Loretta washes away all filth from her body, scrubbing it out with a bar of scented soap.
Once done, she stands up and shakes her body sending drops of water all around the bathroom. Stepping out of the bronze tub she grabs a towel and dries herself. Her lean yet strong arms, the muscular legs, drying from the thigh to the ankles; her hands carefully drying around the scars of shackles on them and on her wrists.
Now dried, she takes the cloth out of the standing mirror, places a stool in front of it, and sits on top. With a small bowl of blue glowing paint in one hand and a thin paintbrush in the other, she takes a deep breath and dips the tip on the substance. Carefully tracing lines around her body, over the barely perceptible leftovers of the lines she made long ago.
Shapes in circles and triangles, like trying to draw the blowing wind while occasionally making a recognizable shape, from her feet to her hands and from her hands to her shoulders. Until she finishes by painting the lines and triangle on her forehead, with a smile flashing on her face before she lets the tools on the wooden floor.
She bites her lip, the fangs digging deep, and as a drop of blood slides from them to her chin, she swipes it off with a finger, and then presses the bloody finger on the triangle in her forehead.
"Ancestors, bestowers of might, grant me the gift of your strength so that I may live. Spirits, bestowers of gifts, grant me the honor of summoning you so that my plead may be heard" She whispers with her eyes closed, hands holding each other over her lap.
A few seconds pass, and suddenly, the glow of the blue paint vanishes causing a smile to grow on Loretta's face. She stands up from the stool and wipes the blood off her face.
With the towel resting on top of her jagged brown hair, she reaches for an oil lamp and blows, the bathroom getting consumed by darkness...the shadows that hide countless monsters, appalling secrets, and heavy burdens.
A light shines through these shadows, but this is no bathroom. Anaid breathes heavily, her hands shaking as the circles of blue fire provide little comfort and even less light. It is almost as if the darkness is threatened with reaching out and killing the source of light. Things fall from the unseeable above and they either crash a few times on rocky surfaces before reaching the watery bottom or simply fall on it, the sound coming from nearby and echoing from much, much further away.
Gone is any form of clothing. She stands naked and dirty, shaking as the exposure freezes her very being, each breath visible like a cloud of mist dissipating into the air. Something approaches.
She turns around fast, the sound of splashing water echoing all around when she moves, the dark tar swallowing her feet. When the sound of rushing feet makes her snap and throw a fiery sword in its direction, the light it provides as it travels mid-air is not much different than a firefly despite the intensity of the flames but is just enough to see the creature about to reach her.
In an instant, she puts both hands in front of her and the circles of fire united, a large and complex sigil of intertwining lines, circles with eyes, and a large T in the middle appears, and a blast of blue fire finally forces the darkness away, revealing dozens of skeletal humanoid bodies with elongated jaws, black oily skin sticking to their bones, stalking her and vanishing from sight as if they moved twice as fast than it should be possible.
Skipping from sight and returning to the darkness, their eyes absent, only void in their sockets. Except for one.
The creature that wanted to attack her is held in place by fiery chains and Anaid quickly runs up to it. And compared to the other things, this creature is a distinguishable woman, her breasts saggy and long, her hair pitch black and dragging on the floor.
A knife of fire manifests in Anaid's hand and she stabs it deep in its chest, the creature seems in pain, but no sound is made until it goes limp and the chains vanish, its corpse falling to the water and the darkness consuming it all once again.
Flesh tore, chewing, the visceral sound of gagging and bones breaking echoes as the sound of falling objects never stops.
"Blessed by thee bound of flesh...blessed by thee bound of sin...carry thy burden, I will...carry thy failure, I will not. Az'Kara. Az'Kara" She gags and whimpers, stopping only to swallow "Come, my partner. Come, my salvation. Ni'Rae oh, Ni'Rae"
The darkness is gone once more, as a bright blue light travels from within the open chest of the creature, to Anaid's open mouth. Her black eyes let bloody tears fall onto the corpse, black veins growing and spreading from her eyes and her bloodied mouth until the blue light vanishes.
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"Ohs Ohs, Ura, Ura, Ura..." Another voice, guttural, loud, and otherwordly, speaks.
Anaid screams in pain as a green light begins to escape from her mouth and eyes, going onto something else. An open hand, as big as she is. The hand is gray, its fingers like claws, and many black dots, like spider eyes, adorn its surface; the palm is littered with holes of many sizes, going impossibly deep, seemingly endlessly, as the green light from Anaid's body is sucked by them.
The green light grows stronger, lighting more and more around Anaid. Until a gigantic figure can be seen.
A head like a peeled-off testicle, one hundred arms pouring out from behind its head stretch and hold on to rotting corpses of infants from those yet to be born to those that had just felt the wind on their faces. The saggy, bloody flesh of the demon's head periodically falls into pieces, but instead of making a sound or floating on the water it simply phases through. Countless holes adorn its surface like those in its hands, except they are much smaller, and a dim blue light emanates from within.
The attached torso of dozens of women make up the torso of the demon, they wail and cry out in pain as they try to pull themselves free, and others constantly tear off pieces of meat from their necks, a desperate attempt to end their lives but the wounds are instantaneously healed, their eyes gouged constantly pouring streams of slimy black tar as well as their breasts, it falls on to the water.
A large, palpitating heart lays bare and exposed in the middle of all the women. And the creatures that once stalked Anaid now squat around both of them; Their faces in the water, hands pressed together in prayer.
Eventually, the green light stops being sucked out from Anaid and darkness swallows it all, the sound of dozen of feet is heard as the creatures begin to run around.
"You will get yourself killed"
Scarlett lights an orb of fire above them and illuminates several meters from where she stands, the creatures vanishing from sight in an instant. Gone is the monstrosity.
Anaid clings to Scarlett's dress as if her life depended on it, and like a caring mother comforting a scared child, Scarlett caresses her hair almost affectionately.
She snaps her fingers and suddenly, they are now in front of large, rotting iron gates, the light of torches illuminates them, it is the bottom of the tower. With another snap, they appear at the long bridge connecting it with the rest of the dungeon. Another snap and they are now in Scarlett's office.
The fire cracking, the scent of lavender, Anaid lets go of Scarlett's dress, running towards the fireplace and almost digging her hands into the fire. Meanwhile, Scarlett walks up to her chair and leans into it, letting a tired sigh escape her lips as she reaches for a tiny bell. Ringing it once.
"If you can't avoid her from sucking the life out of you, your fate will be to become just another wretched for another witch to use. But, at least you are still alive" Scarlett says as she gestures for a book to come forth, and it obeys, resting on her hand as begins to read " I can feel the magic within much better than before"
"You rang, my dear?" Hulian asks after knocking rhythmically three times and opening the door to step inside, startled for a moment as he lays eyes on Anaid.
"Take her to her room, I'm sure Lory is back from her charity?"
"Yes, my dear" Hulian replies as he rushes to her side. Anaid violently shakes after he touches her "And Lory is home, should I let her treat her friend or summon her here?" Anaid now convulses as he picks her up, foaming at the mouth and her white eyes returning to their natural colors.
"Well...hm, no. She won't have the mind in the right place for what I want...After you drop our princess in her bedroom call, Morgan, and let her know I require her to drop anything she is doing and all plans she has, there is an important task she ought to take...for the second time"
"As you wish" Hulian bows slightly as Anaid finally seems to relax, her eyes closing and violent shaking stopping.
Scarlett hears the door closing and keeps reading the book in her hand. Flipping pages calmly, time flying for a being such as her, and after just a few seconds for her, another knocking.
"Mistress, I've come" The door opens, and steps in a woman.
Her hair was black and tied in a bun, a little messy yet firmly done, and her skin was pale. Purple lips, and a delicate face, with bright red eyes and noticeable bags under them. Dressed in a somewhat simple dark green dress that she almost dragged on the floor, with black colors mixed in and yellow lines as decoration. A tight black corset made her breast stand out, and she wore a stylish long brown cloak reaching a little beneath her ankles. In her hands were a few rings, and hanging from her neck was a pendant with a silvery half-moon.
"Morgan, a new opportunity has presented itself for you to right the wrongs of your past" Scarlett looks at the witch, slamming the book shut.
"Ah, it must be about him then" Morgan walks up to her, kneeling on the floor next to her.
"Indeed...it must be. You were much more inexperienced back then, but I trust your aim will be much better now" Scarlett cups Morgan's face in her hand "He raided a village north, Ynnerglass. Take Cornus with you and make sure to bring him back to me alive. I will see to his punishment personally" She lets go of Morgan's face and pokes her nose, the witch standing up.
"It will be done" Morgan bows, lifting her dress a bit as a sign of respect "Am I to carry the search with what I've been told?"
"He won't stay near for much longer, and I doubt he would risk going to the mountains. So he must either be hiding somewhere in the Endless Green or to the east, closer to the valley of Uj" The tiny smile Scarlett constantly carries with her vanishes, and Morgan flinches in response " Do not fail me again, Morgan"
"I will not" Morgan bows again and turns to leave.
"One more thing" Scarlett speaks up and the witch turns around "When you bring him here, make sure to put an illusion spell on him, in case Anaid happens to stumble upon both of you...She can't see Fogosh, understand?"
Morgan nods and exits the room. Scarlett opens the book, getting lost in its contents once again, this time a romance story about lovers that want to be together and yet can't. For one is a human, and the other a witch.