That hand was rough and coarse. It did not know kindness, but neither did i.

Our time together was short, yet it was the most important time of my life.

What did it intend by helping me? Was it really helping me? That didn't matter now.

It changed me, and i mean to make full use of these changes.

Doing as i wished.

Isn't that the best gratitude i could offer the creator who made me this way?

XXX

Night fell. Since afternoon the fog grew thicker, covering the southern sewer entrance area in even further darkness.

Amidst that dimness it was possible to spot a fickle orange light, albeit barely. One would really have to pay attention in order to see it. Weren't for that gleam, the two women inside the gloomy dilapidated house would certainly have trouble even seeing even their feet.

The great plan was already souring from the start. Owls eating the food bait earlier wasn't much of a problem, come morning and they'd just scatter the rest of the cheese, chase off the owls if they tried to be an annoyance again. If that still didn't work, patience, this wasn't essential for their plot either way.

The fog however was another story.

They were supposed to watch the container 24 hours for as long as they could stay there, around a week or so, or until something unexpected happened. Nights would naturally be more difficult, but still feasible nonetheless.

Unfortunately, with the thick mist added into the fray, watch duty became impossible without the light of the sun to aid.

They considered aborting the plan, but judged that wouldn't be necessary. The rats couldn't break through the cubicle, and if a witch or whatever other evil being came to spirit away the mana stone, that too would be an acceptable result as it would assert their theory.

In fact, part of Dailah hoped for such peaceful and fruitful development.

There were other grievances the girl hadn't considered. How would they relieve themselves? Scariot suggested a house close to a slope so they could stay hidden from sight whenever they had to go. Not to mention a certain swiftness was required as the more time they spent outside, the greater the chance of being spotted.

To be even more cautious, the two would always go out together. Not because they were afraid one of them would misteriously disappear, but rather so the two could always stay within the radius of the lantern, the one that was hiding their magic, with one of the two always carrying it. They knew next to nothing about their enemy after all, and leaving their spot unnatended a few minutes per day shouldn't be too much of a risk. Their safety still took priority.

Dailah felt quite awkward at first, answering her nature call with another person almost besides her, even if she was looking the other way. But Scariot was completely nonchalantly about everything, it made the girl feel like a fool for acting so self-consciously.

She looked outside the bare window of the building. Weren't for the sounds of crickets in the distance and the occasional coo, she would've felt as if this place was a completely separate reality.

The two didn't have to take shifts for night watch, they came very prepared. Mariane herself provided a multitude of magical tools, sparing no resources to make sure the two of them would be out of harm's way as much as possible.

A small crystal that once broken would send an alert to specific devices in other locations, to be used in the case of an emergency. A small staff which, once infused with mana, would create a barrier around them that wouldn't let anything bigger than a particle of dust enter. A small peculiar cube box powered by a small mana stone that could partially mute sounds within a small area, though the two should still avoid speaking too loudly if they didn't want to be heard.

And finally, three sticks each with a stone at one end that could detect any major movement within the triangle they formed. Each women carried a small pin that excluded them, or anything close to them, from its warding area, so they could wave sandwiches or move chairs without the alert going off. Yes, the pins would start vibrating if something was detected, a subtle alarm that would warn just the carriers and not the entire area. Naturally there was a limit to the zone this equipment could cover, needing more advanced variations if they wanted to guard larger region. That wasn't necessary for the current situation regardless.

They did thought about protecting their bait with one of these too, but it was considered redundant to the plan as the two would be watching over the container anyway. That turned out to be a poor judgement on their part, given the current fog.

This, and all the other previous ones, were tools meant for aiding exploration of uncharted areas in the dungeon. Thanks to it, Dailah could sleep soundly without having to worry about only getting a half-night.

Or at least she should have.

Sitting up on her mattress, she mindlessly stared outside. Sometimes, pairs of glowing orbs shone ominously in the fog. Seems the owls haven't left, watching the two of them, or perhaps they were just interested in their provisions.

Maybe they just slept with their eyes open? She heard about it once, but she doesn't know whether it to be true or not.

The air was moderately frigid, forcing the girl to cover her body with the sheets. She wasn't sure of the reason behind her insomnia, could be anxiety over the current task, or just that this place wasn't the most confortable to spend a night on. Conceivably both.

Dailah moved her eyes towards her partner, laid on her back on the other side of the room. Despite the dim room, she noticed one of her eyes was open.

Staring back at her.

"...can't you sleep either?" - she decided to ask.

There was silence. Scariot didn't move her gaze nor she said anything.

As the girl began to ponder if it was this woman who slept with her eyes unshut instead, Scariot finally uttered an answer.

"It's hard to fall asleep with you shifting about that much." - She said as she sat up on her makeshift bed.

"I apologize for that....."

"Its fine." - Scariot said waving her hand in the air - "It would be stranger if an initiate like you wasn't at least a little uncomfortable with this situation."

Adjusting herself in a more comfortable position, one knee up and the other sprawled on the floor, she took a moment to ponder and spoke again.

"How about we share some stories?"

"Stories...? As in, interesting events from our lives? I don't think i have anything i could tell..."

"Whatever is fine really, i can go first if you wish."

Dailah nodded in response, she couldn't sleep and there was nothing better to do. Scariot did brought a pack of cards but the girl wasn't in the mood to play at the moment.

"Then... i'll tell you a scary story i heard about once."

"..."

"What, afraid? Are you a kid after all? I can hold your hand until you fall asleep if you want." - She said wearing a coprophagous grin.

"...i'll respectfully pass on the last offer. You can go on with your tale."

Dailah wasn't really scared, she just wondered why Scariot picked that of all things. Maybe to go along the mood of this place?

Again, its not that Dailah was scared, just perplexed.

She truly wasn't scared. At all!

"This is about a woman who worked in a dungeon mine, i'll call her Maya.

"Maya, like many other women in her position, was a loner. Everyday she would wake up early and toil away at the mines until after the sun had set. The woman knew she wouldn't live past middle-age, for the mana dust in the caves shaved away at the workers bodies ever so slowly."

"Aren't mine workers supposed to wear special masks to avoid that?" - Dailah interjected.

Scariot spared a moment to think, rubbing her chin with her hand.

"This is set further in the past, probably. There was a time they protected themselves with nothing but a piece of cloth covering their mouth and nose. I believe even the amount helmets often wasn't enough for all."

She shruged, and continued her story - "As i was saying...

"She knew from observing the seniors around her that most miners health degraded over time. Maya life's was bound to be shorter than most, yet she did not care. She had no close friends. Her only family, her mother, had passed away years ago. She did not have any greater prospects for the future.

"The woman saw herself as nothing but an animal who lived on inertia, a weed growing between slabs of rock on the street, destined to wither without anyone ever recognizing its existence. Weren't for the small occasional joys of the world, and her own cowardice, she might have ended things long ago or so she thought. Carrying such feelings in her heart, as always, she went to work on that fateful day.

"On that day, they were to go deeper into the dungeon's mine. A new cave system that had just been discovered. The place was strange, nothing like Maya had ever seen throughout her years working there. The walls were covered in peculiar plant species, magical ones most likely.

"Their natural hue broke through the darkness. The miners still needed their own sources of light to see properly, but the tenuous brightness there did gave new life to the normally dark caves. Among these plants, there was a particular one, a flower, that caught Maya's attention.

"It glowed brighter than any other living thing in that place. Its deep blue petals opened as if they were teeth from predator ready to mangle and swallow its prey. It stood out imposingly from the rest, like a powerful witch in the middle of a town's plaza.

"Maya, seduced by its majestic appearance, approached the flower, as if in a daze...

"And then....

"She slipped on some moss on the ground and hit her head."

Scariot nodded to herself for some reason. Dailah stared at the woman in doubt.

"........."

"Oh, and she wasn't wearing a helmet that day i think...."

"...is this really a scary story?" - She couldn't help but ask.

"Calm down, there's more. Anyway, she woke up disoriented, not even being able to tell up from down. Her colleagues told Maya to go home. Of course she didn't want to, as she wouldn't be paid for the day's work. Unfortunately the woman wasn't given a choice as her current state would just cause nuisances to the others."

"...working conditions truly used to be terrible didn't they?"

There are researchers in Stone City dedicated to studying ancient societies. At the very beginning of the Lightining era, many conflicts driven by poor work and living conditions broke out in their civilizations, some even resulting in civil conflicts and armed revolutions. Eventually these disputes would lead to many countries creating a collection of guarantees and benefits dedicated to lower ranked workers, often imposed by their government.

Many of those rights were analysed and eventually implemented by the leadership of Stone City onto the region, things like paid maternal leave or severances. As one might expect it saw opposition from many parties and business owners, but even in a place such as this it's hard to go against the will of the witches and the Association.

At the time they portrayed these new rules as them caring for their citizens, but according to what Mariane had taught her their intention was mostly to avoid the same frictions that happened in those past cultures from occurring again. In fact, there were already a few brewing in the city then, so it was also a measure meant to put out the fire before it spread.

It didn't seen Scariot was paying any heed to these historical realities however.

"Yes, yes, continuing. After a quick check with the field healer she was supposed to head home. Instead, she took a detour and went to a certain lookout at the top of the hill.

"You see, whenever she was feeling depressed or upset, Maya went there. Standing right in the border between life and death gave her comfort somehow. However... someone was there already.

"A man."

"..."

"What. Why did you make that face?"

Dailah didn't realize she had put on a frown. Whenever a man is brought to focus like this in a narrative, the direction the story takes becomes fairly predictable.

"Nothing, please continue."

"...so the man was on the other side of the protective fence, dangling his legs in the abyss. Maya knew what that meant, as she had done that herself countless times already.

"She rushed towards him, hoping to stop a terrible fate from developing. No one would like to see g a man flattened on the ground below after all, especially one as handsome as that one.

"He was well-sculpted and tall, yet donned delicate facial features, with even the smallest of his mannerisms exuding elegance and a firmness of character. It was such even the most powerful of witches could fight each other to the death for his affection.

"Standing there unfortunately, she didn't know what to say. Comforting words? Her? An empty and miserable being? Her mouth would open, only to shut again. Nothing came out no matter how much she tried.

"Before she could muster her courage however, the man noticed her presence and turned his body towards her. He was wary at first, but noticing the look of worry on Maya's face his muscles relaxed, giving the woman a somber, lonely smile.

"'Its fine', he said with a deep charming voice. 'There are just some things i must ponder about', then staring deep into her eyes 'You can keep me company if you want.'"

"Hey." - Dailah interrupted Scariot's impression of a 'deep charming voice'. - "Is this really an horror story? It's sounding more and more like some prepubescent girl's personal fantasy."

An amazingly handsome man defenselessly wandering alone? No wives nor family would ever allow such a situation come to pass. On top of that, welcoming a random suspicious woman with open arms and a warm smile? As soon the woman made her presence noticed, he would've quietly left. There are already few men, certainly even fewer as open-minded and garrulous as this one.

"Just shut it and listen alright? Like i said, they sat together on the edge and spoke of their sorrows. They got along well and agreed to meet each other every other night, where he'd sneak out of his house and she would have left work already.

"The man was being pressured by his mother and sister to marry some high-rank witch from the town. She would make an unit with him, her blood sibling and a birthplace sister that was close to her.

"The root of his woes was... the man desired only one wife. He wanted to love, but could not see himself loving three women and each of their children at once. He had watched his mother and the unit she belonged to, how she was treated by the first wife and neglected by the husband. He did not desire be part of such an unhappy union.

"T-then..." - Scariot faltered under Dailah's cold gaze - "He fell in love with her and they got together. J-just the two."

"..."

She had to confess, this was so delusional it actually felt refreshing. There probably wouldn't be any further elaboration on the angry witch who had her prized man pilfered from under her nose, or on the reasons the family was fine having their precious son get together with some random miner woman.

As expected, Scariot continued as if none of those things were important.

"Together they opened a flower shop. The man's family had a big garden in their home and he had learned a lot about plants and how to take care of them. Even magical ones. Naturally, Maya had left her life as a miner behind to help him.

"There was one particular flower his husband brought that caught her attention. A deep blue glowing flower with petals like a predator's mouth, one she had seen once back in the dungeons. Except this one was... strange. It twisted into strange angles that looked impossible. No matter how much she gazed at it Maya couldn't make sense of what her eyes were seeing.

"She decided to ask her husband, but all he said is that this was a family heirloom. And that she should never, ever touch it, under any circumstances.

"Not wanting to disobey her lover's simple request, Maya did as he said, though she would often marvel at the bizarre flower from a distance. Aside from that, their life went on as normal.

"At first their shop didn't make much money, but they were able to grow it with effort and hard work over time. It reached a point where everyone in the neighborhood knew about the two of them and their happiness.

"Eventually they had a daughter, then another, and finally they were blessed with a son. Life was great, but no matter how good things were, there was still something that bothered Maya, like an itch in the back of her mind.

"That flower.

"Her husband always took great care of it, but no matter how much time passed, no matter how closer they grew to each other, he still kept the plant off limits for her.

"You could call it curiosity, maybe even a tinge of jealousy for the attention her man would give it while keeping secrets, the truth is that flower always seemed to be calling for Maya.

"One day, alone in the house, she once again sat in front of the odd thing. No matter which angle she looked at it, the petals always drew impossible perspectives. Its countours followed Maya's eyes as if mocking her senses, it glew ever so bright yet it never hurt her eyes. 'Just what was this?' She thought once again, as always.

"This time however, she couldn't resist. Her husband and her had a small bickering earlier and she felt like disobeying his words for once.

"She reached out her hands, hoping her fingers could make sense of its strange shapes.

"And once she did, there was a warm feeling. As if the flower had grabbed her hand back.

"The forms of the plant extended to her arm as she tried to pull away from it, then to her body, her legs, the floor, the walls. All the impossible structures pervaded the world as her body was assaulted with a piercing numbness, the whole world shaking awake.

"The ground was swiped from under her feet as she fell into a void, or at least that was how it felt.

"Eventually her vision became clearer, the surroundings slowly came to view as her senses calmed. It was dim, many faces stared back at her, faces she couldn't immediately recognize. One was holding her hand, and another held her head, as if caring for a delicate glasswork. Confused, she inquired them with a quivering voice

"'Where am i?'.'Where is my family?'.

"The faces looked at each other, confusion visible in their faces, and responded to the woman.

"'Are you feeling alright Maya? You took a really bad fall there.'

"'What?", the woman answered, fear surging in her voice. Looking around she realized, this were the mines from her youth. Ahead of her, a flower, glowing in an evil blue color."

"..."

Dailah was flabbergasted at this development. But it was not over yet.

"Desperately, she ran from there, ignoring all the pleas coming from behind. She ran all the way to her fated lookout, not stopping to rest even once. But once she arrived there, no one was in sight.

"She waited, and waited, until night fell, until the sun rose, in the scalding heat or freezing rain. Forever.

"But the man never showed up again."

"......." - Dailah sat there, speechless.

"Terrifying, wouldn't you agree?" - Scariot said with a strangely proud tone of voice.

"...thats it?"

"What do you mean 'thats it'!?"- Noticing she was screaming, the woman composed herself. They couldn't speak too loudly after all. - "Don't you find this frightening? Having everything only to realized it never existed in the first place?"

Dailah pondered for a few seconds before answering.

"This isn't scary, just tragic and sad. Besides, if i know one thing about dreams is that you usually forget them by lunch."

"Well she clearly didn't!" - Scariot sighed. - "Hahh, i can't believe i wasted my voice for this..."

"I-its not as if i didn't like it. I just can't see it as something spooky is all... I expected horrible creatures, evil witches or widespread contaminations."

"What's so fearsome about problems we'd have deal with ourselves? It would feel like a job briefing to me rather than fun story time."

"Its because i know they can happen that they feel more sinister. Don't you have any real tale to tell? Something you experienced. You said you participated in operations against larger threats like this one before correct?"

Scariot crossed her arms in thought, sitting quietly for a while.

"...i suppose there is one case i remember that stood out quite a bit within the association. My role in it was limited however, most of what i could tell you came from the mouth of others."

"I'm fine with that. What type of case was it?"

"Well, it happened in one of the annexed villages from the region, the Eleventh if i remember correctly. There lived a certain individual, no one special just a foundry worker, a casting sorter i believe or some other type of handiwork job. What's important is she didn't handle the forges directly. Would travel to the city for work.

"One of the older forge models from that place had been suffering from a few technical issues. It remained unused for quite some time and fixing it wasn't worth the costs, so it was just half-abandoned there in a corner of the factory.

"Imagine what, that woman had the brilliant idea of scavenging parts from it. Intended to sell them of course. One day when she was the last person to go out she began fiddling with the old forge, searching for anything that caught her attention.

"And can you guess what she found? A canister half-filled with liquid mana! The management had completely neglected to remove it from the idle equipment!"

Scariot took a moment to compose herself, seems this story made her quite upset. The girl decided to goad her on.

"So, she stole the mana and sold it?"

"As if. She didn't even know what it was, most folks only know about mana rocks after all. The woman received no training in the usage of that machine either since she didn't handle it directly, so she was completely clueless. Still, she took the canister with her anyway as it seemed valuable."

Dailah could guess where this was going.

"Getting home she showed the liquid to her sister, mother and two young daughters. Curious about it, they managed to break the thing open, played with the contents, spread it on the plants. One of the daughters even tasted it.... and the other smeared it into their family dog hoping to make it glow."

She paused, then let out a sigh.

"Needless to say, the whole family got sick... not before the dog became a beast and started attacking the villagers."

Scariot had a distant look on her face, as if remembering some distant past. She didn't look old to Dailah's eyes but the girl knew the apparent age of witches could be misleading.

"I was among the people sent to exterminate it. When we got there the thing had killed three already, among them the mother of the worker i later learned. The town had been evacuated so everything was empty, it gave such an uncanny feel to the place.

"We searched and searched, only to find the dog had nested itself in a shack close to its original house. Strangely enough it was protecting what we assumed had been its offspring. Four puppies, or should i say their lifeless corpses? We thought they might've been killed by the villagers, but when we examined their bodies later we found out it was the contaminated animal itself that had done it, probably because the thing handled them too roughly."

"...then?"

She shrugged, putting on a facade of cold indifference.

"We exterminated it as we were supposed to. No further twists or nothing of the kind."

"And the family?"

The facade crumbled and her expression soured.

"As i said, the mother of the worker was among the dog's victims... one of the daughters, the one who had tasted the liquid mana, died eventually due to the exposure. The other developed severe mental disorders."

Unlike other living beings, it was much harder for humans to demonify due to mana contamination. That said, they could still suffer from all sorts of sequelae.

"The worker in question was afflicted with a motion control issue in one of her arms, but aside from that she was mostly fine, at least in terms of health. Given the madness she had brought about, her ultimate fate still wasn't a pleasant one..."

"What about the factory that left the canister unattended?"

"Got punished, but might as well have been a slap on the wrist. Though this case did lead to the city creating stricter regulations for handling liquid mana."

Scariot took a look at Dailah's face, then at the darkness outside. It was hard to tell the hour with all that fog but some time must've passed.

"I rambled long enough. Before we go to sleep i want to hear at least one story from you."

"...i don't know, there really is nothing i can think of."

"There has to be something at least. I don't care if you make things up or embellish it a little, though i should warn you i'm rather good at exposing gibberish so i'll be fully aware if you do."

Dailah closed her eyes, exploring the deepest recesses of her mind. Her life, at least before coming to Stone City, had been quite boring. The Nineteenth Village was a peaceful place, its residents were good people for the most part, and there was nothing there that particularly made it stand out. No recollections of any major events happening either, and the girl doubts the grown woman before her is interested in childish games from her youth or common fairy tales she read.

Wait, there was that wasn't there?

Its something Dailah had almost forgotten about. In fact, she isn't even sure if it actually happened. Could've been a false memory, a fever dream as far as she knew. Still, Scariot said anything was fine and this would have to do.

"...this happened when my mother took me hunting for the second time. I must've been twelve or thirteen, had just recently started my training as a witch.

"We were scouting the forest for wild squirrels and rabbits. They were an annoying plague, and nice meals if prepared properly .

"Mother was letting me handle the rifle then, making sure i carried it with me at all times, as a form of training. We had caught a few prey and by late afternoon she was taughting me how to prepare their meat by a bonfire, when their flesh was safe for consumption or whatnot, and so on. I remember feeling a tired at the time and only half-listening to her lessons.

"I'm not sure why but i left our small camp for a moment, probably to relieve myself or something other.

"I took the rifle and entered the forest. Once there, i remember hearing a voice in the distance at a point. It sounded like a child's.

"Curious, i decided to follow the voice. Felt compelled to somehow.

"Delving deeper into the woods i eventually spotted a girl amidst the foliage. Looked about my age and height.

"I remember feeling a bit distraught by this girl. Her face made me uncomfortable, and once she spotted me she kept uttering strange words my direction, as if she were speaking a language i did not know.

"Eventually she beckoned me to follow her, and i did. She took me to a small clearing not far from there. All the way i was still trying to understand what exactly about this girl made me feel so strange.

"Once in the clearing she waved in my direction again, all while sputtering the same unintelligible words. She pointed to a hole on the ground, as if telling me to go and check it."

Dailah tried immersing herself in that moment again. Her memories were hazy and details vague. Was it really a hole? A cliff? How big was that clearing? Many pieces just refused to join together in her mind, though she does remember the face of the child very well.

Scariot, unable to bear the girl's sudden silence, urged her on.

"...what happened then?"

"Hm? I shot her."

"..."

"..?"

"......you did what?"

The girl, noticing she had skipped one too many steps in her narrative, hurried to correct herself.

"E-erm, no. Y-you see.. at that moment i realized why the girl's appearance bothered me so much. She...

"She looked just like me."

"....ah"

Realization dawned on Scariot's expression.

A Doppelganger, a magical creature capable of mimicking other's appearance. It would infiltrate packs and devour them when opportunity came. Going by Dailah's story it likely intended to push her into the hole and replace the girl. However that still didn't sit right with Scariot because...

"You do know Doppelgangers are incredibly rare right? Moreover they usually just prey on animals, cases where they try to infiltrate human settlements are even rarer than themselves."

There used to be a stronger species of Doppelgangers that specialized preying on humans. Unlike the ones that still live today, who can only immitate appearances and some primitive sounds, that variation could perfectly mimick human speech and even specific personalities.

They were all slaughtered into extinction by witches of course, who eventually developed efficient ways to detect them. It was a creature that instilled great dread into human's hearts, and this was reason enough to exterminate them.

"There's no way you just stumbled upon a Doppelganger! How do you even know it was really one? Should i take you to law enforcemnet right now in handcuffs over murder charges!?"

"I-it was a Doppelganger alright!?" - Dailah defended herself desperately, regreting not picking a random boring story - "After i shot it, I clearly saw it de-transforming when it fell into the hole. It had horns and weird twig arms!"

"Thats still not normal you know! No matter how much you reasoned it was a monster, no one would just shoot a person without hesitation!"

"I was just a brat! I had read about them recently and did what i thought i was supposed to! As a witch!"

The two stared at each other for a few moments... then simultaneously let out sighs. They shouldn't be screaming in their current situation.

"Besides..." - Dailah continued - "I'm not even sure if this actually happened. My mother heard the shot and came to me sometime later. I told her the story but she didn't believe me. We looked into the hole where the creature fell but saw nothing. No corpse, blood, anything at all.

"A few years later, this event came to my mind again and i decided to ask her about it. She gave me a completely different account, saying i disappeared to look for berries and tried to shoot some bird by myself. She scolded me and never took me hunting again because of it."

Dailah truly had no idea. It was part of the reason her brain treated it as if it never happened. Some nightmare she had while sleeping at camp, and now her memories of dream and reality jumbled together, thats mostly how she saw it.

"Fine." - Scariot relented - "But if i ever stumble upon a missing girl's case that fits this, i'm putting you on the suspects list, capiche?"

Dailah nodded absentmindedly, the screaming section made her realize how sleepy she was. Seems all these stories did the trick in the end.

Scariot let out a yawn and tucked herself into her bed.

"I think that's enough stories, we won't be able to act so nonchalantly tomorrow. There won't be any excuses of darkness to justify us skimping out on our work."

She gave one last look at the girl, then at the window, before finally turning away.

"Good night Dailah. Don't let the owls eat you."

Dailah watched the woman for a bit, then laid on her own bed. The window was right above herself, giving a view of the glowing orbs obscured by the fog.

It seemed unlikely these owls would try to eat her, but in times where mice ate lampposts and crowleys appreciated the finer tastes of life, she couldn't completely rule the possibility out.

Nonetheless the girl closed her eyes, thinking about all the things she heard today. Wondering which types of horrors would come to haunt her, tomorrow and beyond.

Hopefully only the manageable ones.

"Good night Scariot."

She kept the rifle by her side just in case.