21 Days Ago.

Azhdaya led me to the centerpiece of the garden. Charlie hugged my arm, sticking close to my delight. I patted her head as we looked around. This place felt like both a paradise and a museum. Although I’ve been to neither.

Well, actually, I went to a museum once with the Choir to steal some Artifacts to help sell them off for funds. That was fun, gods, those were much simpler times. I laughed a little, remembering them as I gazed upon the many plants, each one looking like they came from an egghead’s laboratory, all strangely shaped into odd angles like becoming a triangle or an octagon.

The fruits and flowers on them also looked funky, like colors you would see in an oddly specific cocktail, from blue-purple to even rainbow-like. I was almost about to reach out and grab one to eat before Charlie asked a question that completely slipped my mind.

“Where’s Koschei?”

“Oh… Uh…” I looked around in disbelief. How could I forget about him? He’s not here at all.

“Yeah, where is the crazy guy?”

One of Azhdaya’s heads turned to face us.

“Your prophet is broken. His soul has been torn, and his body can barely manifest. I fed him the Golden Apples, but that can only prolong the inevitable without the proper ritual, which is what he is now attempting to undertake.”

Another one of the heads gestured towards a familiar tree up ahead, one that was as big as a skyscraper with trunks as thick as cement. Its branches spread outwards in clusters that literally blotted out the moonlight, and upon their ends were shimmering, golden apples that gleamed in the little light that bounced off them.

They looked like gems upon the giant trees, tantalising as they whispered sweet nothings into my ear. I could see my reflection on its sheen from so far away. I looked so different, my hair was the color of flame, and perhaps I was taller? Or maybe that part was my imagination.

However, I quickly looked down, finding another familiar face: Koschei. Around him was this strange miasma, dark and foreboding, as if he were a ghost haunting a city.

He turned to face us all, and I almost fell over in confusion at what I saw:

His face was cracked, bits and pieces were missing, revealing a hollow inside as if he were some kind of porcelain doll. His robes were in ruins, tattered and shifting. They almost looked like they were part of his body now by how it fidgeted.

Koschei reached out to us, stepping forward as he spoke, similar to how those old radios sounded like, clear, yet somehow distorted, nearly fragmented.

“Ah… Our Champion and her Right Hand. Alas, you have awoken, and alas, you have begun the second part of your quest!” He let out a boisterous laugh, one that caused a strange echo through his own body.

“Uh- Yeah, I’m gonna go and cleanse the land- Okay, what is up with you? Why do you look so…” I gestured to him awkwardly. “That?”

He touched his cracks and grinned. “It’s a trophy of my survival. Of the salvation that you have brought me!”

I scratched my cheek awkwardly before staring at Charlie, who gave a shrug and whispered in my ear. “He’s been acting like this ever since we got out of the Nawia… It’s been enthusiastic to say the least.”

“I can tell…”I whispered back before facing Koschei.

“So like, are you gonna be alright? You’re kinda literally falling apart?”

A smile crept up on his face, and while he was still handsome, it was also creepy as can be. “Do not worry. The apples have given me the time needed to anchor the splinters of my soul to the world. All I need is to contain it, to give my soul onto an object, merge it, and thus I shall truly become… Undying.”

I just nodded along. He seemed fine. I’m not gonna question his logic and thinking when he got us this far. “Uh, alright then, but you’re still gonna help us out, right? Your queen needs a prophet after all?”

Charlie rolled her eyes at that as I giggled a little bit, poking her cheek. “Heh? What’s wrong with that?”

“Really?” She gave me the side eye. “Queen?”

“Yeah, I mean, we just wore crowns, and I’m bringing on the revolution to a brighter tomorrow. I would say that’s pretty queenly. That would make you… The Royal Guard.” I booped her on the nose.

“Can’t I just be a queen too?”

“Eh?” I recoiled in surprise. “You want to be a queen too?” Well, maybe I was stereotyping. Nothing really screamed queen about Charlie… Well, she was no-nonsense, serious, always working hard and doing everything she could to seek fairness.

Wait, I was stereotyping, man, she would make for a Killer Queen.

“Well… Actually, I liked being a princess more than a queen. Queens have way too much on their hands.” She played with her braid as I audibly gasp, now that was way more surprising.

“Really? You want to be a princess? Talk to animals? Ride a horse?”

Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, yes, who wouldn’t?”

Koschei raised his hands. “Royalty and the ability to converse with nature! Those are signs of immense power! It would be a blessing for anyone to be gifted with such.”

Charlie awkwardly peeked by my side. “Uh, thanks, Koschei. But, you know, I like the idea of being a princess. Just to be on top, you don’t have to do everything, it’s all provided for you, have fun…” She sighed and rubbed her dog tags.

‘Oh… I get it, okay, I was being a little insensitive… Maybe much more than that.’

“Aww, you can be my princess.” I said, grabbing at her hands as I pulled them to her side.

A small blush crossed Charlie’s face as she laughed a bit. “I don’t think that’s how it works. Does that mean you’re my mom?”

I patted her on the head before walking up to the giant tree in the middle that I saw Azhdaya wrap around. “Let’s not complicate the idea as is. I like being the queen, and you like being the princess. Now that’s all that matters here, this court is adjourned!”

I snapped my fingers, letting a small burst of flame shoot up from my palm into the air.

Charlie stared at me with a quizzical look, but just sighed and shook her head. “I don’t think that’s how this works, but we'd better get a move on soon, especially if what Koschei said earlier was true.”

I stared up at one of the golden apples, reaching up at it before stopping. “What did he say about it?”

Koschei stared up into the Heavens, laughing a bit. “The gods themselves shall be upon us soon! They shall hunt us down like dogs for our transgressions, or rather, the transgression we shall attempt.”

My eyes widened as I nearly fell over. “Huh?! Like, big gs? Like the whole…” I then did my best impersonation of someone throwing down lightning bolts with a gruff man's voice.

“I shall smite you down where you stand!”

Kochi stared at me as if he was worried for my mental well-being before laughing. “Well, that would be Perun, yes. Let us hope his believers weren’t the ones that got back to the world of the living.”

I blinked for a moment, trying to comprehend that before looking at Azhdaya, who grabbed one of the apples with his tail.

“Many gods would see you as a threat, as one who could very well bring chaos to this realm.”

I scoffed. “That makes no sense. I’m over here trying to help everyone, I don’t care for their rule or seemingly lack thereof.”

“They are afraid of what you could bring. But we can show them something different. We can show them the peace you can offer.”

He then handed… Or rather, tailed me the golden apple. It gleamed in my hand as when I saw my reflection in it, I was not surrounded by Charlie or Koschei, but rather by the Choir, by Samantha, by all those that I could never see again, who I would never see again.

Those whose souls have passed on, whose dreams and whose burdens now belong to me. Their embers were in my hands now, and I am the only one left who could hold onto them.

No god shall take that away from me, and nobody shall ever douse that burning desire in me.

“Yeah, if they want to stop me, they’re welcome to try. Now then, we just go and take this to like the Firebird, right? Show them I got it?”

Koschei nodded along. “However, it is on the other side of the land. It could take us years to cross it, and using the method of the Nawia won’t be an option currently, as Zmey would definitely run us off, so now we must move through other means.” He turned towards Azhdaya, who shook his head. “I cannot provide any of you with the means of transportation so far, while it would be done with ease and swiftness, I cannot leave the Garden of Nikitovich as much as my brother cannot leave the Nawia. We are bound here by our Queen.”

He then turned southward. “That being said, I can aid in travel to the borders of Nikitovich, where Vasiliy lies. Beware of what lies in the valley, it bears the body of a great and powerful Serpent: The Skiper. An ancient enemy of the gods who was struck down by Perun. Its body was swallowed up by the earth, and forevermore lay dormant. But with the Eruption of Nawia, where souls came out, there might be a resurgence, for once this great serpent itself was the one who roamed the Nawia itself.”

“We have to contend with… The enemies of the gods?” I looked to Charlie, who had this thousand-yard stare on her face, which I would love to remove.

“No. I’m sure that’s not what we’re looking for, right? That’s just the possible danger, what are we really after?”

“Baba Kira! Ah, of course! Her Seven League Boots. With one step, we can cover over seven leagues at once!”

I blinked. I did not remember at all what the measurement of a league was at all.

“21 miles in one step? That’s insane.” Luckily for me, Charlie already knew it.

“It is, we’d get to the other side in no time! That’s awesome. So she would be in this Vasily place? Sign me up! We should leave right now.”

Charlie frowned at that. “Are you sure we should be so hasty? You just woke up?”

“There is no time to waste at all. I’m feeling amazing, pumped, and ready for action. I’m not gonna let the fact that I just woke up bother me. Why should I?”

“Are you really sure? I don-”

I placed a finger on her lips, grinning ear to ear. “I know you’re really worried, and so am I, but there’s no time for us to stop and smell the roses. You can smell me instead if you want~ but we have a job to do, alright?”

“A-Alright… I’ll follow you then… My queen.” I smiled before turning to Koschei, who was already beside Azhdaya, who had lain on the ground in front of us.

“You have the honor of riding him as the Queen, of course.” He bowed as I laughed and walked past him.

My heart was pounding. Everything was rushing by, I lied to Jane, I wasn’t ready at all, but someone had to do it, if nobody else will. And I’m the only one who could.

Ready or not, it did not matter at all. Whatever it took to get the strength to defeat those bastards… I’ll take it.