::Summary::
Ecterina is a simple girl with a rare illness... She prepares for the worst until a faceless man gives her an offer- but does the catch leave her better off than her previous fate? (Rated T for Language)
::Pre-story info::
Ecterina: means "innocent" Greek.
Dendritic cells (DCs): are immune cells that form part of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the surface to other cells of the immune system, thus functioning as antigen-presenting cells. Named after the long slender appendages that sprout off the cell. They can be used as treatment towards Cancer and other diseases.
-Dendritic-
The Tall man's brow lowered only slightly, his cheek bones moving to indicate a grin of satisfaction. He sat in his seat, relishing in my submission- just forcing the reminder that I had lost into my mind.
Permanently.
I repeated myself louder this time "I agree to be your Proxy!" my voice cracking again. With a small breathing noise he stood then held out a long boney hand.
I stared at it;
Did I really want to do this?
No.
But did I want my family to suffer from my actions?
...No...
I had lost. I put my family at risk and I was now going to be forced into a deal with the devil.
Without another thought I clasped onto his hand.
For a moment, I felt nothing. My senses where numb when the white light emitted from our grasp and I was too naïve to realize what would follow.
I released a scream; I had never felt so much pain in my life.
Did you know… His voice cut through my mind, muting my ears from even my own voice.
The human brain can function for five minutes after the heart shuts down.
I really hoped that didn't hint towards what I thought.
Panicking, my body went into flight or fight and I yanked my hand. I couldn't pull away from him no matter the effort I put in. I screamed and cried as my heart and body exploded with absolute pain. My stomach emptied again- except the contents where red with blood. His tendrils wrapped around my neck and seared against my skin. The end of a tendril pressed against the flesh over my heart. More burning flooded my nerves and the tendril drilled past my skin, muscle tissue and bone down to the vital organ; stopping then applying pressure.
My heart felt ready to burst, my throat was sore from screaming and stomach acid. I watched the tendril twitch and my muscles in my torso clenched. After the pain came a wash of chilling numbness, followed by a strained gasp in my throat.
I went limp in his grasp my eyes burned, his aura had left me unable to blink or shut my eyelids. His jaw flexed then popped out of socket like a snake; the skin over where his mouth should be thinned before tearing to reveal an empty void. I stared into the empty black and a red light emitted from the back of his throat. I would have screamed again if I could but at that moment-
I felt my heart clench...
...and stop beating.
My vision faded away completely but my mind kept running dizzily. I felt myself drifting away into darkness, floating upward. I was alone, so I thought- before feeling the presence of another. I felt my eyes open and the void I hovered in kept at monochrome black and white. There was no warm hue, no cold hue to indicate the state of the void. The blurred presence drifted forward, the figure's silhouette shuddered along the outline. Upon coming into view hands identical to my own drifted to mine. They hesitated before contact then moved to my shoulders. The girl before me was a reflection.
She was skin and bone, eye sockets hollowed from lack of nutrition and sleep deprivation. Her smile was pitiful and her eyes stayed deadpan. I looked down to myself to seem partially transparent. She rolled her head back and closed her eyes, the flesh above her heart fading away. A black gurgling mass that rolled over its' self and swelled with a broken beat was revealed.
My response was as lost as my mind, I reached forward and before touching the pulsing mass it leached onto my hand. I could only watch as it inhaled my arm in the infectious black ooze. Once above my chest a red orb of light exploded from my sternum and my vision was washed away with the bright burst.
My body went ridged and I inhaled the cold stale air greedily.
I paused then released a scream with new lungs. Pain burned across my body and my heart felt heavy. Another harsh inhale granted me another shrill scream of agony. My muscles defrosted and I stiffly rolled over off my back onto my stomach. My eyes where open but I had absolutely no vision, my mind scrambled and the only thing I knew to do was scream.
Just scream.
The pain enveloped my entire nervous system and I could only think one solid thought:
The pain proves that I am alive.
Clawing about the ground and gaining a solid push from my palms I shakily get up onto my hands and knees, choking back another wail.
My muscles seized and I collapsed over, screaming like a banshee. I just kept releasing the shrill noises without any other clue on what I should do. My mind was so scrambled and my senses where doubled over then twisted twice.
My heart broke free from the stone casing clench and thumped a new energy into my chest. My screams of agony turned to desperate gasping.
The red impeding my vision started to fade and my limbs found new strength. In a heaving motion I was to my feet, my vision swirling around and blurry. In a jumbled scramble I stumbled to what I recognized as an exit. However I hit an invisible barrier and toppled back into a clenched form. I released another howling scream and started reaching and grabbing for anything.
One of my open hands was met with an inky black tendril that pulled me over. Another tendril wrapped around my jaw line and neck, lying over my mouth to silence my screaming.
Silence, child. His words boomed in my skull and my screams reduced to harsh seethes against the serpentine appendage. My vision begins to clear and I feel like a newborn baby.
This world is confusing to me at first and me for a moment I don't know what's going on.
His voice is no longer sharp and harsh in my mind- yet calling and soothing. My breathing begins to slow as my foggy brain clears.
The cabin we were in now held clean color- no longer sucked dry and dull. Seeing I had silenced and stabilized the Tall One released me. His blank canvas head was tilted down to me, awaiting my further actions.
I tried to speak but all that left my cotton mouth was a gurgled slurred mess of noises. He just rolled his jaw in response. I wavered up to my feet and glared up to him. I don't think I myself can even understand why I looked at him this way.
I just did.
"Wh… Wha…" I swallowed "What di… did you… do… to me?"
I must remind you that the tone in which you are speaking to me is unacceptable.
"Fu-..ck you-" I spat.
Silence. His voice boomed and an unknown force clenched my jaw and I was unable to open it, nor utter a sound despite my best efforts.
My reaction to the spell he bound me in caused a sigh to leave his form.
Now- He stood Go home.
My mind was left blank and didn't return until my hand wrapped around my front door's handle, the cold metal startling my nerves. I jumped back from the door and looked around.
When did I get here? I questioned. Had he used his teleportation?
Warily, I headed into my home and directly to my room where I stopped after shutting the door.
Surely my mind was broken enough to distort my idea of my reflection in the partially shattered mirror but upon lightly touching my skin I realized that the mirror held true to the world.
My skin still held the pale pigment but all of the mal-nourishment had left. My eye sockets not seemingly as sunken and the bruising about my flesh had left. My irises held stronger color than before, still the dark brown but now a bit warmer in hue.
A twinge of red caught my attention and I pulled down the collar of my shirt, only allowing a peak of red to be revealed. Hastily I pulled the garment off and gasped at the large red circle crossed out with an X etched onto my flesh about my chest.
I passed my fingers across the symbol multiple times in an attempt to rub it off. Alas the skin had been raised in a scar-like demeanor and emitted a glow from below. With my focus on the mark I had been oblivious to the tall black limbed figure behind me until the boney hand laced into my hair and pulled tightly. His head hovered close to mine but still making me look up, showing off his dominance
Allow this as your reminder that you now belong to me. His voice was a harsh snarl, making me cringe away. You will do as I tell you. You do not hesitate. You do not disregard my orders, and you do not disobey.
He released me with a harsh push and returned to his proper stance.
If you even think about going against my word I will make your pain last an eternity.
I don't let my gaze fall from him and only nod.
Tomorrow I will test your loyalty. Do not be late. He seemed to well with power You do not want me to have to retrieve you.
"Yes sir." I uttered quietly.
Static rushed the air and with a shuddered his form disappeared.
A shiver shook me from my frozen state and I drifted to my bed. I didn't feel tired as I lay my head against the pillow but once my eyes closed I was swallowed into my subconscious.
The dreamless night seemed to last only moments and I rose just as my alarm sounded. My morning routine hadn't changed despite how much my entire life had as of last night's events. I had come to find out that the symbol among my chest only held the red glow if the Tall One is near or is "summoning" me to his will; otherwise the mark resided in a flat black.
I didn't feel the need for food nor coffee this morning either. My energy wasn't blasting but I wasn't tired. I was just- awake.
My calm demeanor didn't falter the entirety of the morning; I wanted to keep the least amount of attention on myself as possible. I had even opted to make the long walk to school instead of getting a ride from Caffara. The air was cold this morning, a small wind moving my hair about my shoulders and shuffling my clothes only slightly. I turned and made a shortcut through the forest to the school grounds, the tall trees blocking the wind.
I had expected the Tall Man to follow me once I was in his forest, he consistently kept away from me by about 10 to 20 yards. Neither of us made a move to actually speak at each other but I was contempt with the silence.
Upon reaching my school I turned to see him at the tree line watching me.
Always watches. His voice crept into my mind.
"No eyes." I said lowly before turning and heading to one of the doors to allow me into the school building.
I sat by myself in my first class as normal, keeping my eyes down on my page of uncompleted homework before the bell for class to begin. Just as the ring echoed over the PA system a figure sat next me.
I looked up to see the girl with red hair smiling at me.
"Hello Ecterina." She said calmly.
I stayed silent.
"He will most likely call for you around noon. Be prepared to leave by then. You mustn't be late." She smiled as if talking about the weather.
Was she a Proxy too?
"Who are you?" I said quickly.
She giggled my direction "My name is Predivian." She held out a hand for me to shake. I stared down the offered gesture and she took the hint, her hand lying back onto the table.
"Are you one of his?" I said very quietly.
"Of course I am." Her tone was snide and the grin played her features to be tilted into a friendly stare. "We proxies have to stick together…" She hummed and uncapped a pen "His orders." She began to write down notes for the class and I just sat, unresponsive.
Once the class had ended she had walked with me to my next period. I noticed how fluid all of her movements where, she held such grace as she walked and carried herself lightly.
"Are you a dancer?" I asked.
She seemed surprised by my random question and shrugged "I used to be… Back before all of this…" she sighed.
Someone bumped into me and spun me off kilter; quickly I regained my footing and turned to see Predivian had vanished.
"Damnit." I snarled then looked for her for a few more moments before accepting defeat and going to my next class.
The next periods went without any more visits by her and lunch was now in session. I felt no hunger and just decided to sit at my table alone as I did normally.
I stared at the table blankly lost in thought but a loud plastic tray 'Clacked' down and the red head made her appearance once again. "You need to eat." She placed an apple in front of me.
"Not hungry."
"You will never feel hungry but you still need to eat or you'll wither away. I almost did my first week as a Proxy and it was the worst experience of my life." She bit into her sandwich.
"The worst?" I asked, not touching the apple.
"It was worse than being reborn if that's what you're asking." She hummed and swallowed. I shivered at my memory of becoming a Proxy and lifted the apple to my lips and bit into it.
"How long have you been one of his?" I ask and she looks up from her smart phone to me.
"Uhm… I think about two years? Maybe a bit more… I've lost track…"
I raised my eyebrows "What does he… make you do?" I ask timidly.
She stared at me coldly in thought before answering "Lure in victims, I think."
"You think?"
"I don't know- every time he orders me to do something I black out until my assistance is no longer required." She shrugs with a shiver. I open my mouth to ask more questions before the bell for lunch to be over signals.
I look to clock and I'm not surprised to see her gone when I turn around. With a heaving sigh I make my way back to my class.
About halfway through the period I feel a hum flow into my mind and vibrate in my nerves.
It is time.
The phone ringing made me jump and the teacher made her way over and answered the call.
"Ecterina, you have an early dismissal." She smiled at me, eyes filled with pity. I retrieve my things before making my leave.
Come to the forest.
I pick up my pace and dive out one of the many exits of the school. Quickly, I jog my way around the building to tree line and feel the air change as I step onto the fallen leaves of the forest floor.
Hi everyone!
So sorry for the long wait! Here's the next update for Dendritic!
What do you think Ecterina will have to do in order to prove her loyalty? tell me what you think will happen!
Anyway- i tried to extend this chapter as much as i could so it would hopefully be an update worth waiting for!
i wanted to title this chapter "New Born" but i realised i don't name chapters in this story...
please leave a review on your thoughts about the chapter!
~FurrReal