Sunny continued to fall, it was an endless loop with no way out. She let out a scream, her voice already hoarse. Now she felt even more betrayed. First, her entire wait was based on a 7 year lie thanks to Mrs Starling's horrible choices. Then, she was deceived by a man who pretended that she was her beloved father, and now, the sweet and fragile elderly man that she helped out that very day he came over to send her falling down this dark, portable hole. She felt like fainting, but could only watch in horror as she continued to fall into nothing but the pitch black unknown. Her life flashed before her eyes, and her eyes watered, she remembered the warmth of her father's arms as she was raised in the air, the kindness of Mrs Starling, who would always live to watch her grow, and the little ones at the orphanage who made her feel like the oldest, loving sister. She closed her teary eyes shut, ready to face her fate, but she suddenly felt something, something warm and divine. She opened her eyes again, and she yelped when she saw a hauntingly beautiful aurora-tinted lava that bubbled violently at the pit's bottom. Unable to control her emotions any longer, she let out a harrowing scream as she got closer to the lava, realizing that she was about to be boiled alive in its immeasurable wet heat. She covered her eyes, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. But she felt relief and calmness, because she could meet her father again, and perhaps her mother, who never appeared in her childhood. A few seconds had passed. 3…2 ... .1 ... .Her body finally hit the lava, but instead of screaming because of the horrible burns the lava should surely inflict on her, she found herself in a beautiful land, filled with nothing but tiny stars and colors of the aurora. She was sitting on what appears to be a space diamond, or even a sun from a far-off galaxy.
"Woah.." she said in awe, standing up and observing the entire space.
It was confirmed, the sky was eternally pitch-black, the white dots formed beautiful constellations. But in spite of her survival, Sunny was still frightened, she wondered where she was, and how she got there. So many questions raced in her mind, and she was unable to find the closest and likely theory…until she looked down.
"Jiminy!" she exclaimed upon seeing her reflection. It was the drawing of a doppelganger.
There was the brunette hair with the same half up half down hairstyle, the same hazel eyes, and even the same clothes and expression. Sunny moved her hand, and her heart skipped a beat, the girl was following her movements.
Sunny herself was fond of animation, even if she never had a television of her own. Most of the toons she came to adore were talking animals like rodents or birds, and there were rarely any humans. Unlike the ugliest cartoons she had ever seen, the reflection was surprisingly radiant. It was almost as if the drawing was revealing her inner beauty. Suddenly, she heard a crack, and she looked down. She shrieked when she saw a crack upon the surface, threatening to expand and shatter the entire area.
"No, no, no!" she cried, putting her hand in the way in a desperate attempt to halt the cracks, but they continued to spread all over the reflection. "Oh, please!" she pleaded, fearing the worse as the tears began to stream down her cheeks. She looked down at her reflection, and there she was, the tears spreading downwards almost filling in most of her cheeks.
However, she began to shriek when the star began to rock, some of its pieces already falling down, and the reflection of her was so cracked, she could barely see it anymore. Her heart thumped rapidly, her body froze, she had a thousand yard stare as she began to endure another life-threatening situation.
It will be a new experience worth trying…
Those words echoed in her mind, Sunny wished she could think the same thing, but she was so frightened, her mind was clouded with despair and fear! Then with a flash, the cracks shattered, and twinkling shards freed themselves, smashing against Sunny, who let out the biggest scream of her life.
***
Sunny let out a groan, her vision black, her eyes were closed. When she finally opened them, her vision was still blurry, and she immediately rubbed her eyes. Sunny found herself in a dark and cruel-looking forest, which was nothing but darkness and despair. She shivered in deja vu, reminding her of the gray-scaled community she once lived in. But that was when she took a look at her hands, they were animated, ink-and-paint, and she let out a gasp, and followed by that gasp was a huge scream of confusion and shock. Instead of normal, frightened birds, a huge vulture-like creature with a human face and mane soared through the sky, screeching demonically She gasped, hugging herself, she wasn't afraid of the forest, she was afraid of what was within. She slowly brought herself to stand up, and with her hands folded together, she looked around.
"Mrs Starling…" she whimpered, this was definitely not like the rural forest at night. "Where are you?" Even if she knew that she wouldn't come, she still sought comfort and guidance. "Why did I leave you? What was I thinking?"
"I don't think she'll be coming for you." a groggy, female voice spoke, and a woman in a ragged hood appeared. "Now, what is a pretty little girl like you doing around here? You're meant to be with the humans on the continent of humans, not at a place like Empusa."
Sunny backed away, but she took a deep breath, "Ma'am, can you please help me out? I'm lost, and I don't know where I am." she spoke, politely, but her voice was still shaky.
The woman paused for a moment, but she smiled, and she let out a giggle of amusement, "I don't see humans like you being so polite and kind." She then grabbed Sunny by the back of her collar, her face was revealed, and it was a heavily burnt and wrinkled elderly, her lowered eyes' sclera was yellow and her gritted teeth were rotten, it was clear that she was enraged with disbelief. "You want to deceive us, do you? I don't care if you're a little girl, you're just like one of them! I bet your parents taught you to do anything to live when it comes to encountering empusas like us!"
Although she was taken aback by the woman's hideous appearance and advanced age, she remained calm, making sure she wasn't offensive or rude, "Ma'am, I hate to tell you this, but I don't have any parents."
The woman's expression softened, but in a matter of seconds, they quickly hardened again, "Well, I'm sure you see us as vicious and cunning, don't you? You probably refer to us as green-faces!"
Sunny blinked twice, "I don't understand…'green-faces'?"
"Yeah, like in the Wizard of Oz, remember? The witch had a green face, and she was as ugly as she was evil. You think I'm evil too, huh? With a hideous face like this..."
Sunny's brows furrowed, "You know about the Wizard of Oz?"
"Why, yes, I do. I know everything you earthlings obsess over, we all do. After all, our worlds were once one." she spoke, bitterly. "And it clearly describes how miserable I look."
Sunny shook her head, "No, no! I just don't understand what's going on here! I'm serious!"
The woman scoffed, "Then we'll see about that, my sweet…"
Suddenly, Sunny heard another demonic squawk coming from the distance, and she let out a yelp, wrapping her arms around the woman's waist and hugging her out of fright.
"What are you doing?!" the woman exclaimed, but she did not pull her off. "You don't want to touch a hag like me! I might have rabies, don't you think?"
"Mrs Starling told me that if you have rabies, then you would have nausea and a flu!"
"And I don't have any of that." The woman's expression softened, but her voice was still stern. "I bet you're trying to get that pretty, little patootie saved by being nice to me."
"That's not true!" cried Sunny, whose eyes are already being filled with tears again. "Please, don't hurt me! I don't care who you are, I just want your help!"
The woman finally released Sunny, "You really are one of a kind, huh? So naive, so lost…" she then shook her head. "Alright, follow me, human girl. We don't have much time before those wretched harpies try to take my humans at the harvest."
"Humans?! Harvest?!" Sunny gasped, her heart thumping.
"We phantoms, unholy creatures of despair and ugliness, live on humans, it's what we do best. But don't worry, doll face, I would never harm you."
"Why not?"
"Because you're truly something, you weren't afraid of my face, and you were willing to ask help from a miserable creature like me..Even my grandson never looked at me, but it's not like he actually has any social skills at all."
"Would you like to see the harvest?"
Sunny hesitantly looked down, as if she were deep in thought, before replying with a nod. The woman giggled, and she began to head down the gray-tinted road, walking without any lantern, she definitely already knew the route to the harvest. In fact, it was just a matter of seconds when they finally made it on a cliff, and at the bottom was a field of gray wheat that swayed with the wind. A group of heavily wrinkled ladies were gathered in a circle, and in the center were darkened, rigid skeletons that seem to have been decaying for several months. There was no flesh and blood…except the ladies' mouths had blood on their jaws.
"Oh my goodness!" Sunny exclaimed upon seeing the blood. "Jiminy crickets, what happened to them? Why are they bleeding?"
"That is not their blood." the woman smirked. "These precious skeletons were once handsome crusaders who hunted in the forest, trying to destroy us. We took the form of beautiful women and lured them in, because they arrogantly knew that we were just as beautiful as them…or so they thought. What a pity that the crusaders aren't as noble as they used to be during the Golden Age anymore."
Sunny sighed, "That's sad."
The woman looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
"How so, my child?"
"Arrogant or not, these men must have families of their own…They could be brothers, fathers, nephews, uncles, and even sons. Their loved ones may never know what happened to them, and they wouldn't even have a body to bury, because they're gone."
The woman shook her head, "You are too soft, and your mindset is too idealistic. The world isn't always sunshine and rainbows, you know?"
"That's not even what I said." Sunny replied. "I think being idealistic isn't seeing the world as a better place, I can agree that some bad people could still exist, but there are also good people too. If we just look on the bright side and see those people still exist, then we could be happy."
The woman scoffed, "You can be as naive as you want, little girl."
The ladies at the fields held up a part of their robes, which covered their legs, and when the lefts were revealed, they were made out of bronze, an unusual color for the forest's mostly dark and gray canvas. Sunny was in awe of the bronze's shining texture, its color appealing and sharing similarity to the eternal moon in the sky.
"This is the part where they destroy the skeletons, they aren't needed anymore, so we just smash them into dust."
With that being said, all the ladies raised their stone hard heels, smashing them against the remains and shattering them into smaller pieces. They didn't stop, no matter how exhausted they were, their level of diligence was unusually high. With every faint crunch, Sunny winced, a lump growing in her throat as she felt the urge to retch and looked away, her index fingers plugging her ears shut. It was only a few minutes, and the skeletons were finally ash-like dust.
"Now they must be fertilized by cow dung."
"That's poop."
"Thanks for the clarification, little girl."
The ladies held up the other part of their robes, revealing their right leg, and it was solid, yet it carried the stench of cow feces.
"You're lucky that you're far from there, little one." the woman said. "Because that cow dung is so toxic, it could make one with intolerance towards stench faint."
The ladies took out daggers, the blades sharpened, they then lowered it to their thighs, which was the tip of the dung.
"What are they doing?!" Sunny gasped.
"Just watch."
The ladies together chopped off their legs, the sculptured dung shifting back into formless feces. They then grabbed the dung, and they brought it over to the ashes, placing them on top of them. But in a matter of seconds, their lost right legs reappeared, back into sculptured feces.
"You see, we are empusas, female witches, and while we are not always forever, we live longer than humans. Strong humans, like these, have amazing willpower, and that's what fuels our power to live. Now, you will see what the harvest is truly for."
Together, the ladies raised their hands, and they let out mystical groans, as if they were chanting out a spell. From the ashes buried in cow dung, a tiny, fertile sprout appeared. However, they didn't stop there, they continued to raise their arms and groan out their chants, Sunny stepped forward, watching closer at the edge of her stand as the sprout formed into a tiny tree, its bark forming, and it continued to grow larger and larger. It was unusual for a normal tree, the bark had the faces of wailing humans, and from the branches, there were hanging eggs on thick, cord-like strings.
"These are where we harvest the human children of Empusa." The woman revealed. "This is Emvyro, the tree of rebirth. It's where we harvest the unborn and make sure they are vital enough to be devoured. We don't eat them right away, we wait until they're at a ripe age." she said, licking her lips as saliva poured out. "You're lucky that you were never here, because someone like you deserves to live. You have my respect."
Sunny blinked twice, still confused and lost about the whole ordeal.
"But I don't understand, can't you just eat something else other than humans?" she asked, trying to remain polite. "Because maybe that way, more humans could be spared and nobody could die like this."
The woman scoffed, "You humans eat animal's meat, right? Well, that's just the same as us, humans are like animals to us, they're inferior like how you considered the animals to be."
Sunny gasped, "But I love animals, especially dogs!"
The woman shook her head, "Well, that's not what everyone says." But then she looked at the unusually tall tree, and she smiled in stimulation. "See how beautiful the different, unique fruits have made the tree, how they bring color to our gray island."
Sunny gulped, "Madam, I beg you. Can you please take me to a place you'll let me stay?"
The woman faced Sunny, but she smiled sincerely, "Of course, my dear. Let's go."
***
It didn't take long when they finally made it to a rigid but stable hut made out of fragile wood, and when they opened the door, they did it really gently.
"I'm going to have to keep this open for 3 moons now." the woman sighed as she looked around, until she finally squealed with delight, "Elliot, my teensy-weensy little phantom!"
Sunny looked around, and to her surprise, there was nobody there, just furniture covered in cobwebs and the floor stenched with wet moss.
"Oh!" the woman stomped her foot on the floor, but it suddenly cracked. "Oh, crap. I really shouldn't have done that. Hopefully, that Creator will save us from getting crushed, for heavens' sake."
But that was when she noticed her grandson, Elliot, who was sitting on the floor, silently waiting for his grandmother to come home. Sunny took note of the black face mask wrapped around his mouth, and how he never covers his nose, it was quite unusual, but that made him mysterious.
"Elliot, my teensy-weensy little phantom!" The woman grabbed Elliot by the face with her wrinkly hands and gave him multiple kisses, but he didn't react to it. "My dear, we just planted another Emvryo tree! Isn't that delightful?"
Elliot shrugged, "Whatever.."
The woman chuckled and turned to Sunny, who was just standing by the door frame, "This is my grandson, Elliot Nyx Blackwood, he's a really handsome fellow, ain't he? With his messy, blond hair and his mysterious black eyes!"
Sunny nodded, her cheeks warming up a little, "Yes, he is."
Elliot just stared at Sunny, and he scoffed quietly, "What the hell is a human doing in Empusa?"
"Now, now!" the woman spoke. "She is our guest here, and we're treating her with respect and hospitality!"
"Tch." Elliot scoffed again. "She looks like the most positive person on Mythikos."
"'Mythikos'?" Sunny questined. "What's 'Mythikos'?"
"It's the world we're all on, silly!" the woman cackled, some of the harpies balancing on her delicate tile-covered roof soaring off, resulting in some of the tiles to fall down. "Oh, no, not my precious tiles! Now I have to fix my roof again!"
"Ma'am, how old is this house?" Sunny asked.
"Ah, it's 300 years old." replied the woman as she picked up the tiles, some of them broken while some remained firm. "We don't bother repairing it."
"Why not?"
"Because it's all we can manage. Anyways, why don't you two get acquainted?"
Sunny sat next to Elliot, who just stared at her with boredom and ennui.
"Hello!" Sunny greeted, although she was shy, she let out the cheerfulness in her voice. "I'm Sunilda Tournesol, but you can call me 'Sunny'!"
"You sound too positive." Elliot said, rubbing his head. "I'm having a headache just looking at you like this. You're no better than a crusader."
Sunny took a deep breath and asked, "Say, what's a crusader?"
Elliot shook his head, "You should know, human."
"No, I don't." Sunny said. "I just came here to this planet, I came from the earth and I fell here out of nowhere."
"Earth, huh? Interesting." Elliot said, almost out of sympathy. "I can teach you a thing or two about this place, let's just say that nobody dies that easily."
"How so?"
"The reason we're animated is because the Creator has given up these bodies so that we could co-exist with the mythical like dragons or unicorns. However, despite the fact that we can take on any injury such as a bump on the head or even a crash, that doesn't mean we're immortal. The Creator controls what we call the 'Non-Law' because it violates what you earthlings call the Law of Gravity, and like an author of a book, he can turn it on or off if necessary."
"The Creator…" Sunny muttered, before gasping with delight and with a grin. "I know him! I've read a book that my father wrote about him! I thought it was a fairytale, but he really is real!"
Elliot raised his eyebrows to hear her excited exclaim, for the Creator wasn't anything exciting since everyone knew about him and meekly agreed, but he nodded his head, "Yes, he is real, and the crusaders are his soldiers, they fight in his name."
"How come?"
"I believe it's because they're devoted to him, they are willing to be martyred if they're persecuted for loving him."
Sunny smiled, "Well, I love him, and I would love to be a crusader, because they're like soldiers, so they must have the purpose of protecting people!"
Elliot, surprised, spoke coldly, "Even if you become a crusader, there would be a price of protecting strangers…Death. You're idiotic if you wish to become one…You know what they do."
"Well, I do not." Sunny smiled in an almost naive manner.
Elliot groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Creator, what am I going to do with you?"