The Maid and Her Princess

Don't Hold Back! (part 1)

I.

"Uhh, did you hear that?" Audrey asked quietly. Just like the day had suddenly turned into a starlit night bordered by the grey clouds and Twin moons, a preternatural silence swept aside the sundering chaos that the Cel'Row and the Golden Wyvern caused. Her Golden Hand shimmered in uneven blinking patterns, illuminating the princess's breath.

"Yeah," Madoka gritted her teeth.

"Good, because like, I was really worried I was going insane for a minute," Audrey chuckled nervously. "Well— more than I probably already am. Um... Hey. So I have a small tiny—"

"Audrey, focus," Madoka proceeded to ignore the princess's blundering and tossed her depleted gun into her storage portal. Images of her remaining arsenal taunted her mind. Three rifles that were the same as the empty one she just used, Magnolia, a host of swords, crossbow, bolts, a bow, the captain's axe, and a peculiar smaller handheld version of the rifle, a pistol, flooded in like a tidal wave. None of them seemed particularly useful for the long fight ahead of them; they might as well have all shouted, "We're useless!" to her. She scolded herself for feeling empty after defeating the Golden Wyvern.

Could they not just stop at that fight? Why did the Witch wish to take their Eyes so much?

"Right, I'm totally focused. I meant to ask, though... Doesn't that Witch's voice... well," Audrey glanced at the shadows of those people running towards the path to Gladeban. No doubt, Drezgor was guiding them like a leader should. Unfortunately for them they were too slow, right? Madoka thought wryly. "She sounds like the Goddess in my dreams. Twisted. But maybe my gut theory on the Witch was right all along."

"Gechick," Madoka breathed, feeling more hopeless now. How were they supposed to defy, let alone defeat a kind goddess? Especially a goddess who has been corrupted by forces beyond her comprehension. Fearing her knees would buckle in the despair welling inside of her, she turned to the only woman she could trust. "What do you want to do, Audrey?"

That faint hope was unwinding before her eyes, since the princess's own eyes were also shifting nervously. The dark shape of the Uracksheegal was calling for them, Madoka could see its silhouette blotting even the stars out. Before she could respond with whatever doubt warring in her face, a loud mechanical roar resounded across the sky, answering for her. The crimson spot in the sky seemed to spread like a cruel wound gashing the clouds violently. A metallic shape gleaming harshly caught Madoka's eyes, even in the distance. What was she seeing?

"It looks like we're going to have to get over there," Audrey's Core silently became visible beneath her cloak again. The dark circle's alien energy only added to Madoka's unease. "And fast."

"Are you certain you wish to teleport?" Madoka stammered out her final hesitation. She knew the outcome was only forward to confront the Witch. She knew that it definitely was a trap set directly for them and that they were headed willingly into a painful end by that fiend's hands. She knew that they were headed together in this battle, be it the end of their journey or whatever worse lay beyond. Audrey shook her head, the fog in her breath and loose strands of her catching light in the violet aura of her magical Core.

"We're going to fly to stop whatever that storm is up to. Or–" Audrey glanced upward to the shape above. "We can just try and fly way up there to the Uracksheegal. Maybe."

The dark shape became illuminated by the severe blood red glow from that metal beast hovering above Gladeban. Madoka could catch the tip of that so-called space station jutting out of a distinct spot in the legendary beast's belly. She realized that she was not looking at the cold and lonely stars at that moment– they were strange beacons dotting all along the Uracksheegal's surface and revealing its many infected scales. The twisted shapes of impossibly large vines blacked out like voids wrapped around various sections of its body. No matter where she looked in the sky, its presence filled the entire world above them. Kind God of Tomorrows, what exactly had you set us up to do? Madoka questioned It.