Chapter 42 : Life's Consequences 1

Carolina

She opened her eyes slowly, slowly fighting the blur that enveloped her vision. Eventually, the wooden ceiling above her became clearer. Taking in her surroundings, she realized that she was lying on a low bed with a rather musty dress covering her like a blanket. As she tilted her head to see more of the cramped room she was in, she realized how weak she was. Even moving her head felt like an effort, and all of her limbs felt limp and heavy.

A creaking sound from the floor nearby made her turn her head towards it, and there she saw a very strange girl standing at the entrance of the small room where she was lying. Carolina assumed it was a little girl, but it was unlike any child she had ever seen. The girl's face was covered in horrible scars, with striking differences in skin color in places. Her eyes were mismatched, one brown and one blue, the blue slightly larger than the brown, both staring at her.

One of her arms looked too long for her body, stretched out to touch the ground, while her legs also showed two different skin tones and more scars. Her hair was messy and looked lost in places. All in all, she was a little girl who fell far short of beauty standards, but what was most striking was that Carolina could not sense any soul in the child's body. She was convinced that this creature was made of pieces of flesh and bones from several corpses that had been moved by magic. And not just any magic, but dark magic. No pure light would create such a creature.

She drowned in confusion. She had no idea where she was, no idea who this creature was, and absolutely no idea why she had been brought here. What she did know was that she had been kidnapped from Rylan after hearing a strange song in the forest. The creature was calling to her, telling her to follow. But follow who or what? Who was able to overpower her or even come close? She had fought with all her strength to resist the call of the music, until she finally collapsed from the strain.

Carolina had no idea who this creature was, but like any child, perhaps she could approach it with kind words. "What is your name, child?"

The little creature pressed itself against the door frame, seeking refuge near the wood. It looked very afraid of her. "You needn't be afraid of me, child," she tried to reassure her, though she wasn't sure if the creature could understand her.

Carolina saw the creature crawling hesitantly towards her, and she smiled encouragingly, trying to persuade the creature to come closer. "Come here, child. Do you want to come closer?"

The creature seemed fascinated by her, if its strange expression could be taken as a sign of curiosity. The creature's eyes lit up and it crawled closer to her with its hand outstretched. Carolina thought that the creature might want to hold her hand, so she carefully freed her hand from its cover and gently extended it to the creature so as not to frighten it. However, the creature suddenly stopped, seemingly hesitant in its body language. She continued to speak in a soft, soothing tone. "Do not be afraid, child. Come, come to me."

Suddenly, the creature ran over, and at the same time, she noticed that the flute she was holding in her left hand had fallen to the ground. The creature knelt beside her head, ignored the offered hand, and with great excitement grabbed her straight dark brown hair, making a hissing sound of pleasure. The creature smiled, savoring the softness of her hair, like a pet that enjoys being kissed. Carolina was startled for a moment, but then she smiled at the creature. At such close range, she could smell the stench of decay and putrefaction emanating from the small body beside her, and she began to understand that the creature was a composite of flesh and bone sewn together. Who could commit such an atrocity? she thought subconsciously until her thoughts deepened.

This creature, though horrible, was similar to herself. Her body was made of artificial shadows, and her soul was brought back from the dead by a demon, while this creature was made of pieces of human bodies that should have died, brought back to life by evil magic. Although their body structures were different, they were essentially the same. Only the body resembled a human, while this creature had a face that resembled a monster. Carolina felt regret and pity for these living but dead-looking creatures.

"We probably don't belong here, do we?" she said, implying that they were probably creatures that didn't belong in the human world, as she gently stroked the creature's matted hair. The creature's eyes looked at her with fear at first, but then calmed as if it felt safe. Was this creature a girl? It was unclear, but it didn't matter at the moment.

She didn't expect an answer from the creature, but instead a woman appeared at the door of her room and spoke. The woman was wearing strange mourning clothes, and it was hard to distinguish between her hair and her clothes, which seemed to blend together.

"Pets! Do not disturb my treasure," the woman sternly snapped at the creature, which pressed itself against the door and reluctantly left the room, but it cast a quick glance at Carolina before leaving, as if to give her a final message. Carolina could only stare at the woman in silence, realizing that she was dealing with a dark priestess, and from the sound of her voice, it seemed that the woman was not in her right mind.

The dark priestess stepped closer to Carolina and asked in a worried tone, "That thing didn't hurt you, did it, treasure?"

Ignoring the question, Carolina calmly asked the woman's identity, "Who are you?"

"Who are you? Treasure isn't very good, but don't worry. I'll take care of it soon." Uma chuckled, making the atmosphere even more tense. "I am Uma, my treasure, and your body will be mine."

She narrowed her eyes at Uma's words. "What are you going to do?"

Uma smiled and started to stroke her own hair, as if she was satisfied with the situation. "What else, if not take your limited life. Don't play dumb, treasure. I must know your secret." A look of seriousness, greed and madness lit up her face, her eyes never leaving Carolina.

She scoffed at the ridiculous statement. "I have no eternal life, dark lady. I'm not even really alive. This body is just an artificial shadow, and my soul was brought back from the dead by a demon." She felt that her cousin's presence was unimportant since the spell would work without her presence.

However, Uma did not seem to be interested in her explanation as she cheered happily, "You will not be able to escape me, my treasure. This wolf has succumbed to my poison gas, is fast asleep, will never wake up and will not be able to take you away from me.

Rylan! She thought with concern and regret. She realized that Rylan was after her. She had to find a way to protect him. But she felt so weak, she barely had the strength to stand up, let alone fight those dark creatures.

"Pet! Play for me," Uma ordered, and the same horrible music filled the air, making her almost unable to resist the call. What was the meaning of that sound? Carolina felt that it couldn't possibly be good. Then the corpses of wolves and humans began to approach, led by Uma. One of them stepped forward, broke away from the crowd, and approached her. This music controls the dead! That's what she understood. To protect herself, she raised a spiritual barrier to resist their attacks and tried to hold on as the corpses of the she-wolves tried to grab her as they began to burn with a terrible screech.

I can feel the flute calling, Carolina thought desperately. What if I am just a lifeless puppet like them? If I am already dead, why does my heart break at the thought?

Rylan, her soul cried out to him.

"Bad, treasure, bad!" Uma cried, stomping on Carolina with a reproachful expression. "I must have eternal life!" The dark priestess placed her hand on Carolina's barrier, burning herself, but not reacting to the pain as she forced her own dark spirit into the shield, bringing it down with little effort.

Oh, no! I'm too weak to defend my shield, she thought, staring defiantly at the cackling dark priest. Damn that music!

She felt hopeless. She was too weak to maintain her spiritual shield. All her strength had been drained by her fight against the influence of Uma's dark music. Inwardly, she stared defiantly at Uma, who was cackling with delight at her success.

"Stretch her out," Uma ordered the other corpses. These corpses dutifully obeyed her orders. One of them, whose neck had been ripped wide open, opened its mouth to reveal a network of dead, dried flesh with blood drying at the edges. Roughly, these corpses tore off its clothes, leaving it naked and feeling extremely vulnerable.

"Now take her to the glass pool," Uma ordered happily.

Carolina felt desperate and scared. She felt completely trapped in this horrible situation and had no idea what would happen next.

Unable to resist, she was lifted into the corpse arms of the living wolf, smelling the foul odor that wafted from the small room as she was carried. As they passed through the next room, she saw the small creature playing eerie music in the far corner. The creature seemed to be watching her with sad eyes. Carolina found herself in a larger room with no windows, but near the back wall was a large glass ball filled with liquid. She had no desire to approach the strange pool, but the corpse that had brought her brought her right next to it, and along the side of the sphere was a wooden staircase that led up.

"This pool contains my potion to dissolve your body, my treasure, so that I can obtain the magic to bring you back to life," Uma explained excitedly.

"Stop that," she ordered, but was ignored.

"Put her down!" Uma ordered with a smile on her face.

Without hesitation, the living wolf's corpse rose and was unceremoniously dropped into the pool, where it floated in the middle of the water, unable to move. Carolina could see blurry versions of Uma and the undead, the liquid inside her making it impossible to see details beyond colors and outlines. Almost immediately she felt a burning sensation. To protect herself, she formed another barrier around herself, knowing it wouldn't last long, she was already too drained.

Desperation crept up on her. She had to get out of there, or not? She was already dead, what right did she have to cling to the witch-hybrid half-life she had been given two years ago? To keep a piece of her cousin's soul to animate her shadowy shell? Her time to live was over, so why fight death now? She was already dead.

Rylan, forgive me, was her heartfelt inner cry.

She had closed her eyes in grief and acceptance, about to give up fighting for a life that wasn't hers, when she heard a dull explosion with a clear aura. The heart she no longer had clenched painfully in her chest, screaming for her to come to it, even though she knew she had no right to do so.