Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 68-

Day: 72

Days Left: 5408

Lives Saved: 0

"So, it seems we haven't made the best first impression." The man forced a laugh. "My name's Sumit."

Corinna hesitated. She wanted them both to leave but didn't want to have to fight them. Although, now that she thought about it, perhaps they could be potential friends. Even with Harmony and Ivette, Corinna still craved for more conversation. She doubted that she could amass enough friends as she had relatives, but just two more people would make the world seem less desolate. The only problem was if she could trust them. "I'm Corinna Warren," she eventually replied.

"Oh!" Sumit nudged his friend with a mischievous smile. "We found ourselves another Corinna." He motioned to the masked woman. "Her name's Corinna too. Only, she goes by 'Rin'."

The masked woman looked away from Corinna.

"Hey, come on, Rin!" Sumit playfully pushed his friend. "Be polite, take off your mask."

After much grumbling and reluctance, Rin took off her mask, revealing the face of a woman a similar age to Corinna. She had fair skin, with dark eyes, and straight black hair that reached down almost to her hips. The shape of her eyebrows made her look like she was constantly scowling, or perhaps she always was?

"Hello..." said Rin in a low voice, gazing down at the ground as she shifted her feet.

She reminded Corinna of her nephew Jonathan and how he would react when forced to interact with strangers. Corinna covered her mouth to hide the smile forming on her lips, almost letting out a giggle, no longer fearful of Rin.

Rin tugged at Sumit's sleeve and whispered into his ear.

"Why don't you just ask yourself?" He sighed, then turned to Corinna. "Do you have a toilet and can Rin use it, please?"

Corinna glanced at Rin, whose cheeks were now flushed red and her eyebrows even more knitted than before. "Of course," said Corinna without thinking, her innate politeness taking over reason and caution. But it was too late now. She bit down on her lip to hide her nervousness as she ushered her two guests inside. After Corinna pointed Rin to the bathroom, the long-haired woman rushed over and shut the door behind her.

Sumit wandered around the room. "It's a nice place."

"Thank you," replied Corinna, unsure if she should take the compliment when it was technically Harmony's house.

"Bet you had to fight over it."

"I sort of... moved in with who was living here. Maybe my roommate had to, I'm not sure."

"Where's your roommate?"

Corinna paused for a moment. Perhaps he was trying to find out how long she would be alone and vulnerable. "She'll be back soon."

Sumit nodded, and Corinna saw his actual disinterest in the answer.

"Would you like to sit down?"

"Thanks." The man sat down in one of the armchairs, and Corinna in the other.

"I haven't seen you two before, are you new?"

"We travel. Been to at least one sector for every country- my own goal, just something to do past the time because I... have a lot of it." Sumit laughed. "Been here for about ten years. Rin's been here for eight, I think. What about you?"

"Two months," replied Corinna. "How big is The Eternal Abyss anyway?"

"I've been trying to map out as much as I can, but I suck at drawing and have no idea what I'm doing. But The Eternal Abyss itself isn't as large as I thought it would be. Not so 'eternal'. It's the size of a small country. Takes three months to go all the way around."

"What about houses? Why are they here?"

"Heard that they built them so prisoners would fight over them. More fun to watch. Same reason for the food."

"How does all the plumbing and electricity work?"

"Dunno." Sumit shrugged. "Just glad that we have it."

"Is there anything across the sea?"

"Never dared to find out. Though my guess is that everything is just one island."

"What about earlier when you thought that I could read your brand. What did you mean by that?"

"Wow, you really like asking questions."

"Oh, sorry." The young woman scratched the back of her neck, her fingers tracing her brand.

"Nah, it's cool. I was just joking. Never apologise for curiosity. Anyway, Rin can better explain it since she's a mage."

They both glanced over at the bathroom door. It opened, and Rin appeared. She stumbled back upon noticing Corinna and Sumit staring at her. Putting on her mask, Rin grumbled, "stop looking at me."

"Corinna wants to know about the brand thing," said Sumit as Rin leaned against his chair.

Rin faced Corinna and said dryly, "the brands have magical footnotes that contains more information on a prisoner like their sentence length and crime. This can be read regardless of language by a mage who channels their mana into the brand." She paused, looking down at the floor. "I am sorry if I speak your language badly. This isn't my first language-"

"Ah! No! Not at all!" Corinna assured her. "It's really good." She forced a smile, envious that Rin knew a second language so well.

"Sumit taught me."

"How many languages do you know?" Corinna asked Sumit.

The young man counted on his fingers. "I'm fluent in about twelve. A few others I'm alright in..." Sumit froze then dived down onto the floor and Rin copied. "Get down," he hushed. "I think someone's outside."

Corinna crouched down too.

Sumit crept over to the window, then peered through the glass for a second. "What does your roommate look like?"

"She's a chimaera," answered Corinna. "Is it her?"

The young man shook his head. He unsheathed his sword, donned his mask, and stood to the side of the door. Meanwhile, Corinna and Rin readied their weapons and hid behind the armchairs.

The front door creaked open.

"Wait! That's-"

Sumit charged in with his sword, then yelped as he was pinned against the wall, his feet dangling in the air.

"Harmony, stop!" Corinna rushed over to the chimaera. "He's alright, let him go!"

The chimaera's green eyes softened upon seeing the young woman and released Sumit. "Sorry," she said to the man. "I thought you hurt Corinna."

"Don't sweat it," Sumit wheezed. He took off his mask. "I'm Sumit. That's Rin." Once he had regained his breath, he looked at Corinna and wagged his finger at her. "You said that she was a chimaera!"

"She is!" Corinna snapped back.

"No. She's clearly a werewolf!"

"She's a chimaera!"

"Chimaeras have three heads- a lion, a snake, and a goat-"

"She has a snake-tail and wings-"

"She's a werewolf with a bunch of extras stapled on-"

"A chimaera is a monster made up of multiple-"

Harmony and Rin stood to the side, watching Corinna and Sumit argue.

"What do you think you are?" Rin asked Harmony.

Harmony shrugged. "Don't care."

After a while, Rin sighed. "Sumit, we should probably go."

Sumit and Corinna had already stopped arguing and had moved onto a new topic, laughing at Sumit's story of meeting a prisoner whose mask transformed them into a vampire.

The two guests bid their thanks for letting them use the toilet by gifting Corinna a packet of food, then left before the sky went dark.