"Lightning!"
A bolt of lightning flashed down from the sky and blasted into the small hole in the ground the oil monsters were using. It dug down surprisingly deep, leaving a small crater in the ground but not nearly deep enough to breach the monster's nest. In response though, black oil bubbled up out of the ground to answer this knock at the door.
"Damned monsters!" Momo shouted grandiosely from a good distance away, "I'll come to exterminate you all! With the strength of my companions!"
"What are you, Momotaro?" Isla frowned.
In response the oil monsters began flooding out of the hole to attack Momo and her companions. Everyone took to arms and fought the tide of monsters. Though they slashed and blasted fiercely there was no overcoming the back tide so close to their nest and Momo made the call to retreat for now. These humans turned and ran off in different directions and the oils split off in every direction to chase them. These humans did their best, throwing back magic to stop them and supporting each other in their escape but there was one exception. One girl that ran quite clumsily and tripped. The humans tried to help her but the black tide was on her immediately, cutting her off from help and absorbing her within their mass. They tried to rescue her like many other humans before but in the end had to abandon her. Another successful acquisition. Once the intruders were far enough away the monsters carried their new prize back down into the hole.
Corissa was floating in a void of black. She couldn't see anything though she dared not open her eyes to try to see anything. It didn't feel much different from floating in water. Not a wholly unpleasant experience if you ignored the terrifying context. Without anything to sense, Corissa could feel a soft desire to fall asleep. But she pushed against it, using her time to prepare her spell,
I reject you now. God of a foreign realm. Your creatures will shatter, your arms repelled and your sight-
Corissa repeated the incantation in her mind. Though it wasn't quite time to release the spell, it wouldn't hurt to prepare the incantation in advance. Though even after a few repetitions, there wasn't any sign that Corissa would soon reach her destination. So her mind drifted off. Perhaps not quite into sleep but into a memory she hadn't seen in a while. Yet it was the most vivid memory. One she could never forget even if she wanted to.
"I will become the hero!"
Varis pointed his toy sword to the sky as he laughed wildly.
"H-Hooray!" Corissa clapped excitedly, "The hero has come to save us!"
"Come on, Corissa, can't you sound more excited than that?" Varis sighed, "Louder! More bombastic! Like the cheering of a crowd!"
"I can't help it! It's just me here!" Corissa yelped.
"I guess."
"Why don't we invite more friends to be here then?" Corissa asked.
"Eh. Everybody else wants to be the hero too so we just end up fighting." Varis scowled, "I'm the one who'll become a hero, you hear!"
"H-Hooray!" Corissa clapped again.
"Don't you want to be a hero too, Corissa?" Varis asked, "Everybody wants to be the hero!"
"Not really." Corissa answered, "Only one person can be the hero right? So I'm fine letting other people be the hero."
"What other people?" Varis frowned as he leaned down to poke Corissa with his sword, "I'm the only one who will become a hero you hear?!"
"H-Hooray!"
"...Still, I can't be a hero without an actual party." Varis sighed, "How am I supposed to do that when everyone wants to be the hero?"
"I-I'll be a part of your party!" Corissa raised her hand.
"You?" Varis smirked, "What can you do?"
"I-I can cook!"
"But most of the people who are part of a hero's party can fight too you know."
"I-I can heal! I'll learn how to heal you all up!"
"That's still not fighting." Varis smirked.
"Uuuu...I don't really wanna fight though." Corissa sniffed.
"...Well, whatever. We DO need someone who can cook and heal so I guess you'll do."
"Hooray!"
"Corissa! It's time for dinner! You too Varis! Your mom's been calling you!"
"Coming!" Corissa called back.
"Man, I was finally going to explore the forest today." Varis said as he climbed down from his tree.
"You always say that but you never do." Corissa smiled.
"I can't help it! I always end up playing with you!" Varis said as the two began their walk home.
"Mom and dad always says not to go into the forest though."
"How am I going to be a hero if I don't go on adventures though?"
"True." Corissa giggled, "Alright, good night Varis!"
"Night!" Varis waved, "Let's play again tomorrow! Not much else to do in this village."
"Okay!"
The setting sun lit their small village ablaze with orange light. It was a small nobody town. No roads, no statues, nothing but grass until you reached the trees. There was the occasional merchant that would stop by and that would always be a big event between the adults. But even after they left, these merchants would never spread the name of their small village. There wasn't much they could offer. Corissa's mom called their home "humble". People came and went and their town never really grew much larger or more complex. That was what her dad said anyway. Varis said it was boring but Corissa thought it was fine. She didn't really care about whenever their town grew bigger or not. She just looked forward to playing with her neighbor everyday. Their parents were always busy with work and though she wanted to help, her parents always said she was still a bit too young to start helping out just yet. Also Varis' parents would often ask her to play with Varis while they also worked. She was the only one who could keep Varis in check they said. Corissa didn't know what that meant but she had fun running around with Varis as he played hero. Dreaming up all sorts of scenario. It was peaceful. Though that peace wouldn't last.
A loud sharp bang snapped Corissa awake one random night. There was murmuring. The sound of far away shouting. Corissa wondered if a merchant had showed up late at night and everybody was celebrating. But it wasn't long before her parents burst into her room and explained everything. Goblins. Their town was being invaded by goblins. Her parents were carrying the same tools they had always used to till the field in their hands as the rushed Corissa out of their house. And outside was a nightmare. Small green creatures she had never seen before. The had simple knives fashioned out of rock. But they were fast and there were a lot of them. They had fire too. Corissa could see the smoke rising from the light of faraway houses of fire. Houses of people she knew. Kids her age that lived in that direction. Numbly she hoped they were alright but it wasn't time for her to worry about others, her parents said.
Then she saw her dad sink their pitchfork through the body of a goblin. It was the first time Corissa saw her dad kill somebody. And the first time she saw a dead body as he flung it back on the ground. But her dad told her to keep moving and her mom kept guiding her away from their home. There were about half a dozen things Corissa said they were leaving behind but her mom told her to leave them. She didn't know where they were in such a rush to but it soon become clear as her mom guided her to a wagon where a bunch of other folks, mainly other kids and some elders, were sitting. Her mom lifted her onto the wagon and told her it would bring her to safety and to not leave it until it stopped. Corissa tried to tell her mom to get on as well but she said she needed to fight. She asked about Varis and his parents and her mom said she'll go get them but the carriage will be leaving soon. Corissa could feel the fear now. The terror choking her heart and squeezing tears into her eyes as she desperately begged for her mom to get on. To grab dad and Varis and his parents so they can all escape together. Her mom said Varis might show up in a later carriage and that more help will be arriving soon. Soldiers from the city nearby. But until they showed up, it was up to her and her dad to save everyone. To fight for their village. Corissa didn't understand it. She tried to say something but before she could figure out what to say, her mother had kissed her on the forehead and called out for the carriage to get moving. That would be the last time she saw her mother, smiling as reassuringly as possible as she waved goodbye to her. As she grew smaller and Corissa could barely hear her reminder telling her to be a good girl. All she could see was the fire behind her mom. The destruction of her village. And the small goblin sneaking up behind her mom before she was dragged into the carriage by one of the elders.
The carriage would take them to a strange place. A house made of stone that seemed to reach the sky. There were people. Strangers Corissa had never met who spoke with gentle comfort and gave her a small bed to stay at. Some of them wore armor and had actual swords. Corissa asked them to save her parents and they assured her that they will and that by next morning she will see her parents again and to just go to sleep until then. But she wasn't sleepy. No one else was either. Even as the elders hugged as many of the sobbing children as they could, all everyone could do was sob about the people they left behind. Corissa thought she'd stay up until she saw Varis arrived. One carriage arrived and then another. Each bringing more people but none with Varis or her parents or his parents. And as the crying slowly made everyone tired, even Corissa couldn't help but drift off to sleep.
The morning felt like a triumph. Corissa woke up to more crying but this time the cheerful kind. Some of the adults had arrived and reunited with their kids. With hope, Corissa got up and walked around, hoping to find one of the people she had left behind. There were none. That was fine. Maybe there will be another carriage that will show up with them on it. It wasn't until a fancy man and woman with crowns walked up and asked her what her name was that she discovered what happened. They told her that her parents were dead. That they fought bravely to protect their village. That they had arrived too late and were sorry. Corissa didn't know exactly what dead was but she could tell. The way these people looked so sorry and sad. The memory of the dead goblin she had saw. Then she noticed all the other people who were still crying. Sobbing, hysterical messes brought to the knees by emotions. And then Corissa broke. And she joined them, crying tears until she had none left. Til she woke up again and all she felt was a numbness that threatened to squeeze the last drops of sorrow from her heart. But she still got up. Went back to the nearest soldier she could find and ask about Varis and his family. And that was when she was told that Varis' parents were dead too. Died defending their home like her parents did. But Varis? They couldn't find Varis with them. So there was a possibility he was alive. That one possibility was what kept Corissa from breaking down a second time. She asked almost excitedly where Varis was then if he was still alive. They said they didn't know. That they would check the survivors but no one had ever reported finding him. Still, the possibility was enough. Corissa ran around the camp that had been set up for refugees looking for Varis. Shouting his name. She ran til her tiny legs were tired and shouted until her voice was hoarse. She never received an answer. Never found anyone else. She was alone.
Corissa didn't know what would happen to her after that but as it turned out, the kind people with the crowns adopted her. Little did she know they were the king and queen of the entire country. And her life would change drastically after that. She wore pretty dresses and ate fancy food. Food that was better than even the kind that her mother made. But she was still alone. She tried making friends. She was even introduced to Alec who was quite friendly to her. But she always felt alone. Like she didn't belong. It didn't help that as she grew up, people started hating her for some reason. And others would try and say things she didn't quite understand to her. Her parents, the king and queen now, said she wasn't safe by herself anymore and needed a bodyguard. She agreed though she didn't really care. Not like another stranger would made much of a difference to her. Nothing really mattered at this point. All she could do was try her best.
And that was what she was trying to do. Reminding herself to just try her best as she walked through the fancy stone streets of her new home. It wasn't until she passed by someone, a black knight she didn't recognize. But something in her mind did. And she turned around as she shouted a name that hadn't come to her mind in years.
"Varis?!"
The black knight stopped. He was unrecognizable. There was no way for anybody to even tell if the person under that armor was even a boy or girl. But him stopping meant something. Corissa rushed back over to him and began talking excitedly. She asked if it really was him. What had happened to him? What had he been doing since? He never answered. She never heard his familiar voice. By all accounts there was no way to prove that this person was truly who she said he was. But SHE knew. She believed beyond the shadow of a doubt to the point that she brought the young man to the king and queen and told them about her discovery. They were skeptical but supportive at first, not sure how to handle their daughter's newfound excitement. It wasn't until Corissa said she wanted to make him her bodyguard that they grew suspicious and anxious. They tried to reason with her but she wouldn't hear any of it. To her this person was Varis beyond a shadow of a doubt. Clearly unable to convince her, they tried to test him by pitting him against their country's strongest knight. He defeated him easily. At that point there was no stopping Corissa. In some strange twist of fate, she had found Varis again. There were things that were different. He was almost like a completely different man. But that didn't matter. She was just happy to have found him again. That they could be together again.
Corissa's memories were interrupted as she took her first breath in what felt like a while. The oil was leaving around her, seeping through tentacled bars that were spaced quite far apart though not quite enough for her to squeeze through. It took a moment for Corissa to remember what she was meant to do. She quickly got up and stuck her head out through the bars. There was barely any light. Only a single ray from the hole she had probably come out from. She couldn't see much but from the amount of tentacle decor it was clearly a nest. And if she turned her head she could even made out a girl next to her. She was...unresponsive. Almost dead looking as she sat there with a bloated belly. That was going to be Corissa's fate eventually. If not for her abilities. So she spoke aloud the incantation again,
"I reject you now. God of a foreign realm. Your creatures will shatter, your arms repelled and your sight blinded. No longer will you threaten the realm of reality. Here and now, I reject you from this space and time. I give blessings to humanity and will to the earth. So that all of that which you threaten can reject you. SANCTUARY!"
The light that exploded from her enveloped everything. The bars crumpled in her hands. The tentacles were blown away around her. And the oil monsters hissed in anger only to immediately disintegrate as they touched her light. In only a few short seconds the nest was gone. Not a tentacle in sight. No oil monster left to attack her. The girls around her fell to the ground, still unresponsive but even their stomachs had been restored back to normal as the monsters inside them were also purified. Once it was clear there was no monster left, Corissa began dragging all the girls to a corner where they'd be safe. As she did, a familiar voice would poke out from the ceiling.
"Damn, that cleaned them up real good." Helena remarked.
"Helena!" Corissa cried.
"You good babygirl? They didn't harm you or anything?"
"Nope! I unleashed the spell as soon as I was inside."
"Nice. Alright. Just move a few more bodies out of the way and we'll start blasting a way out for you."
"Okay!"
Corissa moved the last of the bodies and sat off to the side as she waited for a rescue. It was here that she realized that she could technically be stranded. There was no way out for her and her friends could just...leave. For no reason she supposed but she trusted them more than that. And more than anything she knew a certain someone who would dig his way down here with a shovel to rescue her even if nobody else did. But it didn't take long for the sounds of crumpling dirt to shake the cavern she was in. And the single hole to the cave was blasted open as a single black knight landed on the ground in front of her.
"Varis!" Corissa smiled as the black knight quickly rushed to her side and began checking her for injuries. "I'm fine!" she laughed.
"Wow, this place is bigger than I thought." Isla said as she carefully jumped around the debris to arrive inside.
"I don't think even with reinforcements we would've found this place." Perry remarked as they joined her.
"Hey Corissa!" Momo cried as she jumped down onto the cavern floor, "You good?"
"Just fine." Corissa repeated.
"How'd they find a place like this anyway?" Kaguya mused as she looked around, "You'd be hard pressed to find this as a human at least."
"We can worry about that later." Roko said as he also arrived underground, "Corissa. You good?"
"Yep." Corissa said, giving a cheerful thumbs up.
"Nice. You ready to head home then?"
"...Yep!" Corissa grinned.
"Don't forget about the hostages." Isla said.
"We'll move them, don't worry." Momo chuckled, "Let Corissa rest after all she's been through at least."
"Well, cow tits did pretty well this time I guess." Isla admitted though she stubbornly crossed her arms.
"Come on, you can do better than that." Perry smiled.
"I can but I won't."
"Classic Isla." Helena shook her head.
"Do you need me to help with the girls?" Corissa offered.
"No, just head back." Roko replied, "We got this."
"Are you su- oh!" Corissa started but was interrupted by Varis suddenly picking her up into his back, "Varis, I can walk just fine!"
"Hey let the guy spoil you a little bit." Helena laughed, "He must've been worried sick."
"Still won't say anything I see." Roko scoffed.
"Are you jealous, Isla?" Helena teased.
"N-No." Isla said, turning her head away stubbornly.
Everyone laughed as Varis began carrying the unharmed Corissa up the slope they had blasted into the ground.
"Ah, you can stay with her until we get back." Roko said as Varis passed him, "Don't worry, we'll get the girls out without your help."
Varis nodded and began walking off.
"Are you sure?" Corissa asked as she passed by,
"We have Momo's reinforcement magic. Sure, I'm sure."
"Okay…"
Corissa just held onto Varis' back as he carried her off. The memory of her past still fresh in her mind. It wasn't like she ever forgot. But she was just...happy now. Even after all that's happened to her...she was glad to be where she was now. She hugged herself close to Varis' back as she whispered into his ear,
"Thank you."