Damage

Damage

The moment the curses on Rain lifted, she could feel it. She could finally touch the strands in her mind that led to people and coins. She grabbed a coin with the same desperation she had used when grabbing the bucket while drowning. However, her mind caught up before she tried to warp to it.

If Rain was going to disappear from this cage, she might as well do it dramatically and get a bit of revenge against Zer and the others who sat by while she was beaten.

She stood up and poured a tiny bit of the emotions bubbling inside her into her aura. The temperature in the room dropped, and a cold wind blew through the enclosed underground room. The already deep shadows of the room gathered and deepened over Rain, leaving her as a living mass of darkness.

Zer, who had been sleeping, woke from the sudden drop in temperature and looked around with fear on his face, though he didn’t yet know why. When he saw Rain, the man who had used his strength to hurt those weaker than himself found something he didn’t dare to attack.

“Little Zer.” Rain said in a raspy and cracked voice. It was time for him to know what it was like to feel small and helpless. “You failed the test. Now, your brutality will be returned to you. I curse you to never find happiness; every good thing you find in your life will crumble and turn to ash until you have given kindness equal to ten times the hate you have shown me!”

The man who had seemed so much bigger than Rain now cowered from her. The sight made her feel a little better. Though it did nothing to help her physically, and as much as she would love to stay here and scare him, she didn’t think her legs would last much longer. So, with one final push on her aura, Rain warped to the only coin she had not used so far.

The world folded in around Rain. But unlike usual, it didn’t unfold immediately. Rain had used her skill to travel this far only once before, and it had taken much longer than the relatively short city jumps. So she closed her eyes and tried to settle her turmoiled mind.

Her little prank against Zer would probably do nothing but scare him for a little until he realized that he wasn’t actually cursed. But it had still been fun, and maybe he would believe it and do something good for someone else. The thought made her feel better about it. If her bruises and broken bones saved someone like Sunrise from having that done to her, then the torture would have been worth it. It would have been better to kill him and make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone else, but Rain didn’t have the skills or the strength to do that.

The world unfolded around Rain, showing a pristine beach with beautiful white sand. In the distance across the glistening ocean, the sun was peaking over the horizon, bringing life to the world and making everything sparkle. Behind Rain, the beach ended at the edge of a great forest. It was the first forest Rain had ever seen up close.

The trunks of the trees were a rich brown, and the leaves were various shades of beautiful green. Rain wanted to explore the forest, but just like the first time she had been here, the darkness lying behind the beautiful first layers of trees scared her. Who knew what lived inside there? Rain would explore it someday but with a friend. For now, Rain had one last thing to do before her mission was a success.

Rain turned to the last part of the scenery: a single door built into a lone frame and standing on the beach. It was the door that Rain had asked Mr. Markson to build and send to Estom Island. At its base was a small pedestal with a large area scooped out of the top.

Rain used that pedestal to hold the coin to warp here. Unfortunately, the strain of such a long warp caused the coin to eat itself and the surrounding area every time she used it, which is where the scooped-out part came from.

Rain pulled out another coin - it was a good thing none of the slavers had bothered searching her - bound it, and dropped it into the chewed part of the pedestal to replace the one she had just used. Then, changing her clothes back to her Tyix costume and doing her best to hide her injuries, she opened the door, creating a portal to her library, and stepped through.

The first thing Rain saw as she passed through the dark veil was the back of Ms. Wer as she held the miners away from the door, weapon in hand. Then Rain saw the others. They all had pale faces from extended time in the dark mist and the relentless chittering from the books in the other room.

If Rain had to guess from how everyone was standing, the former slaves were trying to leave by themselves. Fortunately, Ms. Wer was there to prevent them from trying to leave and going insane in the shaft. Regardless, they didn’t need to wait anymore.

“Ms. Wer let them through. The door is open.”

“Don’t take another step away. Look at her! While you and the others were busy complaining about her and how you were being saved, she was out fighting for you. Now it's time for you to repay her for a fraction of what she’s done.”

The dangerous tone in which Ms. Wer said this made it clear to Rain that Ler had no choice in the matter.

To his credit, when Ler saw the state of Rain’s hand and the signs of what she had been through, his posture changed, becoming slightly less defensive and a little more concerned.

Approaching Rain like she was an injured wolf, Ler placed his box down next to her and examined her hand.

“Is this the only injury?”

Rain almost lied and said it was, but no, it was too late. Ms. Wer had seen through her; she couldn't pretend to be invulnerable forever. Rain shook her head.

“Where are the others?”

“All over.”

“Can you show me?”

Rain could take this man, and Ms. Wer, seeing her weakness, but she needed to be strong for the others.

“Can we go out of sight first?”

“Oh! Sure.”

Rain, Ms. Wer, and Mr. Ler walked up the beach and into the treeline. Once Rain was sure the others couldn't see her, she let her cloak retract until she was wearing nothing but her undergarments. Mr. Ler sucked in a breath. Rain’s skin was mottled purple and green with missing chunks of skin that had barely scabbed over. Not to mention the dried, cracked parts where the skin had frozen or all the cuts with glass embedded in them where Rain’s telescope had shattered after it took a kick. The worst of it was on her arms, legs, and back, with her stomach being almost clear except for a bruise in the shape of a foot.

It was bad, but Ms. Wer had been in bad shape when Rain first found her, so Rain doubted it was anything Mr. Ler hadn't seen before.

“All right, I’ll get you patched up. This will sting.”

The next few minutes felt like torture as Mr. Ler poked and prodded her, explaining that he was looking for broken bones. Then he rubbed sticky green stuff on her bruises and poured alcohol on her cuts. The worst part was her hand. He insisted on pinching it all over to find the broken bones, and then he told her that he would need to stretch it to set the bone properly.

That turned out to be more than Rain could handle. While she never made a noise higher than a whimper, she did pass out.