Bits of Dr. Goodfellow were scattered around the room. Entrails littered the floor around Thyssa. Something unrecognizable stuck to the flowers. Even the fabric of his clothes, his doctor’s bag, were in tatters everywhere.

Thyssa was just as horrified as Lili. “I…no…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to!”

Lili’s face was white-hot. “Didn’t mean to? Your ferocity stains the very room!”

“I…I lost control…”

“You butchered him.”

“He…he hurt me. I warned him, but he hurt me.”

There was a moment of cold silence. Lili seemed to consider her words.

“Like the rabbit hurt you?”

“This is different!”

“Where are the bruises? The cuts? The only blood I see on you is human blood.”

“No, it was…he was touching me.”

“And so you tore him to pieces?”

“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know that could happen.”

“A touching story, meant to play at my heart. You’ve always hated humans, haven’t you? Always envied our perfection. Always resented the way we’ve looked at you.”

“I love humans. I just want them to love me back.”

“You don’t understand what love means.”

“Don’t you? I come from you.”

Lili nodded. “So you heard.”

“Can’t you believe there’s some of your goodness even in what you threw away?”

“I wanted to, Thyssa. I really did. I see now that I was naïve.”

“You were right the first time!”

“Everything you have done disproves that. I told you I’m a scientist. No duty but to truth. And the truth is clear now. The part of me I cast off…it is too vicious to tame.”

“I wanted to go home with you. I’m sorry I failed.”

“Not as sorry as I am.”

“I will leave.”

Lili sighed. “Okay. You can leave.”

Thyssa bowed. “Thank you.”

Lili thrust out an open hand. “Just give me back the Benevolent Heart. I would find some better creature to test it on.”

“But…but then I’ll.”

“Change back into a malform, yes.”

“I don’t want to be that anymore.”

“You always were that and you still are. You’ll just look the part again.”

Thyssa gripped the Benevolent Heart. “I can’t do that.”

“I am not giving you a choice. I gave you the Benevolent Heart, and I can take it away.”

“No.”

“There has been enough violence this day. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

The Stormwatch dashed into the room, some blocking the doorway, some flanking Thyssa, two by Lili’s side, all pointing their spears right at Thyssa. She was surrounded.

If they were going to see her as a monster, she would use that. Thyssa bared her teeth. “I’ll make this as hard as I can. You want to take away my humanity, I’ll make you fight tooth and nail for it.” She glared around the Stormwatch. “That goes for all of you. Are you prepared to fight to the death? I am.”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

If there was terror in their eyes, it didn’t show behind those gleaming white masks. Step by step, they narrowed the circle around her.

Her eyes darted around the room, searching for a weapon. She wouldn’t have much time to grab one, and even less time to use it before they overwhelmed her. Smash them with the vase? Wrestle them for a spear? No, you needed the armour to touch them safely. They relied on that armour. She needed something right near her, something that could break their defences.

“Don’t throw away your life,” said Lili. “This won’t be like the fights you remember. You’re weak, unarmed, and you’re outnumbered seven-to-one.”

In the shreds of the doctor’s bag, Thyssa caught the cruel glint of a pair of medical scissors – no doubt used to vivisect her kind. If it could cut up a malform, it could cut up anything.

She flashed her most dreadful grin, stopped hiding the pain and desperation burning in her eyes. “Then let’s see how many of you will die before I do.”

Thyssa tore out the scissors and leapt onto the nearest soldier, stabbing them right where their eye would be. In fact, right where their eye really was, leaving a single, visceral mark on an otherwise-bloodless face. They screamed in agony, Thyssa screamed in fury.

The one-eyed soldier thrust their spear at her, the air crackling around it. She jumped out of the way, dodging just in time. Another spear went right for her head, and she ducked, stabbing the attacker’s hand.

If she stayed here, she was dead. Thyssa ran to the door. Lili slammed it shut. A click as she locked it. But no lock in the world could contain Thyssa’s fury. She gave the door a sharp kick, cracking the lock open. Then she charged at it, narrowly dodging another spear as she smashed open the door.

Lili and the Stormwatch at her side ran down a flight of stairs. No doubt those soldiers would be back as soon as they’d gotten out Lili.

Thyssa sprinted for the exit, the other four soldiers in hot pursuit. She didn’t dare look back, but she could hear that terrible crackling, the storm of humanity’s hatred for her kind. Just as she reached the glass doors, a hand seized her arm and a spear thrust down at her. She rolled aside and tripped them in one swift motion, then stabbed them in the neck as they fell. A wet gurgling sound as they choked on their own perfect blood.

Thyssa shoved open the doors, ran out of the hospital, into the valley. There, on the west side, was the Land of Monsters. But it was a steep way up, and the Stormwatch was already almost upon her. She shoved her precious weapon in her mouth and bit down on it, tasting blood. Her tongue licked at it instinctively. With her hands free, she climbed the steep west side of the valley.

For the first time in this fight, Thyssa had a slight advantage – she had plenty of experience creeping and climbing, whereas the humans had never had reason to degrade themselves by moving on all fours. She gained a lead on her pursuers. But it was a small one, very small. Maybe a few extra seconds.

As soon as she finally reached the top, she sprinted off again. No time to catch her breath! She could already hear the soldiers reaching the top. It was a test of endurance at this point.

To the west, the yellowish-green glow of the Lake of Acid. If she could get there, she was safe. She ran past jagged rocks and monstrous skeletons. Always close behind her, the shouts of her pursuers. Slowly, too slowly, she drew closer to the lake. Lungs, legs, core, aching. She couldn’t take much more of this.

If she couldn’t outrun them, she would have to outmaneuver them. She ran a twisting, chaotic path through the jagged rocks to try and lose them in the acrid green fog billowing forth from the lake. This didn’t work. She quickly found herself backed into a corner. In the fog, five figures around her. The other two must have rejoined them and helped chase her down.

“You took my eye, you freak.” said one of the figures. “You’ll pay for it.”

Thyssa grit her teeth. Her strength was spent. At best, she could struggle against them before dying. She took a deep breath.

Then, she screamed. In pain, grief, in fury. As loud and long as she can. A piercing, enduring scream, ringing out across the lake. The soldiers recoiled, unnerved by the terrible sound.

“Now let’s hear you really scream,” said the bloody-eyed soldier, as they and their comrades stepped towards her.

But, as the five figures approached, Thyssa thought she could see other figures. Yes! There they were, creeping through the fog. Six. Seven. Eight.

Bloody-eye stepped into view, spear at the ready, two soldiers at each side.

Without turning her head, Thyssa looked around. Come on, come on…

“Go on,” said Bloody-eye. “Beg for a quick death.”

Thyssa grit her teeth. “Die quickly.”

Bloody-eye stopped to laugh. “How brutish! Your base instincts compel you to fight even when you cannot fight. To anger those with all the power over you. Even when there is nothing to be gained but more of your own wretched suffering. An idiot death for an idiot creature.”

Some hideous thing grabbed the soldier next to Bloody-eye and pulled them into the fog, where – from the sounds of it – they were torn to pieces. The other soldiers lunged for this creature, but one of them, then another, were grabbed by more creatures. Bloody-eye turned and ran, leaving their last comrade to be eaten as he screamed for help.

“And don’t come back!” a voice shouted after them. It was a familiar voice, but Thyssa couldn’t see the face through this fog.

“What about this one?” asked another voice.

“Let it join us,” said the familiar voice.

“But it’s human.”

“They don’t go after humans,” said the familiar voice. “Get a better look.”

“Mmm…nope, it’s definitely human.”

“Why would they hunt their own kind?”

The familiar voice stepped forward, and Thyssa recognized Tsigon, fast and cold as the north wind. “That, my friend, is a very good question. Bring it to the Ogre Queen.”