Chapter 6: Broken Memories [6]

Herbal tea flows down a young woman's throat as she lays on a sweat soaked bed. The stout middle aged man feeding her the tea has deep creases on his forehead. His frown lessens as the woman coughs a bit. She opens her brown eyes and looks around with a confused fearful expression on her face.

"Gh... What... Where am I?" The young lady is coated in her own sweat, and wears only a soft gown given to the patients who sully their clothes with blood and the like.

"Calm down, miss. Just lay down and rest." The man frowns a bit as he gently holds her shoulder. She winces as she tries to resist his relatively gentle grip.

The muscles in her body feel as if she's been stretched like taffy again and again. There's hardly any strength in them. She pants a bit as she rests as per the man's instructions. He clicks his tongue as he grabs something off a table beside him. He takes a white chalky powder and feeds it to the woman.

"I know it tastes bad, bear with it for your health." The man places the empty spoon on his table before turning back to the sour faced lady.

She gives him a suspicious glare. She has no memory of such a strange man nor such a sterile bed. The room gives her a stuffy feeling.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Her questions are sharp as she glares daggers up at the man giving her medicinal care. He chuckles before smirking at the girl.

"You're at the apothecary, and I am aforementioned apothecary." He gestures at the room as if that explains everything. The young woman vaguely remembers something called that, and relaxes slightly.

Her eyes take in the state of her own body, and it feels almost alien. The small arms and legs feel much weaker than she remembers.

"Wait, I have to pay you don't I?" She looks with wide eyes at the man. He simply shakes his head after a moment.

"Nay, you didn't have any money on you when the guards brought you here. I'm not so heartless as to turn a hurt person away just because they're poor." He gives her a reassuring smile before standing from his chair.

She watches him walk off to go tend to an unconscious man. She doesn't recognize this patient. The girl raises her arms up and down a few times while testing the muscles and tendons.

While she's doing this the apothecary returns after having fed the sick man a little medication. "So are you alright? Not hurt upstairs?" The man taps his own head lightly to demonstrate.

The young lady thinks for a moment before narrowing her eyes. She tries to think of anything that seems out of place, and it takes her a good minute to realize she can't remember a lot of things. The only thing she recalls is that her name is Core.

"No, I'm fine." Core shakes her head while hiding the fact her memory feels slightly hollow. The lack of any childhood memories feels unsettling.

"Well, be on your way when you like. Your old clothes are right here." He pats a set of neatly folded clothing and leather armor. There's even a steel short sword wrapped in cloth beside the clothing.

Core flexes her limbs a few times before standing and taking her clothes. She changes behind the privacy of a thin curtain. Core grabs her sword and attaches it to her waist before nodding in satisfaction.

"Thanks for your help, old man." Core gives the apothecary a small wave.

"Don't mention it, kid." He waves her off while tending to burns on an adventurers arm.

Core steps out into the city and squints her eyes. The sunlight blinds her momentarily before her eyes adjust.

'I guess I should register at the guild... I can't remember if I had a licence, but it feels like the right thing to do.' She sighs.

Core starts walking in the general direction of the guild.

~

The old woman's wrinkled eyelids snap open abruptly. She glances around before realizing she's laying in someones bed.

"Ah, finally awake, eh?" The village chief smiles a bit as he greets the old lady. She nods as she sits up in the bed.

He gives her a concerned look, but doesn't stop her from moving around.

"We found you by the snake burrow, and assumed you were the one that... razed the monster nest to ash." His voice carries a mixture of fear and awe.

She nods before firmly grasping her wooden staff, which was placed beside the bed with her sandals.

"Yes... That was me. Most call me Pyrette. I am a fire caster." She doesn't put much emphasis on her title.

The old man widens his eyes a bit, but bites his tongue despite his curiosity.

"Well, Pyrette, fell free to rest here as long as you need. Our village cannot thank you enough for ridding us of those wretched snakes." He gently clasps her hands with his, and gives her a gracious smile.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm ready to depart. I only fainted due to mana depletion." She sighs and clicks her tongue at her foolish mistake.

The village chief tilts his head at her words. He pretends to understand and nods half heartedly.

Before he can ask her anything else she walks out of his house.

He follows after the old woman with the intent to escort her to transport, however she is gone.

Motes of orange mana gently fall like autumn leaves.

~

Adventurers make merry in the packed guild hall. Attendants serve alcohol and food at this particular guild branch.

"What do you mean I have to administer registration tests?!" The haughty woman speaking wears rather gaudy clothes.

The tired expression the guild attendant has on his face expresses just how sick of her antics he is. He shakes his head with a frustrated frown.

"Madam all of our B rank adventurers must administer at least ten of these tests before they can rank up to A rank. There are no exceptions." He gives the B rank woman a stern look that prevents her from complaining further.

She scoffs before turning around and strutting over to an empty table. The woman sits her sizeable hips onto the wooden seat before taking out a lute. She fiddles with it to distract herself from her own thoughts.

Core had watched this play out, and was delighted to finally arrive before a guild attendant.

"Hello! I'd like to register as an adventurer." Core's voice is clear and polite as she speaks to the young man behind the counter.

"Of course. Here, take these forms and give them to uh... Madam Lulute." He frowns as he looks over at Lulute sulking.

Core takes the three papers, and looks over them. They're each different forms for different types of registration tests.

Core frowns at her test administrator. She dislikes how this woman acted, but doesn't have the luxury of other B rank mentors to choose in her stead.

"I was told you could administer my registration test?" Core smiles slightly at the woman.

The B ranker frowns before standing. She puts the lute away and grabs the papers out of Core's hands. Her brown eyes flit across the pages quickly.

"Ugh. Ok. Follow me." She sighs and leads Core to a set of stairs leading into the basement. The lower floor is a large public training area.

"Which test are you confident in completing?" Lulute pouts at Core with her arms crossed under her bosom.

"Ah... Physical combat, please." Core unsheathes her plain steel blade and takes a stance.

Madam Lulute smiles at her enthusiasm before taking out her fancy looking gilded lute.

"Alright, come at me. If you can make me surrender, you pass the test." Her expression is full of sadistic excitement.

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Beads of sweat trickle down Core's forehead. She can feel the pressure of Lulute's B rank skills from simply facing off like this.

Core silently tenses her leg muscles and lunges forward. Her steel blade swings horizontally to attack Lulute's hip, however the attack whiffs completely.

Lulute is about a full meter away from where she was previously, smirking at Core's failed attack.

"Hehe. Good luck hitting me with those slow moves, newbie." Lulute's eyes flash with amusement as she strums two strings on her lute.

Golden notes solidify in the air and gently float toward Core. Core's blade swings to smash the first note, and golden sparks shower down.

"Offense was never my strong suit." Lulute clicks her tongue before strumming a single string on her lute.

The moment the note plays she vanishes out of sight, only to appear a meter away from her previous location.

Core has no time to be impressed as she brings her sword back to the other golden note and cuts it into hundreds of flecks of raw mana.

"Hehe. Just give up~ You won't hit me" Lulute's is sneering at Core.

Core glares at her test administrator before running at Lulute. This time when she swings, she swings at Lulute's left side.

Lulute blinks away with a strum of her lute, and is now standing a meter away. Core smiles as she is somewhat sure that her attacks are affecting the direction Lulute blinks to.

"Tiring yourself out yet, little girl?" Lulute has a smug smirk on her face as she strums her lute to produce four new golden notes.

Core dashes through the notes while easily cutting them up. She reaches Lulute, and swings from the left side once again.

Lulute vanishes only to reappear a meter away. Core is now sure of her hypothesis. Lulute is backed into a corner.

Lulute doesn't seem alarmed as Core dashes at her with hope in her eyes. Core swings her blade in a wide arc from the left while moving her body to cover the right.

"Oh-" Lulute frowns as she realizes Core has figured out her blink ability's limitation.

Core lands her sword into Lulute's side. Lulute winces as the steel cuts her soft flesh, however she strums three strings in a very simple tune and her body is bathed in a blue glow for a second.

The blue glow throws Core back, sending her onto her rump a few meters away from Lulute.

Lulute plays three notes again, but in a different order. Her body glows green for a few seconds before she breaths a sigh of relief.

"You little punk. You cut me." She seems angry at Core, however she concedes it as her loss.

Core smirks triumphantly as she stands up. "So I pass, right?"

Lulute nods before walking toward the stairs. "Come on." Core follows behind her with a little spring in her step.

The young male attendant is surprised to see the pair of them return so soon. His surprise is doubled when he is informed that core passed the test.

"Well... You'll need to do a quest with some C rankers before you're ready to move on your own. In that time we'll be getting you your adventurer's medallion." The young man smiles while hiding his surprise.

Lulute goes back to sulking at her table. This improve the attendant's mood just slightly.

"We'll take her." The voice of a young man surprises her. Core turns to see a rather burly man with an axe strapped to his back giving her an unpleasant smirk. He is accompanies by a pair of archers with rather untrustworthy eyes.

"Great! Once you return we should have a medallion ready for you." The attendant gives the party of C ranked adventurers a nod before the group takes Core to a table to introduce themselves to her. The three of them give her an odd feeling.

"I'm Boris, that's Davey and Kilt." The leader of the three young men gives her a hearty slap on the back. His eyes seem to move up and down her slender figure as if inspecting a cut of meat.

Core furrows her brows before frowning slightly at the men. She nods to each of them. "I am Core." Her response is very curt, but that doesn't dampen the male leader's mood.

"For your introductory quest we'll be visiting a goblin camp in the forest near the city walls. Should be simple, easy for even a lady to handle." His words sting, feeling strangely demeaning to Core. She frowns.

The three of them chuckle at his bluntly sexist joke, while Core raises her eyebrow at their behavior. That hadn't been all that funny to her.

"Alright, let's go. We have plenty of daylight left for this." He stands, along with his buddies. Core follows suit and walks out with them reluctantly.

~

The guard checks their papers, and the leader of the party slaps his back as they exchange a knowing smile to each other. The guard eyes Core with a strange look that causes a shiver to run down her spine.

Core's instincts are ablaze the entire walk through the forest. She can smell things that she shouldn't be able to smell. She can hear goblins nearby, and can feel the sinister aura of the men around her. Her tongue feels too big for her mouth.

"I think those green bastards are just up ahead..." The leader of the party grabs Core by her collar, and pushes her forward roughly into a clearing where five goblins sit around a chunk of raw deer. The creatures turn and sneer at the lithe woman who intrudes on their feast.

Core's eyes narrow at the man as he explains with a chuckle. "It's your introduction to adventuring, so you get first blood!" He smiles as though this is a kind gesture.

The shortest of the goblins runs at Core with a skewer held in his grubby hand. "Grik Grik!" His voice is shrill and excited as he sees the human woman as easy prey. To his dismay Core swings her steel sword down and cleaves his skull in half.

The strength she exerts feels oddly intense, and her jaw tenses as a strange pulse flows through her muscles. The men behind her are shocked, jaws agape at her clean kill. They regain their composure and watch as two goblins throw stones her way.

"Grak!" The goblin's swing leather slings, and smooth river stones fly towards Core's head with lethal speed. Her eyes snap between the two projectiles as time seems to slow down. She lets out a strange guttural cry and two massive tentacles composed of red muscle rip out of her shoulders, smashing the stones to power.

"W-What the fuck?" The leader of the group is trembling. He feels an intense pressure coming off the woman before him.

Core's head snaps 180 degrees to stare the man in the eyes. Her mouth stretches open and suddenly her whole body folds into itself. The transformation is terrifying, and causes the three men to choke on their own screams as they collapse.

The four goblins are sweating at the display of primal power. They shriek and turn to run, but their escape is halted as a huge beefy tentacle shoots up out of the earth and stabs each of them through in one clean stabbing motion. Her body is now completely broken, a mess of flesh that molds itself into its natural form.

The pulsing dungeon heart is whole once again. Core remembers what she is.

"F-Fuck!" The party leader turns to run, but his body falls out form under him as a red tendril grabs his neck and severs his head from his now limp body. Fleshy tendrils shoot out of the earth and into the skulls of the two archers. The party of humans and the small group of goblins are both defeated in less than 30 seconds.

'I... Am alive.' Core shivers, pulsing vibrantly as she uses her huge tendrils to eat the remains of the monsters and humans. The memories of the great flames burn a desire for revenge into Core's mind.

Core finishes consuming the corpses, and realizes she has no home and an unknown enemy.

'It is best to disguise myself.' Core decides, shifting her form back into that of the human woman. The process is slow and painful, but the fibers of flesh forms into a convincing human. The feeling is stuffy, but manageable.

Core realizes returning to town nude would be a foolish idea, and spawns a fresh set of equipment before redressing.

'First, I should turn in this quest and inform the guild that the goblins were... stronger than anticipated.' Core frowns as she picks up the quest contract, as well as the medallions of the dead adventurers.

She walks through the forest with a clear goal in mind.

Revenge.

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