*
The ambient cacophony muted all at once, a world devoid of the usual comforting and common place sounds. Magical girls would call this an Event. To the ordinary Pelenia, the loss of noise was eerily alarming. The door bursts open and the sight petrified her nerves. Her skin became extremely conscious of the cold sweat dripping down and moistening its surface.
Furry legs with a sharp appendage on each end, sprouting 8 from the same thorax. Above that it had an additional torso that was somewhat humanoid with extremely thick and toned muscles. Arms with sharp paws and the head of a jackal rested at the top, its jaw extended particularly far to present a massive maw filled with sharp rows of teeth. Vulumnid, a name she would only learn later on, a mix of what one would imagine how a werewolf looked like and an arachne.
Despite its massive stature, not a single step made any sound as it skid across the ground. Each leg thread across the ground like a needle piercing a sponge, it rushed within breathing distance in less than a second, yet it seemed seamless and without any lapses in what she saw. It was clearly moving at superhuman speeds, yet it travelled in a way her eyes could comprehend... Subtle hypnosis, from the moment she laid her eyes, information such as its fast movement was force fed into her mind to distract her.
It only stopped so closely next to her due to an equally sharp spear blocking its way. Beautiful, it shone like a mirror yet if she focused she could see through it and observe the appendage that tried to struck her. It proved to be a powerful barrier that disrupted the weak hypnosis, simply obstructing her field of view partially was enough to prevent any more information from being force fed into her mind. To a human, the Vulumnid was irresitable to obey, a creature of supernatural charm. Only that, it wasn't using a charm that attracts prey, it feeds prey and nudges their minds into the desired direction. Subtle hypnotic guidance.
For magical girls, this level of information corruption was nowhere near enough, it had little to no effect. Vulumnids posed little threat to magical girls, even Pelenia could defeat one after a moderate amount of training and experience, despite being a healer.
The spear tip didn't budge as it stood in front of Pelenia, with a little twitch, it was gone. The spear was now no where in her sight, at the same time... The spider arm that swung at her had been severed into multiple pieces, the Vulumnid began to use its other limbs as well, but each one began to fall of without pause. Until one final strike came from the side of her eyes, ferociously blowing a hole into its head.
"You.... You were able to react to that Trace, you're a magical girl." (Lavaliy)
"...??" (Pelenia)
Her eyes were naturally wide due to the fear she felt under the vulumnid's assault. Tears trailed at the edge of her eyelids, her rigid mind seized to the point that she didn't even notice. By the time she met Lavaliy's eyes, they've dried upon her cheeks. Forest green straight locks that exude a sense of natural beauty, brilliant large eyes with a strong will projected at whatever she gazed at. Her dress was an opposing dark purplish plate reinforced one piece. Her corset and joints was wrapped in metal, a pair of dark grey gloves encapsulate her trained fingers.
A simple pole spear with a uniformed texture sliced through the air, sliding into her fingers with a practiced gesture, securing it next to her torso and within her arm. It looked like countless glass surfaces plastered around the spear's shaft and head, as if someone shaved a pole of glass into a circular pole with a sharp end, like a pencil or stake. Like a prism, it refracted the afternoon light into many different hues, shining like a kaleidoscope before Pelenia. This was the very spear that saved her life.
Even in hindsight, if her death could be reversed by the law of Events... It certainly wasn't strange that she preferred not to die.
To Lastia, it was like watching the life of another through a television screen. Her hand caresses its surface, seeking deeper connection. It's futile. The gratitude that Pelenia felt, the regret that she accrued over time from running and living, the consequences that crush her like an avalanche, none of it would get through. Thoroughly incomprehensible, thoroughly unrelatable.
This should spell her death, her magic was no longer healing herself, the help of her ally who arrived belatedly was almost rejected.
"... I will save you, I won't let this city take anymore." (Pelenia)
She injects more of her ability into Lastia, her desperation crystallised into a shining lime green light bursting out of her palms, barraging Lastia's peeling skin. {Gratitude} materialised her feelings into a rejuvenating force that restores cells, blood, oxygen and nutrients. Whatever could be deemed as 'normal' will be provided, that's why the patient will not face surgery rejection. What 'belongs' to the will be given, based on the caster's hopes that the recipient receives what she deserves.
"Sorry... Even though you're trying your... Best..." (Lastia)
She did not divulge her curse, if she were to die there was no necessity for it. She showed what little sincerity she had, she couldn't understand Pelenia's memories, she couldn't empathise and wholeheartedly support it. She was basically born into battle with the Remnant at Erupi, this Lastia hadn't experienced the affection that Arin and Sariel showered the previous. To this Lastia, she was truly completely alone. An insurmountable barrier existed between her and normal people, she could never be the same as another, she could never share in what Pelenia felt joy in.
The gratitude, the regret, the consequences, meaningless words that are printed over by the present reality and the discomfort of a numbed rotting body.
"Then... How would you feel if I vanish? No, more accurately, how would you react if I were to be killed by a Trace here and now?" (Pelenia)
She couldn't connect to subjective reality, what about objective reality? What about the present before her eyes? The air that seeps into her flaking skin and collapsed organs?