Chapter 49: Deleted Dominion
You might find this a bit funny, but did you know that scarecrows don’t have a great sense of pain?
But why?
Because they inherently don’t have it, or that it was simply erased?
What would they say if they had a sense of pain?
“THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!”
“Gee, I only killed a person. No need to be so-so grateful.” Vega started to scratch her head. Not that she felt uncomfortable, but the person was bleeding all over her new legs.
“Thank Recor!”
“Yes, praise be. But-but I really think ya should lie down. I just got this cleaned.”
“Oh. Okay, alright.” The person let go, probably feeling a bit dumb. Vega caught their head and began to lay them against the wall. Although it was quite dark, Vega could tell that both of the hands and one of their forearms had been slashed at. As she took out some bandages from her chest, Vega looked at the guard’s body in mild anger.
“Ya ought to be ashamed.” Vega chastised the dead guard, as his broken body fell to the side just a few seconds after.
“Thank you… again.” The person became a lot clearer and who they were was revealed as Vega wrapped up their arm. Of some sort of skin condition, their patches of skin were mixed with soft orange and strawberry pink.
“Huh, ya look like a bowl of ice cream.”
“The fuck’s ice cream?”
“Wow, Jantok Sky sucks.” She finished wrapping up the last of their wounds and she lifted her head to see the person’s face. Of a masculine shape, handsome tone while retaining a faint exhaustion. Strangely their hair had a soft green while the color blending went with their eyes, also being pink and orange. This rainbow-like hair fell down to their chest and clearly hadn’t been taken care of and their eyes were slow to move.
“Hello mister!”
“Oh, I’m… not a guy.” She backed away and turned her head away. She expected the uncomfortable questions and what came next. Rejection of her identity, just like the rest…
“Okie dokie, hello miss!” What she didn’t suspect that a scarecrow has no prejudices over anyone! Well… except crows, but that’s more of a harmful stereotype.
“...Huh…” The lady looked back at Vega, who didn’t immediately fly into a tirade about how she’s weird. The scarecrow didn’t make her feel any less of a person.
“Uhh, are ya alright?”
“You’re the first person that didn’t question my identity.” She said mundanely, as tears bubbled up in her eyes. “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RESPECTING ME!”
“No problem!” Vega didn’t mind her hugging her so tightly now and felt happy to have provided her some solace. The ice cream lady cried into her chest, leaving multi-colored tears splashing onto the ground and all over her. Her dress was a black shoulder strapped dress with white stripes. “But I still don’t think ya should be praising me so…”
“Okay, haha.” The lady wiped some of her tears with her palm and nodded. “Sorry, it's just, I’ve been having a really bad day and you’re like, the best person ever so-”
“Calm down miss-miss. Let’s just slow down.”
“Alright… haha… alright.” She let go and rested her back on the wall. Breathing out heavy, like releasing all the pressure in her body, her chest lowered before steadily rising again. “But please don’t hesitate to kill that person again. Please.”
“Gotcha. Heh. Haha.” Vega couldn’t help but laugh. The situation was bewildering to say the least.
“What’s funny?”
“I’m covered in blood-blood, killed-killed someone a couple seconds ago, and ya are hugging me.”
“Yeah… I think that says more about how the world treats me than you.” A sorrowful voice came out of her, as she brushed her hair and closed her eyes. Vega saw heavy eyebags, a jarring violet on her otherwise candylike skin.
“Huh. Well, I’m sorry to hear that. Ya need anymore help?”
“You’ll help me?! Just like that?” Her eyes shot open and the sides of her eyes sparkled in the literal sense.
“Yep. Do-do it for only nice people though, or else I feel like I don’t have a reason for living!” Vega gave a thumbs up as if she were advertising her services.
“Huh. I bet you do that alot.” She breathed long through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.
“Ya look very neat when ya cry.”
“Thanks? I worked very hard on that.” She gingerly scratched the back of her neck, appreciative of the comment but disturbed that Vega liked her crying. “But you should see my friend Neo, she looks stellar.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but what is-is your name?” She tugged her pickaxe out of the wall below as she spoke.
“Oh, it's Sorbet.” When she finished, Vega got a good look at her eyelashes, which were both even. If she could have breathed a sigh of relief, she would have been right there.’
“Well, nice to meet ya Sorbet. I’m Vega, and I think ya can guess what I am, haha.” She tipped her hat and smiled a smirk while still covered in brains. Or, what was left of brains.
“Uh…a statue?” Sorbet tilted her head as she asked, as if verbally probing Vega. Her eyes danced, much like Vega’s did and her voice was that of a curious student. Like she hadn’t seen anything as bizarre and captivating as Vega before.
“No.”
“Huh, then I wouldn’t know what you are.” Sorbet lowered her head a bit, a tad ashamed that she didn’t know much.
“Oh, that’s kinda of sad” Vega thought she might’ve have assumed a bit much but did she not know what a scarecrow is? “Hmm, well mind-mind explaining why that guard guy was chasing you?”
“Yes… I uhh… stole something. And I would, like, really like to get out of… here.”
“Going to need a lot more than that-that if I'm going to help ya properly.” Vega had begun to check her map again, trying to figure out where Kaliber’s tower was since it hadn’t been as easily discoverable as last time.
“Okay okay. I stole a Soul Gem.” Sorbet admitted, like what she had stolen was a slice of bread.
“...what?”
“A Soul Gem. The Oligarch had a bunch of them around so I-”
“Show me!” Vega leapt onto Sorbet, like a dog to a bone. “Ya really have a Soul Gem?!”
“Y-yes. Here, look.” The ice cream lady pulled from out of her dress a fist sized trinket. In her fist, thin beams of light came out, like she were holding the sun in her hand. As she opened it, a sunrise of green erupted around below slowly settling down. Not a singular gem, but a gem encrusted jar. Made of fine glass, tiny peridot gems surrounded the mouth of the jar, which was labeled ‘Rouge’.
“Oh my stars…” Vega was feeling something. Not the reward of curiosity nor a great tremor in her heart. But a cosmic connection, one that binds certain beings together. A tethering, a connection, a belonging.
“I knew that it-” Vega shushed Sorbet with her hand, as she took the jar with three fingers. She wasn’t just looking at it, she was feeling it. That sort of feeling of discovery of something intrinsic. The type that makes you say ‘I found!’ or ‘Finally! I figured it out!’. Not the one that is ecstatic, but the type that inspires awe.
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“...Did anyone else see ya take it?”
“No. I think it was just the one guy. Don’t know why though.” She threw her hair over her shoulder and began to brush it with her fingers. Sorbet winced and put her left arm down. “Do you think that’s a bad thing?”
“...”
“...hello?”
“Occupied.”
“What?”
“... oh sorry I was just looking at… that.” Vega lingered as she spoke before handing the Soul Gem back to Sorbet. “Could-could be a bad thing. But let’s get ya out of here before it does.”
“Thank you so much.” Sorbet gave her a quick hug again before rising up. “Okay, let me think. Maybe I could… make a disguise? Like those actors do back at the palace.”
“Poke. Poke.”
“Ah, but I have no money! That basically eliminates all my options.”
“Poke, poke.”
“Maybe I could make a business… maybe one that involves pyramids.” Sorbet scratched her chin as squinted her eyes up towards the ceiling.
“Oh! So that’s what a brain looks like!” Vega announced, slapping her forehead with brain paste.
“What are you doing?” Sorbet turned to see a disturbing sight.
“Poking around in his head. Or-or what is left-left of it.”
“...mind if I join?”
They spent the next five minutes poking a dead body. It was pretty tight. As Sorbet started to get bored, her eyes wandered over to Vega.
“Do you have any ideas?
“Sure!” Vega pulled out her map once more and began deciphering the crude writings of the labels. She stopped as she realized something and groaned slightly.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“We got some good news and some bad-bad news.”
“Is that I’m going to die?”
“No! Well, you’ll die someday, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Which do ya want first?”
“Good news?”
“The good news is that I can get ya out of here.” Vega said it confidently, which made Sorbet very uneasy. How bad could the bad news be?
“And the bad news?”
“Well… can ya fit in a bag?”
“Absolutely not!” Skaldi shouted at Vega, while Florato and Sorbet stayed behind a forested grove. The two were drinking tea the actress had gotten from a tea parlor, since Florato had been saving up all of her pay.
“Come on Skaldi! She’s a new friend!”
“Vega, you are not messing with my limited edition bag of handing! This shit is the only one in existence.” Skaldi crossed his arms and shook his head on each word. “Reach for my bag and you get turned into an example.”
“Skaldi, its not gonna rip your bag or anything, plus I haven’t told ya about their stuff!” Vega said it in a manner to entice the elf. She knew the real reason why he didn’t immediately help them.
“Wasn’t it you that told us to hold onto the plans because you’ll be the one poking around?”
“To be fair, she did poke stuff.” Sorbet called from the grove. The elf paused as he heard her speak. His eyes fell to the ground as he seemed to be in some light reflection.
“Florato, can you get over here for a moment?”
“Sure. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.” She rubbed the ice cream lady on the shoulder before heading over to the other two. “What is it?”
“...I don’t know. They seem weird.”
“Weirder than a-a talking scarecrow?”
“Yes, weirder than that.” Skaldi wasn’t one for holding prejudices, but he didn’t quite understand Sorbet’s self expression. “For all I know they’re just off and I think we should be cautious about this. Florato, what do you think?”
“Well, Skaldi… are you exactly normal?”
“Fuck no.” Skaldi chuckled as he spoke. “At least, I’m not the norm for most Iozians.”
“Is it bad to be weird?” Florato opposed his line of thinking.
“N-no. I’m just saying that-”
“Skaldi, is it really that hard to be nice to-to her just because she’s a tad different to you?” Vega confronted him directly why.
“...I’m listening.” Skaldi uncrossed his arms and put them on his hips. He was unprepared but was perfectly capable of being open minded. “Really, I just haven’t met someone like them. This is very new. So… I’m listening.”
“Hey, you can come over here now.” Florato spoke out to the grove, with Sorbet shyly poking their head out from the trunk of a tree.
“Are you guys done? I hope I haven’t caused you any trouble.”
“You haven't, it's just… I don’t know.” Skaldi began pacing back and forth. The idea of a man identifying as a woman was confusing to him. Sure, he did express himself in a more feminine manner, but he still acknowledged himself as a man.
“Do I have to justify my identity to you? I can, but I’ve done that, like, a million times already.” Sorbet scratched her head and her eyebags looked ever so slightly bigger. Skaldi noticed it but didn’t comment.
“No, you don’t need to do that. It’s just…”
“Skaldi, I feel what you’re feeling.” Surprising, Florato stepped in to fully consider how he might be feeling. “I may not quite understand it, but I know she is having an experience.”
The actress paused and put her arm over the shoulder of Sorbet, who gave a reassured smile. Happy that someone was standing up for her.
“Same with you Skaldi and same with me. I saw Valiato and her brand and while I felt uncomfortable at first, I love that kid. And I’m sure that you weren’t sure with who you were Skaldi. So please, let her find out who she is.”
He couldn’t argue with that, if anything the actress was good at keeping an open hand and an open heart. Where others would have rejected the whole party, she held it together in her own unique way.
“Trust me, it was pretty awkward for me too.” Sorbet spoke in a self-deprecating fashion, the way Skaldi recognized all too well.
He took two big steps toward Sorbet and gave her a scanning look. By the way she was looking at him, she hadn’t noticed his eyepatch. But Sorbet had the look everyone has when they’re looking into a mirror.
“Hmm. What’s your name… miss?” Skaldi didn’t face her completely, keeping her to his left. The ice cream lady eyes sparkled once more, joyful to have met another friend.
“It’s Sorbet.”
“Just Sorbet?”
“Yeah. I heard it’s like ice cream. I wonder what ice cream tastes like.”
“Tastes like a lot of different things, but nice name. What product do you use in your hair?”
“Just some soap and water. Want to feel?”
“Oh, fuck you.” Skaldi said in envy, laughing as he did. “You know how hard it is to have hair this badass?”
“You guys act like you’re the only ones with good hair”. Florato threw her hair over her shoulder as well.
The three feminine folk began to have a fun argument on who’s hair was the best in the group. Vega didn’t want to barge in because she’d know she’d lose and that enjoying their argument from the sidelines was far more entertaining. Plus, more pretty people to look at.
Within a couple minutes, they agreed on how they were going to do it. Sorbet will hide in the bag of handing (not trademarked) and Vega will hide the bag in her body.
As the sun began to fall overhead, they had to head over to the palace quickly. While Florato and Skaldi went into a light jog, Vega took a speed walk.
“Don’t worry miss-miss, everything will be alright.” Vega talked into her chest and felt the air coming out the bag. Just for safekeeping, they left the bag slightly ajar to ensure she’d be able to breathe.
The scarecrow, noticing that she probably wouldn’t have another chance to search for the tower, took out her map once more. Tracing her finger to where she was, she found out that the tower should be right in front of her.
“Wooo, time to…” As she looked around, there was no tower. She checked the map again and then back at Jantok Sky. “The hell?”
There was no mistake on her interpretation of the map, this is where the tower should have been but there was only a bare street. The closest adjacent building was a tea parlor, nothing of the size and magnitude of the previous tower.
“This… this isn’t right.” Vega couldn’t believe it. Why wasn’t it here?
I don’t know about you, but I thought the first one looked quite bad.
“Did ya have something to do with this?”
Well, I’m no ghost.
“Hmm.” Vega understood that it couldn’t have been the Voice, as conveniently as the would have been. “...He’s hoping that an Oligarch guy can give me the answers I want.”
She caught up to her friends as the stood at a gate house before the citadel. It wasn’t an incredible defensive measure like the black walls, but it got the job done.
The palace behind it sized up to be a small hill and armored like an armadillo. The tower lights swam in the sky, warping and dancing. Powerfully and mysterious the whole complex was. One of the men standing in the gatehouse yelled out to them.
“What’s your business?”
“To deliver an object to the Oligarch of Periatus!” Vega responded, fixing her appearance just enough to look presentable. The guard turned to a watchman and started speaking for a bit.
“Hey Vega?” Skaldi whispered to her.
“Yeah?”
“You haven’t blinked in a while.”
“Yeah, I tend to forget to-to do that.” The three stood still, waiting for the man to finish. The watchmen pushed a level and the gate opened up like the mouth of a yawning rodent.
The three stepped in and the gate started to fall behind them. Vega turned back and lingered, staring at where the tower should have been.
Was it erased? Was it there to begin with?
If no one remembers it, did it really happen?