White Flower, Black Feather

Commencing the Missions

As she prepared to fly… somewhere… Brenna realized something

‘Ugh…’ while it was true that she had tried to hunt after she killed the rat… ‘I’m in trouble…’ she had only killed that creature so far…

Her attempts after that one, had ended being like trying to track creatures… and copying the way the younger raven had used his spell, resulted to be really inaccurate with moving targets…

Unless she was willing to get extremely closer on the descent…

Buzz

-Time to do the first mission!-

‘W-what…? No, wait! I just figured out that I need food!’ she got nervous and tried to talk about it with Sunny

But the trees around rustled…

‘Eh…?’ and the tree moved showing her, the Terror Stone again

-That is a really good reward!-

‘Really…?’ she was confused, because she had the idea that the missions were just for the Deed…

-Right now, that would be a single fruit that feeds you for the whole day!-

Brenna hoped to the branch and grabbed the stone immediately

‘Get on my back! Where is the hole?!’ spreading her wings while looking at Sunny

Buzz~

-Catch her!-

Which didn’t gave her time to think as she opened her shell, and flew ridiculously faster than she expected…

Faster than the speeds that Brenna could reach with her wings…

‘Ah..! Ia!’ and while trying to think of a spell on the fly, she could feel her wings being filled with her magic. So, she visualized her magic flowing out, making the wind flow more smoothly… ‘Extend! Updraft! Impulse!’ desperate to not lose sight of Sunny ‘Flight Aid!’

Brenna felt relief as her spell worked, helping her to reduce the distance with Sunny…

Buzz~

Until she started to zigzag between the trees and branches

‘Ah!’ making chasing her difficult, while carrying a stone… ‘You aren't getting away!’ but she wasn't going to give up

No matter how many times Sunny made perfect ninety degrees turns, making Brenna struggle to not lose speed with the sharp turns she had to make, while avoiding crashing against a tree

Feeling fear every time she had to fold her wings, and trust that her momentum would be enough to let her pass between the gaps of the branches, just to make sure she was taking the same route as Sunny

Getting more and more tired, as Sunny managed to stay at the same distance from her, regardless of the effort she was making to go faster… just when she thought that Sunny was done playing, and landed on a tree

‘What…?!’ Brenna nearly crashed against the ground, because the ladybug sunk into the bark ‘Ah?!’

Making her look around the tree, trying to find Sunny

Buzz~!

Just for her to come out of another tree, and resume flying south…

‘Hey!’

/////

After a long time, Sunny finally stopped on a branch to let Brenna rest for a bit…

‘Ugh…’ her body was completely drained, winded, hungry and aching in ways she wasn't used to… ‘I… I’m gonna… fall…’ she had almost dropped the stone in multiple occasions

Buzz

-Sunny!-

Buzz!

-Oh…? Brenna look down, please-

‘Ugh…’ she did so, but it took a moment for her to realize that there was a bush with blue clusters of berries nearby ‘Ah…!’ and did her best to glide towards it

Eating them with a bit of desperation…

‘These… are fine, right…?’ only asking if they were safe after eating a few of them…

-These are, but be careful with yellow ones! Those are mildly paralytic!-

‘Instantly or…?’ she got curious by the topic

-Delayed, so if you eat one and then fly somewhere else…-

Buzz~¹Splat!

Brenna shivered at the tone of the sound, and focused on eating enough to fill her stomach, just… slowly…

/////

She was thankful that Sunny, now walking on her body, let her rest after eating, at least for a while…

Buzz

-Really…?-

‘Yes…?’ she was still tired and hadn't recovered much magic, but Brenna believed that she just needed to use the stone to block a hole

-The creature that made the hole is further east from this spot. Sunny can’t guide you further, because the edge of her area of control is close- she had a bad feeling, that was growing bigger the more she read -The creature is coming back from the south, and it seems to be about to start digging another tunnel to skip the Line-

‘I was under the impression that I had to stay on this side…?’ she was cranky due to the exercise ‘Isn't Miriam there-? Ow!’

Those questions made Sunny buzz louder that Brenna ever heard her, right on top of her head. Some of the trees also rustled, making her worry a bit…

‘Don't worry! I’ll do it! I’m just asking…!’ after they became quiet… she couldn’t stop herself from voicing her annoyance ‘I ask, because it feels obvious that you… are hiding something…’

Sunny flew from her body to the branch she was standing on… not looking at her, or making any sound…

-Miriam is to the south of Sunny…- it was the Helper the one the broke the silence…

‘Ah… the Ruler is between her and the creature…’ she moved closer to Sunny and touched her back with a feather ‘Don't worry, they'll be fine… I’ll deal with this… I don’t have that much magic though…’

Brenna got a long buzz as an answer…

-Ugh…-

‘Sunny… that, probably wasn't the right way of wording that…’

-It really wasn't…-

Sunny wasn't looking at her, so she tried to get her to talk

‘What I’m killing…?’ but a message appeared without any sound from Sunny

-Some kind of worm/slug hybrid that managed to add photosynthetic cells to its outer layer- Brenna felt a shiver run along her back -Seems to be small, weak and slow, but it figured how to dig under the Line, and it’s moving north again after being on that side for part of fall and winter, so it’s dangerous if it succeeds for two reasons-

The message split into two other screens when she finished reading it

-The most likely spot where it will dig, isn't too stable. Meaning that the Terror Stone on top of the cliff runs the risk of falling and breaking. If that happens, more humans are going to be patrolling the forest, placing you in risk-

-There is also a nest of an annoying kind of creature nearby. Regardless of the tunnel being stable or not, if the Line is breached, then those creatures are going to wreak havoc for a while. There is also a small group of humans nearby, they might die if the breach happens in the next couple days-

‘I already said that I’ll do it…’ Brenna took a deep breath ‘Follow the cliff until I see it… how does it looks…?’

Buzz

-Green and squishy. You can leave the stone here-

The idea made her shiver, but she nodded at Sunny and once she felt the branch molding itself around the rock, she took flight between the trees

‘Ah…’ and started to follow the cliff with the Terror Stones once she saw it ‘I don’t… see much…’ worried while looking all around her…

Feeling exposed and unsafe… temporarily…

‘This is what Miriam must have felt at the start…’ she focused in calming down ‘I can do this… I can fly away… and I never liked that kind of contests… worst case scenario, I drop a rock with what’s happening, carved on it near the humans…’

-I… suppose that the mission could be counted has finished with that…?- there was obvious uncertainty in that message -It depends… on wherever they can kill the worm, and on Sunny to see if it counts in that case…-

‘Ah…’ she wanted to fly higher, but pushed that idea for later while she moved above the river, running in the same direction ‘I’ll just ask for two more missions if she says it… doesn’t…’

Seeing at a fair distance from the river, something that made her stomach churn…

Once she got close, and right in front of a Terror Stone, Brenna used one of the outcroppings on the cliff to land… slowly looking at…

‘Hey…’ something more striking that the trees moving out of its way… to give space to…

-Yes…?-

‘Is Sunny short sighted…?’

It was about five meters tall, the part of it that was above the ground, seemed to reach the twenty meters in… viscous… length…

The rest of the creature was already eating dirt… its whole squirming body pushing its head against the ground, making a tunnel that Brenna had no idea of how long it might have been so far…

The snow was all but gone, letting her see a clear trail of mucous coming from the south… and the trees parting to not touch any of it… giving the… green creature… and its shiny fluid, ample space…

-I… I’ll ask… at least she got the color right…?-

‘Yes… ugh… I’m not touching… any of that…’ she shivered ‘It might be unmanly, but I never… ugh… never was good with… ugh!’ she looked away from the creature

-I don’t care about that kind of things, and in fact: not wanting to do things that make you uncomfortable, makes sense… besides… it’s probably poisonous…?-

‘Going by how Sunny’s friends aren't touching it… you might be right…’

She looked around… trying to find something that could help her with… the impossible request…

‘Ugh…’ not seeing anything that gave her any idea… she looked up feeling impotence… ‘Eh…?’ noticing a cloud that was moving in a path, that soon was going to pass above the creature… ‘Hmm…’

-Yes…?-

‘Dropping lightning on it…?’

The message screen flickered, showing many confused messages…

-I don’t think you have the magic reserves for that…?- before settling on one…

‘Not turning my magic into lightning. Using my magic to cause a lightning strike…’ she focused on the cloud… ‘How was it…? Negative charge in the clouds, positive on the ground…? I might have that backwards, but when they connect is that lightning happens…’

Brenna looked from the cloud to the creature just for a moment

‘I want to do that from above, towards the worm…’ she flapped her wings but didn’t took flight yet ‘I don’t think I can reach the cloud… but I’ll try to get close… then… Gathering the Charge…? No… I don’t want to get shocked up there… I’ll do Wind Impact while I’m up there… and try to hold it while I make the other one… Conduit…? Then I drop the spell on the worm…?’

With that idea for the spell on her mind she took flight again, rushing to go up as fast as she could, looking at her surroundings and the ground for as long as she could…

‘Ah…’ which wasn't long, because the illusion of the trees made her miss the place where the creature was ‘Damn…’ making her drop again until she saw the worm again, before resuming her flight up… ‘This is going to be annoying…’

She was worried about missing the location, of being seen, of forgetting something important about the spell…

/////

At that moment, the smiling Trickster pulled a string from the nameless world… it was connected to Brenna…

/////

‘I need something to write my spells…’

-That might be difficult right now…-

‘Yes, but… ugh, I’ll deal with that later… ah…?’ she had reached the height of the cloud… ‘How high am I…? Nevermind, first this spell…’

Brenna started to fly on a circle, waiting for the cloud to be a bit closer while not moving too much from that spot…

‘Ia… Gather, Pressurize, Attach… Ready to Shoot…’ she wasn't sure if this part of her attack needed anything else, she was just using it to guide the lightning to the worm and not herself ‘Hold Magic!’ her wings glowed with the spell

She didn’t had much magic left…

‘I hope I’m not doing something stupid here…’ the cloud at that distance, was far bigger that it seemed from below…

-It’s risky, but I just checked your memories again: it should work!-

‘Thanks…’ the cloud got into position, and she had to fight the urge of touching it… but that feeling calmed her enough to start the spell ‘Ia… Gather, Electrify… Attach…!’ she started to move down… feeling her wings starting to heat a bit, and fighting back, once more, her growing nerves ‘Follow! Ionize the Path…!’

Doubt started to fill her heart as she moved in a nosedive…

Would she see the worm in time to avoid it…?

Would she hit a tree…?

Would her spell hit a tree instead of the worm…?

‘AH!!!’ the illusion stopped affecting her, she was really close to the hulking beast ‘DETACH CONDUIT!!!’

Plop!

So close that while she pulled up to avoid crashing, the wind gathered in her wings smacked the slime that covered the creature, and she almost got covered by the splash

‘Aaahhh!!!’ and as she flew to the Terror Stones, with the creature squirming under her…

Undamaged…

The moment Brenna landed on the roof of the stone directly in front of the creature, she turned to look at it

‘Damn…’ it was still pushing against the ground… ‘My spell failed… I don’t have magic for another Wind Impact… I might need to tell the humans after-!!!’

CRACKLE!!!

‘AH!!!’ the lightning made her jump and fly away towards another stone, missing how the worm bloated-

BOOM!!!

And the whole creature exploded

‘Eek!’ sending chunks of meat everywhere ‘Aaahhh!!!’ making her hid between the roof and the stone that she was moving to… listening to the wet sounds of meat hitting the ground all over the place ‘What happened?!’

Ding

‘Don't laugh!’ she shivered with the sound of the notification she got ‘What happened there?!’ her body couldn’t stop trembling

The trees started to rustle…

‘Oh no!’ and Brenna looked at- ‘Urgh!’ she looked down and covered her head with a wing, regretting immensely having looked at… what remained…

-Brenna, calm down… the trees are laughing…-

‘I DON'T SEE WHAT MIGHT BE FUNNY!!!’

‘What do you mean by that…?’

-Brenna you have a few notifications to see!-

‘Don't change the topic so blatantly…’ the message changed to laughter, making Brenna sigh ‘Status?’

‘Eh…?!’

‘…’ what she was seeing froze her for a moment

-We should go to Sunny!-

‘Ah…’ and the message helped her to move ‘Sure…’ taking flight without daring to look back again

/////

Once Brenna was back with Sunny, the ladybug buzzed and started to climb on her body again. She rested for a few minutes to get some magic back…

‘Sunny… how big is Miriam?’ while wondering how to breach the topic of… size… with the giant tree…

Buzz

-Eh… I’m translating that as Small…-

‘Ah… then… anything bigger than Miriam, is something the both of us are going to call big, ok?’ she knew that Miriam had eaten a crocodile, but she didn’t knew the size of that world’s crocodiles…

Buzz?

-In… length, or wideness?-

‘Sunny, never call a girl “Wide…” and while all girls are pretty no matter what, they might feel self-conscious about that, and feel really sad after hearing it…’ she got a buzz after that comment ‘But… if Miriam does the… I forgot how is called when a snake pulls their head above the ground…’

-Threat display?-

‘I think that is the term…? Anyways, if she does that, then anything that matches her height, or is taller, counts as big for us’

Sunny buzzed and it got translated, as a promise to remember those things

‘So, mission complete…?’

Buzz~?

-Oh… the mission was to plug the hole…-

‘Ah…?’

-My fault… “Green and squishy. You can leave the stone here [If you are going there]” I… didn’t translated that last bit… sorry…-

Brenna wavered for a moment… wondering if this was what she felt Sunny was evasive for…

‘I… see… well… it’s ok… I’ll like to think that I would have done that anyways… at least I hope so…’ Sunny buzzed what she believed was laughter ‘Anyways… good things happened, so that’s that. Where is the hole?’

Sunny flew and landed behind a rock from Brenna’s current location. When she flew there she noticed that a small gap (Still bigger than her), was on the ground. Other rocks, moss and newly growing plants, were already making it difficult to notice…

‘Less than half a year to reach that size…?’ she looked back at the stone on the branch ‘I can’t just drop it there… if it rains… do the Terror Stones work while buried…?’

‘Hmm…’ she looked at the hole and entered it ‘Ia Imbue Eyes… Ia Stop…’ after looking inside the tunnel for a moment, she got out and looked at Sunny ‘Do I have a time limit?’

Buzz?

-No, why?-

‘It’s big enough for a dog or something around that size, so I think that if I can wait until tomorrow, then I can use rocks to held it in place, and making sure is not being dragged away by a sudden flood or something…’ Brenna looked around for a moment ‘But I need magic to shape stones… and first I need to figure out how to shape the stones…’ she got and answer after a minute of silence

-There is no need- the message came after a buzz and a rustle -Take the stone, there is a root that is going to hold it-

‘Ah… thanks!’

Brenna quickly flew to the branch and took the stone underground, at her size it was a long and winding path. She had no trouble getting to the exposed root, with her eyes sporadically illuminating the route

It was just slow, due to the weight of the rock…

-Do you want Sunny to guide you to the nest?- the ladybug hadn't come with her…

‘Hmm… that’s a good question… oh…’ she suddenly realized what she was about to do… ‘When I place the stone… I won’t be able to use it to protect myself…’

Brenna froze, closing her eyes and stopping her magic…

‘They are asking me to place myself in danger… for others…?’ she heard a message appearing and opened her eyes

-This also benefits you, there are creatures from the south that can move in this hole. You already placed yourself in danger with killing the worm, and that helped a lot-

She sighed and Imbuing her eyes again she placed the rock on the root, seeing it change shape to hold it for a moment before leaving the tunnel. Once Brenna was out she flew to a branch… and waited…

Ding

But didn’t reacted to the sound, nor to Sunny as she landed on her head

Brenna was just breathing and looking around, feeling anxiety rising inside her…

-Brenna…?-

‘I’m scared… I don’t know if I will be able to… live long enough… for anything…’ she felt tears forming on her eyes ‘Why did I die…? Why did I come here…?’

No matter how much she tried to calm down, she was feeling unsafe

-I don’t know. I only know that you can do this. You have an incredible potential, far greater than any other host I ever had-

Buzz!

-You can do it! The rest of the missions are easy!-

She wasn't so sure about that, but with a cracking sound, a pair of leaves grew from the branch next to her, leaving enough space between them for a small pink fruit to grow quickly under her gaze

-And now you have to worry less about food!-

‘Thanks…’ seeing the fruit made her feel better… even if it didn’t address the problem of her having to fight… ‘Thanks all of you…’ she plucked the fruit with her beak, finding it soft and easy to swallow ‘Wow… it’s sweet~!’ filling her whole body with the same rush she used to feel when eating sweets with Carmen

The other guys didn’t like them as much

Eventually, she managed to relax enough to see what the sound was about

-That one means, that at night the trees will hide you until sunrise…! If you aren't in combat, but if you flee and get far enough from an attacker, then they should hide you. Even if the attacker is still trying to find you-

‘Oh…! That…!’ she looked at Sunny, then to the trees around… ‘That sounds hard… how does Miriam talks with trees…?’

Buzz~

-She just does it…?- the trees rustled -Eh…?-

‘What did they say?’

-That her Instinct is just that good… I… there must be something else helping… wait! Instinct?!-

Buzz

-WHAT KIND OF DANGERS SHE HAS THROW HERSELF AT?!!!-

‘Ah… well… she is a snake… she needs to fight to eat…?’ Brenna tried to calm the shaking screen from her Helper

-This implies more, than just fighting to eat!-

-Ah…-

To Brenna, she felt that the way her latest message turned to dust. Was a way of requesting a change in the topic… she also felt that Sunny had frozen…

But she got distracted looking at her Status…

‘My Fountain of Knowledge stored the Knowledge things that I got… I run the risk of forgetting my spells, can I store them there too…?’

Her Helper was stunned and didn’t realized about her question…

‘Ia…’ until she was already trying it, aiming the tip of her wing to the screen in front of her ‘Gather, Pressurize, Vortex, Mark, Shoot. Store Spell: Wind Bullet-!’

-Brenna!!!-

And she fainted…

/////

I can remember how my bones hurt at the time, a small groan escaped from my lips feeling my stiff body try to move…

“Ugh…” more and more of my joints protested, after every day that passed… “Haha…” but I was happy…

Because I was an old woman and not… a…

“Ugh… I really need to stop falling asleep on my chair…” but it was a comfortable chair, so I knew I was going to do that again “Did I finished…?”

With that I opened my eyes, I was still in my office behind my wooden desk, full of parchments that I still needed to grade… that girl had spoken a lot about ‘Paper…’ I wasn't sure if I was going to live enough to see it, but it sounded like it was going to save a lot of space on my desk… if her idea worked…

But then again… I couldn’t remember any of her ideas failing…

The rest of my furniture was also made of wood, the sun coming from the window told me that it was sunset already

“Ugh…” so I stood up… listening to see if it was my chair, or me, the one that cracked the most “Me… today it was me…” with a gesture my staff flew to my hand…

My posture had decayed a bit with age, so now my staff looked longer than I was tall… and now I was using the thing to walk, not for spells. My long black dress was still as beautiful as the first time I wore it, still decorated with black feathers…

“I… feel restless…” that was odd… the deadline wasn't close, so I still had time to grade the homework without bothering my cute secretary… “She is out…?” her desk was perfectly organized next to the door, but she wasn't there…

Unusual… she always woke me up, even for little things like going to the bathroom… oh, bless her… she was a lovely young woman… if I was her age… I… I…

“Hmm…?” I lost the point of my thoughts… I was really grateful for her, but… I had no idea of why I was wanting to be the same age as her… “Weird…”

The rest of my office was full of books, wherever they landed after I was done with them, other desks, bookshelves, a pile in a corner that I was sure was holding the ceiling… and probably the whole building too…

The exception was the middle of the room… there was only a book resting on a pedestal there… and… I had to walk to it…

My Grimoire…

It looked older than me, but that was mostly due to use, I was writing it for the better part of the last eighty years… it had everything that I had learned… both the good and the bad… the positive… and those things that… terrified the mind…

“Ah…” just placing my hand on it was enough to calm me… “I feel some strength returning to my bones…” I felt complete… as if I was missing it the whole time… “I must be getting old~ what is this…? Worried that someone is just going to take it~?”

I cackled… it was funny, anyone trying to take my Grimoire while I was alive, would end under so many curses… that even I had no idea, of how they would look by the end of them…!

I only knew that they should be alive afterwards… probably… maybe…?

And that my Grimoire was going to turn to dust the moment I died…

My hand caught my attention… my bones were fairly obvious, with my skin full of wrinkles and stains…

“How… how do I look…?” I was never one for vanity… no matter how much I was encouraged to… “Do I have a mirror…?” at first I was focused on getting my body… then my studies… and lastly on teaching…

I never was interested in men… like my teacher claimed that I would be…

“That girl isn't either… right…?” I could have swear that my secretary said that she already married another girl… or was about to… it sounded interesting… but I was so old…

Grabbing my book I move along my office… it didn’t took me long to see a handheld mirror on the desk of my secretary… it was face down… so I flipped it

/////

Caw!

Brenna woke up with a jolt, to see herself hanging from the branch she had been standing…

‘Ah?!’ it was sunset… and not around the midday like she remembered ‘What?!’ she didn’t remembered the vines holding her either

-Brenna! Are you ok?!-

‘What happened?!’ the situation was also making her dream vanish from her mind…

Buzz!

The vines vibrated with the buzz, making her realize who they were

-Careful!-

So she was ready to fly back to the branch, when Sunny dropped her, taking back her ladybug shape

‘How…? No, nevermind… what happened?’ Brenna asked again once she landed

-You should see it by yourself…-

‘What…?’ she felt different… ‘Status…?’ more relaxed…

‘What happened?!’ despite everything that was happening in front of her…

-No idea…-

‘Ugh… thanks, but I think I should worry, because… what does “Anomaly” means…?’

-Is a warning that you did… something the System wasn't prepared for… for now it needs to calculate if this is a danger for the world, if it doesn’t (Or if this kind of thing becomes common) then the title goes away. But if it’s an extremely big event, you will become marked for annihilation-

Brenna shivered, but a message appeared before she could say anything

She sighed while reading that message… not relaxing much, but it was something…

‘Grimoire-?!’

By thinking that word, the screen in front of her took the shape of a leather-bound book, with many symbols, and metallic details on the cover. The thick looking book opened to an index showing two sections: Magic and Flying…

Buzz…

-Yes… it looks pretty… good penmanship too…-

‘Thanks…’ Brenna wasn't sure of why she said that, but didn’t regretted it ‘Let’s see…’ she could turn the pages with her mind, or with her wings. Doing the later, gave her a tactile feeling, so it was what she preferred doing

She still went back to the index and tapped Flying. That section, after a lecture on flight, was mostly many drawings of her body on different postures while flying, with things she had tried, and some suggestions, written around the sketches

‘Oh~’ going back to Magic, first she found a small list of all the spells she had done. Then she found a section for every, single, word, she had used in those spells. There were many drawings and suggestions, in those pages too… ‘Oh~ dear~’

Caw!

She laughed mirthfully, and in a flash of inspiration went back to her spells. Focusing on one of them made the book disappear, and after doing the gestures-

Slam!

Brenna fired a Wind Bullet to the rock next to the tunnel, consuming far less of her magic (In far less time), she had ever done so far…

‘Hey…’ she felt confidence filling every single fiber of her self, as her Grimoire appeared again

-Y-yes…?-

‘You were right~ I shall become the greatest Witch the world has ever seen~!’ she still disliked the idea of killing… ‘Watch out world! I’m not going to let anything get on my way!’

But she didn’t felt powerless anymore

Turning to the body of the tree she was standing on, she made a gesture with a wing and reached an empty page

‘Storing Information’ a drawing of her head with a sphere on her open mouth appeared ‘Message’ that drawing was copied, but the sphere was filled ‘Transferring Information’ a drawing of the sphere moving came next ‘Sound, Communication, Understanding, Intent’

The drawing of a bubble exploding, was releasing musical notes while doing it. She felt it was complete, at least for the moment, just needing the name of the spell…

‘Voice of the Soul!’

The page of her Grimoire glowed as Brenna focused on it

Vanishing the book as she opened her beak, letting a bubble form and launching it to the tree-

“Hello~!” where it popped releasing the happy voice of an old woman

Caw!!!

Not waiting a second Brenna made another one, and when it popped-

“HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!” her laughter was released for the trees to heard

She felt euphoric, but just basked in her success for a moment, and made a variation of that spell. Launching it to the same tree…

But this time the bubble was absorbed by the tree…

Reappearing after a mere second-

“Hello” and a monotonous genderless voice came out

Ding

‘HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!’ Brenna laughed at the same moment Sunny did it, still holding on her head

-Impressive…-

‘What’s with that muted response~?! We should be celebrating~!’ she started to dance on the branch and improvised a tune with her Grimoire moving around her

“Hello” “Hello” “Hello” “Hello” “Hello” the trees around her started to make their own bubbles, that exploded after moving in her direction for a moment “Hello” “Hello” “Hello” “Hello” “Hello”

“Hello everyone~!” so she had to answer them back

Interrupting her song to see a message in front of her

-I’m just wondering why your voice… sounds so old…-

‘Don't know…’ she tried to think about it ‘While I was unconscious I had a dream where… I was an old woman…’ that was all she could remember… ‘It’s not the first dream I had where I was a girl… but I think it’s the first with me as a granny…?’

Buzz~

‘Don't call me that’ she shook her head, not trying to dislodge Sunny, but she did made her laugh ‘It was just a dream… but that dress was beautiful~’

-You can wear them as a humanoid!-

‘Oh~! Eh…’ she hesitated ‘It better have pockets… I might give up on being a man, but I’m not giving up in pockets!’

Buzz~!!!

‘Status!’ the book closed and the notifications appeared

‘Excellent! Where is this weapon?!’ she spread her wings still hearing greetings around her

Buzz

-It can wait until tomorrow, the trees need a bit more time to think, about what else you’ll do to complete the Deed-

Brenna folded her wings, wondering why Sunny hadn't tried to talk to her, but not wanting to pressure her into doing that

‘Then… hmm… singing or studying…?’

-If you study, you might want to test a new spell, but you don’t have that much magic right now-

‘Singing it is~ but if you want me to sing, you just have to ask~’

/////

“Can you stop opening that jar…?” and exasperated spear-men… “I’m trying to eat here!” asked with a valid reason…

“And I want to figure out, what this thing was!” the mage also believed that his opinion was valid

But the other two men soon sided with the first, and the mage was forced to shut the jar with fertilizer in it…

Rustle!

“Tell me that that was the wind…” but the trees made noise, making all of them stand up

“When… is the wind in this place…?”

The spear-men was about to tell the vanguard and the archer to stop bickering-

“Hello”

“…?!!!”

When a monotonous genderless voice sounded from the south, making them all go in formation…

To look at nothing… nothing but trees

“Who is there?!!! This is not funny!!!” the archer screamed as loud as he could

“Hello”

“AH!!!” almost releasing an arrow when the voice sounded behind them

They turned immediately…

“Who is it?!!!”

The four of them changed their formation, to look at the four cardinal directions waiting for the one playing a prank on them to reveal themselves…

“Uh…?” but all four of them just saw a different bubble coming out of the trees…

Slowly floating close to them…

“Hello” “Hello” “Hello” “Hello”

And releasing that sound…

““““AAAAHHHH!!!!””””

Even if it was sunset, since they hadn't placed their Terror Stones yet. All of them ran north, the jar with the fertilizer dropping and breaking near a tree, as they did so

Not stopping even after they reached the farms

Taking the little prank from the trees, as the sign of something far worse than it was

They weren't the only humans that reacted like that, but as the first joke the trees did, they found it very funny…

Even if in the upcoming months, Lulu ended up receiving a lot of prayers to complain about it…