"Uhh… It's morning already?" Tristessa thought, partially blocking the light that hit her eyes with her hand as soon as she opened them. "…"
Sitting and hugging her knees, she had woken up with the first rays of the new day's sun. Light filtered through the leaves of the trees that lined the sides of the road, where she had taken refuge in an attempt to hide from her dark pursuer.
Her entire body ached and her neck felt horrible, because of the position she had fallen asleep. She didn't remember the exact moment she had done so: ever since she found that thick-trunked tree surrounded by bushes, a more than acceptable hiding place, she had done nothing but tremble like a leaf, terrified and crying nonstop.
Her stomach was growling; her mouth was dry. Still, she didn't have the strength to get up from the ground, not even to open her backpack and take care of her most basic needs. And not because she'd run all night until her leg muscles gave out and her footsteps became a drag.
"I wish I could keep sleeping..." she thought, head down and staring at the ground. Unconsciously, she began massaging her hair in a vain attempt to comb it. Dirty with blood that wasn't hers, her scalp itching, there wasn't much she could do without even a hairbrush at hand. But that was only a façade: fine tears were beginning to fall, the earth quickly absorbing the moisture without a trace. "S-shit..."
What had happened the night before, she couldn't forgive herself. She'd seen all the signs and had done nothing to prevent it. The warning before her fourth Death, her bad feeling as night fell...
And yet, she let it happen, let the Dullahan appear and kill them all.
She could have warned them about a possible threat, or even leave the Derelict Outpost and face her fate with honor and bravery that clearly didn't exist in her. She had done none of those things. She was to blame for those members of the Fireclaw Company being dead, and possibly for Madame Luchie as well, despite her sudden transformation into a beast.
Why did she think that? Because her Baptism in Ruins still emanated that sinister, prophetic chill. The Dullahan's presence hadn't faded; it was still there, latent, waiting...
What was going to happen during the night of that new day? Was she going to sacrifice the lives of more people to save herself?
"Damn, idiotic bitch!" she cursed herself inside her head, her fingers going from massaging to gripping her hair so tightly she was about to pull it out by the roots. "I'm such an idiot, so... so..."
"You are a piece of shit, Tessa. Nothing more, nothing less."
This time, the voice of her mother, Selene Irandell, came from the back of her mind, along with the image of her sitting at a desk. The darkness of an office partially obscured her face, revealing only her contemptible, egotistical smile.
Dressed in a white nurse's uniform, with those long, milky-white legs, extending from a short skirt to two black high heels. Her cleavage was open, showing off her assets, with a mole decorated on the right side.
She was capable of subduing any man, any woman, anyone. That's what her mother had been like, before she'd been imprisoned.
"Yes... She's right," Tristessa whispered, her voice barely audible over the chirping of the birds that were beginning to stretch their wings that morning. "Mom's right, I'm a piece of shit!"
Her scream frightened the flock of birds, creating a ruckus above the treetops and sending them flying far away.
Now she knew better the Tristessa Irandell who remained broken within her memories. A horrible girl, extremely selfish, who only cared about herself and not about the pile of corpses beneath her feet as long as she achieved her goals.
"What do I do now...? How can I continue?"
If there was only one reason to carry on, only one that held her determination together by a thin thread about to snap, it was her intention to save the Mercer-Archeos family from the Coven…
Time waited for no one, least of all Tristessa as she choked back tears from her own misery. She got up as best she could, ate and drank, and with her backpack slung over her shoulder, made her way toward the road.
She still had many hours of walking ahead of her, in those lands filled with green-leafed trees, so abundant that they formed vast and wide-spreading forests both west and east.
On the positive side, she had covered a considerable amount of ground by escaping during the night, either running or dragging her legs. The northern part of the Meridion Highway had become a dirt road, with no vegetation daring to obstruct her path; clearly, traffic was much more frequent there.
"Maybe I'll get to Entrana sooner than expected. I'll do what Reiden told me, after I find Severus," she thought, still fresh in her mind the image of that dead, frozen mercenary. And of course, the other members of the Fireclaw Company as well. "…"
"FOUND YOU!"
A man's shout made her turn quickly and look where it came from: it was none other than Melian, the mercenary adept in thaumaturgy, coming from a relative distance behind her on the highway.
"You're alive!" Tristessa's cry, smiling with surprise and joy, reached the man who didn't seem to feel the same way she did. "Are you…?! Oh, my god…"
Without a wand, without supplies, Melian was a mess. Judging by the few remnants of armor still hanging over his light clothing and several wounds, including cuts on both arms and bruises on the exposed sides of his waist, it seemed he had stayed in the outpost to fight the Dullahan to the bitter end, disobeying his former employer's orders.
"I finally found you, Tristessa... Finally! All damn night tracking your steps, but I finally found you!"
Closing the distance, Tristessa noticed the man had dark circles under his eyes, most of the skin on his face, flushed with rage, and his unruly hair was also stained with dried blood.
"M-melian, I..." Her voice lost all optimism. The shadow of tragedy loomed over them. The shadow of Death.
"You knew what was that thing that attacked us! You said it came for you, I heard you!" he accused her accurately, pointing his finger at her and walking faster. Unconsciously, the girl began to take steps backward. "You said nothing! Why? Why did you keep quiet about it?!"
"I-I… I don't…"
"What did you want from us?! All that circus to earn our trust, all of that because of what?!" he screamed. "What did you gain by letting that she-devil butcher us?!"
"No! You don't understand!"
"They're all dead! The boss, Lufreya, Dom, Bran, and Lady Karla! ALL DEAD, AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
Finally, someone was telling her the truth, and she didn't have to blame herself for her undeniable sins. It was fresh, welcome, though as painful as if her heart had just been stepped on and crushed against the ground.
"N-no…I didn't mean… I didn't mean for that to happen!" she cried, faltering, her screams echoing through the walls of trees on either side. "I'm sorry, Melian!"
"Fuck your apologies! You damn coward, running away after causing everyone's death! I will avenge my friends, my family!" the man bellowed, raising an arm to point his hand and starting to run toward her. "I'LL KILL YOU! FIRAN!"
Without his wand to use as a catalyst, the mercenary's furious soul manifested the elemental glyph of fire, and almost instantly a ball of flames hurtled straight at Tristessa. She narrowly dodged it by throwing herself to the side of the road, feeling the scorching heat of the magical attack pass over her head.
"No! Stop!" she begged him, but Melian was so blinded by anger, pain, and the immeasurable sense of loss that he had nothing left in this world but to fulfill his desire for revenge. "Don't do it!"
"Escant!" This time, a light blue glyph conjured a spear of ice that would have pierced Tristessa's chest had she not miraculously dodged it again by throwing herself to the ground. The spear struck a tree; the impact was so brutal that the sound of the collision was heard throughout the bordering forest, and a large portion of the trunk was torn off. "STAY STILL, BITCH!"
Of course, Tristessa ran, willfully dashing into the trees to lose that man. More ice spears tore through the space around her, shattering trees left and right, scattering a storm of splinters and leaves everywhere.
"Run away, anywhere! Anywhere but here!" she thought, in a state of absolute panic. "Don't kill me, please!"
Fatigue grew more and more overwhelming, forcing Tristessa to stop; Melian was surely in the same condition, mostly from using thaumaturgy without a catalyst. When her legs gave out, the girl was forced to hide behind a tree and draw her hunting knife from her backpack.
"Someone help me! Why me?!"
She couldn't scream so as not to give away her position, she could do nothing but wait with her heart pounding, gripping the handle of the hunting knife with unstoppable trembling. She was about to wet herself, she could barely keep her breathing under control, and the sound of birds above the treetops was madness-inducing.
All that adrenaline, all that fear, all that overwhelming guilt… They were about to make her lost her mind, just like Melian.
"I got you!"
In a flash, the thaumaturge appeared on her right side and quickly covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming, and with his other hand, he snatched the knife from her. Up close, Tristessa could now see how the loss of her loved ones had shattered his soul, and all those tears of pain covering his cheeks and reddened eyes that sought an end to it all.
"Die. Die, stop looking at me like that and die," he demanded, throwing the knife to the ground and using both hands to enclose her neck and begin squeezing very hard. "Die, die! For my friends, for Madam Luchie, die!"
Tristessa would have let him, without objection, with all the guilt she felt demanding justice. But the fear of Death always won; the will to live was stronger, even in that critical circumstance.
"Ugh…agh…!"
She struggled to free herself, trying to find space between those fingers that were leaving deep, red marks against her neck. The lack of oxygen was taking its toll, her strength was rapidly draining, and little by little, her consciousness was beginning to fade.
"…?"
But then, she heard dozens, no, hundreds of voices above her. Little, chirpy voices… laughing with evil intent.