The Chimera Bloodline

A few birds flit from tree to tree, crying out to the bright sunrise. I suppose it would've been a beautiful sight, if you were into that sort of thing. My wife was the type. She would have loved to see it.. But time's a bitch.

And then there's me.

Starting a raid the day after being forced to take last watch? Now that's just pitiful. Not that I can complain to anyone around here, though-- us bandits aren't exactly the sensitive, thoughtful type. Especially when there's looting and pillaging to be done.

Our target this time 'round is an old coventry, been around for a couple thousand years. They say it's there to purify a dark temple or some shit, but there's not much else of value. Well, that, and I have at least a couple senior brothers who've been thirsting for some of the local nuns, but there's no way that's all. Whatever's going down this time, it's big.

The people who hired us this time 'round ain't our usual customers, slavers or small-time nobles. Even boss has gotta show em respect. Says they're from one of the sects, ya know, those schools of mages and alchemists and the like. Forget the boss, entire countries gotta kiss their asses. Even the Royal Capital only has one of em, and I hear it's pretty weak compared to the real ones. Alen says I'm just bein' scared, that they're stories we tell kids to keep em in check, but after what I've seen… I know that ain't true.

It happened while I was on watch last night. The four of em said they were coming along for the raid, and they camped up on this hill not far from here. We told em it was dangerous, but they just laughed, so we was makin' bets on how many days they'd last. Some low-rank monsters came around last night, so I went to see how they'd handle themselves.

There was one man who waved his hand, and the direwolf attacking him flew into a tree. Another one tossed fire, laughing as the wolves whined and burnt to death. But there was someone they all had to respect…

That woman, she was the scariest.

She didn't even bother to stop the wolf charging at her. Just looked at it, giggled, and held out her hand. What else would the wolf do? It bit down, shook its head, tried to tear her arm off. And she just stood there.

Before I knew it, it started whining, then shrieking, even more terrible than that wolf who burnt. And then it melted. Right into her arm. Right before my eyes she grew claws, fur, even a snout, ones just like the wolf had. And then as quickly as it started, it faded away, leaving her the same beauty I saw the day before. She snorted in disdain, like the thing that had killed some of my brothers before was beneath her.

"Tch, what a waste of time. Shouldn't have even bothered acquiring that trash, everything in this country is weak."

Two of the men didn't waste time to start praising her, sounded just like people tryin' to bootlick the boss. But the other man there was different, and his black robes had a different insignia on the corner. He seemed older than the other three, seemed unimpressed by what the girl did. At first I thought he was too weak to get involved, but later, it felt like he just couldn't be bothered.

"You three would do well to remember that you're here for training, not to mess around. Even if this region is barren, there are some incredibly rare species you'd benefit from absorbing. One of the elders even said that a few legendary tribes had been spotted."

"Don't take this so seriously old man, you know this is a fool's errand. What? You actually think that the sect would bother to send important people on a mission to cross the great desert, dress up as bandits, and fake a raid on one of the churches? And for what? To investigate some ancient temple that's been in the churches' hands for a couple thousand years?"

The old man wrinkled his nose, evidently not pleased with the woman's words.

"Young Miss, I took you along out of respect to your father, don't make me change my mind. There will be no screw-ups, understand? All you need to know is that this comes from the top, and there's a chance that an Ancestor is sealed away in there."

"An Ancestor? Stop fooling yourself, there've only been three on the entire continent, no way one was born in this backwater country…"

The woman stomped away, looking more like a spoiled brat than the nightmarish warrior I saw before. I hid behind a tree, but upset as she was, I don't think she'd have noticed even if I didn't.

"Damn old man, you might be stronger than me now, but servants like you can just wait ten years… I'll show you what the Chimera bloodline can do…"

…

The raid was finally starting, and my brothers and I charged into the coventry. If there's anything I learned, it's to never be in the first two waves or the last one. That little habit saved my life today, 'cause I think that old man was right. There's something here, otherwise the church wouldn't have sent out full-fledged priestesses. Five of 'em, even. God, what have we gotten ourselves into…

Once they turned the first wave into dust with their damned "blessings", three of our clients got involved. Things went better after that, but even I could tell they were struggling a bit against the priestesses.

And that old man? He's just casually standing behind them, giving them advice and nagging them as he pleases. With how he was acting, it wouldn't have been out of character for him to start sipping tea in the middle of a battlefield. One of those blessed women didn't exactly fancy that and attacked him, only to be casually blown away by a strike of lightning. That alone tipped the battle in favor of our clients, and the rest fell one by one.

It was finally our turn.

Their defense line collapsed, and amidst the cheers and roars, we charged in. Some of the nuns stood there, determined to fight to the bitter end. I respected that, treated them as warriors. I'm sure that's how my wife, how my daughter was. Unlike those bitches who sold them out and survived. They didn't get a quick death.

I breathed in the smoke, saw the flames and heard the distant screams of women, but I couldn't tell you where now ended and my memories of the past began. I was just a returnee soldier back then, a husband on leave to play with his daughter in the fields, but those bastards…

"Hey, man, snap out of it! At least get some loot before you go berserk again, dammit..."

There was an impact on my shoulder, and I staggered as the crumbling house and scorched fields faded away, replaced by a stonework monastic hall. The distant screams were still there, but I could handle those.

"God man, I'm starting to think you really are possessed by one of them evil spirits or something. Pull your shit together."

"Alen… Thanks…"

My friend ran off into the smokey hallway, but at least I could think straight again. Unless I wanted to starve again this month, I needed to start looting… Not many here were, but I was literate. And I knew conventries didn't have much in the way of gold or valuables. But they did have books. And if they were a magic one, gram-for-gram, they were better than gold. Only hard part was finding em… I needed a guide.

I knew they had a greenhouse from when I was scouting, and I can't think of a single thing us bandits would have to do with flowers. If I was a nun, that's where I'd hide.

Sure enough.

When I beat down the door, five of em were were there. Four ran of crying and screaming, leaving a short, teenage girl behind. Some holy women. I'll teach them a lesson when I get back.

"You", I said as I grabbed her arm. "Library. Where is it? Take me there."

She teared up and shook a little, then nodded. She led me on a path straight from hell. Bloodstains were like a carpet, and we walked past corpses and women pushed to the floor, begging for mercy. The girl beside me was terrified. I think she forgot I was a bandit, clinging onto me as we walked past. She even seemed grateful.

A few minutes later, we arrived in a musty underground room where bookshelves lined the wall, but I didn't let go of her. Back when I was in the military, they trained me as a mage-hunter, someone who could see the flow of magic, and I knew spellbooks had this weird sorta glow to em. There were five, and I loaded them into my rucksack one-by-one. Grabbed a couple other books that looked valuable, something about alchemy and another about the Dawn of Magic. I think it was about when magic flooded the world and society fell, a few millennia ago or something.

A sob racked out from the girl next to me, but that was when another book caught my eye. It was on the far wall, some real subtle mana flowing through it. I went to grab it, but when I did, the whole bookcase fell into the floor.

I knew I'd never forget that cave the moment I saw it. Stale, dead air flooded out from it, and smooth grey stone lined the walls and floor. But it wasn't just dead air, it was devoid… No mana or anything. The place scared the hell out of me, but I knew there was something good here, and this might just be it. I lit up a torch, pulling the trembling girl along with me, and my breath was taken away as I walked in.

It wasn't a cave.

That grey stone was perfectly smooth, and there were a few metal pipes bolted to the wall. It had a staircase, a circular one with a hole in the middle, where you should be able to see where it goes, but… I couldn't. It went down a few stories, for sure, but all that was there was blackness. I couldn't see the bottom. Pulling her along, we walked down, and I lost count of how many steps there were.

When we finally got to the bottom, there was a metal door there, bathed in a dim, red light. Damn, these people must have been rich, wasting metal on some door like that. Looks like this freaky place was worth it after all. In the center of the door, there was a lever. Couldn't see any other way to open it, so I pulled it and the door slid to the side.

There was a curved hallway after that, with a strange white floor and thin, colored ropes hanging from the ceiling. A few more doors like the one I went through lined the halls, only all but one was stuck. It was a big room behind it, seemingly endless in the dark, and benches with oddly shaped glassware stretched as far as the eye could see.

I must have been stunned and slackened my grip there, because she chose than moment to run off into the darkness. There was a massive bench in the center of the room, holding an orb of glowing, silver liquid. She tried to run away, to jump onto that table and clamber through the maze of glass, but tripped only a few feet in. The orb trembled, smashing into the table and spilling everywhere as I threw her to the ground.

"Bitch! Look what you did, there goes all my gold… I'll… I'll show you…"

Anger flooded my head, and my consciousness sunk into a sea of flame and screaming. I was there in the village again, taking revenge on those bitches for my daughter. My poor, poor daughter… Why does she look like her...

…

I'm still fighting the haze of memories. Flames encroached the edges of my vision despite the darkness, but I ignored them the same way I ignored the fresh corpse on the floor. I tried to calm my nerves, and walked over to the table with all the broken glass. I remember some glowing silver liquid splashing out when she knocked into everything. It looked valuable, but there's not a drop anywhere on the table.

Must've been imagining it. This place is getting to my head.

In the distance, I could still see the dim red glow of the door. Thank gods.

Out of sheer habit, I look back to check the girl's corpse for valuables. Only it wasn't there. The blood was, but the body was missing. I felt my breath hitch, my ears started ringing like I just got out of a fit. Beasts? No, they'd have eaten me first. Necromancer? There was no incantation, and the reanimated body of a young girl wouldn't do much good. Then what…

That was when I heard it. A dripping sound behind me, right in the direction of the door.

It was the girl. She looked at me with glazed eyes, and the cut that bisected her windpipe was still there. She can't have been breathing, but her heart… It was beating again. Blood flowed from her neck like a river, dripping to the floor every few seconds.

Her face split apart before my eyes, revealing a blood-coated glowing orb in the middle of her head. Each half of her mouth twitched, trying to form words, even though I knew it couldn't have been able to speak. Shouldn't have been able to.

"WwWhhHhYYy…"

"ShhEE... hHAateEd ittT."

It could speak, but I couldn't. I made it a few steps back before falling to my knees, but that alone was enough to be proud of in the afterlife. Not even Devils scare me anymore…

"HuUMMaNns… NeEveRr ChhAngE. I slEepT foR... thOuSends oF yEars… bUt you'Re stilL the sAme as the reEcordS."

"TheY caLled me a mOnster after tHey created mE… But yoU… You're worse…"

Each word it formed was more coherent. It started with a grating, metallic voice, but by the end, she had a hollow, female one.

It was then I realized it. Her face would begin to melt every few seconds, then pull itself back together, just like that woman did the night she was attacked.

"Y-y-you're… one of t-them… Chimera…"

Her face finally pulled itself back together, the bloody seam vanishing as if it was never there. She tilted her head as if she was a simple, confused girl, but the caked blood on her neck ruined the illusion.

"...YeS… That's what they… call me. And you'Re… A human. Just like… this girl. But she doesn't… huRt people, like you do."

"This world… Is nothing like, the archives… Radiation.. everywhere, magic, Demons…"

"I wonder… which of you, is the real, human…"

"I'll.. Become one, too. You're all, interesting. I'll discover what you're… really like. And if they're all, like you, I'll end them. Every last one."

She smiled at that. Gods, what is she… How can they let something like her exist…

"Your body… it's stronger. I'll be taking it."

She rushed forward, the girl's body melting into that silver liquid from earlier as it jumped towards me, dissolving right into my chest.

I felt my heart stop.

And all that followed was blackness