Awesome As I Wanna Be

Chapter 16: The Enemy

When she was a younger adult, Pearl Gradient had found herself lost on a trip. She had been exploring the wilderness and the ruins beside it fir many months now. Left on her own, she had no one else to rely on should things become tricky. Up until this particular trip, that had never been a problem however Pearl would soon learn why these wild woods had never been probably explored.

It had happened maybe a week or so before she had decided to go back, there was a tower a couple of miles away that she had yet to explore and Pearl wished to get a complete and comprehensive study of this area. Setting off with what dwindling supplies she had, Pearl had refused to let anything stop her yet. On her trek, a massive storm had hit that drenched her and knocked her off course. Pearl had found shelter in what may have once been small outpost for some people. The storm didn't let up and she found herself running low on all of the essentials. After a day or perhaps two of no water or food and no way out of the wild, Pearl collapsed and expected to die.

Instead, she awoke again, next to a group of medical personnel from a village hidden deep from the rest of the world. They had cared and looked after Pearl after finding her near death by the ruins. The storm had caused a lot of chaos for them and they were scavenging for whatever extra supplies they could find. They had not expected to find a starved, unconscious and dehydrated explorer collapsed next to a pile of boxes. Believing her to be a gift from the ancient Colour Gods, the village people had gladly and quickly gotten her to the help she needed.

Forever grateful to these people for saving her life and with no one left behind from where she was from, Pearl made the decision to stay. The villagers took this as a sign that the Gods were pleased so it came as little shock to them when their children began possessing unnatural abilities. Of course, there was still shock and a lot of wonder as to what these gifts could mean, Pearl provided them with an answer and a solution: Train an army of magic.

Growing up, Pearl had been born to a mother who read fortunes and believed in magic and wonder. She often told her daughter that she could communicate with the spirits. Throughout her younger years, Pearl had wholeheartedly believed that her mother could really do that. As she got older, there was no evidence to the contrary however it became harder and harder to believe at times. Her dad was a fighter, a military person. He fought with a series of weapons all the time and never met a problem he couldn't solve without them. He also believed strongly that everything needed Control, or it would be Chaos. Her mother welcomed the Chaos it seemed. How on Earth two very different people came to fall in love and have a child, Pearl will never know.

This meant however that she was a perfect fit for dealing with the beliefs of these villagers and also having a practical view on what to use their powers for. As she had no relation to any of the children, Pearl was saved from having questions of nepotism or favouritism thrown at her. Whether or not her predictions were accurate or not, she had no idea. Pearl simply remembered some of the things her mother had done and said abs tailored them slightly differently to each individual. The fact that many turned out to be true was all to do with belief: The villagers believed that what she said was their future so they both actively and passively searched for the answers to their prophecies.

When Rainbow arrived however, Pearl felt something shift in the village. Something was stirring, she could see it in the daily life of everyone as they hurried around and the animals became heightened and nervous. Flocks of birds started flying away and never returning. Cats, dogs and rabbits that were usually tame started biting and running. Control was failing and Chaos was beginning. The Elders were panicking about what could be causing this sudden upheaval and begged Pearl to try and see what it meant. Of course, she saw nothing of any prophetic interest but had learnt by now how to use their naïve beliefs to her advantage. In many ways, it could've been any child that she picked to carry the burden of destruction however Rainbow held something about her. Like moths to a flame, the answers could be found in her.

Pearl had made sure to fully educate herself on the history of her new family once she was back to health. Her studying had increased once she became the headteacher to a school for the magical future. Rainbows played an important part in their history, the Colour Gods were supposedly able to summon Rainbows and bless the works with whatever power that colour symbolised. Red, fire. Blue, water. Green, nature, healing. Yellow, light. So on and so forth. With Rainbow being born as a literal rainbow, within the parameters of her powers and the history, it did make sense that something would be connected to her. If it was something tragic, well, Pearl loved a good sob story.

What she hadn't expected was there to actually be someone who listened to her predictions. The evening after she'd given Rainbow her prophecy of Iridescent Evil, Pearl had gone home to see a strange woman born of darkness stood in her house. Pearl struggled to recall if she had given a name but certainly remembered the threatening nature of this person. She spoke of how she was a person of great power who had watched her with great interest. She wanted to know if the prophecies Pearl gave out were true. Not wanting to lie, Pearl admitting to not really knowing but giving them what they wanted to hear. This inevitably lead to the question: "So does this Rainbow Dash want to destroy that world?" That forced Pearl to admit to the strand atmosphere around the village lately. The Spirit nodded and told Pearl that she would be in touch. That was the last Pearl saw of her for a long time.

Rainbow and her family moved out and life continued as normal. It wasn't until a week or so ago that Pearl was visited again by that mysterious woman who angrily demanded that she bring Rainbow back to the village for a ritual. Over the years, Pearl had felt increasingly guilty over frauding the whole prophecy thing and especially guilty over what happened with Rainbow. If Rainbow was happy, that was fine with Pearl but she didn't want to die at the hands of this woman even more. That is what set this whole adventure in motion.

It was also why, when Rainbow and her parents asked why they should trust her or how can she help them, Pearl Gradient simply replied. "I am not your enemy, Rainbow. But I know who is."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, a double daily one! Lucky people!  I thought the whole backstory thing was quite cool. This probably means that I won't update again tomorrow as I've done two today. Bye, bye.