A Walk in a New World (nikuvillain)

A new world. A world full of magic and monsters. With both demons and angels. A world of violence and peace. That should be my next creation. I can envision it now! I can already fell the grass beneath my feet and smell the smoke in the— wait.

Meghana's eyes snapped open and her step faltered. Placing a hand on Mindgleam to steady herself, the illusionist sniffed at the air again. The smoke wasn't in her imagination this time. She could see a faint trail of smoke emitted from within an enclosure of trees. Her mind raced at the possibilities; there could be a raging fire, a small camp, or anything else that could peak her interest.

Exchanging a quick glance at her dragon, she began to climb aboard the behemoth creature. “Follow the smoke,” she ordered, taking this as a positive plot twist.

Immediately, the dragon was pushing its wide wings against the wind, getting airborne within seconds of the command. Its shut nostrils opened up to inhale the rapidly multiplying smoke and its narrow eyes slitted further. With a strong pull of the air, the dragon shot forward, its wings just about skimming the tips of the trees.

The illusionist crouched closer to the dragon's body, fighting against the sudden speed of flight. Through the sudden blurring in her eyes, Meghana could see a clearing up ahead which was almost entirely engulfed in smoke. From within emanated a darkness so pure the tamer could feel Mindgleam cringe away from it. Land, Meghana ordered mentally. This phenomena was too odd to miss.

After a few winding circles Mindgleam began to coast to the earth. Before the dragon had completely landed, Meghana jumped off, landing shakily and on her knees. But the pain in her knees was nothing compared to the overwhelming heat and smell of sulfur. Each breath she drew in felt like inhaling air from the very mouth of a volcano. Yet, her mind was crystal clear as she saw what was occurring.

Two figures were clashing, their outlines hazy. One was large and menacing, the other looking almost like a child. The child was obviously the source of all this power as the darkness seemed to be coming from him.

A new world. Meghana knew this from the very center of her being, and, instead of being elated about it, something about the darkness struck her as sinister. A new world I desperately should not see. These thoughts brought her mind back to the world from earlier, the world with an equal mixture of good and evil. Instinctively, she knew what she had to do—bring her powers into the mix. Stifling a cough, she let her palms fall upon the ground, her mind racing with possibilities of what to do. This would be unlike anything she had done before, both in messing with another's enchantment as well as bringing one of her own worlds life. Yet, she knew it was in her capacity to do it.

Thoughts of a brighter world flashed beneath her eyelids. Green grass, blue skies, birds, flowers, all the good things she could think of. The more cliché the better, she told herself, willing thoughts of bunnies and hearts. Slowly her eyes opened, just in time to see the ever-brightening light around her. Content with her work, Meghana could feel the exhaustion overcome her. She fell back with a barely audible thud, the world already fading away.

“Damn little girl give me that staff!” an odd man yelled at the strange mage. They’d been running through the woods for quite a while now and the young kid was tried. He wasn’t use to all the running it seemed his adult friend was just getting start. He glared at the boy, pulling out a knife from within his pocket. Marmion had tried everything to scary this man away and nothing at work. Not only was this stranger fearless, but strong for someone that looked weak.

Marmion as laughed as he thought about what the guy had just called him. If only he knew, he thought twirling his staff around as he planted into the ground.

“Giving up now?” the thief questioned flipping his sword in his hand as he stepped forward.

“Give up now, before something bad happen,” the young man asked holding his hands at the sides of the staff. He roses his head glaring into the eyes of the man. All his magic was beginning to gather up inside of him.

“Like I should,” the cocky human said still walking closer to the boy. The smell of smoke thick black smoke entered the man’s noise as the clouds around them because dark. Fear begun to rise up inside the man as he seen actually smoke and lava form behind the boy. “What-”

Marmion felt something wrong as things around him begun to change and turn. The world he was forming around them had begun to change into something else. Someone with great powers than him was near as he focused more power into his staff.

***

Marmion blinked his eyes as he woke from using up too much power. The world had change around him; it turned into a mix blend of good and evil, light and dark, scary and happiness. He stood up and the first thing he noticed was the change to his staff. Sadness built up inside of him as he gripped the now heart shape staff.

“I must change this,” he said trying to focus he powers to returned to the other world, but he didn’t have enough or something just wouldn’t let him. He begun walking down the creepy woods making his way to where he believe the source of the other magic user came from.

The thing that brought Meghana back to consciousness was the incessantly cheerful chirping of a bird. While she wished it would just shut up and let her sleep, she let out a long sigh and sat up, deciding it must be time to wake up. She opened her eyes, the world unexpectedly spinning in her mind. What did I do to deserve this? Her mind supplied the memory of yesterday's world encounter. Oh, right.

At that, the illusionist jumped up, ready to see the world she had created. The sudden movement made the world fuzzy and caused the spinning to accelerate, but it didn't hinder the wonder of world around her. “Wow,” she murmured, taking a small step forward. It was everything she wished for.

Trees surrounded her, grass crunched beneath her feet, the constant scurrying of animals was evident. “What a wonderful setting!” she exclaimed out loud, eyes taking in every last detail and marvel of her own magic. It wasn't until her eyes fell upon the chirping bird that she realized something was awry.

It was one of the most peculiar birds Meghana had ever seen, her own creations included. At first it looked like a canary, small and compact with a loud voice. But, instead of the neutral yellow of a canary, its head was a burgundy color, its neck a bright pink, its body a dull shale, and its tail a pastel green. But, that wasn't the oddity behind the bird, it was in the multiple wings and mouths. There were easily eight pairs of wings to the bird, alternating between white and black feathers. And, the course of the somehow continuous chirping were three beaks, all lined up upon the bird's small head. On those beaks were rows and rows of sharp teeth, like those a shark.

The illusionist was so transfixed by the image of the mutant song-bird that she failed to notice the consistent patches of dead or dried grass, or the leafless trees coming just as frequently as the healthy ones. Meghana was blind to the absence of her dragon, blind to the sudden curls in her now pink hair. Such an oddity was the bird, that she failed to hear the footsteps of another, approaching her from the side.

It was only when the bird gave a strangled squawk and started to lopsidedly fly away that she heard a throat being cleared. Immediately she turned, forgetting there would be denizens to this new world. What she saw was not what she expected and words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “My god, you're short.”

Marmion almost laughed at the remark as he came to a stop. He already knew he was short, but something did some off with him since he woke up. He glanced down finally noticing the ground seemed closer than normal. It seemed that he had lost a foot of his already short body. He didn’t know which was worst as he also took note that his hair grew longer as well. “I guess you’re the other magic user I felt,” he said glaring up at her. He tried to pull his hood over his head, but found his hair was too long for that.

“I guess,” she said pointing to him. “How old are you? I don’t think you should be able to walk yet shortly.”

The young mage didn’t say a word as he turned away from her. “Anyway, change this world back. I can’t stay here for very long,” he replied coldly holding up his strange new staff. “Starting with this. I want it back to normal. I don’t know what kind of magic you used, but I can’t get back to the real world.”

Marmion stood there waiting for something to change, but nothing seemed to be changing. He didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t tried or if she could, but he was started to lose his charm. He turned back around an stared at her wondering what she was waiting for. Finally, she pointed at him again and said, “Were you taller before?”

“I was always short. Did you always have pink hair?” he shouted back before calming himself down a bit. “Now fix this,” he said waving his hands at her.

This person—female, she was assuming—was honestly just short of being a midget. Or maybe she was a midget. Either way, this little girl was perplexing. She didn't have that 'little girl' aura Meghana was always so intimidated by. Instead the tamer found herself staring at this child, questions racing in her head, a few of them bubbling forth, but none of them being answered. What an odd character.

At the girl's words, Meghana's hands fluttered around her hair, noting the increased volume and confused by the pink sheen. Huh. She brought a few strands closer to her eyes, peering at them closely, as if they would unravel before her very eyes, returning to their more favorable color. How curious. She finally let go of her hair, realizing that this minute person was expecting something out of her.

What do you suppose she wants, Mindgleam? The tamer waited for the response, surprised when it did not come instantaneously. “Mindgleam?” She said aloud, slightly panicked. No answer came. Immediately she wheeled on the dwarf. “What have you done with my dragon?” The question came out steely, all of Meghana's curiosity evaporating. The girl opened her mouth to say something, but the illusionist cut her off, “Don't deny it. You and your girly staff magicked this land, obviously and I want to know what you did with my dragon.”

“I don't know—”

“I said, don't deny it!” She interrupted once more.

“Have you considered that the dragon couldn't come with you here?” said the child. Adding according to her own agenda, “Maybe you should just take us back to the real world. As in your dragon.”

Meghana paused her ready fit of rage, only narrowing her eyes at the girl for a moment before saying, “Fine. If that is your theory.” The illusionist closed her eyes, focusing on changing the world around her. Back to the normal world—the one that held nearly no interest to her. After a few minutes of focusing her magic and thinking up several enchantments and spells, nothing happened. Once more she glared at the young girl. “It's not working.”

With that sentence, sudden realization dawned on her. She was stuck in this made-up world. While she had always wanted the likes of this to happen, Meghana soon learned the meaning of the phrase “the grass is always greener on the other side.”