14 Days Ago.

It was intense, Magickal, and horrific. It was like staring at a comic that came to life, like a movie that boasted of being 4D. I quite liked those movies, but unlike those movies, this was very much real, extremely real in fact.

I saw three figures within the valley. One that stood upon nature, coiled in green grass vines and wrapped with flowers. He stood tall, giant-like, maybe worth around three or four me’s stacked on top of each other. He had an elderly face masked with a hat of fruits that dangled in the air, connected to his hair.

He wielded the surroundings like a weapon, waving his hand to conjure deluges of water, carving rivers and lakes into the valley. Whenever he would seemingly get hit, his body would reform as instantly as he was injured. He was the one in control of the plants, the vines, and every kind of greenery in the area.

Spikes erupted from his feet to impale, leaves emerged as shields to defend, before summoning flowers to manifest gas of differing colors and effects. Some were paralyzed, others seemed to corrode, and some just looked like they acted akin to mist.

There was no escape from his wrath, with him literally melding into nature, submerging his body into the ground before appearing several hundred feet away from the earth like some kind of plant zombie.

The third was a beautiful woman, one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and probably will ever see. Her skin was as fair as beach sand with hair as lustrous as golden, shimmering as it swayed in the wind. It matched the glitter that was shining with her butterfly-like wings on her back.

She wore a white dress that would have cost us hundreds or maybe even thousands of Aureus to create back in Phorash, and she wore it like a queen as it shone like a diamond necklace upon her body.

Whoever this stunning beauty was, she wielded a bow and arrow with great strength and dexterity. Amongst the fighters, she was the fastest, even appearing as a blur to my enhanced eyes sometimes. She would take the back lines, shooting our multiple arrow shots that homed in on their target before exploding in wondrous glitter.

It felt almost dizzying to even look at her, though, as every time I did, I felt like I was overstimulated, like I was going to throw up. There seemed to be doubles, triples of her, even with each additional glance.

However, I could notice that she was the one who fought back against the darkness the most. Whenever it began to spread, she would dash to it, seemingly putting it out with her presence while strafing her enemies.

The third figure in all of this was the bringer of darkness. The enemy itself. They were a lamia, slithering with her black scales, with the upper body of a human that was covered in malformed bones that protruded from his form, giving him the look of a serpent. In his right hand, he wielded a willow branch like a staff, waving it around or striking it like a club.

In his wake, death followed, an endless decay that ate at the earth, nature, and wonder. It didn’t matter what it appeared to be: a black bile that polluted water, sea bugs that nibbled on plants, or simply a shadow that pulled anything around it to the depths of the earth.

It did not matter if he was pinned down with arrows, nor if he was skewered, or if he was submerged in a lake's worth of water. It didn’t seem to kill him; it never seemed to put him down.

I saw the green giant wrap his hands around the lamia’s head, trying to pull it off, but even as he managed to rip it off, a single ligament of bone would still attach itself to the head and spine, before the lamia’s body would pull it back down, regenerating instantaneously.

The battle didn’t seem to have an end, always ebbing and flowing, mixing and turning. Whenever the giant and the girl got the upper hand, some dark curse would seep from the earth and poison their attempts. However, if the dark figure would be certain to triumph, then the giant and the girl would band their forces twice as much and pour back the blackness.

“I-I’m supposed to be dealing with that?!” I asked, pointing at the situation in front of me. I could already tell they were so much more powerful than any foe I’ve faced… Okay, not as powerful as Zmey, but like any regular non-essential NPC type of person.

Koschei shook his head. “No, you would have to find Baba Kira; she is somewhere there, perhaps deep within.”

“Deep within?!” My eyes widened with disbelief. What was this? Some kind of commercial for family insurance?

I sighed before grabbing Charlie by the waist, pulling her in for a kiss on the lips, and letting go. Her cheeks were beet red as I patted her on the head. “For good luck…”

I turned to everyone else. “Alrigh,t everyone, uh, stay safe, and don’t die!”

Everyone turned to each other and just nodded along. That was generally good advice, right?

Charlie faced the lot of them and smiled. “Today, we fight under the banner of the Queen of Flames!”

Koschei joined in with her. “So let us rejoice in our great opportunity!”

To that, everyone but the Fae cheered, even Poli gave a solemn nod.

I took a deep breath, facing the battle below. They were counting on me, and I won’t fail them. This is simply another quest for my repertoire. Another notch under my belt and a trophy to hang up.

Without any further ado, I jumped up, propelling myself downwards with my flames as I went straight into the battlefield.

Immediately upon landing by the wayside, both sides stopped what they were doing and stared at me for a fraction of a second. Of course, I scooched over to the team that seemed to care about goodness and did not look like they would belong as a group in a cartoon villain squad.

“Don’t mind me! I’m just passing by!” I yelled out, waving my hands with a smile.

Before I could even take another step, the green giant already formed right behind me, the beautiful lady was already by my righ,t and that lamia was already slithering his way over to me.

“Uh, I-I uh said don’t mind me? But okay, let’s keep our distances.” I opened up my palm to reveal my flames to them as a way to ensure they back off.

And then the green giant placed his big finger onto my pal, snuffing out the flames as if it were nothing.

I blinked and would have pissed myself then and there. Maybe I did, but I didn’t feel it at all at the moment.

The woman glared at me before sighing. “Harbinger of Destruction, keep away from the Skiper-Kin; they seek to use you, but you already know that. Baba Kira lies deep within the crevice. Go, we shall cover your escape.”

“Oh- did you read my min- Okay, thanks!”

I ran towards the crevice as fast as I could. The less time wasted, the better. Around me, I felt blessings flow through my body, vines and leaves grew around me like shields, while my mind and step became so clear.

There was no lag between my thinking and moving. I didn’t even notice that I was moving; I just wanted to go as fast as I could.

However, even then, I could see from the darkness of the cracks of the world came forth more of the Skiper-Kin; they slithered outwards to grab me, but I dashed ahead, spinning around as I enveloped them in my flames, completely destroying them.

But that was not my main concern. It was the voice in my head that spawned. It made me stare at the malformed creature that was fighting the giant and the woman.

‘You desire to burn it all down. To start again…’

He spoke in my voice, manifesting as whispers in my mind.

‘Jane Marcellus… What an interesting playing field you’ve been given. You started out so young and so promising, but you knew this world was rotten; you knew it was corrupt.’

I stumbled deeper into the canyon, nearly tripping and falling into the massive drill-like hole in the middle. It looked like an eye.

‘You wanted to fix it all… How noble, but you couldn’t at all, could you?’

“Yeah, nobody could! What’s your point?” I yelled out loud, looking around before I found my leg grabbed by a hand. Quickly, I fired a blast of fire, burning it off, but that’s when I saw it.

The snake’s nest.

A thousand squirming, serpentine bodies moving and wriggling around within a hole. They all shed their skin, growing upwards as they climbed.

It was horrific, like watching maggots eat a corpse. I was ready to throw up as I watched them all moan and scream in shrill tones.

‘Save us!’

‘Free us!’

They were from the Smorodina, pulled up, born once more back into the world to complete their duty.

‘We could. Your power is destruction, to end the old world and bring about a new one. The old world is rotten; those high up only care about those below as much as they can to serve. But without those down below… Those up above cannot exist.”

“Yeah, t-the lower c-class lifts up the higher class, I-I get that.” I said, looking away from the sight in the pit, trying not to throw up.

“But you’re… You’re literally trying to murder everything! I’ve seen what your people- Snakes have done, and you twisted the minds of those you revived.”

‘I told them the truth. I would set them free from the powers of the Smorodina, of the Nawia; in exchange, we shall reshape the world. And the world needs to be reshaped by fire… You believe it too, you champion it!’

“I just want to destroy Ephitet!”

‘Ephitet is only one branch on this tree. They are connected to all things in your world, are they not? They have their footprints in Caniel, Balthalem, and Berfada. You cannot merely stop at Phorash when more are on their way. And if you take them down, more will take their place, and even the people… Oh, the people, what will you do with them? Some will be with you, some will be against you. Some may even try to build their own Ephitet… You can’t stop them all, can you?’

I couldn’t… Even the humans under the Skiper’s command. I couldn’t bear to even raise my hand against them much. It felt wrong; so wrong, even if they were my enemy. They weren’t like Marian, and even her… I didn’t know she was… So lost.

I groaned and rubbed my head. Only Ephitet people deserved that fate, nobody else. But what if they fight back? What if I… I needed to stop them.

My body felt so weak, and my mind felt like it was in a haze. What could I do? What should I do? How could I ever save them from Epithet if another could take its place, if the people themselves could fall?

I didn’t want to think about that possibility. I shoved it back into my mind, but how… How?

‘Come… And I shall ensure you bear witness as to how.’

A serpent’s tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me deep into the dark void of serpents.