Book One Chapter Six

# **Chapter VI:**

## Strial, IZ 144/6/76 (T), Friday, December 36, 2058, Dewey Yolipa

The wind whipped through the trees above me, blowing leaves and pine needles around me. It made me feel like I could control the wind. I was standing on the porch of the abandoned cabin I had claimed as my home a couple of months back. I didn't have a proper home for many reasons, and living the woods was much more appealing than living in the city anyways. I've always enjoyed solitude, perhaps more than others.

I've always been the explorer type, and the place I settled into was one I had discovered a couple of months back on one of my more daring expeditions. I found this cabin in the middle of the woods, resting near the top of a cliff which overlooks the ocean. When I first set eyes upon this house I knew I wanted to fix it up and live in it, and so I ended up doing just that, though I moved in much quicker than expected.

This place became the spot, and I had loved everything about it. All around the cabin is a forest full of tall pine trees and tall, old maple trees which don't allow much light to shine down to the forest floor. There are plenty of animals that come around here, which is very beneficial for me seeing as my only other source of food is stealing it from the small town a couple of kilometers away where I had lived for a bit.

On the highest point of the cliff, there's a maple that overlooks the sea which is easy enough to climb, and from there you can look out and see far off into the distance with a panoramic view. If it wasn't so windy I'd climb up there like I usually do and stare off towards the distant city on the horizon. Sometimes I like to look out and try to piece together how life is going on without me, probably being the exact same as it always is.

It seemed rather obvious to me that nobody really cared about my disappearance, nobody really cared about me as a person, except for one person. There was one person who I cared about, but he's gone now. He was a big orange fluffy fox coronian, pretty shy but very kind and caring. I don't remember how exactly we met, but after we did we became best friends, the way I saw it we were more than friends, almost like siblings.

He used to pick me up and carry me around, he was much taller than me so I was pretty much getting carried like a child. I liked it though, and I miss the feel of his fur when I would hug him every day before we parted ways to go to our separate homes. He never told me where he lived, nor did I ever know who his parents were. It's not like I didn't ask though, he just seemed really cagey on that for some reason.

The day it happened was like any other, and we decided to take a detour through the woods. I think he was going to take me to his home for the first time, but we were attacked. That caused me to get as far from Stonemill as possible, and so I moved to Strial, a country which is essentially on the other side of the world. I had family in Utreisal Sands, the city that's not too far from here, but it was clear that they didn't give a shit about me.

Being viewed as lower than nothing made life very miserable, which was one of the reasons I explored the woods around so much. Getting into nature was my escape from life in the city, and in the eleven months I had lived here, things only got worse and worse for me. On the 24th of October, I got the perfect chance to get out of here. It wouldn't be hard to just slip away, but I always wanted to go out with a bang.

Even though everyone knew about it, I don't think anyone cared. It didn't matter to me though, the woods were my new home. I remember the legends of strange things in these woods, but I'm pretty sure people say that about every forest in the world, unless that's just here and Stonemill. In my time here, I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary, so either there's nothing, or I'm the 'anomaly' they talk about.

The wind started to die down, so I stepped out into the woods and walked towards the cliff. I sat down on the edge where I normally do and stared out into the ocean. The breeze kissed my face and blew my shaggy hair about. I could sit here for hours watching the waves against the shore. I come here every day and get lost in the waves or the clouds, and I couldn't get through the day if I hadn't done it for at least a couple minutes.

That day probably held a record for the longest I've lost myself, going from midday to a couple hours after sundown. The light of the moon and the stars shone beautifully onto the sea. I was surprised by how much it cleared up at sunset, seeing how overcast the entire day was. I was really glad it did clear up enough to reveal the lightshow over the waters. I could watch this for even longer, but it cut short by a weird distant noise.

It sounded like a scream, but it was so faint and distant that I couldn't know for sure. Part of me told me to leave it alone, but the explorer in me was telling me to search. It sounded like it came from my right, facing the ocean which would put it very roughly southwest from me. I walked over to the maple tree on the cliff and climbed up to the top to see if I could spot anything, and sure enough, I could make out a light in the distance.

The light was faint and looked as if it was escaping a room, but I could tell there was *something* out there. I wasn't sure how I didn't notice it, maybe it's not always on? I realized as well that I never really went in that direction for whatever reason. It was away from Utreisal Sands, so therefore more isolation, but I suppose I never got around to it. I climbed close to the bottom and then hopped down, running through the woods in the direction of the light.

Almost every other day, I would go on a short morning run, and this wasn't too different. Running through the woods downhill at night is surprisingly very, very fun, and also very dangerous. I was no stranger to wiping out on my morning runs, but surprisingly it didn't happen during the night. When I started to get tired of running, I continued walking in the same direction, continuing through the forest in search of what I thought was another cabin like mine.

As I got close to where I pinpointed the source, I could make it out through the trees. When I was about to run, I was stopped by a heavy sense of dread running through my head. I had never felt anything like this before which seemed to make it much worse. Though I could feel an evil presence here, I could hear the voice in the back of my head telling me to go forward, and so I did. Slowly emerging through the trees, a very out-of-place large metal shed came into view.

I call it a shed but it looked more like a garage or something similar to that. I surely didn't remember seeing this here before so I just assumed it was new or that I never came across it. I stepped forwards and approached the building. The floor was made of concrete, with a small platform of concrete the width of the large doors extending from the wall. Two large steel doors were open and spilling light out into the darkness of the forest.

The walls looked somewhat weathered which seemed to suggest that the building was at least a couple of years old. The roof was curved and there were thin windows high up on the walls and doors. I noticed that the top part of the walls above the windows and probably the roof were painted to look like a canopy from above. The forest encroached close against the building which would usually be unwanted, but it seemed like this place was intentionally hidden.

Crossing the doors and gazing inside, I was met with a grizzly sight. Inside the room was a body laying in a pool of what I assumed to be their own dark orange blood, as well as a lone chair. I felt my heart drop when I saw it, and I almost threw up. I walked inside to get a closer look, passing under bright lights hanging down from the metal rafters. Upon closer inspection, it was a male; easy to tell because their clothes were sprawled all over the ground around them.

He had long golden hair with black streaks, with stains of dark orange from the ground. His body, arms, and legs were torn by cuts and bullet holes. Two long horns stuck out from his hair wavy hair, slightly scratched from the rough ground. he was a bit taller than me, my guess was around 5'7. He looked pretty young too, which made me very sad. His right hand was over his chest and his left was limp. It almost looked like he had been kicked to the ground into his position.

There was another large door on the other side of the room which was open as well, and some small barrels and shelves of assorted items, all clearly meant for killing. The wounds and blood appeared to be fresh, possibly less than an hour old. I was almost certain that this was the source of the scream, but it raised far more questions than it answered. Above his head and the chair there was a message written in blood on the floor, which read the following:

"Remember me when I go, I ask of thee my friend and foe.

I give my soul to those I love, to fly away somewhere above.

Ripped away from this world too soon, under the light of a brilliant moon.

To you who watches, my torch I turn, to never forget dead stars still burn."

Reading the short poem put a tear in my eye. Above the poem was a pair of sunglasses which I assumed were left as a parting gift. I took them to remember the deceased by because I'm sure that's what he would have wanted. I considered wearing them right then and there, but that seemed disrespectful and unnecessary. Before I could get too sentimental over the message, I heard a voice from the door I entered through ahead of me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Standing before me was a man of above average height with long and scraggly black hair what was tied into a pony tail at the back. His clothes were covered in dark brown blood and he had a big knife and a pistol in two holsters on his right and left legs respectively. His arms and cheeks seemed to be bruised and his face had a faint deep red stain which appeared to be that of his own blood which had been wiped away.

He wore what could be described as a school uniform, a long-sleeved collared shirt with a black leather vest over it. There was some kind of insignia embroidered into the right side in red string, but I couldn't make it out. He very clearly meant business, and even a blind person could tell that this guy killed the other man in the room. I decided to let him speak, hoping that he would either give me a good monologue or talk himself into a corner.

"Looks like I'm luckier than I thought, two in one night."

"..."

"So you're a quiet one huh? I'll make you scream,"

The only thing he was making me do was yawn and make me feel second-hand embarrassment. He seemed to have a very threatening aura, and I could feel a strange presence from him. I knew what it was, I've felt this type of presence before, but it wasn't the same. It was intense, but it wasn't blaring loud alarm bells in my head, which slightly eased my mind. He looked very threatening on the outside, but he didn't speak the way I expected.

"..."

"Why don't you say anything?"

"Why don't you? You've wasted a minute without saying really anything. Where's your monologue?"

"I didn't have one prepared, what more do you want from me?"

"To intimidate me at the very least,"

As we talked, I could feel another presence, far worse than his emerge behind me. I decided to try and let them approach, being unsure if it would have been working with or against this man. I shifted my focus from his speech to the presence for a second, completely missing what he was saying. I could tell that this presence was the same one I felt from him, but a lot stronger and familiar. I *recognized* it, I knew that feeling anywhere.

"... and then I took him here and you know the rest,"

"You're a sick bastard aren't you?"

"You could say that,"

"I've always thought a killer like you would have more pride for their work?"

"I'm not a killer, I didn't *kill* him did I?"

"Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Haha, you're a hoot! I like your type! Also, don't turn around,"

I realized that whatever presence I was picking up was right behind me. My first rection was to turn around, and I locked eyes with Him, well everyone calls him Him, but I like to call him C. When we locked eyes, a grin flew across my face. "Long time no see," I thought. He was standing halfway between me and the door, and after the other man now wearing a confused expression gestured for him to come over, he stayed as far away from me as possible.

"It's you again,"

He spoke with scorn in his voice. I could see a bit of sweat on his forehead. Seeing the two of them standing together and whispering loudly to each other sent a wave of adrenaline through my body. We were excited to say the least. I watched with a wide stance as the both of them argued with each other about something I didn't care about. I felt a familiar burning on my hands and glanced down to see them engulfed in a deep purple fire.

"Not yet, you'll get your chance soon" I whispered to myself. The flames died down a bit, but still burnt from my knuckles.

The two were loudly whispering about me, and it seemed like C was reminding the other man about me. The two of us had met before, and I had hoped we'd meet again soon. They went on and on about my past and other random things, but then they got too quiet for me to eavesdrop. They talked like that for two minutes, and then they fell silent. The two of them looked at each other and nodded, and in a second they pulled out their weapons and charged forwards.

"It's about time," I said.

The deep purple flames took me over, and then it emerged. My little secret is that I share a body with an angel made of purple of fire named Azrael. Ever since I became the anomaly I am, he's been with me. At first out relationship admittedly wasn't the best, but over time it's gotten a lot better, to the point where we function almost as a single unit. It hurts like hell when he takes over, but I love it when he does. I don't have control, but I can still see and hear everything, and boy do I love to take the passenger's side sometimes.

When Azrael appeared in front of the both of them, they both stopped in their tracks. Azrael is the same height as me, and its body follows the same form with the exception of flames that billow from its knuckles and head. I could make out that the light its body emitted was slightly but to a noticeable degree. I could feel a rush, and I'm sure Azzie did too. I call him that but I am fairly certain he does not like that nickname but I use it just as often as his real name, often interchanging the two.

"Now you're scared, huh?" It laughed in their faces. His voice was deep and menacing, but most importantly loud.

"Good to see you again, whatever it is you are," C. spoke through gritted teeth. I couldn't tell if he was mad, scared, or a mix of both.

"I am the force of vengeance, surprised I had to tell you that. You seem to be smarter than you look."

"What do you want from us?" the black-haired man shouted.

"My purpose is to observe, to stalk ones like you who think this is a game. I don't need to be around to know how you think, especially you, C."

"C?" It appeared as though the black-haired man didn't know anything about C's name.

"It's nothing he just likes to call me that,"

"You know damn well what it means, and if someone a bit more loose-lipped was after you at this point, you'd be in trouble."

"I wouldn't say that you're really *after* me seeing as it's been quite a while,"

"Count your days C, if it's not me it'll be someone even worse. Maybe you won't need to count your days heh heh," Azrael stepped closer to the two of them to get a better look at them.

"How do you know so much if I may ask?"

"I know everything about your type. Your connection to the source of your power is what drives me to you. I know who you are, Robin."

"You seem to be a lot more protecting of C over there huh? Why is that?" C gave him a stern look for referring to him as that.

"He's a powerful enemy and a mysterious man, and seeing as not even you know that much about him, I thought I won't ruin the fun too early, so to speak."

"If we weren't enemies I'd admire your attitude," Robin seemed to be just as cocky as C.

"Then I'll have to change it."

Azrael conjured a sword made of the same purple flames as its body and pointed it towards the two of them, gesturing with the other hand for them to come at him. The two brought it on and took two angles. Though they were bigger than us, they seemed to be pretty scared. Azrael was quick and managed to catch the blade out of C's hand and melted it partially. It hurt me a lot but it didn't seem to hurt him. The two of them kept going at us, in a back and forth pattern of sorts.

Even though they're awful people, I had to admire their teamwork and communication skills. They actually landed a couple hits on us, but it didn't look like it did much damage. I saw that the blade wasn't cutting it, so I told Azzie to put it down and use its fists. The tides seemed to turn and they were getting their shit kicked in. It was ironic that the two stone-cold killers were now the ones bleeding, at least for one of them it seemed to be their first round tonight.

At one point, Robin tried to shoot us, but the pullets passed right through like nothing was there, coming out slightly melted on the other side and making their way through the roof. Azrael stood there and laughed at him. C came from behind with a large sheet of metal from the wall, but he got tripped just as Robin tried to pick up Azzie's sword, but burnt his hands in the process. Even though we could win with just our fists, I saw the perfect opportunity and I told it to get the blade and go for it.

C got himself into the perfect spot on the ground for a good strike, but before he could bring down the blade, Robin grabbed C's arm and the two of them teleported away. In an instant, what seemed like the perfect chance was gone too soon. I could almost feel how disappointed Azrael was. We seemed to have a vague emotional connection at times, especially when it was feeling really strong emotions. I could tell it wanted to say more, and the fact we were alone didn't stop it from doing so.

"Cowards, cowards, cowards. I do not blame them for running away from a fight they couldn't win, but I'm surprised their ego didn't take them further. So close to that strike, yet I couldn't have been further from at the very least cutting him open, for it is He who is to blame for everything, and like a dog I will stalk him until he can't run any further. The taste of vengeance is sweet, now more than ever, now that the taste of blood is fresh and now that he isn't holding punches anymore.

I can see his every action now. Since his blood has touched my hands I feel as if I have gained a deeper understanding of him. There is no mercy, no deeper thoughts, or if there are then they are so far gone that not even the sharpest knifes can cut them free. I hope beyond this curse there is someone underneath whose screaming at the top of his lungs, but I may never know for sure. Until then, I can only look on in horror or stop him dead. I may rest now."

The flames died down, revealing my scarred body once again from the head and legs and finishing at my knuckles. I flipped my hair back and snapped myself back to reality. It took me a moment of getting my bearings to remember the body that was sitting behind me on the ground. Somehow, the message and pool of blood weren't disturbed in the fight. I went up to him, and upon closer inspection, he was *moving,* ever so slightly. I put a hand to his neck to check his pulse, and sure enough there was one.

Without wasting a second, I went into medic mode and got to work. I looked around the room and spotted a med kit and gauze on the left wall. It didn't make much sense for there to me a med kit in a room like this, but I assumed it would come in handy if the victim ever fought back. I got to work and started wrapping gauze around his torso, arms, and legs and stitching together the wounds which were too large.

His orange blood was already soaking through the gauze and I quickly applied more. It amazed me how he managed to survive so close to the brink of death after what I assumed would have been certain death, but then one of Robin's words came back into my mind. "I'm not a killer". It all became so clear to me. It wasn't some sarcastic remark, he was serious about it. I could gather that he intentionally didn't kill his victims, putting them on the brink of death and leaving them to bleed out or to be found my someone like me.

Once I was satisfied with his state, I picked him up and started the long journey back up the hill. I had forgotten it was still the dead of night which made the climb a bit more difficult. Never did I think I would be carrying a body up this cliff, but there's a first for everything it seems. As I neared the top, I started to feel my grip give out. The hill got pretty steep at this point, but a quick reminder of what I was fighting for allowed me to push through to the top.

I swung the door open and laid the body carefully on the large coffee table in what appeared to be a small common area. Now that I was in the comfort of my own home, I could dress the wounds a lot more effectively. I removed some of the gauze and started to clean out the wounds to his torso first, gently washing with water and then dressing the wounds with alcohol before putting another layer of gauze over it.

Whilst I waited for that to try, I washed and dried his clothes, thinking he would appreciate having clean clothes, which surprisingly weren't damaged which led to me believe they were removed before Robin nearly murdered him. I didn't want to think about what else he may have done to him, or anyone else for that he may have encountered. The one thing we neglected to ask was possibly my most burning question, regarding how long he'd been at this.

When we say that we know *everything* about them, it's not the complete truth. We know who they are and we can read their thoughts when they're somewhat close and/or vulnerable to being read from a distance, but it's not like we constantly know all of their thoughts or the complete history of their actions. Another thing we know is how they encountered the curse and how it changed them, though the curse isn't really like a corruption.

It indeed does change how the afflicted act, but it won't turn a given person to violence, only enhancing those tendencies in some. That seemed to be what was happening with these two, and if I had to guess they were already violent before, but they started to really act once they became cursed. We know for sure that C only started when he was afflicted, though we do not know about Robin, and if I had to guess he'd been doing it before he was afflicted, possibly by C.

Those afflicted are able to spread the curse to others through a process I'm unaware of. Azrael knows but I do not. What the curse does is reward the afflicted with more power as they either help or harm other living things. It can either increase kind or violent tendencies in those afflicted, and unfortunately it seems to lean heavily towards the violent side which is why the world needs creatures like Azrael who can sniff it out and hunt them down, hopefully before it gets too bad.

From what Azzie has told me, the curse is somewhat new and only started appearing in the past five-hundred years or so, the universe slowly catching onto it and creating beasts fit to stop it, angels being one of them. Although angels are believed to have existed for longer, their sole purpose of delivering justice and ridding the world of the rising threat from the introduction of all of these strange curses, as well as the corruption we all know and love.

I usually find myself talking to Azrael, often out loud where it can hear me the best, and I am usually able to hear what its saying from the back of my head. These types of monologues are a usual course of conversation between the two of us, and that morning was no different, although we talked about the boy on my coffee table and Robin mostly. I was extremely paranoid that I made a horrible mistake in attempting surgery on him, especially because I got a shitty grade in my healthcare course.

When the dawn began to shine through the windows, I realized just how long I had been at this for. I made myself breakfast and ate it on a stool near the coffee table. I stared through the open window into the trees and the clouds, watching the breeze dance the leaves and sticks across the forest floor. Every day's a peaceful windy day on this high hill, the smell of pine and sea spray lingering heavy in the air. It's the little things like this that made me want to live alone and isolated.

As I stared out into the morning, I heard movement on the table behind me. I turned around to see the boy on the table starting to get up, clearly very shaken and confused. His breathing was heavy and he was looking all around in a panic. I stepped forward and calmed him down a bit, and then I ran off to the small kitchen to get him some water. I returned with a full cup which he chugged in two seconds. He looked at me and paused for a moment, and then speak in a weak voice.

"I'm sure you're wondering what happened to me, so uh here goes." I sat down and looked into his eyes, allowing him to continue.

"Alright, so it was just a normal day, just like any other. I was talking with a couple of friends on a hill in the forest beside the ashes of my old street which burnt down a while ago, staring into the midday sky, and then I was swallowed by a wormhole and dropped in the middle of a forest in the middle of the night. I cried during the time it took for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, and as they did I saw the figure of a black-haired man appear.

Before I could even comprehend what was going to happen, he pulled out a gun and shot me in my side. He pulled me through the forest and into a nearby building he seemed to have just cleaned out. When I caught a glimpse of everything in the room, I knew what was about to happen. He threw me on the ground and grabbed some rope from the wall to his right and tossed it onto the chair in the middle of the room.

I felt a rush of adrenaline blow through me seeing him stare down at me. I had a very risky idea, but it seemed to be the only thing that would work and I just had to wait for the right time. He grabbed me by the feet and I let him take my shoes and socks off, as well as my pants. He let go for a moment and I ripped my shirt off and rolled it into a sort of whip. "This is fucking stupid" I thought to myself, but I wasn't going to be another nameless victim.

I took two steps and swiped for his head but hitting his shoulder, following it up with an elbow to the back of his head, knocking him off-balance. He turned around with his knife drawn, but seeing me ready to box him made him seem to reconsider. He threw it to the ground and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He was quick, but I seemed to be faster on my feet even if that was barefoot on concrete. His first swing hit my shoulder, but after that I was able to dodge his punches effectively.

Though it wasn't to the point where I was running circles around him, I was still surprisingly faster than him. I managed to land a couple of punches in a row, finishing with an uppercut to the jaw, of which I could feel the impact of and a leg swipe. He fell to the ground and I stared down at him the same way he stared at me. I saw a grin spread across his face, a mix of respect and hatred, though it faded very quickly.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?" I shouted at him.

"Not even close, kid,"

I hopped back just in time to avoid his attempt at tripping me. He looked like he was getting tired and I still felt like I could climb a marathon and run a marathon back down. He rushed forwards to grab me and I punched him in the nose, sending him back. He grabbed onto my right arm, and I pulled his hand off with the left while leaping back. He had bloodlust in his eyes when he looked back at me with blood pouring down from his nose.

Keeping myself steady while he stared me deep in the eyes with hatred. I hopped around a bit and strafed to the right, further from the chair. I started to feel my throat burning and I knew I couldn't keep it up for much longer so my objective was to end it. Like before, he charged at me with his right arm flying towards my face. I caught it in the air, spun around and tossed him towards the chair, nearly knocking him over again. He came back and I kicked him in the chest.

He fell onto his back on the cold concrete, swiftly hopping up from the ground and coming back to his feet. Every time he hot up, he seemed more and more tired, but more and more menacing. Again, he stared dead into my soul, however this time there was fire in his eyes. Suddenly I could sense a horrible dread, rising from out of nowhere. It seemed like a switch was flipped, but I tried to ignore it. I didn't let his fear tactics get to me.

As always, he too the first move and swiped for my face, just barely missing. I shoved him away and leaned forwards to punch him back, hitting him square in the shoulder. Hard. He came back from the other side with an upper cut, again just barely missing me and while his face was above me, I swung my left elbow square into it. He kicked me in the rib but I showed him why I barely used my legs in a fight by grabbing it, sending his back to the ground and tossing him to my right.

I let out a battle cry that echoed through the night. I glared at him as he sat on the floor, possibly contemplating what he was going to do next. I felt the urge to turn and run away, but I was in too deep now. My plan was not to kill him, but to get him unconscious at the very least. I didn't want to be a killer like him, and I was just as tired as he was but I didn't show it. He stood up and dusted off his shirt which appeared to be some sort of school uniform and glared at me.

"Well, well, well. That was a bloody good show! I like it when they put up a fight." He spoke with unexpected excitement.

"So this is some kind of job of yours, isn't it?"

"I do treat it somewhat like that yes,"

"..."

"Anyways, I liked your attitude and spirit. I wanted to ask if you wanted to work with me."

"I'd rather die."

"Whelp, you said it,"

He pulled out his pistol and shot me in the leg, forcing me to the ground. In an instant, I could feel all of the fire and hope that filled my heart disappear into thin air. He walked towards me and I went to punch him in the gut, but he stabbed me in the chest as I went forwards. I almost fell into his arms as he picked me up and brought me over to the chair, setting me down onto it and tying me down to it with the nearby rope. I wanted to fight, but I knew I couldn't.

All the fight was gone, and all I could do was sit there and wait for him to get things over with, but I already knew he was going to take his time. My back was tied firm to the chair, but he didn't bother to tie down my legs, assuming a bullet in the leg was enough to keep me down. Another crazy idea was bubbling to the surface, but I wasn't sure if I would get the chance at this point. I could tell he wasn't going to let me get away this time.

He started walking around the chair, throwing his knife up and down and catching it, whistling along. Was he waiting for something? Someone? I wasn't sure but it looked to me as though he was either buying some time, drawing out my torture, or both. He made three laps around the chair before stopping in front of me. He took a step forward and rubbed the blade against my chest, casting several small cuts in the flesh.

"You know, you look really familiar to me, though I can't quote place it."

"I don't know where you would have seen me before, I'm from Stonemill," I was shaking as I spoke, a horrible possibility was starting to set in.

"I'm from there too, I just like setting up these sites all around the world. I can teleport so it's not a problem for me."

"In Stonemill as well I'm assuming,"

"Yup. I use that one the most. Oh I think I know why you're so familiar," An evil grin spread across his face. I knew the words that he was about to speak before they fell out of his mouth.

"I killed your family, didn't I?"

It all came rushing back to me. First it was my older brother who was killed for knowing too much. This was years before, and on the same night almost every house on that street went up in flames. I've learned to let go of it all, forgetting the reason he was targeted. I assumed it wasn't this man who killed him, but I couldn't be sure. For my two sisters however, I knew. Same type of setting they were found in, a building like this in the middle of a thick forest.

"Kosa and Kay..."

"Yeah, those two. I'm surprised they didn't dismantle the site after someone got found. My intent was to leave them and once I'm sure they're dead I toss them into the woods and prep it for another. It's a neat and tidy system. Funniest part is that I didn't even make these buildings, I just managed to come across four of them in random places. I'm pretty sure they're not meant to be here, though I don't know what I have that thought."

"Do you know about my older brother or no? Just curious."

"Nope. I had nothing to do with that."

"How can I trust you?"

"If you don't want to trust me that's on you. I don't lie to my victims, it's not like you're gonna get out of here,"

"I'll prove you wrong, asshole."

"I would love to see you try. If you manage to survive, I'll give you this knife and my respect."

He took the knife and stabbed me in the chest with it again. He lifted my arms and slashed them, doing the same to my legs thereafter. He stood back and placed his hand on his chin, seeming very dissatisfied. He whispered something to himself, but I couldn't make it out. He pulled out his pistol and fired six shots towards me, three of them hitting my chest, one hitting my arm and two into the concrete. I begun to felt tired, but I tried to not let go.

With that, he seemed satisfied and stepped towards me, staring deep into my eyes with a smug look on his face. I stared at him with a hate so strong it could melt the walls of this tomb. I had lost a lot of blood, maybe too much to still be as conscious as I was. My own bronze blood covered my body and limbs and had formed a large pool on the floor around the chair. He drew the knife close to me again and cut the ropes loose.

"Get on the ground."

"..."

"GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!" He brought the gun to my cheek and pulled the trigger, the force sending me to the ground. He moved the chair and stood a couple paces in front of me. I thought he was going to kill me right then and there, but he told me something else.

"I want you to write your last words in your own blood."

"W-what?"

"I was clear enough. You heard me. It can be anything I don't give a fuck about what you write, it can be anything about me or something completely different. Write."

I took his offer and decided to write a short poem. I dipped my hand in the pool of blood around where the chair used to be and begun writing just below his feet. I'm sure you've read it. It was the best thing I could think of to write, and to go with it, I placed my favorite pair of sunglasses above the message, something for whoever finds to identify or to remember me by. Once the message was written, I crept back into my kneeling position and gazed back at him.

"So this is it. Meeting my maker by the same man who took my sisters. I hope you feel good about yourself."

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"What is your name? I'm really curious." He hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"Robin E. Coleridge. It's a pleasure to have met the final one. Kinitarri is it?"

"Yes. Don't forget that name, because some day I'll come back. Some day I'll take that knife from your hands and drive it into your fucking skull."

"Well, then I guess I'll see you then. Goodbye."

He kicked me to the ground into the large pool of my blood and pulled out a shotgun. He pointed it at me and hesitated for a moment. I assumed he was looking for the right place to aim, but he was taking his sweet time with it. "Hurry up and shoot me" I said. He aimed it at my head and pulled the trigger. That was it. I felt like I was somewhere in between dreaming and dead, and then everything went white and I woke up here."

"Wow. I'm so sorry that happened to you" I felt an immense sense of guilt for him even though none of it was my fault.

"You don't need to. Also, thanks for saving me. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it if you didn't come over."

"I was just staring into the ocean, heard a scream and ran over. That's about it."

"Did you at least see him, Robin?"

"I stumbled upon the little building where I found you, and he found me there. One of his friends came too but I managed to get away." I'm always careful to not mention Azrael, he doesn't like it when I tell people about him for various reasons.

We talked and talked for hours, until I decided to show him outside. I was surprised to see that he could walk, although with a lot of trouble and pain. I helped him out the door and to the cliff and we both sat down. I explained to him that I live here, and that when I'm not eating or getting food from either hunting or stealing, I'm here, watching the sea. After a couple of minutes, I looked to him and he was just as enthralled with at as I was.

"It feels like home, but it's not," he said wistfully.

"I wouldn't mind a little company, you know,"

"I would appreciate that."

Although I had previously preferred complete isolation, it felt nice to have a friend now. Even though it meant I'd need more food and I would have to help him out a lot, I didn't care. I felt a really strong connection to him and his story only strengthened this relationship. His mission to take revenge on Robin was the most inspiring aspect to me, especially considering how strong he is, and I was more than happy to help out. Until then, I simply thought it nice to have someone to watch the clouds with.

## Northern Stonemill, IZ 144/6/76 (T),?,?,?, 20??, Will Petoraka

I woke up with an intense exhale, thinking it was all a dream. Unfortunately for me, this was all real. I took the time to try and survey myself to see what happened to me and if I would even be able to recover. There were two gashes on my palms where I held the blade away from my eyes, which seemed to protect them from harm. My eyelids were cut but it didn't go very deep at all, however I couldn't open them.

Knowing how sadistic these two were, I was afraid they may have sealed them shut so I didn't want to try and pry them open, fearing further damage. I was already mangled enough as it was and even though I wasn't sure, I couldn't afford to take any risks as it was. My chest was still soaked in blood and my shirt was torn up. It took me some motivation to work up the courage to reach down towards my legs.

Starting from the top of my shorts, I slowly slid my hands towards my feet. I could feel where the split was before I reached it, feeling the blood soaked into my pants, and then to the point of the split. It seemed like only the skin and part of the muscle were torn, the bones, tendons, and part of the muscle still being intact. I cringed in horror when I felt my leg, feeling as well the warm of the tears welling up in my eyes.

To my surprise, I seemed to be able to move my legs which I thought would be impossible, but I suppose by some impossible stroke of luck or higher interference the nerve endings weren't damaged enough to render my legs useless. An uncomfortable thought crossed my mind, telling me to sew the opening shut before I lost too much blood. I cringed at the sole thought of it, but I knew that I had to.

Luckily, I had experience with sewing, even with thick fabric, but not skin. I took out my sewing kit and some metal thread which wouldn't be the best choice in the long run, but it was best for the moment. I took off my shirt so I could have something to bite down on and went to work. After a while, it stopped being incredibly painful which allowed me to focus much more easily. It wasn't too difficult, but it was very tedious and painful.

It took around forty minutes to sew the first leg back up, and once I was done my hands were covered in blood and I felt like a wartime surgeon. I started on the left leg after taking a break to collect myself, feeling all of the pain again. I knew it would be hard and very mentally taxing, but I did not anticipate it to be *this* awful. It wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't require a laser focus on what my hands were doing.

I somehow managed to do it all without being able to directly see what I was doing, but I felt like my sense of touch was enhanced by my blindness so I had no problem feeling around and visualizing what was going on. Once I tied the last loop on the left leg, I pressed around to make sure it was tied well and tight. I pushed my kneecaps downwards and the metal string held fast, barely moving more than the skin there normally would.

Seeing how surprisingly well the bonds held, I wanted to see if I could walk. I knew I could still move my legs a bit, but I wasn't sure if they were ready to have weight put on them. I crawled around on my back to find a nearby suitable tree, and started to lift myself up. It hurt a lot, but I managed to get myself into a standing position, and then I took a step. I nearly cried with how much it hurt, but it was a step no less.

Wincing through the pain, I took another, and another. I noticed that I could just barely feel grass and dead leaves brush against my ankles. After around seven slow steps, the pain started to go away a bit, but I had to be extremely careful because although the wire was tightly knit, it wasn't perfectly sewn on. Half the time I could feel the breeze blow through the wires and brush the raw skin. I couldn't tell if they were bleeding from before, or of the weight caused them to bleed more.

After about fifteen more steps, I felt around for a nearby tree and collapsed against it. My breathing was heavy and I was covered in sweat, but it was a win for me, even though a small win. There was a long way to go if I wanted to get back to the closest thing to home I had, and I had to navigate through the woods blind. There were a lot of things working against me, but I was determined to get back home.

…

After a nap of an indeterminate amount of time, I was feeling a bit better. I could feel the warm light of mid-day shining on my face through the canopy. It took a couple of minutes for me to mentally prepare myself to walk again. I took in a couple deep breaths, found a tree and took off from it. It took me a little while to get a proper pace going as I did not want to push myself too hard, but I very much longed for home.

If my approximation of the number of steps taken in the sprint from the path to where I was attacked was correct and I was going in the correct direction and didn't get turned around, it should have take roughly forty minutes to get back to the path, give or take. Though it didn't account fully for the rate of my paces and any obstacles, and it completely ignored the possibility that I was moved after I was attacked, though it shouldn't have taken more than the four hours that I had been walking.

My count had gone roughly three hundred over the estimation of steps before I realized that I was probably going the wrong way. My upper legs where the split occurred felt like they had been set ablaze and everything below that was just about numb. I was tired, but it seemed like I still had plenty of daylight left to at least go back to where I started off from and try to take another route back home. I was hungry and thirsty, and though I could barely focus enough to access my pocket dimension, I was able to get a drink out.

I held the drink in my hand for a second and then downed the entire thing in about eight seconds. Though it was refreshing, I still felt as empty as ever. Having been so confident that the direction I took was the right way only to be completely wrong destroyed me. After I put away the bottle, my head was flooded with awful thoughts. I used to get thoughts like these occasionally, but this time was different. They were screaming.

The screams almost felt real, and without my sight I wasn't completely sure what was real and what wasn't. As I started turning around to head back to my starting position, it felt like there were people standing all around me shouting into my ears, though it was not a series of random voices; that wouldn't leave enough mental scars. The voices were those of the two that nearly killed me, and it seemed as though my mind was able to somehow perfectly replicate them.

The voices only got louder as I continued down the path, and I started to speed up, going up to a power-walk, and then breaking into a sprint. They followed me as I went, and it really felt like they were running after me. I could have sworn that I could hear footsteps and breathing that didn't belong to me. It all felt too real and it became far too much for me to handle, and I stopped and cried into nothingness at the top of my lungs.

"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!"

Silence. The wind had completely died out and the only noises were my heavy breathing and my heart beating out of my chest. I felt my face grow wet with tears, and I crouched into a squat and sobbed to myself. I could feel the fresh blood that had run down my legs and the metal strings that held strong and fast. I could feel the wet fabric of my shirt drenched in sweat and blood. I could feel myself shaking, out of anger, out of sadness, out of regret.

"Pathetic."

The word seemed to roll right off my tongue and out onto the forest floor, and then again.

"Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic."

I kept involuntarily repeating it to myself, louder and louder into a scream. I shouted the word repeatedly, to the point where my vocal chords ached and my voice became broken. I screamed until I couldn't any longer, my words being snuffed out by my sobs. In that moment, I didn't want to be found. I felt like shit. I felt like I deserved to die, but something was welling up inside. Maybe there was a positive reason I was calling myself pathetic, in the most positive way that could be interpreted.

Instead of taking it as an insult, I begun to take it as a challenge. My rage begun to slowly turn to triumph, and I pulled myself of of the ground with a nearby branch. If those two bastards really were here, I wasn't going to let them see the worst side of me any longer. I was going to be as strong as I could have been if I wasn't caught off-guard. As I stood up, I felt the wind return and whip my hair around. I felt proud, like a hero standing in the wind over the corpses of his enemies.

Suddenly, the pain seemed only a minor inconvenience rather than a major impedance. I couldn't walk any better than before, but it sure felt like it. As I made my way back to where I started, I could feel the air slowly grow colder as the bright and warm day begun to fade into a cold and dark night. The wind seemed to pick up too, but I tried to not let it stop me, and after three hours, I counted the same amount of paces as before.

To make sure this was the right place, I looked for the shape of the distinct tree that I pushed off of, and sure enough it wasn't too far from where I stopped. With a little bit more searching I found where I had slept the night prior. Before I went to sleep there again, I found the tree and with a nearby fallen branch I carved a large trench into the ground at the foot of the tree to mark the way I came from, or the way I was 99% sure I had come from.

With a hard day put to rest, I finally felt like I was making real progress, yet in the bigger picture it wasn't much at all. What if it wasn't in one of the cardinal directions, or at least much further than I would have ever anticipated in the cardinal directions? What if I had to go in a completely specific direction to get back to the path? I tried not to focus on all of this but it was too hard to think of anything else as I drifted off to sleep. . .

I woke up the next day with a looming dread that I'd get it wrong again, but I tried to look past it. I wasn't sure how long I had slept but it was likely a lot longer than I thought, because by the time I woke it seemed to be late into the day. I wondered how I had managed to sleep for so long. I decided to wait a little bit before I went out, and I took a break to eat some of what I had in my pocket dimension as well as to collect myself.

Once I was ready, I took off in a completely random direction and prayed for the best. I took off from the same tree and made sure to count my paces. By the time I took off, it must have been not too long after sunset because I could hear the nightbirds singing all around me. Normally, I would be comforted by their presence, but then they only seemed sinister and threatening. The echoes of their songs on the night winds chilled my soul.

For some strange reason, I felt compelled to sing with them, and so I did. Our songs begun to unite until the tune I was humming and the birdsong morphed into something completely different from both of them. The song I was singing was vaguely familiar, until the point I realized what it was. The song was the same that the shadow sung in that snowy forest months and months back, the emotions being the same too.

Even though I was tearing up due to the mood of the music, I didn't want to stop singing. It felt right, almost like a primal urge was keeping the song alive. I felt like a conductor in the heat of the final movement of an intense piece, however the song's speed wasn't its power. The song was a slower tempo, almost exactly the same as my pace, but each note carried a heavy weight. I didn't know the words, but I still sung them perfectly, every single one of them like punches to my mind.

Once the song concluded, the birds fell silent and so did the rest of the forest. When the song was alive, other than an immense sadness I felt united, perhaps even reunited with the darkness and cold of that night so long ago. I felt a cold chill after the night fell silent, knowing very well the meaning of dead silence. Everything felt so otherworldly and haunting, the blindness making me feel completely alone in an endless void.

I was a bit less than half way to my goal when those thoughts started to come back. They were nearly silent at first, but they begun to slowly grow into a cacophony of voices shouting at me, shouting various things that I couldn't make out. It was all an incoherent mess of noise until the voices of Him and the shadow broke through the sea. They echoed the same awful thoughts that I had the day prior, shouting their words at me over the sea which slowly begun to die out.

The sea of incoherent voices fell silent, leaving only the two to berate me all alone. Just like the other day, they felt so real, but this time it felt far more real. It was all the same and as they kept shouting at me, I could feel my mind begin to snap under the growing pressure. The same phenomenon of hearing footsteps and breathing that weren't real was present as well. They kept angrily shouting my worst thoughts at me, and just as I was about to break, one of the two voices said something quite out of place.

"Hey, did you hear that?" I stopped dead in my tracks, and the two fell silent for a moment.

"Hear what?" The other said.

"A whistle, well less of a whistle and more of a screech." I was confused because I didn't hear anything even close to that, though maybe it had been drowned out by the voices. Another wave of silence fell over the two, and then I heard what could only be described as unearthly. It sounded like a whistle, but if the whistle was being shouted out by a dying young woman. I felt a chill wrap my entire body, my mind snapping from misery to being alert. The voices reacted to the noise as well.

"That's it. Any idea what it could be?"

"It sounds like something trying to imitate screaming birds," I had no clue what it could be until He said that. I could almost feel the snap to the awful realization of what was making this noise. They go by many names, and though it does not have an official designation, they're known by their most common name, the Skinwalker. Believed to be a relative of the queaphine, skinwalkers are humanoid creatures who try to imitate other living things as a hunting tactic.

They're fast learners and they can mimic the sounds and smells of other animals, though their horrific appearance is one they cannot change, that being similar to a typical human or pandorian, though awfully disfigured. It is unknown why their appearance is so drawn out and mangled, and it is unknown if they have more sentience than a typical wild animal. Another well-known trait is its thirst for blood. They say if you hear the chimes, it's too late.

For reasons unknown, they carry mind chimes and other similar objects with them, and sure enough, I could just barely make out the chimes over the returning wind. I got back to moving, this time a bit more slowly, being careful to be as quiet as I could, though it's hard to be quiet in a forest, with or without the vision to see where you're going. I had gone much further than I expected to being almost completely silent, but the inevitable twig in the path ruined it.

"You just fucked up now," I heard the shadow say.

I froze, hoping it wouldn't notice me, but according to some people they have night vision so my efforts may have been pointless. I could hear the chimes, far closer now and with the addition of heavy footsteps and faint breathing. It let out the exact same screech again, filling the cold air with an awful sound. I could feel myself shaking as it begun to draw closer. The voices came back, and now they kept repeating the same word, run.

They grew louder and louder, until I finally decided I didn't want to sit around and wait to get eaten. I made a break for it. I could hear the beast scream and begin to take off after me, which only urged me to run faster. The intense movement made the splits in my legs and the holes in my chest begin to open, but I didn't care. Everything was coming at me at once, the footsteps, the screaming, the chimes, it begun to become too much for me to handle.

I kept running and running, the two voices screaming at me begun to overpower everything, but then the rest started to become blurry. The sound of my footsteps faded away, the feeling of pain in my legs and wind in my face became numb, the feeling of soreness in my throat slowly went away, eventually even the voices became more fluid and had melted together. It felt like all of my senses were being attacked at once.

Suddenly, I begun to get the sinking feeling that something was approaching. I didn't know what, but I could sense the rising dread that something was about to happen. I tried to outrun it, but the feeling seemed to catch up with me, almost as if it was approaching faster than I could run from it, like something out of a nightmare. It came to a climax when I tripped over a raise in the earth and fell hard onto hard stone.

As I got up, the sounds of the night slowly returned, and I quickly realized where I was. I felt like I was finally same, finally free of this forest. It was a 50/50 gamble on the way back home, and so I went with my gut and turned right down the road. I could feel blood pouring down from my face, presumably from eating shit on the pavement, and now that home was tangible, I cared more about it, though still not enough to do anything about it.

I walked down the road, looking back to the nights past I had previously walked down this road. I felt some kind of empty triumph as I went down the lonely road back to my home. I had indeed overcome something pretty big, but I didn't feel like I did. All the joy had been replaced with melancholy and regret, having let those thoughts get to my head. I didn't feel like I was anything resembling the person I was before the incident.

Eventually, I could feel the distinct short bridge next to the back door to the mansion. Just after I crossed it, I heard His voice again, sounding far more real than ever before.

"Not bad, you made it."

I jumped when I heard it, thinking he was really there. I had forgotten just how real they sounded. I stopped and tilted my head upwards almost as if I was surveying the remains of this place. I took a couple of deep breaths and walked over the old wood floors of what was once a kitchen. The hollow night wind blew through the house, and all was quiet until a pair of frantic footsteps climbed up the stairs and ran towards me.

"What the fuck happened?"

I didn't know what to say, I didn't even know what to feel. I felt like I just existed in the moment, not as something living, not as something dead, but in between. I felt like I did when I woke up that morning and I begun to dread if it was all a dream because of how unreal I felt, but I knew it was real. I didn't say a word, I just hung my head down and let all of the emotions consume me. The rage, the sadness, the regret, I let it out into an awful cry that pierced the night. That was all I knew how to do in that moment.

## Charlie's District, Ironhall, IZ 144/6/76 (K), Friday, January 6, 2059, Mars Cellio - Escapism -

In such an empty place with only one person to talk to, the days blend together.

## Viridan Forest, Stonemill, IZ 144/6/76 (M), Monday, January 22, 2059, Cassie Lishir

After having known Pollux for almost exactly a month, he offered me to go to school with him for once, where he acted as a volunteer teacher assistant. I got to school an hour early prepared for quite a boring day, when I was met with the man Pollux spoke about more than others, one Lurio Kiff, though we call him Kiff for short, everybody does. When I first caught sight of him, I could tell his vibes were way off. Something in his eyes pierced me like daggers.

His demeanor was friendly and him and Pollux seemed like really good friends considering how highly Pollux spoke of him and how they hung around each other. He seemed very friendly to me, but something in his voice seemed off. I decided to ignore this for now and tried my best to get along with him, but whenever Pollux wasn't looking I could have sworn Kiff was giving me some nasty looks.

I hadn't understood what I had done wrong to warrant that. Was it the way I spoke like I didn't care about anything in the world? Was it something to do with my wind element? Was I too fruity for his liking? At first my thoughts towards him were mainly confused. Confused as to why he was so rude to me, confused as to how Pollux tolerated his punk ass. He seemed very childish in his disdain for me, and he made it clear we weren't friends when Pollux left for the bathroom about 40 minutes after we got there.

Right after the bathroom door could be heard shutting down the hall, he stood up and walked up to me. I was sitting with my chair on a very dangerous angle with my feet on a desk and my arms behind my head. I looked at him and smiled a bit, and he reflected the same short grin on his face. He starred down at me for about a minute, probably contemplating pushing the chair off-balance, and then he spoke.

"How do you know Pollux? Where did you two meet?"

"Strange first question to ask somebody, but we met almost a month to the day ago after we both got injured in a fight."

"I believe he told me about that. It was something to do with a telliminse, correct?"

"Yes."

"I knew it. I could smell it on you."

"Wait, really?"

"No I'm messing with you, though other telliminse can smell it on you. What happens if you survive an attack from one of them is they 'mark' you, and their pals come to finish you off. If you're wondering how I know all this, I go hunting in my spare time and telliminse are among one of my favorite targets."

"Wow, that's cool. Hunting seems really fun but I've never tried it,"

"Really? Huh. Hunting's almost like a rite of passage for people around your age. You're 13 right? At least that's what Pollux told me."

"Yes, I am, but you see I'm not from around here."

"Hmm, that explains a lot. Well, anyways would you like to go hunting sometime? I'm sure you'll love it." As he finished the sentence, an evil grin flew across his face.

"Were you giving me dirty looks earlier?"

"Yeah, do you have a problem with it?"

"Not really, back home I'd get shitty looks all the time, but I'm wondering why you keep looking at me like that."

"You remind me of someone. I don't know who or where or when they're from but you remind me of them. They tried to expose me, but I made sure they don't go putting their nose where it doesn't belong anymore."

"Yeesh, I hope they're doing alright now adays."

"They're in the dirt."

"Hardcore, dude." As I said that I took a sip from my drink and nearly lost my balance. He giggled a bit but then his face turned right back to his serious stare. I was a bit intimidated by him seeing as he admitted to murdering a person, but I tried to play it off. I didn't want to look too weak in front of him, but I had a feeling he could see through my careless ruse.

"About my offer, you want to take it?"

"Sure, I have nothing better to do in my life anyways."

"Great. Why don't you go into school?"

"Well, maybe once I get used to this weird country than I'll go to school, or maybe when the world isn't apparently ending."

"Where are you even from? I'm sure it's not *that* far off,"

"Port Maroon, Telimo."

"Holy shit! I didn't think I would ever meet someone from the fire cult town. Nobody ever talks about it either, probably because nobody knows or cares about that tiny little town nestled up in the northernmost sector of the map."

"Yeah, I'd describe it like that, though I think I had it especially shitty because I was the one wind elemental in a town exclusively built of fire elementals. And yes, it's true that nobody's allowed to leave, though you'd think if they were going to enforce that rule they would have more people guarding it. I waltzed right out of there like nobody's business."

"I think in the couple of times I heard about that happening 8 years ago now. Don't take me for a fucking fool and lie to me."

"Woah, you don't need to get so heated! I'm not lying, the same kind of thing happened 8 years before I left, I always secretly looked up to him because of how close our stories were. I made damn sure to leave to the date."

"I'm not sure if I still fully trust you, but I'll believe you for now."

Shortly after he said this, Pollux emerged from the bathroom and Kiff stepped back to his spot in the wall and resumed with his famous stare. In honesty, I can see why so many people like him. He's nice when he wants to be, popular, powerful, and he's pretty good looking. Despite all of this, he has this creepy and threatening aura around him which I don't think many people can see.

My little theory is that there are more people who notice it, but because they like him because he's popular and good looking or whatever they decide to look past it and still praise him, or maybe they haven't been close enough to him to catch a whiff of his evil stench. Maybe I'm just good at picking up these qualities in people, but it confuses me as to why some people seem to think he's such an angel, especially Pollux.

The fact that Pollux was so close to him was somewhat concerning to me, because Pollux either didn't realize he had this aura, or Kiff had somehow lured him close enough to earn his trust to be close to him. As I begun to process this information over the course of the day, it only stood out more to me that so many people who I thought had a 'stronger will' so to speak trusted him so much.

I recognized a few faces from the manor, a couple people I was close with too, namely Nick and Fray who didn't live there, but were regulars in a sense. I knew that a fair bit of people who you'd see at the mansion didn't live there, and though most people didn't mind, I took a bit of offense to it. I literally had nowhere else to go with barely any possessions or money to my name, while some people who are pretty well off and have a loving family and roof over their head stay for several nights on end.

Now, this might make me seem like a bit of an ass, but I really feel for the few people who have nowhere else to go, or this is just the place where they live which is the case for Joey and Fury who actually own the home. There are only a few who I know for sure don't have a home like Corrie, Pollux, and myself. In contrary to this there are some people who I know for sure have somewhere else to live, and some people where I'm really not sure.

I thought about this a lot throughout the day, trying to build a mental map of a large group of people that shifts a bit every day and where they stand in if they really live at the manor or not, but because I was in the room with Kiff all day, every now and then something he said would stand out to me. For some reason, he'd go back to things which weren't really unrelated to the topic at hand, and he'd occasionally stare into the souls of a select few people in the room.

The more and more I watched him in his element, the more and more I started to regret taking that hunting trip. During lunch we talked about it a bit, Pollux expressing no interest in it which surprised me. Kiff gave me a time, a date and a place in the same way someone tells someone where and when they're gonna beat the shit out of them. All I could do was speculate until then. Flash forward to three weeks later.

**-Sunday, April 11, 2059-**

The melt from the last two and a half weeks of January was gone, and Stonemill spring as they call it. Kiff seemed really off today, more evil than usual but also with a tinge of sorrow. We were in a more isolated spot in the northern part of Stonemill, not too far from the city of Kat. It was a well work and established path that went through the forest up north, leading all the way up to the city of Port Baptisia, a smaller fishing town where Stonemill's country flower, the Umbra baptisia australis come from.

It's not the only route, there are two other main roads which are pretty far from this forest path and because of this nobody goes here. I remember telling myself how this would be the perfect place to kill somebody, but I wanted to believe he wasn't as bad as I thought. We met at the trailhead with our weapons, him with a proper hunting rifle while I had a double-barrel shotgun loaded with slugs. I felt a little under prepared next to him, but I was pretty decked out myself.

He held his head down and had a bit of a regretful look in his eyes. Over the past three weeks I hung around him and Pollux more and more, and I only then realized that ever since around April 2, he seemed more and more evil and sorrowful. The last time I met with him was on the fifth, the day before he left for a short trip to Ironhall. In the days he was gone, Pollux and I handled teaching duties. I decided to ask him about the trip when I first met with him.

"How was your trip to Ironhall?"

"It was something,"

"You look down, way more than usual. I can tell something happened."

"Something did happen, though I don't think I'm ready to talk about it."

"I get that. There are plenty of things that happened to me which I don't want to talk abou-"

"No. It's not good, Cassie. I didn't want to do it."

"Are you talking about corruption?"

"I'm not corrupted, I know that for sure. Whatever it is isn't too far off from that though."

As he spoke, I started to think this could be the 'real' him of sorts. He implied that he has some sort of split-personality disorder, though I'm not too sure if that's really the case or of he was lying. I could never tell if he was telling the truth or not, mainly because his two personalities blend together without a very clear distinction, and his 'evil' personality seems to be the main one.

The conversation ended right there and we decided to get going. He knew the path we were taking well, and he mentioned that he had come here a couple of times before. Apparently telliminse are very common in this part of Stonemill which put me on edge a bit, seeing how dangerous I knew them to be. I seemed slightly more safe with Kiff than I was on my own, less safe than I should have been but I was still very much untrusting of him.

It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that Kiff had lured me into getting close to him, just as Pollux did. I had seen first hand how charming and unexpectedly luring he was. This only gave me more reason to distrust him, but for obvious reasons, if I made this too clear it wouldn't likely go well for me, though I still wanted to make it known.

"How many times have you been here, Kiff?"

"Probably four or six times, really only for telliminse. Last time I came here was probably two years ago, in fact that was the last time I went hunting for telliminse."

"You say that with a lot of gusto, are you trying to brag or something?"

"Sort of, but not to you. I'm trying to get these cowards to come out of the brush."

"We're only twenty minutes off the trailhead, I doubt we'll find any for a while,"

"Why do you think nobody goes down this trail?"

"Isolated and dangerous?"

"Exactly. This place is crawling with telliminse and other nasty things who can and will kill you if they want to. That's why I come here alone and most people don't. I'm sure you wouldn't come here alone either,"

"You got that right. I don't feel safe at all, but that's not just the setting if I'm being honest."

"Haha, you have a lot of nerve talking to me like that. I'm not sure if I love it or hate it."

"So you're pretty split on it huh?"

"Very funny."

"Thanks, I'll be here all night. Anyways, how many do you usually see?"

"Lots. They usually travel in large groups spread out so when they find something they pounce on it in smaller squads."

"Smart bastards huh,"

"Very smart. They can understand speech and even talk, though they don't like to talk to us unless they're pissed off or trying to scare us."

"So I was right to assume it understood me. When the telliminse first took me it seemed very affectionate, maybe because I'm a smaller guy."

"Apparently they take pandorians and coronians back to their tribes as pets if they decide they don't want to eat them, maybe you could have ended up like that had you kept your mouth shut."

"I thought it was going to eat me regardless if I got out of it or not. Don't forget that the thing was being actively attacked while I was inside it."

It felt so weird that he knew so much about my second near-death experience. I assumed he knew from Pollux but I couldn't be sure. Maybe I did tell him at some point but just forgot about it, although it didn't matter. Even though I didn't like him, talking to him one-on-one even though interlaced with my sassy attitude made me feel for him a bit. Maybe he really didn't have control of himself, though I wasn't sure and that uncertainty ate me up.

We kept talking and walking slowly down the path without so much as the wind blowing through the bushes until I caught something in between the trees. I stopped in my tracks, my rifle clutched strong in my hands. We ended up in a sort of clearing where the path grew very wide for a little bit. I could feel a bead of sweat form on my forehead. Kiff caught on and stopped dead too, though he looked far more confident than I did. I'm sure I looked like a massive wimp, mainly because I knew I was shaking a bit.

"4 O'clock. It barely made a noise above the breeze, but I saw a dark silhouette."

We both stood still for about a minute, until I caught something in the corner of my eye. Kiff saw it too, and I knew because he raised his rifle in the same direction I saw the movement. Just like in a movie scene, the wind died down and the birds shut up. I raised my shotgun to match his level of confidence, but I'm sure if the beasts saw me, they could have identified the easier target. The silence didn't last for too long and was broken by one of the beasts in the trees.

"I can smeeeellllll yoooouuuuu"

It's voice was deep and drawn out, singing like a ghost in the dead of night. Its voice chilled me to the core.

"Come out you bastards,"

Kiff's voice echoed through the trees, judging by the noises, it got them to come a little closer."

"I remember you. Long time no see. You killed my brother."

"And I'll finish the job! (Now remember kid, aim for the eyes)"

Right after he whispered a piece of advice to me, one of them bolted right towards me. I angled the gun upwards a bit and pulled the trigger, sending a slug right into the thing's right eye. It dropped to the ground with a loud thud, dark crimson blood like mine spilling out into the grass. The irony wasn't lost on me that I was hunting monsters with the same blood as me, something I remembered from two months earlier when I was saved.

Shortly after I was saved from the belly of the beast, I realized that its blood was the same color as mine. I didn't think all telliminse had the same color of blood, and something about not knowing the difference between my own blood and the blood of the telliminse disturbed me, however I figured out that the telliminse have very thick blood which is the only difference.

Kiff seemed impressed that my first shot was a hit, and I was hoping that it'd make them a bit more scared of me, but that wasn't the case. Another one came out of the trees on Kiff's side and the second it was in view it was dead. The thing dropped at the feet of another one which was crouched behind a tree. He saw that one too and put a bullet between its eyes.

Another one came out on his side while he was chambering another round and I wheeled back and shot it in the roof of its mouth as it let out a battle cry. It went down but it wasn't dead. It sat there twitching around a bit, bleeding out on the grass. I knew these things were senselessly mad, but seeing it stare into my soul with its dying eyes made me sick. I was just as bad as Kiff I thought, even though this was somewhat self-defense.

"Nice shot,"

His voice was pretty sarcastic, and he chuckled at me shaking. Kiff walked over to the dying beast and stared into its eyes.

"Good thing you didn't kill it. I wanted to let it know that I enjoyed killing its brother."

Hearing the words spill out made me feel awful. I couldn't look and I felt the need to cover my ears as he taunted the dying telliminse.

"CAN'T YOU JUST KILL HIM ALREADY?"

"When you're hunting you don't just kill them kid. You savor it. You let them know how much you enjoy killing them. You let them know how much you like to watch them squirm like defenseless little worms."

I was so filled with rage that I couldn't stop shaking. I hadn't moved closer to him, in fact I was starting to step away. All he was doing was taunting the thing as it bled out, putting his foot on its chest. I noticed that I was getting dangerously close to the tree line but I didn't care. I popped open the barrel and loaded two rounds. A thought crossed my mind to raise the gun and shoot him, but I knew that wouldn't work.

Snapping the barrels back into battery, I took a sharp deep breath. I was calm for a moment until I felt warm breath on my head. Before I could even turn around, a fully white telliminse wrapped me in an aggressive hug, taking the wind out of me. I tried to wrestle the gun, but it moved me around and sent a bullet right into the dirt. Its grip loosened a bit, but it quickly regained a hold and started digging its claws into my chest and arms.

My right arm with the shotgun was a bit more loose, and I started to try and wiggle free. I managed to turn myself around to face it, and I brought the gun from the ground to try and shoot it in the head, but before the gun could even touch the beast it slammed by chest with its left knee, causing the gun to fire early, the bullet hitting a tree. The gun flew out of my hand and landed on the ground.

I fell a few feet in front of the beast and got up. I felt something on my back, and I realized it was blood. It must have scratched my back somewhere in the scuffle. The front was bleeding as well. The two of us were in a sort of stand-off, facing each other in the grass. It cracked its neck brought up its fists as I reached for my long knife. A strong breeze blew through the wide clearing.

"Gonna have to try harder than that,"

It spoke with spite, looking for a fight which I planned on giving it. I drew my knife and stared it dead in the eyes, the both of us waiting for the other's next move. Something in the back of my head was telling me to throw it towards the trees. I wondered why the hell I was thinking of doing something which would clearly achieve nothing, a fleeting glimpse of paradise told me everything.

"Time's up,"

It started running at me, every footstep making the ground shake. Without a second to waste, I threw the knife way off to the right, confusing the beast for a second. It looked surprised when it did a loop around its back and nearly missed its neck, going back around and ending up in its chest, a blue light following the knife on its path. The impact of the knife knocked it to the ground. I still had a long way to go with the aim.

The telliminse angrily got up and ran up to me with the knife still in its chest. I ran towards it and slid between its legs, but it turned around lightning fast and in an instant ripped the knife from its torso and threw it back at me. It stopped in the air about two centimeters from my check, and then I flung it into a large patch of grass on the end of the clearing around the path. It looked towards the grass and then back to me.

Seeing as I had lost my big knife, I brought the smaller dagger that I kept with me as well. It waited for me to get a bit closer and swung a heavy punch towards me. The punch just barely missed my face, the rush of the wind it cast blew my hair around. I didn't expect its other fist to uppercut my jaw, sending me flying back. Luckily my jaws didn't collide, but I still bit on my tongue which hurt like hell.

I got up and wiped the blood from my mouth, staring down the beast. The blood from its chest stained its white fur. I realized that my little dagger wasn't going to do much, so I made a brake for the grass to get my knife. It was a lot faster than me, but I managed to swoop it up before it pulled me back. It brought me back into the same tight hug as earlier, but now I had a plan.

The knife fell from my hands and hit the ground. I picked it back up with the wind and sent it right into its cheek, approximately into the same spot it nearly hit me. I made sure to pull it back this time so it couldn't use it against me. I held the knife in my right and the dagger in my left, I walked backwards, the telliminse following parallel to my movement. I stared deep into its eyes with tunnel vision, keeping my eyes locked onto its eyes.

My focus was so intense that I didn't notice its left arm reach towards the ground to pick up my shotgun. I glanced away just in time to see it swing my gun from the ground right against my face, sending me flying back towards where the knife landed earlier. It left some blood and a massive bruise, but I still got up again. I realized that it was very capable of serious injury.

A single punch with its beefy fist could probably break a boke. I realized that I didn't have time to waste if I wanted to see the sun again. I put the longer knife back into the holster and took out the dagger, tossing it from left to right. I had a good plan, and it only relied on extreme luck and prediction of its movement, so just two tiny factors which shouldn't be worrisome.

I got closer to it, walking in a straight line while it paced around me. Its movement seemed to be very irregular yet deliberate, while mine was straightforward, which I decided to change up a bit to add some confusion. I changed up my step pattern and followed a similar style to that the beast took. I saw a grin spread across its maw, clearly recognizing that I was really challenging it now.

Spinning the dagger as I closed the distance, I tossed it towards its shoulder. As I thought, it dodged it and ran towards me. I took out the long knife and stepped back a bit, keeping track of its movements without tunnel vision this time. Just when I noticed it was focused enough on my movements, I brought the dagger up from the ground behind it and started flinging it around its head, casting circles of dancing blue light.

It tried to grab it out of the air but it was moving too fast. While it was distracted, I took the opportunity to take my plan to action. I didn't have high hopes for it, but it seemed like the best option to take at this point. As it was turned away from me for a second, I ran up and took a literal leap of faith, boosting myself a bit. I flew through the air gilded in blue light and aimed for the right eye.

The telliminse turned just in time to face the knife that I plunged into its face. The momentum of me colliding into the beast made a loud thud as we hit the ground. I rolled off as it fell and picked up my knives with the wind. I holstered the dagger and held the knife high in the sky, letting out a loud battle cry as I did. I looked at the slain beast who had a massive smile on its face and got a horrible sense of remorse.

I tried to shake it off though, and I dipped two fingers into the open wound on its face and gave myself warpaint. For the first time in a while, I looked over to Kiff to see what he was doing, and he was still standing over the dying telliminse, though there were three more dead beasts laid in the grass around him that I must have not heard him slay. He had a very disapproving look on his face but I didn't care.

I took off walking without notifying him and he sort of awkwardly ran over and walked alongside me. We passed the clearing and the path grew more narrow again, the forest becoming ever closer. I could tell by his expression that he was plotting something, so I decided to walk a bit behind him just incase he tried anything stupid. The walk was normal for another twenty minutes or so until he stopped dead in his tracks.

He stared me dead in the eyes and pointed his rifle to the sky, dumping ten rounds into the air.

"COME AND GET ME YOU FUCKING COWARDS! I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING! I CAN SMELL YOU TOO!"

I knew exactly what he was doing, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. The instant the last word slipped out of its mouth, five telliminse came out of the brush. Four of them went straight for me while the fifth chased Kiff. I made a break for it, and looking back I saw him execute the fifth beast. I signaled him to come to me, but he waved goodbye and disappeared into nothing.

My heart dropped and I stopped in my tracks, staring at the empty pathway in disbelief. *What the fuck? He never told me he could do that.* It didn't take a genius to tell that I was fucked. The largest of the four scoped me off the ground and held me like a stuffed animal in its arms, the other three ogling and sniffing me. It was just then that I remembered I didn't have a gun and a knife wasn't going to take out four of these bastards.

"Mmmm he smells soooo goood!"

"For sure! I could pick it up from a mile away, might be the best one I've smelt!"

"This one probably got ingested huh? And look, his blood. Maybe that's part of it."

They ripped the shirt off of my back, nearly my arms as well with the force it used. I thought they were going to take my pants off but luckily they didn't, though that may have been better than what they did. All four of them started licking me, the one holding licked my back and the other three on the front. I tried to fly out of it, but I couldn't get myself in the right place to be able to use my element, and it seemed that I couldn't use my element if I couldn't focus.

Even if I tried to ignore it, I just couldn't. I tried picturing the beach again, and I could just barely picture it and I could see my fingertips gain a bit of a blue aura, but it was still so out of reach, and thus there was nothing I could do. All I could do was scream and cry, even though I knew it was pointless. There were only a few things I could try to get out of this, but it was going to be hard to get the change to try it.

My arms were pressed to my shoulders, so I couldn't grab my knife, but my legs were hanging loose. I kicked one of them in the face, but it only laughed and mocked me. They could tell I hated every moment of it, and they were loving every moment of it. I could tell they enjoyed the taste of my blood, which gave me a bit more insight as to how they feed. My best guess was they have taste buds inside their stomachs, as well as needles of some sort.

Referring back to what happened to me in December, it seems like the taste of my blood is particularly tasty and blissful to them, which could be why the telliminse wanted to squeeze me dry in its last moments, possibly for more strength or to keep it going. After what felt like fucking hours, they stopped for a moment. My eyes and face were wet with tears and my throat was sore. My body was wet and slimy, covered in telliminse saliva.

"You really liked that, huh kid?"

"I hated every fucking second of that."

The one holding tightened its grasp, and another extended its claws and scratched my chest open. I screamed out loud, but because my throat was so dry barely anything came out. I knew exactly what they were going to try, but another random idea that just might work came into my head. I took too long to speak up though, and they went right ahead and continued. Despite this, I tried anyways, and I shouted out in a shaky and broken voice.

"HEY WAIT. STOP! Which one of you are gonna eat me?" They all stooped and looked at me confused for a second, and they stared with hatred at each other.

"Why do you ask that?" Seething, one of the three beasts in front asked.

"So I know which one of you motherfuckers I'm gonna kill first,,"

None of them seemed phased by my threat, but the tension was rising fast. I could tell they all wanted me all to themselves, and the three in front of me started fighting. To my surprise, they stepped away from me and the other one, giving me a bit of space. Before I could try to wiggle free, the beast lifted me up. It slid its hands under my arms, probably to get me to fit into its maw. Big mistake.

Its jaw went slack and opened wide. That night in December was far too dark for me to see how they eat. I stared into a deep black void, but I tried not to let the horror consume me. The second my legs slid into its throat, I moved them apart and in a swift movement, brought the knife down from its holster and brought it into the roof of its mouth. The impact made its throat open wider and I slid right down into its chest.

Without letting myself get eaten, I dug the knife through its chest, the blade barely piercing through the layers of muscle, skin, and fur and brought it down. It took a lot of work, but I managed to carve a hole in its chest. The beast screamed out in horror and the three other telliminse watched me carve my way out of its stomach. I climbed out of the heaving beast, scared them down and let out another war cry.

I was soaking wet and covered in sweat, saliva, blood, and other fluids but I didn't care. I wasn't sure how much of the blood I was drenched in belonged to me. The other three looked ready for a fight, and now that I was filled with a newfound adrenaline, I was ready too. I could almost feel the weight of the the telliminse behind be getting up, sending an awful shock throughout my entire body, but now I could concentrate.

I closed my eyes and could see the beach again, but now I could grasp it. I turned around just in time to narrowly avoid a fist, tossing my dagger with a spin and sending it right into its eye. The beast dropped to the ground and I looked at the other three. As I watched them stare on in awe, I noticed my torn shirt on the ground beside my feet. I picked it up and tore a piece off and tied it around my head like a bandanna.

Without wasting another second, I turned and flew down the path, soaring back to the clearing where my shotgun should be. I didn't expect it to be there, but when I made it back there I noticed it was. I landed gracefully onto the grass, the blue aura around me fading as my feet kissed the ground. I picked up the gun and opened it to make sure it was loaded, my back to the trees. I saw too intact shells loaded and snapped it shut, but right as I did a shout erupted from the trees behind me.

The sound startled me and I nearly dropped the rifle, accidentally shooting it towards the trees on the other side of the clearing. The trees rustled as birds took off. I wheeled around and saw another telliminse charge at me. I shot and barely grazed its upper torso. I decided to get the hell away from it, and I ran back the way I came, lifting off when I could focus on paradise. I flew past the other three telliminse, waving as I flew by.

After a little while longer, I landed and nearly threw up. I was still getting used to my element, and when I use it for an extended period of time, I get really, really exhausted. I took out a full water bottle and chugged the entire thing. I took a seat and took in the atmosphere of everything around me, wondering how I was going to get out of this mess, and what I was going to say to the bastard when I find my way back home. All I knew was that it wouldn't be nice, and that I wanted Pollux to be there to watch me chew him out.

That's the end of Chapter Six.

Chapter Seven is (Not yet lmao) Available Here.