In the darkness, I heard muffled voices in the background. I was not sure what they were talking about, but I couldn't care less. The only real thought in my mind was trying to keep breathing. Keep fighting. Keep living.
[You are being affected by UNDETERMINED]
[Your Innate Ability; Instinct is evolving...]
'Where am I? Wasn't I with—' I stopped thinking when I noticed the sharp pain that I felt in my head. Thinking was hard, so better not think. Just breathe.
"You owe me, Olivia. You better fulfill your promise after this, or else..." A familiar annoying female voice hissed. Followed by the sound of something sharp cutting flesh.
"YES! I KNOW! I'LL DO IT OKAY?! J-Just... how much do we need?" Another familiar voice, more acute than the previous one, spoke urgently. The sound of footsteps far away, walking hurriedly from one side to the other, made me realize the constant beeping I was hearing.
"As much as you can grab. She's missing… a lot…" the annoying voice said with a hint of something else in her tone, as the sound of flesh being cut was replaced by something falling to the floor.
I noticed how my body was being dragged on the ground. Slowly some of the voices started to become more audible as part of the pain in my body started to intensify. The system started to show weird messages, too complex to understand. 'Too annoying.'
[The Goddess who enjoys battles would like to send you a private message. Do you accept it? Y/N]
[The Goddess who does not believe in friendships would like to send you a private message. Do you accept it? Y/N]
[Your Instinct has Evolved to Sense of Danger]
[Your Adversity is growing stronger]
"Milaine, can you not make her not feel anything or something? She'll hate it when she takes a bite. SHE MAY EVEN HATE ME!" the acute female voice said with a hint of worry in her tone.
"DO I LOOK LIKE A FUCKING WITCH, LIVIA?!" The voice yelled at the other. "She's tough! She'll be fine! And if she hates you for this, then fuck her!"
"Now open her mouth, and don't let her spit anything. ANYTHING. It doesn't matter how much she cries, squirms, or tries to puke it. Make sure she eats it." The annoying voice spoke again, silencing the weaker one.
I felt some hands opening my mouth. They were soft hands, and the touch was slow, even caressing me a bit. "Leo, please try not to spit it, okay? This is for your own good, okay?" As the familiar soft voice spoke, I felt something fleshy entering my mouth.
[Sense of Danger has been forcibly activated by UNDETERMINED]
After a couple of seconds, the atrocity that was in my mouth started to hurt. It felt like it was stabbing my gums and my palate. My mouth was being melted by fucking acid-like liquid.
The flavor, if it could be called that, felt rotten with a vicious liquid that shook me enough to force me to open my eyes. I instantly tried to gag and move my body, but Livia was closing my mouth with her hands. Her face was covered by her pink-red hair, now messy, hiding her smile.
'What?' She was laughing at me, I was fucking sure. She was laughing so hard that tears and snot were running down her face.
'This girl… is she seriously laughing at me? After I almost fucking died for her? While SHE'S FUCKING TORTURING ME???"' Looking at her laughing made me want to cry. I felt a horrible stab in my heart. It hurt just as much as the fucking flesh torture device she was using on me.
"Wmwhy?" I mumbled as I felt my tears drop from my eyes. She started to laugh even more, her face distorted in the laugh, now making her eyes a river of tears that fell on my head. 'WHAT'S SO FUNNY!'
I felt betrayed. An unknown anger rose from my guts, maybe trying to make me forget the thing in my mouth. I refused to bite it, my body was rejecting it with all its might.
"MMMHHM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I tried to move my body to push her off, but I couldn't. My arms, no, my bones, didn't have the strength to rise that high.
For a moment, I felt another hand on my cheeks that was forcing me to chew the flesh, sending another shockwave of pain through my mouth. It was Milaine. ''I'M KILLING YOU, STUPID BITCH. I'M FUCKING KILLING YOU ALL,' I wanted to yell, to kick them, to fucking STRANGLE them, as my body was convulsing and shaking with all my strength, trying to break free.
A window of the system, in a different color than the usual bluish, appeared. A purple one.
[An unknown entity... has forcibly entered the system and sent you a message. WARNING: The Moderator will be notified if you read this unknown message. The title of the message is: "The purple fire that brings us closer". Do you wish to read it? Y/N]
For a moment, I stopped moving, just focusing on the message, everything else falling silent. Only one thing mattered in those milliseconds of rationality.
'Violet,' I thought before understanding the title. When I wanted to mumble yes, my Instinct sent me a shockwave even more painful than the thing that was in my mouth.
I doubted, I didn't accept. My eyes fixed on the message for just a moment, trying to think what to do. Just before the sneaky rats that were my 'comrades' took their chance when I was distracted, making me gulp the disgusting flesh. For a moment, an incommensurable pain rushed through my throat, burning me from the inside.
Suddenly, the traitor number two, Milaine, put her left hand on my neck, maybe to finish the job. Then a white fire started to emerge from her palm. Surprisingly, the fire was warm, a good type of warm, and didn't burn. Or if it burned, I couldn't feel it because of the way my throat, now my stomach, was being destroyed from the inside. But she gave me an idea.
'Fire... purple fire... Sigil.' In just that moment of realization, as my body was still convulsing from the flesh and pain that burned my body, I moved my skeletal fingers, drawing the symbol of the sigil in the air.
[The spell Sigil is transforming your pain into Essentia...]
As I did, I felt warmth inside my neck. The pain from my body was slowly being erased from the inside. Although I couldn't see it, I felt the flame of the sigil inside my body.
[You are no longer being affected by UNDETERMINED]
I felt a bit more relaxed when I saw Milaine this time. The sudden pain that was clouding my mind finally went away, erasing the unnatural rage that I had never felt before. Like I was possessed.
Then suddenly, as my breathing finally started to become normal again, I noticed Milaine clearly. Before I fell unconscious, half of her face was gone, and so was her right arm. Now she had not only restored her face but also regenerated her arm.
'Da fuck?' I thought when I noticed she moved her hands toward my arms, or bones, to be precise. The flame and warmth now moved there.
"Olivia, give her some more meat," she said. This time I understood the words. Then I noticed Livia. She was crying as she was bringing another piece of... meat closer to me.
'It's the sandworm...' I thought for a moment, understanding a bit more. The distorted perception was clearing.
"L-Leo... open up, yes? It's the last bite, I swear," her voice was hoarse, and her face was contorted with tears and grief. She wasn't laughing. She never was.
It was that strange feat. Making me see things that weren't there.
'Fuck.' I tried to move my left hand to touch her, to hold her but I couldn't. I didn't have strength, and Milaine was holding it down firmly, healing it.
I looked at Livia. I wanted to say something, but I didn't. I just opened my mouth, and let her feed me the sandworm meat. Although I didn't feel pain, it also tasted like trash. But I ate it, just for her.
***