#princecfnothing

Heart racing, Lan Fan's eyes snapped open and she turned her gaze in all directions with a frantic desperation. Nothing was moving. The remains of her explosion stood still as a painting around the creature's giant head. The creature itself was frozen, it's hand mere inches from her head. She darted out from under it quickly and continued to stare. All the shadows seemed to have become still as statues.

From behind her; Lan Fan heard a voice.

“This world is done for you know.”

She almost made herself dizzy with how fast she spun to face the stranger, qi senses snapping onto the massive signature despite all the muddled darkness still choking the entire world. The woman before her had pale blue skin and black hair. She was clad in a purple dress and here eyes were like burning gold. She moved closer and somehow she was solid and smokey and underwater all at the same time. The woman leaned in towards Lan Fan and the girl felt awkward and intimidated. What was going on?

“W-Who are you. Did you do this?” She finally found her voice. But the woman shook her head, only looking amused.

“Me? No. I don't command them, there's no fun in that. I'm just here to bear witness to the chaos.” Her silky voice sounded like it hid a thousand daggers. She continued. “But this is much better than I was expecting.”

“What do you mean” Now without the constant attack Lan Fan began to feel the weight of her injuries just a bit, her words heavy and difficult. The stranger shook her head.

“Oh no we can't have that. Not when things are getting so interesting.” She said, watching the girl slowly sink to her knees.

“Who are you.” She said once more. “What are you even talking about.”

The woman grinned. “Oh yes of course. I am Eris! Goddess of discord. And I've come to watch these little chaos entities. Or that was what I came for originally. But now; oh! It's too good! A missing Prince, a desperate young lady, sworn to protect him! What will happen? I'm on the edge of my seat and-” She paused. “Oh yes. And. You're on the verge of death, with no hope at all of finding out what you want to know.”

Brown eyes narrowed as she listened to Eris' words. “They're all gone. What do I have left to find out?” She asked.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Something stirred in the background and Eris's self satisfied smile got a little wider.

“You mean...” She didn't want to believe it, but she knew there was a chance. She knew someone like him wouldn't go down so easily. She thought she knew, anyway.

“So here's my proposal.” Eris shifted to a new position, just over the girl's shoulder, leaning against her in a too familiar sort of way. “I've seen what you're capable of. You're quite the warrior and your stealth skills are incredibly useful.” She cooed “So I'll save your life, get that... little missing limb problem solved. And you come work for me. Do whatever I need you to do and in the mean time” She leaned in a little more, her voice low and tempting “You can go to other worlds and look for your lost little prince.”

“Why would I-” Lan Fan started but Eris inturrupted her, gesturing toward the slow increase of movement around them.

“Ah ahh” Eris waggled a finger at the girl. “Time's running out; my little falconette. This world is finished... but you don't have to be.”

Could it be possible? What did 'go to other worlds' even mean? Lan Fan wanted to consider this fully, but Eris was right. The beasts were starting to stir and she didn't want to die waiting. And that was it wasn't it? She didn't want to die. Not here. Not like this. Not if there were even the slightest chance.

She took a deep breath, barely noticing the tears streaking down her face as she sat slumped on the ground, legs splayed out on either side of her trembling, weak body.

“...Okay.” Lan Fan agreed at last. “You save my life and let me search; and I'll devote the rest of that life to serving you.”

“It's a promise then.” Eris said, making an X over her heart with her finger. The mark glowing for a moment and then fading away. “And a goddess is bound to keep her word, no matter what.” She took a look around with a short chuckle and raised her hands, surrounding the two of them in a dark bubble.

“Now let's get out of here while you're still breathing.”

--

Lan Fan woke in a strange bed, in what appeared to be a stone room half eaten by a vast and every shifting desert made of black sand. She began to sit up but searing pain put her right back down and she cast her gaze about, seeing Eris appear in her strange flowing motion once again.

“I granted you a portion of my power.” The woman said, crossing her arms “It healed you up well enough but couldn't regrow what the heartless took from you. So I had to stop over at a neighboring world and get something set up for you there.”

Upon this comment Lan Fan's gaze turned to her side and she lifted what was now a metal, mechanical arm. It felt heavier than anything she was used to but... she could feel it. That alone stunned her out of any words she'd been trying to come up with. Her voice returned to her when her gaze turned to the bedside mirror and what stared back was a pair of once-brown eyes now turned a dull reddish violet.

“Wait... your power?” She finally asked.

“Yes that's right. You needed to be able to do important job related things like opening corridors of darkness and surviving inside such corridors. And of course some aspects of your employment will have you fighting those creatures and others like them. So you need the extra power for that too. Did you know it usually takes years to rehabilitate after that kind of prosthetic is installed?”

Lan Fan attempted to sit up again, with a bit more success “Y-Years? But-”

“Yes for normal people that would be quite the trial. But I need you up and about faster than that so faster healing was an important ability for you to have. Should prevent you from losing any more limbs, for that matter.”

Processing everything that had happened was almost overwhelming, but Eris was right, and Lan Fan could already feel her body adjusting to the weight of the metal. “And our agreement?”

“Yes this is all part of the deal. You wouldn't be able to search for your missing royal if you were laid up for three years either.” Eris waved a hand but it was obvious she wanted to know how this story was going to play out. As if Lan Fan were a character in a mythological epic.

She looked around one more time, wanting to ask about the room and the endless desert. Eris picked up on it almost too quickly. She'd had guests before after all.

“Oh yes welcome to tartarus. My realm of chaos. The black sand is actually a new feature, courtesy of one of my other 'henchmen'.” She added air quotes to the word, as if the woman couldn't think of something better to call them. “He's off doing other things right now though.”

Was this to be her home now? An ever shifting wasteland of sand and decay? Eris seemed to understand her question before she'd even given it a voice.

“You're welcome to say wherever you want.” She said “Just as long as you come back here when I call you. And I will call you.” She produced from... somewhere, a small device Lan Fan had never seen before, laying the object on the bed next to the girl and then rolling her eyes at the clear look of confusion.

“It's called a gummi phone. It's a way for me to keep in contact with you. You can figure out how to use it on your own time.”

And with that she was gone, leaving Lan Fan with more questions than answers. What had she said before? Corridors of darkness? The girl shifted her wait and hung her legs over the side of the bed with a sigh.