If you’re reading this, whoever you are, it means you’ve stubbornly deciphered the hidden markings and symbols I used to hide this. Maybe you wish to know about my life? Perhaps you’re eager to read tales of the most daring battles I've participated in from my perspective? No, like most, you wish to know what drives me. The source of my strength and longevity isn’t mystical nor noble.

Since your determination has gotten you this far, I will tell you. The blood of the Corrupted has carried me to this point. Along with this, I wish to share a word of warning. It isn’t as simple as you may believe.

I was born in a large village plagued by superstition and fear. Each year, thirty children would be selected to ingest the foul blood of the Corrupted. No one survived. No one ever survived. That all changed as their methods grew more complicated after a scholar appeared in our village one day. It is said he wore strange armor, with a glass helmet and silvery coat, decorated with an odd symbol. At first, he was feared and the men in the village attacked, but he easily dispatched them. As they recounted it, he was guarded by men made of iron and steel who could call down lightning from the sky. I suspect it wasn’t as simple as that, but I wasn’t born at that time and thusly wasn’t able to see this man for myself.

As I found out much later, the scholar spoke our language and introduced new practices into our village, he drained the blood of each inhabitant and collected pieces of flesh from the Corrupted. He toiled for days before creating a cruel tincture. Once it was completed, there was an apparent screeching from some apparatus worn on his wrist. He told the village elders that it was time for him to depart, but left them with his final creation. A device that pierced the skin and injected his venomous solution into the bodies of the children place inside of it.

I was born soon after and as you may already have guessed, I was selected to bear the sting of the poison. Twenty-nine died before me, and through some miracle, the mixture took and I grew with it inside of me.

As I grew, I was trained to fight and kill while slowly learning the truth. When I finally realized the true nature of what occurred, I killed those responsible, destroyed the device, and burned all that was left of the mixture. There were those who resisted and sought to stop me, but I killed them too.

When it was all done, I had killed most of the warriors and the village was crippled. I still remember the faces of anguish shown by those who hadn’t attacked me. I hadn’t spared them, no, by taking away their only protection I had condemned them to the same fate. Despite this, I know I did what was necessary.

I have lived longer than I care to count, but as the years continue to go by, I grow weary and tired. I know I am not destined to live forever, I feel as if I can see my death coming soon. Maybe I am already dead and I've lived in an endless dream ever since. This poison has taken its toll on my body and mind, eroding everything I have, but as long as I have breath, I will kill as many Corrupted as I can.

As for that scholar, I have searched for him endlessly so that I may understand his purpose, but I could find no trace. The only clue of his origins I have is the symbol I have etched below.

Maybe you, the one who reads this, can find out the truth.

…

Visette’s eyes trembled as she shut the book abruptly. As if possessed, she slowly turned her head to the side and rolled up her sleeve, looking at the overlapping lines that formed the shape of an owl. It was nearly identical to the image left by Anton.

There was no mistaking it, Minerva had visited Novo Prime once before. Maybe even more than that. Thousands of questions arose in Visette’s head as she couldn’t quite make sense of it. If Anton’s story was true, how were they able to appear hundreds of years apart.

She slowed down her thoughts.

‘Perhaps, it wasn’t hundreds of years for them.’

On Earth, it may have been several years since Minerva visited, but for Novo Prime, it had been hundreds of years.

‘What technology were they in possession of to have bridged the gap between worlds?’ Visette racked her mind for answers.

While she was the most advanced biological weapon they developed, that didn’t mean she was their most powerful asset. Her arrival in this world, along with the scattered laboratories was abrupt, with dozens of records claiming they fell from the sky without warning.

The pieces to the puzzle were there, but Vis couldn’t make sense of them without more information.

‘The benefactor of Eden Hall would know more,’ Visette thought.

It was obvious she wasn’t the only survivor to arrive on Novo Prime and she had no way of knowing what Minerva’s secrets were. Her priorities shifted and she placed tracking down the surviving scientist as her secondary goal.

“What’s got you spooked?” Kitty’s voice brought Visette out of her contemplation.

“Nothing,” She replied, putting Anton’s Journal away before checking her watch.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

With 1250 KM left, they were halfway through their trip. Everything proceeded without issue and there didn’t seem to be any trouble in sight.

“Hey, wake up! There’s something ahead!” The driver shouted, stirring everyone to consciousness.

The vehicle eased to a stop as everyone in the back shared glances.

…

“What in the name of Anton is that?” Kitty frowned, covering her nose in the process.

“A warning,” Hawk replied, his gaze narrowed and serious.

Visette was the first to approach the mysterious object. She quickly realized it was a rotting, severed head that was fixed onto a metal pole and placed on the side of the road. Just beneath it, dozens of other heads were piled around it.

“A warning for humans or corrupted?” asked Fox who covered his face with a cloth.

Visette maintained silence, examining the area as to not miss a single detail. She sent out a psionic pulse that stretched out for several hundred meters, but found that there was nothing of note other than the indentations left by multiple footsteps.

“Both,” Bear chimed with irritation. “At least, I’d make a warning for both.”

Hawk sighed. “Whatever, let’s just take it down before the rest of the convoy drives through–”

“Don’t.” Visette raised her hand, she moved closer to inspect the sight of the ‘warning’ only to find something was amiss.

She sent another psionic pulse and discovered the ground underneath the pile of skulls was full of uneven mounds.

“There are explosives planted underneath it,” she explained.

She lifted her palm and forced the pile of skulls as well as the soil beneath it to float revealing large bundles of wiring and metal. There were even fluid-filled jars with along with floating shrapnel meaning the intent of the traps were to heavily wound if not outright kill whoever stumbled upon them. The fluid was obviously a toxic substance that would cause an inflammatory reaction.

“By Anton’s soul,” Fox exclaimed softly.

Normally, if mines were placed within an area, there would be ample warning. Since the Corrupted couldn’t read, multiple notices would be posted around the area. Seeing as there was no discernible word of warning, the makers of the trap weren’t friendly.

Hawk quietly scanned over the road, but could find no signs of landmines buried underneath.

“What’s your take on this Visette?” He asked as Vis disabled the traps before sending them into the brush along with the skulls.

“Expect hostiles.”

“That’s it?” Rodent asked nervously, clearly alarmed. “J-Just expect hostiles? I think everyone already expected hostiles.”

A single look from Visette shut him up instantly. She carefully evaluated their situation and deemed it okay to advance while showing necessary precaution. As they shortened the distance to the lab, the signs of warning increased in both frequency and nature. Disemboweled bodies strung up, shallow graves full of bodies with gunshot wounds, and even several people tied to a post with no clear sign of wounds which meant they simply starved to death.

“Someone has to be fucking with us,” Bear remarked, tightening his grip on his rifle.

“It was here long before we arrived, Bear,” Hawk rationalized.

Visette stayed silent all the while. From her point of view, there was no point in speculation. Chatter between convoy trucks filled the radio and there didn’t seem to be any ambushes set up.

It wasn’t until the sun began setting did they come to an abrupt stop.

“Someone’s out there,” The driver said wearily.

Adjusting the headlights, the silhouette of a battered was revealed in the middle of the road.

“It’s a trap,” Kitty said simply.

“You don’t know that, Kitty. It could be a chance for information,” Fox spoke optimistically.

“Vis, is it a trap?”

“Yes,” Visette replied after sending a psionic pulse out in all directions.

There were dozens of individuals situated in trees waiting for the opportune moment.

“See, it’s a trap.” Kitty shrugged.

“I’ll go–” Hawk was about to volunteer when Vis raised her hand to stop him.

“I will handle it,” She said, stepping outside.

She formed a psionic barrier around her skin before stepping out of the truck.

“H-Help me!” A boy in his late teens shouted, shivering and hunkered in the street. The stench of festering wounds and blood wafted through the air.

Visette approached him without a change in expression, inwardly taking note of him. It appeared that the bait was real as he was covered in real injuries.

“Where is there base located?” Visette asked.

“W-What–”

The crackling of a shot filled the air as a bullet struck Visette. However, an odd noise rang out as it bounced off of her skin and ricocheted into the grass.

“W-What?” Even more confused, the boy began to inch backward.

“Besides the group hiding nearby, how many of them are there?” Visette questioned him once more without even acknowledging the bullet that hit her.

“You just– How did you…”

Another shot rang out and another bullet struck Visette but appeared to be deflected by her skin. Her head snapped in the direction of the shot as her pupils began to glow. With psionic energy in her ocular nerves, there was nothing that the darkness could hide from her. She slowly walked toward the forest before making a sudden leap forward.

Muzzle flashes lit up the forest and gunfire rained down, but the noise hardly drowned out the screams. With each flash, a brief glimpse of Visette could be seen. Bodies were crushed, thrown, and battered amidst the trees. The commotion came to a halt with fewer and fewer noises before it became dead silent.

Visette slowly made her way out of the forest without injury. The only blood that could be seen trickled down her barrier until it eventually gathered at her fingertips and fell to the ground.

Once again she stood in front of the injured boy, her eyes glinting with the same cold and indifferent light as they always did.

“Tell me the location of their base,” She demanded.

As if he had seen the horde standing in front of him, the boy could only stammer incoherently.