Chapter 374: Skyclad Observer, Part
The scene shifted to another.
I didn’t get to feel much of anything as a disembodied being in this world of fleeting, confusing memories, but somehow still I could sense the passage of time ever flowing forward.
And indeed it has felt as if a significant amount of time has gone by ever since that moment with that little girl lying helplessly in a pool of her own agony, as that despicable man simply leered over her bleeding body, staring at her trembling with unfathomable hatred simmering behind his uncaring gaze.
I think now, as of present time, it has already been a few weeks since.
The fall of rain continued to resound throughout, the low rumble of thunder still ever afar in the distant – except here, in this particular memory, Ria had found herself a shelter lying directly beneath the stone slabs of the curved spire roof.
The place she had herself cooped in was rather small, barely a sizable space for even a child as small as she.
For a bed, she had the cold of the wooden floor to rest her head against, for a view of the outside world, she had a tiny windowsill in the wall affixed with thick metal bars, and for light, whenever night would come, she had only herself.
.....
Every once in a while, raindrops would blow in through the gaps in the bars, sprinkling onto her feet, and disrupting her slumber whenever she would actually manage to lull herself to sleep.
In this instance, Ria was, unfortunately, snapped awake again, pulling her legs closer to herself and sitting upright in place. The deep boom of thunder had her flinching, and the night’s wind constantly seeping into her little space had her shivering.
To me, simply floating atop the wooden rafters, I felt she looked almost like a bird trapped in a cage.
Most of her wounds had already healed by this point. The gashes in her legs and arms lingered as long narrow blemishes in her skin. Her forehead looked fine, but now there stayed a rather ghastly, ugly scar running across her left cheek.
It turns out I was sorely mistaken, it wasn’t the rain coating her feet that was pestering her sleep... judging by the wet shimmer in her crimson eyes, the slight palpitation in her breath, she must have been having a nightmare.
Of what exactly, however, I dare not hope to even imagine.
Below, from far below her, there was a noise, a muffled thud... before the sound of creaking footsteps began to sound in the pouring quiet, and in that same instance, Ria’s body immediately stiffened, her breathing stifled silent, and the look in her eyes – through tears she hastily wiped clean – fear and dread.
“If you are awake, which I know you are,” spoke a cold familiar voice echoing far from the same below. “You best come to me this instant.”
Ria wasted no second scrambling up to her feet, in such a rush she nearly tripped down the winding spiral staircase that led below.
Along the way, as I drifted, tethered, along with her, we passed by many other floors, each structured and designed to serve its own unique purpose separate from the others. There was a floor for brewing, a floor for reading, one even served as its own ecosystem of flora, brimming ripe with a variety of plants and flowers, with vines growing into the very walls itself... such a disparity from the bareness of the outside.
Eventually, Ria reached the ground floor, the floor for living, not even sparing a moment to recoup her breathing as she shambled towards the tall looming figure by the tower entrance.
The man was wrapped in heavy layers of soaked fabric, dripping rainwater on the floorboards wherever he stepped. He unveiled his hood, staring down at Ria still with the same scowl as if a permanent fixture to his appearance, before he strode towards an empty seat by the extinguished fireplace.
Wordlessly, Ria followed, and upon seeing him take his place, spewed a jet of light from the palm of her hand, and a moment later, the fireplace was ablaze with crackling flames.
The man removed his drenched coat, throwing it away haphazardly to a nearby table... before slumping back down in his chair, sighing quietly. All the while Ria stood silently close by, unsure of what’s to come.
He noted her presence once again with a glance from the corner of his eye, his lips thinning in the process.
“How long has it been since you’ve last eaten?” He asked her.
“T-Three days,” Ria answered him at once, her voice a higher pitch tone than what was usual. “When you left...”
A hard thump on the ground... and a single glistening juicy red apple slowly rolled over, stopping abruptly at her bare feet.
“There,” spoke the man, turning his furrowed brow towards the burning fireplace. “Eat.”
Ria fell on all fours and grabbed the apple. I watched her gnaw off a large chunk in an instant, I saw how desperately she chewed, relishing every swallow, biting the apple down all the way to its core.
Like a starved dog feeding on scraps...
“As I’ve expected,” suddenly the man spoke aloud, still staring deep into the swirling orange flames. “Torem’s home has been reduced to mere rubble in the dirt.”
At once, Ria stopped chewing, staring up at the hunched silhouette by the fireplace.
“And also as I’ve expected, you were the reason for its decimation. The First Church... they’ve caught wind of Torem’s experiments, his achievements,” He looked back at her. “And your existence...”
There was no escaping the contempt in his glare, so Ria simply just stared back in silence.
“They are looking for you. They know what you represent, what your very existence implies, and they will not have it. Shall they find you, they will purge you from existence one way or another.”
The man then pulled out something from deep within his shirts – a stack of notes, a journal of some sorts, and a little round glimmering object that looks almost –
“Father’s ring!” Ria uttered aloud before she could stop herself. A moment later, I saw regret flashing across her face and horror consuming her eyes. “N-No I... I didn’t mean to say... please, I’m sorry... I won’t call him that anymore, please don’t – ”
“Torem wrote extensively about what he hoped you’d potentially become,” The man said, seemingly turning deaf to her panicked whimpers. “About what you are now, and the abilities you possess. I had read on a few of his entries on my return from his estate. Aside from burning flames eternal, you can transform into a flaming bird of some kind at will as well, it seems,” He gave her another petrifying look. “How come you’ve never thought to mention this extraordinary ability of yours to me?”
The little girl, clutching on the half-eaten apple tightly, cowered back slightly. “I can’t transform now...”
“And why is that?”
“I’m not healthy enough, I think, I-I don’t know” Ria explained, her voice wavering heavily in uncertainty. “When I get sick, or if sometimes when I feel too tired... I can’t transform anymore.”
“So you’re too weak now, then? Is that it?”
Ria timidly nodded.
“How long do you suppose it’ll take for you to be in capable condition?” He asked.
She blinked at him. “I-I don’t...”
“Don’t say you don’t know.”
“But I – ”
“Your wounds have healed, you’re no longer bleeding, and you’ve just recently been fed,” He cocked his head. “Well? I’m waiting.”
Panic had set in, and Ria’s stutter drastically worsened, unable to come up with a valid answer to appease the man. “I-I really really can’t, I can’t now, please! But I’ll try to get better very fast, please, I’ll try for you... I’ll be better, just don’t be angry, please don’t be angry!”
The man just watched her please, staring ever as aloof. “So, you wish to get better as quickly as possible, then?”
Ria nodded her head again, this time as vigorously as she could.
“You wish to transform once more?”
She kept nodding. Whatever it took, whatever he desired, she just wanted to stop being scared, and seeing that, silently, the man gestured a finger at her to come closer, which Ria readily complied with a slow cautious pace towards him.
Once Ria was within arm’s reach, the man violently seized her arm and pulled her within an inch close of his cold piercing eyes. Ria still had the apple in her hand, and held onto it as tightly as she could... her only piece of comfort.
“Just look at that there, tsk, tsk, tsk,” The man said, running a finger directly across the scar in her cheek. “A ghastly sight, don’t you agree?”
Holding back tears, Ria continued to nod, whimpering in agreement, unable to tear herself away from his gaze.
He pressed lightly down into the scar, his finger sinking into her skin. “Do you wish for this ugly thing to be gone too?”
Just nod. Just keep nodding. Anything he wants. Anything he inquires. Just don’t let him hurt you, don’t let him –
“Very well.”
I was watching as the apple in her hand dropped hard onto the floor, I was also watching when Ria began gurgling, her scream stifled from her raspy chokes, and I was still only just watching when the man sliced her throat with the same dagger from before.
Blood spurted far, dribbled, overflowing immediately and pouring down her tattered dress. Ria tried to scream, wanting to express her pain, vocalize the agony... but she could only squeak, only whimper.
The ground beneath was pooling over with red, and in her struggle, Ria slipped on her own blood and collapsed hard onto to the floorboards, where she stayed writhing, squirming, crying, choking on her cries for help, on a single word that left with her dying breath, “Fa... ther...”
“I told you never to ever call him that, haven’t I?” The man said calmly, rising to his feet, wiping the blood that splattered on his face with his sleeve. “You’re a mere experiment, not human... so you do best to refrain from using terms like those anymore.”
But I don’t think Ria could hear him. She stopped squirming just then, and she stopped gasping a long while ago. All he was speaking to now was a corpse, one whose life had been abruptly extinguished... as did the flames by the fireplace snuffing out without even a puff of smoke, plunging the entire floor into sudden darkness.
For a long, long moment. There was only the rain and thunder that sounded, filling the silent dark. The man remained standing over her, unmoving, as if waiting...
Then, just as abruptly, just as instant – a light flickered.
A stray lock of Ria’s blood-soaked hair began to smolder again, then glow again, before the rest of it followed, burning ablaze with a luminosity so bright and fierce it lit up the entire vicinity.
With a gasp of air, Ria roused to life again, coughing violently, spitting out mouthfuls of blood with every loud retch. In the light, the scar on her cheek had gone, the faint blemishes in her arms and legs had also completely been cleansed, and even her skin, though deeply immersed in blood, seemed to glow with a vibrant healthy hue anew.
The man cocked his head at her again, cold, calculating interest the only emotion stirring within his gaze.
“A being that exists outside the cycle of life and death,” He muttered aloud. “It seems you aren’t a failure as I’ve originally perceived. Immortality, to be born anew flushed in the fire of life... just as the First Divine had done so many eons ago. It seems Torem had actually achieved his ambition after all.”
Ria continued her coughing fit, too busy wrought in confusion and bewilderment to even pay heed to his words. But from the look in her eyes, the way she flailed her gaze wildly around, it was clear that she did not expect herself to be brought to life once more just like that.
Rooted frozen in her own pool of blood, the same copious amounts on the floor that now flowed through her veins. It was such a disorienting notion to understand, to perceive... much less to a little girl like her.
Alas, the man could care less about her state of mind at any given moment. He shook his head, and then proceeded to step over her body, sheathing his bloodied dagger and making his way presumably to his chambers, but not before barking one last order at her as he disappeared to the upstairs.
“Be sure to clean up your mess before you go to sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll fly, and you’ll show me what else you are able to do.”
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are published on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶