“Now that’s some delicious mind-breaking goodness,” Phon couldn’t hide her deranged grin at this point, “But I’m not quite satisfied. Let’s see if we can dig up anything else.”
“Ah, here we are. Jaid Luciri, born Sextaugber 16th, 2055. Hmph, just slightly older than me. Height, weight, boring. Rank, Lieutenant and in line for promotion to Captain. Don’t care. Scrolling scrolling scrolling.”
This all sounded oddly familiar. Phon was reading her dossier at the Central Peace. Jaid had no idea how they’d obtained it, but it was certainly classified information.
“Okay, personal history. Served as a knight of the Guzrinn Kingdom until the age of 16 where she was framed for the murder of Prince Lyke Guzmeir and fled to avoid execution. Yeah we know that already, blah blah blah blah.”
“Oh this is interesting. Settled down in a small frontier village where she served as a lumberjack to earn her keep for just over a year. Entire town was killed by a wandering Fiend now known as The Negligent Nutritionist. It is believed that their Curse allowed them to share any nutritional benefits received from food and drink to those around them through a form of area-wide osmosis.”
“The Nutritionist drank endlessly to deal with their issues but was never able to get drunk due to being a Fiend. Instead, all that alcohol was passed to the villagers around town, and all were found deceased with alcohol poisoning as a cause. Jaid Luciri was the only survivor due to her Fiend constitution. She then murdered The Nutritionist in an act of revenge.”
“Afterwards, Jaid hid in a remote forest, building her own cabin. She completely separated herself from society except for occasional trade with nearby settlements for necessities. Discovered one of these settlements had been slaughtered and overrun by a group of marauders, led by several Lesser Fiends. Jaid proceeded to kill all inhabitants and then dug a mass grave for both the marauders and former residents.”
“Well, Jaid, it’s pretty obvious why you’re so biased against Fiends. These are some pretty unlucky encounters. Even I almost feel some pity for you. Moving on…”
“After learning the truth about the creation of Fiends and realizing that the assailant that attacked her in Guzrinn could still be alive, Jaid began pursuing them, targeting Lesser Fiends and hitman groups. During this time, she had a run-in with Central Peace forces where she was arrested, interrogated, and eventually recruited.”
“And… from there it just goes on about your time in the CP. Boring, Boring, Boring! You’ve bored the anger out of me. I hope you’re happy. Let’s just get rid of her already.”
Jaid could feel the weight lifted off her back and arms, but she was still no closer to being able to move. Xard knelt down in front of her, a serious look on his face that drew her attention. “Okay, Jaid. We’re going to put you to sleep for just a few minutes. It’ll be a painless process. Don’t even have to prick you like with anesthesia. You’ll feel pretty groggy afterwards, but we can’t have you see where we’re taking you.”
Xard got back up, and a moment later, Jaid felt the drowsiness start to kick in. It wasn’t the fastest thing in the world, like she was slowly drifting off to sleep while lying in bed. For now, though, she was still conscious enough to pick up the conversations around her.
“Thanks for being the bait, Tize.” She heard Xard say. Tize said something in return, but her mind dipped out of focus just long enough for her to miss it.
“Where are we even going to get a box that big? Probably need a crate,” Their voices had all started to kind of blend, but Jaid was pretty certain it was Kada. “Oh, should I paint it? We don’t want it to look like a coffin after all.”
Another blur of the reality around her, and the next thing Jaid focused on was Drim’s face crouched down next to her. “Sorry about this, Jaid,” his face looked genuinely remorseful. “I’m sorry it came to this. If… If you had just surrendered, then we could have—”
Jaid didn’t hear the rest, pulled into a deep sleep.
◆◆◆
When Jaid awoke, it felt like her head was swimming and her entire body was floating listlessly. It took a few moments of blinking and looking around before she could finally focus on anything. The first thing she could make out was a heart-rate monitor on the wall beeping endlessly. Around her was countless medical equipment which made her believe she was in a hospital, but the vibe wasn’t quite right.
Everything around her looked too advanced and futuristic to be a standard medical facility. Jaid found herself sitting in a very wide and uncomfortable metallic chair to which her hands were secured in restraints. She tried to wiggle them free but had no strength.
Her vision went down into her lap where she saw a small furry creature curled up and dozing. It looked oddly familiar, and felt somewhat comforting that it was there. The creature stirred and looked up at her. When it noticed her staring back at it, the little fluffy thing jumped up and dashed out of the room.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
As Jaid tracked it with her eyes and what little bit she could move her head, she noticed a strange feeling around the brim of her skull. It felt like she was wearing a metal dome for a hat.
Someone entered the room a moment later, a dark skinned man that looked more like a mechanic than a doctor. His eyes seemed distraught, but he still put on a friendly smile. He looked very familiar too, but Jaid couldn’t quite place him.
“Hi, Jaid. Please don’t try to speak. It will only bring frustration. You may not remember me, but I’m Nathym, a member of the Fiends For Hire. I’ve told you everything I’m about to tell you already, so there may be a hint of repetition, but for your sake, we want you to remember this when you wake up again.”
“Now, I’m going to repeat some basic facts that you should certainly know to help ease you into it. You are Jaid Luciri, born Sextaugber 16th, 2055. You are an enlisted soldier for the Central Peace private army, Lieutenant rank.”
“For the past month and a half, you have been on a mission to infiltrate and spy on us, the Fiends For Hire. Earlier today, you were caught and captured by our organization. But don’t worry, no further harm will come to you. That is our promise.”
“In an attempt to keep you from divulging as many secrets as possible, we’ve just performed a procedure on you. It is something akin to memory alteration, but not quite what you may think. If we tried to remove your memories altogether, there’s no telling what damage that would do to your brain and ability to make memories in the future.”
“The device you’re currently sitting in is one of my creation. It lets us set a window of time from the present to as far back as we’d like. Well, if we go too far it’s risky, and your procedure is already on the very edge of what I’m comfortable with. So, I’m sorry if there’s any adverse effects.”
“We have basically played a little trick on your brain. All the memories since infiltrating our organization have been converted into dreams. And just like real dreams, they’re fleeting and hard to remember. There’s a good chance you’ll remember key moments and even clear pictures or emotions from those times, but the specifics of those events will be all but lost to you.”
“I tell you all this as a warning for when you wake up again. Your brain will try desperately to put all the pieces back together, but don’t try to force it. If you start to remember something, let it wash over you and go with the flow, or you’ll regret it. Trying to force yourself to remember dreams will only lead to pain and possible trauma.”
“Over time, you may remember some or even all of what happened during your time here. But I believe you’ll find those memories hard to trust. Others may try to inform you of what happened, but only you have your perspective, so take them with a grain of salt. That’s all. Your recovery from this is now in your hands.”
“Now, I’m going to put you back to sleep one last time. When you wake up again, you’ll be somewhere safe, back where you belong. I hope you heed my warnings.”
Jaid took in his words, a pit in her stomach as she processed them. She of course tried to think back to the last thing she remembered, but it was all a haze. What’s worse, Jaid couldn’t shake this feeling of unfathomable sadness and regret. She was going to break down into tears at any second, but she never got the chance before she fell unconscious once more.
The following morning at a gas station in Horage, a very confused clerk found an overly large crate with the words ‘Return to Sender’ printed on it. When the clerk pried open the crate using the nearby crowbar, she found a giant sword, a pile of luggage, and a woman with green hair grumbling awake from a deep sleep.
Fiends For Hire Internal Dialogue 6
The night of Jaid’s departure, Drim sat alone on the roof of their mansion staring up at the sky. They had actually disabled the snow now since it had become a bit more severe, so Drim was watching it plink off the barrier. The weather controls were the only part of that barrier room that had actually worked. Why would they leave something so crucial to their operation out in the open? The barrier room was purely bait for spies.
Drim couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit too cruel and bordering entrapment, but what was done was done. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to spend the rest of the night and probably the next few days over analyzing everything. Could he have done something more to prevent this bitter outcome?
Eleen: That hussy, that whore, that mawhging Draz! I’ll kill her! How dare she pull something so shameless against my precious boy?! What was her name again? Jaid Luciri? You better hope you never lose control of your body if I see her again, because I’ll slit her throat.
Somehow, her mother’s fanaticism brought Drim out of his funk, even cheering him up a bit.
Drim: Let it go. You know I don’t care about something like that.
It was the first time Drim had ever actually acknowledged anything of a romantic nature to his mother, and he would certainly play dumb when badgered about it by his friends. Romance had no place in his life. Such things were just a distraction for his goals. Yet, he couldn’t help but lightly touch his lips as he remembered it.
Drim: I don’t get why she was so upset, though. It was my first kiss too.
Eleen: Oh, my poor son. So oblivious. Ugh, but the hypocrisy of that girl, ranting about Fiends as if she wasn’t one herself. That alone makes me want to strangle her.
Drim: Jaid’s experiences may have twisted her perception, but she was certainly right about one thing.
Eleen: Hmm?
Drim: Fiends are a blight on this world.