Ceres Fauna's Everyday, Just a Little Bit Strange Days
In a secret place where gods and incredible beings from various worlds have gathered to live a relaxed life together, Ceres Fauna, the organizer of the 'Council,' is as busy as ever looking after everyone.
One day, the mischievous Watson Amelia is excited, saying, 'I'll use my time machine to grab a snack from tomorrow!' The god of time, Kronii, hears this and panics, shouting, 'You'll break the world's rules!' Fauna tries to stop it with the power of nature, but Amelia has already pressed the
Ceres Fauna's Everyday, Just a Little Bit Strange Days - Flowers Blooming in Distortion and the Clock Tower's Resolve
Several hours had passed since the lights in the Potager went out.
The Commons at midnight was quiet. Normally, you'd hear the residents' laughter or the sound of explosions from Amelia's workshop, but now there was only the wind rustling the leaves of Elda Magna.
But the silence felt wrong.
The air itself seemed to crackle with tension.
" …Mm."
In the flower garden of the Bloom Circle, Fauna knelt on the ground with her eyes closed. She was resting her body, exhausted from the day's chaos, but she wasn't asleep. Deep inside her, something was stirring restlessly.
(*Elda Magna… is agitated.*)
She placed her hand on the root of the World Tree.
The power of nature extended from her fingertips to the tips of the roots.
Thump, thump, thump.
Elda Magna's pulse, usually so slow, was unnaturally fast today. As if it was frightened of something.
" Oh no."
Fauna stood up. Still in her linen nightclothes, barefoot. Her greenish-gold hair shimmered in the moonlight. The small tree-bud ornament above her left ear flickered anxiously.
She hurried outside Parliament Hall.
And then she saw it.
At the base of Elda Magna, light was swirling.
An eerie vortex, a mix of blue and gold. Its diameter was still only about two meters. But it was growing larger, rapidly.
" A time distortion… there's still one left."
Images began to spill out from within the vortex.
Tall buildings she'd never seen before. Silver vehicles flying through the sky. People staring intently at palm-sized tablets.
Visions of the future.
" The after-effects of Amelia's time machine… they're still lingering."
Fauna pressed both hands against the ground.
Her fingers sank into the earth. The power of nature overflowed from her entire body, and the surrounding flowers lit up all at once. Blue moonlight grass, golden sunflowers, purple stardust blooms.
" Everyone… lend me your strength."
Petals danced up into the wind.
Hundreds, thousands of petals gathered, forming a massive barrier around the distortion. A barrier of flowers. A sweet fragrance spread through the air.
But.
*Crack.*
A fissure ran through the barrier.
" No…"
The distortion was far stronger than she'd anticipated. With every pulse, the barrier was pushed outward from within. Petals scorched, turned black, and fell to the ground.
" Just a little longer… please, hold on."
Fauna cried out. Her body trembled. Using too much of nature's power meant chipping away at her own life force. But she couldn't let go.
That was when it happened.
A large image projected from the distortion.
A young swordsman in white armor, facing off against a giant dragon. Raising his sword, leaping forward with a shout—
The dragon's flames engulfed the boy.
And slowly, he fell.
" Wha—!"
At the entrance to the Ink Shadow, her semi-basement study, stood Calliope.
A tall woman wrapped in a black robe. The poetry anthology in her right hand trembled, clattering. Her face was hidden beneath her hood, but her voice was soaked with tears.
" My oshi… my oshi dying… it can't be true…"
From her feet, a black mist erupted.
The power of death.
" The final episode of that anime wasn't supposed to air until next month!!"
Calliope screamed.
The black mist enveloped the Bloom Circle.
The flowers withered.
Her beloved moonlight grass turned brown before her eyes, shriveling, crumbling to the ground. The gold of the sunflowers dulled, and the stardust blooms shattered into pieces.
" Stop it!!"
Fauna's scream echoed through the nighttime Commons.
" My flowers… please, don't let them wither."
Weeping, she manipulated the roots of the plants with what remained of her nature power. Countless thin roots stretched out from the soil, coiling around Calliope's body. Her ankles, her waist, her arms.
" Calliope! I understand how you feel, but please stop killing the flowers!"
Calliope gasped, coming back to her senses.
The black mist thinned, just a little.
" …I'm sorry. I need to get a hold of myself."
But.
At that moment, *BOOM!!*
The time distortion exploded.
The flower barrier shattered completely, and Fauna was blown away. She landed on her back, the breath knocked out of her. Her vision blurred.
(*Ah… this might be bad…*)
Her consciousness began to fade.
Something fell from the distortion.
A small piece of metal, gleaming silver.
It glinted, reflecting the moonlight, and flew off towards Amelia's workshop.
———
Meanwhile, on the North Hill.
The Orrery Spire.
Inside the tallest clock tower in the Commons, it was pitch black.
Only the giant hourglass emitted an eerie red light.
" This is bad… this is really bad…"
Chronii stood before the hourglass, pressing both hands against the glass. His long silver hair was plastered to his skin with sweat. His golden eyes trembled minutely, like the hands of a second-hand watch.
The sand was bright red.
And countless cracks ran across the glass.
" It's just like 300 years ago."
The scene from that day replayed in his mind.
A massive earthquake. The hourglass, shattered into pieces. The timeline thrown into utter chaos, the residents of the Commons nearly erased.
The one who saved them back then was Fauna.
She spent months nurturing new sand for him.
" Am I going to rely on her again? I am—"
He clenched his back teeth.
His hands trembled. He couldn't chant the spell properly. Every time he stumbled over the words, the red of the sand deepened.
(*I can't cause trouble for anyone anymore.*)
Chronii pulled a small scrap of paper from his pocket.
A forbidden time-reversal spell, used only once, 300 years ago.
If he chanted this, he could rewind the hourglass's time by a few hours. But there was a price. Years of his own lifespan would be shaved away.
" …I'll repay my debt. This time, I will."
He gripped the scrap of paper and began to chant the spell.
The sand slowly began to flow backward.
The cracks started to seal, little by little.
———
At the Ticker House.
" Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"
Amelia stared at the piece of metal that had rolled onto the floor of her workshop.
A silver component, shaped like a gear. A small hole in its center.
And now, it was glowing with a pale blue light.
" Why the hell is this thing glowing!?"
She remembered the metal fragment she'd picked up in the Potager earlier that day. The one that had fallen from the future. She'd left it in her pocket and only just noticed it now.
The light grew steadily stronger.
The time machine on her left wrist began to tremble, resonating in sympathy.
" Whoa! This is the really bad kind of thing!"
Just then, an explosion sounded from outside the window.
From the direction of the Bloom Circle.
" …Fauna!?"
Amelia yanked open her desk drawer.
From inside, she pulled out a glittering silver can. A nutritional drink she'd brought back from the future. Manufactured in 2157. It said, "Drink this and you'll be fine without sleep for 3 days! 100x the energy!"
" I'm taking this with me."
She stuffed the drink into her pocket and bolted out of the workshop.
Her usual irrepressibly cheerful face was gone.
" This is all because of me…"
She bit her lip as she ran.
But the metal fragment in her pocket glowed even brighter.
The time machine started beeping, a warning alarm.
" I don't have time for that right now!"
She didn't stop running.
———
When Amelia arrived at the Bloom Circle, what she saw was Fauna collapsed on the ground.
The flowers around her were withered and dead, black mist still lingering in the air.
" Fauna!!"
Amelia rushed over, practically tumbling to her side.
Fauna opened her eyes faintly.
" …Amelia?"
" I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It's because I used the time machine!"
Amelia pulled the nutritional drink from her pocket and brought it to Fauna's lips.
" Here, drink this! It's a drink from the future!"
Fauna smiled weakly.
" …More future candy?"
" It's not candy! It's a nutritional drink!"
She popped the can open and helped Fauna drink it.
*Gulp.*
Fauna's throat moved.
The next instant, her eyes snapped wide open.
" …Huh? I feel… warm."
" Yes! It worked!"
Amelia laughed loudly, wiping away her tears.
Just then.
A powerful light erupted from the direction of the tower.
" What now!?"
Chronii burst out from within the light.
His usually serious face was now a mask of desperation.
" Fauna!!"
He stood before the distortion.
" This time, it's my turn to repay the debt."
Chronii spread his arms wide.
The temporary time-control power he'd gained from repairing the hourglass. He concentrated it around the distortion.
" Go back. Now is not your time to come."
As he chanted the spell, Fauna simultaneously manipulated the roots of Elda Magna.
Thick roots coiled around the distortion, and the power of time constricted it.
A groaning, creaking sound.
And then—
*Fwoosh.*
The distortion shrank.
It hadn't completely vanished, but it had converged. It was stable now.
" We did it… did we do it!?"
" …Yeah, for the time being."
Chronii dropped to one knee on the spot.
" Thank you, Chronii."
Fauna slowly stood up and smiled at him.
" …I only did what was natural."
Chronii looked away, embarrassed.
Watching the two of them, Amelia gripped the metal fragment in her pocket. It was still glowing ominously.
(*…What the hell is this thing?*)
With a look of newfound resolve, she headed back to her workshop.
———
Immediately after the distortion was sealed.
*BOOM.*
A massive tremor ran through the dimensional rift.
It spread across the entire perimeter of the Commons, eventually reaching the deep sea of Tidepool Cove at the western edge.
No one noticed.
———
The deep sea.
The bottom of pitch-black water, where no light could reach.
There, she was.
Long blue hair. Sharp teeth like a shark's. Ray-like fins on her back.
The Knight of the Sea—Gawr Gura.
For over a hundred years, she had continued her mission here, alone.
But today was different.
From far away, a wave reached her.
" …Hm?"
She lifted her head.
Something was calling.
———
Back at the Bloom Circle, Fauna was walking, supported by Chronii.
" So many flowers withered away."
" …I'll help you till the soil."
"Fufu, you playing in the dirt, Chronii? It doesn't suit you."
" Shut up! I'm trying to be nice here!"
Their laughter echoed softly in the quiet night.
Calliope, clutching the withered flowers, disappeared into the Ink Shadow.
" I'm sorry… I have to get a hold of myself…"
Her murmur reached no one's ears.
A quiet night returned to the Commons.
But the presence of a new visitor, approaching from the bottom of the sea, was still unknown to all.
Fauna stopped and looked up at the moonlight.
" Somehow… I feel like something else is about to happen."
" …I feel it too."
The two of them stared up at the sky in silence for a while.
At the base of Elda Magna, a small light flickered.
A remnant of the distortion that should have vanished was still there.
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