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Hey everyone,
First, I want to apologize for disappearing without any updates for the past few months.
Back in the middle of April, I was involved in a car accident. Because of everything surrounding the accident and the time I needed afterward, I ended up stepping away from writing and Patreon for much longer than I originally expected. Before I knew it, about four months had passed.
The most important thing I want everyone to know is that I'm okay.
I also want to thank everyone who stayed subscribed and supported me while I was gone. I know I disappeared without much explanation, and I genuinely appreciate those of you who stuck around despite the silence.
The good news is that I'm finally getting back into things.
I've started working on my stories again, and new chapters will be coming soon. I have a lot that I want to get back to, and I'm looking forward to continuing the stories we left unfinished and sharing some of the things I've been planning.
I don't want to make a bunch of promises about an exact upload schedule just yet. I'd rather get myself back into a steady rhythm first and then let you all know what the schedule will look like once I know I can maintain it.
But I am back, I'm doing well, and the stories are coming.
Thank you for your patience, your support, and for still being here.
It's good to be back.
Nii07
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Skuld lay in the wet sand, her hair plastered against her face, salt burning her lips. The waves that once roared with fury now trembled faintly—as if the ocean itself were holding its breath. Above her, clouds drifted like torn veils across a green-gold dawn. The air shimmered faintly with petals of light that should not have existed in any mortal sky.
The flower on her chest began to glow again.
She felt it before she saw it—the rhythmic pull, like a second heartbeat not her own. Every pulse carried warmth and sorrow, a whisper that called her name without sound. She sat up slowly, watching as faint vines of light unfurled from the flower's stem, coiling around her wrist with gentle insistence.
Then, with one steady tug, the vines pulled.
Her breath caught as the world bent inward—sky folding over sea, sea folding over horizon—and everything vanished in a burst of blinding emerald light.
When Skuld opened her eyes, she was no longer on the shore.
She stood at the edge of a vast garden suspended in air, floating islands linked by shimmering bridges of water. Great trees rose from rivers that curved upward into the heavens. Stars bloomed on their branches instead of leaves, glowing like fruit, while luminescent streams flowed through the sky as if gravity had never existed here.
And yet—half of it was dying.
The other side of the garden was fractured and grey, vines withered and earth cracked, like a half-forgotten dream fading into nothing. The light that once nourished it flickered weakly, smothered beneath a dull shadow that clung to every stone.
Then a voice filled the air.
"Child of another world… you walk with my pain."
It wasn't a sound so much as a presence. It filled her lungs, vibrated in her bones, resonated with the flower's pulse. Skuld turned slowly, and from the horizon a figure began to take form—a woman of immense stature woven from vines and blossoms, her face half-hidden beneath a crown of leaves.
"Te Fiti…" Skuld whispered.
The goddess's eyes glowed with soft, verdant fire. "You carry what is mine. You carry what was stolen. Why?"
Skuld took a step forward, feeling the impossible weight of that gaze pressing down on her shoulders. The air here wasn't empty—it was aware. Every petal, every droplet of water, watched her as if the entire world had turned its attention upon her heart.
She lowered her head. "Because I needed to understand."
"Understand?" The goddess's voice rippled through the garden. "Do mortals always take to understand? Must life be carved apart before it is honored?"
Skuld flinched—not from the accusation, but because it was true. "No. But when the Heartless devour entire worlds, when children vanish into the dark, someone has to find a way to stop it. I didn't come to steal your Heart, Te Fiti. I came to learn how it sustains life… how to preserve it."
Silence. Then a slow rustling—like wind moving through old memories.
Te Fiti raised one hand, and the sky shifted.
Images appeared between them, projected from the air itself: kingdoms of fire, cities of light, and people clutching shards of divine power like weapons. Each scene ended the same—ruin, corruption, despair. A thousand ages of mortals taking what was sacred and burning the world with their ambition.
"Creation is not yours to command," Te Fiti said, her tone quiet now, but piercing. "Do you think yourself above those who came before?"
Skuld's voice trembled, but she did not look away. "No. But I can't stand by and watch everyone else vanish. If the Heart can bring life… then maybe it can also save it. If I can use it to help build something that protects others, then even the pain I feel now will be worth it."
The goddess regarded her in silence for what felt like centuries. Around them, the garden flickered—half-alive, half-decaying. Te Fiti's form wavered between radiance and fire.
Finally, she spoke.
"Then you would carry creation's sorrow as well as its gift?"
"I would," Skuld said.
"Even if it breaks you?"
Skuld pressed her hand to the glowing flower in her chest, her gaze steady despite the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Even then."
Te Fiti tilted her head, and something ancient passed through her expression—approval, grief, perhaps a mixture of both. Her voice softened into something almost human.
"Then walk with me."
The garden shifted again.
The two now stood before a lake so still it reflected the stars without distortion. Beneath its surface, Skuld saw glimpses of other worlds—Atlantica, Spiritwoods, even the broken ruins of Nightfall. Each was threaded by the same current of light connecting them like veins.
"This is what the Heart sees," Te Fiti said. "All worlds bound by memory and emotion of the time before. When one fades, the others grieve. When one burns, the others remember."
She extended her hand toward Skuld, palm up. The air between them shimmered. "You wish to understand this power? Then feel it."
Skuld hesitated, then reached out. Her fingers brushed the goddess's palm.
Instantly, a torrent of sensation flooded her—life bursting from soil, waves birthing islands, fire rising from molten veins beneath the sea. She felt creation itself—its joy, its exhaustion, its infinite cycle of death and rebirth. It was too much. She staggered, gasping as the flood of energy seared through her nerves.
Te Fiti caught her gently, her voice echoing close to her ear. "Now you see. Creation is love—and love is the will to endure suffering. That is the burden you ask for."
Skuld's knees buckled, but she managed a breathless nod. "I'll bear it."
For the first time, Te Fiti smiled. "Then you are ready."
The world dissolved in a flare of green and gold light. Skuld blinked—and found herself back on the shore. The sea was still, glasslike, reflecting the first rays of sunrise. Before her stood Te Fiti, fully manifested now—half living plant, half stone statue, her body cracking along luminous seams.
The goddess looked smaller than before, almost weary, but no less majestic.
"You have heard my truth," she said. "Now hear my promise."
She reached forward, touching the flower on Skuld's chest. It flared to life, its light linking them once more. The waves themselves seemed to hold their breath. Then, with slow deliberation, Te Fiti placed her other hand over her heart.
The sound it made when she withdrew it was not flesh or stone—it was music. A low, resonant chord that filled the world.
Green light burst from her chest, forming a sphere that pulsed like a star. The scent of flowers flooded the air; petals rained down from nowhere. The very earth seemed to hum with the melody of creation. But the glow began to fade as cracks spread across the goddess's body.
She turned the Heart over in her palm, studying its light.
"Guard it well, child of light," she said softly. "Creation's light is not meant to be wielded as a blade or a shield. It is the memory of life itself… and memory must be protected, not possessed."
Skuld took the Heart reverently. It was warm and impossibly heavy, like holding the pulse of the world. The flower on her chest glowed in sync with it, the two resonating in a harmony that made her knees tremble.
As Te Fiti's body turned to jade, vines began to coil around her, blooming and petrifying in unison until she stood frozen in eternal repose. Her face was calm, serene, as though she had chosen this end willingly.
The ocean wind whispered through her petrified leaves, carrying her last words:
"Return to me when the sky no longer trembles with fear."
Skuld fell to her knees, clutching the Heart to her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks, mingling with the ocean spray. The warmth in her hands flickered softly—alive, trusting her to protect it.
Above her, dawn broke fully, casting bands of gold over the still sea. For a moment, she thought she could see Te Fiti's reflection in the light—smiling faintly, proud.
She rose slowly, exhausted but resolute. The Heart pulsed once, as if to remind her that the goddess was still watching.
"I'll find them," she whispered, voice hoarse but certain. "Both of them."
The wind shifted, carrying her vow across the horizon. The waves answered with a single, gentle surge—as if the world itself had heard.
Skuld turned toward the open ocean, the Heart glowing faintly in her grasp. The statue of Te Fiti stood silent behind her, bathed in sunlight, vines swaying in the breeze like hands waving farewell.
And for the first time since her arrival in this world, the sea was utterly still—waiting, listening, believing.