In the Askr kingdom, there is a forest which is said to house manifestation of different Heroes who have fallen into darkness one way or another, even if temporarily. Not many have wandered into the woods to know about it, but one of the people who did find themselves wandering into it was Fjorm, one of princesses of Nifl. Recently there has been reports of someone appearing around the edge of the woods, with some saying that the person looked like Delthea, a young mage prodigy from Valentia. Concerned about what the figure might be planning, Fjorm decided to go and investigate what is going on. She knows that she should be careful, especially since she heard from people who knew Delthea that she was once brainwashed by an evil mage called Tatarrah.

It had been some time since Fjorm had entered the forest and she hasn't seen anyone there. While this is a good thing when you think about it, it isn't really what she is hoping for. She is starting to think that maybe the reports might be false.

"I really should head back at this point." Fjorm thought to herself. "No, I really should continue the research. Maybe little more of this and then I will go back."

Looking through the trees, she saw some kind of structure. Based on the size and shape, it seems to be ruins of a tower-like structure.

"Hmm, maybe if I got to the top of the tower I might spot something?" Fjorm said to herself.

Approaching the tower, she started to hear noises coming inside it. The tower was in good enough of shape that she cannot really peak into what is inside. To be safe, Fjorm snuck around the tower to the entrance to see if someone really was inside. There she saw a young girl wearing a cape and her hair tied into a ponytail. From the behind, the girl resembled Delthea as she has seen her before. However, surrounding her were purple flames, flames similar to those she has seen before from the Heroes who spawned from this forest. This must have been the figure she had heard about. From what Fjorm could tell, this Delthea was reading something by a bookshelf, muttering to herself. Fjorm really didn't think how she should approach her if she did find her, so all what she can do is to make her presence known.

"Uh, hello?" Fjorm said forwards Delthea.

Delthea, in shock, dropped the book she was reading and turned her attention forwards Fjorm. This showed Fjorm her half-tired expression and red eyes.

"Who... are you?" asked Delthea.

"Oh, my name is Fjorm." Fjorm answered. "Nice to meet you."

"Are you... an ally of Tatarrah?" Delthea asked.

"I? Uhh…" Fjorm tried to answer, not knowing what she should say.

"I see." Delthea said forwards Fjorm's lack of answer. "Then you are... an enemy of Tatarrah."

"Wait, I didn't say anything like-" Fjorm tried to say to defuse the situation.

"All enemies of Tatarrah must die." Delthea said while her eyes practically lit up.

With nothing in hand to attack Fjorm, Delthea quickly turned around an grabbed a random book at the bookshelf. While Delthea was trying to find a proper page to turn to, Fjorm had already prepared to defend herself. After finding a proper page, Delthea created a magical circle around her hand and used it to fire some kind of magic ball at Fjorm.

"Oh no you won't!" Fjorm yelled.

With a swing of her lance, Leiptr, Fjorm created a barrier made out of ice to protect herself. Normally these ice barriers are meant to at the very least block incoming attacks. However, this time the magic ball actually deflected off the ice barrier straight back forwards Delthea. Having no time to react, Delthea took the full brunt of the blast. The blast didn't really seem to do much in terms of damage, but Delthea seemed to have felt the blast regardless. Fjorm ran to Delthea, fearing that she might be hurt.

"Delthea, are you alright?" Fjorm said.

"I... I... don't fell well." Delthea said while holding her stomach.

Suddenly Fjorm noticed something odd about Delthea. Her skin started to get... bluer? The magic spell must have done something to her. Concerned what might happen to her, Fjorm tried to escort Delthea out of the tower. After getting outside, Delthea just collapsed into the ground. As her skin turned more blue every second, more changes started to happen. Mainly that her stomach started to grow and her limbs started to swell.

"What is... happening to me..." Delthea said in anguish.

"Wait right there, I will try to help you!" Fjorm said concerned.

Fjorm turned around and went back inside the tower where Delthea had dropped the magic tome she used. She tried to look through the tome to see if she could make any sense of what kind of spell she even casted in the first place. Unfortunately Fjorm really has no real knowledge of the magic language used in the book, so she has idea what the spell even does.

"Urgh, this is hopeless." Fjorm said in frustration. "I am sorry, but I have no clue what to do-"

As Fjorm turned around to see what is Delthea's current situation, she noticed that in the few minutes she spent trying to understand the book, Delthea had already grown rapidly. Her body had turned spherical, with her limbs almost fully merged into her spherical body. Her hands and feet almost sunken into her body, and her head starting to sink in as well. She was at least twice as tall as Fjorm was. When Fjorm went back outside to investigate closer, she could hear sloshing inside Delthea's body. She was like a giant blueberry at this point.

"Delthea, can you hear me!?" Fjorm yelled at Delthea.

"What is going on... Why am I here... What has happened to me..." Delthea said confused, like she was returning to her senses.

"Listen, I don't know what is going on, but I want to help you." Fjorm said. "I want you to trust me. I am sure I can find a way to return you back to normal."

"I... Fine. You can help me..." Delthea said in the same tone she had talked previously.

Fjorm decided that the best way to help Delthea was to try to roll her back to the castle. While she felt heavy, Fjorm was able to start rolling her along the ground with Delthea herself trying to wiggle around to make her move. Still, the two of them were rather deep in the woods, so how long it would take until they could meet others to help out is bit hard to tell...

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A story-illustration collab with  ToyoRai. Illustration by me, story by Toyo with some grammatical corrections by me.

Idea provided by  ElCid