The curse of the broken soul

The cursed girl

In spite of Barley's oath to never feel fear ever again, right now he can't deny he did feel a little bit scared. The figure rose from the bushes, allowing him to get a better look at her. She had long wild purple hair, bits of twigs were stuck in it. Her body was painfully skinny, enough so that Barley is able to see her bones. Her clothes were all torn up and dirty like she didn't care to change, that or it was all she had. There were lots and lots of cuts all over her arms and shoulders, they looked somewhat fresh. Barley would've thought her wounds would be the scariest thing about her but then he saw her eyes, they are what popped out to him the most. They were huge blue eyes that seemed so bright that it was almost like they can glow in the dark.

As Barley kept looking at them, he can see some form of emotion despite her blank stare, he can see pain in them. Barley realised that this stranger must be more scared of him than he is of her. She appeared to be young, maybe about his age as well. It could just be because her small and slender figure gave off that type of vibe but he assumed she must be incredibly fragile as well. "H-hey...what brings a young maiden like yourself here? You lost or something?" he said, managing a small smile. He still felt a bit uneasy but he wanted to try and be nice to this seemingly hurt stranger.

The stranger suddenly flinched and began running away from him. Barley couldn't just let this slide though. "Hey, wait! Don't go! I'm sorry if I scared you! I'm not gonna hurt you or anything!" Just as he said this, Blazey jumped down and ran after her. "What the-?! BLAZEY! NO! DOWN, GIRL DOWN!" He shouted, he ran after his pet yet again.

It felt like he was running for hours but in reality it was only about five minutes, Blazey soon faded from his vision and was out of sight, making him worry. He stopped for a moment and began looking around wildly, about to call her name when he heard something. It sounded like Blazey making some sort of noise, the kind of noise she makes when she's playing. A small happy bark, not too loud but not too quiet.

Barley followed the sound and the next thing he saw shocked him. The stranger was sitting down with Blazey! It looked like she was huddled up in a ball crying, a little bit of blood oozed from her cuts, almost like they were fresh ones. She must've cut herself on some of the branches from running or at least that's what Barley thought. He felt sorry for her, he may not know about her story but he can tell the pain she was feeling was real, that alone is enough for him to feel for her. She looked so hopeless as she sat there in the rain, her eyes glance up towards the sky, allowing Barley to catch a glimpse of them again, there was something unusual about them no doubt. She then looks down at the small dragon who was next to her, sniffing at her heel all curious. The girl slowly reaches out her hand, it was small and delicate with many little cuts all across them. Blazey didn't seem afraid of her at all despite how unnatural all this was, if anything she seemed excited to see the hand coming towards her. The wounded girl carefully pets the dragon on the head, staring at her intensely as if she was trying to recall something.

Barley kept on watching her in silence, he was having trouble taking in everything that he was seeing. It seems as if this girl had a love for dragons, although she was not smiling at all it was clear she had a way with these creatures. Blazey happily licked her hand, shocking the stranger at first before she continued to pet her. It sounded like she was mumbling something under her breath but Barley wasn't able to understand what she was saying. As he watched the two interact a little more, he decided it was time to try and make an effort with her again. He takes in a deep breath as he slowly descended from the bushes. "Hey..." The girl looked like she was ready to jump up and run away again but Barley was quick to stop her. "N-no no! Don't go! It's ok."

The stranger sat still, looking away from the elf like she was to afraid to make eye contact with him. There was a chill in the air by now. Seeing how skinny this girl was Barley knew she must've been freezing. He took his vest off and slowly and carefully went to wrap it around the young lady. "You poor thing, ya must be freezing out here! Here put this on." He took one step closer but she simply tensed up again, looking ready to run off at any moment. "Hey it's ok, this isn't going to hurt you." He says in a reassuring tone. He was able to get a bit closer, noticing just how sickly she appeared as he did. He was able to place his vest over her like a blanket, it was ginormous on her. He had trouble identifying what she was earlier but upon closer inspection she appears to be an imp, or some kind of imp like creature to say the least. She was far smaller than Barley, only about four feet which is to be expected of an imp. She had a long tail attached to her that also seemed to be all cut up, the top at the end was shaped in a heart that's been torn almost halfway. It looked like her tail tip had spilt judging by how red it was between the cracks. Her ears were huge, much bigger than an elf's, they were awfully pale just like the rest of her skin. Dark bags were underneath her glow in the dark eyes. The stranger didn't say anything, she just lightly felt the fabric of the vest that was given to her. Her blue eyes stare up at him, finally making contact. Although it was hard to tell what emotion she was feeling formally, the blank stare finally morphed into a puzzled expression. it was as if she couldn't believe what Barley had just done. This simple and kind gesture seems so new to her. Barley stares into those mysterious eyes for a bit, there was a brief moment of silence between the two. It was as if Barley lost his voice, he just couldn't bring himself to say anything else. He wasn't sure why but out of nowhere he felt this sudden emptiness inside him. She looked like she was in so much pain, it hurts just to have to see her this way. Everything about her was like an eyesore.