POV: Isla
As the world darkens and turns to the macabre, I have retreated to the forests that I once investigated with such vigor. My knowledge and understanding of them has served me well in these times, as have my enchanting practices. I've made a makeshift charm of forest twine and put it on the baby. With the proper enchantment, I can muffle her cries when she grows hungry or tired.
Although so far there's been no one to hear her. So few people cared about nature and the forest...
Equilibrium is a hungry and demanding child, though it occurs to me that I have no basis for comparison. Never before have I been this close to a child so young. Are they all like this?
Before Wanderer retreated into her despair at what was to be done with the child, she granted me certain powers that she told me would unfold as I needed them. "Their use will become more apparent as time goes on and on," she explained sadly, oozing her noxious tears and blinking her many eyes out of turn. "You will have what you need to have to raise the child well. She is of utmost importance...she must be carefully cultivated."
I'm not entirely sure what she meant by that. But Wanderer granted me the power to feed her and so I answer her cries now by lifting up my shirt. I rest peacefully on the moss under the tree with the child laid across my lap, and she latches eagerly, her cries quieting. I rest my lips atop her head and think of the power flowing in the milk that flows from me to her. Wanderer gave it to me; I've seen it run out when the baby falls asleep feeding, drooling down my arm. The milk is tinged purple. It carries some of Wanderer's power; I have it, and so will the child.
Wanderer fell into a deep slumber, fading to a blur of purple mist as her many eyes drifted shut, and I was unable to wake her. I think she was in despair at the decision she'd had to make to save her world; I look down at the noisy, fussy, grabby child I've come to love so much and wonder if I can really carry out the plan to restore harmony to the world. Even if I did, would Observer wake from her despair to see it? Such a dark and saddening thing. If I were still a Magical Girl, I wouldn't feel this bond of love. It's inconvenient, but I find I wouldn't give up. The baby fits so sweetly against me, and takes my finger in her little hand.
I think I know what Wanderer was trying to do, when she transferred her power to me. I can feel it flowing deeply in me now, though I have no idea how to use any such power. It will become apparent as time goes on and on...
She must not have been thinking very clearly in her despair, for I'm sure this has never been attempted before and I've too much fear to face it. She must wake up. She must wake up. She has to be there, guiding me and knowing what to do. I can't become a Lore Creator in her place. I don't have the stamina, the forbearance to know all that she knows and do all she does...and who knows if this transfer is even possible? What will happen to me if it doesn't work? Will she fade away to nothing?
I can feel myself becoming stronger everyday, even as I try to suppress it. I tend to my garden and care for the baby and practice my potions and charms. Equilibrium and I, we are peaceful creatures of the forest and that's all I need to be,
But if they bring my forest to the ground, they with their smog-belching machines and grinding woodchippers, well, I can try to call upon it and make my last stand, and become the Lore Creator that I know I would be. Between the lengths I've gone to in order to preserve the child's life and my own desperation to save the world's forests, I know exactly what this awakening power is trying to make me become.
I will be Protector.
