He opened his eyes and saw plot armor incarnate herself. The most accurate representation of Elm would be an amazonian princess, possessing both the glorious stature of amazonian warriors and the dignity of a princess. Her hair was like gold, not the fake blonde dyes the brunettes in his past life seemed to like so much.
It was as if she’d been blessed by the sun, possessing skin the color of bronzed olives and eyes the color of the sky but appeared clouded and bored, as if she’d seen everything the world had to offer. She wore a simple, loose tunic over her brown breeches that showed off her lithe, athletic figure with long legs that reminded him of those Olympic runners in his previous life. From years of training with the sword under the gleaming sun, she was a beautiful woman possessing skin the color of bronzed olives.
To put the cherry on top, her eyes were the color of the sky but not as vibrant, inheriting the sky’s wisdom rather than it’s optimism. Such was his younger sister, Elm - the protagonist of the game he’d found himself reincarnating into. Despite cutting a she-goblin in half, he saw that Elm still had that same bored look on her face.
“You just got goblin blood all over me.” Willow sniffed the heavy smell of monster blood and immediately cringed. “It stinks.”
“Sorry.” Elm cut the air in an arc, splattering the traces of she-goblin matter onto the ground before she sheathed her sword. She handed him a towel. Willow took the towel and dragged his feet to the river, washing the blood off his face.
“Didn’t Mother warn you not to stray too far from the town, Will?” Elm chastised her older brother.
“Geh.” Willow shivered from the cool feel of the river water against his face. “You know I don’t like being cooped up in the house all day, little sis.” The river splashed across his eyes as he took the time to gurgle the water as well. “Sometimes, I need a little bit of fresh air.” He felt Elm walk towards him so he opened his eyes, seeing that something had blocked off the sun behind him.
Elm had the same clouded expression in her eyes but this time, he thought he saw a trace of worry in them. “This is the fifth time you’ve been assaulted by a monster, brother. Something tells me there’s going to be a sixth. A seventh. And, an eight.”
Willow quickly washed off the remains of the blood before he wiped himself with a towel, standing up to his full height with a puffed chest that made it known who was the real sibling in charge here. Even though if one looked from afar, they wouldn’t exactly think that Willow was the older one. “A little cocky now, are you? Need I remind you what I did to prevent mother from spanking your arse when we were ten?”
“I’m . . .sorry.” Elm apologized, with her head down like a puppy.
Seeing this, Willow sighed before he stood on his toes and petted the young girl’s head. “I know you were just worried about me but the both of you NEED to stop treating me like I’m just a little boy! As far as I know, I’m six months older than you and after the Awakening, I’ll be considered a full-fledged man.”
“A man?” Elm whispered with a look of disbelief. As much as she loved her older brother, he
looked the least like a man to the point she would be considered more manly than him. Over time, she noticed that his speech and gestures were starting to resemble that of a fair maiden even if he wasn’t aware of it. She knew the things people were saying about her beautiful brother, the unwanted attention he so naively brought upon himself, unknowing of the allure he held over the men and women in this village. Whenever they went for a walk outside, Willow would never notice the lustful stares that were directed his way since Elm would simply glare at them and scare them off.Ever since they were young, she had felt a need to protect him from anything that would harm him - mostly sexual. Her parents didn’t even need to request her watch over him as she would do so nonetheless. It made her feel satisfied just being by her beloved brother’s side, although since she was so close to him all the time, it was hard not to notice his “womanly” features.
She had to restrain herself from pouncing onto him so many times and as a very healthy, dominant young woman, it was beginning to prove difficult.
“Besides, it isn’t my fault that monsters have been appearing more and more frequently around the area now, is it?” Willow said. “Wait. I thought you were supposed to be with dad, hunting?”
“We finished early.” Elm nodded. “There were a couple of things amiss in our hunt this morning.”
“Which is?” Willow asked.
Elm opened her mouth and closed it multiple times. “It’s the reason I need to ensure that you’re safe.” She sent a look over to the dead she-goblin carcass. “At least until tomorrow.”
Willow wanted to say something but held no further argument. ”Fair Enough.” He looked at the dead carcass of the she-goblin and how close he’d been to being raped as the reality of his own emblem-to-be settled on him. He knew exactly why monsters were appearing more frequently, destroying crops, stealing livestock and basically, being a nuisance around the town.
Basically, it was all due to him. He remembered reading a little article that talked of his emblem or Willow’s emblem and the immense influence it had over monsters - more specifically, Alpha monsters. He had read up on the lore behind Willow but it was much too thick to be explained in a single sitting so he summarized it for himself, with the fact that if it weren’t for Willow, none of the plot in this world would happen.
No Heroes, No Monsters and No Demon Gods. It was all due to Willow or more specifically, his emblem that the world had been fucked a million times over. That was the responsibility he’d been given tomorrow at the [Awakening] where the first major event would occur. And he knew that the recent monster sightings were a foreshadowing to tomorrow’s event where so much innocent blood would be spilled.
Willow had already prepared for such an event, to the point where he planned on capitalizing upon it but there was nothing he could do to completely avoid such a future since this was a major event for the main plot of the game and is the spark that would set Elm’s journey as the Celestial Hero on track.
He knew enough about time and space that if he did anything to deter such an event, he’d definitely bring about a great catastrophe upon the world, perhaps even it’s end. Yeah, he was definitely not doing that.
“Brother?” Elm asked softly.
Willow shook himself out of his thoughts before he focused on the subject at hand. “I was just a little nervous. Thinking about tomorrow. How are you faring?”
“I don’t understand your question.” Elm said, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
Willow slapped his forehead, wondering how he forgot that Elm’s character setting made it so that she didn’t really feel anything other than primal feelings. “Sorry. Are you hoping to get a specific emblem?”
“No.” Elm said, before coming closer to her brother. “I’ll be fine with something that can protect you.”
Willow felt a little blush crawling up his cheeks when he heard her words. “Stupid. Learn how to charm now, have you?” He realized that she was too close and tried pushing her away to no avail. She was much stronger than him, which would have hurt his pride as an older brother and a man. . .if he didn’t look so girly. “Go away. You’re too close.”Elm didn’t reply for a moment as her eyes traveled down the smallness of his waist down to his plum shaped butt . She tucked her head behind his neck as she took a long, good stare at how his doughy butt looked from behind his shoulders. She couldn’t take her eyes off how blessed he was in that department but quickly gathered herself.“Why? I like being near you, brother.” Elm declared, kneeling slightly so that she rested her head on Willow’s small shoulders. She crept closer to his ears. “You smell so beautiful.”A blush exploded onto Willow’s face but he kept it down and pinched the bridge of his nose. He raised his hand to give a karate c
The first thing Willow noticed when he’d awoken was the sweaty breeze of the afternoon winds pouring in through his windows. His head still tingled slightly as he assessed his surroundings.Looking around him, he saw that he’d been transported to his bedroom, shared with his sister - that same person was sitting on a chair beside him, holding his hands as she rested her head on his thighs, merrily sleeping into the afternoon. A warmth spread across his chest as he felt nostalgic, having a younger sister who also dearly looked after him in his previous life as well. He laid his hands on her head, stroking her hair gently as a mother would do her children.He felt his tongue dry, so he grabbed the jug of water beside him and drank it, all the while smiling at how their bedroom had grown up alongside them.Their bedroom looked as if it’d been modeled after a cabin in the woods, with thick dark planks that had grown old but sturdy enough to still support the ceiling and it’s walls. A wind
“You know that we can’t pick and choose our emblems, mother.” Willow said before taking a peek at Elm.“I’m sure, my brother will obtain an emblem that reflects his beauty.” Elm said with a straight face.Leonard laughed out loud at that. Despite wanting his son to become strong and tough, looking at him closely and remembering his weak constitution, he knew that Elm had a better chance of inheriting the art of the hunt from him. “That may be true Elm. We can only hope that Lord Hum is understanding and reveals our son’s emblem to be one of great origins.”Willow took offense to that but had long since known that his role would not be in the battlefield, so he let it slide.“Well, don’t be so downspirited, dear. After all, I’m sure that your sister will receive something worthy of her talents.” His mother said, hinting at the genius talent Elm had in the art of battles. “She’ll protect you.”Leonard smiled widely and placed his bear-like hands on top of Elm’s head, ruffling her hair a
Elm thought of what Willow had just said. She knew herself. She knew of the many talents she’d been blessed with and all of this was even before her Awakening. But before all of her strength, came her wisdom. It was a blessing and a curse to her - the gift of wisdom and intelligence. A curse because it derived her of the element of surprise, of the element of hope and optimism. To her, the world seemed to run slow, cold and grey - a box of toys to which she’d been granted detailed instructions on how to build, manipulate and create.The moment she’d come out of her mother’s womb, she didn’t cry. When the sight of the world first came to her eyes, she didn’t laugh.She thought the world would continue to be that - boring, stale, dry. And it would have been that way.If it weren’t for him.Her world that consisted of only black and white suddenly lit up with the intensity of a dragon’s breath the moment he appeared in her infantile vision. She’d been granted him, the incarnation of beau
This never failed to calm his nerves. Or so would be the case if it weren’t for his annoying, little sister who just had to ruin his moment.Willow yelped, holding his cheek. “What are you doing?!”Elm switched her attention between the finger that poked at his cheeks and his amusing expression. “They’re pretty soft.” Willow sighed. Lashing out at this expressionless girl would do nothing for his temper. “And here I was relaxing pretty well.”She tilted her head. “Were you thinking about something serious?”“. .No, why?” Willow looked away.“You’re lying. Your eyes always swim around when you lie.” Elm quickly found the truth.Willow relented. “Fine. I was just thinking about the [Awakening] tomorrow.”“Is there something wrong?” Elm asked.“No, no. It’s just -” Willow turned to look into Elm’s eyes, seeing them to be so full of innocence. He cursed inwardly as he knew that innocence would be no longer after tomorrow and he would be a prime indicator towards it. For now, he could only
The sun began to rise. A blanket of morning dew rolled over the town but even through the hail and mist, people still found their way towards the Townsquare. Their feet were jittery. Their hearts pumped ice.Parents made sure to hold onto their young children so that they don’t lose themselves in the thick crowd as they looked onwards to the future generation of the town who paraded around in a straight line. But most of their attention had been caught by the young boy of Olivia’s as they were in disbelief.The young teens had been dressed in a simple white robe, along with a crown of flowers adorned on their necks -- a traditional look that those performing the Awakening had to wear -- something that only made Willow’s cerulean blue eyes pop, making him appear as if some sort of divine gift from the Gods and reminded them why he had been called the flower of the town. And right beside him was the town’s young lion, or lioness.Elm still had that impassive look on her face, something
Previously In the game, the protagonist Elm would go through her Awakening, coming out as the prophesied Child Of Light, or the Celestial Hero who would then pave her path to eventually slay the Demon God and unite the world. But that was all so far in the future. No, what worried Willow right now was the closer future, the tragedy that was about to fall right into their laps and the tragedy that he was going to abuse so as to escape this town and the predetermined plot of the world. He remembered how the town would soon fall into chaos and anarchy when the demons attacked, with homes set ablaze as the morning sky was covered with soot and dark hail. The moment Elm came out of her Awakening, the demons would immediately launch an attack and go on to raze the entire town to the ground. Elm would fight, kill, fight and kill some more as a river of blood would be all that’s left of the town when morning rose. As Father John finally finished his explanation and opened the doors to t
Previously There had only been a small group of townsmen left by the time it was his sister’s turn but enough people started murmuring in excitement at the symbol of talent and pride of their town. Willow’s mother had already started crying even though Elm hadn’t received her Emblem yet. Elm conversed with the old priest before she knelt and prayed. The old man placed his left hand above her golden hair and chanted. Willow watched with excitement at the birth of a Hero - no, he looked onwards to witness the birth of a star.And was her rebirth grandiose.If a simple light shone on the other children when they received their emblems, Elm received a whole spotlight on her. The priest had almost been blown apart by the shock. Heavenly bells chimed as if someone had just won the lucky draw as motes of golden light thrifted alongside Elm. Two, ethereal cherubs appeared before her, both of them holding a wreath of silver as they gently lowered it onto Elm’s head. “What’s going on?!” “Are