Mia stood in place, staring at the new arrival, she found herself shivering uncontrollably. She found her breath caught in her throat, her hands and feet refused to listen to her, and her fur standing up at full attention. Then the women spoke, causing her to tense at just the sound of her voice.
“Oh, what is wrong, little fox? Capable as you are I see no reason for you to shiver so?” The robed women held out her hand to her side, waving it back and forth in the air “It is not cold, I wonder yat, are you afraid? Of whom?” The women giggled in her cloak.
Mia tried to choke out some words, anything, but found she couldn’t, all she could do was watch as the women approached the corpses on the ground, she couldn’t look away, only watch her every move.
The women knelt down, placing a fingertip delicately on top of the icy dagger imbedded in the neck of the dead human “Cold, ice magic, an interesting way to use this…to shape magic…” she pinched the handle and lifted it out of the man’s neck, bringing the blade closer to her face as she stood “keeps its shape, no cracks or knicks, doesn’t show signs of melting even when exposed to body heat.”
She slowly raised her finger and placed it upon the blade, sliding her skin across its blade and making a small cut “Ooooh~ and has not dulled! It is like the work of a blacksmith! Good as any blade of iron!” she then suddenly twisted her body, chucking the blade towards a tree in the process, a loud thunk could be heard as the blade sunk into the bark “And sturdy! Impressive!”
“…” This woman was creeping Mia out, she wanted to leave as soon as possible, but every movement the women made caused her to tense up, she was on edge, not understanding what this women was doing.
“So the cold isn’t an issue if you use ice magic, I take it?”
“?!?!” Mia leaped away, the women had moved behind her at some point without Mia noticing, the shock caused her to grasp her neck, it was hard to breathe… it was at this moment, when she was finally able to move, she realized she had been sweating like crazy, her clothes drenched.
“Oh? Didn’t see that?” The women straightened herself and gave an exaggerated shrug with her arms raised “Figures, expected too much from you after you easily dispatched some low level scouts, I suppose…” With her still raised she tiled her head to the side “then that leaves the question, why are you so afraid?”
Mia tried to speak, but instead shrunk back, taking a few steps back. ‘why am I so afraid? Why can’t I breathe, why? Why? Why?!’ she couldn’t understand it, she hated it, why did her chest hurt?
“Your status also doesn’t match what you are capable of, to block my appraisal even… just what are you, little fox?”
Mia tensed, the women had walked in front of her before she even realized, she had to get away! She leaped back again but paused in the air “?!” looking down she saw the women, bending over backwards on one foot at an angle with her arm outstretched, hand firmly wrapped around her foot.
“Let’s see just how much you are faking.”
“I-“ Mia immediately found herself swung around in the air as the women spun on one foot, then quickly straightened her stance while holding Mia, finishing her motion by slamming Mia’s back into a tree.
“Guah-?!” All of the air she had been holding in was forced out by the impact, and she found herself on the ground, gasping for air and writhing on the ground and unable to control herself.
“That didn’t kill you instantly, good!” Mia heard the women clap, which caused her to freeze in place in fear “Guessing that little impact would do about 100 to 300 hp? Would you mind verifying?”
Mia struggled to look up, the pain combined with her fear made it difficult to do so “?!”
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She was yanked by her leg again, lifted up and left dangling upside down “Legs are moving and spine isn’t broken so my range is most likely correct, sorry little fox but you were a bit slow and we are tight on time.”
‘Not again!’ Mia tried to move her hand, to point it towards her, to shoot out some ice magic, anything to get her to stop but her arm just wouldn’t listen, she was petrified ‘why!? Why am I so afraid of-‘
“Oops, no magic testing yet, we are not there yet, still on the body.”
Mia paled at the word testing; she felt a queasy feeling build up inside her at the word, a knot in her stomach she did not get the chance to process as she was spun around, and spun, and spun, and spun until eventually she could not take it anymore and vomited, the spinning coming to a stop.
“Oh that is very high dexterity, too high for what level I think you are…tell me fox, how many stat points do you get per level?”
Mia was left dangling, her head spinning ‘stats? Level…?’ this women…what was she…
The women huffed “Come now, out with it.” She gave Mia a quick shake “you are small, but not small enough to where I believe your age is a lie, your not of the kin either, and that fear in your eyes… it reminds me of my long standing subjects…are you a spy?” she chuckled “I hope so! This will be far more interesting~”
Mia was then tossed slammed against a tree again, this time she heard a distinct crack, she tried to scream in pain but it was caught in her throat.
“Tch, if you are one you are not good at acting.” The women shook her head, then knelt down “but still not dead, high dex and con…with high int as well judging by the blade, far too spread out.” She chuckled, a chuckle that quickly turned into a laugh.
Mia froze at this, her breathing quickened as her eyes darted around, this laugh…this…crazy laugh…it sent her into a panic, she tried to move but she could not feel her legs ‘why…’ This feeling of fear, was it a skill? No, no she had felt enough mental effects that she had a pretty good guess this wasn’t it, it was different than that.
This feeling felt more familiar… something deep in her core that was screaming at her to get away but knowing it was futile… she had felt this before…
“Hrm, well before we get to finding the our lost hero, I think we have found a little…gem…yes… little fox, you wouldn’t happen to be the hero of the fox tribe?”
Mia didn’t move, this was bad, this whole situation was horrible, but this made it all the worse, that’s what she was doing with her tests…
“I take that as a yes, oooooh~ I’m looking forward to this then~”
She didn’t know what to do, or more so, she couldn’t think straight. Her mind was racing, her heart feeling like it would leap out of her chest at any moment, that was when she felt her arm being lifted.
“I was saving this little beauty for the hero, but if I have another easy test subject right here who fits the bill might as well~”
Mia groggily looked over to see the women take out something from her inventory, her eyes going wide when she saw a metal brace dotted with blue gems. She started sweating profusely, she started shaking like she never had before “No….no! NO!” she started to have a panic attack, she flailed her arms around, trying to push her away or loosen her grip, she even tried shooting magic but the women pushed her arm away, deflecting her wild attack.
“Oh ho ho~ you are starting to never disappoint~ “ the girl happily chimed “why does it seem like you know this tool little fox? Are you confusing it for a slave collar? Fret not it is not one, no need for those boorish things. “
Mia wasn’t listening, she was focused on solely trying to escape even though she could not move her legs, all she had was one arm she flailed about. She didn’t exactly know what that thing was, but her whole mind was screaming it was something bad, really bad. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.
The women was babbling on, but Mia wasn’t even hearing it at this point. There had to be something, ANYTHING she could do to escape, anything…anyone, please….
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It pinged in her mind, that’s right!
In her panic and fear she had forgotten.
“YES!!!” She screamed, and in the next moment she found herself, alone, screaming in the woods. She stopped, looking around and briefly seeing a started deer run off deeper into the forest.
“….” Her legs collapsed, going down on her knees she breathed in and out rapidly, she clutched her chest “Just what… was that…” She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. The image of that women appeared in her mind and it sent her into another panic, she never even saw her face but the way she talked, acted, speaking of tests and treating her like that “Why…”
She feared her, even after she was gone, but she was still somewhere in the forest…looking for her…
The worst part about it was just how familiar she felt, how familiar the fear that overcame her felt, and how terrifying that brace was…the fear was…crippling….
As she calmed herself down a bit, she heard a ding, and slowly looked up to the familiar blue screen that appeared before her without her consent.
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