The sun was setting, and the light filtering in through the slatted windows was now tinged with red. Angeline sat there waiting absentmindedly with a steaming cup in hand and felt her eyelids begin to droop. She always became oddly tired around this time of day.
I’m scared of falling asleep... But the strength was steadily draining from Angeline’s body, and before she knew it, she had leaned over the table and laid down her head to sleep.
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The piercing scent of blood filled Angeline’s senses. Her eyes shot open in shock, and what she saw was a stone wall illuminated with pale light. Wherever she was, it seemed to be some place underground permeated with cold, heavy air. There were no windows; the light came from the pale-blue flames that burned in small glass tubes hanging from the wall.
Angeline looked ahead, then behind, and discovered she was in a narrow corridor. Behind her was a stairway leading up, while the path ahead took a sharp turn nearby. This was an unfamiliar place indeed.
The floor, walls, and ceiling above were hard, dreary stone. Angeline wondered if she could make a loud, echoing sound by tapping the heels of her boots against the floor, yet her feet made no sound at all when she tried. On closer inspection, she could see blood pooling at her feet. It was still wet and was apparently the source of that peculiar pungent stench. She began to feel ill.
The silence pained Angeline’s ears—it made the pounding of her heartbeat seem all the louder. As she stood there, unsettled, she could hear someone’s anguished breathing. She looked up and tried to discern the direction of the sound. It was coming from just around the bend. She gulped nervously before stumbling forth. Her footsteps made no sound, but she could still feel the cold stone through her shoes. When she turned the corner, she found a row of jail cells, each sealed with iron bars illuminated by the same pale flames as the other hallway. The bars appeared to be somewhat damp.
Someone was groaning in one of the cells—it sounded like a woman.
“Ahhhh! Urgh... Gah!”
Angeline raced over without hesitation and grasped the cell’s bars. A woman was crouched down on the other side, her chestnut hair a disheveled mess. The woman writhed in agony.
What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do? Angeline’s lips moved fruitlessly without producing any sound.
“It looks like number thirteen shouldn’t be long.”
Angeline turned to where the masculine voice had come from to see a number of robed figures standing there. Their attention seemed to be split between the cells and the documents in their hands.
“But there’s little hope of success. If this trial succeeded, it wouldn’t explain any of the abnormal growth we’ve witnessed up to this point.”
“Yeah, they mature in a little over a month, after all.”
You bastards! Angeline, incensed, charged forth to strike the robed figures down, but she ended up toppling to the ground when she phased through them incorporeally. They seemed to pay her no mind as they stared at the woman behind the bars.
What just happened? Angeline stared perplexedly down at her hands. When she clenched them, she could feel the sensation. Her legs were clearly making contact with the ground. And yet, she couldn’t save the woman, nor could she kill these robed figures.
Angeline was stuck there, helpless to intervene, when she suddenly saw the air before her ripple when a “hole” appeared in that spot with a sound like an earthen pot shattering. A figure burst forth from the portal, her silver hair trailing behind her and glistening in the dim light.
Mom?
It was indeed Satie. Her gaze rapidly took in her surroundings as she landed, grasping the situation in an instant. Immediately, she bounded forth with the fire of wrath in her eyes.
“Huh?!”
Before the robed figures could ready themselves for combat, Satie had already closed in and swung her arm, beheading one of the figures instantly. Though she held no weapon, her motions were distinctly those of a sword fighter. Hers was a blade of pure mana.
“You little—”
Satie was merciless. In the blink of an eye, she had slain the robed figures. She raced over to the cell.
“You’re going to be okay!” she cried out, then swung her spectral weapon. The bars were severed and clattered to the stone floor. Satie rushed inside and wrapped an arm around the woman’s shoulders while her free hand probed the woman’s swollen belly. The woman gasped in pain and grasped the hem of Satie’s garments.
“S-Save...”
“Don’t worry... It’ll all be okay...” With a desperate look on her face, Satie chanted something under her breath. But the woman’s cries of anguish did not stop.
No matter what Angeline did, she could not touch them. Her hands passed through their bodies, and even her words of encouragement would not reach them.
She watched over the grim tableau frustratedly as the woman let out one conspicuously louder cry. Her doubled-over body suddenly went rigid as she writhed on the ground. Her swollen belly almost seemed like it was bubbling and roiling from something rampaging beneath her tormented flesh.
Satie gritted her teeth. “No! Please, calm down!”
“Gah...” The woman’s cries ceased. With one final, faint breath, her head slumped down and her limbs dangled limply. Only her stomach continued to thrash about as before.
Satie gasped and quickly leaped away. At almost that instant, a shadowy, formless thing burst through the woman’s stomach. It had what could charitably be recognized as a human face and limbs, but all of them were disproportionate. The creature immediately lost its balance and tumbled to the floor, splattering blood all around it.
Angeline couldn’t bear to watch this gruesome scene, but she couldn’t avert her eyes from the ghoulish yet pitiful creature either. Tears poured from her eyes, and she was almost instantly congested with tears and snot. Her breathing was labored through her sobs.
“Mas...ter...? Master...whe...re...?” the dark entity muttered as its limbs wriggled like tendrils.
Satie was the picture of pure misery as she clutched a hand to her chest. Her breathing was labored and painful, but even with tears in her eyes, she stared unflinchingly at the abomination.
“Sorry... I’m sorry...”
Satie closed her eyes for just a moment before snapping them open. She raised both arms before swinging them ahead of her. The creature was instantly vivisected with countless slashes of her mana blades, its pieces splattering all over the cell. Its gory remains seemed to melt into a viscous liquid that mixed with the dead woman’s blood in a ghastly swirl of red and black gore.
Satie fell to her knees, her shoulders quaking, and wept bitterly into her hands. “I’m sorry... I couldn’t save another one... Urgh... Aaaaah...” She clung to the dead woman, her tears flowing like water through a raised floodgate. She didn’t seem to notice or care how her clothes were covered in the filth of this terrible place.