Broken Story: Reborn as a Villainess Author

Chapter 52: Three cages

"My my..." the woman said, her red eyes piercing through the darkness that covered the vicinity in which she stood.

"You can’t let your guard down for even a bit, can you?"

Acheron was about to enter a defensive stance when she recognized the voice and energy of the being that spoke.

"Oh..." Acheron said with a deflating tone. "It’s you..." She released the tension in her shoulder and yawned loudly, walking past and ignoring her completely.

Morena’s smile twitched at the corner, annoyed by the dismissal. However, before she could react, Stellar appeared out of thin air beside Acheron, her feet barely making a sound as she hit the ground.

"You should get some rest..." Stellar said. "I readied the master bedroom for you, it’ll speed up the recovery process."

Rubbing her eyes, Acheron didn’t have the strength to argue. She walked in a staggering manner toward the door ahead.

Slam!

A quiet shut of the door and Stellar turned her attention towards the annoyed Morena.

"Well," she said, snapping her fingers and summoning a small table with two glass cups.

Slightly amazed by the display, Morena’s brows raised and she sat.

"You seem calmer than expected." Morena picked up her glass cup filled with red wine. "Does my presence not bother you?"

Stellar let out a small smile. "It would, if you still had your physical form. Right now you’re no different than I am... a fragment spirit existing in the only space we can."

"Hmm... that’s a charming way to put it."

"It is indeed, but not to worry." Stellar finally picked up her glass. "You will be able to leave eventually... when our host finds you a new body. Until then... you’re stuck with us."

Morena rested back in her chair, her head tilting toward the ceiling as she let the words sink deep into her thoughts.

"You’re not worried I might cause havoc in here?"

Stellar paused mid-sip. "Why would I be... you can’t do anything here even if you tried... and I’m sure you’ve noticed by now."

"You cannot use any mana in here..."

Morena already knew this fact. She had tried to conjure up even a flicker of hellfire to burn her way out of this cage. However, she’d failed.

"Oh my... you have noticed already."

Morena didn’t utter a word for a while, swirling her glass left and right, watching the wine move in a random manner as it caught the light and shadowed the room.

She sighed and stood up, gulping down all the wine in one go. "We can see everything..."

Taken aback, Stellar turned her attention to her. "What do you mean?"

"We can see everything our host sees from here, can’t we?"

"Yes, we can. Why do you ask?"

For the first time, in that moment, a smile formed on Morena’s face. She began to feel joy, although she didn’t know where it came from. Maybe it was the thought of enjoyment. She couldn’t tell. All she knew was she wasn’t going to have a boring time in this house.

- - -

Meanwhile, in the other path of the dungeon, far below in the chambers lit by the dying embers, the horned demon sat in silence, one hand resting on the arm of his throne while the other tapped in an idle rhythm on his lap.

The air before him whirred and twisted with a breathless sound as his subordinate stepped through, kneeling at once on the cold floor.

Between them, a tiny orb of golden crystal shined as distant images began to play across its surface.

Rose stood at the mouth of the two-path dungeon, the wind off the ice pulling at what remained of her tattered cloak. She laid the two girls down gently at the feet of the waiting professors and stepped back without saying a word.

A few of them bowed to her, their lips moving in thanks the crystal carried no sound for. Rose didn’t react, and simply turned to leave. The dungeon walls opened themselves and let her pass through, closing shut as she crossed over.

The professors moved in haste as soon as she left. One dropped to a knee beside the girl, using two fingers to check for a pulse, calling out to the others as they all began to perform healing spells, trying to force consciousness back into the girls.

The image faded away slowly and sank back into the golden light.

"My lord..." the subordinate said, still on his knees, his head so low his horns nearly scraped the floor. "I- i- is it done?"

The horned demon stopped tapping his fingers and smiled. "godspeed... Azal... godspeed."

He rose from his throne slowly and walked to the edge of the dais where the embers burned the lowest.

"Within the next three months," he said, "we will become the first of our kind to ever walk on the face of the real earth. We will finally be free of this prison that has condemned us to eternal damnation."

His subordinate raised his head, and the two of them shared a malicious smile.

- - -

"Neyr..."

"Neyrene!!!"

Gasp!

Acheron sat up in the dark of her mind, one hand pressed against her head. She could see, but the vision in front of her wasn’t clear. The scene glided through her mind for a moment, a familiar one.

It was a bedroom with blue walls and posters of male celebrities peeling off the corners. The room felt known to her, though she had never been in it, or never seen it in this setting.

Both of these things were true at once, and the wrongness of it split through her skull, causing severe pain.

"Ahhhhhh!" The scream tore out of her, but no sound came with it. Her expression showed nothing, no pain, no strain at all. Instead, her body stood up on its own and walked to the door.

There, she heard it.

"Neyrene! Hurry up and get down here, your food is getting cold!" A familiar voice shouted at the top of its lungs.

Her state of mind blanked out, and a new form of consciousness took over. The body opened the door, went downstairs, and sat at the table.

During that blank stretch, a flow of memory passed through her mind.

It was a Monday. She had checked her phone and seen a text from a friend whose name she didn’t recognize, and yet somehow she knew exactly who they were. The smell of her mother’s cooking drifted up from the kitchen, at least that much she remembered. Pancakes.

Gasp!

The pain faded, and full awareness returned. She knew again where she was and what she was doing.

A spoon sat in her right hand, carrying a piece of cake.

She pressed her palm further into her eyes, trying to clear her vision. Her mother noticed the discomfort and came over to ask if everything was alright.

Acheron looked up.

It was her mother’s face... No....

"It was" didn’t describe it.

The thing wearing her mother’s face was filled with infinite malice, a woman made of darkness shaped like a person, threads moving in every direction, weaving themselves into something close enough to human to pass for it.

It spoke.

"Sweetheart? Are you alright?"

She didn’t answer... Or more precisely, she couldn’t.

The sight sent a single signal to her brain, and the only thing her body could do in that moment... was scream.