Chapter 20 -- I'll kill them all

AIO: Those rare, amazing moments really make all the bad times worth it.

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They moved away from the open dirt area and wandered in the direction of Ishi's hut.

Thorn thought to question the point of their repeated meandering, but she could not deny her interest in Ishi, as well.

Thorn: I want to see...

Thorn: ...If he can fight.

...

Dusk felt quick to come at Fleeting Maroon: Seamless Potential.

Perhaps some areas were simply darker, or the days gave off an odd feeling of stupor.

Life within a passive blur - you are aware of it, yet it is meaningless to try and stop it.

...

Reach: ...

Reach watched Ishi lead the way with vacant eyes.

Reach: "Ishi."

Ishi: ?

He snapped out of his current daze.

Ishi: "Mm?"

Reach: "Do you see violence here, every day?"

Ishi looked up and thought.

Ishi: "It... Depends."

...

Reach listened.

Ishi: "It depends if I leave my hut..."

Reach: ...

Ishi: "It depends if I tune it out..."

...

Ishi fiddled with the two rings on his fingers.

Ishi: "Sleeping and solitude."

...

Ishi: "They are..."

Ishi: "...A comfort."

Reach thought back to the words he once spoke himself.

'Sometimes the darkness can be comfortable.'

'Almost too comfortable... To a fault.'

Reach: ...

Ishi removed one of his rings and placed it on his opposite index finger.

Ishi: "People die everywhere."

Ishi: "Every day."

He spoke quietly.

Ishi: "I have not cared for life... In a long time."

Reach: ...

...

Ishi: "I didn't care..."

Ishi: "...About anything."

...

Ishi looked sad, but receptive.

He took a moment and glanced forward.

Tomo: ...

Ishi: "Thank you... Reach."

...

Reach: ...

Maybe it was Reach's unconventional approach, that clicked with Ishi.

'You're dead inside.'

Ishi: "You've given me a new outlook..."

Ishi: "...For now..."

- - - -

They arrived at Ishi's hut.

A beige colour. Torn fabrics and marks of dirt.

Various packed belongings.

An existential mess.

.

.

A woman.

.

.

Ishi: ?

She was barely conscious. Collapsed in Ishi's hut.

Ishi: "Wh... Who-"

She choked on blood. Viciously gagging.

A thin passage of breath obstructed by a collection of fluids.

Reach and Thorn looked around but couldn't see anyone nearby.

Tomo: ...

Tomo approached her and gently rolled her onto her side.

She couldn't speak but she matched Tomo's gaze, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

...

She seemed to be able to breathe slightly better.

Her eyes began to close, before a sharp inhale shook her chest.

An uncontrollable whimper - the result of recent crying.

Ishi: "I do not know this woman..."

Reach: ...

...

Ishi: "She must be... A-Another victim..."

Ishi: "...Of someone."

Ishi too, crouched down.

She had beautiful long dark hair.

Tender skin. A kind soul.

Ishi: "This makes me... Sad, Reach."

...

Ishi stood back up.

Ishi: "But why... Here?"

...

Tomo: ...

Tomo: Hm?

Tomo found a small brown note on the back of the woman.

The note was not stuck to her, but nailed into her back.

Two tiny streams of blood ran onto the floor.

Tomo: "Reach."

Reach came over.

Tomo: "Do I pull the nails out?"

Reach: "N... No I guess not..."

Ishi: ?

Reach softly tore the corners of the note, allowing him to retrieve it without pulling out the nails.

In the meantime the woman had fallen completely unconscious, but was no doubt in a bad state.

Reach examined her closer.

Stab wounds on the front.

Whip lashes on the back.

Some kind of spiked wire imprints around her neck.

And a concerning amount of blood and scratches, surrounding her crotch.

...

Reach went cold and silent.

Reach: "Ishi."

Ishi looked at Reach, then at the woman.

He paused.

His mind went to terrible places.

...

Reach handed Ishi the note.

Ishi: ...

The note glimmered under the red of night.

He inspected its handwritten message.

'From Gatriox, Vork, and all of us.'

'Leave this town. You're not wanted here.'

'Besides, your hut's been taken over by her.'

'Try not to have as much fun as we did.'

...

...

...

A brief nothing.

Then...

Little flickers...

Begin to circulate.

Thorn: ...?

Sparks.

One-by-one.

Dark red. Surrounding Ishi.

Reach: Th-This is...

Ishi scrunches the note into dust.

It disperses into the air.

A few of Ishi's hidden red hairs, begin to move...

Ishi: "Thank you... Reach."

He looked up slowly. Black hair covering his eyes.

Ishi: "Gatriox this..."

...

Ishi: "Vork that..."

...

His voice - deeper and deeper by the second.

Ishi: "I can now say this with certainty."

He looked at Reach.

Dark red eyes.

A horror to look at directly.

Ishi: "I'll kill them all."

[Chapter 20 -- End]