Silence. Dead silent. The steady beat of her heart was audibly heard in her ears, her body tensing up as she gazed around. This place… It looked like a giant garden, but with enormous dead plants rather than lush, colorful flowers. And the air was acrid with some kind of scent, vaguely like a skunk’s stench that made Amaris’ sinus ache just from breathing it in. It seemed like it was emanating from the ground itself, the fact that there was no breeze or any wind blowing more apparent. The sky itself was a dull gray and free of clouds, Amaris glancing back and seeing the spatial rip she jumped through was gone now. She was trapped here until she found a way out, if there even was one.

There’s gotta be one. If there’s a way in, there should be one out.

Crunch!

The sound startled Amaris, visibly flinching, as bits of dried leaves floated down in front of her from above. She blinked in surprise before looking up, a butterfly much bigger than her gnawing at the dead leaves of an enormous shriveled plant. It probably wouldn’t have been so unsettling if it weren’t for the creature’s lack of a proboscis, instead having the mandibles of a katydid. The legs looked thick with armour-like plating, the wings slightly tattered at the ends. She quickly ducked down and moved behind a nearby dead stalk, heart beating rapidly in her chest. Hopefully it didn’t see her, but she knew she had to do something about keeping herself hidden here if more of those were prowling around. Her hair was a dead giveaway, after all.

Still, what in the world is that thing!? I didn’t know butterfly monsters existed here!

Looking around at the ground, Amaris did find some large leaves laying around, cautiously picking up one while trying to make as little noise as possible. Holding the large brown leaf over her head, she looked ahead to see where to go next. Not that it took long to figure out… That incessant pull at her mind was urging her to go forward, deeper into the dead garden. Whatever it was, she couldn’t just ignore it, could she? There had to be a reason why she felt it outside of this space, calling out to her and drawing her in like a moth to a flame.

She dashed forward and hid behind another stalk, checking her surroundings for those butterfly creatures before moving to the next one. There were some around, but they hadn’t taken notice of her yet. She didn’t want to risk her safety to see if those monstrosities were friendly or not. Regardless of her strength, she wasn’t sure how she’d fend them off with just physical blows, not with that armor plating in the way. Moving onward, she drew closer to that source that attracted her, at least until she heard a hiss above her. Freezing up, she slowly gazed upward, meeting the compound eyes of a butterfly monster staring down at her. That moment of a held gaze felt like it lasted for more than a minute, the realization she was found sinking in.

With another hiss, the creature suddenly leapt toward her, Amaris rolling out of the way to avoid it. Dirt was kicked up into the air when the creature’s pointed legs met the ground, Amaris feeling that impact through her body as she got back up on her feet. Not bothering to linger around any longer than she had to, Amaris took off in a sprint to get away from the creature, zig-zagging around some of the stalks to lose it. Should she spare a second to look back? Hesitantly, she glanced back, only to see the monster charging her and forcing her to focus on ahead again. The close space of the stalks kept it from flying, but it was obvious it didn’t really need to fly to catch up to her. Its pointed legs left behind many holes in the ground, Amaris doing her best to keep up her sprint for as long as possible. But her lungs were starting to ache for the need of oxygen and a break, heart pounding so loudly that she was positive that the creature could find her just on that alone.

What should I do? What should I do!?

Right after that thought, the creature lunged once it was close enough to her, knocking her down as her hands scraped against the hardened dirt. Knees aching from the fall, she rolled over onto her back just as the butterfly’s mandibles were right above her. Her hands caught the mandibles in time, her own strength the only thing stopping the creature from cutting into her body. The creature hissed as it pushed more of its weight onto her, Amaris doing her best to push back or keep it from overpowering her. The compound eyes of the creature staring into hers, lacking any emotion as an insect would.

But with neither of them moving, the two were in a stalemate - the creature trying to crush her with its mandibles but Amaris stopping it without being able to push back. It seemed the creature caught onto this, however, lifting its head to flail Amaris around to shake her off instead. The pinkette held on, letting go when the creature flicked its head upward and threw her into the air. She ended up landing onto its back, where she quickly grabbed hold of its antennae and pulled on them as hard as she could.

The creature actually screeched out in pain, rearing back to buck her off. Its violent thrashing indeed threw her off, Amaris was thrown backward and landed on her back, but not without losing its antennae, which were still in the pinkette’s hands. She glanced down for a second and quickly tossed them to the side as she got back on her feet, the creature turning toward her and screeching. The noise rattled her eardrums, making her wince, eyes widening as the creature jumped into the air and became airborne, flapping its tattered wings.

No, get back here! I can’t let you go.. I can’t!

This odd yearning in her gut had her subconsciously reach out for the retreating figure of the beast, feeling something begin to well up and flow through her outstretched arm. Through her right palm, three metal wires shot out toward the beast, following her (momentarily surprised) will to catch the monster. They wrapped around the legs of the beast, Amaris firmly planting her feet down and pulling with all her might to stop it from flying away. With her superhuman strength, it was more than enough to keep the creature from flying off, the beast desperately flapping its wings to try to move away from her.

Amaris took a breath and held the wires firmly, suddenly lifting her arms up and over herself to swing the butterfly creature overhead and slam it into the ground. The impact caused a small crater to form, dust clouds being kicked up into the air as Amaris severed the wires near her palms. The girl charged forward, her body moving purely on instinct as a blade emerged from her palm next, becoming a broadsword that she was able to hold with both hands. Leaping into the air, she positioned the sword into a downward strike to the stunned creature’s head, the blade piercing through its skull. Deep purple blood spurted out from the wound, splashing onto the girl as she firmly drove it deeper, the body struggling and thrashing with its head pinned down.

The sword went in deeper, all the way to the hilt, Amaris keeping it still while the creature began its death throes. The thrashing very quickly turned into twitching and then into stillness. She relaxed her grip some and slowly stood up, the blade also pulling free with the creature’s blood on it. She swung the blade to her right, shaking off the excess blood and splattering it onto the dirt ground. A sudden gasp took her, Amaris looking to the creature and then to her sword and back again.

How… How did I do that?

It was like she was watching someone else take control of her body. It moved all on its own to take down that beast as if she had been doing this for years. But that’s impossible… There was no way muscle memory would work if she had amnesia, right? Or was this linked to the memories she couldn’t remember? Whatever the case, she’d have to worry about that later. She had to find Amelia quickly if these creatures were prowling about. Mentally pushing her thoughts back, she ran forward through the dead and gray garden, keeping to the stalks that had some leaves still on them to hide herself. She’d rather not risk more than one spotting her when she was lucky enough to kill one. Best not to push that luck any more than she had to.

Something up ahead caught her eye, the girl noticing an arch above the tall, withered stalks. It looked like… one of those garden arches. Except it was massive the closer she got to it, the arch a conspicuous white with dead brown vines wrapped around it. And as she drew closer, she realized there were more of those butterfly creatures perched at the top, idly opening and closing their wings. To the sides of the arch, there were black thorny hedges that made the walls of whatever was in the center of this garden.

Well, she obviously couldn’t just charge right through or else that would alarm all the other butterfly monsters. Then that would lead up to a battle against groups of them. Even with her strength, she wasn’t sure just how far her own stamina could carry her through endless fighting. This was too dangerous a situation to test that theory. She’d have to go around somehow… and it took one glance at her sword for her to realize what to do. Ducking behind the closest stalk to the thorn hedge, she observed the butterflies for a moment to make sure they weren’t alarmed or suspicious of anything. They were still idly just sitting there on the arch, so it seemed like a good time to move forward. Readying her sword, she hacked and slashed at the thorns to make a way in, making sure to put her strength into her swings so she wouldn’t get caught outside the hedge from all the noise. The brittle thorns came apart easily, Amaris pushing on through to take cover within the hedge. Now out of sight of those perched butterflies, she continued on and carved her way through the hedge. There had to be something within the middle of this garden, right? And she hadn’t found any sign of Amelia either, so hopefully the girl was nearby. And even if she wasn’t.. It’d still be a good thing if Amaris got rid of all these monsters. After a few more minutes, Amaris could see some ground ahead through the spaces between the thorns.

Almost there…

With a few more slashes to the thorns, the hedge wall in front of her fell away to reveal spacious ground that was surrounded by the thorny hedge she had just emerged out of. The ground itself was hard and so dry that there were cracks all around. There was nothing growing from this inhospitable soil… Except for a large blooming flower within the center. It was a deep purple and looked very similar to a primrose flower.

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But the flower wasn’t the only thing that caught Amaris’ eye, for yet another butterfly creature was resting on top of it. But unlike the others she had seen, it didn’t look insectoid as they had. The head was elongated, it even had something like a snout, and the top of its head seemed to have horns. Or at least that’s how it seemed until they waved around, behaving more like tendrils. Speaking of, the grayish-purple wings were enormous on the creature, tattered and branching out to tendrils as well. Though the most prominent of the tendrils were two thin yellow ones emerging from its back.

Amaris could feel her heartbeat speed up, her hands shaking some as she gripped her sword as tightly as she could with both hands, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. She wasn’t afraid - far from it. She was excited. It took every ounce of her own self control to stop herself from giggling, despite every cell in her body feeling like it was screaming at her to “kill it.” Just the idea of that monster being slain by her sword filled her with satisfaction, a smile crossing her lips as she imagined it. The sensible part of her mind did wonder and question why she was feeling like this, why she had this overwhelming urge to attack and kill that monster.

She couldn’t dwell on that thought for very long, instinct kicking in again as her body moved forward on its own and ran for the creature. It wasn’t until she drew closer that she noticed something else… A child lying unconscious on the flower, beneath the monster. Her pale blue eyes widened some at the implication that this might be Amelia, the girl she was searching for. Excitement gave way to urgency, the pinkette’s eyes narrowing at the monster as her smile faded.

“Get away from her!” Amaris freed one hand and made a throwing motion with her arm, a dagger flying out of her palm with intense speed from her strength. It hit the creature’s head accurately, its head turning slightly from the impact. Yet, it didn’t seem like it was hindered much from it, the head slowly turning to look in her direction. Amaris slowed her run to a stop, noticing that monster lacked eyes. Its wings flapped and pushed the creature into the air, powerful enough that it was kicking up dirt with every flap from that massive wingspan. With a whip of its head, the dagger that was embedded in its head flung out to the side. Yellow lights began to glow from the sides of its head, presumably what its eyes really were.

With a bellowing cry, the roar lowering and rising in pitch as a dark aura emanated from it, it flapped its wings to go higher up. From the corner of Amaris’ eyes, she could see something else approaching, the girl turning her head to see the butterflies that were perched on the garden arch flying toward them. The thing went and called in backup! Crap, how was she going to do this!? The butterfly swarm began to circle above, waiting on further commands from their leader as Amaris struggled to think on a plan.

Wait… Don’t think… Just let it happen.

The monster bellowed again, butterflies heading out to charge Amaris. She slowly exhaled and dropped her sword, rushing toward the first butterfly and meeting it halfway. However, she leaped over it as it drew near, her feet kicking off its abdomen and simultaneously shoving the beast down to the ground. She did the same for the next to butterflies, using them as stepping stones to get closer to the swarm. Kicking off the last one, wires flew out of her palms and snagged the closest insect monster, the wires being drawn back into her palm and caused her to be pulled closer.

That particular butterfly seemed to catch on that she was getting too close, the creature breaking away from the rest to shake her off. It first began to make sharp turns, whipping her side to side to throw her off. Amaris held on, gritting her teeth as the creature then ascended upward and began to dive downward. It took her a second to realize that she was above the leader, quickly severing the wires as blades emerged from her palms. Using her momentum, she dived toward the beast, ready to stab the creature… Until those yellow tendrils suddenly shot out and grabbed her, wrapping around her body tightly that even she couldn’t break free.

“Let go!” She struggled as the tendrils brought her closer to the monster, its glowing emotionless eyes staring her down. Then, the sound of children laughing began to echo around, distorted with all sorts of pitches. Was it taunting her? The tendrils began to glow like its eyes, Amaris feeling some kind of invasive energy trying to enter her mind. She loudly gasped, her vision blacking out for a moment.

I’ve given you some of my power. Now, we can create this world… Together.

The monster suddenly screeched in pain, throwing Amaris away to the side. Her body bounced once and then slid across the ground into a massive pile of bones, her head aching more than the rest of her body. She pushed herself to sit up, rubbing the side of her head as she tried to make some sense of what just happened, her vision blurry. That voice she heard in her head wasn’t like anyone’s she heard before. It sounded female, and whatever it was seemed to have caused the monster pain as well. Her vision began to clear up, and what she saw next made another gasp escape her mouth. These bones that were lying all around her… They were too small to have been an adult’s. She quickly pushed herself to stand up, looking around to see every bone was small in size. This monster… It fed on children!?

She turned her attention back on the monster, her eyes glaring at the thing that was now on the ground, noting that it wasn’t too close to the flower where the presumed Amelia was at. It seemed like it was stunned, Amaris taking this chance to run toward it. In that moment, the other butterflies swooped down to form a barrier of some sort between her and the monster.

Don’t think.. Just let it happen…

A soft exhale and her feet moved to turn and slash at the first butterfly, her sword slicing cleanly through it. Keeping with this momentum, her body instinctively moved to strike at the next monster, throwing her sword into the head of one sneaking up behind her. Wires extended out of her palms as she whipped them onto the following butterfly, the wires slipping between some of the exoskeleton to where the limbs met the torso. With the wires wrapped around the vulnerable limb, she yanked on the wires as hard as she could, the wires cutting and slicing through to dismember the creature.

And these were but a few of the butterflies that were coming after her. Amaris soon found herself in a neverending dance of slashing, slicing, and stabbing the monsters swarming her, creating more swords to either throw or defend herself with. Leaving behind more and more bodies of the monsters, the swarm began to thin out as she moved closer to the main beast. Eyes on the prize, she slashed at the last of the butterflies, the dead swarm behind her as two swords were in her hands, one in each palm and heavily covered with deep purple blood.

“I don’t know what you are,” she started in a low voice, sky blue eyes narrowed at the monster. “But I’m not letting you get away.” She charged forward to close the distance between them, the monster flapping its wings again to go airborne. However, Amaris was prepared this time, striking the ground with one sword. With her hand now free, wires flew out of her open palm to ensnare a part of the monster’s wing. Since this monster was larger than the first time she did this, she didn’t waste time to tighten the wires and slice through those tendril-wings. The beast bellowed again as its flying was disoriented, limbs emerging out from its torso to let it land safely on the ground.

It took only a blink from Amaris when the creature suddenly rushed her, its new limbs pointed and making holes in the ground behind it. Soon upon her, it began to use its forelimbs to swing down at her, Amaris having to stay light on her feet to dodge out of the way as the creature went on the offensive. One wrong move and she’d end up impaled or stabbed by those limbs. Dropping her swords, she quickly pulled off her zip-up sweater as she continued moving back from the monster, the earth shaking slightly from each blow it delivered to the ground with its powerful sharp limbs. Throwing her sweater in the air, she created a dagger and flung it at the sweater, the point going through some but taking the sweater with it as it flew through the air.

The blade embedded itself into the creature’s head, the monster beginning to screech from its obscured vision. The pinkette ran around until she was behind the creature, running toward it and leaping onto its back. Curved metal claws emerged from the top of her hands as she targeted where the yellow tendrils were coming from, driving the claws into its flesh. With another screech, the monster began to thrash around, bucking to throw her off. She ripped through the flesh to remove the yellow tendrils, tossing the chunks of flesh to the side with the attached tendrils, which still twitched and writhed. That same deep purple blood spurted and splashed onto her, but she didn’t pay it any mind as it started to soak her shirt.

Somewhere in the back of her head, she just knew she had to keep going, to keep slashing and burrowing through the damned thing. Something was calling to her, and she had to see what it was. Her claws kept slashing and ripping through its back, until she saw a black, pronged thing in the middle of the flesh and blood. Reaching in, she gripped it in her hands and began to pull, the thrashes of the monster growing more violent, her body being swung to the left and right. Gritting her teeth, she held onto the pronged thing, managing to get one foot down and push off. Flesh ripped away as she was flung back, the monster’s protected core in her hands as she fell onto her back and knocked the air out of her. Sliding to a stop on the ground, the pinkette groaned and coughed, gasping for air as she slowly rolled over onto her knees and elbows.

With one eye shut as she tried to regain her breath, she looked down at her hands to see the black pronged core, bits of flesh still attached to it. What in the world was this? Her eyes then widened as she quickly turned to look at the monster… Only to see it on the ground, collapsed in a puddle of blood. Was it finally dead? A sudden vibration coursed through her hand and up her arm, Amaris quickly looking back down at the core. It felt like something was flowing into her mind, almost like before when that monster had grabbed her. She winced and gritted her teeth, an intense headache throbbing through her skull. It almost felt like her head was about to explode!

With you by my side, I know we can watch over this world and help it grow. Isn’t it exciting? We still need a name for it… Oh, Lume? Yes… yes, I do love the sound of that. Lume…

With a gasp, Amaris dropped the core, claws retracting back into her hands, and promptly clutched her head, grabbing onto her hair. Who was it that she heard? What even happened there? She grinded her teeth as the pain throbbed through her head, falling back and getting into a fetal position from how intense it was. Whimpering out from the pain, her breathing was sharp while her hands pulled her hair. Then, as it quickly as it happened, the pain began to ebb, Amaris slowly opening her eyes. She pushed herself to sit up, groaning from the lingering headache, though it was far more tolerable now than it was a moment ago. Rubbing at her forehead, she glanced over at the dropped pronged core, picking it up and slipping it into her back pocket.

Forcing herself to stand, she breathed heavily as she shook her head, trying to refocus on what she had to do. She had to get Amelia.. Or at least who she thinks is Amelia. The earth then shook under her feet, cracks spiderwebbing out through the dry, hard ground. The very same cracks began to appear in the sky itself, bits actually starting to fall off of it! More spiderweb cracks appeared all around, connecting with each other as more pieces fell off. It was like this space was caving in! Amaris didn’t have time to waste, forcing herself into a sprint toward the massive flower in the center of the garden. The stem of it snapped in half, the flower itself falling over and tossing out the unconscious girl from its center.

Amaris reached out and threw herself, turning her body while catching the girl, her own body serving as a cushion for the child. Quickly getting to her feet, she looked around to find a way out… But as far as her eyes could see, reality at the far edges was breaking down, heading for her at all sides. Uncertain, Amaris carefully knelt down and held Amelia close to her, closing her eyes and being mindful to protect the girl’s head as this space broke down…

Water would brush against her knee and boot, Amaris smelling that familiar scent of ocean water. Her head jerked up as she opened her eyes, the somewhat familiar sight of the ship graveyard around her. She was right at the spot where she first opened that barrier. They made it back… Amaris couldn’t help smiling out of relief, looking down at the unconscious Amelia. Yes, this was indeed Amelia, the picture she remembered seeing earlier the exact same in appearance, the auburn hair the most obvious.

“Amelia.. Wake up. You’re safe now.”

She patiently waited, even nudging the girl to stir her awake. No response. Brows furrowing in confusion, Amaris patted at the girl’s cheeks gently, giving more nudges. No response.

“Amelia? Amelia!” The girl didn’t wake. Anxiety seeped into Amaris’ being, the pinkette looking over the girl for any sign of injury. There was nothing, or at least it wasn’t too obvious. Holding the girl up some, Amaris leaned forward and pressed her ear against the child’s chest, her other hand coming up to cover her other ear and block out the ocean waves. No heartbeat.

“N-no… No, you can’t be…” Amaris bit her lip as she pulled away, looking down at Amelia’s body. She was too late. She was too late. She was too late. Amaris’ bit harder on her lip, trying to stop it from quivering as her eyes began to blur with tears. She pulled Amelia close to her, embracing the girl’s body as she quietly sobbed, tears falling onto the child’s hair. Amaris’ body shook with her sobs, the sounds drowned out by ocean waves crashing against the cliff nearby. For a good long while, Amaris stayed there in that ship graveyard, holding on tightly to the child… The corpse still warm.