236 Liberty {1} - First We Feast
Liberty's eyes snapped open, her breath ragged as she jolted upright. The memory of the vast darkness and the overwhelming sensations clung to her mind like a fading dream. She was back, back in her own body, her own reality.
Gasping for air, she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, her heart still racing from the intensity of her experience. She looked around, her surroundings slowly coming into focus. The room was dimly lit, and the shadows seemed to dance around her as if whispering secrets of the otherworldly realm she had just left.
Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, her muscles feeling strangely heavy yet more alive than ever. She glanced down at her hands, noticing the rune that had manifested on her palms in the midst of her dream-like state. It let out a faint glow, casting a soft, ethereal light on her skin.
She staggered off her bed, standing on her legs and trying to balance herself midway. It felt like this was the first time she'd ever walked, yet, simultaneously, the instincts of what felt like a million lives kicked in, as if they were trying to teach her how to walk.
Her eyes quickly wandered the room, scanning everything within it with caution and scrutiny.
A normal person would have thought of the room as nothing big, but it was like a haven to her.
The room was well-lit with the flickering candle flames. Most candles themselves were no longer than one's pinky finger, while some reached the size of a middle finger. They had thick stumps of frozen wax at the bottom, indicating how long it had been there.
There is a wooden table with stools on the side. The stools looked light; they might have been grabbed from a bar rather than have come as a set with a table that reflected different shades of brown than the stools.
There were no windows in the room, yet there were grid-like vents at the top and bottom of the room, placed in the middle, as well as all eight corners.
Cranking her stiff neck to the side, Liberty gazed at the bed behind her. It wasn't anything that the humans that had enslaved her used, but it was definitely better than anything she's ever slept on in her life.
The texture of the mattress covering was smooth and soft on her skin. The mattress itself was soft and spongy, making her feel like she had been embraced in a warm hug throughout the night that only the warm and soft blanket completed.
And even the pillow felt as smooth as a baby's hand caressing her face.
Liberty turned her head back and looked toward the sink at the end of the room. She staggered toward it, yet it wasn't because walking was difficult, but rather, too easy. She felt too light. She felt a single wrong step would send her flying through the walls of her room... If she could even call such a haven her own.
When she stood over the sink, her mind returned to what the humans used to do. She would watch them wash their faces in the morning before cleaning their teeth with a weird instrument. Of course, she didn't have such a luxury. After all, she would usually have to clean herself with the cattle.
Filling up the sink before her with water, she dipped her hands into it in a cup-like motion before splashing it on her face. After a while, she stopped. She didn't know what to do next.
It was only then that her eyes fell upon the mirror before her.
Liberty's eyes widened as she gazed into her own reflection. It was her in the mirror, right? It had to be. That's how mirrors worked.
Yet, she couldn't believe her eyes. She stared down at the water in the sink and saw a faint reflection of herself before rubbing her eyes and trying again.
Only after a few minutes did she believe what she was seeing. Her heart swelled with mixed emotions. Her breath hitched in her throat. The reflection that stared back at her was both familiar and foreign. Gone was the image of a malnourished and fragile girl. In its place stood a young woman with long, flowing white hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall of moonlight.
Her once pale and sickly complexion had transformed into a healthy, radiant glow. Muscles and curves had replaced the frailness she had grown accustomed to. Her features had matured, giving her an air of confidence and beauty she had never known.
However, the most distinct change had to be her horn... or, more accurately, horns.
The tiny horn that came out of her forehead was no longer there, replaced by two crimson horns that came out of the sides of her head and arched above her head.
Liberty's hand instinctively went up to the horns to see if they were real. They were rough and had many ridges, yet the top was pointy, almost to the point where it nearly pricked her even to touch it. Her hands then went down to her face, her fingers tracing the contours that were now more defined and captivating. She hardly recognized herself, the reflection in the mirror a testament to the changes that had occurred within her during her strange journey through the cosmic void.
Once a deep shade of orange, her eyes had transformed into a striking shade of crimson, the same color as the eyes of the demons she had encountered. But these eyes held a fire, a determination that burned fiercely within her soul.
A determination that went far beyond her own beliefs and goals, but rather encapsulated the beliefs and goals of her people.
Her white hair flowed behind her like a mantle of stardust as she walked toward the door at the end of the room. With a deep breath, she straightened her back, her movements fluid and confident. The fabric of her clothes now clung to her figure in a way that emphasized her newfound vitality. She felt different, empowered, as if the very essence of the cosmos had chosen her for a greater purpose.
Each step she took left a frosty footprint behind that quickly thawed and turned into a misty steam.
Finally, a low click resounded within the room as the door slid open, allowing the hallway's light to pierce through, illuminating her figure and causing her to squint. After her eyes got used to the light, she only saw a hallway similar to the one she had walked through when she came to the demon camp in the first place. Her eyes wandered for a moment before locking upon the beautiful woman before her who sat on a bench in front of her room with her arms folded and her legs crossed.
A long, jagged sword was placed next to her. It was a pitch black with crystals that allowed it to shine with a certain shade of crimson.
"Oh? You're finally awake." A woman with a pair of enormous pitch-black wings and horns asked. Her body was clad from top to bottom with armor that clung tightly to it, making it very easy to move in.
The woman looked Liberty up and down, her eyes scrutinizing every inch of her body before pursing her lips and letting out a wry grin.
"You've grown. Even the gown I gave you doesn't seem to fit." The woman pointed while looking at her clothes that were about to burst.
"Here." The woman stepped forward and tapped Liberty on the chest, leaving a small stone there that stuck to her clothes.
Suddenly, the gown shone brightly before turning into a mist that revolved around her body.
It quickly reconstructed, and when Liberty looked down, the white gown was no more, having been replaced by a black and white Victorian dress that reached her ankles in length.
"That's better. However, you'll need to change out of it when we go to train. I'll give you a training outfit." The woman said before turning around and walking toward the large double doors in the distance, with the expectation that Liberty would follow behind.
"W-Wait..." The Liberty called out with a stutter.
The woman glanced back with a raised brow.
"I-I didn't get your name."
"My name?" The woman smirked.
"You will call me General Lethastra," Lethastra spoke with authority in her voice, while her pitch-black hair shone, glowing with a midnight purple radiance before it returned to normal.
Liberty chose not to question what she just saw and simply followed behind the woman until they got into the room behind the double doors.
"But for now..." Lethastra muttered before turning back to look into the eyes of the girl beside her. "We feast." She smiled warmly while Liberty widened her eyes as they fell upon hundreds of dishes and hundreds of demons eating.
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