I sat on a little couch in my room thinking about how that discussion had been foolish. I just didn't know what was happening to me… all that stress over such a stupid thing. Maybe Vinyl would just love to march in and save the day — she’s sure crazy enough. If she wanted to do it, I wouldn’t try to stop her… even though I loved her, I was tired of all these discussions, stress and emotions. In the last few days, everything that had happened had been absolutely ridiculous.
I looked at Vinyl in bed, with Wub Wub lying on her feet. How could she treat everything that was happening as ‘cool’ and normal? I don’t even know anymore. I sighed and got up. We had to go.
I shook Vinyl, but she just murmured something that I didn’t understand. After some time, she got up with an angry look. “Are you serious?! I was having the most beautiful of all dreams about a succubus. I was almost getting there… she was actually… but then I think that’s why she was calling my name,” Vinyl said while stretching. She turned back towards me. “Why the long face? You were supposed to curse at me, or give me a punch, or just give me a little smile, but you’re speechless. What’s happened?” Vinyl asked, moving to my side and stoking my leg.
“Long face? Well… nothing. Just thinking.” I rose and she gave me a sleepy look. “Don’t even thinking about going back to bed! We have to go, Sleeping Beauty!”
Vinyl rose with a long sigh. “Why I am here exactly?” she asked.
“I think it’s because you wanted to?” I said with a little laugh. I’d been asking myself the same question.
After doing our morning routine and packing our bags, we went downstairs, only to see my father buying a liqueur — at this time in the morning! — and adding in some pepper, which he’d gotten from who knows where. He turned to us with a smile. “Vinyl!” He got up, walked towards her and simply hugged her.
Vinyl widened her eyes. “Oh my gosh, have I done something wrong? Why you are talking to me like this and… hugging me? Please don’t kill me or send me to hell! I’m too young to die!” Vinyl begged, ignoring the fact that Wind Cracker was there — reading a book, but still able to overhear us.
“Vinyl!” I pointed at Wind, who kept her eyes on her book.
“Oh yeah, but she’d never imagine that I meant it literally.” She shrugged and Dante let her go. “So, old man, explain now what the hell’s happening? Have you gone crazy? Because I know you don’t like me… let's be honest here.”
Dante pretended to be surprised and offended when Vinyl said that. “Moi?! How could I hate you, Miss Scratch? How could I hate you when you’re going to help me? Unless someone wants go in your place,” Dante said putting an arm around Vinyl’s neck and pointing at me. I muttered a curse. “I will explain everything on our way to Amaka’s place. But if—”
“If you insist, then I am going to do it. Because I can’t let Vinyl. And I will not sit through another lecture from you about that,” I said with determination. The room went quiet, with even the sound of turning pages stopping. “Now we have to go,” I said, gathering up Wub Wub in my arms and turning to the door. “Let’s go.” I looked back at them.
Vinyl stared at my father with a smirk. “I have no frickin idea what you two are talking about, but… you know she makes a better leader than you do, right?”
“Shut up, DJ!”
“Now that’s the old man I know and love!” she exclaimed, receiving a sigh from my father.
Before we left, we thanked Wind for all her hospitality. The look in her eyes seeing Vinyl leaving was just… tragic. Well, too bad for her — I didn’t really like her. Not that I was jealous or anything — I just didn’t get on well with her, that’s all.
Our journey to Sand Mountains began quietly. From one hour to another, all the snow and cold wind left us to be replaced with hot sun and still air, and dry soil. Just a few scattered flowers that somehow managed to cling onto life in this parched environment. So that was the reason why this place was called the Desert of Roses. The most surprising thing was how the weather could change as quickly as it had, but the cold was certainly better than this. This wasn’t just a weird place, but a scary one. Why did the creatures here have to look so odd? I swear I saw a jackalope.
“So…” Vinyl began, “Why are you two giving each other the silent treatment? This is really boring. I don’t wanna die without someone talking. This will be like the most boring thing ever, if it happens. I think maybe the worst way to die is in a desert, going to see an enchantress, to get a sword to kill a big bad wolf called Fenrir, and no one says a damned thing!” Vinyl exclaimed staring at me and Dante disapprovingly.
We both sighed.
“He wants you to kill Fenrir,” I admitted, “but I don’t—”
“What?! Why not?! That would be awesome!” she exclaimed and my father looked at me with a smirk. “I could put it on my business cards: Vinyl Scratch, DJ extraordinaire, slayer of wolves, Savior of the… you know… the supernatural place… I dunno the name, but that would be cool!” Vinyl gave a friendly punch on the shoulder of my father. “You can count on me, old man.” She winked.
“See, my dear Octavia? What we have here is one determined Vinyl, and she will do it, no matter what you say!” he said with excitement. “Finally, she’s going to do something useful. Don’t you want to see her doing that? It would be a whole new thing for her!”
“Vinyl…” I murmured after a sigh. “Okay, we can do what you want. Who am I to try stop Vinyl Scratch?” I asked and she puffed out her chest proudly. “But if we get back alive, I think I’ll have to buy a dog house. And it isn’t for Wub Wub.” I gazed at Vinyl’s eyes behind her purple shades.
Vinyl shook her hands like she was in fear. “Look how scared I am, Buttavia!” Vinyl joked. “Everything’s gonna be just fine. And fine means good. So you can already stop being so overprotective about me, it isn’t like if I see a snake I’ll try to catch her. I’m not Neon after all,” Vinyl laughed a little more as we finally arrived at Sand Mountains.
“Wait a second… this isn’t a mountain.”
“It used to be, but then it got transformed into a sea and then into a giant forest,” my father explained. “Amaka must be in the middle of it, we will be there very soon.” Vinyl looked at me with a confused look, and I looked at my father with a very similar expression.
“A sea? That’s— Who could be powerful enough to do this?” I asked.
“Amaka herself… when she was younger and more powerful of course. When it was a mountain her pack would come to visit and stay for some time in the land, but when she got banned, she decided to create a sea here with a little island for herself. However she couldn’t maintain it for too many centuries, just years or… well, when Amaka was banned, another powerful magician cursed her and she’s just long-lived, so that’s why her power is draining away every single day she gets older.” He stopped, looking around and admiring the beautiful forest full of flowers in every tree. “Just to keep her life forces, to stop the spell from draining her, she had to unmake the sea, but she couldn’t build the mountains once again. Then she just left it like this.”
“Is your power going to… run out some day?” I asked and he nodded.
“I’m not immortal — as I said — I’m long-lived, so yes, my power will start getting weaker every single day until the day it runs out and I die. The same will happen to your mother, and to you.” Dante pointed at me. I’d never really thought about that day, but I was long-lived and Vinyl was not. What would happen to her?
“So…” I looked to Vinyl. “You mean I am going to live for years and even centuries, but Vinyl will not?” Dante looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. It’s natural. Everything in this life comes and goes. We can’t do anything about it. It’s just the rules, and neither Miss Death nor Faust can change that. Gaia made the world just like that and that’s the way it will be until the end of days,” he said simply, but it was true. I gave a look at Vinyl.
“We have an entire life in front of us. Why worry ‘bout that now, Tavi?” Vinyl smirked at my father. “Well at least we two have an entire life to live. Meanwhile, old man…” She shook her head and tutted. “He’s gonna—”
“Dante!” Vinyl was interrupted by the shout of a happy feminine voice, surprising us all. It was a old woman with white hair and a kind smile on her face. This was probably Amaka. “I got your letter! My helper has arrived and I’m here in the forest just to gather the last thing we need to perform the mortalization spell… rat paws! They’re disgusting… eck.” Amaka said as she revealed the little paws on her hand. She looked at us with curiosity. “Oh! This must be your daughter — she’s really beautiful.” She walked towards me and cupped my cheek with one hand.
I smiled nervously before pushing her hand away. “You must be Amaka. Nice to meet you. This is—”
“Oh, your famous DJ girlfriend! Your father told me everything about you and her and… this li’l cute doggie here.” Amaka stroked Wub Wub’s head with one hand. He barked with happiness. “Don’t worry, I have the sword already and this here.” She pointed at the little rat paws “These disgusting things are the last thing we need for the spell. My helper is over there trying to fix what she broke. She can be really… muddled if I say so.” She giggled. “C’mon! Your little dog can play with my manticore cub, Scar! Just follow me.” As soon as Amaka said that she transformed herself into a Lycan and ran down a forest path.
“Letter?” I asked my father.
“I wanted to get organized. Her new helper found the sword in The Abyss, so we don’t need to worry fighting a giant dragon. The dragon is actually there to protect his award,” Dante giggled as if something was funny. “It’s funny because his award was for eating a lot of muffins and cakes. So it’s a giant golden muffin award! Imagine that! Why would a dragon eat muffins?!” He laughed some more.
We raced after Amaka to her house, a little old shack made of wood. She transformed again. “Here we are!” She opened the door. It was small on the outside, but cavernous inside. Bottles of potions were everywhere and the manticore cub, Scar, was sleeping on a big couch. The place had books scattered liberally — on tables, chairs, shelves, and the floor. They were probably a lot of sorcery books. “Derpy, did you clean up the mess you made?” she called as she walked in.
Vinyl and I stared with widened eyes at each other. “Derpy?!”
“Wait a– heck, I was expecting another person not… Derpy Hooves. She’s our friend. She doesn’t look like a exorcist… c’mon just look at her… she is simply adorable!” Vinyl exclaimed pointing at the blonde woman with a shy smile on her face. “Well… what a twist!” Vinyl exclaimed with a smirk. “But for why do we need an exorcist if—”
“It’s always handy to have an exorcist when you’re trying to extinguish the immortality of a supernatural creature. Not just one, but two,” Amaka said as she threw the rat paws into a big kettle and the liquid inside of it reddened. “Ta da! There it is!” She looked towards Derpy who said something in another language as if she were casting some kind of spell on the sword. “Did you make it?”
“Wait… yeppers! Here it is!” Before she could pass the sword to her, Derpy let it fall on the ground. “Oops, sorry.” She retrieved it and Amaka finally accepted it with an excited smile.
“I still can’t believe that it’s Derpy,” Vinyl murmured. “Really did you—”
“Shhh! I need total attention. I can’t put too much of it into this sword or whoever touches it will die too!” Amaka exclaimed looking towards Vinyl angrily. She took out a little bottle and scooped up some of the liquid, carefully putting one single drop of it on the sword. “Finally, it’s done! After many hours of work, it is done!” She smiled and looked at Derpy then hugged her.
“Oh wait….” Derpy murmured, “so you are a demon?”
I facepalmed. “It’s a long story. I can tell you later, but only if you tell us how could you be an… exorcist that also helps a magician in middle of a magic forest.” I said and she smiled to us.
“Now I have to go.” Derpy starting walking, but on her way she crashed into a little table and dropped a bottle of potion. She looked at Amaka with a nervous smile. “Ooops… I just don’t know what went wrong this time… sorry, hehe.” Derpy walked out.
I looked at Vinyl and she still looked shocked. “I just– I don’t even know what the hell is happening anymore. Who’s next? Rainbow? Rarity? Soon somebody will be telling me Fluttershy is half-bat!”
“You never know,” my father said with a grin.
“Now as you’re all here and you are going to do a favour to the whole world tomorrow, how about a dinner tonight? You can help me out with it! We have rats and fish today!” Amaka exclaimed.
“Eck, hell no!”
“Vinyl! I—”
Amaka laughed. “I’m just kidding. This might be your last dinner, so it has to be something good! I may be old and live in a forest, and I also can be a little bit crazy sometimes, but I still make good food. We’ll have hamburgers today.” Amaka licked her lips, “Meanwhile make yourselves feel at home. I have magic to help me with the cooking.” She giggled and went out to what was probably her kitchen.
“Well… this escalated quickly. Tomorrow we will do it?”
“Yes. Tomorrow night everything will be fine. Everything will be back to normal and this stupid adventure and war in the supernatural world can be over forever,” Dante murmured, sitting back in a couch, with a determined look on his face. “Tomorrow we will end this thing.”