"A nuisance…"
"It was a mistake on our part, a regretful one"
"Where'll she go?"
Her body felt warm, mind fuzzed as her eyes groggily opened, meeting gazes with a wooden headed ceiling again. She groaned, there was an odd familiarity she was feeling that annoyed her as she slowly lifted herself from the bed beneath her, wincing at the pain that followed.
"Argh"
She stared down, there were bandages wrapping her shoulders to chest then waist, blotched red in certain areas. What had caused this again? Her memories fuzzed once more, right now she was focused on ascertaining her surroundings, the bandages could've come from anywhere, she was a frequent in the hospitals anyway. Weekend evenings were mostly spent wasting while playing video games, the more exhilarating nights were on the road, herself alone. The room was small in size, lamps lighting it with a small empty silver tray that sat on top of a stool beside her bed, perhaps having once carried the equipment that had been used to patch her up, then there was the dresser on her right; food sat there.
She stared at it intensely for a while, it was a pastry and what was still steaming hot tea beside it. Her stomach growled at the sight and soon grabbed before sinking onto the frames of her bed, trying her best to process all that happened before she woke up. Her mood sullied as she ate the pastries, the dream had been nice while it lasted. Casting spells had been cool, maybe not the charms but great enough, then there was her teacher, the woman Melissa, Ronvel and her pare—
'Master are you awake?' Crusch heard a voice chime in her head, startling her for a moment till she realized who it was from.
"Beryl?" She asked, it was usually the bear that called her by 'Master', Abssynia referred to her as Owner or dear Owner.
'Both, how do you feel?' Her wand asked her, an odd question till it all started flowing back to her with a groan.
Right, she'd been facing the trials with Ronvel and then faced off against a giant wolf that bled her to death but then why was she here? She answered with a smile.
"Splendid actually" She laughed, "The wounds are a little annoying though"
The pain was real, wincingly so that it didn't wake her up from this possible dream, no it was indeed the new world she reincarnated into, the real world she was having fun in.
'.....' Beryl and Abssynia paused at her laughter, waiting for it to recede which took a while as Crusch sunk into her bed once more. The voice of her wand's now a little tender between each other, so much so they were speaking to her in unison.
'We fear for your mental well being master' They spoke to her, Crusch glanced at the silver tray.
"Stressing over the insignificant, I'm fine" But the wands didn't answer immediately again.
'Master…what…had you heard?'
…..
"I got out of it, that's all that matters"
'... That's what concerns us master, how?' Crusch once again didn't answer them immediately, switching topics quickly.
"What happened to me and Ronvel?" She gave a look of concern and sternness, it was obvious from a glance that the previous subject couldn't be fought over and they sighed before recounting the ordeal.
'She successfully found the magic door,' Abssynia started, 'It was indeed a requirement to finish the trial and you were both brought to another building the moment you stepped inside'
"Teleportation?" Crusch asked.
'I wouldn't know but the moment you two did make it there and your partner was quick to call a medic for you,' Crusch nodded, 'You were brought here, that's all really'
It had gone pretty much as she'd expected it after realizing she was still alive here, she must've been in one of the rooms to the building she and Ronvel had teleported into.
"How many others were there?" It was Beryl who answered this time.
'Quite a few but the numbers were incredibly narrowed'
The first trial must've done the way it was in specifically achieving that desired affect, the one's who made were probably seen as the real contenders, the real participants of the trial. Crusch nodded, recounting the first trial a lot more analytically than her racing mind before could afford to spend time upon, the hotel lobby area came to mind and the powerful charm spells that were placed on it; that must have been the first mini trial, don't let the place enrapture you. She sighed, her body was still aching from the last battle and perhaps after at least an hour or two of sleep as well, she caressed the surface of the bandages.
She lightly chuckled, the blotching red was unsightly but a part of her gave the scenery an approving look. In the end it was a memento of the feat she'd accomplished prior from here, she honestly thought herself dead but managed to persevere, to her, the scars were perhaps medals? Weird, she knew it and perhaps cringed at the thought but liked the idea. She glanced over towards the dresser again and picked up another one of the pastries as well as the steaming tea again, they had a soothing effect, the pastries clearing her thoughts while the tea gave warmth.
"Dear Owner, there's something—' Abssynia's words were cut off quickly by the sound of the door in front of her slowly creeping open, Crusch attempted to flicker her wand towards her but the action was met with failure as she realized just how drained her reserves were, she tensed and relayed to herself what to do but as a blonde hair and piercing deep navy eyes met hers and her body relaxed.
"State who you are first would you?" Crusch groaned before falled onto the pillows below her again, Ronvel now shouting a mouthful of apologies.
"The person who'd patched you said you were out cold, I didn't want to wake you if I could avoid it" Ronvel responded as she walked inside, "How are you feeling?"
"Great, passed I guess?"
Ronvel smiled, "Flying colors, we did get there slower than a lot of the others who made it but your display really impressed a lot of people not to mention the general populous"
Crusch's body stiffened, she'd forgotten that it was a public event and that the judges weren't the only people watching. Her head fell into her hands, if her new parents saw what happened with the beast before and even before that…
"They didn't hear a thing if that's what you're worried about" Ronvel spoke as Crusch stared at her, "Some things are omitted from the public, brutal deaths especially as well as private conversations"
She let out a sigh of relief, "That's great, so how long have I been out for and when's the second trial?"
"Two hours, the next trial is happening a day after tomorrow's celebrations"
"Celebrations?" Crusch raised a browas Ronvel continued.
"Yeah, Hubert was impressed a lot of us made it since the place was so heavily charmed" Ronvel made a movement for the pastries as she explained, "The ones who were gawking over the lobby area stayed like that till night, they were disqualified right after"
Crusch guessed but hadn't thought the effects that dangerous, what level of charming even was that? Her teacher was an exceptional charms specialist or was at least really good at it but even his charms were breakable, Crusch herself had nearly found herself victim and she shuddered at the thought of what might've happened.
"It's nothing serious and there's no real compulsories to attend but I heard some of the judges will be present to speak to but many people will be trying to talk to them anyway so I can't really say it's a good enough reason to go" Crusch nodded in agreement, plus she was in no condition to suddenly start dancing or anything but some more free drinks would've been nice.
'Ah, aren't I fifteen?' She inwardly sighed.
Ronvel had gone silent for a moment as Crusch realized her gaze had been caught by something in the room, she followed it all the way to the blotches of red staining the shoulder part of her bandages and stomach. She laughed and sat upright, hiding the wince as she did so.
"It'll be a nice memento when its all healed" She noted proudly, Ronvel recoiled.
"There's no reason to keep that, scars are for barbarians you know?" She hissed, "And besides…I'd rather not be reminded of my own mistakes…"
Crusch chuckled at the first part but raised a brow at the second, "We made it didn't we?"
A win was a win in her opinion, it was a lot harder to get but it was still a great win but Ronvel saw otherwise.
"I forgot details, we were too leisurely in our first search and had we found our room earlier we might've…"
She trailed off but it was obvious what was on her mind, that they wouldn't have been chased by a man eating wolf and she wouldn't have had to face it the way she did.
"We got here, that's all that matters" Crusch beamed but the action seemed to drive a sword than give any form of reassurance.
"You'd have died if you weren't even half as skilled as you were, that would've been my fault alone…" Her gaze lowered to her feet as though that was the most interesting thing in the room, "I…really am sorry"
Crusch raised a brow, the apology felt unwarranted, "you really don't have to, hell, you saved my life before I even started saving yours"
At the beginning of the trial she hadn't even associated anything to the trials beginnings, she was, like everyone else, gawking at the lobby room and enraptured by the sight so many other things. Ronvel had been the one to ground her before things got bad so if anything, she owed her first, if not more so since none of everything that happened after would've happened if Ronvel hadn't stepped in in the first place.
"We were already a team, of course I only did what was right"
"Then so did I, no big issues" she shrugged.
"No, no, I forgot things and made the process far harder than it should've been" She shook her head, "Those injuries—"
"Will make great conversation starters" Crusch interjected, "Really, I'm fine"
Ronvel looked up, stared but her expression didn't seem to have changed much although a smile became a little prevalent her expression was just as grim. It was obvious she was placing a fair amount of blame, degrees to which Crusch couldn't hope to comprehend. How much information on the trial had she been given? She thought she had a pretty good guess before but it seemed as though Ronvel had known its contents from back to front and every last detail right down to the charmed hotel. She had known that the lobby was dangerous, that the doors that weren't theirs could be opened and that they had a time limit on each floor their door was on.
"Look—" But Ronvel was quick to change the subject, her attention sliding towards her wand that sat on the dresser.
"So it's a fused wand?" She asked as Crusch's eyes widened.
"How did you—"
"The judges found out, well I should say I should've guessed it too, having two different affinities in one wand is indeed odd"
Crusch sighed, "That easily huh?"
Ronvel laughed, the grimness leaving her a bit, "You were planning on keeping it secret?"
Crusch shrugged.
"You're far too secretive and untrusting you know? But if that were your intentions it was surely unwise to not charm your wand with someone else's help" Crusch clicked a tongue.
"You can charm your own wand?"
"Of course, you could've made the spells seem lacking in an affinity or just chose one like mine" Ronvel explained as Crusch pointed a finger.
"Aha, why is it normal that your spells do all that ice stuff?" Crusch asked as Ronvel smiled and shrugged.
"A large mana pool runs in the family, my ancestor was an amazing ice Witch too so it only makes sense if I took most things from her" Crusch groaned at the perfect answer.
"Boring, no secrets" she slid back onto the pillows as Ronvel laughed again. They continued talking like this for what felt like hours, Crusch noted that Ronvel felt increasingly easier to confide in and was overall a great input. They spoke on a multitude of different topics, it was the most fun she'd ever had while speaking to a person in ages; when was the last again?
She couldn't remember but her old roommate from back then came to mind but even then was Crusch hard pressed to call the two of them friends, she was more of a bubbly type that just tried to spread a whole lot of positivity around her. They spoke like everyday acquaintances and although they did have a few conversations they weren't exactly fun like this, they were one sided, Hannah did most of the talking after all.
Ronvel eventually found it appropriate for Crusch to take a rest, there was still another two trials by her guesses and she needed to be in her best condition. The medic that had treated her apparently said that she'd been fine in eight hours or so, so long as she got a rest.
"Till tomorrow Ludy" She turned for the door, Crusch now only realizing how much she'd been allowing to be called a nickname by her while she said her first name in full.
"You've grown comfortable with that huh?"
Ronvel chuckled, "Find one for me then"
The door closed as Crusch fround in dismay, "Ronvel? Ronvi? Ronnel? That's not it, Ranni? Ron? Erm…."
She continued like this till the exhaustion came creeping back, unbeknownst to her was the watchful gaze staring at her from the dresser.
"It's concerning…" Beryl noted, beside the woman only in voice alone, "The effects of nightmare beast's are…"
"Harrowing" Abssynia finished for him, her now cross pupiled gaze having fused with Beryl frowning upon the circumstances.
"Masters apathy towards her own health…" Beryl trailed off but the connection between himself and Abssynia made it impossible for one to hide their thoughts nor true intentions from the other, they were one body now and Abssynia read his thoughts as if her own.
'I Stole it from her! I stole it from her!'
The words she'd shouted before still played across the beast's thoughts, disconcerting that it unnerved them both. Over the time at which they'd spent with Ludmilla and it wasn't hard understanding her main family, she had two other older sisters and a brother with Veronica as the eldest and most accomplished. The relationship with her other older siblings besides Veronica was sparse, so who had she been referring to?
"Wretched things they are, using such underhanded tactics" Beryl spat with disgust.
"Fear is a tool" She answered coolly, although even her race had a pride and honor in battle.
"A wretched tool, I expected no less from beasts that don't even belong here" Abssynia's gaze narrowed to Beryl's words.
"Indeed…" She clutched herself tightly, her thoughts centering over the beast and its formless appearance, the shadowy nature of the wolf like form it decided to undertake. It had said something towards Ludmilla, those were the worst kinds of fears that a nightmare beast could mimic; a memory. A physical form could be dealt with, a memory held trauma's one would rather hide and forget. Even for a demonic race such herself, nightmare beast's were an evil beyond the word alone. They enjoyed mental suffering more than anything else, their forms twisted and churned, a victims thoughts and most terrifying fears laid themselves bare. The trauma's, the agony's and cries were perhaps a past time, a nightmare beast's form of dead prey was one maddened by fear.
Beryl spoke again, this time in correlation to Ludmilla's earlier refusals, "It is a deep fear…"
Abssynia agreed, "Dangerous yet I can't understand what had broken her out of it just as quickly"
When a nightmare beast used memories, rare was it that the victim's fate hadn't already been sealed.
Abssynia could feel Beryl's frown, his thoughts were erratic and thoughtful, a habit perhaps honed in the environment in which he'd once lived as he answered hesitantly.
"There is a possibility…"
"She's not mad!" Beryl coughed.
"The effects hit others later than most, she's far too evasive for us not to include this"
"You wouldn't like recollecting something that bad would you?" Abssynia questioned but Beryl stood firm.
"You know as well as I do the effects those things can have, if Master has so much as been corrup—"
"We what?" Abssynia hissed, "What exactly do you see as the best course of action? It was in a child's tournament, they'd know better…"
Beryl fell silent for a while
"Then we'll just watch"