12
"Well, that was anticlimactic" Artalis sounded off in ,my head. The enhtire fight had barely taken a minute, and I hadn't even broke up a sweat.
"What did you expect? A challenge? "I asked her while I gathered the bodies. " None of them even had a gift, besides didn't you teach me CQC yourself."
"Yes, but this is you we are talking about"
"I find your lack of faith in me disturbing" I replied in a hurt tone."I lost my faith in you the day you lost a foot to a squirrel" Artalis shot back, making me flinch as I remembered the incident.
"Fair point"I relented. After gathering the bodies, I dug into their chest cavities feeling around for something I remembered hazily from the book. After rummaging through the insides my hand caught something harder than the organs surrounding it. I immediately pulled it out and wiped the venom off my shirt. Holding it against the sun, I could see a pink crystal size of a quarter shining like a gem between my thumb and index finger.
"Who's the lucky girl?" Artalis joked as she saw me eyeing the crystal.,"Ha Ha very funny" I replied in monotone before I explained "this is the heart of a vampire, apparently their hearts turn to stone when they turn"
"Hmm, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'cold hearted' if you ask me " Artalis replied.
I could only sigh at her attempt at humour. After spending time with only me as her company for more than two years, her personality had a complete change. She effectively turned from holier than thou attitude to a weeb, and the memories of my previous world literature, and culture only increased her goofyness.
"Since this is the heart, it should contain the most cocentrated venom within, so,I am going to eat this instead of eating the bodies" I replied. Even though I am a ghoul, I still feel a bit queasy at the thought of eating a human.
I continued "if anything happens to me when I'm ingesting it, I want you to take care of my body,"
"What are you going to do with the remaining parts"
"You'll see" I replied mysteriously before swallowing the rock hard crystal with an audible 'gulp'.
The stone moved slowly down my esophagus, and thanks to the size ,I could feel it moving downwards to my stomach. I felt it falling into my stomach acid like a pebble falling to a puddle before it was completely dissolved.
'Hmm, nothing happened' I thought. 'Is it already done?' I questioned myself. I opened my mouth to wander out loud only to fall down to my knees the next second.
"Ruudi! ,Ruudi!! Answer ME!!" Artalis's voice echoed in my mindscape unheeded, as my entire thought process was thrown into chaos from unimaginable pain of intensity ,never before experienced.
Liquid plasma flowed through my veins as the venom was refined and the resultant product got absorbed to my bloodstream. I felt it circulate through my body melting my flesh ,powdering my bones and burning my nervous system, but it didn't end there. Characteristics of venom mixed with my body in a genetic level, heightening the speed of regeneration speed to unprecedented levels, thus healing the body the moment it broke down in a vicious cycle of pain.
I could barely make out the pain moving towards my head as the new blood was pumped from my heart with powerful beats that made all the arteries and veins visible at every turn.I could only tremble and gasp unconsciously while laying on my back ,bracing myself for the inevitable pain.
The moment the blood flowed to my brain, I was introduced to a brand new world of pain which made my previous suffering feel like child's play. My brain literally melted into a semisolid state before it reforming just to liquefy again. I felt my mouth open to scream, but no noise was released because my vocal cord was in a similar state. The mana within my cells started to boil increasing the pain but I didn't fall unconscious. I felt myself losing a part of myself as I was tortured to near insanity. As abruptly as the pain started , it faded away leaving me mentally exhausted. I could hold onto my consciousness no more. So I ignored the yellings of Artalis, that resounded in the background as I embraced the darkness, which promised me salvation.