Chapter 1: Beginnings i

Her laughter went on for an indeterminable amount of time, echoing throughout the empty field, her madness evident with each peal. Only when the sun travelled halfway across the sky does her laughter stop. She was hungry. Her thirst grew ever since she woke up but she had ignored it. Only now when her stomach is painfully hungry does she calm down to think. What was that thing that appeared in her mind earlier?

She tried to remember. It looked like a box, with more boxes within those boxes. And within those boxes lied unknown symbols. She knew they meant something but she couldn’t read them after all. She tried to concentrate on that image, but to no avail. Her empty stomach and her own instincts distract her from the mental exercise. She needed to eat. But eat what? The blood around her has already soaked back into the soil, not even the vilest of creatures would consume the blackish-red muddy mess beneath her. Even her own body was caked in the blackish-red blood, disgusting.

She stood up and took a closer look at what is around her. Nothing save for a few stalks of dead grass.

She could only smell the putrid stench of rotten blood. Inedible.

Her own enhanced senses have turned against her. She needed to get rid of this smell else she won’t be able to properly hunt with such a horrible marking following her around. For now she could only bear with it, despite how horrible it actually is. The field she was in was as empty as it was earlier, but upon closer inspection, she could see a heavy trail filled with heavy footsteps mixed with ditches from what would seem to be something that was dragged along on the ground.

Her instincts and scattered memory told her that they were dangerous. That she shouldn’t follow that direction. Not now anyways. Turning to the right, she followed the trail littered with broken armor and weaponry littering the ground, yet with no bodies or remains left behind. She didn’t know what happen to them, but she knew it wasn’t good. She increased her pace. She ran through the empty field, fleeing away from the dangerous trail and towards the mountains in the distance, her stomach dangerously grumbling in the meanwhile.

After an hour or so of running, the smell which had followed her had weakened, slightly, but weakened nonetheless. Some of the blood that encrusted her skin fell off throughout the run, although a few stubborn flakes remained here and there and within her hair. When the pungent smell of the rotten blood waned, she began to smell other things. Savory, delicious things. She was now near the edge of a forest, and within it were the smells of various creatures ready to be devoured. She knew not of the dangers of such a place, only caring to fill her empty stomach with the flesh and blood of the forest’s inhabitants.

She scoured the forest, swiftly tracking and killing anything she found with her sharp retractable nails, or were they claws? It did not matter. Meagre gains and unsatisfying, but the wild game did the job. She could finally think, at least, for a few moments. Nothing too complicated either. As she ran through the forest, she tried to remember what she had seen earlier. The box within her mind. Only after consuming the fiftieth or so critter had she succeeded in recalling the box from before.

Skill [Hunter’s Eyes] has been obtained

Skill [Hunter’s Eyes] has increased in Level (1)

Name

Unnamed

Age

1 Day

Race

Lesser Devil (Scarlet)

HP

14/29 (+.007/s)

MP

82/82 (+.02/s)

SP

27/29 (+.01/s)

STR

5

INT

16

WIS

8

CON

6

AGL

9

LUK

1

Skills

Level

Proficiency

[Demonic Vitality]

1/10

2.4%

[Hunter’s Eyes]

2/10

49.4%

[Blood Oath]

N/A

N/A

[Twisted Fate]

N/A

N/A

The screen filled with unknown symbols appeared within her mind. She noted the existence of a new line, she still couldn't read but she could understand what they meant somehow. Not to the point of interpretation of course, closer to that of recognition.

“So this is me?”

Contemplating what she had learned, she stood distracted within one of the few clearings in the dimly lit forest, surrounded by the ancient vegetation. Only when she heard the howls of many creatures does she snap back to reality. She had found herself surrounded by a pack of creatures. Each had dirty matted fur, however the biggest one and presumably their leader stood in front of her, noble silver eyes glaring down at her. The wolf’s underlings began to prowl, moving in a circle around her, enclosing the small girl and their leader in a wide circle. The wolves glare at her. Each gaze dared her to run, knowing full well she cannot.

The big wolf in front of her lets out a low but regal snarl before lowering its body towards the ground. Only after a moment does she realize what this meant. She jumped back just before finding a sharp swipe of claws and teeth where she was before. The wolf is an enemy. Anything that gets in her way must be killed. The girl unleashes her claws, running towards the big wolf’s blind spot, striking at what she perceived to be a weak spot. Her strike hits, but to no avail. Her sharp claws only glanced off of the wolf’s metallic fur. Causing her to tumble forward towards the ground. The big wolf took the moment of opportunity, lashing towards her in a fury of fang and claw.

“STOP!”

-

A whirl of azure fire hits the wolf king on the side from above. The wolf king’s pack looked up, howling at the unwelcome intruder. An adult woman with long ears floated above the clearing looking down at them. She held a glowing book in her right arm and pointed her left palm at the wolf king still. She muttered under her breath once again before another stream of azure fire blasted out towards the wolf king. However, the wolf king was ready this time, he leapt out of the way moments before the giant fireball hit the ground, scorching the dirt and any surrounding vegetation just a few meters away from the unfortunate girl. How she had ended up there and managed to initiate a duel with a wolf king was left unknown, however, she had a duty to protect and a pest to get rid of. The wolf king howled, followed by the howls of his subjects and began to retreat into the depths of the Balros Forest. The woman hesitated between giving chase or tending to the lone girl. Her consciousness getting the better of her, she floated down towards the girl and began to look over her for wounds.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the girl wasn’t human. She had short pointed ears, and most notably of all, brilliant scarlet eyes, the light left off by them causing her to momentarily freeze in their beauty. As if the world stopped around her, and she…

“Glamour!”

The woman concentrated and managed to dispel the subtle interference with her mind. The girl still stared back but the light emitted from her eyes were no longer visible to the woman.

-

Confused and startled at the woman’s outcry, the girl readied herself once more for another fight. Her opponent looked weak enough but the strange fire she threw around was dangerous. The girl couldn’t tell, should she fight or should she flee?

“Woah there girl! Calm down. I’m not here to fight you- See?”

The strange woman closed her book and raised her arms, palms faced towards the girl. Remembering how that strange fire came out from those very palms, the girl swerved to avoid the potential attack and rushed towards the edges of the clearing.

“Wait!”

The strange woman suddenly appeared in her path. How did she get there? Wasn’t she behind her? The girl turned and ran away from the obvious danger that was the woman, but she couldn’t evade her. Once again, the woman appeared in front of her, barring her passage out of the clearing.

“I told you to wait. If you keep running, I’ll have to capture you and bring you back for interrogation.”

Clearly annoyed, the woman snapped back at the inhuman girl in front of her.

“Now. What will you do? Quietly come with me or be brought back by force?”

The woman’s declaration struck a chord within the girl. A choice? When did she have a choice in this world? But if she’s on the side of Him, then she’s an Enemy as well. But she did not know, whose side does the woman stand on?

“Who do you work for?”

-

A sharp cold voice, unbefitting that of a youthful child, comes from her lips.

“Wh- What?”

The woman takes a half-step back in surprise. The cute child that she had saved had a voice that felt colder than her former master. And that gaze, the gaze that seemed to penetrate deep within her, gazing through her as if she were looking at prey. Only then did the woman notice the dried blood within the girl’s hair and the freshly drawn blood on her fingers. But blood from whom? The woman did not know but there was one thing she did know. The girl in front of her is trouble. Her book flipped open to the page which held her most trusted spell, [Azure Flare], and she began chanting the verses below under her breath once again, gathering her mana in her palm in a vortex of arcane might.

The girl reacted the instant her book began to move, claws slashing towards the woman’s eyes. The woman couldn’t react fully in time, she leaned out of the way but she couldn’t avoid the hit. A sharp pain and a yell could be heard from the forest clearing, red blood dripped from the girl’s fingers, no, claws. The woman’s left eye sent searing pain throughout her body, causing her spell to falter before it truly began. Her remaining eye’s vision blurred but she still stood due to sheer force of will. The girl ran from her, away into the depths of the Balros Forest, following the example the wolf king left earlier.

Name

Irelithe

Age

67 Years

Race

Elf (Wyrd)

HP

28/72 (+.029/s)

MP

57/380 (+.159/s)

SP

97/132 (+.104/s)

STR

14

INT

157

WIS

98

CON

22

AGL

18

LUK

32

Current Ailments | Left Eye: Severe Wound | Blindness | Bleeding (-.4 HP/s)

State: Dying

Skills

Level

Proficiency

[Mana Perception]

7/10

3.6%

[Fire Affinity]

9/10

78.2%

[Runic Inscription]

1/10

17.2%

[Reading II]

6/20

42.4%

[House Cleaning II]

2/20

58.9%