MELODY

“In our current era there are six races. The Eltera. Their most distinctive feature are their long ears and elongated limbs. Worshipers of a long gone Deity, they are an eccentric people and can often be considered extreme. The Ferrakin with their wings of black and white are a race of two intertwining bloodlines, one of which will always dominate the other when they are born. The Fae are considered the most beautiful race with elegant wings that shine with all sorts of colours, but their racial traits also make them the most prejudiced. The humans are often the bridge between the other races most often because of their ambition. Greed is something that humans capture the spirit of the most.

The Krateran is better looked at as an endangered species. Their kind has faced murderous discrimination since known, and undoubtedly unknown, history. It’s a hatred so deep it’s ingrained into our bloodlines themselves. Though where this hatred came from has been a long unanswered debate. As for the Aesyn, they have disappeared from the world in the last century. But it is known they have gone into hiding. Their race, though near immortal, cannot repopulate. What can they do now but protect the last of their people? As for the true, and I assure you more sinful, history of these races. That’s something we can slowly explore later.

[ Redacted ] : Chapter 1.2

The first room is done. As Melody gathers herself the room behind her shuts closed. The ground shivers and shakes as things outside of her view shift and turn. Melody tries to open the door in front of her but it suddenly becomes impassable, solidified by an unknown force that even her strongest attack cannot damage. As the noises start to increase the small tunnel starts to shift as well. Melody feels her body slip to the side as the floor picks itself up and turns. The room quickly rotates as Melody grips her hands to one of the walls. She can feel herself moving but it’s all so strange she can’t quite grasp exactly where and how far she’s traveled.

Then everything recedes and the tunnel stills, causing Melody to fall down and collapse onto the ground. With a soft groan she picks herself up and looks at the twin doors. It takes her a moment to recognise which way she’s meant to be facing. Melody approaches the door and places her hand in the circular dent encased in the middle. Soon enough it swings open and reveals what’s inside. This room is mostly bare as well. Only in its middle stands a tall rake. It’s a strange sight. Nothing holds it in place but it appears as if it’s frozen in a ready motion, hovering slightly above the ground. Outside of the strange position it looks like an ordinary, wooden rake.

Which makes Melody more cautious. She conjures some water and moves it inside. The water passes through harmlessly and floats there. Melody moves the water to the rake but it fails to budge or move it. She lets the water dissipate as she taps her fingers in thought. After a lengthy hesitation Melody exhales and moves forward, standing just before the room. She can see the exits on each wall around her. Melody gives her face a soft slap as she forces herself to focus. And then her feet step forward and she enters the room.

As she does so the rake moves for the first time. It raises itself slowly as it moves forward. Melody’s feet freeze as she finds herself drawn to the motion, something oddly captivating about the sight. And then the rake lowers itself back down. The rake digs into the air as it travels backward as if gripping something. At the same time Melody collapses, her entire body burning with pain as she feels herself being flayed as the rake finishes its motion. The intense pain grips her as Melody’s eyes still find themselves drawn to the sight, not letting her leave its sight until she forcefully breaks the connection. Melody desperately reaches to where she feels her skin being shredded but finds no damage. The skin is perfectly fine.

The intense pain is a contrast to what she’s feeling. The rake finishes its motion, drawing itself back up as it moves slowly to start another complete motion. At the same time the pain recedes a little giving Melody some breathing room. Staggering to her feet she conjures as much water as she can around herself like a shield as she stumbles her way forward to the closest exit. She makes it a few feet when the rake starts its motion again. Melody’s eyes widen in fear when she sees the water she conjured start to collapse as it’s crushed by an unknown force. She scrambles forward with messy steps.

However the water shield doesn’t last long, and soon the rake’s strange attack settles back onto her. The searing pain returns even stronger and sends her collapsing against the ground. A profound weakness seeps out of her as her body starts to feel incredibly lethargic. Sera grits her teeth as she hangs on and waits for the pain to recede, numbed groans constantly echoing out of her. Finally she’s given some relief as the rake raises itself for another repetition.

Melody doesn’t give herself time to breath and forces herself back onto her feet, desperately wobbling toward the exit like a drunk person. Her incoherent footsteps get her far before the pain sets onto her once again and forces her to kneel onto the ground. The weariness grows larger as the pain sears through her, images and sensations of her body being ground bit by bit into dust filling Melody. But every time her eyes pass over her body she realises what she’s feeling is an illusion. This time as the pain recedes Melody immediately conjures some water and applies it against herself, using it to help pick herself up and drag herself forward.

She attempts to use it to push herself to the exit faster, but her weakness proliferates her body like a disease. Melody is barely able to use the water to help carry some of her weight. Anything more strenuous would be impossible. As Melody stumbles forward the fear can be seen in her eyes still. But a deep will resides alongside it, refusing to give up. As the rake returns to its motion once again and the pain burns through her, Melody refuses to collapse this time. Her eyes are set on the exit not far away and she forces herself to continue moving.

She would have screamed bu the pain is simply too much. It takes so much of the life out of her she can barely groan, let alone scream. Every step feels like an impassable cliff as her body yearns to give up, to lay down and just…sleep. Still she forces herself forward, each stumbling step closing the distance. And then, just as the pain threatens to overwhelm her, she throws herself forward and falls into the tunnel. Her body collapses rather unceremoniously onto the floor in a misshapen manner, but at the same time the intense pressure Melody had been feeling recedes along with the pain, bringing it back to a dull ache. Her body still feels exhausted and yearns for a long rest. Melody attempts to keep her eyes open but fails as the needed sleep consumes her.

When she awakes, Melody has no idea how long she’s been out. Her body still feels weak and lethargic, but better. She no longer feels as if she’ll crack apart like a porcelain vase at the slightest touch. It is when Melody tries to pick herself up that the pain returns. A less intense, sharper pain that causes her to cry out as she drags herself onto her knees and brings her back to rest against the wall. Huddling there she looks at the room she left with muddy eyes. The rake still stands there, frozen in place once again in the same position. Just looking at the thing causes Melody to shiver.

What she just experienced broke her common sense. She could feel that…thing…flay her, tearing her skin apart inch by inch. Yet there isn’t a scratch on her. Melody doesn’t understand, and her mind doesn’t want to understand. It keeps trying to push her away from the memory. To bury it in a tiny corner of her mind and let it disappear. Still Melody looked, keeping her eyes trained on the rake. She didn’t want to forget this experience. It was terrible. But it’s also a learning experience. Melody continues to stare at it, almost glaring, as she struggles with the fear inside herself.

Melody stays focused on the rake even as her exhausted body starts to lull her back to a deep sleep. Her eyes close and she slumps over slightly as her breathing evens. Melody wakes once again, not knowing how much time has passed. Her body felt better this time. As if it had knitted itself back together. Or maybe super-glued. Still the lethargy was gone and Melody felt her strength had returned. Picking herself back up Melody stretches her body and confirms it’s functioning. She stares at the rake one last time, imprinting it into her mind, before turning away and facing the door to the next room.

As Melody approaches the inlet in the door where she places her hand, her eyes remain hooded. Her hand reaches up to press into the door but hesitates. It stills in the air for a moment before a soft sigh escapes from Melody’s lips and the hand moves forward again, activating the door and revealing the room beyond it. Melody’s eyes alight on two objects. The first is a rock jutting out of the ground, a deep sparkling blue mineral stuck into it like a jagged shard. Next to the rock lays a pickaxe. Similar to the rake it looks normal, a wooden handle with a common iron surface. Melody starts to hyperventilate when she sees it.

Her hand leans against the wall as she struggles, her other hand clutching her heart. Her eyes grow hazy but Melody forces herself to focus, slowing her breathing until the panic passes. “You’re okay.” Melody whispers to herself as her eyes remain fixed on the pickaxe. A struggle appears in her eyes as she tries to take that step forward, to enter the room. The step feels daunting, the tiny movement weighing down on her like a vice. Back and forth the foot hesitates as it trembles in the air. Finally with a roar Melody forces it down and almost throws herself into the room, viciously glaring at the pickaxe as she half-expects the pain to onset once again.

In fact, for a moment Melody does feel the pain. It’s like a ghost, a visceral grip of pain on herself as if to allude back to what happened earlier. Then it is gone. A fragment of her imagination. What Melody discovers is real is the fact that her body is frozen. She can no longer move it. Her mind starts to panic as her feet move forward again, but not with her will. Without her permission they drag her toward the pickaxe as her hand reaches down and picks it up. Melody then turns to the ore and with a heavy thunk, the pickaxe strikes down and hits it.

A tiny chip falls off. Then the pickaxe is raised again and repeatedly brought down. It’s a consistent, constant motion. And one Melody cannot escape from. It is when the pickaxe is raised and her vision looks up that Melody catches a glance of something. A creature in her peripheral vision. A feeling of panic threatens to overwhelm her but she quickly forces it down. Her mind turns over what she can do as she remains stuck in her body, unable to will it to move.

After a moment Melody realises. The water she creates is directed by her mind. It doesn’t need her to move. Immediately she conjures it and turns it into a thin wave, sending it out across the room. After a moment it hits multiple bodies and their positions are revealed. Two are in front of her to the side, while another three are coming from behind. Melody conjures a bunch of needles and sends them piercing toward whatever is heading toward her. However when Melody sends out another wave, she can still hear them moving.

She sends more needles against the enemies. Afterward she conjures another group of needles and converges them, sending the strengthened needles out once more. This time their movements slow, even though they don’t stop. Melody sends out another wave. And another again, ignoring the drain it’s taking on her strength. Finally the enemies stop moving. Still Melody remains tense and focuses. Her wave is only useful to targets that don’t avoid it. Something more alert may be creeping up on her.

Melody strains her ears as she waits. At the same time her body continues to move, shaving away the mineral piece by piece. Sure enough, her patience is rewarded. Her ears pick up the strain of something heavy as it suddenly moves quickly, the sound very close. Melody immediately gathers all of the water she’s conjured toward herself, blocking whatever is coming this way. Something slams into her. Her body groans as it leans to the side from the impact, but rights itself in moments. At the same time the pickaxe never stops moving.

Still unable to see the enemy Melody wraps the water defending her around the object that impacted it. Then she compresses as hard as she can. Something screams out in a mechanical gargle as the water closes in bit by bit, crushing whatever lays inside it. Finally after the screams die down the water recedes and gathers back around herself. Melody waits a while in silence, except for the thunk of the pickaxe, eventually confirming nothing else is coming toward her.

Unfortunately for her, her body still refuses to move. Melody can only watch in sufferance as the pickaxe shaves another sliver off the embedded blue ore. The feeling of having no control over your body is a disturbing one. You feel like a marionette confined to the whims of another. It’s claustrophobic how stifling and small it makes you feel. If this continues Melody could be here for months. Her body won’t survive that long. Melody’s mind races as she tries a few things. Her conjured water tries to push her body but it’s unnaturally tough, refusing to budge. Even when she’s able to push it a little it simply adjusts itself back to its original position.

So she instead turns to the mineral. After using convergence to strengthen the water Melody attempts to cut into the ore but fails to get any traction. It’s simply too tough. Forcing down the panic wanting to rise Melody continues to test out different methods. She turns the cutting into smashing, then into crushing. Finally Melody goes for a more extreme approach. Placing the water farther away from herself, at the other end of the rock, she compresses the water as hard as she can and then releases it. The water explodes, smashing into the ore.

It’s finally successful. A chunk of the mineral gives away and crashes into the ground. It’s only a small part of the entire thing, but it’s progress. Melody celebrates inside at the success as she conjures more water and starts to repeat the process. It’s hard to do it without injuring herself as the explosions draw closer and closer to her body. Melody is unable to avoid the shards exploding outward her as they dig through her clothing and cut into her flesh. Worry flashes across her eyes as Melody forces herself to continue and prays that her feet and hands don’t get cut.

Thankfully nothing extreme happens. Besides a number of cuts across her upper body she’s unharmed. And finally the last of the ore is cut off the now very small rock. As it hits the ground Melody’s body is released for the first time. She immediately releases her hands of the pickaxe and jumps backward, ignoring the tool as it slams against the ground. Her eyes turn rapidly as she feels her body move again as she wants to. For a second it feels strange until her instincts kick in and she gathers herself back together.

Not giving herself time to rest Melody races toward one of the exits and quickly passes through it, finally taking a breather after making it to safety. “This place is a nightmare.” Melody laughs in a self-deprecating manner as she comments to herself. Everything here is beyond common sense. At least she’s safe. Her body still feels a little uncomfortable as Melody starts to adjust herself. Her eyes look back into the room and see the enemies she had faced. Or what remains. Scraps of dark metal. Melody can tell they were at least humanoid before, but now they’re so far destroyed they’re almost unrecognisable. A tired sigh escapes from her lips.

It’s an experience she never wants to repeat. To not control your own body…Melody shivers at the thought. An even more disturbing one arises. What if someone took control of it? Melody shakes her head to disperse the thought. That isn’t something she wants to think about.

After giving herself a short rest Melody looks toward the next door. She still has plenty of strength. Right now she wants to do something to keep her mind occupied. As she approaches the door and stares at it hesitation grips her again. She won’t know what’s next. Is it really worth it to continue? Then a laugh snuffs it out. Did she have a choice in the first place? Her hand reaches up and rests in the door’s inlet. It lights up and swings open, revealing the inside.

Much to Melody’s surprise the room is empty. And at one of the other exits is Aei. “Aei!” Melody calls out, causing him to turn toward her. His own eyes light up joy as he beckons her over. Melody wants to simply rush over but instead cautiously steps in, making sure nothing happens as she walks toward him. Her speed picks up when she realises she’s safe. However even as she moves toward him, something niggles in the back of her mind. A strangeness, or perhaps oddity, her subconscious picked up. Shaking it off Melody quickly reaches where Aei and lets out a small breath of relief.

“I’m glad to see you.” Melody continues, her face looking a little haggard. “The things in here are terrifying. What about you?”

“…I’m the same. I’d rather not talk about it,” Aei says, looking away uncomfortably.

“Oh.” Melody answers. The feeling starts to intensify but she’s too caught up in relief to notice. The previous trials had been too stressful for her, and seeing a friend had taken a heavy burned off her. “I get it. I don’t really want to recall mine either.” Melody looks around the room but sees nothing around. “Do you think we don’t need to fight in this room?”

“Perhaps it is like the first room,” Aei suggests, his stone sword in his hand lazily resting against his side. “A sort of safe room.”

“Oh. Of course!” Melody exclaims. “That makes sense. I’m still rather energetic. Do you want to move to the next room?”

“Of course.” Aei smiles. A little unnaturally. “After you.”

“S…sure.” Melody answers, her brows furrowing a little as warning bells ring off in her mind. She can’t quite place it, but something isn’t right. “Then…let’s go.” She turns around slowly as her mind races, trying to pinpoint why she feels something is off. It doesn’t take long for her to grasp the reason. Melody’s eyes widen slightly halfway through her turn. Aei was already in the room when she saw him. The realisation sinks in. Melody immediately conjures water and covers herself in a thin shield. At the same time she feels a heavy impact as the stone sword crashes into her side, sending her flying.

Melody slams into the wall as intense pain overwhelms her, her body sliding down to the ground. Gritting her teeth Melody lets the pain flow over her as she continues to conjure water and gather it around herself while she picks herself back up. Her eyes pierce toward Aei. His features are the same, but his facial expression is twisted unnaturally while a disturbingly wide grins sits across his face. “Unfortunate.” The voice is grating as it slides across her. Like nails on a chalkboard, if those nails whispered to you that they wanted to cut you into pieces.

Melody’s fists tighten as she brings herself back under control, forcing herself not to look away. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” It was more to pump herself up then threaten him, but it helped. A distorted laughter echoes out in response as the doppelganger Aei kicks off the ground and arrives in front of her at incredible speed. Melody’s eyes widen at the sight as she gathers a thick shield across her. The stone sword slams into it, causing heavy cracks to interlace through it.

Melody grimaces as she uses convergence and reinforces the shield as another attack slams across it. It barely holds on while she conjures multiple water needles and sends them flying toward him. To her horror the fake Aei simply adjusts his body and dodges the attacks. Her mind cools at the sight, an intense calm coming over her as she realises the danger she’s in, even more danger then the previous rooms. Her eyes harden as she moves backward, sending the breaking shield crashing toward him. It knocks Aei off balance for a moment while Melody conjures her water whip and uses converge to strengthen it. Her hands flow with its movements as she sends it careening toward him.

Aei once again moves his head to the side and avoids it, but the whip immediately turns and pierces toward the back of his head. A sword appears in the way and blocks it, the fake Aei sending out another distorted laugh. Melody only focuses harder as the whip twists around and slams toward the side of his head. He blocks it again. The motions are repeated many times as Melody intensely focuses. She uses both ends of the whip to cause a constant storm of attacks but they are all blocked. The mad laughter escaping from Aei continues without end, an immense joy overflowing the creature.

It continues to laugh and laugh, finally getting the satisfaction of a battle it has long waited for. Only for the laughter to be cut short. The stone sword suddenly speeds up and crashes into the whip, sending it flying. Its head turns to look toward Melody, who is already halfway toward one of the exits. Its face twists. Its feet dig into the ground as it sends itself dashing toward her, quickly reaching her in a moment. Unexpectedly Melody turns around at that moment, a compressed ball of water held in her hand. As it reaches her, unable to stop its momentum, she sends it crashing into its body. A powerful explosion goes off and sends the both of them flying.

Melody slams into the wall again, this time far more injured. A deep wound in her stomach causes her to cry out, her hand clutching her wound as blood drips through it and onto the ground. Ignoring the wound melody picks herself up as fast as she can and turns toward the doppelganger. It had been sent crashing against the ground and still lay there, a greater part of its stomach ripped apart. Its muddled eyes move around erratically as it attempts to pick itself up, crazy screaming echoing out of it. But its injury is too much and it finds it can hardly move.

Melody doesn’t give it a chance. She conjures as many water needles as she can and constantly sends them crashing against it. Over and over, not ending even when its screams peter out and disappear entirely. Until finally her strength is exhausted and Melody collapses to the ground. Using the last of her strength Melody brings some of the water toward herself. She cleans the wound and places a tiny layer of the water over it, acting as a bandage. The better part of her stomach is shredded but still intact, the wound not deep enough to be permanent. Thankfully.

It was risky, but Melody didn’t know what else to do. The creature was far stronger then her. Lying on the ground, her eyes stay focused on the fake Aei. A few minutes pass and nothing happens. Then suddenly a glow overflows from the body, covering it. Melody watches as the glow shrinks and shrinks until it becomes a tiny figure. When the glow recedes Melody sees a small doll in its place. Its stomach is cut open, as well as many other parts of its body having been cut into. It looks like a wreck barely holding itself together.

With a painful groan Melody picks herself up and drags her body over toward it. Her eyes stare down at it as she tries to decipher its nature. After awakening as an elementalist, she was able to gain a vague sense of ‘magic’. What that is, what it encompasses, Melody doesn’t know. It’s much like a child learning to speak. Only if that child was an animal who didn’t understand the language and couldn’t even recognise that it was language being spoken. It is why it’s so frustrating. As Melody stares down, the blue glow in her eyes catching on its figure, and sees the intricate flow of magic filling the doll in ways she cannot understand. Even as damaged as it is, the flow of magic is still so beautiful. Like numerous spider webs interlaced on top of each other, intertwining and flowing through each other like wine through water. It’s a never-ending crescendo of beauty.

Melody breaks her eyes away, having gained nothing, and staggers toward one of the exits. It takes a while but she makes it to the tunnel and collapses to the ground, leaning against the wall. As her dazed eyes stare at nothing, a brisk laugh cannot help but escape from her. There were too many emotions in it for Melody to decipher what the laugh meant. She only knew that she was tired. So very tired. Her eyes close and her face relaxes. A sense of peace fills the place as Melody enters a deep, long sleep.