Sibby followed the squirrel girl as she bowed and left.
She seemed a lot more interesting. Sure, the Siberian was eager to play with her prey, but the situation had changed. People reacted differently when they were hurt and afraid. Some lashed out, some cowered, some begged. It was the first type that she was concerned about - the type that raged against other people.
It was odd. She'd spent so much time with Jack, but it was only after he and William were gone that she began to consider the consequences of her actions - and how to manipulate people.
She blamed Kevin.
Sibby sighed. It was the curse of being so amazing. Now that she understood the situation, she couldn't play normally.
It was one thing to play with someone who'd yell and strike their own subordinates. Really, it was fun in a way. Like setting up Simurgh victims. Push the boss the right way, and he'd torture the other scum for you.
Sibby couldn't do that here. She hated being so awesome and compassionate sometimes. Sure, she didn't know much about Laila, but she could infer a lot. Things would be so much easier if Kevin was around to give her Observe, but she'd make do without it. The Siberian had seen enough situations like this to know how Zehia would react.
She'd blame her slaves for allowing her to come to harm in her own house. She might torture them or kill them.
It was one thing to spark that kind of explosion when the rest of the targets were 'in play'. It was another thing to do it when people who were like past-Riley could get injured.
The problem was that Sibby hadn't encountered a situation like this before. Previously, she'd removed the victims so they wouldn't be caught up in any retributive actions. She could do that here, but where would she put them? That was usually Kevin's job.
Let's see? This was another world, so there was no PRT.
The police? That was a haphazard choice back on her Earth. Here? Zehia was obviously part of a gang. It might even be part of the police equivalent here.
Capes? There were some interesting looking people around, but capes were a mixed bag at best. Heck, even past-Sibby, as great as she was, would've been a bad choice for current-Sibby to go to for help.
Where was Kevin? He understood this sort of thing better.
Eh. She'd just have to play things by ear. Sure, plans were fun in their own way, but spontaneity was exciting too!
The slave walked through several rooms with the Siberian following her before she stopped in a very oddly decorated one. It was as if someone took one of Riley's old labs and recreated it... with puppets.
Hands, arms, feet, legs, torsos, faces... body parts of every sort were haphazardly strewn about the place. It would have been more nostalgic except that they were made of cloth. An older-looking woman sat in a corner. She wore a slim collar like the other slaves. Her arms were bare and showed numerous stitches across them. The soft light from a glowing stone illuminated the area around her. She looked up from her sewing as the squirrel girl entered.
"Laila, back so soon?" She put down her needle and thread. "I thought you would be spending the night with Mistress Zehia."
Laila shook her head. "The Mistress wishes for me to change my form again."
"Already?" The old woman looked puzzled. "We just recently finished transforming you into the Three-Color Stalker. Mistress was looking forward to that form so much."
The squirrel girl sighed and slumped into an empty chair. "A new creature has aroused her passion." She let out a short laugh and opened the scroll she'd been carrying. "All that work and suffering for nothing! Look! This is what she desires now!" She turned the document around to show the other woman.
Sibby moved to get a look too.
It was a... poor rendition of her. Her stripes weren't that jagged! They were much smoother and elegant looking! They were also much slimmer and pleasing to the eye! And what was with the hair? That was all wrong! She fought the urge to shred the mockery.
"Let me see..." The older woman peered at the page. "We still have the ebony cloth and the albino weave. We can re-use the hands and feet I made with them. I can sew together the rest of such a simple pattern easily." She looked up and smiled. "It's not so bad."
"Not so bad?" Laila exclaimed. "Not so bad!" She motioned at her face. "I'll have to skin my face again! Not once, but twice when she tires of it! My skill might dull the pain, but you know how nerve-wrecking it is for me to have to do that to myself!"
"Deary, I can do it for you. You know that my hands are still steady as a rock."
Laila seemed to shrink down on herself. "You know it's not the same. Letting you work on my body is one thing, but my head is another. I... I can feel the connections to my life thread! Do you know how terrifying that is?"
The old woman gently took the scroll from her hands and placed it to the side. She then cupped Laila's hands in hers. "You know I don't. No one does. The very thought of anything touching that is as terrifying as an open flame. No one can know like you do." She shook her head. "But it is your lot in life now. Just don't think about it until the time comes. Worrying will only double your trials."
"You're right." The younger woman blinked before turning away and wiping her cheeks. "Of course you're right."
"Do you still want me to swap out your eyes?"
Laila nodded. "Yes. I can't do that myself. I still need your help."
"Of course. Of course." The woman stood up and moved next to a cabinet that she opened. "Do you want to do it now? The Mistress will expect to see progress."
"Yes. Let's get the eyes done now before I lose my nerve." Laila went to a desk that was clear of all the clutter and laid back on it.
"Ah! Here they are!" The woman held up a pair of... marbles? "You remember these, don't you? I made them for the princess outfit!"
Sibby moved closer to get a better look at what she was holding. They weren't marbles. While they were spheres, they were made of cloth. One end had dozens of red and white threads trailing away in a single tangle. The other had circles sewn in it that made it look like an eyeball.
Laila shuddered. "I remember."
"Yes, yes. Hard to forget, I'd imagine. It was the first time we replaced your eyes." The woman rummaged back through the cabinet before pulling out some metal tools and a glass lens attached to a leather contraption. "I'd never made a pair of eyes before, but I think they turned out beautifully." She hobbled towards the table. "Nothing like the current pair you have, but those were special, yes?" She hummed to herself. "What a unique and difficult request. I was sure one of us would level."
"I don't want any more levels in my... special class."
"Hush now." The woman placed all the items she carried next to her on the table. "We should always be happy for levels, even the oddly colored ones." She took the leather contraption and fit it on her head. The lens hovered right above her eye on a small arm. She then took two of the metal tools and brought them to Laila's face. "Steady now. Don't flinch." Her right hand gripped the rod with three of her fingers, while the other two grabbed her patient's lower eyelid.
A swift twist of her wrist put the metal tool in between the eye and the rest of her face. The woman then repeated the same maneuver with the top lid. Once the eyeball was fully exposed, she used a pair of tongs to pull it out.
Sibby leaned forward. She was familiar with operations like this. What was different was that the mass of blood vessels and nerves that connected the girl's eye to her head had a row of black stitches. The old woman locked the tongs to the other metal tools before lowering the lens that she wore.
"There we are." She took out a small set of tweezers and a needle. "This will sting, but don't move!" One by one, she deftly removed the stitches. Laila whimpered with each one, but she didn't move. When a stitch was removed, the woman clamped the part still attached to the head with the tweezers and set it aside.
When the very last stitch was removed, the eyeball turned into a piece of cloth!
...Or had it always been a piece of cloth? Sibby wasn't sure.
The process was repeated, except this time it was done in reverse. The cloth eyes the woman had taken out were painstakingly sewn onto Laila's body. Somewhere along the line, the cloth eye turned into a real one - with threads trailing from it.
As they were attached, each thread became flesh and blood!
Sibby was fascinated. Riley HAD to see this!
...She also wondered what one of those cloth eyeballs would taste like. It was fine if they were already removed, right?
"All done!" The seamstress stood up and stretched and removed the leather contraption from her head. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" She lowered the newly attached eye back into place before removing the tools that held the eyelids away. "It's late. We can do the other one tomorrow."
Laila sat up and shuddered. "Yes, tomorrow." Her voice shook, just like her body. "I'm going to go and get some sleep now."
Sibby agreed.
Not that it was time for sleep, but rather that she'd become bored. It was time to investigate!
There were a lot of things that she was curious about, and now that it was night she could experiment without worrying that she'd pop.
The first order of business was this room. Could all these cloth limbs become real? Was every person with stitches able to do what Laila had?
...That would explain the whip merged with the bundle of cloth. Somebody had escaped her punishment. That would not do.
...
Sibby chewed on the cloth eyeball as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. It was bland. Hardly any difference from eating 'normal' food.
...In fact, it was worse than eating real flesh!
There was, however, just a hint of an odd aftertaste. Where was Kevin anyways? She missed his cooking.
Sibby paused occasionally at a high point and allowed light to strike more of her eyes. She needed to be able to find her way back to the house later. Her investigation had been incomplete.
The floor, walls, and ceiling had all felt wrong. Sibby was pretty sure that if she tried to make them stronger or destroy them that she'd pop. Thankfully, most of the doors had been normal - including the front door.
There were a few that weren't and Sibby didn't dare try passing through them. One was the door the slave had gone through with Zehia's clothing. Or at least her clothing that she hadn't dropped on the floor. Sibby was interested in seeing what that cloak was like.
It had felt strange in a different way. Would it pop her if she tried shredding it?
The other doors were deeper in the mansion. Zehia had vanished while Sibby had been preoccupied, and it was most likely that she was behind one of those doors. It would also be a risk to enter a place that she couldn't get out of.
Aside from that, the rest of the mansion had been boring.
People, slaves, going about their business. Or sleeping.
They were so boring! The Siberian was a patient huntress, but watching someone to try and understand them?
Pass.
That's what Observe was for.
Ah! Here she was. Her summoning spot.
...Something was wrong.
There was no one around, but the air that was passing through her had become odd.
Sibby backed up, and began to circle around the disturbance.
It was spherical in nature. It grew wider the higher up Sibby floated.
That meant... There! Up in the sky! It was a bird! No! A plane! No! It was an almost translucence humanoid figure with wings!
Sibby studied the cape. It wasn't actually transparent. For one thing, it wore two thick, golden bracelets that were easy to see. For another, the stars behind it didn't shine through.
Sibby moved so a moon was behind the cape.
Ah, much better. Not invisible then, just pitch black. It was obviously doing something with the air. Sibby would have to be careful. That person was doubtlessly looking for her. If she was popped now, her secret would be revealed.
That meant that she needed to make a distraction!
...
Sibby had found her target.
Ironically, it had been pretty hard to find a place where there weren't any slaves around for collateral damage.
One stood out: the harbor. Some of the boats had felt strange, but it had still been easy for the Siberian to investigate them. Sibby didn't know much about slaves, but apparently getting them off of the boats they were brought in on was a priority.
Why?
She had no idea. The purpose of slaves was to treat them horribly, right? Then why not keep them locked up in the smelly, cramped, floating coffins?
Whatever. She didn't need to know to play her game.
Sibby landed in a dark alley and allowed light to fully interact with her again before she strolled out.
The docks were still decently active despite the hour. Light, sound, and the smell of alcohol spilled from the buildings into the night air.
Sibby picked up a barrel, and threw it through a wall! The crash it made was a little disappointing. Whatever made those walls strange also made them tougher than they should be, but that was why she was using projectiles. The strangeness couldn't pop her if she didn't interact with it directly. Sure, the things she threw didn't possess the level of destruction she could inflict with her bare hands, but right now that was a benefit! She just needed to throw more of them to get the job done.
That was fine. Sibby had lots of barrels.
One after another flew through the air. She smiled. It was fun to go loud. Especially when she didn't have to worry about collateral damage. In fact, the more the merrier!
The windows were a lot weaker than the walls, so Sibby started aiming for them - until the doors opened. Those made even better targets. The people around here might look different, but they were still a lot squishier than the strangely resilient walls.
She had caused a lot of damage to the three closest buildings when she ran out of barrels.
No matter. The wood the dock she'd chosen wasn't strange, and there were a lot of chunks she could pull out.
Instead of aiming towards the bars, Sibby started spearing slave owners with pieces of wood.
Okay, technically she had no proof that all the people running around and screaming were slave owners. However, they weren't slaves, and that was good enough for her!
It didn't take long for the first signs of a real resistance to come. Capes started pouring out of the damaged buildings. Some had armor. Other's had glowing sticks. However, none of them had escaped her initial attacks unharmed. Even the ones with shields staggered back when struck with her thrown logs.
Strange lights flew from the stick-wielding capes towards her.
Sibby retreated.
She didn't know what those lights would do to her. Plus, she needed to draw as many people into her trap as possible.
Sibby started using her projectiles to intercept the lights that were being shot at her. That worked pretty good. Her logs were bigger, and it didn't really matter if they were on fire or covered in ice. They still did their job.
It was getting easier as she went further up the dock. The slavers could only approach from one direction. She couldn't do this for long, each projectile was pulled from the very same object that was supporting her. On the other hand, that made the terrain extra treacherous for her targets too.
A stalemate of a sort was reached. The people had stopped trying to approach her. Sibby frowned. She was just too good at keeping them away! How was she supposed to enact her brilliant plan now?
Eh. She could still do it, she supposed. It just wouldn't be as... Oh! Those people on flying rugs!
They would make great targets!
Sibby smiled and started launching projectiles at them as they tried to fly around and flank her. She nailed one right in the chest! ...But that was all. They were moving too fast, and her logs were too slow. It wasn't fair. It was so easy to dodge ranged attacks!
The crowd parted as a tiger made of fire walked through it. It was nice looking. Orange and red flames made up most of its body. The only parts that were different were its glowing green eyes, and a large silver collar that was tight around its neck.
How did that work? Fire couldn't support something like that.
Sibby would think about it later. She hurled a log at the impressive looking cape.
The tiger roared, and the log was incinerated. Its charred remains fell to the pier at the tiger's feet.
That was enough of a distraction. Time for her trap!
The dock she'd chosen wasn't strange. She could affect it any way she liked. So, she let its molecular bonds fade.
Sibby smiled as she let gravity pull her into the water. It was the perfect place to vanish from sight!
She was so smart!
Plus, it would probably mess with that fire tiger. Bonus!
...Except it wasn't falling. Instead it floated mid-air and roared again.
A stream of fire struck her in the chest.
...
Sibby appeared.
Something tried connecting with her, but she brushed it away.
She wasn't sure what had caused her to pop. The tiger's fire had felt strange, but strange in a different way than the ground.
The Siberian immediately stopped letting light reflect off of her completely and jumped into the air. She made sure to only use her legs to propel her up so as to not pop against the ground again.
Sibby floated as she let light strike a small part of her eye.
Was that floating cape still around?
She didn't see him.
Good. That meant her distraction was a success. She could go back to playing the stealth game.
Eesa opened the door to his house with his new hand. It was nice that he able to perform such a simple task again, but it was infuriating that he had to in the first place! One of his slaves should have done it for him, but they were no longer here. They were no longer his.
"Accursed Djinni!" He swore as he shut the door behind him. A lone fly zipped past him. "Accursed flies! Winter will come soon to kill you all!" He took off his clothes by himself, and put them away by himself. It was as if he was a copper-less savage!
A nice long soak was what he needed right now. Eesa paused in the entrance to his bathing room.
The pool was empty.
"Accursed Djinni!" He slammed his fist into the wall to his side. "Have I stooped so low that I must haul my own water?" Not only that, it would take time for it to heat. It looked like he would be forced to use a bucket and sponge to wipe the filth from his skin.
At least the vases in his house held enough water for that. He hefted the container up, and was about to pour some water into the bucket when he saw his reflection. Eesa put the vase down and brought his hands to his face.
Ugly.
Scarred.
Eyes that weren't his own.
THIS was his reward for doing his job. THIS was his reward for being brave. THIS was his reward for his service to Roshal!
"I never should have tried to strike the Djinni." He slumped down and put his head in his mis-matched hands. "What did it get me? An arm that needed to be replaced... and the loss of my eyes." He held back his tears. "It's not fair! I was a good man and a decent [Slaver]! I shouldn't be punished for doing my job!"
But it had cost him. It had cost him so much. Eyes were expensive. Finding a seamstress that could make them and replace the ones that had been ruined had been difficult. He had no savings. He had been forced to sell all his slaves to pay for the excruciating procedure.
It wasn't fair!
His [Anti-magic Strike] was a spectacular ability. Getting it at level 20 had been the happiest day of his life.
It wasn't fair!
He was high level! He was valuable! The Emirs should have lavished praise, gold, and slaves upon him! He should've been honored for what he did! He shouldn't be punished! He shouldn't have to pay to be healed!
...But healing potions didn't work on his eyes. They had barely healed the rest of the damage to his face. They'd said he was lucky to be alive.
Ha! Lucky!
Lucky would've been to NOT encounter a rogue Djinni! Especially one that turned out to be impossible to subdue.
If it had been a regular Djinni - think of what the reward might have been! He might have even gotten the wretched thing as his slave!
...But that was not poor Eesa's fate.
How long would he have to endure these injustices until he could save enough money to afford a decent house-slave? A month? Two? Three?
"Accursed Djinni!" He whispered to himself before standing up. He still needed to wash himself. He still needed to get the water from the vase to do so.
Eesa looked back at his reflection, but there was something else he saw in the water.
Something behind him...
Eesa whirled around and fell down. It was here! It had come back for him!
The Djinni!
The last thing Eesa ever saw was its smile.
Sibby appeared.
Something tried connecting with her, but she brushed it away.
She'd been playing for days, and she was starting to get used to being automatically re-summoned.
This time it had been a human shaped mass of flowers that had caught her! It was a strange looking cape - constantly moving as the individual plants that composed it grew, bloomed, then died over and over again. The only constants were its yellow eyes and the bronze belt it wore.
There seemed to be more and more of these strange looking capes... and each and every one of them was able to pop her!
She had played long enough. It was about time she stopped running and popped them instead!
...No. She should be patient.
The Siberian gently landed and allowed light to strike her eye again. She'd been popped so many times it had become second nature to vanish and jump in a random direction the instant she was re-summoned.
In any case, it would be daytime soon. Sibby should head back to her secret base. A base so secret nobody would ever expect it! After all, why would the powerful and deadly Siberian spend the day in the very same house as one of the people trying to catch her?
Sibby smiled.
Besides, there was another person there that looked like her. Eh, there was someone that looked passably similar in a banal way that completely failed to capture her flawless form. The point was, that Laila might confuse someone.
...If they could see her somehow. It didn't seem likely, but Sibby also didn't want to bother to find another place she could squat during the day. Memorizing Zehia's house's location was plenty already!
It didn't take her long to find it, especially since she could just retrace her steps. She supposed that was one of the advantages of being un and then re-summoned so often. She had plenty of experience traveling this particular route.
The house was already active as the slaves made preparations for their owner's return. Sibby took a small measure of delight in causing such an inconvenience. Sure, that hadn't been the reason why she only played at night, but it did force the people chasing her to keep odd hours also.
The large, male slave looked up from the meal he was preparing and made his way to the front door. Sibby didn't bother remembering his name. She wasn't even sure it had been said in her presence.
"Good morning, Mistress." In one smooth motion, he opened the door, stepped to the side, and bowed.
As always, Zehia strolled inside without breaking her stride. The slave owner started undressing immediately, only bothering to hand her cloak, boots, and her thick leather armor to her slave. "Is my meal ready?"
"Of course, Mistress. Where would you like to take it?"
Zehia tilted her head. "I think I should like to eat in the pillow room." She paused before smiling. "Tell Laila I would like her to entertain me while I partake of my food."
"Of course, Mistress."
Sibby considered killing her. It wouldn't be hard. She'd figured out the rules of this game. Almost all of these people could use cloth to replace damaged body parts.
...Except for their heads. Hit them there, and they went down for good.
That would be too dull. Plus, Kevin would be upset with her. Admittedly, he probably wouldn't be angry or even annoyed, just disappointed. That was worse.
Hmmmm...
Although he hadn't complained the times when she'd killed other capes that took advantage of people. Like that guy in Canada. In fact, he'd praised her! This seemed similar enough... but Sibby was already working on a different game.
She smiled to herself. The only way it would be better was if Riley was here to help.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the large slave. "Mistress, you will have a guest soon."
"Oh?" Zehia looked up from her food. "I suppose I should make myself presentable then. Bring me my casual clothes and move the food to the solar. I can at least enjoy the sunrise."
"Of course, Mistress."
Sibby frowned. This was new. Could the people she'd played with today have figured out a way to follow her? They were getting better and better at showing up where she was - even when she was being stealthy!
Zehia and her slave moved to the foyer. He stood next to the door, while she languidly reclined in a plush chair.
Less than a minute later, there was a knock. The slave opened the door.
His eyes went wide and he immediately bowed without saying a word.
Sibby was confused. Shouldn't he say 'hello' or something? She moved in front of him and bent down to get a closer look at his face.
Fear.
It was written all over it. Her investigation was cut short as a heavy-set man entered through the open door.
"Zehia! It is good to see you my dear!"
The woman smiled and stood up. "[Slave Master] Riqre'ma Medaale." She inclined her head. "It is a pleasure to see you again. To what do I owe this honor?"