Her entire blood flash boiled. An incomprehensible sensation overcame her as she crashed into the walls of an oddly placed building. Iron bars parted as she tumbled wordlessly, her mind nearly rendered blank.
The pain was debilitating. It far exceeded the fiery touch of Ignis’ Corrupted weapon form. Her Painkiller Ability did little to stave it off as she skidded countless meters, causing more walls to crumble until she finally stopped inside of a dim prison cell.
“Frost? FROST!? Can you hear me!? Please answer me, Frost!”
She could not answer even if she wanted to. The sensation was overbearing, to the point where her breathing became unstable. Her HP had not changed the slightest, and yet she never felt closer to death until now…
< Frost! You’re under the effects of a Condition called Lesser Paging! It… it should not do this to you! At most it’ll only cause the markings of the writings to appear! But your RESIST is high enough to stop it in the first place! >
“The markings aren’t appearing. That’s kinda weird~” A voice came from beside her. She could not turn to see who this voice belonged to.
She only knew that it was feminine, and that she wore something red. Something dripping as well. She hid behind a thick wall of rubble, right beside a strange, featureless individual.
“You look like you’re in pain. Haaah. Haaah. I wanna heal you soooo badly.”
This voice was giddy. Almost desperate. She panted like a dog in heat as an array of footsteps approached. The Messengers were here and Frost was more vulnerable than she ever was. The sensation began to ease, thanks to Painkiller.
The very next moment her body began to contract. She drew her body inwards as she clutched at her chest. The burning sensation refused to leave her, as did the lump in her throat.
… This… this sensation… this fire. Nav. What’s happening to me!?
“Frost! It’s… I don’t know. I don’t know! The Condition’s disappearing. Your vitals are all ok! Your stats are fine! So why can’t you…? Nav’s nearly spoke in a clearly distressed tone.
“People have different reactions to having a fragment of their past written. It seems like that piece of your history is an unpleasant one.” A choir of Attuned Messengers spoke as they entered the chamber, each of them looming over her as she tried to regain control over her body. “Resisting one’s past is but an endeavor of the soul… Our Golden Friends are masters at inhibiting all resistance. But for it to paralyze a person is unheard of. Now then.”
Bony hands slowly descended upon her, each looking to tear the page from her chest. The burning within her soul became worse, all the while the pain nearly subsided at this point. It felt familiar to her.
There was something about this sensation that her body intrinsically knew.
It boiled and bellowed. Like her hunger, the flame became unquenchable.
“Shall we see what you are, Black Dove –!”
As the hands touched the page –
– The page itself exploded into a hail of flames. Each written word glowed a violent red as the Attuned Messengers were instantly set alight. They could not scream or yell. By the time they could even process what had happened they were incinerated.
Frost, feeling relinquished all of a sudden, grasped at her heart and howled at the top of her lungs.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
The corpses were reduced to a charred state, and the flames did not quell. The stuck page suddenly released a torrent of flames into the stone ceiling as her back arced. She herself did not know what was happening. The page reacted to the piece of history it tried to steal from her.
She did not know if it was due to her being bookless or something else entirely.
But it did not change the fact that the page vomited flames that grew to what was essentially a column of slag-like material. It pierced through the ceiling with ease as molten rock dribbled all around her. The immense heat caused the nearby bars to redden slightly.
No. They were on fire. The metal itself was on fire. Slowly, Frost’s sensation returned as she threw herself onto her feet, trying to steady herself. The page was reduced to ashes, and it clung onto her sticky apparel as the world began to burn around her.
“… what… what the fuck is going on?” Frost was breathless. She panted as a phantom fatigue struck her. At the same time, she scoured her surroundings in search of the two figures that were present in this molten prison. “Are… Are you… ok…?” She grunted painfully.
“… Frost. The Archivist noticed something strange.”
Tell me! Please – Tell me!
“There is a book within her Library. A book she cherishes more than any other book. A book that all Beholders must read before they attain their technology. It has no known name. It is now warm to the touch.”
There, Frost found them both hidden behind a mound of burning rubble.
< Impassioned Blood Fountain >
Soul Rank: Black | Atelier: Oboros Infinitas
One of them was a Scarlet Healer. It was a woman dressed in a blood-soaked cloak. She wore nothing but that apparel, and her crimson hair was long, messy, and uncouth. That blood originated from a wound hidden beneath her apparel.
It never ceased bleeding.
As for the other individual, who was a naked man who wore a pale canvas over their head:
< A Soulful Painter >
This person was undoubtably the Painter that Stella was talking about. They were on the verge of death, kept only alive by the Scarlet Healer who panted uncontrollably as she caressed the back of his head, sullying his body.
The crackles of fire could be heard everywhere. She swiftly moved to their side, only panting as Nav spoke the exact same time that the Bloody Herring screamed in complete disbelief from beyond the crumbling walls:
“You… NO! YOU ARE – IMPOSSIBLE! THOSE FLAMES ARE LIKE THE ONES OF THAT PROPHECY! Oh Monkey Brothers! I… I could not have known they were telling the truth!” He nearly broke down.
“It is a cautionary tale of a world lost.” Nav ominously recited.
Frost’s stats returned to normal.
It finally dawned upon the Bloody Herring that she was no Color or mere healer.
“YOU SHOULD BE INSIDE OF THE BLACK FOREST! YOU – YOU ARE THE CALAMITY THEY FOREWARNED US OF! AMALGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!”