Part 9
Two seconds. Two seconds were all she had until her shield lost its effect. As the tears fell rapidly, Cyeen started sprinting towards the crumbled wall. She teleported past the bandits blocking it off before summoning a blaster in each hand. She spinned on her heels, turning back towards the house that was on fire, jumping and firing the blasters.
The essence weapons gave Cyeen the little boost she needed to disappear into the woods.
It wasn't enough, they were on her tail. As a last resort she teleported five times consecutively, draining her essence completely. They still were there. The noble began running. Please, please. I don't want to die. The sounds were getting louder as trees were being cut down behind her.
Up.
Dog Tamer frantically looked around her.
"Come out you little bastard! I can sense your essence!"
The bandit leader was right below her. Even the slightest movement would alert her of Cyeen's position. They had been able to track her by the essence she was emitting but now, with an empty reserve they had nothing to go off of.
"Damn it! Split up morons, she shouldn't get away." yelled Dog Tamer.
Cyeen started doing the one thing she actively avoided doing before, praying. Praying with shaking hands. Praying that the gods would spare her soul.
After an excruciating four hours on top of a tree, the bandits finally gave up. The tree next to her's was obliterated out of frustration by the bandit leader.
"I know your face."
Dog Tamer's words felt like sharp knives inside her ears. Thankfully, the group was not interested in searching for a single person anymore as they met up and left the forest.
Cyeen looked under and around her hands still clasped. There were no signs of any danger anywhere. She jumped off the tree and immediately felt her legs wobble. Her eyes had dried from the amount she cried on top of the tree, hoping they wouldn't find her.
Her hand drifted into the pocket, fingers curling around the note like it was attempting to escape. Súko.
She hadn't noticed until now—how the pink-haired woman had become the rhythm in her silence. Without Súko… Cyeen might've been dead days ago.
What did that woman get herself into? she thought as her body finally started feeling the pain. She would have definitely broken all of her ribs if not for the shield protecting her.
The note inside her hand was pulled out of the pocket. It was a neatly folded paper. Upon opening it carefully Cyeen was met with two things: A sentence in a language she couldn't understand and a long paragraph. The paragraph probably had contained important information as it was soaked in the blood of the noble.
Cyeen looked at the sentence and a pathetic chuckled left her mouth,
"Hehe... I can't read it..."
Cyeen clenched her fist, squeezing the note into a ball. She couldn't do anything against mere bandits once again. More... I need more power. She took one last look at the note before shoving it back in her pocket. She wasn't shedding tears for a random stranger. So then, what were those that were flowing down her cheeks? Was it because of the pain or the feeling of powerlessness? Neither.
Cyeen knew there was no way of getting out of here unless she started walking. She did not want to, not until her tears had dried out once again.
She walked, walked and walked for hours until the weather forced her to stop. Like a bitter joke, a rain fell down upon the forest. And to add to the joke, there wasn't to be anything to hide under. This situation was already making her miss her old "tent".
On your left. The cave.
Cyeen noticed the cave entrance. It was a particularly big entrance for a cave on the lowest point of a mountain. Her eyes started taking in the environment now, not knowing where she was.
The noble was too tired to defy the voice. It was becoming useful by the day. She had already thanked the voice countless times for saving her life on top of that tree.
***
Cyeen was mumbling three words constantly.
"I need more power. I need more power. I need... "
Hungry yet again. Hurt once more. When would she get a rest?
Cyeen was curled up in a ball inside the cave. She hadn't bothered going further than ten meters away from the entrance as a dripping sound could be heard from further inside the cave. She ignored it for a good while before sticking her head out of her safe ball.
Don't even think about it.
Cyeen got up. The voice was angry, why was it angry? What if she didn't want to listen to it anymore? All she did these days was getting ordered around. This was exactly the reason she had fleed her house, wasn't it? She started walking further into the cave.
Turn back, now.
Cyeen couldn't be bothered to care anymore. She took a few more steps.
"I need more power... "
You don't understand.
Cyeen didn't, so what? She took another step.
"I need more..."
CYEEN I SWEAR IF YOU GO ANY FURTHER.
A ray of sunlight was shining into the cave from a hole in the roof, highlighting the statue in the middle. The statue was as tall as a forearm. The sun was highlighting the white color of it. The statue was accompanied by another color, cyan. But rather than a main color, cyan was outlininig the figure's curves.
The statue was on top of a pedestal that reached Cyeen's hips. There were countless types of flowers and vegetation inside this dead end of the cave, almost like they formed around this statue. Most of the flowers being poisonous.
She took a closer look at the statue. It was that of a person holding a weighted scale in its left hand and a dagger on the right one.
"Welcome child, I've been waiting for you."
Cyeen was lost for words in front of this scene. Did it just talk? She got closer to it.
"You lost lamb, couldn't make out what I am?"
Cyeen's eyes opened to the point they looked like they could pop out of their sockets upon realization.
"Are you... A god?" she asked hesitantly.
"Why of course, what else could I be? I merely changed into a form you mortals can process."
She looked at the statue in hope. Gods usually didn't show themselves unless they were selecting a prophet, or their more common name; a Twicen. Cyeen could finally gain the power she wanted. This was the "it" she fantasized about.
"Oh dear god, please do tell, is there anything I could do for you?"
The statue was silent for a moment before speaking without the use of its mouth.
"There's this one thing only you humans are capable of."
Cyeen's heart started beating out of her chest.
"Yes?"
"I need someone to be under my watch. Someone to monitor the corruption of this world. And for that I have chosen you, Cyeen Flameberg. So I ask of you, would you make a deal with this god?"
Cyeen was speechless. Her prayers were answered. This was a deal she just couldn't refuse. She nodded.
The statue spoke once again.
"So then, let me specify what I want and what I'll give. You will receive my old arsenal along with my old passive skill. In exchange, I want your left eye."
Cyeen took a step back. My eye? She looked at the statue, maybe the god was joking? No, it looked serious. Even then, I can't possibly decline something this like this.
"I'm guessing your answer is yes. If so, all you have to do is hold this statue of mine in your hand."
Her footsteps littering the perfect silence, Cyeen walked forward. She stood next to the statue. Upon further inspection she saw the statue was resembling a woman with a crown on her head. The weighted scale it held in its right hand was heavier on the right side and the dagger looked to be dripping with something. Cyeen picked up the statue.
"One intelligent human aren't you?"
The statue disappeared right before her eyes along with stares she never noticed. She looked around. Huh, was that all?
The earth shook underneath her feet. Cyeen swung her arms around to regain her balance. She saw her arms flash white right before the second earthquake hit. The lady held onto the pedestal as another flashing white and earthquake combo happened. After that earthquake, her body started flashing white constantly as the earthquakes merged into one continues one and then... silence once again. Flowers all around the cave had turned towards her. She raised her right arm, looking at the white particles swim inside her veins before they disappeared. She talked into the empty cave.
"So, is it really done? Am I a twicen now?"
A whisper could be heard directly in her head,
"If that's what you want to call it yes, you are. Now, fulfill your part of the deal, my child."
Cyeen felt a cold invisible hand go past her left eye and bump into the furthest point of the eye socket. The hand gently grabbed the eye from behind and...
"Oops."
Was what she heard as the hand tore through her entire eye, leaving a huge diamond shaped crater in its place. Cyeen screamed in agonising pain. Blood was gushing out of the wound. She covered her eye with both hands and tried pushing the blood back into it as she wiggled on the ground. Groaning loudly in between her sobs, she kept trying to push it back in. Why isn't it working???? It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts... She barely managed to get back on her feet, dragging herself towards the exit while leaving huge puddles of blood wherever she went. Please, someone! Her head felt like it was splitting open. Blood had started covering her other eye. She could barely make out the dirt road she followed as she wobbled forward.