"AHHH!!" She screams, blood seeping out of her cut. She grabs at it, hoping it was still there.
Orianna's blood-curdling screams reverberate across the field as she grasps desperately at the tattered ruin of her shoulder. Hot blood pumped in crimson rivers down her clothes from the savaged stump. Shock threatens to drag her into unconsciousness, but she fiercely holds it at bay.
'Not yet'. Gritting her teeth, she forces her trembling fingers into the open wound, clawing at shreds of tissue in a futile attempt to stem the relentless flow.
The creature looms closer with her severed limb dangling from one massive paw and her blood drips thickly from its curved claws. Its black beady eye watches her struggle emotionlessly, devoid of pity or satisfaction, as one might observe an insect writhing under a magnifying glass.
Orianna's eyes shoot darts, but the creature turns around with no care, feasting on her arm.
The spectral woman gazes down impassively as Orianna bleeds out before her. "As I foresaw, the moth flutters straight into the flame,…' she murmurs.
Tears crawling out of her eyes, 'F-foresaw?'
The woman smiles down at her, though no warmth touches her hollow eyes. "I can see glimpses of what is to come. Possible futures and fates. The visions I receive are 99% accurate." She glances up at the sky for a moment, her transparent hair rippling in an unfelt breeze. When her gaze returns to Orianna, it was tinged with solemn regret
Orianna's tears flow faster as understanding sank in. "So you...you brought me here, knowing I would..." She couldn't finish the thought, a sob catching in her throat. But before the spectral woman could respond, Orianna shook her head, wincing at the spike of pain the movement caused.
"No...I would have still come even knowing," Orianna rasps.
The woman nods, her expression unreadable. "You matched certain requirements. I had no choice but to bring you. Also my predictions are not 100%" She sighs, 'Though there was no way for you to pass my predictions twice'
Then, the woman gestures vaguely around them, her next words so soft Orianna almost didn't catch them, "They see this as entertaining." Disdain colors her voice. "I do not know how."
At the oblique reference, Orianna finds her voice. "They...who?" Each word felt torn from her throat.
The spectral woman pauses, a flicker of hesitation passing over her stoic features. "Ah, forget I mentioned it." She lightly touched Orianna's cheek. "I did grow rather fond of you, truthfully. Had you encountered a different mirror, then..."
Orianna's nails dug furrows in the bloodstained earth as the spectral woman's words echo maddeningly in her fading thoughts.
'Entertainment? Different mirrors?' Orianna clenches her jaw, determined to remain conscious. Blood continues to pump from the grievous wound. Orianna takes a deep breath, 'She can't - or won't - give me answers,'
A gentle wind brushes Orianna's skin, indifferent to her tortured state. She blinks up at the cold, remote beauty of the night sky, so ironic given her situation.
With tremendous effort, she turns her head toward Leo's broken body, sprawled helpless atop the towering rock. One wing jutts out at an unnatural angle, vainly trying to rise.
"Damn it all," Orianna growls. "My will is not less than my bird" Her eyes start to glow an unnatural gold and warmth floods her veins, numbing the searing pain. Even with blood continuing to spill from her ragged shoulder.
Spying a sharp stick amidst the blood-spattered grass, her fingers wrap around it. She inhales a ragged breath, blinking the haze from her vision.
"Hey!" she shouts at the creature's back. It pauses, ears pricking up, and licked its bloody muzzle expectantly.
Orianna conjures a ghastly, agonized grin. "What's the matter? Isn't all this warm blood enough?" She gives a hollow, wheezing laugh that ends in a choking cough. "You still look thirsty to me."
The monstrous rabbit creature rises, responding to her goading words. Lumbering toward Orianna with her severed arm dangling from its jaws, its appetite grows with each step, driven by the tantalizing scent of blood.
It soon towers over her, blotting out the stars. Its faint breath overwhelms as Orianna grips the sharpened stick with her remaining hand. Gazing up at the gaping jaws about to descend, a primal scream erupts from her shredded lungs.
"AHHHHH!"
She plunges the makeshift spear at its remaining eye.
But at the last instant, the creature stops the blow with its paw. Jagged stick meeting skin and bone with a sickening crack. Orianna's eyes go wide, the shards of hope within them shattering.
"No!" The cry is more moan than speech, her punctured shoulder screaming at even that slight exertion. Still, she stabs relentlessly with her pathetic weapon, driving the pointed end against matted fur seeking any depth at all.
The beast seems to sneer, toying with its prey, its massive paw blocking each increasingly feeble blow.
Yet with each stab, Orianna's eyes blaze brighter gold. She shoves the spear with every last shred of rage and anguish left in her ravaged body. Once again she screams,
"AHHHHHH"
The aura from her eyes springs up around the weapon and her hand.
Sensing the tide turning against it, the beast tosses aside Orianna's severed arm, scrambling to defend itself. But before its hulking fist can smash Orianna's broken body, her spear finally pierces flesh, fur, and eye in a bursting gush of fetid gore.
The beast recoils, emitting an unearthly shriek that rattles Orianna's bones. It teeters for a suspended moment before crashing to the earth with a resounding boom. The beast twitches in its death, then disintegrates before Orianna's eyes in a glittering explosion of confetti.
Orianna freezes, struggling to process the bizarre sight while her mutilated body screams for reprieve.
"I...did it?" she finally wheezes, blinking at the papery remains fluttering around her. Disbelief and delirium war in her mind.
The spectral woman emerges from the pin, her expression unreadable as she silently appraises the scene. 'This strange girl defies predictions not once, but twice now.' She tilts her head up, 'What anomalies allow her to pass fate's design? Although it's 99%, how can you get the 1% that I can't view..?' The questions gnaw at the seer relentlessly.
There are always exceptions to the rules, but this exceeds anything she has witnessed across millennia of observation. She narrows her eyes.
Gasping raggedly for breath as her lifeblood poured out onto the earth, Orianna frantically scans her surroundings. "Leo - is he...?" Spying his familiar form perched intact atop the nearby boulder, relief floods her mutilated body. Mustering her fading strength, she calls out hoarsely, "Leo!"
At her anguished cry, the parrot leapt from his perch, sprinting toward her with an alarmed caw. Orianna lifts her one remaining arm, yearning to stroke his glossy feathers. Taking what little comfort she could in his presence before the end.
The specter tilts her head, pin glinting. "Curious. You face death yet worry for your friend?"
Orianna met the woman's gaze unflinchingly. "He's far more important to me than my own life," she rasps. A spasm of grief contorted her bloodless face.
With quivering fingers, Orianna gently inspects Leo's wings. Infinitely relieved to find his injuries less severe than she had feared. Fighting to stay conscious, she smiles not caring how silly she may look about her bird.
The spectral woman's eyes glint, 'This strange girl…', She nods slowly to herself and smiles. 'Very well.'
Soon the edges of Orianna's vision began to darken and blur. But, just before she lost consciousness, a glowing blue box materialized in front of her face.
!!CONGRATULATIONS!!
*****************************
- T R I A L -
C O M P L E T E
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LV. UP!
Stunned, Orianna blinks at the strange sight. Before she can react further, brilliant orbs of light dance around her. Bathing her in their supernatural radiance. She squints against their glare, utterly bewildered by their mesmerizing, hypnotic movements.
"What is this?" she mutters. The balls of light almost look like small fairies dancing on her wounds. Leo flaps his wings as if he's dancing with them.
First, the shimmering spheres swirl to her right shoulder, forming into the arm she had lost. Stunned, she flexes her reconstructed fingers. Then the glimmering globes drift into her mouth next, curing her battered body with vitality until she feels reborn. 'Should I feel violated?' she bites her lip.
Orianna sits up and assesses herself. Her wounds have vanished - she is as healthy and whole as the time before she departed home. "I'm fully healed and…." She glances up at the blue square and notices the word, "Trial?"
"Congratulations!" The spectral woman applauds,"The system has now marked you as an official Player."