The Ancients appear to have called sunflowers something like los ojos de la muerte, meaning the eyes of death. 

They believed that if a sunflower interrupted it’s cycle of following the sun, it was a sign of bad luck. An omen of death. For Madre de Girasoles, the Ancients’ goddess of death, was watching for someone who’s soul would need guidance soon. 

All of it is clearly a myth, of course. 

Except one time, Pix did find a sunflower that wasn’t facing the sun when it should have been. He could have sworn it was only around 8 weeks old. Or was that the one a few meters away from it?

He didn’t pay it much mind. He went back to building a model of the Ancient City, and when he got up for a lunch break, the sunflower was facing him. And he watched it slowly turn away before his eyes. 

Pix decided that maybe he had been alone for too long. He tucked the model safely away in the catacombs and went to hang out with Gem for a while. 

(these are only gonna be sketches unless I decide otherwise)

It was gonna be deal with destiny but I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Instead, you get Scott trying out his new frost walker boots and singing let it go because he's Elsa but better lol.

Sausage was thrilled at the arrival of new people! Jevin and Keralis, as strange as they were ("What's a YouTube?") were excellent additions to Sanctuary, and the others that came out of the rift were equally as fascinating!

“Shelby?” Pix asked one day, while giving Shelby some froglights in exchange for regen potions. 

“Yea?” She asked, suddenly worried. Was there something wrong? Did she realize she wasn’t really a student anymore? Did he know she substituted an ingredient in the potions? They worked fine! She made sure of it! So what if it doesn’t match the recipe perfectly?

“Is that an ent?” He asked, pointing to the spirit tending to the farm. 

Shelby blinked. Right. “No that’s a, a um, that’s a sprite. I needed some help around here. Extra hands.”

Pix’s eyes went wide and Shelby braced herself to be reprimanded for ancient magic irresponsibly. “Like a gnome sprite?” 

“Yep.”

“Shelby that’s amazing! Gnomes haven’t- How did you do this?”

“It’s not a hard spell. You just need a vessel and a spirit will choose to inhabit it.”

“I have a feeling it’s not that simple.”

Shelby shrugged. “It is to me.” I just can’t do anything else right.

“Mind if I study the sprite? Gnome magic is so rare and I don’t think anyone has ever managed to successfully get one in ages.”

“That’s up to the sprite.”

The sprite had apparently heard them and they shook their head fiercely.

“Ah, sorry.” Shelby said. 

The sun was setting and Owen had an exhausting day as a llama bartender.

Who makes a llama a bartender? Yes it was Scott Major but seriously, why.

Owen hoped his exceptional skills (by llama bartender standards) would at least not be forgotten once he died. Because no amount exotic leaves could make up for this ridiculousness.

Once the bar closed at sunset, Owen hopped over the counter and flipped the sign. Then he exited the tavern only be greeted by a certain purple haired guard.

Xornoth.

They sat sulking on the ground, mumbling and growling to themself. And Owen would have ignored the certified strangest resident in Chromia if he hadn’t heard them say “Scott.”

Owen paused and pretended to not be listening. Completely oblivious llama here.

He may hate Scott for making him the bartender, but Scott was an awesome person to have taking care of you (if you were a llama). He gave the greatest pets, made amazing food, he actually understood them somehow, and the list of reasons why Scott is the best llama owner is too long to list here. 

Point is, Owen needed to know if anyone threatened Scott’s safety. 

And then Xornoth looked at him and Owen almost spat at them in fear. Almost.

“Oh hey…” They stared at his named tag. “Owen.” They resumed sulking, this time staring at the sunset. 

“Does he know…?” They said, moving a hand to their chest. Then they stared up at Owen. “Owen, never touch random artifacts in your ruler’s basement.”

Xornoth was always a bit but feral but this was… Different. Did Owen have to drag them off to a psychiatrist?

“He had it, Owen. Does he know? Or did for some reason that random deer statue decide to inflict only me with these memories?” Another growl, and this time Xornoth… Almost looked like they were about to cry,. Oh no, that’s sad. But also oh yes! Sad person means pets!

Owen curled around Xornoth, and they pet his neck. “Thanks, Owen.”

“Grr!!! I’m gonna get you!” One kid said, growling. “I summon fire and everything is burning around you.”

“You can’t do that! I have- I have a lot of sand.” The kid dug up some dirt and tossed it at the other, who shrieked.

“Hey! No throwing things!” Another shouted. The babysitter of the group sat atop the crumbling remains of a roof, which sat in the shadow of the large beanstalk. 

Pyre, Emera, and Brixin were all unwilling members of a group planning to resurrect a fallen empire. An empire the remains of which they played around while their family gathered resources.

Pyre was perfectly content remaining a Pixandrian, but she had to come because family or something. She was too young to even do anything. And too old and large to play with the younger two.

So she stared solemnly at the ruins, trying to discern what was so amazing about the past. A past where demons terrorized the lands and fed on blood. Ah yes, the good old days, Pyre thought sarcastically.

Something shined in the sun and Pyre hopped off the roof, cringing at the roughness of the ground as she approached what she thought was a coin. Instead, what got her attention turned out to be a golden feather. 

Meanwhile, the kids reenacted the tale of Queen Pearl versus Xornoth, and Brixin fell over, tripping on a rock. Brixin was about to cry at the pain of painfully hitting the ground, but froze in a mix of fear in awe. 

Emera looked at him in concern. “Brixin?” 

Brixin responded by pointing toward the sky. Emera looked up to see the silhouette of a giant bird in the sky. “Pyre! Look look look!” She shouted, pointing toward it.

Pyre turned toward them, confused. “What?” She turned toward what Emera was looking at and dropped the golden feather. 

She ran toward the kids and shushed them, dragging them beneath the roof. The kids did not remain silent, instead repeatedly saying “the golden goose! It’s the golden goose!”

The bird landed somewhere deeper in the ruins. Once it was not flying overhead in the perfect position to snatch them up and eat them, Pyre turned the kids and asked, “golden…Goose?”

“Yea!” Brixin responded, “the goose Queen Pearl hatched just before The Rapture… Em! Wait up!” Brixin ran past Pyre and toward the ruins, where Emera was way ahead of them. “No! Guys wait! Ugh…”

It took only a few seconds of running for Pyre to have to pause and catch her breath. Those damn kids were going to get themselves killed. 

Walking the rest of the way, Pyre began to get a little uneasy. She couldn’t see past the random patches of overgrown crops and sunflowers. Sunflowers that seemed to alway be facing toward her.

She looked up, saw the moon rising, and slammed her hand against another wall. It crumbled.

“Well now that’s a little rude.”

Pyre jumped and saw a lady in a green dress standing next to her. “I can tell you don’t really want to be here but the least you can do is show this place a little respect.”

“Where did you come from?”

“I look after this place.” The mysterious woman giggled. “Follow me, I’ll lead you to the kids.”

Pyre figured she was less likely to die to a mysterious lady than to a horde of monsters, and decided to follow her.

Pyre was so distracted by the cold and the groaning and hissing of monsters that she almost missed the faint glow of the lady ahead of her, and her blood ran cold. Was she some kind of poltergeist? An angry spirit perhaps? Maybe getting mauled by zombies was preferable over this, actually.

The woman paused at a wall of wheat and held her hand to it. With a warm smile she whispered “just passed here. Feel free to stay the night.”

Pyre resigned herself to her fate and stepped past the wheat. But Emera and Brixin were there petting the massive goose like it was a cat. They weren’t faintly see through or glowing. Pyre smiled with a relieved sigh.

“Took you long enough.” Emera teased. 

“Shut. You guys are gonna be in so much trouble tomorrow.” Pyre said.