"Beneath the rubble of a long-abandoned house in a long-abandoned village, a void wielder dares to venture inside, carefully stepping inside."
"She looks around, seeing pictures of a man and a woman placed on every piece of furniture."
"As soon as she entered, she quickly noticed a completely destroyed interior, drowned in a tinge of darkness at every corner."
"She advances very slowly, as if warning of a surprise attack that could come from anywhere, her dagger in her hand ready to be drawn at any moment."
?????:
(What could have happened here?
It would be nice if I could discover something special here, after all it's always fun to discover the past of a place.
I feel that in addition, this house perhaps has something extra compared to the other houses that I have discovered before, but I'm not able to say what.)
"While ????? was only on the ground floor, suddenly a powerful pestilential smell almost made ????? vomits right at the moment she feels it, a smell that she recognizes but amplified."
"She immediately stops moving and put away his dagger in one of her pants pocket to pinch her nose, lessening the effects of the smell on her a little."
(Oh boy!
I feel that I will soon vomit if this smell doesn't disappear, did we kill a herd of animals here or what?
I take back what I thought about this place, what trouble did I get myself into, seriously?
I'll end up being unable to continue if this smell is this strong.)
"Instead of continuing to explore the living room or kitchen of the house, ????? goes to where the smell is felt, to find out what can cause this smell."
"As she takes the stairs, she feels that with each step, her resistance to the smell drops more and more, yet she continues without thinking of anything, climbing the stairs until she reaches the first floor."
(This smell is really going to drive me crazy, it must be here where the smell is clumped together, given what I have to endure here to not let myself be dominated by this smell of death.)
"????? continues to advance on this first floor, putting up with the smell less and less."
"Ironically, she managed to get used to this smell by being exposed to it, it does not alleviate the effects but it at least reduce the immediate effects that the smell can produce such as the urge to vomit, that ????? felt the first time."
"As she moved further upstairs, she knew instinctively and through experience where the smell was coming from."
"The upper floor has three bedrooms, one on the left at the end of the small upstairs corridor and two bedrooms on the right, closer to the stairs, it is this bedroom on the left that ????? suspect to be the room where this nightmarish smell is coming from."
"Walking all the way, ????? ends up reaching this room and entering it, from there a scene of horror plays out before his eyes."
?????:
Holy shit!
What is this madness!
"????? saw before her a teenager covered in flesh and blood, sitting and eating his own arm, very close to the skeleton of a woman and the skeletons of children, scattered all around the teenager."
"????? couldn't believe her eyes, even though she had seen things as a void wielder, what she was seeing was beyond anything she had ever experienced in terms of horror."
"Unable to resist any longer, she kneels and begins to vomit violently, unable to resist any longer."
?????:
Blurrrgh!
Blurrg!
(What the hell is this thing!)
Blurrrgh!
"Far from caring about anything, the young boy continued to eat his arm without moving, without meeting ?????'s gaze."
"He simply continued to eat his own arm, showing in every detail the flesh and bones of his arm, exposed to the open air."
"It was only 30 seconds later that ????? pulls herself together after having throw all her discomfort on the ground, she gets up to observe the young teenager more attentively."
"????? wiped her mouth to remove the remains of vomit, while doing this she noticed that it was only after vomiting that she could no longer pay attention to the smell as before."
"The smell is horrible and disgusting, yet ????? has developed a resistance, from being exposed to this smell, it now helps her to be able to look at the young boy as she wants."
?????:
(At the base, I'm not the type of girl to be shocked when I see blood, but right now, I doubt anyone could resist to this sight.)
"????? notices a detail now that she is looking more attentively at the young man."
(Eh?
His arm is coming back together, how is that possible?
This boy is not old enough to wield void energy, there is no way he can do that using a void power.)
"As she continues to look at the young boy, he still carelessly continues to eat her arm, this time completely reconstituted."
(You're going to stop yes!)
"????? quickly rushes towards the young boy, she prevents him from continuing to eat her arm by grabbing his arm and pulling his arm towards her, while pushing back the young boy's head."
Stop it, do you realize what you're doing?
You are hurting yourself!
"Now that ????? is closer, she can see how empty the young boy's eyes look, as if the young boy's spirit has disappeared."
"He doesn't even try to struggle, he just looks in one place, without making any sounds or resistance, ????? thought directly when she saw him."
?????:
(Is he still mentally alive?
I keep wondering about this boy all the time, he's special in too many ways for me to guess anything about him.)
"The smell of the young man is beyond description, at the epicenter of the bad smell that is felt in the house, ????? feels that she will not last long."
(Damn, that smell of rotting flesh around him, I feel like I'm going to vomit again, agh my nausea is coming back.
You know what, I better stop bothering and take him with me to the guild, we'll see what we do with him.)
"From there, still holding the young boy's arm, she decides to carry him, hugging him against her arm, and to run towards the only window in the room which overlooks the garden outside, near the house."
"Without hesitation, she breaks the window and jump, taking care to receive all the damage that this could cause by using her void energy on herself and the young boy."
"In the air, she continues to use her void energy to mitigate the 3-meter fall she has just made, crashing to the ground on both feet while keeping the young boy close to her."
?????:
Oh yes, fresh air, that's what I needed damn it!
Phew, I'm breathing again, that's it.
(This smell of death remains because of this boy but it's not the same at least.
Okay I'll let it go.)
"????? gently let's go the young teenager, sitting him down on the ground, after that, ????? has the idea of lying down on the ground."
"At this time of summer she saw a magnificent sun in the middle of the afternoon, accompanied by cool winds which make all the flowers around move in unison, giving a breathtaking landscape to admire."
"A landscape that contrasts sharply with the bits of flesh arranged on ?????'s plaid shirt and the t-shirt of the young teenager, causing both of them to have a stench that is difficult to ignore."
?????:
Haahh.
(I'm living again damn it, I don't need much more to feel good here now.)
"????? lay there for a few minutes, picking up and admiring the beauty of some flowers while she lay there, remaining in a state of absolute serenity."
"After this moment of relaxation, she got up while remaining in a seated position, looking at the young teenager she had just taken out of this house."
?????:
Huh, are you serious?
Seriously.
"????? visibly desperate, gently taps his forehead out of exasperation while witnessing this spectacle."
"The young adolescent, obviously having started while she was not looking, continues to eat his arm which regains a sordid appearance, clearly showing all the muscles and bones of his arm."
(Wow, I'm at a loss for words honestly.
I seriously wonder what a normal person would have done in this situation, because I barely know how to react.
Well I'm just gonna do what I do best.)
"????? takes a lollipop from her pocket that she usually keeps to cheer herself up when she's having a bad day and puts it in the young teenager's mouth, without forgetting to take his arm out of his mouth."
Kid, keep it in your mouth until we get back to the Sun Hope guild, I'm sure you don't understand anything that I say but if you understand what I'm saying, hang on until we get to Richmond.
(It might be difficult to cope with if locals see him eating his own arm.
Fortunately I have plenty of lollipops, it will save us from not very funny situations if, attracted by the taste, he no longer wants to eat his arm.)
"The young teenager show no emotion like since the beginning, except this time, as soon as he started to feel the taste of the lollipop invade his mouth, he immediately start to staring ?????, standing behind him."
"It surprised ????? who didn't expect that, the young teenager also started to crying in front of her."
?????:
What's happening to you all of a sudden?
Do you hurt somewhere?
"The young teenager began to throw his arms towards her, as if asking for a hug, still with an emotionless face, he told her while crying."
????:
Mom, mom.
Mom.
"As if she understood without understanding at the same time, ????? carried the young teenager towards her with her arms under her shoulders, a teenager she knew to be light, with skin on bones, as light as a child."
"From there she hugs him, hearing the young teenager calmly say the same thing over and over again without raising his voice, while crying."
Mom, mom.
"She didn't want to cry, crying is something useless in this world she told herself, it's not by crying that she managed to climb the ladder of life by becoming stronger."
"Yet, she caresses the head of this teenager without asking any more questions, there were none to ask in the first place, at that precise moment, she was crying too."
"Far from being overwhelmed by her fate, she simply cried because she understood all the life of suffering that she had just extirpated at once, in a certain way, she allowed this young adolescent to be born a second time."
?????:
Let's go.
"????? places the young teenager on the ground before placing him on his back, leaving him clutched tightly to his back."
"He continued to cry without an ounce of emotion on his face, saying the same thing over and over as if a trigger had gone off."
"????? dried her tears before starting to walk with the young teenager on her back, following the same path that allowed her to come here.
?????:
Being called mom at my age is really hurtful, I'm barely 26 though.
Expect to get scolded from me when we get home, I'll make you not want to treat me like a mother.
"????? seemed to smile at this situation, who knows what she was thinking at that moment."
"Anyway, the two were hitting the road back to Richmond, the new capital of Virginia, a very strong woman with immense skills with her dagger and a teenager who is able to regenerate at will."
What new adventure will these two offer us, a question pending at the moment.
This completes the first part of a macabre winter tale.