The gray waves rocked the raft back and forth. Vainglorious' droopy gray eyes gazed up at the sleepy clouded sky. A hand stroked through his white hair.
"Shh." The hooded stranger whose lap he laid his head on whispered. "It's okay boy witch, you can dream here."
"No, can't. Have to move." Vainglorious tried to move his lips to speak.
But no matter how hard he tried his limbs couldn't move. He couldn't even pick up his head. The hooded stranger giggled as he ran his index finger over the boy's lips.
"Now, now."
The hooded stranger leaned closer to his face. Gray eyes peered back into his own, white hair fell from the black hood. The stranger's snow-white face began to look like Vainglorious if he were a teenager, or maybe an adult?
"Frozen internally, judged for what you are from when you were young. Melting heart, fall in love and you will be undone. Searching for power but from the crown's power, you run. Little Icarus flew too close to the sun."
Suddenly Vainglorious felt something hot streaked across his face.
"Ahh!"
His gray eyes snapped open when he heard an inhuman scream, his head hitting the hardwood raft with a thunk.
Sitting up Vainglorious looked wide-eyed over to the hooded stranger whose black robes were now on fire.
"For folklore sake!" Yelled the stranger. "Do you know how long it took for me to get these robes? I had to practically wait until this style had died to get my hands on these. You're so dead Relic!"
"Relic? From Zealous' book? Here?" Thought Vainglorious.
He turned around to see a rather muscular man whose straight white hair covered his naked back down to his ankles. His chestnut brown eyes dark as he stared at the hooded man. A miniature fire crackled in his hand.
"You should know absorbing the life force from another living being for yourself is forbidden."
"What? Are you going to tattle on me? Besides, what's it to me if another one of you witches get stuck down here?"
"I'm warning you, ferryman." Relic glared, the fire jumping in his hand to lick something out of reach.
"Fine, have it your way. It's not like he'll last much longer in this condition. He would have to be some sort of demotic monstrosity to survive this."
The ferryman was behind Vainglorious before he even noticed his movement. His foot on the boy's back kicking him off the raft onto the white sand below.
"Oww!" Vainglorious' face hit the ground, sand going into his eyes and mouth. "That's it! I'll kill you!"
But by the time Vainglorious turned around the stranger and his raft had vanished into the mist like they were never there, to begin with.
"So you came here alone?" Asked Relic.
Vainglorious' attention immediately snapped back to the older naked man on the beach in front of him. He immediately folded his knees to his chest to cover his own nudity, but Relic wasn't really paying attention. His brown eyes were scanning the landscape for other people that weren't there.
"You really did the under realm ritual by yourself?" Relic asked.
"I did, what of it?" Vainglorious scowled at him.
"It, just...It takes a lot of magic energy from a lot of powerful mages and witches and you're so young."
"So? I'm a wizard. I could do it. What does my age have to do with anything!?"
"Now, now, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Why are you getting so defensive?" Asked Relic. He surveyed the young wizard sitting on the sand with his knees pulled up to his chest. "Here, my name is Relic. Are you okay? Can you stand up young man?" He held his hand out to him.
Vainglorious glared up at the older witch before slapping his hand away.
"I can do things myself. I don't need anyone else."
"I understand, I used to be a Jinn too." Said Relic running two fingers over his fair collarbone. The exact spot Vainglorious had his snake tattoo. "I know what a pain it is to be controlled by a master."
"Why does everyone talk like they know something about me! I don't have a master! I'm not being controlled and no one can control me!" Vainglorious seethed.
His brows bunched together as he stared at the white sand below him. Master Mouse was the one who put this tattooed on him that blocks most of his aptitude for magic. But he was allowed to go anywhere and do anything he pleased within the law of course.
Master Mouse had certainly never attempted to control him before. Still, It was creepy to think about the possibility now. Vainglorious ran his index finger over the black snake tattoo that sat on his snow-white collarbone.
"I came here myself on my own orders. My own magical abilities, so I can bring the sun back and reclaim the sky."
"Well then if you're the calvary." Smiled Relic, reaching his hand out to Vainglorious once again. "May I ask your name?"
"What is my name?" Luminous asked no one in particular.
She scanned the huge dome garden. She was also surrounded by night blue flowers, a stream was trickling off in the distance. But how did she get here?
"Where am I? Who am I? What am I?"
"Oh no, short stuff snap out of it!" Yelled the Dawn of Fate. "We have to get you out of here."
"But where is here? Under here? Under where?"
"Dang nabbit, you're talking a bunch of hullabaloos."
"Oh no." Breathed Concord.
"Oh no, what? What's happening?" Asked the Dawn of Fate.
"I was with a mouse and a callapitter blowing bubbles out of a pipe…" Luminous grabbed at tuffets of her short blonde hair. "I was… it was something important...about a mouse prince...oh…"
"It's okay Luminous, just relax." Said Concord putting his hand gently on her shoulder. "I know how to fix this."
"What's happening?" Asked the Dawn of Fate. "How do you fix this?"
"She breathed in the pollen from the Forget-me-not flower. The flower looks like any ordinary flower. But if the bud opens and the pollen gets into your airwaves, it can slowly make you lose your memories. To stop this and restore all her memories we would have to find the queen flower that stores all the stored memories and kill it. If we are not fast enough it won't just be just basic memories like people's faces or names, she could start forgetting basic motor functions, like how to talk or walk."
Out of the corner of his eyes, Concord saw Nightdread lunge at Luminous. He quickly pushed her away from him. She landed on the forest floor right next to where she dropped the Dawn of Fate.
Nightdread had his pointy canines out ready to bite down. But when Concord held his robotic arm out ready to block Nightdread quickly jumped back to avoid it.
"What? Too much of a milksop to continue the attack?" Mocked the Dawn of Fate. "Nightdread you cad!"
Nightdread glared back at the sword and the girl with his copper eyes. His fangs hanging out of his scowl.
"You were always the weakling of the group, you RUN AWAY." Said the Dawn of Fate emphasizing the word run away. "You would have a better chance GOING OFF AND FIGHTING A FLOWER."
Concord stood there staring at the Dawn of Fate whose vermillion blade gleamed in the grass. The sword was talking to him. Telling him to sneak away and find the queen forget-me-not flower before it was too late and Luminous lost motor functions. But…Concord looked at Luminous, she sat on the ground looking more confused than ever. Could she survive on her own?
The Dawn of Fate caught the concerned look on the lanky teen's face and quickly responded.
"I would say it's your best chance. Even with memory loss, I could still kick your sorry bees hind!"
"Screw you!" Yelled Nightdread.
Taking the bait the vampire lept at Luminous. That was Concords opening when the enemy was distracted. He ran away, it felt wrong to just leave Luminous there. But he was the only one with the knowledge about these plants right now, he was the best chance to save her. So he ran, following the flowers to find the hidden queen.
"Oh shoot! Pick me up! Pick me up!" Yelled the Dawn of Fate.
Luminous' eyes went wide as she finally spotted the sword on the ground next to her.
"You're a talking sword!"
"Oh, sh-"
Kick! Nightdread dashed towards Luminous kicking her as hard as he could. The young girl flew until her back hit the dome at the edge of the garden.
Her back arched in pain as she slammed against the dome. Sliding down, she clutched her stomach biting her lip. Her breath wheezing out in short burst. When she looked back up she saw a gray mouse in a red vest standing a few inches in front of her staring back. He looked familiar, but couldn't place it...There was also something off about him. Like she could blink and he would disappear.
Luminous continued to stare at the mouse, trying to decide if he was really there or not.
"Are you-"
Suddenly the vermillion sword stuck into the dirt ground cutting between her and the mouse with the red vest.
"Go on then, pick your sword back up if you dare." Nightdread glared down at Luminous.
"Dang nabbit!" Yelled the sword. "Can you still get up short stuff?"
"There's a, there's a mouse." Luminous croaked out."A gray mouse with a red sweater vest."
"You remember Master Mouse?" Asked the Dawn of Fate. "Of all the things to...look, short stuff I know you miss him, but he's not here to help you anymore. You see he's...I mean...We can't talk about this right now. Right now we have to-Watch out!"
A bunch of gluttonous corrupt appeared around Luminous surrounding her.
"Ahh! What are these things?!" Yelled Luminous.
"They are corrupt, corrupt are creatures who-"
A corrupt lunged at Luminous biting her ankle.
"Oww!"
"Never mind, just pick me up and start swinging at them!" Yelled the Dawn of Fate.
Luminous tugged on the sword's navy blue handle until it unstuck from the dirt ground bashing the first bulbus corrupt she could swing at.
Meanwhile, Concord was in the thick of the forget-me-not flowers. His favorite green hanky tied over his mouth and nose in a makeshift mask so as not to breathe in any of the pollen. Every few steps he scanned the flowers to find the queen.
"Find the one that's turned down, black streak pedals that looks like a crown. Sounded by her subjects is where she is found, roots so thick that's she bound."
He jumped at every shadow, but nothing came for him. Was he truly so plain and forgettable that the villain had honestly forgotten about him? He would feel relieved about this if it wasn't stressful to think about every minute that passed him by. Every minute Luminous was losing her memory, leaving her more and more vulnerable.
"Ohh, where is this stupid thing! I swear I'm this close to lighting a match and..."
That's when he spotted it. In the center of the flower's petals, black streaks in the shape of a crown. Its thick black vines wrapped around a tree trunk. The vines storing the memories of every person the hive of flowers collected.
Oh, Concord felt like he could smile for a mile.
He wrapped both his human hand and robotic hand around the base of the flower and pulled. He grunted and heaved, but it was no use. The flower was so rooted by now that it would take either an indestructible sword or a whole cavalry of men to get it off.
Concord could feel his smile turn into a frown. This was going to be impossible.
"Come on Concord Luminous needs you. If you don't do this you'll be a coward like you've always been."
An old memory came to his mind, one he could never forget.
He was only five when it happened. He was playing in the field with his ten older brothers and his younger sister when they all became cursed by a wishing star.
Him and his ten brothers turning into geese who couldn't talk. And his younger sister cursed not to tell anyone. For if she spoke, they would all die.
The only thing they could do to break the curse was relying on their sister to sow them all jackets that came from the fur of brother caliper from the magic council. For he told them this was the only thing that could protect them when the cures broke.
His younger sister had finished the other ten jackets for her other geese brothers. Who now wore them while flying over the cliff that dropped into the beach.
Concord never joined his older brothers thought because he was too afraid to fly. So instead he sat on his younger sister's lap. Who had sat on a stump in front of the old abandoned cottage sowing the other half of his jacket.
When their eldest brother Discord came stomping in. His black combat boots crushing the overgrown grass below.
"I knew you'd be here, you spoiled brat!" He sneered glaring down at the little girl whose big lime green bow sat on top of her long curly lime-green hair."You might think you've gotten away with this because you are dad's favorite, but I know you know where my brothers are you witch!"
There was a moment of silence as the wind blew across Discords green top hat that sat on his dark green hair. He kept his emerald eyes on the little girl who had just kept to sowing the jacket onto the little goose that sat on her lap.
"Oh, ya just ignore me like you have been for the past month and a half. That's real mature!" Said Discord.
He stomped up to his younger sister ripping the ball of silk she was working on out of her hands. She jumped up reaching for the silk, pleading with her sad blue eyes.
"What was that?" Discord smirked down at her. "I can't hear you! Speak up!"
She continued to jump up to try to grab at the yarn, but it was no use. Discord was a teen by this point and was taller than she was.
Discord laughed at her fruitless efforts until he spotted the geese sitting on the roof of the old abandon cottage looking down at him.
"Why do you hang around these creepy geese anyways!"
Discord threw the ball of silk hitting the roof so hard it shook. All the geese brothers flew away. Except one.
"Hey, little guy." Discord's emerald green eyes glinted down at Concord. Who was sitting on the uneven grass. His silk caliper jacket half sown on his tiny bird body. "What's wrong? Don't want to fly away with the rest of your brothers? Or can't?"
Discord stomped his big black boot down next to Concord almost squishing him underneath. Concord jumped back ruffling his white feathers in response.
Their little sister pulled on Discord's sleeve, but he only yanked away from her.
"What? Don't give me that. If any of you got something to say then say it." Discord stomped his combat boot down right next to Concord again, who backed up with his little webbed feet.
This kept going on until Concord was backed onto the edge of a cliff. Discord turned around to look at his little sister to see that she was biting her lip, her big blue eyes pleading with him. Something about that innocent concerned look really pissed him off.
"What's that?!" Discord sneered. "You're worried that he'll fall? Don't worry, if he's really a goose worth his gander he'll fly!"
He lifted his foot up to kick the goose. But Concord could only flutter his wings, not able to take off.
"No! Concord!" His sister screamed reaching her hand out towards him.
That's when Concord felt the same sickening feeling he had when this curse began. He felt his body get bigger and his white feathers resetting showing his fair human skin. Both his wings turned into arms. He was suddenly human again. But his cyan eyes quickly found his little sister who's body was turning into ash as if it had instantly caught fire from the inside.
Concord gasped reaching his arm that had the unfinished sleave out. But felt an intense burning sensation as it turned into ash blowing away in the wind.
Concord could do nothing but stare.
Losing his balance on the cliff's edge he began to fall when his eldest brother Discord jumped to catch him, wrapping his arms around his little body. Holding him in a tight hug as they tumbled down the cliff to the sandy beach below.
Concord lay at the bottom of the sandy beach with Discord protectively wrapped around him. He could do nothing but feel his older brother breathe heavily feeling some of his wet tears slide down on his back.
After a while, they both made it back up the cliff to see their other ten brothers who were now human and wearing nothing but the jackets their sister sowed for them. Their hair a sea of sickening green as they huddled where their little sister was standing moments before she…
Concord pushed thew his older brothers holding the spot where his now missing arm was. To see a pile of ash on the grass. He then saw Discord kneel in front of the pile of ash his vest torn with dried blood on it from the fall. He picked up the only thing that was left from their younger sister. A lime green bow.
Everyone began crying as Concord backed away from the scene. He looked from his missing arm to the cliff. This wouldn't have happened if only he flew.
None of this would have happened if only he were brave.
Concord looked from the forget-me-not queen to his yellow robotic arm. Pulling those vines will take more strength than he could ever have. Disabling the fail-safe that stoped his robotic arm from exerting so much force that it could break he began to pull the black vines from the tree.
"I need to be brave!" He yelled. The black vines came off the tree with one final force. "No matter what."
His robotic arm tore into peace. springs and scrap metal flying everywhere as the bright blue flowers around him began wilting and turning black.