Bound Evil

Emily bolted up drawing in lungfuls of the fresh morning air, the smell of soil and undergrowth filling her nose. A litany of small cuts and bruises woke up and protested her movement. As did the dagger lodged in her stomach. The snow beneath her legs had numbed her to the bone and soaked through her clothes

All in all, she was great. Okay maybe not great but better.

One more deep breath and Emily had sorted out her thoughts. The previous owner of this body had been inconsiderate nearly dying before handing it over, but no matter.

Closing her eyes once more to conserve energy, Emily reached for the well of power in her chest, so that she might heal her wounds.

But where once lay a vast open ocean, only a muddy puddle now remained. Hissing to herself Emily thought of the decades, and countless sleepless nights she had dedicated to growing her strength, and for what?

Emily wanted to shout, kick, and cry like a child but she couldn’t afford to lose herself to anger right now, so she pushed it down.

“Not yet. Live now, emotional baggage later”

Her mind made up Emily focused on her gift.

Reaching down into her chest she attempted to wring out the very last of her power. The smallest charge of life buzzed at her fingertips, returning some of the feeling to her stiff limbs, but not much beyond that.

Looking down at herself she saw her new body. It did not feel all that different from her last. Reaching to the side she saw her fiery red hair hanging down, having replaced the mousy brown Emily had seen on the woman, though it was much shorter than her own.

It was hard to tell from this position, but she was also pretty certain her height was about the same, sitting at around 5’9. She’d have to do a closer inspection for other changes but it did help her feel more like all of this was not some hallucination her brain had cooked up.

Emily’s breath came out in ragged breaths that barely made clouds in the frigid air, but she pushed the exhaustion away, and using the tree as support, climbed to her feet. Sitting still in the cold would be the death of her, she had to move.

She was barely standing when the crunch of snow underfoot reached her ears. Emily’s eyes darted around searching for the sound and noticed two things:

One: The frozen forest she was in stretched out as far as the eye could see, surrounding her on all sides with trees as tall as five-story buildings, with only a small paved road stretching off in either direction.

Two: Something had found her –possibly drawn in by the scent of blood– but that wasn’t important now. It was certainly no creature Emily had ever seen.

The thing was at least humanoid, though it was at most 120cm, on two legs and looked completely emaciated. Pale blue skin and tufts of white fur, helped it blend in with the surrounding snow and foliage. And seeing as it was less than three meters from her, it was probably a big reason it had gotten this close. Its face stared back at Emily with hunger filling its pupil-less sapphire eyes. It held a crude club of dead wood in its grip.

The little beast was beyond ugly and reminded Emily of a gremlin with its drooping ears. That, or the average child.

“Well, aren't you a little cutie,” she muttered in a horse whisper, some excitement bleeding into her eyes.

The thing only screeched at the top of its unimpressive lungs and made a mad dash for her.

Laughter christened the treetops as Emily stared at the incoming creature. It looked ready to break her skull like an egg.

And yet Emily welcomed it with open arms. The little thing brought its club overhead and smashed it toward her skull with almost no technique. Though in the state she was in, it didn’t much matter.

She couldn't run, she couldn’t dodge, but fortunately, she didn’t need to do either. Adrenaline spiked in Emily’s veins, and a brilliant smile curled up her lips as she locked eyes with the scraggly creature.

When the hit came, her right arm shot up and covered her head. The piece of wood cracked into her elbow, and pain blossomed as a throbbing heat spread out across her arm. It was broken, but Emily ignored it. Instead, she reached forward with her dominant hand and grasped the creature by the neck. Then falling backwards, she pulled the thing with her.

Surprised by the sudden move, the creature tumbled after her.

Twisting her footing midair, Emily pulled the creature beneath her, so she landed on top when they hit the snow.

Pain rocketed up her spine and stomach but she held on.

Using her good arm, Emily pushed the stunned creature's head to the side and sunk her gleaming canines into what she hoped was its main artery. Spongey flesh gave way to hot blood, as bitter metal filled her mouth.

Disgusting, but necessary for the next part. With one big pull of the power in her chest, the creature's life force rushed down her throat and into her core. It was like fresh rain to her parch body. The creature thrashed and wailed underneath her, wiggling the dagger deeper into her front, but it mattered little now. Either she died or it did, and Emily was stubborn.

Its screams grew quieter and more forced but she didn’t release the little body until it began to shrivel. When she was certain it could give her no more, she pulled her head up, spat a mouthful of blood, and wiped her chin.

The little thing had dropped its club during their tussle, but it had used a surprising amount of strength to beat the side of her ribcage. Luckily the layers of clothing had stopped its blackened nails from getting any further.

The creature's blood was a cold blue and its scent mixed with the overripe smell of sweat and rot coming from the thing.

Almost gagging, Emily shot up from straddling the foul husk.

Once more thankful she didn’t need to drink the blood, who knows what diseases this little thing carried. From the looks of it, her power had regressed to its adolescent stage. She’d have to work it up from scratch.

Refreshed laughter bounced through the leafless canopy.

‘Is this world filled with these little things?’ she wondered gleefully as the headrush faded.

The blade in her gut once more made itself known, cutting her cackling short.

Gritting her teeth Emily grasped the handle and drew all the power she had just gathered and sent it to the wound.

Yanking out the dagger with one short motion, hissing as she did so.

Blood wept freely down her front as the blockage was removed, but then the wound writhed and began to knit itself closed.

By the time it scabbed over, she had used almost all the power she had just gathered. The rest went into propping up her failing body.

Emily’s eyes darted around the snowy grove in search of more threats, but when she found none her shoulders drooped.

“Darn, what is this, nightmare difficulty?”

Knowing she wouldn’t get an answer, Emily inspected herself and the pointy bit of metal she had acquired.

Injury-wise, she had just traded a gut wound for a broken arm, but frankly, she called that a win. In this type of cold, losing body warmth was a big no-no.

The dagger was a simple one, curved and slightly less than twenty centimeters, it reminded Emily of a weapon used by assassins. With an inversed hilt and a keen point, it was more for stabbing. A fact both she and the previous owner of this body knew well.

Beyond the dagger, Emily decided to take stock of what she had on hand.

One bloodied dress, thankfully quite thick to protect her from the cold. A heavy cloak made from some unknown grey material, though it was rather worn. An initial scrounging through the pockets revealed a couple of triangular coins and a small amulet made of some dirty metal. Finally a set of worn traveler's boots with thick soles.

Casting her eyes about the clearing again, Emily looked around for anything else. Surly this girl had not been traveling without supplies or food.

Perhaps a backpack, preferably something with blankets? Did people have backpacks in this world?

Clutching her arm to her chest Emily did a cursory check of the area, but sadly nothing of use or value jumped out at her.

Emily was just inspecting the road when a spike of pain shot through her head.

Memories came flooding through her mind, fast and insistent.

Of a life, she never led, and customs that were all too strange to her. Pushing back the flood, like one would a telepathic invasion, Emily grabbed onto the most recent memory and used it as a life raft.

The fresh breeze of the forest air came to her as the image of a young man's back appeared in her vision. Blonde hair that shone in the sun and a long blade strapped to his side. Feelings of affection tried to overwhelm her, but she crushed them like the interlopers they were. The two of them were walking along the trail, excited to get to their destination, but were then attacked by several men in white cloaks. Emily tried to fight but they were too quick and she went down.

The young man didn’t put up much resistance either, clearly unused to the blade he wore. When he fell, they dragged the kid off along with their traveling bundles without a second glance back at her.

The memories continued streaming in, but Emily resisted, forcing them into a corner of her mind to avoid them mixing with her own.

Panting and still in pain, Emily finally managed to open her eyes again. The same clearing appeared, and her pupils immediately found the point at which the young man had been dragged off the road. She didn't know how long ago all this had happened, but at least it was a heading.

The snow had to have fallen recently, as the powder still crunched under pressure.

This meant their trail through the forest was still obvious, for now. Emily frowned, something wasn’t adding up here, but then they probably weren’t expecting a dead woman to come chasing after them.

“Well, it looks like I found ‘him’,” she muttered out loud.

Emily had no desire to go play savior for some unknown kid, but there was something near the base of her skull that urged her on. Itching all the while.

Thinking back to the young man Emily tried to place him, the affection she had felt was not that of a son and mother, nor a lover, so who the heck was he? Of course, the answer was locked away in her head somewhere, but she wasn’t sticking her hand in that cesspool until she was certain she could remain herself.

Emily walked over to stare at the now obvious trail in the snow. She tried taking a step away from it and while nothing stopped her, the itching grew worse.

Grimacing to herself, she stepped away from the road and began to follow the fresh trail of breadcrumbs through the snow.

As if she didn’t have enough of her own problems right now. But a deal was a deal, plus if she was lucky she’d arrive at an all-you-could-eat buffet. An excited grin broke out across Emily's face reaching all the way to her ravenous eyes.

As harsh as the start was, she could just tell she was going to love it here.