Chapter 24: Dream Globe

There was no solace in what he saw, and of that much, he was certain of the fact. With dubious certainty, no miraculous intervention could explain the grisly sight before him.

Willow stood to earn his suspicions, as the wisp; his alleged companion, whose kindhearted demeanor was what he sought, had caused such a tragedy for the bloody wolves. He did not need to weep for those creatures, as they were monsters in his eyes.

And yet, his strict perception of the entire situation, with a mind caught between good and evil, was already troubled as he had yet to distinguish where the will o’ wisp’s allegiance lay.

Of whether she would still be his ally, after he had seen her act like so... with the unfathomable horrors that she enacted that he’d yet to explain or discern.

As if she were some vassal of horror to be wary of.

Or, despite the morbidities and macabre implications of her actions, that she would still help him which was what Nonary hoped for.

Which, of course, did not seem likely to him.

★ [Your silence isn’t helping with your innocence. You do know that, right?]

Nonchalant, the boy was as he spoke, caring little for the puddle of blood that he stepped on. He strutted down the bloodstained path, continuing his sloven approach towards the wisp. A slothful, gradual approach contradictory to the thoughts that raced within his head.

‘She’s not answering me at all. But the fact that I’m still standing means that she’s not hostile towards me, at the very least. But still, what in the world is this mess I’m seeing?‘

His thoughts were labored with his predisposed morality, with a grain of salt for laughs. Try as he might, he really couldn’t see her as a threat. Whatever this mental decision meant would be challenged by him later.

The flickering blue flame, who seemed to be the instigator of such bloodshed, did not frighten him at all. In defiance with common sense, he approached further; towards the wisp that created the funeral pyre.

★ [Good grief...]

The boy stopped, mere meters away from his companion, that hovered from above. A will-o’-the-wisp whose flames were sapphire blue, a creature that lingered atop the bloodhound’s grave, as the dead mountain burned with red.

Again, it was a funeral pyre for the wolves she slew.

He was certain that she was the one who slaughtered them. There was no one else who could undertake such a task, a killing harmony for the legion of bloodhounds who lay in hundreds before him.

Neatly piled, body by body, and settled like a morbid spire; one made of the dead. Who else but her could do such a thing?

★ [Do you plan to stay there?]

And she gazed from above, with the same mourning that ruined her joyful watch. Silently, she grieved for how the boy was numbed by the sight. It hurt her heart to see his indifference towards everything else.

★ [Hey Willow!]

His apathy towards the dead, as if he didn’t care at all, was a cause for her to be concerned. To Willow, his mind was dangerous, yet she wanted to help him after all this time.

What sort of terror could render him incapable of understanding, that one could not view such a gruesome sight and remain cold towards it?

★ [Why aren’t you answering me?]

Indeed, why couldn’t she?

|||

Here she stood, hovering by Nonary’s side.

The boy’s injuries clashed with his strange ability, leaving his wounds annulled and erased. His vestments were the same, without damage and harm. It was as if he never suffered in the first place, as he slept soundly by her side. With the warmth that she brought him, a pleasant rest had been granted to him.

Her powers were never needed, as he had every capability to repair himself. Her concerns never reached the conclusion she feared, as she remained dumbfounded by what happened. Though her astonishment did not last long, as she heard the wolves howl.

Soon, the Eventide Path would turn into an avenue of death, as she would have to fend for both the boy’s and her safety.

☼ [But I’m far too weak at the moment...]

She found little confidence with herself, with her strength made abridged, and her will shattered by what she saw earlier, of how she failed to protect him.

☼ [Do I shatter one of my vessels?]

Perhaps she would succeed, if she could regain even a tiny bit of her former strength. That was what her vessels served to be, containers of power that she could shatter at her own leisure, if only to be regaled by her previous might.

Before they even met, she could have wreaked havoc in the floating castle; and it could be done so with ease. She was that powerful, and her vessels would allow her to tap into the strength hidden within the crystal glass.

Her vessels took on the form of an hourglass, and each one was the culmination of centuries’ worth of knowledge and power. The boy was unaware of the implications that her vessels carried, and she hoped it to remain that way.

But she would need to be the bulwark that would protect his slumbering form, and it would not be a waste to use them for such a precarious situation.

Though she only had ten, and she couldn’t spare to misuse a single one of them. A single vessel had the power to eliminate a city quite easily, if she were to act. If she even swore vengeance, then her kingdom would soon abandon her.

And she never had the disposition to act on such malicious thoughts, and Willow would only fulfil her duty to protect him.

☼ [But, I only have so few of them...]

Yet she couldn’t decide over the matter, as she only had ten of them.

She was a Replicator, one of the denoted individuals that stood far from the world’s order. She was a living calamity, as if she were to raise her arms against the innocents. And she was also a living miracle, as her people called her a saint.

She could destroy many with but a whim, or she could save those who deserve to be saved by her powers. Willow carried remarkable strength with her tiny appearance, and her decisions would affect the surrounding realms.

But to be fair, it depended on whether or not her benevolence would vanish, but that would never happen within her lifetime, as she lived to serve others.

And yet, she also felt sad.

The boy bore the same curse of her title, for he was a Replicator too. A Replicator, whose temperament she could not properly gauge, and that he might come to stand against her.

He might be an enemy she would come to face, eventually, with the hostile overtones that his actions implied. He was running away from something, and he mistook her for the one he feared.

But, he was also aware of that, though he quietly slept in peace. He found joy over her safe departure from the wall of mist, and she could also save him from his dwindling fears.

From his words alone, words that he uttered as he fell victim and succumbed to weakness...

“I’m glad you’re safe...”,

... he wanted to see her safe and sound, just as she wished to him. The boy was not selfish, as he yearned for her inviolability. It would be the evidence that eliminated her desire to suspect him. He would still be a danger, yes, but at the very least, she could trust him. She would be an ally of his, too.

And she also needed to keep her promise with him, as she did form a pact with the boy. He was her first contractor, despite years of leading the wisps to prosperity. It was a fact not well known among her kin, but it held true to her.

She grew this powerful with no external interference, though her strength was currently sapped and hidden inside the vessels she’d recently made. And they waited for the purpose that would see them use.

☼ [I’ll fell them for you, and then we’ll reach the civilization you yearn to see...]

The contract still bound the pair together, so at the very least, she would lessen the grievances that might face them during their journey. Her grievances with the forest were many, and this would only be one challenge.

She would begin with eliminating the bloodhounds, the creatures that hid between the evertrees, and would soon ravage the boy’s inert self if she did not act soon.

☼ [Dream Globe...] She commanded her vessels to appear before her.

Many sapphire timepieces that numbered in ten, lucent and crystalline, arose from empty air. A crystal hourglass, with fine sand that flowed freely between the mirrored glass, shielded by a wooden frame that held it together.

From the many chronicles that arose before her, one suddenly shattered at her command, to be torn apart by the strings that kept it afloat. The pieces scattered and broken as they fell on the ground.

Nine remained of the crystallized time, and they soon vanished from view. She had broken one of her vessels; of which she only had ten of.

With that single act alone, she regained a fair bit of her power, with her strength now enough to bring Willow to her prime. Perhaps it was enough to slay the looming threats that hid between the forest, waiting for the chance to lunge towards them.

And from there, her spirit became as it was before, though she knew it would not last.

She only had an hour to play with, as each vessel had the same limits she imposed upon herself. All but a single hour of her time and nothing more, all due to the contract she made with him.

Though she did not regret the choices, she made those knowing that she might suffer from it. And in doing so as he became her first pact bearer, and it meant many things to her. Compared to her peers that would form contracts with others, she waited centuries for such a moment to visit her.

And now she already had.

☼ [I can do this...]

Even with her strength upsurged by the shattering of the hourglass, she still felt anxious. Anxious over the events that had yet to transpire, even if she alone was enough to defend them.

Shadows flitted between the evertrees, and the ground shook with the many steps she heard. Dozens, no, hundreds of the bloodstained wolves would come soon, and she would need to kill them all.

Slowly, their shadowy forms emerged from the land-bound mass of trees, as the air now reeked of rust and silvered metal, a scent that came from the blood that dried on their darkened fur.

A grisly spectacle to those who may ever watch the slaughtering that would come soon, as she readied her gilded spears of golden resplendence; held astrung by gleaming strings of sapphire blue, towards the legion of wolves before her.

They saw the wisp as a threat, one that would end their living forms. She was far too dangerous, a flame that burned and stood between them and the one they yearned to devour. Despite the primal instincts that took hold of their mind, she was not to be taken lightly.

They could not approach the slumbering youth, whose form still reeked with blood. The wisp stood by his side, blinding them with her presence.

She would not allow it, to let the beasts draw near him.

☼[Bloodhounds...]

As if an imprisoned sun, the flickering flame grew brighter, with the trees now lit and dyed with blue. The looming shadows that once hid from her had vanished, as she now saw the wolves without reprieve.

Their misshapen bodies, scarred and wounded by the fights they once fought, the wisp saw them all. The beasts waited for Willow to strike, before they would act upon their instincts.

☼ [I won’t allow you to harm him!]

And with her declaration, to protect the one that held her pact, she would slaughter every single one of them, as the spears moved with her will.