Lucas was now ready to continue her journey. She had picked up a new companion in typical game fashion, and it was some kind of 'mascot' or something to boot.
The Cat-girl looked at the angel sadly. "L-Lucas?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"W-what's my name?" the little cat-woman asked softly.
Lucas stopped and turned to her. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"I don't have a name... my... creator never gave me one!" She wailed suddenly. "Why does she hate me?"
Lucas scratched her head. This was... beyond surreal. She wasn't sure at all quite how to handle an 'imaginary' character, made by someone from Earth. "Eh, I don't know.... I don't think she even knows you are real, you know?"
"I... I'm not real?"
Lucas groaned. "No- I- er- look. This is pretty strange to me too. You're obviously from someone's warped game of dungeons and dragons, and that's cool... yeah, really cool."
"I'm... cool?" she asked hopefully, almost purring.
"'course it's cool! Look, maybe I can bring your creator to you someday, and you can have a chat, okay? It'll be fine."
The cat girl looked around sniffing the air. "The Spring village is that way," she said pointing down a hidden path."
Lucas grinned.
Magic girl six frowned at her predicament. No way to go, but...
... inside the sarcophagus?
The very idea terrified her, yet a strange 'instinct' was telling her that this might be the only way forward. She carefully stepped inside it, feeling the strange familiar glow of magic. The whole room seemed to change, as if it was now a place flying high in the sky, with nothing but a blue air around her.
Instead of being terrified, she felt safe. An almost... assuring presence wrapped itself over her. Her eyes closed as she felt her mind drift...
Hello, Magic Girl Six...
Please Don't call me that... I'm no magic girl, she replied back tensely, not even wondering who it was that was talking to her.
Oh? because you were not there to save the world? Because you are alone? Or... because... you were once a boy?
Magic girl six opened her eyes suddenly at that. "Who are you?" She demanded with quiet fury in her voice. How.. dare... he... she... 'it' say that! Her secret... that was her secret. Her old self was gone now, and she had spent so many years just trying to forget who she used to be. Her old self was gone and there was no point pretending it would change. "Who are you!"
I'm... well... your magic girl companion, Jack. said the voice reluctantly.
Jack... this person did know who she used to be... To be called her old name after so long... she could almost feel tears well in her eyes. Then they just came out... she got angry at herself for crying like some 'girl'. she rubbed her eyes as best she could. "Jack is gone," she affirmed. Just... a memory. A distant memory. She tried to get an idea of just where the voice was coming from, but it just seemed to emanate inside her mind- as long as she was within the sarcophagus that is, that had now turned into some kind of strange crystal within this world. "Where are you..."
The being evaded the question. Do you know what a magic girl companion is, Jack? We can only appear for a purpose... you didn't need me.
"Bull! I've been trying to understand being a magic girl ever since I was transformed! I've been alone all this time... my parents don't even believe I am who I am, and even the other magic girls don't know me. I am hated and looked as if I am some 'runner up to their exclusive club!" Their 'magic circle' practically insulted her... she hated them so much!
You are a good 'person' Jack... try to remember that. Don't let resentment of the situation cloud that
Jack fumed. "Don't give me that PC nonsense! I'm a guy! okay? If you know it, you might as well treat me like one."
I...I have to treat you as a magic girl... it is what we are made for. Sorry Jack.
Jack spent some quiet time with her thoughts. "Can you take away my powers... make me as I was? I want to be Jack again... There is no big mission to complete, there is no... reason for me to be a magic girl. I'm done with it..." she poured her heart out in the end to the voice. She didn't know what else to do. Finally someone out there that actually knew something about all this. Maybe could even fix it. She was a mistake... she didn't have to be! It could be undone... couldn't it?
There was a long pause from the voice. I can't... you don't have a purpose like the others did, but you are a fundamental constant and will always be so. If you are to have a purpose, it's going to have to come from within you...
Jack sighed. She had been looking for purpose when she 'mostly' adjusted to being a girl... (Something that took more then a year of moping.) Then she finally decided she could at least 'try' to find some comfort in having powers that could help people... but it just wasn't worth the cost of her manhood. "...Can I see you?"
Slowly, like the Cheshire cat, 'it' appeared upon the blue background. A girl that at first she thought was some kind of fairy. However this one was dressed in yellow and black- no- it had yellow and black 'fur' around her. She seemed to carry a small short sword.
It was some kind of... bee person?
"I'm Hex," she said. "I serve magic girl six... o-"
"Forget the intro," Jack looked at hex coldly.
The bee-girl looked a bit embarrassed at being stopped. Magic girl Six was complicated... more complicated then any previous magic girl before. Much more so because... There were two of them.
Jack folded her arms across her chest, acutely aware of the four other breasts along her torso. "... so... what now?"
"Earth needs you Jack..." Hex said softly though maybe a little annoyed at being interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah," Jack rolled her eyes. "Doesn't it always..."
"No... 'she' needs you... Jack. will you go to her?" Hex asked hopefully.
"Her? I don't get it"
"You will..."
And suddenly, Jack felt herself falling into the sky.
Doug continued on his journey, sometimes walking... running.. but always moving.
He was trying to find some semblance of civilisation, after ending up in this strange surreal world. The Earth was in the sky, as in- flat and the 'whole' sky, surrounding this 'planet'. The terrible fear that he wasn't home any more but in a strange potentially hostile place urged terrible panic in him. He had to get out of here...
He was now on some grass land, and they seemed to tickle his bare feet. It was at this point he stopped to wonder just where his shoes had gone? He looked around but couldn't find them. He must have lost them ages ago and not even notice? Worse his feet must have been bruised if that bluish shade was anything to judge by-
Unless... what is it that girl said? That 'wearing' his normal form might be hard?
He had to get out of here! Find a doctor or... someone that could help him. He wasn't sure how long he was walking as it became cold and night. He felt himself shiver out of habit though- not exactly 'cold'... it was a strange thing indeed.
With the dark night came the desire to rest...
He tried to find some shelter, resting in a small opening of a tree. He just... needed to take a night to rest and think...
He was not aware of a spider, slowly inching its way closer...
Lilly and Stacy were in their tree house.
It was a pretty ordinary tree house... except that it had a permanent portal into the world of the gods. It wasn't every kid that had such a place, but it was theirs. The portal itself was just drawn using crayons when they were younger. Over time they added a few other curious patterns into the woodwork, but it was purely decorative.
Stacy in particular added pictures of butterflies while Lilly drew plants.
The human of the pair, Stacy, looked to her animal-like sister tensely. "So... how do we see the gods?"
Lilly took Stacy's hands, the human girl used to the feel of soft fur. "I guess we just... walk into it."
the two carefully walked into the strange potal.
Stacy felt the world wink away, until there was nothing but light... light and darkness. Everything was a sharp contrast... colours were more defined here. It was so strange.
"Hello my daughter." said what... had to be the most beautiful woman Stacy had ever seen. She stared openly. "My how have you grown! I see you brought your sister too..."
"A-am I .. your daughter too?" asked Stacy wordlessly.
The beautiful goddess smiled. "Of course you are Stacy. All who share in the feminine are" said the Woman softly. "Come... join me."
Now they found themselves in what had to be the domain of the Woman. A strange pool of water was before them, surrounded by curious valleys and hills. It was very picturesque.
"You seek your father, Lilly?" asked the Woman with enchanting eyes as she sat down.
The teenage squirrel girl nodded. "Yes..."
Stacy nodded as well, trying to get used to all this. Lilly had interacted with these powers before but... it always made her come back a little different. Distant... like she couldn't process everything she saw. She was starting to understand why. Being in the presence of the Feminine Force was so... mesmerising.
The ancient goddess sighed. "He is in... a world that is difficult to convey, based on the physics you currently know. Think of it like... how you would explain the world you make with computers, to a person that has never seen such a thing?"
Stacy listened intrigued by that explanation. "So its... like a god computer machine?"
"Something like that... A universe computer is probably an apt way to describe it. Know that you sit in 'the' universe in the middle of two extreme ends of it... What is 'nothing'... that which you defeated... and the defined. That which carries 'everything'... that other end, is where 'everything' is... absolutely everything- including the Earth now. All things humans could imagine... or never imagine... and that which transcends in each age the mid-verse cycles through and is deemed... incompatible. That ends up there as well. It is an infinite universe in it's own right."
"can you take us there?" asked the teenage-squirrel girl. "We need to bring my father back..."
"I can not my daughter. I wish I can... but the very nature of that place makes interaction with it very difficult. It follows its own course and rules... and the rules to 'enter' that world are different, for each entity. If I send you into that world and bypass the rules, you could end up as literally 'anything'... or worse. There are things humans have imagined that make me weep..."
Lilly found herself shivering at that. "How do I get in?"
"You have to play the game, my daughter... You have the invitation, the way to this world is unique for everyone. But I am confident, you will find it... Go where your instincts take you. Go where you feel a deep connection to yourself... and you will find the door to the every-world."
Spring village was under attack.
Spiders... everywhere. They were attacking by the tens... then the hundreds! The entire village was just being overwhelmed!
"Why are they attacking the village?" Asked Gordon.
"To control spring!" said one of the villagers. "Help us!"
Leslie wasn't sure how. He was no warrior His main concern was for the baby form of magic girl six. He took the child from her crib, and into his arms ready to run. He was trying to get to the main gate, but it was completely blocked. He observed that when a spider was 'defeated' by the villagers, they just disappeared into a flash of light.
What was death like here? Would that happen to him?
He had to save the baby girl though! Maybe he could take her into the forest and away from this place. But so quickly, the spiders encroached into the center of the village... and defeat seemed inevitable. Gordon was surrounded! He clutched The baby to his arms, praying for a miracle.
"Spring is ours," said a voice....
Then the baby magic girl six started to glow. The baby just lifted itself out of Leslie's arms as she shone a bright light. Strange rays were cast over her body... zapping each spider girl back to nothingness.
Leslie looked in shock as the baby started to grow up...
She became about eight years of age. The elder scientist quickly got a cloth to throw over her.
The child seemed to shiver as if from shock... "W-What.. h-happened.. t-to.. m-me... W..why a-am I a.. g-girl!"
Shana struggled against the strange force that compelled and urged her on. She couldn't stop the mechanisation of fate that had placed into her spider body. The attack on spring village was a distraction more then anything... there was another place she had to be. She saw the strange and forbidding river, from which time itself seemed to flow. Beyond that, was the desert... where all things decayed into dust. The spider girl hoped she wouldn't have to cross this river.
But no... it wasn't what she was here for.
Continuing on, hidden in the mists, she found what could only be the ruins of an ancient temple like it was from Greece. The most curious thing she found about it though, was that it was composed entirely of triangles. Small Triangles making bigger ones.. she half wondered if she was was about to uncover the triforce. It wasn't far from the truth. She scuttled her spider body forward, making little ticking noises on the marble surface.
There in the center was a statue... a small doll woman with her name engraved at the bottom. "Trident." whispered Shana reading it out. There were some other letters there, some kind of year maybe? She sighed a little. This whole world was... so strange. So different to anything she knew. She wished she knew what the story was behind this temple. Why build it? What did they worship? The number three apparently but... there seemed to be more to it then that.
Walking onwards and on the alter, there was a crystal, floating freely. It looked like glass, shaped as three strange orbs that shimmered blue.
somehow... Shana knew this was 'Three' in its purest form. It almost felt alive... She slowly reached out for it... compelled as she was. Shana was fated to take this power and bring it to her mother. Without this power, she had no chance to defeat Lucas... or get back to Earth.
only the power of a magic girl could match an angel. Three was known to be one of the most powerful magical numbers. It was right here... right for the taking. She took hold of it feeling the strange purity that came from it as it seemed to partly fill her being.
Suddenly, colour flowed into the statue as the doll woman became alive. She looked at the spider girl with quiet contempt from the pillar she stood on. "You have invaded the temple of Three... " Trident said with surprising menace.
Shana tensed surprised.. "I-" Suddenly more statues and pictures on the wall came to life. People and animals of different sizes and shapes. "W-what is that!" she screamed. These people looked ready to kill her. There were at least ten of them...
"They all stood where you did once..." Trident said sadly.
The creatures looked as ghost. Empty and devoid, mere shells twisted by magic. Shana backed slightly away, the back end of her spider body hitting a wall. She winced slightly.
"As did I..." whispered the doll girl.
Shana looked back at the doll girl pleadingly. "Can we t-talk about this!"
The doll girl shook her head. "I'm sorry... but it is the rule..."
