Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 62 : Towards The End

A tall old woman walked towards me. She looked like she could be my grandmother, or anyone’s grandmother. Her hair was as white as moonlight, and on her body was a robe colored in a mix of green and black.

She even had that big witch’s hat thing, which I found amazing, especially when in her right hand she had a broomstick too, which I really hoped could help her fly.

“You’re finally awake, Peter Sai. I am Baba Yaga. Come, let us take a walk.” She turned to Matthias, patting his head with a smile. “You go and rest now as well, you’ve been up far too long, my dear Ivan. I’ll take it from here.”

Wait... Baba Yaga... Like, the Baba Yaga... A small smile grew across my face as I laughed at the absurdity. Even after all I've been through, it was like a celebrity is in the house.

Matthias hugged the witch as his tail wagged happily. “T-Thank you…” He turned to me and nodded. “Get well, Peter.” And with that, he was off, running along the corridor while Baba Yaga waved her hand, causing the bed to catapult me to my feet right beside her.

“W-Woah.” I patted myself down, and yet she was already leading the way. I tried to walk, but I was already stumbling as if I had forgotten the basic movements of life.

That, and I was still trying to process that right in front of me was a legendary witch whose Name has been echoed throughout all of history, and she was leading me around the house. Although I half expected her to either be ugly or beautiful, thanks to all the media I’ve consumed.

“I can appear as anything I desire, young man.” She spoke as if reading my mind, causing me to back away in surprise, stammering and shaking as I held up a finger.

“H-How-”

She turned and gave me a crooked grin, giggling madly. “Your mind, scattered and empty as it is, is still an open book for someone like me.”

I stammered; mind-reading felt impossible. Well, I was just in a battle in the underworld where I could turn into the elements, summon the ghosts of the past, and even implant myself into the minds of others, but taking a step back, mind-reading has never been a thing I’ve seen in reality other than in ancient, very old stories… Within Galfania. It’s one of those abilities that hasn’t been explored much, especially so casually, too.

“How adorable, such a casual ability here is quite rare of there then? Interesting.” She added as I cursed myself silently, literally forgetting she could read minds.

“Don’t worry about it, dear, it happens to the best of us. And my type of reading is quite advanced, even for where we are.” 

Well, that felt reassuring, but hopefully she couldn't go and read anything deeper. But as I thought that, I noticed she gave a quick grin before I tried to change the subject.

“I-I see… So, you’re able to shape shift? Are you shifting right now- Is that rude to ask?” I laughed awkwardly at the end, and even Baba Yaga giggled.

“It is quite rude; perhaps I shall turn you into a toad and serve you by supper.” She raised her stick as I flinched and nearly fell down to the ground, before she waved her hand, and a wooden board flipped up to save me from falling.

“Hahaah… But alas, Matthias has taken a fondness to you, and… So too have the gods.”

I found my throat becoming quite dry as Yaga turned to stare at me as if she were looking at a dissected toad. The gods? Like the big guys who could control and manipulate reality? The one with domains over all of creation? Those guys?

“What do they want with someone like me?” 

Baba Yaga walked along the hallway, and when I looked behind me, the bed began to fix itself as if it were alive.

“You made quite a mess of the Nawia. More so than any mortal in a thousand years.” I ran to her side as she began her hopefully informative monologue.

The hallway itself reminded me of Baba Roga’s house, with its ancient wooden floors, ceilings, and beams. There were even floating lanterns lit with an orange flame, giving light. While the whole place still looks rotted away, it held up surprisingly well.

“It was me merging with the Smorodina right? Becoming that… That giant weird amalgamation.”

“Correct, you become the Echo of the Original Spirit.”

When she spoke that title, a strange soothing wave washed over me as if it were a familiar saying. “An Echo of it? What does that mean? What is the Original Spirit? Is that a good or bad thing?” I turned to look around as if I was trying to remember something from my childhood.

I ended up staring at the portraits on the wall; usually, they would be the macabre paintings of skeletons doing mischief, like stealing pies away from people. But a few seemed to be portraying people, usually kids; one of them was literally Matthias wearing overalls and a little hat, which I laughed at internally.

“Ah, the question of morality… It all depends on your point of view. The Original Spirit is, as the Name suggests. The first spirit in all of creation, when the world was just a blank canvas of pure nothingness.” As if to illustrate the point, Yaga placed a hand on the wall, turning it from wood into something more like a blank blackboard.

“Before something suddenly appeared. The First Emanation. The First Effect. The Egg. The Spark of Svarog. From it came forth all other spirits in the world, dotting all of creation, from gods to mortals to monsters.” The center of the blackboard became white as it exploded and, like a big bang, sent forth thousands of little white dots.

I felt some strange connection to the big dot, as if it was drawing me towards it as I reached out to the blackboard with my hand. This must be the creation story for Galfania. I've always wondered how these work. All the gods existed, and yet they each had their own creation story, all of them conflicting with each other.

“After they all separated, what was left of the Original Spirit became its own identity, a hungry spirit that wanted to devour back the others to become whole again.” The small yet sizable remains of the white dot in the center began to roam around the boards, reabsorbing all of the smaller dots.

“None could stop their rampage, except for one spirit. That of a fox.”

My head began to hurt a little as she said Fox. I felt an overwhelming sense of annoyance as if I was dealing with a little brat that constantly teased me. I groaned internally as Baba Yaga laughed, turning around as suddenly, instead of an old woman, there was a familiar red and white fox staring at me.

“We meet again~”

I lunged straight at it, but couldn’t get too far as she transformed back into normal and caught me by the scruff of my neck to place me back down. “She’s quite the troublemaker, even now. She seems to have chosen you above everyone else, or perhaps it was your fate, some kind of grand order.”

“S-Sorry. Just, it’s just- Wait, it’s a she?” For some reason, that made sense to me. Maybe that was a little sexist… Was it a little sexist? Eh who am I kidding, it doesn’t matter if she’s an it, she or a he, they will always be annoying to deal with.

“Yes, the fox is always said to be a woman, even in her appearance if ever she takes on a mortal form, and even those that follow in her footsteps.”

I rolled my eyes hard and sighed before chuckling. “Of course she has followers… That’s what we needed more in this world-sorry continue.”

Baba Yaga waved her hand as a small dot on the blackboard became a fox that jumped into the all-consuming spirit. “The fox began to play around, teasing every spirit possible, dividing them amongst each other, causing the unity to break apart bit by bit until suddenly…”

The giant white dot exploded outwards, once more recreating the big bang, but now they’re even more scattered, with the two biggest balls in the center, clashing against each other like oil and water. One was glowing green, and the other one was red.

Instantly, my mind went towards Jane and Marian as I spoke before I thought. “The Harbinger and the Caretaker? Right?” I turned towards Yaga, who gave a toothy grin and nodded along. 

“That would be correct. The Harbinger is what remains of the destructive hunger. The desire to engulf and to engorge, to destroy and become one. The Caretaker was the united will of the other spirits from the Fox, or as we call her, the Jester. She was made as an answer to the Harbinger, a counterforce, if you will. And thus the world was born, and the battle rages onward.”

She then snapped her fingers, returning the blackboard to the wooden wall with the paintings. “I’m sure you can now guess why the situation at hand is difficult to manage.”

As she spoke, I saw a portrait of a man in a black robe, a handsome face, and long dark hair. A visage that caused my head to ache in a dull pain.

“Ivan and Koschei. Ah, my beautiful deti… I am both proud and quite surprised at the performance that they have both achieved so far. Especially in regard to me.”

I looked towards a convenient mirror in the hallway, staring at myself as I saw my face for the first time in ages. My hair, still jet black, was now filled with some white streaks, while my face looked more chiseled, almost built-in. It was almost like I was staring into a more upgraded version of me, a more… Complete version. I grinned softly at that. Looks like I had a glow up, huh.

The story sounded familiar; it should be anyway. I recreated it in the Nawia, except for some reason, it was the Fox making it… But, judging by how it ended, that was probably part of their plan. Then, I remembered what I came here for, the question I really needed to answer.”

“Baba Yaga… Before I go and continue the other stuff, maybe uh, you know why I can do the whole Echo of the First Spirit thing in the first place? Like, why can I do it? Why can’t no one else do it?”

“Hah, don’t think you’re the only one who could do such a thing.” I turned in surprise, finding Baba Yaga already walking away and into a kitchen laboratory that was reminiscent of Baba Roga’s place, only this time, much larger and filled with even more strange jars and trinkets.

“I-I’m not?” I internally sighed. I kinda liked being special in that sense, but I guess I can’t really be the main character here.

“Oh, don’t worry, you are special; however, it’s not in your ability, it’s in the fact that you managed to survive for so long.”

There she goes, reading my mind again, but hey, I felt a lot better after that. “Oh, uh, thanks. But, what exactly made me like this exactly?”

Baba Yaga walked towards a large black mortar, big enough to fit in three entire persons inside of it, and beside the cylinder was a massive pestle made to pair with it. “That would be the ritual made to convert you all. The boat ride here, when you all first died and were transported here, functioned similarly to the Nawia ritual, which was why you all reformed here. However, for you and others, something went wrong.”

She pointed a crooked finger at me as her eyes narrowed. “The ritual was to bring about unity, to gather all the souls and bring them towards the first step for salvation… So the ultimate act of division in the face of this was devastating, especially at the crossroads of Boundaries.”

My heart began to sink as she spoke about the ultimate act of division. There were very few things that could be called that… But there was only one thing that I did right before the flames took me.

“In the eyes of the world, you not only denied someone their life, you denied them salvation, you cursed them forever to never move on.”

I stared at the ground, shaking entirely as I felt Baba Yaga’s gaze wash over me.

So even after all this time…

He’s still screwing me over.

“That’s correct, Peter Sai. The reason you’re special is because you murdered your best friend.”