I was a hungry woman with five delectable meals glaring at me. As much as I would love to feast upon the blonde Life Hunter, I was not so foolish to turn a 2v5 into a 1v6, much to my dismay. I could only hope this kin-killer could carry her weight in our hunt.
One royal guard captain, two royal guards, and two Marked. Exhilarating. I felt my veins rush with the succulent adrenaline of the hunt as I charged towards the female Marked. She plunged 5 holy magic crystals into my skin, and for that I would gouge her heart from her chest and tear into it as the light left her eyes.
I analyzed her form already whilst watching the pathetic human flail about in a poor excuse for a fight. She never blocked a single attack, instead relying entirely on her ability to quickly dodge any attacks. I dove right in with a plan to try to recognize any apparent patterns of how she avoids my claws. Predictably, swing after swing was avoided deftly, but she had already made a critical error by repeating the same form for certain directions. I feinted a swipe, already slashing into the direction I knew she would dodge into with my other claw. The euphoric sensation of claws ripping skin met my sense as I tore a chunk out of the left side of her stomach. Mere moments after finding purchase with my claws, she had flickered out of existence, appearing 20ft away.
Humans are all the same. The bestial nature of Deathless lead them to believe us mindlessly hungry creatures. We are beings of the hunt, and nothing feels better than the meal following difficult prey. Too often, their arrogance leads to their deaths.
I was shocked to see the woman immediately use her holy magic to cauterize her open wound with only a small groan. This one had tenacity. She had also just given me the delicious scent of cooked flesh, something which only makes me more h u n g r y.
She darted back towards me to resume our fight, her fists and feet a flurry of blows that felt nearly impossible to completely avoid, letting some hits land across my chest and shoulders. Her blows luckily didn’t hurt much at all, but they left strange sigils across my body where she had hit.
Her close distance allowed me to quickly return to the offensive after she had finished. I managed to land another slash across her face before being hit once, then twice more with her glowing fists. She backed off after the blows landed and we once more glared at each other in deadlock.
I grinned at her, and she replied with the same unmoving expression. I had the advantage I needed, and I would use it. The Marked had their holy magic. I had my unholy magic. Ripping the blood from her open wound on her face, I coalesced and coagulated the drawn blood into 3 dagger-like weapons and propelled them towards her. Given that the blood dagger form from the wound on her face, she had little time to react, two of the daggers finding their place in her stomach and chest, with the third grazing past her ear as she twisted.
“You are not the same beast.” The woman coldly spoke, oddly composed for someone so near to death, I thought.
A shame that she made that connection, but it was unavoidable if I wanted to win this fight, and I DID. A problem for another day.
The woman finally changed her expression, with an ever so slight smirked lifting in the corner of her mouth. Her attitude was soon explained as she moved her hands together in a flash of light, and instantly every sigil across my body burned in brilliant radiance. An ear-piercing shriek ripped through my mouth as I did my best to remain upright. Dirty human, filthy human.
The sigils disappeared after her attack, and though I was left in agonizing pain, it seemed to be the last of the woman’s mana and energy as she fell to her knees. I wanted so desperately to feast upon the woman, knowing she was out of the fight, but I had other matters to attend to. ‘Other matters’ being the 3 crossbow bolts that landed in quick succession across my back.
I whirled around to see the captain with his two soldiers loading their crossbows for another volley. I didn’t give them the chance, already closing the distance with unnatural speed. I clambered up from all fours to land on one of the guards, he hadn’t a chance to pull his sword, but his friends had. Deciding I could take it just fine, I paid no mind to the other soldier as he sunk his blade into my side. Non-magical attacks could only do so much, and I needed to even the playing field quickly.
With brutal strength, I wrapped my teeth around the neck of the soldier on the ground, viciously pulling a chunk of his esophagus out. With one more out of the picture, I could finally turn to the other soldier who had firmly placed his sword in my side. Poor human had no way to defend himself as I prowled towards him, swallowing the meat in my mouth as I did so. In one smooth motion, I flicked a claw upwards towards him, hooking it into the bottom of his chin and peering with satisfaction as the tip of my claw emerged from the top of his skull.
“Xavier! Watch out!”
I twisted around to see the captain bringing down a great sword directly towards my head. The sword had glowing engravings along the length of the blade, which told me all I needed to know, it was going to hurt. I was shocked to see a silvery shield find it’s way between the blade and my head, looking down showed that Life Hunter doing her best despite bleeding heavily to save me. Odd. This doesn’t change how many of my kind she has slain.
“CiCi! Xav! Time to go!”
Phern’s voice echoed throughout the open field. I felt something slick and slippery wrap around me. A glossy and wet material quickly coated my entire body, even slipping into my mouth in intense revulsion. The captain had taken this opportunity to swing once more at me but as his sword reached me it slipped right through me, and my vision distorted in possibly the most nausea I’ve ever experienced in a single moment. Then we were gone.
I shot up with a scream, the image of Cecelia with Markus crossing far too many wires with Vyra and Gelgin.
“Vyra!”
A hand fell over my chest, pushing me back down onto my back. I looked up to see the beautiful blue eyes of Vyra staring down at me. The blouse and pants were no longer on my body, so I was left lying with the strange stained white fabric wrapped around me. It blended in astonishingly well with the bandages that had been wrapped around certain parts of my body.
“Wha-Whats with the bandages? I thought the whole point was for me to heal fast?”
“Not quite, bandit.” Vyra said. Wait, no it couldn’t be. I looked back over to the woman to see Cecelia looking down at me, her blue eyes sending shivers down my spine. That was not a mistake I was keen to make again. “You need mana to heal, something which should be plentiful if you are properly feeding. That’s not your problem right now though. Holy magic is. You can’t heal those wounds easily, as I’m sure you can feel.”
Cecelia was right, I could feel each of the 5 wounds where crystals entered, and bruises across the rest of my body. Where those came from, I had no idea. Was there a part of the fight I blacked out for? Did Lilith get control?!
‘Yes, little morsel, and I’ll await your gratitude and fealty for doing so.’
Insufferable. “Does that mean we won?” I was hesitant to ask given how beaten-up Cecelia looked, but it was the only explanation if we were still alive.
“I snuck you twos out like Twibbers in the arid sky! That’s how you’re still in one piece.” Phern looked no worse for wear, emotionally, or physically. That did mean her spell worked, something which by the sound of it, I’m eternally grateful and perplexed about.
A lot seemed to happen while I was unconscious. We escaped the Marked and were now resting in a surprisingly comfortable tent. It had a maroon and green color scheme that spread across the walls in exuberant spirals and drawings. It felt very much like Phern, and I was actually quite stunned at how beautiful something like a tent could look.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Just outside of Multon! I figured bringing a big monster and a bleeding woman into the heart of the city was a very bad idea.” Phern laughed at her own sentence, making me begin to question if she meant it as a joke or not.
“Are we in a safe enough place that I can get an explanation on why I’M BEING HUNTED BY THE MARKED!” My anger was somewhat undercut but the wincing and coughing that it took to get my full thoughts out. I felt it was necessary given how little I was prepared for what I had gotten myself into. I deserve an explanation.
“I’ll tell you.” Cecelia muttered, taking a seated position next to my prone body. I was fortunate whatever pillow was underneath my head positioned me to be able to look up at her without having to sit up. “If you tell me who Vyra is.”
“No.” That was not something I was willing to discuss.
“I feel like honesty between allies would be a good precedent to set going forward.”
That’s rich, coming from the woman who consistently held information out of my reach like a carrot on a stick. “Allies? Is that what we are?”
“We just saved your life, why not?” Cecelia scoffed.
“You got me into that mess by not telling me the fucking Marked are looking for me!” I proclaimed.
A flash of anger crossed Cecelia’s face as she leaned towards me.
“You have no idea what I just sacrificed by getting into this. We could have left you in that church, but no, against my better judgement-”
“-and my pleading!” Phern added
“-I decided to help you, because I saw someone who was terrified of what they became and I-” Cecelia paused. I watched as she took a breath and lowered her voice back down to a regular speaking volume. “You reminded me of someone. So I decided to help. I thought you appreciated the offer considering you risked a lot to save me, but perhaps I was mistaken.”
Save her? When did that happen?
‘When you put on quite the animalistic display of guarding her, my dear.’
But I don’t remember any of that. Was it after I blacked out? Surely Lilith would have been in control then.
‘How I wish I was, human. Your subconscious had quite the grip on our body and used it to protect that Life Hunter monster.’
“Attention, airhead, we’re speaking to you.” Phern snapped her fingers in front of my eyes to shift my attention back to herself and Cecelia. I had been so caught up in the idea that I had done all of that to protect Cecelia.
“If you truly don’t give a shit about what we’ve given up to help you, then feel free to leave. But if you do, I had better not see you again.” Cecelia stated plainly.
“Why exactly are you two so pliable towards helping me?” I asked.
“It's personal.” Cecelia stated bluntly, her face so stone-like I couldn’t even read an emotion on it.
“Didn’t you just say honesty was a good precedent to set?”
Cecelia grumbled in response and then relented. “I will tell you the day you tell me who Vyra is.”
Ugh, she’s tricky. I was really curious but divulging any information about the events I’d rather forget was not on the table right now.
“Fine. At a later time then.” I hoped that day would never come.
“I washed your clothes, Xav! We should probably get into the city as soon as possible and even though I’m going to disguise us, you’ll want something on in case I have to drop the disguise!” Phern handed me the neatly folded blouse and pants. I really was surprised they looked so clean, it had to have been magic considering the tears and cuts had been repaired alongside the blood removal.
“Thanks. Uh, you said disguises though? I thought if I covered the tattoo, it would be fine.”
“We just escaped Markus, the captain of the guard in Multon. The second they reach the city, if they haven’t already, we’ll have wanted posters of us all over.” Cecelia spelled out a very good reason for such disguises. It made me start to question once again the scale of what I was a part of. The captain of Multon, and the Marked all trying to find some random person from Varenthell Academy. It didn’t make sense.
I got up from the bedroll with some difficulty, Phern starting to speak as I did so. “Oh, about your wounds, I applied a healing balm to all of the cuts once I removed the crystals. Your injuries are sealed, so they’ll still hurt, but with your nature, they’ll be fully healed in about a week! Unless you rip open any of the wounds, just avoid hitting there if you’re going to get hit. You’ll be feeling spry as a Jargenblin in no time!”.
“Thanks, Phern. I appreciate it.” I started to put my clothes back on as I looked around the tent. It was furnished. There was a hanging mirror, paintings, and shelves? “Is this a dimensional structure, Phern?”
“Oh my gosh, it is! How’d you know?”
“Read about it in studies, these things are pretty rare, how’d you manage to get a hold of one?”
“I’ve got some family connections. They give me hand-me-downs occasionally” Despite that sounding like a good thing, Phern looked sad as she said it. Family must be a topic to avoid around her.
“Oh, that’s nice.” Silence. Gods I needed something else to talk about after completely crashing this carriage of a conversation into a ditch.
“So, about those disguises? Are you referring to the Axis Anonimi spell?”
Phern scrunched her nose at me. “Ew, no, I’m not using any of those strict academy spells.”
Strict academy spells? What was she talking about, there was only one central foundation of magic taught in Kistram. Sure, other magics existed, but they were far and few between, and usually taught down from families. Maybe Phern was one of those families?
“You’ll see how it works in just a second. Once we’re ready to leave.” Phern smiled at me. Looks like she didn’t take my mention of family too harshly.
The 3 of us, 4 if you counted the frustrating, nagging voice of Lilith, spent the next few hours properly tending to our wounds and gathering equipment to set out for Multon. Since I was completely lacking in terms of equipment, I was handed a bag that could sit on my back with a strap along my shoulder. It couldn’t hold much, but I didn’t need much. It was packed with sparse outdoors equipment that would serve to help in some specific circumstances. The most important item that was given to me was a small golden coin. Not real gold, mind you, meaning I was still flat broke. But this decoy coin could be crushed in my hand to send out an alert and my location when I crush the coin. I wasn’t going to ask how that exactly worked, but I was going to have to put my faith in it regardless.
After hours passed, Phern pulled out a small basket from a corner of the tent. The basket looked like it held a number of small handmade dolls. Patchwork clothing, twine, and sticks to form different little characters.
“Disguise time! CiCi, do you want your usual?” After receiving a nod, Phern pulled out a doll and set it on the floor. “I’ll go for Geishta this time!” Another doll was placed on the floor. “Okay bandit, pick your poison!”
“Do I just pick one?”
“Whichever you like best!”
Simple enough. I walked up to the basket and looked through the basket of dolls. One in particular caught my eyes. A small doll with long brown hair and a patchwork dress. “This one is neat.” I handed the doll to Phern and she placed it in the row with the other two.
“Okay, stand back!” Phern excitedly exclaimed, rubbing her hands together as she stood over the dolls. She then proceeded to snort and spit a glob of spit into her hands. Gross. She massaged the spit between her two hands, growing it as she pressed and stretched the ball. It certainly wasn’t spit anymore, having the signature glow of something magical. Before long, she had a large blob of bluish green goop that she dropped onto the floor. The goop looked like it had a mind of its own as it crawled out over the dolls squelching in some sort of recognition, and then in 3 different blobs of magic, crawled towards each of us. I shot a look at Phern and Cecelia to see if this was supposed to happen. The two looked unphased, so I took that as a good sign that this was normal as my glob of magic reached my feet. Slowly, and uncomfortably, it sludged its way up my body, spreading its slimy substance across my body as it did so. I felt it spread across my body until it had coated everything but my head.
A shiver of panic trickled through my body as the goop quickly covered my head. I started to panic about not being able to breathe, when the goop seemed to absorb into my skin and disappear altogether. Was it done? I opened my eyes to see that where Phern had been standing, an older looking woman stood hunched over in a ceremonial looking gown. When I looked at Cecelia I saw a pale woman with black pigtails, slick black trousers, and a cropped long sleeve top held together in the center with a ring just beneath her cleavage.
“Simple as that!” Phern, or, who I thought was Phern, spoke in a croaky voice. “Wasn’t that fun, Xav! Come look at yourself!” Phern ushered me over to the hanging mirror within the tent. I was not at all expecting the figure looking back at me.
Had it not been for the way the figure reacted to how I moved, I wouldn’t have believed it was me. In the reflection stood a short woman with long brown hair curled at the ends, shining emerald eyes, and an elegant black dress tied around the waist with green fabric. She was beautiful. I was beautiful. A blush crept onto my face as I stared in disbelief. “Oh Gods…” Even my voice sounded different, a lighter airy tone that drifted through the air.
“Form to your liking?” Phern smiled at me with an inviting grandmotherly tone.
“Oh… uh, yeah. I was going to pick one of the men, but I figured this would make for a better disguise, right?” I gave a weak smile and a laugh, hoping it would allow my logic to be viewed as sound.
“There aren’t any male dolls in the basket though.” Phern cocked her head to the side. I saw Cecelia out of the corner of my eye squint her eyes like she was deeply considering something.
‘Well now isn’t that funny, my little morsel.’
My blush only grew as my words toppled over each other. “R-really? I could’ve sworn I saw some, maybe I’m just tired. O-or concussed?” Maybe I got hit in the head while blacked out and they would believe that excuse.
‘You didn’t, dear.’
Quiet.
“Let’s not waste time. Pack up the tent, Phern, let’s get into town.” Cecelia mercifully interrupted the conversation, saving my ass in the process. I didn’t want to have to continue that conversation, especially not when so many memories of Vyra had been brought up recently. Though if I had to spend some time in this form while we stayed in Multon, I could enjoy it a little bit, right?
I watched as Phern ‘packed up’ the tent. Once she had opened her pack, the entire tent transported itself into her bag almost instantaneously. Quite a handy tent. We began to walk through the forest and towards Multon. Phern hadn’t lied about where they ended up, with the city only being a short 5-minute walk away. I occupied those 5 minutes mostly by thinking over the reflection that I had seen in the tent. Something about it made me smile absentmindedly as we trudged through the thick branches.
I was excited to make it to Multon, having only ever read about the city in books. It was supposed to be a huge source of lumber for the Empire of Kistram, and with the immense forests in this area, it didn’t disappoint. The city itself was nestled so thoroughly within a forest that I questioned if birds could even see there was a city wrapped inside of it from above. It made for a moody atmosphere as we walked up to the front gate with light flooding through in cracks between leaves and branches above. I could even see that part of the city looked to be built in the trees, held up above in the branches. It looked like a children’s dream city with the amount of treehouses floating above the streets.
“Hold!”
Oh. We were here. I looked to the guard that stepped out of the path to stop us, he was wearing the same dark armor that the guards from earlier had worn, and held a spear in his right arm.
“Is something the matter?” Cecelia spoke with concern that quite frankly blew me away. I knew her voice had shifted with our disguises, but she was doing such a convincing job of pretending to be someone much meeker than she usually was.
“Reports of dangerous individuals in the area. We’ll need to ask for names, reasons for travel, and then a simple inspection.” The guard sounded tired, I couldn’t blame him for being bored of standing guard hours at a time.
“Oh, sure sweetie.” Phern gave a soothing smile, rummaging through her bag before pulling out a glistening sphere. “My name is Geishta Goolinth, care for a sunderby candy?” She thrusted the candied sphere forward with her crooked fingers.
“No.” The guard looked extremely uncomfortable, and I again could not blame him. Whatever Phern had said the candy was had not been in any book I’d ever read.
Cecelia spoke up next. “I’m Tulip Blossom. We’re travelling through to Thrum for business, that’s all.” Tulip Blossom?! Oh I was absolutely going to make fun of her for that first chance we get. It’s like she read a children’s book on subterfuge.
‘Stupid name for a stupid Life Hunter’
Quit it, Lilith.
“And you?” The guard looked at me, and I was met with the horrifying realization that I had never come up with a fake name for the disguise. For all the shit I gave to Cecelia, she had at least prepared.
“Oh, uh, me. Yes! I’m here with my friends Tulip Blossom and Geishta Goolinth for business. My name is-” I did my best to stall, but there was no avoiding it now, I acted on pure instinct. “-Ester.”
The guard cocked an eyebrow up. “Last name?”
“Ester Illona” I smiled, heart racing through my chest as I realized what I had just done.
“Okay, I was told to inspect the upper backs of anyone entering Multon. Awkward, I know, but if you wouldn't mind, ladies.”
Ladies? That was… nice.
Cecelia went first, though as I soon found out, it was so that she could move into position behind the guard to gesture at me. She hurriedly waved to get my attention, then pointed to her back, and then mimed a finger cutting her throat.
Did my tattoo not get covered by the disguise? How was that possible? My mind raced as I thought of any way I could get out of this. The guard had just finished checking Phern and was now moving towards me to pull down the back of my shirt like he had done the previous two people.
“Don’t you dare put your hand on me!” I yelled. “I’m utterly shocked you didn’t recognize my name when I said it but I am a famous artist from the north! If you mar my skin with poverty by touching me, I will siphon money away from your family bit by bit until you have to shine my very own shoes to have the money to feed yourself!”
The guard stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. I could tell he was thinking over his decision, but he must have decided it was not worth the risk as he said, “Fine, I don’t get paid enough for this, anyway.” and moved to the side to let us pass.
I don’t know where that came from, and I’m not sure I wanted to know, but I was just glad I lied my way around the inspection. Cecelia shot me a look as if to say ‘what was that?’, I simply shrugged.
With that, we had made it into Multon, and I felt like it might be my first opportunity to truly clean myself up, buy supplies, and eat a nice meal. Well… maybe not that last one. Gonna have to get used to that. I was just happy to be out of harm’s way.
“Excuse me, miss? May I have a word?” I turned to face a familiar man, the grease on his face practically dripping off his nose. Markus.