Monster

"Soul? Souuul?"

He moaned in pain and slowly opened his eyes. The first person he saw was Liana, softly smacking his cheeks. To her right, there was Ruby, getting her scars healed by a nurse. Lilith was nowhere to be seen.

He stood up from his chair and walked up to his sister laying in bed.

The sun was up.

'What time is it?'

The hospital room was dimly lit by flickering torches mounted on the walls. A single narrow window allowed a sliver of daylight to filter in. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and poultices, mingling with the mustiness of aged wood. A simple straw mattress lay on a wooden bed frame, covered with a rough woolen blanket.

"Ruby – Are you hurt?"

"Oh, hey." She smiled. "No, I'm good. I think that woman missed me on purpose. But forget about me – are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Liana told me that – that you remembered your name?"

"Huh?" He had no idea what she meant by that. "My name? No… I don't think so."

"Please stay still, Ruby," said the nurse using a healing spell on her. "You have a small cut on your arm."

The nurse's hand was emitting a gentle, soothing green glow as she carefully hovered it over Ruby's arm.

"Will this wound leave a scar?" Soul asked.

"No, I'm using a Level two healing spell. It'll heal in about an hour or so. Normally it'd heal in an instant but… the curse prevents that."

"Hmm. Thank you, Melissa, for always taking care of her."

"Of course. It's my job, after all."

"So, how's the new school life going?" asked Ruby, wanting to change the subject. "Made any friends? Oh, you helped someone today, right? Don't forget your promise!"

"School life? Boring. Friends?" He remembered the boy who lit him on fire. "Yeah I have made friends. Helped someone? I mean – I helped someone, yes."

"Oh? Tell me! What did you do to help?" She was full of life despite the state she was in.

"There was this weird woman – She had scars on her back, real nasty scars. I got rid of them."

"Huh?" Mellisa was surprised. "Didn't know you could cast healing spells, Soul. How did you do it?"

"I bought a really expensive healing potion. It cured her."

"You should've bought it from KCO," Melissa suggested. "I could've made you a special discount."

"Next time, I'll take that deal." He answered. "Thank you. You're always good to us, Melissa. I'm glad we have you."

Soul sat at the edge of the bed, next to Melissa. He was so concerned about his sister that he didn't see Melissa getting shy and turning red.

"Where's –" Soul looked at Liana, standing by the door. "Where's Lilith?"

"She said she'll come back in a few hours."

"Hmm."

A stranger knocked on the door. At first, neither Soul nor Liana even acknowledged it, thinking it was another nurse. But after a while, when they heard the knock again, they looked at each other. No one besides Soul and Liana would ever visit Ruby – and they were pretty sure that Lilith would just barge in without knocking first.

The door opened. Hyun-Ki, with a sad and apologetic face, stepped inside the room.

"Uuh – hey, people."

Soul and Liana said nothing. Ruby just nodded her head with a warm smile.

"I… I'm not gonna take your time. I just want to – uuh, I'm sorry for what my sister did. She's not normally like that. It's just – it happened, you know…"

"Hmm," Liana murmured, "It's okay."

"It really is not okay." Hyun-Ki scratched his head. "She shouldn't have hurt the patients. I'm sorry, please forgive her."

"She should've been the one apologizing right now, no?" suggested Liana. "You did nothing wrong."

"My sister – is not that kinda person. I've never heard her apologize."

"It's okay," said Soul, "We hold no grudge against her."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry again."

"Like I told you, it's fine. Don't worry."

"Thank you."

To a normal person, this would come across as a friendly conversation between Soul and Hyun-Ki. But Liana knew that this wasn't the case. Soul's dead-looking eyes had nothing behind it, they were empty – maybe emptier than before. It was obvious to her that Soul had different plans about Hyun-Ki's sister.

"I also would like to apologize to your sister," Soul said, "Since it's partly Lilit – Lily's, my cousin's, fault."

"You really don't have to do that, Sou…"

"I do." He interrupted. "Where is she?"

"She should be in the Academy. My sister is our Spellcasting Fundamentals teacher."

"Hmm. Then I shall go there. I was planning on visiting the school library anyway." He gently pressed his hand on Mellisa's shoulder. "Take care of my sister please."

"Y – yeah," She said.

"You idiot, Soul." Ruby whispered to herself.

As Soul was waiting in the library, Professor Yuu came in. He was exhausted – probably hadn't slept since the attack. He was so tired that he didn't see Soul, standing by the window.

Blinking away the fog of exhaustion, he finally realized that he wasn't alone in the room.

"Oh," He said with a surprised voice. "Young Soul. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Good morning, sir."

"Morning, Soul. We're not doing classes today. As you probably heard – there was an attack… some of the students didn't make it. That boy cast a fire spell on you? We found his body near the boys' dormitory. There were other casualties, too."

"Yes, sir, I've heard. Such a tragedy. I wish I were there to help, though."

"That's kind of you." He sat down in his chair. "What are you doing here? Interested in some tomes?"

"Yes, actually. I am."

He lied. He was actually looking out the window, watching Ji-Hye's training with two other teachers. They were giving her quite a hard time; she had nearly lost at one point, but quickly recovered and retaliated with a barrage of counterattacks. After about a minute or so, she emerged as the victorious one, defeating the two teachers with her sword skills alone.

Soul, with his half-open eyes, pretended as if he was searching for a book. He could see Professor Yuu in his peripheral, he was watching him with curious gaze.

"What kind of tomes are you looki –"

"Professor Yuu!" Ayame Katto, an Ur-blessed student, entered the library in a hurry. "There's – they're here. High elves! Four of them! Maybe more!"

"Elves? Slow down, Ayame."

"They want to talk to the school headmaster – to you, Professor Yuu."

"So – High elves found about this place… Well, that's not good." he played with his long, white beard. "Let me talk to them. You two stay here, okay?"

"But, Professor Yuu…"

A High elf rudely shoved Ayame aside and entered the room with his other three companions. Each of them were holding swords, ready for battle at any moment.

"Just as I thought," said the high elf who pushed Ayame. "Fucking magic school. You lot don't know the law?"

"High elves," Professor Yuu began, his voice steady despite the gravity of the situation. "The teaching of magic within Gum'n is 'not' forbidden by law."

The lead High elf, his demeanor haughty and disdainful, sneered. "Your human laws mean nothing to us. Magic is a sacred art, not to be wielded by every commoner, you trash."

"Magic is a gift to be shared, not hoarded by a select few."

The High elves exchanged glances, their disdain morphing into aggression. "Enough of your human prattle," one of them spat, unsheathing his sword. "You defy our decree. Our law. You will suffer the consequences."

With a swift motion, one of them lunged toward Professor Yuu, his blade aimed directly at him.

Professor Yuu reacted quickly, unfortunately not quick enough. The High elf's sword grazed his neck and left shoulder as he moved away. His injuries were nothing life-threatening, but it was enough to drop him to the ground in pain.

Ayame Katto recoiled in fear. As for Soul, he was still by the window, watching everything unfold with his boring eyes.

"You – he's a hero!" Ayame yelled. "How dare you treat him like that? He's won –"

"Human." one of the elves interrupted sharply. "You wait for your turn."

The leading high elf held Professor Yuu's robe, put him against the wall and stabbed him not too deeply in his already injured shoulder. It was as if he was playing with his food – having fun before killing him eventually.

One of them jumped in front of Ayame and slashed his sword. But she was fast, Ayame was able to both dodge the oncoming attack and graze her attacker with her dagger, enhanced with poison magic.

When another one came forward, she used an air spell and threw his enemy off-balance with a strong wind.

"You idiot! You dirty animal!" The elf gritted his teeth. "I'll kill you!"

"Leave us alone! You don't have to do this!"

The only window in the room shattered when the high elf opened his palm and every single piece of it flew toward Ayame. She wasn't able to dodge it, as her back was turned to the window.

With countless pieces of glass stuck to her back, Ayame fell down to the ground. She was still conscious, but barely so.

"Take that silver-haired boy, too," said the leading high elf, "don't kill him. We need them alive."

"Yes, sir."

"Oi!" said a voice outside of the corridor. "I think this is yours!"

Ji-Hye threw a high elf who was guarding the corridor, crashing him into the door and causing it to burst open. Her face and clothes were stained with blood, and she was also bleeding from her right leg.

She ran to the closest high elf and swung her sword. Although the elf was able to parry it, it didn't matter. As soon as her first attack landed, Ji-Hye drew a dagger out of her leather belt and stabbed him in his neck. He was gurgling in blood when he hit the floor.

'Sneaky.'

"Professor Yuu! Are you okay?" She yelled.

"I'm…" his long white hair was covering his face. "I'm okay… help the students, Ji-Hye."

"Ugh…" Ayame stood up, pieces of glasses still plunged into her back. "I'll help you, ma'am "

"Stay back." She refused. "You'll just get in the way."

"But –"

"Get these damned humans!" yelled the leading high elf.

Soul dodged an arrow aiming for his head and tripped backwards. He wasn't good or bad at fighting, swinging swords or anything that required physical activities. He was just painfully average like any other normal student. But even a boring person like Soul had one trick up his sleeve – other than his blood magic power. Thanks to Liana's teachings, he could use any type of bow with precision. He also adapted to fighting dirty; making moves that his enemy least expected.

Soul crawled behind a shelf and waited. The high elf wasn't coming for him, that meant he didn't have to attack back or plan his next move. He would rather not get involved in any of this mess.

He opted to just wait for the fight to end. If things were to go sideways for him, he could've always used his blood magic.

"Fucking long-eared bastards!" Ji-Hye was still standing and fighting with the other high elves. "This is all you got, huh!"

Professor Yuu gathered all his strength, got up and fell down after taking only two steps. When Ayame saw his teacher struggling, she rushed to him and pressured the wound on his shoulder. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding pretty badly for her to be concerned.

"Wha – what should I do, Professor?" Ayame asked.

"Run." said Professor Yuu, whispering between heavy pants. "Escape."

"I won't! But I'm – I'm Ur-blessed. I'm useless in a fight like this…"

Ur-blessed people like Ayame were known for their mastery over necromancy and communication with spirits. This power heavily impacted their ability to heal and use any other restoration magic. They were also the only group of people who couldn't conjure any sort of weapons to themselves.

Soul, eavesdropping in the conversation, left the big shelf he was using as a cover. Right after he left, a high elf managed to throw Ji-Hye onto Soul, knocking both to the ground.

She quickly stood up, running in front of Soul.

"You won't touch these kids, scum." her blood stained hands were shaking.

"I'll kill every single one of them just for the hells of it!" the high elf enchanted his sword with fire. "I'll make you watch it!"

"Run!" She yelled at Soul. "I'll buy you some time."

Soul did as she said and started running toward the broken door. A high elf, the one that Ayame wounded, pulled his bowstring and shot an arrow at him. Soul quickly dodged the oncoming arrow and retaliated by throwing a heavy book at the high elf's direction. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was enough for Soul to escape the library.

He stopped as he was about to get out of the library. Ji-Hye was still fighting in a bad condition. Ayame, trying to defend herself and Professor Yuu with an air barrier, was running low on mana. They had 'slim' chance to win this fight against the high elves – and Soul couldn't risk that.

'Ji-Hye needs to die.'

He opened a cut on his finger and started to walk toward Ji-Hye instead of running away from the fight.

The blood seeped into the floorboards, forming a hidden circle of magic beneath Ayame and Professor Yuu's feet. Soul, far away and still walking toward Ji-Hye, concentrated on his control over the blood, guiding its unseen movements.

Without a sound, the circle shimmered to life, its glow masked by the dim lighting of the library. In an instant, Ayame and Professor Yuu vanished, whisked away by Soul's covert blood magic and teleported to some random street in Redhaven.

"Where did the bitch and that old fart go?" asked a high elf. "What happened?"

"Cowards teleported!" laughed the leading high elf. "Kill these two idiots and let's move on. We've got more to do."

"Yes, sir!"

Soul held his hand up and kept walking. Slowly, all the elves in the room passed out as their blood left their body from their wounds and formed a small ball in the air. They weren't dead, Sould made sure that they were barely alive, but unconscious.

"What is happening!"

"Someone – is using blood magic!"

"What?"

"Oh, gods. No!"

Ji-Hye, with a scared look, readied her weapon and backed away. All the high elves in the room were out cold.

"Weak should know their place." Soul quoted Ji-Hye. "Isn't that right?"

"A forbidden blood magic user?"

"Yes, I am a blood magic user… and your body is covered with wounds. You realize that, right? You realize you don't stand a chance?"

"What do you want from me? I tried to protect you!" She yelled with anger. "And what – you're just going to kill me?"

"You hurt my sister at KCO."

"Your sister? Is this all you –"

He drained a small portion of her blood. The crimson liquid exiting from Ji-Hye's wounds was swirling around Soul's shoulders non-stop.

"You hurt my sister."

"Fuck…" She fell down to the ground. "I'm sorry, okay? It was my fault, I got angry!"

"'Sorry' doesn't make her heal." He crouched and got closer to her face. "You are a bad person."

"Says the blood magic user! You fiend, I'm not gonna beg. Do it – kill me!"

"That's the plan."

He drew more and more blood, causing Ji-Hye to pant intensely and lose control of her body, flapping around like a fish out of water. She was in so much pain – yet refused to scream in agony. She wanted to die with honor it seemed.

"Life to death, spirit rise!" chanted Ji-Hye, with the last strength she had. "Fuck you, silver-haired bastard! And get up, ya useless elf!"

The high elf, slain by Ji-Hye, rose to his feet. He wasn't drawing breath, nor was his heart beating. This posed a significant issue for Soul, as his power was ineffective on the deceased; his magic only wielded influence over the living, breathing creatures.

"Hmm." Soul sat on top of a fallen shelf. "So you are Ur-blessed. A necromancer."

"I won't die – without a fight, monster!"

"Monster… huh?" He stopped draining her blood.

The high elf picked up a sword and started to walk slowly toward Soul.

"The girl you hurt – she was cursed because she helped me. You know how much that thing weighs on my shoulder?" He said, watching the high elf. "Every morning I wake up, I think of her. It's because of her I'm alive, because I can eat, walk, because I can do things she can't do now. And – you know what the worst thing is, Ji-Hye?"

She kept quiet.

"She didn't blame me – not even once. She said it was meant to be this way, that she was happy to help me." He took a deep breath. "And yet – you hurt her. Most of my life I was kept in a cell because they thought I was a monster. Now, I'm asking you Ji-Hye, who is the real monster here? Me – or you, hurting a kind person because you 'got angry.'"

Again, no response.

"You're a waste of my time."

"Do you think you're so smart with all that nonsense talk?" She hissed. "You're just a sly blood magic user. Drawing power from the Void itself."

"Yeah… I am, aren't I?"

'Kill her.'

'Kill.'

'Your name?'

'Soul?'

'Void?'

He heard voices from the shadows, whispering to him. They didn't sound human, but they sure talked like one.

The voices were echoing inside Soul's mind, bouncing back and forth like an overinflated ball. It made him uneasy.

Killing her wouldn't have changed anything, why was he hunting Ji-Hye in the first place anyway? He didn't know, he just purely acted on anger and went after her.

"Soul!" All of a sudden Ruby entered the room. Whispers disappeared. "What are you doing?"

"Ruby? Where's Lian…"

"Here." Liana, using a basic invisibility spell revealed herself in the corner of the room. She was watching everything from the start. "What's up?"

She threw a dagger into the high elves head, killing him instantly.

"Don't 'what's up' me." He said with his boring voice. "What's Ruby doing here, she should be in KCO."

"She told me that – that you went after that woman!" Ruby was panting in sweat. Her body was weak, even taking ten steps was a hard task for her because of the curse. "Why? Why can't you just let things go, Soul? Why?"

"Where's Lilith? She should b…"

"Listen to me!" She yelled. "I'm tired of you not listening to me! Listen. To. Me!"

"Listen to what? Are you going to beg for this woman's life for me?" He held Ji-Hye's hair and pulled her to himself. "Are you?"

"You're always like this! You never listen to me, never talk to me. You – you just visit me from time to time, looking at me with eyes full of pity. All you think of – of this damned curse. Just let things go! Enough! I'm so sick of it! You don't love me or see me as your sister or anything! You just feel responsible for me because of the curse! You think I'm in this condition because of you."

"Because you are." He released Ji-Hye's hair. "And… let it go, how? From the moment I escaped that prison… I tried to find a cure for you. All this time, I lived for you. If it wasn't for you, I'd have offed myself a long time ago, Ruby."

"Maybe you should've." Said as she crying.

Ruby, with Melissa standing right outside the room, exited the library. Soul was dumbfounded by Ruby's harsh words. He didn't know what to do, what to say – how to react. He just stood there, eyes on the blood stained floor.

Without saying a word, he closed his right palm. All the blood that was drained from Ji-Hye entered her body from her eyes. As soon as she felt better, She thought of attacking Soul, but didn't do it.

She had no plans for him; letting him go free was a bad idea for Gum'n – a good forbidden blood magic user was a dead one. But she also couldn't have possibly done anything in that condition. For the time being, she chose to just wait for things to play out.

"Hmm…" Soul mumbled to himself. "Maybe I should've…"

Ten seconds after, Ruby entered the room again. She was walking fast – trying to walk fast.

Ruby's steps were slow and unsteady as she attempted to move quickly, her weakened body struggling to keep pace. With each step, she stumbled, her legs feeling like lead weights beneath her. She leaned heavily on Melissa for support, her breathing labored and ragged.

"I'm sorry." She hugged Soul, tears leaving stains on his white shirt. "I didn't mean that. You know that, right?"

"Hmm." He hugged her back. His face was the same; boring and monotone. "But it still hurt."

"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise." She wiped her tears and looked at Ji-Hye, sitting on the ground. "I'm sorry for Soul's actions. He's like you I guess – never heard him apologize."

"I don't need an apology." She replied quietly.

"I guessed that much. But still, I ap… I –"

She lost control of her body in mid-sentence. Just as Soul was about to hold her before she hit the ground, Ji-Hye acted faster than him. She quickly grabbed Ruby by her back and let her head rest on her shoulder.

"Melissa." Soul's voice came out flat. "What's wrong with Ruby?"

"Ugh – I told her…" Melissa walked next to Ji-Hye and touched Ruby's forehead. "She's burning up – also sweating. She needs to rest. I told her shouldn't be up and walking!"

"Okay – let's get her to KCO." Soul stepped closer to Ji-Hye. "You can let her go. I'll handle the rest."

She put Ruby on Soul's back.

Ji-Hye moved away. "Tell her I said sorry."

"You tell her yourself. If you can eat that pride of yours…"