Requiem 16

Reysha’s teeth reverberated with an odd pleasantness as she dragged them over the bones. Scraping off whatever remains of meat were on the carcass of the monster she had slain not much earlier. She tossed the stripped bone aside and went to devour the remains of the oversized rat. Her teeth sank directly into the bloody guts, using her hands to secure the body in place as she ripped bite for bite out of it.

The dungeon she was in right now was popular with adventurers almost strong enough to leave this world behind and begin their proper journeys with their starting abilities fleshed out. North-east of the church, it was much less controlled by the Adventurer’s Guild. For the simple reason that it possessed more than once entrance.

Caveborder, that was the uncreative name the dungeon had. Accessed through one of numerous holes in the ground and landscape in general, it was a system of artistically decorated chambers, connected via normal cave tunnels, that stretched along the rim of the leaf. The chambers stretched out in every direction, especially downwards, however.

If she had been of a better mindset, Reysha may have appreciated the view. Instead, she was using the invisible wall, that prevented her from dropping into the endless abyss of black and silver below, as something to press her prey against to rip off a particular strenuous piece of flesh.

Although the dungeon was quite popular, its difficult to monitor entrances and anthill-esque internal structure made it the perfect hideout for Reysha during her wait for the Day of the First Ascension. That she could see sunrise and fall from within those chambers as well was just as important, as she otherwise could have lost track of time.

And time was the only thing she counted like a proper human anymore.

Without someone to hold her back or talk to, Reysha had given into her bestial desires for the past few days. There was no reason to be held back by such things as efficiency or decency. Her prey was hunted for as long as it continued to amuse her. Luckily for everyone involved, she still possessed enough common sense to avoid other people. A murder case in the dungeon could have brought unwarranted attention, when she was so close to her goal.

‘Just stay low, Reysha, just stay low,’ she silently repeated to herself as she licked her lips, running with blood. She was still wearing the standardized, brown leather uniform of the city guard that she had stolen. Although it was not quite apparent, having been doused in blood and scrubbed as clean as was possible with bare hands numerous times.

She had no weapons, the short sword had been unsalvageable following her outburst in the cave and the little knife she in addition soon broke. Not to any of her care, her claws and fangs were as reliable as ever. Additionally to that, Apotho had supplied her with a number of concoctions. Health potions, for the most part, with their typical red colour. More importantly, however, an array of oddly tinted potions, green, yellow, purple, primarily, with other colours swirling inside, that the warlock had explained to her in quick detail.

All of them there to boost her success rate in what she was going to do in just a few days. Just like he had supplied those potions and the bag to transport them in, Apotho had also told her where to lie in wait and what to do. In essence, it was quite easy: keep Noir satisfied until the day of the First Ascension came. Then, while everyone in the damned Church was out praying to gods that wouldn’t listen anyway, she would get in there and find whatever she was supposed to find.

Reysha was perfectly aware that she was being used as a tool by a life-sucking warlock sealed to a confinement to die of old age. It wasn’t that she didn’t expect these things to take a horrible turn for her. She was simply fine with whatever happened as long as every single person that had made her suffer through these last months suffered ten times as much. Everyone involved in her losing someone she had actually cared about, everyone responsible for making Aclysia suffer that loss, they would all be consumed by her vengeance.

What that would cost? Well, that part she cared fairly little about. The whole Church could burn as far as she was concerned, self-righteous pricks that they were. Those people unknowing of the situation in the city, well, those should keep their head low and just wait for these things to blow over. “As those uninformed cowards always do,” Reysha hissed at the world as she left the remains of her meal behind.

Loss of life amongst those third parties she accepted as a possibility. She didn’t crave their death, certainly didn’t think that they deserved to die just because they were in the proximity. It was just that she didn’t care if a few of them got caught up in the crossfire. After all, they hadn’t cared for her being executed for having committed no crime either. A favour would always be responded with in kind. As long as nobody did anything stupid, nobody would die unnecessarily and Reysha could live with that.

Those were rationalizations she had made days ago and that she sometimes, instinctively, combed through again as she stalked through the tunnels. ‘I should search for a healing fountain,’ she thought. The pools here were spread throughout the dungeon just as they had been in Clearwater. A difference being that they weren’t as pleasantly warm around here. Rather, they were as cold as the surroundings. Reysha didn’t care all that much, she just needed to be clean and at her best.

Come tomorrow, she would make her way over to the church. One day, she would lie in wait, scout out the area. Then the Day of the First Ascension would come. While the procession would leave towards the south, she would sneak into the building from the north. That was her best shot at getting inside. Apotho had described the path she had to take as best he could, but that didn’t change the fact that she had to get down there through guards and a building she had never been inside of before.

‘Doesn’t fucking matter, none of it matters, I will succeed,’ she grimly thought to herself. ‘I will have my vengeance.’