Chapter XLIII: Phobos

 

             “Ugh... That was very uncomfortable...”

 

            Naiya found herself down on the ground beside Crisostomo and Maria. It felt like there was something out of place inside her stomach-

 

            “Bleggh...”

 

            She just puked.

 

            “Naiya!”

 

            Maria calls out to her as she lays on all fours, trying to breathe properly after spitting out her breakfast.

 

            “Are okay, Miss Naiya?”, Crisostomo asks, getting up.

 

            “The word ‘okay’... has a relative meaning”, she answers, trying not to cough up anymore.

 

            “Wow, that’s a lot of puke”, Maria remarks.

 

            “You’re not helping”, the Guard says while trying to get Naiya on her feet, but it seems like she had trouble getting up.

 

            “Now, where are we?”

 

            Naiya looks around and realizes that they are inside a house situated within the forest as seen outside the windows. There was no sign of a teleportation machine but there was a large monitor coming to life in front of them on one of the walls.

 

            The image of a man wearing a white lab-coat appeared on-screen. He began talking to her but his voice was chopped-up due to bad reception.

 

            “Is anyone there? Miss Naiya?”

 

            “I’m here”, she speaks up.

 

            “Oh, good. All of you seem to be in good condition. I thought for sure your particles were disassembled due to the-“

 

            “WHAT!” Maria exclaims.

 

            “Calm down-Calm down. The important thing is that you’re all in one piece.”

 

            “I resent that”, Naiya says. “Please look at this.”

 

            She sits down and stretches her legs and...

 

            She... um... Well, her feet are missing from ankles down. There’s a portal on each foot where the leg and the ankle meet... Which means...

 

            “Sir, I think you should see this”, one of the scientists calls out.

 

            “What is it?” He turns to look at the teleportation machine. “Oh, dear...” He looks back to the monitor. “Miss Naiya, I think we found it.”

 

            From the monitor, Naiya saw the scientist holding onto her... ‘dis-embodied’ feet. Even the shoes and socks were still on.

 

            “Can you feel me touching?”, the scientist asks while poking the hole through the doll shoes.

 

            “Yes.”

 

            “Okay, that means we can still bring it back but... We’ll need several hours for the machine to recharge so please stay there for a while.”

 

            “Understood. If I may ask, where are the scientists on this side?”

 

            “Well, that’s another problem... You’re actually in a decommissioned facility which is close to one of our settlements.”

 

            “You mean... We are not in The Lower Kingdom?”

 

            “No, sorry about that.”

 

            As the scientist backed away, the king comes into view of the monitor and starts giving her instructions.

 

            “Miss Naiya? I’m sorry for the delay, my dear, but you’ll have to wait until the machine has fully recharged so we can fix you up. You should be fine if you search around the house for supplies left over when the facility was still used. You should also be close to an underground shortcut located at the house’s basement that will lead you to The Lower Kingdom so don’t worry about crossing Origami Canyon. Now, we will have to shut down communications so that the machine can recharge and you’ll have to wait for us to contact you and give you instructions. Are there any questions before we begin?”

 

            “None. Thank you for your help.”

 

            “Okay, then. Crisostomo, see to it that she makes it to The Lower Kingdom.”

 

            “Yes, Your Highness.”

 

            “Daddy! Daddy!” A young girl calls out from the monitor screen holding up Naiya’s feet. “What are these toys? They’re so warm.”

 

            “Baby, those are Miss Naiya’s. The teleport had a few bugs and her feet were left behind.”

 

            “Wow”, she says looking intently at Naiya on the screen, then her eyes started to sparkle. “Miss Naiya, want me to give you a massage?”

 

            “Um... Yes, that would be nice, I guess”, she hesitantly answered. She didn’t really know how to answer that question.

 

            “Okay, Cebu. It’s time to say goodbye now”, the king interjects.

 

            “Bye, Miss Naiya! Bye, Crisostmo! Bye, kitty!”

 

            With that, the monitor’s light fades away.

 

            “Okay, Miss Naiya”, Crisostomo looks around and sees a couch. “Let’s get you over to that couch.”

 

            “If you would, please”, she requests.

 

            He takes her up on his back then sits her down on the couch.

 

            “Comfortable?”

 

            “Yes.”

 

            Maria hops on the couch and scowls at Crisostomo.

 

            “What?”

 

            “I don’t trust you... At all.”

 

            He sighs.

 

            “How about I just go down and get some supplies? Will that make you feel better?”

 

            “I don’t really care. Just don’t act too familiar with her.”

 

            “Maria, stop being rude”, Naiya scolds her.

 

            “Hmph!”, Maria pouts.

 

            “I’ll see if I can find any supplies”, he says, going down stairs.

 

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            Somewhere just outside the farthest corners of Berial Magus, Yvaine was walking toward nowhere. Earlier she left Sticky for various reasons... and not having a plan was one of them. Her goal was to find the leader of this plague and kill him, but she has no idea where to start looking.

 

            She’s heard rumors of the Plaguelands spreading from the southeast where Anion used to be so for now she’s trying to figure out a way to get to The Lower Kingdom and have someone show her the way. Despite not having a plan, it doesn’t really weigh heavily on her mind. Yvaine relies mostly on luck, wit, and most of the time, her instincts.

 

            “So what’s your plan, Yvaine? We never had an adventure like this since Osiris left”, Kat bawls at her while tugging her silver hair.

 

            “Find the Demons; kill their leader. Easy, right?”

 

            “No, I mean, before that. We’re out here in the woods and we have no idea where we’re going. Do you even know which way south is?”

 

            “Why do I need to know where south is?”

 

            “Oh, dear Lord. Why did I end up being this girl’s partner?”

 

            “Stop complaining and see if you can find anything from above”, she commands, obviously pissed off.

 

            Kat flaps her wings and takes off to fly above the trees. The day was still young so it took some time before she could see clearly through the radiant daylight. From where she was hovering, she found a small village cutting through the path they are taking but they have a few hours to go to make it there.

 

            “I saw a village not far from here. Maybe we could get a map there”, Kat reports, landing on Yvaine’s shoulder.

 

            “You think they got wanted posters of me down there?”

 

            “Probably not. This place is too far away from Berial Magus, anyway. Let’s just hope the townspeople are friendly with outsiders.”

 

            “Maybe”, she shrugs.

 

            And they continue walking...

 

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            Now we’re back in Berial Magus where Cebu is playing with her new toy in her room.

 

            “Hmm... So how does someone give a foot massage, Mister Hastur?”

 

            Cebu asks the inanimate object sitting next to her. Well, I mean, it’s an inanimate object, but to her Mister Hastur is alive in her imagination. She was lying on her bed where Naiya’s... Damn, this is so weird...

 

            *cough*

 

            Let me try again.

 

            *cough*

 

            She was lying on her bed where Naiya’s feet were placed standing with soles up. The shoes and white socks were still on and... Wait... If her socks go all the way up to her thighs, what happens when you pull off the socks from here?

 

            “You’re right, Mister Hastur”, she agrees with him even though he didn’t say anything. “I’ll get some lotion first.”

 

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            “Oh, dear...”, Naiya gasps.

 

            “What? What’s wrong?” Maria asks.

 

            “It feels like someone removed my shoes.”

 

            “It’s probably Cebu. She said she’ll give you a massage, right?”

 

            “It’s cold.”

 

            “What?”

 

            “My... socks just came off. And now she’s applying some sort of... lubricant on my feet.”

 

            “Um... How does it feel?”

 

            “It... It certainly feels nice”, she says closing her eyes in pleasure. “Hya!”, Naiya suddenly shrieks.

 

            “What happened now?”

 

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            “Shoes off first”, Maria slips away Naiya’s doll shoes. “And now the socks...” Oh, so that’s what happens. Her socks just ripped off from where the portal ends, revealing her feet and her toes which were scrunched up. “Then we add lotion!”

 

            Cebu pours some lotion on her hands, rubs them together, and then applies them on each foot with each hand simultaneously, effectively loosening her toes from their scrunched up position earlier.

 

            “Now what, Mister Hastur?”

 

            The stuffed bear stares at her. As if surprised by what he said, she questions him.

 

            “That should be simple enough... But is this really how a massage works?”

 

            She stares at it again, and for some reason she gets an answer.

 

            “Okay... So all I have to do is-“

 

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            “She’s raking her nails on my soles! Hahahaha!”

 

            “Oh, she’s tickling you?”

 

            “Yes! Hahaha! Stop it! Haha! Please stop, Cebu!”

 

            Wow.

 

            For some reason, her laugh is so adorable.

 

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            “You think this will make her feel good, Mister Hastur?”, Cebu asked him while continuously dragging her fingers up and down the bottoms of Naiya’s feet.

 

            It gives her an answer again.

 

            “I know that, but wouldn’t this really tickle? Daddy did something like this to my feet and it really tickled.”

 

            It just stares at her and inadvertently gives her another reply.

 

            “Hmm... You’re right. I’ll try something else, then.”

 

            She stops and leaves the bed and searches for something on her drawer.

 

            “What about this, Mister Hastur?”

 

            She holds up something toward the bear. And...

 

            Sh*t.

 

            It’s a hair brush.

 

            “Okay, I’ll try this one, then.”

 

            This is not going to end well.

 

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            Meanwhile, Naiya was heaving breathlessly on the couch.

 

            “That... *heave*... was not delightful...”

 

            “Oh, come on.” Maria huddles next to her. “It can’t be that bad, right?”

 

            “How would you... *heave*... know? You don’t even have... *heave*... feet to tickle...”

 

            “Fair point, but at least she stopped. Now you can just relax and wait until the machine starts working again.”

 

            “That’s true...”

 

            That’s true but... The brush is on it’s way... It felt like there was something placed above her soles which was albeit comfortable at first... Until it started brushing!

 

            Naiya instantly burst into laughter!

 

            “HAHAHAHAHAHA! STAAAAPPH! CEBU! HAHAHAHA! IT TICKLES! HAHA! IT TICKLES SO BAD!”

 

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            While this was going on, Cebu was merrily brushing both of Naiya’s soles at the same time. She moved it back and forth horizontally at the middle so that she hits both. Luckily, her wrist is starting to feel tired.

 

            “This is so tedious”, Cebu says while brushing Naiya’s feet as they squirm.

 

            “Miss Cebu”, a maid appears from her door. “Your father says you should come meet him at the courtyard.”

 

            “But I’m busy.”

 

            “Then, I shall tell him that-“

 

            “No, wait!” She stops brushing and goes down from the bed. “I have an idea!”

 

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            “Haah...”, Naiya sighs in relief as the assault on her feet had subsided. It’s been more than 10 minutes and 47 seconds since the brushes stopped so she took her time in making herself comfy on the couch.

 

            “She stopped again?”

 

            “Yes.”

 

            “Maybe her arms got tired”, Maria jokes as she giggles.

 

            “I guess so.”

 

            Her heart sank, however, when she felt tiny bristles attaching themselves on the surface area of both her soles.

 

            “What’s wrong now, Naiya?”, Maria notices the weariness of her partner.

 

            “I sense something ominous...”

 

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            “And... Done!”

 

            Cebu just finished making some sort of small contraption. She seems to have the same power as Elias but only on small scale devices like the... thing she just made.

 

            “What is this, Miss Cebu?” The maid asks.

 

            “It’s an automatic massager!”

 

            THAT IS NOT A MASSAGER! THERE ARE LITERALLY SETS OF TINY CIRCULAR ROTATING BRUSHES ATTACHED AND CLUSTERED AROUND THE SOLES OF HER FEET! ALL OF THESE ARE ATTACHED BY WIRES TO A SINGLE SWITCH LIKE A F*CKING VIB**TOR! WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT BEAR DOING TO YOU, CEBU!

 

            The maid was more or less thinking the same thing as I was but she didn’t care. Man, I feel so sorry for Naiya.

 

            One of these chapters, I’m gonna let Naiya get her revenge on that irresponsible maid. Writer, what’s this maid’s name?

 

            I think her name was Sofia.

 

            I swear, one of these chapters, Naiya shall have revenge on you, Sofia!

 

            “Let me just test this...” Cebu presses the switch and the little brushes started rotating. “It works!”

 

            “Shall we go?”

 

            “Let’s go!”

 

            They leave, closing the light and shutting the door.

 

            But the brushes were still rotating and relentlessly tormenting Naiya with its bristles.

 

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            “Damn, I’m so tired”, Yvaine sighs while walking down the long road they’ve been on for the past thirty minutes.

 

            “Well, if you had listened to me and bought the boots with less heels maybe you wouldn’t be so tired right now”, Kat retorts while flying alongside.

 

            “This part of the adventure sucks”, Yvaine remarks while leaning on a wooden post. Looking up, she sees that there’s a sign nailed to the post. “Oh, wait. We’re already here.”

 

            The sign reads “Blightcrystal”.

 

            The town of Blightcrystal had its name derived from the nature of livelihood of the people. There’s a river next to the town where crystalline minerals lay awash on the riverbanks where the townsfolk collect and process them the same way quartz crystals are turned to glass. The only difference between the two materials is the durability since the crystal is as tough as steel.

 

            The two enter the small town and got a clear view of the scenery. Their houses were made of the crystals that they processed as external reinforcement and decoration. Everything you need for a normal RPG town is in here. There’s a blacksmith, a city hall, a merchant cart, a vendor stall, a potion shop, and even a cemetery, but the most important part is missing.

 

            “Where are all the people?”

 

            Yvaine wandered around the residential area but found no one home. She did, however, find a wanted poster of herself.

 

            “Aw, dang. These people know who I am. Let’s bail.”

 

            “No, wait”, Kat opposes.

 

            “Come on. We’ll find somewhere else to get food.”

 

            “It’s not like that, Yvaine”, Kat says, pulling her back. “Look over there.”

 

            Yvaine looked to the way Kat pointed out and she saw what her Anima meant. Curious with what she found she walks toward what looked like the blacksmith.

 

            There under the afternoon sun, a corpse was baked in its own blood. Judging from the apron on its chest and the hammer on its hand, it must belong to whoever was working on the blacksmith. Horrifically, though, his head was not present anywhere near the corpse.

 

            Yvaine walked further into the town and found more dead people rotting in the street. It doesn’t look like they were murdered recently because the blood stains had already dried up. All of them were beheaded, but there were no signs of the missing heads.

 

            “I feel bad about this, but maybe we could look around and see if we can take some food”, Yvaine suggested.

 

            “I’ll go look around then”, Kat flies off and enters one of the open doors.

 

            “I’ll be over here.”

 

            Yvaine walks inside a random house and rummages through all the cabinets and drawers without investigating the obvious signs of struggle. A lot of furniture was toppled over and most of the small fragile things placed on top littered the ground. She’s well aware of how bandits operate when they raid a town. So far, the circumstances that appear on the village pretty much points to a bandit raid whose leader is making a name for himself by be-heading everyone in town.

 

            As she fruitlessly scavenges for supplies, she heard a thud near the entranceway of the house, and by reflex she hides inside one of the bigger cabinets while peeping through the opening.

 

            “That doesn’t sound like Kat”, she thinks to herself.

 

            The thud started to sound more like a heavy footstep as it went closer to her. Try as she might, her heart was pounding, wondering if whatever’s out there is the monster that beheaded the villagers. Her hands were grasping on the two weapons she had on her back pocket, ready to go loud if the situation calls for it.

 

            She could almost feel it nearing her hiding spot. The small area of vision she had made her all the more agitated because the moment she sees it, it would already be too close for comfort. So she waited for the right time before taking out her two guns. There was a coughing sound coming from where the footsteps are, and, looking through the crack between the doors, she discovers what it is.

 

            “A wolf? What the hell? Why is it so huge?”

 

            The wolf seems to have something swelling up from its back. It looks like it’s in pain but it can’t bark because of all the coughing. On closer inspection, the overgrowths on its back look like it’s on the last stage of inflammation before exploding-

 

            It just exploded.

 

            Blood was splattered all around the room as the wolf fell on its side. Its spine was completely exposed in front of Yvaine who would be seconds away from throwing up if she hadn't restrained herself.

 

            “Poor thing.”

 

            She pushes herself out the closet and goes out the backway of the house to scope the scene outside if there are anymore.

 

            Glancing from behind the house, there seems to be a trail of blood left behind the wolf as it went inside the house. Immediately overcome with curiosity, she carefully follows the trail making sure to keep silent.

 

            The wolf came quite a long way to where it died. Through the alleyways and roads that connect the town, Yvaine found more beheaded corpses littered as more and more blood started to paint the town red.

 

            A feeling of dread started to creep up on her but she was bent on finding out what happened to this town for her own sense of security. After crossing half-way across the town she finds that the trail goes through a large gate which holds the sign “Blightcrystal Park”.

 

            The foul stench of decay reached her nose and it was quite a sight to behold to find the townspeople’s corpses stacked up in the middle of the park under the shade of the trees. They look more like they were eviscerated rather than beheaded because some limbs were hanging off the treebranches.

 

            Yvaine was repulsed by the sight of it because she knows that bandits would never do something like this without leaving their name somewhere so that the people might recognize them for their sheer brutality. All of this is just utter, mindless slaughter and violence.

 

            Backing away slowly, she accidentally steps on something squishy which makes her let out a girly shriek, completely out of character.

 

            “Kyaa!”

 

            “My tail!”

 

            “What the-“

 

            “Get off my tail!”

 

            Phew... It was just Kat. I thought it was some guy’s guts or something.

 

            “Let’s get out of here”, Yvaine says, walking away from the park.

 

            “There’s a problem.”

 

            “What?”

 

            “Demons, and they’re coming this way.”

 

            “Those guys again... We’ll have to sneak past them-“

 

            “That’s the other problem...”

 

            “What do you mean?”

 

            “They’ve got Sticky.”

 

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            Crisostomo was just coming back from exploring the settlement. There were no signs of food nor was there a means of communication with Berial Magus within the walls of the outpost. He only got to pick a few apples from one of the trees just outside the gates for their dinner. He was using the basket he found lying around to get it up stairs.

 

            “I guess they vacated with all their supplies”, he thinks out-loud to himself.

 

            He made his way up the stairs, and the faint smell of charred wood wafted from the room where Naiya should be. Entering the room, it seemed like a rather destructive force imploded inside.

 

            “What happened here?”

 

            There were scorch marks all over the floor, rocks broken through the windows, and fragments of ice dripping from the walls. On the couch, Naiya was breathing heavily with her cheeks flushed red and her eyes soaked in tears. She looked exhausted from something as if she was running a marathon whereas Maria was lying quietly on the table. I guess the ‘automatic massager’ ran out of batteries.

 

            “Are you okay, Miss Naiya?”, he asks uncomfortably.

 

            She couldn’t answer as she was out of breath so Crisostomo moves on to Maria.

 

            “Hey, kitty”, he shakes her awake.

 

            “What do you want, pervert?”, she asks while rubbing her eyes.

 

            “What the hell happened here?”

 

            “Oh”, Maria looks at Naiya. “That’s none of your business so don’t ask if you respect Naiya’s discretion.”

 

            “I don’t know what that means... but I did get some food for dinner.”

 

            He puts down the basket for dinner.

 

            “Apples, huh? Good job, pervert. Now cut them up.”

 

            She goes back to her nap.

 

            “Why do I need to cut them up?”, he complains.

 

            “You think it’ll fit in my mouth?”

 

            “I brought this for Miss Naiya not you!”

 

            Just as he exclaimed, Naiya suddenly fell off the couch.

 

            “Ow...”

 

            “Whoa, are you okay?” Maria stands up.

 

            “She’s close”, Naiya whispers.

 

            Crisostomo moves over and helps her sit with her back against the foot of the couch.

 

            “Miss Naiya”, he speaks with concern. “Is there something wrong?”

 

            “I... I think Miss Yvaine is nearby”, she whispers.

 

            “Really?”

 

            With that, she concentrates all her mana to create a field that lets her hover around.

 

            “Wait, you should be resting, Miss Naiya”, he tries to put her down.

 

            “No... I must use my mana!”

 

            She breaks through the window and flies away.

 

            “Where are you going?”

 

            “She’s out of control!” Maria hops on Crisostomo’s shoulder. “Follow her!”

 

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            Yvaine was having a headache. The last thing she remembered was sneaking past a few Stygians roaming around Blightcrystal until she found Sticky being dragged by the arm by some guy wearing an eye-patch. She pointed both guns right behind the back of his head... And that’s probably the last thing she remembers before feeling a blunt edge slamming onto her cranium.

 

            She opens her eyes but her vision was too blurry to make out anything. Yvaine felt that her back was against the wall with her arms up and her legs stretched outward. She tried to rub her eyes but both pair of her limbs were restrained to the surface on which they rest. It was freezing cold as the sound of rain reverberated around her but that’s not the only reason why she was shivering. Her coat, along with her guns, wasn’t with her anymore. The smell of rotten flesh has gotten unbearably repulsive than it was earlier.

 

            She blinked indefinitely until she had a clear view of what was going on.

 

            But as soon as her eyes saw clearly, she immediately wished she hadn’t woken up.

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Reviews

[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

of limbs = I am not sure but I feel like there be a "Her" somewhere there.

You love making cliffhangers.....