The hooded figure stood quietly for a moment, looking down at the sleeping saint. Ellie couldn't make out his face beneath the shadows of his hood, but the way his shoulder seemed to drop down lightly suggested a feeling of sorrow, regret, maybe even shame.
Then he nodded to the others.
Two of them got closer to the saint, lifting her upright into a sitting position, her head lolling forward as though she were nothing more than a broken doll. Her arms were raised and held out to the side.
The hooded speaker came closer to the sleeping saint. He reached out, swiping her long, dark hair over her shoulder. The saint's skin was pale. Thin, fresh lines ran down her back in deliberate patterns, cutting through her with surgical precision, tainting her pristine skin with fresh blood. A ripple passed through the gathered heroes.
'Runes.'
He turned to the crowd.
"Brothers and sisters. Come forward and carve your names into this contract. As her children, once you sign this contract, you will be able to shape this world through the divine spirits. Your descendants will be able to do so too. With multiple contenders for the contract, we will have no fear that the contract will be broken due to the influence of our enemy. The more lineages, the stronger it holds. This is the future we build together."
One of the soldiers stepped forward without a word. He removed his gauntlet, revealing a calloused hand. A curved knife with a silver edge was handed to him.
Without hesitation, he cut into his palm. He closed and opened his hand, blood dripping between his fingers. He pressed his bleeding hand against the saint's back, carving his name over the runes. The lines glowed faintly, a sickly blue light pulsing beneath the surface of her skin. The blood sank into her skin like the rune was drinking it. The man stepped back. He bowed his head, stepping to the side.
Another came forward. Then another. One by one, they carved their names in blood. Soon, it was Gennan's turn. He strode forward, but he didn't go straight to the saint. Instead, he stopped face-to-face with the hooded figure.
"Moldrivore."
"Gennan."
For a moment, the two of them just stood there, not a word was conveyed between them. The silence stretched until Gennan broke it with a nod. He turned and walked to the saint. He took off his gauntlet before receiving the silver blade from one of the hooded figures.
'Why didn't you talk more, you idiot? It's already, my turn. What am I going to do?'
Her mind raced. From the look of it, only those who carried the saint's blood could sign the contact. But her past life wasn't a career no matter how much Gennan's delusion wanted to bend the truth. And now, having learned something she wasn't supposed to, getting found out meant her immediate execution.
Still, there was also something else gnawing at the back of her neck. The dim sun had already risen. The waterfall shimmered in the morning glow, turning the mist into something almost ethereal. The saint, bathed in that light, a halo surrounded her, making her look impossibly beautiful, godly even.
Ellie's only chance lay with her healing ability. The wounds on the saint's back were fresh, still healing. If her blood could passed into the runes to heal the saint, then Ellie should be able to make it look like she had successfully joined the contract.
However, if she were to draw blood on the saint and the runes rejected it due to some unknown reason, then she would set her on fire. Ellie didn't know if she was actually in the past and whether or not her actions could affect the future, or if the trial only recreated the events and it didn't affect the future. Either way, setting the saint who was supposedly the only solution to end this winter hell on fire would earn her a magnitude of problems to deal with.
Gennan had already got back to his spot next to her.
'Here goes nothing.'
Not wanting other's attention on her, Ellie stepped forward. Her steps were slow, dragging the cold snow. This was her futile attempt at delaying the inevitable. But what will be will be, and she found herself holding on to a silver dagger.
Ellie quickly cut her palm, closing it to bloody her finger. She stood on her toe, using her shadow to cover more of the saint's back, and almost fell forward into the saints. The two hooded figures holding the saint's arms left out a muffled laugh.
'What's to write?'
Her mind went blank. She didn't know her past life's name no matter how hard she tried to dig it up. She already knew why.
Having experienced the whispers manipulating her memories, she pieced together how they worked. The voices couldn't create something from nothing. They needed her memory that was somewhat related but was not the same as those belonged to her previous life or the current situation. Only then could they modify it. Once altered, the memories were much more difficult to forget, appearing almost like a taken photo or a screen once called upon.
Meanwhile, the original memories became a haze. After the whispers altered her memories of the floating islands, those recollections became fragmented. When she tried to recall them, only the altered ones resurfaced. One's name was a thread that connected their entire existence together. The voice, or perhaps her unconscious self, was protecting her name and anything related to it. Her identity, her memories, her very sense of self.
So should she write "Ellie" instead? Would that even work? Then a name surged up from the depths of her memory. It was the name given to her after she was legitimated by her grandmother. The name that tied her to House Gennan, the proof of her lineage, whether she wanted it or not. It wasn't her true name. But it was the only one that had the highest chance of success. Her hand moved, guiding her blood across the rune. Each letter felt heavier than the last.
Zelris Reybella Gennan
'Please work.'
Once she finished, she stood there, her shadow lingering on the saint's back. Holding her breath, her eyes scanned for the slightest change in the runes. She felt her eyes burning but she didn't blink. Even as the blood slowly seeped into the runes she didn't celebrate, her heart was calmer than ever. She needed to memorize the contact—every line, every curve—so she could give it to her mother. Maybe her mother would understand what it meant.
The whispers started to come from everywhere around her. Then, they slithered into her ears, pressing down on her skull, forcing their way into the back of her mind. They marched toward anything connected to runic magic.
Her first time seeing runic magic resurfaced. Her mother lifted her from the crib, smiling softly as she traced her fingers over the etched symbols on a music box. Ellie remembered the warmth of her mother's voice explaining the rune's meaning, the way the box sang a gentle lullaby.
But the lines on the music box slowly blurred, and in its place, the lines of the contract emerged. However, once the shape of the contract took form on the music box, it didn't stay long and slowly regressed to the original runes.
'Could it be because the difference in length and complexity was too much causing the brain to know something was odd and fix the memory?'
Ellie needed to change her approach. Once again, the whispers altered her memory, but this time only a part of the contract was etched on the music box, ensuring it was similar in length and complexity to the original runes, before she shifted to another memory.
The voices did the same for her second time seeing runic magic. Her third time. Then, the time she saw the washing machine. The time she saw her mother modified it while she explained how runic magic works to her. One by one, all were reshaped into a part of the contract.
By the time the whispers faded, the contract was burned into her mind, piece by piece. Letting out a sigh, Ellie hoped she had made the right choice.
"Strange. It didn't go blue for you, brother."
"Maybe my blood is thinner than the others." Ellie said, laughing nervously.
Her hand stretched out to give back the silver dagger. At that moment, the sunlight reflected on it, hitting her eyes, and demanding her attention. In the blade's reflection, she saw it; in the depth of the floating island's dark side, something moved slightly.
'It couldn't be.'
Holding on to the silver dagger, she bolted and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"It's here. Hiding in the shadow of the island. The multi-eye beast's here."
A loud thump echoed across the gathering spot as every hero stood up from the kneeling position. Those closer to the bed, heroes, and hooded figures moved forward to protect the goddess. At the same time, those at the back rushed for the strange vehicles. Ellie didn't belong to either group.
Instead, she ran for the stable where Ray was staying. She needed to ensure he got out of there in time. Unlike the heroes and the hooded figures, the brute man in charge of the stable was not prepared for battle and was still oblivious to the commotion outside.
'Fuck. Fuck. Faster.'
The door to the stable was so close. When suddenly, deafening screams erupted behind Ellie. It was clear that this was the doing of the multi-eye beast.
'It must have another ability that allows it to remain hidden. But how does it work?'
After her encounter with it, Ellie made sure to always check the grey sky. She fed Ray her divine blood whenever it was possible to make sure he wasn't affected by the beast's ability, stopping it from using his vision to spy on her.
There were sounds of metal and people hitting the ground as they shoved and trampled one another in their desperation to escape. But Ellie didn't pay attention to the chaos. Her sole focus was getting Ray out of there. Her feet slammed against the cold floor, armor rattling with each heavy, pounding step.
"Almost there. I am coming, Ray."
The door was already within reach. Then, just as her hand reached for the door, something crashed down onto the stable with a thunderous roar, the force of the impact sending her stumbling backward. Wood splintered and beams snapped like twigs.
*'Agh'*
Ellie quickly got back up. And what welcomed her gaze was a massive beast she had seen before during her journey across the white hell, the one that fought against the porcupine beast. Its muscles pulsed and shifted unnaturally beneath the dark fur. The creature's breath came out in thick fog covering its dog-like face. It was missing an eye, a tongue, and both ears but that only made it more terrifying. Under the beast was what was left of the stable.
'*No.*'
A sense of weightlessness coursed through her. The smell of blood choked the air. Panicked cries of animals echoed from the wreckage, their sounds sharp and desperate. The air was cold, but her body was colder. Her head felt light. Each breath was shallow, barely enough to keep her from fainting.
When suddenly one noise cut through the rest and reached Ellie, a muffled wail belonged to a baby. The moment she heard it, something in her snapped. A wave of hot, burning rage surged through her body, chasing away the cold shock of worry. It started from her head, and spread its way down her eyes, her throat, and her stomach.
Gritting the silver dagger in her hand, Ellie shot her gaze up, locking onto the beast above. The dog beast returned her gaze with a sadistic grin. The smile felt unnaturally, like it was trying to imitate a human but didn't quite understand what a smile meant.
'It's you.'
Unlike the eyeless corpse that belonged to the group of cannibals, the multi-eye beast only took one eye from the dog beast, leaving behind the other to control the latter's body.
A hysterical laugh escaped her throat. She had to give it credit. The damn thing was smart. Having learned from its mistake, this time, it chose something faster, leaner, and more agile than that hulking flying mess to confront her.
Not only that, Ellie knew why it didn't immediately wreak havoc. Just like last time, when it took its time dragging its massive frame to get to Ellie. The beast wanted its victim to suffer. It wanted her to fight back so that it could break all her hope. It wanted her to watch helplessly after trying her hardest as it snuffed Ray out.
"You called that a smile?" Her voice trembling from the fury boiling over her.
"I will show you a smile." Her lips curled up, revealing reddened teeth. She had bitten down so hard that her gum was bleeding.