After a while of running, you are breathing heavily as you calm down from the running. You may have run out of stamina but you are far away from the weird villagers. You feel a little sense of safety as the red beret girl does the same. However…
“How are you? Are you fine? Were you touched?” She worryingly asks about you.
You remember that you were grabbed by the village girl, so you quickly look at your right arm. You expect the weird substance to be there but…
“It’s gone.”
…
“W-what’s gone?” The girl steps back.
“It was just there in my arm. The substance was just in my arm,” You explain.
“H-huh?” The girl stays in her position. “Do you think you’re still in control? Nothing feels weird about yourself?”
Though you’re unsure how you’re gonna confirm it, you simply say, “I guess.”
The girl crossed her arms and said, “I’ll just keep my eye on you.” She then turns around to a tree, “We should take a rest here.”
…
She raises her hand and spurt out a rope of fire, instantly slicing the tree and letting it fall down to the ground, leaving a burn mark in the affected area. She then cuts down the fallen tree into two small logs, transfers the logs using the fire rope, and places one behind you and hers.
You are surprised. You only stay quiet and act like normal.
She starts a campfire via multiple small sliced logs in the middle and sits down. You slowly do the same.
…
“Can I ask more questions?” You prompt as you don’t have a lot of information. “What really happened here? Why was that village weird?”
She sighs as she places both of her arms beside her.
“Last year, the world was just like your typical fantasy world. Everything was fine and vibrant until a certain event happened. The Demon Lord made a spell that caused this corruption throughout the world.” She points to a tree with the substance, “You see those things? If you touch them, it will corrupt you and basically turn into a zombie.”
You realize that you would’ve been dead at this point. In shock, you ask, “Does it work like a curse?”
“If it was a curse, I’m pretty sure there’s a way to revert it.”
“You mean-”
“It has been a year without any fix.”
…
You widen your eyes. How lucky you are to see that those substances haven't taken over you yet. You simply look down to your arms and give a moment of silence. Maybe that’s the reason why you were transported here… However, you are still a day into this new world. You wouldn’t jump to that conclusion.
You start a different topic, “I haven’t known your name.”
“Oh right.” She prepares herself, “Ahem, I am Riley. I am the Witch of Hellfire.”
“That’s oddly menacing,” You nervously smirk.
“Well, just last year, I defeated the Hellfire Demon and so I was granted these awesome fire abilities. I can basically do anything I want with fire! You see that stump there? Then you see the log you're sitting on?” You quickly look and see she was right. She continues, “Hehe, I manipulated the fire to not damage the logs while I was transferring.”
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…
You slightly nod, “Huh.”
“Impressed? I’m very overpowered now,” she boasts. “Now that I’ve given my name, what’s yours?”
“Uh… Huh?” You have no name… well, no name for you to use in this world at least. You took a second and said, “Hunter. My name is Hunter.”
“Hunter?” She tilts her head, “That’s a weird name to call you.”
You only lower your head as you awkwardly smile, “Well, that’s the name you have to call me as.”
“Alright, Hunter,’ I trust you,” She doubts a bit but it really seems she trusts you.
“Oh, by the way, you are someone from a different world, right?” You add.
“I guess there’s no point in hiding that,” She grinned. “I should also say that you and I are not the only ones who are from different worlds that got here.”
…
“I see.” You kept that in mind. “Do we have anywhere to go? I don’t think this is a safe place to stay?”
She looks around and says, “Yeah, by tomorrow we should be able to reach the orphanage. For now, we’re gonna take a break here.”
“Like go to sleep?”
“Well, uh, yeah? I mean, why did I say we’re taking a break here? Don’t worry, I can set up a fire barrier to protect us from anything outside. The fire is comfortably warm and shouldn’t hurt,” She holds her hands and places them in front of her chest, slowly expanding the space between as a fireball is created. She then lets go and the fireball quickly expands, going through you, though you don’t seem hurt.
Both of you are now protected by the fire barrier Riley created. “Wait, what’s the point of the campfire then?” You abruptly question her.
“Eheh…”
You sigh, “I guess I’ll go take a nap.”
“Good night, Hunter,”
“Good night,” You yawn as you lay your head beside the log and to the slightly warm soil.
…
Riley was fast asleep under the fire barrier she created along with Hunter. Though she believed the whole world was reaching its end, a good night’s sleep was enough to calm her nerves. Unfortunately, it seems that she has to wake up soon.
She began hearing weird squishing noises. Her eyes were still closed so she can’t seem to get a gist as to what it is, but she knows that it sounds odd.
She was getting nervous, not knowing where those sounds were coming from. She originally thought that it might be an awake Hunter loudly eating. Then she realized that she hasn’t given him any food nor does Hunter bring anything with him.
She woke up and slowly pointed her head at where Hunter was, “Hunter? What are you doing?”
…
It wasn’t just Hunter at his place.
A zombie was gutting his insides and throwing them all around, while Hunter was left defenseless. He’s dead.
“H-hunter?” Riley said quietly as her eyes widened over the gruesome mess just across her.
How did you get inside? My barrier shouldn’t be able to let anything in or out? Riley thought in a panic, observing her surroundings. The parts of her barrier near Hunter seem to have no damage at all.
She then saw that the zombie wasn’t just all black. She couldn’t see them at first as the bright red fire barrier obscured them, but the zombie’s black goo-covered body had flames coming out of them.
“Oh no.”
It swiftly looked at Riley’s frozen body. The zombie has switched its attention to her.
It began to ready itself for a pouncing attack while Riley stood up and slowly stepped back.
…
The zombie screamed, prompting Riley to run and engage in a chase.
She made the barrier disappear while getting away as fast as possible.
The zombie quickly followed by bouncing off Hunter’s corpse and running on all fours.
Riley tried to fight back. She aimed her hand and started shooting fireballs, but it did no damage as it absorbed into the body.
It was like it was pointless to fight back. All she can do is run now as she already knows that she has no other way of defending herself.
The zombie climbed a tree and started jumping from one to another, trying to get near Riley.
…
To Riley’s demise, it managed to get her, rolling for a bit before getting captured by the zombie.
Unable to move as both its hands pushed Riley’s hands to the ground, removing any ability to fight back.
“N-no!” Riley stuttered as the zombie’s dirty breath got to her face and its scary face got closer to hers. She already started feeling the goo spreading around her arms.
With no hope, Riley began to close her eyes as she prepared for death.
…
SQUELCH
The hands of the zombie loosened as it was thrown away.
Riley wasn’t feeling right as her arms were infected.
Before she could faint completely, she could see Hunter alive and standing with a bloody hand on his right. She could barely see it, but it was a heart dripping with blood.
“Hunter…” She whispered before passing out.