Once I was done riding that terrifying whirlwind of emotions, I very carefully packed them back into their little Pandora's Box and stowed them in my mental freezer for later. It was honestly very presumptuous of me, because Pandora's Box couldn’t be closed, but maybe the emotions would just sit in it and… chill? Maybe?
Whatever. I had a task to complete, and having a breakdown over my gender and name was not really all that productive.
From the bedroom I was in, I picked out a pair of thick jeans, another sports bra, a red tank top, and a heavy brown leather jacket. With the exception of the tank top, all of the clothing was a little small for me, but that just made me look hotter, somehow. Which in turn gave me all sorts of strange and conflicted feelings.
The last part of the ensemble came from near the front door. There, I found a pair of chunky steel-toed work boots that fit me pretty well. You were just asking for trouble if you were going out to do crazy shit without good boots.
In the mirror, I gave myself a long, slow once-over. Damn, I looked good in a proper outfit. The way the jacket didn't quite reach my hips so that my waist was just visible… oh geez. I had to say, I wouldn't have minded one bit if I were born like this.
I was going to hit this apocalypse in style! But… preferably with my axe, which I needed to go get. So, squaring my shoulders, I headed for the door and hit the road.
When I made it to the shop where I hid my stuff, I saw that the door there had been clawed at, but the marks were small. They almost looked… huh, yeah, those were standard raccoon paw sized. So some hadn't mutated? I hoped the little guys were doing okay.
My gear was still where I left it, and I fished my hatchet out of the barrel before covering it again. I considered bringing my camping supplies, but I wanted to save them. If I took them into the school there was very little guarantee I'd get to use them myself. Having a stash in case I needed it was just good planning.
Leaving the barrel behind, I started towards my actual objective. The streets were somehow even more eerie today than yesterday, although apart from a few obvious signs of animal and monster activity, nothing was different. I considered heading for Central Avenue, but then thought better. There were two grocery stores and a convenience store there, so the firefighters were sure to be there. I didn’t really feel like getting into any human interaction as Silver right now. It scared the shit out of me.
I would have to cross it eventually, though—both the street, and the metaphorical bridge that was speaking to others in my Silver persona.
A few minutes later, I was trekking through the side streets when I turned a corner and stopped dead. Ho-holy shot. It was the most intense, grisly scene of human suffering I'd seen so far. Body parts and organs were scattered all over the place, and blood pooled thick and sticky in the gutters.
The people looked like they'd been killed in the night, rather than yesterday. Just like with the cops, my stomach lurched and my heart was leaden, but I cautiously entered the site of carnage and steeled myself.
One of the bodies moved, and my heart jumped into my throat. Oh god, someone was still alive.
In the middle of it all, a child was crouched next to the upper torso and head of an older woman. The child wore typical clothing for an elementary schooler, or maybe early middle. Either way, their back was turned and they were just… hunched there with their hands working on something out of view.
Oh, god. Either this was a kid in shock next to their dead mother… or this was something on a different tier of terrifying compared to all the mutated animals.
"Hey… kid? Are you okay?" I called, disliking how much I sounded like a horror movie side character.
The child froze and very slowly turned its head to look directly at me. I was behind it. It didn't move its torso one inch.
I recoiled in horror as the thing turned the rest of its body to face me while maintaining unbroken eye contact. It looked so much like a child in those clothes, but its face was… ugly. It had long, downwards swept pointed ears that bristled with patchy hair. Its nose was long, thin, and curved upwards, before it split into two bulbs of flesh. Behind that, two beady black eyes were filled with a deep and malicious intelligence.
Slowly, the creature creased its thin lips into a clown's manic grin. "My, you're pretty. H—here… do you like my hat?"
It lifted the item, a large floppy woman's hat… but absolutely dripping with blood, and roughly stitched around the edge of the brim was a length of human intestine. Oh. That's what it’d been doing. Making a hat… using the dead woman.
The only thing that kept me from vomiting was the lack of food in my stomach and the fear coursing through my veins.
"Did you kill these people?" I asked, ignoring the offered garment.
It waved a hand in a so-so gesture. "Some of them. My brothers killed the rest. It was so much fun! It was like a party!"
Iron resolve locked in place throughout my limbs, and I pulled my hatchet from my belt. I was supposedly an angel, and I decided right then and there that I was the type of angel that avenged the innocent. This thing would die for its moral failings.
A Redcap. Be wary, they are never alone, and they always have a trick up their sleeve. I approve of your mission, however. Kill this thing in my name, and you will be rewarded for your efforts.
"Which name?" I asked under my breath. “Chelu?”
Yes, I would say Chelu, but you have just changed your name, and you are my only true follower currently. Perhaps it is time to reinvent myself? It's always very fun when I do! Ah, a reference perhaps, for those who are paying attention. Call me… Cynath, goddess of Luna, war, and beauty. Kill this thing, for it is an enemy of the latter — of beauty.
I nodded, and with that agreement came a swell of emotion from my goddess’ mind to mine. I felt myself grow cold and hard. Deadly purpose and divine wrath sheathed me like armour. Cynath was sending me her immortal willpower to use as my own, so that I could steady my hand and fight the mockery of childhood innocence in front of me.
“Redcap. What you have done is wrong, and I see no remorse behind your eyes to give me pause. You will die.”
It almost seemed… confused by my sudden shift in demeanour, and possibly by the overly formal speech I gave. It felt… right to talk like that, though. An avenging angel didn't use informal speech.
It's confusion only lasted a moment, though. Its expression shifted into delight once again and it said, “Oh, goodie! I needed more guts! The others took them all! So rude.”
I rushed forwards as fast as I could go — and with the length of my stride in this body, that was fast. All around me the street began to writhe with redcaps, too many to count in the moment. Fuck! Where did they all come from? Clearly I needed to upgrade my perception at some point.
I almost hesitated when they appeared, but I forced through my stunned surprise. Hesitation would kill me, and I had a lot of courage to spare right then, thanks to Cynath.
Kill it quick. You will gain enough experience from its death to ascend a level. Once you reach four, you will need to quickly unlock Moonbeam. It is a smite skill exclusive to followers of lunar goddesses. The weapon in its hand will be imbued with enough magic to allow you to cast from your off-hand. Cynath explained quickly, careful to speak with intent and meaning behind her words — a layer of subtext that allowed for me to process what she was saying faster than I otherwise would've.
As the last of the distance between me and my first target vanished, we made our opening moves. Silver fury engulfed my axe, and in one motion, I dodged the redcap's lunge and drove the spike of my hatchet into its stomach. There was a concussive thump as my ability went off. The blast threw the redcap off my weapon, spraying pinkish blood in all directions. A rough copper knife clattered to the pavement beside it. The weapon was little more than a shard of green-tinged metal with a handle of wrapped leather, but it was exactly what I needed. I ducked and scooped it off the ground while desperately navigating the synesthetic UI of the system. A spell, I was looking for a spell.
There, like she’d said — my class was at level four. Three choices were arrayed around it, waiting to be selected. I didn’t look through them. I just pushed my thoughts into the one that smelled like Cynath and raised the dagger in my hand when it filled instantly with mana.
“Burn!”
My throat ached with the power behind the word, and a beam of concentrated pale light slammed down into the closest charging redcap. Dust billowed out from the point of impact, and the redcap screamed when its stolen clothing melted into its flesh.
Charred, broken, and writhing, it fell to the side. I ignored it, because it had four more friends. The next one rushed me with— a cream-coloured kitchen knife? Oh shit, ceramic?
Pain lanced down my thigh where the knife parted denim and flesh with awful ease. Growling and high on adrenaline, I pushed through the pain and drove my new dagger into its neck. Pink, frothy blood boiled out of the mortal wound like a grotesque strawberry milkshake, and I jerked away. The movement saved me from getting a child-sized baseball bat to the knee.
Needing an edge, I took the risk of activating my debuff aura and was instantly rewarded with grunts of discomfort from the remaining three murderous redcaps. The one with the baseball bat was only mildly deterred, and it lashed out, spittle and rage spewing from its cracked lips. Fumbling clumsily with my weapon, I barely managed to catch it with the top of my axe. Inside me, a slight urgent sensation let me know my empowered strike was off cooldown.
Shoving the smaller creature’s weapon out of the way, I roared and hewed at its neck like I was felling a tree. Acid, moonlight, and iron burned a path through its neck and out the other side. It wasn’t a clean cut. The axe wasn’t that sharp. It was a brutal beheading, done with magic and raw force. The neck became ragged pulp, while the head spun off to land with a wet splat on the pavement.
The other two redcaps, when I turned to face them, didn’t look quite so enthusiastic about acquiring my intestines anymore. They glanced at each other with mounting fear, then turned to flee.
“Nope, not happening,” I growled, and threw my axe. Come on, Marc, lend me your knife-throwing skills! So many hours spent messing around in the back yard with his ‘black market’ kunai — I had to have learned something.
Nope. The axe’s handle caught the redcap I wasn’t aiming at in the arm. It stumbled, though, so I got a consolation prize, I guess? I was so surprised by the weird hit that I forgot to follow up, and it quickly recovered. Fuck.
Wait, I had my new spell!
“Burn!” I cried, and raised the copper shiv once more. White fire flashed down from the sky with a whoosh, igniting one of the fleeing pair. Skin bubbled and hair burst into flame, putting the total number of enemies that escaped down to one. Better than nothing, I suppose.
Here. Cynath said, jolting me out of my post-combat daze. One of the corpses pulsed gently with divine light. The second one dropped something. Also, you should probably tend to your wound. It is bleeding quite a lot, and this environment gives the abattoir of Yton a run for its money.