tansy looked up at the strange and powerful presence sitting eminently upon the towering throne glowing leaves falling from the tree above
the statuesque giants face changing so fast that her face was a blur again her loud booming voice said
agian is there anything you would ask of me I plan to give u every advantage but I would grant u a boon a gift a blessing anything u ask if it is within my power I will bestow it upon you.
tansy thought for minute then answered
u cant send me back can u ?
no my powers are weak in your realm
it is all I can do to guide your worthy soul here to my domain .
but i can grant you a new life in a realm where I have more influence so again I ask is there anything you would wish for in your new life?
tansy thought about it agian and responded.
in my old life I worked tirelessly to get good grades and stay in shape and ultimately it came to nothing if I am to live again I want to be able to relax more to be able to rest whenever I want .
the giant was eerily quiet for a moment before asking if this is really what she wants.
tansy just nods
very well then and with that she starts chanting loudly in an mysterious language so loudly that even in her spirit form her ears bleed it's not long before she loses consciousness.
....
tansy opens her eyes but it's too dark to see anything she feels hemmed in and a slimy liquid surrounds her she can hear many heartbeats nearby which tells her shes not alone.
it takes all her energy to come to this conclusion
so as she wonders where she is she starts to nod off into a peaceful dreamless slumber.
....
back on earth naeus and knotia make their way through the sewers cloth covering their faces to block out the smell not that it helps much so far they've only ran into a few munchers down here though they were much slower their legs too weak to wade into sewage they crawled along the ground bloated unable to stand.
they made a mistake with the first one trying to kill it the damn thing pretty much exploded guts and bone fragments showering down on naeus as knotia ducked around a corner avoiding the disgusting barrage of filth.
they tried to exit a few times but when they opened a manhole cover each time they were surrounded by munchers. sometimes they couldn't even lift the manhole covers because they were weighed down by something heavy.
the only way they could see to get around was because of wind up flashlight naeus picked up back when he was scavenging supplies at the school.
listen knotia we cant stay down here forever I say we fight or way through next time we surface no matter what .
knotia didn't answer him she didnt even need light to get around down here she didn't have any light in her little shed growing up so she didn't need it in fact she would often hunt at night to get raccoons and possums thinking back on them fondly more meat was always good she thought .
but this boy was annoying and soft she wishes she hadn't told him her name,but she finally responds okay but ur going out first.
naeus flashlight suddenly shuts off he panics and hurriedly cranks it up the light coming back on just in time to see knotia rolling her eyes at him she points at the nearby ladder saying ladies first with a smile.
very funny says naeus but proceeded to climb up anyway.
he peaks out from under the metal cover and sees...nothing cause it's dark out now.
but he can hear shuffling and moaning in the distance even so he can't handle being in the sewers for a second longer he climbs out and takes a deep gulping breath of fresh air
knotia follows up after him and immediately laughs seeing him gulping up air he looks like a fish out of water she covers her mouth not wanting to draw attention the sound of quietly muffled laughing dies down and for a moment its eerily quiet.
naeus not wanting to make a sound motions towards a nearby building they quickly make their way to it staying low to the ground .
it turns out to be a certain daycare center
seeing where there at knotia rushes inside but instead of her family she runs into some munchers theres only five of them two of which she finishes off easily with her bat
but a third with telltale glowing yellow cracks leaps on her back making her fall to the floor two more slowly moving toward her.
luckily naeus catches up and kicks the crackhead (what he's decided to start calling the glowy screaming munchers) off her back
she scrambles to her feet and together they make short work of the remaining munchers.
knotia looks around at the empty daycare her Hope's dashed she was hoping to find sharice and steph but just as she was about to give up tears dripping down her face she hears a k-chunk sound and steph's little head pops out of the ball pit saying hey crybaby down here before disappearing back down into the ball pit .naeus and knotia share a look before heading over to the ball pit and finding a door with a ladder leading down hidden underneath
they head down into the crowded room the smell not much better than the sewers . naeus looks around seeing a few parents a bunch of kids and a couple of babies as well as the daycare workers all asking him what's happening on the surface one of them a short girl with light blue pixie cut wont stop asking questions long enough for him to answer.
apparently one of the daycare workers naeus reads her nametag maddie he says her name loudly I promise we will answer all your questions as soon as we get settled...not long after naeus is sitting on a pallet of energy drinks one of the parents scavenged from a nearby cornerstore,maddie had given him some baby wipes to clean at least a couple layers of sewer gunk off .
knotia was talking to sharice with a solemn look on her face she said I half to tell you what happened to del ,she had maddie take steph over to play board games with the other kids
and then she told the story of how del saved her life and how she couldn't save hers
it all started with cal they couldn't just leave him all broken at the bottom of the stairs so they decided to bury him at this point they didn't know if sharice and steph were alive so it was the only thing they could think of to do after they got some can goods a can opener
and del got the first aid kit out ripped it open and got out a flare gun out she counted out all the flares seven of them and put everything in her messenger bag but kept the flare gun in her hand she opens a side pocket and slips it in she grabs a hammer from the tool box handing it to knotia saying dont hesitate to protect herself she pulls out a dusty wiffleball bat and says their gonna find her family but unfortunately their gonna run into one of Josiahs scavenger patrols led by Brian (red hoodie)...
boss? one of Brian's lackeys had pointed out the dike and the girl let's follow them maybe they'll lead us to more people or some supplies.
after following them for a couple blocks brian gets impatient we haven't found anything else let's just jump them he said if we go back empty handed well get beaten and have to do watch duty without food. theres an alley up ahead let's run ahead and ambush them
taking a side street brian and his thugs run ahead and wait in the alley.
unaware del and knotia walk by the alley
and del gets tackled by brian while his thugs grab knotia and hold her while struggling del manages to get her flare gun out and shoots one of the thugs holding her the flare hits his neck full on bright and deadly killing him while blinding the other thugs they let go of her and del screams desperately RUN!!!! get out of here
she screams while brian shoves her face down.
knotia runs down the alley and slips into a narrow gap between buildings and gets out her hammer ready to smash the first person she sees
all the commotion draws munchers stumbling
into the fray the thugs run off leaving brian behind all of the sudden the wait hold del down disappears she turns her head and sees brian struggling to hold them back a shovel in hand
del pulls out her wiffleball bat and decides to help the worthless fucker smacking one of them in the face knocking it to the ground she stomps on its head brian sees his chance and pushes the three munchers toward del with his shovel and runs away.
del manages to kill the munchers but gets bit on her shoulder she stumbles into the alley calling out to knotia the girl looks scared as she ducks out from between the buildings but she sees dels bloody shoulder and the tears start to fall.
del smiles and says listen sharice and steph are still out there find them protect your their only family now she slides down the wall wincing from the pain racking her body she pulls out the flare gun and moves to shoot herself so she dosen't turn but knotia covers her hand she takes the flare gun saying just in case hell is real you probably shouldn't kill yourself let me tears streaming down her cheeks she says I love you as she pulls the trigger backing out of the alley as flames spread over dels corpse she vows to hunt down the thugs who made this happen she spies a sporting goods store and with determination she says I know exactly how I'm going to do it .
sharice has tears spilling down but with a smile one her face.
saying that's my del brave till the end while knotia holds her a single tear drops running down her cheek.
....
tansy is in her spirit form again she hears the booming voice of the multi faced entity face your fears defeat them and acquire nightmare points that can be used to summon monsters to fight by your side.
will you face your fears and make them your strength?
she looks down and sees a bloody can of fruit cocktail in her hand blood dripping to the ground forming a puddle a clawed hand reaches out from the puddle pulling itself from the puddle of blood a strange figure emerges absolutely covered in blood it looks like tansy but she has claws and sharp teeth and soulless sunken black eyes a raspy broken voice echoes out in the darkness .
mon..ster kill..er mur..der..er e..vil her twisted twins broken voice endlessly repeating itself she tries to defend herself but her evil looking copy just drowns her out getting louder and louder till her ears bleed.
realizing talking to it isn't getting her anywhere
she raises the busted can and brings it down on her monstrous doppelganger screaming I didn't have a choice as soon as she hits it theres a flash of light and a familiar booming voice says congratulations for facing your fear for the first time you get 75 nightmare points + 50 exp please look over the purchase list and select the monster or beast to fight on your behalf ...
5 points
slime
horned rabbit
wisp
poison snail
fairy
...
10 points
glass deer
pale goblin
ash wolf cub
six eared lynx
red mole spider
...
15 points
skeleton scout
stone bear cub
flying raccoon
metal soldier ant
carnivorous turtle
....
will unlock higher point values at higher lvls
...
tansy wakes up she is surrounded by other mana sloths all sleeping there tails are different colors most of them black or gray but some are blue and some white tansy seems to be the only one with a red tail.
hoping that this wont cause her too much trouble she sneaks away to check her stats like the entity said she just has to think and her stats appear
...
red tailed mana sloth
migrant name tansy
clan name bloodtail
lvl 3 next lvl 17%
hp 35
def 12
dex 7
strength 16
luck 19
mana 25
stamina 48
nightmare points 75
...cool the 50 exp leveled me twice hmm I guess I'll summon the flying raccoon and save 60 points for when I need it she clicks the icon and for a minute nothing happens but then she turns around and nearly pissed herself the raccoon was right behind her and bigger than she is its fur and wings patterned and mahogany in color a prompt shows up ...would you like to name your summoned beast?
tansy thinks for moment and decides to name him rocket in honor of one of her favorite characters she uses her connection to tell him to keep his distance ,but warn her if anything dangerous happens to be nearby .
rocket flaps his powerful wings and flys up into a tree keeping an eye on tansy.
with that taken care off she dashes among her new family members waking them from their slumber surprised shes so active so soon after being born they happily play with her chasing her around but soon it's clear that none of the manna sloths have the stamina to keep up with her.
....
real world
10 years later
life sucks naeus was thinking to himself as he finagled his way through an overgrown cornfield chopping down cornstalks when they prove too stubborn to push past he was thinking about old memories like when matty and mrs renaud got married and I almost missed it I still dont know how matty got that raccoon to deliver the invite.
I never saw olivia and dodge again but I heard stories about them showing up in settlements and saving everyone.
Becca never forgave herself for not being able to save tansy and spent years in seclusion training endlessly.
knotia and naeus even had a short lived romantic entanglement but naeus kept having to go out further and further to gather supplies the trips taking weeks and even months and knotia wanted to stay close to sharice and steph not to mention the other kids.
after dealing with this for awhile knotia realizes she has feelings for sharice but keeps it to herself not only because of guilt about del and cal but because she still cares about naeus her soft boy has grown into a man.
a few weeks later she sees a new survivor some girl named Jessica "jezzy"bell flirting with sharice and realizes she has to tell her how she feels.
waiting for that stupid girl to leave is torture
them giggling and laughing is so hard to watch knotia starts thinking about a buncha different ways to kill "jezzy" when she gets up and walks off.
knotia starts to walk up to sharice when she gets called away to help with supper leaving knotia standing there with her arm outstretched a spaced out look on her face somehow a tumbleweed comes out of nowhere and blows past her even though shes inside.
...the next morning at breakfast in the cafe(the kitchen and dining area too small to be called a cafeteria)knotia rudely pushes past "jezzy" before she can sit down next to sharice and start talking about some nonsense or whatever.
sitting next to sharice she immediately offers a jellied fruit cup saying she got and extra one(traded her buttered toast for it cause its sharice favorite food even though buttered toast is knotias favorite)
sharice smiles and says thank u before offering knotia her toast with a knowing look.
blushing heavily knotia scarfs down the toast almost choking,she swallows hard and guzzles some powdered milk from a big jug it dripping down her face she finally gets it down.
sharice wipes her face with a napkin saying I can tell you've been taking care of children too long your just a big kid now aren't ya? with a wicked smile
no I'm not knotia yells a little too loudly then pulls her baseball cap down hiding her face anyway stop teasing me I have something important to talk to you about.
sharice smiles and asks is it that you dont like jezzy?
dazed for a moment knotia responds how did you know?
sharice glances over at jezzy grumbling to herself a couple tables over while glaring at knotia sharice laughs and says there were some clues she reaches out her hand placing it on knotias and says do you know what yandere is?
knotia stares blankly and says yawn dre???
laughing sharice says nevermind anyway it just means I can tell you like me waggs her eyebrows fluttering her lashes at a stunned knotia her entire face flushed red all the way to the top of her ears.
...naeus snaps out of his reverie thinking about all the unnecessary details knotia included in her explanation of how she couldn't be with him no more when he finally got back from gathering supplies hes lying to himself saying hes not agitated by this in the least as he angrily chops through what feels like an entire cornfield .
with one last chop he breaks through to the end of the stalks and falls on his face,standing up to dust himself off he sees a whole field of tall ass marijuana plants.
tears streaming down his face and smiling so hard it hurts he says at long last finally some bud.
...to be continued