Annoying reflection

We had met only once, at least in person, and yet I could see her shadow everywhere, practically from the very beginning of my life as Victor. According to the fragments that Votr had made me listen to, she had her own fair share of problems, but mostly they were all concentrated around those three areas:

Jealousy towards others. This was probably the driving factor behind the hijacking of Aurora and her mother.

Loneliness. She was scared of being left alone by Adam, also it could be used to explain why she tried to make me her pet.

But her main problem was the complete lack of trust in others. If she couldn’t control someone, she wouldn’t be able to lower her guard down next to that person.

All three of them were mixing behind each of her actions. I wasn’t so arrogant to claim that this was the perfect summary of her entire personality, but it should be rather close.

If I added it all together, looked at it from another perspective, and removed the wickedness - wasn’t she just trying to build a home for herself? One where she could relax and feel safe, surrounded by people she trusted.

But, there was still one big BUT.

What about her order to kill Victor? And other things that I simply didn’t know about? Almost everything till now was an information from Votr’s special selection. That’s why I decided to talk with her in a place where she couldn’t run and had no one to hide behind, here. Maybe it would help to shed some more light on those matters.

“Hmm… I was pretty sure that you would just cancel the contract and leave as fast as possible. Talk to her, huh? When did you become such a benevolent soul with no ulterior motives?”

“You know I didn’t. Please say no more.”

“I’m rather happy with your recent performance, so I will close my eyes to it. Go, be a hero this one time.”

Votr was sitting in the first row of the stone benches and I had just came to the front after resting near the wall opposite of the sarcophagus. There was no trace left of the doors, skeleton or the other items that had appeared for the duration of the challenge, except for one thing.

The mummified corpse that was still releasing red fog from the inside of…

Red fog?

“Votr, don’t tell me…”

“Alright, alright, I may have gone a tad too far. But, listen to me first! I’m pretty sure she won’t come to visit me ever again and I’m a man you know? I was happy to play with such a cute girl for the first time in ages. My therapy session might have been a little more intensive than usual. Like an entire course cramped in one lesson style? Not to mention that if you take into the consideration what she was trying to do, I have simply invoked my right of self-defense. Raping a mind or two isn’t such a big deal, I’m a demon you now? Don’t get me wrong! I didn’t touch her physically… well, except for forcibly stuffing her fog form inside that corpse.”

The demon was making excuses filled with remorse and my mind was unable to process that information.

How? Why?

“She started her prelude stage in the sarcophagus, had to keep her there till you completed the challenge.”

“She’s alive… right?”

“No problems on this front, look, the fog’s mostly outside, she should materialize soon.”

It was as he said. When I stood in place, still being shocked by this unexpected situation, the sparse fog began to concentrate into a smoky silhouette.

The entire process took longer than before, but it went through the same steps. However, the person it was forming wasn’t standing tall and proud but was curled up in a corner with hands protecting her vital areas. Her ginger hair wasn’t in the form of the gracefully swinging twintails but was disheveled and dirty. I couldn’t see the look on her face, but there was no doubt that now it was anything but feisty and capricious.

The most obvious change was the lack of her elaborate dress that had given her the air of uniqueness and had emphasized her captivating beauty. It was replaced by simple grey rags.

“Her inner state of mind is being reflected on the outside.”

Explained Votr when I was going to ask him about it.

“Rora?”

My voice acted like a switch that released her from that frozen state. She twitched violently from fright and right after that her whole body started shaking. She tried to make herself look even smaller and cried silently.

“Votr… you overdid it.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Watching Rora in this pitiful state, made me realize that there was no point in talking or even trying to comfort her. In her mind, everyone surrounding her was an enemy who wanted to hurt her. Convincing myself that she deserved this was a tempting option, but I couldn’t do it. Simply, I didn’t feel especially sad, happy or angry about it. Instead, I thought about leaving this place, as that was the best thing I could do to help her.

“If I had promised to make a deal with her, then what?”

“It was a bit like your Three Choices, the good, the neutral and the bad options were all present. It may have sooooomehow worked, but personally, I’m glad you’ve picked this one. Want me to use your reward to break the contract? You must agree to it first.”

Each time he spoke I saw a spasm of terror running through Rora’s body.

“Yeah, do that. I must fulfill my promise.”

“Approval confirmed, a pity that you had to say goodbye to most of the reward and the parasite girl’s collar. Oh, George, now that you’re free, what about making a deal with me? I somehow doubt that Aura will ever again show you another mana spot and I’m pretty good at that.”

His cheerful and slightly mocking tone confirmed my assumption that despite his earlier claims, this demon wasn’t even close to regretting the things he did.

“We already have one ongoing deal and it’s too soon to make another.”

“But you’re considering it. Hmm… I won’t force you, but-”

“You mean ‘I can’t force you’.”

“Hoo~? Why did you suddenly stopped being so meek? I prefer the weak version, or not, this is fine as well.”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? That breaking through that mental barrier was a great step forward?”

It wasn’t everything, but at that moment when something had snapped in my head, I realized that I must change, even if I had to force myself to do it and even if I was still scared of standing too close to Votr.

And maybe, I am a bit angry, everything seems to go just as this demon wants it to.

“Because it does go as I want it to George, mostly. I see that you want to leave, but listen to two things first.”

I was standing a few steps away from Rora, wondering if I should carry her. The problem was that she might run amok if I tried to touch her. On the other hand, maybe all I had to do was to leave by myself and she would be ejected as well. When I thought about it, the huge canvas covering one of the walls fell down and revealed the exit door. Votr moved to stand in front of it.

My previous comment might have been not as fine as he said it was.

“First thing George, that doll you forgot about. Get it, seriously get it. It’s a reward obtained from clearing a rather big mana spot. May be hard to handle, but for the new fearless you that shouldn’t be a problem. You will need it to defend yourself.

Second thing George, there is some mana left from this spot, not enough for a proper reward, but I can give you a small one time action. Interested?”

“No strings attached?”

“You’ve earned it yourself.”

“Tell me what it does first.”

“It will allow you to locate mana spots for the duration of four hours. All you need to do is to think about using it and look around, mana’s color is quite pretty.”

In other words, ‘go find mana spot so you can visit me again’. Well, not that I lose anything by taking it.

“Ok give it to me.”

Votr snapped his fingers and it was probably done.

If only I had a menu or something allowing me to check stuff like that.

The demon had moved away from the door and gestured to me to carry on and don’t worry about Rora. During those few last steps in this place, I was desperately preparing a proper explanation for the girl who was waiting outside.

The moment when we were back was also the moment when my vision turned red due to the smoke being violently ejected from my body. It didn’t hurt but was extremely unpleasant like stepping with clean white socks in fresh, still warm cat vomit.

“Rora!”

Aura immediately knew that something was wrong and called her sister to which the red smoke reacted by seeking shelter inside her body.

A few seconds later the whole transfer was over.

“What have you done to her?!”

Roared Aura grasping own head with one hand. There was no need to ask if she was alright, streams of tears and snot covered her face together with a grimace of pain and fear.

I stood with my hand half-reaching towards her, unable to decide on my next action, when the look on her face had changed.

“Aaaaaa! That was bad. That was horrible. Seriously horrendous! Aura, my lovely Aura, thank you so so so so so soooooo much for being here for me. Saved my hide. Sanity points go up! Rise like a mountain. Damn demon, what kind of demon was that?! Reflection? Reflect yourself and your low rank you damn piece of bottom-runger!”

Fresh tears were still flowing incessantly, despite the newly found indignation in Aurora’s expression. Even if the other hand that Aura had placed on my back was still grabbing me tightly, there was no need to run.

“Rora, let’s ta-”

“Don’t you 'Rora' me traitor! Damn backstabbing turncoat! I tried to help you!”

The familiar feeling of powerlessness lasted only for a short while before Aurora started wobbling and sat down on the spot.

Irritating, annoying girl. If only she had shown a little remorse. But no, the first thing she does is attack. Maybe now she will be more willing to talk.

“Used, all used. You god damn lucky mongrel. Biting your owner's hand? So what if I wanted a little obedience in exchange?! I was willing to help you live! To make you liveeee! No more crying, no more pain in the pathetic you. All you had to do was to stay by my side. Help me he cried, help me he yelled, helped I did! And the mongrel bit my hand. Makes me sick, unwell, nauseating even. I forgot to vaccinate the dog against rabies!”

I couldn’t stand listening to her insults and foolish excuses.

“No more pain? No more crying? What about the tears that are flowing down your cheeks right now, whose tears are those? You just moved all the scary and painful stuff to Aura. Don’t you even realize how much you’re hurting her?”

“WHAT DO YOU EVEN KNOW?! Who do you think you are to say that?! She takes my pain, I take hers! That’s how we live, that is our deal! Are you going to bark bullshit at me like that damn demon did?!”

Enraged Aurora started throwing at me everything that was lying in her range. This action lit the anger inside my heart that I thought was already gone.

“You just messed in her head like you tried with mine!”

“That damn demon told you that?! Everyone! Quickly come! A rare idiot has appeared! Let’s catch him together! Let me guess what else he told you. That I was hurting my lovely Aura? Warping my loyal Adam? Controlling my warm Silvie?! I should have expected that a dog has a dog’s brain after all. Thinking is too hard. Living too painful. Go and judge people with your barking somewhere else!”

This girl was still unwilling to admit to her faults.

“Come and say it to my face, without hiding in someone’s body.”

“!”

She froze with a fistful of snow.

“You… you… you!”

“Bullseye, huh? Not so smart anymore?”

“Get lost... Get lost. Get lost. Get lost! Get lost! Disappear from my sight!”

“With pleasure.”

This was not how I had imagined this conversation to go, but blinded by anger and tired after dealing with Votr I didn’t really care. While she was still sitting on the ground telling me to get lost, I turned around and did exactly what she wanted me to.

Soon I heard a loud crying fit, but with each step, it became more and more distant, until I couldn’t hear it anymore.

Why did I even bother to talk with her in the first place?

Recalling this and her terrified behavior in front of Votr made me also remember the state I had been in after my first ‘consultation’. The time interval between my steps became larger.

And he told me that she went through a full course…

My pangs of conscience helped to realize that I was about to leave them both in that defenseless state in this grim place.

I stopped walking near one of the cemetery angel statues.

“Fuck.”

I leaned my head against the cold stone, stayed like that for a minute and went back.

Let’s tell her that I had no money for a taxi.

When, from the distance, I saw another person near Aurora, I was startled but soon realized that it was Rora. She had materialized outside and was hugging the crying Aura. Not wanting to scare her away, I quickly hid behind a tombstone.

She looked better compared to the time inside Votr’s domain, but it was still a far cry from her peak appearance. Not to mention that she was probably shivering from cold. For a moment I wanted to go out and give her my jacket but noticed her talking on the phone.

I stayed hidden, keeping an eye on them, till sometime later they were picked up by Silvie.