Chapitre 32: Monachopsis(III)
It considered fleeing—twisting the girl's body into a sprint and vanishing into the night. But it could see the futility in that. Aldric wasn't even trying to catch her. He stood there, watching, waiting.
"How did you know?" it asked, its tone measured, buying precious seconds as it worked to accelerate the girl's transformation. Her mortal frame would soon be more than sufficient to fight him.
"Why should I tell you?" Aldric replied with a casual shrug. "Giving up my vantage point wouldn't make this much of a hunt, now would it?"
He began to step closer, slow and deliberate.
"It was the way I talked, wasn't it?" it pressed, still playing for time.
Aldric stopped, tilting his head slightly. "Trying to buy time? Are you about to shift into something hideous? Go ahead. With your speech so flawless, I'd have pegged you as an unauthorized-grade beast-" He smiled, "-or that's what I would've thought."
He didn't approach further, simply stood, arms crossed, as if waiting for the transformation to finish. The audacity of his confidence annoyed it.
"You're not just any unauthorized-grade beast, are you?" Aldric mused aloud, his tone sharp and curious. "If you were, you'd follow the aspect of the concept you represent. But you don't. So… what are you?"
It did not answer, for it did not have an answer and he took another step forward.
It needed more time. The integration was nearly complete. "I'll tell you if you tell me how you knew it was me," it offered, knowing Aldric had the power to kill the girl here and now, erasing this fragment of its memory and all it had learned. It was a desperate gamble, all depended upon Aldric to take the bite.
And he did.
Aldric sighed, his stance relaxing slightly. "You leaned in far too low to listen to us. People who try to listen to me—really listen—to the things that are 'forbidden' to hear, they lose their memories of the encounter immediately or go mad. You did neither." He gestured vaguely to himself. "And besides… I'm a hunter. That's the least I can do. But if you want specifics—"
His grin turned cold. "The song I sang earlier? It's a curse. If anyone but specific people like me, or beasts, hears it, they'll die. Hearts bursting. That is why I made sure you heard it, only you."
It felt the final piece fall into place as its authority integrated fully into the girl's body.
"So..." Aldric's voice dropped low, his curiosity plain. "What are you?"
"I DO NOT KNOW!" it screeched, its frustration boiling over. The girl's right hand twisted and reformed, erupting into a mass of tentacles, their purple hue shimmering faintly in the darkness. They lashed out at Aldric in a frenzy.
"Die!" it spat through the girl's voice, the sound tearing through the quiet alley like a blade.
But the tentacles never reached him. They were severed, falling throughout, to the cobblestones in wet, writhing pieces. Pieces similar in sizes and shape, as if dismantled.
"Wha—" The girl's voice choked as its control faltered, and before it could fully process what had happened, Aldric was upon her.
His hand clamped around her neck, lifting her off the ground with effortless strength. Her legs flailed, her left hand clawing desperately at his grip, but he didn't budge.
"'By the song of the witch,'" Aldric invoked, his voice calm yet commanding, "the one standing before you, orders—What. Are. You?"
The curse of the song he sang, took hold, wrapping around its fragmented consciousness like chains. The words clawed their way out of the girl's throat, unwilling yet undeniable.
"I DO NOT KNOW!"
The truth rang hollow yet final. Aldric's grip loosened, and the girl's body crumpled to the cobblestones, gasping for air.
Aldric stood above her, his expression unreadable. The blood of the severed tentacles stained the alleyway.
It misjudged.
It had misjudged Aldric completely.
The man standing before it was no mere hunter, not at all. He was the pinnacle of human strength, teetering on the edge of unhuman.
Now, its integration into the girl felt like an irreparable mistake. The memories it had gathered were no longer its priority. Its survival was.
When it chose to integrate, it had committed itself to the blonde girl's body, binding its existence to hers for several months before it could safely withdraw. But now, there was no other way—it needed a slim chance to escape.
The tentacles. It remembered.
The severed pieces of its form still littered the cobblestones. Fragments of itself, weak and incomplete, but enough to serve its purpose.
"Well, if you don't know," Aldric said, his tone casual as he shrugged, "the crow would. So, I just need to bring you back to her."
He raised his arm, extending his fingers, pointing directly at the girl's body, like a blade.
"Well, unnecessary parts of the body aren't required—"
Its reaction was instant. It deployed its Sanctuary.
Reality twisted, the alley dissolving into an endless horizon of darkness. The Sanctuary was vast and featureless, its horizon stretching infinitely into shadow. But something felt wrong.
This wasn't its original Sanctuary.
Its eyes widened as the truth dawned. This was not its domain but the one it had granted to the children under its control. The realization came too late. The sanctuary's effect should have taken hold, trapping Aldric, but… nothing.
Aldric stood there, unmoved, his expression calm.
"H-How?" It stammered, voicing its confusion aloud.
"I don't work in sets of movements, brilliant Sanctuary though." Aldric replied, his smile widening. "I'm excluded from everything—curses, boons, tomorrow, yesterday, life, death. All of it."
He straightened his arm again, pointing at it with his fingers aligned like a blade.
It no longer cared to understand.
And it didn't need to understand why and how. Defeating him was impossible, it knew. Escape was the only option, it settled for already.
"'Carv—'" Aldric began invoking.
Before the word was fully spoken, it invoked its authority. A piece of its severed tentacle, small but potent, became the key. The Sanctuary folded upon itself, swapping its position with the fragment.
The void vanished.
It was back in the alley.
It didn't look back. With every ounce of strength the girl's body could muster, it ran.
Desperate. Frenzied. Terrified.
It ran as far as it could, away from him. Away from the hunter who stood on the boundary of mortal and unhuman.
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It ran with relentless desperation, its stolen body pushed beyond its limits. The cobbled streets blurred beneath its frantic steps as it reached the walls dividing Evandria's central district from the outer parts.
The guards stationed atop the walls remained oblivious as it scaled the barrier, its movements fueled by sheer will and fear. The blonde girl's frail form screamed in protest—muscles tearing, bones straining—but it did not care.
The only thing that mattered was escaping Aldric.
It crossed the wall and collapsed into the shadows of a store in the outer district, far from the gates, far from where the hunter might find it. Its breaths came ragged, the girl's body trembling violently, but it knew it was safe—for now.
The thought of Aldric catching up sent a fresh wave of terror through its fragmented consciousness. It replayed the encounter in its mind, trying to piece together a strategy, a way to survive if it faced him again. Even in my true form, it thought bitterly, I could not defeat him.
As the adrenaline faded, It's first experiencing it, it focused on repairing the damage to the girl's body. Her right arm began to regrow, the exposed muscles and nerves knitting themselves together with agonizing slowness. The searing pain was excruciating, her body shaking uncontrollably as raw tissue formed beneath the open air before the skin could cover it.
Pain was irrelevant.
What mattered now was retreating to its den, far from Aldric and his accursed strength. It needed to regroup, to consolidate its forces.
It sent out the signal, an invisible pulse carried through the threads of its hive mind. The children it controlled—twenty in total—would hear the call, their minds bending to its will.
But it didn't stop there.
Each of those twenty children carried its seeds, implanted deeply in their psyche. The seeds would take root, compelling those children to capture others. The infected would become vessels, dragging more and more to its growing army.
A cascade effect would follow.
Soon, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of children would converge upon its den. They would bring with them more than just their bodies—they would bring strength, knowledge, and resources.
Its plans were far from over. It would flee, yes, but retreat was not defeat. Aldric may have forced its hand this time, but next time, it vowed, things would be different.
It settled into the dark, nursing the pain of its regrowing arm. For now, survival was enough. But soon, the hunt would begin anew, and it would ensure that Aldric—will be the prey then.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
DaoistpMEI89
DaoistpMEI89 Next chapter I am thinking of explaining curses and the way it works, if you'd all like.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone