White Flower, Black Feather

Shattered Scale

The pot was boiling the latest fishes that Miriam got. The fact that it could reach that temperature outside of her shelter, with just two other of her creations as backup in the afternoon, meant that winter was finally ending

But at the time she was flinging some of the remaining snow around, to the middle of her training spot

‘That… should be tall enough, Ia Stop… now… Ia Imbue Arms…’ she had piled it using her eyes, but for the next test, she only wanted her arms Imbued as she moved in a circle around the mound

Only the Heating Stones under her, were giving heat and at the distance she had placed them, her creations weren't the reason the snow was slowly thawing…

She would need the snow to remain cold, in case things went wrong…

‘Ia, Form, Shape, Maintain, From Memory’ she was going to target the snow with her Heat Thief… ‘Engrave!’

Miriam was aiming the spell with her left hand, trying to not think about everything that could go wrong. The drawing were seven curved lines condensing on the same point forming a spiral, and once she confirmed it was drawn on her second lap around the mound

‘Ia! Distant Imbue! Heat Thief!’ the spiral glowed red as she kept moving, melting the snow around it fast, causing some steam to cover the drawing

It stayed visible to her thanks to its glow, until she got to the other side of the snow

‘It ended…’ she knew when that happened, thanks to her magic not being consumed anymore ‘Hmm…’ she looked at the water flowing from the pile to the channels she had made, when she finished the lap looking to the place were her spell hit ‘Then… it didn’t work when I tried it on that Spiked Wrath… because it had Hostile Magic Resistance too…?’

Buzz

-Unknown…-

Sunny was on one of the branches Miriam had cleared out of snow, because Miriam didn’t wanted her close by when she tried to use that spell

‘At least now I know it didn’t fail because we were moving…’ she looked at the claws of her left hand, unlike with the attempt on the boar covered in spikes, the spell hadn't recoiled and melt her claws ‘Should I try the “Curse” variation…?’

Buzz!

‘All right then… but I want you to remain there!’ she glanced at Sunny’s location, before focusing on the half melted snow and did her spells ‘Engrave…! Ia! Distant Imbue! Cursing Heat Thief!’ She wasn't moving this time

So she had no trouble looking at the sizzling snow, as the drawing glowed again. The use of magic felt higher than before, and a quick test with looking away from the snow, revealed that it this time it wasn't stopping with just that…

‘Ia Stop…’ so she ended the spell and the consumption of her magic… ‘Um…?’ interested in how the glow persisted there for a few seconds before vanishing inside the pooling water… ‘Wow… that… that was…’

Buzz?

‘Yeah… I can’t risk that, bouncing back to me…’ Miriam shivered ‘That spell is still useless… but at least now I know a bit more about it… Status’

‘Nothing new… cooking food seems to be my best idea in this life…?’ she shook her head ‘That’s… a bit sad…’

Buzz!

-You had others…- with that message Sunny flew to her and landed on her head

‘Can’t remember them… thanks anyways. Sunny! Happy with the number…? I know you want me to upgrade the helper, but I think I need to buy things now… I don’t want to break the level cap, so I should evolve today’

Buzz!

‘Let’s buy things then-’

Buzz?

‘Ugh… Species…’

‘Ugh…’ Miriam’s evolutions were ignored due to the list of Calamities that appeared, she also got incredibly restless due to the hidden one. Thankfully, Sunny buzzing on her head helped to distract Miriam from that… letting her see the options she could take

‘Well… easy choice… I already removed “Gills” from Absorb…’ she closed those screens suppressing a shiver ‘Ah… time to buy things…’

/////

‘Ah…?’ she looked at them, they were a bit bigger than before ‘Hmm… how much would I need then…?’ but while she moved them, giving a few flaps with them, she agreed with the screen. For her size, they were too small… then she shook her head ‘Bah, my magic wouldn't let me fly yet anyways…’ she looked back to the shop ‘Sunny, what do you think of the Focus for my arms?’

Buzz

‘Then I’ll buy… wait…’ Miriam covered her face with her hands ‘Ugh… I already purchased my two main venoms in this evolution… ugh… did I just waste over four hundred points…?’ she got another buzz as an answer

-Not wasted…-

‘I mean it as… nevermind… it’s just one of the requirements…’ she opened her Venom Control and made sure that things were as high as they could, before going back to the shop, annoyed by how much the Hunger in that screen had increased… ‘Buy Magic Extremities-’

The painful heat, came from the crystal on her chest in many pulses, that left her arms burning with each one. The heat sunk deep into her bones before spreading towards her scales, burning everything for a while… until it went away making her feel cold…

‘Not as bad as the items from Absorb… Ia Imbue Arms…’ the glow in Miriam’s arms was bit dim in comparison to what she was used to ‘Is the cold permanent…?’ that last question was due to that feeling going away when she Imbued her arms

Buzz

-No… you can stop it…-

‘Ia Stop…?’ with that message she stopped her magic and saw how some of the scales on her arms, now had a green edge, but most of them were still fully white ‘Odd… they aren't draining my Magic Core… but now they are connected to it…?’

Miriam felt something flowing between the her crystal and her arms… but quickly got used to it

‘No Deed…? Ugh… the whole body…? Bleh…’ but how her arms felt, was a more pressing matter… ‘Need to Improve my arms…?’ she was feeling weaker in that area…

Buzz

-Can’t hurt…-

‘Hmm… then I can’t do that with my eyes… I mean, I can, but I probably should wait…’

With that idea in mind she purchased three upgrades for the bones and muscles of her arms. Restoring her arms to how she felt them before, then looked at the screen that kept appearing every time she mentioned it

She had gotten many things added in that list during winter, but none of them gave her peace of mind…

‘These are the only things I might consider…’ her gaze moved to the river ‘I can’t stay here… no matter how much I want to… the only Items I get by living here, are related to living underwater…’

Buzz

-South…-

‘Yes… I… ugh… I’ll deal with that tomorrow…’ she looked up ‘Sorry if things have been boring…’

‘The one I buried… the one I impaled with ice, or, the one I hit so hard with a [Sword Wave] that I sent it flying, and buried it on the cliff next to the river…?’ she got a message full of laughter as an answer, so her attention went back to the other screen ‘Absorb, once I start evolving Buy the next Mammal Brain Adaptation… at least those boars were good for something…’

Once she saw that the points were expended, Miriam entered her shelter and came out with a pair of empty jars

Buzz?

-Swords…?- but Sunny gave her a buzz while she walked on her arms

‘Hmm…? Oh, I’ll test those two things tomorrow. I don’t want the cold damaging the water related one, and I don’t know what size I’m going to end at, so I might need to make different ones anyways’

She had tried many things during winter, and once the amount of Heating Stones she had made, started to prove to be too many for the shelter (She overheated twice…), Miriam let some of them go empty without recharging them, and after brainstorming many engravings on the dirt near her food storage, she used those dry stones to make the grips for two swords…

‘Unless… I get buried by another sudden snowstorm…’ she looked up, but the darkening sky was clear… something that she had learned to not trust at all… ‘Ugh… that sucked… Ia, Take, Hold, Contain, Mimic! Magic Hold!’

With a hand she “Pulled” the fishes out of the boiling pot, letting them float while using her other hand to “Lift” and pour the remaining liquid into the jars. It took her a week of idleness to realize how to fix her spell “Vessel” which she was grateful for…

‘Nice… with the Focus, I feel that I have more control while using this spell~’

Once she was done with the pouring, that pot was left upside down to recharge, and she placed the fish on top of the other charging pot. Opening the wall to move the jars inside with the others afterwards

‘Ia Stop…’ waiting outside… ‘Once my dinner is colder, I’ll evolve… the rest will be for tomorrow…’ looking around to the snow and ice that was melting and falling from the trees ‘Why do I have a bad feeling…?’

Unable to feel at ease…

/////

I’m done at the same time I know… that it isn't complete…

Clank!

I only can look at the sword on top of the anvil. Occasionally hitting it with the hammer… the thing… that it’s the material of the sword… it’s still unruly… the edge keeps losing its shape…

Clank!

/////

Unlike the last time she had acquired an upgrade for her brain, this time Miriam didn’t have any dream that she could remember the next day

Sunny didn’t try to pretend that she was sleeping, the moment Miriam choose her evolution inside the shelter and she was unconscious. The ladybug flew up to the joining point of the slabs making the roof, waiting there…

Looking at Miriam as her eyes and crystal turned completely black…

And that darkness spread along her body…

/////

Clank!

No matter how much I try, I can’t find a way of finishing the dark sword… and the thing keeps trying to undo my work… I look up and the doors of the furnace open. Swallowing the sword into the flames…

Clank!

And I return the hammer to her mouth… torn by my inability to finish it…

/////

Her body was like that for hours, but just as sunrise started to approach

It moved on its own… growing… both longer and wider…

Opening an unraveling pitch black jaw and aiming it to the jars in the shelter. Making all the food and liquids in them burst up towards the darkness, with such strength that some of the jars broke

The tail wasn't still while the head ate. With a jab, it buried down to the storage, where it lost its shape spreading to all the food and ice there…

Absorbing all it touched…

Starting to devour the ground that was under it…

Making the darkness unravel more… devouring more of the ground and rocks underneath

Buzz!

Sunny couldn’t help it and called out for Miriam… making the darkness aim the jaw up to her…

And it stopped…

/////

‘Eh…?’ I heard something… it didn’t came from the furnace… there is nothing above it…

There is nothing above me, just a stone slab acting like a roof… nothing between the brass pillars to the sides…

‘Where…?’ nothing behind me, just more pillars…

Just the anvil, the hammer, her and me… her…? Her and…? Me…?

I…?

/////

A green glimmer shone between the gaps forming the darkness, and the dark treads coiled around every gap where that light shone

Slowly returning to take a uniform appearance, resting against the ground again… and pulling back into her eyes and crystal… exposing her changed body to Sunny…

Miriam woke up the moment her eyes and core returned to their normal green color

Hiss…

Hissing softly by how tender every single part of her body felt…

‘Ow…’ unable to move, but at least not in pain due to hunger ‘What… happened…’ but she didn’t needed to be able to move, to tell that something had gone wrong

The ground that she had flattened before, now felt uneven around her long body, and her trembling tail was making sounds when it moved near her head, that reminded her of broken pottery… but she couldn't smell wet dirt…

‘W-wha…?’

Buzz!

‘Ah…’ Sunny landed near Miriam’s head ‘You are ok…? I didn’t hurt you…?’ more worried about her safety, than anything else at the moment

Buzz

-No…-

‘Good… both of you… are fine…’ Sunny buzzed again and started to walk back and forth around Miriam’s head in the darkness, not touching her ‘Ugh…’

She couldn't move, her body felt too stiff and in pain…

‘Ow… it’s… as if… things are trying to get… into place…’

Buzz

‘I know… but I already got… two gods telling me… to stay calm… but things are bad…’ she got another insistent buzz as an answer, but she choose to ignore it ‘The Lady of the Forest… hasn't sent me a message… in a while…’

Buzz~!

-Shy…-

‘What…?’ even with the confusing message as a distraction, she couldn't calm herself…

Knowing that just one word, was all that she needed to… suffer…

‘Ugh…’ but the dread of the unknown, pushed her forwards ‘Status…’

‘Ah! Ah! AAAHHH!!!’ her whole body twitched

HISS!!!

And her fear forced herself to move, raising her head from the ground-

Crackle!

HIIISSS!!!

‘AAAAHHHH!!!’

Just to have the electricity coming from the five horns in her head, and in other spots in her body, hurt her. Making her body twitch even more as the constant discharges, illuminated the shelter with every hiss of pain she was making…

Sunny got hit by one of the arcs that Miriam was producing, but wasn't damaged by it… she could just stay there looking at her while she suffered…

/////

It took her a while to figure out how to stop the lightning, but by then her regeneration was already working everywhere in her body… slowly making her more, and more hungry…

‘Ah… ow…’ she didn’t felt like moving

Buzz…

‘Ugh…’ but Sunny’s presence made her try ‘Ia… Imbue Eyes…’ letting her see the inside of the shelter ‘W-what… happened…?’ Sunny gave her the answer

-You moved while evolving…-

‘This doesn’t… ugh…’

She lacked the mental strength to argue against that simplification and just moved to the wall, needing a moment to grab the handles for the two swords she was planning to use, before using magic to go through the wall

‘Ugh…’ torn between her dread, and happy by the sun against her scales while enjoying the crisp morning air on her tongue… leaving one of the handles behind before moving towards the river, feeling her whole body aching as she slowly flipped the Heating Stones in her route ‘Ugh…’ even if she couldn't really see enough snow to justify it…

Seeing her reflection against the water made her hesitate… and worry…

Five black horns pointing backwards, now were on top of her head. The longer one was the one in the middle while the other four became smaller the further away they were, they were connected at the base, but that was hidden by the purple fuzzy feathers on her head that extended to her fins, were they looked almost like fully developed feathers

The scars on her face were still there, but she was used to them

‘Ugh…’ the scales around her Magic Core had a black edge now, and when she noticed that, Miriam looked back to the rest of her body

Her wings were bigger, but now her body reached the eight meters in length, still rendering her wings as unusable for flight…

‘What…?’ and at uniform intervals on her body, now she had bands where her scales had the same black edge… ‘What are these…?’ those bands now had on the highest point of her body a ridge, unlike every other smooth scale of her body

Sunny was walking around one of them and buzzed to Miriam

-Electric ridges connected to the crown…-

‘Careful Sunny… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to not-’

Buzz!

-Focus on getting food…-

‘Don't use that tone… with me…’ Sunny buzzed, laughing at the way Miriam scolded her while waggling a finger at her ‘I’m serious about… this…’

Miriam looked at the river and imbued her arms-

‘Ugh!!!’ losing control of her body for an instant, shocking herself before stopping her magic ‘S-sunny…?’

Buzz!

-I’m not getting hurt… you are the one weak to lightning…-

Rustle!

One of the trees nearby shook for a moment, before the leaves vanished and the branches became temporarily electrified, to prove Sunny’s comment

‘Oh…’ stunning Miriam while the false leaves returned to the tree ‘So… every thunder I heard on winter was yours…?’ Sunny laughed again, but she didn’t answer the question

With that conversation done, Miriam filled the handle she was holding with water, and looked back to the river, looking for the shadow of a fish swimming in it. Imbuing her arms again, causing another discharge in the process, but holding back a hiss as she made a small ball of water float

Slowly moving it above the fish, making the water take the shape of the symbol for her Heat Thief

‘Ice Spear!’ and using that, to facilitate the other spell she was using to fish… ‘Ugh…’ the fish she had stabbed out of the water was purple, and was bleeding a liquid of the same color… ‘Another one of those…’ the floating water had evaporated with her spell, and she just swallowed the fish after praying without cooking it

Hiss

Feeling it burn all the way as it went down… but knowing that the pain became worse, after cooked…

‘Ugh… they… have a fitting… name…’ trying to ignore that, she looked at the ridge that Sunny was walking around ‘Ugh…’ seeing her flesh repairing itself, from the wound caused by her own lightning… ‘Great… more things to keep in mind…’

Sunny flew to her head and buzzed after Miriam gave some magic to the tree that showed her their lightning. With that she moved to her training spot after grabbing her other handle and made a pillar of dirt raise…

‘Water first…’ she held the handle in front of her ‘Imbue’ making the water do a loop getting out and back in the hilt, flattening into a long blade of moving water… ‘It consumes a lot- no, now it’s worse!’ the water speed up as she maintained it, consuming more of her magic

She prepared to hit the pillar, carefully moving the blade in preparation to do a diagonal slash… stopping once she noticed that the blade wavered at that angle, but she still did her attack, cutting part of the pillar… and consuming more magic as she did so…

‘Ia Stop…!’ she stopped the Imbuing, letting the muddied water fall out of the hilt together with the chunk she had cut ‘Ugh…’

Buzz?

‘It must be a failure in the engraving…’ Miriam answered Sunny ‘It also curved too much so I should fix that, somehow…’ she leaned closer to the cut, rubbing a claw against the smooth side of it ‘It started ok… but then it got wobbly, and it failed…’ she moved her claw along the waves that appeared after the beginning of the cut, and scratched where the impact from her sword, just broke off the rest of the pillar

Looking at the handle she looked for where the mistake could be…

‘This is to Imbue the whole handle, then the water. This one is to push the Imbued water out of the storage from the front side, to the returning side on the back to make the loop…’ she was happy with how that part of the blade worked ‘This is to flatten the water flow, this is to keep it stable… oh…?’

That engraving was just a line aiming up…

‘It was fine while it was aiming up…’ she got a buzz ‘Yeah… I should… change this line for a sword? To make it try to maintain that shape better…?’ she looked at the puddle ‘Since it got mixed with dirt, then… the part that is supposed to prevent that, failed, or, it got overwhelmed due to this mistake…?’

Buzz

‘Yeah, not sure either…’

With that done she grabbed the other stone handle and pushed its guard against the top of the pillar. Imbuing it made the dirt stuck to the handle, cracking the remaining pillar. Pulling up, revealed a solid blade, and let the rest of the dirt fall to the ground

Miriam did a couple of swings with the blade, before making another pillar and doing smooth cuts on it, twice

‘Ia Stop’ and doing one last swing without magic

Crack

She broke her target with that hit, but the general shape of the sword held with just some cracks on the impact area…

Buzz~

‘Yeah… simple seems to be better…’ she Imbued the weapon again, fixing the thing with just some of the dirt falling from it ‘But believe me, water can cut through metal. I remember that from the other world…’

Ding

‘Ah…’ she was distracted from her decaying mood by that sound… ‘Ugh…’ but wasn't sure if it would be a good news or not ‘Status…’

‘Oh, good…’ the color of the screens bothered her ‘Ah… Traits…?’ but tried to think about how distract herself from that…

‘Still like that…’ there was nothing she could evolve at the time…

‘Ugh… I’m going to remain stuck like this…?’ neither the Helper nor Sunny were allowed to help her with those Traits…

Miriam looked up and her eyes lingered on a cloud… and pulled her sword back, grabbing it with both hands taking great care to not hit a part of her body with-

[Sword Wave]

The loud attack she fired to the cloud, while her body crackled with electricity…

Hiss…

Leaving her holding against the ground… her sword held its shape, with just a deep crack appearing along its length, and other than the wounds caused by her electricity, the skill didn’t harm her anymore…

‘Ow…’ she managed to look up, in time to see her attack vanishing in the distance… ‘Too soon eh…?’ knowing that it wasn't going to reach it yet, her body shivered trying to keep her Berserker in check, her hissing mimicking laughter one more time…

But not long after that, she got a headache that made her rest for a few minutes…

/////

Miriam practiced with her sword for a few hours once she recovered, both for the hope of figuring out how to breakthrough, and to make sure that she wasn't going to hit her own body while using it….

‘I should move…’ she looked at what had become her shelter that winter ‘I’ll… keep this place in mind… but… I need to move…’

She lowered the two walls that she had made, and used that dirt to flatten the ground under the roof, still leaving the pipes she used for ventilation there, together with the intact jars. Choosing to bury the pots, as they were too big to carry without a backpack

‘I shouldn’t break them… they look so simple, that humans only should get confused by them being here, rather than wanting to use, or sell them…’ she got out from under the roof ‘My heaters on the other hand…’

Rustling

‘Ah? Yes?’ Sunny buzzed again

-They want the stones…-

‘What…? Why none of you told me?!’

Taking her question as permission, from the trees around her shelter, wooden ladybugs started to get out of the bark of the trees. These ladybugs, unlike Sunny, had a leaf growing out of them, and seeing them made Sunny buzz excitedly on Miriam’s head

Each of these ladybugs flew to a stone, and after making sure they weren't emitting heat. The little things flew away, each in different directions…

‘Ugh…’ confusing Miriam due to the her ability to tell in which directions her creations were… ‘You… need more…?’ at least until they were out of range

-No…- Sunny and the trees answered to her

‘Then I’ll make a few more for me…’

/////

Soon Miriam had finished three more Heating stones and had used dirt to carry them on her back, while having them charging, just like the one she lost after she destroyed the Dolls…

‘I wonder if that bat hibernates…’ and both Sunny and her had been moving further to the south for a while ‘He hasn't made a single noise after… you appeared… is he scared of you~?’ Her comment made Sunny laugh…

And she froze the moment she read that…

Turning around and going back the way she had came once she closed that message

Buzz!

‘It’s cold, winter must be coming back to-’

Buzz

‘I don’t want to be alone!’ her distress made her hiss at Sunny ‘Shit… sorry… I…’ and she regretted it immediately

Not even Sunny’s calming buzzing on top of her head, made her relax. Miriam just coiled on herself, feeling every negative emotion she could aimed at herself…

‘Is there anywhere else we can go…?’ and she asked that, missing the way Sunny stopped moving

-Details…- until she asked what she meant

‘Like… a Spawner, or… a monster nest, I don’t know…’ Sunny buzzed at her ‘Yes, I know those two are the same thing…’ she lifted her head and looked at Sunny ‘But I would rather fight Porkus, instead of doing this…’

After being told that, Sunny could only do as she asked… and guide her towards an Undead that she couldn't destroy…

/////

They had found a spiked boar on the way there, but Miriam had no problems with trapping it in a hole as it rolled towards her, and killing it with a stab from her new earthen sword once it stopped

She was planning to start making a new water sword before nightfall, the one she had hanging on her body, took her a long time to finish

So, after praying, she was focused on eating the boar and looking around…

‘The rocks around… are the same kind of slabs that made my shelter…?’ noticing that quickly, because even with the wear and tear a lot of those stones showed, she still recognized the material

Buzz…

-Yes…-

A gust of wind passed above her

‘Grudge?!’ she got alert immediately and prepared her earthen sword, there were other smells with the Grudge, but that was the only one she was worried about…

-Not too dangerous…- even with that answer coming to her after a buzz

Miriam had eaten enough from the boar, just leaving behind the spikes and other sharp body parts, and moved forwards towards the presence of the Undead…

Slowly realizing that the trees were staying away from where it was…

‘A ruined town…?’ it was a wide space free of trees, the ground between her and the man made walls was covered in decaying and thorny plants

Something was telling her that the plant’s appearance wasn't related to winter… and the familiar stone slab, that had destroyed one of the walls of the town, had an even more familiar eye on it…

‘What happened here…?’

She slowly moved towards the ruins with Sunny on her head, noticing how there were many other Terror Stones around the place. Stones that didn’t impeded her from entering the place…

All the buildings had long been destroyed and collapsed by the passage of time, she couldn't tell what function any of them could have had. The same vegetation that she had seen outside was stubbornly trying to exist there…

‘Shit…’ until the center of the town was visible…

The only thing that was visible there was barren dirt, an impossible vibrant plant with red flowers coming from it… and a pitch black skeleton, kneeling there… seemingly held in place thanks to the plant…

The eye-sockets in the skull were filled with a dark purple flame, and instead of empty space, the skeleton was filled with black smoke…

And with a creaking sound the skull moved slightly… to look at her…

Miriam made her sword glow with magic, as her headache worsened

“Don't waste your time…” when a feminine voice coming from the skeleton made her shiver

‘Ah!?’ and she moved back a bit unsure of what was happening

Just to notice vibrations coming from her left

Hiss!

‘A cat…?’ to see a gray and black furred creature, on top of what remained of a wall, hissing at her

“Yes…” the same voice answered her thoughts “She has always been trying to gain control of my body…”

‘What…?!’ she turned to the skeleton again…

And noticed how one of the flowers had opened further, revealing a small woman sitting on it. Looking at Miriam with the same interest that she was looking back at her…

“Are you a Fae too…? To me it… feels like we are similar…”

‘I… had a Magic Drain…’ she answered ‘So I’m not sure of what you meant by… Fae…’ but by the wince the woman had, that was a good answer to give her

“Ah… a Fae is… we… are what remains when someone dies…” she looked back to the skull, but its gaze was fixed in Miriam “And refuses to move on… we are also called Spirits, bound to the place were it happened…”

Her words made her awake a memory…

‘Well… I have been called “Spirit” too… and I died once before, so…’ a message from the Trickster appeared for her ‘Ah… my Title is Avenging Spirit of The Forest…’ and she looked back at her with interest…

“Oh… is that how you can move freely…?” but her expression became mournful again “Nevermind…”

Before Miriam could ask her more, she felt vibrations from her right, and turned sharply towards them-

Hiss!

Where the same cat hissed at her again, running out of sight…

‘What…?!’ really confusing her, while also noticing that the cat had two tails…

“Don't worry…” the Fae spoke to her again “Cats do that, the moment you take your eyes from them, they suddenly appear somewhere else…” as if to prove her words, the cat appeared far behind the skeleton, again to the left side of Miriam

Staring fearfully at Miriam…

‘I…’ she was going to mention how the smell from the cat was familiar to her, but choose to ask about something else ‘What about the Terror Stones…?’

“They don’t stop that ability…” the Fae smiled “Besides you, she is the only visit I have received after I decided to stop my body… so I’m grateful for that…”

Miriam moved close, a bit wary of the Undead, but mostly curious about the woman

Noticing that while her face had a heart shape, and her red hair was in a feminine style. The rest of her body was smooth, she had pronounced curves for her small size, but none of the… details… that Miriam expected to see from someone without clothes…

‘Are… are you okay with being called a woman…?’ leaving her a bit curious

“Yes…?” and also confusing the Fae, to the point were she giggled “I was one after all…! I think…” before returning to being mournful again “Can… can you tell me about the world…?”

‘I don’t mind… but first I really should get rid of this Undead…’

Its skull was still staring at Miriam, and the cold she was feeling coming from it… it keep her Berserker in check, scaring her quite a bit…

“Don't worry about that…” the Fae gave her a sad smile “No matter what I try, it always comes back… not even the Terror Stones that I gathered can stop my body… from chasing me…” she looked between the skull and Miriam, frowning a bit “I just would like… to talk before you leave me….”

‘Leave you…?’ those words made her angry

“AH?!!!” to the point were her aura released on its own, and it… “W-w-what….?!!!” made the skeleton… shiver… when Miriam stabbed her sword on the ground…

‘Engrave…’ making her magic go through it, to do the burial symbol on the ground ‘What is your name…?’

Her aura hadn't relented, so the Fae needed quite some time to answer that question. In the time that happened, Miriam couldn't find any plant that didn’t looked corrupt, and she noticed that the cat was frozen in fear

“I… don’t r-remember…! It happened so long ago…!” the Fae was terrified, but couldn't help but feel amazed by how the remains of her previous body were acting

‘Then…’ Miriam nodded and stabbed her claws on the palm of her right hand ‘I’ll call you Jess…!’

Letting her blood pour into the empty hole that she had made, some of it fell on the drawing of the mountain and the roads, but that didn’t mattered at the time. Using magic, she cleaned her hand once her regeneration had healed the wounds, and using the collected blood she painted the same symbol on her right hand…

And glared at the trembling skull

Making the Fae hold the bones tightly with the plant, to keep it from moving

‘My name is Miriam…’ she raised higher and spread her wings, at the same time she Imbued her arms. Making the symbols glow ‘Jess! You don’t deserve to suffer like this!’ making the skeleton roar at her, struggling against the binding plant ‘So I shall be the one to carry your regrets!!!’

Sunny started to fly before Miriam grabbed the skull with her blood soaked hand

‘REST IN PEACE!!!’

/////

A blurred face… that is how the face in the hundreds of stone slabs looked to me… they were floating everywhere to broadcast that I was the next sacrifice… and that pig headed bastard… stabbed me…

My own father sunk that knife on my chest… while my mother looked emotionless at what had happened…

No one cared… they couldn't see… what I could… as I was bleeding to death…

That Nothingness was going to eat me

It looked like it was made of stones, but in reality it was made of emptiness. With sorrow, hatred, and despair acting as it mortar… and I could see its tendrils coming towards me…

To eat me like it was eating, everyone that came before me-

Eyes

Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes, Eyes

The Eyes of that black thing killed the Nothingness-

Seeing everything about everyone… uncaring about anyone…

Leaving me to die…

Seeing the slabs being destroyed the exact moment the Nothingness was killed, didn’t made me happy… seeing the shock on everyone’s faces didn’t gave me happiness…

I was tied to a pillar… bleeding out from a wound on my chest… while everyone ran… screaming and in fear… trying to avoid the falling slabs that were falling everywhere…

Those two ran… leaving me there… to die…

Light…

Light surrounded the Eyes… that killed the Nothingness

Someone got close… hands reaching for me…

‘I… don’t want… to die…’ I couldn't say anything… those lights… were too… far… away… ‘Help…’

…

Stuck… I was stuck… but I managed to push… push the… weight…

“AAAAHHHH!!!!” THEY BURIED ME!!!!

INSTEAD OF HELPING THEY BURIED ME!!!!

KILL THEM!!! KILL THEM ALL!!! I DON'T CARE THAT EVERYTHING IS ROTTING!!!

THEY DESERVE TO DIE…!!!

WHAT…?!!! What…?!!!

Small and red…? Don’t run… get back here… you… you are…!

“AAAAHHHH!!!!”

PART OF ME!!!

/////

The moment Miriam touched the skull, the symbol on her hand was burned on her, and all the memories that were stored in the Undead part of Jess, were transferred to her mind

Centuries of information, mixing with her own memories

The pain was so high that she went unconscious immediately, and from her blood a flower bloomed before she hit the ground

White with blue edges

That Holy Blossom was the reason, what she did worked. Purifying the screaming Undead after all its memories were given to Miriam

“Ah…?” leaving a very confused Fae

BUZZ!!!

And a terrified Sunny…

“W-what do you mean by flee-?!”

The source of her fear was revealed to everyone, and the Fae did as Sunny told her and escaped, after the plant she was sitting on, turned into her wings and clothes. The two tailed cat had already disappeared from the ruins, and when she saw the fleeing Fae, she followed her…

Leaving Sunny half hidden in a wall, while looking at Miriam as she started to stir…

Unlike what Sunny expected, her body didn’t turned violent immediately…

Instead, her body moved further south, ignoring the plant that was growing from her blood, and the sword still stabbing the ground…

Hiss

Getting annoyed by the things Miriam had done to carry the Heating Stones, and removing them from herself before her body got out of the ruins…

BUZZ!!!

The last time it had happened, Miriam had sunk and wasn't aware of what her body did… but this time it was different…

Miriam was awake, and could see and feel what her body was doing… but couldn't stop it… or voice her thoughts…

No matter how much she wanted to scream…

She was trapped inside her own body…

BUZZ!!!

Sunny tried to help, but her body had just glanced in her direction once, before losing interest and moving away from the area Sunny could move…

Miriam’s body couldn't eat wood after all…