I awoke to the sound of seagulls and the spray of the sea, pain alight in my body. I tried to draw breath, but felt a heaviness in my lungs; I immediately recoiled, spouting water as I rolled to my side, the rocky shoals digging into my broken ribs. The red water was washed away in the tide, and I noticed that someone was staring at me, an older woman with a leashed dog, probably on a walk. I raised out a hand to them, for many reasons: to ask for help, to assure them I was a peaceful figure, to greet them, and to thank them for stumbling upon me. As they took a tentative step back, I noticed something peculiar; my hand no longer bore the strange tattoos that I’d had since my transformation. I looked myself over, and sure enough, the markings were gone from me, my skin a smooth and silky ashen color. Significantly less scary, which would be helpful in getting this woman to help me.
“Eonni, could you please help me?” I tried to stand, but noticed my left leg was unable to carry weight; luckily, my sword stayed with me during my sea travels, so I used it as a cane to prop myself up. I made my way towards her, and she didn’t shy away this time. “I was on a military boat, but got hit by something monstrous. Could you call an ambulance for me?” I walked closer as she reached into her purse, but by the time she had gotten it out, I was close enough to brush my hand against hers, and dive into her inner world. I watched memories of her father hurt her, and then of her hurting her own children. I drank them both, but left enough for her to remember; I wanted her to learn and move on, not just forget. After all, she had a child, and it would be cruel to them to just erase her suffering from her mother’s memory. When I was done, the woman began crying, and I held her as my wounds began to heal, stitching and mending until I could stand again, breathe again, and think without the fire burning in my body.
“You’re going to be okay, miss. Just finish walking your dog, call your daughter, and let her know how much she means to you, okay?” I said, looking into her eyes, with a soft smile suggested on my face. As we parted ways, I felt a comfort in knowing that things could be different if I wanted them to be. I was no longer tied down to darkness; I could absolve as well, and truly help people. I began the long walk home, and thought about my newfound power, wondering how best something like this could be used. I could now safely gather power for another attack against the Half Moon, but it might take a long time to get the power for that, and since the power ran out pretty quickly, it didn’t seem all too feasible. No, what I needed was a mass of power, all at once. I needed a guaranteed Vanta ocean, and there was only one person who fit that profile in this country who was easy to access: Aera.
I knew where she was most likely, I knew how fucked up she was, and I knew I could handle her. Those were three guarantees I couldn’t get from drinking from some gang leader or corrupt official, which made her a safe target. Well, not exactly safe; I really didn’t ever want to see her again. But this was no longer about me: I had to stop the Half Moon. I thought of the strength of that alpha werewolf, and how it eclipsed my normal strength. I needed to be stronger, and this was the only way I could think of to do it safely. If I didn’t act swiftly, they might move their warehouse somewhere else, now that it had been discovered and their police cover had been murdered. I had such precious little time to conquer a seemingly insurmountable cliff, but a Champion would be able to do it, so I must.
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The walk home for a change of clothes and a shower was rather long, but the relief was well worth it. I then made my way to where I remembered Aera’s family lived; sure enough, I found a rather decrepit looking house with an overfull mailbox saying “Lee” in worn lettering. I knocked on the door, and was greeted with the smell of cigarettes and the sight of a worn looking older woman, most likely Aera’s mother.
“Hello, is Miss Aera Lee home?” I asked in my best impression of a door-to-door salesman.
“She moved in with her boyfriend,” she said, and shut the door on my face.
Boyfriend? My head spun a bit when I heard that. Did she mean me? Had she not come home yet? I went back to the mailbox and rummaged through it, before I found a recent mail addressed to this address from Aera, but from somewhere else. I headed that direction, confusion and dread spreading through my body. Did she find someone else? It had only been a few months… We had been together for years. I slapped myself lightly; I found Silaqui, so it only made sense she would find someone else. I shouldn’t try to project any ownership onto her; even though she did horrid things to me, she was her own person. I finally made it to the address, a small apartment, and knocked on the door. It took a while, but I finally heard a familiar voice from the other side.
“What do you want?” Aera asked, sounding suspicious of my appearance. I had to think of a good reason to get her to open the door.
“Well, I’m here regarding Avery Grey, miss. He passed away, and left you something in his will.” I was banking on the hope that she hadn’t seen this new form of mine. For a few moments, there was silence, and I was nervous beyond reason. Then, the lock turned, and the door opened, revealing her eldritch figure, soothing yet maddening at the same time. Same old Aera Lee.
“I have a check prepared for you, miss, but I need you to sign something first.” I got out a check for 500k that I had prepared in advance, as well as a fake document I had printed out at a local library. If she took the time to read the document, she would easily find that it was not anything to do with the death of Avery Grey, but I knew Aera, and I knew she would sign anything for free money. She took the clipboard, glanced at it, and signed the bottom, as I knew she would before handing it back to me. When she reached for the check, I ‘accidentally’ grasped her hand in mine, and began to delve into the marble hall with her.
But the marble hall was not where we ended up. Instead, I fell into an ebony forest, with countless marble bird baths with crystal clear water scattered about the stretching obsidian roots. I started to panic a bit; why was everything so different, and where had I ended up? As I fearfully assessed the situation, I saw a flash of movement above me, and looked up to see myself hanging from the branches by my legs. I had white hair, and piercing red eyes, and the most sinister smile on my face, and all at once I recognized that I was looking at a murderer.
