Chereads / The World Is Still Beautiful / Chapter 2 - Goddess

Chapter 2 - Goddess

July 13, 20XX, Five Centuries after Ragnarok

Mount Twynam's Forest, Mount Twynam

"Haaah... haaaah...! Get away, get away...!" Ciel even forgot which way they came through, it had been a good ways away from the entrance of the forest. They would send people inside, right? Because there was an explosion and- and Deb got hurt! They need to send people, he needs help! All of these thoughts would run through the little girl's head on top of running, never stopping to move. Even when she was wheezing dramatically, blood boiling hot and body tired from exhaustion, she would still walk, lean against trees, anything, to make sure she keeps on moving.

"Signs... signs on how to go back!" Counting on her mind running a few miles an hour, the bright five-year-old girl looked up, straining her already tired body to even just look up. Now she had to battle the sun's glaring heat as well. Sweat makes her flowy coat stick to her body, feeling so heavy. She still had a shirt and shorts to cover herself, so maybe discarding this would help- "No! Big Sis made this for me, I can't!" And so she would trudge on, seeing a godsent sign and running off in its direction.

"Gards...! Please help! Uncle Deb is in trouble! Gards!" It felt like minutes has passed since the girl had run about an immeasurable amount of meters. The trees block her vision, trying to see if the wooden barriers around the forest is there. Because if it was, all she had to do was follow that. Searching for those made her neck feel like a loose swivel, as if her head might pop off if she was careless. Lethargy assaulted the girl's body. Ciel needed energy.

"Food... food, uhm... berries!" They provided the slightest amount of juices to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, but more importantly, the taste would invigorate her frail form. Seemingly spotting a shrub of blueberries, the girl would frantically pluck them from its stems and shovel it down her throat. Slight bitterness crashes down her tastebuds like a tsunami, but sweetness follows. That was more than enough to jolt her body awake.

"Okay... energy back! Must run! Gards!" A small body required less food, and it was more than enough for her. Tripping on a branch, the girl would crash to the ground face first. "Ooof!" She would grunt, the pain of scraping her face and nose enough to make her bawl into tears. "Owwww...!" Ciel would cry, but the girl would stand up. Her body's working in over time, and it would not be long until she would collapse, large globs of tears streaking down her face. "Uwaaaah...!" Sniffling, she wipes off the dirt off of her face using her coat. "I, snffff, the gards...!" She would bawl through her own words. Dainty arms wobble as they try to lift the girl up.

"No more... power..." The girl would then realize, but it was not until she heard footsteps. A lot of them. Maybe more than her one hand can count. "Help... Uncle Deb... Gards..." She would eke out using the last vestiges of her energy before her tired and sore eyes would close slowly, falling into the arms of one of those "gards."

"That's guards for you, kid." sighed the man. A dozen of them would then slowly scale up the area trying to parse exactly where this mysterious thing landed. "Let's spread out in a three-man cluster! Make sure to watch each other's back and be vigilant. We don't know what landed and intruded in our sacred forest." The search would start speedily, with the head guard saddling Ciel on his back and strapping her onto him with tied cloth across her back and in between the legs.

"Let's go, you two." He would signal to his other companions, heading out in the direction of which the girl had seemingly come from.

On the other hand, Deb was not faring as well as Ciel had hoped he would. Rolling to his back, the man could only clutch his swollen shoulder as he struggles to get back up, weak and quite honestly, struggling to be any more functional than just staying awake, partially helped(?) by his injury. "Urkk... nghahha... god dammit...!" The silver-haired male would crawl to a tree and prompt himself up.

"Wh..." His eyes once shut would finally have the strength to open, and before him was strands of ethereal light wrapping around what seems to be a flowery cocoon of... cloudy lights. There was quite no other descriptor for it other than strands of light enveloping a far more condensed form of itself layered like roses and shaped like a cocoon. What can be felt about it, among the particles that grace him and provide a dose of fleeting relief, was- "Magical..."

Magical, fantastical, ethereal, it was all so fitting. Whatever this thing is, it was majestic. Deb could only start to breathe when he remembers how to, but the pain across his left shoulder felt like its festering stopped; as if the light that was gently, slowly gravitating to it was trying to mend the damages. Light had always been associated to healing, so maybe that made it possible? "What... what is this...?" He would whisper, eyes scrambling about trying to make something out of this mystical cocoon. Only then would the silhouette of a woman appear from the middle of the rose-like shell.

"A girl..." the male exhaled, enough snowflake-like light particles entering him to lessen the burden and make it enough for him to stand up. Although unstable he would stagger forward with uneven steps towards this... thing. It was not even calling to him; the imaginative forager would only be entranced of its grace, brilliance, and beauty. Both the silhouette that was clearing up to be an actual woman, one that is very reminiscent of a young adult. Looking at the blinding sun for a mere second, a hypothesis leaks through his lips.

"She came down from space..." To do what? He had no answer for that at the top of his head. The Earth he knew had been long gone. Maybe... maybe she was sent here to change the world. This mystical girl would groan, as if waking up from a nice long sleep. White eyelashes. White eyebrows. Shining platinum silver hair. Deb would not be surprised if her eyes are also likewise a dull grey or reminiscent of white iron.

Her eyes slowly flutter open. As expected, they're silvery- with hints of golden light like her cocoon. He was right. Right here, right now, a goddess descends in Mount Twynam, and she's come to rebuild the world.