NOVEL WEB 23. Fateful Encounters
Unknown PoV:
In the ancient Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica, a young girl was running while gasping for breath. Her legs were almost giving out due to the intense, non-stop running. Despite this, she paid no attention to her own condition as the sweltering heat threatened to catch up to her.
Adorning her head was a headband woven from delicate fibres, adorned with vibrant feathers and intricate beads, symbolising a spiritual connection to the skies. Her attire consisted of a simple yet elegant dress crafted from woven cotton, displaying earthy tones that mirror the fertile soil that sustains her community. The dress is adorned with symbols inspired by nature. Beaded jewellery adorned her neck and wrists. Upon her feet, she wears sandals woven from fibres and leather.
The girl was not really a member of the upper class in society, having lived in a tiny hut at the edge of the city with her younger sister who got killed in front of her eyes. Killed by those flaming men who were setting forests and villages on fire. The older people said that these attacks had to be the wrath of nature and god's against humans. That they should hold a sacrificial ritual and sacrifice someone to calm the wrath of nature.
This truly confused the girl as she had never committed any sin that would cause gods to be angry at her. Were they targeting her for the actions of other people? Nevertheless, living at the edge of the city allowed her to escape much more quickly compared to some people whose heart wrenching cries could be heard.
This incident was not a first. Rumours had been circulation around the city that some of the other settlements had also faced the same situation. This disaster occurred at a time when food was already scarce and famines were running wild. It seemed that the gods had already declared their demise much earlier.
The young girl was rather lucky that she had not caught any diseases up to that point even with lack of appropriate food. But it seemed that her luck was going to run out soon as the girl finally collapsed from fatigue.
'Is this it? Is this how I die?' she thought as she closed her eyes. She had already seen those flaming people closing in on her earlier. She should soon die and be reunited with her sister in the underworld having faced the wrath of god.
She could hear the footsteps of the flaming people coming closer as well as the growls they made, which she assumed was their method of communication. Anyway, her eyes were tightly shut as she welcomed her end. Except…the end she had anticipated did not come even after a minute. So, she opened her eyes to see the ablaze ground, but the flaming people were nowhere to be seen.
"What would you like to do with this lower life form lady White? Should we dispose of her or keep her for your plans?"
The girl heard a voice behind her which she did not understand and turned around to witness three beings who were clearly not human. A woman with a weapon clad in some sort of mysterious clothing with horns coming out of her head and a monster who turned more human looking wearing weird red coloured clothes as well as a tail at the back. These two monsters were surrounding and protecting someone who could only be described as 'white.' There was nothing else that came to mind upon looking at that being.
'As I said earlier, its best to have a good relationship with these humans.' She could feel my fatigue disappearing and the scratches and blazes vanishing. The girl then felt a touch on her head as the being in front of her spoke.
"It's ok child. Everything will be fine now." Her voice was barely audible but she was able to hear it clearly. While she was confused why the monsters guarding this being in front of her seemed to be glaring at her, she felt reassured for some reason. 'Perhaps this is god who has come to take my life. If so, it's not so bad' she thought.
As the notion settled in her mind, the accumulated mental fatigue finally caught up to her, and she succumbed to the encroaching darkness.
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Shiraori PoV:
'This is slightly out of my expectations', I thought looking at the girl who had fainted. I had thought that the Olmecs would have died of natural causes as on Earth, but it seemed their civilization was being killed by the flame men. Then again this is the marvel multiverse so everything seems to be normal.
After my previous discussion with the guardians, I had spotted this girl running in our direction from the flame men. The flame men were very minor villains that appeared in very old comics in 1940's when marvel had just started in mystic comics. Why do I remember this? Well I did not. In fact, I had not even read this comic. It was Demiurge who pointed this out to me while I pretended to know.
The flame men were apparently ruled by a villain known as the Sub-Earth man and lived underground and in volcanos. According to the Sub-Earth man, they had ruled the planet before the Earth's surface cooled. Their goal is to regain control of the world and in the comics, they had planned to cause volcanic eruptions to achieve this. They are primitive in their lifestyle and made of molten rock and flame. Basically imagine a rock in a volcano come to life and assume human form.
After understanding this, I had already decided what action to take. I quickly opened my eyes and used evil eye of extinction on the two flame men chasing the girl, completely disintegrating them. It was probably overkill to use evil eyes for someone as weak as these flame men but I loved the evil eye skills.
Hearing Albedo's words about disposing off the girl I had just saved, I just told her to follow the previously discussed idea I had told them about. Since this girl was the first local human I had met personally on this Earth, so I thought maybe I could do something different with her. As I plan to create a kingdom like Wakanda, I can create something similar to the black panther as well. Perhaps a spider priestess? My naming sense is horrible. I was going to call the Horo Neia I will be sending across time the web-weaver legion, but I have not mentioned that yet.
Back to the topic, I can bestow this girl some abilities later on if I do decide to go ahead with this plan and have her assume a position similar to the black panther in Wakanda. Concluding my course of action I spoke to her using my own voice:
"It's ok child. Everything will be fine now." I also used healing magic to cure her wounds. For an unknown reason, since I spoke Albedo and Demiurge were glaring at this girl. I reversed the effects of evil eye of panic to calm her down before closing my eyes again. I would not want my work to go to waste after all.
After she fainted, Demiurge spoke up once more,
"May I have the permission to capture some of these flame men instead of killing them. I would like to have a closer look at them."
'Hmm, well I guess that's fine. They have no use to me after all' I replied. I truly did not have any particular use for them. I did not even expect them to be here. If it helps Demiurge improve Nazarick's strength then I don't care what he does with them.
Demiurge was elated at having obtained permission. Not having him wait any longer, I commanded him:
'Go capture them if you want. I will transport them to Nazarick after that.'
"As you command." He bowed and left towards the direction the girl came from.
'Albedo, here is what I have planned for this girl…' I started speaking to Albedo as Demiurge left.