When she looked up again his face was hidden beneath a black mask that seemed like it was ravaged by a beast.
Four jagged claw masks by the side. Deep, stained with dried blood. The place where the eyes supposedly was located were slit open: dark, bottomless. Apart from the claw marks the black mask was incredibly pale for someone of his status. Perplexed, one of her brows rose up eyeing him for a while before looking away. Mentally noting to ask him about that later. She lifted up the bag that she placed on the floor of the carriage. Ignoring the monster who was restless in front of her she brought out her own mask that was hastily made for her. When Hamlin asked her what design she wanted for her mask. Her imagination flew over the roof in search of what would resonate with her the best. What would give out the image she wanted that will forever linger in people's hearts? It was so easy to choose. Because before she could even digest her thoughts.
Boom!
The image was in front of her. Begging to release itself.
The image of the goddess' mask as she tore space, the reality Amanise found herself in as She stared down at the depths of her inconsquent soul. Baring out all her secrets. Making her feel utterly naked and unable to hide. With the only option to face who she really was.
With utter force and devastation.
So that gave birth to a measly recreation or imitation of the mask in her hands. It didn't drown her with those overwhelming emotions she felt as her fingers traced the cold smooth surface. But it was...
Everything.
White, a mind-boggling blend of light and darkness. She lifted the almost plain mask, placing it own her face. The cold mask felt foreign on her face. Odd.
Breathing in deeply out before releasing it out calmly. She reached to her sides to clasp it at her back only to realize there was none. While she was worshipping and criticising the imitation she didn't notice how incomplete it was.
"How is it going to stick on my face? Or do you expect me to hold it till the very end?"
Somewhat expecting an apology for the mistake, she basked in the silence until she heard a chuckle.
"Hamlin..." She gritted out only to feel something strange occuring on her face.
Stunned, she reached out to remove the mask discovering that it was molding into her face, unabashedly.
The atoms of her face suddenly so flexible, almost languid then fusing with that of the mask slow yet speedily until there was only one. And nothing else. Until she was the mask.
Horrified trying to calm herself she tentatively touched her face trying to wake up from the nightmare she was experiencing.
'It can't be real. That's the only explaination!'
But she was so wrong the mask on her face was...
An extension of herself.
She looked at Hamlin. He was gone.
Nowhere to be seen.
Rather she was floating in the dark. Blindly.
In one hasty movement she reached to the sides of the mask to rip it off. Too scared to get it far away to be afraid of her skin peeling off. It didn't budge, the wooden mask. Instead she felt sucked into the vortex of her own mind. The longer she float, the easier she forgot.
A sense of helplessness suffocating her
'Who am I?'
'What am I?'
'Where am I?'
"When I was involving myself I didn't sign up to be a fuvking babysitter. Breathe Grimshaw. Stop forgetting that. Breathe and relax into your mask. A mask you have woven for yourself. Be in control, seize the power. It's yours."
Amanise felt like she have been pulled out from the endless ocean where she was drowning in. She heaved and coughed uncontrollably and breathed in air like her life depended on it.
Because it did. Tears sprung up her ruby eyes. Light invaded her gaze in the darkness she was latched in.
She could see again. The mask he wore seemingly molded to his face. For a quick second she thought she was looking at a humanoid monster instead not a mask. She bit back a scream. Watching him lift up his mask removing it from his face. His gray eyes dark, a pinch of annoyance in it.
"No matter the mask you decide to don on as who you will become today. Never forget about who you really are beneath. Don't lose your sense of self. If the mask ever feels thick and unremovable. Breathe, calm down and remember your origins. Got it, Grimshaw?"
Her jaw clenched in annoyance directed mostly to herself.
Closing her eyes, memories of her mother her best friend, Cassian, the orphanage till the very moment she lay in this carriage, resurfaced. The mask that clung tightly for its life on her face fell down to the floor of the carriage like a broken lock.
Instead of am extension of herself she turned it into a tool.
"Is that a part of your power? I noticed you can read people's truths from Black port on our first meeting and somehow make us invisible. How does the mask connect?"
When she used the Ember Sight on Madeline. There was a passive skill she saw but ignored. Now she was staring at the runes.
[Strings of Fate:
Description: Greedy for forbidden knowledge you sojourned to the depths of the void and stole a string of fate from the Triplets of fate. They gifted a curse onto your lineage. Now you can see fate's strings but can't stop the inevitable.]
Mentally commanding to use it. Her vision turned dark. Where she stared at the mask there was a translucent string connected to Hamlin. The translucent string beamed, illuminating in the dark intricately twined resembling threads that hooked themselves. The way it wrapped around his hands was that of a marionette.
Almost as though it was something he created. After observing for a while she was about to switch it off when she saw another thread connecting her and Hamlin. It was a blue silk thread on her middle finger long enough to circle his.
Her eyes widened subtly lifting it up. It was still there. She wiggled her middle finger at him it was still there.
"I'm sorry Grimshaw you are not my type."
What?
Her brows furrowed at him. Before she recalled her middle finger was pointing at him. Her face reddened. Looking away releasing a nervous laugh that bubbled in her throat.
"You are crazy. I didn't mean that. Why would anyone want to sleep with you?"
"You ask stupid obvious questions, Grimshaw."
She felt like he was talking about something else. Before the memory of the question she asked lingered her mind.
She was right?
"You made the mask?!"
She stopped using Ember Sight feeling her essence drain a bit. Later she would think about what the different colours of the strings meant. For now she knew that one of the things the translucent strings meant was ownership.
"Invisibility, Reading truths is just an extension of my power. Masks are the core."
"I'm surprised you easily answered my question back. What is the catch?"
Her lips pursed into a straight line as she eyed him suspiciously.
"We are partners, Grimshaws it's only right we know a general scope of our capabilities. It helps in battles."
The carriage pulled over. Amanise hastily picks the mask from the floor pasting it at her face. To feel it mold into her skin. This time around she didn't fight it. Instead, she used it to her advantage. Mirroring her thoughts into the mask to the perfect image she wanted.
Unknown to her when Hamlin caught a glimpse of her this time around his body involuntarily shivered before he caught himself.
"Ready?"
Her voice changed too. It was deep, mysterious, unassuming yet chilling.
"I was born ready."
The door of the carriage slided open.