while Big Boy Blue, Naomi and Bloody Mary stepped forth.
They stood in the path of my friends that looked helplessly towards me. Goldilocks waved her claws, thinking to cast magic and Bloody Mary smirked at her.
“Go ahead, child.”, she said to Goldi. “Make my day.”, she grinned and Goldilocks knew that Bloody Mary was more powerful then she was and Naomi Pharon smiled at this fact.
“You’re lucky, little girl, that I made a magical path with this paltry wizard.”, she explained. “I cannot kill anyone on the grounds of this place for it would cost me my own life but allow me to make one thing very clear to you.”, she kept holding me up and lifted me up into the air.
“Leave this place and never return, and you shall live. Remain here and don’t leave well enough alone? Well, then you will die. The decision, in the end, shall and always will be yours to make as it was mine when I chose to damn my brother’s kingdom and everything I had ever loved and cared about.”, she then pushed her hand upward and my head struck the top of the chandelier.
She then teleported out of the place, along with her subordinates, and they all disappeared in a blink of an eye as their souls moved throughout the door so fast that shut itself closed. I fell down over the table and broke it in two, falling unconscious and Goldilocks rushed over to me immediately along with the three bears that were so worried about me. I could hear a laughter echo throughout the room, one of Talia Carabosse that echoed through my mind. My eyes closed before they would open in a burning forest that terrified me. I recognized the place as the setting of my old home back on another world and it was then that I saw it, the Doom Falcon, our capital city on board a space ship falling down from the skies that struck one of the four great human dams from which we got the source of our powers. It was then that I saw an elf staring at it and it was not Goldilocks, Talia Carabosse, or anyone that I knew. When the Doom Falcon struck the dam is when it broke and water poured out as the elven gorgon raised her arms to greet them.
“Nature is eternal!”, she shouted towards the rushing waters and then she turned, her face was pale and skeletal in nature. “You are all ephemeral!”, she cackled manically as the water washed away and I raised my arms covering in fear before I woke up, breathing heavily and Goldilocks grabbed me with her claws and I grabbed her as I was shaken by what I had seen.
“Kirya, Kirya!”, she called out my name and I heavily breathed, backing away and reaching for my head before the old man rushed in. “She’s having a panic attack!”, he raised his voice and both druids stood on opposite sides of me, leaning me against the bed as baby walked over to me.
Baby Bear then dropped its head over my chest, resting its head over me, and it seemed to close its eyes as it was deeply worried for me. Goldilocks and Jackob held my shoulders as the bears barked at me and hoped I would be okay while the one that was truly helping me then was Baby Bear whose fur I grabbed hold off, held onto and whose breathing I felt that calmed me down. I didn’t know exactly what it was or why it helped, but it did… My breathing started to slow down and I began to calm down, petting him and Goldilocks leaned over and hugged me that helped calm me down even more for I knew I was not alone, that the Hearthlands was in the past now.