The doors to the general store burst open as you charged in. With a beaming smile on your face, you carry summer's first harvest towards the counter. In your hands is a single basket of blueberries, by no means nature's bounty, but for how cheap the seeds were and how fast they grew, it was economically the best choice for how tight gold was currently. You dropped the basket on the counter and exclaimed a "tadaaa" towards Pierre, who was absent from behind the counter. A little odd, as the doors to the general store just unlocked less than a minute ago. Looking around, the entire store seemed empty. Giving the silver bell on the counter a tap, you called out for Pierre but got no response. You tapped it two more times and heard some commotion through the back door coming from the household beyond. As you waited for someone to come out to serve, you started thinking about all the seeds you could buy with the gold you would get today and how you would arrange them in your field. Clearly, you were thinking too hard about it as a headache started to nag at you. You tried to ignore it, but it seemed to be growing in strength pretty rapidly. You put your head in your hands and gritted your teeth, taking a few steps back. You tried to walk forward to grab hold of the service counter to steady yourself, but you just started to fall forward towards the ground.
When you awoke, your head was still spinning like it was going through one of the worst hangovers you'd ever had. Laying face down on the ground, you braced yourself and raised your head up. The land before you was not Pierre's general store; it was significantly more alien-looking. Almost like a desert of some kind. The ground was light brown and coarse to the touch. Raising yourself into the position of sitting on your knees, you looked around. Rocks were everywhere. They ranged in size from small pebbles to boulders the size of your head to ones bigger than houses. Some were sharp angles, while others were cubic-looking. Every so often, jagged spikes jutted from the ground. Just as you were about to climb one of the rocks for a better vantage point, there was a tremendous crash in the distance. Turning in its direction, you saw a horrific mess of twisted tree trunks soaring through the air. It looked like an entire forest was floating through the air. As it came down in the distance, you followed the mess upwards to the singular trunk that stretched so far upwards that it pierced the heavens.
And then your heart sank.
"Coming! Hello, and sorry for the wait!" Abigail said as she opened the door to her father’s shop. She figured he would have been on duty since it was only a few minutes after opening time, but she found the sales counter empty. In fact, the entire store was empty. From the urgent ringing of the customer bell, she figured it must've been important to not only see her father absent from his post but the entire store empty, which certainly struck her as odd and a little disappointing. A customer this early in the morning could have only been one person: the cute farmer who moved in last season and brought in a morning's harvest to trade for seeds. Abigail was excited by the idea of getting a moment to talk to them, as she got so few chances elsewhere during the week since they were so busy running around town trying to somehow turn a profit out of that overgrown field. Releasing a disappointed sigh, Abigail placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. Her cheeks turned red as she blushed at the very idea that, after only a few encounters, she may have some developing feelings for the new farmer down the road. Maybe she should go apologize for the store being empty when they came to get their next batch of seeds. Again, Abigail shook the thoughts of the farmer working in their field from her head. They were busy with their work, and she had her own to attend to. Seeing as she was already in the storefront, she might as well complete her chores for the day. The sooner they are finished, the sooner she can goof off elsewhere. Reaching over, she grabbed the broom leaning against the counter next to the door and walked around the front of the counter towards the display case. Huffing one last time, she dropped the bristles of the broom to the ground and got to work.
A wooden pole ran upward into the sky, gripped by colossal hands held against a dark purple vest. High above the face of a woman beneath flowing purple hair, she aimlessly gazed out over the landscape. Abigail’s colossal boot planted itself on the ground as she steadied herself. She towered hundreds, possibly thousands, of meters into the air above you. In her hands, she held an old bristle brush broom by the worn handle. Taking another step forward, the ground beneath her groaned as the weight on it shifted around. Her leather boots creaked as the material flexed under her step. The distant impact of her footstep echoed across the landscape as the goddess above took another thunderous step forward. Swinging the broom head around, she lowered the bristles to the floor. The twisted mass of bristles looked like a hungry maw of shark teeth, even from afar. The Titan towering in the distance started to maneuver the handle she held. A deafening scraping sound erupted from the forest as the bristles dragged across the floor. It sounded like an entire city was collapsing around you. As the bristles flexed backward and snapped forward, they hurled grains of dirt into the air. Rocks the size of vehicles crashed down around you while pieces the size of buildings shattered on impact. You screamed till you felt like your throat was bleeding and waved your arms at the young woman, but it seemed you were too small for her eyes. You were on the smaller side of dust grains after all. Coming to the end of her reach, Abigail lifted the broom head from the ground as she completed a stroke and brought it back towards herself, taking another step forward. As the broom was lifted, it sent forth a tidal wave of dirt and debris. Realizing the coming devastation, you turned and ran as an avalanche and a dust storm of floor dirt came raging towards you. The bristles of the broom soared over your head, more debris falling loose from the bristles and raining down around you as it retreated. Overtaken by the dust storm, you coughed and sputtered as the air turned sharp and stung your eyes.
Up above, Abigail coughed a couple times and waved her hand in front of her face as the dust reached her nose. "Ughh! How did this floor get so filthy today?" She scoffed, realizing she had her work cut out for her. Slamming the broom back down, she made another pass over the already-building dust pile as she moved it along.
The dust had only just started to settle, but the impact of the broom head hitting the ground created a gust of wind that blew any remaining particles in the air away, including you. Hurling through the air, landing heavy into a dust pile, and tumbling down the side, gasping for air as you hit more level ground, your system is in complete shock. Between labored breaths, you tried to raise an arm and call out to Abigail once more, but your attempt was cut short as the broomhead charged forward. Plowing through the dust pile, you stood up as you were slammed into one of the exterior bristles.
Screaming as the broom head violently jittered across the floor. Colossal rocks and dust were being spit out between the bristles around you as the girl above moved the dirt from the floor into a bigger pile. The broom comes to a violent stop, and you are knocked loose as you tumble towards the ground. Hoping to again land in a dust pile, you are greeted with no such luck as you slam into the hard wood floor. An audible snap escapes your shoulder as it collapses on impact. As you move to place a hand on it, pain shoots through your entire body as you quiver on the ground. The broom head towering over you screeches as it is once more pulled back towards the purple-haired girl. A bored expression forms on her face as she realizes this is going to take more time than she thought.
"How did Dad ever let the storefront get this bad?" she mumbled under her breath. Wiping away some beads of sweat from her forehead, she flicks her wrist to send them flying in the direction of the dirt pile. Hobbling to your feet, arm limp at your side, you look up with teary eyes just in time to receive a direct impact from a sweat drop. The salty liquid knocks you back over, renewing the pain from your shattered shoulder as it splatters across the ground around you. Your clothes are soaked, and your body is burning all over as you gag on her sweat. Once more, attempting to raise yourself up, the ground trembles as the broom head returns for another assault. Only this time, you have no way of escaping. All you can do is raise your good arm over your face for the smallest protection as you are consumed by the bristles. The sound in the bristly forest is deafening as they scrape across the ground. Stones of all sizes battered you, leaving you cut and bruised. The bristles nock you over and roll over top of you as their sharp and jagged ends tear into your skin. On one such occasion, your arm is sucked under one of them. With enough struggle, you are able to pull yourself free from the bristlehead. The good news is that your shoulder is no longer broken. The bad news is that it has been ripped entirely from your body. While lying on your stomach, blood pours from where your shoulder once was. Your clothes are torn and your skin is lacerated all over. Many more bones are broken now as the broom head yet again raises into the air. You lay there, completely destroyed by a couple passes of a broom. Your vision blurs briefly as your hearing muffles, replaced by a loud ringing. You faintly hear more thunder as the titanic being above moves about. A dark shadow briefly passes over you. With your remaining strength, you look up, expecting to see the broomhead hanging in the air over you. Instead, it is the deep leather grooves of Abigail’s boots.
The filthy treads of her soles were packed full of dirt from her exploring the woods around the town. Sharp pebbles and hard dirt line many of her treads, among many other things you expect to see crushed under a boot. The leather creaks and groans as the weight held within shifts, bringing it down towards the ground. You lay your head against the ground as the shadow around you darkens. The soft squishing sound your body makes is completely nullified by the boot impacting the floor. A small red paste is all that remains, stretching from the tread to the floor as the boot raises back up. Part snapping off to be carried with Abigail as she progresses throughout the store. Insignificant red splotches trailing behind her every step. Soon you are buried beneath a new layer of grime under her boot as she walks, much like the other part of you that stayed on the floor, buried beneath more dirt.
Abigail eventually circles back around to the cash register on the counter. Looking over, she notices a basket of fresh blueberries sitting on top of it. Picking one up between her fingers, she inspects it briefly before popping it into her mouth. She rolls it around on her tongue a couple times before squashing it between her teeth. Juice shoots out across her taste buds as sweetness fills her mouth. Her eyes light up, and she finds herself with renewed vigor. That single berry was surprisingly refreshing. Inspecting her handy work once more, she laid the broom back by the door where she found it, brushing her hands against each other to knock the dust off. With a self-serving nod of approval, she headed for the front door. In the back of her mind, images of the definitely not cute farmer were starting to emerge again. Maybe if she waited by the lake, she could see them on their way to the cave. The bell on the door chimed as she exited to the town’s main plaza as silence felled the storefront. The drifting dust is still settling in.