The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Under the Stars and Moons (Fall 8)

VIII.

The cold wind brushed over her skin as Madoka climbed over the rubble. The stairs and path from the Palace gates were ruined. Roots protruded out of the concrete and roads. As she looked further, she noticed fires and even bigger roots were growing across the entire city. They crushed whatever they grew into. It was then when Madoka realized something: She had no idea where to go. Elise chuckled at Madoka's confused expression.

"The world's about to get bigger, Madoka!" Elise said. "Step 2 of my plan is this: We have to get the heck out this town. It's got some complications. Brother's magic affected his soldiers. They're uncaring monsters and they're probably creeping and crawling around the streets of Fiara. I saw them cutting anyone down and tossing them to the roots. Like they were feeding whatever was growing in the throne room."

Elise looked angry for a moment.

"I've never even heard of such magic," Madoka said.

"Me neither," Elise said, shying away from the thorny root next to the gate. "It definitely reeks of some demonic type stuff."

"D-Demonic," Madoka choked over the word. Did she truly hear a demon's thoughts?

"Yeah, I walked by some terrible things as I snuck around in the Palace. This whole kingdom has those dark manas floating around it."

The two walked down the steps. The smell of smoke and fires still filled the air. Even the Palace's city was not safe from that magic. People live here, Madoka mused in her head. A massive root tore apart of a section of a nearby row of buildings.

"Are those stores?" Madoka asked. She saw buildings like that back at the towns near the North Estate.

"Welp, those buildings probably have clothing in them," Elise said. "For your, erm, wardrobe malfunction."

Madoka looked down and realized her skin was exposed. She blushed and became embarrassed. As much as those black roots creeped her out, she ducked under one and went inside the nearest store. There were several cloaks like Elise's strewn across the ground. Madoka scooped up a set and threw it on.

"Not much of a shopper, huh?" Elise remarked. She scooped one up and tried it on, tossing the one with her brother's crest on it off. Madoka gasped as she noticed someone was buried under the wreckage where a root pierced.

"Elise," Madoka's voice shook as she pointed at the body. Another dead woman lay upstairs, crushed by a vine.

"A lot of people fled this kingdom already," Elise remarked at the sight. "Others are unlucky like this... I don't wanna think about them being locked away in their houses."

Madoka still apologized to the dead people she was stealing from and prayed for the kind gods to give them peace. She shuddered as she looked back at the dead. Madoka was not sure if she would ever get used to the sight of dead people yet she's seen a lot of them today and even experienced death itself. She stuffed the feelings deep within herself and headed through a room to see if they could take more clothes.

"Hold on, Madoka," Elise said, fumbling with the bag of talismans she had. "I got this, like, super OP item."

She fished out one of the talismans and began to manifest her magic ring. Madoka was mesmerized by its beautiful white color. It matched the twin moons' light. Wondrous strands of whites covered the talisman and began to form a hexagonal pattern under Elise's hand as she held it. It was a strange portal. Elise tossed multiple cloaks into the portal.

"They vanished?" Madoka gawked as the princess reached into the spell's portal and took out a maid dress out from it.

"See? I grabbed as many as I possibly could from your room," Elise laughed. She tossed the uniform to Madoka. Madoka put it on immediately and scavenged a more fitting traveler's cloak to wear over it. "It's the little things I suppose. This Item Storage talisman is totally wicked, right? I can shove stuff in here and pull them out if I think about them. I wonder what the Devs were thinking when they added it."