The Sinners of Ard Ramalia, Part I

A beat. A ragged breath, more beats.

    I’m not even able to count them properly, but each of them threatens to shatter me from the inside. It hurts. It goddamn hurts so much that I can’t even focus on my thoughts.

    Even the very vision of Timoria leant over Tyffeon’s body is like blurred as my pounding heart resonates in my ears.

    I grit my teeth.

“STOP NOW!!”

    Lunging forward, I cross the walkway until reaching their sides. Grabbing Timoria by the waist, I forcefully make her stand, pulling her away with all the strength this stupid body has at its disposal.

“Tyffeon!!”

    As I kneel next to him, my breath hitches at the sight of his wound. In the mess, droplets of blood have splattered his chest. He looks pale, paler than he should.

“Hey! Wake up!” I reach out my hands to check his respiration. “Wake up…”

    It’s weakening. His heartbeat is weakening…

    A laugh. Soft, yet lunatic.

    A crime. As a crimson droplet which made the golden goblet overflow.

    Stiffening, I risk a glance back at Timoria. Her hands clutching her face, her chin still blood-soiled, she’s displaying a serene smile. But it’s only a fleeting expression, soon blown away. As if it has been but a fleeting relief knowing that she is getting erased to the profit of something else.

    Something that has been waiting for ohh so long, until it got strong enough to blend into a messy soul. To reshape her body.

“This feels good… This feels good…” Between her fingers spread apart, I can already see her sclera darken. Her smile vanishes. “But this won’t last… this isn’t enough.”

    She raises her head slightly. Her irises then slowly rolling in their orbits until they lock on me.

“Nehh, nehh… your blood…”

    A breath.

“…give it to me.”

    I have to tend to Tyffeon before she attacks me.

    Frantically, my fingers begin to rummage through his pockets, anywhere where he could have hidden them. Did he not have some of these potions left? The ones he took from the Daoine Sidhes we fought back then… There must be some left… At least one…

“There!”

    Retrieving two intact phials, I proceed to uncork the first o-

“Nehh, did you not hear or…” Timoria’s neutral voice arises closer than she should have been. I can only notice her face next to mine as I raise my head, eyes wide-open. “…are you ignoring me?”

    A sudden pain in the gut is the next thing I feel, forcing me to drop the phials before getting expelled metres away.

    Timoria approaches me, stepping back onto the stone walkway as I rise back to my feet. Luckily so, I managed somehow to grab my bow and quiver.

    My grip around my bow tightens, making my joints whiten.

“This is because of me. If I had made the right choice… If I had decided to kill her before she was tainted! How fool of me… Just what was I attempting to do?! Even if it meant becoming criminals in this kingdom, we could still flee. If I choose to spare someone, then someone else gotta pay the price.”

    Picking up an arrow from my quiver, I get ready to attack.

“Ahh… can’t you just be kind to me? Please…” she asks softly, “I promise this won’t hurt for long.”

    The moment my bow is strung, eyes locked on Timoria’s chest, I release my arrow.

    Realising I shot for the first time at someone only the moment the arrow reaches its target, sinking into her belly.

    She frowns at the pain, lowering her gaze to the stick protruding from her flesh.

“That hurts. That hurts… you know?”

    Gripping the arrow, she simply pulls it off out her bleeding wound. If she were just her regular self, Timoria would probably have been wincing on the ground.

    But the emissary of the Taint doesn’t recoil. Where her wound should have been, her flesh soon appears untouched. ‘Seems that Kingdoms of Sin’s boss mechanics are still valid here. A mere wound won’t kill her per se, nor would it leave a mark on her body. Only the accumulation of enough damage would lead to her defeat. Unfortunately, I can’t see the Health Bar.

“Why can’t you understand… I have to protect Kitsune…” She keeps stepping forward at her regular pace.

   The closer she gets, the more I back off, preparing my next arrow.

    Then she pauses. Observing me as if she is acknowledging my existence for the first time since she’s been tainted.

“Ahh… But you’re not a Beastwoman. You can’t understand.” Her expression softens. “How sad… How pitiful… But don’t be worried, I’ll tell you a secret. After all, you won’t be able to repeat it to anyone.”

    A large smile appears over her features. Unnatural, unnerving. The serenity of her gaze wavers to offer a glimpse of something else. Something that shouldn’t be named.

“Before…. Long, long ago, the Beastwomen fed on blood. This was what they used to take from men during the golden age. They gave them their love, and took blood from them. It has always been like that… But then… they had to change their ways. That was what our previous ruler wanted for them, for us. So we could fit in… It hadn’t been easy, but we did it. We stopped drinking blood.”

“I know…” I whisper.

    What should I do? The only real advantage I have on her is knowing all of her possible attacks. I don’t have a holy sword like the Hero. I may be the only one in this world having Amako as a name… can rain even replace such a mighty power? I know the patterns Timoria’s supposed to follow in Kingdoms of Sin, but…

    …Will she stick to it?

    After what happened in Rathard, I can’t blindly believe it. I have to be cautious… The way Erlkœnig decided to get rid of me himself, Somnuma being used by Timoria, or even how she got tainted by drinking Tyffeon’s blood… it’s like the scenario is twisting until getting back to its main lines. If it is really the case, then…

“But it weakened us. And we couldn’t let our ruler be weak as well.”

    As the words leave her mouth… cracks, snaps echo eerily from her mostly naked back. Her body compulsively arches forward.

“…She’s gonna use her Lignum magic.”

    And a bunch of branches pierces her skin. They wiggle like worms, growing until getting to the size of wings while her back covers up with wood.

    Timoria straightens up the moment I send another arrow flying in her direction. There’s a new glint in her eyes as one of the branches twists, getting hit instead of her.

    In no time, leaves cover the branches.

“That’s no good!!” I widen my eyes and hastily take another step back the moment the leaves fall off the branches, spinning all around in a large perimeter.

    One does barely brush my cheek, and yet leaves a neat cut in its wake.

“Goddamn emissary…” I mutter. “I don’t have time to lose with you… Let me pass!!”

“To let you pass?… Ohh,” she begins to chuckle, “the Daoine Sidhe. Are you more interested by corpses than by me? You shouldn’t speak in such a way to a maiden.”

    My eyes open wide.

“Shut up…” I breathe, sensing my arms tremble from pure rage. “Keep your cursed words!!”

    The moment the leaves fall to the ground, I take the chance and run in her direction.

“According to her pattern, there’s supposed to be a lapse of time between the moment she launches her attack and the one leaves regrow over her branches. One second,… two seconds…” I glance at her as I make sure to follow the edge of the walkway. ‘Better not to get too close.

    In that form, the emissary of the Taint has at least a reduced speed, the multiple branches in her back hindering her moves.

    As I bypass her, she only follows me from the corner of her eyes.

    Quick!

    I spin around to aim an arrow at her back, pulling the string in a swift move… only to get kicked by a branch the second I release my arrow.

    Losing my balance, I fall against the black pavement and only stop right at the very edge of the bridge. Next to my head, I can feel the void beneath. At the uncomfortable sensation of my leg hanging into the mist, I roll on my side.

   As soon as I can lean against my hands, I try to straighten up.

“Try not to fall, I’d hate this blood to go to waste.” Timoria breathes.

    A glance at her allows me to behold in horror the leaves already regrown, ready to slay me.

“Do isekai’d characters get isekai’d at their death…?”