Speech =``...´´

Thoughts = [….….]

ºº

The light of dawn was beginning to break out of the surrounding green hills, staining them with a clear, golden hue that shone brightly. A gentle breeze caressed and swayed the grasses as the skies were clear and devoid of any clouds for miles, allowing the sight of a bluer horizon that had nothing to do with the terrible storm that had raged the day before and sifted the entire realm into complete gloom.

All in all, a rather normal day, one much needed to take a moment of respite from the raw stream of chaos and uncertainty that everyone felt the day before…

But in the desolate remains of an abandoned town nothing had changed.

Empty and desolated, the remains of what had once been a populated town now remained silent under the bath of gold. The light of the sun beaming down the broken, dusty and abandoned wreckage that had been once the homes of families and place of peace.

Whatever had happened, its mystery had died alongside the owners of this piece of land.

And so..it had remained left to rot, forgotten by all as nothing more than a scary story to scare children and a warning of the dangers of the real world for others.

But this time...something was different, for there were two individuals mingling around the empty town. Though perhaps calling them as such would be quite a stretch given their...appearances.

He had chosen the location on a whim, though it met the requirements he needed to work in peace, especially since he had wanted to put as much distance from any other source of distraction that could come out from those misty woods..

If there was a dragon then there were prom to be more, and if all of them shared the same mindset he would rather not have to deal with them in that moment.

``Now what to do with you.., truly, it was just a moment and you look worse than before´´

He muttered though mostly to himself, his voice coming out rather softly this time as he eyed with pity at the mould of flesh he had pluck out from his storage room one final time. Allowing it to lay on the ground before him as he tried to convey with the proper way to handle this self made mess...

He sighed at the memory of that.

If before it had appeared rather big, then now it was a lot more. It had swelled the same way a dried sponge would when throwing it down a pond of water, energy sparkling all over its pulsating, rooting flesh as if it had become a self supplying generator. The spikes glowing brighter with each spurt of wild energy into the air.

His eyes narrowed in silent contemplation. He knew very well what it meant.

It was about to burst...

He could not allow that, even if death….would have been a far better fate given the unnecessary pain it had gone through. The only thing he hoped was that whoever was behind such mutilated visage was not aware of what was going on, that she was deep asleep in whatever pit hole her mind had found itself in, rather than conscious of its surroundings with no possibility to do anything about its current situation.

For the latter would have made things far worse…, that went without saying that the time he had to "cure" her was also a lot less than before.

If only that bloody annoyance had not come to nag him back then...

ºº

...A while ago...

He really had no time nor interest to deal with the creature in his self destructive desire, even though a part of him wanted to play with it, to see its insides and what sound would it make as it drew its last breath in this world.

Perhaps he could…, but the memory of the mould of flesh he had been about to fix stop his more destructive side from giving in to the temptation.

Frustrating or not, right now he had something else to do, and this was just a distraction from it.

But if he wanted to fight him? Well…, then he would be for a rude awakening. No one...demanded anything from him.

So he had brought his hand forward, accumulating a small ounce of energy and condensing it into a small, diminutive pin between his fingers. Making it look to the onlookers as if a small flame had appeared at the edge of those talons, when it was more akin to a small star. And then, just as it was about to reach him, he snapped his fingers.

But instead of the entire forest covered in mist blowing up in a bright light, something else happened entirely.

Reason being, the dragon fell to the ground in a yelp of surprise and pain. Not because he landed on the ground right next to him, missing his charge, but rather the fact that the massive creature was deflating like a balloon that had been poked with a needle.

Its strong, well defined scale body deforming itself as it had nothing inside to keep it in place. The wings becoming nothing but streaks of flesh like jelly that were now nothing but empty dead weights attached to the creatures back.

Still, there were something things that had not changed yet. Cerulean eyes blinking and darting everywhere in sheer panic or perhaps just confusion of what had transpired. Before they found him and narrowed in apprehension, or perhaps something else..

Its thoughts were bubbly at first, it had been a long time since he had bothered in reading someone else's mind while they were having an existential crisis...

``W-what kind of sorcery is this!? What is happening to my body..?´´

``A simple trick for stubborn mules like you...´´

He growled as he crunched down to get to level with the unblinking reptile eye gazing at him, emotions rallying behind them in turmoil as his words started to sink in. It was not a lie, it was really nothing compared with the flashy stunt he had pulled back at the capital.

``A trick? You consider this a trick you foul bastard? Impossible! This is merely an illusion.., a light show to deceive me´´

``I assure you…, this is all too real..´´

`` No spells can harm me...´´

The creature fired back, there was certainty in his tone, though one now tested by the current situation, making them sound hollow in the end. He merely shook his head bemused before he rose back to his full height.

``Laughable to hear that, especially given your magic resistance is lower than mine. Still, this was not meant to harm you, merely restrain you...bypassing your previous, non existent defences with even more ease..´´

The creature did not understand…, he did not expect him to.

``What are you talking about? What, no..who are you to command such power with such ease?´´

He ignored him taking a step to side as the scythe materialized from thin air into his waiting hand. He could feel the chains once again lighting up, wanting to be put to use…, his glare darkened as he rose the killing tool above his head with one hand.

``You should have taken my offer when I granted it.., your arrogance blinded you to the threat that laid before you. You will remember this lesson….´´

The dragon scowled at him, silent at first though not for long.

``You dare threaten me with death? Foolish mortal, I can not be killed…´´

``Everything dies…, whelp. Some of us just takes a little while longer. Some of us needs a planet to crash over our heads. But enough said, time to go…, creature. You will not be missed..´´

Blackish purple magic started to spread around the length of the scythe, black smoke slowly emanating from it like a permanent fog.

He sensed panic soured inside the creatures mind, spreading like sickness through each and every braincell it could hold. Then it started to wiggle, but without bones it was more akin to the slow, sluggish move of a giant worm..

``No! I refuse you..I will be given a warriors death, I have waited for far too long for it to end like this..´´

``Death is death, no matter how you paint it, is still the same. Cold, uncaring, impartial... But fret not, I have a better design for you than to turn you in my makeshift bone hat...´´

The dark miasma started to spread around his body as-well…, he stretched his empty hand forward and graved a fistful of squishy flesh in the process. Pulling him out from the ground by what of used to be a long and elongated horn.

The rage. The shame..., the impotence of not been able to even move to fight him back…he could feel them all.

What to do…

What to do with him indeed..

Enslaved him? Burn him alive? Imprison him? Destroy his mind until the only thing he could do was to droll on the ground like an infant..? There were so many things to do.., so many ways to give free reign to his frustrations be properly satisfy by the urges inside him.

To punish this wretched thing to mind its own business…

He clenched his jaw.

``To use this...this honour-less trick! What..what are you scheming, coward..!?´´

His grip grew stronger, blood slipping through the holes made where his talons had puncture the now feeble scales. The red light from his eyes coming once more back to life, beaming a thick layer of red upon that cerulean eye.

``Tell me, are you up for a bath..?´´

The simplistic, banal question that was uttered could not have been more different with the callous, cruel tone his voice gave out. Echoing menacing and dirty through their senses.

``W-what!? What are you planning..?´´

With a single swing of his scythe, a cut in reality occurred right behind him. The same way a paper would fold when put pressure over it, the empty space behind them ruptured onwards then shattered like a piece of glass.

Bright lights of red, white and purple emanating from the growing rupture between realities like a strange mixture between the a starry night and a sunny day that had seemingly intertwined rather smoothly with one another. The air around them becoming colder, while what little light remained was starting to dim out. Absorbed by the circling maelstrom that he had conjured into place with a twist of his wrist.

A few seconds later the hole stabilised and they could see beyond it like a way way mirror. Revealing the insides of a raging volcano. Magma burning hot to the point that they could even imagine the heat washing over them, even if they were miles and miles away from the actual source.

He pushed the creature closer to the rift, its massive size not probing an impediment for such task.

He had held things far more heavier...

``Destiny and a glorious death…., you will find vast spades of them down there..´´

It tried to fight him, to free himself from his grasp...but he may as-well have been trying to move a mountain with its fangs.

``I am not done with you, warrior!

``But I am done with you…, dragon. Consider my mercy, for the next time we meet I may not be as generous as today...´´

And with that he threw him through the portal with the same grace and care one would do when disposing trash.

ºº

….Back to the present...

After that he had left…, clearly finding that the location was compromised for the time with a dragon whose stubbornness would clearly pull him up from such peril, and if he was honest that he could not die by conventional ways.., adding to that a dragons own resistance to heat then it was more than probable than when the spell worn off he would be back.

So, he made his task to find a more subtle, and less monster prolific location while he started to hide away his presence, while creating different pin points around the world where he could apparently be. If a radar sensed the same individual in fourteen different places, was it truly working as intended?

Alas he had found this abandoned village before morning set in….

That was the easy part, now...now it was time to work the details.

Looking at the mass of flesh that stood before him he could already see the myriad of problems that had arise, the ones that had led the creature to this mess of rot and decrepit appearance from its original form, as-well as the ones caused more recently by his folly..

Starting with the prior, he knew that the so called curse that damned the souls of those who were unlucky enough to warrant the wrath of the "goddess"..., was no curse at all. It was just an overload of mana that had come out of control.

The bodies of the hosts had tried to adapt to it, to put some brakes between it to slow it down…, but they had failed for mere mortals held not enough resistance and in this case too..nor apparent knowledge to stop it and heal it so that the body could grow strong enough to held the energy that it was store within.

Why this was happening? It was probably a switch had been set off, probably having to do with their internal clockwork once they reached a certain age in time, only speed up or slowed between the races that suffered this symptoms. The energy had to built first before it could show in the outside its effects in the hosts body. After all, for what he had found out...there were no traces of babies that had endured such strange illness.

In a sense, it was nothing more serious than that. Though why apparently only females were able to found themselves victims of this ailment could only be explained to the scent he had fished out of her. The one from Aurora…..and the memories of those that he had just recently killed which filled the gaps nicely around where the others lacked depth on the matter.

Then came him…

If her condition was product of been exposed to a never ending increase of her own mana pool to the point her body became jelly because it could not sustained, then his act was equivalent of graving her and tossing her into an ocean of MORE energy which was even more unstable and raw than the one before...

Mostly magic did not tend to mix with other element whether they were in the air, ground or any body of water, in fact, they repelled each other more likely than not. Like a current of electricity that was affected deeply by a stream of magnetism there were exceptions to the norm, yes...but it was not natural.

Perhaps because most of what was considered magic held some relation to the external forces that were always in conflict with one another. Order, Chaos, Life, Death, Light and Dark...

Sadly, that had been a mistake to believe this world would play by those same rules as his own dimension would. For all he could see, magic acted the other way around. It overlapped with each other, becoming thicker and bigger in the process.

Mutating….

The energy that had originally assailed and harmed the host of the body had not being destroyed and replaced by the new source of more potent source . It had melded with the new energy with its contact with the pocket dimension. Becoming intertwined with one another, fusing even in the process like the threads of a shirt, though one rather unstable.

``Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeght!´´

``Don't be hasty…, you need this more than me so shut it...I am trying to fix it´´

``RRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEGH!´´

``Or don't and just ignore me….´´

Ignoring its following shrieks he pondered his options as he waved a hand through the creatures flesh. Not piercing it as it may have first appeared, but actually passing through as if it was not actually there.

Those cords that were overheating with energy and were setting the thing to explode, needed to be remove. He could pull from it, he could...if he wanted to tear her apart like a brute and gave way to a quick ignition of the energy inside her. A brief shower of guts and gore would welcome him if he did...

No.., this time he had to be tactful.

He almost found himself bursting in laughter. Why? Because the idea in itself was nothing but a joke if one looked back at his track record.

Tactful, him? It had been too long….

But the present time care nothing for it, it never would…. and so, he allowed his hand to loosen up. The limb becoming thick smoke inside the creatures body rather than bone and flesh. Allowing it to pierce everyone pore of rotting flesh and sparkling light that he could find.

For if he could not dim it out, if he could not pull them out by the roots...then he could syphon it, process it and pour it back. To act like a benign tumour inside her. Rebuilt her from the inside out, the same way one would a piece of clay.

Minutes, hours, seconds….time lost its meaning as he focused on the target. As he worked in each and every individual cell overblown in a scarlet tide of lightning. with the veins slowly unthreaded from each other and set in a proper place, the muscles that were lanced through bone and glass.

Touching them from within and without, moulding them, and working them with the finesse of a sculptor would. Soon enough he saw the labour of his work take place as the creatures size shrivelled rapidly, yet not without control...

The rot gave way to unblemished, pale skin. The formless blob of flesh became a thin, small sized humanoid that could only belong to a child. A stream of golden hair that glinted brightly and healthy under the soft sway of the sun and acted as a humble cover for the apparent nudity of the individual that now laid softly over the dust and soil.

The steady sound of a small heartbeat welcome him…

He knew he would succeed, and yet he felt an invisible weight left his shoulders before he moved to pick her up from the ground. Her soft, flawless skin slowly nudging against the cold and black torrent of shade holding her that compared to her appeared like toxic miasma.

He made sure to handle her carefully as if a single misstep to far or too short would break her. Holding her tightly, yet not too much, softly, yet not too loose. Just the right point to handle the small warm body from waking from even the lightest sleep. His body starting to vibrate in order to create a soundless lullaby that soothed her internally wherever her mind would be while his black garment folded over with a life of its own, shielding her from the cold morning breeze.

He had never done something like this…, and yet it did not feel wrong.

Once he reached the house he was looking for and walked without stop through its open threshold, he carefully put her over the clean bed he had prepared previously. Allowing her small, frail body to slowly land down and interact with the clean albeit cool cloth as he freed her from his grasp.

After that he stood, watching her small chest heave up and down slowly as her body. Her lips opening and closing softly without uttering a single word while those small, yet sharp ears twitched from time to time.

He did not need to put his hand over her forehead to see whether she was feeling feverish since he could see the heat signatures emanating from her, speaking that she was fine, albeit tired.. but he did so anyway.

Carefully and almost fearfully as he avoided the edges of his talons from touching her soft skin. Toying and pushing aside the golden strays locks of hair that dangled around his fingers. Their purity not undeterred or corrupted by the darker shades present in himself

Finding, as expected nothing wrong with her. No.., no..he was wrong. There was something. It was just faint given his proximity. His own essence and energy masking the small little thing that he had poured a part of him inside.

With a ghastly whisper her eye lids rolled up slowly…, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes, glowing with a faint glint like his. Her thin lips remained still in place, but from time to time they showed a pair of large fangs whether she took a deep breath. Sharp enough to bite through rock with ease.

Though as far as he saw she had not gained any extra appendages. Amusingly or disappointing for him at the same times...

The contact and exchange of energies was more than likely taking its toll on her…, though this time it would not be rot that would show for it.

Her skin had also started to grow a little more pale.., making the red marks that were appearing all over her the more noticeable. Not wounds, or tattoos….as the uninitiated would think, but in fact they were conduits…, like a dim scar left behind after his work of remodelling her body in its entirety.

Something that she would bear for the rest of her life…, though one could hide them away with a simple glamour spell or a far more used of control of ones own energy signature. Though if she started to fight in earnest or became heavily emotional they would flare up like starts in a cloudless night.

Sadly, the red marks were the last of his worries. Stretching one of his hands to the side, disappearing trough the endless pit of darkness of another portal, though this barely the size of a fist before he pulled out a blade of glinting silver. Golden words carved deeply into the steel in an alien language, though one he knew from memory...

Grunting with a heavy sight he dismissed the small rift from his sight as he turned around to meet the small elf once more. The light of day beaming brightly through the broken windows of the empty former household and granting the tool between his fingers the fake appearance of a silvery star that ached to be release from the tide of black and grey around it.

He knew what had to happen…, and for once, he did not enjoy it.

He breathed out a groan and though he tried to make it silent, the filters of steel made the sound echoed rather ominous if not down right aggressive. Making her flinch, though not enough to wake her up

It still..would have to happen anyway…

With a silent command a purple wave of magic washed over her like a liquid blanket that dissipated upon contact and put her in a deep sleep, one that would not end until he commanded so.

The last thing he needed was for her to wake up screaming bloody murder…, especially since this one would be a lot more painful than the last.

``I am sorry for what is about to happen…, but I can not just hope for the best and do nothing if there is a single shred for your body to reject it and let it fester again. And if that happens….´´

He halted, catching a moment to glare at his own botched reflection through the glinting length of the blade that appeared more like a toy between his fingers than anything else...

``You may not come back with just a minor if not non existent alterations…´´

ºº

Though short, her life had been nothing but a series peculiar circumstances that slowly had grown unpredictable as time went on. Tethered by an unseen change reaction that had thrown everything away as the curse started to manifest in her body…

From then on it was like a spiral of horror and misery that grew beneath her feet, swallowing her alive and doing everything it could to keep her free-falling into the darkness.

She had known pain and agony of witnessing her body falling apart as veins exploded, and flesh blackened with obvious necrosis that run rampant with each passing day. The sensation of betrayal as her own people turned on her, the very own people that had treated her with such kindness and love now not only refusing to aid her, but doing all in their power to end her life.

Fist and sticks slamming and digging into her body like rain water, spilling out blood and bruising her skin until they left an even more blacker spots on the already decrepit flesh. Something that her own mother partake in, making deaf ears of her own begging...

She had known hunger and despair of wandering lost away from home as the curse continued to ravish her body while she could not sleep without an eye close as they searched endlessly for her…, their voices echoing softly through the air as they offered comfort, where in truth only a painful death would await if she were to believe them...

She had known anger and rage that had morphed her delicate face into a ravenous, wild grin as she cursed her own unjust fate, the treason of her own people and the weakness of her own body as she was taken as a slave by craven souls who care not of her suffering, but rather how much money they would make out of her like she was nothing but another piece of lint to be dispose of on the side of the road.

Perhaps the curse had spared her from them doing something far more...inappropriate with her like most stories of slavers went by with other members of her kin, but it was a hollow relief.

And then...there has been nothing. The darkness had claimed her, and with it dispelling from existence a life which only sin has committed...was to bear a mark she has not asked to, nor done anything to warrant it in the eyes of the goddess.

So it was an understatement that she was not expecting to open her eyes once again. That she would see the color of day, the gentle breeze of the wind..or the cool touch of the watery field she rested upon.

But above all things...the lack of any rot in her body.

It was a reality so outlandish to tired eyes, one that I could glimpse through its reflection in the water, her body creating ripples all along the thin yet calm liquid film in the ground. The sun shone brightly above her shoulders like those simple and comfortable summer days back at her town.

There was peace here…., in this strange yet beautiful place. The wind blew softly behind her back, pushing aside some strands of her golden mane as if it was grateful for her inner words. Her ears twitching slightly as they felt a warmth spread through them.

She was all alone though, in this vast and appealingly endless land that was covered in a thin layer of water that barely reached her ankles. Allowing her the company of her own reflection to shine on, making her blink in surprise as she drank on the scenery.

She had forgotten how she looked….

All those sleepless nights running in fear, all the blinding pain that coursed through her own veins and the way her body had started to change, mutating, mutilating itself…

The memory sent shudders down her spine, she closed her eyes, hugging herself as she tried to shield herself from the still too fresh memories, that they would return, that this mirage would not last….

But nothing happened.

By the time she opened her eyes again she was still there.

In truth there was peace in this place. She did not know how to feel. There were too many emotions crawling inside her head, trying to make themselves heard above the others.

``I see that your mind has awaken…, the stillness of it was making me question whether there was anything left to salvage. ´´

The sound was unique, deep and cold as freshly poured snow, but also possessed a warmth and softness like the summer wind after a long day. A voice that resonated in and out of her.

One that was old., very old and incredibly tired. Turning around she was met with its owner..and he was massive.

Clad in black, leather and steel he stood like a pillar of black in this colorful world. His hands ending in sharp, clawed digits. Its face.

All in all….she should have been terrified. But she had seen the face of death all too many times already to fear it now, and truth be told...she felt a strange familiarity with it.

As if she was talking with a distant relative that she had known all her life…

``I am...dead? Is this heaven?´´

She asked out loud the thought that has lingered the loudest. Her voice was soft, mellow even..but it was not weak.

She had not expected answer from the towering figure who stared at her in silence, those burning coals flaring brightly inside those empty eye sockets, but whether she expected it or not she however got one all the same.

Albeit..rather cryptic.

``Correct and neither…

She blinked, blue ocean eyes staring in confusion, stunted to even reply as she tried to make heads of things. She did not understand, why would she..? How could someone be alive and dead at the same time..? As far as she knew there was a simple

``W-what do you mean..?´´

A moment of silence, a sudden gush of wind to the side and a hooked finger was pointed at her.

``You are dead in the metaphorical sense of the word, you don't exist anymore as long as the world is aware. YOU already knows this deep inside, don't you..?.

….

She lowered her head, her eyes downcast as she stared at her own palms. Clean and pure as the water of this vast pool of calmness slid between her fingers.

She knew what he was talking about, there was no way she could not. That she could try ignore it...especially when he bore it within inside her own veins.

``My curse….´´

Her voice quivered and broke down as she uttered that damn word. It has taken everything from her, her family, her life..., her future. Now she had nothing….

She gritted her teeth. It was not fair…

It wasn't….fair..!

``Indeed, but also this could be your last refuge. A place shielded from the depravity and cruelty of the world. Where nothing is wrong and you are the master of your own fate...´´

Refuge? Master her own fate..? Her anger vanished from her mind as she looked back at the avatar of death with a quizzical expression. Of all the things that was not what she was expecting to hear..

Then an idea started to dawn in her head.

[Could.., could it be..?]

``My..my mind? Are you saying that we are inside my head? Was that what you meant about my mind awakening..?´´

The flames grew a little more brighter, dangling playfully as they stared at her.

She bit her lip, shaking her head. No, of course not...how would that be possible? Her mind? Laughable…., she was more likely just delirious and this was just-

``You catch on quickly..´´

[What..!?]

``But how..? I do not understand..´´

``In time..you will´´

It-he cut her off, waving its hand dismissively before it took a step forward, then another before he stood just a whisper away from her.

`` But if you want to know..this is a projection of your own mind. A mirror to your soul. And for someone who have gone through what you have….is impressive to find it so spotless´´

He said before he put his arms behind his back. Strangely mirroring the way the sage of her town would act when explaining things to the youth when they cared to listen. She really did not know how to feel about that, though her cheeks heated up a bit...for some reason.

``Now, with that out of the way. If you want to live, come with me….´´

He said calmly, the scoffing sound of his voice echoing with a taint of metal between words, extending a clawed hand forward, open yet not threatening whatsoever.

It was a welcoming gesture she realized...

She stared at it, looking down at her own hand. Slowly stretching it forward, waving in the air as they were slowly getting closer to grasp his hand.

But just as she was about to…..she stopped.

``What is there for me to live for..?´´

She asked for she did not know. She did not believe if anyone knew, and the silence from her companion did not make things better. She withdrew her hand, clutching it tightly with her other and pressing them together against her chest.

Unable to keep her feelings under wraps, to control herself as her mind forced her to remember each and grueling second she went through since her world became hell.

The pain in her bones, the dread in her veins, the anger in her heart.

The rejection of her mothers eyes that stared at her not like the daughter she was..but something vile and foul.

``My life...is gone, everything I knew is gone! My people hate me, the world hates me, the GODS HATE ME!

The wail of pain in her voice reached the confines of this place where she was now lost within. Tears slipped freely from her eyes and fell to the wet floor in a steady trickle of drops as they became puffy and red.

She could feel her lungs burning, halting her breath. Her throat tightening like a clenched fist, slowly strangling her from uttering another word. She closed her eyes but the pain wouldn't stop, she didn't even stop visualizing the events that had brought her there. A pang of pain, of adrenaline coursing through her...before it vanished, leaving nothing behind.

She fell to her knees. Biting her lips, hands clenching tightly as they tied to grab onto to water only for it to slip past her fingers once again. Just like everything else in her life...

``What I am suppose to do. What is there left to do..?´´

``...´´

The words barely made themselves out, a whisper inside another whisper Bitter, cold…and empty. Just like herself...

Truly she was curse, everything would have been fine if she has never wakened u-a heavy large hand stretched forward. Clasping softly her shoulder and pushing to the side any and every thought she bore in her mind.

Looking back, she had never noticed the moment the skull wearing man has knelt down to her level.

His clawed hand resting softly over her shoulder, but not putting too much pressure or weight over it. His touch should have been cold, rough even…

And though she could feel the taste of copper and electricity in the air.., he felt warm.

``Pain haunt us all, child….´´

There was something else than the hungry stare of an angry god before her eyes. He halted…, his eyes shining not with pity as she had feared, but with something else. Something that strangely, a part deep inside her had craved, making her heart flutter for a moment.

Companionship…

That warm feeling of longing...wrapping around her. And she would never let it go...

``I could tell you that it gets easy with time, that your pain is worthless and the world will continue on without you on it. That there is a reason, and explanation to make sense the need for your suffering in the grand scheme of things, that your story was not a mistake where you merely drew out the shorts straw of the lot and that you have yet to see the end of it... ´´

Each and every word was calm and collected, yet there was an ounce of emotion behind each shadow of her mind.

Truth…, raw and unmitigated truth, but not uncaring of her plight...but rather the contrary.

As if he had lived it through his own flesh.

``I could tell you that hope is the last thing you can lose when the bastards has taken everything else...perhaps that justice will be served, that those that wronged you will be caught accountable. I could…., but I wont spare empty words with you..we both deserve better. ´´

He slowly rose back to his full height, reminding her how large he truly was in the process...

``No, instead I am going to ask you a simple question..´´

``A..question?´´

``Why do birds fly..?´´

The question was simple if not absurd, after all..., who didn't know why birds flew? but just as she was about to give voice to such an answer, she paused, the words dying on her tongue as doubts made their way inside.

No, it had to be something else...

He would never ask a question like that if it didn't serve a greater purpose. A feeling that should have been strange to held as tightly as she did, but there was something inside her that told her that she was not wrong.

But what was it? what could it be? She didn't know, and it bothered her.

``I don't understand..´´

``I know…, but you will, for you lack purpose in this life. A meaning to explain why you wake up every single day. So why not starting to look to understand what I meant? ´´

``Purpose…´´

She parroted the word, its taste strange to her tongue...yet not unwanted.

``Purpose indeed. If you don't have one you must look for it or create it...´´

``It sounds so easy…´´

``It is not...´´

A timid smile warped around her lips as she head him growl the response. She believed him.

He extended his hand forward once more.

``Come with me and you may search for a new life, stay here...and you may rest in peace the rest of your days away from the world that hurt you. The choice...is yours alone..´´

``Can I really choose? ´´

A moment of silence, a silent whisper of air trailing between the two.

``You can..´´

``But what does it matter..?´´

``Everything...´´

And without a moment of hesitation she lunged forward, graving his own hand with hers. And then everything went white.

ºº

A/N

So it begins, the tales of Alpha finally meeting reaper albeit firstly in the world inside her mind. I believe that every member of Shadow garden with exception of best doggo suffered a radical change in personality or disposition from their previous selves when they were persecuted by their own peers because of the curse. Which..is to be expected though. I know the young alpha was smart and able to keep her cool in most if not every situation...but surely when Cid told her about the cult she should have had an existential crisis right there and then.

In canon she was given right off the bat a target to put her hatred on, her hatred becoming her reason to live then, but here she is been given another before she is explained why she became a target of the curse.