The air was filled with the stench of death. The bodies of the dead rotted beneath the sun, carrion birds circling over the skies. Flies ruled over the ghost village of Gladeside, now a blight on the world of Annaris.
How long has it been? A couple of days? Weeks? Months?
Lila lost track of time after the massacre, along with her sense of reality. She refused to believe any of this was real, just a long nightmare.
Yet deep down, she knew all of it could be real.
This is how Lila spent her days lately. Lying on her bed, contemplating what's real and what's not. She tried sleeping once but the moment she closed her eyes, that horrific night played itself over and over again. She decided to not sleep after that, just like how she decided against eating or drinking after she hurled the contents of her stomach with each attempt.
If it wasn't for the Crystal nourishing her with its energy, she would've starved herself to an early grave days ago. Still, even with the nourishment, not being able to eat or drink anything, along with the inability to sleep, took its toll on the young survivor. Dark circles formed around her eyes and her skin turned pale and shriveled. Her hair fell out.
However, despite all that, she once took a small stroll around the village. She thought bearing the stench of death and rot would be easy when compared to looking at the freshly mutilated corpses of everyone she ever knew. She even considered burying the bodies when she walked past them to preserve their dignity but what dignity would the dead have? What good would it do to them anyway?
She asked these questions every time she walked past a rotting corpse.
Unfortunately, bombarding herself with an endless barrage of questions exhausted whatever energy she had left, so much so that she swore to never leave her house ever again. The pain was simply too great for her to handle. Besides, this may all be a nightmare so why should she bother with any of this in the first place?
Thus, she kept lying on her bed most of the time. Staring lifelessly at the ceiling, hoping that she will eventually wake up from this nightmare.
"Sooner or later you will have to accept the reality lass. What's done is done, you have to move forward," whispered Crystal in Lila's mind, trying to make her snap out of it.
This wasn't the first time it tried its luck at making her come to reason but she always ignored the blue crystal.
Lila stood silent for a while. But then, surprisingly, she bothered to answer it. Without a hint of emotion,
'Why do you care? This doesn't affect you at all," she muttered.
"Yes, but you are the one who took me out of the cave. We formed a bond kid, there is no going back anymore." The Crystal reminded her, with a stern tone.
Raising her eyebrow, Lila turned around her bed to look at the Crystal floating next to her. She had so many things to say but rather than speaking, she let her expression do the talking.
After taking a good look at her face, Crystal continued,
"You can't run away from reality kid. You'll end up dead if you keep this up. I don't think I can keep you alive for much longer"
A spark of anger appeared in her eyes, Lila finally raised her voice, "Who asked you to do that? Elias... Everyone in the village... They are all dead. Maybe it would be better if I joined them." she protested.
Crystal could see the fire flicker in her eyes. She wasn't completely gone yet, there was still hope for her after all. All that's needed was a small push. She had her time to grieve, now is the time for recovery.
Crystal thought about its options for a while. What could it do to make her explode? What could it say to make her snap? While Crystal was thinking about its options, Lila turned her back on it again by rolling to the opposite side of the bed. Planning to ignore whatever Crystal was about to say.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the room:
"Maybe if you weren't such a helpless little twat, you could have saved them from this fate..."
These were the words Crystal chose to provoke Lila into an argument. As soon as it finished its sentence, Lila sprang up from her bed faster than she ever did.
With her eyes twitching and a fury akin to a wild beastmen, she exploded.
"WHAT?! THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, NOT ME! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"
It could feel incredible anger swelling up inside her. Knowing that it hit the jackpot,
"Good, use your anger kid. Unleash it on me, let it all out..." thought Crystal.
Without relenting, Lila continued to unleash her rage, eyes blood red.
"THE FUCK YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ANYWAY? 'Powerful Crystal' MY ASS. WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP THEM IF YOU'RE THAT GREAT HUH?! ALL YOU DO IS GLOW AND NOTHING ELSE!"
That last part kind of hurt Crystal's ego. Feeling the need to defend itself,
"Okay, now that's a lil' bit hurtf..."
"OH SHUT THE FUCK UP. EVERYONE I KNOW IS DEAD BECAUSE I TOOK A GLOWING PIECE OF SHIT OUT FROM BUTT-FUCK NOWHERE!" Roared Lila, not letting Crystal talk any further.
Crystal, after swallowing its pride, decided to let her have it as long as she needed to.
Although that patience started to reach its end after 30 minutes of endless screaming, crying, barely coherent insults, and thrown objects.
After Lila seemingly calmed down, Crystal decided that it was time to continue the conversation.
"So, how are you feeling sport? Any better? Did you get it out of your system"
With a chilling stare, Lila hissed,
"Not. A. Single. Word,"
If it had a body out of flesh and bone, Crystal would most likely physically feel the contempt Lila had towards it at the moment.
And then, faint laughter reached Lila's ears.
This didn't come from the Crystal, as it clearly came from far away. Lila's eyes widened in shock and her death stare on the Crystal was broken as soon as she heard it.
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Noticing their presence almost at the same time Lila heard the laughter,
"Get down," the Crystal whispered to Lila's mind.
Lila immediately crouched down by the window and closed the hemp curtain while she was at it. The Crystal followed, dimming his glow while floating down.
A couple of people were approaching the village. Their loud bickering and laughter coming closer and closer.
"Are they the same people from that night? Can you tell if they are?" Thought Lila.
"No, they aren't. Their presence feels like a disagreement after a bad meal. These are different people,"
This further shocked Lila. Who were they? No one from outside visited their village before. In fact, the first time outsiders came to visit the obscure village of Gladeside, it was decimated by the time they left.
The voices were getting clearer with each passing minute. They still couldn't hear what the group was talking about but by the tone of their voices, they were all men.
Lila sneakily walked over to the door of her room and barred it from behind by leaning a chair beneath the knob.
The houses in the village had no locks since everyone knew each other and there was practically no crime, save for the antics of the children.
Concepts such as these were foreign to the humble residents of Gladeside. Lila on the other hand, had to block her door to avoid the scoldings dished out by her mom.
She knew it wouldn't hold for long though so she reached for her backpack. After rummaging the room for a while, she found what she was looking for and quickly pulled out her small bone knife from its place. Luckily, the knife didn't fly out when she threw the backpack at Crystal before. She took it off its scabbard and held it tightly in her right hand. Metal was scarce so people usually used wooden utensils or equipment made out of bone.
Still, bone or not, it was better than having nothing to defend herself with.
As Lila tried bracing herself for what was soon to come and hid in her dimly sunlit room with the Crystal, they could finally hear what the men were saying after they seemingly stopped at the village square.
"What in the actual hell happened 'ere man?" Asked one of them.
"I don'now and I don't wanna know. Let's grab what we can and hot tail it outa here." the deep voice hastily claimed.
"I think I'm gonna puke." Said the last man, barely holding his lunch down his throat, gagging.
"Whatever, let's get to business shall we fellas?", spoke the deep voice, not even bothering to hide his excitement.
After this, the group immediately began kicking the doors in one by one, to check what was inside the abandoned houses, eager to claim their prize. All of the houses were near the village square so it did not take long for the men to reach them. However, they were clearly disappointed once they realized there was nothing but old and worthless stuff. Even the clothing they found was old and completely worthless.
After looking around the houses in the village, the three men gathered in front of Lila's house. Now she could almost clearly hear what they were talking about.
"When that cheap fuck spilled the beans about a villagebeing wiped out, I thought it would be a gold mine out for grabs. BUT NO, IT'S AN EMPTY VILLAGE, FULL OF DEAD BODIES WITH NOTHING OF VALUE..." yelled the deep voice, clearly pissed off by the immeasurable disappointment of their findings.
"What did he even say to you?" One of the others curiously asked.
"Oh, I don't really know man. Something about a village south of the Settre Outpost being wiped out by monsters or stuff. I stopped listening after I heard the empty village part Mich." Retorted the man with a deep voice.
"Y'know you're a shitty friend, right Dirk?" Answered Mich, with a condescending tone.
Before his friends could start arguing, the last man got between them, weak and gagging,
"Guys, guys! Let's check a couple more and get out. I don't think I can hold that roasted chicken in anymore..."
"You're such a fookin' pussy, John. Instead of stuffing your mouth every chance you get, you should practice being a real man." Said Dick, making fun of his friend's weak resolve and wide build.
Being the reasonable one of the group, Mitch, with a caring but defeated voice,
"If you want to take a breather, go take a minute John. We'll get going soon anyway. There's nothing here."
"Aight.." John complied with teary eyes, thankful for his friend's understanding.
As others went back to check the remaining houses, John picked the house they were standing in front of to catch his breath. After weakly entering the house, he stumbled upon 3 neatly placed but severed and rotten heads on the table.
The sight instantly made John gag. Falling to his knees, he couldn't hold it back anymore and hurled his meal on the ground, groaning.
Meanwhile, Lila and Crystal were continuing to eavesdrop on the looters.
The fact that a stranger entered her home uninvited and had the audacity to vomit on the ground re-sparked Lila's anger.
Sensing her emotions,
"Unlike him, hold it in kid. Be strong." Whispered the Crystal.
"He came uninvited and vomited on the floor... How am I supposed to keep calm?" Thought Lila, still listening to the groans of the sick man.
"You either keep calm or they'll take their frustration out on you lassie. I strongly advise you to keep it together."
"Fine."
While this mental conversation was taking place inside Lila's room, John continued to empty the contents of his stomach. Though he began to analyze the situation within the house while he was on his knees. What kind of a monster would carefully place heads on a table?
Come to think of it, what kind of monster would be able to do such a thing? Nothing seemed normal about this village either. Rotting bodies, severed heads, an impaled person and the list goes on.
Why are the heads severed rather than eaten or torn apart? Why are the bodies intact and left untouched? Why is there an impaled person? And most importantly, why are there 3 heads on a table in a random house? There are also no claw marks or bite marks on any of the bodies he saw around the village.
No monster he ever heard of would be capable of doing something like this.
No... this can't be the work of a monster. This was something entirely different. Something wicked.
He could imagine his and the others' heads joining the ones on the table, to be used in whatever evil magic this was. After realizing this grim possibility, John slowly got back up on his feet without taking away his gaze from the interior of the house. He cautiously made his way through and carefully checked each room, making sure nothing was out of order.
Finally, he reached the only closed door in the entire village.
After a big gulp, he slowly reached the door knob. His stomach twisted again while the hairs on his back stood still. Every inch of his body screamed at him that he shouldn't be doing this.
"I ain't a pussy..." John mumbled and pushed.
It was stuck. Noticing this, John weighed his life choices. Maybe this was a sign that he should leave. Still, curiosity got the better of him and he pushed again, stronger this time.
The door finally opened and revealed what was inside the room. At first, he couldn't make sense of what he was looking at though.
A young woman was crouching by the window with a ritualistic-looking knife made out of bone in her hand. A glowing stone levitated next to her. On closer inspection, he finally processed what he was truly looking at. Her skin was pale, circles as dark as the night encircled her blood-red eyes. Her long hair seemingly fell out and her clothes were covered in dried blood.
The woman suddenly came eye to eye with him, shooting a murderous crimson gaze.
John tried to scream but no voice came out of him. He was frozen in fear, his knees were shaking and his eyes were wide open with shock. He suddenly remembered how to speak but it was too late, he felt his knees give away and fell face flat on the ground, knocking him out cold.
Having witnessed what just transpired, Lila and Crystal could only stare at the man on the ground, confused. While they tried to make sense of the situation, John was down on the ground knocked out cold, seemingly with a yellow-looking liquid coming from his pants.
After days, someone eventually had a good night's sleep in Lila's room...