Bloody Shadows over the Sunlit Village

-Gray-

After a breakfast that felt like Thanksgiving leftovers more than anything else, the princess and I were walking through the town, checking out the damages with the benefit of the sun’s light.

Let me just say, I’ll definitely believe she’s got the blood of the goddess of light in her. Not just how she looks, but how the sun itself shone upon her, reflecting off her armor not in an offensive way, but a way that made her feel radiant. The light reflected on the ground around her feet like a ring, and her hair seemed somehow brighter in the sunlight, like strands of solid sunlight.

And all this was contrasted by the discomforted look she hid behind her helmet. She tried not to show it, but she was really struggling against her hangover. “Ugh, why did you let me drink so much?” She spoke softly to me as we walked, her form a little stiff as she tried to stay natural.

“Who was I to deny a princess?”

She pouted. “Don’t give me that… It’s not fair, you should be just as hungover! If not moreso!” She grabbed me by the scruff of my collar. “You better not be holding out another spell on me.”

I raised my hands in defense. “If I had something like that, I’d use it. But you’re definitely mistaken about the drinks I had last night. I only had two cups, an ale and a cider.”

“That’s not possible. I distinctly remember there being a drinking contest.”

My grin grew. “Well, when you’re drunk, two mugs look like four. And when you’re really drunk, four can look like eight, and so on. And you were supremely drunk. So drunk that you actually…” My smile faded as I averted my eyes, my cheeks turning pink. “I’ve never danced with anyone my age before…”

I haven’t danced in years, and even if you could call what we did last night ‘dancing,’ I still had more fun than I had back then.

“-s not fair…” She mumbled to herself, crossing her arms as she turned away from me.

And then she stopped, her arms falling to her sides as she gazed at a statue in a square at the center of town. It was made of solid stone, depicting a woman kneeling down on one knee, sword in hand planted in the ground, left hand raised above her shoulders in an unknown gesture.

I say unknown, because the statue was massively defaced. The face was cracked off, leaving only the back of the head, the left hand was missing completely, and the sword was shattered, leaving only the part in the hand and the part in the ground. Other parts of the statue were gouged or grinded away, largely around the chest or legs or the long hair the woman had.

And the whole thing was drenched in blood.

The princess clenched her fists at the sight of this, and pointed to a nearby villager, trying to wipe the blood off the defaced sign beneath it with a cloth. “Why hasn’t anyone informed me of this… this defacement!”

The man quickly scampered into a full bow, head to the ground. “My apologies, your Highness! With everything yesterday that went on, we only just came aware of this sacrilege! Please forgive us humble folk!”

“You… you were unaware? Unaware that the radiance of the Goddess of Light was tarnished by Blood all throughout the festivities?! Were the Shadows blinding you as well, from the grace of the moon’s reflection?!” I hadn’t seen her get so enraged before… No, it didn’t feel quite like anger, more like… a parent mad and concerned when they see a child playing with a knife?

“I think…” I spoke up, placing a hand on her shoulder, and causing her head to snap at me. I didn’t really understand the issue, but it didn’t feel right to yell at some man trying his best. “I think that celebrating their survival was the most important thing. And then they needed to figure out living arrangements for everyone. Isn’t the important thing that it’s getting done now, rather than later?”

She looked at me, perhaps like I was crazy, before sighing. “You just don’t understand, do you?” She turned to me fully, preparing a lecture. “This statue is of our Goddess of Light. But any statue defaced to the point where the figure depicted is unclear, can be considered a statue of the Pariah gods, determined only by the state of the statue. And with it covered in blood, it might as well be a beacon of power to the foul Goddess of Blood, right in the middle of this sun-filled city!”

Now, she felt more mad at herself. Like she was mentally kicking herself with every word.

The villager looked pale at that explanation, and was about to offer some excuse or something, but the princess turned her gaze to him. “I say that I should have been informed as soon as possible, because this town is drenched in blood and gore, and I would need to clean it post-haste. Now,” She snatched the cloth from the man. “Gather the children, and have them collect sunflowers. Enough for at least one bouquet, a wreath, and a necklace. Bring them here.” The man began to drop what he was doing, and slowly turned around, but she wasn’t having any of that. “Go! Time is of the essence!” She pushed him on the back to get him moving, before taking his place.

Without another word, the princess climbed onto the statue’s pedestal, and began wiping the blood off the chest.

She seemed really serious about this too. I wonder if people died because of this statue’s property changing?

I shrugged. She cared about it, so I’ll help out. I climbed up to the pedestal and pulled her off, causing her to nearly tumble to the ground with an unsightly yelp. “W-what are you doing?!”

“Just watch, Princess.” I hopped back down, and charged up blue energy into my right hand. A sphere of water began forming, about the size of a softball, hovering in my palm as I applied directional forces to it. Speed, distance, impact force, all calculated in my mind over the course of a few seconds.

I didn’t need to throw the spell, I never did. Sending it was as simple as thinking about it. But throwing it still felt right, like when you go ‘pew’ when playing laser tag, or ‘woom’ when you swing a toy energy sword.

The water ball flew out of my hand faster than you could blink, splashing against the chest of the statue with more than enough pressure to make a power-washer jealous.

Stains of blood disappeared in splotches as I fired water ball after water ball at the statue, each aimed perfectly according to preset calculations. As I got more used to it, the spell developed quicker in my mind, and thus, in my hands too.

I glanced over at the princess, standing next to me, staring at my spells strangely. “No prayer, no voice, not even a sigil… You truly are from a different world.”

Yeah… turns out I couldn’t keep a secret. I tried to claim to be the child of the god of magic.

There wasn’t a god of magic…

“But, wouldn’t it be easier to fire a stream of water at once?”

I grimace and slow down. “I… umm… I can’t. That’s not how it works. I have to establish the spell in my hand, with all the factors in place, using the magic gathered in my body. It’s not really a ‘magic’ water ball. It’s just a ball of water materialized into existence in order to follow the instructions I set.”

“Hmm… that sounds… really strange…” She looked back at the statue, seeing the little progress I was making, but not climbing back up, because even from here, we were getting a bit of splash back. The discolored liquid slid off her armor without ever besmirching it. “What about that cleaning spell you used on me earlier?” She ran her hand through the hair sticking out of her helmet.

I shrugged. “Oh, I totally could. It’d be cheaper too… But not as fun.” With my left hand, I formed another water ball. “Here, try it.” This one, I set to launch on a delay, without any preprogrammed aiming, but with sufficient speed to clean up the blood. I tossed the water ball over to her, and she quickly caught it in her hands, almost fumbling it as it bounced around like a pool toy. “Just hold it in your hands, and throw it at the bloodstains.”

“W-what? Me? But I-” She took too long hesitating, and it popped in her gauntlets spraying us both with water, but mostly her. I could tell the clothes she wore under the armor were getting wet, and she looked a little annoyed.

“Hey, I told you to throw it. Gotta be quicker than that.” I toss her another one, a mischievous grin on my face.

This time, she caught it quicker, and took a moment to aim, before throwing it. Halfway through the air, the delayed spell activated, and it zoomed at the statue, cleaning the thighs a little. She let out a soft laugh. “I did it! Did you see that?!”

“Yes you did.” I tossed her another one, a brighter smile on my face at her childish enthusiasm.

We spent a while cleaning up the statue, leaving us rather drenched when her throws backfired (some of which I did on purpose). When the children showed up with the sunflowers, I gave them a few throws too while the princess and I watched.

I was grinning ear to ear. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. Seeing these kids, who must have suffered and been terrified yesterday, playing with that ease that comes naturally to children. Smiles were on everyone’s faces, even the adults that came to watch.

“I will not be one to be outdone, when it comes to making these children smile again.” The princess said boldly, stepping forward, and pulling her staff off her back to tap against the ground and point at the sun.

“Oh Goddess of Light, shine upon us this day, to chase away the darkness in our hearts and minds.” A golden sigil appeared above her staff, and spun around, before a beam of heavenly light struck the statue.

I averted my eyes on instinct, but it wasn’t harmful light. It felt more like a golden spotlight shining from above on the statue, wicking away the water faster, and even causing some of the blood to disappear in small, slow patches.

But the real majesty was when the kids threw water at the statue, the light hit the droplets of water and created shining rainbows, reflecting beams of colored light everywhere, causing the kids to squeal with joy and wonder.

The princess looked at me with a smile both beautiful, and smug, a hand on her hip. As if she was asking me to do better.

“Alright, alright, show off. I guess I’ll pull out my one last trick.” I teasingly pushed her away, and rubbed my hands together, using a bit of magic to get rid of the wetness, before a blue energy grew between them.

But instead of the water balls, where I allowed the water room to grow, I instead kept my hands compressed. “This is a little somethin’ somethin’ I figured out on my own as a kid.” An iridescent shine could almost be observed between my palms as I focused on what I was doing, keeping it under close watch of my eyes.

After a minute, I was done, and I kept my hands cupped around each other, with a hollow space inside, and an opening towards me, before opening my hand a bit further to create an exit point. Then I blew.

Bubbles zoomed out of my hands, big ones, small ones, all floating over to the kids, and reflecting the beams of lights to create a show of color. The kids, already having a field day, seemingly lost their minds as they chased and jumped and tried to grab and touch and pop and throw and collect and otherwise play with the bubbles.

I look back at the princess, a mix of smugness and genuine joy on my face.

Even through her helmet, I could see her roll her eyes, but still, she smiled as she turned away, and walked to an adult finishing up some of the sunflower decorations. “Once the children have their fun, have the flowers placed on the statue. I want nothing untoward to happen to it until every last speck of blood has faded to the ether.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

With that, she gave me a slight turn of her head to tell me to follow, and I did. “You are just full of tricks, aren’t you, Gray?”

I snorted. “Nah, not that many. Now my father, he could have put on a show that would make the whole town forget there ever was an attack.” I stopped for a moment, thinking of the man. “Eh, but that’s in the past.”

“You don’t miss him?”

“I mean, yeah, I do, but he’d be happy as long as I’m happy. And right now, I’m pretty darn happy.” I grin at her. “Making friends, entertaining people, hanging out with a cool princess. Yeah, this is the life.”

She was silent for a moment. “Speaking of fathers-” I couldn’t tell if I made her awkward or just embarrassed. “I plan on informing my father of what happened here. About the… death of my knights. And I plan on informing him that I have already found a suitable replacement.”

Why was she looking at- oh… “Me? Really?” I take a step back, and gesture to my scrawny body. “I tried putting on some of their armor earlier.” That earned an eyebrow raise, I’m sure. “Armor like that is clearly meant for someone three times as stocky as me. Even the smallest one slipped off of me. I’m not fit for fighting.”

“But you did take out that golem yesterday, did you not?” She approached a step, eyeing me through her helmet. “Despite being a stranger to this world, the first action you did was to save two children. Does that not speak to a brilliant soul?”

“W-well… I just don’t like children getting hurt… y’know?” I awkwardly scratched the side of my head. “Anyone would have done the same.”

“Yes, but you were the one who did it. I am sure this is providence from the Goddess. You surely will have an important role to play in this nation’s future. No, the future of all nations in this world.” She took another step forward, helmet inches from my chin.

“B-but… shouldn’t you return to the castle for safe-keeping? Surely your own importance as princes-”

“My own importance as princess-” She took one last step forward, and then began jabbing her armored finger in my chest. “Is to protect my people, and to preserve the light of the Goddess. This is the duty I was born with, and is the path I must follow, as one born in the Goddess’ own image.”

Turns out, the princess was revered because she was born with the appearance of the Goddess of Light she was also descended from, an incredibly rare occurrence that made her be considered the goddess incarnate. Which also gave her powers beyond typical demigods and champions in this world.

She turned away from me, walking a few steps, before crossing her arms, and looking at the fields of green grass in the distance. That heroic wind showed back up too. “If this town was attacked, the other nearby towns could be too. Perhaps they’re even being attacked right now! I cannot let that stand. We cannot let the armies of evil rampage across the sunlit fields of our home!”

Wait, why am I even fighting this? It sounds awesome!

She was really getting impassioned about this. I couldn’t help but shake my head with a smile and a sigh. “Just lead the way, Your Highness. I’m eager to see more of this kingdom of yours.”

We left not long after noon, but only once we made sure the ‘Pariah gods’ no longer had any foothold on the town.

And the princess spared no moment once we left, all her thoughts going to ensure the protection of the nearby farming villages. Luckily, the horses she and her knights came in on were fine, so we took two, and some supplies, and let a messenger take the rest back to the capital. I didn’t know how to ride a horse, but the horses were well-trained, so it wasn’t that hard to stay on it and let it follow the princess' lead.

Last night, I thought the shining stars in an unblemished night sky was breathtaking.

This morning, I thought the sun rising over the horizon, shining its light over the whole town and the bordering forest was stunning.

But this… this blew both out of the water. Seeing the afternoon sun painting endless fields and hills of grassy terrain a mesmerizing mix of yellow, green, orange, and white. Occasionally, we’d see a river, or a pond, or some other water source, and it would reflect the sun in shimmering rainbows.

And of course, the most radiant of all things the sun shone down on, was the princess. She, who was galloping ahead of me at a pace I could barely keep up with. Her silver armor only shone brighter under the sun, and her long hair fluttered behind her like a golden cape.

I will admit, however, that the white-furred, blonde horse she rode was… maybe a bit too clashing with the princess’ own appearance. It even had silver armor and purple cloth just like her. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was somehow related to the princess through the goddess of light.

Not that I’d ever ask such a thing to her face.