THE EMPATH AND ETTA

Cold wind cuts cleanly through the air with a deep high and low-pitched roar of it as unfurled frosted fingers stroked against the landscape and the defiant few who still dared stand the storm—coniferous trees, resilient and tall, billowed in small patches of woodlands with rustling bushes that may have grown small budding leaves if the season was just kinder. Life seemed sparse to one sole individual who had walked their way so deep into the frozen wastelands that they could hardly believe a warm hearth held itself firmly in the small settlement of ‘Bitter Branches’ a half day's journey on foot, experience determined this knowledge. So close the frost would capture each little bit of warmth spread sparingly from labored breaths, greedy for more.
Sapping heat from upper limbs limply resting without any purpose worthy, and energy necessarily being conserved.
Occasionally a firm shake should get blood to run its course before again it rests and recedes from the digits, nipping little bites and tingling sensations reminding the traveler that he was alive.

A fool to some within the settlement, others were grateful when ‘Fen Jiahao’ announced himself as an adventurer seeking a way to help people, a mage he proclaimed, one with talents so otherworldly he must not even whisper its actual uses.
Although, with a seemingly sincere heart his deceptiveness was just to make sure people around him were safe.
With this openness in their hearts, they consoled in him about troubles and conspiracies that they barely spoke words of due to the church in the region. The Angels, great metallic beings that walked gently through the woodlands with hues of silver and white barely announcing their presence, had started to act in odd manners. However rare it was, the mechanical entities would seek out specific individuals with reputations of purity and spirit them away, providing bizarre white linen wraps and robes before carrying off the individual into the wastes where ‘the first gate to heaven’ stood.
Some left willingly, and others were forced into wearing a ritualistic garment and dragged out, bloodied fingers gripping fearfully to door frames before they slipped or their fingers broke.

Rare this sight was and rare is how the people wished it stayed where one young child or gentle-hearted adult was swept away maybe once a month from a village, but that wasn’t the case. It has finally been a month, and the machines have reaped well over two dozen souls out into the cold just from this settlement alone, and word has spread that this was the same for all others in the local glacial region. Damned were the traditions even of the garments, now people were simply abducted.
One village deeper north of Bitter Branches, Twelvilla, planned to rebel against the divine's creations despite the urges to avoid confronting them. One week passed, and no further updates were given despite the unnerving calm skies meaning travel would be easy thus the information should have been readily available.
It started to grow windier, signs that a blizzard could be oncoming, and during these times the angels tended to act up much more, nobody familiar with the divine engines was brave enough to wander outwards and report what happened to Twelvilla.
With heroes rarely wandering this far all hopes seemed lost for all the sparsely tossed communities above where the question of desertion started to get closer to an active reality, but now they had Fen who would surely be able to manage this problem!

That’s all he wanted them to be thinking anyway, scared people were often much less helpful, and with enough trust, anyone can weasel out another's secrets so long as the darkest parts were left alone to stay tucked outside of the exposing light.
Hours it may have been, the tart taste of trust still stuck to his tongue and long before started to make him feel ill, leaving him to go through his water a bit more than he wanted.
Flavor grew intolerable when he pushed his power, taste so interlocked with subtle pushes and pulls of emotion that it would overwhelm him when those subtle streams became torrential floods.

A harsh exhale sent a plume of breath brushing up and around his face, dark firm eyebrows and short hair hidden under a furred hood over the top of the warm cloak that kept him together, frost building up on the brim as this was not the first or last time he tried to banish the grip on his tongue that this emotion stained, the flavor subsiding after he decided to disrupt the minds of so many people at once.
As was the rule, the more extreme the emotion he tried to pull from someone and the more people he tried to affect at once, the more extreme the taste in his mouth would be.
Fen, when thinking about his mouth more finally had enough, he couldn’t stop himself as he staggered onto his knees and threw up across the white forest floor, the contents of the bits of food he briefly gobbled discarded across the ground in a mix of stomach acids that finally cleansed him of that tart taste. His hands unbound from heavy gloves started working on shoveling snow into his mouth, he should have known what to expect behind the dry sensation that he believed a bit before was just a sign of the cold. Ignoring the warning his body gave him, coughing as he tried to breathe with fluffy powder in his mouth now spewing across the ground as he choked.

26 years old, on a voyage within Eugenia for only a month and a half and still he stumbled around like a lost toddler would in an abandoned playground, sometimes too mystified by the exciting nature of this world where he became engrossed and would wander with joyful wonder, all dashed away in moments like this where it really amplified how lonely he was, the vulnerability of a body not reinforced with steel or a telekinetic hold. All that it took was a strong taste in his mouth like bad medicine to make him crumble, even for a moment it felt quite demeaning to himself.
“Augh… Oh… Gross.”

A new taste wanted to fill his mouth, but he remembered he really was alone and nobody could help him if he chose to stand back, this wasn’t being a hero back on ‘plain’ earth where he could expect heroes more capable to sweep in, he was the one capable, and it was likely only ignorance that made this possible. He did not have a choice but to stand back up.

Fen staggered to his feet, still spitting bits of acid and snow, he looked ahead at more billowing frozen fingers whipping around atop a hill, his destination should be only a short way beyond that, maybe another half day of travel. With night soon approaching and within an area he felt relatively safe within he decided this would be the place to set up a camp.
Dropping down a rough leather bag, he worked with numb fingers after stumbling only a short distance away from where he fell ill, he worked to set up camp for the night and to fill a stomach that had emptied itself seconds before.

---

Struggle, struggle to eat. Fighting to feel and wrestling to retain and restrain.
Sleeping is a pain to time on one’s hand, pain is meant to deter. Now seek things violent in nature, the night summons visions so dark and terrible of clashing metal and blasting shells the gunsmoke smothers all as a forest goes out like a lit matchlight. 10-inch fingers find an opening in the skull before taking a dive, one was too light and two were just right. Finger fishing found itself a proper hook to reel in the catch, discarded platter smothered in stains of meals left past that now ruined the taste of all thereafter with an overpowering smell and mix. Bloodied greens dashed the dish to remind the taster to try and test the waters before deciding to eat his portioned meal.
Postpone and dashed away a great beast roars and cries deep guttural and low with a weeping song sending the winds into a howling gush breaking down doors and taking orders the she-bear decides the date and the date is now and the time is now and the events to unfold, now. Stone cross remember to cross your arms and feet before taking the plunge or your neck will snap with the impact.
Regretful, to sink so deep below blue navy waters reminding the viewer his place within this world, where those starlights or the glimmers of predatory deep sea fish in the distance? He may be a fry to this whole deep dark and turbulent world but when did that determine anything?
Alone, yes he was, and helpless too. Tumbled about by just the swimming of all the bigger fish, their presence alone altered the way he lived. Find solace small fish for you haven’t started growing.
“I believe in you.”

---

The sounds this night were unpleasant. Before he heard small animals move about, that was heard of, and taking the caravan up thus far allowed him to travel in a group that felt much more safe.
Sent alone this far with only a shortsword to defend himself? He felt like his odds were not good despite his intense martial arts training.
The sound of gentle wet grinding was scaring him under the blanket he carefully laid down with silence sealing his lips.
His eyes dared him to peek and he allowed himself a chance to look, carefully tilting his head from beneath his hideaway, hair brushing against the broken branches of the pines around him.
The giant hole inside the back of his large automaton was noticeable from the start, but trailing down its back where its busy spindly arms forcefully twisted and pressed into the corpse of a human who couldn’t have been dead for long.
The blood was still fresh on its metallic skin, bits of it surrounding where a mouth would be as it tried to feed itself.
The harsh exhaled gasp from Fen alerted the machine, turning a slow clumsy damaged head towards the disturbance, before being blinded by the cold it now got its sensors on something new that it wished to approach.
Battered legs meant this thing couldn’t run, but crawl it was still capable of, and likely only so even before its kill. Intelligent enough to ambush and determined to acquire something more fresh it already slithered across the ground leaving a deep pink and red trail.
Fen feared, his mouth bubbling with a taste that was sharp and sickly, dusty and hollow, struggling his way upright and on his feet, running with his sword in hand, looking back to make sure this thing wasn’t approaching as both heart and breathing rate ascended, gasping as he continued to spin sometimes to get a look, well this thing was by no means gaining on him it still pursued relentlessly with shredded legs draggings behind and a distorted face lacking any human features that begged for something it should not have.
Adrenaline followed, and a steady jog was enacted, through the trees and over the hill into the wall of snow.
The blizzard arrived like it was invited and decided to show up early when it wasn’t wanted and only got in the way of someone like Fen.
When running seemed like it worked its trick Fen stopped, slid into the ground, and crumpled. Weakness filled his body as he was sure by now he lost the creature. Thinking back now on all of his gear, his chances of survival sat incredibly low if not impossible without his supplies, but if that maddened angel still stuck around then it would kill him due to the low visibility.
Gripping his shoulders, the mage sat up in the snow, looking around without aim he decided it was useless to try and rest now. Still heavily breathing, his own vocalization muffled from the wind howling around himself, he continued to carefully trek ahead in hopes of relief.

Fen moved for hours on end, all the while only light remarks and groans caused by the pain filling him. The dread that threatened to silence his rapidly beating heart, the feeling was one of the feelings restraining him from letting out a scream of frustration and fear, a way to get himself out of this fried thought process, clarity consumed by the memories of the automaton. Fen allowed the saliva to escape from his lips, he knew to others its smell lacked entirely and the taste simply existed in his head. Pungent fruit, confusion, but also the metallic taste of terror was stuck within creating a foul flavor. His stomach kept clenched despite the exertion and stress, his theories on why that thing chose to approach so near his camp wasn’t happenstance, he feared it could track the vomit from before.

When the darkness started to die away and a weak light spread through the harsh storm did Fen finally find a building. An injured sign informed him he had arrived at Twelvilla, and it was exactly as he feared it was, completely empty. Between his careful steps, he made his way around, finally finding some peace within a strong bastion with doors unlocked.
Fearfully before he scouted out the building, a heavy stone monastery caught his attention but he decided to investigate from stories he heard about the ties between the church and the angels. They offered gifts and the angels worked on using their miracles, occasionally teaching these miracles to people they deemed worthy. The local religious group, who referred to themselves as ‘The Flock’ didn’t want to interrupt the relationship with the very alien but intelligent angels and worked to defend them even when things looked questionable.
It’s them that made finding out about this situation a chore, but it made sense. People had a government that did sketchy things and operated in strange ways occasionally and yet they still follow closely to benefit from what it could provide.

Fen determined its safety and walked in, all he could see that was abnormal was folded clothing and a little pile of rocks in the middle of the floor, assuming it could involve a message Fen approached underneath the gaze of all the metallic dots to represent the eyes of the angelic beings.
Standing watch, the heavily dressed man investigated the metallic spikes that stuck out from the floor, two of them facing upwards followed by three facing downward. This reminded him of a gesture he saw well traveling his way up here, another odd traveler used it when he spoke his quiet prayers. It definitely held a religious purpose, but it also specifically started to hold something else.
Fen tasted gentle mold and diluted grimy water, it was slightly bitter. Subtlety behind the taste of defeat he was curious about where he was receiving this from. Sticking his tongue out he looked around the room, it wasn’t the same taste as the angels so that was a relief.
Stepping closer to the spikes along the floor the taste did grow stronger, kneeling down again it rose.

‘Someone really held a strong connection to this, their feelings have stained it’ He thought to himself.
Reaching down he picked up the spikes well placing his short blade down on a pew, pulling them up he found they all were connected to a single steel wire, worn and rusted. A keepsake for someone, he felt curious about the applications of his power and decided to feed in something else. Warm and light, he poured in a bit of kindness.
Never before had he attempted something with this ability, but this was also the first time an item like this held an emotion, so more than anything he was just curious about the application.
The necklace was nothing perhaps, maybe this was just him catching his own emotions when he found this place empty, he sure didn’t feel like he was victorious. The little metal piece of jewelry meant nothing, he was here to find people and found none, news he could at least supply if he could make it back, but now without any supplies it would be a hard journey unless perhaps he could grab something from the now empty homes.

Turning back, he was met with a glowing orb placed along a smooth metallic face, dried blood staining the lower sections of the face. A scream was raised as the orb flashed brilliantly, and in his hands, the necklace was pumped with the terror he felt.
His vision was snuffed into a haze, with powerful metal hands the broken machine ripped the necklace from Fen with it tearing into multiple small pieces before something pierced into his leg. Desperately looking down and trying to retreat, he could only see a large black object had speared into his heavily insulated pants through his thigh. Trying to retreat he was whipped onto the floor, feeling still for only seconds before he was dragged rapidly outside, hands gripping at furniture but lacking any ability to stop this thing.
Speeds unbelievable, this thing could have run at him and he wouldn’t see it coming. Skidding across the icy terrain Fen was unable to do anything, his aching body growing dangerously ill in sensation from the light, everything was this moment without clarification.
Fen tried to accept death, believing that’s all it would take, scared that he would still be conscious for this thing to mess with him, to peel him apart and fake a feast from his liver and lungs, the burnt chambers of bitter branched pathways gathering a painful sting as he didn’t know what to do.

Useless.
Fen Jiahao, he imagined the headline would begin, died trying to be selfish one time.
This was poetic he considered, and deserved even. Fen grew up trying to be a people pleaser, always tweaking emotions he detected to try and sway people around him so that they felt better and wanted him around more, an unnatural way to acquire friends. He did share a single point, the desire to become a mighty hero, saving thousands with great success.
Eugenia sounded like a dream come true for someone like himself, a place where it had transformative properties for some of those who entered, so maybe it could make him someone amazing, someone who didn’t hold a disgusting power like his own. And yet he stayed the same, so now he wished to be on a quest of sorts, to gain a way to grow stronger through magical artifacts scattered throughout the land, and this is where he ended up.
Living for himself, he thought, must have been a sin in the eyes of whoever was watching him out there right now, he knew gods existed, but almost as if to spite them he never seemed to ask them for help, and when he did state the name of one it was never intended.

Hollow thunder rumbled through, an approaching storm within another as someone who embodied the power behind a locomotive engine made her entrance.

---

A mix between a pop and a gunshot, that’s what Fen heard before skidding across the snow, spinning as he heard the snapping tears and could barely spot small fragmented segments of whatever was embedded in his leg where previously the large limb locked him into the other machine. A new figure shrouded in blurry visions but plated in heavy steel that seemed to shimmer in the barely available sunlight stood above and looking over everything that stood beneath them. Inhuman in height they would be a head taller than some of the tallest standard humans around. Fen’s mouth filled with the same warm sensations, they seemed to be harmless, but fear from the shine of metal still held strong as he tried to weakly push himself away, unable to move his legs.

“Stop, your leg-”
Fen did stop, the voice familiar but entirely different from anyone he has heard before. Feminine but firm, the warm taste in his mouth flared and flooded, alongside the taste of sadness, it made him greatly uncomfortable.
“-It’s been struck through. I have been told my healing should suffice, I can have you on your way soon, we just need to patch you up and warm your bones.”

Fen finally started to garner the ability to speak, the pain growing as it was mentioned.
“I-I have nowhere to go.”

“Oh well then, now you do, with me.
Stand up, we should walk together. It shouldn’t be far so you can make it.”

Fen was very confused by this woman's statement, before she stated the severe damage his leg took and already she expected him to walk with the large piece of steel still trapped within.
“I can’t move, please, you need to find someone to carry me… Please, help me!”
It was immediately after, a sharp interruption from the female knight.
“Oh dear, you haven’t tried to move yet, I said you could so that should be enough, now please, take my hand and stand.”

It was another explosive release of emotion from this person that forced a frustrated Fen to stay silent with an overwhelming flood. The woman approached and with a warm gloved hand gripped Fen’s, giving a gentle tug until he felt forced to comply, already decided that this was going to hurt he let out a pained gasp as he put weight onto the leg, receiving nothing but a static sensation and the crunch of snow beneath his boots.
“Oh very good! Now, hold on as we walk, I will make sure we avoid any obstacles.”

He planned on objecting, but already in a near painless state he started his walk, the injury still convincing him as the pain was left as a sleeping feeling in his leg, Fens's breaths were deep and his head spun as they made their way through the snow.
Now so close he was getting more glimpses of the white fur that seemed to be wrapped around her shoulders and the dark brown fur clothing that seemed to leave her so warm, and finally catching a glimpse of this large shield she allowed to rest attached to her left arm, he did not see any kind of bag or weapon on her. Above her short blonde hair whipping about in the winds, the details of her face only a vague representation of what could have been there.

Silence was between the two, the giantess seemed to have nothing to say and Fen was in such a confused state he could only stumble around without a question and barely even a thought in his head.
If anything, Fen Jiahao believed he was already dead, and this was death walking him into the afterlife.

“I’m Etta.” She stated,
“W-Well, Etta Baptiste, that is my full name. How about yours?”
Silence split between the two again for a few carried seconds, the wounded man finally starting to feel more lucid and raised his head, looking up to try and get more understanding of who he was walking with, nothing being given further than what was already noticed.
“I’m Fen Jiahao.” He stated meekly
“Oh! FEN! A good one to remember, I like your name.”

Never considering his name much, the compliment was appreciated, and the first genuine one in a long time.

“Thank you.”
“So Fen, what has brought you out here then if you have nowhere to go? A wanderer? OH! Maybe an adventurer, looking for treasure, fame, maybe a beautiful princess to save and charm like the classic tales!”
“Not exactly, no… I have a preference for handsome princes anyways. I’m uh, well I think I want to be a hero.” Fen stated, lacking conviction.
“Hmm, you… Don’t seem convinced, how come?” Baptiste inquired further, her gaze focused ahead peering deep into the blizzard.
“I don’t think I can do it, I want to, but I can’t.”
“Well I think you can.”
The statement was locked up tight, suspended in the air as neither would continue the conversation. Fen wished to argue his point, being dragged behind someone who seemed more capable of doing these great tasks. But with every statement she made, Etta seemed to generate a flood of warm flavor, kindness bled from her in a way that was almost overwhelming, but Fen felt fine.

---

“It’s warm inside, so please, take your coat off and I can get you some furs to wrap yourself in. I need to prepare the spell.”
Fen was led to sit on a wooden chair, following along he did remove his heavy coat showing his far too light simple shirt, cheap and local to the portal. Furs were gingerly placed behind him as he sat, in the meantime, he nodded his appreciation. Looking into the dancing flames that still stayed blurred.

“I’m also going to fix your eye’s with this, just in time too, the storm should clear and you can have a good look from outside the house and overlooking the land below us.”
Fen paused a moment in confusion, he was traveling through a few hills, but after meeting Etta he couldn’t recall any inclines.
“Below? Where are we?”
“Oh, well, my house!”
“I- agh, never mind.”

Fen heard the clattering of multiple bits of steel as small ingredients were being tossed into a pot, and the smell filled the room.
“Once I have this set let’s go stand outside, I can apply it and you can be on your way, back to being a hero!”
Again, that word he felt so insecure about, Fen lacked kindness in his words, and frankly frustrated with the pushing nature of Etta, decided to pump in a bit of pathomancy to try and shake her up, defeat returning.

“Etta, I am a failure. I want to help people, I want to do something but I can only do bad things with the gift I was given. Try that now Etta, I feel like this all the time, I guess that is one thing I can do is give people a good idea of what it feels like in my shoes.
So shut up, please just patch me up and I’m going to go, and you can continue living out here in the middle of nowhere.
I-I think I know why I don’t like you.”
The pain firing signals up through his body, Fen clambered his way to his feet, holding a finger out to Etta who stood just before him.
“YOU ARE POWERFUL!
But you didn’t do anything! All those people below are dead because nobody would go help them, they were so lonely and left to just d-”

Force echoed, power really exemplified the entire wooden house shook with only the slightest movements produced by Etta. The emotions that were unleashed from her struck like bullets, absolute sorrow.
“I WISH IT WAS ME.”

Fen stopped shouting and froze, this was someone who on accident could kill him, he started to grow afraid, and this fear spread to the other.

“Oh no no no! Shhh, shhh…
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t yell.
Don’t be afraid, please sit down, I’m almost done.”

Fen already started to hobble his way out, coat removed he started to march out into the blistering winds, enveloped in cold his bones immediately ached as he stumbled.
Damn everyone and everything, he knew he couldn’t do it and everyone kept holding him to these standards that he could.

---

He heard the heavy footsteps rushing behind him, she moved fast for someone with such a large frame and he knew he couldn’t just try and run. He turned around, he didn’t even know what to say anymore, and thus allowed the frustrated powerhouse to begin.

“Fen, I understand now. So I will make a deal with you.
I was occupied by something, it was holding me down but you helped me get out of it, so I will make a promise only to you.
I was a hero too long ago, and I will return to being one, but I’m not strong enough to do it myself, I need you to inspire me.
If someone like you can make it this far, then someone like myself should be able to do the same.”

Fen stood still. Sincerity was easily tasted, this couldn’t have been a lie. He was confident she would keep her end of the deal if he did the same with his.
The trade seemed one-sided, he was worthless, and she seemed to be someone who could really change things.
If this was how he was supposed to be a hero, just by convincing one person then he would do it.
Quietly he announced his decision.
“Alright, I will keep trying, but only if you will too. Just, don’t end up dying on me.”

“AHHHHAHAHAHAAA!” The giantess laughed aloud, rushing ahead with excitement she grabbed and held Fen briefly, in a small warm hug she let him go, running a hand over the injury on his leg and pressing two damp thumbs, one over each eye. She whispered softly to him.

“You have nothing to worry about!

I’m already dead.

Share my love with everyone, Fen!”

When his eyes opened, the blizzard and Etta were gone.

Fen Jiahao stood atop the mountain for several hours, abandoning the sacred hidden home of an ancient hero Etta Baptiste, long since burned down. Returning his way to Bitter Branches with a power wishing to be used in the name of being a great hero.
Protect everyone.



The first sponsored Champion of Etta Baptiste, the Leagelic god of Kindness, Love, and Protection.

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