The night was cold and quiet, as any night was in the winters of San Castro. The moon shone brightly through the dirtied and cracked windows of the Alera household.
Avice sat on the first step of the stairs leading to her room, panting and hanging her head low. The light bounced off of her roughened, bruised skin. Sweat drenched her clothes, and her hair was oily and itchy.
Sharp, pained breaths escaped her lips, and her muscles screamed at her as she forced herself to climb the stairs. It hurts… a tear plopped down to the wooden floor. Just gotta get to my room. My bed... It was another day of grueling ‘practice’ and ‘training’.
This evening’s lesson was especially tough for her, for she was forced to withstand unbearably hot temperatures wearing layers of thick clothing.
She had passed out a number of times, and every time she did, her father scolded her.
When she cried, they turned their backs on her.
When she begged her father to stop, they punished her.
“This is for your future,” he’d always tell her with a stern and emotionless face. “You’ll thank me later.”
Avice had always thought those words were nonsense. Even as a child, she’d known that everything she was doing and being taught was futile. One night, after another intense beating and training session, she had went behind her father’s back and tried using his computer.
It didn’t matter what she was looking for.
She just wanted to find an escape and to find anything that would help relieve her stress.
She decided to look up the very things she trained for, thinking that she could find some help anywhere she could. And that was when she discovered it. All of the articles she had read and all of the videos she had watched told her that everything she was doing - all of the harsh and brutal things she was being forced to do - was for nothing.
They lived in modern times. There wasn’t a point to learning how to use a bow and arrow, or how to wield a sword, or how to survive in the wilderness. She could believe trying to survive underwater, but to be able to move as she did on land as her father demanded her to was impossible.
But she knew the consequences of questioning him. At the tender age of nine, she was forced to face the reality that she meant little to her parents. But no matter what, she tried to push through it.
As she struggled to climb up the stairs, her ears perked up as she overheard a loud thud beneath her. She flinched, her heart leaping to her throat. She had the thought to jet to her room - her safe space. But before she could, she heard her father growl and yell,
“I don’t get it! Am I doing this all wrong!?”
“At this rate, she’ll die,” her mother spoke exasperatedly.
What’re they… Avice crawled to the edge of the staircase and rested her ear against the wall.
“Must I be harsher on her? Is this training not good enough?” her father’s voice was weak and low.
“Honey. I-I’m not sure,” her mother whispered, her voice cracking. “You’re doing the best that you can. She’ll understand eventually. She’ll know this pain is necessary.”
“If only she was better. It’s her. She should be able to get this…” he said. “Was it a mistake to raise her?”
Avice’s heart churned. Her lips quivered and tears swelled and dripped down her cheeks.
I get it, she thought. I get it already.
She struggled to keep climbing the stairs. Every footstep was heavy. Every step she took rang in her ears. The pain in her body nearly disappeared because her father’s words burned so much more.
She mindlessly walked down the darkened and empty hallway and finally came upon the door to her room. It was beaten and battered, after the many times her father pounded on her door to get her to wake up early in the morning. Putting a hand on the door knob, she sighed. She opened the creaking door and stepped inside.
Her eyes immediately turned to her bed and she rushed over to it. She wanted more than anything to jump in it and sleep, but as she was now, she couldn’t. All of the filth on her body would ruin her bed - the place where she felt the safest. So she sat down on her sheets and dug her head into her arms.
“It hurts,” she cried. “It… hurts.”
Her mouth was dried and her stomach grumbled. Because of her failure during her training, she wasn’t allowed to have dinner. She stared longingly at her bruised desk. The last of her secret, back-up rations were used up. Need to get more… she thought. Her head stung and she grit her teeth. Her arms and legs were getting heavier and her vision was blurring.
“I need to shower,” she said to herself.
Then I’m going to sleep. School starts early tomorrow…
She ripped the wet clothes off of her body and tossed them to the floor. A cool breeze blew past her, and she shivered. Avice hurried on to her shower sitting in the corner of the room.
Flicking on the lights, she eagerly turned the shower’s handle, and the water steadily trickled down from above. Avice waited for a few moments for the water to get warm, and when it got to her ideal temperature, she happily jumped in. A joyous, yet tired sigh escaped her lips.
This time of day was her favorite; showering and washing away everything she was put through calmed her soul. The feeling of the water dancing off of her skin and cleaning herself with soap and shampoo was something she decided she could never live without. It was a short, but fantastic time alone. She could be herself, whatever that meant. She didn’t have to worry about her parents marching in on her. This was her time. No one else’s.
She reached for the soap sitting in the corner of the shower when the lights shut off.
Avice squealed in terror. “W-What happened?!” The shower was still running, so she assumed that her parents weren’t trying to test her. She knew the layout of the room by heart, so she didn’t need the lights to get to her bed.
She stood still for a few seconds, trying to get her bearings together. If something dared to barge into the shower room, she was ready to put up a fight.
But as she waited, nothing happened.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she decided that she’d finish her shower. She reached for the soap again but noticed that it was gone.
Something’s wrong…
Her hands trembled and her legs wobbled. She quickly reached for the door and tried to open it, but she couldn’t.
It was like it was glued shut.
“H-huh?” She pushed her body against it, trying to force it open, but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t budge. Her breath hastened, and her head spun. “I-I…”
A powerful bang echoed in the shower. She dropped down to her knees and covered her head.
“What’s happening?!” she screamed.
Then the shower stopped.
Her cold body shivered, and she could do nothing to stop it.
Something vibrated and clicked behind her. She jumped slightly. “This is a nightmare,” she muttered to herself. “This isn’t real. This isn’t real…”
“Avice…” a distorted, vile voice called her name. It was thick and heavy and rang all around her. Deep and powerful, the voice was neither man nor woman.
Her body froze and her heart stopped. She shut her eyes and covered her ears to shut it out, but it called her once more and sounded just as clear as before.
“Give it to us. Give it,” it growled.
She shook her head and tried to drown the noises out, when her eyes were forced open. “Ah-”
Eight, blood-red orbs shone on the floor beneath her. They rose and floated in front of her, revealing a black, bulbous body.
She trembled at the sight and was about to scream when her mouth was shut by a black, hairy, and thick fangs. She tried to breathe, but all she got was a clump of hair pouring down her throat.
She struggled to get it off, but no matter how hard she tried to pull, the fangs kept still.
Then, it reeled back, revealing a giant black and purple claw.
Her breath grew sporadic and she cowered before it.
“Give us your heart!” A sharp burning pain flared on her cheeks. Hot blood poured down her chin, and she could do nothing. “Give it to us!”
“Avice, snap back to reality.”
The pain never subsided. It was a powerful sensation she’d never felt in her life. She couldn’t tell left from right, up or down. She’d thought that the pain only resided in her cheek but then realized her entire body was on fire. Help me! she tried to scream, but no matter what she tried it was futile.
“Avice, listen to me! Come back!”
A deep and violent rumble shook Avice to her core.
She blinked and found that her surroundings were completely different. Squinting her eyes, she looked around. Tall trees sprouted around her, mounds of dirt, broken and chipped trunks, a reddened sky… an incredibly strong scent of blood…
Oh… that’s right, she thought. I’m fighting a monster.
She glanced down and noticed that something felt off about her body. She was lying down with her back propped up against a sharp object. Piles of dirt and leaves rose around her, and a huge chunk of the ground before her was dug out as if something had torn its way through it. Her loose, dirty clothes were ripped and torn.
Avice struggled to breathe, and her head ached with pain. “Oh yeah…” she muttered, her voice incredibly hoarse and tired. “I forgot about that dream…”
Then the pain kicked in.
It was as if all of the pain she had felt in that dream was real. Except for this time, it felt much worse.
Avice couldn’t feel her limbs. Her muscles screamed in agony and her chest swelled with pain. Her arms and legs shook and shivered.
She coughed. Blood sprang from her mouth.
Dozens of cuts ran all across her arms and legs.
“Rise, Avice!” Achaea’s voice rang. Avice blinked lightly and shook her head. “Will you allow that monster to defeat you? Were my efforts to aid you for nothing?!”
Then she remembered.
Avice had trained for as long as she could before she taking on the beast. She tried to follow Achaea’s instructions and advice, but she couldn’t really get it.
The Spirits, no matter how hard she tried, wouldn’t cooperate with her, which infuriated her, which then in turn turned away the Spirits.
It was a brutal cycle that only Avice could’ve broken, but it never was.
However, Achaea’s presence, for a strange reason, filled Avice with hope. Hope she had never expected to find in this foreign world.
Achaea was someone who could understand her circumstances and someone who held the key to her goal… Avice found it convenient to put her trust in her.
So when she was told that her time was coming up, Avice marched into the blackness of the forest filled with confidence and hope.
The Spider had thrashed about before she entered the forest, supposedly swallowing whole dozens of Spirits. It was clear where it was, and Avice was forced to watch it flail about uncontrollably.
But when the time came to fight it, it was gone.
It was as if it was waiting for her in the darkness of the forest.
She was terrified.
No other word could describe how she felt. The night crept up on her faster and faster. The darkness was so black that she couldn’t see ten feet in front of her. Avice fully expected her to get blindsided and hit by a surprise attack.
But it was in her favor that she found the gigantic Spider sitting in a trench it had dug up. It appeared to be sleeping.
Her breath was taken away as she gazed at the towering, black spikes soaring above the trees. She looked like a rat standing next to the monstrosity.
Just gazing at its pitch black body instilled enough fear in her to tell her to run away and never return. That feeling nearly overwhelmed her when she remembered that this was something she needed to do.
This thing seemed absolutely dangerous, and she didn’t know if the people of this world could handle it. And if she didn’t do this, Dall wouldn’t be healed, and she would never be able to get out of this forest.
This thing needed to be defeated now.
Avice thought that she would face the beast down with sheer willpower. She had carefully approached it, and noted the disgusting stench emanating from its body. Her nose flared and her throat went completely dry. She forced herself to get closer to it, and stopped in front of its leg.
With a wild roar, she leaped at it and swung the blade down. She had half-expected it to at least do some damage, but when she gazed up at it, there was nothing.
Not even a scratch on its bulky leg.
“So that’s how I got like this.”
The monster had launched her across the forest in retaliation. Her body skipped like a stone on a lake across the dirt, and when she landed, the ground dug out where she landed and slammed against a tree.
Avice forced her head up and glared at the monster before her.
It was… feral. It swung its large body around, the surrounding trees being cut and torn to pieces with splinters dancing in the air.
And not only wild, but it also seemed as if it was in pain.
Its incessant, never-ending thrashing about confused her for a moment. It dashed side to side, constantly smashing itself against anything that it could. Its skyscraper-like legs tore the ground out beneath it and pierced the fallen trees.
An ungodly, ear-piercing shriek rang around it. Thousands of tiny, childlike voices screeched and cried out, and one by one they disappeared.
Her heart sank as she watched it. Fury, fear, anxiety, anger, sadness… she couldn’t figure out what emotion she was feeling.
But the one thing she was sure of was that she had lost to this beast again. She had run away from it in pure terror after escaping Liss and Misha, and just now she had been thrown like a doll. The thought of constantly losing like this stirred something in her core.
This entire situation felt disgustingly similar to what usually happened back home. She’d be bullied into submission and beaten until she couldn’t speak. And she was never able to do anything. She wasn’t allowed to.
But now there was a chance. A sliver of hope that egged Avice on. The strongest desire to win. As she was now, she wasn’t living up to that potential. Avice slammed her fist against the ground.
The slowly encroaching fear that had plagued her when she first saw the beast gradually transformed into anger.
“Draw the Spirits towards you. It’s the only way to win,” Achaea’s smooth voice touched her ears. Avice shuddered and her eyes darted about, trying to find the ghostly woman.
She grit her teeth shut her eyes, and screamed, “Come on, Spirits, come on!” As soon as the words left her mouth, the Spider screamed once more and she shut her ears. No Spirits came to her aid. Nothing listened to her. “Dammit, I’m trying!” she yelled.
“Calm your mind, Avice,” Achaea said. “Do not let your soul waver.”
“I don’t want to hear philosophical crap right now, Achaea,” Avice grunted.
She shook her head, forcing herself to get rid of any worry or fear she could. She reached for Dall’s sword splayed on the ground next to her.
That’s enough of this… she thought. This. Is. Enough.
Using it to stabilize herself, she narrowed her eyes and embraced the anger building in her stomach. She struck the blade on the tree behind her and screamed with as much might as she could, “Get your asses over here, Spirits!”
Nothing appeared before her.
“You better listen to me, you damn punks! Would you rather die like a brat or fight to live?!” she yelled through gritted teeth. “Help me out if all of you want to live!”
The Spider stopped thrashing about, and turned its blood-red eyes towards her.
Oh crap...
It took one step toward her, watching her quivering figure. She took a step back, readying herself for any attack it might have for her. It crept forward, taking each pace one by one.
But halfway to her, it broke out into a sprint, and Avice yelped in surprise.
She lifted the sword up to block it, but her efforts proved futile as it slammed its gigantic body into her.
Blood trailed behind her as she limply soared backward, her muscles aching and rippling, and the breath in her lungs escaping her lips.
With a mighty thud, she crashed into a familiar-looking area.
Avice coughed up blood. Her head spun. She gasped for air.
After taking a minute to recover for a little bit, she warily scanned her surroundings and her eyes widened. “The clearing…?” She couldn’t believe how far she was sent flying.
“Hey, you brat, what do you think you're doing?!” the Boss Spirit yelled in her ear. “Don’t bring that damn thing here!”
The Spider had chased her all the way back to the clearing.
Avice slowly got up, sweat and blood dripping down her cheeks. Her body was numb again, but she didn’t have the leisure of relaxing. “Hey, are you listening to me? Hurry it up and get back out there!”
“Shut your trap,” Avice grunted. She coughed up even more blood. Avice winced as she patted herself down in an attempt to psyche herself up.
Trying to ignore her turbulent surroundings, she took one large breath. Her heartbeat steadied slightly, and she glared at the still Spider before her.
“Come on, Avice. Come on, Avice. You’re built to survive this, come on.”
The Spider straightened itself out in front of the clearing’s barrier. It lifted one of its prickly legs and slammed it against the barrier. Blue and white rings pulsed around its dagger-like ends.
I’ve got a few moments before I need to get back out there. I think I can meditate for a second, she thought. I have the time.
But before she could close her eyes, the Spider did something unthinkable.
It heaved itself upward, its two legs raised high into the sky. It then slammed its black body onto the barrier. A powerful boom roared as it landed against the invisible dome. It clawed with its legs at the pulsating force field.
Then, in surprise of everyone watching it, it climbed up onto the barrier, its entire body floating in the air.
“You can do this,” Achaea said. Avice turned to see her floating figure. “All you have to do is just try again. If nothing else, my dear, believe in yourself, and believe in the Spirits.”
Avice’s eyes turned again to the terrifying beast in the air. It clambered upward and upward, trying to reach the peak, and wherever it stepped foot, cracks appeared.
Her heart raced faster when Achaea said, “Ignore it for now. Open your heart. Make the Spirits come.”
Avice pursed her lips and nodded. She breathed in and out, beginning her meditation cycle. With each breath, her mind and heart steadied, and the powerful sense of fear and anger very slowly dissipated. “Spirits, please…” she whispered. “I beg you.”
“Why?” the childish voice surprised her so much that she was ripped away from her meditation. A small green orb floated in front of her eyes. She blinked in disbelief. Even with her pounding, unstable heart, she could still see the Spirit. Then, as if on queue, the flood of them appeared before her.
“What is this lady saying?”
“Ooh, ooh, this lady can see us?!”
“Is this a special lady? Is she strong?”
“Who even is this lady? Why is she talking to us?”
Avice flinched at the wave of powerful, and loud, voices singing in her ears.
This is my chance!
“I need your help,” Avice said with a calm voice. “I’m trying to save your friends from that monster over there.”
The Spirits bouncing in front of her flickered.
“The bad thing?”
“That’s bad!”
“It’s hurting our siblings?!”
“Y-Yes, that’s right,” Avice said, her head trembling in pain. “Do you think you can all help me?”
“Hmm? Can you do that lady?”
“Ooooo, it’s been a while since we went all out!”
Avice smiled.
Yes! I don’t know how, but I’ve finally brought them out! Avice pumped a fist into the air. Do I finally have a chance at winning? she thought.
Her heart leaped with joy. An unusual excitement stirred inside of her. She felt like she could take on the beast that had managed to knock her out with only a hit.
But then…
A thunderous crack boomed above her. She glanced up.
The Spider was now directly above her, its disgusting, dirty body visible for all to see. Where it stood pulsed a blue energy, but it was much weaker than before. As her vision cleared, Avice gulped. A prominent crack shone beneath the Spider.
“Th-The barrier…”
The monstrosity arched backward, the barrier gradually cracking and splitting under its hind legs. Then, in one swift motion, it crashed its gigantic body against the blue barrier.
“Lady, lady, move!”
“Move Lady!”
“Danger, danger!”
The dome above her shattered into thousands of pieces. She shielded her eyes from the blinding blue light emanating from above.
“Oh my gods…” the Boss Spirit muttered. “G-Get out of here. Hey! Everyone get out of here!” it yelled.
Avice cautiously glanced at the Boss Spirit, then back at the Spider. The giant creature slammed against the ground with a massive thud. Its ungodly screech reverberated in the area.
She gripped Dall’s sword at her side tightly, her palms whitening by the pressure. Her blood boiled. Avice grit her teeth.
The Spider shook its body and tapped each of its legs against the earth. Its eight blood-red eyes blinked one at a time, and each of them turned their focus to Avice.
“I got this…” she whispered to herself. She readied Dall’s sword and held it in front of her. “I’ve got this,” she said.
Her back shivered with unbearable cold. The Spirits around her freaked out and flew into a frenzy. The ones visible to her blinked in and out of existence rapidly, and they sporadically danced around. Thousands of tortured screams rang in her ears.
The Boss Spirit flickered in front of her and yelled, “Dammit! Since when could monsters Pull Spirits?!”
The uncontrollable Spirits floated ever closer to the Spider.
Avice pursed her lips and took a step back. “Achaea… Achaea what’s happening?” She took a quick glance around her surroundings and couldn’t find her anywhere. “What do I do?!”
Then she saw her. She stood a little way away, standing there with a perfect smile. She thought for a second that Achaea hadn’t heard her, but then she nodded. It was then that Avice knew that Achaea wouldn’t be helping her. She understood her smile: Do your best.
She pursed her lips and prepared to march over to her when she heard, “What the hell is that?!” Avice spun around and saw Dall with a ghastly look on his face.
“Oh crap,” Avice cursed. She had completely forgotten about him until now. She yelled, “Dall! You can move now, right?! Get up and out of here!”
“I-I can’t… Ava I can’t…” he muttered.
He struggled to move his body, but no matter how much he tried, it never listened to him. He seemed normal at first, but suddenly his face twisted.
His uncomfortable expression transformed into an evil and vile one. Avice reeled back. Growls left his mouth and his eyes twitched.
“I-I…” His voice was weak, yet deep and vulgar. “It doesn’t matter!” he screamed. “I hope it tears your limbs apart!”
Avice’s nose flared. “Well something’s off with you,” she grumbled.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the Spider. It stalked closer to her; every inch ripping apart the ground.
“Hey, you,” she said as she turned to the Boss Spirit, who was still frantically blinking in and out of existence. Without waiting for its response, she asked, “you think you can heal that guy already? I swear I’ll do all the other garbage you want me to, but can you?”
“I’ll tr-” it began to speak when it suddenly lost its colors and floated gently to the ground.
Avice gasped.
“This is your trial, Avice,” Achaea’s voice whispered into her ears. Chills ran down her spine.
“Achaea…” she muttered. She took one more glance at Dall, who trembled uncontrollably with a hollow and pale face.
For the final time she looked back at the Spider. It gradually encroached upon her, its fangs clicking and its hairs dancing in the breeze. More voices screamed in her eardrums.
“Dall can’t move,” she whispered. “The barrier’s gone.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “And all of these Spirits are freaking out…” She grit her teeth, nodded, and opened up her eyes again. “It’s literally now or never, then.”
She raised the sword.
With a quick glance at it, she recalled the previous beast she had slain. Avice ran a finger against the sword’s engravings.
Magic… she thought. Spirits… they’re all the same, right?
She tried to embrace the feeling that she had experienced before. That sense of dread and fear that her bones remembered, the desire to cut down anything that she recognized as an enemy…
Her hands tightened on the hilt.
“If Achaea’s right, it doesn’t matter if I can see them or not. The Spirits are always around.”
She stepped forward and glared at the monster before her. A breath in, a breath out. Dall’s sword glowed a brilliant red and shimmered brightly. Despite her situation, her heart and breath were calm.
Then, without thinking, the words began to leak out of her mouth.
“Great Spirits of Ifrit,” she began. A powerful, welcoming warmth rose from her stomach and into her heart.
She gasped and tightened her grip.
The sword shone even brighter. She closed her eyes.
A strange, electrical sensation twitched around her fingers. The words once more flowed.
“Become my Sword. Scorch the enemy before me and entrap them in a blazing hell of glory!”
The sword erupted in fiery red flames. The heat danced against her skin, and the crackling of the fire tickled her ears. She had to arch backward to keep the blade from burning her.
A powerful, destructive force of nature rested in her hands. And yet, she couldn’t believe her eyes. A wide, broad smile appeared on her lips. She pumped her fist into the air and screamed, “Yes!” The flames orbiting around the blade grew hotter and hotter. “I did it!”
The excitement in her stomach couldn’t stop rising. Avice turned her eyes towards the Spider. It had, to her surprise, stood in its place, as if waiting for her to complete what she wanted. She pointed the sword at it.
“Bring it on you bastard.”
