In the midst of my headache, I stood up, almost stumbling forward if only it weren't for the tree right beside me. Blood continued to roll down the side of my face, and down my chin. I didn't mind that headache, but the pain that was still inside my memory was causing me to perform worse then how I would under this same amount of pressure.
"I think that patient is... Blind." I told the child while peeking through the side of the tree. He was a few paces away and trying to sniff out our location like a dog. If that dimenthylmercury could also enchance the brain while simply destroying it, then I would definitely not bother to tip toe my way out of this forest and leave this child alone as well. They say abandon all 'bagage' during emergencies.
"Well how do you know something like this?" The kid asked me. He was about five or six years old at most? And at this age, of course a kid would be curious. They are just starting to learn about the world.
"Well do you know about the current poisoning that has been going on about recently?" I asked while looking back at him.
"No..." The kid shook his head frantically. I couldn't do anything about it, other than explain and spread awareness. And since he is a kid, I can just tell him to go and hide in his house and tell his family that there are zombies coming out to eat them alive if they walk out of their doors.
"Do you know about the apocalypse?" I asked while looking down at him properly.
"Yes! People turn into creatures like that! Right?!" His eyes beamed towards my direction as I found it rather hard to describe just what I felt at that situation. I was, panicking, trying to stay silent, a bit too impulsive, excited to get that blood sample, scared to face George again, in extreme pain and fear, confusion from the devil shadow that I had seen beside George. Because all of these existed in my brain, I couldn't even think properly as to how I was going to get that blood sample.
"Well yes. And–" The kid stared at my face as I turned silent almost instantly. I wanted to explain about something... But I refused last second and changed my mind.
Wait... Do I really need to tell this kid about those dimenthylmercury and stuff? He is still a kid and if Helio can create the cure within the next day, then this apocalypse won't even last.
"That patient needs to be returned to the medical tents near the military unit. Do you know how far it is? And where are your parents?" I asked finally after a quick pause. I smiled back at the kid as if that pause didn't even last or that it was just in his imaginations.
"Well, the place that was at, was that fountain in the park that is slightly east to the camp. I was there with my parents, and then suddenly, my parents told me to stay put for a while. They said they were going to get ice cream for all of us, but within that time, this man came and chased me towards this wood. Thanks to you, I have managed to escape him. But you seem..."
"Yeah yeah... I know." I responded while wiping my forehead again, at this point a blood clot should have formed and covered that wound area. I barely got grazed by that large, human-sized pole.
"Anyways... If you are truly from around that area, then you must have run a long way here. That fountain is..."
"Near–"
"Near the military camp." I purposefully shut the kid up. Because once a kid like him starts describing places, they will start describing memories and then things that happened there. And I am not saying that I am not like that either. It's just... Negative and negative poles repel. We both have the same borderline personality, so no wonder I am so annoyed by this kid. I mean... I am always annoyed by kids his age.
"Alright so–"
"That camp is going to be too far for your to walk in that injured state and *blibber blabber*"
"Ugh! For god's sake!" I silently whispered to myself while looking away for a short while only. Then, I happened to realize that this same kid's voice was no putting us in grave danger. That 'zombie'... Well...
"Kid, you better learn how to shut up." I softly told the child while looking at his direction, however, he was just too dragged away with his conversation. I sighed and left Cindy to look after the kid, as I stepped out of our hiding spot. Even as I walked a little further, I could hear that kid's voice in my ears.
"And that amount of blood clot can *blabber blobber*"
As soon as I was one tree away from that 'zombie', I slightly cleaned Spectrum's blade with a dried leave and held a vile at my left hand with the tube open. I slowly creeped over to just behind the patient and held Spectrum over my head, in an attempt to silently withdraw the blood and run.
However, I just didn't know that my plans were all water-stained dreams.
"Sister! Where are you gone?!"
"Oh my–! For fucks' sake!" I stomped my feet in frustruation as I turned away to take a moment to appreciate my mental state before I met this kid.
That kid came skipping out of the bushes and stared at me with awe. "Sister! I want to see you fight!"
Oh my god! Whose kid is that?!
I shouted in rage inside my mind, as I offered a smile at her direction with an awkward stench. Puppet appeared beside me with the same irritation as me. "Whose genetics took over?!"
"I don't know! But whoever it is... I never want to meet them."
"Same here." Puppet turned to look at me, and then, panic overtook its face as it pointed towards me. "Behind you!"
I turned immediately on my heels and fell to my knees as I blocked the man's attack with Spectrum. As soon as I had mastered enough strength to push him away, I stood up again and sent Puppet after the kid. I know that it probably tried to calm the kid down and place him in a safe position, but...
"But I wanted to see Sister fight! And I wanted to make sure she wasn't injured like that and still overworking herself because her blood is *blabber blibber blobber*"
"Ugh... There he goes again." I whispered to myself as I worked on blocking more of those attacks coming towards my direction. "Just how is a poisoned patient that strong?! Dimenthylmercury is supposed to make people weaker! Why is he so strong?!" I contemplated inside my mind as I moved to the side and continued the same 'sling shong' rythem of metal hitting metal.
The kid on the other hand, turned away, to face a tree as he continued to explain some non-sensical things. I bet he had already explained four or five articles worth of things, but even if he exceeded, I won't be surprised.
In the meantime, Puppet folded its arms and looked at me, just to keep an eye for when I get too hurt to fight anymore. "This girl... She is fighting a literal zombie and then there is this kid here. I feel bad for her..."
By the looks of it, Puppet said that to only me, purposefully. I clicked my tongue and continued ignoring the entire universe and just trying to survive this mutated zombie. As I did, I felt my knees straining and I always felt like the ground beneath me was about to crumble. My wrists were going to fall of any moment in my perceptions and my head felt like a hammer was hitting at it from the back. Because of which, I struggled to keep my eyes open for long.
Water started to escape from the corners, and I knew that I really needed to end this entire battle in time to get some help from the Countess. I would have to go into debt and use my space-shifting skill to teleport to the estate.
As I got knocked back towards a tree, I took the oppurtunity to wait for another lunge from my opponent. As he slammed down the pole right beside my head, I used Spectrum to slice at the arm that held the pole, and held the vile right beneath the spilling blood.
Luckily, his pole somehow got stuck to the tree and this gave me the oppurtunity to keep him in place and accumulate enough blood levels before snapping the vile lead shut. Then, I turned towards the side and slammed my hand right where his pulse was. I knocked him unconscious like that, and left him there to die.
I don't give a sh*t to people who I don't even know. What am I? Free service? Like what I was to a kid?!
I turned towards where the kid was standing and folded my arms, waited for him to turn and then fall silent to allow me to speak. I stepped forward and picked him up onto my arms and moved towards the direction of the park that he happened to have come from. I planned not to ask me any more questions since I was already too tired for a conversation.
Puppet sat on my shoulders and whispered all the things that the kid was saying. I didn't even bother giving my elemental animal an ear either. Below my partially loose hair, I had an earphone on that I kept to keep away from noise pollution. I stayed silent for a long time, until I realized that the tiredness from the battle I had earlier had finally dissipated. I let out a sigh of relief, which was a little too loud, and I couldn't do anything else then to little to the kid at my arms as I walked with complete concentration.
My mind was in its own universe, and I was asking myself whether George really was a devil or not. However, I saw another devil with Cedric's appearance, and who whispered at my ear to send him regards. So it must be Cedric's brother, since he was George's age.
"Puppet..."
"Huh?"
"Just going to ask a quick question. Is it possible to borrow the powers of a devil?" I asked into my mind, which was connected to my elemental animal through my blood. I knew for short that it was short now, because I lacked haemoglobin due to my injury. It kept reopening open if I bend my head to the back.
"I guess... That is a possibility of you don't have an ounce of pure energy in you."
"What?! So what does that mean?"
"The empress carried a curse from a dying person. The curse is that her first child will one day die in front of her in a disrespectful way. And it could be a possibility that the curse was placed onto George the second he was born, and curses are practically considered black magic. So of course, the borrowing could have happened because of that."
I almost lost my sense of my environment during that time, and immediately stomped my feet from keeping me focused for quite some time. I had a kid in front of me and if I dropped him at a time like this... Surely I was going to have to meet his parents. And I definitely didn't want to do that.
"So you are saying... A cursed human could have contracted a free roaming devil, right?"
"How did you catch it that fast?! I mean yes. Your guess is correct. And I was thinking that he may have been a devil himself at some point too."
"Well with the amount of information that you had given me... Of course anyone would have immediately thought that way. I was simply terrified to know about it... Until I saw that devil, as Cedric's elder brother. Honestly... Should I have him killed?"
"Before that... Where your brother was supposed to be dead, why did you die in his stead?!"
"I didn't know about his curse until now! If I knew I would have thought about running away first! And no one saw me dying alright! So it doesn't count."
"..."
"..."
"Yeah I guess you are right." With that, our conversation ended entirely. We reached the park within twenty minutes of departing the forest and I was surprised that I made it here while still partially wide awake. I didn't even know whether I was making sense in any way.
I let the kid down on the ground and watched him race towards his worried parents, and I looked back towards the forest. I was hoping someone was going to find that man and make sure he didn't leave again like this. It really is an environmental hazard.
I sent a spirit to the camp with two task. Leave a sudden note to any guards and then inform Elanor about my location. Obviously I was going to try my best to not be in debt to Pandora while she was sick like that. So I immediately went over to look for any visible but cornered sitting area. My hand rested on the hilt of Spectrum at my side.
But as soon as I was about to claim a bench, the kid tucked at my sleeves and pulled me towards his parents. I sighed and forced out a smile despite knowing I probably looked like I fell off a building and was on my way to the hospital.
"This is the sister!" The kid pointed to his parents before turned into towards me. "Sister! This is my mom and dad!"
I didn't speak, and just bowed my head. Then, when I looked up, I wished I could have just ignored the kid in the first place. The fathe narrowed his eyes down at me, while the mother offered me a thank you. I nodded at the mother's direction and turned half-side away.
"Hold on... Are you going to walk away like that? I haven't introduced you to my wife." He spoke while placing a hand on my head and rustling my hair.
"Meet my adopted niece." The Viscount spoke while retracting his hand, not even acknowledging my bleeding head. "A disrespectful one indeed."