Interlude: The Ash-Covered Girl Pt.3

Prytaneum

Interlude

The Ash-Covered Girl

Part 3​

She ran through the Dungeon as fast as she could, eager to make her way back to the surface. As a thief, she knew better than to think she was safe until everything was over—it was too early to let down her guard, especially with threats in either direction.

"—Your seal is mine. My seal is mine," She said, lifting her free hand. Something that looked a lot like ash gathered in her hand and she smeared it over her face and chest, letting it shift and grow to surround her. When it did, 'she' was gone. Her worn brown robes, her tattered clothes, and even her dirt smeared face had all faded away—and in their place was a young elven girl, with rich, embroidered robes.

This was the power of her magic, Cinder Ella, which she had obtained after swearing revenge against adventurers and her Familia. But though she'd vowed to change her weak self, the result was just this; an image that would fracture if it were struck too hard. She could change herself into something of similar size, but it wasn't something useful for battle like Welf and Percy's magic. Even so, she'd learned to use it in a different way to get revenge and had pushed herself to the limit to determine exactly what she was capable of. With careful planning and preparation, slowly she'd managed to take revenge on the same adventurers who'd always treated her like trash and though it hadn't been possible at first, eventually she'd even gained the ability to change her clothes with this spell. Even if it was only a little bit, she'd grown strong enough to laugh at her previous weakness.

But in the end, she was no adventurer. She was just a supporter, someone who hadn't been able to cut it on her own in the Dungeon. She could outwit and deceive her opponents using her magic and experience, in in actual battle, she was too weak to do anything. Even now, if she ran into a monster, it was quite possible that it would all end here. Someone like her, without any offensive spells and most of her stats at H and I, had no chance of victory if she encountered a monster her on the twelfth floor.

Even now, she had to rely on others.

The truth was, she'd spent many years exploring levels of the Dungeon she wasn't equipped for, where even a single monster could easily slay her. She wasn't defenseless—at least, not anymore—but she couldn't defeat things with her own power. If she encountered any monsters, she'd have to use items to fight them off, and the cost of any items that could overcome her own weakness would inevitably be more than what the monsters themselves were worth. She literally couldn't afford such a thing, so she'd learned other means to deal with monsters; namely, by leading them towards others.

It was surprisingly easy to do, once you learned how. During the day, the Dungeon was full of adventurers hunting for monsters, so it was simply a matter of staying in the shadows of those with strength. When monsters appeared, the adventurers in search for prey would engage, and she could move along. All it took was knowledge of which paths in the Dungeon were most popular—and in this case, it was especially easy, because all she had to do was retrace her steps and go back the way they'd come.

Thank you for clearing the way, Mr. Percy, she thought, running through corridors of shattered walls. The walls of the Dungeon healed quickly, but not immediately—and until they'd been properly mended, no new monsters would spring forth. In fact, it was common place for adventurers who needed a rest to destroy the walls in a secluded location to buy themselves some time to relax. As long as they were prepared for the possibility of monsters approaching from other locations, it was a decent strategy.

Supposedly, a group of adventurers had once tried to destroy every wall they passed in the hopes of preventing any monsters from emerging, but had exhausted themselves before they even got passed the first floor. The simple fact of the matter was that the Dungeon was too large for such a thing to allow anything but a short and risky reprieve—and with the way Percy seemed to draw monsters, she doubted it would make any difference.

Even so, it was likely that Percy and Welf would try to finish up the monsters quickly and then pursue her. She knew better than anyone that both of them were strong and even with the armies of monsters the Dungeon seemed to spawn to prevent them from leaving alive, she was certain they'd both make it through. Even given her far easier time, it wasn't impossible that they'd catch up to her.

But she wasn't concerned. Having changed her appearance, she no longer looked at all like the girl they'd known and as soon as she'd gotten far enough away, she'd begun using Morbul, a type of scent bag that helped keep monsters away. It wasn't perfect by any means and didn't guarantee anything, but it helped make her a less appealing target and would help mask her scent besides. With the changes caused by her magic on top of that, she felt fairly confident that even Mrs. O'Leary wouldn't be able to track her down, at least without any knowledge of her ability to transform. This wasn't the first time she'd been chased by dogs, after all. Or dog-men. Or wolf-men. Or a wide variety of other things.

Failing that, it was possible that they'd use Mrs. O'Leary to beat her to the top and wait for her there, but by that point, it would be easy to slip by them. At this time of day, hundreds of adventurers would be passing in and out of the Dungeon and she was confident that she could slip away in the crowd, especially looking the way she did.

She'd meant it when she'd told them they wouldn't meet again—because soon, it would all be over.

…She'd meant the last thing she said, too; that she was sad it had to end this way. But it had to. This…this was what she was; a liar and a thief, something ugly and weak. They'd both learn something valuable from this and then they'd realize that they were better off without her. Even though it had only been a few days, somehow she couldn't help but believe that they couldn't be stopped, that they'd go far. But she wasn't like that. Somehow, she could believe their dreams would come true, but she knew hers never would.

Except maybe this one. Once it was all over, made the next Lili would be better than this one.

All she had to do was get to the surface.

"—Oh, you did it?"

As she turned a corner and entered a large room, a voice reached her ears—and the world turned upside-down. No, that wasn't right. Rather, the world had begun to spin. She saw the ceiling and then the floor and then the ceiling again. Why…?

Oh, she thought, eyes slowly widening. She was in the air.

She hit the ground a moment later, the impact hitting her with such a shock that for a moment, there wasn't even pain. Then, there was a lot of pain, which she supposed was to be expected after being thrown around like a ragdoll.

"I don't recommend trying to move," The voice said again, even as a boot settled on her chest and forced her down. She tried to open her mouth and say something, tried to focus her eyes, but she couldn't do either. Instead, she just coughed for a moment. "Here, let me hold that."

The man above her leaned down and tore something off of her and it was only then that her brain finally recognized his voice.

"Z…Zanis…?" She asked, eyes widening even further. "Why…?"

As her eyes finally began to focus, she saw him raise a hand to his chin contemplatively.

"Well, I can't say I was a particularly trusting man to begin with," He mused, leaning a bit closer. "But…I know better than to trust anyone with a power like this. Even if I wasn't pretty sure you hated me, it's clear, right? Whoever has this sword is the strongest member of our Familia. I couldn't have you getting any ideas, right? Something like 'I will threaten to destroy the Soma clan'…I asked you before, but do you think I'm stupid?"

She clenched her hands and teeth, but he held her in place with his foot. She knew better than to struggle, because she'd never win a contest of strength with a Level 2, but…!

No. It couldn't end like this, not when she was so close.

"Why, Lord Zanis?" She said, not even having to fake the cough. "Lili was…Lili did all this for you…Lili was going to—"

"Yes, I'm sure," He replied, seeing through the lie. "Regardless, no point in taking chances, is there? Quite a few people have tried to kill me over the years—and most of them hated me significantly less than you."

She lifted a hand to her chest, placing it on his foot as if trying to feebly force it away and putting it close to her other magic sword in the process.

"Everything you said…it was just to trick Lili," She said, doing her best to look defeated. Under his boot, it wasn't hard.

"More to provoke you, really," He said. "I couldn't pass up this chance, not with one of Crozzo's magic swords so close at hand—but I couldn't very well risk taking the fall for it if something went wrong, either. Someone like you, though…well, let's say I had faith in you and leave it at that."

Or you just didn't care if I died in the process, she thought bitterly, but kept it off her face. She'd only have one chance at this…!

"The truth is, I'd rather not kill you, Lili," He said, tone changing as he looked at her carefully. "I never really expected you to amount to anything when I saw you all those years ago, but you surprised me and you've helped me a great deal today. So how about I make you a deal? I'll give you my protection. I'll make sure no one in the Familia hurts you any longer. I'll even let you drink plenty of Soma. In return, I just need you to go along with a few more plans of mine."

"What about our deal?" She asked. "You said you'd let Lili leave."

"If you brought me the magic sword, yes," He said, lifting his free hand to his chin while holding the magic sword loosely in the other. "But you hardly gave it to me, did you? I suppose that's not very fair but…in my defense, you were probably planning to kill me with it anyway."

He wasn't wrong, she admitted, but he was still an asshole.

Regardless, she saw her chance. Moving as fast as she could, she slipped her hand into her robe, grasped her magic sword, pulled it free, and—

He caught her wrist with his free hand easily, stopping it in place. She hadn't even seen him move it away from his chin, but he held her by the wrist, hand like a vice.

"Should I take that as a no?" He asked, raising an eyebrow absently as he looked over the magic sword she held. She tried to struggle, tried to break his grip, tried to do something—but she couldn't. "But my, my; you had another magic sword? Could this be…no, I suppose it's just a normal magic sword. Regardless, it's no doubt worth a great deal. I'll take it, if you please. I'll reward you for it, of course—everything you've done is worth quite a bit of Soma."

"No," She said, voice strained as she fought pointlessly against his strength. "Lili doesn't want it."

Zanis narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, looking down at her.

"You really don't," He said. "Why not?"

She didn't answer, but from the way he smiled, somehow he seemed to understand.

"Could it be that you're scared of it, Liliruca?" He mused to himself before laughing. "How interesting. But—I guess I understand. It is kind of frightening, isn't it? How amazing it is. How wonderful. And, of course, what people will do for it. I suppose it's been a long time since you've had any, but…do you remember how it feels, Lili? When you think about it, can you really say you don't want any more?"

She shook slightly, but still met his eyes firmly.

"Yes," She said, no longer bothering to hide the disgust in her tone even as she tried to swallow the lump of terror in her throat; if she'd failed, if this was it, then she at least wanted to say how she felt at least once. "Lili hates it—and Lili hates you, too. Lili has seen what it's done and what people have done for it, because of you. We…you…Lili wishes the Soma Familia would just die!"

Her eyes felt warm. She'd have liked to tell herself that it was because of the rage she felt, but she could feel the tears on her cheeks.

"…Including you?" Zanis asked, meeting her anger with an almost bored expression. "That's…unfortunate."

With that, he sighed—and then broke her wrist like he was snapping a twig. As she screamed, he caught the magic sword that fell from her grasp and tucked it into his belt with casual ease, shaking his head.

"I'm a little sad that you didn't just agree and make this ease," He continued. "But thankfully, I don't really need your permission, Liliruca. You two, come here."

With the sudden agony of her broken wrist stabbing through her thoughts, it was hard to think—and what little thought she could muster felt confused by his words until she saw several men she hadn't noticed before approach them.

"Pick her up," He told the grunts as he stepped away from her—and that's what they were; men strong enough to defeat her easily, but not enough to threaten Zanis in any way. He wouldn't have trusted anyone strong enough to challenge him near one of Crozzo's magic swords. Maybe she should have realized that. "I promised you could take whatever was left, but it seems she didn't carry much with her this time. But oh well. I promised all of you drinks, didn't I? We should hurry on home before it gets too late now."

The implications of that were clear and so she was quick to struggle when those hands reached for her.

"No!" She shouted. "Let go of me—I'd rather die! Let go!"

Zanis glanced back at the three of them with uninterested eyes that barely seemed to see her.

"Shut her up," He said. "We can't have her making a scene. But don't hurt her too badly."

The two men nodded, turning towards her with glazed looking eyes. They'd had Soma recently and the only thing they wanted right now was more of it, whatever the cost.

—Was this the end? A defeat without even one of her dreams coming true? If it was like this, then she'd rather have just died like she planned. Even if this was some kind of punishment for everything she'd done, wasn't it too cruel?

From start to end, she was useless. Unable to do anything, unable to accomplish anything—more than anyone, she hated herself. Even the magic she'd gained showed it clearly; what she wanted most was to be someone else. She…she didn't know how many times she'd wondered, how many times she'd asked. Why had the gods made her like this? If she could just go before them, if she could just ask for another chance…the person she'd become would surely be better than who she was now. She'd thought about that countless times, but she'd never been strong enough to go through with it.

But if it had been this time…if she had at least been able to accomplish something, if she'd at least known that, in some small way, it was for them…

Mr. Welf, Mr. Percy, I—

"Here's a better idea," A voice interrupted. "Drop everything you took from her and leave before something bad happens to you."