Beautiful Things Are Fragile [PK]

[rukio 8924]

"Gate?"

"Name, allegiance, reason for visit?"

"I- uh. Hello, first of all...Lorelei, none, and looking for work."

"I wish you luck, welcome to Providence."

"Thanks."

 

It had been some thirty years since Lorelei had visited Oren, she had always been a restless soul, directionless. The little unlucky charm as her mother had referred to her in her youth, with her proclivity for finding dead things, dissecting them, sewing them back together as though life could be returned through such trivial actions. Her path in life had always been clear, become a medic, tend to her garden, and remain inconspicuous. This had been her mother's outline, never her own, but she was a faithful daughter, and so followed it devoutly. Yet, dark green hair, odd clothing, Lorelei found her ways to still stand out, to be unique, noticed. 

 

It was on this unlucky visit to Oren that her desire to be noticed was finally appreciated. A bustling town square, the arguing of townsfolk about what is womanly and what is not. She cared little for it, her own words falling on deaf ears when she tried to interject in the debate. Typical. Her attention shifted from the citizens to their buildings, suffocatingly colorful and imposing in height. Her hand idly traced over a sword. She had never been a fighter, her spars had always been in her own head, fought with words and snark. A hiss escaped her as the soft padded flesh of her thumb sliced itself against the blade's edge. Footsteps approached from behind...

 

Questions. An offer of work. Apprehensive, she followed the woman through the busy streets to...the slums, the sewers. A cavern, hollowed out and well built to house a fighting pit was their destination. It all felt off. Her skin goosebumped, every fiber in her being screamed at her to flee as the creaking of wood above echoed throughout. Too late. She was struck in the face, nose broken, head slammed forward, falling into the pit with a thud. She pled, begged, promising she wasn't who they wanted. Copper and ammonia reeked throughout the damp arena. Resistance was futile, her leg was broken, her throat slit. A gurgled plea her last living sound. 

 

All that was left behind was a pool of blood where her body had been drained. . .

 

But where had her body gone?

[MangoManMini 150]

"Another horror is to be birthed tonight."

 

A nameless voice reminded themselves, in the isolation of a decrepit lab. 

 

The beginning of a rising mass.