White Flower, Black Feather

Sunny

Miriam was moving in the cave, mostly following her sense of smell and the trail made by the Ruler before, the light coming from her eyes didn’t covered enough terrain, for her to use it exclusively for guidance

‘Hmm~ compared to before… moving on the cave is harder… the vibrations coming from below… aren’t reliable…’ there were some collapsed rocks, cracks and gashes on the way, but nothing that stopped her yet

Even if she was still somewhat frenzied by the encounter with the Ruler, the cold that was fighting against her Heating Stone, was helping with calming her…

‘Hahaha… I’ll make more these~ a lot more of them~’ slightly…

She swung her sword on the air, enjoying the sound it made while cutting the air, her body making a low hissing sound without Miriam realizing it… eventually reaching a side tunnel that was the source of the stench of monsters and Grudge, on the whole tunnel…

‘I don’t know what this means…’ she looked at the shapes on the entrance to that tunnel. Stopping when she saw the deep gash on the floor ‘I only know that the bat broke the drawings… keeping smells inside…? What a waste of magic…’

Moving along her new route, Miriam followed the smell of the Spawner and Grudge, as best as she could. Taking one of three splits on the tunnel, the one with the strongest trail, until she reached a place filled with collapsed rocks-

HISS!!!

‘Ugh… time to find another route…’ Miriam moved away and returned to the split she took before, taking the third tunnel, there wasn't a trail on it, but by sight, it moved on the same direction as the other one…

It just moved deeper…

/////

The two Dolls moved at high speeds between the trees of the forest, faster than the average creature on it, the few things that could delay them, were the fact that they were forced to move, only between the trees that were at a certain distance away from each other

Rustle!

“Damn!” otherwise the trees would swing their branches at them, forcing them to dodge

“Stay away from them! You fucking idiot!” the one puppeteering the smaller Doll snapped at the other, that was another constant delay on their path to the Spawner

“I know bitch! This Doll is just too big!”

The first puppeteer got annoyed at the dual sources of sounds, and just kept moving, not wanting to suffer more by the annoyance that was her backup…

Realizing, but not pointing out, that the trees weren’t hindering their path, as much as they used to…

/////

Minutes of traveling on the tunnel, led Miriam to another dead end, but the vibrations that she could feel on the other side, prevented her from reacting violently

‘Hehehe…’ instead she waited, her body shivering, while she barely managed to kept her Berserker from activating ‘Why I’m holding back~?’

That thought almost made her go Berserk right there and then, but thanks to the fact that whatever was digging that collapse, did some audible progress distracting her…

‘Hehehe~!’ she prepared to fight the monsters she started to smell from the other side

Crack!

Skree-!

The things that came out of the wall, froze the moment they saw the light coming from Miriam’s eyes. The hastily made monsters, while capable of fighting and bringing resources back to the Spawner, understood that the creature responsible of the light, was going to be their end

‘Ia~ Imbue~!’ once the Spare Parts saw how the weapon started shinning, they felt an aura crashing against them-

Hiss!!!

And Miriam charged forwards, forcing them to react and fight back. Being cut into pieces, crushed by her body, or impaled by her magic

The monsters were made of what the Spawner could spare, being forced into whatever shape worked, were a weird mix of flesh, chitin, scales, skin, tusk and horns

None of them was a challenge for Miriam

Ding

In less than a minute she had already killed all of them, and she started to eat parts of each of the monsters, doing her best to ignore the taste, forgetting about the notification when she was done filling her belly

‘This way to the Spawner… ugh…’ she looked at her blade, it was soaked in the fluids of the things she just killed ‘Reshape…’ but using more magic, Miriam managed to remove the liquids, and restore its strength

Before moving through the opening that the monsters made…

Soon reaching another split, but one of the paths was completely blocked by roots, and by the vibrations, there was water somewhere on the blocked path

‘Eh…?’

‘Sorry~’ Miriam shook her head, pulling back her aura ‘I do want to rest… but I need to do this…’

She nodded to the message and kept moving, after giving those roots some magic

/////

Both Dolls jumped between two trees, dodging their branches. That particular stunt, was the shortest way to get close to the collapsed entrance to the caves

Having missed, one of the trees used a root to fling a rock at them

“Really?!” making the smaller Doll jump out of the way, but the cloak covering it was destroyed by the projectile, making the other puppeteer laugh “Shut up!”

As an answer the puppeteer made the languid, echoing laugh, louder

“Fucking idiot…” the first puppeteer removed the remnants of the cloak, revealing the light armor the Doll had…

And how many of the straps in the armor, seemed to sink inside the ‘Flesh’ of the Doll… blatantly showing that it wasn't more than an illusion

“The Ruler was here…” both of them were looking at what used to be the fastest way inside to the Spawner, ignoring the state of the lake

“Really? What gives you that idea…?” the other Doll removed its cloak (That also had been ragged by the branches), revealing similar armor, and failure in the illusion. Neither had a helmet, because the only metals good enough for armor in that forest, interrupted control of the Dolls while they surrounded the skull

“Shut up. We need to find another entrance”

As the puppeteer moved the Doll away from that place, the other one followed while voicing concerns, at the high speeds they could reach

“Wouldn’t digging be faster?”

“Without a Doll to control it, that fucking Spawner will use what it can to make more monsters, instead of just guards…” the puppeteer couldn't believe she was explaining that “If it didn’t opened a way out already, it means: it can’t from this direction, or it was destroyed…”

“Then how about-”

“Shut up!!!”

The other puppeteer kept making questions, making her coworker more and more angry… until they finally found an undamaged entrance and got inside it…

/////

While Miriam found the source of the Grudge…

‘A crushed skeleton… at least it’s not moving…’

The whole chamber had many collapsed entrances, and showed cracks along the walls, those cracks had made many chunks of rock to fall, one of them right on top of it… destroying its head and torso…

Clink!

‘Why does this place has a metal floor…?’ that was the weirdest part of the whole room to Miriam, and she couldn't stop herself from tapping the floor with her claws, listening to the echoes of the room, and the monster below it ‘At least I have the normal way of killing one…’

The only opening on the rough metal floor, was around the “Mouth” of the thing, the same opening from where she had killed the previous two… Miriam could tell that the Spawner was smaller than the other two… but she couldn't see how the metal was placed on the room in the first place, nor how she could start getting it off…

‘Is this why you suggested my swords…? Make it bleed to death…?’ she shook her head and looked back at the skeleton ‘Can’t make the symbol here…’

The closest bones to her, were the ones of its arm… and the dark taint on them struggled, trying to grip the metal under it… but it seemed unable to corrode it… unlike what Miriam remembered from the previous time, the smoke around the bones had an oily appearance… and the bones looked pitch black, with a reddish tint…

‘There isn't anything natural here other than rocks…’ Miriam rubbed her head, trying to remember the details of that tradition… ‘I could use my blood to draw it… but that sounds like a bad idea, because the monster is here… and… that is done… on a specific circumstance…’

Hiss…

‘I can’t remember… I suppose that I could get out, bring natural things to do the burial… but…’

Miriam moved close to the bones, slowly getting her claws closer… but had to pull back her whole body, when the taint “Jumped” towards her, before pulling back to the bones

‘This is different… worse than what I avoided before… praying is not going to help here…’ she shook her head again ‘Fire might be useful here…’ that last thought was an attempt to improve her mood ‘Ugh…’ but it failed… ‘…?’

And something else attracted her attention…

‘That…’ she placed her head on the ground… ‘Something is coming-!’

“Hurry up!” that unnatural scream reached her quickly from the tunnel she took

And she dashed to the furthest wall away from the Grudge and the opening in the floor, using more of the collapsed rocks to hide

‘Ia Stop!’ and waited…

Using her other senses to know where those unknowns were… aware that she couldn't smell anything coming from that direction…

“Fuck…” one of the weird voices, of the two things she could hear, said that before both of them slowed and she heard them entering the chamber

‘With voices like that, hey can’t be humans-!’

A shrill scream came from them, echoing loudly on the chamber while making some dirt get loose and fall, before two red lights appeared from their hands. Floating above them in eerie silence, painting the whole chamber red

‘They aren’t…’ after a glance at them, the failing illusion on the pair was enough to confirm her suspicion, Miriam got closer to the rocks that were her cover to hide, she didn’t needed her eyes to know their position

One of them got closer to the skeleton, and by the sounds it made, it seemed to crouch near it

“What do we do with this Doll…?” to Miriam, that was the voice she heard before…

“First, shut up. Second, take control of the Spawner… with the head and spine destroyed, we need to find a fucking replacement” the other one was still, but the voice was the same, only the way it spoke, gave a hint that it was a different… thing… compared with the other “I’ll go find the creature that killed the monsters…”

That comment made Miriam move slightly to peek at them, seeing the larger one stood up and move to the smaller

“Why? We rushed here, because you thought that it had come here” it pointed to the skeleton “Even when there is Grudge leaking out of this Doll!” it was difficult, but Miriam was getting some annoyance coming from the languid words…

“I told you! To fucking! Shut up!” the hand from the smallest one darted forwards…

‘…?!’

And Miriam saw how its leather covered fingers, sunk on the eye sockets of the dark skull, filled with an unnatural purple flame. The thumb of that hand was used to keep the jaw from moving… but the tallest Doll started to sing in a language that Miriam didn’t knew, not needing the jaw to do that

“I outrank you!” the smallest Doll pushed the other away letting the illusion of a singing face restore itself, before storming out of the chamber with one of the red lights following it. Leaving the other singing as it moved to the opening on the ground…

‘I’ll destroy the small one first…?’ that made sense to her, because the other one was deliberately making noise

Miriam moved slowly out of her hiding spot, towards the tunnel she used to get in. While more screams came from the tall Doll, a glance over her shoulder revealed that the floor was slowly peeling away from the opening

And she hurried towards the other, using the loud sound as a cover…

‘How…?’ with no idea of how to stop the pair…

The other Doll was looking at the floor of the tunnel as it moved, unaware of how Miriam was getting closer, due to the echoing noises the puppeteer was dealing with

‘Do I hit the head…? The neck…?’ she gripped her sword tighter ‘It’s a disguised skeleton, held by magic… why would a normal deathly wound, work on it…? Other than destroying every bone… I…’

That thought made her remember what the small Doll said… giving her an idea that chilled her body with dread…

‘Head and spine…’ Miriam placed her sword on the ground, before moving closer as she loosened her jaw ‘Ia, Imbue Fangs…’ trying to think quickly as she lifted her head from the ground… ‘Disrupt, Separate, Break… Remove… Energy Eater…’

By that point the Doll reached the collapse in the tunnel after the split, and noticed something…

“Something… got inside…?” an almost imperceptible track under the red light conjured by the puppeteer-

‘Magic Devourer!’ making Miriam rush her attack

Her mouth covered the skull of the Doll on an instant, and pulled back, causing the puppeteer to start screaming, through the Doll, inside her, while the rest of her body gripped and coiled around the rest of the, deceptively strong, Doll

‘AAAAHHHH!!!!’ the attack hurt her as she was doing it. She could feel the most intense cold she ever suffered, invading everywhere in her body-

Crackle!!!

Even after Miriam managed to pull the skull away, Grudge linked it to the spine like a tether, intensifying the scream, making the rest of the Doll fight back wildly against her-

Crack!!!

Until the skull broke inside Miriam’s body, dissipating the light source while severing the tether…

But as the Doll collapsed, the dark smoke leaking out of it, started to corrode Miriam’s scales… and the crystal on her chest, became as black as her eyes

Soundlessly Miriam’s body opened her mouth, making the Grudge rush towards it, corroding every bone and equipment the Doll had, until it was dust, that got swallowed together with the Grudge…

Leaving her bleeding from multiple wounds, and twitching on the floor of the cave… while on her open mouth every fang she had, was slowly being melted, by the last remains of Grudge still clinging to her…

Ding

-On it-

Her eyes were still of a black color, after those two messages disappeared…

/////

The gods were showing different levels of panic… the first one to react in that place was the Guardian

“She can survive that…” their words were received with a glare from Aufiea

“Yes, if she flees…”

“True…” the Guardian had to concede that point

Then Emerald lifted a finger towards Lulu

“Oh…” the goddess closed her eyes, and the plants forming her dress shifted “Yes, I can tell them to treat this as a mission… and as an early reward…”

She closed her eyes again…

/////

And from a knot on the roots that were near Miriam, a small ladybug made of wood got out, carrying a fruit as its thorax. The cute little thing moved fast along the floor, getting on Miriam’s mouth

Crunch!

Letting her body eat it

Miriam twitched for a few seconds, her body fighting against the Grudge with renewed strength, restoring her fangs, helping with closing her wounds

Hiss…

And waking her up

‘Ow… ow…’ she slowly moved her head up, as the pain started to recede ‘What… happened…?’ looking around, but not seeing evidence of the Doll… ‘Did it escape…?’ the other Doll was still singing out loud… ‘It didn’t went back to its friend…?’

She gathered her strength, shook her head and moved back towards the remaining Doll…

‘Can’t stop…’ while picking her sword on the way ‘My job is not over yet…’ with that thought, Miriam accelerated towards the chamber ‘Any ding can wait until they are dead again…’

Miriam only started to slow down when she got close to entrance, now that the Doll was silent and she peeked inside, feeling heat coming from the place

“Ugh… my throat… hey bitch. Get back here and hold the Doll while I drink water…” the Doll had its back towards her, and she started to move closer-

‘Ugh!’ but the metal floor was hot, making her recoil from it while holding back a hiss

“I know you can hear me… we are in the same room…” the second puppeteer was unaware that the other one was having a seizure, two meters away from her body “We need to get this thing somewhere else… this place is going to crumble…”

The Doll’s hand glowed, and by the vibrations reaching Miriam, the Spawner was moving

‘Ia! Imbue!’ and she decided to act

Hiss!!!

Dashing forwards while releasing her aura, hissing due to the pain caused by the heat

“Wha-?!”

‘Magic Slash!!!’ she didn’t realized how much her aura, disrupted the control of the puppeteer on the Doll-

Crackle!!!

Letting her hit the neck of the Doll, causing the Grudge to burst out and fight against the her own magic

“AAAAHHHH!!!” causing severe damage to the puppeteer

‘Magic Devourer!!!’ being enough to let her have an easier time swallowing, pulling, and breaking the skull…

Crack!!! Crack!!! Crack!!!

Just as her eyes and crystal turned black, making the Grudge from the Doll rush to her mouth, the Spawner started to get out from the ground of its own will…

HIIISSS!!!

But even while being wounded by the Grudge, her body went Berserk and charged to the monster in the darkness of the chamber. Cutting deeply on the two tentacles that faced her, the last appendage couldn't be used to fight her, as it was on the opposite side from Miriam…

The Spawner couldn't do anything to her, even if the monster was bigger than her, she was too fast, and the deep cuts quickly disabled the two tentacles, making it bleed, and leave open, the same cavity were she found the crystal on the other one-

Crack!

Until her sword broke against the body as it turned to stone, with that, her wounded body hissed loudly again, before falling unconscious

…

She had no idea of how long she remained like that, but the fruit she was given before still was actively working on her. Helping Miriam to recover faster than she would have otherwise…

‘Ugh… ah…? Ia… Imbue Eyes-! Ow…’ but she still was feeling pain

In the darkness of the chamber, both trying to move, and her own magic, hurt her… the light she was making, soon reflected on the silvery crystal, coming out of the stone that was the Spawner she killed before…

‘What…?’ a monster that she didn’t remembered killing… ‘Eat…? Ow…’ her body was in too much pain, for her to tell if she needed to eat food ‘Eat… ugh…’

Miriam just remembered what the Trickster had told her to do with the first crystal… and when she got her mouth close to it, her awareness was gone one more time, as the crystal glowed and shrunk…

BOOM!!!

Causing a shockwave to come out of her body once she swallowed it, destroying and turning to dust, almost everything on the chamber: the stones that fell and were part of the ground and walls, the remains of the monster and Doll, the metal that acted as floor…

The only thing that remained untouched

HIIISSS!!!

Was her own blood below her…

Crack!!! Crack!!! Crack!!!

Blood that glowed as the ceiling started to crumble and fall-

CRACK!!!

Before turning into wood, covering Miriam’s body completely. Growing impossibly quick to stop the rocks from falling…

Crack!!!

And starting to push back, against the weight of tons of dirt and rocks above…

/////

Miriam wasn't aware of any of that…

‘Cute…’ she was looking at a ladybug made of wood running on her hand, she got the feeling that the small thing was happy…

Not realizing that she was on top of an incredible deep and dark ocean… unable to sink, or cause a ripple in it. She stood there looking at the small being, moving between her fingers, exploring and looking at every scar on her hand

Until something green pulled her attention up

An enormous, upside down green woman was worriedly looking towards her, she had a dress made of living plants, and her bark colored hair (That was falling up, not towards her), was full of flowers in bloom

‘Hello’ Miriam waved with her other hand, to not disturb the exploring cutie

And the woman gave a silent chuckle, but her eyes remained worried while she moved a hand towards Miriam, leaving her amazed at the difference in size. The little one also noticed the gigantic finger next to Miriam, and buzzed in surprise

At that point, Miriam was hit with a wave of fatigue, lifting the hand with the ladybug turned into an arduous task, but part of her understood that she needed to do it…

And after glancing between the two of them, the ladybug hopped towards the finger…

‘Ah…’ leaving Miriam aware of how drained she was… ‘Goodbye…’ barely capable of waving at them… filled with an incomprehensible sadness…

Before she fainted, and started to fall upwards…

/////

The screams of the second puppeteer had been heard, guiding others to the same room they were. After seeing and reporting the state of the two, three other puppeteers sent Dolls in that direction. Sure that the two women weren’t going to wake up again, and in need of answers

In the time Miriam was unconscious, they reached the lake-

CRACK!!!

At the exact moment an enormous tree grew, destroying the cliff were the Spawner was hidden. All the other trees on the cliff, combined with the new one, into a new enormous being, to ensure none of them was destroyed,

The final height of the tree was over three hundred meters, with almost fifty meters on diameter, its exposed roots extending along the bottom of the lake

“What…?”

The tree glowed for a moment

CRACKLE!!!

And the three Dolls were disintegrated with lightning by it. Frying the minds of the puppeteers… much to the satisfaction of the whole forest…

/////

I don’t see anything… I can’t see anything… but… I know there is light somewhere near me…

‘Are my eyes shut…?’ I can move my eyes and I feel them moving my eyelids, so I open them… ‘Ah…?’

It’s bright… I’m on a room made of gray stone… with twisting pillar of… brass…? Along the walls…

‘What…?’ in front of me there is a black anvil with a brass snake coiling the base… she is holding a hammer on her mouth… the hammer, that you are supposed to use with this anvil…

Further ahead and into the wall there is a furnace… the heat coming from it… is nostalgic… somehow… above it… there is…

‘The green snake crystal…?’ why it’s here…? Is this another dream…?

“Why-?! Ah-? Ah?!” I have a voice! My hands look…! Look…

Callused… scarred… with white scales on the back… but they have… a feminine shape…?

“What…?”

“Mother-?”

Behind!?

/////

Miriam woke up, with a start

‘AH?!’ to a surprising cold air around her ‘What is going on?!’ and she felt trapped, it took her a moment to realize that she was in a branch ‘Ah…?’

A branch that had the shape of her silhouette

It was a tight fit, but she eventually managed to separate herself from the wood-

Hiss!!!

‘Aaahhh!!!’ realizing hat she was at least twenty meters away from the ground… ground that used to be a cliff… ‘What…?’

‘What the…? How hard did I fuck things up…?’

‘Ah… sorry…’ the second line of the message confused her ‘I don’t… why…?’

Her latest message shook

‘It took me years to think about a name for me-’ it shook again ‘You don’t want me to give the tree a name-’ again ‘Why me-?!’ one more shook made Miriam look at the tree while groaning mentally… ‘You are big…’

The branches high above weren’t as long as she expected, but on the way up there, she could see a few other small branches, like the one where she was, all over the trunk. Then she noticed how the sun behind the tree, illuminated it and the surroundings…

‘You can change it at any time, ok…? Eh… Sunny…’ she waved at the tree, and after a moment a shiver shook both her, and the tree

Ding

-On it-

‘Hey! What happened…?! What do you mean by “Too”?!’ she waited for a few seconds, but eventually gave up ‘Status’

‘What…?’

‘Ah… those… wait what? How did I destroyed them?’

‘What did I do…?’

‘Twenty-four…? Titles… one, two…’ Miriam counted them, but she only saw… ‘Twenty-three…? Why do you need to hide a Title?!’ something that made her worry

Buzz

‘Ah?!’ until a sudden sound came from the branch next to her ‘Oh! Hi!’ it was the wooden ladybug she remembered… but Miriam only remembered it running on her hand…

She had already forgotten about her latest dream…

Miriam moved her claws next to the small being, but stopped before touching the ladybug…

‘Ah’ but the little thing rubbed against it, and started to walk on her hand ‘You are really cute…’

‘Ah?!’ she looked quickly between the message, Sunny, and… Sunny? ‘Really…?’

Buzz

-Update required…-

‘Eh…?’

Buzz!

-Update required…-

‘Ah?!’ Sunny made another buzz, and Miriam felt it was an annoyed one, causing the same message from the Helper to appear again ‘Sunny stop…’ with that thought, Sunny looked at her eyes from the spot where she was on her body ‘Don't worry, I’ll get the upgrade eventually. So, don’t get angry, ok?’

Buzz

Sunny did a small hop, and resumed her exploration…

‘Oh… I have a lot of new scars…’ surprisingly, they didn’t looked as bad as the one in her arm ‘Ugh…’ but they were many… ‘This happened… because of those Dolls…? Need to find a better way of destroying those…’

‘…’ Miriam hid her face with her hands ‘I’m sorry…’

Buzz

-Sunny says that there is bad food by her roots…-

‘Ah!?’ the ladybug made another buzzing sound, and climbed to Miriam’s head ‘All right then, hold on tight!’

It took her a moment to get started going down, the tip of her tail was a bit deeper into the bark of the tree than the rest of her body

‘So, you are a girl…?’

Buzz

-Sunny isn't sure yet, but the moment she knows, she will tell you…-

‘Oh thanks! But you can use They/Them too you know…?’

Buzz!

-Sunny dislikes that idea…-

‘Thanks for telling me! She/Her for my little tree!’ Sunny gave her a happy buzz from the top of her head, while Miriam climbed down

/////

Deep below the city, an emergency meeting was taking place, but Grim reached a shift decision even with some people missing the meeting, and started to asphyxiate, with his own hands, the bodies of the five puppeteers. Doing his best to not damage the bones…

“The only thing that was irreplaceable, of our losses today, was the Spawner…” he told the rest reunited there “Make sure to listen what the adventurers coming from the forest, say… I don’t want to lose more resources, to what did this today…”

None of them realized that the two women… could have been saved…

“Take them to the Spawner…” he told the rest once he was done “For the glory of our True God…”

/////

The food were the remnants of the Spare Parts that Miriam killed, Sunny had dug them out while she grew

‘Ugh…’ but even if Miriam ate a lot, she couldn't eat everything ‘Sorry Sunny… I’m full…’ mostly due to the taste…

Buzz

-It’s okay…-

Before she could think about anything else, the crystal on her chest got hot, and she had trouble breathing for a few seconds

Ding

‘Ugh… what was that…’ she looked at her chest, but didn’t saw a difference while Sunny walked around it ‘Status?’

‘So I have two brains now…?’ she looked back at it and tapped it ‘What do you think Sunny?’

-It’s strong…- she got that message after a buzz

‘What…? A stone…?’ Miriam tried to understand what that screen meant-

Hiss!!!

‘That is not a viable survival choice!!!’ but when she remembered the frog, she got angry and hissed in that direction, confusing Sunny with the outburst

‘Why?!’

Miriam felt a headache starting, so she placed her head on the ground for a few minutes, trying to relax

‘Now… where do I go…?’ Sunny buzzed again from the ground in front of her head

-Follow Sunny…-

‘Oh…? Ok’

Sunny opened her shell revealing her wings made out of leaves, flying in a surprising silence ahead of Miriam, as she followed while looking around for potential creatures…

Not realizing that Sunny made her go in a circle around a tree, until she did three laps…

‘Hey!’ once she did realized, Sunny speed up making Miriam chase her ‘Get back here! Hahaha!’ playing a game until sunset