1 I. The Basement
[3rd Aprith, 32 A.P]
A girl started walking down the dark stairway. Before further descending, she made sure that the door behind her was firmly locked and put the key inside her pant's pocket. After confirming, she started walking down the long stairs again.
She leisurely walked down the stairs for one minute before finally reaching the basement. The basement looked mostly empty with many cells placed along the wall. The height of these cells almost reached the ceiling and space inside the cells was more than enough for an average human to sleep in. Some cells looked rustic, some brand new and some reeked of blood and shit. Maybe some cells even had someone inside.
The basement was dimly illuminated by mysterious balls of blue light. The girl, without any hesitation, walked further into the basement. The peculiar balls of light gently illuminated her face. The girl had short and braided fiery red hair, her eyes looked sharp and her face devoid of any emotion but had a stiched scar on her left eyebrow. She was wearing a purple overcoat on top of a white tunic, along with tight black pants. The tip of a sheath could be seen under her overcoat.
She casually moved her head left and right as if she was searching for something when suddenly-
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
A loud shriek entered her ears. The girl didn't feel any reluctance or anxiety and started moving towards the voice with faster steps.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
A loud shriek again entered her ears. The shriek was filled with terror and dread. Anyone hearing this terrific shriek would be shaken to their cores and immediately get out from here as if fearing, the next scream will be theirs.
But the girl's face was still devoid of any emotion and she started moving more quickly towards the voice.
After a few seconds, she finally reached the source of the voice. The voice came from inside a cell, a purple orb of light illuminated the insides of the cell.
The girl spotted that there was fresh, red blood splattered across the cell's floor. She moved her eyes towards the source of blood and saw two feet tied together with a rope. She moved her eyes upward and saw a rusty looking man tied to a chair, his breathing heavy.
His hair was all messy and dust all over his face. His left eye was hollow with a stream of blood still flowing from inside and falling on his lap. The girl tried to find the eyeball and saw it lying comfortably near the cell's open door, she concluded that it must be freshly gouged out.
The girl looked at the man again and saw various stab wounds on his left arm, it looked as if a knife was pushed against his arm with high force, again and again, and again, and again, and again and..... no need to tell any further.
Besides this battered man, stood a lady wearing a white nightgown, her raven black hair reaching down to her waist. There was a butcher knife on her left hand, coated with the man's blood. There were splashes of blood all over her dress and face.
Upon seeing the girl, she showed a cheerful smile and waved her left hand energetically towards the girl, the knife also moving along with her rapid arm movement.
"Hey! Watcha doin here?" she asked as if the man wasn't even there.
"Master, couldn't sleep" the girl spoke in a monotonic way, her face still devoid of any emotion.
"OH! my! having those nightmares again?" suddenly her voice turned from cheery to concerned.
The girl just nodded and stood there.
She waited for the girl to speak further, but the girl just stood there like a doll. She frowned upon seeing this and started talking to the thrashed man
"Hey! man! you see this!? even though this girl wants to sleep with me, she doesn't STATE IT!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" her voice gradually became more and more irritated and she stabbed the man's right arm.
"I mean, I tell her to just state her wishes but she just DOESN'T!" again a stab to the right arm.
"How many FUCKING! *stab* times do I have to tell her to just s.p.e.a.k h.e.r GODAMN MIND! *stab!*"
The man's squeals became louder, a river's worth of tears overflowing from his remaining eye. The constant stabs making more blood to splatter on the ground and her clothes.
"Just WHY?!" *stab*
"Hey! tell me WHY?!" *stab*
"I am asking YOU!" *stab*
"Don't just scream, say SOMETHING!" *stab* *stab* *stab*
again and again and again she pierced the man's right arm with the knife while asking nonsensical questions. The man's cry becoming shallower with each stab and eventually, he lost consciousness.
*stab* "HEY! you even stopped screaming now!? you FUCK!" *stab!*
All through this hellish scene, the girl was just standing there, no emotions surfacing on her face. The girl acted like her master's tantrum had nothing to do with her.
She took in deep breaths and eventually calmed down, she asked, "So! Scarlet! why didn't you speak your mind?"
"Working on it"
"and how are you W.O.R.K.I.N.G on it!?"
"Came here"
"AH! you came here, yes...yes...Of course! you came here!, you came here on your own!, you m.o.v.e.d on your own and c.a.m.e HERE!"
"Yes"
She immediately threw the knife and ran towards scarlet, she jumped and hugged scarlet will all of her force, then planted a kiss on her lips.
Scarlet's clothes also became stained with blood, her lips also getting stains of blood on it.
"Ohhhhhh! I am so happy right now Scarlet! you finally did something on your own! ohhhhhh, my baby, sorry for yelling like that before, but that was directed at that man, not you! so don't mind, don't mind" she started ruffing scarlet's hair and making excuses.
"Master, sleep"
"AH! yes! just wait a moment! then we can go to sleep! you must be tired today. Catching this man and all that."
"Not tired, Master asked"
"Hmmmmm, we also need to work on your way of speaking, but well! it's still some progress from when you didn't speak anything."
she stopped ruffing scarlet's hair and went inside the cell.
"Now, just wait a moment, let me deal with this traitor first, I have to show them what happens when they betray the g.r.e.a.t! LILITH! again! what did I say, Scarlet!? the great L.I.L.I.T.H! S.H.A.D.E! now! say it with me! Scarlet!"
Lilith magnificently spread her arms upward and with a voice full of compassion spoke, "LILITH!"
"shade"
"Geeeeeeeeezzz! Scarlet! where's your enthusiasm!? hahahahahahahahahaha *cough*hahaha*cough* *cough*hahaaaa...."
After taking in a few deep breaths, Lilith again calmed down and stood in front of the man.
Lilith hovered her hands over the man's right arm and started chanting something while moving her arms at random directions.
"Mother earth! Lilith is thy name! thy devoted her entire life to thou! thou hath saved many! allow thy to dost the same! BHOSD!"
At the end of the chant and a very peculiar hand movements, a bright blue light radiated over man's right man and his torn flesh started stitching itself together. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and the man's right arm looked like nothing ever happened to it.
Lilith then moved towards his left arm and chanted, "BHOSD!"
again, his left arm got healed.
Lilith picked up the eyeball leisurely lying on the ground and stuffed it inside his empty eye's socket.
"BHOSD!"
miraculously, his eye also reattached itself to the nervous system and after some time, the man woke up.
The moment he opened his eyes, he got surprised. His removed eye has come back and his arms are now healed. He thought a miracle has happened, but he knew that only one person has the power of healing magic in this continent and that was Lilith.
But why did she heal him? has she forgiven him for the betrayal? is there still hope?
Strangely, Lilith's lips curled up, she shoved her fingers in his left eye's socket, forcefully pushing her fingers in and pulled the eyeball out.
The action was too fast for the man to react. His brain couldn't catch up with her hand's movement and he started wondering what happened?
"See this!?" Lilith hovered the eyeball in front of his face, he realized what happened but before he can scream *SQUISH!*
Lilith squished the eyeball with her hand in front of his face and shoved it inside his mouth which was opening to scream, she closed his mouth, so he can't spit anything out and forcefully made him swallow his own eyeball.
The man too shocked and dreaded by this sudden action lost his consciousness again.
"Ahhh, look at this scarlet! because of him, my hands are all dirty now!"
"yes" Scarlet couldn't help but say anything else.
"Don't YES! me! haaaah, gotta wash up now, then sleep, then wake up, then again wash up, then eat food, then actually interrogate this traitor, then blah blah blah blah! fuck! so much to do!" Lilith started throwing a tantrum again and started kicking the man with her legs.
"Master, sleep?"
Lilith immediately stopped kicking the man, turned her face towards Scarlet, squinted her eyes and made a scrunched face
"YES!"
