Whoosh.
The dark green waters of the Subterranean Sea crashed against the jagged black reefs, seemingly determined to grind the rocks into dust.
Behind this unceasing clash of water and stone was a vast, desolate landmass that was twice the size of Hope Island.
A girl, barefoot and clad in a white dress, stood atop the island's highest peak. Her fluorescent, cross-shaped pupils gazed into the distant, pitch-black coastline.
She seemed to be waiting for something. And there she stood for twenty whole years. Not once had she moved. Like a statue carved by time, she seemed to be waiting for some sort of opportunity.
Finally, the sea turned black. A faint glimmer of light appeared on the horizon. Only then did she stir. She lifted a conch shell etched with crimson markings to her lips and blew.
The conch's call echoed low and thunderous. Within a hundred nautical miles, all sentient creatures appeared to be struck by terror itself and scattered desperately in all directions.
The surface of the sea began to hum in resonance with the sound from the conch. The water rippled with high-frequency pulses, eventually forming a complex ritual circle on the surface. With each additional ripple, the circle layered downward into the depths, each level distinct from its predecessors.
Those creatures that failed to escape in time could only hurl themselves against the nearest reefs. They could only use death to resist the fear that gripped them.
The high-frequency pulses soon hit the island; the ground began to tremble in harmony. A voice, language incomprehensible, rang out. Boulders cracked open, and massive tentacles, each lined with liquid-like eyeballs, extended from beneath the earth.
The voice came from the mouths of these tentacles.
Suddenly, what seemed to be an earthquake struck the island. The ground convulsed, and the entire island flipped.
A monstrous, twisted entity that was three times the size of the island appeared on the coastline. Perched on the tip of one of its massive tentacles was the girl in white.
She was Sparkle, transcender of time and space, and the daughter of Edikth across every known dimension. However, in the Western Seas, she was more commonly known as the All-Seeing Eye.
The tentacle extended, almost reaching the overhead rocks before it slowly curled into the glowing spell circle and merged with it.
As the layers of unintelligible chants echoed through the air once more, the space around began to warp and compress. The moment the collapse ceased, the spell circle flared with a brilliant light and a black-robed woman appeared mid-air.
"005," Sparkle called out, her voice ethereal and dreamlike. She could sense that a majority of that entity's existence had been summoned here.
"I don't go by that name. Also, I never liked the name the Foundation gave me."
"My father calls you 005."
"I don't care how you address me. I only care
why
you called me."
Sparkle paused for a brief moment before she answered, "I want to help him. I want to save him. I can't see his future."
"There's nothing I can do to help him."
"No, you can. The future you have helped him with your wish orbs."
"My true self isn't here. I can't use most of my powers to help you without any compensation in return."
"005, I know what you want. As long as you help, I can offer something you can't refuse."
"What is it?" 005 asked.
"Edikth's flesh, Edikth's potential, and a part of Edkith himself—me. If you manage to save him."
Sparkle continued, "I don't even need you to help him win. Just pull him out and let him live as a normal human being."
"Is it that important? Does it matter?" 005 retorted. She was intrigued by Sparkle's thought process. "As a human, it meant to go through the process of birth, aging, growing sick, and dying in just mere decades. What meaning does that hold for you? What do you need to go this far?"
Sparkle shook her head. "Perhaps I might have understood in the past. Yet now… I don't know either. But…" Sparkle raised one of her tentacles from beneath the waters. The suckers and eyeballs shifted and aligned to form a single sentence: We must save Daddy.
"...I can't betray the past me. Though those intense emotions have faded, my will has remained."
"Interesting," 005 muttered. "This kind of emotion is truly… interesting. I want it." 005 opened her palm, and five Wish Orbs floated above it.
"Fine, you can have it." A tentacle curled forward and offered that particular will.
"You mentioned Edikth's flesh earlier as well. I want that too."
"Alright." As soon as Sparkle agreed, she felt something within her starting to slip away. They no longer belonged to her.
"And last of all, I want everything of yours. Your consciousness. Your essence. All that you are."
A shudder ran through Sparkle. However, she didn't hesitate for even a single moment. Using her last bit of power, she left behind a lingering afterimage before giving a firm nod.
With that nod and a wave of 005's hand, everything that made up Sparkle began to compress and coalesce, eventually forming into a single glowing green sphere.
The physical body of the All-Seeing Eye remained. However, it no longer belonged to Sparkle. 005's dark robe unfurled like a cloak of midnight and wrapped around the form of the All-Seeing Eye.
Lifting the green orb to eye level, 005 said, "Sparkle, perhaps you are the key, or that sliver of hope. Hopefully, hopefully, when Charles sees you again, he remembers you. Only then can our desires be fulfilled."
Snap!
005 vanished. The ritual circle vanished. The tentacles vanished.
The Subterranean Sea returned to its original stillness.
(THE END)
Cosyjuhye's Thoughts
I didn't realize that there was a missing side story, but here it is now!!