Finally settling down in the inn after taking a bath, I sat on the stiff white bed in the room. I was in a towel and I put my hair up in a ponytail, sitting with my legs crossed.
"So, Mr. voice care to tell me what you are?" I twirled some black strands of hair in my finger "You seem to know quite a lot, what's your purpose" My eyes became icy, my red eye glowing in the unlit room shrouding it in a faint blood-like light.
'...'
"I know you can hear me,"
'I won't hurt you'
"Heard a lot of that bullshit to know it's not true," I scoffed, my gaze becoming colder as the seconds passed by. "Who are you?"
'I can't tell you that, but you can trust me,'
"PFFT.... haha!" I cackled out in laughter hearing his terribly contradicting words "You expect me to trust someone who randomly shows up out of nowhere and refuses to give me any information on themselves, do you hear yourself?"
'Girl, there's a limit to my patience, I don't care if you don't trust me but what are you going to do about it? You admitted to yourself that you're weak even if you wanted to do you think you could defeat me?' He lightly mocked, disdain practically dripping from his voice.
I winced at his words, yet I didn't refute them. Everything he said was entirely true.
'I will say this your mother entrusted me to you so I won't harm you'
"How do you know my mother!" My eyes became sharp again and my vigilance rising once more.
'I will explain Everything in due time' I gnashed my teeth together in anger.
"Fine, what was that thing and why do I have this scythe? Why are you in my body?" I asked more pressing questions, hoping for proper answers to those at least.
'It was a demon, one that gets its power from devouring others, the scythe is something from the one he devoured. As for why I'm in your body, I was sealed there'
"Huh? Demon? Who did it devour and why was it in my body in the first place and why were you sealed there too?! What's going on!? What is my mother's identity!?" Hearing his words I became even more confused and agitated.
'Lower your voice' His deep, milky, husky voice rang into my ears again, I wondered what a person with such a pleasant voice looked like. I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my head, 'What was I thinking!' I took a couple breaths to regain my composure.
'I can't tell you who it devoured. Just like me, it was sealed there. I can't tell you why either of us were sealed there but know that your mother was.....a G.....she was not who you thought of her to be'
'What did he just say' I froze he threw something at me I couldn't comprehend, he knew way more than he was letting on and what was this about my mother being not what she seemed 'what the hell was going on!' "Um.... so.. one more question why did my appearance change and this tattoo?"
'You devoured the demon and your appearance changed accordingly, naturally you got the power of that demon also'
'What?' My head began spinning and my heart pounded in my ears. My vision became blurry, every object doubled and just like that I fainted.
--------------------
The sun was glaring in my eyes, the golden beams rendering my vision useless. I groaned, rolling over, protesting against the sun's desperate awakening. I covered my eyes with a soft object I felt around for, releasing a soft contented sigh, my twisted face slowly relaxing in comfort.
'Why's the bed so hard?' I twisted my body uncomfortably, stretching my limbs in different positions to gain some comfort. 'Ah, it's because of the inn, that the bed is hard' coming to that realization I settled down again.
A couple seconds passed by 'Wait inn? Oh Shit!' I jumped up, eyes widened into big saucers. "Dammit!" I shouted as I pulled on my clothes quickly. Finally ready, I bolted out the door.
'... Your eye-patch' the man said, his voice uncertain.
"Dammit!" I ran back grabbed my eye-patch pulling it on quickly before running out. I ran over to the guild, ready to take some quests. I scanned the bulletin board for any decent looking E-D ranked quests, since those were the only ones I could take at the moment. After glancing at all the quests a few times over, my lip twitched at the corner. The only ones left were for herb gathering, all of them were worth about five silver coins and only gave 50 merit points. 'How was I supposed to pay my debt off? I planned on leaving a week from now, but with how things were I would be stuck here for at least a month!
I grabbed the most expensive one from the bunch worth six silver coins and went to the front desk where Liz was speaking to a large muscular man with shaggy black hair. I ignored him and began talking to Liz, "Liz, is this the most expensive E-D ranked quest?"
"Whachu see is what we have," she gave a light shrug
"How am I supposed to pay back my debt with just these, I owe about 170 silver coins," I slapped the brittle yellow paper on the desk
"Well, what can ya do? Just try to rank up to get better quests, all the monster hunting ones were takin' early this morning," She leaned back in her chair. My face shone with realization the quests left were all ones no one wanted, I didn't continue pushing her.
"How many merit points do I need to rank up?"
"500," Liz leaned back in her seat
"Okay, thanks I'll take this quest then," it was a quest to gather ten 'Seascotch' an herb blue at the tips, and it was fairly easy to find.
"Liz, you're not even gonna introduce me to the pretty lil lass here?" The man's gruff but flirtatious voice asked, I paused if I wasn't mistaken then that was... I turned to look at the man and sure enough there he was, Dave, smiling lecherously like a disgusting fiend. My face turned sour upon looking at his face, I clenched my hand tightly, my nails piercing my soft flesh. 'I couldn't fight now, just control it a tad longer and this man along with his bastard brother and that old man will be dead in no time.
I gave a slight smile, "Hello Sir, Sorry for interrupting your conversation just then," I gave a sweet smile masking the bloody thoughts whirling through my head.
"Ahh haha! It's fine the name's Dave what's yours lil lady?" He did his signature laugh and threw his arm around my shoulder. Just then I felt a slight crack in my expression and I felt the urge to grab his arm and throw him over my shoulder, but I barely reeled it in.
"The name's Indigo Sir,"
"What a pretty name, such a young lady is going out to the forest alone, why don't I accompany you?" He gave a sly grin, inside my face twisted in disgust, he really was a man who only thought with his lower half.
"I'll be fine Sir, thank you for your concern, I'll be on my way then," I pushed his arm off gently. "Liz this is for ten Seascotches but if I bring more Seascotches would the guild buy it?" I asked, turning away from the pest.
"Hmm, yeah but we would also be interested in other herbs too, obviously the more precious the more likely we are to buy it,"
"I see, can I get a book on herbs and plants please Liz," I asked her with a smile
"Hah, three silver coins," Liz sighed getting up and disappearing in a back room before coming out and handing me a thick brown book, I said my thanks and waved her goodbye.
Once I left the guild, my smile faded, replaced by a sullen expression filled with contempt. I eased my morbid emotions and made my way to the city gates. The guard let me out the gates easily, not questioning my origin. I walked down a path leading to the Belial Forest while flipping through the book Liz gave me, memorizing the various plants and their different purposes and properties.
The forest I headed to was the Belial Forest, at the center of Rufus, and was a forest teeming with magic beasts and plants. The deeper you went, the more dangerous it became. Surrounding the forest was four countries to the North, South, East and West of it.
Aurora, the magic country, was in the North and on a steep, treacherous mountain. Magic users made up the entire country, and they had very strict regulations on who entered. To the South, was Falcosia which lay in a valley, it wasn't really a country but more like a lawless city, with many criminals. To the West was Unisonia where I come from, a trading country with abundant resources, and finally to the East was Muse the Country of Religion.