In an uninteresting forest by a village with a horrid history, a lonesome girl wandered this way and that. It was not just because she was lost but also due to the churning in her stomach which repeatedly made itself known. She slumped against a tree and purged a horrendous black bile, the disgusting ooze slithering out of her throat smoother that it rightly should have. It sat festering for a second then evaporated into nothingness without a single scrap of evidence it had ever existed. It was the fourth or fifth time she had vomited the same vile liquid since leaving the Deep Jail. Probably not a good sign, but what did she know, she wasn’t a doctor.
“I need to watch what I eat.”
She wouldn’t but could at least pretend she would spare a thought to her health. Rising from the tree, she walked off once again in a random direction trusting she would get where she needed to or die trying and there was very little chance of the latter. As she travelled, she noticed that the wounds from her fight were healed, even the damage to her leg was all mended without leaving a scar. Perks of being trapped she supposed. She unfortunately could not focus on the miraculous recovery as sounds of a scuffle grabbed Samantha’s attention. She stayed out of sight and slowly crept towards the noise finding a crowd of three men arguing over a tied-up figure.
“The bitch bit me!”
Yowled one who tried to staunch the torrent of blood from his gouged ear. The perpetrator spat out a chunk of flesh as she stood opposite three bandits.
“That’s what you get for not gagging her.”
Responded a smug ugly bandit who brandished his weapon at the feral girl trying to keep her from tearing off any if his sensitive bits.
“Will you shut it, I don’t want the others hearing and coming to have a look.”
Warned a short mean looking one who stood casually while disregarding the danger before him. The three bandits were the ones responsible for taking care of their intruder whom they had dragged some ways out of the village fully intending to follow their bosses’ orders until one got a bright idea. They were just going to have a little “fun” with their captive, nothing the boss needed to know about.
“Now miss, you’re being awfully rude to me mates and me. We’re just doing what the boss says, so you should be a good girl and stay there will ya?”
Said the mean one who looked at their captive with a hungry stare. How long had it been since he or any of the rest of them had a little break? As he neared the bound girl she snarled and tried to lunge for his throat, toppling over in the process. She thrashed and tried to break from the ropes that bound her legs and arms to little success bar keeping the three away for the time being.
“You sure we should be doing this? Boss won’t be happy if he finds out.”
Asked the ugly one, they knew the kind of wrath filled punishments their boss could inflict and none wanted to be on the receiving end of his favourite tool. The mean one didn’t seem to care and scoffed.
“The boss aint here, now are you two gonna be pansies or do I get to have some fun all myself?”
The others looked at one another and decided they were in for a penny, in for a pound. They roughly pulled at the girl who fought back trying to tear at them with blood coated teeth. Her captors laughed and goaded her, forcing the tied-up girl against a tree. She struggled and fought but the spirit wasn’t there, she was a shell of a warrior since failing her friend. As the bandit in charge for the moment, the mean one stepped up to get his fill first but struggled due to their intruders surprisingly durable armour and tricky to unlatch belt.
“Oi, hand me her knife. Need to cut me a hole.”
He ordered holding his hand out to the other two.
“I don’t have it. I thought you had it.”
Said the one with the damaged ear. The de facto leader turned on his co-conspirators, annoyance tinging his voice.
“One of you gits has it, now hand it over!”
The two bandits searched themselves from top to bottom turning up empty, they remembered picking it up after their leader smacked the rage filled adventurer. Now however, it was gone like it had been pilfered straight from their pockets while they were distracted. A very accurate assumption actually. The knife in question soon re-appeared dropping straight down from the tree above. The fine edge effortlessly sliced through one of the bindings wrapped around the captive’s arms as it landed next to her. All four stared at the newly appeared crimson blade, confusion freezing the bandits long enough for Valerie to twist around headbutting her assailant before pouncing on the weapon. She fell onto the blade that refused to cut its master and summoned the power of a monster to empower her.
Like tearing paper, she ripped through the remaining tethers before standing to her full height to stair her “caretakers” down. The three men made to run for the hills, but Valerie was already on top of two of them, slamming them into each other. The third only made it a few feet before a chain wrapped around his legs and hoisted him into the air. In the next instant, the huntress was in front of the hogtied man smashing his face in with her gloved fist. She screamed and raged letting her frustration out entirely on the terribly bleeding man. By the time she was done his head was a bloody sore more than anything else, yet he was still alive. The bandit was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, his bindings fading into nothingness. It was at this time Valerie finally noticed the chain that gripped the man just as she heard a soft voice from behind.
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“Sup.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and she stood completely still while her heart beat furiously. She slowly turned around, fearful that she had dreamed up the sound, only to find Samantha standing there with not a scratch on her.
“S-Samantha…? But he said… you- you…”
Valerie shakily walked up to her friend and cupped her cheek, still terrified it was all an illusion. She felt cold, a familiar unmistakable cold that said everything the huntress needed to know, and she fell to her knees before her friend. She buried her face into Samantha’s chest, wrapping her in a bear hug so tight it bordered on strangulation. Valerie couldn’t control her enhanced strength as she held on for dear life, praying this was this real.
“Val, you’re kinda hurting me.”
Samantha warned to no change from her distraught friend. Pulling an arm free from the deathly embrace, Samantha patted Valerie’s head, unsure how else to comfort her. After a few tense minutes full of the huntress’s choked sobs and her friend’s actual choking they parted. Valerie wiped at her face and tried to regain her composure.
“I don’t understand, what happened? That man, the boss, he said you died.”
“I got better, better than better actually. Wait till you hear this Val, it’s a doozy!”
The two sat on a nearby fallen log as Samantha recounted her near death experience with Harry, followed by her weeklong travels within the Deep Jail. She did not include her interaction with the enormous monster just yet, there was still something she needed to do first, a promise that had to be kept. Valerie listened intently while ignoring the groans from the three severely hurt bandits wrapped up in chain cocoons. She didn’t exactly follow the whole ‘deep jail’ idea especially her friends timeline.
“Samantha what are you talking about? It’s been about an hour.”
“…a what?”
The shadow users’ sense of timing was still incredibly off but surely she couldn’t be that wrong. She supposed time worked differently in the jail and put the matter to bed giving it no further thought. Luckily it meant that one of her newly set goals could be achieved relatively quickly.
“So that means he’s still here!”
Samantha beamed, a childlike glee spreading across her face. If that man was still here, then she was one step closer to fulfilling her promise. Valerie’s face grew pale, she must be misinterpreting things, Samantha wouldn’t do that.
“Samantha, what are you talking about?”
“Harry, I’m going to go kill him.”
She casually answered as she stood up to head for the village. Her stroll was halted by the iron grip of Valerie on her shoulder.
“We are not! Forget him, forget all of this! Let’s just go home. Please.”
The huntress pleaded, fear colouring her words and actions. She was desperate not to have to go through the pain of losing her friend all over again. Samantha twisted her head unnaturally to look at the huntress and spoke in a voice that brokered no argument.
“I am going to kill him Valerie.”
Those words carried with them a promise that Valerie felt tear into her heart and there something else mixed in that she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Her friends eery aura unsettled her when they first met but she grew accustomed to it, even finding some comfort from the presence. There was something different about it now, it felt real and focused. While the origin might not have known it, her aura didn’t cause people to be scared of her specifically, it just activated their fear response. The way her aura was after visiting the Deep Jail was nowhere near the same. Valerie felt real palpable fear towards her friend, the kind that sent a chill through her entire being and settled deep into her soul. She instinctively let go, nearly snatching her hand back as she recoiled. A primal animalistic part of her screamed to run and never look back, however through a force of will that bellied her age and mental state she remained firm in her place.
“Then we do it tog-“
Valerie was interrupted by Samantha holding up a hand.
“Sorry Val, it has to be me alone. It’s part of the deal.”
“Deal? What deal?! What are you talking about?”
The huntress demanded, something wasn’t right with this situation or Samantha herself, more than the usual. The shadow user failed to elaborate on purpose this time, part of her pact forbade revealing any details before everything was set in stone.
“Can’t say, not yet anyway. I’ll tell you all about it later. Promise.”
Samantha held up a pinkie for Valerie to promise with. The huntress stared at the offered hand and hesitantly raised her own pinkie locking the two in an irrevocable pledge. It strangely did comfort Valerie and all at once the terror stabbing at her heart abated turning back into a comforting uneasiness. Without much more to say, the two fell into an awkward silence as they set off, the huntress sticking close still afraid of losing her friend again. As they reached the edge of the village, they found they were alone, all other bandits busy getting ready for the move. Samantha turned to stare in a particular direction and without a word set off. Valerie watched her friend go, cursing her own frightened nerves. She should just knock Samantha out and then carry her away from here, but she couldn’t, something in the pit of her stomach wouldn’t let her. It aggravated her to no end, luckily there was still a whole camp of ruffians she could use to vent her anger upon. If Samantha was cutting off the head of the snake then Valerie would shred the body for good measure.
Some distance away near the sight of the collapsed mine, Harry pushed his shovel into the dirt of a freshly dug if shallow grave, expanding the hole deeper. He didn’t have to do this, but he respected aspect users above all. There was an idea that floated around certain religious circles that those with aspects were the chosen of the gods or the next stage of humanity’s ascension. Harry didn’t much subscribe to the doctrine, but he agreed aspect users were special in every way and deserved the proper respect. Which was why he was knee deep in a hole for a piece of fabric, one could only imagine the rites he would perform if there was still a body. Surprisingly there was.
“HAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRYYYYYY!”
Came a non-threatening nor commanding nor authoritative voice that the bandit leader recognised despite their short interaction. Jamming his shovel into the dirt, he climbed out of the grave to find Samantha Trapper standing not too far away. The bandit leader was baffled to say the least finding his latest opponent standing there, completely fine and without a scratch on her. Was this the power of an aspect? To come back from the dead? As far as he knew no such resurrection power existed unless you counted necromancy but the girl before him was clearly not undead.
“You’re looking a lot less smushed than I remember.”
He yelled back while grabbing his weapon sat next to him.
“I got better!”
Samantha answered her smile wide and eyes laser focused on the big man. Harry laughed although his heart wasn’t in it, he was finding it hard to peer at the girl without his eyes trying to look elsewhere.
“You don’t say? Well, what can I help you with? My boys think your dead, so I got no beef with you no more.”
He never really had any issues with the girl, he just needed to assert his dominance to his men. Samantha might think otherwise but priorities first, there was something she was missing. She held out her hand and sweetly asked.
“Before we do anything else. Can I get my cloak back please?”
Harry glanced down at the discarded pile of rags he had balled up and prepared to bury. Shrugging he scooped up the cloak and tossed it to Samantha. As her cloak soared through the air it unfurled expanding out like a pair of bat wings to fly directly towards the shadow user. She caught it and in one swift motion dawned her favourite garment.
“Thanks!”
She called out before taking a fighting pose.
“Now, it’s my turn to kill you!”
Harry gawked at Samantha, his jaw hanging open slightly. What was she talking about? This wasn’t a tit for tat situation.
“You sure little missy? Didn’t go so well for you last time.”
Samantha’s smile grew unnaturally large and sinister.
“I’ll be fine, I brought a friend.”