The Musician's Rest

Entering the inn, we immediately heard some ragtime-like music playing. People were dancing in the middle of the room, girl was singing on the stage, the lyrics were upbeat and fast.

The girl had pink hair that was cut short, her eyes were green and her lips portruded a bit. Blonde streked her hair, lines that seemed to rebel against the pink color.

When we entered, people looked towards the door, then they went on with their days. These people saw weird people enter daily, this city was pretty popular as a tourist attraction and as for weapons, who didn't have them when they went outside.

We got a table and ordered some food, we also benefitted from a promotion that seemed to e something of a running joke. Whenever the innkeeper saw a race he hadn't seen before he woud give their group a free drink.

Turns out that the man was surprised to see two races that he had never seen, both a humanoid and a pet monster. He was wrong about me being a humanoid although I'm not sure what being classified as a monster even meant.

While we were eating, a magician clad in black and purple went up on the stage. His top hat drew my attention, it was made from an extremely expensive material, I had seen merchants treat even the smallest amount of this with the utmost respect.

They killed it Ant Silk, it was made by ants, and it was incredibly to even find an ant that could roduce this. They also rarely made this even if they could so seeing a hat made from this was just crazy, most people made gloves out of them since they kept your hands warm in the winter and colder in the summer.

It was also extremely durable, couldn't be burned, didn't get damaged when touched by water and needed a special needle to be sown and and retained magic perfectly.

Decorating the hat was a purple band, completing it. The magician did some tricks and then left the stage. I found it weird that in a world filled with magic, magicians existed.

We finally went to bed and since there was no need to worry about monsters attacking us, I could sleep. I didn't need it but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good night's rest.

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I was back at the table, the inn was empty. I only saw one person, I could make out that he was a he, but no other defining features could be seen.

Suddenly Markus and Nagi appeared, Markus was already dead, his throat was ripped out. Nagi however was nearly unconcious.

The man ripped out Nagi's heart, turned towards me and started eating it. Blood flowed from the sides of his mouth as he smiled at me. The tang of blood was thick in the air, sickeningly sweet.

I looked outside and saw blood flowing through the streets, it started to trickle into the inn, starting to fill the room faster and faster. I wanted to move but I couldn't I could only look.

The blood kept flowing in faster and faster. It was drowning me, I don't need air, how am I drowning. I looked at my hands, they were actual hands.

'What is going on?' I thought as I was drowned in the blood, when I finally had the same reaction everybody had when they drowned, I instinctively gasped for air, filling my lungs with blood.

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I shot up from my bed panting heavily, sweat streamed from my body. Looked at my hands, they were still human. This time I could move, I got up and saw that the room was empty again.

Someone knocked on the door and as if by instinct, I opened it. I saw a woman whose face and hair were obscured by shadow. She ripped her own heart and offered it to me. I didn't flinch, I just looked at it, picked it up and ate it.

She stood up and kissed me. Then the world went black.

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My eyes opened and I was standing in a plain of nothingness. An orb of color floated towards me.

'Champions felled before their time

One that doesn't belong

A fated death

I hope you entertain me little one.'

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When I got up, I was back in my stone body and saw Diana look at me.

"Did you see that too? The streets filled with blood, Nagi and markus dead and that man just smiled."

"Didn't you see the rest? The woman, the colorfull orb?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I do feel that the fated connection allowed you to tap into my ability to see fate."

"Let's hope that our next vision is happier then."

I sat next to her as she went back to sleep, I still found it strange that she hadn't seen the woman. The orb seemed to speak to me so it would make sense if it was some kind of higher being that actually directly spoke to me but was the significance of the woman.

I spent the rest of the night pondering that, unable to go back to sleep. All I could think about is the softness of her lips the taste of her heart.

Aagh, what am I thinking, that's just, nope, nope. Because I had nothing better to do, I started practicing my base magic skill and the metal manipulation skill, they finally leveled to max at the end of the night.

{Advanced Base Affinity and Metal Manipulation have reached level 10 and 20 respectively, they have evolved into Lower Nature Affinity and Greater Metal and Earth Manipulation}