Wizard's House

[wizardseason]

"Hey"

The Wizard greets the evil-allured knights the same way every night, with the same word, while casually sitting on the steps of the porch outside of her little home. The building looks handmade, like it was built by people who cared about the place they were going to live. Surrounding it on all sides are fields as far as the eye can see. Vegetables of all kinds, with fruit trees and bushes placed throughout the landscape. Closer to the home are bigger trees, willows and others, providing shade from the strange three suns above. Wherever this is, it isn't the world that the knights know.

Plunged into the ground a mere few feet away from the steps leading up to the home is a handwritten sign that states the following:

Knight Rules:
- Tell others if you want
- You can't reveal others
- The world ends this year

Comments

[wizardseason]

"I wouldn't classify them alongside the two of us." She corrects, but very clearly answers in the affirmative that there is in fact another being on this table filled with pieces.

"And I don't think this place was meant to be what it is now."

[tropicalstorm]

Great, another one. With any luck this third individual will just stay out of this whole situation.

"What was it meant to be? And," she frowns, expecting to not like the answer to this question, "what is it now?"

[wizardseason]

That third individual will absolutely not do that thing. They're going to be quite involved in this whole situation and that'll be a whole thing for everyone involved.

"The original spell was meant to save the world. But now it's a prison. Shackles."

[tropicalstorm]

Oh great. Involvement of more unfathomable beings, Haizea's favorite!

"Why did the world need savin' in the first place? Whatever went wrong must not've gone TOO wrong on account of we're all still here and kickin' around," she says with a shrug.

[wizardseason]

It was all perfectly fathomable, Haizea, no big deal.

"They were going to break out of the world and cast it aside." She answers, watching Haizea's face.

"Like candy out of a wrapper. The spell turned the wrapper into metal before it came loose."

[tropicalstorm]

She ponders this a moment. This is all pretty high concept for her, she's never been good at dealing with more existential concepts.

"Then... that's good, right? If the spell is keepin' the world together, then that means the world is still here for the rest of us."

[wizardseason]

"It worked, temporarily. But it didn't change what was trying to escape." She answers, watching Haizea.

"And now it's figured out how to break free of the metaphorical metal."

[tropicalstorm]

"Then..." she pauses, making a face. Then what???

"...We gotta trap it again, right?" How? She doesn't know!!!

[wizardseason]

"The Protector intends to keep them trapped forever." She answers, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I know they're going to break free. I want to let them out on their terms."

[tropicalstorm]

She watches the Wizard sip from her coffee and silently wishes she had some too, or maybe something a little stronger.

"...What are the chances that their 'own terms' DON'T involve destroying the world as they get free?"

[wizardseason]

All Haizea has to do is give even the slightest indication that she's thirsty or craving caffeine and she'll get a magic coffee.

"Hmmm." She responds thoughtfully before answering.

"Hopefully better than fifty-fifty." She says without even a hint of confidence.

[tropicalstorm]

"I don't like those odds," Haizea says grimly. She's not exactly a stranger to gambling, but there's some things you just don't risk, and the continued existence of her family is one of them.

"Why can't you just work together with the Protector to keep it trapped? If it stays, then it sounds like the chances the world won't fuckin' END are a lot higher."

[wizardseason]

"Neither do I." She answers, watching Haizea for any reveal or indication of what she might be thinking behind the scenes.

"Even if I helped, they would break free. That is an inevitability that he does not believe and won't accept."

[tropicalstorm]

This is very frustrating to her, but she's keeping her composure well. She's spent her whole life basically ignoring the issue of the world possibly ending each year, and now that she's in the thick of it she feels woefully unequipped.

"How do you know for sure that they will break free?"

[wizardseason]

"Because I've been watching them for forty years." She answers, simply, lifting her mug up to take another sip.

"It's obvious."

[tropicalstorm]

"It's obvious and you can't see a way to fix it? To keep them trapped and keep the world going?" She frowns and crosses her arms.

"Maybe you just can't see the answer. You should get a second opinion."

[wizardseason]

"I've said what I want to do." She answers, looking Haizea over to get a good read on the knight's motivations. She isn't going to keep them trapped, not when they're about to break free.

"I could say the same back to you. But if I'm right, you'll see for yourself pretty soon."

[tropicalstorm]

She throws up her hands in exasperation. "We're talkin' in circles here!"

She walks off a little bit, hands in her pockets, before wheeling back on the Wizard.

"What's the point in tellin' me all this, anyway??"

[wizardseason]

In the time that Haizea spent walking away and then turning back, the Wizard took that bit to refill her mug with hot chocolate. Bobbing in the top of the mug is a veritable mountain of multicolored marshmallows.

"Because everyone should know the truth." She answers, simply.

[tropicalstorm]

The vibrant colors of the marshmallows would normally get her attention, but she's too frustrated to care right now.

"If there ain't nothin' I can do 'bout it, I'd rather not know at all," she groans, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

[wizardseason]

It sounds like Haizea needs some of those marshmallows, it's a shame she won't ask for any. The Wizard takes a sip before she responds.

"It will be your and others' actions that can do everything about it." She answers like she's telling the time, like it's the easiest thing in the world.

"Because they won't talk to me. I hope they'll talk to you."

[tropicalstorm]

Haizea stops in her tracks to process this. It couldn't really be that easy, could it? The Wizard has got to be fucking with her, right? Time to call her bluff. Haizea stalks up to the Wizard, reaches out to snag a single pink marshmallow out of her cup, and pops it in her mouth.

"How do I talk to them?" She asks, and chomps down on the marshmallow.

[wizardseason]

Immediately after the marshmallow is exhumed from its chocolaty grave, another one manifests in the vacated space in the mug. This time, it's a light green marshmallow. But she doesn't react to Haizea's intimidating approach. Instead she keeps her slight smirk as she answers:

"Go see them for yourself. I don't know where they'll be, but when they show up they won't be hard to find."