i drew for days 3 and 4, y'all don't get to see day 5 it's not my best, skipped 6 and 7, and forgot to post days 8 and 9 ;-;
~**~
The portal sparked open, and a purple-haired witch stepped through.
Ellen could feel no presence of life, just as they had expected. They left the portal open, the violet, glowing portal the same shade as their hair, and took a stroll through the world, opening themself and their senses to the land of the dead as well as the living.
Step, step, the ground was soft and the grass was wet with dewdrops. It must have rained the other day, maybe last night. No sign of life yet, no sign of death. The one they were looking for knew how to hide, though. He always has.
They gasped, braced themself, grabbed onto a tree branch in sudden understanding.
And the world g̷l̵i̴t̴c̸h̷e̸d̵.
Ellen felt their feet be lifted from the ground as the world flickered purple, black, white, all three, colorless, gravity was meaningless and death was nonexistent and there was a purple someone chunks upon chunks away and eyes were everywhere everywhere watching watching watching
and everything flicked back to normal.
The witch was silent, gasping for breath. They had known of the power they were facing, but it was nothing compared to what had just happened. The ability to shift the world itself? Unbelievable.
They pushed aside the unpleasant notion that they may have to confront the one with this indescribable power and continued their travelling, almost as if nothing had happened.
Step, step, the wind was cool and blew their hair back, out of their face, away from the empty eye socket they had coerced a chrysanthemum to grow in ten whole years ago, when they were still the mysterious but inexperienced majo of Akademi. There wasn't anybody to see the bodily horror that was their eye, so they pushed their hair behind their ear, letting the magical blossom flourish in the sunlight.
Wait.
They rapidly spun around, their skirt blooming like the flower in their eye as they pulled a crystal necklace from their handbag.
Apophyllite, to help with the communication of the spirit they were facing.
The majo hung the necklace around their neck, whispering the Japanese spells they had taught themself in secondary school, the ones that would help them calm the rampaging spirits and ghosts of the ethereal realms.
"Where are you, Taurtis?" they muttered, noting how the world flashed lavender at the aloud mention of the name. But other than that, there was no response.
The presence they had felt was gone.
Ellen huffed, slowly stepping away from the area they had sensed the spirit they were ever so sure was their lost friend. They weren't ready to give up on him, not yet, not after everything.
A few minutes passed. They were back to walking, and now they were in a grove of some of the most peculiar trees. Here, one with neon green leaves and pale yellow flowers, an odd white pattern on the bark. Here, one with pale grey-blue leaves and an offwhite trunk. And eight more trees, all odd such as these.
Ellen placed their hand on the trunk of the tree with the white-patterned bark, feeling for the spirit of a simple plant such as this. But what they got was.... far, far more than what was normal just a mere plant. Though it wasn't like anything in this grove even looked like a "mere plant."
And the world glitched again.
Ellen hadn't had time to brace themself, no, they were too busy looking for the odd tree's spirit to notice the shift of the wind, the flicker of the sky, the utter feeling of wrong that filled the entire world.
They were lifted, fully lifted off the ground--well, what was left of it. It was cracking and breaking and moving at angles until Ellen couldn't tell where the earth was supposed to end and the sky was supposed to begin. But they did their best to keep their head, detach their thoughts from the chaos of their surroundings so they were able to think, sense.
Majo.
Ellen heard the voice, the masculine voice of someone unfamiliar. They closed their eyes, pouring all of their attention into their hearing, their spiritual senses. This world used to be inhabited by a group of people, a group unfortunate enough to be chosen by some of the greatest spirits ever known, a group that mysteriously disappeared a week or so after their leader was whisked away by these spirits to face a fate unknown.
"Are you one of the lost players of Evolution?" Ellen whispered to the voice.
The chaos around them had no sound of its own, and everything was quiet for a bit.
Yes.
Before Ellen could respond, the lost player continued, You should have left-
"Yes, you should have."
The unlucky witch's eyes flew open, and they met with the pure white of the spirit they'd been looking for from the beginning.
"Taurtis," they breathed, though the spirit chuckled at the notion.
"No," it answered simply, "I am not that fool of a failed Watcher. I am better."
Oh.
Run, majo! a new voice cried, another lost player, perhaps. A chorus of spirits began pleading for them to leave in any which way, a deafening cacophony that pierced Ellen's mind, it was agonizing and the imposter Taurtis was laughing and casting some kind of spell, come on, Ellen, stop him, stop him, STOP HIM-
The world was back to normal, and everything was the same.
Everything was the same, except the witch was now gone.
Sitruat appeared, he no longer had to hide now that he'd taken care of the majo. He wasn't lying when he was speaking with them--he was better than Taurtis, that no-good failure of a Watcher.
He looked down and noticed there were two things on the ground that had replaced the witch: the crystal necklace they had used to try to speak with him, and the red bow they had tied in their hair.
The necklace was gone in a snap, literally, since he simply snapped his fingers and the necklace and its stupid crystal was gone. But the bow..... the bow could stay. In fact-
Sitruat picked the red bow up, only to drop it between two of the trees in the grove. One with red, white, and blue leaves and bark a nice shade of beige, and the other looking more normal, with dark green leaves and a dark brown trunk, though it did look much more.... saturated, that's the word.
The spirit smirked, casting a spell before disappearing back into the spirit realm, the Watcher realm. There, that was better.
Everything was the same, except the grove had changed slightly.
There was one new tree, a tree of leaves of purple and a pure white trunk, black vines snaking around it, and the red bow tied neatly around the middle.
