When the sandworms cry III

Someone is patiently warming an egg.

If you warm it with love, then surely it’s happiness that will be born.

It will be filled with love and joy.

Someone is patiently warming an egg.

If you warm it with rage, what will be born?

I am also warming an egg.

I am warming it with gas, so it’s doesn’t matter which kind of egg it is.

From “The Shintosunni Sutras Volume II” by Frederica Bernkastel

Hanyuu trained a little more that morning, it was mostly stretching and some breathing exercises, this would be a light day for her and she was thankful for it. Rika seemed stern at times, but she never made Hanyuu hate the training she was given, a good equilibrium between hardship and resting, the way of House Furude, a house of three, but a House nonetheless.

Satoko began explaining once more, adding a few new variables since history is ever changing, the variables are never static. Everyone has plans within plans within plans, yet Satoko’s own plans were never obvious, Mion had learned this quickly, Satoko’s advice was rarely straightforward. She always assumed other Mentats had an underlying plan and planned accordingly herself.

“The Emperor has already bought us enough time as is. He did not want the Jihad, it just happened, but his army cannot be contained even by himself. Mion managed to buy some time, as well as you by waging war against the Harkonnen. Fremen thought of you as a local hero and this helped. Though we are not part of their religion, Tannans do not bow to the emperor, they venerate their own God incarnate, Furude Rika. The Jihad will arrive, and it will be soon. When it happens the first target they’ll have is you. You and your child”

She looked at Hanyuu “We have only two options Lady. To bow before the Emperor, to reject your godhood and say he was the one guiding your hand. Or to escape”

Rika sipped her tea. She looked at the temple, in her mind, Rika was already using prescience, an ancient ability of the Furude, to live out a life in which she chose to bow before the Emperor, how in the end this would turn the Tannans against each other, how they would eventually drive themselves to extinction. The other life where they stayed, this one she begun to check, and her prescience allowed her to see how soon the Jihad would arrive, how brutal her death would be.

She kept meditating, aided by Satoko, she had already provided her two options, the rest were certain death. It was probably what the Emperor did for his plans, but his Mentat abilities allowed him to see further into the future, reject bad choices as he spoke. Rika was no Mentat, she had to walk through those paths. Satoko helped her in some way, but neither of them could compare to the terrible Muad’Dib of Arrakis. It was a good thing he did not want to spill blood, or not yet, he perhaps imagined how the three minor houses were a potential threat. After all they held a planet, they had a religious figure, a Mentat of good quality and a Swordsmaster with skill that made Fremen shiver. The three houses of Tanna would indeed become a threat, they would never be able to overthrow the empire, but with what they had, they could indeed do harm.

Rika did see those timelines too, out of curiosity. Yes it would be a fruitless attempt, but they would go down in glory, seen as one of the toughest planets to cleanse in the Jihad, though the Emperor would not even bat an eye at the destruction, a spec on the sea of his awareness. It was there, there when she saw him. Standing in her path of awareness, in a future only she could see and he knew she could. “Run” He said “Listen to your mentat, do not underestimate your mentat. After all she and I share the same blood”

Rika was pulled out from the trance, or rather, pushed away by that terrible man. Satoko was slightly concerned, Rika had seen many terrible futures, this one was probably one that she saw. Rika looked at her friend she tried to hide it in her face, but the impression was too much.

“He knows” Satoko said in surprise

Rika noticed how she didn’t find the Emperor until she thought of the path of destruction. They were a threat, he stood in the paths that would make them a threat, the choices that would make them bring their world into chaos, both hers and the Emperor’s. Yet he told her to take another path, he talked of Satoko as if she were a close relative, she was, but as if she knew her personally, he probably did, but with the familiarity you have with someone you like. He knows, but he approves of her. Rika thought to herself. Satoko was an ally the Emperor allowed her to have, a tool for their survival, a last chance for them to escape.

So that was the Harkonnen blood, some hidden gene that allowed them to see plans within plans. The old Baron would had been a great Mentat, so would Feyd, but neither of them had the proper upbringing. A bloodline doomed by their own debauchery. The emperor himself knew how dangerous Satoko could be, how dangerous Rika was with her own prescience, but he also knew they did not seek to harm his empire, they just wanted to survive.

“We would need to escape somewhere where the Emperor couldn’t find us, even if he threatened the guild… Do you think it is possible to hijack a heighleiner?” Rika smiled

Satoko narrowed her eyes, trying to see something inside of Rika, what was her plan exactly? “Of course, it is… But even after taking it, what would you do with it? Do you want to gamble with our lives and go through foldspace to some empty corner of the cosmos? Finding a planet is impossible under those conditions”

Rika smiled proudly “I think I could handle it”

Satoko was aware of Rika’s prescience, but just until then, she understood how strong it was so she could act as a steersman. She can see the paths we would take if going through foldspace. Oh how formidable it was, a Mentat and a Prescient Reverend Mother. The mentat to trim the branches of time that would led nowhere, and Rika allowing to see which path would be the best. Only Great Houses of the Landsraad had a team like this, only the old Emperor had a team of Mentat and prescients to figure out the future.

Rika’s own prescience was great, but she could only study one timeline in a moment, the old Emperor had a team like that, and we all know how it turned out for him. What was three minor Houses against the great threat of the Jihad? Against the Kwizatz Haderach, the abilities he possessed already existed, Rika and Satoko were great examples of it, both holding a piece of the puzzle, but the Kwizatz Haderach is stronger than the pieces combined, they knew this much.

When the sandworms cry II

Do you know what is the sin?

It isn’t because you ate the forbidden fruit.

Do you know what is the sin?

It isn’t because you listened to the serpent.

You still don’t know what is the sin?

Then, that itself is your sin.

From “Billee Purana” by Frederica Bernkastel

Rena cleaned her sword before sheathing it. Anyone can kill with the tip, to kill with the edge is a sign of mastery she thought of the Ginaz axioms as her face reflected against the clean blade. To most Rena looked like a fool, a woman whose friendship to Lady Mion landed her a job as weapons master. It was a mistake the pile of flesh that used to be a man also made. Among the blood Rena could see a Zensunni crest, yes it was a rival smuggling group. Most of the universe is Sensunni the crest told them nothing, and Rena doubted others would find something in the body.

Keiichi arrived knife in hand panting heavily, he looked down then at Rena who now was looking at the remains. Wait where is the assassin?! It looks like Rena just walked in to find a chopped pig in human clothes. He sheathed his knife and walked besides Rena. Yes that was the guy…

“Did you get any information out of him?” Keiichi looked at the Sensunni talisman, like those you could buy in Arrakis when visiting the Shrine of Leto. Keiichi had one, he used it as a keychain, a common souvenir from those who had dealt with the Empire at some point.

“He had no spice for us. It was too good to be true, too cheap” Rena giggled “He lied, so he got what he deserved”

Keiichi noticed her honest expression, Rena did not enjoy killing, but she wouldn’t doubt on doing it so to protect those around her. She had killed many to protect Mion, to protect him even. Actually, that was how they met, just as the man before them, Keiichi was sent to poison Mion, Rena called him out in combat, and almost killed him, though she stopped when noticing he did not know he was carrying poison. “Sire, you should not be trying to protect me with a knife. My job is to protect you”

Rena patted him on the shoulder and walked out of the room. Keiichi crouched next to the body to find that it reeked of spice, it was wearing a stillsuit and a jubba cloak. He pulled out his knife and prodded the body a little, there it was, the blue within blue of the eyes, this man was a Fremen. Rena knew she would never get any information out of him, and alive a Fremen is always a threat. Even Sardaukar feared them, yet there it laid, and it was not rare, not even surprising for Keiiichi to see a Fremen corpse before him.

Rena arrived before Mion and gave her a light bow “Lady, the smuggler was nothing, but an assassin sent to kill you. I only managed to get that; he is no longer an issue” She placed the sheathed knife of the man on the desk. Mion took the blade, unsheathed it, milky white shining with such a light that it seemed to have a life of its own. I don’t want to ask what happened to the man holding this knife, Fremen never let their knives go, they die with them.

Mion laughed “I think you just wanted to add one more knife to your collection” She handed the knife back “Did you think about what I told you?”

Rena took the knife back “I don’t have to think about it, lady, House Khumali gave me good conditions, but my loyalty remains with you. I thank you for giving me the chance to think about it, more a reason to not leave your side” Rena bowed and kissed Mion’s hand. She blushed, when her eyes met Rena’s, she pulled out her hand, Rena knew the weirding way, she could tell her pulse was becoming faster. Of course, Mion could control it, she knew Prana Bindu as well, but her self-control was not the best when Rena pulled out moves like that.

Rena was a rare product, a swordsmaster of Ginaz with Bene Gesserit training, called an unstoppable force by those who know her in the battlefield. By personal choice Rena rejected the idea of becoming a Bene Gesserit, in favor of becoming a swordsmaster. Her mother became the concubine of a rich spidersilk merchant, seeking to secure connections so that her daughter could marry into nobility. She had even named her daughter Reina, Queen in an ancient language. Rena rejected all those ideas, she decided not to abandon her father and returned with him to their home planet of Tanna. It was there that Rena decided to reject the name her mother had given her, it was then when Reina died and Rena was born, Rena the girl who decided to go to Ginaz and become a swordsmaster when the choice came, it was either that or Wallach IX to become a Bene Gesserit sister.

Rena hated the sisterhood, until she met Rika and Satoko, Rika was not considered a traitor of the sisterhood when she waged war against the Harkonnens to get her friend back. The sisterhood had a mission, each sister could pick the methods to carry it out. In a way Rena had become exactly what the sisterhood wanted. She was in a noble house of the Landsraad, but Rena chose the way in which she would serve. Rena no longer hated the sisterhood, lady Mion and Shion, both were Bene Gesserit, in a way she had become as Bene Gesserit as them, though Rena still hated her mother, Reina the Reverend Mother would never become a reality, but Rena the swordsmaster of the Bene Gesserit was something she could accept.

Rena’s training in the weirding way was not perfect, but in some odd way it allowed her to be a great fighter. The imperfect bindu trance that Mion nicknamed Kyute mode made her virtually invincible. Rena was the reason they had won the war against the Harkonnens, she was let loose in Kyute mode in the middle of a platoon of Sardaukar in Harkonnen uniform. The personal army of Abulurd, the only thing that allowed him to keep some sort of power in Giedi Prime. By the end of it Rena was there, covered in blood, none of it her own. The issue was that to trigger it required certain conditions. Mion was lucky that those Sardaukar were smuggling a baby sandworm, that, the idea of riding a baby sandworm was what triggered Rena’s trance.

Of course, Mion allowed her to ride the sandworm a couple of times, before she had to sell it to the Emperor for a hefty sum of money. Mion still did not fully understand that imperfect Bindu trance, it was what Rena considered adorable, what she considered kyute. Sandworms was one of them, the horned child of Lady Furude was another one, out of those two there were few clues as to what could make Rena get into her trance. Mion though, was afraid of Rena wanting to stay, the planet they stood was doomed, it became more common for those Fremen to attempt to kill her, the Jihad was nearing, and they had to prepare, prepare or flee. That choice was given to Rika, Satoko would help her think of the best choice, she was a Mentat, and a good one at that, it was too much responsibility for two teens like them, but Mion knew that they would make the best choice.

When the sandworms cry I

Please do not deplore yourself.

Even if the world does not forgive you, I will forgive you.

Please do not deplore yourself.

Even if you do not forgive the world, I will forgive you.

So please tell me.

What will it take for you, to forgive me?

—From “The Shintosunni Sutras Book I” by Frederica Bernkastel

Satoko sipped her Sapho juice with great care, she had tried to keep her lips clean from the stains, but they always showed, with her great care at least Satoko could make it seem as if she was wearing lipstick. Before her there were different filmbooks regarding the Zensunni religion and the Fremen, the history of House Atreides, and of course the propaganda that now flooded the empire.

Satoko had been serving House Furude for less than 2 years, but she was as trusted as any other older servant. A young teen in fact, though she was already a fully formed Mentat of the Bene Gesserit. Born from Lady Fenring, the child of the now dead Feyd Rautha, Satoko had those Harkonnen eyes and lips, typical of the family. She was given at birth to the sisterhood, and at an early age she showed great signs of intelligence, so she was sent to Lampadas to be raised and trained to become a proper Mentat.

As soon as she was fully trained Abulurd Rabban bought her, the last branch of the Harkonnen bloodline had to survive at all costs. His plan was to wait for Satoko to grow of age so that she could sire a son, train him as a mentat and let him rebuild the House Harkonnen from the ground.

The only person who took issue with this was Lady Rika Furude, the high Priestess and Earl of Oyashiro. She waged a war of assassins against house Harkonnen to retrieve Satoko before she could be forced to do anything. House Furude was a minor, small and poor house, but they had the backing of House Sonozaki, a house minor but their smuggling business gave them a lot of riches and influence.

In the end they were victorious, Satoko was now in service of Rika, and for them it was as good as it could get, even with the Jihad still a looming threat in a Shintosunni planet like their own. House Furude could be called a house minor, albeit it was hardly part of the Faufreluches, long ago they held great influence, though in these current times House Furude was composed only of Rika and lately, Satoko. The war of assassins against House Harkonnen was mainly led by the Sonozaki.

Neither of the Houses had any CHOAM holdings, out of the three houses in planet Tanna only House Kimiyoshi had a small number of shares in CHOAM. House Furude’s main income was voluntary donations made by the people of Tanna, which were mostly in species since money was often used to buy farming equipment. Rika had the Furude shrine, a temple back from the days of glory, which also worked as her living quarters. Nobody would expect for such a House, a House of the Landsraad in name only to have a Mentat, but Satoko was there, and her skill could not be doubted.

A year ago, Rika arrived with a rather small child, barely a teen, purple hair and eyes. Rika had begun training her, this day it was Satoko’s turn to overlook the little girl’s exercises. Satoko stopped looking at her filmbook and raised her hand to call the girl’s attention. “Not like that Hanyuu, you must be relaxed until the time to strike. Start over”

“Hau hau!!! It is so hard, to be relaxed but awaiting?!” Hanyuu slumped onto the floor, her muscles were screaming from the training.

Satoko looked at her, it had been hours since Rika had left, and training in these conditions would begin to harm Hanyuu more than helping her Yes perhaps she should take a break… No, we should take a break. I had been working too much lately. Satoko sat up “I’ll go get some tea. You can take a break”

Hanyuu slowly neared Satoko’s working area and began reading the filmbooks, Arrakis the capital of the Imperium, the holy war that began from said planet, the billions of lives lost to the Jihad. Planet after planet cleansed and converted, Hanyuu felt an instinctive disgust for the bloodshed, and out of reflex she dropped the filmbook on the ground and began trampling on it, the sight of it, the idea of blood itself made Hanyuu feel uneasy, something in her body rejected the very concept of violence, she stopped until Satoko pulled her in an embrace.

Satoko did not understand how primal Hanyuu’s reaction had been, she began to cry, she felt sorry for making a mess of Satoko’s working place, but she was not punished.

Satoko did not know what made Hanyuu do it, but she knew what could had been, she had lived in such stress lately. The threat of the Jihad had not gone away for planets like Tanna, a small population who would rather die than to betray their priestess Rika in favor of Emperor Muad’Dib and St. Alia of the Knife. What have you done to this child Rika, bringing her to a world like this? I was already dead, but this child still had hope.

The secret leader of the order

She was before a great tree, it moved as if it had flesh as parts of it, exposed flesh that oozed a red sap, every fruit known to men, and some lost to time dangling from the branches. She stood in a great garden, the leaves cracked when she moved, it had been ages since someone had set foot on that ground. She felt the insects walking happily around her feet, the trees around them all bearing different fruits, from the tree’s sap one red river was born, it then divided into four currents, the trees around clearing the sap leaving it as water when it finally came out of the garden.

Even in this digested state said water fed earth’s rivers with life. The source of 8MS as a whole, the creator of life as we know it on earth, and of course its protector. The tree of life, in a world between worlds, where the small streams fed great rivers, the Ganges, the Amazon, the Yang Tze and of course the Nile spreading through earth feeding humans as a gift, a promise made by the tree eons ago. Seshat held her sandals on her left hand, she had taken them off before coming before the great tree.

A fruit dropped before Seshat, a golden fruit with a sweet smell. She bit into it, then could hear the tree inside of her mind. “Has our debugger succeeded?”

Seshat nodded, of course it had succeeded, it had even sealed its fate, its father too had complied fully knowing what would happen next “LD 2001 has complied too as well as her mate”

Seshat continued eating the fruit, she felt how it gave her strength

“I wish we could save them all, but shielding them too much will regress the species. Only now had that damage been done” The tree said with a sad voice. It had given humans fruits to make them powerful, to make them smarter, and they built great cities with that knowledge, two capitals, Lemuria and Atlantis, but said cities began relying on the tree for sustenance, hedonism took over their society. When the tree stopped feeding them their cities collapsed, Lemuria, located in Yucatan exploded causing a massive extinction event, Atlantis was less impressive, it did not go out with a bang but a wimper, it slowly declined until its society had completely forgotten about their wonders.

Just now had humans learned how to manipulate nature again, then war struck and killed most of them, then they learned how to control the tree’s own pollen, 8MS, the gift allowed them to survive, but it had to be taken away again. Gladly LD 2001 had planned accordingly and worked in said plan independently. Humans themselves knew that they were relying too much on it. The three of life, yes it had helped them, but if LD 2001 did not work with her servants to undo the human actions with its pollen, the tree would have turned it poisonous. There was no way of predicting that, but humans had passed the test.

Now it was all on the debugger, and it was working fine, the supervisors of the tree of life, the council of god, would see that their project was working. After all they had succeeded in producing more angels, LD prime, BC 00, Aurum, EUA, all of them products of said project, all of them far more powerful than the tree. Of course the tree was a God, an angel of ancient times, a Seraphim who had taken upon the task of working with the failed human project. Seshat was her acolyte, and both had seen it succeed. Though humanity was not stable, it would be the second time humans would die. Why were gods creating a species that could create things more powerful than them? Because the Gods believed in something greater, and feared it, and hope that one day they will produce something powerful enough to make themselves be noticed by the entity that has ignored them, that or actually creating said entity, to be proper angels, and serve a God, even if they had to work directly to create it.

Another fruit fell before Seshat, it was a fruit she had already eaten, she knew it, the fruit of life, the peach of immortality, in legend even if you had offended the gods you could not die by their hand if you ate said peach. Of course immortality is an illusion, it just means you cannot die by common means, though this fruit made the one who consumed it so resistant to everything, that it made them virtually immortal for 10 thousand years. It had been less than that since Seshat had eaten the fruit, it was not for her.

Seshat took another bite, and another thought of the tree came into her mind “It is a failsafe, save whoever needs to be saved so our project does not fail”

“Is this allowed?” Sheshat said to the tree, then took another bite of her fruit

“There is no rule forbidding it, perhaps it will not be allowed after we do it”

Seshat nodded and took another bite “That’s all” The tree said, Seshat respectfully finished her fruit, and planted the seed on her way out. She took the fruit into her pocket, PH426, the most dangerous artifact of the tree of life. So this was their plan, have the debugger wipe humanity, and let Seshat save those who deserved to be saved. After all its promise after flooding the earth was that the next wave would be of fire. Only those who deserve to live would survive. What a terrible fate for humans, though this was the only way to spare them from the tree’s equal.

The face angel, the hand of destruction, it would come soon if everything they did had failed, only the fruit would be the salvation of humanity, though how many people could take a bite of a peach? How many bites does a peach have? Seshat, now out checked that very question in her mind, but no answer came, just recipes for peach pie. Perhaps she could take the juice out and feed a few drops to as many people as she could. That would work, but she had to see who drank said juice, one wrong person and the whole plan would fail.

Midir… Epilogue

Yuuka was watching the fights during the masquerade incident, she looked around and found something odd, Daiyousei was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged, perhaps she was busy writing or something around those lines. Yuuka rarely went out of her home, but this was an interesting occurrence. Kasen approached her for a moment and handed her a small letter with a harp wax seal on the envelope.

“Some elven courier left it at my temple years ago… I imagine I could hand it to you today” Kasen sighed “I tried to hand it to you earlier but your garden is a maze… and your home honestly creeps me out”

Yuuka sighed “I should get a PO box actually… This is not the first time this happens. I think there is a vampire in my lawn and she eats trespassers”

“You just found out about Kurumi?!” Kasen couldn’t help it but laugh

“Her name is Kurumi? It’s cute… Perhaps I should invite her in, maybe that way I can get visits again” She laughed

“It wouldn’t make any difference actually”

“Let me dream okay?” Yuuka sighed and opened the letter, it was from Daiyousei, she was in a far away kingdom she managed to single handedly conquer from an undead army. There was a smile on her face, it would be offensive to think any less of Daiyousei, after all there was little difference between herself and her sister. Yuuka made up the physical shortcomings with magic, in fact they were born in equal conditions, Yuuka’s own physical handicap gave her the need to develop her magic to a greater degree. That was the only difference between them, Yuuka had to fight for survival from an early age. Both carried the seed of destruction, Bhairavi and Bhairava, two halves of a whole. Something Daiyousei never believed, though perhaps now she would begin to learn about it.

Yes it was true Yuuka’s own body was honed to be an unstoppable force, but Daiyousei could achieve greatness through other means, Yuuka’s own path was not the only one. She could not teach Daiyousei how to find her own strength, after all the Mahavidyas, the destroyers, were killed at birth. They were alone in that path, even Rudra who had walked it, the only one besides them who had walked on said path of destruction, knew that the best way to go was to let others find it out themselves.

Midir the other half

Daiyousei, or better said, the fairy known as Daiyousei has a secret, a secret she keeps from everyone. Every time she feels down she goes home and dresses up as Kazami Yuuka, she curls her hair using rollers and puts on clothes exactly like hers, she flies around the house acting entitled and sits to have a cup of tea, then tosses the teacup on the ground and complains about the quality of it.

A few of those times she goes outside with some gold coins, gold coins she gets from Larva and expends them on flowers and desserts in the human village. It is not the fear humans show towards her, but the respect, the way they see her is entirely different. Even those who had dealt with Yuuka personally, such as Kasen or Reimu, do not notice the difference, of course they would not, there is no difference in their face, just the eye color, and even that is not entirely true. Daiyousei could also use magic to turn her eyes red, then her and Yuuka would look just the same, just as how Yuuka turned her eyes green at times to make herself look less intimidating, something that of course, did not work.

Nobody looked down on her, even when she was sitting down, physically people would not look at her directly unless she looked at them first. Daiyousei at first did it for just a few minutes, Cirno flew away scared the time she showed up dressed like that. Daiyousei was actually afraid someone would come to attack her, so she returned home and dressed again as herself.

Though with time, Daiyousei realized that she could go out dressed like that and nobody would even attempt to harm her. Suika or Yuugi had met her in that form, though when they tried to punch her in the shoulder “lightly” to test her strength all she had to do was glare at them with a serious expression. Even the big Deva of the mountain would prefer to laugh at their own actions than probably bothering the Sleeping terror.

She met Aya one day, taking pictures while she drank tea, Daiyousei boldly asked “How tall am I?”

“About 1.80m I imagine” she said then continued working, Aya did not lie, she indeed saw Yuuka as that tall, when in fact Yuuka was about as tall as Daiyousei. She did not even try to change her voice, she spoke normally, yet Aya did not hear any difference in the voice, even when Wriggle or Rumia told her that her voice was more acute than Yuuka’s.

Physically there was no difference between them both, Daiyousei had the same height, the same voice, the same hair, though people could not help it but think of Yuuka as an entirely different person. Daiyousei loved that feeling, not being Yuuka, but being respected, being treated with such care, she had to often overpay restaurants, her endorsement was more than what they could ask for.

After the fairy wars, Daiyousei felt particularly depressed, everyone had ignored her in the entire affair. She was just seen as another fairy while Cirno got all the attention. She wanted to be seen as someone important again, so she got dressed as Yuuka and walked out of her home to the human village.

She went and bought herself a big bouquet of flowers, so big that she even doubted she could carry it, of course she made sure to pay the florist well, after all she was not a thief, Yuuka may get mad at the idea of Daiyousei dressing up as her, but she would be livid to hear that she ruined her image.

An elven child approached Daiyousei and tugged at her skirt. She turned around to see him, then gave him a couple of flowers. Then continued without uttering a word, though he did not let her go. With tears on his eyes he dropped the flowers to kneel before her. “Please help me!” he cried out “We cannot stand it anymore, we need you!”

Daiyousei gave him a coy smile “Child I cannot answer every call for help I hear. There are more heroes around the area”

“None of them want to help us! They say they cannot face an army” He continued still kneeling “Please I beg you lady Brighid, we need you”

Daiyousei narrowed her eyes, nobody around here knew Yuuka’s actual name, much less pronounce it. She replied in sylvan “Kid, Derg should take care of your kingdom for all I care”

“We are not in his kingdom, our lord is dead, our land has been conquered and we had been enslaved by the undead”

Daiyousei wanted to help, but what could she do? Throw stones at the army? Blind them with a flash of light? Maybe make them trip with grass. “Accept your fate then child, I already have to take care of my own land” she turned around

“They said you would be afraid… The Litch King let me go, he said you would never come to face him” He said that in Sylvan, that language was odd, you could never lie in Sylvan, if you tried to the words themselves would not allow you to.

Daiyousei had been careful not to lie in Sylvan, she had to take care of her land, even if her land was just the small place, she called home. She shivered internally, and smirked at the kid with a prideful expression “That bastard thinks he can talk about me like that? Show me the way, carry my flowers”

The kid held the bouquet and guided Daiyousei out of Gensokyo, through Makai then towards a far away kingdom west from their home. One could not even call that land earth, this was a different world, even Daiyousei did not fully know how it worked, she just accepted the fact that there were other worlds.

The land was desolate, burned homes and starving farmers carrying stones to build a great wall. Daiyousei thought for a minute, of course she had to be careful because undead were hard to fool. After thinking of many plans, she decided on the most outlandish of them all, because it is exactly what Yuuka would do. She flew all the way up to the highest tower of the castle in which the undead army resided, and modified their flag using magic to have a green and red flag, with a yellow harp in the green side and a sunflower in the red side.

She then did the same with every flag and began ordering the farmers to stop carrying stones and tend to the gardens, the undead armies were baffled at the actions of this tiny woman, ordering their own slaves, completely ignoring them.

Daiyousei had to keep breaking so her nervousness would not show, luckily the undead who she was ignoring were more afraid of her than she was of them. They saw the flag; they recognized the symbols in the banner and the fact that she began treating this place as her own made them doubt their own orders and so they decided to run towards the castle.

“My leash our flags had been changed to the Dannan coat of arms!” They ran screaming to their master.

The undead necromancer tilted his head “What do you mean by that? Change them back!”

“Milord they had been changed by a fairy clad in red” they said “As red as her eyes” They could not refuse a direct order, though they knew changing the flag would put their master’s life at risk, that was their only fear.

The litch rushed out to a window and looked at the green and red banners flapping in the sky, then down at the farmers carrying soil and seeds, watering the fields. He rushed out to meet Daiyousei sitting calmly in the fields, overlooking the operation.

“Greetings good sir, sorry for the intermission but I consider such an insult to the land offensive in a personal degree. Thus I will be claiming this land as mine, any questions?” She turned to face him with a wide smile

“We leave your lands alone lady, let me grow my empire in peace we pose no threat to you” he said

She laughed “Yes but what you do to the earth is disgusting”

“Then we will make sure the land remains fertile, but we need protection, we need the souls of this farmers to survive. You know how cattle farming works; we can come to a compromise” He sat besides Daiyousei looking at the ground as he spoke.

“You had lands what happened to them?” She asked

“A demon army came and took it away from us, their capital was destroyed and thus they needed resources, resources they decided to take from us. We could not fight them back, so we conquered this place to claim it our own. I know you are reasonable lady; we ask to be allowed to live here if we can meet your demands”

Daiyousei waved away the king “Sir you had your chance and lost it, why would I buy the idea of a demon army anyway?”

The litch looked up, the purple lights in his empty sockets looked deep into Daiyousei “Because you are the one who destroyed their capital. But you do not know that…” He began to laugh

Daiyousei floated up laughing “I know that but why would I care?!”

The litch looked around “Moreover… I made a threat and your only response was laughter. I see it now, you are not Brighid, you are someone else”

She gulped, he used a dispel on her flight and made her plummet to the ground “So lady this is how it is, you are not the princess of the Dannan”

“I am a Dannan princess!” She yelled out loud “I am the eldest of the children of Dagda second king of the fairies, twin sister of Brighid herself. I am Midir and I will have no mercy upon you!”

He chuckled “I don’t need your mercy child, I know of you, the little disappointment of the Dannan family, the one who always lived in Brighid’s shadow”

“If you hurt me she will come back to do to you what you did to me tenfold”

“That is if she finds out” He laughed “But I guess she does not know you are here impersonating her, or else she would had not let you tarnish her image like that”

A stone was thrown at his head, three farmers then launched at him using their tools to attempt to hurt him. The king quickly killed them though this short distraction allowed Daiyousei to fly up again.

She then looked at the castle, its doors were opened, and under the throne a large trunk, she turned herself invisible and flew towards that trunk, she began hitting the lock with her umbrella, the lock was unscathed at the first hit, though the umbrella was not, of course not, it was a replica.

Daiyousei though took one of the wires from the umbrella and began picking the lock, she opened it to find a large skull filled with jewels on it, she punched it, then felt the pain of hitting precious stones with her bare hands.

She thought for a moment, then remembered something, fairy blood can heal, she used the same wire to sever one of her wrists and began to pour said blood upon the skull, a curdling scream came from the outside, the king rushed back inside, though he did not even manage to take more than two steps before his body began to decompose and turn to dust. Daiyousei turned visible again, her wound slowly healing, though she was too harmed to keep the illusion.

The guards inside the place looked at her and dropped their weapons, they rushed out screaming. It was already clear she was not Yuuka, but she had just killed their leader, self-preservation was the only thing driving them now, and Daiyousei was a threat to them.

The flags returned to their former dark colors, her eyes turned green again, she was drained. Outside the people began to cheer they poured into the castle and lifted Daiyousei up into the air cheering her name, her actual name.

III Smoking mirror

When we arrived from the sea a dragon was already waiting for him, green hair and eyes just like the one I had helped cross the sea, and black scales, it was a little larger in size, though a young one too. It glared at me the moment I came to land, but he was glad to see his brother, something he let clear by lowering his claws when the white dragon explained something in their tongue. The land had forests too, so I could continue traveling.

In the forest I found Devas, wild, illiterate Devas, I would even doubt they could be called such, thus we fairies begun using the term humans to describe them. They were foraging for roots to eat, insects and fruits. It was a sad scene, so I decided to walk up to them, I removed a leaf from my hand and allowed blood to drip to the ground.

I didn’t know Devas like this could exist, and it made me sad, there were no Devas at home, only dragons and fairies. After all this was a dragon world, Devas did not like dragon worlds, full of wild fairies and dangerous animals, yet here they were. My blood and some magic fell onto a wild plant, making it grow and become something they could better eat, a single husk full to the brim with big fat corns of several colors.

They found it tough and tenderized it with some minerals they had in their own land, after all they were still Deva, they still changed the land to fit them, we fairies did the same but not to that extent. With those seeds they made flat breads, within a year they were growing said corns, elotl or maize they named it and they named me Xipe or “Our skinned lord”

When their first harvest was done and their bellies full a young woman, close to my height willfully gave up her life, so that her skin could be given to me as an offering. Which I gladly took. It felt like dying, or so I thought, I was used to the pain it was to me my sense of self, then suddenly there was none, the wind felt like a gentle stroke, the ground soft and friendly.

The dragons came in later, they gave gifts to the Deva too, it was the white dragon, Quetzalcoatl, the feathered snake, as they called him who gave them the knowledge of softening their food using lime. The darker one, Tezcatlipoca, the smoking mirror, gave them fire and stone working. I had to tell the fairies at home about the humans in the west, these wild Devas, we could prove to the smart ones that we were better than them, that we cared for those who were below us.

II Feathered snake

It was a rather large dragon, white as marble and hair green and shiny with red tones. A water breathing dragon, as dangerous as a fire breathing one but a lot more reasonable since they found treasure in alliances and wisdom and not just gold like the others. I took out a small honey cake from my bag and left it in the ground before the dragon, he smelled it and licked it off. He was rather young, about twice my size, honestly, he could still eat me if he so wished but he liked the cake.

I didn’t speak Deva, neither he spoke Sylvan, there was a slight bow from his head, and I retorted, it was clear his intention wasn’t consuming me as a snack. Water dragons were rarely seen in this lands and the fact he didn’t speak Sylvan, like all dragons in the area was reason to believe he was traveling. He also carried a pouch, but it had almost no food, which made me realize his intentions, he didn’t want me to become his supper, but he needed help for it. I was running low on food as well, bread was beginning to get moldy since it was full of cream and eggs, I tossed it out, but the dragon found it to be quite tasty.

Even if I could explain that it was spoiled perhaps, he didn’t want to know, how bad was the food he ate if he considered a spoiled cake was good? Or how good was the food I ate? We stacked in berries and acorns, some squirrels he managed to catch became part of our goods, I skinned them and laid the meat as straps around his pouch so they could dry, I did the same with mine.

This young dragon never tried to attack me, so I kept the Suryan seal to myself. He invited me to ride on his back and fly across the sea, it was clear we both sought to do that, and neither could do it alone. He could soar through wind currents but the wind itself would prove dangerous in the open sea with no mountains to hold it. Swimming was not an option for him either, sea dragons are extremely territorial, they would tear him to pieces, same case as mine.

Though me as a fairy I could control wind, speak to it and make it carry us to any direction we wanted, this is the simplest of spells, so much so that even our children use it to fly, it comes to us as naturally as it does to dragons to spit water. But to fly in the open sea, for someone who can control wind is difficult since we are not large, we cannot pierce through the clouds and ride the wind, dragons do that, we float in the wind we create.

Many love the idea of riding a dragon, but dragons are not rides, I was allowed to do so because I would keep him on air, he needed me as much as I needed him, dragons only allow you to ride their backs if they receive something in return. Perhaps in modern times tales would tell I had a pet but in ancient times the tale would tell it the other way around, after all dragons were way more respectable than fairies, we were created to serve them but some of us escaped and hid in mounds. Wild fairies were seen as savage creatures and to be honest we didn’t make it any easier on them, I knew what dragon meat tasted like and probably this dragon knew it. I assume he didn’t try to eat me for the same reason I didn’t attack him either, we knew we had to work together to travel. I doubt I could had attacked him even if I wanted, later on he actually admitted he was afraid of me when we met, I reeked of blood and was covered in leaves, he was afraid I would vanish into the forest and hunt him down from there, he was amused I was afraid he would try to attack me too, after all it wasn’t cooperation, but fear that kept us safe from each other.

I Our skinned lord

Father told me the day I was born mother passed, he never told me she did it herself when she saw me. It was a blessing though, it allowed him to marry into the Dannan family, considering he was a simple fairy with a sick child, being married to Boann, younger sister of Nuada allowed us to become part of their family. He never stopped loving mother, in fact he never forgot her, he married because he wasn’t sure I would even be able to survive.

The moment I was born I cried and had to learn to live with the pain from that moment, the world’s mere existence, the wind, the sun was all pain to me. Mother could only last for three days after she gave up, father though, decided to raise me, he was unsure the small skinless baby would be able to even grow up to call him father, yet he tried. He held me in his hands so small that I would fit in them, gasping for air to cry, fully knowing the touch of his skin hurt less than the blankets.

Using his sorcery he made the worms produce a filament so thin, so strong it could make a strong fabric soft enough to hold me in without causing that much pain, he weaved it himself and wrapped me in it, the white fabric turned red the moment it touched me, but it was the first time I stopped crying.

Most of my childhood I expended indoors, reading along with father which made my brothers resent me. When left alone they wouldn’t waste a chance to simply spit on me, their saliva being particularly hurtful in my body. I learned later on that to make them stop I had to retaliate, Derg, my older brother had taken one of my notebooks and began to make fun of the way I write, how messy and bloody the pages were.

His mother tried to separate us, but she was thrown away by accident, something I never fully understood, had she tripped on me? Why was her arm bruised? One of the guards came and gripped me wrapping his arms around me, I tossed and turned, I kicked but ultimately, he had me. After cleaning Derg they were outraged at the fact that some of the blood that covered him was in fact his own.

Father tried to tell me why what I had done was wrong, it wasn’t about defending myself, it was about losing myself to rage. Apparently I had grabbed Boann by the arm and tossed her away, something she did not expect, Derg was in pretty bad shape too, we fairies heal quickly but he had sustained major hits, I expected that, he was younger than me but Boann?

It was worth the punishment, being locked away for a month did feel great, I had nobody to bother me, nobody to hurt me which to me was a reward. The same went with the rest of my brothers. Honestly, they could have retaliated, but Boann had made them promise not to try to harm me directly, which was why they were bothering me in the first place. Perhaps she would had chosen her words differently if she knew the outcome.

Boann was in any form of manner my mother, neither did she try to be, though she genuinely tried to maintain me in a rather safe environment, or what she considered safe to be honest. To avoid me the pain of going to war, she arranged a marriage with the Fomorians, that way I could remain neutral in the current conflict.

With father I found a way to cover myself with leaves, using them as skin of my own, it wasn’t as resistant, it hurts all the time, but it made the world more bearable. That made my late childhood a time I fondly remember, no fear of my brothers, no fear of touching anything. Which allowed me to go out more.

I loved going out to find new types of flowers and collect their seeds, categorizing them and writing about them in my own made up language. One day I found lotus flowers in a pond, something rare as I came to learn later, it was the first time I saw one of those, a miracle considering I was in a planet where there had never been a Lotus.

It was out here in the open for a reason, even when it shouldn’t be, it should have died in this environment yet there it was. I brought father to see the flower, he in turn brought Boann, they agreed my idea of going out to see the world was for the best, but they also handed me a seal of the royal Suryan family, this way I could act as an envoy and nobody would dare to attack me. Father crafted me a staff with copper casings on the edges, I was not old, or capable enough to gain my own weapon so this was the most they could do.

Father handed me a silk cape, which was already colored red, as all my clothes were so my own blood wouldn’t show as a stain. Still as a child but not old enough to gain my weapon I decided to leave and see the world, find a cure for my own illness or a way to survive.

I thought they had given me a great amount of food, later I learned all of it would quickly spoil, in fact Boann nor father expected me to actually leave. Knowing that out in the open I would just bait dragons I decided to travel through the forest, when it ended, I was met with the sea. I had never seen the sea, it was majestic but the wind it brought over made me feel particularly uneasy. I’d ride a kelpie to cross it but from old tale a kelpie would feel tired and fall asleep during the way, I wasn’t willing to become a fleshy bait in the sea either.

Tripura Bhairavi, Bright fairy princess

Their civilizations were at the brink of war, Brighid was one of the main pieces on said war, so was Rudra. They were enemies in many regards but they had decided long ago to remain friends at the personal level, they were born into their species for a reason and so they had a duty to ensure the best for each, there was nothing personal on their actions against each other. Brighid had promised to kill the Indra though Rudra would have done the same if placed in her situation, he often asked her for council, fully knowing her advice would affect her negatively she gave it honestly, so did Rudra. After all Rudra saw much of him in the fairy, more than what he saw in the other Mahavidya.

Brighid scared of death for the first time in her life asked Rudra for advice. Rudra the dark-skinned Deva, the pelts covering his body did not hide the fact that it was well toned and athletic. The strongest of the Mahavidyas, he had skill with fire that rivaled that of the Indra but his ability with wind was better than anyone, he could even summon wind in space, using dust as medium, his physical strength and skill in combat made him a great warrior, something he taught Brighid and in turn she taught to Amaterasu. He did not teach how to fight but how to develop your own form of fighting.

Seeing Brighid in fear was uncharacteristic, the woman named “Bhairavi” or the terror by Krishna, Rudra did not even doubt her capacity to dispose of the Indra, he knew she had not done it because without him the Suryan army would attack and they weren’t prepared for it. Rudra knew that whatever troubled Brighid he could help, if anyone could, it would be him.

“What troubles you sister?” Rudra said while she sat to rest on a rock.

“I am married to a man who takes pleasure in killing his wives. They made me vow to not harm him”

Rudra smiled “Is that everything? Remember that you are not a fairy with the power to destroy, we are not forces of nature but nature itself. Our magic is different from other Deva in that we do not absorb mana from the universe from our chakra, our chakras feed the universe”

“Yet my body is a vessel that can be broken” Brighid said, she had heard this before, she had even tested it and it was true, others could do cast stronger spells if she was around, they would be even stronger if they were in good terms with her. Derg usually could only cast minor illusions, though when she was around he could make it seem as if the illusion was real, if she were actively trying to help him the illusion did turn real.

“So is his, you promised not to harm his body, what about changing it?” Rudra laughed “They always forget something in those contracts”

Brighid remained silent for a moment, she then began to smile “Thank you brother” she then stood up and left.

It was not long after their marriage when Bres, her husband, did try to harm her. She was sleeping, he had tried to cut her throat, he even succeeded at it though he failed at actually taking her life. She woke up while her magic passively healed her wound, there was a wide smile on her face.

“I think you had suffered a great deal when a child for you to treat your loved ones this way” Brighid said “You could not have a childhood so here is my gift to you” she came closer while Bres shook in fear, he stumbled against the wall and closed his eyes, all while Brighid leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

He knew the kiss wasn’t it, the transition was not painful, not physically, he saw how his clothes began to grow along with everything else. He looked at the knife, too large for him to handle. Bres had become a child, though his expression became that of despair when Brighid spoke again “Eternal youth and eternal life!”

He was trapped in a child body, unable to harm anyone, even if he tried he couldn’t try to subdue Brighid any more than the wind subdues the grass. Bres took the knife and ran it through his throat, he though woke up a few minutes later alive, unharmed.

“That is not a gift! This is a curse!”

Brighid patted him on the head “Dear husband it is a gift, you will need time to appreciate it though”

When word came out of what Brighid had done the court slowly began to include her more and ignore her husband not out of respect but out of fear, none of them had any idea she could do something like that, before she had only used her spear and her ability which was already intimidating, though now they learned something else, her magic was powerful. Bres was not a simple prince, he was a powerful fairy whose magic could even control life, though to Brighid he was just a toy.

Elatha did not fear her though, he was the king of the Fomorians, Elatha found his son to have twisted ways and blamed himself for his atrocities. When he saw his son trapped, he thanked his new daughter, she had given him a punishment that to many would be a beautiful blessing, many complain about the pains of adulthood something Bres would not have to deal with anymore. So thankful he was that he promised a favor to Brighid, fully knowing what she would ask for, it was then when the Fomorians officially reunited with the Tuatha de Dannan. When they became an unified force that to the surprise of many lend their forces to work for the Deva.