Ruyi wondered how bad he’d have to hurt her before Sabina stepped in. Was this how these folk treated a guest? Beating them up? She felt a little resentful. But she’d agreed to it, because of course she did, she just had to, didn’t she? So she supposed it was all her fault, again. She hugged herself as she stood there, feeling their expectant gazes on her.

Why was this Rufus so cheery? It would’ve been easier if he was angry at her, or if she hated him, but he seemed like an okay kind of person. Other than wanting to hurt her.

When Sabina shouted, “Begin!” he instantly demonformed. He was some kind of ogre—he this jiggly potbelly and apelike arms so long his knuckles dragged as he walked. But they bound thick with muscle too, two battering rams for arms.

Then he lunged for her. He was halfway to her before she finished her shocked breath. She barely had time to demonform.

Then his fist, swollen to nearly double its size, harsh bright blue streaming with white wisps, ripped into her belly.

She went over sideways, so winded and hurt she couldn’t even scream properly; she could hardly gasp. It felt like he’d punched a gaping hole in her belly and all her insides were slowly falling in. He hit her so hard her eyes welled up with tears; she almost gave in then and there. He hit her again near the same spot, then whacked her on the flank; then the side again, fists falling wildly, viciously. She tried throwing up her paws, warding off the strikes, but she just couldn’t take it. She tried running, desperate—but she couldn’t go anywhere, they’d trapped her in a circle!

She’d hardly made it two strides before the ground ruptured under her feet. She didn’t even know what he’d done. All she knew was she was flying, then something immense struck her in the side and she crashed into icy ground.

She looked to Sabina with tears in her eyes, begging silently. Why wasn’t she ending it? Couldn’t she see Ruyi was finished? Couldn’t she—

Then Rufus was on her again, roaring, cold spittle flecking on her face, so sudden she cried out and lashed at him. But he ducked her paw. His feet brightened blue and he slid on hard ground—by some weird trick each step took him double the distance. When she lashed at him again, his step took him half. He swerved violently out of her way and hit her, and the last of her will went out of her. She couldn’t take it anymore, she—

The world exploded in white. Bright, ringing white. She felt herself tumbling over herself, falling, rolling, clawed herself to a sorry halt, and tasted the salt of blood.

They were all looking at her. Rufus was charging her still. She saw him coming, fists flailing, two icy comets streaking at his sides. What was wrong with him? Couldn’t he see she’d had enough? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?!

They never left her alone. Never, never.

She sat there trembling. She saw him coming, and she hated him.

When he lunged at her again, she lunged back. He hit her in the belly. She clawed him over the face, and he was the one who went flying.

She didn’t let him fall. She’d pounced on him, swinging with blind rage, swinging with all she had. He moved much better than her. He was so much more skilled. Every step he made was a Technique. Every fist must’ve been drilled a thousand times. He looked big and dumb, but his body worked well together, and his arms were so long he could just keep hitting her, and every time he touched her it hurt her. He wielded the ground to his advantage. He could blast sudden spurts of essence in her face. He could skid here and there. He could summon ice armor on his skin and send fissures shivering through the ground, and he did all these things when she came for him. He fought like the sight of her blood made him mad.

She fought back like she wanted to kill him. She stopped thinking. Compared to him she didn’t know how to use her body at all. She had nothing but raw anger. He might’ve been slicker but she was faster and stronger, and when her claws raked his chest over and over she shaved off inches of bone. The sight of his weakening flailing roused in her a vicious delight.

Somewhere in the far distance she heard a shout. Again, louder. Rufus had stopped moving—strong arms hauled her off him, and still she thrashed. She struck out at the one who held her. She wasn’t done!

“Shh,” said Sabina close in her ear, and she felt an arm snake around her neck. It tightened so fast it felt like her head might pop off. She bucked and thrashed and clawed but the arms held her tight. A startling coldness seeped through them into her, numbing her neck, creeping up her head, tinging her thoughts. Everything felt sluggish. Her thrashing grew more and more limp.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Powerful, Ru-yi. Powerful. But you must have control, too. Listen to my voice. Listen. Return to us. Shh… I have you… shhh…that’s it…”

She lay there on the verge of consciousness, black spots in her eyes, hanging limp, head drooped. She fell back into humanfrom, and then slumped onto the ground.

Who was she? What had she just—she didn’t—she retched. Black blood splattered white snow; she stared dumbly at it.

There was a shape, blurry in her vision. A hand. She looked up. It was Rufus, holding out an arm. The other was so badly mangled it hung loose at his side, dripping streams of blood.

“Well fought!” he rasped, smiling a bloody smile.

“I tried to kill you,” gasped Ruyi. She felt horribly dizzy. She wanted to vomit. “I tried to kill you!” What happened to her? She just… all of a sudden… she was horrified.

“Happens,” said Rufus, shrugging. “You are young! You will get better. Besides—this is what seconds are for, yes?”

“What?” croaked Ruyi. She tried standing and a pain knifed her in the gut so intense she cried out, stumbled. Then she bent over vomiting again. It felt like a fist had clenched tight inside of her. “Um,” she said. Sabina was smiling at her too. Sabina always seemed to be smiling.

“You’ve done beautifully, Ru-yi. But you have asked too much of your body,” said Sabina. “We’ll get you to the Shamans’ wards.”

“I’m okay,” Ruyi insisted. Then she vomited some more and blacked out.

***

She woke up groaning. The spotty, blurry pink-brown world resolved into a face. It was the pretty boy shaman staring down at her.

“Oh, good,” he said. He sounded exasperated. “You’re awake.”

“Bluh?” she said.

“You’re welcome,” said the boy. He wiped down a brush. She blinked at her arms. They were scrawled with looping runes.

She was back where she’d started.

“What is my name?” he said.

She stared blankly at him, and he sighed. “Let us try again. What is your name?”

She kept staring.

“Well?”

“…Ruyi?”

“Very good.” He packed the brush away in his shaman’s satchel, which had so many pockets it looked like a naked cob of corn.

“Thank you,” she said. He grunted.

“Why’d you let him hit you so much?”

“What?”

He gestured at her belly, which still throbbed painfully, but at least everything felt like it was there. “Most of this—the burst intestines, the broken ribs, the bruised core—was because you sat there and took his first volley, was it not? I was there. I saw. Why?”

“Oh,” she said. She looked away, swallowing. “I don’t know.”

He hmm’d. “It isn’t my place to give you this advice,” he said. “But I will give it anyways. If I had a body like yours, I would not disrespect it so.”

“A chubby body, you mean?” she said before she could stop herself.

“What?”

“When we first met. You called me chubby.”

“…Are you serious?” he gave her a dry look. Then he shrugged his satchel over his shoulder and left, leaving her sitting there, feeling stupid.

She’d hardly made it off the bed when Sabina burst in. “Ruyi! You live!”

Before Ruyi knew what was happening, she’d grabbed Ruyi by the shoulders and planted a kiss on Ruyi’s forehead.

“Ah!” cried Ruyi.

“This is great news. Come! Tonight, you feast with us.”

***

Sabina seemed to sense how frightened Ruyi was of joining them, since she scooped Ruyi up with an arm and sat Ruyi next to her at the warriors’ table. Ruyi was scared of a lot of things—that they’d all hate her, that they’d all think she was nuts for almost killing one of them, but they cheered when they saw her coming, which shocked her. Rufus even gave her a chest-thump she felt too ashamed to return. As the feasting started and the tables piled high with slabs of lightly roasted meats—you made your own skewers out of icicles—Ruyi stayed quiet. She nibbled on her skewer and watched.

“Did you see the moon tonight, Sabina?” said a short-haired woman. She was slender and fierce-looking, like the rest of them. She sat a few seats down; she had to shout a little to make herself heard over the din.

“Yes!” said Sabina. “The harvest nears. I have a great feeling about this one. All the omens are true…”

She smiled. She was so beautiful when she smiled. She was beautiful normally too. Ruyi liked the feeling of her arms around her; they were so strong; she made Ruyi feel all safe. Then she turned the smile on Ruyi, and Ruyi reddened; but if she was offended by Ruyi’s staring she didn’t show it at all.

“You should join us, Ru-yi! It will be a wonderful time.”

“What for?” said Ruyi, blinking down at the table. She hardly recognized herself—she sounded almost meek.

“The moon grows big but a few times a season, and when it does essence from deep within the ground bursts out onto the land,” said Sabina. “All beasts and demons are drawn to it, for it is a source of great power. The tribe will battle them for dominance. There, you will grow stronger in a night than you will in a half-year! The essence springs—they are magnificent. You will love them. Ah! Here, serving-boy!”

There were feral servants going around, dragging carts piled high with bottles.

Sabina snatched one up, poured out some gurgling liquid that looked an awful lot like blood in texture and color, but purpler.

“Blood-wine,” Sabina announced. She shoved it Ruyi’s way. “Have some. It will do your complexion good.”

Ruyi wasn’t convinced. She took a sip. Her eyes widened. Then she took another, a gulp—

“Woah!” said Sabina. “Slowly now—”

But Ruyi had already downed the glass. Her head buzzed hot. “More!”