Melody of the Holoverse

Episode 26: Her Truth

"WHAT DID THEY SAY!?"

The eldest brother already had one foot out the door.

"Wait, Mars! Wait!" The middle brother held back his sibling. "Calm down!"

"Calm down? They made my sweet little sister cry! I'm gonna knock their heads off!"

"They're just kids, you dunce!"

At the other end of the room, the tiny girl sobbed into her mother's lap.

"There, there," the gentle woman said. "It's all right."

"I . . . I tried really hard," the little one wept. "I even swung my bokken without dropping it. But everyone kept laughing at me. They kept saying I was no good." She delivered her glassy gaze, mucus dripping down her nostrils. "Mommy, am I no good?"

The loving woman smiled and wiped her daughter's face.

"The very opposite, my dear. Every time I look your way, you never fail to amaze me. Remember when you finished that errand all on your own? Or when you helped your brother with his school project?"

"Because of you, I got the best grade in the class!" the middle child cheered, still trying to hold back his sibling.

"But . . . But . . ." the little one choked. "I can't use a sword. Brother Mars and Brother Venus can. Daddy too. Even you, Mommy." Her heart lay in pieces. "That's why I'm no good."

Her mother held her close.

"Honey," she said, "it's not a race. It never is. You move at your own pace. And so long as you always try to keep forward, you'll get where you want to be. You may not be able to use a blade now, but that won't always be the case. You just have to keep trying, okay? Don't listen to what those other kids say. Just push and push until you reach where you wish for most. Can you do that for me, dear?"

The little one gave a weak nod.

"You're going to do wonderful things when you grow up. I believed that from the first moment I held you in my arms. You'll do right by the Raze name. My sweet, sweet Pluto."

* * *

Aresi merely gawked, witnessing the young woman's power swell.

Around her, the air thickened and warped, smothered by essences of wickedness and atrocities.

"You thought the battle was over," the swordswoman said. "You thought you had victory in the palm of your hand. Thing is, I wasn't the only one you had to beat."

The gentleman trembled as the sinister atmosphere sank into his old bones.

Nestled in her decrepit den, the beast of grisly nightmares grinned, watching the river of particles flow to her like stardust. Every part of her colossal being tingled with ecstasy, from her fox-like appearance with black fur to the maroon ox horns curling atop her head. Her quartet of tails fluttered, and the pink of her wild eyes glimmered with madness.

"You had me worried. I was beginning to think you were just going to starve me."

The Demented One loosened her jaws to lick her lips. Off her tongue rolled ominous nebula mist.

"You know just how to treat me, little girl."