I'm back at the mansion, in the gardens. Really lovely gardens. I love having teatime out here with Merry. I didn't know we had a gardener, nor did I know we hired a child to be our gardener. A very pale child with pale hair… I should just say white. White hair. Does that mean it's a grandma child? I wonder what happened to my grandma? Also, why is Myka holding the child by the neck?

"It's alright. She can handle it." Myka threw one of the miniature chairs onto the ground and immediately forced the little girl onto it. Shackles connected to the chair formed and grabbed onto the girl's ankles, wrists, and neck. "Don't want her running away, she's the spotlight for this part of my plan, and I'm really hoping at least one part of my plan works."

Myka threw down a second chair and then gestured towards me. "Take a seat. We're having tea."

"Ooh, I love tea! Especially making it!"

"I don't care. Just hurry up and sit down."

"Aye aye, private!" I sat down. Myka threw down a seat for herself and then propped up a table that had tea for her and me. Not May, though.

"Oh, you figured out she was May."

"Yeah. Merida said she likes working in the garden and also look at her. She's white all over like her dragon form. I may be an idiot, but even I can see the obvious."

"Well, cool. So yeah, this is her… true form? Is it your true form?" Myka looked at May, who was glaring daggers at her. "Fine, don't answer my question. Rude." She poked May's nose, which made a blindfold appear on her, causing May to go into a bit of panic, shaking the entire chair she was strapped to. "So, Madeleine… I'm going to be honest, I've forgotten everything."

"Your name is Myka, and you're a Beastfolk of the Bunny varie-"

"I don't mean that. I've forgotten what my plan is, what I wanted to do in life, and what groceries I was supposed to get."

"Ooh… that's bad. You can't go on in life without a plan."

"I know. You remember what it was?"

"I wasn't listening to half the things you said."

"Figures. Anyways, May here is a Sacred Power holder, as you know. Right?"

"I feel like I heard that somewhere… probably Merida. Speaking of Merida, we're at my home. Can I go in to say hi to them all? Thanks to you, I haven't been with them in a while."

"Yeah, sure. Go inside and say hi. I'll stay here and hang out with May."

"Okay! Have fun!" I tried to stand up, but it felt like I was stuck to the chair.

"No, you can't fucking go. It's my time. My time, I tell you! You and I are sitting here, just for me… and I guess May."

"You know, I'm starting to think you're insane."

She put her hand on her chin and started nodding towards the sky. "I probably am. By the way, the feeling is mutual."

"I'm not insane. I'm fake insane."

"And so is your mom."

"You know my mom?"

"No, it just felt like something I should say. I've been corrupted by beings Beyond our world."

"Oh my god."

"I'm still fucking with you."

"You wish."

"I don't mean fucking in that way."

"Oh."

"So anyway, since my original plan is something I've forgotten, I think I'll do things the old-fashioned way."

"Actually destroying things?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking major natural disasters take out most of the countries. Stuff like floods, hurricanes or earthquakes. Maybe a giant monster or two in the mix. A bit of plague here, a bit of locust swarm there, and maybe a touch of madness everywhere. After all, we could all afford to go insane in the end times. Do you have any ideas, Madeleine?"

"I'd like to see explosions."

"Ah, a simple gal with a simple heart. I like the way you think. How about you, May?" I turned to May to see she was shaking violently in the chair, her restrained arms and legs now more akin to a dragon's than a human's. It was clear she wasn't listening to the conversation. "Draconic rampage. A classic, I have to say. As expected of the oldest person in this house."

"Wait… May is the oldest?"

"Obviously. She's an Ancient Dragon, you know."

"Now that you point it out."

"So, now that the plan is an old-fashioned world in peril instead of some sort of metanarrative threat, I say we have a conversation in celebration!"

"Don't you mean cake? Or literally anything else? I don't see how conversation can be used as a celebration."

"Look, I just like talking with you, Madeleine. I may have been exaggerating when I said I loved you, and I may have gotten infuriated with you at some points of my previous plan, but at the end of the day, I do like this back and forth, regardless of how stupid it is. So let's have one last talk before I end everything. If I'm going to end all we have ever known, I'd like the last thing I remembered before that being a nice conversation with a… well, I don't want to say friend."

"Acquaintance?"

"You're more than that."

"Buddy? Pal? Chum?"

"I don't like the sound of those three words being said in the row, but I can't pinpoint why. Also, none of those. You know what, let's just skip a shit ton of steps and say lover."

"That is quite a lot of steps skipped."

"And I don't fucking care. Oh yeah, one last thing before the end of everything," she reached over to May and pulled over her blindfold. "Look into her eyes." I leaned over in front of May, who was busy angrily looking at Myka. I had to move between them so I could make eye contact with May.

Woah, wha- "Okay, that's enough." Myka snapped her fingers, putting me back firmly into my seat, and making May disappear before I could finish my thoughts on her and her Sacred Power. "It's time to talk! Ooh… I hate and love this part!" 

She took an empty cup from the table and sipped out of it. Somehow she's making it sound like she's drinking something, even though there's nothing there. You know what, that's probably reality-warping stuff… although that does make me think. "You said you'd explain how you died when we were on that battlefield."

"That's easy to explain. So you see, a few days prior to us arri-" Suddenly, the entire world went white, as if colour left and the only thing left were the outlines. Weirdly, Myka still had colour, and when I looked down to examine myself, I still had colour. A few moments passed, and soon the outlines were also gone, leaving Myka and me in a colourless void. "Well, this wasn't my plan… fuck."

Character profile: Mayfield

Sacred Power: Lord of Monsters

Parents: Genekaiser, Father of the Ancient Dragons, and Lily, the Maiden Who Tamed The Beast.

Description: The Pale Child. There are only 9 Ancient Dragons, each holding command over a piece of nature itself. The exception is Mayfield, who is the only Ancient Dragon born between Genekaiser, the Father of all of them, and a human. This left her with a unique case where she had both a human and dragon form. Due to her upbringing by her father, she spent the majority of her life in her dragon form. However, after being hunted by history's most powerful adventurer party, the Sacred Vagabonds, she resorted to changing to her human form to stop them from attacking her, as they assumed she was a mindless beast. The party would then accept her, and soon she'd travel with them, doubling as a power vanguard and a travelling steed. The Sacred Vagabonds would defeat the Demon Lord of their time, which led to the death of all but four members. Lord of Monsters was given to Mayfield by the Demon Lord, despite being a skill typically passed down from Demon Lord to Demon Lord. Due to a unique, unintended consequence of her parentage, her Sacred Power, and her closeness with Side Note, she gained a third form. 

Chapter namesake: Pale Machine by bo en