The three sat in the small room of dirt. One lay on the ground, one sat by them, and the other fiddled with her knife.
The room was silent.
Suna found the walls of the room to be peculiar. As if it was clawed at. As if it was dug out by a tool of some sort. And certain stains… it didn't quite add up for Suna. If they were lucky, they'd be able to find out what led to this from the barely-living girl, who seemed to be looking better every hour that went by. Suna realized just how critical water is to the human body. She felt thankful to be in the presence of yet another adept healer.
"...oh…oh no…ohno ohno ohno oh…" Faint mutterings.
Lilt moved. "Hey, Hey! Look at me! It's gonna be alright, okay? We're gonna get you out of here."
"nooonooonoooOOnOOooNOooooNOOOOOO!!"
The girl writhed.
"NONONONONOOOO!!
They didn't seem to mind the terrible condition of their body. There was something far scarier than that, granted her sanity was still intact.
"NOOO!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!" Bang bang, her thin, sallow arms hit against the dirt surface of the ground.
"Hey!! Calm down!!" Lilt's attempts were meaningless. The girl's panic was only getting worse. Suna figured she may as well try.
Suna walked up to the girl, who at this point was yelling and clutching frantically at the wall, oblivious to Lilt's and Suna's presence.
"Hey."
"..."
Lilt was stunned by the fierceness of Suna's voice. Its… weight.
The short girl stopped. And looked at Suna. She wasn't much taller than Suna.
"We're Hunters, sent by the guild to investigate your disappearance. Tell us what happened."
"...did you… encounter it…?"
Suna was motionless. She looked at Lilt. They nodded. She looked back at the girl.
"...heheh… then you know… none of us are leaving here alive…"
Suna frowned. That was simply too grim of a conclusion to be acceptable to her. She approached closer to the girl, and bent down, her face not far from hers.
"No. No, we're not dying here." Suna's face was a dark stone, in the dim light.
"...heh…so ignorant, hehe…" The girl crumpled her body up into a ball, her hands around her knees, upright against the wall. She was motionless.
"..."
"..."
Lilt and Suna exchanged glances. Suna brought Lilt towards the other end of the fairly small dirt excavation.
"...What happened." Suna inquired Lilt. Not harshly, but she needed information.
Lilt looked to the side. A grim look on their face. "It's… hard to describe. You started panicking, and then some sort of weird-looking thing showed up. It was too weird, too weird for me to have considered fighting, especially alone. Well, even if you were there…"
"So you ran?"
"Yeah. I used my water to take us away. I ran, and then I started feeling what I assume to be a similar fear to what you were beset by. I started panicking, but I, I dunno. I was lucky. I found a hole. It wasn't too hard to notice. And I took us both in it. This small system of rooms isn't that small, but it didn't take long to find these corpses and this girl."
Suna's head lowered in thought.
"Lilt, we have to fight that thi-"
"Are you kidding me!? You, you were helpless against it!"
Suna… didn't have a retort.
"No, Suna, we have to wait for more people to arrive at this forest, and we're going to take it down altogether!"
"Hahahaha!"
Their conversation was interrupted by a laugh.
"Haha, you're so stupid. What do you think killed these people?"
It was a short and simple question. One that Lilt and Suna neglected.
Their faces grew grim.
"Haha, yeah, that's fucking right. It was each other. What exactly do you think adding more Hunters to the mix will do? That's right. They'll kill you. Hahahahah!!!" A small part of Suna began to worry. "Oh, you fucking bastards. I was so close, this close to dying, Fuck You!! I was almost out of this place, but you've kept me here!!" Her anger for Lilt was apparent. They were stunned, shocked.
"Are you kidding me?" Suna was getting fed up with this person. She stormed up to them. "That's how you treat someone who saved your life? Are you serious?"
"Excuse me?" The girl struggled, but they stood up, matching Suna. "Are you, Are you for fucking serious, that staying in this hellhole for a second longer is a good thing?? Are you serious??"
Lilt didn't know what to say or do, they felt all they could do was watch the two bicker.
Suna looked away. "Got it. Lilt and I will leave you here. Clearly, that is your wish."
"Haha, great, I get to starve to death, always wanted to do that!"
Lilt walked up to Suna. "No, we are NOT leaving her here, what are you talking about?"
"No, leaving me here would in fact be better than staying with you two. Trust me."
"Stop it, would you stop it already! Stop talking as if you're already dead, what was the point of me staying up for a whole night just to resuscitate you back from the dead? Tell me how pointless that was!"
Spit. There wasn't much of it, but the message came across.
Suna had enough.
She walked up to the girl. She drew her knife.
Slap!
Suna was stunned.
Lilt trembled. "don't you… Don't ever point that at someone!! Ever!!"
Pause.
Suna receded.
Lilt was riled up, their breath heavy and rough. The girl showed an expression of fear. Suna retreated back to the corner of the room, and sat, facing away from the two of them.
"haaah, haaah, haaaah…" Lilt caught their breath. They turned towards the girl, who stood motionless in fear. "haah… What's, what's your name?"
The girl stayed motionless, their voice cracking out of their throat. "...Beryl."
"Got it. Beryl, listen to me. We're all going to get out of here-"
"Are you kidding me? She, she's gonna, she's gonna kill all of us!" Her face shook, but her body remained motionless, as if it was worried that a slight movement would incur a dark wrath.
"No, Beryl, Suna is my friend. She's not going to kill us. She just got mad that you spit at me, okay? So please don't do that again, we need to work together if we want to escape."
The girl wrestled with those words, that optimistic sentiment. She grimaced.
"I-, I'll entertain you, just a little bit. But if your friend over there is already this far on edge, I seriously don't think we're gonna last 'til the next wave of Hunters show up."
"So… so you don't think we can take down that monster?"
"Monster…? That, that things not just some monster, I mean, didn't you see it?"
"Uhh, yeah, I did?"
"Wha, then how can you possibly say that you can defeat it?? That's just ridiculous!"
"I saw it clearly. It was a monster."
The girl, Beryl, was baffled. "Th-Thats just…" Confusion.
Lilt proposed the worst. "...Do you think… there's… more than one?"
Beryl's expression somehow dropped lower. Her eyes lowered, flickering left and right, as if trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. But they weren't fitting. "That just, that doesn't make sense…"
Lilt wore a grim face. But they moved on from their grim theory. "Well. I'm Lilt." They extended their hand. The girl hesitated, looking at the hand, and looking at Lilt, as if gauging the trustworthiness of this person. Ultimately… she cautiously reached for it. Lilt showed an expression of relief, and also one of a small amount of trust. They were kind-hearted. To have already put her terrible act behind them.
"And that's Suna. Suna." Lilt called Suna over. But she didn't move. "Suna, come on, we need to formulate a plan." Suna remained there. "Suna." Lilt was worried. That Suna would be irreconcilable. That they'd never come together, that they'd all die to this fearsome thing.
A lot of emotions were coursing through Suna. But mainly… she tried to stand up for her friend. And they rejected her. They thought of her. As hideous.I'm tainted, I'm not normal, I'm… a monster…
Suna's brooding was interrupted by a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
Lilt's voice was so gentle, so considerate. Suna looked up at Lilt, unable to hide her anxious worry from them.
"Hey. It's okay." Lilt saw how much Suna was hurting. They put their knees to the floor, and hugged her.
"Hey, can't you guys get a room, or something?"
Lilt ignored the impolite heckle, and just focused on Suna. On ensuring that she felt a semblance of comfort again. Lilt understood how sensitive Suna was from their short time together. They… were also a sensitive person.
Suna eventually stood up, lifting Lilt up with them. Her eyes were wet. But it didn't stop her from directing a glare at the annoying, rude girl. The girl that almost drove a wedge between her and her friend. If Lilt had come to hate her… she would never forgive this girl.
Feeling a bit more assured of her immediate survival, the girl resumed her haughty demeanor.
"Great. Two lovebirds." She clasped her hands in devout prayer. "Hopefully the power of your love can save us, sob, sob."
Before Lilt could react to her outrageous claim,
"I'm going to go kill that thing." Suna looked at the girl. With a blank expression, but one which didn't obscure the seriousness of her words. "Are you going to help? Or are you going to whine in this cave, forever?"
"Hehe, you're silly for thinking that you can kill that thing. But who knows, maybe watching you die to it would make for a good spectacle, I dunno. Hehe, but if you want me to help you, we have to go get my weapon. It's not close."
"That's okay. I don't need your help."
"Suna." Lilt tugged at her arm. "You can't take down that thing on your own, the same thing will happen again!"
"No, Lilt." She directed her blank gaze at Lilt. Lilt saw how deep the shadows of her eyes were. "I'm ready for it, now. It won't work twice on me."
"But…" Lilt found it difficult to stop this black-haired train of a girl whenever her mind was set on something. "Suna, don't you think we'd stand a better chance if we all attacked it together?"
"No. That girl is a liability. She can't be trusted." Suna didn't even bother looking at the girl, her impression of her lowering by the minute. "She doesn't take anything seriously, she doesn't take living seriously. If we fight alongside such a person, we'll all die."
Lilt didn't know how to respond. The girl didn't deign to entertain her harsh words with a retort. She simply gave a small hmph and looked away. As if whatever happened next didn't concern her.
"I'm heading out." Suna made for the exit of the room.
"Wait!" She was stopped by a pull of her hand. "Suna, can't you, can't you just wait one day, maybe? Just give it one day. We'll get backup, we'll have more people to work with, it's just too risky, Suna, I saw it." Lilt was desperate to stop Suna from throwing her life away.
"..."
Suna paused the motion of her feet.
"I'll wait one day." She sat down. She looked at the other girl. And she let her thoughts drift.
Lilt breathed a sigh of relief. They felt strongly that acting rashly with minimal information was a recipe for disaster. They had yet to piece together even the general nature of the thing they were up against; yet Suna, who didn't even see it once, seemed so eager to fight it. They didn't understand why Suna was in such a rush to defeat it. Lilt would soon come to know.
The three lay in various configurations, scattered throughout the room. The room was completely silent. The air was tense. Lilt was struggling to fall asleep.
Lilt had talked with Beryl a bit more. They understood more in depth what had happened to the other Hunters. Beryl seemed reluctant to talk, as if she didn't even want to think about what happened at all, but she shared some things. The tunnels were made by her, who bears an affinity with earth-related spells . The team spent roughly a week in these tunnels, hiding from the strange being outside. They were planning on digging out of the entire area, but for a reason she didn't specify, they didn't. They only got so far before there was infighting. It only got worse and worse; they agreed to discard all their weapons to deescalate their confrontations, but of course, that didn't help at all. The human body itself is equipped with various means of attack, all of which Beryl got more than a taste of.
Lilt wanted Beryl to elaborate on certain things, but she refused. She'd say it wasn't important, or find other ways to shrug off Lilt's inquiries. But they were important, they needed to know what to be prepared for Lilt tried their best to extract whatever information they could from the stubborn girl, but there was only so much they could do. They would not try and force it out of her via force. Lilt knew that as soon as they started pointing their weapons at each other… things would get ugly. Fast.
Suna waited. For the both of them to fall asleep. When she was certain their breaths were slow and steady, that they were deeply asleep, she soundlessly stood up and exited the room.
There was something in her. Something driving her to combat this strange, unknown entity. She was determined. To kill it.
So she gave in to her instincts. She let her feet take her.
That fear. That overwhelming, mind-altering fear, that sensation of panic and stress, all raised far beyond anything she had ever encountered in her life… She needed it. She craved it. She desired it. Suna wore an inhuman smile as she walked through the corridors of the dirt tunnel. Blood. Blood all over the walls, faintly lit by a small light in the room she had exited. Hand prints. Smears. Bile. Bodily matter. Suna walked by all of it, avoiding contact with the unsettling sights.
She hit a couple dead-ends, but it didn't take long for her to emerge from the tunnel, bored into the side of a hill. She smiled. She'd get to feel those things again. She'd get to experience them again. Again. Again. Again! Hahahahaahhaah!!!
She giggled. She laughed to herself. And those sensations started coming. She wasn't far from the tunnel's entrance. She was glad she didn't have to wait long.
Hahahahahah!
She gave in to the oppressive air all around her, that smothered her with their loving, craze-inducing thoughts. She loved it. She was so happy. She was so thankful.
Hahahahahahaah!!!
The world seemed to distort around her. What was up became down, what was left became right, what was far became close. She was entranced.
Her mind seemed to come apart. She saw, with wonder, how it did so. She was a spectator to herself. She saw herself come alive with joy and glee.
Those words. Those meanings. They came alive. She was truly thankful for that. It was close. It was coming closer. Inwardly, beyond all the craziness… she smiled.
Closer. Let it come closer. Her smile remained plastered on her soul. At some point, it infected her body, as well. She was a motionless, soundless, smiling thing, that waited, patiently.
Hehehe…
It was close. A mere stride away.
Her head tilted, inhumanly, looking behind her. But what she saw… wasn't what she was expecting.
Fear. Fear. Fear!! This was the real deal. An enemy she couldn't fight against. One she couldn't even perceive, she didn't allow herself to. She almost dropped her knife, as her legs collapsed underneath her. No, No! NO!! She didn't want to look at it. She didn't want to acknowledge it. But her body moved, anyway.
"AAGGHHHHHHH!!!!"
It was a desperate attack. She thrust her knife ahead of her, bearing into its small figure.
"Kuhh… Blurgh…"
"SUNAAAAA!!!"
She couldn't believe it. She had been pierced, by something. Something she couldn't see. It ran through her chest. By some miracle, she wasn't pierced through the heart, but she doubted. That she could live through this.
It withdrew its sharp, pointed limb. Blood. Blood. Suna's consciousness was quickly growing faint. Her body felt weary. It hurt. But more than her hurt… was a sense of helpless confoundment. She vaguely understood what occurred, what her body was trying to get her to do. But when she came face to face with the thing… her mind wouldn't let her process it. It wouldn't let her see it.
Suna did not have long to deliberate over the events that just occurred. It was hazy, but she somewhat made out the dirt tunnels around her, which she seemed to be moving through, somehow. She saw a very worried Lilt, hovering over her, doing their best to keep her alive with familiar-seeming Magic. I'm sorry, Lilt. She couldn't fight the urge to sleep any longer. She succumbed. To the darkness.