Archive of Our Own ^beta

Winter 17, Year 1

Waking up at my usual time, I immediately start my day with chores. Collecting strawberries, blueberries, peppers, and cranberries from my greenhouse, and milk and eggs from my coop and barn, making more cheese and mayonnaise. I am surprised with how much gold I’m accumulating in my off-season.. Almost having enough for another one of Robin’s cabin upgrades. I want to build a basement so I can start aging my wine and cheeses, having stockpiled a bunch of Starfruit wine over the summer to do exactly that. 

We spent our morning working on the Community Center, exciting to see how close we are to finishing it. It’s just after 2pm when we decide to call it a day, and I head down to Pierre’s to sell off my produce of the day.

Leaving with a pocket full of gold, I check the calendar and see it’s the Wizard’s birthday. I know most of the villagers don’t converse with the Wizard, and I am saddened by the thought of no one celebrating his birthday. I know he’s friends with Linus, evident from Spirit’s Eve. I have to admit, I haven’t spoken to Linus much either. Him being tucked up in the mountain, our paths don’t cross very often.

I jump out of the shower and look at the marks Harvey left on me, they’re slowly beginning to fade. The sight of them leaves a smile on my face, I hate that I love them so much. I bundle up to brace for the cold, grabbing a Solar Essence I found in the mine as a gift. He seems like the type that would like shit like that.

I trudge through the snow of the Cindersap Forest, seeing the Wizard tower looming in the distance. This feels like the beginning of that game I played over Seb’s. I walk up the steps of the tower, giving his door a firm knock. “Enter,” I hear a deep voice announce.

I walk into the tower, finding stone walls covered in vine plants, bookshelves lining the room, and a cauldron with green mist stewing. He’s sitting in front of a strange area with some sort of markings on the ground. The purple-haired man looks up at me, “Ah.. Come in.” 

I slowly step closer, trying to figure out what the symbols on the ground could be. He stands and approaches me, “I am Rasmodius.. Seeker of the arcane truths.” I’m beginning to understand why people avoid him. “Mediary between physical and ethereal.. Master of the seven elementals.. Keeper of the sacred cha-” he cuts himself off, “you get the point.” That sends a laugh out of me.

He steps closer to me, “And you,” he announces my name in a deep tone, “The one whose arrival I have long foreseen.” That still freaks me the fuck out. “Yeah, about that,” I say with a shaky voice, “What does that mean? How did you know?” He smirks at me, “Here, I’d like to show you something.” 

He turns to the symbols on the ground and starts mumbling something before shouting, “Behold!” Suddenly, there's a flash of light and spawns a small.. green apple looking thing with arms, legs, two eyes, and a mouth. What the fuck? The creature is squeaking. He looks at me, “You’ve seen one before, haven’t you?” I immediately shake my head, “Uh.. Never. Are you hurting it? Why is it squealing like that?” 

His eyes widen and he begins shaking his head, “Er.. Well, never mind then.” He’s staring at the creature, “And no - it’s not being harmed. I would never do such a thing.” He looks back to me, “They call themselves the ‘Junimos’.. Mysterious spirits, these ones… For some reason, they refuse to speak with me.” I furrow my eyebrows, “And you’re sure you’re not harming it?” 

He gives me a look of annoyance, “I’m positive.. These are the forest spirits that made your grandfather’s shrine.” My eyes widen, stepping closer to the circle to get a better look at it. “But… Why?” He tilts his head back, “Unknown.. I just mentioned how they don’t speak to me.” Sassy. “But I do know your grandfather worked with them. He would tell me about them.”

Suddenly he raises his hand and another flash of flight shines, the Junimo disappears. “You have no reason to fear them, they are friendly spirits.” I nod, is this a dream? “A-actually,” I stutter, “I found two different.. entities.. in town. I was hoping you would have information about them?” He raises his head again and walks toward the cauldron, I step closer to follow him. “Most interesting.. Tell me about them.” 

“One was a shadow monster, but it seemed friendly - it didn’t try to attack me and it spoke to me. It gave me this,” I hand him the magnifying glass. He inspects it for a moment before handing it back to me, “That’s a normal magnifying glass.” I didn’t think it was anything other than that. I scoff, “Ok.. Well, are you aware of this monster?” He nods his head, “Krobus lives in the sewers.. They have for quite some time now.” Krobus? “They are one of the shadow spirits, but they are not like their kind. They are fascinated by humans.. Wishes to live in peace among them. Gunther and I protect him from the locals in the sewers.. Unsure how the villagers would react if they knew.” 

The museum curator? I take out the rusty key, “Gunther gave me this.” The Wizard hums, “Ah.. Gunther must trust you, having given you the key to the sewers.” I furrow my eyebrows, staring at the key. “I trust you will also keep Krobus safe?” I nod my head, I suppose so.

“What else? The other creature?” I look back up to him, shoving the key back into my wallet. “I think it’s a Dwarf? I found it in the mine entrance wearing a helmet. I found a similar one and that’s what Gunther told me it was.. It tried talking to me but I couldn’t understand it.” He raises his eyebrows, “A Dwarf? Oh.. This could be bad.” My heart drops, “Is it dangerous?” He shakes his head, “No.. They are friends of humans. Ethereal merchants.. They are also grabby creatures.. If anything of yours goes missing, it was most likely them.” I slowly nod my head, “Then, what’s the issue?”

He walks over to a desk, flipping through a book. “Dwarves are thought to be an alien race, calling themselves 'Smoluanu', or 'Sky People'. They once were the most technologically advanced species in ancient times,” he begins, flipping the pages, “That was until they crashed on Earth.. Their preferred living space is underground, where the Shadow people had already claimed as their own.” He starts showing me pictures of dwarves and shadow people, who look exactly like the ones I have seen in town. 

“This invasion started the Elemental Wars.. A brutal battle that had been ongoing for centuries, until they finally called a truce.. for humanity's sake,” he slams the book closed, causing me to jump. “Those two mustn't cross paths.. for that would be catastrophic.” This town is so fucking weird. I nod my head, “Got it.”

He walks back over to the cauldron, throwing stuff into it and stirring it. Suddenly, he jumps, “Ah-hah! Come here,” he waves me over and I join him by the cauldron. It smells like a mineshaft.. “My cauldron is bubbling with ingredients from the mines. Mushrooms, void essence, clay, bug meat… Can you smell it?” Unfortunately. I hesitantly nod my head. “Here. Drink up. Let the essence of the mine permeate your body”

My eyes widen as I frantically look between him and the cauldron, “You want me to drink that?” He nods his head, “To speak to the Dwarves, you must.” I don’t think I want to talk to them. Before I can do anything, he grabs a ladle of the liquid and brings it to my lips, forcing me to drink from it. 

It’s not as bad as I feared.. It tastes Earthy. Despite that, I still gag. Suddenly, my vision is turning dark and my sight is flooded with images of various crystals, minerals, and resources. I feel dizzy and my head feels like it’s being twisted around. I begin panicking, am I being drugged? 

I start flailing my arms around, feeling terrified. “Woah, woah.. Easy,” the deep voice rings through my ears. I’m hyperventilating but my vision is slowly coming back. I fall to the ground, kicking my legs. The worst is flooding my mind, wishing I had brought Seb or Harvey with me. 

I regain vision, taking panicked breaths and looking around the room. The Wizard is looking down at me with furrowed eyebrows, “Are you ok?” 

I stand, furious. “Am I ok? What the fuck was that, you sick bastard?” He throws his hands up, “I-I was just giving you the ability to speak to the Dwarves!” I grab the Solar Essence out of my bag and throw it at him, “Up your ass, fucking weirdo. Happy fucking birthday,” I yell as I run out the door of the tower and pace through the forest.

I run into my cabin and lock the door behind me, my heart still pounding. I sit on my couch and hold my hands to try and stop them from shaking, taking deep breaths. Solah jumps onto the couch, crawling onto my lap. I smile and begin petting her, actually making me feel much better. 

I jump when I hear a knock on my door. Solah hops out of my lap and creeps to the door, letting out little growls, good to know I have a guard cat. I peek through the window, praying it’s not that weirdo in the cape. I sigh in relief and open the door, “Hey, Seb.”

I move out of the way so he can enter my cabin, “Hey,” he softly announces my name, taking a look around the room. “Strange seeing you here.. In my entire year of being here, I don’t think you visited once,” I tease, looking down to see my hands still shaking. “Heh.. Yeah, never really had a reason to.” He turns to me and looks at my hands, furrowing his eyebrows, “Are you ok?” 

I hold my hands to try to hide my trembling, “Y-yeah.. Why do you ask?” He stares at me blankly, “You’re lying.” I look down and walk over to my couch, taking a seat. Sebastian sits next to me, “What’s up?” I look at him with tears in my eyes, taking a deep breath. “I just had a very scary experience,” I trail off. His face is growing with concern, “What happened? In the mines?” “No.. In the Wizard’s tower,” I softly confess.

His eyes widen and he shakes his head, “W-what happened? I’ll go bury him right now, fucking freak.” “I went over there to ask about the shadow monster and dwarf-” “Dwarf?” “The creature in that hall in the mine?” He nods his head, “Oh.. Continue.” “And he did tell me about them, apparently there’s a war between them two. Shadow monster is named Krobus and they live in the sewer.. The dwarf is some sort of alien race that invaded on the monsters-” I cut myself off, “Not important.. He made this potion? In his cauldron, said it would help me understand the dwarf..” I take a deep breath, “He forced me to drink it and my vision went dark, started hallucinating stuff from the mines.” He jumps off the couch, “What the fuck? I’ll go there right now and kill the fucker.”

He’s pacing in front of the couch, suddenly stops and looks at me. “Did.. Did he hurt you?” I shake my head, “I-I don’t think so.. I started panicking, kicking my arms and legs. He just stood there and watched me.. I was so scared.” I start sobbing. Sebastian sits back on the couch, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, “I-I’m so sorry,” he softly coos my name, “Do you want to go to Harvey? See if he can screen you for any drugs?” 

I shake my head, “I don’t think so.. I don’t know what to do or think right now.” He nods his head, “Ok.. But you want to make that decision sooner than later before any drug that may be in your system gets flushed.” I mimic his nod, “Thanks, Seb.” He pats my shoulder and we sit in silence for a moment. “What did you come over for?”

He stands, “Oh, two things actually.” He looks at me sheepishly, “Though, I can talk to you about it at a different time.. If you’re not feeling up for it.” I wipe my face, “Please, I could use the distraction.” He hesitates, “Ok.. Good news or bad news?” I furrow my eyebrows, “Let’s start with good news.” He stares at me with a wide smile, “Skull Imploders took off! Our online album was a hit and we signed with an agent to go on tour!” 

I jump out of my seat and hug him, “Congratulations, Seb! That’s incredible. I’m so happy for you three.” He pats my back and I pull away, “Heh.. Thanks. We’re pretty psyched.” “Tell me about your tour?” “Oh,” he laughs with his hand on the back of his head, “It’s just three weeks and we leave the fifthteen of spring.. We’ll be touring different areas of the Ferngill Republic and even a few spots in the Gotoro Empire.” My jaw drops, “Wow, Seb. I’m very proud of you.. Badass.” He laughs, “Thanks,” exhaling my name.

I sit back on the couch, “Ok.. Bad news?” His face drops and he sits down next to me. “Sam and Haley got evidence of Pierre and Pam,” he softly remarks. My eyes widen and my heart drops, “What kind of evidence?” He tilts his head, “Graphic.. evidence.” I shudder, ew. “Haley and Sam are developing the pictures now.. But we aren’t sure what to do.”

I slowly nod my head, “Poor Caroline and Abby.. That’s terrible.” He nods, “Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up.” A silence engulfs us as we think. “I guess, show them to Caroline? Right? Let her decide what to do.” He nods, “That sounds like the best way to go about it.. Better than Sam’s idea.” I look at him, “What?” He chuckles, “Blackmail him.” I stare at him in disbelief, “ Blackmail him? For what? Vegetables?” He laughs, “Money, I guess. Maybe throw you some seeds.” I laugh, “I’m good, but thanks.”

He stands and holds out his hand, “Wanna go to the Night Market with me and Sam?” I hesitate, still sick about what happened at the Wizards. He patiently waits for me to respond. I grab his hand and he pulls me up, “Sure.. Better than sitting in here sulking.” He pats my back, “There ya go.. Maybe the mermaid show will chill your nerves,” he winks. I laugh and nudge him as we walk out of my cabin toward the square.