A long, snake-like, pale limb was shortening and moving. Its hand was holding onto a girl covered in blood. Her kneecaps were visible and deprived of skin; her blue face was now red with empty eye sockets visible from her open eyelashes.
The pale hand was dragging the girl from one crack to another, going deeper and deeper into the tree; leaving a trail of blood and pieces of broken bones.
The pale hand dived into a small black pond inside the tree!
The blue and red woman too was submerged into the water; soon the hand shot out of the water to collect something else.
…
So Flieday felt warm and comfortable. It was blissful. Her eyes shot open immediately as she recalled the past event.
What?
It was total darkness, there was a faint sound of someone breathing beside her and no sound otherwise. It was calm; as Flieday tried to sit up she realized that she was not laying on soft soil as she had imagined — rather, she was floating in water.
She moved her legs, feeling the water move around her as the realization dawned on her — She was completely healed!
She did not feel any covering around her body too, as if she had been brought back to life.
[ I see…You have woken up]
"Who's there?" Flieday spoke with a firm voice.
If there is no light source here, then the voice cannot see me… i can use that
[Do not get paranoid, there is no one here except for you and your male companion.]
Wait! Is this voice… where is this voice coming from
"Then who is talking to me?"
[I am nothing but a spirit]
"What about Hadrien, did you heal him too?"
[Heal? There is no such thing as healing… but you do not need to know that right now]
"What is a spirit?"
Flieday was not exactly calm; instead, she was hundred percent sure that 'the voice' was a beast. However, she also had a vague idea that the voice had saved her and Hadrien's life; the key to her survival was knowing why the voice had saved them.
The voice exists in my mind, or rather it is communicating directly to my mind
[It is a complex imitation or preservation of a sentient being. You do not need to know the specifics. Are you familiar with the word Requim?]
The voice was neither ethereal nor corrupt. It was devoid of any characteristics being something indescribable.
"No."
[do Chinen of your age possess any kind of mystical abilities?]
Mystical abilities? My sister used to– I will think about her once I have saved her.
"No."
The voice went silent for a few seconds before it… chuckled? No, it was laughing!
[... It worked! I am going to be the first!]
[Your species is a thousand days old… celebrate your blessing, Chinen! You will become the heir to the first treasury of the gods!]
***
A purple haired boy with tan skin was hanging from a pure black cube. His lower body was submerged into water as his eyes kept widening.
After reading for a few seconds, he sighed deeply and looked down at his chiseled body and the flow of the river. He then looked forward towards the mist and sighed.
He loosened his grip and dropped into the river, his lips curling into a wide smile.
This is really a false treasury of a crazed priest. How amusing?
He did not dodge any rocks, allowing himself to feel harrowing pain and get wounds all around his body. He laughed maniacally as was drowning in pain made him tremble.
A final test for the inheritor, huh… All I have to do is … what
Elias felt something touch his leg. It was soft and small like a vine rather than a rock.; it had a small hard part in it which touched Elias when it squished.
That was weird
Elias chuckled as he continued his train of thoughts
Basically, all I have to do is fight a -what the
Something hairy of fur just touched his stomach, it was like a round rock with fur - at least that's how it felt to Elias.
There should be no Requim beasts here… anyway I have to complete the Requim creation by -what the fuck
Elias felt a… hand? Just touch him. It grazed his chest as he was swimming and then he saw something terrifying.
A mountain of corpses was in front of him, towering a staggering 200 metres. The bodies were stacked on top of each other.
Elias inspected a corpse; it was of a young woman with tan skin and long black hair. She was taller than Elias himself and did not have a hint of fat where it should not be. She was not rotting — no dead body in the mountain was.
However, her eyes were busy, and she did not have any skin. Her muscles and fats were visible due to lack of any blood in her body. There was a patch of skin still left on her though, her head still had skin, though it was scrunched up similar to when milk dries on a wrinkled animal skin patch.
Well, she was also covered in vomit, but that was Elias's fault
Elias inspected her muscles and found that her muscles around her sides were mangled and her bones near shoulders were crushed.
Elias laughed at the body, thinking of her life.
She might have been a famous beauty in her tribe or an enchanting combat warrior… life is so funny sometimes
Elias laughed but calmed down almost immediately. He looked at the corpse and whispered
"I hope that you had something good to think of before dying."
Elias checked other bodies around, daring not to go near the center of the mountain. While the reason was partly the disgust and empathy for these poor souls, the real reason was much more dire.
He felt an intense murderous pressure near the peak of the mountain — and he had to defeat whatever was at the peak to escape.