Chapter 6: Insight i

The girl was bored. She couldn’t move and there was hardly anything of interest in the room. She sat there on the cushions. Left with nothing else to do, she thought about what happened to her in the past few days. She managed to travel further away from the danger but she wasn’t far enough. But wasn’t there something else she should be worried about? Only after a moment of realization does she remember about the existence of that box. She couldn’t read it but she understood the general idea behind it. It defined her. But something within her told her it was different. She focused on visualizing the box’s image within her mind, and as it had before, it popped into existence, this time with more unknown symbols.

Name

Unnamed

Age

11 Days

Race

Lesser Devil (Scarlet)

HP

24/45 (+.015/s)

MP

96/96 (+.027/s)

SP

32/32 (+.015/s)

STR

15

INT

23

WIS

13

CON

13

AGL

24

LUK

3

Current Ailments | Muscles: Fatigued | Recovering

State: Recovering

Skills

Level

Proficiency

[Demonic Vitality]

1/10

48.5%

[Hunter’s Eyes]

2/10

87.6%

[*()%^@)$^@]

&^%@(#@^!(%!

^%(@^#*!*%^&

[Twisted Fate]

N/A

N/A

The symbols in the upper portion of the mass of boxes seemed to be similar to what she remembered, but the boxes below were different. Her consciousness was dragged towards the strange new characters, their visage constantly changing and shifting. Mesmerized, she only then found herself in an empty red world moments later. The world was devoid of anything besides from her own image, a transparent shimmering form similar in construct to her actual body but different. More… Human. She could see everything but her own feet, which were cut off at the calves.

No, not cut off, she realized. Her feet were below another surface, one she couldn’t see before as it had the same eerie look as the rest of her surroundings. She lifted her feet, only to find that it was entirely dyed in red. Surprised, she lost her balance and fell, half of her body ending up submerged beneath the red as black thorns grew in a circle around her, surrounding her, trapping her. Black hands grabbed at her from below, pulling her down into the depths of the deep red world. She couldn’t breathe. She tried and failed, her lungs filling with the liquid, and only moments after the liquid entered her mouth did she realize the familiar taste. Blood. She was drowning in blood. The wretched faces of all those she had killed started appearing around her. The animals that she had slain in mass, the faces of the two men she had killed, followed by the hollowed sleeping faces of the villagers that slept forevermore, the children whose faces would never mature. They surrounded her, moving, writhing as if to taunt her. A cold laugh echoed behind her, one that she remembered clearly.

The girl spun around in the liquid to see the floating face of a man. Unremarkable from afar but sharp if one looked at it closely. His eyes was looking down at her, his prideful stare set a crushing pressure upon the girl. She tried to resist and she had succeeded. She broke free from his pressure and lashed out with her claws, only, to her surprise and shock, were nothing more than the fragile fingers one would find on any common child.

“Foolish.”

The man’s face said, as the pressure that bore down on her grew exponentially. The girl was crushed by the force, all thought of resistance faded. The last thought she had being one of absolute hatred towards the face as her sight faded into nothingness.

Skill [(#*@^$)!$^%] has diverged

Skill [@$([email protected]^%()%] has been removed

Skill [Blood Haunt] has been obtained

The girl’s body in the dim room went limp. Her scarlet eyes glazed over as her entire body shifted backwards into the back of the chair. Her body simply laid there for hours before Isbeth returned with papers in hand.

“What happened here?”

Isbeth came back to the sight of her patient sprawled across the chair. She set down the documents on a nearby table and started caring for the little girl. Though, the moment before her fingers could touch her patient’s face, the girl jumped. She literally jumped, somersaulted to be more exact. Her body flew through the air and landed behind Isbeth, her back facing towards her. The girl just stood there stiff. Her body had naturally responded but her mind has yet to process it. Isbeth tackled the girl, causing both of them to land on the ground, the girl held within Isbeth’s arms. Only, rather than an embrace the Halfling [Alchemist] was hurriedly looking all over her body. The brown paste covering her body had cracked and was currently peeling off of her body in fragments.

“I swear they should have last longer. What went wrong?”

The Alchemist grabbed one of the hardened fragments and went over to her worktable. Dropping the shard into a glass beaker and started heating it, the fragment melted reverting back to what it had looked like before. The brown paste bubbled in the beaker, streams of dark brown smoke began exiting the funnel and floated in the shop briefly before dissipating, the plant nearing it shriveling slightly. The Alchemist saw this and started scribbling in a small book she had pulled from one of her pockets.

“Properties of death. Could it be because of the blood? No, human blood wouldn’t cause such a thing even if mixed in. Elven blood? But other Alchemist have already experimented with it for decades. Could this be because of a unique property?”

The Alchemist Isbeth looked over at her cute patient, a gleam in her eye that would rightfully earn her the title of ‘Mad Scientist’ despite no one knowing what that was. She continued writing in the small book as her incessant ramblings and mutterings continued for the lesser half of an hour before the girl’s body finally fell, causing Isbeth to drop her book due to the sudden noise. It was only then that she remembered that she was to care for the child, so she went closer to the body only to find the girl’s scarlet eyes to begin watering.

The girl had cried for the first time. She felt no guilt when she took the lives of others so why should she now? The bottled emotions within her started pouring out in unrestrained force. The water from her tears dripped down her cheeks and over her closed lips. Isbeth saw this and started holding the girl in her arms again, this time as a proper embrace.

Isbeth held the girl’s head against her chest, the tears streaming down from her eyes seeping into her shirt. The pair had sat there for what seemed like hours, only separating once the girl’s tears had run dry.

“Poor girl, wonder what she’s been through.”

Isbeth held the still girl in her arms, stroking the girl’s hair as she fell asleep, exhausted from the pouring of her emotions. She sat there with the girl’s head resting on her map, afraid that any sudden movements would wake the sleeping child, she sat and tried to her best effort to ignore the uncomfortable stabbing sensations as her legs fell asleep.

It was only until after the sun rose in the sky did the girl open her eyes. She saw the face of Isbeth hanging over her. The Halfling’s closed eyes had shadows around them and her fingers were laced in her hair. The girl tried moving away but the sudden change in pressure woke Isbeth as well.

“Ah, you’re finally awake. Here, I’ll go prepare some food for us so stay here for a bit.”

Isbeth tried to stand but her legs were still asleep, causing her to tumble forward a bit arms flailing before she caught her balance.

“On second thought, how about we stay here for a bit? I coul- Wait! Come back!”

The girl fled the shop. She couldn’t stay. She didn’t belong. She ran from the only person that cared for her. The eyes of the Watch locked onto her, and they started moving after her within light emitted by the rising sun.