Chapter 108: Extinguished Flames
Tyler stood frozen in the dim woods, staring down at the battered, blood-soaked woman lying motionless on the earth. His eyes stretched wide in utter disbelief. A single glance at her silver hair and sharp features was enough to recognize her, she was the archer who had robbed him before, the same arrogant woman who had insulted him at the workshop, mocking him as weak and looking like someone who had been carried his entire life.
Yet the lingering bitter resentment and petty anger he usually felt when recalling her face vanished entirely, swallowed whole by a sudden wave of horror and revulsion at her state.
"What happened here?" he breathed out, his voice a tight whisper in the silent forest.
He dropped to his knees beside her on the damp soil. *Were they attacked?*
He leaned close to inspect her right arm, a sickening sight met his eyes. Almost her entire hand had been blown away, leaving only her thumb dangling from her shattered wrist by a single, thin strand of raw flesh. On her left hand, a brutal, vertical tear split her palm straight down the center, carving between her fingers.
He stood back up on shaking legs, staring down at the crimson pool beneath her. "These injuries look brutal," he muttered under his breath.
Noticing the dark, heavy blood soaking through the tunic on her back where a stab wound pierced her skin, Tyler stepped past her toward the male hunter lying motionless a few feet away.
The man's eyes were closed, his hand locked tightly around his own throat in a death grip. Tyler knelt beside the corpse and carefully pulled the man's arm back.
He gasped, recoiling slightly at the grisly sight of the man's windpipe severed wide open. It was an unmistakable, lethal blade wound. Lying in the dirt nearby, a long black dagger caught the faint forest light.
*Were they fighting?*
Tyler lifted his eyes, scanning the gloomy shadows between the trees. Several arrows were driven deep into the thick bark of surrounding trunks, while shattered wooden shafts lay half-buried among the fallen leaves on the forest floor, details hidden until now beneath the dense, black canopy overhead.
He turned and walked back to the woman. "It seems like they killed each other."
Reaching down, he took hold of her shoulder and rolled her onto her back. Her eyes were stretched wide, unblinking, as hot tears leaked silently from the corners and tracked down her dirt-stained temples.
*What the—* he thought, his pulse quickening as he caught the subtle, agonizingly slow rise and fall of her chest. *Is she alive?*
He dropped back down to his knees beside her, placing two fingers directly beneath her nostrils. A tiny, almost imperceptible whisper of warm air brushed against his skin. She was breathing.
"You're alive?" he said, the realization catching in his throat.
Instinct took over instantly. Sliding his hands beneath her shoulders just below her neck, he carefully lifted her upper body into a sitting position against his knee.
As the dim light caught her face, a cold knot tightened in his stomach, her eyes no longer carried their silver hue. A dull, milky-white haze covered her irises completely, leaving her stare hollow, unseeing, and glassy. She gave no reaction to his touch, remaining completely paralyzed in his grip.
A glass potion vial materialized in Tyler's palm, the red liquid catching the dim light. He paused, staring down at her unmoving face.
*I don't even know what happened here, why they fought, or who was the culprit. But I simply can't leave a person in need of help to die.*
He pressed the smooth glass rim against her cold lips. In that fraction of a second, the violent memory of Bernardo's death flashed unbidden through his mind, the horrific, pain-twisted expression frozen on Bernardo's face.
Tyler shook his head, forcing the dark memory away as he refocused on the dying woman in his arms.
*I'm not a monster.*
He tipped the vial, forcing the liquid down her throat. Much of the fluid spilled over her lips, running down her chin and neck, prompting him to shift her posture and hold her more upright so the potion wouldn't choke her.
The empty glass vial vanished back into his inventory space. A split second later, a brilliant, faint green light flared across her skin before dimming. Rebecca let out a long, shuddering exhale, releasing air as if she had been suffocating for minutes.
The milky haze in her eyes dissolved entirely, and her eyelids fluttered shut.
Tyler looked down at her mangled right hand. Though the crimson flow had stopped, her fingers were gone, bare, exposed skeleton bones protruded from her wrist where flesh and muscle should have been. A cold shudder ran through his chest at the gruesome sight.
Summoning a second potion into his grip, he pressed the glass to her lips. "Drink it quickly," he muttered softly. He watched the faint movement of her throat as she slowly swallowed the medicine.
Her skin erupted in a second wave of glowing green light, and she let out a soft sigh of relief against his chest. Tyler stared at her hand in absolute wonder. Red muscle fibers and delicate nerves began crawling across the bare white bones like swarming insects, weaving together until every bone was wrapped, followed instantly by a smooth layer of new skin forming seamlessly over the top.
His eyes shifted down to her exposed hip, where dark, swollen black and purple veins were bulging beneath her flesh, spreading outward from a puncture wound. He frowned in confusion. *What is that?*
He noticed the dark, venomous tracks were slowly receding back toward the puncture mark, drawn back by the potion's restorative power, but they were still visible.
*I should give her one more just to be safe.*
Materializing a third potion, he poured the liquid down her throat. As the green light flared across her body a third time, the dark, toxic veins dissolved completely, leaving her skin smooth and clear.
Gently, Tyler lowered her upper body back onto the forest floor.
The instant her back touched the earth, her newly restored fingers suddenly shot up, clutching the collar of his coat with desperate force. Tears spilled from beneath her closed eyelids, running down her cheeks. "Please... Please don't go," she whispered, her voice trembling and broken. "Please don't leave me alone."
Tyler froze, staring down at her tear-stained face and her desperate grip on his coat. "Hey, you're going to be okay. Just hang in there."
Her fingers gradually loosened, her hands falling weakly back to the dirt.
*Was she dreaming?* Tyler felt a deep surge of pity for the girl lying helpless in front of him. He let out a quiet sigh. *I can't leave her here. I'll just have to take her with me.*
Slipping his arms beneath her knees and back, he scooped her up into a firm hold and activated the Gloom Coat's: Rush skill. A powerful surge of kinetic energy exploded through his muscles, his eyes flaring with a faint blue light in the dark.
He turned toward the dead assassin lying nearby, spotting her wrapped bow resting in the dirt beside the corpse. *That must be her weapon.*
Crouching down while keeping Rebecca secured against his chest, his strength rendering her weight practically effortless, he reached out and snatched the bow from the dirt. Rising to his full height, he turned toward the direction of the hunter base.
Holding Rebecca tight against his torso, he exploded forward into a sprint. The wind whipped through her silver hair, brushing the long strands across her face as her head rested against his chest. His speed surged with every stride, his legs blurring into a dark motion as he dodged between the trees, hurtling through the night forest toward safety.
*Earlier*
A woman walked hurriedly down the silent, grand corridor of the sprawling mansion, her steps quick and chaotic against the stone floor. She was heading toward the library. Standing five feet tall, she carried short black hair framing brown eyes. Over fitted black leather armor, she wore a dark gray robe, its heavy fabric decorated with intricate black cloud patterns.
A scowl of pure frustration tightened her face. Reaching the end of the hallway, she pivoted sharply to her left and pushed through the massive double doors, stepping into the vast expanse of a library where dozens of towering bookshelves stretched into the high shadows.
"Katherine!" she called out, her voice squeaky and distinctly feminine, echoing through the quiet hall.
She looked across the room toward a row of reading tables arranged near the far wall. Massive arched windows lined the stone, letting silver moonlight stream into the room to mingle with the warm, flickering light cast down by a grand central chandelier filled with burning candles.
Seated behind one of the wooden tables sat another young woman. She had long, flowing blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders, partially veiling the black cloud emblems embroidered onto the back of her cloak and tunic.
"What?" she answered, her tone sharp and annoyed. Her voice carried a noticeably deeper pitch than her visitor's. She didn't bother lifting her gaze, keeping her intense blue eyes locked onto the open pages of the thick book resting before her.
"You promised you'd meet me outside!" Lucy pouted, crossing her arms and stamping her leather boot childishly against the floorboards.
Catherine finally looked up from the text, her eyebrows arching in mild surprise as she took in her companion's gear. "Why are you wearing that?"
"What do you mean?" Lucy demanded, her brow furrowing. "You promised to train with me tonight."
"Oh," Catherine breathed out, her voice trailing off as her eyes drifted up toward the candle-lit chandelier overhead. "I forgot about that."
"You forgot?" Lucy raised her voice in outrage, throwing her hands up.
Catherine let out a long sigh and closed the heavy book with a soft thud. "Lucy, I'm tired. You and I both know I haven't slept in a while." She yawned, extending both arms over her head in a deep stretch as she slouched back into her seat.
"But that's what you said yesterday and the day before that!" Lucy argued, taking a step closer.
*Damn it, she's so noisy. Does she need to scream out every word?* Catherine thought, continuing to tip her weight backward until the chair's front legs lifted clear of the floor, balancing precariously on the rear legs alone.
"You know I can't train with Ben," Lucy insisted, her tone grumbling. "He's one of the only people who can match my speed, but I don't get along with him."
"Then just train with Gene when he comes back," Catherine suggested casually.
Instantly, Lucy's face twisted into an expression of pure disgust, as if she had tasted something vile. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shuddered. "What? No way. That guy creeps me out."
Suddenly, Catherine's blue eyes flared with a sudden, unnatural orange glow.
A violent gasp tore from her throat. Her balance instantly shattered, the chair slipped out from under her, and she crashed backward onto the stone floor.
"Ha ha ha, that's what you get for ignoring me!" Lucy laughed, pointing a triumphant finger at her sprawled companion.
Her laughter died in an instant. Catherine rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up onto all fours, her palms trembling violently against the cold stone. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, her face deathly pale, her mouth hanging open as if trapped in a nightmare.
Lucy's smile vanished completely. She rushed across the room and dropped to her knees beside her. "What is it? What's wrong? Is something wrong? Did something happen?"
Catherine slowly lifted her head, the dark orange light in her eyes fading as her shaking gaze met Lucy's. "It's... I don't... I don't understand," she stammered, her voice shivering with terror.
"What are you saying," Lucy asked her furrowing in confusion.
"It's Gene. He's... dead."
Somewhere deep within the silent halls of the mansion lay a dark, sacred chamber. On a long wooden table in the center of the room sat a row of tall candles that had been burning continuously for months without consuming their wax, their golden flames standing motionless as if immortal.
Yet on one of the candles, the flame was gone. A single, thin trail of dark smoke drifted off the blackened wick, curling lazily through the cold air before disappearing into nothing.