Redemptor Secret Origin

The Cactus Prince (A Sylva Story Interlude)

Many, many orbits ago, during the time called First World of Planet Fait, there lived a shinseon who loved his daughter, the shincess, too much, gave her too much freedom, and said "no" to her requests never, even when they were not righteous.

One of her favorite things with which to play was her father's crystal ball, in which were housed many powerful and precious sylvas who could cure and protect their people. When her father the shinseon was sleeping after a long day of helping and purging the townsfolk of boggis, she would take his crystal ball and go out and play with it in the forest, and be too rough and too careless with it.

One night she was throwing it against a tree so it could bounce back and return to her. No matter how rough she played, nothing she did could break it. But this time, it bounced off the tree and rolled by accident into a blacksand pit.

Although she raced to save it, she was too late, and it sank straight away into the midnight sand. She reached into the pit as far as her little arm could, but she could not get it back out. She despaired, and violently, violently wept, for in the morning her father would wake and find the crystal ball gone, and he would no longer be able to cure their townspeople of their boggi afflictions, and everyone would stay sick, and get evil, and the whole town would be lost to goodness and happiness forever and ever, and it was all her fault.

One of the cactus trees heard her cries, and, assembling itself into the shape of a man, came to her.

"Little shincess, why do you cry?"

"I have lost my father's crystal ball and all his powers to save our people because I'm spoiled and rotten and I didn't mean it but now it's too late and everything is ruined and I hate my life and I hate myself."

The man-shaped cactus tree said, "Please don't cry. You might have a good heart, shincess, you've just made a bad mistake. What if I were to swim down into the midnight sand and retrieve your father's crystal ball?"

"Oh, yes, yes, please," she exclaimed.

"Would you be grateful, and hug me, and love me, and be my wife, my one true love forever?"

At this, the little shincess opened her eyes and saw who was speaking to her. She saw all the sharp needles sticking out of him everywhere, and how green he was everywhere, and how hideous, and yet...

"Yes, oh, yes, I would do all you say and more, just please rescue the crystal ball, cactus-man."

The man-shaped cactus tree bowed and then dissembled into 21 cactus-flies which flew and directly dived down into the blacksand pit, and disappeared.

On her hands and knees the shincess waited, and waited, and gazed, and gazed, but the blacksand pit stayed still. And silent. And she despaired anew.

Yet just then, the crystal ball emerged from the black, hoisted upheld in the hand of the cactus-man, who flew out of the pit, and knelt before her, gasping and coughing for his breath, very nearly dead.