Jemdins

  Sunset and sunrise.

  Tiny, insignificant ants fighting for food. Great kingdoms waging wars for territory,

  Pearlescent springs hidden in the depths of forests. Crimson blood flowing from unknown bodies,

  Fate twists, turns, and weaves itself in an unknowable tapestry, Destiny awaits the unforeseen and inevitable end,

  Beautiful.

  It is all so preciously beautiful.

  The catastrophe prophet thought to herself. Her body throbbing with joy and excitement.

  A fateless one with a paradoxically grand fate, soulless and yet brimming with otherworldly vitality. A dredgen one brought not from the depths, but from beyond the firmament itself, blessed by Those Who Watch.

  A being with endless possibilities and so much potential… brought upon this cursed and blessed world by her own two hands.

  It took a long time for her ragged breaths to settle down.

  A failed whim, an experiment not intended to ever yield any results worth of effort. What she had done as a passing fancy while traveling turned out to be something she could never have imagined.

  At most, a strange and cursed creature was the most likely thing to come out of that egg. An unholy union of many different bloods supplemented by a disgusting amount of soul drained from the environment. Perhaps it would rage and bring forth destruction, or maybe it would die a pitiful death and die without achieving anything. Another thought would be if the creature would be able to break free from its destiny and blossom into something new and foreign.

  None of those things happened.

  Instead, interference.

  At first, unbridled rage. How could someone meddle with the creation of her beloved work?

  And then, surprise, love, excitement, and finally, encompassing ecstasy.

  Those silent beings who gently care for the world and bring ruin to the weeds and parasites who stain their garden. Precisely, those exact beings who many call gods of this world, have interfered.

  This was unprecedented.

  This was exciting.

  This was a sign.

  And, it could have been anywhere, anytime, but this, why this? Why out of everything that could have been chosen, was this pce, with her creation, chosen?

  The uncertainty of it all, the hypocrisy, the irony, everything was infinitely amusing and deeply foreboding.

  The Witch of Decadence loved it all to the point of fainting.

  Something, imperceptible, invisible, and paradoxically so grand and rge that it flooded all of her senses both natural and unnatural. An encompassing pressure that weighted and pulled at all sides. Coming from above and below.

  This something had been inserted on that very bloated and disfigured egg she had created. Fixing it, mutating it, transforming it, evolving it into a pristine shell that would hold the life of a mysterious thing that she could not wait to see.

  In fact, she did not wait at all.

  What at first would be simply a chaotic mixture of some creatures she had come across during her travels, now would become a refined existence. Whoever had meddled with her things wouldn't mind if she added a little personal touch of hers would they?

  The Witch inserted the essences of other creatures and removed others she thought would be problematic. Measuring, bancing, and ordaining the life inside the egg to become closer to perfection. Some of those were very hard to get and she was storing them for ter, what an opportunity to go all out! She thought to herself.

  Blood of Gaia's agents.

  Bone of the Stone Guardians.

  Flesh of the Ancient Races.

  And the core of a powerful monster filled great quantities of "soul".

  She infused it with magic power, and made it bathe in spilled vitality to speed up the maturing of the egg. Improving its resilience and health so it does not become deformed because of the accelerated growth.

  And finally everything was almost ready… but…

  The Witch paused, pondered, and rolled around. Observing the silent egg, another intrusive thought appeared, one she hadn't ever committed before, and one that held great uncertainty. So much uncertainty that even someone like her hesitated.

  But she loves uncertainty.

  And so, as a parting gift for the unnamed being yet to be born, she added a miniscule part of herself into the mix.

  What would happen? What could go wrong? She did not know, it was a gamble without reward, it was a promise without cuses, she was tying herself down with weights and throwing herself into the ocean simply to see what was going to happen.

  It wasn't like the Witch had anything to lose. If she had, it was already lost long, long ago.

  It wouldn't be far-fetched to call the creature inside the egg her offspring after all that.

  And actually, why not? The Witch thought to herself, a face-splitting grin crossing her face.

  Her beloved and precious child, borne out of mere casual whimsy and unexpectedly blessed by powerful beings out of her ken.

  But she would not raise it. No.

  She knew, after all, that would spoil the experience.

  She would leave her precious to the hands of fate, as she did for every other creation of hers.

  But she would be oh so closely admiring it, waiting for the climax with bored breaths.

  …

  She witnessed its birth.

  The cute and immature way it fumbled was endlessly endearing to her.

  It was humanoid. But not of any particur species.

  The creature– no… It was a female, Perhaps she would call it a… "daughter" instead?

  The thought sent fits of pleasure across her body. A new experience, one she has never had before, something unprecedented, something utterly preposterous for an evil being such as herself to have.

  The Witch adored these new sensations and all the emotions. Is this love? Is this despair? She looked forward to feeling them all.

  Were she a more ignorant being, maybe she would even pray for these meddling gods in gratitude.

  It dispyed an exceedingly unexpected amount of intelligence for a newborn, she suspected something else was amiss with the interference.

  She observed her fumbling about in the forest like a fawn without guidance.

  …Perhaps her beloved daughter was not as smart as she thought.

  She looked at her from a distance. Seeing her little adventures and discoveries day after day after day. Without blinking, without showing herself.

  One day, an elf appeared, perhaps it was one of those she had messed with recently. She was not sure, there are many things she has done in the past to bother remembering all of them.

  She observed her creation and the elf bonding with each other…

  She observed her through the measly defenses that protected the small vilge…

  She watched as her daughter grew leaps and bounds under the peaceful and isoted vilge.

  …

  One fateful day where the vilge was silent and everyone closed their eyes to rest under the moonlight, she could not contain herself.

  She craved to touch her little apple at least once. After all this time observing silently in a far away pce, temptation grew, and the Witch gave into her sin once more.

  She would see her daughter up close. She wanted to see and touch and ravage and embrace and love her creation at least once with her very own eyes and hands and skin and body.

  But if she went too far… She did not want to be ruining things before they could flourish. So she was gentle, careful, and silent as she loomed over her beloved creation.

  Even with the interference of higher beings, making the Witch not have as much cim to that title as she thought. The little girl would always be hers in her heart.

  "Beautiful~"

  She gently caressed the child's face. Committing to memory every inch, every pore, every strand of hair to memory.

  "…So preciously beautiful~"

  She wanted to see her struggle. She desired to witness her achievements, to see her efforts bear fruit, to see her despair, her love, her hate, her sadness, her joy, her—

  —The child turned and tossed in her sleep, apparently enjoying a nightmare.

  The witch stepped away, she had spent all night appreciating her daughter already and morning was closing in.

  "I'll be watching~"

  She kissed her.

  "...Waiting~"

  She blessed her.

  "...Looking right over your shoulder~"

  Dorothan, for the first time in her life experienced what it is like to care for another, in her own decrypt and twisted way.

  "Until the moment… to partake in death. My little Apocrypha."

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  # OMAKES

  – Little garden behind the dining pce –

  [ Year one of Syuufarin's arrival - Crocus' kitchen ]

  "U-um……. Can I….?"

  "Hm? What is it, girl?" Crocus asked the girl who was timidly gncing around.

  "......Help?"

  Crocus blinked twice.

  "Help?... You? In the kitchen?" He said with palpable surprise.

  "...Yes."

  "..." At first, He wanted to ugh it off and send the kid away. But seeing her expression, it did not seem like she was here for insignificant reasons. Outwardly, it seemed like the kid was on the verge of running away judging by how she kept constantly shifting, but looking closely her eyes showed a great amount of courage was used just to come here.

  "What happened for you to come here so suddenly?" Crocus asked instead. No way he'd mock the poor kid that looked like they'd gone through so much effort.

  "...I, I wants…. Pay…. food…." She said, words full of lisp and speaking slowly and pausedly. It seemed like she was still trying to grasp their nguage.

  By the judge of her struggling and blushing face she was keenly aware of the fact too.

  "Hm? Oh… Thank you but… you know you don't have to right?"

  "...!......!" The girl shook her head, paused, grinded her hands on her head as if trying to remember something, then just made a cute up and down gesture with her fists as if protesting. "...want!"

  'Gods above protect my heart…' Gaviel thought to himself.

  He coughed, a little embarrassed. "W-well, if you insist…"

  The girl brightened up.

  "...but I won't let you inside."

  The girl dimmed down.

  "Instead… Come here, let me show you something." Crocus gestured for her to follow.

  The girl… brightened up?

  For as stone-faced the girl was, she certainly managed to loudly express herself in different ways. Curen chuckled at her antics.

  Behind the bar where he served food, behind the open air kitchens, aside the ingredient storehouse, Curen opened a door.

  "It's not really a secret, but I like to think of this pce as my special little haven. If you really wish to help, you can come here and help take care of it."

  Inside was a small greenhouse brimming with various pnts. It was so cramped that even with Syuufarin's size they couldn't walk side by side in the narrow aisles. Herbs, spices, fruits, all sorts of things that are used in cooking were being cultivated in the greenhouse.

  "Here, you can use this." Crocus handed her a watering can. "There isn't a lock, so you can come anytime you feel like it. Just remember to not leave the door open."

  The small girl left to work enthusiastically… though she had no idea where to get water.

  Crocus went back to his workstation.

  Not long after Dahlia came by.

  "So…" She began, a tinge of worry in her voice. "That girl is still doing those things?"

  "Yes. I am sorry but," Crocus rubbed the back of his head. "I could not turn her down when she asked me so earnestly… It should be fine I believe, what I told her to do is not anything too burdensome."

  Dahlia sighed. "I often wonder what sort of pce she had lived in for her to end up in such a way."

  To them, such a concept of "repaying every debt" was foreign. They understood it to a point. They even thought it was noble in a way. But if every social interaction followed such a basis then society as whole would colpse, there are times where altruism is needed, and sometimes the "cost" of things are so high they cannot be paid.

  If the elves always worried about paying every goodwill and slight that has happened, Daivette would never be able to exist. It is a pce built upon trust and camaraderie that doesn't expect any sort of exchange from residents, the cost of living is practically free, as long as you contribute a little to the whole. And even then not much is necessary, since the output of resources is bigger than the demand necessary for living.

  That such an innocent and young girl spent more time working than pying deeply worried them.

  "I believe it is not something that has started with bad intentions, but…" Crocus scratched his beard. "...If malicious people wished to, it is an easy behavior to take advantage of."

  Dahlia nodded. "Too much gratitude can backfire on her."

  They decided to let things be for now. But in the future, warnings would be spread throughout the vilge for people to keep an eye on the precocious child, for the sake of her wellbeing.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  – Where do these eggs come from? –

  "Hey, I remember that you said there aren't any chickens… right?"

  "Hm? Yes. That's right, why do you ask?" Granny replied.

  "...Then, where do all the eggs I see around come from?"

  "From the riverspawn beasts of course."

  "...what?"

  It was a name I had never heard before, I only sort of understood because the naming conventions the elves have for animals are fairly simple with a clear etymology. But still… 'riverspawn?...'

  "You've never seen them?... I'm pretty sure they are always chirping about somewhere."

  "...chirping??" I had thought she was talking about some sort of fish.

  Granny paused and took a long look at me. "...then again, you've never been the type to go outside much."

  "..." I wanted to be angry at her for that, but kept silent since there is no way to refute that.

  "Let's go then! It's a good chance to get you to walk a little for once."

  "Ugh, you don't have to point it out like that…"

  We went to a far off corner of the vilge, one where I never even approached before.

  Even though I've been living in this pce for a long time now… I don't think I have ever properly explored everything. Simirly to how some people could have never left their own cities or neighborhoods their whole life if they didn't travel. I never wandered too far from Curen's house.

  As we approached a pce that looked like a farm I began to see creatures that might as well be aliens to me.

  But to the elves they were everyday critters and completely natural.

  The first thing I noticed was the smell, like wet bird poop and… hondashi?

  The next thing, I heard the sounds of chirping, but unlike chickens these were elongated and were more like sputtering whistling.

  And then, in the distance, I saw a herd of round and pudgy little things running about a green hill next to a pond.

  They looked like a mix of a dinosaur-era chicken, an axolotl, and a samander. Walking in two legs with a big round belly and sporting a rge mouth with a perpetually dumb smile.

  "whoa."

  They are cute.

  Seeing me stare so intently at them Granny simply picks one up and hands it to me without fanfare.

  "W-wait!" The suddenness startles me. Cats and dogs are one thing but I have never held another animal this big before. "Is it fine to hold them like this?" I gnce at the… lizard, which comfortably flops itself in my arms.

  They are as soft as they look and surprisingly flexible.

  "They are very docile," Granny chuckles. "Even if you shake it upside down at most they'll avoid you for a while! Now, stay here, I will get some food for them."

  That day I spent the afternoon pying with the strange, but affectionate "riverspawn beasts".

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  – Getting used to fruits, the artificial is more familiar –

  I stared long and hard at a cucumber like fruit.

  Unlike its counterpart that I am familiar with… this one is orange. It tastes like carrot, it has the texture of a carrot, but the shape of a cucumber and the insides have much more water.

  Also, it grew on the ground like a watermelon instead of under the dirt.

  The taste was surprisingly sweet with a satisfying crunch and a slight earthy saltiness. Despite being an ordinary vegetable, it would make for a decent appetizer even raw. The shape was convenient to snack on too.

  'To think there would come a day where I would genuinely consider becoming vegetarian…' The renowned healthy foods… I had never been much of a fruit or sad eater in the past. Though I was not the type to eat fast-food all the time, I certainly gravitated away from the unappetizing foods more often than not. '...Meat is still king though!'

  It's not as if I avoided eating my greens entirely, it simply was, that when you have the option to eat cabbage or maybe an apple, and then you turn your head and there's the cupboard you know is full of cereal and other sweet and tastier things… It is hard to be an upright person who always eats healthily, the temptation is simply too big.

  The elves though, as people that survive on pnts more than meat, are able to make green foods very delicious without relying too much on condiments. Using many methods to bring the best of the natural fvors of each ingredient and extracting the most nutritional value and uses for them. A bell pepper, for example, can become sweet with the right preparation, and its leftovers can be dried and ground to turn into a rich and strong seasoning.

  'My elevated senses make everything seem strong though…' One bad note of getting enhanced hearing, smell, etcetera, was that pate got included as well. Even the most basic and simple of fruits has a captivating smell and taste, both in good and bad ways sometimes.

  'Now that I think about it, I was much more familiar with the artificial fvors of fruit that came with all the industrialized and artificial types of food than the actual original fvors of the fruits themselves.' Strawberry being a prime example, everyone loves an strawberry fvored candy, but when it comes to real strawberries, they rarely are as sweet as they are portrayed to be. Raw strawberries can be very sour in reality though.

  'I was picky but… hum, I guess it's a good thing that I am able to enjoy various more foods now?' I thought to myself. My feelings were mixed about it all.

  Nothing else would ever compare to the super bitter things I ate in the forest to survive.

  Though the burning sensation they had when going down my throat was funny.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  – Really big potatoes –

  After helping the farmers for some time, one day they called me over for harvest season, at first I wasn't too interested but with how they were all gushing about it with excited faces I ended up coming over anyways.

  "Alright everyone, we pull in three…"

  5 men were crouched around the stalk of one of the many buried pnts in the field.

  A small part of me wanted to go in and join the fun, it felt like they were going to do a tug of war game with how they were doing things. Unfortunately there was no space for me to stand in between them, I was called over just to watch.

  "...one, two, three!"

  The pnt didn't even move.

  "Again!"

  I heard a thick thump coming from the ground, and a crack was beginning to appear.

  "One more!"

  The crack opened slightly.

  "Again!"

  This went on for 10 more minutes.

  I was beginning to feel a little worried, they looked like they were barely progressing at all.

  "...What about a shovel?" I asked.

  The uncle who had invited me panted in exhaustion. "There is a chance to damage the potato underneath… so it is not a very good idea."

  "Oh…"

  The men continued pulling, also occasionally carefully digging with their hands.

  'Wait a minute– All of this just for a single potato?!' Before I could express my surprise the ground cracked again.

  A huge thing popped out of the ground. Shadowing over me, I had to look up to see the tip of it.

  "Eh?..."

  A humongous potato-like thing appeared, taller than I was, towering over 2 meters of height.

  Everyone was catching their breath. "Would you look at that! You think this will break the record?" someone said.

  Apparently, there are three types of harvests that the vilge elves do. The first one is crops that need to be harvested frequently every year, the second are ones that are fine if left for many years because they st long or take a long time to grow, and the third one are crops that refine over time and never are harvested unless a special occasion happens, they expined to me.

  And this "potato" in particur has been sitting under the ground for 5 years.

  "Why though?" I asked. "I thought they rot if you miss the harvest time?"

  "It's more fun this way!" They answered. "Didn't you see the huge Pumpkin my uncle got st year?"

  "I.. no, I didn't." 'I was busy… doing things. Yes, that's right.' Truth is that I had avoided the parties and festivals of the elves for the most part, I went to grab tasty food and left quickly to avoid being dragged in conversations.

  Through some special techniques that went over my head, they said that there is an ongoing competition to see who can grow the biggest crop of its type. And every year or so someone cims the honorary prize of having bested their competitors, the champion's size is recorded, and everyone gets to enjoy something delicious at the winner's choice food.

  Recently though, because of my intervention, everyone's harvests were growing unusually rge. Nobody understood why exactly, since this never happened before even if they watered their own crops with magic created water before. But this time after I went around making it rain on everyone's fields something must have changed and the likely culprit is me.

  'Wait… Oh, oh no…' Sweat began to fall down my face. I saw the gears turning from a distance. This probably meant that…

  Day after day, one farmer or another along with gardeners, and even people that don't even farm as their profession started to show up unannounced to invite me to see the big things they found growing in their backyard, thinking they could compete in the harvest competition.

  And they all said something in common

  –""You've got to show up at the next harvest festival!""–

  'Wahh!!! But I don't wanna!' A lone scream sounded in the confines of my mind.

  I ended up going anyway in the end.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  – How Curen and Samyra met –

  I am not a person who cares much for someone's past, and much less their romantic lives.

  But

  Curen, a very eccentric person who almost never leaves his house. And Samyra, a straight person that abides by the rules and is always holed up somewhere reading books.

  How could these two types of unsocial people have met?

  I wasn't going to just ask them outright, obviously.

  That would be embarrassing.

  But then how was I going to satisfy this curiosity?

  'Well, I don't know either…'

  I even ended up forgetting about it sometimes, but the nagging question always came back sooner or ter.

  One day, after Curen chased me again because he wanted to file some dust out of my horns again, I ended up blurting out something.

  "Samyra~" I whined, having resigned myself to appease the research beast. "How come you are married to this brute and insensitive person?"

  Samyra ughed at my plight. "Dear, you could be more gentle when requesting her to help you."

  "But she always runs away!" Curen dramatically pointed his finger at me.

  "Because you handle me like a feral cat when you're after me!" I dramatically pointed back.

  "Then don't behave like one!"

  I opened my mouth, then thought about my behaviour. 'Fuck he is right.' "...S-still!" I stuttered. "It's uncomfortable!"

  "Does it hurt?"

  "No."

  "It's for your own good, so don't compin! My research of new compounds aside, your medical evaluation is all over the pce with results I can't wrap my head around, and also! I know for a fact that most horned animals can have a problem if their horns grow wrong or into their skull. I am simply helping you!"

  The comparison hit an angry chord within me. "When you put it like that… I can't really compin." I mumbled.

  After a moment, Samyra chirped back into the conversation. "And about that question, well, haha…" she let out an embarrassed ugh. "...It could be said that at first we were not married at all. In fact, it was mostly an accident, one thing led to another and…"

  "Huh?" I blinked. 'What a plot twist…'

  "..." Curen suddenly became very shy and mumbled some angry sounds that I couldn't make out even with my good hearing.

  "He was so prickly at first, you know?" Samyra said with a much too happy smile. As if sharing juicy gossip. "He blew up his b one too many times for everyone to tolerate. And since I lived close by and was apprenticeshipping under an Elder at the time, I got to be his per~so~nal overseer." She giggled.

  "Usually this job would go to a responsible and strong ranger, but I wanted to do it instead. Day after day I got to watch over him, of course, I had special privileges to do what I wanted with him."

  Curen shuddered at that st line.

  "But who would've thought! The infamous and irresponsible researcher was actually very considerate! Everyone thought he had a screw loose," Samyra tilted her head with a furrowed brow "Maybe they were right. But the person himself took care to always protect himself and others when doing research, and he expined things so well! Almost like a teacher at times. With time I sort of grew to become lenient with him, of course sometimes I had to hit him in the back of the head, but my supervising job was very easy."

  "I did not think much of it at first, but one day Curen started to try flirting with me! it was all so innocent and clumsy you know? I kind of pitied him at the time, there was one time where he even fell on top of—"

  Curen interrupted her with panic. "AAH!!! Unnecessary! Unnecessary!"

  "Ahem." Samyra let out a polite cough, silencing him. "Anyways," Curen let out a sigh of relief. "He was cute, so I thought, 'why not?' I pretty much already lived in his house and knew every corner of it. So I moved in before he could have a say in it."

  Curen looked like he wanted to strangle himself by that point. Though I couldn't even fathom what was going through his head.

  'Ah…' I thought to myself. 'So this is what a dangerous person is like.'

  Samyra may look like a gentle and fragile person, but inside she can be surprisingly fierce.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  Jemdins