Hey there, it's me, hater of the Demon Lord but for personal reasons, Madeleine here. Speedy has just dropped us off at Fort Lorparrel. Right at the tippy top of it because I wanted to be at the tippy top. Unfortunately, the tippy top is the lame wall surrounding the whole fort. I regret asking to be dropped off at the tippy top.

"How are we getting down now, genius?"

"We take the stairs."

"Ah yes, because two randoms walking downstairs they didn't go up isn't suspicious at all."

"Maybe you should be better at stealth."

"I can stealth. I just don't stealth in close quarters. Shooting someone from far away is the pinnacle of stealth."

"Spoken like a true Elven Ranger."

"Have you ever met an Elven ranger that isn't me?"

"Merida."

"She doesn't count."

"Then no."

"I figured. Seriously though, how are we getting down?"

I looked into the fort, seeing a plethora of guards relaxing about, having a grand feast like they've won the war. "Hey Mel, is it me or is there not much war here?"

"Turn around, and you'll see why."

I looked outwards from the fort, onto the battlefield, to see colours you would never see in a battle. I saw an array of bright greens and fiery reds, sunny yellows and peaceful blues. A field of flowers had bloomed on the war-torn scenery, flowers spouting out of everything. From corpses to rubble, from soil ruined by magic to the weapons of the fallen, flowers were growing everywhere. The only place that didn't have flowers was the remains of a stone wall, a circle of the wartorn soil sticking out like a sore thumb, with a headless corpse leaning on the wall, a little girl standing by, and a cloaked figure behind the wall. Oddly familiar, but that's not where the oddities end. If I remember, it should be winter… where is the snow? I'd rather have snow than flowers. Snow tastes nice, and there isn't a chance it'll poison you, I think.

Soon came a second and third surprise. The sounds of crumbling stone came from outside of the fort. Mel and I look over the wall to see plant monsters punching the wall, giant flowers with monstrous mouths shooting corpses above the wall, and giant vines growing from the ground climbing up the wall. All in all, a terrible surprise.

The last surprise came from within the fort, with the many soldiers feasting within stopping their festivities to listen to a man in a commander's armour standing up, holding up his mug to make a toast. "Today, men, we feast! We feast not for the damned Empress whose empire shall fall! We feast not for the enemy, who we could not overcome! We feast not for the lucky ones whose flames were put out before ours! NO! WE FEAST TODAY FOR US!!! WE FEAST OUR LAST FEAST!!! AS THOSE ACCURSED PLANTS STRIKE US DOWN, WE SHALL FEAST AND LAUGH AND ENJOY OUR VERY LAST MOMENTS!!! CHEERS TO OUR GOD-FORSAKEN FORT!!!"

"CHEERS!!!"

"CHEERS TO OUR SHIT SHOW OF A WAR!!!"

"CHEERS!!!"

"CHEERS TO OUR LAST DA-" Before he could finish, his limbs and neck were grabbed by vines that grew beneath him, dragging him down into the stone ground of the fort. The other soldiers took a quick second to pause before taking a chug of their mugs and exclaiming, "CHEERS!!!" They were struck down by the plant monsters, which had infiltrated the fort.

"I'm constantly reminded of how insane this world is."

"I feel like this is the average amount of madness, Mel."

"That's the scary part." Mel pulled out her bow, notched an arrow into it, and then took aim at the faraway little girl. "She's obviously the culprit. So how are we doing this? I shoot an arrow to kill her right now, or we don't kill her, and through some weird, bizarre twist, she ends up in your harem and also turns out to be my sister?"

"You have a sister?"

"No, I don't. Unless mom and dad aren't telling me something."

"Oh… well, I like the sound of the second plan."

"I should've just shot her." Mel fired an arrow into a vine that had managed to climb up to us. "I'll provide cover fire while you're weaving and bobbing through."

"Thanks Mel!" I stomped my foot, creating an earth staircase from the fort's wall to the ground below us. "Also, this is what I meant by stairs."

"Why are you so capable in magic?"

"No idea!" And off I ran down the stairs. 

Vines started climbing up the stairs, which I took out with daggers. Meanwhile, Mel shot down those giant corpse spitting flowers with her arrows. So far, smooth sailing. Whilst running, I stomped to create a bunch of rock pillars all the way to the girl. Considering there are plant monsters, maybe the flowers are poisonous. Or worse, they smell nice. I can't resist sniffing nice smelling flowers. I jumped from pillar to pillar, avoiding the swings of the plant monsters and vines. Before I knew it, I was beside the little girl. Man, that was easier than expected.

The girl, noticing I was next to her, fell to her butt and started crawling back, tears in her eyes. "Please… don't… don't hurt me!" She aimed her hand at me, and a green spot on her palm appeared. That doesn't look natura- OH SHIT, IT'S A VINE!!! I barely dodged it, only having my shoulder getting pierced. Huh, that's not good. "Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She took the vine back into her hand and then took a grovelling position at my feet.

"Eh, I forgive you. Anyways, you wouldn't happen to know the princess of Sacre Pla, would you?"

"Huh? Are… are you not hurt?"

"Oh, it hurts a lot, but it's not that big. Now, answer my question. Do you know Princess… uhh… what's her name again?"

"Carte Grande?"

"Yeah! That's the one!"

"Mum?"

"Eh? Mum?" I'm pretty sure the princess is really young… but then again, she's a royal. You never know what those Royals get up to.
Her eyes lit up. "Are you one of the secret maids she has? Is that why you're familiar? Are you here to save me?"

"Umm… yeah. So… according to the Royal Decree, I've got to return you to her or something. Before that, though," I grabbed her head with both of my heads and forced her to look at me, then made eye contact.

A card came out of my secret dagger stash and floated in front of the girl before making them both suddenly disappear. When did that get in there? Also, what happened to the cloaked figure that was behind the wall?

"I be beside ya." I looked to my left to see Croen leaning on my shoulder. 

"Oh, hi Croen."

"I hear ya going to Toxicity Itself. The poor fella ye be looking for is in its Medical Ward." Croen disappeared as quickly as he appeared. Why was he here?

"Who were you talking with?" I looked to my right to disappointingly see Mel not leaning on my right shoulder. Damnit. 

"The God of Death, Croen."

"Huh, thought his name was Tremom."

"No, that's a different guy."

"So, we done here?"
"Considering I'm alive, yes. To Toxicity Itself we go!" Off we went.

Character profile: Eliza Milton

Sacred power: Florakinesis

Name of relatives: Max (Father), Cartrina (Mother), Jeremy (Older Brother), Melina (Older Sister), Booker (Pet Cat), Larry (Family Teddy Bear)

Description: A child lost in a world riddled with madness and strife. She was summoned by the Sacre Pla Nation as a hero to deal with the Demon Empress after news of Wulfric's betrayal and death was spread across the land. She was sent to Fort Lorparrel, thought to be a safe place to train her, but the Demon Lord caught wind of this and sent an army of mercenaries and prominent figures he contacted to kill this singular hero, who could very turn the tides. A certain mercenary pitied Eliza and chose to not kill her, not knowing she was the target. Before being sent to Fort Lorparrel, Eliza became quick friends with Princess Carte, well-known for shutting herself in her room and not allowing others to enter. Eliza calls Carte 'mum' for a reason unknown to her. Carte knows the very reason why she's called mum, however. 

Chapter namesake: GREEN WARMTH from The Sound of Kirby Cafe 2.