The four glowing eyes persisted to lock with hers, as if piercing her very soul. Va'dia remained still, back straight, glancing uncomfortably at them. She peeped behind her; the empty corridor somehow felt suffocating.
Turning back to the eyes, awkwardness grew within her, the more they stared, the less it felt like dread, and quickly turned into pure social discomfort.
Speaking of socializing, it was the only thing she was truly afraid of in this situation. But her brain betrayed, forcing her to at least say something, even though unsure if those eyes were a foe or not.
"H-hello?"
Her words resounded, but nothing came back in response. However, there was one change that caught her attention. The cyan eye shifted, becoming half-lidded but still looking, the orange one had disappeared.
Uncertainty hung thick in the air. Slowly, the other eyes disappeared, the strange impenetrable darkness remained to hide what was on the other side. Swallowing hard, she approached it.
Each step was cautious, the blackness enveloped her more than the pre-existing dark of the corridor. And without warning, a bright flash instantly cleared the mystery. She instinctively covered her eyes with her arm, the light radiated with an intensity almost like the sun.
"Crap! I fueled too much!"
A young masculine voice rang out, followed by soft metallic noises and creaking. The blinding light gradually weakened to a comfortable level. Va'dia lowered her arm, eyes fluttering open.
A surprising sight appeared before her, all of them were humans. The first thing she saw was an orange-eyed man, whose features were handsome and wearing a luxurious vest. The most intimidating out of all was the red-eyed man, estimated to be two meters tall, wearing a white lab coat.
They were all looking at the orange-eyed man in disappointment. Cyan-eye, however, was looking at Va'dia. Her appearance was rather seductive, wearing a white cropped tank-top along with a short skirt, and skin pale as snow. However, all were obscured by her long black fur cloak.
"Jeez, you ruined it all."
Lab coat man spoke, slowly turning right.
"That was unpleasant wasn't it? Sorry for the horrid, welcome. I'm Doctor Heinrich, you could simply call me Hein."
His skin was wrinkled like an elderly man, but somehow still looked quite young, he could be around thirty.
"Leave the lady to me. I, Sergo Razmik shall be her lover."
Orange eye spoke as he finished fixing the magic fueled lantern hung on the ceiling, he then gracefully approached Va'dia just like the wealthy nobles. And Smiled, with hints of something underneath.
Once he was close enough, he took a deep breath. Va'dia, at this point, was uncomfortably hugging herself, petrified by social awkwardness, unable to control her eyes away from his.
"Fear not," his voice lowered with practiced charm. "Fate has led us to this moment."
Her heart pounded fast after her ears caught his words, at the same time, she broke free and glanced to the left. Heinrich was suffering, eyes moving around, trying to hold back laughter from bursting out.
"…W-what do you mean?"
She looked away, toward cyan-eye, who was still seated on the small wooden box, watching with a smug expression.
"Oh? I see. Words failed you. Such overwhelming fortune often does."
Sergo ran a hand through his ornate orange hair and simultaneously winked. Va'dia took a step backward, every fiber of her being screamed offense.
"I will take you to heaven—"
While acting all charming and flirty, a metal spoon flew toward him and hit his head. It came from behind, from someone that had been annoying to him for way too long now. It was no other than cyan-eye.
"Sevan! What are you doing!? Stop ruining my proposal!"
Sevan Zebelle crossed her legs, her arm supporting her chin.
"Do whaaat? I'm simply preventing you from embarrassing yourself." She cast a glance at him then added, "Why won't you learn? You have failed many times by talking like that."
"Shut up! It's my tradition!"
An argument started with Sergo's loud ramblings, trying his best to defend whatever "tradition" he had. No one knew what he was talking about, others in this group thought he was just stupid, except for Sevan. Perhaps she saw something in him? Or was she just wanting him to get rid of that "tradition" and learn a new way to propose.
Va'dia, still nervous with all the sudden interactions, turned around, but before even being able to take a step, Heinrich placed his large hand on her left shoulder. Startled, she immediately gazed at his face, which he responded by pointing at the ninja looking guy with his chin and moving both of his brows up and down.
"Name's Lucas, The Shadow Ripper. Pretty cool right?" Heinrich lowered himself to her ear, "He's once an assassin for the 'Halls Of The Kings', very strong, until he realized that it robs him of freedom and makes his life miserable, so that's why he fled and ended up here. But that doesn't mean he's out of trouble."
She exhaled softly through her nose, it was best to adapt to this convivial atmosphere since all of those people seemed friendly. While the ramblings were reverberating, Lucas was sitting on his wooden box emotionlessly with his black katana hugged tight, chest falling up and down.
"You don't talk much huh? Introvert? Lucas's the same." He straightened his back and added, "follow me, I got somewhere quiet."
The doctor had started walking north, Va'dia still staring at Lucas without knowing why, he was a total stranger, but in doing so, for some reason gave her a profound sense of comfort.
Noticing that she didn't follow, he turned sideways and simply looked at her. Creating a crawling discomfort was a sure way to grab her attention from afar without a single word spoken.
The feeling took effect and Va'dia immediately gazed toward the direction.
"Sorry."
She whispered, walking toward Heinrich at a casual pace, only then he would turn back and resume. There were boxes all around, from large to small, that could only mean this concrete room the group gathered was a storage room.
Going around the pillars and avoiding walls of boxes, they headed deeper into the storage room. The yellow light of the magic-fueled lantern dimmed, darkness draped over everything.
Thankfully, her new ability allowed to see in the dark as if she was in the daylight. Eventually boxes turned metal shelves, absolutely dusty on both surfaces. Heinrich raised one hand to signal a stop.
"We're gonna talk here."
Talk? The moment it went into her ears, she started feeling nervous, an uncontrollable urge to hide and run rose up to dominance. An opportunity opened when Heinrich was searching for seatable boxes, back facing her.
'I have to run!'
Once again, before she could, he held her in place by the shoulder. When she turned at him, he already had the seat in hand. The box was placed down behind and then an irresistible force pushed her down.
He moved a box with his foot and sat down in front of her, at a reasonable distance so she wouldn't scream discomfort.
"Stop whimpering you knee-hugger"
Va'dia was indeed hugging her knees and making sobbing noises, at this state she won't be saying anything which made all of the effort getting here pointless. Frowning slightly with annoyance, he needed to provoke her into forgetting that she was an introvert.
"Nice brown shorts."
His voice deadpan, eyes in place he shouldn't linger. Not knowing to be surprised or disappointed, she didn't react at all, just complete silence. Truly a strange woman.
"Ahem. What's your name? I forgot to ask."
She didn't answer immediately, only a few moments later she would.
"Va'dia."
From there Heinrich began creating comfort for her, it was a painfully slow process but with the patient of a doctor, it was quite fun and made him feel good. As for the real reward, she successfully calmed down and stopped hugging her knees.
But not exactly relaxed as she still kept her gaze on the concrete floor, fingers gripping tightly around her other arm. Heinrich couldn't help but exhale.
He glanced behind and saw one of his underlings, a green clad figure lying on the ground lifelessly, his skin dry and husk-like.
"So, according to the green mage, you were a monster."
Va'dia suddenly looked up at him with eyes full of memories of what happened prior to arriving here.
"How convenient to have another member."
He shoved his hands into the coat's pockets.
"Then… you all are just like me?"
Heinrich stood up and walked casually to the green clad corpse, her eyes locked on him with curiosity, creating thoughts of what he was going to do next.
He grabbed the corpse by the neck with unnatural ease, seemingly weightless, and turned at her. Occasionally looking at the dried, withered face tauntingly.
"No, you're different. You have the power to curse." He licked his lips, "which only those with a Verdant-02 inside their body would have."
The doctor unceremoniously threw the dead body away and got back to his seat. Va'dia felt confused about the knowledge he just spat out, having no idea what the heck he was talking about.
"But it isn't quite right either. The green mage told me you have black masses protruding out of your shoulder." Rubbing his chin, "Then that means you have a special strain, I guess." He shrugged.
Not knowing what to say, she simply sighed at his blabbering. But the knowledge she had gathered was quite intriguing, knowing at least it was some kind of strain in her body.
Heinrich leaned forward.
"Where do you feel the most pain?"
There was no need to think, the answer was clear and fresh from past experience.
"My head."
The doctor furrowed his brow.
"An immature strain in your brain. That's ridiculous."
Contrary to the knowledge he had when he once worked with the cultists, never in his life saw a strain growing in a host's brain. But the truth was undeniable, as there was no reason for her to lie and he couldn't just do brain surgery to just see the creature.
Scratching the back of his head, he groaned without a hint of frustration.
"Again, maybe you got a special strain. An unknown one."
Several seconds later, the doctor stood up and walked toward the path they had gone, basically going back to the others. She looked at him with some bewilderment, before standing up and following.
On the way, taking twists and turns, lost in thoughts. Quite a few questions came to mind, they were all about her purpose here as well as everyone else's. Come to think of it, this group felt like a family.
The yellow light gradually appeared on sight, and so was the trio, it looked like the argument had ended with Sevan coming out on top as usual, Sergo panting in defeat.
"You can't beat me if you don't learn."
Sevan simply closed her eyes and ignored, not worth watching him gnashing his teeth in anger. Her attention was toward the sound of footsteps coming from behind. A few seconds later a familiar voice rang out.
"Anyone going out with Va'dia? Her strain needs growth."
The two immediately gazed at the source, specifically Doctor Heinrich. Sergo's eyes sparkled, taking this opportunity.
He walked over to Va'dia charmingly.
"It's going to be me. I will protect and expose her to things she has never seen before."
"You're just gonna make her uncomfortable, idiot."
"Huh? What did you say!?"
She stood up gracefully, stretching her arms and approached, pulling Sergo away by the collar like some obstacle. Facing each other now was Sevan and Va'dia, both were around the same height.
Attracted by the opposite's eyes, the world around seemed to blur unromantically which was the case for the young female mercenary. Sevan's smile engraved into her mind subconsciously.
Arms gently wrapped around her neck, the affection spread coldness throughout her very core, it felt just like being in morning snowy days. And from a distance was Sergo, seated with arms crossed and observing with seriousness.
Eventually, Sevan retracted, she began walking to the left, where a particular steel door stood. Heinrich then glanced at Va'dia.
"Go, she will be your companion."
She reluctantly followed, on the way, Sevan flipped up her dark fuzzy hood to obscure her face, then she gripped the shiny steel handle and pulled outward, the door screeched sharply.
Now what laid before them was a long corridor, stretching as far as the eye could see, ending with a left turn. Sevan stepped in first and half-turn to give Va'dia a glance. One eye glowed in the darkness of her hood.
All she knew was to follow, despite uncertainties welling up.
Sergo watched them disappearing into the corridor with a racing mind, maybe he was an idiot just like what she said, unable to learn and kept avoiding the truth. With a determined sigh, he stood up.
Far away, the wooden hatch opened. Pale gray fog enveloped the other side, thin strands of it seeping inside.