The little fairy (and once Human General) known as Makepeace remained stunned. "Death... is..." The little fairy glanced in shocked to the angel Lucas. She could not even say it. Death was really walking on this world? He walked on their own world? Taking souls, just like in the old stories?
"Real? Yep..." The angel Lucas glanced down at her reluctant companion. For a brief moment she felt a pang of sympathy for her. Lucas being an angel... a real angel at that, now could see Death as she was, and yet was less affected by the presence. That didn't change how she could see the effect of that presence upon mortals... mortals as General Makepeace in their very aura.
"... I need to think," said the General squirming down in Lucas's robes.
"No time to think, especially with Death around" Lucas replied curtly.
The two walked through the forest at an even pace. this was clearly still within the realm of Princess Flora... the plants were very healthy and lively. Lucas thought about her and her counterpart on Earth. "Hm, Maybe Steven should come here and meet her." It was certainly a very strange thing to meet an identical person. Yet Lucas was starting to realise that here, it was not strange at all. In fact... did that make Steve's transformation more 'special'? ... were certain transformations more special then others? Lucas wasn't entirely sure why she became an angel. Yet she knew, it was exactly what she wanted to be. She didn't get to choose of course... it was simply a matter of knowing herself as a warrior of light... and magical energy to use as she wished. Those concepts were in her mind since long before her eventual transformation by the sunlight.
... so what of people that do not think of transformation all that much? What of those that were... tranformationphiles? (if indeed that was the right word.) Who got a special change and who got a 'mundane' one as a result of Jon's wish? Though of course Lucas knew that all life was precious... everything. If she could she would save them all. "Tell me more about what you were doing here General. You... seem to know a bit more about this place then even I do." It certainly felt like Earth. Forests, plants... though for some reason, very sparse wildlife. Not that many that she found that were sentient anyway.
Makepeace nodded. Things seemed calm for now. "Most of this is classified... but I suppose given the circumstances I'll share what I know." The fairy fluttered out testing her wings. She was starting to work out how to fly... even if she didn't quite know how it worked- she quickly realised it was best not to think of how, and just do it. "It all started six months after the strange new sun changed. There were these... crystalline structures, near Hedgetown. It... could alter the properties of the sunlight."
Lucas of course remembered those events. Strange portals had appeared in Hedgeton, as a result of the use of the Wind wishing Element. "The Enemy made use of crystal technology too..." Lucas said with a frown. "That's was how the negative number Four magic girl was made." The angelic woman frowned a little. "You... knew about that I suppose?"
"... yes." The general replied, fluttering her soft wings. "...We were aware of the battle involving the Numbers. With Gordon's lab under surveillance we saw the potential power of these crystals, as well as possibly creating our own army of Magical soldiers... much like the Enemy had tried to do. We had our people analyse the fragments and created our own rudimentary ones. We worked out they acted like dimensional keys, accessing different places with the right energy wave."
The angel-girl thought of such a setup. It seemed simple... though she recalled that creating a negative magic girl Four resulted in a massive explosion. " powered by Iridescent sunlight. When the sunlight went back to normal... you were stuck. Right?" Lucas prodded her. She had to know what their power source was.
The General grimaced. "We... could not replicate the power of the Iridescent sunlight. No matter how much we tried. Many scientiests got close though, especially with the notes from the Gordon Family. We... managed to gain a few of these power-crystals from the dimensional event in Hedgeton. They power the artificial gate when the sunlight went down. While before we could access many worlds however... now we could only access this one. Sometimes the sun will send out a flare of irredentist light... and we could harness it for a brief moment too."
"So for years your military has been exploring this... M-World. Why M-World?"
"Not a world... it... well... we're not sure what it is. M refereed to 'M-Theory' as a lot of the equations of this world worked on those principles. It doesn't obey most of the laws of physics. Some called it 'magic world' I guess." He said with a shake of his head. "The scientists said that while our universe is finite, this one is truly infinite. Energy here cycles in such a way that allows us to make machines that break the laws of physics. We have actually created perpetual motion machines that keep going and going... truly limitless energy, that could be harnessed. It was just in research phase though. Very small scale to test how they work. We had to make sure what this place was, understand it before we... made any power plants or anything like that. We were hoping to solve the world's energy problems."
"And get a nuke magic-girl army." Lucas said with a groan.
"Why does it have to be girls?" said Makepeace annoyed. "One should not send girls to a war!"
"So says the girly fairy," Lucas rolled her eyes. "What else did you want this power source for?"
"I hoped the power could augment our soldiers one day. So fewer would die. To serve our cause to our country." He was a patriot, nothing more. This was the greatest discovery ever made and it needed a military presence to secure it for their needs.
"What you say sounds reasonable.. but I can't allow one country on Earth to have access to a... magic soldier assembly line, or even an infinite magical source of power."
"Who are you to make that call?" the fairy said angrily. "What makes us less worthy then others who would get at it?"
"I'm trying to maintain the status quo. That's all." Lucas replied. "What would you do if you were me? This isn't just a nuke... this is magic. Real magic." The angel was looking very annoyed now. Indeed why did she have to make these decisions? Because it had to be her. That's why.
The general was about to reply, but then they heard a sound. Princess Flora then appeared from one of the grasses. "I... have some news for you Lucas."
Lucas nodded at the flower-girl. Finally some progress! It was really hard to remember this wasn't Steven. Even if... well... her mannerisms were so different- distinctly feminine, in every way. "What had you found?"
"Follow me... I best guide you there. My realm can be rather confusing. The plants do like to tease wanderers." She giggled a bit.
The new trio walked through the glades, not saying much. Clearly Makepeace was thinking a lot about Death... and this world. Lucas was thinking on what she was doing out here... and of Wings. Being away from her wonderful ship was... difficult.
Finally they were clear of the forest, and more of those strange wires were cutting across a river. A huge building made of gleaming metal was erect in the skyline, like a massive grey dome. The sound of a hum in the air as it made a strange sound- a wheel perhaps, turning faster and faster. Lucas could sense whatever it was doing, it was getting more and more energy. "... I think someone has put theory into practice General."
The fairy stared in awe. It was a design of a perpetual motion energy plant. exactly as they had envisioned. Drawing energy from the strange torrent of water...
"Something is not right," said the flower girl uneasily. "Oh... Oh no-"
From the dome, strange shadows errupted out of the various windows and massive doors. For a brief moment Lucas thought it was the Enemy. But there was something very different about these shadows. When she had fought the Enemy before, they were literally... nothing. Within these beings she could see shadows of an arm, legs, feathers, scales... sometimes all on the same creature. The shadowy substance they were made from seemed to be the only thing holding them together.
"These... these are not Mistakes," said Flora with wide eyes. She had kept the Mistakes away from her realm. This was something else. Something she had heard of only in legend.
Lucas suddenly moved to draw her sword as one of these beasts lunged after her.
"Trait-Takers! Don't let them touch you!" Flora shouted.
Flora however was suddenly attacked... and the beastly creature made contact with her. A very odd transformation was taking place to the flower girl. Her flowers simply fell away... and then taken and absorbed by the creature. It seemed to add to the creatures mass. It also became more female as Flora became... male. Gone was her flowery dress made of petals...
Lucas glanced with a feeling she knew what was about to happen.
The flower-girl had just... turned into a human. A human male, quite naked to the world. "Oh... crud," the young teenager grimaced. "Give me back!" She shouted to the shadow.
Makepeace noted what happened with some surprise. " I... think I should let them touch me," she thinks.
"Don't!" said Flora. "If they touch you they'll have access to your fairy magic!"
Makepeace was about to respond that she had no such power... but the new shadow that had touch flora and taken her essence had rooted down on the ground. It seemed to be turning into a tree with a snarling face. A face made up of various traits it had absorbed... hideous branches started to form.
" I think it's getting ready to spore. Lucas get away! Don't let them get your angelic power!"
