Moon of the Forgotten King, 1067 AR

  ***

  Minerva stirred in her sleep. Groans escaped her as she felt her body heat rising and her head hammering. Something was happening to her and negatively affected her ability to sleep.

  She opened her eyes. She was still unnaturally warm as she stared at the ceiling. Lowering her gaze to the bed told her exactly what the issue was.

  She wasn’t alone - right on top of her was Madame Bille, wearing nothing but a negligee with a degree of transparency to its fabric that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

  She jolted awake and dragged her body back to the headboard of the bed, staring at the woman.

  “What are you doing here?!” she demanded to know. She blinked and grabbed her throat, then her hair as she noticed that her voice wasn’t that of Minerva Crimson – she was in bed, naked, as Seika Hitoishi, alone with her host.

  In that moment Madame Bille stirred, smiling as she drew closer to Seika.

  “You are burning up… lust has taken over your body, hasn’t it? How long have you been frustrated like this, hm?”

  She came face to face with Seika – as she tried to push the other woman away, she suddenly found her wrists chained above her head, leaving her exposed and vulnerable. None of what was happening made any sense – she was pretty sure that her hands were by her side a mere second ago.

  “Do not resist me, Seika. I know you want some relief.” The woman in front of her – it was highly dubious that it was really Madame Bille – reached out and caressed her cheek before the hand wandered below her collarbone.

  “Stop this!” Seika shouted.

  “Not to your liking?” The woman pulled her hand back and changed into the form of the androgynous butler Urfin. She grabbed Seika’s chin and looked her in the eyes.

  “How about this? A handsome woman to take charge? Oh. I see…” She chuckled quietly to herself, then the room spun around in front of Seika’s eyes – she was free and in front of her the young weaver Holda was chained to the bed in her stead. “You act shy, but you actually want to be in charge… you yearn for control. You yearn for the opportunity to dominate someone you love … and you yearn the most for…”

  She changed again – this time into Miori.

  “Is it true, Senpai?” she asked in her sweet voice.

  “You want to do things to me that hurt, before doing things that soothe me? You want to make love to me, but your lust has been contained for so long that you’ll handle me too rough? I would welcome it.”

  Seika knew this wasn’t really Miori and wanted to deny her again - but at the same time she felt a scathing heat in her core by just looking at the other woman’s appearance. The place on her cheek that Miori kissed yesterday got warmer and warmer and then felt like the scorching heat of a flame. Her judgment was clouded by the painful hammering in her head and an oppressive haze in her mind. The past months of looking but never touching, of yearning and never confessing converged in her addled mind.

  I am dreaming… right? So, I can just indulge. I can sleep with Miori, without attracting Lethe…

  A voice from behind answered her thoughts.

  “That’s right. You’re dreaming. So, you can indulge, dear Seika. You can take her… you can take me… or whoever you desire.”

  The person who spoke embraced her from behind and Seika’s breath caught in her throat – as she turned her head, she looked in the eyes of her old friend, Ayame.

  “Don’t mind me… I’ll cuddle against your back and await my turn, my beloved friend.”

  The fake Ayame leaned in and pushed a greedy kiss on Seika’s lips, creating a fire in her lower abdomen – then she gestured for her to focus back on Miori, and Seika obliged.

  As she looked back, there was Minerva, hugging Miori’s back like Ayame did Seika’s. She had her arms wrapped around the blonde and rubbed her cheek against hers.

  “We’re all here for your pleasure, my beloved other half, so don’t be shy to make use of any of us. Even me. Toy with me like I toyed with you on your birthday, if that is your wish.”

  With ‘Miori’ restrained like that she let her hands wander up the girl’s hips and explored her body through the negligee. She was too absorbed in her own desire to notice the evil glint in ‘Miori’s eyes.

  Her hand found two soft mounds and gave them a gentle squeeze, eliciting a soft moan from the woman pretending to be her lover – then Minerva’s hands joined on top of Seika’s, keeping them firmly in place.

  “Kiss me already, Senpai.” The restrained Miori whispered.

  Seika’s lips trembled, and she drew closer – a small part of her was still resisting, periodically pulling her head back as Miori’s voice swelled to a cacophony of suggestions in her mind, becoming a droning made up of her own repressed desires that drowned out every rational thought.

  ‘Kiss me… bite me… love me… fuck me… claim me… bind me… comfort me… hurt me… hug me… devour me… marry me… own me… Senpai! Senpai! Senpai! Senpai! SenpaiSenpaiSenpaiSenpaiSenpai!!!’

  Seika leaned closer and kissed Miori, grabbing one of Ayame’s hands which were wrapped around her body and gently squeezing it – and then the dream collapsed.

  “Shoo! Shoo, away with you!”

  Madame Bille’s voice yanked Minerva awake. To her relief she could feel her nightgown still on her body. There was an unwanted weight on top of her though: it was a woman, a young girl by appearance with red skin, a tail and devil horns on her head which was covered in black hair. She looked pretty, but right now she was turned away from Minerva and hissed at Madame Bille, who stood at the door, waving a mana lantern. The red girl shied away from its rainbow light and where the colored shine touched her Minerva could see burns appearing on her skin.

  “You can leave, or you can die!” Madame Bille exclaimed, lantern raised high.

  “One twist of this knob and it burns bright enough to illuminate the entire room and leave nothing of you. Go now, succubus, and don’t return!”

  With that the succubus turned into a cloud of smoke that left through the crack in the window. As she was gone, Madame Bille closed the window in its entirety before she let out a long sigh.

  Then she turned around and faced Minerva, giving her a stern look.

  “You can extinguish the light, or you can open the window. Never both! The night is full of spirits, sprites and demons. You are lucky that it was just a succubus.”

  Her voice was that of a concerned mother scolding a child for doing something dangerous that she didn’t know of yet. No anger, just pure worry.

  “I’m sorry.” Minerva was shaking. She almost gave in and did… things to the fake Miori in her dream – or to Ayame and Minerva, for that matter. And who knows whatever would have happened to her if Madame Bille hadn’t intervened.

  “Did she do anything?” she asked quietly.

  Madame Bille put down the lamp and sighed – then she did something entirely unexpected – she gave Minerva, her nemesis for sixteen years, a hug.

  “You didn’t… ‘finish’. So, she didn’t extract any life essence. Succubi and incubi are actually on the more harmless side of demons, all things considered.”

  Minerva nodded but furrowed her brow. “Why… did she appear as you?”

  Madame Bille withdrew from the hug and raised an eyebrow at that question.

  “How would I know? They read your sexual desires and use them against you.”

  Oh!

  Minerva turned her head away and cleared her throat. She could feel her face heat up as her host let out a little laugh.

  “You didn’t settle for me, though, hm? A Succubus’ dream needs to make sense, or their victim will wake up easier. They may have tried with a person who was nearby who you find attractive. And afterwards they will try and try until they find a person who their victim desires enough to go for it.”

  Madame Bille stretched and yawned before she took her mana lamp.

  “Remember. Keep the lamp on while the window is open and keep the window closed when the lamp is extinguished. Good night. For real, this time.”

  She walked to the door as Minerva’s addled brain came up with another question.

  “Wait. You said there are incubi, too… why was I visited by a succubus?”

  The puppeteer turned around and gave Minerva a smug look.

  “I think Holda answered that question before.” And with that, she closed the door behind her.

  Great, even demons know my preferences from a glance.

  Minerva furrowed her brow deeply as she lied back down and stared at the ceiling.

  “Had a nice dream about me, hmmm?”

  Oh, shut up. I’m just a little confused because of your fooling around with my body on my birthday.

  “Complaining about it now, are we? You didn’t complain back then. You said, ‘Thank you for the wonderful birthday, Minerva’.”

  I know…

  Minerva covered her face with her hands, letting out a long sigh before she ruffled her hair.

  “Anyway, I’m flattered you think of me that way.”

  There was a long, awkward silence between the two of them.

  “But! Focus on Lethe first, then we can talk about whatever that dream meant.”

  Minerva grumbled and turned on her side, closing her eyes to try and get some sleep.

  The next morning Minerva got herself ready with a quick wash in the obscenely large bath and headed out of her room. Urfin waited for her.

  “Mistress Minerva, good morning. Did you sleep well?”

  “Not a wink thanks to that succubus attack.”

  “Oh dear. I do hope you found at least some kind of relief after such a terrible attack, mistress Minerva.”

  There was the tiniest hint of a mocking smirk in Urfin’s courteous expression after the double entendre. Minerva clenched her eyes shut and attempted to suppress the reddening of her face.

  “Anyway, I’m ready to meet the Madame and discuss our business. Lead me to her.”

  Why am I even playing along now that I know her secret?

  “It feels kind of natural to see Urfin as just Urfin. Doubtlessly she’s employing some trickery that makes people want to participate in her ‘performance’.”

  Urfin bowed and led the way. The two ascended the castle’s tower and near the top they walked through a door. Inside was a woodworking bench in front of a large window that allowed a magnificent view of the city below. As Minerva turned her head to the side she could see a large number of bookshelves.

  “Feel free to have a look while I fetch the Madame.” Urfin declared and left through the door.

  Minerva followed the invitation, examining the spines of the books. Many were written in the local language, but what caught her attention more than that were books that were in Earth’s languages. She could see the names ‘Faust’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Don Quixote’, ‘The Three Musketeers’ and many others that she recognized. Religious works, too. There was the Bible, the Quran, the Tanach. She even found the various books of the Shinten and the Tripitaka. Minerva grabbed the last one and opened it – finding multiple bookmarks and underlined passages in it, specifically those relating to Samsara, the state of suffering and reincarnation.

  “Books from various places in your world that I collect.”, Madame Bille said behind her.

  “There are also poems and songs that I’m quite fond of. There’s a German poem that is very, very similar to my story, for example. And the folklore! One could think that some of it was inspired by our world. And it could still be, once the worlds drift apart to meet in a hundred, or a thousand years again after spending the time moving in different directions.”

  Minerva turned towards Madame Bille.

  “I am not quite sure I follow.”

  Madame Bille gestured to her woodworking table, making Minerva follow as she sat down.

  She grabbed a spherical piece of wood and suspended it in the air in front of her with one of her magic strings.

  “Let’s say this is your Earth.” The sphere began to spin.

  “Rotating around its axis, once every twenty-four hours, circling around its star in a year.”

  A second sphere was placed next to the first.

  “Now this is my world, doing the same. Twenty-four hours, like yours. One year around its sun.”

  She brought up another two spheres to serve as makeshift stars. The ‘planets’ rotated, but now Minerva saw that Madame Bille inverted both the axial rotation as well as the orbit’s direction.

  “One moves forward, one moves backward. A year passes here, a year in your world went backwards and vice versa. For some worlds, this ratio is different. A year forward only moves Earth ten minutes back or similar.”

  She overlapped the two orbital systems, with the two orbits atop one another. As the two ‘planets’ were about to pass by each other they established contact with their poles, grinding to a halt before they both advanced again, with a synchronized rotation and orbit.

  “With our worlds overlapping as is currently happening, the passage of time between all worlds has been synchronized.”

  The orbs fell down and cluttered her workbench as she finished her little demonstration.

  “The reality is a bit more complex than that, but that should be good enough to give you a rough understanding. All this has happened before and will happen again. Separation and convergence happen naturally over the course of time.”

  Minerva understood now.

  “So your future could become our history?”

  “Just so.”

  ***

  After their little intellectual exchange, it was time for their actual trade.

  Minerva produced the chest and handed it over to Madame Bille who examined it with a smile.

  “They are putting the chest I gave them to good use, I see.” She put the little thing down and opened it, pulling out the first block of wood.

  “Simply wonderful…” she said, turning it in her hands.

  She turned towards Minerva and presented the block.

  “Do you even know what this is, Minerva?”

  “Wood?” she raised a brow as she looked at it.

  “Not just wood. It’s rowan. It keeps away malevolent beings and witches, when treated correctly.” The puppeteer seemed like she found a favorite topic to talk about.

  “There are many more attributes to it, depending on how it is carved, but that is the most important one to me.”

  “What are you doing with it? Carving marionettes?”

  “Just so. Ones that can withstand malevolent beings.” Madame Bille pointed to her large window and the world outside.

  Madame Bille rummaged through the chest again, then she pulled out something else. It was a twig of mistletoe.

  “Ugh, keep that away from me!”

  She could suddenly feel revulsion radiating from Minerva proper who wanted as much distance between herself and that twig as possible.

  “This right here… can kill gods!” Madame Bille proclaimed.

  “If I read your mythology correctly, it will be used to great effect to kill Balder.”

  “Will…?”

  “Divergent flow of time, Minerva.” The puppet master reminded her of her previous lecture.

  ***

  A wooden man entered the workshop and delivered a different chest, putting it down while grabbing the one full of wood to deliver it to a storage area, presumably.

  Madame Bille opened the chest and grabbed the contents. Dozens upon dozens of rings, sword handles without blades, a few tiaras and golden bracers were inside, and every single one of these items was adorned with gemstones.

  “Roughly a hundred different artifacts. They should be enough to sustain the Celestial Sisters through a year or two of regular Magical Girl activities. Or through a drawn-out battle with a very powerful foe.

  “Rings of protection, rings of flight, magic swords, bracers of proficiency, rings of binding, which prevent opponents from teleporting… the list goes on and on, I think they’ll be able to sort them out appropriately.”

  Madame Bille turned back towards Minerva.

  “Handing this over to you would mark the end of our trade. But this isn’t the only reason you’re here.”

  Minerva furrowed her brow and tilted her head to the side.

  “It is not?”

  “No. I’ve shown you Lethe’s past and her connection to me. I’ve shown you that she is a curse, not a spirit or demon or anything that could be killed conventionally. What’s still missing is me showing you how you can kill her, but…”

  She grimaced and held her chest.

  “I’ll keep it short, Minerva, because just talking about it drains me. I am shackled by a physical manifestation of guilt. A year ago, three malignant presences followed the Celestial Sisters into the castle and cursed the three of us. They currently reside inside the dungeon where I managed to trap them, but they prevent both me and the Celestial Sisters from doing anything to alleviate our guilt while feeding on our vitality whenever we wallow on it.”

  She took a deep breath, with a bead of sweat forming on her forehead.

  “I want you to kill them.”

  Minerva descended the stairs to the castle’s dungeons. There was a galleria above the lowest floor, which was where Madame Bille remained and observed. To save Minerva, if necessary, though intervening would doubtlessly cost her precious life energy. Light seeped in from a grate above – possibly the castle’s courtyard.

  “Now listen closely.”

  Madame Bille seemed to struggle – it was clear that whatever this creature was, it tried to prevent her not just from resolving her guilt, but also from assisting against the creature itself.

  “They will try to use your guilt against you… but I have faith in you. You two can weather whatever they throw at you if you work together, as always.” With that she went quiet, taking deep breaths while clutching her chest.

  Minerva held her cane sword tight, advancing into the depths of the castle’s dungeon.

  “Seika.”

  What is it?

  “I have a bad feeling about this. If those things attack one’s mind, it’s probably best for me to hibernate until you need me.”

  I trust your decision, partner.

  Minerva could feel the mind of Minerva proper fading, leaving only Seika in control of their shared body.

  The dungeon was ancient. There were rusty iron bars covering cells that were never opened to lock anyone inside. Torture implements were rotting and falling apart from centuries of disuse, as if they were merely acquired to give the dungeon its ‘proper’ feeling. Terribly in line with how Madame Bille operated – the spectacle always came first.

  She heard something slithering in the distance and readied her weapon.

  There was a haze permeating the dungeon, as if the shadows themselves were rising up as a fog.

  She realized too late that the shadows were converging on her to swallow her whole. The darkness didn’t hurt. It seemed like it pulled her somewhere else – to become another person entirely...

  Moon of the Bloody Conqueror, 0 AR

  ***

  She was Nicola Bille.

  Her knife had long turned half-dull and yet she carved. And carved. And carved. The dry sound of woodchips being separated from the block was the only music that played at her campfire tonight – her life as a musician came to a tragic end, together with the girl who was her reason to live. The only reason left to her now was revenge.

  Her tears long ran dry – there were none left in her body, and she felt light-headed from it. Her eyes were still terribly swollen, making it hard to focus on her task.

  She swore that the king would rot with no one to care for his corpse.

  That no one would ever write the syllables that formed his name ever again – that no one would even dare to name their child a similar name to that of the bloody monarch’s.

  She swore that she would bring an end to his tyranny, and she intended to do it – all on her own if need be.

  Magic strings were wrapped around her fingers, emitting a golden glow – just yesterday they were still playing the most beautiful notes any ear could ever hope to hear. And today she smashed the instrument arranging them for such a purpose.

  The strings spun from the hair of a light elf she encountered as a young girl would now serve a more nefarious purpose, breaking the promise she made to only ever use the fair lady’s gift for beautiful music.

  She put the newest marionette to the side. It was small, but for the magic she had in mind all she needed was the basic structure; the size would adjust itself.

  She extended her hand, and the magic strings attached to the Marionette.

  Pain shot through her as she sacrificed parts of her very life force to grow and animate the new addition to her army.

  Her eyes rolled back as the unbelievable pain of the ritual shot through her arm and with a scream, she fell on her back, abandoning the puppet’s awakening. Her fingers looked like they were burned on an open fire.

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  “Is this already my limit?” She asked with gritted teeth, looking to the five marionettes she managed to create so far.

  “Is this the extent of what I can do?”

  She propped up her weakened body – she would cry again, if there were any more tears left, but with that not being an option, there was only dread that clenched around her heart.

  “Your curse will not manifest at this rate.”

  She heard a voice and propped herself up quickly, drawing the rapier she always carried on her person. She almost dropped it as her burned fingers radiated extreme pain up the rest of her arm.

  “Wh- who goes there?!” her voice was still hoarse from crying.

  Is it the king? Did he send men to end me before I make good on my promise?

  “Your desire for vengeance is… stimulating.” The voice was an amalgamation of a young girl’s, a woman’s and a crone’s harmonizing unnaturally. It didn’t come from the depths of the woods – it came out of her campfire. As she looked at it, she got startled and almost fell to the ground.

  An eye stared at her from within the flames. Its iris was a deep ocean’s blue, surrounded by a glowing orange limbal ring, burning with the fire – it looked like it sat in a black void, with innumerable stars shining in the darkness surrounding it and inside the blue of its iris. Suddenly it felt like Nicola was staring at the universe itself – and it was giving her its undivided attention.

  “What do you want?!” She managed to ask after inhaling with a sharp gasp.

  “Deep in the forest, there stands a shrine. If you intend to manifest your curse, you will seek it and make a sacrifice.”

  After the eye said its piece, her campfire simply died as if it was deprived of air. Nicola was left in the rainbow shine of her mana lamp, with only her thoughts for company.

  ***

  The next day she was making her way through the undergrowth of the forest. The five marionettes she managed to animate until now followed her obediently, sometimes walking ahead and cutting the obstructive plants with primitive axes fashioned from leftover wood and sharp rocks.

  The eye hadn’t given her any directions to this shrine, yet she felt like she was on the right path. It was as if instinctual knowledge of its location was embedded in her mind.

  What am I even doing, following promises of revenge made by a creepy apparition?

  She never heard about a spirit, sprite or demon like what appeared to her last night. It felt ancient and malignant, yet she felt that it would keep its word and grant her curse actual power if she looked for that shrine.

  But at what cost?

  ***

  After searching for the whole day, she finally reached her goal. The undergrowth grew so thick here that just moving a meter ahead required half an hour of labor from her marionettes.

  Though after they broke through the thick wall of thorny bushes and vines, they stumbled upon a clearing – at its center, there was a large structure created from the bones of various animals living in the forest. They were stacked together to form a pillar, with a giant antlered skull looking down on Nicola, as if it was quietly judging her. In front of the odd shrine was a stone bowl on a pedestal.

  Nicola could see that the trees surrounding the clearing all had runes in an ancient script carved into them which hadn’t been used for any language in centuries.

  Oddly enough she was able to read it.

  ‘Enter and speak. The forest will listen.’

  The writing on the bowl told her more.

  ‘Offer me blood and your dearest memory – and speak your wish.’

  Nicola hesitated – her dearest memory. It was the first night she spent with Romy. She had never experienced such tender and warm moments before in her life. And such joy upon seeing another person next to her when she woke up. Every other night and morning with the girl she loved was just as special, but the first still held such special significance.

  But now… remembering Romy was painful. Every time she remembered anything about her, she immediately thought back to the horrific scene in the throne room. How the king impaled her. How quickly her blood pooled onto the marble floor, gushing out of the hole in her heart. How much pain there was in her eyes as she was unable to even scream. How quickly she died.

  With her body trembling as if her last vestiges of humanity tried to hold her back, she reached out and held her burned hand above the bowl. A flame ignited in it and hungrily awaited its sacrifice, which Nicola provided by drawing her carving knife and slowly pulling it across her palm. Her blood dripped into the flame and turned it a venomous green.

  As she looked up to the antlered skull, its eyes glowing with the same color as the flames, she repeated her curse.

  “May the bloody monarch’s name and reign be forgotten by the heavy books of history! May it be struck from the stanzas of poems, from the verses of songs! May his line end with him and his monuments to his own glory crumble to leave nothing behind!”

  “The forest heard your plea and accepts your sacrifice. Your curse will manifest, and you will be our witness through history.”

  A flash of light blinded Nicola and she felt a strange vitality throughout her body. The change hurt – she screamed as the very concept of mortality was erased from her body, just like her most treasured memory – and then she passed out.

  ***

  The next morning her strings changed their color to a vibrant purple. She found it second nature to animate the marionettes she carved, and only a few months later her quick work saw her command ten thousand of them.

  Her conquest of the castle was as merciless as she promised – and as she arrived, she found parts of her curse to have already taken effect.

  The king was infertile, but she still didn’t spare the queen, for her adulterous desire for the minstrels caused the king’s outburst.

  His armies routed at the mere sight of her marionettes, yet she commanded them hunted down and killed, remembering all too well that they would have gladly cut her down in the throne room.

  She razed the walls and burned the castle while using its inhabitants as kindling. She forbade the surrounding lands to even utter the name of the former king under threat of annihilation – and soon everyone forgot it like they were put under a spell.

  The king himself wasn’t as easily killed. He was a demigod, as she found out, able to heal from wounds inflicted on him, even after he was incapacitated and chained. She had to research the ‘divine’ and how to kill it, and only after two years of daily attempts on his life she succeeded with a dagger coated in a poison she brewed from the fruits of a plant from another world – ‘mistletoe’ it was called. But even during the time she couldn’t kill him, she liked to inflict wounds on him. Her intense hatred felt like it was amplified by her sudden gift of power, and so was her cruelty.

  Only as the king passed, she felt her anger fade away. She mellowed. And as she thought the horrors were over, she was made to realize that they had only just begun.

  The corpse of Romy stirred in the rose fields – all the cruelty that Nicola exhibited during her conquest was passed onto her – as were the effects of the curse of forgetting. And even worse, Nicola could tell that a part of Romy’s soul was still trapped in her own corpse, fueling the curse’s control over her body, leaving the rest of the young singer’s soul to reincarnate incomplete.

  When she demanded from the shrine to tell her what was happening, she was only met with the mocking silence of whatever gods were watching.

  ***

  Minerva was separated from the memory of Madame Bille’s guilt. She felt herself drifting through the darkness again. She desperately swung her sword in any direction she could, thinking that maybe the manifestation of guilt was right next to her – but she became someone else once again…

  April 2017

  ***

  She was Miyu, or Sol, of the Celestial Sisters.

  It had only been a week since she was chosen by the High Enchantress, their patron, to defend the city from the Enraged.

  She was also utterly out of her depth. Without proper training or guidance, it was all she could do to keep the drooling monstrosities who were once human away from her.

  Armed with a spear with a star-shaped ornament at the base of its blade, she poked at the creatures to try and keep them away, but they possessed zero self-preservation.

  The fourteen-year-old panicked and cried, as her patron was nowhere to be seen. Her chosen partner was Luna – or Momo – who was thrown into this situation just like her. She wielded a bow, though at this point she couldn’t use it.

  The Celestial Sisters’ powers were based on the day and night cycle, with Sol being the attacker at day and Luna being the defender while the roles would be reversed at night.

  Luna’s spellcasting was sloppy. While both of them were given an instinctive understanding of how to use their abilities, the lack of practical experience made itself known.

  She tried to erect barriers to defend Sol, but they shattered almost immediately. Sol was scratched deep on her right arm and withdrew from the slavering monsters.

  It hurts!

  Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to think about her situation. They were in the open street, with five transformed humans. Luna was flying above, unable to use her bow, and her defense spells weren’t reliable either.

  “Do you see where their needles are?” she asked her hovering partner.

  “I can’t see anything from here!” Luna replied.

  Sol bit her lower lip and calmed herself before responding with renewed determination.

  “Then I’ll check!”

  She turned her spear around and brought the blunt end to the front. As she reached the first Enraged, she whacked him sideways across the head, causing him to stagger. She frantically looked for the location of that magical needle that turned normal civilians into these monsters.

  “Watch out, behind you!”

  Sol blinked and turned around, forgetting entirely about the spear’s tip which was currently pointed towards her back. As she turned around, the unnaturally sharp blade cut through the attacking Enraged’s leg, severing it just below the knee. The possessed man fell face-first to the ground. To Sol’s horror, his leg must have been where the poisonous needle was located, because he turned around and clutched his stump, letting out a pained scream after he turned back into a human.

  “What have I done…?” Sol trembled and fell to her knees, letting her spear fall to the ground with a noisy clatter.

  Luna’s screams for her to watch out for the rest of the horde didn’t reach her ears anymore as she looked at the man and repeated ‘I’m sorry!’ over and over.

  Just as it looked like one of the Enraged would gut her, a silver sword rushed past the young Magical Girl and went through the transformed civilian’s loose pants, nailing him to his position and in turn causing his swipe at Sol to miss.

  A blue blur passed by her and danced circles around the Enraged, catching their attention, tripping them and shoving them into each other. One by one the needles were removed from the hapless victims.

  It turned out to be an armored Magical Girl in blue, who crushed the collected needles against her hard carapace, rendering them useless.

  Her hair was a pretty shade of blue, which glowed in a purple hue, perfectly contrasting her golden eyes.

  Soon after they were joined by another Magical Girl – this one was dressed in red, the same color as her glowing hair. Her emerald eyes were on the injured man.

  “I’m sorry, but this will probably hurt like hell.”

  She grabbed the detached leg and pushed it against the stump – causing the man to scream a bit louder. Then she pointed the tip of the cane she carried by her side towards it, causing a faint blue glow to appear around the wound.

  The man seemed a bit more relaxed now, like he wasn’t feeling the pain anymore.

  “This is stasis magic. It should keep the tissue alive until the ambulance is here.”

  Luna joined the group with a confused expression as the Magical Girl in red stood up and looked at the two Celestial Sisters.

  “I would get angry with that kind of performance – if you were the previous Celestial Sisters.” She said, kneeling down to get on eye level with the trembling Sol as she gently put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Your patron just threw you to the wolves, didn’t she? I always hated that woman, to be quite honest with you.”

  ***

  This was the Celestial Sisters’ first encounter with Minerva Crimson and Bellona Azure. They looked up to both of these women and tried their best to be just like them. But guilt about the injured man still gnawed at Miyu’s heart.

  From the beginning of her idol career two years later to its peak in the current day, Sol paid him a handsome sum every month, despite news of his complete rehabilitation and his insistence for her to stop it.

  And on top of all that, the Celestial Sisters could do nothing but watch as their own idols grew estranged thanks to Lethe’s meddling.

  ***

  Minerva struggled to understand what she saw. To her knowledge she was never particularly close with the Celestial Sisters of the second generation, yet here she was, seven years ago, rescuing and comforting them when they were young and inexperienced.

  She had a bad feeling about what this meant regarding Lethe’s ‘seed’ in her – but before she could spend any more time pondering that question, she was pulled into yet another moment in time.

  August 2024

  ***

  She was Seika Hitoishi, 30-year-old editor for the light novel publisher ‘MagiColle’. And also, secretly a Magical Girl by the name of Minerva Crimson.

  Right now she sat comfortably on a park bench somewhere in Tokyo. She tried to identify the location – and found it to be Yoyogi Park.

  As she turned her head to the side, she found out that she wasn’t alone.

  “Senpai.” Miori looked her in the eyes.

  Was I dreaming?

  Memories of her travel to another world – of Madame Bille’s performance – of the nature of the foe she was supposed to slay. They all floated away from her. Right now, she was just enjoying a quiet evening with her lover in all but name.

  “So, where in Harajuku should we go for our date, Senpai?”

  Seika blinked and held her head – she remembered spots where the two went before, but they were blurry memories that felt almost painful to recall.

  “We could go to… ng…”

  “Are you alright, Senpai?” Miori looked concerned and reached out, caressing her cheek.

  The pain withdrew again, and Seika shook her head.

  “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me there. I was about to say we could visit the photo booth.”

  Miori hopped up from the bench and reached out for Seika’s hand. She gladly took it. She felt the warmth of her crush as they walked together towards Takeshita Street – it felt off, somehow, but she couldn’t quite figure out what the issue was. Periodically her head throbbed again, and she clutched it in her hand.

  They arrived in the photo booth and did various poses. Cheek against cheek, hugged sideways, hugged from behind, doing a double peace next to each other. Everything directed by Miori’s guidance.

  As they were done Seika checked the photos – and then it dawned on her.

  She was still Minerva, dressed in her green traveling outfit. And the person right next to her wasn’t Miori at all – it was an old woman with a sorrowful expression – as Minerva turned towards Miori she changed into that woman, grabbing Minerva’s shoulders and starting to wail.

  “Why did my husband have to die? Why did you survive of all people? Why not him? So many died and only you returned! You killed them!”

  A sudden, heavy weight pushed her on her knees and her eyes went wide.

  She now recognized that voice. She was the widow of the man who was the first to be devoured by Seika as a Shadow Queen. She gritted her teeth and tried to get up.

  “It wasn’t my fault!” She tried to say.

  “I was just a prisoner inside that thing!”, yet the scornful look of the mourning woman increased the weight on Minerva’s shoulders.

  The person in front of her changed in rapid succession – assuming the shape of all the people who went missing and were never found after the Kawaguchi Incident, bleeding from their eyes, their mouths and their nostrils – the weight on Minerva’s shoulders increased with every new face.

  Minerva tried to avert her eyes, but something in the shadows grabbed her head, forcing her to stare ahead as the creature changed into Ayame.

  “You left me behind, Seika.” She accused Minerva, and the crushing feeling pushed even heavier on her shoulders.

  “You left me in my room and never tried to connect with me again. You said, ‘it’s better that way’, that I’m safer without you around. But we both know that you simply abandoned me and invented excuses to tell yourself. Now I’m a hollow husk, chasing after the few fragments of my memories when I dream.”

  “No, that’s not true!” Minerva replied with a hoarse voice, but she wasn’t even convincing herself.

  “You were afraid because you noticed, weren’t you? That I felt something for you. Maybe not love, but… something.”

  Ayame grinned.

  “It’s not like you only ever look at Miori, is it? Didn’t you get really cozy with Minerva for your Birthday this year? Let her control your body to do things? So why are you so afraid of including me? Hm, Seika? Why am I to be banished from your thoughts?!”

  Tears welled up in Minerva’s eyes as Seika’s mind was forced to confront her own conflicting feelings about Ayame, but she already changed her form into Miori, who looked at her with cold eyes as she kneeled down in front of her to get to eye level.

  “It was my suggestion to go on platonic dates together, Senpai. But you knew that this would only lead to an aching in both our hearts, didn’t you?”

  She brought a hand under Minerva’s chin and lifted it up.

  “You knew that it would hurt me if we did most of what couples do only to never confess, never kiss, never have sex despite our hearts burning for each other…

  “You saw what happened. I can’t hold back any longer. I kissed you on the cheek and it sent you into a panic. And here you are, indulging in wet dreams with a succubus that pretends to be me… or you get handsy with your Magical Girl form…”

  The feeling on Minerva’s shoulders got even heavier – it took all her strength not to collapse on the ground in a prone position.

  Physical manifestation of guilt… that was an understatement.

  The headaches were back. They throbbed and throbbed, this time painful enough to make her groan. Then, suddenly, after a sharp pain, her head was clear.

  “I finally made it through!”

  Minerva proper spoke to her as she still struggled against the weight of her own guilty feelings resting on top of her.

  “She is disguising herself – strike at her and we’ll be free!”

  Minerva didn’t like that suggestion at all. Striking at Miori, even if she was currently a disguised demonic figure, was the last thing she could ever do.

  It dawned on her that this was exactly the kind of feelings the creature in front of her wanted to elicit, but she failed to struggle against it, like her conscious and subconscious were locked in a stalemate.

  You do it! I can’t!

  “We’ll do it together, then. But you will have to strike her, Seika. You’ve been too reliant on outside interference recently.”

  Minerva proper’s warm presence merged with Seika’s control over their body – she still didn’t want to hurt Miori, but as they worked together it was possible for her to resist the addling effects of the illusionary world they were in.

  “That’s right, Seika… together we can conquer anything!”

  Minerva strained some more as Seika’s mind inside her fought against the crushing feelings of guilt. She inched closer to the spectral Miori, who smiled down at her, sweet as ever, despite her judging eyes.

  After what felt like an eternity, she managed to grab Miori’s legs and pulled herself up, groaning from all the weight on her shoulders as she came eye to eye with her beloved.

  “What is it, Senpai?”

  The fake Miori’s smile was a mocking caricature of the real one. Minerva shook her head, then finally Seika inside her built up the necessary willpower and slashed at her – her blade went through the woman without issue, cutting her like the illusion she was.

  “You made the right choice. I’m proud of you, partner.”

  ***

  The specter in front of them vanished into a cloud of smoke, blown away by a sudden gust. Takeshita street was now eerily empty until three black-hooded figures approached. Night broke with their appearance. Their eyes were a deep glowing shade of red and as they stepped into the moonlight their cruel, but beautiful feminine faces could be seen.

  “The three manifestations of guilt, I presume.” Minerva’s eyes darted from figure to figure – then a sudden hint of panic and recognition radiated from Minerva proper.

  “I need you to go to sleep, Seika.”

  Huh? Why?

  Seika inside of Minerva’s body was too dumbfounded by the sudden declaration – and then Minerva forcibly pushed her human half into hibernation.

  “I’m sorry, Seika… I’ll make it up to you somehow. Oh, I know! I’ll make more garum for your 31st birthday.” Minerva chuckled to herself, but her mouth was contorted in a sorrowful expression.

  She turned towards the three women who lowered their hoods. Blood-red hair with a magical shine to it sat on the head of all three of them. Some strands of hair ended in snakes which wriggled and hissed in Minerva’s direction.

  “Furies!” Minerva called out. The women stopped and narrowed their eyes. “Or do you prefer Erinyes?”

  “Who are you?” the first one demanded to know, drawing a dagger.

  “I am Minerva. You definitely know my father: Jove, or Jupiter. Maybe Tinia, or Zeus, if you feel like it.”

  A hiss emanated from all the women and their snakes at once.

  “A highborn lady!” One of them shouted and the others laughed.

  “Shouldn’t you be attended to in Capitoline? In Olympus? Why are you interfering in our vengeance?”

  “I’m afraid my place among Jove’s children is uncertain. Juno is not my mother.” Minerva admitted.

  “And what I’m doing is… I’m doing my growing up on Earth, which led me here.” Minerva shrugged. “I’d be very grateful if you could stop tormenting the lady of the castle. And the two girls from Earth on top of that.”

  The women didn’t like her suggestion – not one bit. They hissed again, circling Minerva as they all spoke in sequence.

  “You saw what she did!”

  “Yes, you saw!”

  “And still you want to spare her?”

  “She sacrificed to an old evil!”

  “She stirred a primordial god!”

  “She created a curse of pure malice!”

  “And it still consumes as we speak!”

  They stopped as Minerva raised a hand.

  “And she’s trying to right her wrongs. But your curse on her prevents her from doing that. So be reasonable!”

  “We are doing the reasonable thing. We punish her with visions of her failure and the suffering she caused. And we add everyone who fraternizes with her to the list of targets. Even you, highborn daughter!”

  The woman at the center of the group continued.

  “More important than all of the reasons we listed is this: she killed our brother, a hybrid. The true first hybrid. Far preceding the likes of Bacchus!”

  Minerva hesitated – this was completely new information to her.

  “You don’t remember. None who came after the children of the sky and earth do; such is the power of her curse. The very sky visited this world a thousand years ago and blessed a human maiden with his seed. The child that was born grew into a magnificent warrior and ruler – and yet the woman fashioning herself as an aristocrat murdered him.”

  “So it is petty revenge.” Minerva commented.

  “It is justice, little princess!” The woman spat back.

  Minerva rolled her eyes. Some of her fellow Deogemma could be excruciatingly stubborn, or slaves to their inherent nature, or both. She would never get past the Furies’ drive to punish those who violated the natural order of things with words – she would have to play the authority card and hold a trial for Madame Bille or use violence. Sadly, with them being far away from their home, she couldn’t do the former, so she finally readied her sword and gave them a defiant look.

  “Then you leave me no choice, whether you’re my great-aunts or not.”

  ***

  They all attacked her at once. Minerva hopped backwards several times, using her cane to shoot icicles at them to dissuade them from pursuing. The first one who reached her was cut by the Magical Girl’s sword and hissed as she flinched back – the next came from the side and was sent flying with a kick. The third was more successful, cutting Minerva’s cheek with her dagger before she got hit in the stomach by her elbow.

  She could feel them trying to attack her mind with their magic as they fought, but they found nothing. Minerva felt no guilt whatsoever for any of her deeds as Seika’s partner – or at least that’s what she hoped they would keep thinking, as she kept her actual guilty feelings sealed in the back of her mind.

  “Whyyyyy can you move?!” One of them demanded, stabbing from above, though Minerva intercepted the attack with her blade – two hands went flying and blood dripped from the attacker’s stumps.

  “I am not the woman you prepared your visons of guilt for. Seika is currently taking a backseat, so visions of Miori or Ayame won’t affect me!”

  She beheaded the handless woman before turning towards the next – the headless body fell to the ground and vanished entirely, leaving behind a deep red gemstone lying on top of a dried-out woman’s corpse. The other two took a step back – and now the Furies looked afraid.

  Minerva didn’t hesitate and flung a fireball towards the woman she was facing, engulfing her entire body in its scorching flames.

  “So far, so good.”

  She turned towards the last one, who let out a loud laugh and pointed at her.

  “You feel no guilt about anything, you say? We’ll see about that… bastard.”

  The word hit Minerva like a hammer, and she realized that while she attempted diplomacy, she told the Furies too much.

  The Fury changed her appearance and stood in front of Minerva as Juno. The apparition pierced Minerva with a look of pure disgust and the supernatural woman buckled under the guilt she felt over her own birth.

  She knew the stories from her father’s memories – Juno, also known by her primordial name, Hera, often took out her anger at her husband’s incessant cheating on his offspring, rather than confronting him directly.

  Minerva didn’t know how much that would apply to her – to her knowledge, her mother Metis was pregnant with her and subsequently absorbed by her father before he even married Juno. Would she view her any different from the other bastards?

  She was unable to move, meaning her subconscious must have been afraid of Juno – she was helpless as the apparition came ever closer.

  You’re impossible, Minerva. I already knew you’re a Roman goddess. Or maybe a Greek one, or both, judging by this exchange. Why hide it from me?

  Minerva’s eyes went wide as Seika revealed herself to have been aware this entire time. She resisted Minerva’s push into the depths of her own mind and kept watching – and in this moment, she took over, stabbing Juno through the chest.

  The apparition disappeared, leaving them to face the last of the Erinyes.

  But just as Minerva, now controlled by Seika, wanted to attack her, she changed into her final trump card. Lethe stood in front of them and slapped them aside with a thorned tendril.

  After rolling on the ground and coming to a halt, Minerva was unable to rise – fear made her limbs stop responding to her mind’s command as she just got up on one knee – and she felt the painful stab of the single Furies’ dagger in her thigh.

  Darkness surrounded her, and Minerva collapsed on the ground.

  Minerva found herself surrounded by infinite darkness in every direction, save for a single, small light in the distance. She walked, and walked, to make the small light grow and to get her bearings. She was in the recesses of her own mind, she realized halfway; trapped to wallow on her own failures and feed the Erinyes. Minerva had no doubt that the woman who plunged her into this state was currently casting her spell, to keep her in pain just like she did to Madame Bille and the Celestial Sisters. She had to hurry, then, and reunite with her other half to break out of this state – but first she’d have to give her a pep talk regarding her deathly fear of Lethe.

  As she almost reached the light, she could see its origin. A single candle – and Seika sat next to it, knees pulled to her chest, with her face buried in them.

  “Get up, Seika!” Minerva ordered.

  There was no reply.

  “Your fear of Lethe will cost us everything – it’s time that you get over it!”

  “Is that so, Athena?”

  The reply from Seika made Minerva take a step back as her stomach churned – Seika uttering her primordial name which Minerva never even consciously thought of before was akin to an accusation. She gave no reply.

  “I’m sick and tired of you keeping secrets from me.”

  Seika finally got on her feet and approached Minerva, her brow furrowed.

  “You keep saying how we’re one and I’m your other half, how you love me and all that, but you can’t even muster enough trust to tell me who or what you really are, while you’ve essentially seen my entire life. You see me work, you see me eat, sleep, defecate, masturbate…”

  Seika trembled visibly, and Minerva couldn’t hold eye contact – she looked at a spot on the black ground.

  “…you see me when I’m happy, you see me when cry myself to sleep… you’ve seen everything in the past sixteen years. And not even my fantasies or dreams are safe from you!”

  More silence from Minerva – she clenched her fists, and for a moment she considered the possibility that she was being attacked by more visions of guilt. She did feel guilty about lying to Seika, after all. But no, this was the real Seika talking, and not just a mirage by the Erinyes, she could tell that much. And this being her real accusations hurt even more than the crushing weight of guilt the Furies would apply to her shoulders.

  “So please…” Minerva looked at Seika again as she heard the quiet plea – and saw tears in the corners of her tired eyes.

  “…at least let me see the real you. Show me the same trust I’m supposed to show you. If I knew that you actually have my back, that we can trust each other entirely, I would definitely be able to stand up to Lethe!”

  ***

  Seika made her earnest plea towards Minerva – and waited. The goddess appeared uncomfortable with the subject – but then she closed her eyes and responded.

  “You’re right, Seika. I always thought I was better than most of my kin, that I actually cared about humans rather than seeing them as subjects to be ruled over, or poor sheep to be herded and protected, or hosts to be used up, or playthings... but I couldn’t even treat you as my equal, even though I love you.”

  She took a deep breath and stood up straight – then her form changed. The cheerful young woman in her corset, skirt and thigh boots was engulfed in a bright light and grew taller until she was two meters tall – and as the light dissipated, she stood in front of Seika in her full beauty.

  She wore robes – a toga probably, with a breastplate for protection, and a large plumed helmet on her head, which her hair spilled out from, while an owl sat perched on her shoulder and a snake wrapped around her right arm.

  “This is me,” Minerva said as she regarded Seika with regretful eyes.

  Seika gave her partner a tired smile.

  “You’re beautiful. What took you so long?”

  The tall woman squirmed in place and looked to the side.

  “I genuinely didn’t know that we were gods in your world, Seika. And the moment I learned that fact through you, I was afraid. What if you find out for sure? We Deogemma are merely living crystals, conducting mana to create bodies from pure magic. Just one of the myriad races out there, even if we are vastly more powerful than most. Would you be disappointed after learning that fact? Would you become afraid of me, or treat me differently as a goddess? Would you be disgusted?”

  Seika shook her head as she approached Minerva – she smiled a little. Her partner came into this world as a grown woman – but she was as insecure as every girl sharing her physical age as a crystal. Afraid of losing her first and only friend, and thus keeping secrets that only made things worse.

  “Well, good for you that I only care about what you are doing – and I’m not overly religious myself.”

  Seika had to crane her neck quite a bit to look Minerva in the eyes with their height difference.

  “Besides – if your world goes backwards, like Madame Bille described, you’re not a goddess yet, so don’t get a big head!” Seika declared with a wide grin and reached out a fist.

  “In this age you’re not a goddess, you’re a Magical Girl. A hero. And together we’re unstoppable.”

  Minerva returned to her smaller form – but she ignored the fist, instead opting for a long and close hug. Seeing the intangible, otherworldly presence vulnerable like this filled Seika with a strange sense of warmth – and she turned it into strength.

  ***

  Minerva opened her eyes again - for the outside world she was only unconscious for a few seconds. The Fury who still held the dagger buried in the Magical Girl’s thigh stepped back, shocked by her suddenly breaking out of its paralyzing effect.

  She attempted to turn back into Lethe – and the tactic worked for a second, freezing Minerva in place – just as she grinned, overly certain of her victory, the Magical Girl started to move again. The last remaining Fury’s eyes widened, and she dodged a sword strike aimed at her neck, cursing as she turned into Juno. Again, Minerva stopped for only the fraction of a second before she moved again. Seika and Minerva proper took turns now – where one would be suffocated by feelings of guilt or frozen by fear, the other took over with nothing more but a quick thought. A tag team of souls commanded the Magical Girl’s body, compensating one’s weakness with the strength of the other. Finally, the Magical Girl simply summoned a large icicle from her cane, and it impaled the apparition as well as the Fury summoning it, making her slump over and turn back into another dried-out corpse of a woman, with the Fury’s true form, the crystal, falling on the ground. Takeshita street around them vanished, and Minerva stood in the castle dungeons alone, with only three corpses and blood red gemstones for company.

  Moon of the Forgotten King, 1067 AR

  ***

  After the Furies’ death, Minerva looked around, still shaken from their visions, and her own internal conflict. The three corpses looked like they were screaming in pain, forever mummified this way.

  “I’m sorry for everything Seika.”

  Stop being sorry, Minerva! Instead, focus on being the best partner I could wish for. We’ll talk about your origins some other day.

  “It’s a promise.”

  Madame Bille’s footsteps echoed through the dungeon long before she came into view. Her eyes turned sorrowful as she saw the three dead women.

  “Young maidens, reported missing several years ago. The Furies tried to get to me for quite some time.”

  Madame Bille let out a long sigh.

  “Young women in the prime of their lives, made to starve as hosts, simply so the Furies could get to me. Despicable creatures.”

  Madame Bille’s gaze turned towards Minerva, and she could see the disgust in her eyes – which mellowed into her usual smile.

  “But you are different, Minerva and Seika. You found an understanding with each other – humans aren’t your livestock.”

  “I am assuming ‘the sky blessing the maiden with his seed’ was a more violent affair than they made it sound like.” Minerva spoke as she picked up the three crystals, looking at them in her open palm.

  “Of course. The forgotten king was conceived by violence. And he inherited his father’s worst traits.”

  Madame Bille kneeled down and looked at the girls.

  “Miriam. Saskia. Annabel. They still have living relatives. I will arrange for their funerals so they can finally find peace.”

  “You know their names?”

  Madame Bille rose and showed Minerva a sad little smile.

  “I know the names of all of my citizens. Because I care for them, as a ruler should. A true ruler, not a tyrant. Ah…”

  As if she only now remembered something important, she fished a vial out of her dress. It was filled with a strange crimson liquid.

  “The true gift I wanted to give you all along. It is a potion made from my blood and various other rare ingredients, but I won’t bore you with alchemy. I am free to hand it to you, now that the self-contradicting punishment of the Furies is gone.”

  Madame Bille’s eyes took on a determined expression.

  “Spill it in Lethe’s Garden, and the fruit she devours from you will be poisoned. This is the main reason why I made you watch my history. Once she remembers me, her curse will come apart at the seams. And you will be able to kill her.”