Queen Fina (2/3)
(3rd person POV)
The elderly Ant leans down to one of the little girls with a kind smile. The child looks up with surprise on her face – no doubt startled at being singled out.
The old woman reaches behind her and pulls out a glowing green stone. She offers it to the child.
With joy and pride on her face, the child takes the mana stone and bows respectfully.
"Fina," the old woman says, "You are my most talented protégé. This'll be your only chance to awaken and become a mage. If you fail like your sisters, you'll be reduced to one of the workers and will never get a nest of your own."
The little girl Ant grips the mana stone tightly as she starts to feel very nervous, yet excited. Yes. She's always wanted to become a mage! Doesn't her mother gifting this to her mean that her specialness has been acknowledged!?
"Yes mother!" the child bows again. "I won't disappoint you!"
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Later, the child is sitting alone in a dark cave with the mana crystal her mother had given her; there, she is diligently training herself up and trying to find out her first Name the way the others had taught her.
Years pass by, but the child eventually feels that her first Soul Gate is about to open up.
When the time finally comes, the Gate swings open, and her mind is pulled into her Soul Realm...
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All around the little girl are countless sights, but the very first thing she notices are the lush trees with fat, juicy fruits hanging low on the branches, as if they were asking to be eaten.
"Apples!" the child squeals happily. "My favorite!"
She sprints on her bare feet over the green grass and soft, moist soil in a frantic bid to eat that sweet snack. Her mother is always strict with the rationing things out, so seeing something so free to eat makes her feel happy deep in her soul.
As she's munching away, the little girl looks up at the golden ball up in the sky. "Is that supposed to be the sun?" the girl wonders. "I've been underground my whole life, so I don't know what it really looks like… Mother DID say that the sun is what lights up the world above. She said it was very beautiful.
"Ah…," the child sighs in contentment as she plops herself onto the ground and stares up at the golden ball and munches on her apples.
Of course, the "sun" in her Soul Realm's sky isn't the real sun; if it had been real, she'd have gone blind staring at it. Plus, this "sun" isn't a giant, fiery ball of plasma like a real star, but it's a simple crystal that's glowing a warm, golden color.
After all, how else is a child who's never seen the sun supposed to imagine it? To her, the sun is a warm, fuzzy ball that gives the surface world beauty, color, and life. In her childish imagination, it must be some precious gem the gods have put on display up in the sky.
Because this is how she imagines the sun, this is how the sun appears in her Soul Realm.
The little girl had never felt so at peace in her life, so she can't help but linger in her Soul Realm and enjoy the blissful warmth. "Ah… I can't wait to go up to the surface. Mom said I could see the sun when I'm a big girl."
As the girl looks up at the beautiful golden "sun", she suddenly thinks, "didn't mom say that there are birds singing up on the surface?"
Just when she thinks this, the sound of birds chirping starts sounding in her Soul Realm. Oddly enough, the birds are singing the lullaby she remembers her big sisters singing to her back when she was a toddler.
And just like that, the child falls asleep in her own soul realm, dreaming of the surface promised to her.
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While the Ant child sleeps, she nearly fails to notice the subtle force rattling her white soul gate in the sky and the quaking force coming from outside her soul realm.
After a few minutes groaning on the verge of waking up, she's finally woken up by a soft, crawling sensation; it's as if something slimy is trying to touch her soul.
In a panic, the girl's shoot open, and she looks at her soul's black sky. Apparently, it's night time now.
"Wait," the girl thinks as she stares at the dark sky, "Did the sky just… wiggle and move a little?" Her sky suddenly has ripples run through it, as if it were a black canvas being poked by something on the outside.
"That can't be," the child thinks. "Mother told me that Soul Realms are hidden away in a completely empty Void. She said that the great Creator Mora keeps all souls in the Void because there is nothing there – nothing to snatch away these treasures."
The way the child had understood it, Souls are physical objects that are kept locked away in the safest vault by the Creator.
"Mother said the Void is completely empty… so there can't be anything out there, right? Yes. I'm just imagining it."
Still, in morbid fascination, the little girl keeps her eyes fixed on the black sky as it continues to ripple. In her mind, she imagines strange and fantastical monsters lurking outside her own private Realm…
Still, some primal instinct in the girl is telling her that she shouldn't look too deeply into this abyss… but her childlike curiosity keeps her eyes fixed in place.
After several minutes of avid staring and imagining… all thoughts start to leave the child – thoughts of her mother, thoughts of her mission to become a mage, and even thoughts of leaving. It's as if the more she thinks about the Void, the more her mind becomes empty.
Once the little girls' mind is completely empty of thought, her spirit starts to seep out of her the same way. Pretty soon, all Will and desire is gone as well.
When this is done, the previously lively and bubbly little girl is left statue still, with her neck craned up in a perpetual gaze at the black sky. The light in her eyes has faded completely, yet she still breathes.
The child stays staring in blissful emptiness for so long that it seems even time has ceased to exist.
After several hours, the drool from her open mouth has soaked her shirt… but her mind and spirit is too lifeless to even notice.
After a meaningless stretch of time, the shaking in her soul suddenly gets louder and more violent. Something is drawing near.
Suddenly… countless eyes open themselves up in the void, as if the black emptiness itself were the eyelids. The eyes themselves are burning a bright bronze color.
With the way the irises are flickering and burning, and with the way they're scattered all over the Soul Realm's sky looking down, they appear similar to stars in the sky.
The Soul Realm's boundaries start pounding harder and harder with the rhythm of a heartbeat, when suddenly, everything goes quiet.
Ever so slowly, a hand paler than snow appears out of the blackness and reaches into the child's soul Realm – completely ignoring the Realm's supposedly indestructible walls.
First the hand comes in, and then a leg. Pretty soon, the entire figure of a person is inside.
If the child had been conscious, she'd gasp in horror upon seeing the monstrosity before her. If she is somehow able to survive this experience and tell her family about it, she wouldn't even be able to find words to describe this monster.
The only accurate word for this creature is "featureless". Despite looking and feeling like a person, nothing is quite clear about it.
Is it pale or dark skinned? Is it male or female? Does it have short or long hair? Is it ugly or beautiful? Is it short or tall? Is it dressed richly, poorly, or naked altogether?
Despite the creature's features appearing static and unchanging, you can't quite describe anything about it, no matter how hard you try to concentrate. It's as if a mysterious veil is worn over the creature that confuses the mind of whoever looks upon it.
Though the creature's entire appearance is utterly Featureless, there is ONE thing that is consistent and clear about it, and that is its burning bronze eyes – eyes which are fixed with clear intent on the unconscious child.
Ever so slowly, the Featureless being descends from the black sky, and when it sets its feet on the ground, no sound is made, despite twigs snapping beneath its heel.
The moment the creature sets foot on the Soul Realms sacred ground, all the color is bled from the previously green grass… yet the grass doesn't die or wither. It just… becomes less than what it was before.
The Featureless being walks slowly through the girl's Soul Realm, and the lush and vibrant color is drained away behind it, and the very air grows stale and silent. Even the birds on the trees continue to sing, yet no sound comes out.
The Silence is so deep and profound that even it can be heard – an echoing hollowness and the beating of your own heart.
Slowly but surely, the Featureless creature comes to stand before the girl… It leans in close to the girl's face and just… stares at her for a good minute.
Suddenly, the creature leans in closer and presses its forehead against the Ant child's, and its form… starts to become more clear.
Before, the creature's features were utterly unclear, but the change is so subtle that even if you were watching closely, you could never tell the exact moment that the veil was lifted, and you could see what it really looks like.
This creature… looks exactly like the Ant child who is kneeling on the ground, staring lifelessly up at the sky.
As the "featureless" creature starts to look more and more like the Ant child, the Ant's face becomes more and more blurry, until you can't quite tell what she looks like anymore.
The "Ant girl named Fina" looks around at the silent, grey soul realm for a second before spotting the apple trees.
Her mouth opens wide in excitement, yet no joyful squeal escapes her lips. She runs forward and plucks an apple off the tree and bites into it with pure bliss on her face.
The "Ant" then looks up at the sky and sees where the "sun" was before, and she points up at the dead orange crystal in wonder.
If one were watching, they'd see the invader lay down on the grey, colorless grass and sprawl herself out in complete comfort, fidget around, then settle into the exact same sleeping posture as the real child had before.