Chapter 112: Ruined
Azure took to the air, diving toward the scene as his legs morphed into a tail—blue and glimmering under the sun. He flew through the air and dove toward the water, catching little Maren in his warm embrace.
A large splash erupted as the two of them plunged into the water. Soon, Azure brought half of his body out, holding Maren close to himself while he stared down at the crying little mermaid.
She was still crying—crying out loud in fear of what she had witnessed. Azure blinked, staring at her. His mind had gone numb. He knew he needed to calm her down, but he wasn’t used to handling crying babies.
But he had to try anyway.
"There, there... Don’t cry... It’s okay now. The evil bird is gone. No one will hurt you again." He said, gently patting the crying mermaid on the head. "Papa’s here now... It’s okay... Don’t cry."
Soon, little Maren stopped crying and leaned against her father’s chest, sobbing quietly. She didn’t say anything or cry out loud but leaned there.
Azure stared at her, feeling at ease. He felt proud of himself at that moment because he had succeeded in calming her down. He never thought he’d be able to do it, but seeing her daughter calm down under his embrace had brought him peace and happiness within.
And so he gently patted her on her hair while he said to her, "Come on... Let papa clean you up so you’ll be sparkling clean. Okay?"
---
Sunnie wanted to prepare a very special meal for everyone that day. She was feeling good, so she went out with Little Black and Zuna to pick some herbs and ingredients for the meal. The meal would require getting a lot of natural ingredients and herbs from the woods.
Little Black knew the right places to get them—mainly the places they had been going to when they needed herbs and ingredients—so he led the way as they set off.
They arrived at the first spot, intending to grab some herbs that would aid the meal. But upon arriving at the destination, they were shocked and confused by what they saw.
All the herbs there were dead. They lay on the ground as though they had been stomped on by an elephant or something. They looked shabby and withered on the ground, and Sunnie couldn’t help but bend down and run her fingers through them.
"What’s all this...?" Sunnie asked as she observed all the herbs. Every single one of them was dead and withering. None was safe. It looked like an intentional attack to destroy them all.
"They’re all dead," Zuna stated the obvious as she stared at them.
Little Black leaned closer. "But how’s that even possible? I mean... they were alright a while back. Why are they all suddenly dead?"
Sunnie sighed as she stared at them. She had a strange feeling that someone had actually done this because it looked like it. But she didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
"The atmosphere on this land is unstable," she said. "Maybe they died from that." She wanted to believe that as she got up to her feet. "We can do without these herbs, I think... so let’s go check the others. I’m sure we’ll find something to compensate."
Little Black hesitated. "I still don’t think it’s normal, though." But there was nothing he could do.
The three of them set off to the next location to look for other ingredients and vegetables they would use for the meal. But as they arrived there, it was the same thing.
All the ingredients there were dead, laying on the ground and looking like they had been stomped to death by an elephant or something.
Sunnie made her observations again and couldn’t help but notice the same pattern as before. Someone had clearly killed all these ingredients.
"What’s all this again? How’s this happening?" Little Black was confused. "I think someone did this on purpose. Someone ruined all the ingredients." He was infuriated.
Sunnie suggested they check the other places, and they proceeded to the next stop. It was the same thing.
They casually began strolling around the place while noticing that someone had completely ruined all the usable herbs, vegetables, and ingredients around. Everything they came across was stomped and crushed to death, withering away. All the spots they knew for getting these ingredients and foodstuffs were destroyed.
It was clear at this point that someone was behind this.
"Which jerk did all this?" Little Black demanded. "How’s it even possible?"
"What are we going to do now?" Zuna asked. "If we don’t have any place to get such vegetables and ingredients, how are we going to survive?"
But Sunnie was calm. She thought it through for a moment and then decided they should head home. They would have to let everyone know about this so they could think of what to do.
"But who could have been behind it?" Little Black couldn’t help but ask as they headed back. But none of them had the answer to that question.
---
As soon as the three of them arrived home empty-handed, Luka looked up to see them holding nothing.
"What’s wrong? What happened? Why isn’t anyone carrying anything?" He inquired as everyone turned and stared at them carefully.
"Were you all robbed on the road or something?" Karl inquired.
"Maybe they didn’t find anything," Eris suggested.
But Little Black announced, "It’s not that at all. We couldn’t find anything because everything was crushed by some strange people."
Luka raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Little Black explained the situation to them and added, "So right now, we don’t have anywhere to collect ingredients and vegetables from."
The women gasped as one of them said, "This is bad. The land is already terrible for gathering such things, and now the few places we know have been crushed? Isn’t this a ticket to our doom?" She panicked.