Episode 22

A moment later, a palm-sized chunk of the scabbing had been pulled off and she could not believe what she found underneath it. She was too focused on the newly revealed skin to acknowledge the stinging sensation that was radiating from her chest. Instead of her pale peach skin that she'd always had, she was staring at a mass of tiny crimson-colored scales.

'What the hell…'

She gently ran her fingers over the scales, which felt smoother than silk. She looked up to see Helfeirch looking straight at her through his goggles. After another moment, she reached up and pulled another loose chunk off her chest to reveal more scales. Even though removing the scabbing initially hurt and left the exposed scales tender to the touch, it gave her otherwise very irritated skin great relief. So much so, that she had a great urge to remove as much of the scabbing as possible.

She carefully pulled off a bit more of the scabbing before she forced herself to stop. She could tell that the rest was not ready to come off just yet, despite her great desire to rid herself of it. Watching the scales in the light, she saw that at the right angle, the scales would show a deep emerald. She didn't know how she felt about being covered in crimson/emerald scales.

During all of this, Helfeirch had said nothing. He simply watched her carefully through his goggles. Once she was done peeling off the scabbing that she could, he adjusted himself closer to her, intently staring at the scales as they danced in the light.

"I've never seen anything like this," he finally said.

"That makes two of us," Scarlet muttered.

"It's beautiful."

'Beautiful?' She rolled her head up to look at him. His comment caught her off-guard. 'I'm not so sure many people would share your point of view.'

She figured they'd instead have the point of view the Archon did. However, as she looked back down at the scales, she did suppose they did look better than the scabbing. She could at least pass the scales off as elaborate body art, whereas the scabbing just made her look like a walking contagion. Her eyes then drifted back to Helfeirch's face. She was met with a smile.

"What?"

"I always knew you were special, from the first moment we met," he answered.

"You mean when I tried to kill you and you captured me?"

"Yes, I just had a feeling."

"Well, it could be the wrong kind of special. My luck hasn't been that great lately."

"How do you figure?" he asked, causing Scarlet to pause. "You're alive. That's got to be better than all the horrible ways you could have died since I met you." He stood to his feet. "I'd say you're pretty damn lucky."

She hadn't thought of it from that point of view. 'The difference between looking at things from a glass-half-full point of view instead of a glass-half-empty one.'

It was a simple thing that he'd said, but it did help give her some balance to her perspective. While she'd been through hell of late, she'd come out of every situation still breathing, and that was something. Taking in a breath, she stood with Helfeirch.

"So, where to next?" she asked.

"I'm not quite sure," he answered.

"What do you mean?"

"My people never come this far, ever."

"Cause of the daylight?" she continued to ask.

"Well, there's that, but that's not the main reason why."

"Then what?"

"Something worse than us resides here."

Scarlet felt her stomach turn. 'Worse… than a horde of cannibals…? Do I even want to know?'

"So, what does live here?" she finally asked.

"It's full of a bunch of half-human/half-robot looking creatures, and they hate all humans. If that's not bad enough, there's some sort of toxin on the inside of the structure through here," he answered as he gathered their things.

"Androids?" Scarlet's head rolled back. "From the android rebellion… You've got to be shitting me. I thought they wiped them all out." Scarlet's nostrils flared a bit. "Is there anything they tell us that is true?"

"I don't know the answer to that question," Helfeirch said plainly. "Shall we be off?" he asked as he handed her a breathing mask. "Don't forget to put that on before we go inside anywhere," he reminded before he turned and walked off.

"Got it."

She followed him as he began climbing up the structure. This whole area had been damaged many years before leaving halls and rooms partially intact. It was littered with old bent pipes and sharp metal edges. She knew that as long as they were still going upward, they would eventually reach Lygredd Grand, the main level of Lygredd and their destination. They were trying their best to make their presence go unnoticed as they made their way through the ruins, but she knew not to get her hopes too high.