The Laughing Swordsman

Eden began twitching around as the black mist seeped into her. She had a pained expression and made faint gurgling sounds. Eden's eyes bulged and became bloodshot.

She transitioned between a face that showed she was in agonizing pain and a blissful smile. It was as though Eden couldn't make up her mind on whether she was hurting or happy.

Her heart began to beat faster before transforming into something else.

First, it began to blacken.

Then it squirmed around like a parasite, slowly expanding itself. The feeling was quite discomforting, like an itch on the inside of her body. Even if she wanted to scratch it, she couldn't.

Unless she peeled away her skin, that is.

However, the heart was already in the process of doing that. A hole gradually began forming on the skin above her heart, like something inside was crawling out. Eden's vision became blurry, but her mind was getting clearer.

She wasn't exactly paying attention when Serosh said that she could create something with her heart. However, Eden intuitively came to that understanding as the heart within her transformed.

It became something flexible. Something she could move like her own hand.

No, it was even easier to move than her own hand.

But Eden wasn't really focused on that. Instead, she saw an old memory, it was so lifelike it was like she had been hallucinating.

"Alright Eden, let me show you how it's done!"

Eden heard Zack's voice and slowly got up to her feet.

"Ah... then show me."

She saw Zack hold an axe with both hands, slowly pulling it back for a horizontal swing. Then, with a grunt, he flung it forward, making it land on a tall tree with a clear thunk.

Eden laughed to herself.

"Isn't that a little underwhelming? You hardly cut into the tree!"

Zack smirked.

"What? You expect me to cut through the entire damn tree with one swing?"

Eden covered her mouth with the tips of her fingers and giggled.

"I expect more than that!"

Zack rolled his eyes.

"It's not about getting the farthest you can in one hit, but doing it at a rate you can handle. There's no point in making a huge cut if your arms can't move afterwards."

He pulled back the axe before slamming it against the small indent he made before.

"Little by little, you get through the entire tree."

Zack continued to chop the tree down.

"If you want to cut down the biggest tree, more than strength, you need patience and endurance."

Eden nodded.

"Hmm... ok. I believe you."

Zack smirked and held out the axe.

"You want to have a go then?"

Eden smiled.

"Yes."

She reached out.

Then, black flesh sprouted out from her chest, slowly molding itself into an axe. It was unbelievably close to the axe she saw in her old memories, even having the same abrasion marks from use.

The only difference was the fact that the axe was not only black, but had a few veins crawling across it.

Eden held onto that axe comfortably, like it was meant for her. Then, she giggled to herself.

"I'm going to cut down the entire forest! Just watch."

She bent down to pick up the dirtied rabbit mask and placed it on her face without much hesitation. Then, she put on the muddy dress as well.

Eden began humming to herself.

It was a lullaby that her father would sing to her when she was supposed to go to sleep.

With that, she began walking down the corridor.

The tune of her humming echoed across the cave several times, making the tunes overlap over each other at different volumes. The cacophony of sounds was extremely chaotic, but had its own unique charm to it.

Eden eventually came across a wide assortment of weapons, such as swords, bows, shields, and more laid across a large wooden table.

She gave a brief glance over them before losing interest.

After all, there were no axes made for cutting wood among them. She let out a drawn-out hum like she was thinking but singing at the same time.

"More axes would be better..."

The flesh above her heart parted once more, spewing out more black flesh that became another axe. She now had an axe in each hand.

There was still another corridor further below, that seemed to lead to darkness. Eden walked down this path, twirling her newfound weapons. She did it with such dexterity, that one would think she had been doing it her entire life.

As the path got darker and darker, Eden eventually came across a wall. But that didn't bother her. She continued to walk forth and slammed one of her axes on it.

The wall immediately gave way, collapsing in on itself. Though that was a bit excessive as it also would've given way if she just pushed on it a bit as it was a door.

A weak light came out from where the door was busted open.

There was no clear floor ahead, but that didn't stop Eden from jumping through. After falling for a few seconds, she landed on the floor with a clear smack while bending her knees.

The room was fairly large, with torches lined along the side.

And as of now, there was a woman wearing a rabbit mask pointing a spear straight at Eden. However, she calmed down soon after realizing that the person also had a rabbit mask.

"Ah, are you a new recruit?"

Eden nodded dreamily and seemed to respond.

"The trees in the forest stand tall and strong~"

But it was actually just her singing to herself.

The woman furrowed her brows.

"Are you ok? Also, what are those weapons you have?"

Eden slowly raised the axe in her hand, winding it back.

"But it won't take long for them all to fall down!"

The woman had completely let her guard down.

That was why she was so surprised when she saw an axe flying towards her.