Vin's eyelids fluttered open, the world slowly coming into focus. The air carried the sterile scent of a medical facility. As he blinked away the haze, an unfamiliar face was standing in front of him. A man, his features etched with concern, stood before Vin. His dark hair, streaked with subtle hues of blue, fell across his forehead. The man, dressed in a crisp white lab coat, divided his attention between a piece of paper and a pen twirling effortlessly in his skilled fingers. A burst of color entered Vin's line of sight as a young woman, adorned in a vibrant dress and hair reminiscent of a painter's Palette, fixed her surprised gaze upon him. She eagerly tugged on the man's coat, pointing in Vin's direction. The man, abandoning the paper, approached Vin, his lips moving in a silent exchange that left Vin grappling with confusion.
“What happened?” Vin thought, “Elaine, where is she? Elaine? Who is she? Who am I?”
An ear-piercing noise filled Vin’s ears, his eyes widened as his body jolted up in a sitting position, his heart pounding audibly, and noises of his surroundings flooded his ears
“Good… looks like he’s awake,” said the man,
Vin looks around, his body feeling weak, pearls of sweat covering his forehead with each breath that sounds like its last.
“Where am I?” asked Vin.
“Never mind that how are you feeling? Any pain? Any tremors? Do you remember anything?” asked the man as he continued asking Vin questions, with a slight glimmer in his eyes
“Not now Apollo! Can’t you see the kid just woke up? Ask your questions later,” said the young woman to the man
She looks at Vin, her hands gripping tightly on his shoulders.
“What’s your name kid?” asked the young woman,
Vin hesitates to answer.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, I’m Chroma by the way, and the guy next to me is Apollo,” said the young woman with a smile.
“I-it’s nice to meet you, but where am I?” asked Vin
Chroma bites her lip, looks away with a sigh, and replies “It’s gonna be hard to explain things to you, but before that would you like to see your friend?”
Vin nods, “Yes please,” he answers
Chroma reached out her hand and helped Vin stand up, his legs were shaking but it was strong enough to support himself, Apollo held Vin by the waist, supporting him, and he then let go when Vin fully stood up. With the help of Chroma and Apollo, the three of them exited.
Chroma and Apollo took Vin to a separate room, where he saw Elaine, lying on a bed, all of her wounds were completely healed as if nothing had happened, Vin breathed a sigh of relief after seeing her.
“Unfortunately she’s still unconscious,” said Apollo, “There’s nothing wrong with her physically, I guess we’ll just have to wait for her to wake up,”
“How long was I unconscious for?” asked Vin.
“About twenty hours,” answered Apollo.
“Twenty? How come her wounds are gone?” asked Vin.
“Her wounds?” asked Apollo
Vin nodded and replied “Yes, her body was covered in wounds, not to mention there should be a gaping hole in her stomach,”
“... That’s one of the things I want to ask you,” replied Apollo, “Chroma found the two of you covered in blood, unconscious but with no wounds,”
“I… don’t have an answer to that… wait just the two of us?” said Vin
Chroma nods, “Yeah, just the two of you… was there supposed to be another person?”
Vin shakes his head, “No, but there should be a body, a decapitated one… oh and there should be a scythe as well,” he replied.
Apollo and Chroma looked at each other, with a concerned expression, Apollo sighed and left the room without saying a word, Chroma had a look of disbelief as she watched him leave the room, she then looked at Vin with a deep long sigh,
“You might want to hold on to something kid, this’ll be a long talk,” said Chroma
Vin nods, he sits on the bed next to Elaine and listens to Chroma.
“How long has it been since you bought an item from a masked vendor?” asked Chroma
“Oh um…around two or three days ago,” answered Vin.
Chroma sighed, she looked around the room trying to find the right words to say.
“This is something you need to know kid… the thing you bought from the masked vendor is called an Artifact,” explained Chroma
“Artifact? That’s what the scythe woman was asking me about…I think her name was Lucid,” said Vin
Chroma nodded “Yes, that’s right,” she replied, “Artifacts contain powers or abilities surrounding their nature, these Artifacts can range from something simple, like a cup, a plate, or sometimes even a hairpin, to something huge like a room or even a house, the same goes for their abilities.”
Vin looks at Chroma, his head tilts in confusion followed by a furrowed brow.
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“I-I don’t understand, how can something like this be possible, I mean abilities? Skills? What is this, some kind of game?.” said Vin in disbelief.
Chroma sighs, “I thought It’d be easier to explain to you, especially after being chased by a scythe-wielding maniac last night.” she replies, “I think this’ll speed things up,”
Chroma grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper from her pocket, with a snap of her fingers, the pencil began writing on the paper midair Chroma looked at Vin with a smug grin.
“So, believe me now?” asked Chroma in a cheerful tone.
Vin looks at her unimpressed, and a wave of silence fills the room, they look at each other not saying a single word, Vin breaks the silence with a sigh.
“I’m sorry… but I’m not a five-year-old to be impressed by a trick like that,” said Vin shaking his head.
“...Hold on… it’s uh… doing its thing… It’s supposed to be much quicker than this…” replied Chroma.
Seconds later the pencil drops on the floor, and the paper begins to tremble. A drawing of a dragon exits the paper, it has a white color with prominent black lines, its scales reflecting on the light of the room as its shadings disappear and reappear, its wings, contracting and relaxing as it lets out a gust of wind. The dragon slithers towards Vin, its whole body wrapped around him, restricting his movements and mouth.
“Sorry about that but, listen to me for now,” said Chroma in an apologetic yet insincere tone, “Anyway this is one of the things that Artifacts can do, my Artifact specifically,”
Chroma took a chair and sat down in front of Vin continuing her explanation.
“The people who hold an Artifact are called Curators, like me, you, and the people in this house, as for the people who sell these, we just call them Providers, they are these masked vendors that you bought your Artifact from, they usually give it for free and giving some kind of excuse as to why,” explained Chroma. “Listen, kid, regardless of whether you like it or not, it won’t change the fact that you’re a Curator now, it’s better to acknowledge that, especially since Lucid is after you and your friend,”
Chroma snapped her fingers releasing Vin from the bindings, as the dragon slowly disappeared.
“What was that for?” asked Vin in an irritated tone,
Chroma shrugged and replied, “You wouldn’t believe me if I just told right?”
“You’re not wrong, but couldn’t you have shown something different?” said Vin, “And Lucid’s already dead, so there’s no one chasing us right now,”
Chroma shakes her head, “Unfortunately for you, she’s not, that’s one of her abilities, the scythe is only for show,”
Vin’s eyes widened in shock, “What? So Lucid can revive just like that?”
“Nope, we’re not sure about her abilities either, we can guarantee that she can’t revive, or regenerate,” replied Chroma, “So… any more questions?”
Vin shrugs, “I don’t know… I don’t even know what to ask,”
“I see…but if you have some questions later you can ask me about them,” answered Chroma,
Vin nods, “Thank you,” he replied with a smile tugging on his face,
“Oh, and by the way, do you want to join us?” asked Chroma
Vin tilts his head, in confusion, “Join you? Where?”
“It’s not a place, but what I’m asking you is, if you want to join our team,” replied Chroma
Vin shakes his head, “All of these things… these Artifacts, abilities, powers… I think I still need some time to fully wrap my head around this,” replied Vin, “Also, I still need to wait for my friend to wake up,”
Chroma nodded, stood up, and went to the door, “Alright, you can stay the night here, we’re kind of lacking in rooms right now, so you’ll have to sleep in the same room with your friend, I’ll be leaving now,” said Chroma as she left the room.
Vin turns his attention to Elaine, he strokes her hair, with a smile on his face, the warmth of the moment shattered abruptly as an ear-piercing ring drowned his thoughts, he falls to his knees, and the silence of the room is broken as Vin groaned in pain, His vision slowly turned into a haze, the lucidity of his sight gradually disappearing, his groans turned into screams as the sound became increasingly louder.
Apollo barged into the room and saw Vin on his knees covering his ears in pain, he rushed toward him and placed his palm on Vin’s chest, and his eyes glowed an emerald green, he looked at Vin’s eyes, which made Vin lose consciousness. Apollo laid him down on the floor, his eyes continued to glow.
Chroma then enters the room “What happened?” she asked
I don’t know, I’m trying to find out but I can’t find anything wrong with him,” answered Apollo, “Damn it! Artifact’s not helping,”
A young woman peeked into the room, short black strands lay to rest on her shoulders, her figure distorted by a black oversized coat that hung on her shoulders, she leaned on the side of the door frame with her arms crossed revealing her clothing underneath, a silver necklace with a small damaged sword pendant lay at ease on her grey crop-top, her midriff was wrapped in gauze, with stains of red, she looks around the room with her black eyes.
“You might not find anything… I think,” said the young woman
Chroma looked at her surprised by her presence, “What do you mean? And why are you here Clay? Aren’t you supposed to be recovering?” asked Chroma
Clay shrugged, “It’s fine, the damage is on my stomach, not my legs,” she answered, “and also, what I meant was, what if it’s because of his Artifact,”
“You meant manifestation?” asked Chroma,
Clay nods, “Yeah, remember what happened to Raven? With his eyes bleeding and all of that stuff?”
Chroma shrugs, “Wasn’t it because of his Artifact?” she replied
Clay nodded, “What’s his Artifact?”
“We don’t know yet, but we’re thinking that it has something to do with healing,” answered Chroma.
As Apollo continues to assess Vin’s body he notices a cloudy silhouette, its figure resembling Vin, it lacks any facial features, as if it was a mannequin, its body rapidly shifts from lucidity and obscurity flickering like a lightbulb, the silhouette sits up and turns its head towards Apollo, its hand travels upward raising its forefinger to its nonexistent lips.
“Ch-Chroma, Clay, can you guys see what I’m seeing?” Apollo asked,
However, the question was not answered, leaving only silence, Apollo looked at them with an irritated expression, his eyes then widened, the girl who was surrounded by colors became a blank canvas, lacking colors, and the flow of her hair stopped as if it was frozen, he looked around, the colors of the room had also disappeared and everything came to a standstill. Apollo looked back at the silhouette, it was still in the same position, as if it was waiting for his attention, the silhouette lowered its finger and then nodded at him, it turned its head to Vin and back at Apollo wanting to convey a message, it then crawls towards Apollo and placed its palm on his forehead. Apollo was confused, he remained silent and continued to observe it, within a second, he noticed the silhouette became distorted, its figure becoming contorted, as its limbs appeared to detach and migrate fluidly across its body, resembling water finding its shape, it flickered the colors of neon red, blue, green, and pink, along with the noise of a television without a signal.
The silhouette no longer resembled that of a human, it only became a mess of neon colors, no different from a child scribbling with highlighters on a piece of paper. It then returned to Vin’s side and disappeared, as the colors returned to the room, Apollo looked at Chroma, and he noticed how her eyes blinked and her hair flowed, all full of colors.
“What’s wrong?” asked Chroma.
Apollo did not answer, he smiled at her.
“Just tell us if something happened,” said Clay in a slightly annoyed tone.
Apollo shakes his head not saying a word, his expression quickly changes when he felt pressure on his side, his body flung across the room stopping at Clay’s feet. The two of them were shocked, Chroma dashed towards Apollo, only to see him vomiting blood, Clay then stood in front of them, she gritted her teeth as she held tightly onto her necklace, her eyes roaming around the room.