‘… And then he goes ahead and gives his most precious powers, the ability to create portals, to this tiny unremarkable girl barely out of the womb! She was four years, FOUR years! And in some way, she was more worthy for the gift of transdimensional travel!? Can you believe it!?’
The green sprite that talked had an elfin appearance and butterflies spun around her agitated form. The Lesser Force Gablun the Undying placed his giant blue slimy two-fingered hand on her back, making many butterflies panic to get out of the way lest be consumed by his fingers.
‘Not Worry, Lea Keufer. Monster Sure See Reason,’ he replied to her rant. They both sat in respective chairs before an oversized counter for a supernatural bar, the chair way too big for the human-sized Lea and way too small for the whale-sized face-slime Gablun.
‘I can hope, yeah, I can hope…’ Lea stated, still annoyed and even more annoyed with the feeling of Gablun’s less-than-comforting touch on her back. Her eyes traced the scenery. It was a bar within the Overcity, where she still went occasionally on the time she could spare. Here, magical beings of all kinds came to take a pause. Lesser Forces, Gods, even Horrors occasionally prawled in to get a drink. Over the years, Lea had collected quite a few contacts. Yet she saw so few of them now, since entering the service of a horror herself.
As she watched deformed yellow ghasts greeting superhumanly buff gods decked out in weapons of the past, she decided it was time to flip to business.
‘Listen, Gablun. You remember when I helped with you with your problem with Nanaue?’
‘Remember,’ Gablun answered, in that way that made it difficult to communicate. Still, Lea knew he just skipped including the “I” in “I remember”.
‘I’m going to need to cash in that favour. Please, help me round up the individuals I wrote down on this paper,’ she said, guiding over two butterflies to drop down a paper in front of Gablun. He was still, listening.
‘My boss is preparing something big, and I really need him to succeed. As such, I need their help. Can you handle letting them know?’ Lea asked, looking over to Gablun with a serious expression. This was a gamble, she didn’t know how Gablun would react.
‘Considered,’ Gablun said, before opening his mouth, about as large as his whole body, before eating up the paper and both butterflies that were carrying it, before falling off the chair that was too small for him and slinking away.
It took a while for Lea, but she was under the impression that was a favorable reply. Okay. Over the years, she had taken time out of her schedule to help out numerous lesser as well as more powerful individuals to make sure they owed her favours, and it was time to cash them in, hopefully bolstering their numbers for the battles that came. This time, maybe Lea herself would have to fight. She could only hope Asengav saw how she worked herself for him…
She spread her wings of butterflies and flew out of the bar. She flew over the streets where creatures of all dimensions converged, and dodged what other flying beings existed within this airspace. She continued past the walls and finally out of the city. Finally, Lea headed of across the Sprawl. Such a journey would be dangerous for someone who didn’t know where they were going, but Lea had been around for longer than most. She closed her eyes, remembering her lifetime. All this time… and petty desires still gripped her. She’d made practically no progress over multiple millenia. It was unlikely anything would happen in the future.
Lea was gripped by darkness. Asengav redirected her, and as she flew through the darkness her mind was filled with the knowledge of what to tell the one she’d be meeting. For she was Lea Keufer, the “Windfall Sprite”, and she was the mouthpiece of Asengav, the one who spoke to those who couldn’t talk to Asengav directly.
The scene changed. She had passed a portal. Lea stopped, and opened her eyes.
She was now in the entryway a gothic mansion, with paintings of others of Asengav’s champions, a staircase leading to the second floor, all of it illuminated by soothing light emanating from the floor and ceiling… and Mariette arriving just outside. The mansion had a warm feeling of a pleased Horror. Tsk, she had apparently done good. Annoyed, Lea settled on the railing of the staircase, her butterflies swirling around her as she waited.
Mariette opened the door, her eyes alert as she looked around and took it all in. She was wearing a damaged dark dress, had white long hair, and was clutching a bunny. She looked too amazed with her surroundings. So childish. So inexperienced. She was not long for this world. All things that Lea would like to tell her. But, it didn’t matter. For now, Asengav’s message was all that mattered.
‘The time is coming,’ Lea called, and Mariette quickly turned to look at her. Behind her, there was a troop of Magical Girls that she had collected in her previous mission… Hmpf. Good for her. Suppose Lea had to tell the good news.
‘Can you feel Him, Mariette? Our lord was furious from his pride being sullied, and by having been denied the offering you failed to give…’ Of course she had to try scare her first. Mariette didn’t show any emotion. Lea continued. ‘But you brought vengeance on his nemesis, that miserable blood-soaked Patron, and stalled his plans for another millenium. You've also restored our lord's mirror, and amassed resources at an astounding rate. He has deemed you ready, and so he has sent me, Lea Keufer, as His messenger.’
This said, Lea hopped off from the railing, grabbing herself with magic to levitate before Mariette. Just that slight bit higher than her, just to proclaim superiority. Now to the fun part.
‘The world you’ve been assigned to will play a major part in the operation to come.’
She saw Mariette clutching her bunny a bit harder. Although her face betrayed nothing, Lea could tell the tension in the much younger being. She suppressed a smirk.
‘This is what our lord has been building up to, for a long, long time,’ Lea informed, trying to read Mariette’s expression with every word. She continued.
‘While he has especially prepared this so that in case of failure he can just try it all over again and start from scratch, he would be very disappointed to see this fail. Let’s just say that succeeding would be rather beneficial to your continued well-being…’
Mariette clutched her bunny harder, and lowered her head a fraction.
Ah, Lea thought in triumph.
So she can be frightened.
Three weeks later...
This couldn't be happening, Abigail Williams thought as she hopped from roof to roof, frantically looking over her back to see if it was still there, and using her magic to stall the best she could.
Penrose had just gotten through dealing with some crazy anti-love nut job. They should still be recovering from that. They shouldn't have known I'm here!
Her breathing grew harder as she caught a glimpse; the chase has persisted for a long time.
There shouldn't be something this terrifying here!
The goons she summoned had been slaughtered. It was almost ironic, considering how many people she had slaughtered with them. Once she saw how badly she was losing, she bolted out of there, summoning more monsters from her Patron to stall it. "Fuck! No one said anything about that thing! Screw the job, I'm never coming back here agai-"
She suddenly froze. Fear gripped her heart...it was right in front of her.
"...How?"
The creature didn't respond, at least now with words. It slowly began to walk towards her, bits of gore from her minions on it's face glistening in the moonlight. Suddenly, it's eyes met hers...
...and a chill gripped her very soul.
"Fuck you!" With a cry, she summoned more of her Patron's minions, and they all charged at it. Yet the creature was undeterred. The first monster leapt at the creature, only to be bisected by an ethereal sword summoned by the creature. When the next two jumped it together, the result was the same, if a bit messier. They kept blindly charging at the creature, and were mowed down like wheat in response. When they finally grew a brain a decided to attack it from multiple angles, they were rewarded with a hail mystic swords, punching through their bodies until their lives were snuffed out.
Finally, one of the larger ones arrived. It swung a fist down to crush the smaller being, but it jumped out of the way. Before the fist had even hit the floor, it followed up by leaping up at the larger being with blinding speed. A second later, it's head slid off of it's neck, while the creature landed behind it. It quickly resumed it's slow walk to her. By now, she was starting to panic.
"Stay away!" She threw a fire ball at it...only for a swing of it's sword to deflect the projectile. She threw even more, but each one was knocked away with just as little effort as the first.
"GAHHHHHHH!!!!"
With a cry of frustration she unleashed a pillar of flame. But the creature merely raised a hand, and the fire was parted by a translucent wall.
"Dammit!" by this point she realized that if she wanted to survive this encounter, she had to pull out all the stops. She tore off her necklace, and held up the jewel on it. It would take years to restore this after using it up...but it was better than dying.
"Take this!"
But jsut as she was about to complete the spell, she was interrupted; a new sword flew at her hand faster than she could react, and shattered the jewel along with mangling her hand.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She clutched her limb in agony. Pulling out a healing artifact, she was able to patch it up a little. With the pain gone, she looked up to her foe again...
...Only to find it right in front of her. Shocked and terrified, she fell on her ass. With fear making her legs freeze up, she was forced to crawl backwards to save herself.
"No...NO! Stay away from me!!!" But the creature didn't. In fact it matched it's pace with her's and stayed right in front of her, it's eyes boring a hole into her soul.
Dear god, those eyes. It was almost like they could see right through her, judging her for every life she ruined, every person she slaughtered. It felt horrible, like every inch of her was suddenly covered with the most grotesque sludge. She just wanted to curl up in a hole somewhere away from everyone. "...Is this what they felt like...before I killed them?' she thought back to her past victims, what happy memories those had once been. But now, they felt like a weight, keeping her trapped under the judging gaze of this creature...no; this demon. "Please, just let me go! I'll never hurt anyone ever again!" It was a lie, she had grown addicted to the suffering of others, she could never give it up...and the demon knew it. It raised a hand, and suddenly, it was grasping an ethereal war-hammer bigger than her.
The last thing Abigail Williams saw before dying, was the horrifying form of the demon who killed her.
"WAAHH!"
Lily shot up from her bed, and then yawned, stretching her arms. She went over to the kitchen, and piled up random food on her plate.
"Man, I'm getting these scary dreams again..." She mumbled as she hopped on the couch, turned on the TV, and began eating. She then saw Alex, and realized she was wearing the hat Justine left to her as a memento. She blushed, and removed it.
"It's comfy, okay! And it looks cute. Don't judge!" She blurted out, and then changed to a news channel.
"But maybe that's causing my nightmares...It started as a nice dream, with a fluffy cute thing bouncing around...But then it turned all violent, blood everywhere! Like a bad horror movie from the last decade."
Some places are believed to be a nexus, a site where magical energies coalesce and spread out across the land. While blessed with such arcane force, they are also considered to be cursed, for they often draw in beings both good and evil, Patrons seeking power, peace, or even simple amusement for themselves. Many believe Penrose to have become such a location, especially after it was revealed as the hunting grounds of a former villain, Justine von Visceral, who crippled the local Beacon forces and caused attacks on the populace.
Three weeks have passed since that incident, and it seems peace has finally arrived as magical girls of Beacon have rebuilt their headquarters, and resumed patrolling for monster infestations.
In the Beacon HQ hangar, loud mechanical voices rung throughout the place as several magical girls toiled around a cyborg's body. "Phew! That was a doozy to install," Sylvia Starshine, the unofficial leader of the Penrose division, spoke as she wiped the sweat from her brow, and stood up to marvel at her work. "Why couldn't you ask for roller blades instead of hover boots, Penny? Aren't they still fashionable?"
"Not since the 80's, silly!" Sally Shamrock, a close friend of the two, came over with a cloth-covered basket on her forearm. "It makes one wonder. Anyway, I brought lunch!"
She lifted the cloth, and presented tasty sandwiches to everyone present, including Alicia Hayden; ever since their victory over Justine's forces, she had been commended by the Beckoners, and given the honorary title of Seraph. She had also earned an unexpected admirer in the form of a cat girl named Kimble who constantly followed after her whenever she was at the base. The feline girl purred as it bit down on the sandwich. "Nyaaa! It's so good! You're so talented, Sally!" Sally giggled in return. "Well, I just got lucky with my baking, that's all."
At the police station, Vermillion Veronica, disguised as a local officer, was handling paper work, when a shadow extended up on a wall; it was a contact from Ebon Mint. The organization used such projections commonly, and it was rare for two Ebon Mint officers to meet face to face. The shadow seemed to change shape as it gave a bow, taking on monstrous and elegant forms without pause.
"Greetings, Ebon Vampire. Excuse me for intruding unannounced; I am currently undergoing an undercover investigation, so I will be quick." The shadowy presence had a paper-shaped silhouette form on its hands. "First of all, the order to sabotage Earth Bastion came from an outside plant, who had been dealt with. You will be paid compensation for working overtime. On to another matter; two Black Coins assigned to you have been used. We have confirmed the identity of one of them as Eliza Winters. She will be assigned a mission."
The shadowy presence then threw out what seemed like a regular green bill at Veronica; both of them knew it was a secret document disguised as human money, with the hidden text was also encrypted so that only high-ranking members of Ebon Mint could read it. "The contents of the mission including target details have been included there. That leaves the only Coin left; the one that belonged to Amber Bianchi. We have confirmed the agent as deceased, yet her Coin had been used. Did she use it?" Veronica would know that depending on her answer, she would start on a path unlike ever before; one that could ultimately change Ebon Mint itself.
The green sprite that talked had an elfin appearance and butterflies spun around her agitated form. The Lesser Force Gablun the Undying placed his giant blue slimy two-fingered hand on her back, making many butterflies panic to get out of the way lest be consumed by his fingers.
‘Not Worry, Lea Keufer. Monster Sure See Reason,’ he replied to her rant. They both sat in respective chairs before an oversized counter for a supernatural bar, the chair way too big for the human-sized Lea and way too small for the whale-sized face-slime Gablun.
‘I can hope, yeah, I can hope…’ Lea stated, still annoyed and even more annoyed with the feeling of Gablun’s less-than-comforting touch on her back. Her eyes traced the scenery. It was a bar within the Overcity, where she still went occasionally on the time she could spare. Here, magical beings of all kinds came to take a pause. Lesser Forces, Gods, even Horrors occasionally prawled in to get a drink. Over the years, Lea had collected quite a few contacts. Yet she saw so few of them now, since entering the service of a horror herself.
As she watched deformed yellow ghasts greeting superhumanly buff gods decked out in weapons of the past, she decided it was time to flip to business.
‘Listen, Gablun. You remember when I helped with you with your problem with Nanaue?’
‘Remember,’ Gablun answered, in that way that made it difficult to communicate. Still, Lea knew he just skipped including the “I” in “I remember”.
‘I’m going to need to cash in that favour. Please, help me round up the individuals I wrote down on this paper,’ she said, guiding over two butterflies to drop down a paper in front of Gablun. He was still, listening.
‘My boss is preparing something big, and I really need him to succeed. As such, I need their help. Can you handle letting them know?’ Lea asked, looking over to Gablun with a serious expression. This was a gamble, she didn’t know how Gablun would react.
‘Considered,’ Gablun said, before opening his mouth, about as large as his whole body, before eating up the paper and both butterflies that were carrying it, before falling off the chair that was too small for him and slinking away.
It took a while for Lea, but she was under the impression that was a favorable reply. Okay. Over the years, she had taken time out of her schedule to help out numerous lesser as well as more powerful individuals to make sure they owed her favours, and it was time to cash them in, hopefully bolstering their numbers for the battles that came. This time, maybe Lea herself would have to fight. She could only hope Asengav saw how she worked herself for him…
She spread her wings of butterflies and flew out of the bar. She flew over the streets where creatures of all dimensions converged, and dodged what other flying beings existed within this airspace. She continued past the walls and finally out of the city. Finally, Lea headed of across the Sprawl. Such a journey would be dangerous for someone who didn’t know where they were going, but Lea had been around for longer than most. She closed her eyes, remembering her lifetime. All this time… and petty desires still gripped her. She’d made practically no progress over multiple millenia. It was unlikely anything would happen in the future.
Lea was gripped by darkness. Asengav redirected her, and as she flew through the darkness her mind was filled with the knowledge of what to tell the one she’d be meeting. For she was Lea Keufer, the “Windfall Sprite”, and she was the mouthpiece of Asengav, the one who spoke to those who couldn’t talk to Asengav directly.
The scene changed. She had passed a portal. Lea stopped, and opened her eyes.
She was now in the entryway a gothic mansion, with paintings of others of Asengav’s champions, a staircase leading to the second floor, all of it illuminated by soothing light emanating from the floor and ceiling… and Mariette arriving just outside. The mansion had a warm feeling of a pleased Horror. Tsk, she had apparently done good. Annoyed, Lea settled on the railing of the staircase, her butterflies swirling around her as she waited.
Mariette opened the door, her eyes alert as she looked around and took it all in. She was wearing a damaged dark dress, had white long hair, and was clutching a bunny. She looked too amazed with her surroundings. So childish. So inexperienced. She was not long for this world. All things that Lea would like to tell her. But, it didn’t matter. For now, Asengav’s message was all that mattered.
‘The time is coming,’ Lea called, and Mariette quickly turned to look at her. Behind her, there was a troop of Magical Girls that she had collected in her previous mission… Hmpf. Good for her. Suppose Lea had to tell the good news.
‘Can you feel Him, Mariette? Our lord was furious from his pride being sullied, and by having been denied the offering you failed to give…’ Of course she had to try scare her first. Mariette didn’t show any emotion. Lea continued. ‘But you brought vengeance on his nemesis, that miserable blood-soaked Patron, and stalled his plans for another millenium. You've also restored our lord's mirror, and amassed resources at an astounding rate. He has deemed you ready, and so he has sent me, Lea Keufer, as His messenger.’
This said, Lea hopped off from the railing, grabbing herself with magic to levitate before Mariette. Just that slight bit higher than her, just to proclaim superiority. Now to the fun part.
‘The world you’ve been assigned to will play a major part in the operation to come.’
She saw Mariette clutching her bunny a bit harder. Although her face betrayed nothing, Lea could tell the tension in the much younger being. She suppressed a smirk.
‘This is what our lord has been building up to, for a long, long time,’ Lea informed, trying to read Mariette’s expression with every word. She continued.
‘While he has especially prepared this so that in case of failure he can just try it all over again and start from scratch, he would be very disappointed to see this fail. Let’s just say that succeeding would be rather beneficial to your continued well-being…’
Mariette clutched her bunny harder, and lowered her head a fraction.
Ah, Lea thought in triumph.
So she can be frightened.
Three weeks later...
This couldn't be happening, Abigail Williams thought as she hopped from roof to roof, frantically looking over her back to see if it was still there, and using her magic to stall the best she could.
Penrose had just gotten through dealing with some crazy anti-love nut job. They should still be recovering from that. They shouldn't have known I'm here!
Her breathing grew harder as she caught a glimpse; the chase has persisted for a long time.
There shouldn't be something this terrifying here!
The goons she summoned had been slaughtered. It was almost ironic, considering how many people she had slaughtered with them. Once she saw how badly she was losing, she bolted out of there, summoning more monsters from her Patron to stall it. "Fuck! No one said anything about that thing! Screw the job, I'm never coming back here agai-"
She suddenly froze. Fear gripped her heart...it was right in front of her.
"...How?"
The creature didn't respond, at least now with words. It slowly began to walk towards her, bits of gore from her minions on it's face glistening in the moonlight. Suddenly, it's eyes met hers...
...and a chill gripped her very soul.
"Fuck you!" With a cry, she summoned more of her Patron's minions, and they all charged at it. Yet the creature was undeterred. The first monster leapt at the creature, only to be bisected by an ethereal sword summoned by the creature. When the next two jumped it together, the result was the same, if a bit messier. They kept blindly charging at the creature, and were mowed down like wheat in response. When they finally grew a brain a decided to attack it from multiple angles, they were rewarded with a hail mystic swords, punching through their bodies until their lives were snuffed out.
Finally, one of the larger ones arrived. It swung a fist down to crush the smaller being, but it jumped out of the way. Before the fist had even hit the floor, it followed up by leaping up at the larger being with blinding speed. A second later, it's head slid off of it's neck, while the creature landed behind it. It quickly resumed it's slow walk to her. By now, she was starting to panic.
"Stay away!" She threw a fire ball at it...only for a swing of it's sword to deflect the projectile. She threw even more, but each one was knocked away with just as little effort as the first.
"GAHHHHHHH!!!!"
With a cry of frustration she unleashed a pillar of flame. But the creature merely raised a hand, and the fire was parted by a translucent wall.
"Dammit!" by this point she realized that if she wanted to survive this encounter, she had to pull out all the stops. She tore off her necklace, and held up the jewel on it. It would take years to restore this after using it up...but it was better than dying.
"Take this!"
But jsut as she was about to complete the spell, she was interrupted; a new sword flew at her hand faster than she could react, and shattered the jewel along with mangling her hand.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She clutched her limb in agony. Pulling out a healing artifact, she was able to patch it up a little. With the pain gone, she looked up to her foe again...
...Only to find it right in front of her. Shocked and terrified, she fell on her ass. With fear making her legs freeze up, she was forced to crawl backwards to save herself.
"No...NO! Stay away from me!!!" But the creature didn't. In fact it matched it's pace with her's and stayed right in front of her, it's eyes boring a hole into her soul.
Dear god, those eyes. It was almost like they could see right through her, judging her for every life she ruined, every person she slaughtered. It felt horrible, like every inch of her was suddenly covered with the most grotesque sludge. She just wanted to curl up in a hole somewhere away from everyone. "...Is this what they felt like...before I killed them?' she thought back to her past victims, what happy memories those had once been. But now, they felt like a weight, keeping her trapped under the judging gaze of this creature...no; this demon. "Please, just let me go! I'll never hurt anyone ever again!" It was a lie, she had grown addicted to the suffering of others, she could never give it up...and the demon knew it. It raised a hand, and suddenly, it was grasping an ethereal war-hammer bigger than her.
The last thing Abigail Williams saw before dying, was the horrifying form of the demon who killed her.
"WAAHH!"
Lily shot up from her bed, and then yawned, stretching her arms. She went over to the kitchen, and piled up random food on her plate.
"Man, I'm getting these scary dreams again..." She mumbled as she hopped on the couch, turned on the TV, and began eating. She then saw Alex, and realized she was wearing the hat Justine left to her as a memento. She blushed, and removed it.
"It's comfy, okay! And it looks cute. Don't judge!" She blurted out, and then changed to a news channel.
"But maybe that's causing my nightmares...It started as a nice dream, with a fluffy cute thing bouncing around...But then it turned all violent, blood everywhere! Like a bad horror movie from the last decade."
Some places are believed to be a nexus, a site where magical energies coalesce and spread out across the land. While blessed with such arcane force, they are also considered to be cursed, for they often draw in beings both good and evil, Patrons seeking power, peace, or even simple amusement for themselves. Many believe Penrose to have become such a location, especially after it was revealed as the hunting grounds of a former villain, Justine von Visceral, who crippled the local Beacon forces and caused attacks on the populace.
Three weeks have passed since that incident, and it seems peace has finally arrived as magical girls of Beacon have rebuilt their headquarters, and resumed patrolling for monster infestations.
In the Beacon HQ hangar, loud mechanical voices rung throughout the place as several magical girls toiled around a cyborg's body. "Phew! That was a doozy to install," Sylvia Starshine, the unofficial leader of the Penrose division, spoke as she wiped the sweat from her brow, and stood up to marvel at her work. "Why couldn't you ask for roller blades instead of hover boots, Penny? Aren't they still fashionable?"
"Not since the 80's, silly!" Sally Shamrock, a close friend of the two, came over with a cloth-covered basket on her forearm. "It makes one wonder. Anyway, I brought lunch!"
She lifted the cloth, and presented tasty sandwiches to everyone present, including Alicia Hayden; ever since their victory over Justine's forces, she had been commended by the Beckoners, and given the honorary title of Seraph. She had also earned an unexpected admirer in the form of a cat girl named Kimble who constantly followed after her whenever she was at the base. The feline girl purred as it bit down on the sandwich. "Nyaaa! It's so good! You're so talented, Sally!" Sally giggled in return. "Well, I just got lucky with my baking, that's all."
At the police station, Vermillion Veronica, disguised as a local officer, was handling paper work, when a shadow extended up on a wall; it was a contact from Ebon Mint. The organization used such projections commonly, and it was rare for two Ebon Mint officers to meet face to face. The shadow seemed to change shape as it gave a bow, taking on monstrous and elegant forms without pause.
"Greetings, Ebon Vampire. Excuse me for intruding unannounced; I am currently undergoing an undercover investigation, so I will be quick." The shadowy presence had a paper-shaped silhouette form on its hands. "First of all, the order to sabotage Earth Bastion came from an outside plant, who had been dealt with. You will be paid compensation for working overtime. On to another matter; two Black Coins assigned to you have been used. We have confirmed the identity of one of them as Eliza Winters. She will be assigned a mission."
The shadowy presence then threw out what seemed like a regular green bill at Veronica; both of them knew it was a secret document disguised as human money, with the hidden text was also encrypted so that only high-ranking members of Ebon Mint could read it. "The contents of the mission including target details have been included there. That leaves the only Coin left; the one that belonged to Amber Bianchi. We have confirmed the agent as deceased, yet her Coin had been used. Did she use it?" Veronica would know that depending on her answer, she would start on a path unlike ever before; one that could ultimately change Ebon Mint itself.
