The huntsman and daughter reunite on their way to the settlement. The doll had been facing backwards, eyes glued to the walls that grew ever so smaller, to the grumpy old lizard that looked like a miniature figurine now. He was growling for most of the time back there, shouting to what she assumed was the little one.
The doll didn't like it. It felt like any moment, he could just stomp her face in or skewer her with that lance of his. The flower that had nestled in her hair slipped as well. She wanted to reach for it but she couldn't. Left behind only to slowly rot on the road or perhaps it'll still be there for her to pick up when she leaves—if she does, that is.
They arrived at the village. The number of bipedal animals had suddenly increased, mingling and conversing among one another near these rather formative structures with doors and windows on them. They seem to be mostly made of some sort of rock, in the future the doll will know as solid concrete.
A majority of the flock, group or the more apt term, townsfolk, were reptiles. Some of them were behind these smaller structures made of wood with the roof being made of some coloured cloth tied to each corner. They were shouting but it wasn't from anger. They were shouting to garner attention for something. The doll refused to move, still no matter how curious she was to glance.
"Hey! Hart! Lishah!" One of the vendors called upon the huntsman and his daughter. "What'cha got over there?"
Though many of the villagers were of lizard kin, there were an odd few who didn't bear the same scales as them. The one with the squinty-eyes and antlers similar to the grazers was one of them. Black hair and a rather customer-friendly smile over her round face.
"Celein!" The child immediately responded with her fingers pointed at the frightened doll. The vendor tilted her head.
"Celein? Is that her name? Lishah, don't tell me you're gonna start a whole collection of rubbish like your daddy is?"
"She's not rubbish!" Lishah pouted, cheeks going red. "We're bringing her home and I'm gonna take care of her!"
The father groaned at his daughter's antics for the fifth time today. The woman with the antlers chuckled, amused.
"But really, Hart. What are you actually doing with that thing?" She asked.
"It's a Tekhanure." He repeated for the second time today. Rather suddenly, the vendor's shut eyes opened like a pair of lightbulbs.
"Ooh~. A Tekhanure." She pulls out her wallet. "How much?"
"It's not for sale you greedy woman."
"Yeah! We're taking her home!"
"Aww, come on, Lishah. I promise I'll give you a lollipop too for free."
The horned woman produced a candy on a stick from her pocket. Obviously, the stubborn lizard girl didn't agree, opting to just stare in disdain at her poor attempt. Another throwaway chuckle before she tucked the sweet back into her jacket's pocket.
"But, come on, Hart." She had turned her attention to the father. "Everything's got a price. If you're just gonna let little Lishah play a literal dollhouse with a Tekhanure then it's just a waste of the poor thing."
"Hey!"
"What's gotten you so interested?" Hart asked, still keeping a proper grip over the doll.
"I've been itching myself to get an assistant nowadays. This business doesn't quite run itself you see and another helping hand would be appreciated. Plus Tekhanures are pretty rare to find as well, much more one in a more human-shaped vessel." She whispers something under her breath and the crowded chatter of the market. "You also don't have to pay them a wage."
"Oen, when I say it's not for sale, it's not for sale. I'm sending it to the chief." He finally stated, sighing once again. The vendor let out an unsatisfied exhale.
"Peh, you lizards and your chiefs." But her sharp grin returns rather quickly. "If that old bag isn't interested either, you know who to call, Hart. A couple of odd calls from a person or two and I can fix myself an assistant! Hahahahaha!"
The avaricious vendor's laugh was an annoying one to the huntsman though he had gotten used to it. There were times he wondered why his wife is friends with a good-for-nothing greedy woman like her. The vials and bottles filled with different medicines and chemicals in front of her were much useful to the village as Oen knew the forest herbs more than the lizardmen who hunt somehow.
It was the wisdom that comes with her kin, he concludes. It was just a shame that she uses it like this.
They departed shortly after a few more lines of banter were given. In the whole conversation, in that whole interaction, the doll had been pondering back and forth. She's been hearing the same word, one that struck her interest more than the make-believe name the little lizard gave her and the chief they ever so speak.
Tekhanure. The huntsman referred to her as such, the gatekeeper referred to her as such, the vendor and the child as well. She never questioned what she was, the thought was not able to form into her mind yet. Her chipped fingers only spoke of the long tale she had under a river, no other words had occurred other than freedom was then.
But now, now that she was free or, partially at least, she had the common idea to ask herself. What was she?
These words haunting the doll's mind were not of what she thought of. No, they bounced off of something. What was this? What was this?! The paranoia had suddenly set in, these words were things she doesn't even know the meaning of! Where?! Where are they coming from?!
No! No!-- No! I don't understand! What are you?! What did you do to me?! Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!
"Dad! Her head is shaking!"
Neck, twisting, turning, spastic like the world itself had turned into a blur of images. The earth bequeaths her with their dirty presence, the insides of her head felt like a bell, ringing over and over again. She can feel roots growing inside her cranium, filling the empty head that had only been home to moss and water.
Her mouth was cracking open, her hollow throat expanding and cracking her pale skin. Something soft was stuffing it, she could feel excess water flowing out through her eye sockets, something solid in the middle of it all. Her hands covered it, pain and pain. Shame and shame.
Until she screamed to the red skies she never knew existed. She bloody screamed, a scream no ventriloquist can ever recreate, and the man standing before her was proud of it.
"Are you in pain, Atsile?" The man asked. "Are you alive, Atsile?"
The excess water streamed down her synthetic face. Her pupils shrunk, her voice hoarse. Yes, she was indeed alive. Alive and well-afraid.
Everyone was gone. The huntsman, the child and the distant vendor. Only the man in black who pulled his hat and placed it over his well-adorned suit. The man with the four red eyes smiled.
"We'll see each other soon. Develop your perspective of the world, with the eyes I have granted you with, Atsile. Shout the anger and sadness in your heart, with the voice I have crowned you, Atsile. Understand the terrors that wreak Neamh, with the knowledge I have gifted you, Atsile. Do not be afraid to see, do not be afraid to speak. Do not be afraid to think. Neamh will desire much from you, but what do you desire from it?"
It hurts, it hurts so much. It won't stop, it won't stop growing and stuffing her throat. It won't stop blurring the world into this shade of scarlet. When does it stop? Please… she wants it to stop. Please, she's begging with whatever coherent voice she has.
"What do you desire from Neamh, Atsile?"
"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOOOPPPP!!"
And in the flick of a finger, it did.
The vendor from before was above her. The man from before had disappeared. Everybody is here, everybody is staring. Oen's antlers were glowing, veins around her body sharing the same hue. Her eyes stared back into the doll's new ones.
Eyes that were crying.
"Dear Ethos…" She whispered, her squinty eyes wide open as they could be.
"Move aside! Move aside!" A group of uniformed people had rushed in. Oen respectfully moves away from the doll. One of them peers over to the huntsman.
"Explain." The man with the horns demanded.
"Tekhanure, found it in the forest, was planning on bringing it to the chief when her head started to spasm, sir!" He answered but his hands were still firmly intertwined with his daughter who was hiding behind him.
"And you, Aekha?"
Despite finding it rude, Oen remained steady and calm. "Eyes don't just pop out of a doll like that. There were no traces of any sort of mana circuit on her body but there was a lingering thing."
The vendor took another glance as if to confirm her already firm suspicion.
"I sense the lingering presence of a Demon."