Experience and Recollection

Belle looked at the boy cautiously. She didn't know how she got here but she assumed it was a dream.

This was a commendable feat due her slowly worsening condition. However she didn't seem to realize that she was dying.

Her tattoos had grew larger and mangled by the second. Any skin below them tore open forming letters of blood. The letters were the strange symbols of the language of spirits. They engulfed her slowly but her gazed remained fixed on the boy.

Just looking at him made her sleepy and lethargic.

The room they were in was like a child's bedroom filled with drawings and other toys. Belle noticed that these toys were wooden and seemed to be extremely old. She could barely recognize some as crude versions of modern toys that were played with now and others she couldn't even recognize.

A painting of the boy and what seemed to be his family was drawn onto the ceiling like a mural.The boy sat in a fetal position with his face stuffed into his pillow as if he was trying to sleep.

The boy again looked up towards the girl and his eyes flashed and dripped an illusory substance. This substance coagulated within his palms and formed a small trinket. It was a tiny dream catcher with the centerpiece being a small pillow. The catcher flew and fell into her torn breast pocket

He spoke. His voice sounded like the sweetest lullaby. It almost caused her to pass out instantly but she remained conscious. She didn't know if it was by her will or his but she regained a certain level of alertness. The pain that she should have began feeling began to set in and she winced in pain.

"Take and go. Free them. I'm tired. Go away unlucky girl" the boy's eyes glowed a deep hue of red. Belle was about to ask what he was talking about but she woke up to the sound of Karo screaming into her eardrums.

"Wake up Belle, were not supposed to be here. One of 'them' is sleeping in that alter" Belle immediately woke up out of her drowsiness at the mention of 'them'. She surprisingly had no injuries or abnormalities. Her cheeks were slightly paler than when she first fell asleep.

She dragged Karo out of the alter room and began rushing towards where the girls were being kept.

She immediately began freeing everyone from their cages with the help on Chris and Mable. Mable had slightly recovered mentally but her bruising was pretty bad. Belle picked her up and carried her out in the crowd.

Belle watched as the streets were flooded with women who had gone missing from months or even years ago. This caused an uproar in this otherwise quiet part of the city. They used this to sneakily escape without being mobbed by the grateful or asked questions.

They slowly arrived at the caravan. Little did they know it had been over a day since their sudden disappearance. The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon.

Near Belle's carriage…

Grumble who was patiently looking for both his special package and his two grandkids tapped his feet in impatience but it was extremely easy to tell that he was worried.

Out of the corner of his eyes he spots a group of four and his heart bursts with happiness. He looked towards Chris who was covered in dirt and smelled of vomit and Mable whose injuries had been slightly healed and hugged them both incredibly tight. He looked up towards Belle with a questioning look. He noticed that she looked the worst out of all of them. She looked haggard and her clothes were torn and ripped as if she had gotten into a massive fight. He could only assume that she had protected these two who had found themselves some unnecessary trouble.

It was not far from the truth. She didn't say anything but let him come to his own conclusions. Silence allowed for her to have a believable story crafted for her without having to do any work. Karo nodded at this sight. This went unnoticed by Belle who was being thanked profusely by Mr. Grumble.

Grumble put both kids on his back before walking to the front of the caravan and hopping onto the Carriage. Belle seeing that it was time to leave was about to thank Karo. She suddenly felt a peck on her shoulders.

"Polly!" she exclaimed she had not seen him since she fell. Karo looked at Polly and let out a soft grin. Without waiting for her to notice Karo slipped away into the shadows of the alleys presumably back to her shop of cats and trinkets.

Belle who looked for Karo heard a meow from around the corner and it was Mrs. Fluppers. She let out a cursory meow before disappearing into the shadows. Belle then climbed back into the carriage with Polly and fell asleep.

The next morning rays of sunlight shone onto Belles sleeping face. Her nose twitched slightly before her eyes fluttered awake. She immediately grabbed her breast pocket. She felt the object the boy had given her was still there.

She then thought about it seriously. Her brain was now sufficiently rested and she analyzed the mistakes she made during her battle.

She realized her fighting style was limited to stabbing and slashing. The aid of her powers helped but in a situation where they couldn't be used she would be a goner. She also was relatively weak as each stab took out a significant portion of her energy reserves. She contemplated on changing fighting style to one like Karo who compensated for a lack of strength with her pistol.

After a bit of contemplation, she decided not to for the time being. Her ability range was still relatively small. Still she may consider adapting in the future. She took out the knife which Karo threw to her and examined it carefully. Engraved on its silver hilt were the words "My gift to you" Belle didn't know when Karo did this but she didn't think too much about it.

The blade was curved at the tip and looked as if it was a ritual dagger. Its hilt was made out of a rubbery material that felt soft and molded to a person's grip. It had small feathers attached at the end which joined together to form a hook.

She hooked it onto the end of her suitcase as she had nowhere to put it for now.

After a bit more analyzation of her flaws. She put together a plan. She would train her abilities at night and then during the days study the language of the spirits. She was surprised at how numerous the letters and intricacies of it was. There were an almost innumerable amount of symbols and markings which all represented abstract meanings or real life things. Even though she could read it understanding it was extremely hard.Some of the sentences strung together didn't make sense when translated to the common tongue.

She then thought back on her interaction with 'him' they boy seemed old extremely old. He didn't look like he had aged much though. Could it be a trait of being on of 'them'? She didn't feel danger emanating from him. She just felt that he was extremely sleepy and didn't like his slumber to be disturbed. She continued to piece the puzzle together. The cult may have been disturbing 'his' slumber and as thanks he gave her this dreamcatcher. She did find it strange how she had fallen asleep so quickly without any resistance at all. It was like she blinked and she was now in a dream. She was even quite a distance away from the coffin.

She felt tired after thinking so much. She did however continue to contemplate on the boy's words. Why did he call her unlucky?

Belle didn't like these words or these random encounters. There was only 20 more days before they reached the sea shore. Grumble had said that they would pass through one more town for an hour before continuing on their journey. This was days away however.

Belle picked up her book before her eyes flashed and she focused immensely.