Day: 400
Days Left: 5080
Lives Saved: 2
"You'll be begging me to release you from the pain," hushed Bryce.
Corinna reached out her hand through her gagging and cries, attempting to retrieve her spear that she had dropped.
A metal claw clamped around her arm and squeezed it. Corinna screeched, her entire body trembling.
"Naughty, naughty," sang Bryce. "How about I give you an offer, blondie? I might just forgive you for that if you beg enough. Beg me to stop the pain, and I'll make it all go away."
"Never!" spat Corinna through gritted teeth. Even just one word was difficult to utter. Her body jerked and jolted as the pain continued to surge through her veins.
Bryce tuttered. "Come on, blondie. I'm giving you a peaceful option. I'm giving you another chance to survive, but you're throwing it away. Everything that is happening to you right now, you only have yourself to blame. So, let's hear it!"
Corinna shook her head; every breath she took was like a blade slicing through her throat.
"No, I told you..." The metal scorpion's multiple legs pierced into Corinna's limbs, pinning her down even more. "I wanted you to beg!"
The young woman's screams drowned out Bryce's voice.
"I do not hear any begging!" Bryce's metal claw tightened around Corinna's right arm, her skin growing pale from the lack of circulation.
Corinna remained unresponsive, too consumed by the venom's pain and her the metal claw clamping onto her arm to make any sort of retort.
"I said, beg!" The metal claw once again tightened its grip around Corinna's arm, and she heard a soft crunch of bone.
Panting, Corinna gazed up at Bryce, her eyes cold and vacant. Despite being in agonising pain, she remained still like a doll, expressionless.
"I said, BEG!" Bryce snapped his claw shut and chopped off Corinna's arm.
The young woman wailed and screeched as she saw the stump of her arm and the large volumes of blood gushing out of it like a fountain.
"I told you to beg, blondie." Bryce stepped back, releasing the young woman, cackling as he saw her cradle her stump of an arm.
Corinna attempted to starch the blood flow by tearing off a part of her dress and wrapping it around her arm but to no avail.
"Oh, blondie..." Bryce cooed. "You only have yourself to blame-"
A gold light burst out from Corinna. It flared out and lit up the entire room.
The metal scorpion groaned and retreated, monetarily blinded by it. Once Bryce's eyes adjusted, he froze, seeing a gold and featureless mask on the young woman's face. The mask glinted with a resplendent golden glow.
"Huh... so you do have a mask after all," Bryce scoffed, feigning confidence as he raised his tail and snapped his pincers. "But you're still no match for me, blondie!" He charged forwards, his stinger ready to strike when a hand caught it and stopped him in his tracks.
Corinna slowly rose, still restraining the metal scorpion's tail with just one hand. She gazed down at herself; her entire body was covered in a gold metallic substance.
Though he could not see her face due to the blank and featureless mask Corinna now wore, Bryce somehow sensed that the young woman was smiling. The metal scorpion attempted to free his tail but failed as it was held tightly by Corinna.
The young woman cocked her head to the side then closed her fist around the stinger and yanked back, pulling the tail out of the metal scorpion.
Sparks shot out of the severed tail, and Bryce writhed in pain, his scream sharp and echoing throughout the room. He recoiled back, but then regained his composure and fake confidence. "You'll pay for that, blondie. I can still beat you without the venom!"
Corinna cast the severed tail aside, and the metal limb landed with a clattering thud, causing parts of the floorboards to shatter. She looked down at her remaining hand, her skin completely solid gold, that was until she saw a black dot appear. It grew larger, forming into a swirl that expanded, branching off into more swirls and delicate patterns covering her entire body. A set of black eyes formed on her face, along with a pair of black lips. A lace-like pattern of black spirals formed on her forehead and grew upwards then jutted out into a thin thorn-like crown spiking out of her head. Her golden blonde hair, now seeming to be even shinier and glossier than before, cascaded down behind her. Large pauldrons formed on her shoulders, then a breastplate, greaves, a gauntlet on her remaining hand, and other armour pieces, all in a matching gold with black embellishments. A long flowing fauld skirt billowed out from behind Corinna's waist.
Her stub of a right arm jerked upwards and twisted itself. A thin jet of black shot out then grew thicker and sprouted out four fingers and a thumb. Corinna turned her new arm around, stretching it out. It was solid black, void of any other colour, whilst wearing its own gauntlet.
Bryce froze, having seen Corinna regrow a limb in her new form. His metal limbs rattled and clattered as they shook.
"Well," said the golden knight, her voice deep and distorted like it was through a filter. Though she spoke, the painted black lips on her masked face did not move. "Let's see what this form can do, shall we?" Corinna rushed forward, the floorboards breaking from her armoured boots. She grappled Bryce with her new right arm and threw him across the room to the door.
The metal scorpion groaned and tumbled back up onto his numerous legs.
Corinna clicked her neck and rolled back her shoulders. She picked up her spear from the floor and twirled around with more flourish than she could ever do before. "You have one last chance to leave and never return," she hissed, pointing the spear at the metal scorpion.
Bryce laughed. "That's never going to happen, blondie-"
His body hurtled into the front door, smashing through it and taking parts of the wall with him. The metal scorpion crashed and rolled across the grassy sand until he finally stopped several metres away from the house. He slowly picked himself back up and glanced over to the gaping hole where the front door had been. There stood the golden knight, her spear raised and prepared to make another strike.
Corinna stepped down from the porch and onto the ground. "Come any closer, and I won't hesitate to attack you again."
Snarling, Bryce rushed at her and swiped at Corinna with his metal claws. The golden knight jumped up, gracefully evading his attacks. Bryce gazed up and gasped as he saw that the knight had jumped several meters into the air, then landed on the other side of him.
"One last chance," said Corinna, her voice flat. "Leave."
With a vengeful cry, Bryce lashed out in one last desperate attempt. His metal claw stopped a mere inch away from the golden knight's masked face as Corinna caught it with her black metal hand.
"You only have yourself to blame," she said. With her other hand, her fingers gripped tightly onto the edges of the metal scorpion's face then pulled back.
"No!" Bryce screamed.
A flash of light shone across his body as it shrunk down into his human form; only he wasn't entirely human. The fingers on his left hand had fused, mirroring a claw, and the skin was swollen to an abnormal thickness. Parts of his body were still metallic and bulky; his balance disrupted, he could no longer stand without toppling over. Only one of his eyes had returned, the other was missing but replaced with two small pinprick scorpion eyes.
The whimpering half-man half-metal being gazed up at the golden knight, his mismatched three eyes focused on the scorpion mask in the knight's hands.
Corinna snapped the mask in half then cast aside the broken pieces onto the ground in front of Bryce. "You're not going to hurt anyone else, you understand?" She used the blade of her spear to raise Bryce's head higher. "If you behave, I might just give you a food packet or two." Her attention then returned elsewhere. Corinna gazed back at the house. "Calixte..."
Leaving the deformed and sobbing Bryce, the golden knight entered the house to aid her injured friend.
*
As Harmony and Dex drew near to the house, they both spotted in the distance a figure with a shaved head crawling and pulling its body across the grassy sand.
"Bryce..." Harmony growled. Her eyes then darted over to the house and gasped upon seeing the gaping hole. "Corinna and Calixte!"
"You go check on them," said Dex. "I'll deal with Bryce.
Harmony nodded and dismounted from the headless knight's horse before rushing over and entering the house.
Once she was out of sight, Dex transformed back into a human and approached Byrce. As he got closer, he noticed that parts of his skin were metallic. Dex then gasped in horror as he saw the deformed hand resembling a claw and the three eyes, one of which was the human and the other two small and black pinpricks.
"What happened to you..." Dex covered his mouth, preventing himself from throwing up.
"What happened?" Bryce laughed or perhaps sobbed; it was difficult to determine as his voice had become so warped. "That so-called pacifist peace-loving leader of yours did this to me."
"Corinna did this to you?" Dex dared a glance back at the deformed man. "Did she take off your mask?"
"Yes, yes! That's what she did!"
"What are you even doing at her house in the first place?"
"I came here to make a truce and-"
"Well, that's a fucking lie. You came here for revenge, didn't you?"
"So? Do you think I deserved this?"
Dex folded his arms. "I'm not sure yet. But every time you talk the likelihood increases."
Bryce scoffed. "What are you going to do with me now, Dex? Weren't there going to be consequences if I broke the peace?"
"I..." Dex glanced down at the ground.
"Don't you remember who originally helped you get food? Who-"
"Don't start that again! I'm sick of it!"
"Fine!" Bryce spluttered amidst a hacking cough, his voice wheezing. "Could you please at least take me somewhere safe? I'm vulnerable like this out here."
Dex hesitated.
"Oh, come on!" Bryce groaned in pain. "I thought your whole peace treaty alliance thing was all about compassion and kindness! Don't you have any? Or are you just a hypocrite?"
Sighing, Dex replied, "okay." He wandered around as he examined the defromed man's body. "I don't know exactly how I'll..." Dex froze upon seeing the back of Bryce's neck. Near the top of the nape was the word 'murder' engraved into the skin, only it was faded and almost healed up completely. Lower down, however, were deep scratch marks. Dex could only just make out the hidden letterings underneath the scratches. It was the word 'rape'.
Bryce grew silent, his eyes lowering down to the ground.
"You lied..." Dex took a step back. "You faked your brand and hid your real one..."
The half-man half-metal-scorpion hybrid glanced upwards, his lips curling slightly. "Oh, please..." he scoffed. "I don't get what the whole big deal is. We're all down here because we're disgusting and unforgivable monsters! You can't judge me!"
Dex shook his head "You raped someone! And you tried to hide it! You know what you did was horrific!"
"I don't remember any of it!" Bryce screamed, his breathing stagnant. "I've lost my memories, all of them! Why would I have done such a thing? I mean, come on! Do I look like I would do something like that? I could pull anyone I want! I wouldn't need to resort to that!"
"You're revolting!" Dex reached for the butcher knife attached to his belt, but his fingers still hesitated over it.
"How can you all think you're better than me! You're all murderers! I never took a life! What you've done is far more unforgivable! Who did you kill! Whose precious life did you steal away, huh Dex! Who did you murder!"
"I killed my son's rapist!" Dex drew out the butcher knife from his belt; the blade gleamed in the light.
Bryce swallowed, falling silent.
There was a long moment of quiet as Bryce watched the knife in Dex's hands.
"So, what are you going to do now, Dex?" asked Bryce, his quivering voice slow and gentle.
"You're not going to give up," said Dex, glancing down at the knife. "Corinna gave you more chances that you should have been given. Yet you attacked her. Even if I let you go, you might just try to get revenge again. Or you'll go to another sector and harm more people."
"No, no..." Bryce whimpered, shaking his head. "I promise I won't do that. I'll-"
"I'm sorry," said Dex. "But I can't trust anything you say." He cocked his head to the side. "And I just can't forgive someone like you."
*
"Corinna! Calixte!" Harmony yelled as she burst into the house, donning her black jackal mask and transforming into the chimaera. Inside, all of the furniture had been upturned, dented, and some even destroyed. The dining table was broken in two, and Corinna's chair smashed into numerous pieces. A few of the floorboards had cracked and split, revealing the foundations of the house beneath.
What could have happened?
Clenching her fists, Harmony continued to scream out the names of her friends as she darted around the house, finding no one. Her eyes glanced over to the trap-door that led to the basement. After pulling the hatch open, the chimaera jumped down.
In the basement was an unconscious amphibian, his antenna wrapped up in layers of bandages. Sitting next to him was a knight in golden armour, their entire right arm jet black.
The chimaera's talons spiked out from her paws. "Who are you! What've you done to Calixte!" she growled, ready to pounce if the stranger made any sudden moves.
"Harmony?" The golden knight looked up.
Its voice was somehow familiar; the chimaera knew that she had heard it before but not this deep and-
"Corinna?" Harmony rushed over and gave the golden knight a quick embrace before turning her attention to the unconscious Calixte. "What happened?"
"Bryce cut off his antenna," explained Corinna. "He's lost a fair bit of blood. I couldn't find any more jars of your saliva to heal it."
Harmony nodded, seeing the discarded bloody bandages scattered around the floor. She drooled onto her hand then wiped it on the end of the amphibian's antenna. "There," she said. "That will stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, my saliva can't regrow any limbs or stuff like that. But this is the Eternal Abyss, so his antenna should naturally grow back in a few weeks."
After carrying Calixte gently over to the tent, nestling him inside with numerous blankets and pillows, Harmony and Corinna went upstairs.
"So, you finally got your mask?" asked Harmony.
"Yeah!" Corinna spun around, the golden fauld skirt billowing behind her. "What do you think?"
The chimaera could hear the joy and excitement in the young woman's voice, but couldn't see her smile. "You're still short," Harmony chuckled, patting the golden knight on the head.
Corinna folded her arms.
Once again, Harmony imagined a playful pout breaking into a grin on Corinna's face, but all she could see before her were the painted black eyes and mouth on the knight's golden mask.
They exited the house and saw Dex heading towards them.
"Wow..." Dex glanced up and down at the golden knight. "Corinna?"
The golden knight waved. "Yep!"
"Finally got your mask, huh? Though I suppose with the whole peace treaty thing, you won't exactly be needing it."
"It helped me protect myself against Bryce," said Corinna. "If it hadn't turned up when it did... well, I'm not sure what would have happened." Gasping, the golden knight looked around. "Where is he! Bryce was right out here! He couldn't have gone far in his state!"
"Don't worry about him." Dex folded his arms. "He's been dealt with. Bryce won't be coming around here and hurting anyone anymore."
"You sure?"
Dex nodded.
"Well, that's a relief."
"It's getting dark," said Harmony. She turned to Dex. "You can stay the night if you'd like."
"Thank you for the offer, but the others would worry if I don't return," replied Dex as he donned his headless horseman mask. "Besides, with Bryce out of the picture, this sector is a pretty safe place to be."
Once Dex had transformed and galloped away, Corinna and Harmony returned to the basement and lied down next to the unconscious Calixte.
"So, how do I take my mask off exactly?" asked Corinna. "It's not really comfortable to sleep in this form with all the armour."
"You won't be able to take it off for a week or so," answered Harmony. "Best not to take it off any sooner as your body isn't used to it, especially if you're not a mage." The chimaera sat up slightly. "So, in the meantime..." She threw a bundle of pillows and blankets at Corinna. "You're just gonna have to get comfy."
Well... it finally happened; Corinna got her mask.
It was originally going to happen in the first book but I kept on adding more scenes and characters so the first book was split into two instead.
Hope it was worth the wait.