Myrr: Reincarnated Timemage Assassin

Chapter 64: The Sins Of The Past

Bleeding bodies.

Ended tales.

A bloody battlefield greets my eyes. It's one that I know well now, although it looks somewhat different from how I know it. The rocky pillars surrounding the white stone clearing of the plateau. It's the top of the Cliffs of Sisyphus. Just like the Trial I just came from, children battle, wage war, and fight each other. But this...it's not the same at all. For unlike my trials where none were killed, in this battlefield, there is no mercy. No leniency. No clemency. Death is...everywhere. Sown like seeds which grow nothing but more death. Abruptly, my vision shifts. I'm traversing the rocky pillars again, clambering my way to the top. A pounding rainstorm falls down, and each drop brings the taste of blood deeper into my mouth. I feel sick. Sick of killing. Even though I'm not a killer. But here I am. A girl appears in front of me. Pretty, blue eyes. She has a nice face that feels oddly familiar. Her hand reaches out to me, but I hear a voice behind me.

All you need remember is...kill.

Do it to save her.

Do it to save yourself.

My knife comes out. Or perhaps it is a short sword. I shudder, something's wrong with the way the girl is moving. Her eyes are changing color. Changing shape. She's shrinking. The hair becomes flaming orange. A bushy tail pops out as she screams in agony. My knife...sword...blade...it carves...sinfully. Awfully.

And then the voice comes again.

I think it know it this time.

It sounds like...Jarold Westblade.

And yet...also...just a little bit...like someone else.

I'll kill everyone they send!

Because...because...I...love...you...

[Do you know why I did it?

Isn't it obvious?

As you wake up, the fever will part

The burning truth, surrounded by that awful darkness

Cleanse it with blinding light but not fire

All the amnesia, all of me that is not me, let me rest

Have we met yet?

Forgive me for my sins...]

#

"How do you feel?"

When I awake from my dreams, it is not peacefully. The magic which has been my first response to danger surges to my lips, and my fingers reach for Mephis's dagger. However, since my eyes are sealed shut with dried tears, I cannot open them to see where I am. Where am I? The Trials...my badge! But then-

"Elina?" I ask. A small harrumph comes from somewhere forwards and to my right. The annoyance in the sound, as well as the smell of herbs is what does it. I remember where I am. All that's happened. My panic abates. Touching my fingers to my eyes, I wipe away the dried, crusted tears. Painfully, I finally can open them. My head falls back as white light from the round "eye" hole in the ceiling pours down on me. A soft pillow stops my skull from cracking against the ground. When did that get there?

"You talk in your sleep." Her dry voice tells me that my night terrors have returned. However, strangely enough, the woman who wasn't fazed even by a council of assassins, seems to be on edge. When I manage to turn my super sore neck to face her on the chair by the little dining table, she still has her mask on. But I can read her body language, crooked as it is. "Some of the things you said...were strange. Do you remember?"

"I...no..." Vaguely, I remember a faint voice. One from the distant past. She's been calling to me. But it's so hard to hear her voice. I just...can't...hold onto...the words. "What did I say?"

"Nothing." Elina cuts me off there. But I know she's lying. Her knuckles are clenching. What the hell did I say that made her so tense? "You've been asleep for a whole day. I would have used healing magic, but that would have ruined the effects of the training."

"Training?" I rub my eyes some more. "What training?"

"The Trials are a tempering process. Each one designed to train both mind and body." The possum mask twitches as she explains. "They will help you endure long missions, and stay vigilant in the future. If I healed you, your body would have simply reverted to how it wanted to be. And all your efforts for the last month would have been wasted."

"Ah..." Grimacing as a vicious headache rocks through my skull like a thunderclap, I force myself to raise my neck and look around. Natalia's still sleeping on the cot. Little has changed in the hut, although the light from the ceiling does show that the day has changed. "I didn't know it worked like that."

"Of course." I get the feeling that Elina is rolling her eyes, although I can't see them in the darkness. "In the old days, the 2nd Trial was the real test. Whoever survived was already all but guaranteed to become the Secthead. And all...most...everyone else died in the process. Their blood was the water which would nourish the birth of the next Eastern Raingod. After Romy became the first Eastern Raingoddess however, things changed. Still though, we did our best to make sure those who passed the Trials would come out stronger."

"If the Sect is to grow stronger, it needs to stop killing its talent and focus on training them." I'm familiar with this particular shift in culture. Many of the ancient people on Earth went through a similar evolution over time. "You guys made the right choice."

"Hmph...yes, I'm sure we did." Elina's mask moves ever so slightly and I see her ears twitch as if her lips are wrinkling behind it. "But what would a mere Acolyte know about right and wrong?"

"Uhh..." Scratching my head, I become acutely aware of how short I am on the ground looking up at Elina in her chair. Even despite her hunched form, she's still an adult and much taller than me. "Just an opinion."

"That didn't sound like just an opinion." Now I think she's smirking. Her acerbic wit is almost familiar, but I can't think of anyone that cuts quite so deep as her when they speak. "It's okay. I'm not like the others here. I do not believe in suppressing individual opinion. People are not slaves. Even people as young as...you...can sometimes provide surprising insight. You know, the original Arch-Priestesses who pioneered Healing Magic were barely older than you."

"Oh?"

"Hmph, is that so surprising?" Elina laughs. "Some of the magics you use I've never seen their like before. Even elven magic doesn't have spells which match the explosion you create. Did someone teach you, or did you figure it out yourself?"

"I had a teacher but..." Spreading my hands, I can only be honest before Elina's all-knowing gaze. "I figured it out myself."

"As I thought. You're not ordinary. But what child is..." Shaking her head, the laughter leaves her lips as suddenly as it comes and her mask becomes deadly still and silent again. After a long pause, she shivers. "Now that you're rested...have you decided what you wish to do with your time? A year may sound long, but it will pass like the blink of an eye if you waste it."

"Don't worry..." Glancing right into that possum mask in the dark, I meet Elina's gaze. Concentrating, I reach into the future and speak with the confidence of one who knows. "I'll never waste a second again."