chapter 20

It all happened so fast.

I was keeping watch with Thorian as Paul had his fun with the debtor, when the sound of creaking wood and rope brought my eyes skyward, only for my entire body to freeze up as 5 meters above me, a pair of horrifying vertical slit maroon eyes stared deep into my soul.

Hanging upside down, their legs holding a clothesline behind their knees, a petrifying grin spread across his face, was a cat person, looking down at me with unconcealed amusement.

I tried to demand he get down, apologize, or shout my familia's name, anything, anything at all to establish a power dynamic in my favor, but my prey instincts refused, forbidding any act of defiance against the creature so superior to me.

Next his voice rang out, soothing and melodic, filled with cheeky amusement. I felt my mind unconsciously relax, although my body only further stiffened in fear, reigniting the primal horror seemingly emanating from my very soul. His question ricocheting around my mind, felt like an order of divine providence, as my instincts begged me to kneel, as my mouth floundered for the words that couldn't come.

Thorian seemed immune to my current predicament, his innate elven arrogance likely refusing to acknowledge his inferiority to anything less than a god, as his pompous words filled the alley, as I turned to him in horror, stumbling away from him in numb panic, suddenly wishing I had never known him, as my body shock in terror at the unknown man's glee filled voice.

And then, in a moment, faster than my eyes could track, Thorians voice ceased, his body falling like a cut marionette, his head, now freed from the confines of his neck, following closely after, as I watched in paralyzed awe, as it rolled to a stop, his shock filled eyes resting on mine, before quickly losing their light, when an amused hum pulled my eyes back to the perpetrator, standing sideways to me, his gaze fixed on the long blade he held straight before himself, sharp edge facing the sky, as he numbly watched the elven blood drip off of it, drawing in a slow, long breath, before his smile grew even more manic.

"~very, very interesting!~well you know what they say!~Always confirm your results!~"

My eyes lost sight of the man the moment the words left his mouth, as I spun in horror to try to find him, confusion filled me when my sight turned well past the limits of my body, before my neck erupted in pain, and I looked down at my collapsing body, the single, clean cut crimson surface, a tapestry of blood, muscle and bone, that used to be my neck staring back at me mockingly.

'Oh.'

And my head hit the floor, as I stared, numb with shock, my mind still refusing to conceptualize my predicament, as the mad laughter of my killer pervaded my slowly dulling senses.

"~Oh you sweet summers bitch, the things I'm going to do if I find you~ I will so~ so thoroughly enjoy!~"

And then my thoughts ceased.

(an: short chapter today, sorry bout that. also sorry for the accidental post yesterday, if you managed to read this before I took it down yes this is the same chapter I posted yesterday on accident, sorry.)