62; 12 Familiar yet so unfamiliar

The chilly winds of the early spring blow in Crystal’s small town on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she’s calmly sitting on the front steps of her house as she gazes at the people walking around town. Crystal spots Holly down the road and she instantly spikes with excitement as she watches Crystal on the steps.

“OHH! Hi Crystal! I’ll be right there in just a sec!”, Holly shouts out as she starts running towards her while she dodges around the people on the road. She meets up with Crystal as she stumbles while keeping her footing, exhausted and out of breath. “Holly?! What are you doing here? I thought you were busy with your job today”, Crystal says with an excited shock as she jumps to her feet.

Holly begins to blush while she crosses her arms behind her head, “Ohhh that, I ummmm… quit that silly thing!”, Holly quickly says while she tries to shift the conversation, “But why would you quit just to see me today?”, Crystal asks Holly in concern.

Holly’s arms shoot down in front of her, she nervously looks into Crystal’s eyes while she fiddles her fingers, “Yeah but you knoooow, we could still go on a journey together! I heard there's a really cool town nearbyish so maybe we could go there. It’s just so boring to be stuck in this tiny boring town", Holly says with a joyful wide smile.

“Why would you want to give up everything though?”, Crystal asks as she paces back and forth in front of her house, “Oh come on now, what’s so bad about taking a little risk? We could have so much fun!”, Holly’s eyes widen enthusiastically as she shouts out with glee.

“Well… alright, but if this doesn’t work we’re coming right back right away. Come inside though my parents are doing quite the celebration before I’m off tonight”, Crystal says as she guides Holly inside her house.

Sky is gently tending to the garden in the front court outside of the dark castle, the lawns are neatly tended next to the crumbling castle, “Why are you bothering to maintain this place? You know we aren’t staying in this awful junk heap”, Rodoxa says while she passes Sky. “Says you, the one who wants to boss all of us around!”, Sky shouts with anger.

“Well well, look who’s the one talking here, you’re just upset she made me the leader of the group, perhaps you should watch who you’re talking to”, Rodoxa swiftly replies in a calm, dominant tone.

Suddenly Sky throws down her gardening tools and walks over to Rodoxa in a rage, “You know more than anyone that I was the one who deserved it!", Sky shouts while frustratingly pointing her finger into Rodoxa's chest. "Maybe if we could actually work together we wouldn't be here still and we would already have Rayen!", Sky continues as she yells straight into Rodoxa's face.

"Girls girls, calm down I have something very important to announce to you", Nexie happily says while she walks in from the entrance gate in front of the castle. Sky snaps her head over with shock while Rodoxa maintains her calm demeanor, "Is the news that we can finally leave this boring rock?", Rodoxa says with a cocky smile.

“Behold our newest member to the group, in fact you might even recognize her”, Nexie proudly says as Negative slowly walks into view from behind the gate. Her appearance looks calm and eerily soulless as her eyes blankly stare straight forward. Her once soft and gentle face is heavily scarred with much heavier burn marks than the previous time she was under control of the curse.

Negative’s eyes sharply dart over to Sky, “Why don’t you reintroduce yourself Negative, as your new self”, Nexie says to her as she seems to simply ignore her orders and slowly steps towards Sky with heavy thuds. The two meet halfway in the middle of the courtyard of the castle, their eyes locked onto each other tightly as the air around them grows still.

“Not much of a talker are you now? To think you would be foolish enough to willingly absorb a curse without knowing the repercussions, what a shame you really are”, Sky says while she continues to stare into her emotionless eyes. Negative’s eyes suddenly begin to focus more intently before she suddenly swings her arm towards Sky’s face. Almost instantly Sky blocks the lightning fast fist from striking her face.

The intense shockwave from the impact causes the ground around them to be torn up as the flowers of the nearby garden are destroyed, "Hey, don't mess up my garden, I spent a lot of time on that!", Sky says before she flings Negative to the ground. “Don’t you start thinking that you can order me around, no matter what form you take”, Sky says while she hovers over Negative.

The dawn of the next day shines over Crystal’s small town, the soft rays of the sun wash over an old rickety uncovered wagon. Most of the wagon is stuffed with crates of food and clothing that’s hastily packed together with no regard to neatness. Holly sits towards the back looking out at her town before the wagon is headed off, while further in the wagon Crystal is sitting on one of the bench seats as she gazes off into the clouds above.

“What do you think we’ll find in the other towns out there Crystal? You know that real big place in the distance? The one where we can barely see it’s castle off in the distance, I wanna try to go to that one. I just can’t wait to join some kind of super powerful royal guard!”, Holly says with extreme excitement. “Oh come on now Holly you know that we can’t just walk up to them to ask to become a royal guard, we haven’t even done anything that would prove ourselves ”, Crystal replies with a cynical flat tone.

The old wagon driver exits a nearby stable with his horse while he guides it to the wagon, “Where are you two fair young maidens headed on this lovely morning?”, the wagon driver says with a cheerful smile that scrunches up the wrinkles around his eyes. “Oh oh, could you go to that place alllll the way out there, the one with the huge castle”, Holly ecstatically says while she points her finger to the distant horizon.

“Ah yes, you must be talking about Timia, I haven't brought this old girl out that far for ages.”, He says while rigging his horse up to the reins of the wagon. “You girls better get comfortable because we’re going to be traveling for quite some time”, he continues as he sits on the front bench and whips his horse to start their trek to the town.

Through the ripped up ground and shredded flowers Sky is slowly managing the ruined garden outside the dark castle, from across the courtyard Negative stares at Sky with a blank gaze in her eyes, “Hey can you stop staring at me?! I swear I’ll make you the new paint on the castle if you don’t leave me alone!”, Sky shouts out while a furious aura swells around her.

“Your impudence and arrogance will spell your eventual downfall, your current strength is inconsequential compared to those who lie ahead”, Negative’s curse calmly says in a trance-like state. Fueled with rage Sky flashes over to Negative and smashes her into the castle wall, causing the bricks to violently shatter upon impact.

"What the hell are you talking about you putrid parasite?! You have no right to disrespect your superior in such an abhorrent manner! ", Sky aggressively growls to Negative as she grinds her head into the stone. "This is no disrespect, it is simply an observation of facts", the possessed Negative calmly replies as if she isn't injured at all. Sky reluctantly loosened her grip on Negative as her feet softly land onto the wild overgrown grass below, "Well fine, go on with your nonsense. Just leave me alone to do my duties", Sky frustratingly says while walking back to her destroyed garden.

High above in one of the tall peaks of the dark castle’s towers Rodoxa stands at a window as she looks down onto Sky below, her eyes maintain a glittering and shimmering white glow, “This curse doesn’t feel right, it knows way too much information. It can’t be made from anybody here”, Rodoxa quietly mutters to herself before retreating deep into the pitch black castle’s interior.

Many hours pass as the old wagon rattles through the wavy twisting trading road, Crystal is calmly staring outside the back of the wagon while Holly is passed out on Crystal’s shoulder in a deep sleep. Suddenly the wagon hits a jutting rock in the path and jolts into the air for a brief moment, Holly shoots awake as she jumps up to her feet in concern, “Bandits! I’ll go beat em up!”, Holly shouts as she runs to the end of the wagon.

“Oh calm down it was just a rock, sit back down”, Crystal says to Holly, catching her with sudden surprise. “Well uh are we there yet though? Crystal asks while she slumps back into the bench, “Nope, didn’t you hear him when we first started? He said we won’t be there until nightfall”, Crystal says while she leans back to rest her eyes. Holly snaps back to Crystal in disappointment, “Whaaaaat?! That’s so crazy long though! I feel like I’ll get booored to death!”, she says before sulking in the far corner of the wagon.

As the hours slowly flow by, the girls gradually begin to pick at the food stored in their crates, the cores of apples and skins of oranges are periodically thrown out of the back. Towards the beginning of the evening dense clouds start to gather in the dark crimson sky, shortly after the gentle rain dribbles down onto the wagon’s soft fabric top.

The soft drizzles quickly turn into a furious downpour, the sudden winds whip the rain in every direction, “Hey are you alright out there? We could rest until the rain settles if you want”, Crystal shouts out to the old wagon driver as she desperately tries to yell over the nonstop downpour. “Oh ho ho, No worries ladies we’re nearly there! It would be a waste of time to stop now”, the jolly old man happily says before he brings his focus back to the road.

Both of the girls take a peek out the front of the wagon to gaze upon the huge castle sat at the top of the town, It’s multiple towers lit with a seemingly endless number of torches. “Whoooa it looks so crazy, even seeing it from all the way over here!”, Holly shouts with uncontrollable enthusiasm while her hair quickly gets soaked in the pouring rain.

"Stop right there sir, state your business", the town gate guard sternly says to the old man's wagon as he comes to a gentle stop. "Oh hello, I’m not here for me but in fact I’m here for the two lovely ladies in the back. They’re visiting to hopefully begin their adult lives here”, the jolly old man says as the guard looks into the back of the wagon.

“Oh hiiii, how ya doing?”, Holly asks the guard as he shines his lantern inside the wagon. The guard walls back to the front of the wagon without reacting to either of the girls at all, "You're cleared, you may continue forward sir", He says to the old man before returning his post.

The old man rolls the wagon up to a small rustic inn on the edge of town. The old building's wood is clearly aged and worn showing its age, the small windows glow with a warm orange flickering candlelight.

"Hey, thanks for putting all this time onto bringing us into town, do you need a place to stay? We'll give you a few more gold pieces to help you out", Crystal says as she peeks her head out the front of the wagon.

"You don't need to worry about me, this trusty wagon is as good a rest spot as any for me. I hope you girls enjoy the city", the old man says with a bright smile that cuts through the rain, "Thanks, I definitely will", Crystal happily says before turning back into the wagon.

The girls yank their crates off the end of the wagon causing a large messy, muddy thud as they splash onto the ground below. They push the heavy crates with all their might up to the inn's hefty front door, "umm hey is there anyone in here? Helloooooo?", Holly hollars into the empty lobby as the drenched girls soak the floor.

"Now now, just a minute. I'll be right there", a mature feminine voice cheerfully says off in the distance. A nearby curtain begins to rustle before an older woman swipes it out of her way. "Oh my, I see someone got stuck in the storm”, The woman says with a soft smile. “Yeah, that would be putting it lightly”, Crystal says while trying to shake the rain off herself, “We just made it into town, do you know where the best place to stay is?”, Crystal asks while walking over to the front desk.

“Oh you just moved here did you? You can stay here for the night. It's just one gold piece, but I have a place you can rent near the central square. There’s even many job postings you can choose from every morning”, the cheerful woman says as she guides the girls over to their room, “Hey wait up, this is unfair!!”, Holly shouts as she struggles to drag all the crates across the floor to her room.

The door creaks open to reveal a small but cozy space, “The wonderful room has two full beds on both sides with a screen in the middle for your privacy. To the right you have a glorious washroom with an immaculate bath with all the toiletries you'll need. In the morning you can come to the lobby for a freshly prepared breakfast, I hope you girls have a very restful night", the woman says before gently closing the door.

The girls struggle to wriggle out of their soaked clothes on the opposite sides of the screen, each article of clothing makes a hardy slap as they smack the ground, "Damn I'm soaked to the bone, I can't believe how fast that rain fell", Crystal says while squeezing off the last of her clothes before sliding on a nightgown.

"So do you think that we'll actually make it here, just looking at this town feels so intimidating", Crystal asks while sitting on the bed. "I know we'll do great. I can't wait until tomorrow, it's gonna be so amazing seeing all the cool things we can do!", Holly says with so much excitement that her bed shakes before blowing out the candle next to her bed. Crystal follows up by blowing her candle out as well.

A few days slowly roll by as Holly and Crystal slowly move into their tiny home near the center of town. “Hey Crystal, it's time to go!”, Holly shouts as she yanks Crystal out of bed. “Alright, I’m getting up just give me a few more minutes”, Crystal groggily says as she stumbles onto the floor, “Well let’s get going we might not get a cool job at the posting board”, Holly worryingly says while Crystal slowly walks into the bath.

Crystal lays in her warm steamy tub, “Hmm, to think I’ve actually made it to this town, I wonder if Holly is actually right and I could become a guard?”, she thinks as her mind wanders while she sinks lower into the tub.

Later on the girls walk down to the square, Holly runs circles around Crystal with excitement, "Come on Crystal let's go!", Holly says before dashing ahead of Crystal. Once she reaches the square Holly's attention is cut off by the nearby fruit stands next to the job board.

"No fruit today, sorry for the inconvenience", signs say on every one of the stands in the area. "Hey! What happened to all the fruit?", Holly asks one of the vendors, "Oh, our shipment was destroyed from the little brat that Neon is raising, I wish she would put some chains on that wild child", he says in an annoyed gruff voice.

"Excise me, pardon me", Crystal says as she rushes her way through the dense crowd. Suddenly on her way through Sigma cuts her off and knocks her off her feet while she crashes to the ground. "Ow ow sorry, I didn't mean to hit you", she says before he helps her back up.

She holds the back of her head in pain while he covers her hand with his, a calm glow resonates from his hand and in just a second all her pain is instantly gone. "Oh, thanks. Who are you?", Crystal asks while she nervously looks down with a blush on her face, but when she looks back up Sigma is suddenly gone.

"Hey Crystal look at this one!", Holly shouts out while holding a sheet of paper next to the job board. Crystal continues to zig zag through the busy crowd before meeting up to Holly, "Two guard recruits needed at Neon's Manor, you will need to defend the owner's manor and her ranch from any bandits that would threaten Neon or her staff", Holly reads out with excitement.

"That sounds so exciting!", Holly says as she looks over the paper over and over again. "Also, who was that guy you were with, it seems like he's quite the looker. It also seemed like you two were holding hands, you really shoulda kissed him hehe", Holly gleefully says to Crystal.

Crystal's face quickly turns a beet red, "Holly shut the hell up, I don't even know the guy. Now come on, let's go before I die of embarrassment", Crystal says before she drags Holly through the crowd towards the huge manor on the hill in the distance.

The girls carefully and slowly walk up to the large cast iron gates of the daunting manor grounds. Out of nowhere a large laser shoots out of a watch tower and nearly misses the girls. The two girls go into a major shock while they look at the small crater in front of them.

"Stop right there you bandits! I'll make sure to get rid of all of you this time", Rayen shouts from inside of the watch tower. "Rayen, calm down. They're just guests from my job posting today", Ruby says before jumping out of the tower to meet the girls. "Oh sorry, it's just been kinda boring around here", Rayen bashfully says.

"Hey sorry about that, she's been doing that to anyone who walked to the gate all week. She nearly turned the mail courier into ash last week", Ruby says with a small giggle. "Ah yes I see, how nice", Crystal says as she nervously walks through the gate. "Um hey there's a bathroom in there right, I think I peed myself from that”, Holly quietly asks while she nervously whispers into Ruby’s ear. “Don’t worry dear we have all you need inside the manor”, Ruby says while she holds the door open for the girls.

As soon as the girls enter the door, they find Neon laying down casually on the leather couch in the main hall, “Oh hey girls, I’ve been waiting such a long time for you two to finally find us”, Neon says and she quickly gets up from the couch to examine the girls. “Hmmm, I definitely seem to have my work made out for me with you two. You might now believe me but I’m going to make you both into heroes”, Neon confidently says to the girls while their faces are caught in shock from her words.