She was just a normal girl, living in the vast and endless City, dealing with the many petty miseries of modern life and suffering in sympathy with those around her. She could not look away as her parents ground themselves into dust working multiple jobs, as her brother withered away in prison, as friends tore themselves apart over exams, as the world slowly ground itself apart. Until one day, she did not look away but looked up, and saw the Hole in the Sky.
And then she tried to look back down, but now she can't help but see the monsters that prey on people and how little the rituals of modern life can keep them away. Until she sees something that's not a monster, and it offers to teach her what she needs to know...
The last day of your normal life had nothing to hint it might be so monumental. You didn't have All she has known from the day of her birth is this vast city. It is massive, sprawling across the landscape for endless miles. She knows that nearly anything can be found within. There are sprawling slums and towering penthouses, decaying workshops and gleaming manufactories, tight grids of streets and wandering mazes of avenues, suffocating alleys and vast squares, tamed gardens and wild parks. She has only seen a tiny fraction of what lies within the city boundaries, or even within her own district and neighborhood, but she knows there is more and dreams of it.
It is better than thinking of her miseries. Both the normal ones and the strangeness she has been enduring.
Her normal miseries are things all high school girls have to live with. Or nearly all of them. It's miserable walking to the bus when it rains. School lunches taste terrible and there's always far too much homework. The old man sitting at the corner watches her in ways that make her skin crawl. Sometimes people laugh at her, or tease her, even if they mostly ignore her.
And then there is all the suffering that isn't hers, but that she still sees. Her favorite teacher Ms. Zhang is lonely and heartsick. Her parents are always busy, grinding themselves into the dirt to stay ahead of the rent and the car payments, and all the other burdens they bear. Her brother rots in prison, alone and unwanted. Three of her neighbors have been conscripted into the War.
She can't look away from any of it. She can't look away from the tiny shrines to the dead people make where they were hit by cars or bled out after dark or simply dropped dead. She can't look away from the crumbling buildings, the sickly plants, the exhausted workers. She can't look away from the reports of arrests and the droning justifications of anchormen...she can't look away from it. She can't look away from it.
Until one day she does. She wrenches her eyes up. And she sees. She sees. She sees. She sees the Hole in the Sky.
And then she cannot do anything but look away.
She dreams of it, afterward. The massive tear in reality, the gash in the blue sky that spewed forth rotting blood. Around it and within it were things that might have been flesh and might have been metal, clawing at its sides, descending into the world. The noxious fumes that poured from its emptiness. The fragments of broken life that dropped from its sides. The little pustules that dripped from its surface.
She knows what it wants. She knows what it seeks. She knows what it does. And she thinks herself helpless against it.
So she looks away. But now she can't help but see more detail. She can see the many-limbed spider that crouches over the roof of a factory and sucks little dribbles of life from everyone who enters. She can see the man with far too many teeth and more fingers than she can count when he tries to corner his neighbors. She can see the ooze that lies on the road and lashes out with twisting tongues to try and pull people into its mass. She can see the droning song of the metal angel that stands so high and sees so much.
She can see the little charms people make to ward away the monsters. The gardens they grow where the plants form signs that whisper strange meanings that make monsters slumber, the friendship bracelets they weave with love in each strand that make monsters hesitate, the shrines to the lost and taken that make monsters suffer. And she sees how weak they are. How little they protect people.
And then she sees how the charms around her work just a little bit better. She corrects some of her friends' techniques when they make pillowcases for charity in Community Club and she sees little sparks of magic in the thread and knows they will weaken sickness and strengthen health. She brings an apple for Ms. Zhang, one she polished to a shine and bought with her meager alliance, and she sees warmth flow into the teacher's eyes with every bite.
But this seems so small against the mighty horrors she sees in her dream and the mundane suffering in her waking world. She is just one young girl, she is all alone, and what can she do against all that? The Community Club tries to help people, and William Smith is running for Councilor and promising to change things for the better, but what can they do against the Hole in the Sky?
And then one day she finds something that answers the question. In her dream, there is something new.
It is a...
[] [Familiar]...cat, a truly magnificent cat, larger than any housecat she's seen and with deep blue fur that's just the slightest bit off from the color of the night sky. On one side are white specks that almost look like stars, but it's never the same side twice. Its name is Astra, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to seek knowledge.
[] [Familiar]...teddy bear, large and dark brown, with teeth and claws drawn in thread and fur contoured to resemble armor. It's far heavier than it should be and somehow never stays where you place it. It's name is Miles, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to gain courage.
[] [Familiar]...raven, with feathers that are bright white and tinged with the faintest hints of green. One eye is missing and the other is human, and sometimes it speaks in a voice that makes plants you have never seen before grow. Its name is Silva, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to heal wounds.
[] [Familiar]... fox, with bright red fur and a cheerful yip. It's flesh is warm to the touch, its paws can leave behind prints that smell of soot, and it has so many tails you can't see them all at once. Its name is Impes, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to inspire passion.
When she agreed to learn from it, she felt something change. When she awoke, the animal (the Familiar, it told her), was resting curled up at her feet and in her hand was a...
[X] [Familiar]...cat, a truly magnificent cat, larger than any housecat she's seen and with deep blue fur that's just the slightest bit off from the color of the night sky. On one side are white specks that almost look like stars, but it's never the same side twice. Its name is Astra, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to seek knowledge.
[X] [Familiar]...raven, with feathers that are bright white and tinged with the faintest hints of green. One eye is missing and the other is human, and sometimes it speaks in a voice that makes plants you have never seen before grow. Its name is Silva, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to heal wounds.
[X] [Familiar]... fox, with bright red fur and a cheerful yip. It's flesh is warm to the touch, its paws can leave behind prints that smell of soot, and it has so many tails you can't see them all at once. Its name is Impes, and it promises to teach you how to fight monsters and how to inspire passion.
Faridah was late for school, so she cut her morning prayers short and rushed out the door, easily avoiding raising her gaze too high. Silva flew low overhead, silent and stealthy as he studied the scattered greenery and thick smog. If it was not for the bracelet wrapped around her wrist, she would not have believed he was real. But the warm touch of the gossamer silver strands anchored her and made it impossible to believe he was anything but real. She might wish otherwise, but she could not deny reality, even when she was the only one who saw it.
But she kept her eyes away from the skittering insect things swarming through the sky and the thousand-legged octopus drifting through them, absorbing them into it and integrating their iridescent wings into a burningly bright halo. Instead, she looked ahead, eyes running across the posters nailed up on telephone poles and bus stops, and then finally she saw her school.
She picked up speed, moving from a fast jog to a full-on sprint, the skirt of the uniform swishing around her legs and her backpack smacking against her spine. A thrill of excitement ran through her as the first bell rang. Her homeroom was on the far end of the school...she just might make it...
The second bell rang and she was officially late, just as she skidded into the classroom. But much to her shock, Ms. Zhang wasn't there. She slipped into her seat in the back, next to her friend Leah, and leaned over.
"Where-" Faridah started to ask, and then the door opened. In walked Ms. Zhang.
The teacher was on the younger side, no matter how she tried to hide it with a severe bun and a straight back, but she was also funny and kind and just the right amount of stern that anyone who disappointed her ended up feeling bad about it. Normally she greeted them with a cheerful smile and asked about their days, but today there was no smile to be seen.
Instead, she set down a pile of papers on her desk and stepped back. "The principal has asked me to give you an announcement. The police have informed him of several new and dangerous gangs. Please be on the lookout for groups using animal or occult symbols. The posters have more details. Please take one when you leave."
Faridah couldn't help but look out the window and glance at Silva, who was perched in a nearby tree, seemingly asleep.
Ms. Zhang launched into the rest of the announcements - reminding them about the upcoming play, encouraging them to sign up for some of the clubs, and listing opportunities for community service.
And then the schoolday began in earnest, and oh how it dragged on. It was far worse than normal, because Silva was right there, promising her answers to important questions, but he had said he wanted to protect his privacy and she didn't have a chance to speak to him in detail before school. So she had to wait and pretend pre-calc and home economics were worth her time.
Her notebooks were fuller than usual, but that was because she had spent half her classes poorly sketching birds. When it came time for lunch, she told Leah, Johnny, and Cara that she needed to go to the bathroom and ducked away from them.
Instead, she snuck back into Ms. Zhang's classroom, or at least that was the plan. Instead, the bracelet shook and writhed around her wrist, the gossamer strands becoming alive like vines, and Silva appeared beside her.
"There's a monster here. It's attacking Ms. Zhang!"
Faridah looked around.
The hall was empty except for her and the raven. "What? What do you mean, a monster?" she asked, voice shaking.
"There's no time, come quickly!"
He flapped his wings once and flew off, leaving Faridah with no choice but to follow.
She sprinted through the halls, moving faster than she ever had before, and still she could not keep up with the raven, until they made it to the classroom. Faridah pressed her face against the thick glass window in the door and gasped at what she saw.
There was a policeman standing over Ms. Zhang. She had fallen to the ground, and there was blood, and his mouth was open and his tongue was hanging down and he was slurping it up.
The image burned itself into her mind. She noticed other things too, but it was the blood and the tongue that she knew would haunt her nightmares, even as she registered his uniform having been turned into a membrane around her body and his eyes having been warped into cold black nothingness.
"Twist your bracelet, and say 'Stars above, grant me strength', and I will be able to help you save her," Silva whispered.
Faridah could not help but obey. As the words poured from her mouth, she felt energy rushing into her body. A current of light slammed into her, cool silver energy embracing her body. Her braid extended itself, a wicked silver spike appearing on the end, ribbons wrapped around her arms and legs, her eyes turned into solid orbs of quicksilver, and strength suffused her body, filling her with incredible warmth. And with incredible power.
The current surged forth and slammed into the door, atomizing the wood. In she strode. "Foul creature, you shall do no more harm! I am..."
The words poured from her throat, feeling so right, like she was finally in the place life wanted her to be.
She pointed at it, and a fresh current of power surged through her. "Starlight Sundering Stream!" Faridah shouted, and from her hand there came a beam of energy.
It was bright and pure, so bright she had to close her eyes against it, and it struck the monstrous policeman with the force of a supernova. His uniform-membrane cracked and then fragmented, and the fragments turned into dust. The nothingness in his eyes shrank back. His long, sucking tongue broke off and shriveled into dust.
He stumbled back, having turned into nothing but a ordinary man with nothing but a badge and a gun and a mean streak. And Faridah stumbled back as well, weak and exhausted. She was the champion of the stars no longer, just a girl so tired she could barely stand.
Ms. Zhang was sitting up, looking dazed and confused, holding her hand to a patch of blood on her head that had come from no apparent wound. And then she began to speak, the cawing of a raven audible within her voice.
"How dare you come here, break down my door while I was speaking privately with a student, and then be so crude! I assure you, your superiors will hear of this!"
The policeman stumbled back, growling foul words even as he left, and then Ms. Zhang all but collapsed, leaning on her desk, while Silva perched on Faridah's shoulder.
"Faridah...what happened?" the teacher asked, scratching at the dried blood on her temple.
Faridah didn't want to lie to Ms. Zhang, but Silva had warned her to keep things quiet...
Faridah had questions for Silva. Not talking about her new abilities was one thing, but actively deceiving her favorite teacher was another, and that was without whatever he had done to make Ms. Zhang say what she did.
But now was not the right time for that conversation. So she swallowed the bitterness and spoke a few words, claiming she had come to ask about the homework and then the police officer had come and said some very rude things.
"Typical," Ms. Zhang said, shaking her head, then she glanced up and gave Faridah a rueful smile.
"You didn't hear me say that, of course."
Then she glanced at the clock and sent Faridah to go eat lunch, although she made a promise to let her student know if there was any follow-up or investigation about the officer.
So she crept back to the lunchroom and sat with her friends. "Female problems?" Leah asked her, which made Johnny fake gag, and then Cara rolled her eyes.
The three of them sensed her desire to avoid talking about what happened and the subject changed to complaining about homework and discussing what to do for the weekend. Faridah participated, but half-heartedly, and her mind was elsewhere.
As lunch came to an end, one of the upperclassmen walked past the table and did a double-take, her eyes locking with Faridah's. She started to open her mouth, and then Faridah blinked. It was like looking at the road on a hot day - her outline was wavering, images that were not quite human fanning out from the other student. Then she hurried along, and Cara giggled. "Looks like you have an admirer, Faridah. Lucky you!"
"How romantic!" Johnny teased.
Faridah's cheeks heated, but before she could rebuff them, the bell rang and she had to drag herself back to more boring classes. Although that might be a good thing, since rebuffing them would only convince them there was more going on. Which there probably was...but it wasn't romance, it was mysterious magical things!
She had a feeling her life was going to get very complicated.
Classes dragged on, and finally she escaped, but she didn't leave school just yet. She had Community Club - the school had community service requirements, and this was how you filled yours out if you didn't have anything else.
Faridah returned to Ms. Zhang's room. The blood was gone, but the scent of bleach hung heavily in the air. She sat with her friends, and tensed as she felt a pair of eyes boring into the back of her head. A quick glance confirmed it was the same upperclassman from before.
Was this another monster?
Ms. Zhang seemed completely unbothered as she called the club to order, leading them through the usual announcements, a brief lecture about empowering communities, and then proposed a series of projects. Her friends bent their heads together, discussing what to do.
Faridah proposed they start working on...
[]...creating a guide for making pallet gardens, finding suppliers willing to donate tools and materials, and making some demonstration examples.
[]...working with a local food bank to advertise for ongoing drives and helping distribute food and other vital goods to more isolated communities.
[]...helping organize youth groups to give kids something to do, parents an environment where their kids are supervised, and provide educational opportunities.
When Johhny went to sign them up, the upperclassman went just behind him.
The votes are just plain wrong, ignore this. The youth group was the winning action.
After you all signed up for your projects, you were supposed to split up into groups and begin making a plan. Normally, Ms. Zhang was around to keep everyone on task, but as soon as the last person signed their name it was like a mask fell down from her face.
"Thank you all. I am sure you will do great work. Community Club is dismissed early today. It's a beautiful day, go outside and enjoy it," she commanded, trying very hard to sound light and cheerful.
No one was fooled. The room remained still for several seconds, and then people slowly put away their notebooks. You saw people with disbelief etched into their faces. Ms. Zhang never dismissed Community Club early. How bad had that monster attack shaken her?
Your friends leaned together, whispering about a police officer threatening her, and you joined them half-heartedly. You had seen what really happened but you could not speak of it, so you simply stood by them and nodded along.
You could feel eyes prickling into the back of your neck the whole time, while you watched Ms. Zhang stand at the front of the room, waiting for people to leave. Gradually, the other students took the hint and started to file out. You lingered, for just a moment.
"If there's anything I can do to help, Ms. Zhang, I saw the whole thing..I..."
She gave you a very gentle smile. "I should be saying that to you, Faridah. But thank you."
Her words were soft and light and they fell on you like a brick from a skyscraper. You stumbled out of the room and found yourself walking...somewhere. You frowned, trying to remember how you ended up in this vast park. You had made a left, then a right, then a...sideways?
You stopped and looked at where you were. Really looked, long and careful. The grass was blue and twitched like a dying insect's legs. The trees remained perfectly still, even as a cool breeze blew. And when you looked up at the sky, there was another park there.
"Silva, where am I?" you asked, and an unfamiliar voice answered.
"You are in the Outside. Now answer, creature, who do you serve? And why did you hurt the teacher?"
From the shadow under a tree stood a figure. They wore a white blouse and a dark blue skirt, so dark it was almost black. Embroidered on the hem were lightning bolts, each one etched with tiny writing. Around their hands they were gauntlet of black metal, and across their face they wore...they wore...
They stood like the ground and sky had gotten together and personally insulted them, anger written in every line of flesh. "I've seen you hurt enough people. You aren't going to get to hurt anymore!"
Before you could do or say anything, Silva appeared on his shoulder. "Run!" he screeched, and when you refused he pecked at your ear.
You ran. And you did not cry. The fact that your shirt was wet was due to you walking under a leaky gutter at some point, nothing more.
You got home an hour late and your mother took time from answering calls to yell at you and then embrace you, then to smell you and send you upstairs for a shower.
And when you got out, there was Silva, perched by your bed, head under a wing.
"I know you have questions, and I will answer as much as I can. But I am tired. Please be gentle on this old bird," he says.
You sit on the bed and stroke his neck, and for a moment you hesitate.
Number- the more questions you ask, the more information you get, but the higher risk of NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES for Silva.
[] [Num] One
[] [Num] Two
[] [Num] Three
[] [Num] Four
[] [Num] Five
[] [Num] Six
[] [Num] Seven
[] [Que] What was that monster?
[] [Que] Why do I have powers?
[] [Que] Why did I have to lie to Ms. Silva?
[] [Que] What was that place?
[] [Que] Who was that girl?
[] [Que] What do I need to know?
[] [Que] Will everything be alright?
Silva will answer all questions and any follow-ups to the best of his abilities.
An additional vote for two questions and a dice roll broke the tie.
Silva shuffled his taloned feet along the headboard he favored as his perch. Green, glistening vines grew out from where he stood, winding along the fake wood, berries and flowers bursting along their length. He exhaled abruptly in a single long "whoosh" and the vines vanished, leaving behind faint glowing traces.
"The first question is probably the most important. I'm glad you asked. I will keep you as safe as I can, and do anything in my power to keep you alive and happy, this is my answer, and this is my promise."
He lets out a soft, cawwing laugh, cutting off any complaint Faridah could make. "But that's not enough. What you need to know is that all I want is to heal this world, save as many lives as possible, and make this world a better place."
His eyes met Faridah's, grey and weary with age."And so I, and my compatriots, seek those with the ability to look up and see, and the desire to change what they see. We offer them what aid we can."
He subsides, ducking his head under a wing and pecking at something. When he raises his head again, it's end glistens a little in the dim bedroom light.
"There's more you need to know, of course. Who your allies are, who your enemies are, how things have gotten to the point where the Old Spirits are reduced to seeking aid from children."
He jumps down from his perch to nest on Faridah's pillow. "The most important thing, I think, is for you to know how you can become better at magic. That's easy. Trust your friends, work with them, and seek the knowledge in your hopes and dreams."
His eyes fluttered closed as he nestled his head under his wing, but Faridah needed to know more.
Gently, carefully, she shook him awake.
"I'm sorry to bother you when you need your rest, but who was that girl? I think she tried to kill me!"
Her voice took on a panicked tinge as she recalled the fury in that girl's voice, the way her hands had trembled. The stabbing accusation, blaming her, Faridah, for hurting people...she inhaled sharply. She knew she hurt people all the time, without even meaning to do so, but she did not go out of her way to make others suffer. She hated the very idea, and yet that girl seemed so certain...
"The girl is someone like you. Older, more experienced, more skilled perhaps, but she is suffering. But you need not fear her. As long as I am alive, I will keep you hidden from her."
He raised his head and pecked lightly at her. "Don't take her words to heart. She was not speaking to you, but whatever demon haunts her. And if you see her again, it shall be in a better place."
With that reassurance, he grew laid his head down again and was fast asleep. Gently, Faridah picked up the pillow and laid it on the ground, close enough to her window it would receive some morning sun, just like Silva liked.
She balled up her blanket and put it under her head. It wasn't quite as comfortable, but she quickly fell asleep anyway.
She dreamed of a vast palace-city, green and growing, thick with life. The walls were made of living trees, each one hosting scuttling insects and singing birds. Streams of water gushed down the halls, playing host to vast conglomerations of fish and frogs. Ferns and bushes grew in a great profusion, and amongst it all were scattered peoples, peoples in every appearance describable, people with backs unbent by age and hands unmarred by labor and eyes undimmed by suffering.
She did not watch them from some high throne, she did not sit in condescending judgement. She was among them, around them, and near them, all at once. Gentle silver light bathed them and caressed them, healing wounds and soothing hurts, and she was that light.
She awoke in the middle of the night and wept, certain she would never see such wonder again. And then she closed her eyes, and found herself proven wrong.
Her sleep was still restless, and she awoke early, before the sun had even begun to rise. Somehow, she felt perfectly well rested, and with a smile she tiptoed from her bed and looked out her window.
She saw the stars, glowing brightly, even as the mysterious servants of the Hole in the Sky flitted back and forth, obscuring them. Even as the bright lights of the city and the smoke of its vast factories dimmed them.
One day, she vowed, all the stars would shine brightly.
Then she cursed, realized she had forgotten to do her homework, and scrambled for her backpack.
Bring the stars to the city would have to wait, she could not let her grades get any worse!
What unusual event interrupts Faridah's life next?
[] Silva keeps staring at the tiny garden on the corner, where the creepy old man sits, and murmuring things. And the creepy old man has only gotten creepier...
[] Ms. Zhang is back at school, but she's pale and quiet and nowhere near as cheerful as usual. Obviously, Faridah can't let her favorite teacher stay miserable!
[] They are going on a field trip to a hospital to see how amazing the City's new medical systems are, but a strange sickness is beginning to spread within the halls of healing itself!
Scheduled vote count started by notbirdofprey on Apr 14, 2023 at 6:18 PM, finished with 6 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Ms. Zhang is back at school, but she's pale and quiet and nowhere near as cheerful as usual. Obviously, Faridah can't let her favorite teacher stay miserable!
[X] They are going on a field trip to a hospital to see how amazing the City's new medical systems are, but a strange sickness is beginning to spread within the halls of healing itself!
[X] Silva keeps staring at the tiny garden on the corner, where the creepy old man sits, and murmuring things. And the creepy old man has only gotten creepier...
