[Fern]

Lazarus Shard

---

Most people across the world always have something they wish for, whether it's something as simple as new clothes or a birthday present. However, there are people that wish for things far, far more ambitious than that. People that will go extreme lengths to fulfill the goals they have, no matter their moral grounds.

Traveler tales speak of a man-sized, rift-shaped 'mirror entity' attached to the ground with gnarly-jagged glowing crystals. Small flowers surround the mirror constantly blooming and dying. This surreal artifact is known as the Lazarus Shard, an item rumored to be able to grant wishes to whoever it deems worthy of it.
 
Though, since there's no evidence of such thing existing, most people that have heard of it believe it just to be simply that - a fantasy tale to entertain others willing to sit and have a listen. Still, there are those that have faith in the existence of it, for better or worse. And they go through great lengths in order to search for it.
 
The Lazarus Shard is said to be hidden somewhere in the world, waiting to be awakened and grant a new wish.

[Fern]

???

---

"I found you..."

 

A brown-haired, black-eyed man man with eyebags stood before the culmination of his nigh-endless search. Inside a forest near his village, he encountered a man-sized mirror with jagged edges, shaped like a rift. Flowers were repeatedly blooming and dying in a cycle that seemed infinite.

 

Desperate, he got on all fours in order to beg the supernatural entity to hear out his plea.

 

"Please! My village has provoked the wrath of a shaman! We have been cursed with a disease that will slowly paralyze all of our bodies and kill us! If nothing is done, then the hearts of my families and friends will be stopped and they'll die!"

 

The shard made no gesture, and no sound. It simply kept hovering over the ground in front of the agonized man. Caving in to panic, the adult chose to scream out his wish to the anomaly before him.

 

"PLEASE! I wish for all the people in my village to be freed from the shaman's curse!"

 

A reflection of his pained visage appeared on the mirror. It was surrounded by abyssal darkness, showing only him and his despair, before it'd crack and shatter. Its pieces buried themselves deep into the ground as the flowers withered, a weak and brief tremor following suit.

 

"H... Huh? Did I... do it?"

 

Confused, the vaguely hopeful man started looking around for any traces of the Lazarus Shard or changes in the environment. He hesitantly rose up to a stand and became startled by screams coming from the village.

 

"What?!"

 

The man, fearful of the unknown, ran as quickly as he could towards his home. The screams of the villagers filled up the area, as they witnessed people suddenly fall onto the ground one after another. Disturbed and perplexed by the chaos brought upon his village, he rushed his way over to the most magically inclined person in the area.

 

"What's going?!"

 

"Their souls... their souls are disappearing! Leaving their bodies!"

 

"No! NO!"

 

A stray villager walked in, a woman reaching out towards the man with a horrified expression then collapsing. He turned her around and shook her in hopes that it would make her react.

 

"Stay... stay with me! Is this... is this my fault?!"

 

Right after that, the individual he sought for advice on the situation grasped at his chest and fell against a table, becoming completely silent and motionless a few moments later. The man's gaze fixated upon the rolled-up eyes of the fallen, reaching for the sides of his head as he lost all the little composure he had left.

 

"What.. what have I done?! GGHNAAAAAAAAH!"

 

Shortly afterwards, he became a victim. One of many.

 

...

 

[Meanwhile, in Chaturanga.]

 

"Oh yeah. Did you hear? Apparently all of the people in a remote village lost their souls."

 

"No way... that sounds scary. Was it a ghost or something?"

 

"Nobody knows, only that people found a bunch of corpses and that they pissed off a shaman. Maybe the shaman killed them?"

 

"Ugh... I don't want to be on that mage's bad side!"

---

(OOC Note: I have been running a storyline. If you want to join and keep up with the deeper details of it, you must join my Discord event server: https://discord.gg/RRf3ZqpqYh)

[Fern]

Omen

---

"It's over for me..."

 

A man mindlessly walked through the moonlit forest, carrying around his baggage without a semblance of motivation. He didn't know how long he was travelling for, or where he wanted to go.

 

"My woman left me for another man and I lost my dream job over something that wasn't even true. Is there anything left for me?"

 

He stopped in his tracks and emptily gazed into the dark. He had been unable to surpass the pain that came out of his predicament.

 

"I... I just... I just want a sign, damn it. A sign that everything is going to be okay. That there's hope. Damn it..."

 

After a brief silence, the homeless man screamed into the abyss.

 

"I JUST WANT A SIGN! DAMN IT ALL!"

 

As if responding to the hollow man's call, a fierce breeze passed through the area, rustling the tree leaves and lightly swaying the trees. He suddenly felt a presence, which caused him to take a slow turn towards its sensed source.

 

There stood a woman with long hair and eyes arguably more vacant than his own, under the starry moonlight sky. Flowers began quickly blooming around her, withering as fast as they had come to life, over and over again. It was almost like looking at the painting of a dream, only that the scenery was very much real and before him.

 

"W... Who...?"

 

 

Bewildered by the sudden apparition, he began curiously approaching her. Was this another traveller like himself, or an answer to his plea? He hoped it would've been the latter.

 

"Are you... my savior?"

 

...

 

[Several days later.]

 

A young couple enjoy their sweets at the Cellsvich bakery, casually conversating about whatever comes up in their minds.

 

"You're still thinking about being a detective?" The girl mockingly asked her boyfriend.

 

"Well... I think so? Haha..." He rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrassed.

 

"I don't think you'd last! The mysteries would scare the heck out of you."

 

She giggled after teasing him, picking up a chunk of her cake with her fork.

 

"I wouldn't be that scared! I can take it on, come on..."

 

He nigh-immediately responded, though he soon noticed that his girlfriend started having a thoughtful look on her face.

 

"Is something wrong?"

 

She let out a sigh.

 

"Speaking of scary things... did you hear? Apparently some guy that was kicked out of his house was found dead in a forest near-by. I've been hearing about it from so many people lately."

 

"Really? Sheesh..."

 

"Well, there's a creepy catch. Supposedly he had a lot of flowers that had grown out of his body, or something like that. Someone already buried him somewhere. I hope everything turns out okay and that there isn't some Doriad serial killer going about or anything like that."

 

"A... Ah." He gulped.

 

"See?! This is exactly why you shouldn't be a detective!" She pointed her fork at him.

 

"Oh come on!"

---

(OOC Note: The storyline I had been running has finished its hiatus. If you want to join and keep up with the deeper details of it, you must join my Discord event server: https://discord.gg/RRf3ZqpqYh)