[A/N: Took a while to write this. College is hard :(]
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Over the northern mountains of Valkyria there lies a great and vast forest surrounded by the mountains. The Forest Mimamir.
The trees are so strong that they can withstand the blow of a thousand axes, and so tall that they pierce the sky.
The plants and fruits growing in the soil of the forest are said to be so bountiful and potent that legends say an entire field is full of nothing but Redroot so potent it can cure all sickness and injuries.
Because of this the animals of the forest were said to be just as mighty and powerful. From great eel like birds that soared elegantly across the sky, dancing in between the trees. To small critters that made small homes in the great trees.
Many old tribes in the north even claim that the wolf that ate rocks in Valkyria's insignia came from this very forest.
Many clans have tried to tame this vast and rich forest, but all have failed.
That is because of the great guardian protecting the forest, Mimamir, said to have been as old as the forest itself. Though now that name is lost to time, there was once a time where many have worshipped the great spirit and seeked its wisdom. Mimamir was said to have trained many heroes and legends of the North such as the 'Mountain King Ulrich', 'King Sigebert the Dragonslayer', 'The Apex' and 'The Witch of the Woods'.
But many of these legends did not exist yet. And the name of Mimamir was not yet lost to time...
Deep in the forest lies a hut hanging on one of the branches of a great tree. Its infrastructure is a chaotic mix of wood, dirt, stone and moss. That was molded poorly into the shape of a hut, with only a roof that stretched from the tree's branch, as if it was the only thing keeping this house up.
The forest breeze easily passing through as the house did not have any walls, with the flat floor being connected to the roof with sturdy vines. Yet the wind seems to not stir the house violently, as if there was something stopping it
*BOOM*
Inside the house was an even bigger mess. Various furniture was nocked over while wooden bowls and flasks litter the floor with strange powders and liquids of different colors smeared all over it.
*BOOM*
The mess only amplifies with every shake the house makes with each explosion.
*BOOM*
The cause of this mess seem to stem from one child fiddling with potions in one of the few tables left standing.
*BOOM*
A small girl with beautiful dark scarlet red eyes and dark hair like blood, wearing a makeshift dress made out of fur.
*BOOM*
The animals and birds around the forest ran away, hiding in their own homes or are covering there ears from the small but loud explosions occurring near the small hanging...
*BOOM*
...shaking home.
*BOOM*
"Test 12 is a failure... Test 13, deduce 5 miligrams of hellfire dust..."
The small girl adds an orange powder into a small wooden measuring cup.
She then pours it to a wooden flask half filled with powdered sticky muck and river tears.
"Now to use amethyst dust to activate it..."
Using a much smaller measuring cup she adds a little bit of purple amethyst powder into the flask.
She then grabs the wooden flask and places a cork in its hole before gently shaking it.
After a few seconds of shaking, the flask starts to shake and vibrate on its own.
The shaking then starts to get more and more violent and a small fume of smoke seeps out from the cork of the flask.
The little girl then tosses the flask out of the window.
*BOOM*
The girl ignored the loud noise and shaking caused by the explosion and pulls out a notebook made out of scraps of parchment and tied together with wool and vines.
She then starts to scribble several numbers and words with a piece of charcoal.
"Test 13 is a failure... Now test 14..."
"Bloody hell what's all that noise?!!!"
A loud voice echo across the forest.
Several loud and heavy cracks of wood and stone as if they were footsteps, slowly getting closer and closer to the small hanging house.
Then a giant face made out of bark, leaves, vines and moss with small blue orb like eyes that resembles a small flame, peer inside the hut where the small girl was.
Its giant body was like a forest that came to life and started walking on two legs. Standing around 80 foot tall with tall trees growing from behind its back. Its arms and legs were a combination of wood and stone, twisted and mixed together.
Small animals and birds can be seen flying in out of its body. Making home in the giants body parts.
An ancient being known as a treant.
The great guardian of the forest, Mimamir.
"...Welcome back, teacher."
"Damn it Vor the whole forest was complaining about you, even the jotunfogl! What were you even doing?"
Little Vor closes her notebook and looks towards the face of the great guardian.
"Alchemy."
"Causing a racket for that? And here I thought you behaved more than your mother."
Vor waves her hand, and suddenly, the wood on the surface of her table was stretched and molded into a wooden flask.
She then pulls out three small leather pouches, each containing different colored powder, and started pouring them in the flask.
The giant guardian lets out a sigh that lightly blew on Vor's hair and the other items scattered in the room.
It then leans on the tree holding up the house, causing the house to lightly sway.
"Forest tears... Sticky muck... It looks like you also used some hellfire dust.
Stone or dust then? You're using too much hellfire dust if that's the case."
Despite her teacher's warning, Vor continued to pour a generous helping of hellfire dust into the cup. But those with a keen eye can see that it was another 5 milligrams less than last time.
"The stone won't be strong enough."
"Why would you want the stone to be stronger?"
"To improve the recipe even more, and create a more refined version of it."
Mimamir who was keeping an eye on her pupil let out a scoff that shook the house.
"That's a lie. What's the real reason?"
Vor tries but fails to hide a pout as her teacher sees right through her.
"It's not a complete lie..."
Mimamir chuckles at seeing it's usual emotionless looking studen evoke such a cute pout.
"Haha... Fine, I won't pry any further. But you won't get any further by trying to brute force this, let me help you."
"...Okay."
Mimamir walked closer to the small hut, placing its massive wooden hands on top of the roof while it peers down at the child inside.
"Now then. Get a bowl first, it would work better than a flask. Then instead of using more hell flies, we'll use more swamp muck instead."
Vor hides her eagerness with her usual apathetic face.
As she waves her hand and turn the flasks into bowls instead.
*******************
Rain or shine.
Day or night.
The two worked tirelessly in spite of several failures.
Vor would skip on meals until she was forced fruits to eat by her teacher.
While Mimamir would only occasionally stop and gossip to the forest creatures, usually resulting in an annoyed Vor throwing a failed attempt at the giant.
But despite of everything, they persisted and their efforts paid off.
The finished product was a sort of greyish blob that resembled clay with a smooth texture.
Vor wipes her brow from sweat and then she plucks a small piece of the blob.
The blob was soft, squishy and would stick in her hand like slime. It then turned into a ball after being molded by Vor.
Mimamir who was overlooking and guiding Vor the whole time let out a small sigh of relief.
"Good. Now the only thing we need to do now is to take all the air out."
Vor gives an affirming nod as she carefully holds onto the clay ball.
But her hands start to lightly shake.
"...."
"Vor?"
Vor
Doubt starts to creep in Vor's mind.
The thought of another failure even after all this time, all this effort. Starts to loom in her mind.
What if I messed up the movements while trying to get the air out?
What if I added too much sticky muck?
Or did I add to little?
Did I listen to all the instructions carefully?
Did I miss something?
What if I don't get all the air out?
Did I accidentally add something else?
What If this is also fails?
What if I'm wrong?
What if...
A wooden tree rubs Vor's head, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Ah."
But it wasn't a wooden tree.
It was the long wooden finger of her teacher, stretching out from outside her home.
Mimamir was gently petting and calming down her worried student.
Carefully and gently using its long wooden finger to caress her head.
But for Vor, because of her teachers size, it was more of a forceful rub. And rather than calming down, she was just getting annoyed.
Mimamir, after calming(annoying) Vor, pulled her finger back out.
"Now... take out all the air inside."
Vor nods as she holds on to the clayish blob with both of her hands.
She then focuses her magic to find any and every air pocket she could.
Scanning the blob with her magic.
And once she found all of them.
She then slowly and gently drag her fingers across the clay.
Many small pores start to form and follow Vor's fingers, as if they were being dragged by it.
Slowly, the spots of the clay where Vor passed her fingers through start to harden.
Until Vor brings all the pores into one spot, creating one big hole in the blob.
She then slowly fills out the hole with the clay around it, then lets it harden.
By the end, rather than a soft a clay in her hands it was a hard and sturdy rock.
Vor holds on to the solid rock speechless.
While Mimamir gives a nod of approval as she sighs in relief.
"Very Good. Now comes the most important part."
"?, There's still another part?"
"Of course! And it's the most important part."
Vor swallows her breath and holds on tight to the stone ball in her hand, waiting in anticipation for her teacher's words.
"What to name it obviously!"
"..."
Its hard for anyone to tell what Vor felt for her teacher under her emotionless exterior.
But whatever it was, was definitely not positive.
"Don't look at me like that, it's your creation!"
"Did you not help me create it? Name it yourself."
"Come now, what you call it now is what they'll tell in legends and books! A legacy of your own."
"Not Interested."
Mimamir sighs at Vor's persistence.
While Vor ignores her teacher to cover the the bowl with the rest of the grey clay with a lid, before tying it together with some vines.
"?, Are you taking that somewhere?"
"Yes, I'll be back tomorrow."
Vor finishes securing the bowl and picks up a large leather satchel that was lying on the floor.
She places the bowl in it and ties the satchel around her back.
"Why not I help you there?"
Just as Vor was about to leave, Mimamir outstretched its large wooden hand in front of Vor.
"It will be a lot faster if I take you there rather than you walking there right?"
"...I guess so."
"Great! jump on then."
Vor jumps to Mimamir's hand and sits down in its palm.
"It's a squirell village across the river where the sun sets."
"Alright then, hold on."
The giant treant keeps its palm steady as it walks across the forest.
A loud crack of wood and stone can be heard with each footstep.
Yet the forest barely shook.
Around them Vor can see a pack of hoppulfr, wolves with large hands and feet like those of tarsiers and also extra flaps of skin between their arms and legs, jumping and gliding from tree to tree.
High up to clouds where the trees pierce the sky they pass a jotunfogl, a pale large winged serpent beast. flies and slither in between the large trees.
While below on the ground Mimamir stopped as a large heard of golden boars numbering in the hundreds, otherwise known as gullingoltrs, passed by, perhaps migrating to a new home.
As the herd passes them and they continue on, Vor silently prays for the herd of boars, that they would not run in to the hoppulfrs that they passed earlier.
Eventually they made there way into the river.
But to call this a river is an understatement.
It was so wide that one can easily mistake it as a lake in first glance, with powerful currents pushing anything out of their path.
Anything that is except for the trees growing in the middle of river. Standing tall and piercing the sky like the rest, completely ignoring the rivers currents.
A loud splash comes as Mimamir walks on to the river. Mimamir did not flinch nor shook as it walked in the river, just like the trees around them.
Many other small animals of various sizes can be seen crossing the river.
Leaping and climbing from tree to tree. Some birds even hitched a ride on Mimamir's back.
As they made it to the other side Mimamir stepped out of the river, the birds on its back flew away as they reached land.
"It's not to far from here."
The giant with the girl sitting on its hand continue to walk further into the forest.
The sunlight fades as they made there way deeper.
But still, they did not miss the stain of red in the barks of the trees.
They notice the stain of blood in the grass and trees.
But not just that, limbs, heads, and bodies litter the path around them.
Many of them wore armor and have weapons in their hands or around them.
The corpses where filled with cuts and bruises, as if a battle happened.
Mimamir slowed down to gaze upon the scene.
Slowly raising its fingers to cover the sight from Vor.
With its other hand, Mimamir holds on to the trunk of one of the great trees.
The tree was filled with many cuts and slashes, with it wondering if it was on purpose or if it was by accident.
Yet, regardless of the reason Mimamir could only feel sorrow for it.
Vor who could sense her teacher's sadness became worried for it.
"Teacher... What happened?"
"It's nothing Vor... Things like this, it sometimes happens."
Mimamir tried to explain.
But Vor, who lived apart and isolated from humans has many questions circling in her mind.
But the biggest question in her mind was...
"...Why?"
"Why what?"
"They killed each other..."
"...It seems so..."
"Why did they do it? For food? Home? Why?"
Vor was not a stranger to death.
She has seen the animals do it almost all the time.
The reason was mainly for food to survive.
Some animals need to eat other animals to survive.
And sometimes they would also do it to protect their home.
Vor understood these reasons.
But the scene in front of her, felt, and looked far different than anything that she has seen.
"...Why did they kill?"
She was confused.
She did not understand it at all.
Mimamir sighs, as she continues to walk.
Getting away from the gruesome sight before answering her student.
"Humans... are complicated Vor. They are not like the animals in the forest. They don't kill just to survive. Sometimes they have more... 'complex' reasons why they do it."
Vor tilts her head, still not understanding it.
"Are those reasons good?"
"Who knows? I never understood it. And everyone I asked gave me a different answer."
"..."
Vor stayed silent, perhaps still trying to understand the reason of why someone would kill if it was not necessary.
Only for her train of thought to be broken by her teacher speaking loudly.
"Well don't worry too much about it right now! You'll be able to understand it one day, you're half human after all! So you might be able to understand half the reason of why they do it!"
"Was that supposed to be a joke?"
"Humor me a little! Anyways, are we close yet?"
Being reminded of the task at hand, Vor looks to a patch of area in the forest covered by shrubs and trees.
"Over there."
Mimamir lowers her hand to the ground and lets Vor hop off.
Vor runs deep into deep into the thicket of bushes with her satchel in hand before Mimamir could even follow her.
Mimamir stands over the thicket of bushes, and starts to hum.
The hum was deep and echoed throughout the forest.
The large thicket slowly starts to bend and lean, revealing a small village hiding under them.
Small homes and varying sizes, many of them made with sticks and pebbles. There was even a small castle made entirely of stone.
But it seems that half of the buildings in the village were destroyed. Even the small stone castle was split in half. Letting everyone see the small compartments inside.
The residents of this village where as small as the palm of a human, with brown fur and a bushy tail. Some of them were wearing armor made of twigs and carrying small sticks in their hand like spears.
The squirell.
"A squirell village?", Mimamir said to itself.
Many of the squirells were carrying carts filled with stones or sticks and bringing them to the broken buildings. Where other squirells would use the materials repair their small broken buildings.
In the middle of the group of squirells was Vor, who was placing small chunks of the clay down to a broken wall in their castle.
Many of them gather around to see the clay harden like stone.
They squeak in awe as they stomp at the now hardened clay, confirming its sturdiness.
"Can I use this to fix your castle?"
Vor presented them the bowl of grey clay as she asked.
A squirell who was wearing a hardhat made out of twigs and bark, nodded and squeaked in approval. Much to the joy of the other squirells.
Mimamir sighs and smiles with its wooden mouth.
It would usually have a hard time guessing Vor's emotions.
But right now seeing Vor surrounded by the little squirells as they rebuild their small castle with her.
Even her stoic expression can't hide her true emotions.
A few hours passed and the sun has set, replaced by the blue moon in the sky.
The sound cicadas chirping, fills the air. While small fireflies illuminate the path.
The forest is peaceful in the night as the animals sleep. With only the sound of the wind blowing on the tall tress, and the occasional howls from hoppulfrs.
Vor is currently sitting again on Mimamir's hand as it walks through the forest.
"Looks like you had lots of fun helping them Vor."
"What do you mean?"
"Hahaha."
"Stop laughing to yourself, its creepy."
"Anyways, how did that village end up like that?"
"An earthquake shook around there while I was collecting materials. I happened by them at that time."
"'Huh... So it made its way here..."
"Teacher?"
"Oh its nothing, just some grumblings from the old bark."
Vor thought that her teacher was hiding something from her.
Well, her teacher hid a lot of things from her.
Who she was, where she came from, who her parents where, and why she was in this forest.
But she believed that her teacher will tell her everything one day.
It promised that it would back then when she was first taken in from the great oak.
She knows that one day, it would tell her everything. Even what it was thinking today.
How much time that would take is still a mystery to her.
"Hey Vor?"
"What is it""
"Do you like alchemy?"
"Where is this question coming from?"
"Come on... Humor me a bit!"
"*sighs*"
Vor remained quiet for a while.
Closing her eyes and contemplating.
Before finally answering.
"I do not like alchemy."
"That's quite harsh..."
"Rather...
Thinking about what to make... Planning how to make it... Then making it... Before failing again... After that we would do it again and again, then fail again and again.
The once we finally made a something that worked... We would be so tired we couldn't even celebrate properly."
"That was because you refused to eat."
"..."
"Hehe, sorry... It was quite hard wasn't it?"
"Un, it was...
But...
...I liked it."
"..."
Mimamir looks down to see Vor with her own head down, clearly hiding her face.
"Hahahaha!"
"...I'm not talking to you again."
"Haha! Let's celebrate properly once we get back home!"
"No thanks."
"Come on now! You didn't have any energy to celebrate before right?"
"Too tired. Going to sleep."
As if on cue, Vor drops asleep in Mimamir's hand, like a puppet who their strings cut.
"Eh?! You nasty twerp!"
Mimamir sighs as Vor snores peacefully without a care in the world.
"*sighs* Even though she's more quiet. She acts just like you... I suppose the apple does not fall far from the tree..."
Mimamir gently grasps the sleeping Vor in her sleep, careful to not wake her up.
It looks to the blue moon in the sky, over the mountain range.
Its blue fiery like orbs that act as its eyes matching the blue of the moon.
"... I swear... this time I'll protect you..."
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The Perspective of a Witch
The light of the blue moon envelops the still and silent waters of Heart lake.
In the distance are small but many lights of the Empire.
A witch wakes up from a sweet dream. Her eyes fluttering open and a slow yawn escaping her lips.
"...Where..."
She was currently on a boat... No a raft is a better description.
Slowly she starts to remember what happened before.
The powerful smoke that Roland, her new student created...
How she panicked...
How he laughed...
And how he screamed and passed out when the boat slowly started to sink.
Afterwards, she placed the oars in the water and turned it into a makeshift shaft.
Carrying Roland with her while their old boat sank.
Vor eyes the sleeping Roland on the other side of their raft.
"I was careless..."
To think I would fall asleep now of all times...
"...and right next to a demon of all things."
The demon in question was currently sleeping with his arms spread out and his mouth wide open letting a bit of drool leak out.
"... *sighs*"
What was I so worried about.
In between her cleavage Vor pulls out a small bottle filled with a yellow dust.
It was the same yellow dust that she used to disintegrate her house before they left.
If he did anything, or if I detected even a trace of malice, I would have used it on him.
If that didn't work, then the deathroot powder would have destroyed the boat and dragged both of us down to the bottom of the lake together.
Even if I die, I will at least make sure this demon dies with me.
This so called demon was rolling over peacefully and was trying to rub his head on the wood of the raft.
"..."
*sighs*
"Well, I at least know he did not lie once... He truly does not know what he is, so maybe he is not like one of those demons of chaos."
Vor gaze on the sleeping Roland, for a moment her pupils seem to flicker a blue flame.
"...Save the world huh?"
Vor tosses the small bottle to the lake where it sunk down the moment it made contact with the water.
"I suppose I shall see what the top of this mountain looks like."