From the Outside

Break of Autumn, Week 3, Day 7

A krrrrkkkkkkkrrkkkk filled the training room, a resounding sound that Lady Perry had promised her daughter would not happen. That the monsters behind the door were sleeping. They weren’t dangerous –not to them.

She can’t go in, Jenny thought to herself, tugging on her crimson braid. Nora could get hurt. And Mother would be upset!

But Nora was already turning. She was already reaching for the handle of the door. She was opening the door, and Jenny was frozen, her hand gripping Nora’s as tightly as she could. But it was no use. There was no stopping Nora, who was clearly stronger than Jenny –despite Jenny’s [Uncommon] Class. Nora had run for ages –longer than Jenny thought even stats could enhance a child’s endurance. She was already coming to terms with the insanity of Nora’s powers as Nora ripped free from Jenny’s hands.

Then the door was open, and Jenny could see a blight standing there. It was moving slowly in the darkness. It moved in the way its kind always did –with grotesque twirls of their roots and the dark holes that acted as their eyes staring into your soul. It wasn’t the first time Jenny had seen a blight –it wasn’t even the first time she had seen this blight. But her mother had said it would be asleep. Sedated was the word she used.

It must have worn off. Jenny thought frantically, grabbing at Nora again. This time her hands were gripping as tight as she could, so tight that her knuckles were white with the strain of her grip. Nora didn’t flinch. Well, not at Jenny’s grip.

Jenny could hear Nora’s breath quicken and knew she needed to take her away.

“Come on, Nora, we need to go,” Jenny spoke quickly, and tugged on Nora’s hand, but the other girl wouldn’t budge.

This must be her first time seeing a blight, Jenny reasoned, “It’s okay, it won’t attack us. But we need to go. Now.”

Nora’s breaths were so quick, and she wasn’t looking anywhere but at the blight. She was hyperventilating. Jenny had seen it before –had experienced it before.

“Get a grip, Nora!” Jenny shouted, “We need to go! [Hand of a Harpist]!”

Mana coated Jenny’s fingertips, and she tugged again, this time with the power of [Hand of a Harpist]. The Skill broke through whatever trance Nora was in and forced her to move. Only, she tumbled back toward Jenny, taking both girls down. Nora had landed on her behind, still facing the blight, and Jenny was beside her, getting ready to drag Nora back again –to get her to flee, to move.

But it was just a blight. Jenny was sure that they didn’t need to be afraid. It wasn’t even Tier 2. Jenny knew that much –she’d inspected it before, and her mother had soothed her with the fact that the bars could hold a person up to Tier 3, so these monsters were no match.

That was the moment Jenny realized she’d made a mistake.

That was the moment that she recoiled from Nora.

That was the moment Nora gasped and released a scream so bloodcurdling Jenny couldn’t bring herself to move again.

And then darkness reigned.

Giant spikes of darkness emerged from nothing –no, not nothing. They emerged from Nora. From her open palm, the shadows dripped down and pooled around her. They writhed and shifted unsettling, wrapping her protectively.

The darkness was alive; Jenny could feel it. It was so close to her, and it was so cold. It felt like when she used [Mana Sense] on her mother’s Skills. Only, Jenny hadn’t activated [Mana Sense].

As the spears of pitch black began shooting at the blight, Jenny could only think a single word.

Monster.

Jenny watched as a limb was severed from the blight, and she caved in on herself.

Monster.

Another spike broke a root. It was unrelenting. Jenny felt tears well up in her eyes.

Monster.

How did Nora have so much mana? How could she have a contract this early? Why was she–

A monster!!

Jenny hiccuped in her fright. Then she began to cry in earnest. Out of fear that Nora would lose control, she covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her cries.

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The attack continued. And continued. And continued. It felt like hours, but it couldn’t have been longer than a minute. Jenny wasn’t able to calm down until the shadows began to slow, then all together faded away into the mundane shadows of the room.

Jenny released a whimper out of fear and relief that it was over. And then Jenny was slammed back against the door, a hand around her throat, Nora practically on top of her.

“You knew.” Nora accused.

Jenny took a shaking breath and choked on her own sobs as she tried to respond. No words came, only more tears. More tears and the pain of Nora’s grip.

Then Nora gasped, letting Jenny go and jumping away from her. Jenny brought her hands up to her throat, shock filling her.

Monster.

“Explain,” Nora screamed at Jenny, any semblance of control lost in her frenzy, “Explain why there is a monster in your basement!”

You are the monster, was all Jenny could think as she scrambled away from Nora. Unable to find purchase with her hands, Jenny attempted to stand. But her legs were useless, too. So she crawled away from Nora and the obliterated blight. But Nora was faster, and she stood –running past Jenny and shouting. Jenny couldn’t shout if she wanted to. Not after what she’d seen. Not after a monster attacked her.

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Neil Lighton was not a clumsy man. Sure, he seems that way –when it came to his words. When it came to the way he interacted with people. But Neil was taught to do that. Neil was one of the best knights Oberon Rellar had ever worked with. He was decisive. He was strategic. He was a man you wanted on your side. So, making the decision to send Neil down into the basement was an easy one. Siobhan would handle it with efficiency as well.

When Neil arrived down the stairwell to the young Lady Perry curled up into a ball and sobbing, he thought he would have to be clumsy. He had expected an attack, not a crying child. It didn’t take long to understand the situation though. Not when his eyes focused on the door hanging wide open and the chunks of roots splayed about. This was not something that required him to be soft, not yet. This required him to be strong. And strong Neil could do.

Stepping past Lady Perry, Neil had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Making eye contact with Siobhan, they took their positions. Her flanking him to the right, her dagger out. With every step, more and more of the back room came into view. There was no overt movement, no sound save for the crying in the background. But that meant nothing. Many attackers had Skills that allowed them to hide themselves –Neil’s Lady included, if underleveled.

Neil kneeled down at the threshold and inspected the chunks of root.

“Sapling Blight. Dead. Level 17.” He spoke, hushed, as his eyes scanned the remainder of the room. As his hand found the Mana Pearl from the monster, he tossed it back to Siobhan. “Going in.”

Beside him, Siobhan nodded, catching the pearl with ease and tucking it into her armor.

As they counted and inspected and ran their Skills, they swore.

“She’s experimenting on them,” Siobhan said, “No evidence of corruption in the cellar, though. So whatever she was doing was mundane.”

“Agreed,” Neil sighed, counting the remaining three Saplings and logging their levels and status, “It could be benign or she could have a source of corruption elsewhere in the manor.”

Siobhan stilled, running [Mana Sense], “Do you see that?”

Neil turned back to where she was squatted down. It was a deep gash in the wall.

“Someone killed this thing, and they used extreme force to do it,” Neil said.

“Yes, but that’s not what I mean,” Siobhan ran her fingers across the gash, “This was caused by elemental magic. I’ll have to look into it further to figure out what kind. It seems… uncontracted.”

Neil swore, “What is house Perry doing with an uncontracted elementalist? Also, where would they have gone? I’m running [Lightning Disperse] and I don’t see any other exits.”

Siobhan gave Neil a look, “There were only two people down here. Lady Perry and Lady Nora.”

Realization dawned on Neil, and he said, “Lady Nora who has a Skill called [Silent as a Shadow].”

Siobhan nodded, “Keep it between us and the Captain for now. I’m going to wipe any trace of her Skills. I can feel another Skill was used, but the mana is much weaker and non-elemental. Probably Lady Perry.”

Neil nodded, then turned back towards the training room, “I’m going to bring Lady Perry up so you can work in peace. See what she says.”

“Neil,” Siobhan started, “Make her think you agree. Whatever she says, make her think you’re safe. We need to know what she saw. We need to protect Lady Nora.”

Shaking his head, Neil said, “I’ll do my best. I’m not great with kids though. Especially nobles.”

Siobhan huffed a laugh, and Neil was gone from the cellar.

With a few quick steps, Neil was sparking with electricity. He had to tap his hand against the metal of his armor to discharge himself before he got to the Lady Perry. Kneeling down, he did his best to soften his voice.

“Lady Perry,” he said, reaching out a hand to the girl, “Lady Perry, I’m here.”

She was still crying, though more muffled now.

“Monster,” Lady Perry cried out, a new round of sobs forcing their way out, “A monster!”

Neil, quickly realizing he wasn’t cut out for this, simply picked the girl up by her armpits –which took some strategic gripping because Lady Perry was practically in a ball.

“I’ve got you, Lady Perry, you’re safe,” he said, pulling the girl into his chest and shifting his arms so he was supporting her with one arm and patting her back with the other, “You’re safe now. The monster is dead.”

“No–” she whimpered into Neil’s armor, “She’s not.”

Neil did not stiffen underneath the girl by sheer force of will, and it took every bit of control he had to keep his face kind and not irritated.

“It’ll be okay, I’m going to take you somewhere safer than here.”

It was a relief when he could dump her on the ground in front of an angry Lady Nora. He hated pretending. It was the worst part of the job. Being unassuming in front of the populace.

Neil Lighton was a man who loved to fight monsters. He was good at it. And when he’d almost died as a teen doing just that, the Dawns had taken him in. Had healed him and given him the opportunity to grow into his abilities. So, Neil only really cared about two things: monsters and the Dawns. Everything else was an act. An irritation. His only role was to protect the Duchy of Dawn.

Neil had no sympathy for the girl scared of Lady Nora. No sympathy for anyone who would call her power monstrous. Because Neil had seen monsters. And Lady Nora was nothing like them.