Chapter of Blooming Fate: Human Shell

It's hot. So hot.

My chest was burning with incredible heat. It wasn't painful. No, it wasn't painful at all. But it was uncomfortable. And scary.

A fire was burning in my chest, slowly spreading, expanding, reaching my tentacle arms and my stomach, then going down to my legs, and finally, even my face was burning.

Everything was heating up. A blazing fire was consuming all of my body.

"Yumi? Yumi, is something wrong?"

Karen called out to me. It was Karen, right? Maybe she could help. I opened my mouth, trying to say something but no word ever left. Only a groan came out.

"Yumi?! Yumi! Yumi!"

Karen grabbed my shoulders, rattling me. And then, she froze, still staring at me.

"... Yumi. I'll go call help, wait for me."

Karen, who was lying next to me, tried to stand up. She was leaving me. Leaving me alone. No... No. Everything, everything but that.

Don't... Don't leave... Sis...

"Yumi? What ar— Hyah?! Yumi?!"

I hugged her. With all the strength I could muster. I didn't want her to leave me. It was scary. The heat, the fire, was growing stronger and stronger. Something was happening to me, that much I realised. But I didn't know what. And not knowing... was scary. Incredibly scary.

"Hot! You're burning up, Yumi! ... Please, let me go, I'll go call help!"

No... Don't leave...

I hugged her even stronger. I didn't want her to leave. It was scary. Frightening. I didn't want to be alone.

"... Yumi."

Then, her arms wrapped around me, squeezing me gently. I could feel her hand slowly rubbing the back of my head.

"It's fine, calm down, Yumi. I'm right here. I'm right here."

She whispered into my ear.

And then, my vision went dark. My body was still hot... Everything was still burning... but Karen was here. Karen was here, together with me...

That was all I needed.

Time passed. And passed...

Who knew how much time had passed since then. Maybe a year? Maybe a decade? Maybe close to an eternity? Or maybe just a few seconds?

The fire burning my body gradually consumed everything. Continuously, never-ending. At least, that's how it felt. I had lost the feeling in my limbs and most of my body. Only one thing I could still feel. One thing I was sure of. Karen was still with me. I could feel her right with me.

Time passed... and passed... and passed. Occasionally, sounds could be heard all around us, but I didn't know what they were. The sounds were distant. Maybe I was imagining them?

But that was all. There was nothing else in this darkness, except Karen and me. Occasionally, I could feel a slight movement from her. Our faces were close, occasionally touching. It was the only confirmation I had. Wherever this was, whatever had happened... I wasn't alone.

After even more time passed, the heat died down, replaced by a stinging and cold sensation. The feeling in my body slowly returned. First the feeling in my chest, then my arms, followed by my stomach and lower body and finally my legs. Something felt weird, odd but that didn't matter much right now. I tried moving my arm but it was sluggish. Something was hindering my movement. It felt as if I was moving inside a swamp.

Slowly, I reached out to Karen in front of me. She twitched when I touched her. She was fine. Both us were fine. That was good. That was good...

"....me. Go get..."

"Und..."

Voices. Those were voices. Someone was speaking. Was it Lily? Maybe Rina?

I tried to open my eyes... I was sure I had managed to open them, but it was still dark... No, not quite.

A small silver light shone in front of me. It was bright, so bright you would think it could illuminate everything around me... yet the surroundings were still pitch black. Then there was another light, even closer than the silver one, right where my chest was... A small, pink light. A small thread connected both of them, their colours slightly mixing. What were these lights?

Even more lights came into my view, but these were further away. And they were moving. A rainbow-coloured light, a grey light and a dark green light. The grey light and the rainbow light were also connected by a thin thread.

Are these lights... people? Are these lights right in front of me... Karen and me? Then, are those light I see there... other people?

That was likely the case, wasn't it? I couldn't think of anything else and somehow... I was weirdly convinced of this. Those were people. People... I knew well. People... I loved.

I wanted to see more, I wanted those lights to come to me. Connect with me.

Ahh... This is... These are...

My eyes widened in surprise. There were many, many lights around us. Hundreds. Maybe thousands of them. They filled the darkness like a starry sky. Each of them a different colour. Red ones, green ones, blue ones, grey ones, brown ones, even some shining in multiple colours.

They were all around us. Everywhere.

Something moved. Karen was squeezing me. Was she asleep? Or was she awake? I didn't know. More lights appeared all around us. But... these lights were tiny, not even a fraction of the size of all the others. They swarmed all around us, covering us like a spotty shell.

What's going on?

Then, something creaked. A sound like an egg that was being cracked. And finally...

Light.

IT HURTS!

Blinding light.

I turned away in a hurry, closing my eyes shut. I didn't know how much time had passed but it was sure long enough that a little bit of light blinded the hell out of me.

"Yumi! Karen!"

A familiar voice called out to us.

I forced my eyes open, squinting just enough to look in front of me.

A young girl with fluffy ears on either side of her head—which were twitching vigorously—was looking down at me, tears in her eyes. The relief in her eyes was apparent, accompanied by a small smile.

"Li... ly?"

My mouth felt numb and it was a little hard to speak. My entire body was numb and my, admittedly weak, attempt at moving failed.

"Whad... happen'd..."

I scanned my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was. Something pink and surprisingly solid was surrounding me and Karen. A hole, just large enough for a person to crawl through, was right above us. Through it, I could see Lily, as well as a wooden, familiar ceiling. Most likely, we hadn't moved places, still in the wagon.

"Ahh... Well..."

"Mm. The cursed brat is fine as expected. What about the other one?"

Another face popped up next to Lily, peering into... whatever Karen and I were stuck in.

"Miss El... der?"

"Mm. Yours truly."

Her long drooping ears twitched in reply. The elder of the elves joined Lily, looking down at Karen and me.

"Sleeping, still. See, I told you there was scant a need to worry, wolf child."

"Well... You did say that but... I'm just glad they really are..."

"Hmpf. No trust in your elders, have you?"

The Elder moved closer. She grabbed the edge of the hole, breaking it off, with a sound that reminded me of a shell breaking. She continued breaking of parts, expanding the hole.

"Mm. That's quite a curious state you two are in."

"Whad do... you mean?"

My mouth still felt numb and weird. Like someone had put something in my mouth that was preventing me from speaking properly. Honestly more than a little annoying.

"I recommend you to take a look at yourself."

"... Nn?"

I did as I was told and...

"Eh?"

Was more than a little shocked.

First of all, I was buck-naked. The clothes, even if they were few, that I had been wearing before passing out, were gone. A thin arm was wrapped around my own arm and waist, and two legs around my own legs. From the corner of my eyes, I could see a bare shoulder. Judging from that, Karen was probably just as naked.

While a little embarrassing, that actually wasn't the problem. Instead, it was that Karen was hugging me. Or rather, how she was.

"... Well... Id doesn'd hurd..."

Both my arms and my legs were... bent in rather incredibly directions. Not anything a body usually should do. Not without a significant amount of pain, at the very least. My neck, too, was more than a little bent to the side. Although I had to admit, that the comfortable feeling on my neck was very well worth it. Not that it was the time nor the place for such thoughts but... You couldn't help them sometimes, okay?

Anyway... With that, the mystery why I couldn't move was solved as well. Karen was restraining me. No chance I could break out of this on my own...

"It's great that it doesn't hurt but..."

Lily furrowed her brows a little.

"You should also check your mouth."

"Mouwth?"

Why my mouth? Sure, it was a little numb and felt wei—

It felt weird, yes. It definitely felt weird... I got a bad feeling.

As I was a little restricted in movement, the only way I could try to feel what was wrong with my mouth was my tongue. Feeling along my teeth with it quickly revealed... what was wrong.

"Whad dwe hegg?!"

Human teeth came in quite a variety. And they needed it. But exactly this variety... was currently missing in my mouth.

"Mm. Sure looks like you shouldn't bite anyone anymore, cursed child."

I was never going to bite anyone!

It was probably just a joke but... Actually, was this elf even capable of joking? I didn't know. Sure hoped she was, right now.

Regardless, I had a more pressing concern right now. My mouth was full of fangs, like a carnivore's. Human teeth? Wish they were there.

Seriously, what was I going to do about this?!

"Ehh... What do we do about that?" Lily asked the Elder.

"While I cannot speak with certainty, she should be able to change them, like she does her eyes."

That was possible?

Please, let that be true.

I closed my eyes, imagining my normal set of teeth. After a few seconds, a rather unpleasant feeling appeared. My teeth were... literally moving and changing. As if someone was forcefully moving them through my jaw.

But, at the very least...

"Ahh... Ahh... Test. Test. Ohh..."

So, it had been those teeth that made it difficult to speak. No wonder.

And that this wasn't some permanent thing... What a relief... Seriously...

"So, uhm... Can someone finally explain what is going on?"

I had asked once already but gotten no answer. Disregarding my curious entangled state, something else had happened. Like, I didn't even know my teeth could end up like that. That was creepy as hell. Honestly, couldn't recommend it.

"Cursed child... Do you not even know about this?"

The Elder raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Was this something I should have known? Judging from her reaction, apparently so. I wanted to shake my head to deny it, but... Karen's iron grip didn't allow me to. And she was still sleeping too, her quiet breaths right next to my ear.

"... No."

"I had suspected that you do not understand what kind of being you are... but that you do not even know about this astonishes me, child."

That was great and all, but I really wanted an explanation. Pretty please? Pretty, pretty please?

"Mh, where to start... No. Before I explain it to you, you might want to leave that shell first. It's hard having a disucssion like this, do you not agree?"

The Elder, who had broken off quite a lot of the shell or whatever it was by now, reached inside and tried to free me from Karen's grip.

"This girl is... Wolf child, I need your support here. My strength does not suffice."

"Ah, yes."

Lily joined and helped the Elder. Or, at least, tried to. Even with the two of them, Karen didn't budge, only letting out an occasional groan and... strengthening her grip instead.

"... This girl has some incredible strength."

"Miss Elder, this is not the time to be impressed..."

"Haa... Let it be. We are unable to move her. She will wake up in time."

They gave up.

Congratulations, Karen. You won a test of strength against them without even being aware of it. The timing was a little unfortunate, though. I knew it couldn't be helped but... Yeah...

"Then we will have to talk like this. Child, do you know what the Cursed are?"

"No, I don't... Uhh... I remember... That they had to do something with the Witch..."

"That is correct. The Cursed are her children, to be precise."

Her children...

Wait, since she kept calling me 'Cursed' as well...

"The Witch herself is a punished creature. Though even I do not know the why or how. That is a story from a time so long ago that not even the world itself remembers. Maybe, the world hadn't even been born at the time."

"... That sounds like... really long ago."

Like, before 'the world was born'? How many millions or billions of years would that be?

It... couldn't be possible that this was really the case... Right?

"It was long ago. But this is of nought importance. The Cursed, her children, were created by her. Materialising a person's soul, changing their very physical being to accommodate their new existence... She created beings nigh immortal. Those are the Cursed."

"... Immortal?"

She paused for a moment, closing her eyes. She was probably thinking about my question. After a few more seconds of silence, she opened her eyes once more.

"The Cursed cannot die, for as long as their soul, the crystallised stone in their chest, is unscathed. And the crystallised stone itself, possesses a hardness that makes it nigh impossible to destroy. And only very few beings possess this strength."

That was... We had suspected that this was really the case... But to hear it from the Elder...

"But do not misunderstand. This state of being is nought but a curse. Their bodies transforming into a form far removed from a living creature, they resemble a monster more than anything else."

"Wait, but... Miss Elder, does that mean the Cursed and monsters are different?"

"They are yet they are not. A monster is but a coincidental whim of the world. The Cursed are artificial, created by the witch. The core of their being, however, is effectively the same. A crystallised soul supporting a physical body."

So, the difference was just that one was artificial and the other wasn't.

That was an interesting tidbit of knowledge, but still not what I wanted to know.

"Miss Elder, but... What happened here? What is this?"

"Metamorphosis."

"... Excuse me?"

"Are you familiar with the caterpillar becoming a butterfly?"

"... Nn, I know of that."

From caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly.

Not exa—

"..."

"Mh, seems you understood the situation, Cursed child."

"... Really?"

I took another look at the shell surrounding me and Karen.

This was... a cocoon? That was a joke, wasn't it? There was no way... Just now way...

"This was your first time, judging from your reaction."

"First... Is this going to happen more often?"

"It will. Your crystallised stone will devour more mana. Once it has enough, you will enter the shell and transform again."

That was... But...

Seriously?

Maybe my vocabulary was just lacking or so, but... Seriously?

"What exactly has changed, you will have to figure out yourself. Every Cursed one I met was different. There was only one thing common about them."

"One thing?"

"Each and every one of them strayed further and further from the path of a humanoid being. That form was but a shell. Their real being anything but a person—An intelligent and honest-to-god monster. A walking nightmare."

Around half an hour later, after I halfway digested the Elder's words, Karen finally woke up.

And this marked the begin of yet another explanation session.

Much to my surprise, though, Karen wasn't in the least disturbed by it. In fact, she was totally okay with the whole thing.

Even though, she wasn't exactly a bystander anymore either. Was this really fine, Karen?

"So, you are saying, because I was caught by Yumi, I was affected as well?"

"That seems to be the case, demon child. It is a most curious situation and I have no idea how it will affect you. Except, that it will affect you."

Thus was the Elder's verdict.

After we were finally freed from the shell we checked if there was anything wrong with us, outwardly.

The answer was... Yes, there was something wrong.

"It turned pink."

"It sure did."

"I match with Yumi!"

Contrary to Lily's and my concerns, Karen was rejoicing. The pink strand in her hair had become impossible to hide now, having expanded enough to be easily spottable. Since her regular hair colour was silver, it turned out to be incredibly obvious... Not that Karen minded, of course.

"I wish I could be as carefree as Karen about this."

"Nn..."

I was a little jealous of how she didn't mind the whole thing in the least. She was even chatting with the Elder right now about what effects the whole thing could have on her.

In the meantime, Lily and I were playing with the dolls, who were also around. They had covered, or at least tried to, the shell. They were apparently half the reason why Lily and the Elder had been here. Maybe they had sensed me waking up?

"So, Yumi..."

"Nn?"

"... You are still just as tiny as before."

"..."

Thank you for the most valuable impression, dear Lily.

"You... didn't shrink even more, did you?"

"I am fairly certain I didn't."

Actually, I was pretty sure I hadn't shrunk.

Lily and the Elder handed us our clothes, that they had apparently rescued when Karen and I got stuck in that shell. And those clothes still fit me just as well as before.

That also meant I didn't grow taller, though.

Either way, there was something I had to know. After taking a deep breath, I stopped playing with the dolls for a moment and turned to Lily.

"Lily."

"Yes?"

"... How long were we in there?"

The one important question. The one I was honestly a little too scared to ask. Alas, there was no way around this... I had to know.

"... Quite some time."

"How much is 'quite some time'?"

"...A few days."

"... Excuse me?"

A few days.

Those words continued to echo in my mind for a minute or two. I had expected it to be quite some time but to be honest, I had expected it to be at most a day. Not several.

At that moment, before I could continue to ruminate about this reveal, someone was knocking on the door of the wagon.

The door opened and a large silhouette entered.

"Yo, seems the two of you are fine."

"Captain."

Sporting a smile, Korwen walked over to us.

"Don't make everyone worry."

"Ah, I'm so—

Before I could finish, Korwen's large hand pressed down on my head, rubbing it.

"Ah, Cap— Please stop."

"Still tiny."

Why?! Is that the important part about me?!

Korwen let go of my head.

"How much did Lily tell you already?"

"Tell me? About what?"

I tilted my head.

"Ah, we didn't tell them anything yet, Captain."

"Nothing yet? Mhm..."

Did something happen in the time we were out?

"We got a few problems on our hand."

"... That doesn't sound good."

"It isn't. I'd give you some time to sort out these things here, but unfortunately, we're a little bit in a hurry. Do you remember the Allena family?"

"Nn."

That was the family that had made a ruckus during the festival and was apparently harassing the Karker family now. There was no way I would forget them this quickly.

"They are trying to pin the blame on us. For the approaching war with Arkesta."

"... What? But... Why?"

"Because we're an easy scapegoat."

No matter how you sliced it, that hadn't been our fault.  In the first place, hadn't it been the fort's commander who even hired us for help?

"What about the people from the fort?"

"The same as us. Commander Ruben was detained yesterday in the name of investigation. They say he should have attempted to negotiate and that his reaction was 'exaggerated and unnecessary'."

"After they destroyed not only the gate, spread a curse around the soldiers but also sent an army to the weakened fort?"

Even I knew that this wasn't someone who was up for negotiations.

"The gate was done in by a single individual without relation to Arkesta. The curse just some nightmares of the soldiers and nothing important. The supposed army was just a slightly large escort for the envoy. That's their reasoning."

"... The heck? Did they even see all the soldiers that were 'just suffering from nightmares'?"

That was a lot worse than just having nightmares. It was a nightmare you couldn't escape. And it had affected not just a few soldiers, but dozens over dozens.

This, honestly, made me more than a little angry.

"I know, I know, calm down, Yumi. This is clearly done on purpose."

Korwen let out a deep sigh. Then, he turned around, pulled a chair out of the corner and sat down.

"Since we picked you guys up, it's just one thing after another. Are you two cursed by bad luck or something?"

"... I sure hope not."

"Sure pray so as well. Anyway, our current situation isn't quite favourable. It wouldn't be all that bad, to be honest... If a certain idiot hadn't caused trouble in the city."

"Nn?"

A certain idiot? That... wasn't me, right? I couldn't remember having done anything bad.

"You remember Ludo and his mother?"

"Ludo? Ludo... Was that... the boy of that screeching mother from this morning?"

"... I think you mean the morning three days ago. Yes."

Oh, right. Three days ago.

"He and his mother picked a fight with some merchants."

"... Picked a fight?"

"Well, you know how... They try to find work for him..."

"... I do."

Mostly in an attempt to force them to take him as an apprentice. Truly a novel way of finding work.

"Usually that wouldn't be a problem. Heck, I'd have to lie if I didn't say that I expected something this to happen. Just, those merchants are related to the Allena's in some way and now they also use that incident to prove that we are sabotaging the country."

"..."

Beautifully done, Mrs Idiot Parent and Mr Idiot Son.

"So... What is happening now?"

"For now? Not a whole lot. The Karker family is intervening on our behalf, so nothing big yet happened. But we might have to cut our stay short, depending on how it goes."

"I see..."

Lady Karker, huh... She really was a nice person.

"Nn, but Captain... You said we're in a hurry?"

"Ah, yes. Well, it's not the band as a whole that is in a hurry."

"... Huh?"

Korwen smiled. A wide, bright smile, that sure as hell didn't suit him.

"I hope you'll be ready to work. I got a lot of stuff for you to do."

"Back to sleep I go."

"You slept three fucking days, that's enough of a break."

I unwillingly slept three days, mind you.

"Whatever, once you are ready, come to my tent. There's a whole lot of work that piled up."

"... Nn, will do."

"... Take your time, as long as it's not too long."

Korwen stood up with those words. Instead of leaving, though, he walked over to Karen and the Elder, who were kind of engrossed in their own little talk...

"Karen."

"Eh? Ah, yes, Mr Captain?"

"About your sister..."

"Rina? What's with her?"

Karen turned around to face Korwen, her expression hardening a little upon the mention of Rina.

"There's something I'd like to talk about to you later. It's mostly in regards to her future. There's no hurry now, but I'd rather have that talk out of the way sooner than later."

"... Understood, Mr Captain."

"Good. Then, I'll leave now."

He walked to the door but came to a stop right in front of it.

After a short moment of silence, he looked over his shoulder, towards us.

"It's good to see you two back and healthy."

Then he opened the door and left.

"... Healthy, huh."

A small smile was on my face. It was just a short while for me and Karen, but... Hell, if this had happened to Karen, Rina or Lily, I was certain I would go crazy for worry.

And to know that Korwen was worried as well, even if he didn't show it as much... Wasn't quite unpleasant to know.

"Yumi."

"Nn?"

Karen had walked over to me, standing right by my side now.

"I'm a little worried about Rina so..."

"Nn, it's okay. Go ahead."

About Rina's future, huh. I'd actually wanted to come along but... There was a little something I had to do first.

"Karen, could I come along?"

"Lily? Uhm..."

Karen paused. She seemed a little unsure, but after a few seconds, she smiled and nodded.

"That's okay."

"... Thanks."

Lily was also worried about it, huh. Well... Made me wonder... Did Lily and Rina have any progress over the last three days? I sure hoped so.

"Yumi, do you want to come along too?"

"Eh? Uhh... I... I'll join a little later... I want to take a look at this stuff first."

I pointed at the shell where Karen and I had been stuck in.

"... I see. Okay. Then, until later."

"Nn."

With those words, Karen and Lily both left.

"Hey, Karen?"

"Yes?"

"Did you shrink?"

"No?"

"Are you sure? Your clothes look a little loose..."

"... So it wasn't my imagination?!"

Wait for a second, why do you start an interesting discussion right when you leave?!

Karen shrunk?

That was a joke, right?

Don't leave me hanging now! You can't do this to me!

"Cursed brat... What are you doing..."

My attempt to follow them was quickly curbed by the resident elf who grabbed my shoulders...

"If you are worried about the demon child's height, do not worry."

"So, she didn't shrink?"

That was a relief.

While I did think about wanting to witness a smaller Karen—it was bound to be cute after all—that didn't mean I actually wanted her to shrink. I wanted to keep my big sister-like Karen, thank you very much.

"Haa... What a relief..."

"..."

This day was already enough of a mess and it had just started... Actually, what time was it? Judging from the light shining through it wasn't  too late, at least.

No, that wasn't important right now. First, I had something I had to make sure.

"Miss Elder."

"Yes, Cursed brat?"

"I have one more question..."

A very important question.

"Miss Elder... What is this... What are these... lights that I see? That everyone has in their chest?"

"... So you see it, as expected."

"..."

The Elder's expression hardened.

"What you see is the very thing that made the Cursed so scary. The very thing only the witch and the Cursed held domain over."

She sighed... Then turned around, looking at the empty shell, then back to me.

"They are our souls."

Rinne

Happy Easter!

It's getting warmer again. Someone is having a barbecue outside and the smell is making me hungry...

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