Between The Lines (2)

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One Month Ago

In a certain region of the human domain of Ekin, a town only a few square miles larger than Zale was pumping plumes of ash into the air. From afar, it might have seemed like festivities were underway, but in reality, the growing piles of ash were being churned up by the burning buildings, flaming stalls and dying bodies.

A bright orange glow cast a veil of despair throughout the ravaged streets, and yet, even with all the death and destruction currently taking place, hardly any screams could be heard. Given the number of burning bodies lining the streets, one would assume that there must have also been those who were smart enough to run for the hills – Unfortunately, no such thing could come to pass anymore, and that was because, at the center of all this chaos was a small crater no more than thirty feet wide.

It had remnants of what appeared to be runic markings running along the circumference of its scorched perimeter, though it was now hard to tell what exactly those strange symbols were because of the “creature” now slumped to its knees at the heart of all this destruction.

It had a humanoid figure, quite a feminine one in fact, with all the curves and contours one would expect, but it was the exact opposite of what a “human” should be. Its body was covered in a squirming dark mantle from head to toe, but the composition of this body flickered like the flame on a small candle, making it seem as if this thing could evaporate at any given moment.

The only thing relatively human about its face were the two circular purple spots that one could only assume to be its eyes. All in all, the current circumstances would suggest that this thing wasn’t even supposed to exist in the first place.

The being examined itself under the dim moonlight, but since it had no mouth, only muffled groans came out, and even that was still unusual. It sounded like dozens of people were trying to half-heartedly mumble something all at once.

“Man....you sure did a number on this place...”

A calm voice came just a few steps away from the devastator. Its crooked neck turned like bolted gears to face the man now approaching it so boldly.

Clad in a hooded silver coat, the fearless youth strode the flame filled path of destruction with nothing but a confident smile on his face, this chaotic scenery must have brought him some sort of guilty pleasure.

Everything around the impact site, from the dead bodies to the burning buildings, had all been haphazardly cut apart and now resembled what could only be described as a grotesque puzzle of destruction.

“It looks like you’re having a hard time controlling that radical of yours - but well, I can understand. It’s not like you could use any magic befo - woah there!”

He yelled, shifting his neck to the side had just barely given him enough leverage to avoid the incoming blow.

At a glance, it only resembled the dull flicker of light, but that analogy couldn’t possibly be true seeing as a portion of the ground now had a sword-sized gouge spanning a few dozen feet in it.

“.....That was dangerous...”

The man murmured, licking the thin trail of blood gliding along his cheek. The attack just now had slashed off the hood previously covering his face, so now the thin strands of muddy brown hair on his head were on display for all to see. He must have been somewhere in his late twenties given the fierce, yet playful look in his eyes. His ocean blue Irises glowed with a tempting, almost chaotic hue.

Yet, the monster in question seemed to have little interest in that.

What appeared to be confusion had frozen the creature in place, but as soon as that brief hesitation was shrugged off, the being continued its assault. A flurry of flickering blades suddenly shot towards the unbothered youth, he chuckled at the sight before skipping between them with a casual ease.

The more he dodged, the more erratic the creature’s attacks became, mincing up the long dead bodies to the point where they resembled nothing more than thin strands of paper.

A wrathful roar emanated from its mouthless face and in response, the flurry of blades seemed to get even more chaotic.

The young challenger was undoubtedly experiencing a flood of emotions, but they were nothing close to fear. It was much closer to amusement than anything else, in fact, he almost resembled a child now locked in a high-stakes game of jump rope.

With each flicker of his silhouette, he positioned himself further and further into the monster’s cleaving grasp until the deadly beast, still on its knees, was no more than two steps away. His body lunged forth as he ducked under the final horizontal sweep of light aiming for his neck.

“Right there.”

His outstretched hand was all it took to direct an overpowering wave of pressure at his foe, the slumped creature fell flat on its face like it was suddenly being forced to bear the weight of the entire world.

An unsightly squeal erupted from the thing now slowly being submerged into the ground, much to the annoyance of its captor.

“Yeah, Yeah.” He mused in annoyance.

Even as its body was being forced into solid bedrock, the creature was still defiant in the face of the oppressive force now submerging its body.

“Irregular, huh? What a fitting name, it looks like this level of magic isn’t enough to restrain you for very long, but...”

The man fiddled with something under his coat, and before long his arm emerged with an oddly cut blue crystal that was about the size of a clenched fist.

“I need you to behave for a little while; these things aren’t exactly easy to come by you know, and we can’t keep doing this forever.” He spat, strolling over to the column of pressure keeping the irregular flat on its face.

“Here we go!”

With a powerful shout, he shoved the glowing item into the upper back of his bested foe, his arm sank into its body like a muddy swamp and once again, the beast railed in a sporadic fit of agony. Its limbs thrashed about as an otherworldly light began emanating from inside its body, overpowering the dim orange glow of the subsiding flames.

“Looks like it worked...” He mumbled, lowering the arm previously used to shield the light from his face.

Now, in the center of the small crater where a monster of unknown origin had once been slumped to its knees was the figure of a woman. She didn’t have a single thread of clothing on her body, but the flowing strands of black hair reaching all the way down to the ruptured ground were enough to shield her slender figure from any would be onlookers.

Not that there were very many to begin with.

The woman blinked at her own hands in awe, looking up at the moon overhead as if she’d just been reborn.

“Where...am I?” She mumbled aloud, directing the question to no one in particular – but, fortunately for her, someone was there to give an answer.

“This is the town of Tiran – well, it was anyway, this place might need some remodeling after that little fit of yours. That being said, welcome to the new world! A pleasure to make your acquaintance malady.”

He bowed in an extravagant gesture, but it didn’t quite have the effect he was hoping for.

“New world?”

“Yeah, that's right. This place is a little different from the world you grew up in -” He stopped himself at a sudden realization, raising his curled fingers to his chin in a moment of deep thought.

“Umm...sir? Is there something wrong?” The woman asked through the veil of her cascading bangs.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“No, it's just.... not having a name to call you by is pretty inconvenient y’know? If you don’t mind, would you allow me to do the honors?”

She paused in contemplation before answering “Feel free.”

The man surveyed their surroundings and clapped his hands together as soon as the beaming lightbulb of inspiration had appeared above his head.

“Well considering the current situation, what do you think about Nephthys?”

Most of her face was still being blocked by her dangling bangs, but the only thing on blatant display was the smile being forged.

“Yes, that works. I think...it’s a lovely name.” She answered in a soft whisper

“Then it’s decided, Nephthys it is.... And with that being said, would you like to come with me, Nephthys, I need your help.”

She surveyed their surroundings once more before nodding in agreement. No sooner had she done so was the man’s aiding hand being offered to her, the smile on his face matched hers, but only seconds before their arms could touch, a dull thud shook the ground.

Two new figures, clad in their matching cloaked clothing had appeared.

“Back already Broin, Demir?”

“Yeah, I was just checking the perimeter, it looks like most of the remaining citizens have already fled the area.” A deep voice echoed the answer to his question, it came from the bear-like man who towered over his other companion.

“Just so you know Vidar, this guy let a few of them go out of pity.”

The slender man beside the hulking giant answered. The hood of his cloak wasn’t drawn at the moment so his most defining features were currently on display as well. As captivating as his flowing blonde hair was, the standout trait here were his arched, pointed ears that were each fitted with two pairs of silver rings. The man’s green eyes showed only apathy for the destruction afoot, he frowned at the sight like an impatient child.

“Not this again; couldn’t you stop them Demir? I thought you hated humans.” Vidar asked in astonishment.

“My hatred for humans stems from only one person, it’s not like I’ll just go out of my way to kill them all. And besides...” The elf answered with a scowl before looking up at the stone-faced giant on his right.

“...This guy was doing his absolute best to let them get away so there wasn’t much of a point to it.”

“Damn it Broin! What were you thinking? We could’ve used a few more sacrifices you know, what if this one had failed?” Vidar cursed at the giant man

“Vidar, I despise the needless killing of civilians. If it failed then it would have just meant that this woman simply wasn’t worthy in the first place.”

“Again with the self-righteous mumbo-jumbo" Vidar responded with a heavy sigh

“Well, it worked out in the end so I guess it’s fine. You two, go get her something to wear.”

“Understood, but...are you really sure about this? About her, I mean....”

“Hm? Ah, that’s what you meant.” He smiled, glancing over his shoulder at the woman now staring in awe.

“It’s fine don’t worry about it; we need the extra hands right now anyway.”

For a moment, Broin froze before turning his back to the conspicuous duo, leaving the words “I’ll trust your judgement” behind.

Demir followed alongside him, still apathetic to the chaos. Unlike his comrades, he hadn’t even glanced at the woman for a full three seconds in spite of the bewitching stares she was throwing at them.

“Now then, Nephthys, I believe you were about to accept my offer, no?” Vidar asked enthusiastically, his words seemed both measured and firm.

“Mhm, I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

Her answer made him chuckle, and her own reddening cheeks made her look away in embarrassment.

“Here; take my hand” he said, resuming his gesture from moments earlier.

“Thank you....”

The instant their arms touched; he briskly pulled the woman to her feet before using his free arm to support her back.

“Oh and one more thing Nephthys...”

Confused, she cocked her shielded face to one side.

“You can drop the act now.”

“Act?” Her soft answer oozed with skepticism.

“That’s right. You’re a killer, aren’t you? No normal person could ever remain so calm with all these bodies lying around. Not to mention your bloodlust, this whole time you’ve been looking for openings in my defense – You want to kill me, don’t you?”

“..............”

“Tehe-” Soft laughter squealed through her lips.

“TEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

A loud, boisterous, outburst of madness escaped the lips of what was initially thought to be a fragile young woman.

“So that’s what gave it away huh!? Damn I thought I had you there...” She exclaimed in a mix of euphoric anger.

“I’m flattered milady, but you’re a ways off from even hoping to kill me.” Vidar retorted, tightening his grip on his nude captive.

“So it seems, but...”

*LICK*

“....this is good enough.”

A slurping sound rang in Vidar’s ears, Nephthys had leaned in close enough for a kiss, but had instead opted for licking the dried blood clean off his face.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had this~” She murmured, using the vermillion fluid to dye her own lips. With a hint of grace, she broke free from Vidar’s charming grasp and slipped into a frolicking dance inside the oval crater.

“I’m back! I’m free! Finally free from that wretched place! - Now, it’s time to get my revenge! I’ll definitely murder that thing! Where is he!? Where the hell is that Grim Reaper!?”

She yelled her somewhat repulsive desires in a burst of joy. Clearly, her brief moment of modesty was over.

Vidar watched on in amusement, nodding his head as if he was sure of something.

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible my dear.”

“Eh?” She paused, standing on tiptoe to stare in astonishment.

“Remember what I said at the beginning? This is a different world, so that guy isn’t here, if we’re lucky, he might even be long dead”

A mask of despair spawned on her face.

“...No...way...After I finally got out...” Her words mumbled out, drenched in sorrow.

“Now, Now, no need to get so moody. I have a proposition for you.”

“And what would that be?” She asked, turning to face thin man with a pronounced look of indifference.

“I have something I need to do, and I need your help to do it, so as long as you help me with that, I’ll keep your new body in good condition so you can kill whoever you want, alright?”

For a few seconds, she stood there, gazing at the far-off moon, the cool nighttime air must not have been much of an issue for her.

“This one’s not red....”

“Hm? What’s not red?”

“Nothing. Never mind, I’m just talking to myself.”

“I see. So, can I have your answer little miss?”

She smiled, heaving off the burden previously weighing on her bare chest.

“You’re quite the charmer, but it's bad manners to rush a lady, you know? I have a hard time dealing with bossy men.”

“I tend to prefer the quicker side of things” He replied, shrugging in indifference

“All right, I suppose that’ll do for now. You did free me from that place after all, and I need information before I can start anything on my own.”

“How kind of you.” Vidar smirked “You’re the only one who made things this easy for me.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment”

“Ack!” A rumbling sound interrupted them, it came from the right, where a disheveled young man was just now freeing himself from a pile of rubble. He had more than just a few bones broken considering his limply hanging left arm, but despite that, the man still shot a hate filled glare at his target.

“Y-you...how could you do this to us? I thought you were here to help, so why!? Answer me, Vidar!” He roared, filling the area with the purest form of malice.

“Ahem! Nephthys...” Vidar pointed to his right in annoyance. "You missed one.”

The girl daintily chuckled before lazily waving her hand.

Before the intruder could even react, his upper body was already slanting off his torso, it fell to the ground with a horrific splat.

There wasn’t even time for the man to squeal.

“Well I guess things are settled here now.” Vidar said, removing the coat draped across his shoulders and instead draping it around his newfound comrade.

“Let’s get out of here Nephthys.”

“My, how kind of you..." She smirked in delight.

“Oh, right, right - One more thing Nephthys....” He stopped himself to give a glance over his shoulder.

“Welcome to Gehenna.”