Chapter Text
“…it again! Grab it…”
Serena was leaving Miss Beatrice’s shop after lunch when she heard a distant shout from the front of the village. Unsure of her hearing, she glanced around Arboria’s central plaza. As she expected, she only found a handful of her grown-up cousins quietly speaking near the northern steps, no alarm among them.
She must have imagined it, then. People always told Serena how odd it was that she could hear things so well, but she often found herself hearing things that weren’t there at all.
“…so squishy, Lucius! I cannot…”
But when she heard another shout, and recognized the voice, Serena grew more worried. She cradled her bag in both hands as she scampered towards the entrance steps.
Shouts were always bad. Arboria, the holy homestead that had watched over the world from beneath Yggdrasil’s branches for a “very very long time,” as her teachers always said, was a quiet and peaceful village. It was isolated up in the mountains, and while it made monster attacks a rare occurrence, that didn’t mean they never happened. Every Arborian was taught magic of some kind to come to the village’s defense should it happen, yet for other children to be called upon meant something must be terribly wrong.
“…curses, it escaped my grasp again!”
“No, but wait! It’s trapped! Block its path!”
Serena halted at the top of the steps, ready to yell for help upon seeing the danger—but faltered when she saw what was truly in danger.
An abnormally large slime weakly bounced around the side of the stairs, its bright green goo and pained expression unlike that of its smiling blue cousins. With the crags to one side and the marble foundation blocking the rest, it had no escape from its assailants, both Arborian boys. One had neat brown hair, the other a pale-blonde mop, while both grinned with gleeful malice as they stalked towards the slime.
The brown-haired boy, Victor, let out a mischievous laugh. “We’ve got it cornered now, the silly, slippery thing!”
Lucius nodded, ruffling the clumps of his pale-blonde hair. “Yes…finally, an opportunity to cast a spell on a live target!” He paused to squint at the slime. “Slimes are not normally green, are they?”
“They certainly are not, nor are they big and fat and slow as this particular one here!” Victor answered.
“Hehehe, I’m sure it would taste different from a regular slime, then!” Embarrassment flashed on Lucius’s face when he recognized his words. “Erm, anyway—hold still, you wretched creature!”
Lucius raised his cupped hands with both palms facing each other, undoubtedly calling upon his magic. The slime had turned towards its hecklers, yet when it recognized the pose for an offensive spell, it flinched back around with a frightened “Piki!”
Serena wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. The Arborians regarded monsters as the creation of the malicious Dark One that had been vanquished by their savior, the Luminary of Legend. The spawn of such an evil creature should always be treated as Erdwin did, the adults always said. And yet, as she looked upon that green slime, trembling so fearfully in place at the mercy of its tormentors…
She found herself briskly going down the stairs—not running, to avoid tripping as she had done multiple times before—towards them, crying out, “Please, stop!” Victor noticed her call and stumbled backwards with surprise as she barreled past him to stand in front of the slime. “Please, you must stop this!” Serena repeated.
Lucius held his pose, an annoyed frown cutting through his scrunched focus. “Get out of the way, Serena! This evil slime has desecrated the sanctity of the village and must be punished!”
She glanced back at the slime. It was almost as tall as Serena was, and when the slime met her eyes it immediately averted its own. Even if she didn’t know what had happened to it, she could tell the poor creature had faced enough punishment already. She had to do something, just like what had always been done for her.
Serena shook her head, protectively holding up her arms. “No! No more of this!”
“Serena, the monsters should know not to come near the village,” Victor said. “We will teach the weak thing a lesson, then let it return to its friends, so that they will know not to return!”
Serena shook her head again. “Monster or man, you mustn’t bully the weak!” She put as much force into her words as she could, yet neither of the boys seemed swayed. “If you don’t stop, I’ll…”
“You’ll do what?” Lucius asked, his frown turning into a sneer. The air between his palms had began to mist with condensation. “What shall you do, O great reincarnation of the holy Sage?”
Serena’s heart skipped, and she felt a creeping nervousness. “I…I’ll…”
“Naught of anything, I’d think!” Victor answered for her, smiling scornfully. “You’ve yet to cast even a single spell, have you?”
“I—”
“She certainly has not!” Lucius cut in. “You can’t be a good sage if you can’t cast magic, you phony!”
“Phony sage! Phony sage!” Victor began to chant the words, and Lucius chuckled gleefully as he continued to call upon his magic.
Serena’s nervousness seemed to tighten around her insides. She was supposed to be the reincarnation of Serenica, the holy Sage that had fought alongside the Luminary of Legend against the Dark One. Her honorific title as the first Sage stemmed from the multitude of spells She had mastered over Her entire life, starting from Her childhood. Serena was supposed to have inherited some of Her talent—but she had yet to summon any magical energy at all.
Victor continued to incessantly tease her, and Serena averted her gaze, her arms beginning to tremble. It was a problem Serena had been reminded of all her life, even through awful situations such as these. Her birth was a special one, the Holy Father said—when she grew up she would have to guide and protect the next Luminary on his journey, just like Serenica did. She didn’t know if she would be able to protect the Luminary if she couldn’t cast any magic, much less anyone else.
And yet, when she saw that slime enduring its torment, something inside Serena told her it mattered naught if she couldn’t cast magic, even if she was protecting a monster. She shook her head again, holding her arms steady. “I shan’t move from this spot!” Serena declared.
A glistening icicle had formed between Lucius’s hands by then, its sharpened end dripping wet with condensation. “Very well then—don’t say that you didn’t ask to be the first person struck by my magic!” he said through his straining. Lucius drew his hand back, and the icicle heeded the movement as it followed his palm in the air. Serena winced, closing her eyes as she waited the crackle of cold pain against her skin…
“Hey! What in Yggdrasil’s name do you idiots think you’re doing!?”
“So long, Veronica!”
“See you, Miss Beatrice!” Veronica replied, stepping out into the afternoon sunlight. Her sister said she would be waiting outside—yet she was nowhere in sight. “Serena? Where’d you—?”
“No! No more…”
Veronica was leaving Miss Beatrice’s shop when she heard a distant shout from the entrance to the village—and even worse, Serena was gone. Veronica didn’t hesitate, rushing to the western steps and scanning the front-facing path. As short as she was at her age, it took Veronica a second to spot the commotion happening behind the raised stone lining the stairs: her baby sister, getting heckled by the village blockheads.
Seeing Lucius and Victor up to no good wasn’t something that usually made her furious. Most of the village didn’t expect much else from them, and Mother had already come down on them yesterday for disrupting class too much. With their nonsense turned upon Serena, her anger began to boil—especially since her sister knew not to trifle with them in the first place.
Well, if they all needed a reminder, Veronica would oblige. She stomped down the steps, tuning out Victor’s moronic chanting as she made light of the situation. Lucius had to be preparing a spell, holding his hands in place as mist formed between them, while her sister’s was stretched to the side as if she were defending something.
Veronica questioned how her sister could’ve gotten into that position in the first place—but it didn’t matter. Serena was in trouble, and Veroinca would never let anything bad happen to her sister.
“…well, then,” Lucius said, his voice strained as an icicle took shape in the air between his hands. “…don’t say that you didn’t ask to be the first person struck by my magic!”
Oh, so the slowpoke thought he could cast a proper spell outside of class, could he? Veronica would show him how to really use magic. Everyone was too preoccupied to notice when she reached the bottom of the steps, giving her a moment to breathe in before she yelled out, “Hey! What in Yggdrasil’s name do you idiots think you’re doing!?”
Both boys jumped as if they’d been struck, and Lucius’s summoned icicle fell from his command to shatter onto the grass. “Oh no,” Lucius breathed, his face frozen with fear. “It can’t be…”
“Veronica!” Serena called out.
“Arboria’s magician extraordinaire, here for yet another demonstration!” A proud smile stretched across her face with that declaration, then quickly returned to its frown as she fixed her gaze upon the two boys. “So…which of you blockheads thought it would be a smart idea to bully my sister, hm?”
Victor began babbling the same befuddled nonsense he did whenever he drew a grown-up’s ire, so it fell onto Lucius to respond. “It-it-it w-wasn’t our f-fault! Sh-she was—”
“What’s that?” Veronica cut in. “Your tongue’s tied up again?” She called upon her magic, energy coursing through her like a whipcrack, and a ball of flame frizzled above her hand after a single second. “Maybe you wouldn’t mind if I burned it so you can speak up, would you? Or maybe I could just turn your tongue into charcoal so you can stop your stupid babbling!” she snapped, meeting Victor’s eyes.
The brown-haired boy flinched again, then fell silent. Lucius’s cheeks had began to blush for some stupid reason, and it took a moment for him to reply. “Erm, V-Veronica, w-we didn’t m-mean to…I-I think you…uh…y-you aren’t s-supposed to—”
“Aren’t supposed to what, huh?” Veronica was already growing impatient. “You two idiots aren’t supposed to be messing around with my sister, are you?”
“No, we aren’t,” Victor suddenly sputtered, “but you aren’t supposed to be using the World Tree’s name as such!”
Veronica felt a peevish prod. Everyone always liked to point out her language—it was the easiest way to get her in trouble. Too bad they were the ones who started things this time. “Okay then, maybe I will start with your tongue first!”
As soon as she pulled back her hand, both boys’ eyes grew as wide as her fireball—then they were rusing past her and back up the steps with panicked cries.
Veronica blew a raspberry at them as they fled. “That’s right—run away, you pansies!” She clenched her hands to snuff out her fireball, disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to let it fly. Then again, she still had a little trouble controlling where her fireballs went, and Vivian’s mother would lose it if she hit any of the greenery—but she would figure it out eventually. She always did.
“Thank you, Veronica,” Serena said with relief. Though Veronica could see the apprehension in Serena’s gaze, her little sister was otherwise unharmed.
Or twin sister, for that matter. She and Serena were both 9 years old, shared the same lavender eyes, and the same bright blonde hair. Serena always kept hers neat and straight, while Veronica never liked to go anywhere without her signature twin braids, even if she had to keep the rest in place with a hairband most of the time.
That was where all of their similarities ended. Where Veronica was strong, confident, and didn’t like to take any silly nonsense from anyone, Serena was weak, scared easily, and seemed to stumble into silly situations just as easily as it was for her to break down into tears.
What was even more strange was how they were twins in the first place. Together they were both supposed to be the reincarnation of Serenica, the great Sage who had fought alongside the Luminary of Legend a long time ago. Apparently Her power had been split between the both of them, but Veronica always wondered if Yggdrasil had messed up somehow, and not just with their personalities. Veronica had gotten all of Her talent in magic, with strong affinities for most of the elements and was learning how to channel each without much trouble. She could almost cast a proper Frizz already.
Mother said that Serena had strong affinities of her own, including a stronger connection to light than Veronica had. With that she should be able to cast healing magic like it was nothing, one of the harder kinds of spells to learn—but she’d never been able to do anything with magical energy her whole life.
When Veronica thought about that, she couldn’t help being a little irritated still. Her little sister being able to heal would make things a lot easier for everyone. “Serena!” she snapped, placing her hands on her hips. “How many times do I have to tell you not to go near those blockheads when I’m not around?”
Serena averted her gaze for a moment. “I-I’m sorry…I heard them shouting at the front of the village and thought that something was wrong…”
Shouting at the entrance meant trouble, Veronica knew: monster attacks. It had been a long time since the last one, but she’d heard some of the adults whispering that they’d gotten more common over the past few years. When the next one happened, Veronica would be ready to come to Arboria’s defense—but her little sister was far from able to stand up against any monster, much less the village idiots.
Veronica shook her head. “Okay, and why did you think you would be fine against any monsters when you can’t cast any magic?”
Serena winced again, and the grass seemed to tremble along with her. “I…um…”
Veronica sighed wearily. “Ugh, it doesn’t matter—you can’t afford to be so careless like this, Serena! If there was a monster here, you’d be in danger, and someone would have to come and save you—probably me!” The grass behind Serena jiggled when she said ‘monster.’ “Maybe once you can use magic you’ll be better off against those stupid brats, but you’ll never do anything against any monsters if you don’t—”
The grass jiggled again, and she cut herself off. Wait, she thought. Grass doesn’t jiggle, does it? Veronica looked closely at the space behind Serena. Instead of the greenery and white marble bricks that Arboria sat on, the green behind Veronica’s sister was shaped like a fat teardrop, with a surface so glossy it looked almost gooey…
The teardrop behind Serena jiggled again, then turned around, revealing a pair of googly eyes and a sullen mouth—Veronica hadn’t been looking at grass at all, she was looking at a slime! “What in the—Serena, isn’t that a slime behind you!?”
Serena’s face lit up with recognition. “Oh, right!” she said, turning around a looking the monster over with concern. “Mister Slime, are you alright?” The slime answered with a low slurping sound, yet Serena seemed to recognize some pain in it. “Oh, dear…” She reached out towards the slime; though it pulled back slightly, the creature let Serena rest a hand on its squishy surface. For a moment, Veronica wasn’t sure if her little sister had taken on their mother’s face, or even hers.
“Serena!” Veronica repeated. “What in the world are you doing with—” She trailed off again, realizing what was going on, “—were you protecting that thing from Lucius and Victor?”
Serena nodded. “Yes. I don’t think there was any real danger at first—it only sounded as if they were simply roughhousing with this slime. But when I saw them ready to inflict more harm on the poor thing, it felt wrong to just stand there and let them…so I came to it’s aid.” She guiltily looked down at the grass. “I’m sorry…I didn’t want you to worry…”
Veronica stared at her sister with disbelief for a few seconds, then sighed. “Not this again…” she muttered.
“What?” Serena asked, clearly confused.
“It’s nothing.” Veronica shook her head, then nodded at the slime. “So, is the little guy okay?”
“Well, he’s been battered up quite a bit, but that seems to be all. He’ll be a little better once his wounds have been tended to.” Serena dug into her bag and pulled out one of the special medicinal herbs Miss Beatrice had given her to take to Father. “Try eating this, Mister Slime.”
The moment Serena proffered the herb to the slime, it bobbed back with an alarmed “Piki!” like she’d pulled out a phial of holy water.
“What’s wrong, Mister Slime? Medicinal herbs are good for you.”
The slime responded with an indecipherable slurp.
“Have you tried one before?”
“Piki…”
“Ugh, seems like ‘piki’ is slime talk for ‘picky,’ then,” Veronica groaned.
“I’m ever so sorry if you might not like it, Mister Slime, but if you don’t eat it then your wounds won’t get better,” Serena said. When the slime’s look didn’t change, she let out a sad sigh. “If only I could use some healing magic…”
The slime made a sad gurgle of its own. Serena wasn’t deterred, and she continued to try to encourage the slime to eat the herb, while Veronica stood and watched, still a little disbelieving. All the adults said that monsters were evil, and while weaker ones like this slime here always looked different, she knew they would all get up to trouble eventually.
Serena, of course, never fully believed that. If you showed her one that looked even a tiny bit nice, she wouldn’t mind coddling and protecting it like any other normal pet. At first, Veronica never understood why Serena would want to bother protecting weak things like slime and the like. Keeping track of her was already worrying enough.
Except, one of Serena’s favorite storybooks was Hand of the Heavenly Bride, a tale of a hero who went on a journey to defeat a great evil, like Erdwin. A lot of it was about some soppy romance, but the hero also had a pet sabrecat that became his lifelong companion after he saved it from a bunch of human bullies when it was a cub. At least sabrecubs grew up to be strong and fierce—all the slimes Veronica had seen stayed pushovers their whole lives.
This slime they had found here had to be even more of a pushover. It’s bright green goo stood out even in the grass, it was so plump you could hit it three times as easily as your normal slime, and it was probably three times as slower. No wonder Serena liked this one so much, Veronica supposed.
As much as she wanted to test her own newfound grasp of ice magic on the slime, once she’d seen that caring look on Serena’s face, she knew she wasn’t going to get the chance. Whenever her sister liked something enough, it was almost like it became the only thing in the world that mattered to her. If Veronica tried to shoo it away now, Serena would throw a stubborn fit just like their father—so, she was stuck with helping her take care of the slime for now.
By the time she’d thought of that, the slime still hadn’t eaten Serena’s herb. Veronica sighed again, resigned to whatever nonsense she’d have to put herself through to satisfy them both. “Well, if the little goober’s not going to eat anything, he’ll still get better if he stays out of trouble for a while, won’t he?” she suggested.
Both the slime and Serena gave her hesitant looks. “Yes, but what will we do with him in the meantime? He’ll still be in danger if he stays out here, and everyone will be furious if we bring a monster into the village.”
Veronica inspected the stretchy, gooey green of the slime’s surface, the ideas in her head already beginning to buzz. “Slimes can squish and stretch themselves to fit into tight spaces, can’t they? I think I know just the thing.”