[gravestones]

gotta..mark this hhhh

[corrosive_limes]

potential mark? hopefully i'll find motivation and inspiration for this lovely

[Macyduke]

name: Ceridwen
gender: Female

Agreeing with Fate

It felt like the world around her was shaking but at the same time was completely still. She thought that going back, by jumping through space, time, and possibly the very fabric of reality, would get easier or at least be somewhat noticeably so after the twentieth or so time, but alas this was not the case. This more so than the first time, felt like every organ, molecule, and cell, was being pulled apart while simultaneous having every bit of her being stitched together but in the wrong areas, the wrong places. She her stomach churned, threatening to upchuck everything she'd ever eaten, but at this point she wasn't sure if it'd come out of her mouth or her ears, heck it could just as easily spew from her claws. Grasping for something, anything to distract herself from the pain, her mind clung to that thought. Vomit projecting claws. Wouldn't that be kind of an odd thing to find yourself able to do. Defiantly wouldn't be as bad as coming from your mouth. Could probably deter a few robberies.
As hard as she tried to stay focused on this rather vile train of thought, she found herself unable to. Her teeth parted, her tongue pulled back, she was ready to scream but just as fast as it had started it stopped. Everything was right again, minus the nauseous, dizzy, head throbbing feeling she found that always came after achieving a feat she liked to call reality hopping. At this point, all she could do was let gravity pull her to the ground, and without the energy or deicer to make an attempt at lowering herself gracefully much less catch hold of the ground with her claws to prevent hitting her head on something.
When she came to it was dark out, the stars above her were barely visible, clouds covering most of them. From what she could assume she'd either passed in an attempt to forgo the side effects of jumping from one reality to another, or had just done so seconds after arrival, unable to keep herself from doing so. Not that she minded either way. With that mystery put to rest, she pondered just where she was or quite frankly when she was. There wasn't a way to alter time, to rewind it or go back, even with the use of reality hopping. That however didn't mean that things weren't different now. She considered sitting up and surveilling her surroundings for a moment, but decided against it. The stars were nice, the ground was- well it could be comfier, but it was cool and reminded her of home. She remembered Eolaros and it's beautiful blue skies, peaceful breezes, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Sure whatever the creatures of this world called this, well world, probably had those too but they could never amount to the majesty of Eolaros. This world seemed underdeveloped in the knowledge department of realms and just what happens when death comes. She'd hoped that their religions would at least be somewhat close but that was not the case.
More Eolaros, she missed the mystery that was, what she as well as the others who resided there came to affectionately call dragon island, the creatures that lived there, and more than anything, the guardians. She couldn't help but think of them now, Joti and Furcas in particular.
The last time she'd seen Joti she probably hadn't even noticed her in standing nearby, probably right in front of her. Ceridwen had been to preoccupied adding more weight to the burden on her shoulders of keeping Furcas safe by over thinking things. He was her main priority after all, since Joti was technically grounded without a dragon to bring her wherever the disease called corruption had spawned. She was most useful and best left on the island. Furcas however was the strongest and most powerful of all the guards, and was therefor needed for only the most dangerous of situations where corruption moved like the common cold in the dead of winter like leaves in the breeze. Hence his need for a healer, Ceridwen, the in-between of a guardian and the oblivious that was those who resided in Eolaros, those without such a strong elemental soul.
She remembered there'd been a particularly bad outbreak in the northern jungle, and although Ceridwen couldn't sense it, both Joti and Furcas seemed agitated and quite frankly a bit worried by it. Which was unusual for them, especially since Joti was almost always placid and had her emotions under control, were as Furcas was confident in his ability with very little nerves. The next thing she could really remember or that was worth remembering/engrained in her brain were flashes of the fire that separated them, the black eyed creatures that fallowed, this horrible scream, and then she wasn't sure. She remembered the words of what she could only assume to be the person who sent her to this new world, the smell of blood, her own blood, probably from the wounds she'd suffered from the those infected by the disease that spilled from another realm.
As difficult as it had been to remember bits of the spell, and find a book detailing all kinds of strange spells, she'd done it. She'd been through hell and back both in finding her best chance at randomly warping home and at searching for it, as most realms she'd traveled to where wary of magic and eagerly burned those they believed capable of using it. Three particularly witchy trial worlds that weren't particularly fond of her arrival and had on multiple occasions attempted to burn her. Some of which she needed bandages for as they were partially successful.
Her last venture, the one she came from… She remembered now where she was. A long ways from home, the first reality she'd ever technically jumped to. The viscets here weren't keen on magic, and had also attempted to burn her at the stake once or twice, but knew she was where she was needed here, at least for a little while. Perhaps not as desperately back home as she made the guardians, who'd survived in the past without her, but by a young fire mage who'd at one point also been under prosecution. A sinking feeling filled her stomach, her gut twisted with guilt as she thought back on how she'd been neglecting her promise to keep him safe by leaving him for unknown periods of time in search for Eolaros. Perhaps all these failed attempts to find it and almost the increasing pain that came from jumping between worlds was fate's way of punishing her for her blatant disregard for where it was leading her.
Ceridwen shook her head, trying to force the idea out and replace it with happier ones. Humming an abstract toon, as she did so. But since Rick was already on her mind, the one she choose proved to be a mistake.

"Can I go home now?" The small viscetling asked, his frightened gaze fixed on the arrow she'd had him pull from a spot in her back that was just a few inches bellower armpit. She hadn't needed to see the look in his eyes, the way he refused to look at his bloodstained hands, and by the slight shake in his lip to know that this had been traumatic for him. He was what? She wasn't sure at the time. A life time of not being around kids had left her clueless, not that she regretted her life's choices away from them, He was defiantly over two… Maybe five? She could have only assumed at the time that he'd been ripped away from his parents, as who could abandon such, what appeared to be, a well loved child. He was teary eyed when she'd found him, surrounded by a pair of highly armed and more than likely trained guards, one of which was on horseback. A loud sniffle interrupted her train of though, and when she looked over she could see him holding back tears. Her eyes flickered from him to the arrow and back again. Yes, it had been bad enough for him to have been ripped away from everything he knew, no matter what his upbringing had been like, and treated more than likely like garbage for a gift he had no way of returning to the universe that'd given it to him; but to come to the realization that the arrow he'd unknowingly twisted slightly and pulled from her back could have very well been meant to pierce his pelt instead of hers… she knew that had to be a heavy blow. That didn't however excuse the question he'd asked her. Viscetling or not, she knew he was well aware of the answer and the throbbing pain she'd taken by arrow just to shield him.
"If you wish to return to a fate worse than that of an arrow, then by all means." She answered rather snidely, irritated with the idea that she'd taken an arrow for him only to practically run back into the arms of the viscets who'd shot her.
"I just want to go home." he managed, his voice strained from holding back the cries within; sending the guilt of her words spreading through her like a shiver down her spine. He didn't deserve such harsh words, not now. Regardless of how much it'd hurt for having someone as inexperienced as a toddler try to rip out an arrow had been, she couldn't take it out on him.
"I know you do, but you can't. If it were up to me, I'd return you in a heart beat for little to no reward, but, unless the viscets here have changed their opinion on magic since your capture, you're stuck here with me." She said steadily, trying to keep the irrigation in her tone at bay. And for a little while, he was silent, possibly trying to come to terms with his predicament.
"What are we going to do now?" The small boy asked, his voice breaking the ten or so minutes of silence Ceridwen had welcomed and interrupting her meditation.
"We." Ceridwen repeated. "We wait within cave until night fall and then head west fallowing the Kenna River until it reaches the Eery River. We'll have to camp out there and look for a way across come morning." She answered, unsure of a way to tell him he made the right choice other then by blatantly stating it.
"What happens if they find us?"
"I'll kill them." She said simply, unsure if she actually wanted to or not. If she choose not to, that decision could come back to haunt her, and if she did then that would be a first for her- a first that at this point, she wouldn't mind taking. He'd pulled away from her instantly, his pupils shrinking as he did so.
"You can't!" He objected.
"Then what do you suppose I do?" She countered, her eyes daring him to come up with an answer to keep the guards who were after them at bay. There was a brief moment of silence, and in that moment she could see the fear in his eyes and knew that she was yet again letting her anger get the best of her. "I don't know what lay ahead, but if you do not wish me to harm those that mean to kill you for your magic then I will find another means of dealing with them." There was another pause, this one longer, During it the young viscet relaxed and went to starring blankly at the ground between his feet. Ceridwen let out a sigh, knowing that more than anything at the moment he needed a speech or some form of an explanation on his worth and how it wasn't defined by the negativity of the sorcerers, the witches, or the mages before him. Which she found to be an odd speech to give being that on Eolaros having magical abilities was highly coveted. Never the less it needed to be given. "None of this is your fault you know," she stated. "It wasn't like you choose this or that it's a bad thing to be. Where I come from, although unknown to most, viscets like you an me are the protectors of our world. We fought against things much greater than ourselves and without the our abilities, the use of magic we as well as thousands of innocent viscets would have perished, and I'm sure that many more would have done so on this world if there weren't cets like you around here some place or another. Even if they aren't battling the same demons we were. Your power is nothing to be afraid of- kiddo" She would have said his name but had forgotten to ask and at this point wasn't going to, her speech was already a garbage fire enough on its own without pointing out the fact that she didn't know what he called himself. "What I'm meaning to say is, that your abilities are nothing to be afraid of, no matter how much power they do or don't amass with time. You need not be afraid of them as they are a marvel. All's you need is a safe place and a teacher to help you grow into them and assist you in reaching your full potential. Although I may not be the most ideal viscet to give you such guidance, I'll do what I can to help you master the abilities you have and provide you a safe haven to practice in."
Although it hadn't been the best speech or the most delicate, it seemed to cheer the young boy up, if not a lot then at least a little. He cracked a smile.
"You really think so?"
"I dunno," She admitted. "You seem like a nice kid though so maybe." she said unable to lie through her teeth to a child beginning to hope that everything was going to be alright. "It all depends on you." She added after his smile started to falter. His face brightened and he blew a breath of air through his nose as if he thought she'd said something amusing. She shrug her shoulders, sure he could take the last thing she'd said as a joke if he wanted to. Gods know either something had to brighten this kid's mood at least a little bit or else he was going to be a drag to travel towards safety with.
"You won't be disappointed" he reassured her as though she'd offered him an apprenticeship, and with that the memory faded with an awkward hug from the viscetling she'd eventually learned name's was Roderick.

Had she really promised him that much only to abandon him, not much but over and over again on her endless search for Eolarso? A boy she'd told had so much promise, potential, and things to give so long as she taught him how to do what? Unlock his full potential? She shook her head as if to clear it, to reassess the situation, her past, and make sense of it. She may not have been there all the time to deliver on her promise to teach him how to control his powers, but she'd always provided him with a safe place to practice and out of reach of those who wished to do him harm. Always, but perhaps that wasn't enough. All those attempts, all that time spent trying to get home. The battle she'd been thrown from Eolarso, was it even still going on? She doubted it still was but wasn't sure if she wanted to give up on it just yet, despite the rather odd choice of memory that she'd decided to focus in on. Was it her subconscious telling her to give up? Whether or not it was something she'd defiantly have to consider, but not now. Now her back was sore from laying on the grass. She needed to return home-or at the very least her temporary one. Practically jumping to her feet, Ceridwen made a beeline for her pocket dimension.
A brisk walk and about twenty-five minutes later she found herself standing before the large tree she'd taken residence in so many years ago, how many years in this world she wasn't sure, but it'd been about eight for her including the time she'd spent in other realities that's time moved how ever much faster or slower than the one her tree was. It seemed taller and a bit wider, but by how much she didn't know. After a slight pause, she entered.
Once inside she found the dimension damp, dark, smelling of smoke, and surprisingly cobwebby. "Roderick?" She could feel her stomach flop as she called for him, a sinking feeling settling in her chest. "Roderick?!" She called with more urgency when he didn't answer.
"He's not here." a familiarly irritated viscet answered.
"Runic, where is he?" She asked the phantom voice.
"I don't know, after he torched the place he put salt around the door so that I couldn't fallow him."
"There was a fire? What do you mean salt?"
"Kidding about the salt. That stuff doesn't work. Not about the fire. Things got out of hand a few days ago. He went to ask his little girlfriend to help him clean up but hasn't been home in awhile."
"He has a girlfriend!? How long have I been gone?"
"What do you care? You're never here for him anyways. Why shouldn't he find someone to talk to."
"Because it's dangerous!"
"What like leaving a nine year old in the care of an apathetic spirit who wants nothing more than to pawn him off on someone else while you continue on your pointless search for a world that may not even exist anymore? How do you know that you haven't already been there, searching among the ruins of your gods forsaken Eolarso? How do you know it hasn't been devoured by some kind of mystical or magical space whale? How?" She wanted to interject but phantom viscet wasn't about to let her get in another word until he'd felt like he'd completely destroyed her mentally for leaving him, a powerful norse spirit, in charge of a toddler. "They don't need you on Eolarso, they never did! Your dragon's master died and you were just a gap guard. A temporary replacement who's head got to big for her own good. Furcas didn't need you there, you were a burden. He set the fire which separated you, he sent those creatures." It was at this point Ceridwen regretted talking to the spirit she'd purchased from another reality, about her past life and why she needed so desperately to return to it. She knew what he was doing and that he wasn't going to let up. All her past mistakes, her selfish nature, and above all her conflicted aura were being thrown back at her. The objects around her hovered above their places, the key to the prison she'd purchased, the ring that contained him, which had been conveniently left on the table began to glow a purple pinkish color and rise up its self, small white cracks forming in it as it did so. It was going to break, the spirit it anchored to it and limited the powers of, was about to break free!
"And the worst of it all is that day after day, whenever he felt like it he'd say how he trusted you. How you were going to protect him and keep him from ending up like they did. Like all the mages before him. The tyrants, the destructors, murderers, and the soulless. A wretch you shouldn't have saved the inevitable.The viscets of Grasmere were right about you. You're not even worth the logs they'd burn-"
"Enough." Ceridwen's eyes rolled back into her head and the darkness that was the white of her eyes glowed green. Pulling every trick out of the book to slow down or stun a spirit, she recited an incantation which restricted his ability to wander even a little ways away from his ring, one that would hopefully keep a hateful spirit like him trapped within the silver of his circular cell until he'd cooled off.
Once he'd been banished from the space outside his cell, she lowered herself to the ground to not only catch her breath, but also consider his words. No, not all of it was true but a great deal of it resonated with her. Although she didn't want to admit he was right about any of it, she couldn't say that he was wrong. After what felt like and probably was hours of internal debates and reasoning, Ceridwen came to the conclusion that this world didn't need a healer, someone who could preform spells or even prepare them before hand. Eolarso didn't need her, though she was sure it'd been nice to have her as a part of the team, she was only ever an extra there. An extra fate deemed unnecessary. And although she hadn't felt welcome in this world at first, she had made at least somewhat of a difference here, and the pupil she'd been neglecting here definitely had with whatever little friend Runic had alluded to Roderick making, although the implication of the word girl in front of it wasn't all to comforting when it came to the unanswered question of how long she'd been gone, maybe there was still time to make up for it. As stupid as it felt to have to say it out loud, she felt that she needed to for her decision/realization of what the fate which brought her here wanted her to do, to sink in.
"Neither Eolarso or this new world- goodness I really need to figure out the name of this place- as well as those who live hereneed a healer or a temporary refugee. So it's time I stopped acting like it does. What Eolarso needs is for me to stay here, and as hard as it is, I need to stop fighting it. I might not know what fate wants me to do just yet, but I have to keep my promises to Roderick. When he comes home I'll tell him." She said, doing her best not to cringe at the notion that she couldn't just think these words, that she had to say them out loud. "Thank gods Runic's not here" She muttered quietly.

Map:
It's not all too important because of how I rewrote the story to shorten it up but might add some context on where she is.

PD: A large tree containing a pocket dimension Ceridwen created (She lives here with her apprentice Rick, and an angry phantom named Runic)
RH: where she always ends up when she jumps world and ends up back to my au in a sense?
Grasmere: Rick is actually from Grasmere! Ceridwen was in Grasmere a couple centuries ago when Sutton farm, Woodberry mil, and Aramoor didn't exist and there was a lot more forest! She made quite the impression on it's citizens who gave her the title of the Grasmere witch. The only reason she's still around is because she hopped realities and ended up in one that moved much faster than this one. (She hopped a few different realities returning back to this one each time but that's a story for another time. So she's been here off an on) The memory of after she rescued Rick takes place after she came back to find all these new places suddenly there and decided to visit the town which had previously tried to prosecute her a few different times.


Art: Was really fun drawing her at night with fire as the only light source for some reason. Perhaps these are just a couple of times she ended up running from angry villagers?


Humanized version (It's a bit of an odd nose but I wanted something different so... that's what I ended up with)

(All art will go to the winner so there's no need to ask if ya win. Just grab)

I'm not going to be able to work on this tomorrow so I guess this is it for me. Good luck everyone. Sorry for such the long forum!

[magpiemochi.]

Oop sorry for closing this so late! I'll get this judged as soon as I can c:

[magpiemochi.]

This was definitely an interesting competition to judge! I knew choosing this prompt was a good idea; I love to read about topics like this and you guys didn't disappoint! The stories written were incredible and kept me hooked the entire time. I also very much enjoyed the art that went along with these entries —- it pains me that I can't allow more than one winner!

Before I announce the winner of this viscet, I'd like to reward Cry_Like_A_Wolf with a runner up! The art along with your story really showed a clear picture of what was going on; I appreciate and adore the effort you put into your form! If you'd like to accept the RU, please PM me with a colour. It can be any colour you wish c:

Gadgetrocks, I'd like to reward you a stub for your efforts! I enjoyed the story you came up with, and the little animation along with it was really great. I would have liked to see a bit more in regards to writing, but I still very much enjoyed it <3

Macyduke, congratulations on your win! Your story was amazing; it really painted a clear and vivid picture and definitely had me wanting to read more. The map was an amazing touch. Honestly, I really love stuff like that. Showing the humanized version was very interesting too, and the fact that she was just as unique as her feral version! Amazing little touches —- also don't apologize for the length of your form! I love reading long forms, so you're totally good!

Thank you guys for entering, and I hope you all had fun <3

[Macyduke]

;-; Thanks for all the kind words james.! I was so shocked I had to read over my forum again and I have to apologize for some of the errors as some of them had me scratching my head for a second before I realized I’d wrote the wrong word. I really had a blast writing, drawing, and mapping things out. I think I’m going to use the map as a small part of my au. Maybe a few of them as I can’t seem to settle on a singular one. I’ll take good care of her! Thanks so much James!

Congrats Cry_Like_A_Wolf on winning an RU I honestly thought you’d win this kiddo as your forum was so good! Your ru is very well deserved.

Gadgetrocks- your forum was amazing too! Congratulations on the stub! Your animation is very cool!