What's Here For You (Solo)

Tick tock. Tick tock.

The clock was ticking, but not in a way that most planets would have considered normal. Trailing away from the clock and circling around her head, were notes that twisted and twirled as they danced around her. A lovely and soothing melody had played, rather than any simple and awful sound.

It had really put a grin on her face, as she really sat back into her chair, giving it a little spin to match what was going on around her. She really loved magic. There were so many things it could apply to, and something like this charm for her clock, really made for an excellent use of healing magic.

Though she wished she hadn't been charged so much for it. Especially since there was only a certain amount of it stored within that wooden thing. A sigh had escaped her, an image of another red-head holding out her hand coming to her mind, in what was obviously meant to be payment. They were family, and while she could understand that services weren't free, there could have at least been a discount or something. Like for being fellow gingers.

It was just cheeky to do otherwise, and an action that made her frown momentarily, before ridding herself of the thought, as her mind had continued to wander to other matters. She was alone in their family estate, and would be for at least several more months, before her shift around here was over.

The others hadn't visited enough as they said they'd be able to, but leave it up to a Moreau, to go back on something meant to be so simple. They come back with stories on what delayed them from being on the planet, and wonderful as they were to hear, it was still a fact that they were purposely avoiding this place. She was guilty of doing the same, and relished in truly relished in the pleasure of being away from here, but who in their right mind wouldn't?

There was so much time for herself around here, that she had seen possibly everything this planet could have offered, and there truly wasn't much of anything. It was a dwarf planet first of all, and nothing but some caverns were really around, beyond all of the snow that had always blew.

What wildlife there even were for the Wendigos to survive on, while natural, wasn't exactly company. Magic could do a lot of things, and while possibly charming these animals to speak could have been a possibility in theory, there was something disturbing about giving intelligence to what she ate.

The Moreau family did have their extent, for people who were caretakers you know. These Wendigos, while might have been people in the past, had made the kind of mistake that a lot of beings tended to do, which was trying to defy those who were higher in power. Perhaps even act upon desperation.

The causes for becoming a Wendigo were far too specific in nature, for it to be a mistake in becoming one. Those who did tended to desire living, so afraid of death, that they were willing to eat the flesh of their own kinds. While others had simply angered those of higher power, and were force fed.

Separating themselves from other Magi, was another thing that made her family continue to be guilty of doing what others also did, but they were wizards and sorcerers, rather than truly better than the standard mortal. A lot of the Moreau were still human, but just gifted magic and long lives before even her own existence had came. Being in a place like this with practically nothing, had been their own decision to have their own grounds within the Magi community, but they still frequently all continued to interact as if they had never really left. Though to an extent like a lot of situations often were.

First and foremost, her family had always been known for explosive magic. It was something they were able to control, in terms of radius, but even something as simple as gifting a bit of their own magic to another, carried that 'oomph' when transferring that energy. As if being hit by a gut.

Understandably painful, but also something most Magi didn't really wish to deal with. Yet, they all learned to get along. Magic in general was something to prize, and losing one Magi, was likely to be a lost in a specific form of magic, that individual might have been more talented with by others.

Though that didn't make them above the law. There was a lot of accordances, especially if the Galactic Patrol had gotten involved, but nothing that couldn't have been settled. While it might not have been appropriate to defy higher power, there was always likely going to be someone stronger in the universe.

People that could offer protection, when it came to helping her family preserve the Wendigos. They might have been creatures who were better off dead, knowing their souls were suffering, but the power they held within them, which could easily tear apart an average human, was just too great to lose.

What was the harm of doing some creation, and allowing these souls to continue their lives? Their existence in the first place, although unnatural, had been the idea of someone in the past. They were meant to be around, and even the rumors of gods starting to interfere with mortals, couldn't stop things.

So there wasn't any worry about how legal it was, especially when how others come into existence, was something her family wasn't required to disclose. There certainly must have been magic involved, reading their energy, but the form of it was something that seemed to be supplied by the person than a caster. Years spent trying to produce a Wendigo that wouldn't wind up dying to any new ones, though they had yet to see anything more than promises.

One of the reasons why she took her time in getting up from her chair, some minutes after she had been signaled to come outside. Being the more talented one in elemental magic within her family, it was easy to conjure up some fire as she headed out into the cold and snow, the flames within her hands not dying out through the harsh weather, and being one of the sources of what had kept her warm as she had walked around. Like how her clock had created notes that danced around, these flames had lunged and ate away at any snow that came near her, making it as if she was standing in a room rather than snow.

Although it came at a cost of the seal on the back of her hand, visibly being lit. An obvious tell, should she ever get to fight against the brutes some of her cousins had experience against, which being one of the youngest in her family, would do. Under the guise of research, each of them were allowed a certain amount of time away from this estate, and with age had came the ability to do so, for as long as a family member had really wished to.

On the occasion she was able to see some of her cousins, like she had this morning when refilling some of the magic where they had lived, but that was rare enough to bore her, and they were more than eager to be away from the place. So much was happening elsewhere that she only heard stories of.

The only way she'd truly be free from it as well, was if they could really produce a Wendigo that was exceptional. That would promote further exploration beyond this planet for herself and other family members, which were procedures and restraints that were apart of their independence from the Magi community.

But that was just politics for you. She didn't understand it all completely, but with how much their family had gotten around, it wasn't as if she really had to either. There were Moreau out there that knew how to handle these things better than most, and who they could rely on without the worry of them being bribed. For while things could always end up changing in the future within their community, they had chosen to become independent for a reason.

The crunch of the snow around her, and the sound of her own flames, were the only source of noise that were within the area around here. But it wasn't anything unusual, knowing that she was the only one right now, who was capable of letting the Wendigos out into the area. This planet didn't receive too many visitors who weren't her family either. And anyone who appeared on the planet, she would be notified through the sound of the charm that would play when someone had alerted the sensors. They were far enough not to be accidental, its long range only made possible because of the magic involved.

With the kind of isolation this place was, it was only by chance, or through outside influences, would anyone really choose to land her. Each and everyone of her family members had a role in trying to convince someone to visit, that they could sacrifice to the Wendigos, or make more out of. Although the ones they currently had, would have to die first, assuming they were weak enough for it to happen. Only the strongest of them were meant to survive.

The rocky cavern where they all lived and kept them all in one location, was protected by fenced off gates, meant to be too strong for any of them to break out of. Checking up on the Wendigos was meant to be a two person job, and likely had been back in the day. Though it seemed to be true that the longer one had magic, the stronger that it seemed to only get, if her family were really of any indication. Something she and some of her cousins had yet to manage.

Which she guessed was part of the reason she was here in the first place. Power was always going to be something that was important, and having it made it more of a likelihood she could have an extensive leave from here. Someone would have to substitute for her, but it wasn't like they were on short supply to get a family member to do so. When she had gotten to the entrance, the flames surrounding her hand had died away, as she broke the barrier making the gates so strong. Even if it was momentary, as the cave was much warmer inside, the shivering cold had still come at her all at once, while she had entered.

With gasped breaths, she had closed behind the gate, taking another moment to rest against the walls of the cave, as she reused the spell light up the place. There were so much bones lying around the cave, walking through, as well as several half-finished corpses, too fresh to ignore the pungent smell in the air. While their forms could be pretty identical once they had turned, she could still remember just who these corpses actually once were.

Humans tended to be the ones more likely to show up on the planet, knowing neither magic nor ki to defend themselves. There were those who occasionally did practice in it, but their power was so weak, they were likely inferior. On the occasion there were alien visitors, but they weren't worth turning, knowing they usually had some importance, and this planet shouldn't have been too special to outsiders. It was the way they were even able to bring people here.

None of the sights she saw made her afraid, having dealt with plenty before. What had gotten her attention however, were the sounds of slamming, deeper within the cavern. She was positive there was still more Wendigos who were alive beyond the dead that she had saw, but this one causing such noise in particular, must have been one of their promising ones, if it had managed to survive. The cave shook with each movement, but being magically protected like a lot of things on this planet, it wasn't likely to collapse, no matter how strong it could get while it was in here. How many days had it been so far?

While she checked on these creatures on the occasion, there were periods where she was meant to starve them, and watch what could happen. Usually the strongest of them would survive, and like she had already seen, eat bits and pieces of their own kind. Nothing whole unless they were really desperate.

This one just sounded particularly angry, if it was really making such noise. Something that forced her to shut her eyes in annoyance, as she had walked up behind it. The creature didn't noticed the light of her flames, and she wasn't surprised, knowing how mindless they became after turning into these things.

”Oh mighty earth, show me your chaotic power!”

Though it served to be an opportunity. Beneath her feet, a summoning circle had appeared, as she quickly started to cast her next spell. Appearing from thin air, a giant slab of a rock had appeared, her free hand glowing as she controlled it to slam against the creature. The other Wendigo it was holding seemed like it was already dead, and all of the slamming must have been pure instinct rather than intention. In the past, some of these guys had shown that they were able to think, but she had yet to see this one show anything more than mindless rage. That's what made its current survival rather interesting.

She put only a bit of her power into the attack, not being worried about killing it, knowing how resilient these creatures could actually be. Their state of being was already curious, as while they weren't undead, their tolerance for things like pain and such, were above the average of what others were capable.

Her eyes had watched very closely for any signs desiring that it wished to give up, though there was an extent to her own concentration as well. She couldn't pour all of her magic into this, if she wished to see some of its current progress. Slowly, her control over the slab of rock had stilled, the creation disappearing as she let the creature fall, the Wendigo going on to release the dead body that it had been able to hold within its hands.

"Oh blinding blue skies, lend me your light!"

As it began to collapse alongside the corpse, she began to cast another spell. Shining above her, light was created, one which she knew would be bright enough to blind the creature. The cries of pain had said as much, but no amount of shielding its eyes could change the effect of her spell casting.

"A handful like always, aren't ya? But uhuhuhu, it's great progress~"

It took some sensing with her own magic to detect the one this creature had within itself. But she recognized the signature belonging to one human that stuck out to her, as having some practice with ki. Enough to where the girl's own will to live, had allowed her to evade the Wendigos that were about.

The last time that she had observed the strength the human had since becoming a Wendigo, must have been when her shapeshifting cousin had visited. It was certainly a time where she wondered just how crazy this family could be, if she was related to someone who could be so into the role of what she mimicked.

"Nothing will be too different today. We'll be working on your memory again."

A smile had easily played across her lips recalling what happened, though she was soon also reminded of what she needed to do. When it came to these creatures, there were certain things that her family was looking to see. One that was not only a force to be reckoned with, but also one that held a sliver of consciousness. They knew it was a possibility, but it seemed to be a difficult process for a majority, knowing these creatures were cursed.

All she knew from the girl's own possessions, was that her name was Mari Tanaka, and she had unintentionally came here, according to the rest of her family members. Some of these creatures did have the capability of speech through telepathy, but they might have also been the most likely to also die.

She started to drag the creature outside of the cave, using some of her magic to assist her, and before she had knew it, they were both out into the open snow. Her fire was still the very thing that kept the snow from even touching them, as she had bent over a little to cup the cheek of the creature.

"Mari, can you hear me? Mari."

It wasn't anything that she figured would really work, but doing the same procedures wasn't likely to help anybody. Throwing in knowledge of its past might wind up jogging something within that head of theirs. She could at least hope anyway. There was no movement at all, though she doubted the creature was out cold. It might have been hungry however. The appetite that these things had, was much greater than what anyone could have really assumed.

But they did hold a supply of magic within them, knowing that was what turned them in the first place. The crunch of snow had accompanied her once more as she had walked away from it, knowing that as risky as it was to leave it unattended, there was nowhere on the planet they could have escaped from.

It hadn't taken her long to find the only wildlife that was around here, a group of bison that had adapted to the climate, and was meaty enough to feed a couple of these creatures. Not to mention provide as a decent source of material for warmth. She only needed one of these things to possibly wake it up, or at least serve to be dinner for later. A decent amount of magic had been used already, but these flames of hers should take care of it in one go.

There was a bit of intelligence to these creatures, to know that although she was a distance away from them, it was best to move away from her. Though without the capability of defending in ways only beings like her were capable of, it was just done for. Bracing herself for the cold that would hit her, she threw the fire, and surrounded herself in what warmth it left behind as it shot out and easily struck at the running bison. Quite a bit of her power had gone into the thing, and the rest of these creatures had ran off at the sight of what had happened. The warmth of her fire had quickly started to die down as well, being no match for the cold, until she had been able to check on this thing's corpse, and like before, paired together her spells as she left.

By the time that she had returned to where the Wendigo was, she saw its body was starting to shift, and smiled knowing her earlier assumption had been correct. The corpse of the bison had been set on the ground as she released the magic helping her carry it, and ran towards where the creature was.

It suddenly roared at her, as it got back up on its feet, causing her to move back. She still remained calm rather than afraid, knowing that with her magic, she was still much stronger than what natural strength this thing inherently had. Something which most beings would wind up being surprised about.

"Mari! Your name is Mari!"

Again, she had tried to say its true name, in some kind of hope that it would remember enough to communicate. The twitch of its legs had her hands glow in anticipation to strike at it, only for her to find that it had lunged past her, and towards the hunk of meat that she had hunted for it to eat.

"Yeesh, made me think you were going to get me there."

There still remained to be no response or even a seemingly attempt at communication in some way, which only further emphasized the lack of intelligence that it had. The universe had a lot of beings that were similar and against its attackers, should be no remorse in killing because of this behavior.

Communication was the thing that separated man from animals that could be consumed, although she and the rest of her family, knowing of the origins wit hthese creatures, wouldn't have dared to eat these things. Humanoid beings in some shape or form, reason made it obvious they shouldn't be eaten.

She had stepped around the creature just enough to take a look at it, crouching down as she inspected its body, nodding now and again to see how its wounds were doing. Though there weren't any obvious signs, she could tell that it was being healed through the movements it was showing in its muscles.

It was a work in process still, and one that she had taken advantage of, as she went and grabbed its wrists. There was resistance of course, but nothing that she couldn't overpower at the moment, as she interrupted its meal and pushed it over, gathering up as much strength as she could have.

A smile crept on her face as she wondered whether or not feeding it a little would change its behavior, or bring back any other memories within that fractured mind of it. But once more, there was no reach for communication, and only what she could assume was some shock of what had happened.

"I guess this confirms today's test. You really don't remember me."

The next checkup was gonna have to be based whenever she had felt like it. They were still some weeks away until her shift was over, and she could go off the planet, and replaced by another member of her family for awhile. Nearing the end of her shift was the only time she was so assured someone would be coming. As large as the universe could be, even with the differences in time and all, these rotations were apart of their agreement on being independent.

Her specialty in elemental magic had its uses, and while there were others who could do the same, every little bit of available supply helped. A summoning circle appeared beneath her in what was likely to be the last time today, as she had gathered the strongest magic she could to knock the Wendigo out.

"Oh, biting waves! Let this be an endless trail!"

It was going to be a bit tiring, putting it back into its cave, but she could rest for a good while after that. Water had formed from the air, and shot out at the Wendigo, easily curving and avoiding the ground as the creature had dodged, before fully striking it in this torrent of water. So much power was being summoned forth, just to go and make this thing unconscious. The moment it seemed to have stopped resisting, did she slowly started to stop.

So much used up magic. A sigh of relief had escaped her, the cold hitting her once again, only she didn't conjure up the same spell she had been using in her right hand, to warm herself. Instead, knowing it wasn't likely the Wendigo would wind up fighting again, she had started the trek it'd take to drag it back towards its cave, shivering here and there, when the cold had managed to overpower what warmth she could garner together with this jacket she wore.

A bit more magic was used to resupply the gatekeeping these things in there, once she had tossed Mari back into the cave, then continued to bear the conditions around her as she made the walk back home. The estate her family had lived in could have easily been referred to as a clocktower type of building, with how a large clock was attached to one of the walls and continued to tick against the cold and endless snow. The building in general was also rather tall and large, holding a staircase here and there, although she took one of the entrances within the building, rather than climb the steps.

It was such a relief to find warmth within, her limbs feeling weak as she closed the door behind her, and dove into one of the rooms they had within the estate. The room didn't belong to her, but nevertheless she had entered inside, and collapsed onto the bed, her eyes shut as she waited for her energy to come back to her. The lack of warm within her was where most of the problem was, as she laid in darkness for what felt like awhile, her eyes still not opening as she materialized a cassette recorder into her hand, turning over to her side as she pressed the button that she knew would start it up.

"It's been an uncertain amount of days since Subject Mari had been checked up on. I'll have to fact check things later, as I just finished knocking the creature into unconsciousness. There's been no sign of any real progress in regards to communication and any form of recognition. Having it eat flesh contiues to show signs of recovery, although I hadn't paid much attention to what stopping that process had really done, if anything. Strength seems to have remained the same, continuing to prove that they don't suddenly grow stronger like the Saiyans, after being repeatedly injured and healed.

I shall possibly visit Namek and Earth when my shift is over, after some recollection today about our past subjects. If you recall some of my earlier entries, I had mentioned that some time ago, a strong Vampire had visited the planet, leading several other Vampires and various other aliens. I wish to look into information of these individuals, and possibly be of benefit to not just the Moreau family, but the Magi community in general. As we have proven so far of our research on the Wendigos, choosing not to respect power leads to consequences. Being helpless in the way that caused these people to turn into something monstrous, we can avoid by continuing to ally ourselves. It might be risky going after this group, but I have confidence in our magic."

A click on the button again had ended her report, and it wouldn't be necessary to create another one until she had left for these planets, Something which wouldn't happen until her shift was over, as this was a departure log. Those two planets were the most commonly visited, so the signatures that she was looking for, were also likely to be there. What she had been able to hear from that group, they didn't seem like they were difficult to persuade.

Although that confidence might have just been her tired mind, like a lot of things, she would doublecheck them tomorrow. Darkness having already surrounded her, as she had her eyes closed throughout the report, it was her mind that had soon followed after next, as dreaming had started to take her away.

There would be so much to do when she had left here.

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