-Callen-

  Callia and I left the gates, and looking out into the dark, I couldn’t help but feel a great deal of apprehension. My arm had been treated, but I still felt incredibly unbalanced without it. However, despite the fact my arm was missing, I still felt confident that Callia and I working together could stop Lexia and get to the bottom of whatever had happened. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t really even need my arms. My magic and skills didn’t require it, and with a careful application of runes, I could fight even without limbs. Not that I wanted to become a limbless nugget.

  If I had a choice, I would’ve made a new arm in town before we hunted down Lexia, but we didn’t want to leave Freema alone with her any longer than absolutely necessary. Callia had warned Freema against mentioning her ring or showing her moderator status to anyone, but with circumstances as they are, who knows what Lexia is thinking? Callia steps into the dark forest, and soon I’m following closely behind.

  Callia is careful to stick to ground-based paths as the two of us move through the dark. Her path was intentionally covering ground I could follow so we could stay close going forward. The forest reached its darkest as the moon set, leaving the forest in the twilight preceding dawn. Callia signaled to me that we were getting close when I finally felt a sickening miasma, something unlike any I have ever felt before. Unsure where the feeling came from, I quickly tracked my skills and noticed one in particular.

  Compared to the feeling I got when I earned the skill and trait, this presence was thin, but it was decayed and festering. I felt like I was walking across an island of corpses floating in a sea of blood with wails of despair and suffering echoing all around us. I grab Callia as the presence becomes too much, and her expression changes from confusion to concern as she feels just how overwhelming the feeling is. I heaved briefly before forcing myself to push forward.

  Finally we came to a stop just before a small opening. Freema sat on the far side of the clearing from Lexia, who was deathly pale. Her blood vessels bulged all across her body, emitting a faint purple light. We arrived just as she tossed the last bit of the bone and flesh, from what I suspected was my arm, into her mouth. Her cheeks had split all the way back, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth like a shark’s but longer.

  “MMMmmmm, so good,” Lexia’s purring praise felt unnatural. “Callen, Callia. I would’ve preferred to have time to settle in properly, but I suppose thanks are also in order.” The unnatural shape of her flesh knit back into place, giving the impression that Lexia was completely normal even as the sickening presence continued to emanate.

  Callia didn’t wait for it to talk any further as she drew her bow and opened fire. In sync, I opened my space, scattering dozens of traps separating Lexia from Freema and us. Lexia didn’t even try to fight fading back into the trees behind us. Callia kept her bow trained into the darkness, following a shadow I could only briefly see behind the vibrant mana of the tree trunks. I rushed over to Freema and pulled her with me over to Callia. The light of the sun that was just beginning to rise started casting long shadows. From the dark a voice called out.

  “Such a pleasing aroma; a mere arm was hardly satisfying, but the rare chance to claim a humanoid vessel will be well worth it.” I have no time to react as a hand stretches out from my shadow, rushing for my chest. However, Callia’s there in a flash, pulling me aside as the light dissipates the shadowed hand. There is no time for relief as multiple shadow hands burst from the ground around Freema. Neither of us can do anything as the girl is pulled into the shadow and disappears.

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  “I’ll be keeping what belongs to me.” The distorted voice of Lexia echoes from all the shadows around us. I reach over to Callia for guidance, but I can feel her panic as she begins scanning the shadows around us rapidly, trying to spot Lexia. The source of her panic was the failure of her tracking skill. Giggling echoes around us as the darkness begins to press in.

  “Such a sweet aroma. I’ll be glad to finish what Lexia couldn’t.” The distorted voice echoed back to us, confirming what we had suspected. Whatever this was, it wasn't Lexia anymore. The darkness around us wasn’t just light. I could tell that it shrouded sight even for my mana vision. We needed to find some way to isolate Lexia with our other senses if we wanted a chance. I expanded my mana zone to sweep through the dark to try isolating her that way.

  I never expected the dark mana to curl back as my mana swept over it. The dark mana almost seemed to burn, and the nauseous presence was driven back. An unearthly howling echoed from our side, and Callia didn’t waste the opportunity to scatter dozens of arrows towards the source.

  The shadows completely dissipated, leaving us alone in the woods. Cautiously we moved over to inspect where we heard the screams from but only found what appeared to be slightly burnt ground. Callia tracked hesitantly and found traces of burnt ground marking footsteps running off.

  We look at each other even as our bond perfectly conveys our feelings. Expanding my mana zone in that fog at mana far faster than normal, and I doubt I could pull off whatever just happened a second time. Callia’s instinct track for the first time in her life couldn’t pin down wherever Lexia went, and that alone tipped what would normally be a close fight between the two into a complete thrashing that I doubt we could win even against normal Lexia.

  As much as I wanted to save Freema, I don’t think we could anymore. This problem had just escalated beyond our ability to handle. Reluctantly we both came to the conclusion that for now our best option was to alert the locals about Lexia, and then we would have to investigate why my mana seemed to burn Lexia. Maybe after that we could try again. Until then we could only hope that whatever that thing had planned wouldn’t have dire consequences. I held little hope that the nobles could actually track Lexia now that even Callia couldn’t.

  In the quiet light of the morning we retraced our steps back to the city. The unsettling giggling and laughter of ‘Lexia’ haunting us. The others waiting for us back in town were eager to hear what happened, but seeing us unsettled and Freema still missing clued them in to just how successful we had been. As a group we left the inn and made our way to the lord’s castle, intending to use Callia’s status as an honorary knight to seek an audience and report Lexia. Who knows, maybe they would have a solution.

  Internal Conflict

  Lexia shivered in fear as the darkness closed in on the last strand of light she had been clinging onto. The shadows nipped and scratched at the small fragile form of Lexia. They left no physical damage but each touch stole bits and pieces of who she was. Bit by bit memories faded and in the dark form like a shadow doppel-ganger but as a fully grown Lexia.

  She looked up at her grown-up form, who was beckoning her from the darkness. A strange sense of familiarity settled in Lexia, and on impulse she loosened her grip on the strand of light to which she had sheltered. The shadow's hand reached for her as she began to reach out to it. Then a light burst through the shadows, expelling the darkness around her.

  The once familiar shadow now revealed and its decayed smoldering flesh grotesque outgrowths showing a twisted mockery of what Lexia now remembered herself as. The light just as quickly as it shined faded away however within Lexia it made a world of difference. The balance once overwhelmingly tilted towards darkness now stood evenly split. Lexia, who had previously clung in fear, now stood fearlessly against the monster in her heart.

  On the outside, her eyes that had previously turned black were now split, one black while the other was white. Half the body is obedient to Lexia, and the other half is obedient to the shadow. However, they quickly found themselves in a dilemma as a monster emerged from the path ahead, looking at them like a juicy meal. The shadow smiled.