"Even with the combined effort of Life and Death, Worlds and Planes continued to die. The problem was actually easy to understand: Greed.
If you are like me at least, They still did a good job and the Sisters were new at it too!
The creatures would fight for dominance and then hog all the resources for themselves, bringing an end to their birthplace.
The Two were stunned by that, how could they make the inhabitants love and cherish what gave them life?
The answer came after innumerable eons and as many tries: give every World and Plane an Ego, a simple thing not even totally sentient. Just a will to prosper and survive. An early allarm system in case of imminent destruction."
-Bee May, the faery of knowledge
"Sometimes you need a big Ego to fight Greed"
Mary knew she was cursed with bad luck, her entire family was. It always started with little things: slipping on a moss patch, the handle of a bucket breaking or stepping on animal droppings. Then something snaps and it escalates. Until its too much. Until it becomes deadly. It was basically impossible for any member of her family to survive for over thirty snows. She knew it was real, it was not just in her head. The curse was real and it would spread to the people or creatures if they got too close for too long.
The curse was broken for a generation, her father died after fifty snows! So when the curse became too much to bear, she remembered her Pa stories. She sold everything she couldn't carry and left the capital to search for her Pa's lucky charm.
---
"I don't know anyone outside the village, stop bothering me." Todd said, but he appeared toughtful.
Micah looked almost as desperate as the woman he was trying to describe.
"B-but she looked so frail and desperate, she was talking with everyone from the village she could find. She's looking for a retired army scout named Lucky Todd, are you really sure you dont know her? She's this tall, with brown straight hair and strange eyes... they are like err i don't know how to explain them well".
"Those eyes are green with some brown and blue in them, it's like seeing a pond in the middle of the woods reflected in them... Bring me to her!"
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Todd was already outside the scouts longhouse when he finished talking.
When Todd and Micah arrived to the carovan site, they found the girl frantically running from person to person and asking about a Lucky Todd. She was disheveled, her clothing ripped in places, she looked so tiny and fragile. She looked a little ill, her skin bruised, her brown hair was not even and looked choppy. She had heaten poorly or not at all for a while. While Todd was watching she tried to follow a fisher, ask him questions. But weak or tired, probably both she tripped on her own feet and was about to hit the ground face first. As her right knee hit the earth it moved a stone that rising esposed a pointed side. Her belly, showing evident signs of being pregnant, was about to hit that pointy rock but two arms hugged the young unlucky woman and stopped her fall just in time.
Mary heard,"are you the daughter of Unlucky Sial?"
She turned around, looked at her savior and as the stress caught to her she passed out inside the flustered old scout arms.
---
When she woke up she was laying inside a longhouse on some soft furs by the fire, a worried Todd by her side. She tried to get up with a start but, she was stopped by gentle hands.
"Kid, you are safe now." The scout soothed her, "we are inside the caretakers longhouse. You can just rest up a little more, they will take care of you."
Todd got up and got ready to leave. As he turned around, he heard rustling and felt something grab one of his pants leg. Sial's daughter was on the ground, she couldn't get up fast enough so she just slithered to him with nervous energy.
Mary started blabbering while crying, "I finally found you! You can't leave me! I will die, I dont wanna die! I'm the only one left! The curse killed them all!"
Todd watched her from his shoulder then sighed. "Then Old Unlucky Sial is dead uh?" He sadly said.
After the scout got the girl on the furs again, he sat by her side. An old lady came in, she brought with her a wooden cup with some hot broth insidea and promptly left. Mary tasted some herbs she knew, mushrooms and meat too! With a conforting presence near her and a hot belly she felt herself relax even more. Wait! The lady did not strumble or made a hole in the wooden floor because she hit a single misterious patch of rotten wood. She did not fall on top of her, the soup did not end up on her or the ground. The broth was hot but not scalding, was the curse stopped? Was the lucky charm real? Mary started crying.
"Yes, I'm the last one, I can't die, at least not yet! I'm with child, I just want it to be born at least! You broke my father's curse! Are you doing it for me too? Can you do it for me too?"
Mary was still crying but with Todd near her, she was a little calmer and tried to explain.
Todd let her speak but was a little confused, "curse uh? I don't believe in curses, your father was just a clumsy man, he made many mistakes and risked our lives just as many times. He needed someone to bail him out until he became less clumsy. For your curse? Clumsy people attract clumsy people thats all."
Todd told her with a reminescent smile.
"That's all? Save me until I can learn to save myself?"
The woman asked baffled.
Todd smiled, "yeah! That's pretty much it. Like I said, you'll be safe here, I'll ask that someone is always with you just... Stay away from the hunters and even more away from the First Hunter."
Todd kept his smile but it turned dark in the end.