BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack

The Twentieth Feather: She is a Sweetheart, Her Name Might Be Meggie

The flying disc was beaten, Dennis smashed it with his bare hands, but it didn't matter.

He failed.

Meggie, who he tried to protect, was killed regardless. With her bleeding body laid on the ground before him, he fell to his knees in shock, unable to process what was right in front of him. Corna regained her senses, finally, and raised her head from the puddle of puke, confused and suffering a headache. She wiped the filth from her face, unsure of what went down, and looked around. She saw Dennis whimpering and crying at the bloody sight before him and quickly understood the situation. She then quickly sprung up and flew toward the UFO disk in order to pick it up and place it near Meggie's corpse. Dennis looked at her with red eyes and snot running down his nose: "What... Do you think you're doing...?"

Corna: "I'm testing something, just watch and pray."

After a few seconds of praying, the disk started to slowly repair itself, startling Dennis: "N-no! NO NO NO NO!"

Corna calmed him down, saying: "Hold your horses, Kid. This isn't what it looks like."

Dennis: "Then what is it, huh?!"

Corna: "Do you remember when I explained what a Hylic Beyonder is?"

Dennis: "...Wait, you don't mean-"

Corna: "We still don't know if it'll work, so stay on your toes."

The UFO, having been restored to its proper shape, slowly rose into the air and with it Meggie's corpse. A grey antenna with a red ball at the tip sprouted out of her head, her hair colour had changed into a sort of reflective, metallic purple, and her clothes changed colour into a mix of magenta and black. She gracefully landed on the ground and stared at the both of them, with purple eyes which had 'X' shaped irises. Dennis asked: "Meggie... Are you... Is that you?"

The girl before them pointed at herself and said: "Meggie... Meggie... Meggie... Is that... my name...? I'm... Iblis... but... Meggie...too? Who... Am I...?"

To say that Corna and Dennis were shocked by this turn of events would be an understatement. The former commented: "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I can't remember my own body's past memories, but this is the first time I've ever seen a Hylic possession in real time..."

Dennis: "...What does this mean for her?"

Corna: "Well, I don't know. The girl herself is pretty much dead, and the disk Beyonder took over her corpse. They fused, in a way."

Dennis: "...So, she's dead for good?"

Corna: "Dead for good, dead for evil. Why do you even care? You said it yourself that you only met her today."

Dennis: "It's not about her entirely! I tried to save someone, but I failed again... And it was a friend I just made, on top of that..."

Corna: "...I'm sorry for saying that. I know how you feel. This is honestly the best thing I could've done for her."

Dennis: "Can't you... Go into her mind and dig out anything that's left of her?"

Corna: "...Oh, shit. I haven't thought of that."

Iblis: "I don't... know who...-"

Corna: "Hey, Iblis Meggie, can you shut up and stand still?"

Iblis: "Who... Are you-"

"I'm the biggest bird." Corna responded before tapping her forehead with her own and entering her mind.

Inside the deepest layer of her consciousness, the memory library, there was an empty black void with no end to be seen. In front of Corna, there was a single, metal ladder that led her up high and into a spaceship. She opened the trapdoor from below and climbed inside, where she was met with an environment identical to how an alien spaceship would look in a cartoon for children. Near the control panel, there was a person-shaped green slime sitting on a rolling chair and eating handfuls of cheddar cheese. He had two, zigzagging antennas that arc backwards and a face akin to a jack-o-lantern. He kicked the ground to spin the chair and broke the silence with a Jamaican accent: "Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show her face! You thought you got rid of me for good, did ya, Murmur?!"