My presence already bears down on everyone here, the truth of my words being conveyed to the very soul of every person present, filling them with my conviction. It is impossible for anyone here to deny my words, to write them off as lies.
Seemingly in response to my declaration, the world shakes again as a new presence slams down on us, pushing my own Field aside as the very Earth makes its presence known. As a god takes notice and decides to look down upon us. Images of golden bark, roots and branches that stretch for miles, and leaves that could host cities fills my mind as the presence forces everyone, myself included, to our knees.
My words, my promises, my convictions, have been heard.
//World Tree
In my head, I hear as a pair of voices giggle. They sound like a boy and a girl, and they laugh as they talk with each other.
//Ah, Sister. It would seem that the sixth monarch has finally decided to take the stage.
//Hahaha, yes Brother. Quite the late bloomer, isn’t she. Certainly, slower than the Fox.
//Now Sister, we both know that time isn’t of that much importance. It’s not as if we are waiting for anything particularly important to happen.
//Still Brother. To think that She would take so long to finally make herself known. The Dwarf at least has the excuse of still being a baby, but even the Goblin has made his declaration made. Now if only the Orc would hurry up and follow suit.
//Ah, Sister. So impatient. You know that the Orc is more than happy to just spend time raising his family right now. Time, Sister, give them time. We have no reason to rush.
//I know you're right, Brother… I just can’t help but be excited! But you are right… We have all the time in the world.
//Ah, well let us look elsewhere, Sister. I want to watch that one monster we found in Australia. It always has really cool fights to watch.
//Mmm, fine, Brother. But next I want to watch that village of survivors in South Korea. Sun Hee and Hana have been seeing each other behind their families backs and having secret dates. Ahh! I just love watching forbidden romances. The fact that they are lesbians just makes it even more exciting!
//Haaa, fine, fine, Sister. I don’t see why it is that you like that stuff so much. Monster fights are much more entertaining in my opinion. Just so much more -
The voices in my head slowly fade away as the presence pulls back. Suddenly, I remember to breathe and pull myself up off the floor from where I was kneeling. I scream at the ceiling, “Wait! Why did this happen to me!? I never wanted this! I never wanted any of this! Why is this happening!?”
But the presence doesn’t return. Simply slipping out of our heads as if it had never even been there. The last words I hear is from the supposed Brother, gushing about monster fights and how fire breath will always be the best type of breath attack.
I remain standing there for a long time, standing in a puddle of my own blood as I stare up at the ceiling. Putting a hand to my face, I eventually just let out a tired laugh that eventually grows a bit out of control. By the time that I am doubled over and holding my stomach, I finally stop.
Standing upright, I run my fingers through my hair before taking a deep breath and exhaling.
I scream. My shadows raging around me and savaging the stage, pulling up planks of wood and snapping them in half. The podium gets crushed to splitters by a coiled tendril, the mic dropping to the floor. “Those little fucking shits! Do they think this some fucking game!? If I ever go to the //World Tree, I swear that I will wring their little fucking necks!!!”
I slam the broken pieces of wood onto the stage, resisting the urge to start throwing stuff. A hand eventually finds my shoulder, and someone speaks to me. I turn to find General Louise and he tells me, “Calm yourself, Lain. And please, draw in your Field. You are scaring people.”
“I… Haaaaaaa. Right, right…. Sorry Sir.” I tell him after taking a moment to breath. I quickly force myself back under control and put everything away. My Field, my shadows, my anger. It’s all still there, just boiling under the surface. My visits to the therapist have been helping me learn to better get my anger quickly under control.
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“Sorry about the stage… I’m not the only one that heard all of that right? Would suck if people started thinking that I was hearing things…”
“No, everyone heard it. We all felt it… A pair of children talking with each other like they are watching television...”
“Ahhh. Good, so I’m not the only one…”
I walk back to the mic and pick it up, wiping some blood off of it before speaking into it. “I’m… I’m sorry everyone for that disturbance. I didn’t realize that doing that would draw such attention. Is everyone alright?”
I scan over the crowd as people are busily picking themselves up from the floor. I look around, but I don’t find anyone injured. Most importantly, my family looks to be alright, if a bit knocked around…
The only problem is that I am finding more and more people staring at me, or more importantly, at my left arm. I look down at it and find myself a bit in shock at what I find.
My arm has fully healed, leaving the lines of text permanently etched into my arm. Only they aren’t the jagged cuts and black scars that I was expecting to be left with on my arm after mutilating myself.
The lines of text look like a tattoo painted onto the flesh of my inner forearm now. The lettering of every word is of a void-black ink that seemingly contain golden particles of light that float and move through the words. The three lines of text themselves, are surrounded by a full arm tattoo of golden roots, branches and leaf’s growing out of the scars adorning my left arm, as if growing from the inside and escaping my body. A single root is twined around my wrist like a shackle while the rest lazily climb their way up my arm and disappear into the arm of my shirt. Peeling back the collar of my shirt; I find the golden tattoo having spread until it reached my chest. Stopping just above my heart and leaving my left breast covered in the markings of golden leaf’s. It looks like the tattoo spreads to my back as well, but I’ll have to strip and look in a mirror later to check on that.
Focusing on the tattoo, it starts to glow in a golden light a little. The terms of my three promises being forced to the forefront of my mind. I’m physically incapable of forgetting them now. They’ve been etched into my soul. The tattoo, in comparison to the mark left on the General and me, feels almost divine. The contract I made with General Louise may as well be written on a post-it note and placed on a wall in comparison to the weight that this one holds.
“Holy shit, I just made a contract with the //World Tree…”
Looking around, I find Sky as she is staring up at the ceiling. I have never seen her more pissed in my life. She looks as if she is about to order a crusade and march what little forces she has across the world in order to burn down the //World Tree.
She eventually notices me looking at her and her anger quickly morphs into worry. Running over with her guards tripping over themselves, she pulls me into an embrace. “Lain, are you ok!?”
“Yeah, ya… I’ll be fine… I just wasn’t expecting that to happen. I didn’t expect to get ITs attention just from declaring my promise to the world. Although, I guess this world does belong to IT now. Doesn’t it…?
She pulls me in close and holds me, “I swear to you. If I ever get the chance, I am going to burn down that damn tree! You didn’t promise it anything, did you? Please tell me you didn’t!?”
I shake my head as I try to get her to calm down. “No, no. The only promises I made were to myself. IT didn’t ask or demand anything of me. I think… I think it just witnessed my promise and made it real. More than words. I’ve been witnessed…”
She holds my left arm to her chest as she tries to calm herself, reassuring herself that I am not going to be suddenly taken away by some uncaring god.
As I hold her, I look over the gathered people and a chill runs down my spine.
“Shit…”
Everyone here is currently looking at me a lot differently than they were before. They’re not afraid of me, nor curious, nor excited. There are no looks of longing as they think of the gifts I could give them, or even the few looks of open lust that I might find.
Everyone here is looking at me with a deep reverence. Like they are looking at true royalty for the first time. Royalty ordained by divine right.
Everyone had witnessed it. Everyone had felt it in their souls. Everyone had heard the words of those two brats. Everyone can see the glowing golden mark that now adorns my body.
I’ve been touched by a god. Even if it is not the one they worship, a god has declared me as royalty before everyone gathered here today. No matter how they might try to deny it, the soul cannot lie.
Watching the crowd, I spot someone about to kneel, some words on their tongue that I definitely do not want said. Pulling Sky forward, I speak into the mic and quickly interrupt whatever dangerous thoughts are going though people’s heads right now.
I am not going to be a queen today. Fuck that! Fuck no! No fucking thank you! I don’t care if some damn tree just declared me Queen. I am not doing that right now! I am more than happy to leave other people in charge. Give me a hundred, no, three hundred years, and then maybe, maybe, I’ll think about it!
“Hey everyone! Again, sorry about that disturbance! Who would have thought that a lazy tree would take notice of that? Hahaha, sorry… So! With that taken care of and my promise quite literally written on my sleeve. How about we get down to business? Those of you that are no longer interested in volunteering, please feel free to leave and go join the spectators. No shame in it, I promise. It is your choice of course… Go right on ahead… Please?”
Nobody moves to leave, if anything, I notice a few people itching to move and join the group of volunteers… I just stand there for a bit and suck on my lips as the weird atmosphere in the building rolls over me. Sky gives me a squeeze and rubs my back.
Well… shit. I’m probably going to be having more people volunteering in the future. Aren’t I…?