Magic, Barren, Lifeless

It is said that the 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘬 can grant anything the wisher desires. However, it is also said that there's a good chance they'll distort the wisher's wish.

An example would be that if one wished to be without illness, one of these creatures can simply kill the wisher, and the wisher would never have an illness.

Of course, if that was all there is to it, no one in their right mind would walk right up to one.

There are exceptions amongst this mysterious race, and it is said that fewer possess the power to truly grant the wisher's desires.

-An excerpt from an old, tattered fable.

…

Avalow rolled to the right. In her place, a long arm writhing in red-orange flames landed.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

The very earth shook as it-no it didn't. The snow softened the blow, but once again, it didn't melt at all. Only pieces of it were blown into the surrounding, leaving only a crater in its place.

If there was one thing Anna could explain about her feelings, it would be the sense of exasperation when she saw the wheat-colored blonde girl rolling around the snow.

So, she instead observed it first. However it may be, Avalow was too good of a distraction, as she kept dodging and rolling left and right.

After watching it for a few seconds, it was apparent that this monster had an apparent

It was quite simple. For you see, it was quite slow.

Simplistically very slow.

Feeling slightly more confident, mana flowed through her body, in order to prepare herself to move quickly if the monster did anything different.

"Avalow, it's really slow! Just run away and attack it from a distance!" Anna yelled across the snowy road.

The blonde girl nodded her head.

"Alright!"

Closing her eyes, Avalow backpedaled away from the slow monster.

As she did, the girl closed her eyes, deeply inhaling the cold air, small particles of blue light gathered around the staff held in front of her.

It started glowing, and with bated breath, Anna watched.

Seconds later, the particles of magic merged together, and it transformed into an red-orange ball. With a swing, it flung itself from the top of the staff, curving straight towards the monster

The moment the ball touched the monster's center, it exploded on impact.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘔!

A small shockwave blasted out, flinging snow and air outwards.

Coughing, Anna stepped back. Blinking away whatever was in her eyes, she looked up. When she saw the fire monster, she...was surprisingly not shocked to see it unaffected by the magic.

However, it looked to be much larger...and much more menacing. It grew at least one-fourth of its size.

"..."

That wasn't the main problem though, as she already prepared a countermeasure. It was the spell that Avalow used.

The magic she used was...it was...

Fire magic.

A fireball spell? Whatever the case, it was still the fire.

Avalow used fire against fire.

Anna squinted at the girl beside her. Said girl in question had a very, very large smilem, similar to a parabola.

Accompanied by a frozen smile, were her blank eyes.

The hooded covered girl felt the bottle containing her exasperation would blow up.

For some strange reason, she had expectations. Was she overestimating magic casters in this day and age after all?

Anna took a step back as the now larger monster approached them. Fortunately, it was slow as ever.

In fact, it was slower than before.

'Wasn't it common sense that fire dousing fire is a large risk, and instead makes it stronger?'

Although Avalow didn't say anything, and her face was blank, her eyes and red face said it all.

"I uh…I forgot! That was the only spell I can think of...heheheheh..." the girl's laugh trailed off, and she slowly looked to the side.

Anna can imagine the blonde girl's eyes watering, her face flushed, and her thoughts wishing she could hide under a rock.

She would feel the same way if she was in that situation. She'd done it before.

That moment, Anna found out that monsters had no manners, for it didn't stop and waited politely during the dialogue. Instead like a normal mindless enemy, it slowly approached Anna. She took a couple steps back in response, then stopped.

"Actually, I have a plan. Just do what you did earlier.."

"Oh...yes. Okay. Okay! I got it!" Avalow nodded her head. The embarrassment that was on her flushed face, her watering eyes-they were all gone.

Only solemnity took her place.

For some strange reason, Anna once again felt she had expectations. Was it coming from her own feelings, or…

She shook her head again.

Still, it's up to her.

The socialess girl who actually has to do something in a group. A group that she has to carry.

So, she stepped up as Avalow once again rolled to the left.

...

When one wants to use or cast a spell, one doesn't just yell out the name, and the spell fires. No, it's much more complicated than that.

Ordinarily, it would take at least a year for a novice to use a basic magic, and that's after that person senses mana, learns to circulate it inside his or her body as if it was muscle memory, and learns the spell's intricacies and foundation beforehand.

Fortunately, Anna can simply skip all that.

She has help from outside influence, for instance the staff she was holding. The staff of what was the so-called strongest witch/mage/magic user in the Realm of Dreams.

When one constructs magic, they first build the foundation.

However, even with the staff's assistance, memories, and strange ways of teaching, constructing the spell using mana was hard enough.

So, she can't use a flashy, destructive spell. So that means she can use a spell that isn't mana-consuming.

Especially when the mana quality and quantity that drifted through the air was so small. Compared to the mana in the Realm of Dreams...

If Anna had to say it out loud, she would say it was as good as trash.

With the mana circulating inside her, she breathed, and started putting the spell together.

First the foundation. It was a good thing she had a template. From her memories, one such magic emerged.

Like a puzzle, it fitted itself on the 'board.'

From it, she began building it.

First, its components, building blocks that make up the magic. Mana, as fluid and free as water, imbued itself into the components. From it, something truly emerged.

A dark, black magic. A magic she was specially taught.

Anna opened her eyes.

Avalow had just rolled to the right when another arm of writhing fire landed itself in the girl's previous place.

The blonde girl ran behind it, and it in turn moved its body around.

Now.

Crouching down onto the ground, she waited…

Then, she lunged, like a frog leaping through the air.

As her foot left the ground, she pulled her hand back, and thrusted her staff forward. Anna saw the spear-staff tip pierce into the body.

Yet she didn't feel anything. It was as though she stabbed into a piece of tofu, nonresistant and soft.

Nonetheless, that was all she needed.

Pressing her feet against the ground, she leaped backwards just as the monster twisted its strange flaming body and swung its arms backwards.

Before it began following her, something smacked its head with a small 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥

The fiery monster simply turned around, like the mindless monster it was.

As the fight continued, Anna focused on the tip of her staff. From it, there was a very thin trail of mana, connecting the staff's tip to the monster.

It was a connection. A connection where she can use mana to send to and from it. This time, she was sending a connection to it.

Anna slowly raised her right arm towards it. As she did, her right palm turned upwards, and open. With it, Anna slowly began to close it.

All of a sudden, the monster froze.

Like a creaking, unoiled, and broken down machine, it groaned in a strange, mechanical way.

Still, her palm wouldn't budge. It wouldn't move.

She gritted her teeth, and her hand began vibrating. Veins gradually began appearing around her neck, bulging and pulsing. Her pale, white face became flushed, red.

Anna took another deep breath. Then, she placed more strength in her palm. While she did so, she felt the world in her eyes turned a small shade of blue.

Through her connection, she felt and saw the motionless butterfly begin shining a dim, shade of blue.

She gave him her silent gratitude. She had never felt more alive than before. More energized.

More 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭.

With renewed strength, slowly yes surely, her palm began to close.

The monster let out another mechanical groan as it creaked. What seems to be its joints spazzed out, and it fell to the flow.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!

Crashing onto the snow floor, the large monster could only barely move.

Finally, Anna fully closed her right palm.

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!

A loud crack echoed throughout the woods, akin to the sound of cracking glass or ice.

The twitching monster, covered in writhing flames, froze. A tense silence passed, as Anna watched it.

Then, it simply faded away with one last groan.

Just like that, it disappeared. In its place was a small crater, and pieces of shard-like glass.

Anna looked down at the crater that remained. She had simply watched it dwindle away, its writhing flames dead and sated.

Then she looked at her warm gloved hand. She opened and closed her right pam.

There was a strange feeling inside her. Anna couldn'tt find the right words to describe it. It was so familiar, and yet it was…boring.

Dull. Dreary.

If she could truly describe it…then it would be-

"Wow...that's amazing."

Anna slowly looked up. The blonde girl had just made her way over to her, trekking through the almost knee-high snow.

With snow and bits of leaves and branches stuck against her white jacket, blonde hair, and puffy gray cap, Avalow had the perfect look of a stereotypical countryside girl.

Anna knows it well enough.

"You know the old magic?" the blonde girl asked.

The hooded girl blinked. Old magic? What is that? Was that something you could eat?

"Old? Oh, you mean Black magic. Didn't you know?"

"I did know, but…it has been seve-no, a thousand years since it had been lost, right?"

Anna shrugged. She wouldn't know anything.

Avalow's eyes were then turned towards the crater. Then, her eyes trailed towards what's left of it.

"Wow it had a magic core! This thing was strong after all!"

"It probably did because you gave it even more mana and power," Anna said.

Avalow suddenly began rubbing the back of her head.

"Heh…heheheheh…that's in the past, the past! Don't worry about it, don't worry about it! It's fine, it's fine! Heheheheheh…heheheheh…"

"..."

Anna couldn't help but notice she had said multiple words twice. She also couldn't help but notice that her arms were shaking. And that her face was blushing. And that her smile was forced and squirming.

Apparently, so did the blonde girl, for her laughter trailed off. Her eyes looked to the side, glazed and dull; empty, away from Anna.

As if she wanted to dig a hole and hide in it forever. Anna could understand how she feel.

"..."

"...indeed, mistakes are made to be corrected…"

Anna could only say that. It definitely had intentions of sympathy, and not that she didn't want the silence to be awkward.

Yes, that's right. She truly sympathized with the girl.

"Yeah…yeah, that's right!" the blonde girl nodded vehemently, her face very, very solemn and serious.

She even agreed with her too!

So, Anna also nodded her head firmly along with the blonde girl. Battling with people against enemies does create camaraderie.

How wonderful and lovely.

Suddenly, the Avalow spoke up.

"So...are we…friends now?"

"...I guess?"

Do friends equal camaraderie?

The books did say that fighting a difficult, tough battle together develops friendship and camaraderie.

Perhaps they could say they're friends now? Perhaps even acquaintances?

Maybe this time her new 'friend' won't kill her.

...

Chilling, freezing white snow fell from the dreary gray cloudy sky. The winds howled, and fwoosh, ruffling the clothes of two girls walking on a road.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

Trekking through the knee-high snow, they covered their faces with their hands as the harsh wind blew into their faces.

Even then, they continued their trek. Pushing through, step after step, foot after foot into the white snow, the forest surrounding them finally made way to an open space.

Walking up to the top of a small, short hill with the help of their staffs dug into the snow, the girls saw buildings from afar.

A town.

A town that was quiet, yet prosperous in the countryside. Now even when it was quiet, they could smell a faint smokey air and ashes.

From afar, it looked bleak. Deserted. Desolate.

Lifeless

Anna breathed in the cold air, and slowly exhaled a cloud of white mist out of her mouth.

What she was was simply what the catastrophe had laid waste to.

Even from a distance, she can see dots of broken cars and piles of rubble. Littered in several places, the cars looked to have crashed into buildings, their tires punctured, the windows cracked and broken, and the doors left ajar.

The hooded girl continued looking from afar.

How long has it been since she had been asleep?

As she thought of that, the girl next to her walked up beside her.

"Oh no…" the blonde girl whispered. "...it already happened, didn't it? Those poor, poor humans…"

Anna looked at Avalow. The blonde girl appeared to be distraught. Her eyes looked downwards and away, lost.

After the fight, the two girls decided to form a group for various reasons.

For one, Anna...didn't want to head into the unknown while being alone.

Actually, she wasn't really alone since she had Amor. Alas, midway through the forest, the blue butterfly had already fluttered somewhere off somewhere.

She assumed he flew on ahead to Yume.

Anna shook her head, and started her inevitable trek down the small hill. Behind her, she heard a sigh, and she heard another pair of footsteps crunching on the snow.

She needed to know what had happened. She needed closure.

But she could already guess.

She just doesn't know if she herself is prepared.

…

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

Finally, the footsteps stopped. The two girls had just arrived at the entrance of the town.

Ahead of them, tall two to three story high buildings laid ahead of . Apartments and buildings lined the road down towards them.

It was just like when Anna had first arrived to pick up groceries.

Doors of multiple buildings left ajar, and cars covered heaps and lumps of snow were left in the middle of the road or on the sidewalk.

As she was looking around, the blonde girl walked from behind her, looking around the town.

"Wow...so this is what humans have grown to be after so many years?" Avalow muttered, looking at the tall concrete structures.

"Did you say something?" Anna asked. No, she heard it clear enough. She just wanted to be polite.

"Ooh, nothing. Nothing at all…"

Anna just shook her head and walked up to one of the cars. Kneeling down near one of the car's doors, she caressed it. She felt many scraps as she moved her hand across it. Just like this one car, there were multiple very large dents on many other various vehicles. It was as though something smashed heavy itself into them.

Either another car crashed into it, or 'something' crashed into it.

Getting up, Anna patted the snow off her warm pants.

As she did, crunching footsteps walked up beside her.

"Ohh…what is this? Some kind of animal? I've never seen anything like this before!"

Saying that, the blonde girl peaked into one of the windows. Then, she racked her black, leather gloved right hand against the metal.

𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨.

𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨.

𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨.

Afterwards, she then banged the top of it with her wooden staff once. The sound of metal hitting something hard rang outwards into their surroundings.

"Wow…unbelievable. What a wonder this is…is this the ingenuity of the human mind?" Avalow whispered. Then, she began caressing the side-view mirror, patting away the snow in its crevices.

Anna looked at her.

She only saw a blonde girl's face in awe. The girl in question blinked while she peered into the window, her right hand covering the top of her eyes.

"That is…a car," Anna said.

"A car? Wowwww…amazing..."

Anna blinked, but she still began reciting a simple definition of a car.

"Yes, a metal machine powered by gas and electricity. Its main motive of function is to be driven by people to travel longer distances. They're also much faster than horses."

"Horses!? Oh wow…how incredible. Human imagination and technology really has come this far...how amazing..."

Under the shadow of her coat's hood, Anna's eyes look her up and down. She then blinked and rubbed her eyes,

Yep, all she saw was a normal, wheat-haired blonde girl dazzled by one of the most common things seen in everyday life.

'It was like a country girl's first time arriving in the city,' she thought.

No, Anna herself was a country girl. Even in the countryside, there are many cars.

Is the more accurate term 'village girl?'

"Are you a country girl?" she finally asked.

Avalow promptly stood ramrod straight.

"What? Eh? No? Where did you get that idea? I'm totally not a country girl, how could I possibly be...hehehehe..." Avalow laughed.

Anna simply stared into her.

As she expected, the blonde girl's laughter trailed off. She looked away, scratching the side of her head.

"...yeah...I am a country girl. I guess I still am after all this time..." Avalow muttered.

"...you don't have to be so down. I am also a country girl," Anna said after a moment.

Is being a country girl something to be embarrassed about> Perhaps that was the result of this girl learning magic.

The blonde girl's face promptly lightened up.

"You are? That's great...that means I won't be the only person alone who has no idea what's going on!"

Saying that, Avalow smiled cheerfully. Walking right up to her, she patted Anna's left shoulders.

The hooded girl flinched, and she gripped her black staff harder.

"We're fellow country girls!"

Then, she took a step back and she began humming while looking around. When the blonde girl looked away, Anna slowly rubbed her left shoulder, and she frowned.

Eventually, she shook her head and followed after Avalow. Perhaps there was merit in being acquaintances with this strange girl.

All of the sudden, she heard the blonde girl gasping.

Anna looked up, and she saw the blonde girl's back.

Avalow was looking ahead of her staring at what was in front of her. Walking up to her side, Anna followed her gaze. What made the girl gasp?

Then, the girl stopped at a certain point. She had figured out what it was that made her gasp.

Even she herself would too, no doubt.

Meters away from them, in the snow, was a thin hand. If one were to not walk forwards a little bit, it would've been never seen at all. Hidden behind a car, a hand was sticking out from a pile of rocks and snow.

Judging by its size, it was smaller than a teenager's hand.

"Oh no..." Avalow whispered quietly beside her, but Anna didn't turn to look at her.

No matter what you do to prepare, it was different than really facing it head on.

Anna looked at the hand. The hand that was reaching out for someone to take it. A hand grasping out to the sky, to show the child was there.

But no one saved the child.

Something brewed in her stomach. It was a hodge-podge of feelings she had felt so, so long ago. That day, when-

The girl shook her head, and she abruptly jabbed the staff deep into the snow.

Then, Anna pressed the palms of her hands together, and she slightly bowed. She prayed to the Lord God Almighty for the poor child to be in a land flowing with milk and honey. A paradise only for those free of sin.

"...?" the girl opened her eyes, and she blinked.

'The who now? The land of what? Honey? Milk?'

Anna rubbed her forehead. Who was she praying to? The frustrating feeling of being unable to say it despite knowing what it was.

The feeling of it being on the tip of her tongue, and yet she can't truly remember it.

As she was rubbing her head, she looked to the side. She saw the blonde girl was also praying.

Both palms of her hands together, eyes closed shut, the blonde girl bowed to it many times. Anna stared at her for a while. Then, she looked back at the hand and resumed her silent prayer.

…

In the snow-barren town, two girls stood side by side, silent and serene. They prayed for the child, but neither knew what the other was praying for.

Eventually, all things came to an end.

Finally, they both opened their eyes. Taking their staff jabbed into the snow, they began their trek through the empty town.

Just as they continued their trek, one of the girls looked back.

The hand looked as though it was reaching out to her. To take the child's hand into her grasp, to get the child free,

The girl only shook her head before following behind the other.

The snow continues to drift down from the gray sky.

…

Anna had seen many things littered in cities and towns. Plastic cups, bottles, paper, napkins, etcetera.

There were even shoes and a Nokia phone. The latter still worked to this day, last she remembered.

It was the same with the familiar sidewalk. Trash littered across the snow-ridden road, and many of them were clothes, blankets, and many other essentials.

Near them, the doors to the apartments were left ajar.

It was as though the residents left in a hurry.

Besides her, the blonde girl knelt down. Picking up a piece of paper, Avalow stood up and began patting the snow off.

Anna looked over her shoulders. Squinting, she could barely make out what was written on it. However, she knew the shape of what was surrounding the words dotted in various places.

It was the map of the entire country. The country where Anna was born.

The country of Seyna Baa.

Before she could say anything, all of a sudden, a voice echoed down from the path ahead. The two girl's heads shot up.

It was a blood curdling scream. A scream that even made Anna's hair on the back of her neck stood up. It was a cry of anger; a cry of panic.

A yell filled with endless fear of the unknown.

"Get away from my sister, you damn monstersssss!!!"

Rubble and debris laid in the direction where the scream came from. Although it blocked her sight, she can guess where it was.

It was rather close to the convenience store that was just ahead of her. The one where she went before she slept.

'Was that...in the direction of that rather large store?'

It was probably from that one department store that opened a few years ago. Anna had been there a couple times as well. However, the last time she went there was last year.

However, the memories and nostalgia didn't occupy her mind just yet.

"Someone still alive?" she muttered.

There was hope after all.

Suddenly, the blonde girl took off. Running and struggling through the knee-high snow, she was waving her arms all over the place.

"There are still survivors! We have to go help them!"

"Avalow-wait!" Anna shouted.

She reached her hand out to the blonde girl, but she had already turned a corner.

So Anna could only run after her.