I wake up first, as usual, and begin my morning workout. Today is abs and back day. I alternate between ab exercises like crunches, oblique twists, and reverse crunches, then switch to back exercises, starting with the 'superman'—lying prone, stretching my arms forward, and lifting my chest off the ground. When I'm ready for rows, I pour out the water from the pitcher into my glass. As Ash stirs awake, I whisper, "Pssst. Can I borrow your body weight? It would really help my workout if you got in this pitcher." Ash yawns, stretches his tiny body, and says, "Sure." He hops into the pitcher. I begin my rows for my back, the motion lulling Ash back to sleep. The glass water pitcher lets me admire this adorable sleeping squirrel, so I take extra care not to jostle him awake as I exercise. I can't help smiling at how cute my little friend is.
Once I am done with my rows, I place the pitcher back on the table and pet his little head with a finger, ever so slightly so as not to wake him. I then grab my glass, take the last of the water from the pitcher, and start drinking it. Turning to the bed while drinking my water, I see that Vi is awake. She is sitting up, her head propped, with one hand on her side. She smiles an ever-so-tender smile and whispers, "You are so diligent. You are like the knights here at the castle. They usually do stuff like this before coming to work. I would rather do stretching exercises or something personally. The extent of my upper-body strength comes from sword fighting during my princess duties regimen. I have a rapier that I am pretty decent with. I just don't like toting it around the castle. It would tear holes in my favorite dresses, and we cannot have that. I would love to wear trousers so I could actually wield my sword if I need to, but my mother won't allow it. She says, 'A princess needs to always look her best. Leave the 'protecting' to the knights.'"
I interject in a whisper as well, "Ew. I hate that for you." She sighs and continues in a whisper, "She was never a fan of me learning the way of the sword. I asked my father, and he was elated to teach me one-on-one. He called it his beloved father-and-daughter time. He doesn't have that much time to spar these days, though, so I spar with the other knights usually. Because of my sword training, my mother was harder on me in my princess etiquette classes. The gracefulness you see in me is the years of cruel training from my mother hammered into me because of my love for the sword."
I purr, "Oooh, I didn't know you were a fighter." I whisper as I approach her, then kiss her. "I love women who can kick ass," I say, purring and leaning in to kiss her again. She purrs back, biting her lip, her passion-filled blue eyes on me. "Oh, I remember that tea party as if it were yesterday. I knew I wanted you, but after hearing your response to what you looked for in a woman, I was even more smitten. I was never more certain of my decision to propose to make you mine than in that moment, hearing you love women who can kick ass. You made my heart skip a beat." I purr in her ear, feeling turned on, "If you want to get me riled up for the bedroom, invite me to watch you spar sometime. I would love to see you fight." Vi gives a seductive smirk, "Ooooh, keep talking like that, and we will never leave here today." She kisses me tenderly. After our kiss, I say, "As much as I would love to stay and kiss you, I probably should go wash myself before Nat arrives with our breakfast. We have a really busy day today." She groans slightly, "Fine. Be responsible," then gives me one more kiss and squeezes my butt. She pulls away, "Alright, let me let you go. At this rate, I really will keep you here all day." She lightly smacks my butt, careful not to wake Ash. I say, "Alright then, I will be right back, and then we can head out." With that, I go to the baths to wash off all my sweat. I could use purify, but that would waste valuable magic I need for others today.
Vi, Sir Stirling, Sir Brody, and I got into town, which makes it sound small, but this place was a ginormous city. Looking around, it was a terrible sight. My earring starts making a loud beeping sound that only I can hear. It is slow, like they are in town but not near us. It is really loud, and I can't think, so I turn the volume down manually to a level I can handle. Ash was already gone doing his mission, and we got started immediately. There were sick people everywhere. The capital was lifeless and devoid of any positive emotion. I can find light magic users on the way. Everybody needs help, not just them. Every person I saw, I healed. Every person I healed awakened their magic, too. It is like we are killing two birds with one stone. Though now that I can talk to animals, I do not know if I like that phrase. But healing and solving the tightening epidemic at the same time really worked out.
It also felt like when I used 'heal' on them, it temporarily shielded them from their negative emotion. I also felt this with Nat when I healed her, and the continued feeling confirms it. I don't know how long it would last, though. It is hard to explain how I know it; it's just an innate feeling. I also noticed today that, when healing people with earth magic, it strengthens the user's power like a power-up, and their hair grows a few inches and glows like a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z, just without turning blonde, and it does not stand up. Their hair does look like it is flowing with magic, in constant motion, wiggling like a snake. More like super saiyan medusas. They even healed twice as fast as everyone else, too. This will definitely come in handy on my journey. I just need to find an earth magic user I can trust whose goals align with my own.
The earth magic users in town basically redecorated the place, adding a bunch of vines, bushes, decorative stones, flowers, and even a variety of fruit, all with abundant magical energy, while others creatively changed the landscape. All around town was suddenly filled with color after a certain number of people awakened and/or powered up. The streets began to come back alive. People are grabbing flowers and fruit from the vines and bushes. I actually grabbed fruit as I went since I couldn't afford to stop for breaks. Eating with one hand and healing with the other whenever I got hungry, which was constantly after a certain point. I noticed a few demihumans, or as they call them, 'demons', in the fields working as slaves.
I go to heal them, but Vi stops me, gritting her teeth. "As much as I would love you to do that, you would probably go to prison. We have a law protecting people's property, and slaves are counted in that. If you heal them and awaken their powers, they will have the power to free themselves, and therefore they won't be property anymore." I glare, venom in my words. "That is seriously fucked up. I really want to help them." Vi sighs, pressing her finger gracefully to her furrowed brow. "We need to figure out a way to change the laws. We might be able to, since everyone is now awakened. Earth magic users can use their magic to expedite the harvesting process, so that manual labor from slaves will soon be unnecessary. I will have to talk to my father." I sigh in frustration at my inability to help them and continue healing the humans.
I healed people all day, nonstop. As it got dark, I started feeling lightheaded. Vi saw me grab my head and stagger, reaching out. "Oh no, you must be running low on magic. We need to get you back to the castle and rest." She pulled out a bottle and brought it to my lips. "Here, drink this. This one isn't as bitter as some others, so it isn't that bad. It's dangerous to lose too much magic, so I packed one of these elixirs just in case. Sadly, they don't work right away. I have to take care of my precious, Zoe." As I finished the bottle, my eyes got heavy and refused to stay open.
When I woke up, I found a room filled with flowers, and the smell of baked goods, filled with fruit from all the vines that covered the town, wafted through the air. My stomach was roaring like a starved caged beast. Vi was sleeping next to me, holding my hand, and Ash was curled up with me. When I stirred, Vi woke up, and with those blue eyes filled with worry, she said, "Oh, hey, you're finally awake. How are you feeling?" I reply as I stretch out in bed under these covers, getting acclimated to being awake. "A lot better and ravenously hungry." Vi giggles. "Yeah, that happens with magic depletion. The body burns a lot of calories using magic to restore magic power. If a person doesn't have the right care or maybe uses too much magic, they can actually die from magic depletion, so you must be careful and bring one of those magic restorative elixirs with you at all times when you know you will be using a lot of magic. Magic is essential to human life. Life cannot exist without it here. The villagers were so thankful for your diligent work that they gifted us with these flowers and baked goods. Here, let me grab you something to eat." She reaches over and grabs me what appears to be some sort of pastry. I take a bite and moan with pleasure at the mouth-watering fruit-filled pastry and wolf it down quickly, almost too quickly to taste it, because I was so hungry.
I say to Vi, not even close to satiated, "I will need you to keep them coming. I could eat a lot more of these and still be hungry." She giggles and brings two baskets of a variety of treats each, and I start stuffing my face, restoring the calories I burned trying to recover. Eating like this makes me feel like an anime protagonist. Lots of anime have a protagonist who can put down some food, and right now, I feel like Luffy from One Piece or Goku from Dragon Ball Z. I am putting these treats back, and part of me is wondering where it is all going. Though I can't seem to stop eating. My body is saying it needs more. More fuel to restore what I used. I wonder if it is dissolving faster in my stomach because of an absorption thing with my core? That is probably it. Otherwise, my stomach would have probably burst by now.
Vi kept giving me basket after basket until I ate my fill. I ate all of the treats the townsfolk gifted me, and I lay back against the wall and put my hands on my belly in satisfaction. Vi giggles, "By the goddess, I do not think I have ever seen anyone ever eat so much food in one sitting. Just how much magic do you need? You must have a huge reserve. Well, you have to if you were able to use your heal spell back to back to back all day yesterday with no breaks, only grabbing a quick bite to eat on the go in between healings while not slowing down at all. Eating with one hand and healing with the other. I do not know of anyone who can use magic constantly for a whole day like that. With how you just ate, it's no wonder you still suffered magic depletion. You would have needed a much larger quantity of fruit, but you obviously couldn't because you were working hard, using more energy than you were consuming. You are on par with demonkind. Their magic capacity is insane and reminds me of yours. Every day you amaze me even more. I can't wait to see what you do next." She says this as she comes to kiss me.
Ash is stirring awake and perks up adorably when he sees I am awake and feeling more alive, "Zoe, you're awake! I have a report! Yesterday, while flying around to see if there might be something toxic making people sick, I made two discoveries. The river water the townsfolk use to collect is toxic. The animals have all been avoiding it. If you look carefully, you will see the occasional dead fish floating. They are also using that water to water their vegetable gardens, so a lot of their vegetables are toxic too." I replied, very concerned, "Oh no. No wonder so many people got sick. Since I feel better now, let's go there now and use my purify spell." Vi says, "What did Ash find out?" I relay everything to Vi, and she is frightful, "How could something like this happen? Was this intentional?" Ash shakes his head, "That brings me to my other discovery, which was the cause of the toxic water. I flew upstream and found a griffin corpse submerged in the river."
I gasp in shock at the news, "Griffins exist here?!" Vi replies, confused, raising an eyebrow, "They didn't in your world?" I shake my head, "Only in the realm of fantasy. Though after seeing the similarities between Earth and Gaos, I wouldn't be surprised if they did exist just long before I was born. That would explain why griffins are so widely known around the world in different cultures. Knowing humans and how horrible they can be, they probably hunted them for sport." Vi sighs completely, relating to my words, "Yeah, we have those kinds of people here too." I reply, uncovering myself and getting up, "Well, I feel back up to 100% after all that food. Let's go purify a griffin corpse, the river, and the fields. Why don't you meet us outside Ash, and you can lead the way?" Ash then says, "Yep! You can count on me!" I kiss him on the head and say, "I think today would be a good rest day from working out. Have you guys eaten already?" Vi says, pointing to herself, then to Ash, "I have. I ate a few of the treats when you were eating. Ash, though, has not."
Nat then comes in with some fresh-baked bread and some other things, as if on cue, "I brought some food in case you needed an actual breakfast." I reply, smacking my full stomach in contentment, "We are good, but Ash here is starving." Nat then replies, "I already have his plate prepared as usual. Come on over to the table to eat, Ash." Ash zooms over with a quickness. When he does this, he reminds me of one of my cats from back in my first life. He would zoom when anything food-related was involved. It was the cutest thing. I miss him so much. I hope he is doing well. He was such a mama's boy and followed me everywhere, so he is probably heartbroken. The thought makes my heart ache. My poor baby. I could actually talk to him now, and I wish I could speak to him at least once, but I know that will never happen since I belong to this world now in this life.
I made a promise to the goddess for the sake of doing good. I have always wanted to make a difference, but I never had the power to really make much of a difference. I always wished I had some sort of special ability I could use to help others, but sadly, I was average. Here I have magic and can talk to everything. It is a wonderful feeling to know that my existence is already making a difference in so many people's lives through my powers. I love my magic. I think that, and my chest burns with approval doing the Iron Man thing again, and I giggle with the feeling I get from it. Vi looks at me and smiles, "What made you so giggly?" I reply, feeling all up in my feelings, touching my warm chest, "I just thought about how I love my magic and my chest started burning with approval," I say, continuing to giggle.
This warm, content, soul-hugging feeling never gets old. Even if it is weaker than what I feel with Goddess Aruna, it still makes me all warm inside. As I finished, Ash finished his breakfast. He wolfed his down quick as always cause hims a hungry boy (incorrect grammar for the cute), and Ash says, "I am ready whenever you are, Zoe! Can you grab me a piece of bread for the road? It will be hard to be a good guide and carry a big piece of bread with me." I say as I get my sandals on, "Sure, buddy, I can hold your snack for you. I got you covered." Vi then says, "Then this seems like the perfect time. I have an enchanted bag you can have. It is one of my older ones, so it doesn't have as high a capacity as the one I use for my traveling, but it still can hold 30 times more than its size."
I gasp as I finish latching my sandals on, "Thirty times sounds plenty. Shoot, just having a bag that could hold twice its size would have made me super excited. Are you sure you want to gift me something so precious? I couldn't possibly accept something so obviously expensive." Vi snaps at me, "Because you fucking deserve it, alright. Do you know how many lives you saved yesterday?! How about this? Instead of thinking of it as a gift, think of it as compensation. Compensation for what I think the work you did yesterday was worth." I sigh in defeat, "Well damn. I guess I will take it then. Thank you, Vi."
As I say that, she comes in for a kiss and goes to grab that bag. It is like a small backpack but looks very lightweight and easy to carry. Nothing like a ruck-sack from my army days. Those were not only very large but also very heavy. Vi holds it open, and Nat stuffs a whole loaf of bread in the backpack. I already know I am going to love this backpack so much. I am already excited to see how it works. I ask, "Is it possible to put Ash in the backpack?" Vi replies with a hint of uncertainty in her voice, "It should be ok. Ash, do you want to try it out?" Ash excitedly says, doing a quick, cute spin, "Sure!" While hopping in the backpack. He pops his head out with a few crumbs from that loaf of bread on his face and says, "I love it! Now I don't have to leave your side!" I smile and say, "I am so glad this worked out. I was worried the enchanted space might have limited air for you to breathe or something, causing you to suffocate." Ash replies, "I felt fine while I was in there." "That is wonderful. To be on the safe side anyway, I won't let you stay in there for too long." I say as I pet his crumb-covered face.
He pops back in the backpack, and Vi closes it after putting a few magic restorative elixirs in there as well, then hands the bag to me while she says, "Ready to go?" Then we head out of the castle, where Ash comes out and guides us to the forest outside the town, up the river, where the dead griffin is. We have to purify this first before anything else. Otherwise, it will just keep pumping toxic substances into the water. It was quite the walk to get there. I mean, I do understand if it was close to town, someone would have found it already. The forest was a little too wooded to take horses, so we had to go on foot to go upstream of the river. This river just cuts like a knife through this forest. This forest is massive. It was during this trip that I saw my first slime in this world. They are gorgeous at a distance. The way the sunlight hits them makes them sparkle all glittery on the inside. I will definitely be seeing more of them while in this world.
It is about midday, and we smelled it. The smell was quite pungent with the stench of death and decay. The smell grew stronger the closer we got to it. I push past some thick foliage and am met with a gory, terrifying sight. Looks like something straight out of a horror movie, the way the griffin was decomposing with exposed bones and very grossly terrifying decaying flesh that has maggots and other scavengers devouring the dead flesh. My stomach was turning in disgust, and Sir Brody actually did throw up. I feel really nauseated just being here, so I don't feel the slightest judgment for him in this situation. I waste no time and go straight to this terrifying, dead griffin corpse and touch it. Touching it made me shiver with disgust, but I had to, and I thought with intent 'PURIFY'. I could feel that this took more of my magic energy than it had on other occasions. It felt directly corresponding to the size of the entity I am using it on. Like the same amount of magic it takes to heal the same number of people that would take up the space of a griffin. That is how much magic it used. I still have plenty, though. There is nothing where the corpse was. As if it were just a memory. Though the water is still toxic.
I take a few steps, sit by the water's surface, and dip my hand into it. I think with intent, 'PURIFY'. This is way different. There is so much more area affected. I hold it there, keeping the spell activated. It feels like it has been activated for a long time. It may have been an hour or so. I was so focused on my spell and finishing it that I couldn't really focus on anything else. I couldn't really tell you for sure how long I was here. After I felt the spell was finally complete, I immediately felt faint and dizzy like yesterday and passed out before anyone could get me an elixir, and everything went black.
I woke up back in my room again. FUCKING STARVING. Is this what Luffy felt all the time in the show? If so, how did he ever survive feeling like this all the time? I only feel like this the morning after depleting my magic, while he feels it ALL THE TIME. He is a fictional character, so as Liz would say, "It is in the script, boo." There was a feast already laid out in my room, anticipating me waking up starving like yesterday morning, and I jumped up, excitedly said, "Oh, look! Food!" and started chowing down. Nat and Vi, who were there, were standing by in awe. I was so consumed by hunger to replenish everything and ate A LOT. Just like yesterday, I ate an absurdly cartoonish amount of food. Until I finally had my fill. I would do a workout, but we have a lot of important things to do today, and Vi and Nat are already awake. If I were waiting on Vi like I normally do, since she usually takes her time rising, but she must have been worried and also preparing for my breakfast feast. She is so thoughtful.
When I finish eating, I go over to Vi and kiss her and then thank her and Nat for the best wake-up ever. Apparently, Ash was already in a food coma. I still have to purify the vegetable fields, and there are still many sick people/unawakened I need to heal. I would also like to do rounds in the forest with the wildlife. Since it appears the humans are in greater need at this time, according to the information gathered from Ash's initial report, I will work in order of urgency. Source of sickness, sick human population, sick wildlife population. Since they have heightened senses and can detect toxins more easily, they are probably suffering from stomach bugs rather than life-threatening conditions, since they avoided the toxic water and vegetation. We pick up a groggy Ash, put him in my backpack, and head out to the vegetable fields as a group.
Once we arrive at the fields, they seem to be struggling, but not necessarily in an abnormal way. Though I obviously know it is in an abnormal way. I approach the first field and intently think, 'PURIFY'. These fields are obviously taking more out of my magic than the griffin, but a lot less than the river did, since there is nowhere near as much ground to cover. We were able to get all the fields purified around noon, fix the root of the problem, and I still have magic reserves left. I break off a piece of the loaf of bread we have in the bag, still leaving a bunch for Ash, and eat while saying, "I still have more in me. Let's heal some more townspeople." Vi worryingly says, "You have done a lot today. Maybe it's best not to push yourself to the point of magic depletion every day. I am really worried about you." I try to compromise, "How about we head to the castle for a quick lunch break to help restore my magic, and I can drink an elixir now, too. Then go and heal more people. Would that be ok, Vi?" She sighs, "That would be fine, I guess. Just don't push yourself too hard. If we are going to heal townspeople after a quick break, we should probably hurry so we don't waste too much daylight." I nod in agreement, and I continue to munch on the bread in my hand, ready for food.
I finished a mini feast. It wasn't as large as my feast the past two mornings, probably due to the fact that I didn't use as much magic. Once I had my fill (which was still an astronomical amount of food, just not nearly as much), I got up immediately and said, "Let's hurry." We head back to town and continue healing people. Going non-stop healing every person in sight that we didn't heal the other day. We did come across some of the earth magic users, and they were back to normal. Upon further investigation, it appears their power-up lasts only about 1 day. Still, that is pretty cool. I can power up people. It lasts a whole day too, which is cool. Don't have to power up right before fights. I can just do one at the beginning of the day, and we are gucci. Assuming that I can find someone I can trust to join our party.
My earring is binging softly in my ear as we go. Getting quicker and quicker. I have a funny thought: what if the person with light magic is named Jesus or something? There are a lot of people here who use Latinx naming conventions like the royal family uses, and there are so many Latinos named Jesus. I would giggle if I weren't in a serious situation, constantly healing people as I am having this inner thought train. Giggling like that in front of patients is unprofessional, too. Many people have died because of this epidemic caused by the griffin corpse, and many more are currently suffering.
If these were just minor checkups or something, that would be different. I do try to smile for the children. They are more receptive to adult emotions and pick up on a lot of them. In a world ruled by emotion, it is vital that I smile for these kids in times like these. The little earth magic children are so fucking cute when they go mini 'super saiyan'. I don't even have to try to smile when I see them running and playing, using their earth magic by pure instinct and imagination. When I see children playing like this with magic, I feel that is exactly what the Goddess Aruna had in mind when she created this world. A place where her creations live, feel, and be innovative and imaginative with the gifts they received from the Goddess.
The future I saw with the goddess was one in which people could feel their truths and still live peacefully. My chest shines bright for a moment, and I feel warm. I think that was the Goddess in my thoughts. I continue to heal people all afternoon, not thinking too much about that, and my earring is going really fast, like the light magic user is almost within arm's reach. There are a few people waiting for my healing, so I make my way through them, and then I get to her. She has a beautifully tanned complexion with medium-length light brown hair. When I touched her to heal her, my earring did a solid EEEEEEEE. She is the one. The first one at least. I asked her, looking into her mellow brown eyes like the color mine were in my previous life, "What is your name?" She responds with a sickly tone, looking a bit pale in her beautifully tan face, "Carmen." I replied, "Nice to meet you, Carmen. I am Zoe. You have something special. You have light magic like me."
I pause and intently think, 'HEAL,' and she flashes brightly, similar to how I did, but not quite as bright. Probably due to her current physical condition. I continue, "This means that now that you have unlocked your magic, you can even visit the Goddess Aruna in your dreams if you ask to speak before going to bed. You can probably heal like me, too. Maybe even use purify as well. The Goddess Aruna cannot wait to meet you. You must have a lot of questions. Can you walk and talk while I continue healing?" I say with a warm smile. Carmen chuckles and follows me as I continue my mission, "Questions? I have tons of them. Like, how does the dream thing work?" I respond, trying my best to explain, "I don't really know all of the details, but light magic users or people with their souls shrouded in light magic can traverse to the realm of the goddess. It is soul travel, so you cannot do it every night. You have at least one full night's sleep with no visits to the goddess in between visits. This gives your soul rest. On nights you visit, you will feel physically rested, but a part of you will be exhausted."
Carmen replies, "Ok, how did you know I could use light magic before I felt it myself?" I reply, bringing a finger to my lips, "That is a secret." I say with a wink. Carmen sighs, "Ok. Is it ok if I just come find you if I have more questions? Where can I go to find you?" I reply as I keep healing, "As of right now, the castle is my home for I am the concubine to the fair Princess Riviera." Carmen gasps, hearing the news, "Oh no! I couldn't possibly go to the castle for something as simple as magic questions!" I shake my head and grab her hand with one hand in reassurance while still healing with the other, "Do not worry about status or anything with me. I personally believe that statuses are just another form of labels a person can use to identify. The thing with statuses and roles of power is that they can take hold of someone, and then they can do terrible things in the spirit of authority. People are people. EVERYONE is important. If you need help, just say you are there for a consultation with me, and if they try to give you grief, you can say that the princess herself said it was ok."
I look at Vi with a 'Sorry for just throwing your name out there' face, and she gives the 'Oh, don't mention it. Everything is fine' face, so that is a relief. I shoot her a quick wink and turn back to Carmen, and I affirm her, "Whatever help you may need, just let me know, I will do my best for you. Also, feel no obligation to help heal people in town. I need you to rest. You were seriously ill up until a moment ago. So let me handle this for now. If you really desire to help me, REST, then find people to heal." She nods, clutching her chest, feeling the warmth of her own core, "I understand."
I reach in my bag and pull out a few elixirs for her since I have a decent stock at the moment and hand them to her, "When you do start to heal people, make sure you don't push yourself too hard and when you use too much or you are running low on magic, make sure that you drink one of those elixirs. The goddess wants you to take care of yourself so she can have talks with you. She loves you very much and wants to see you." When I say that, my core lit up a little bit as if the goddess just said 'That is right. I do love her and want to see her.' I smile at the brief, quick fuzzy feeling in my chest, and Carmen nods her head in acknowledgement, "I understand. Thank you for the information and the elixirs. I will definitely put them to use." She says with a smile and makes her exit.
I look up to the sky as if the realm of the goddess is up, though I have no idea where it really is, "Goddess, I found one, finally. I will continue my search for you." My chest burns briefly in approval, and I giggle and do a small happy wiggle at the feeling in my chest. Light magic users really are connected directly to Goddess Aruna. I feel so close to her. Almost as if she walks with me. Occasionally, to let me know she is here. We continue our healing quest, healing people until almost sundown, and then we head back to the castle. Since I had that lunch earlier, I am doing ok right now. Just really hungry from using all this magic. Now all that is left is to keep getting up and healing everybody until everyone is not only better but also awakened so they are less likely to be tightening casualties.
It takes us a week of constant healing before we heal everyone. It took longer because we had fewer people to heal, since it was more difficult to find them in the bustling streets. Since it was louder in the streets with more healthy people, I turned my earring up a bit in case it beeped again, since it was pretty noisy with the bustle of life that wasn't present a week ago. Though throughout that week, my earring did not beep one more time. When we returned to the castle, the king said he was going to host a ball in one week's time in honor of our achievement in healing and awakening the populace.
While awaiting the ball, I made rounds throughout the neighboring forests, checking on wildlife. Most were fully recovered by now from just having rest, though some animals were still a little sick. Ash was in charge of finding sick or injured animals and guiding us to them. All of them were surprised that I could understand them. Just as with the human population, healing the wildlife also awakened their magical powers, so there were many hyper, excited, and playful animals. We even came across the squirrels who exiled our sweet Ash. Part of me wanted not to awaken them, but Ash, being the better squirrel, made me.
Slimes were not really sociable. They talked very little and mainly kept to themselves. The ones that could burn armor and skin would burn me to heal them were green. If Liz were here, she would love these slimes since they are beautiful, sparkly, and green. Green was her favorite color. I didn't heal myself right away after touching these beautiful slimes. What if I can't save someone because I healed myself here because I needed one more spell's worth of magic? I don't know if I could forgive myself. Once they all figured out that healing awakened powers, all the animals and slimes came out of the woodwork wanting to gain magic.
After a week of constant healing, we were not done yet, and the day of the ball was upon us. We took the day off from healing the wildlife, and the chambermaids all were ecstatic and enthusiastic in their preparations. I have never spent this long getting ready for anything in my entire life. Or should I say lives? I always made sure I looked handsome, but I wasn't like one of those women who spent hours on hair and makeup. I would rather spend that time on something else. I have short hair here, so there is not much they can do with it. My face is so pretty now, I don't really need makeup. Though in my past life, I never wore it either, except on very rare occasions. Even then, it was only eyeliner or maybe concealer for my under-eye dark circles, which were always there in my past life. I was handsome even with the permanent dark circles, though. A thought like that would have tightened my chest pre-awakening, but it doesn't bother me now.
The first thing they started with was a massage. They normally would have started with a luxurious perfumed bath, but my purifying makes the skin radiant. This massage was more of a pampering massage than a deep-tissue muscle recovery, and they used perfumed oils that smelled nice. Deep tissue massages were my favorite on Earth. I didn't really do anything to warrant a deep-tissue, so this massage actually felt really nice. I was able to fully relax and just enjoy being pampered a bit.
Just as I was thinking about enjoying the pampering, we finished the massage, and they started doing my hair and makeup. I find it so hard to sit still, and I keep adjusting myself, and the maids giggle. I reply, feeling a tad embarrassed at my constant fidgeting, "I am sorry, I keep moving. I am just not used to this. I am used to getting ready myself. It feels really weird to have someone do this for me." One of them replies after giggling, "It is fine. When it is important for you to stay completely still, we will let you know. The princess could never stay still when she was little during these preparations, and she was all over the place. It was a real challenge until she hit around 7 or 8. She really started to change after she started taking etiquette classes from the queen herself."
I reply, trying to imagine her as a wild child, "I would have loved to see a small princess acting unruly." We all giggle a bit as they continue doing my hair and makeup. I just know they are going to put me in a dress. They tried to put a corset on me, but I flat-out refused that. I don't need one, and they are so uncomfortable. I am already going to be uncomfortable enough as is at this kind of event. I do not need more things to feel uncomfortable about. They brought out a dress, and I sighed, looking at it. I didn't have time to go out and buy clothes or anything to get men's formal wear that would fit me, so I guess it can't be helped for now.
The dress they chose for me was mainly white, with some gold embroidery and spaghetti straps. Once they put it on me, they put a gold and purple flower in my hair. Everything together was really pretty, but I would much rather be in a suit. I feel more comfortable in pants so I can move more freely. I like having flexibility and range of motion in my clothing. Not only is it comfortable, but it is practical for self-defense. It is hard to kick someone in the head with a dress on. Not without ripping it. I finish getting ready, and I look at myself in the mirror. The embroidery looks like it is supposed to be the daruna flower. It is really pretty. I look like a muscular doll right now. The maids then guide me to Vi's dressing room, and she is getting dressed now. She takes getting strung up by the corset like a champ, and I am thoroughly impressed by her fortitude to withstand that level of discomfort.
I look at her, and the first thing out of my mouth is, "Vi, you do not need that corset at all. Are you just wearing it for tradition's sake or something?" Vi replies, looking at her reflection as they get it a bit tighter, "Something like that, I guess. At this point, it would feel wrong to get dressed up without it. I guess it is a constant reminder that I need to always be on my toes since these balls are like warzones for women." She gives me the elevator eyes with those piercing blue eyes filled with desire, biting her lip, and continues, "You look amazing, Zoe."
I reply now, more anxious about the ball after hearing her words, "Speaking of warzones. I have no idea how to navigate high society. I am terrified of an event like this. What is worse is that I will be the center of attention, and I just know I will be overwhelmed in no time." I say this, grabbing my arm and looking away dejected. Vi replies in that reassuringly spunky tone of hers that puts me at ease, "Don't you worry about a single thing, Zoe. I will be right by your side the whole night and handle everything for you," she says as they are putting on her dress, which is a beautiful purple and gold embroidered dress with long sleeves. It is really elegant and looks great on her, bringing out the gold in my dress when we stand next to each other, and the purple flower in my hair is a perfect match to the purple in her dress.
She gets all done up, and the maids do their finishing touches. I reply in a slightly bashful manner, "That puts my heart at ease. Thank you, Vi." She looks at me with a devilish smirk, "You are adorable. I really want to just have you take me here and now, but I do not want to waste all the hard work they put into both of us. Are you about ready to head to the ballroom?" I nod, and we head out while the maids present blush furiously and silently at the princess's comment.
When we arrived, they announced our presence, and there was a round of applause. All eyes are on me. I really hate this. What if I do something weird or something? My thoughts keep spiraling, and Vi leans over and says, "Don't forget to breathe. Just stand by my side, and I will take care of the rest." We didn't even get a chance to dance the whole night because we were constantly bombarded by different nobles and influential commoners wanting to chat, and after a few hours of standing on my feet talking nonstop, I am exhausted. Vi is amazing, and she was like an elegant Wonder Woman navigating the ballroom and making an effort, so I wouldn't have to talk as much. I appreciate her consideration, since I would much rather be doing anything else than participating in these high-society, intense conversations. I would have rather healed all day and gone into magic depletion than go through another one of these damned balls. It would be different if I weren't the center of attention and could actually dance or something. I haven't learned how to dance in this world, so dancing here while being the center of attention would just be a disaster.
Vi takes me out to the terrace with a glass of wine in each hand, hands me one while we get some fresh air, and asks, "How are you feeling?" I answer honestly, "I am fucking exhausted from all that talking. How do you even do it? You were talking way more than I was." Vi replies after a shallow sigh because of her corset, "With practice. I hate it too, but it turns out I am great at it." I reply in amazement at her abilities as I sip the wine she brought, "I don't know if I would ever get to your level even with practice. I get overstimulated easily when it comes to environments like this." Vi then perks up and comes in closer and whispers with desire dripping from every word, "Do you want to get out of here and go back to your room?" She says this as she kisses my hand. I reply, really excited to leave this ball and play hooky, "Sounds great." I just realized that in all the times we have met for my concubine duties, she has never called me to her room, but that is probably because she wants to see Ash. We head to my room, and we have sex, then pass out from exhaustion afterwards.
After waking up, we continue our mission. It took us a few weeks of constant healing in the forests around the castle and the capital city of Lilia to heal all the wildlife and awaken their magic. I hid the pain from healing the acid slimes well. It was a few days in, Vi caught my burns on my hands while we were out and about. She was demanding I heal myself, and I said I will… just later. She adamantly asked with worry in her voice, "Were you doing this to yourself these past few days as well? Just healing later and dealing with these burns on your hands all day?" I replied nonchalantly, shrugging since I have gotten used to it by this point, "Well, I only used one hand to heal, so I could still have a hand to eat snacks with." She looks at me like 'what difference does it make' kind of face and says, "I hate it when you don't take care of yourself. I want you to treasure yourself as I treasure you."
I replied, assuring her I am, "I am still treasuring myself, Vi, by still healing myself at the end of the day. I am also treasuring them. They are important too." Vi then comes up to me and grabs me and pulls me close, "You are important. To me, you are the most important of all." She then kisses me, then sighs in defeat, "I guess if you are ok right now, I am... I guess. I still don't like it." Over the rest of our time healing the wildlife, Vi made sure to bring ointment so I could put ointment on, in between healing animals and slimes. Since I refused to heal myself immediately after getting burned. So this is her way of trying to take care of me while I am stubborn.
It was in our last week, a few days before we finished, in the neighboring forest that we came across this beautiful black wolf. He was seriously wounded and slightly emaciated. We ran up to him, and I reached into my backpack for some food I'd been saving for myself, offering it to him. He gladly accepts my offering, "Thank you!" I then say, "Here, let me heal you. Do you have a name?" The black wolf shakes his head, "No. I was small, and they ignored me. When they got their powers before me, they decided to stop ignoring me and to attack me instead." He said as he tucked his ears down pitifully and whined in pain.
I place my hand on him and think 'HEAL'. It takes twice as long to heal him, and when I do, he flashes a shadow very similarly to my flash of light when I awakened. This makes me think he might be a dark magic user. I tell him what is on my mind, "I think you are a dark magic user from the looks of it. Though I have never met one before, so this is new for me." The beautiful black wolf then says, "It feels dark yet close. Like being enveloped in warmth and love... Can I be your friend?" He asks as he wags his tail in anticipation. "Sure thing, friend. If you don't have a name, can I give you one?" His tail is wagging with more force now, in excitement: "Sure!" He says with his ears perked up adorably in excitement. I think for a moment and decide on "Sid. Short for obsidian because your fur is so black, and you also wield dark magic, so it feels befitting for your ability as well." Sid spins a few times in excitement, "I love it! I am Sid!" He says this and excitedly tries to go into my shadow, but he sizzles a little bit in pain and quickly retreats.
I immediately start freaking out, thinking he got hurt trying to go into my shadow, "Oh my goodness. Are you ok? Do you need me to heal you again?" Sid shakes his head, "I think I am ok. I can't reside in your shadow. It is so bright it hurts." He pouts, and his ears droop. I then ask, "What if we were to have you use Vi's shadow for now until we figure something out? I have a feeling there might be enchanted ink just for something like this. Like a debuff for dark magic." Vi then says, "Let's not be hasty. Ink cannot be undone, and if you need your light magic in battle against a dark magic user, you would be crippled." Sid then says with his ears and tail drooping, "I don't want my new friend to be crippled just for me. I'll be ok." I have an idea and perk up, "Hey, what if instead of me getting the tattoo, it is Sid? What if there is a protective enchanted ink he could get that would protect him from me, with me having to sacrifice my power or he his?" Sid spins, and his ears perk up in excitement at the solution of his problem of getting into my shadow, "That would work. How does one get ink?" I describe the process, and his ears go down a bit pitifully, "It seems it is going to hurt. If it means I can go into your shadow, though I will do it."
I then say after laughing a bit since we got completely side-tracked, "We are getting WAY ahead of ourselves here. How about you come along with us if youare okay with that? We can get you a proper meal, and while I am in the castle, you can come out of Vi's shadow while you are in my room. If you smell anyone that is not someone we trust, then you hide in the shadows of the room." Sid nods and spins, "I can do that!" He nods, and his chest burns dark, "Yes. I want to go with you. These feelings of devotion for you make me feel warm inside." I say, smiling warmly at this adorable little puppy, "Loyal like a shadow. You use shadows, and I think it is very befitting. Can I pet you?"
I can't help but admire just how pretty he is. Even if he is a tad emaciated from malnourishment. He is going to be so pretty when he is healthy. He replies with his ears still perky with excitement, "Yep!" With an adorable tail wag. When I am done petting him, he licks me on the face, "I love you!" with his adorable puppy dog energy, and he hops into Vi's shadow. Vi looks back at her shadow in fascination, "Wow, I can't even tell he is there." She says, squatting down, petting the shadow. His tail escapes her shadow and starts wagging, and we all giggle and laugh at the cuteness. Even the oh-so-stern Sir Stirling has a soft smile on his face, looking toward Sid. Without one little bit of effort on his part, he just became a part of our little family. We headed home a little early today because of how events unfolded and got Sid a proper meal.