Good-for-nothing

"You are just a good-for-nothing. You don't even have any fluctuations in your body yet you try to threaten a little girl like me? Aren't you a bully? You are also just a passerby in our village, hence, you should be respectful towards our people yet you claim that we have bad intentions towards you? How ungrateful you are!" the little girl's eerie laughter rang to the skies as the shadows slowly walked near the two village guests around the campfire.

Lucien gazed sharply at the approaching people. There are about ten or so people gathering around them. He looked at the girl with the red hair. He was about to reach her to grab her to his side but he never thought that she would run directly to the little girl in front of them. "Tss, idiot!"

He quickly opened his palm and summoned his weapon, "Blood Staff." A red lingering series of lights erupted from his hand and a long red staff adorned with black vines slowly appeared in his grip. He instantly pointed it at the few people in front of Yllana when he was taken aback and halted from his steps, "What the..." his eyes widened in surprise.

She disappeared from his sight and a red flash appeared in front of the creepy little girl. Yllana managed to appear and reappear in a quick flash. She was so fast that everybody else was rooted in their place. Wasn't she a low common citizen? She doesn't even have any fluctuations in her body. She is a good-for-nothing for goodness' sake! How could she have been this fast? Unless she is...

The smile on the little girl's face faded and in an instant her little teeth turned into small little pointed teeth and grew larger and larger. Her eyes sunk back onto her face until it couldn't be seen anymore. Her face turned black and her hair fell on the ground. Her limbs stretched and stretched and even thinned on her sides. She was now taller than Yllana in a flash.

Yllana gazed in astonishment for a second but returned to her senses very quickly and aimed at the creep's feet. She slammed her fists with full force bringing the creep stumbling back a few feet. 'A demon? One of the survivors, I guess.' Yllana sharpened her gaze. She gave a quick sweep over the other entities surrounding them but none evolved like the one in front of her. But instead of helping that little demon, she sensed something different in the people's eyes. It was...fear?

Her fists ached badly and she could sense the blood dripping from that one single blow she unleashed. She grinned. 'Damn it! This power of a low common is utterly laughable.' She stared at her closed fists. She furrowed her brows as she sensed an unfamiliar light was enveloping her fists. Then a voice suddenly sounded in her mind. It was cold and eerie seemingly familiar to her.

'Bone Crusher,'

"Huh? Bone Crusher?" as she blurted out the words, the sliver of light that had just formed in her hands dashed towards the demon that was rushing in front of her. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Numerous cracking sounds permeated in the air leaving the people around them stunned and speechless as they stared at her. The demon screeched in an agonizing pain as its figure twisted around, bent sideways and back til almost all the bones in its body was broken. And with a final snap, it fell on the ground. Black blood oozed out of from its mouth and a revolting stench filled Yllana's nostrils.

The other people scrambled to their feet and ran towards the village in the dread of the night not ever looking back at them.

Thump!

"Aw!" She covered her head after Lucien hit her with his staff. She glared at him and looked like she was about to hit him too. He instantly covered her eyes with one hand and said, "Idiot. Open your mouth," She was about to protest but when she opened her mouth to speak, the same iron-tasting liquid fell on her tongue. Her words were stuck at her throat and she coughed so hard as she wasn't expecting his rough way of giving her the medicine. When she was about to wipe her mouth, she noticed that her wounds on her hands have healed.

Lucien was walking back to the their campfire when he suddenly opened his hands and uttered, "Wolf Fang Blade." Clear blue light formed a small circle within his open palm and from the center appeared a white dagger with a drawing of a wolf's head on the hilt. "Here." He threw the blade at her."Keep it. I don't like troubling myself with other people's problems."

Yllana caught the dagger with both her hands and she stared dumbfoundedly at his retreating back. "Thank you." She didn't hear any response from him. She placed the dagger on her waist and sat crossed-legged on a tree trunk. "That light earlier. What was it?" She had never encountered wisps of light like that ever before. As far as her experience as a knight ever served her, she could only summon her powers with her weapons. Among her weapons, the best one was her sword called Heaven's Blessing. But it was nowhere to be found when she woke up. She also lost the silver necklace with a diamond pendant when she used it in battle. Thus, she was clueless.

"Life force," he answered as he stared at the fire then he continued, " of a mage."

Mage? Mage? MAGE?! She thought she was hearing things, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"That is a life force that only natural born mages can possess even at the lowest in the ranks." He stated plainly as if it was common knowledge.

She wrinkled her brows as she thought about it for a while. She looked at the palm of her hands. 'So...I haven't been turned into a good-for-nothing.' She closed her eyes with that last thought in her mind.