As soon as the vision ends, she wakes up to dull pain pulsing throughout her body. Eve doesn't know when exactly she passed out. The last thing she remembers were Juno's horrible, unbearable screams.
And now she just had a vision?
Who was that other person?
She puts those thoughts in the back of her mind because there's something much more concerning.
Eve is tied up by a Silver Spider's silk, wrapped around what a large tree.
She looks around to find that she's surrounded by nothing but forest life.
She's in the Southern Rale Woods!?
///Who brought me here? Was it that monster? But how did it tie me up like this? Why am I not dead yet…///
Eve is no fool, just because she knows a little dark magic it doesn't mean that she's strong. No mortal could have survived those fatal attacks.
She should be dead!
But why does it seem that Eve's major wounds have been treated?
Why?
Who?
She tries to struggle out of the silk but it's no use.
She's trapped!
Seriously why?
///I keep asking why and I never get my answers. I never wanted my life to end up like this.///
The silk is only wrapped around her middle, not her whole body, so she assumes that whoever did this, is not a Silver Spider who plans on eating her. Besides, Sliver Spiders don't inhabit this country.
The question remains the same.
Who?
///My life is doomed to never be normal. But I have to think of a way out of this! I still have to help her...///
She briefly thinks about Pearl.
///No, she can't help me now. I told her to leave if things got dangerous! She better have listened to me.///
Pearl was a bat that somehow snuck through the barrier and remained hidden in Building A's basement. When Eve found her, she was just a baby. Keeping her as pet was only a decision made by her ambition to practice dark magic. Yes, the bat was a 'test subject' but she didn't seem to mind.
After all, Eve fed her and kept her company. When she started getting bigger, she used dark magic to shrink her size.
It was convient.
She never wanted to get attached but deep down she...
She's selfish.
In any case, she can't rely on anyone to save her. Eve hates to admit it but she really wants to cry. The only reason she won't is because she refuses to look weak in front of the enemy.
She tries to struggle again but ends up hurting herself more.
A voice comes out from the darkness, "Don't do that, you can't leave just yet."
Eve can't see well in the dark but she knows that voice.
The person walks closer, the dim moonlight shows their face.
"Hi."
Eve doesn't say anything. Her expression remains blank with a tinge of disgust.
She's always disliked Kylie Rhys.
"Oh, come on. I was expecting a little more of a reaction?"
All Eve asks is, "Why?"
"That's a very vague question. Why what?"
///Why did you bring me here? What are you? Why did you-///
"Why did you reveal yourself?"
She raises her eyebrows, "That's a better question! It's because it doesn't matter anymore!"
"What do you mean?"
She claps her hands together and cheerfully says, "I don't care if you know what I am. It's irrelevant at this point."
"And what are you?"
"Hehe. Do you really, really want to know?"
///No.///
"You're not mortal, that much I'm sure. So you disguised yourself as one? Why?"
"You're very smart, Eve Doir! I am not mortal in any way. Also, I did do that and simply because I had to get close to Juno, I was tasked with targeting her sister but I also decided to help the nurse."
"How?"
"For starters, I became the Shadow Beast. The distraction."
"So, you disguised yourself as a mortal and a Shadow Beast? But how... why...?"
"And I became a Silver Spider in order to keep you in place. Are you getting it?"
"You.. can turn into monsters and people?"
"Exactly. But I only became 'Kylie Rhys' after she 'died'."
"She was not just a disguise but she was a person? And now she's dead... You killed... her?"
She puts her hand over her chest and sighs, "My dear friend went missing but then she reappeared by a miracle. I reappeared."
"You're a monster that turns into other people!?"
She smiles.
"And only after killing them..."
"Hehe."
It can't be?!
It makes no sense.
"A Shapeshifter?"
She frowns.
"No! You were on a roll too. Shapeshifters, ugh, can die, I cannot. In order to take someone's form they drain their victims until they're a husk, they only rely their victims' blood! I don't. "
Eve wants to cover her ears, she doesn't want to know!
"I devour people and monsters whole. Not leaving anything behind!"
Eve is going to be sick.
"I was created by desire. The desire of wanting to be. I am nothing. I am everything."
She laughs, "I will be powerful."
That laugh is darker than the night sky, there is no warmth of the stars.
Eve is afraid.
She really is going to die.
But she stubbornly says, "You're not going to kill me though? I would be dead already."
"Yes! Absolutely. You see, my existence got very complicated. After the incident with the Immortal Snakes. I cursed myself and have only recently regained form. I had to use help from the heavens... which is why I'm here. But I don't seek revenge against those snakes, in fact I'd rather avoid them for now, all I want is power."
"Huh?"
"If I did as they said, I would gain lots of power!"
"Power?"
"You see there's another difference between me and those other, filthy shapeshifters. They'll consume any scrap they can get their hands on. But me? I only consume the most powerful of beings."
'Kylie' moves closer to her, Eve barely suppresses a shudder, "That's the only way to become strong."
"I don't understand what that has to do with me." She says coldly.
"Oh, don't you?"
Eve regrets her words.
If she didn't say anything then maybe this wouldn't have happened.
This monster is capable of changing forms but she still wasn't prepared to see it up close!
Eve is someone who typically enjoys seeing nightmares come to life but this is on a whole new level of twisted!
It was as if the monster purposely chose to change in this way.
This horrifying way.
The flesh on her body melts off like wax dripping down a burning candle.
It drips.
And drips.
And drips.
Until it turns into smoke.
It's suffocating.
The monster sheds off her old mask to reveal a perfect, clear image of no one other than Eve!