Chapter 4 - Recompense

In the city of Rimewallow

Irritated, the man thumped the desk with his fist as he stared Elicia in the eyes, “You expect me to believe that a Source evaded the combined might of the Allied Armies, led by the Immortal Queen herself during the great purge,” he bellowed. 

He then continued in a condescending tone, “one— hundred— and—  seventy—  three—  years— ago—,  Made its way alone across the Gilfell Highlands, though the entire country of Ebren, and into Acreisia, without a single person running into them, until you?”

Elicia was still in shock and unsure how to react, what she expected to be important news for the safety of everyone was being mocked, and instead she was being accused of making up lies to cover up for her group being incompetent.

“I— I… sir, this is not a cover story to get a recompense payment,” pausing to take a deep breath, unnerved by the angry stare he was giving her, she gathered her composure and continued, “I am serious, something is out there. You’re right, I was never alive to see a source in person, but whatever I did see, was dangerous, intelligent, and most certainly a monster, not an illusion, and not a rogue Miscreation either!”

Feeling frustrated she mimicked the Viscount’s mocking tone from earlier, “She— had— black— wings—  white— hair— red— eyes—” with a deep breath she switched to a more serious tone then continued, “and spoke in a strange tongue. I’m telling you it was intelligent, not like a wild monster, and used a spea—“

“Enough!” bellowed the Viscount, “I will not entertain this charade any longer. Leave now or your status in the guild will be in jeopardy.”

Elicia could not believe it, she had never met the viscount before, but had always thought of them as the protectors of the people. They were supposed to care about them, she had believed. Standing there with her jaw open for a moment before scowling, she turned around and left the room with an angry grunt.

The Viscount’s secretary closed the door behind her and she slumped up against the wall, exhaling deeply as she closed her eyes.

“Pardon me Miss,” a man’s voice rang out bold yet sweetly.

Startled, Elicia stood up straight as if she was back in the training academy. She found herself looking nearly face to face with a handsome gentleman in more formal looking work attire, like a cross between a manager and a butler. “C— can, I… help you?” she said, unsure of herself.

A sly grin crept across his lips, “Why, yes. I believe you can.”

******

“Tristan, this is Kharius.” Elicia gestured her arm towards her handsome new acquaintance. The amber radiance of the setting sun created bold shadows that accentuated the features of the man’s chiseled face. 

The man gave a shallow bow to Tristan, and spoke, “Kharius Anakron, in employ of the Acreisia Ministry of Homeland Defense,” gesturing towards a nearby restaurant he continues, “Shall we find somewhere more comfortable to speak. No need to worry about a bill.” 

Tristan, confused, but not one to skip a free meal, clumsily replied, “Uh, yeah.” and followed the two of them into the restaurant where Kharius obtained a private table for them.

The three of them sat down at the table, Tristan opened the menu, leaned back in his chair and asked nonchalantly, “So, what’s all this about?”

“Tristan!” Elicia hissed, believing he knew damn well what it was about, ‘why does he always have to be difficult’ she wondered to herself, still she was glad to have him.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, given the recounting of events Miss Elicia has given me, this matter pertains to the safety of Acreisia and her people, assuming the details I’ve been given are indeed correct.” Kharius replied, raising an eyebrow he asks, “By chance you haven’t spoken to anyone else outside of the Viscount’s office on this matter?”

Tristan closed his menu, sat upright, as if to challenge Kharius, “Mmm, only the Privateer Guild to get permission to speak to the Viscount about a danger to the region, why, should we have?”

Kharius, seemingly unfazed in his demeanor, replied “No need to cause undue panic. The safety of the people of Acreisia is my utmost concern. Elicia’s claims are very serious. I wish to investigate them post haste, that is, of course, assuming you are telling the truth as you say, I believe you. However, if no evidence were to be found, someone will have to be held accountable for the amount of resources I am about to make use of. So you should be absolutely certain before we continue.”

“I— know— I know what I saw.” Elicia said, nervousness turning into resolve as she looked Kharious in the eyes.

“I think I’ll have the steak with flat noodles and radish cream sauce.” said Tristan, to the waitress as she delivered some wine to the table.

Elicia couldn’t help but feel like she was being forgotten for most of the conversation, despite being the sole survivor and only one here to actually see anything. Yet, she was not entirely unhappy either, so much happened and she didn’t have a chance to rest beyond the couple hours in the mana wagon while Tristan rushed back towards the city. She felt tired, dejected, betrayed. 

Still maintaining a challenging demeanor with Kharius, Tristan took a gulp from the wine glass before replying,  “If Elicia says it’s what she saw, then it’s what she saw.”

Her whole group was killed, to add insult to injury the viscount not only didn’t believe her but accused her of trying to collect recompense off the backs of her dead friends after abandoning them. They could be incompetent at times, but not to the extent he suggested. 

“Excellent, then I assume you will be eager to lead us to where Elicia’s colleagues were camped?” Kharius replied, maintaining a polite, yet ever so slightly unnerving smile.

The more time she had to think the more she realized, this creature was so unlike anything normal they were as much a victim of ignorance as incompetence. Despite her unease about this man, he was taking her seriously, and appeared to be in a position to actually do something.

Elicia realized at this moment that her heart wanted revenge.

“Yes!” Elicia said practically as a shout, “I— we will take you there. I want to stop that creature from killing anyone else. I lost my entire group to… her.”

Behind his polite demeanor, Kharius seemed to take reverence in the hatred in her eyes and voice. “If ‘she’ really is out there, my men will catch her.” he said, as his lips curled into a smile ever so slightly.

Standing up, Kharius concluded “Enjoy yourselves, I shall make sure the costs are covered. I have to prepare, I shall return here soon after an hour has passed, and we shall make haste. Relax while you still can.” His business concluded, he turned gracefully and left the two of them alone.

Cabin in the woods

Sunlight began to invade the bedroom in which Lilith still lay, naked and fast asleep, having slipped into dreamland after spontaneously riding the waves of ecstasy the previous day. As it crept further into the room, it began to crawl up the now slightly repositioned full length mirror, reflecting onto her bed. Eventually making its way up her leg, across her stomach, past her shoulder, up her cheek, and finally across her eyes.

As the sunlight tried to attack her closed eyes, she groaned and rolled over, declaring with a low, tired voice, “Go away, not getting up until I smell the coffee maker.”

The silence was suddenly shattered by the ringing of a wind up bell alarm clock, it’s clapper jerking quickly back and forth between the two bells as it vibrated across the nightstand. Lilith, not used to or expecting this kind of alarm clock, reached out in a sleepy daze to press the snooze button, only to be jolted awake as her hand lowered onto the bells, capturing her fingers between the motion of the clapper and the two bells.

Frightened and in shock she jerked both her hand back and her body upright in one motion, sending the alarm still caught between her fingers flying across the room, where it smashed into the wall on the other side of her bed. For a moment she was confused, not remembering where she was or how she got here, expecting to wake up for another day at her old office job.

Once her memory caught up to the present she glanced around, looked at her hand, then down at her naked body, then at the alarm clock. “When was there an alarm clock?” she said in a sleepy tone.

Standing up to stretch, she remarked, “Izanami I hope you prepared me a coffee maker too.” releasing the tension in her body as her arms slump back down to her sides, her arms slapping against her bare flesh.

“Ah, right.. The dress.” she said sleepily as she motioned to rub her eyes. It was then she felt extremely uneasy and realized she might not be alone. She was unsure how she knew this but she felt extremely sure about it. Looking around the room she located the half empty bag she brought her old clothes back in, silently as she could, walked over to it, and pulled out a long dagger she had noticed in it previously.

Holding the dagger ahead of her, heart pounding, ready to strike at anything that moved, she began walking out of the bedroom, listening intently to the silence, unable to discern anything to guide her. She continued to walk down the small hallway towards the main room of the house, squinting to see in the dim light provided by the few very small windows within.

Turning the corner quickly, half shoving the knife out in case someone was there, she is greeted with only empty air. Turning around to face the kitchen, she walked over and opened the curtain to look outside but only nearby bushes and distant trees were visible. She started to relax, and began to turn back towards the hallway to return to the bedroom and get dressed.

However, as she began to move, a creak erupted from the wooden floor of the main room, and just outside of the light spilling from the open window against the wall, was the dark shadow of a figure. 

She held the dagger toward the figure and took a tense stance as she said in a stern voice, “Why are you here?” unaware her eyes were glowing an ever so slight pinkish red.

The figure’s demeanor changed to a relaxed, almost tired stance, as a man took a lazy step into view of the light spilling out from the window behind Lilith. He answered her but she was overcome with confusion as well as a slight pain in her head. 

It felt like she heard him twice, once was nonsense, but overlapping it was something that sounded almost like english. But her head hurt and the two ‘voices’ clashed so that she could not make out anything useful.

Thinking for a moment before recalling her status page to confirm, she saw the skill she vaguely remembered, ‘Lesser Telepathy’, however now is not the time to examine it in detail. Hoping to not waste time, as she is unsure if he is alone, she tries to concentrate as she did for her shapeshift, staring at the man’s face, into his eyes, she says in her mind, ‘Why are you here?’

Again the man speaks aloud in addition to the thoughts in her head, but she is focusing as hard as she can only on his face and her thoughts, ignoring sounds, she repeats one more time, and receives a reply she can understand. ‘To capture the source.’

Confused, she asks the man, ‘What is the source?’

‘A source is a monster with intelligence that can create and control other monsters.’ the man’s reply reverberates through her head as her heart rate increases.

‘Why do you want the source?’ she asks, as the pounding of her heart begins to ring in her ears.

‘To study it and use it’s power for our army.’ the man’s voice echoed in her head flatly.

That was all she needed to hear, she had to leave, as she unfocused herself and returned to her normal senses, she saw a mirror she hadn’t noticed before behind the man, it was then she realized that she could see another man looking through the window at them.

Not sure if she still had control of the man in front of her, or for how long, she attempted to throw the dagger behind her at the man in the window while jumping forward to kick the man in front of her to the ground.

Not being a trained fighter, however, she only managed to break the window, and kick the man’s leg before falling onto the ground. Adrenaline rushing through her, she didn’t stay down and instead jumped up, and ran out the door, hardening the skin on her feet to avoid pain from rocks and other debris. 

She considered attempting to take flight but didn’t want to be shot down with another arrow like the previous one. She ran as fast as she could, not stopping to look behind her, trying to listen for sounds of pursuit, but was unable to notice any.

Running up a nearby hill, while weaving through the trees, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath when the cabin was no longer in sight. ‘Do they think I am a source? Am I a source? Did Izanami send other people here, and were they sources?’ Questions raced through her mind.

It was then that she felt it. A sharp poke on her left arm, she raised her arm to examine it, to find what looked like a small arrow attached to a glass vial whose liquid was now mostly gone. Her stomach sank as she realized what that probably was, and took off running again.

Minutes passed as she struggled to continue, feeling weaker by the moment but she could not stop, she could not give up, she had to continue. She did not want to be at the mercy of those men. Thoughts of the night she died flashed in her head, surrounded by people as she was kicked and beaten, laughs erupting from their twisted faces.

She was filled with determination and continued to run for far longer than anyone could have expected, herself included. Her vision had become fully black and she bumped into a tree and fell over. Still, she did not stop, she crawled until she felt leaves all around her, hoping she was hidden in a bush, she finally collapsed.

Freesia.Cutepearl

Oh dear, Lilith, what have you gotten yourself into now. You need to take things more seriously dear! At least when it comes to being in danger. The learning curve in this RPG seems rather steep, maybe you need to lookup a guide online, a cheat code or two couldn't hurt either! I know you just started but you don't need to play things so straight! You're the protagonist for goodness sake! Stop being lazy and learn how to use your OP abilities already!

Greetings yet again dear readers! I am beyond happy to see so many people reading! (79 readers as of this post!)

Thank you to everyone for your time and any feedback you've left!

I hope you are having a wonderful day and are enjoying the story.

This time around I did all 3rd person Narration. As a commenter pointed out I have trouble sometimes switching between present and past tense and I tried to focus on consistency in that area this time. I did have to do some edits but overall I think only maybe 20% was present tense that needed to be edited to past tense. (I hadn't really decided on a tense I just kind of whet with what seemed the majority after I'd written it.)

There are definitely a few areas where I'm honestly not to sure on the wording, it seems to work either way? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding but some phrases just feel hopelessly ambiguous on tense until you use context from the rest of the sentence.