Roxy's POV
"Roxy...Roxy!" Someone was shaking my shoulder vigorously. The sheer force plunged me awake.
"Huh? What...what happened?" I asked. Oh hell...my head feels like it was splitting!
"The headache right?" Cyrus finally sat down beside me. I was flat on the ground, the mushy soil irritating my skin.
"I found it's core. Wanna keep it as jewellery?" Cyrus held the pearly artefact like a prize.
"Yeah right. My sister's gonna kill us all. At least would ban me from the Regime." Gena snatched the Shifter core from between Cyrus's fingers. Cyrus sighed heavily, clutched his head and screamed.
"THIS ISN'T GOING AWAY!" Honestly, I wanna scream too. It was unbearable!
"It was expected—you two escaped a hypnotic spell from a Shifter. I wish I had a solution..." Gena said softly.
"Well...I heard from Hayabusa people about this 'mind-controlling-monster'. Said they went to Kamia Village for instant relief from the side effects of breaking a spell mid-way." Akira stood over us. With tired eyes, I could only say,
"Wherever that village is...I'll go crawling. But we are leaving Right. Now."
And so, we reached Kamia Village at midnight.
"We're almost here," Gena assured me. She carried me by my shoulder, Akira supported Cyrus. The way we kept groaning for hours straight while walking was kinda embarrassing.
Against the night, three villagers stood at the compound wall.
"Whoa..." I raised an eyebrow. I didn't know if it was my splitting headache or if these people are as dark as midnight. Even their teeth were black, as they spoke to each other.
Small Asian faces but their skin tone was darker than any negro I've seen. Yes I said that.
"Come." The thick man between two others breathed out. It was an airy whisper. And the breath that travelled with the air to reach my nostrils?
I almost fainted.
"Oh my fucking—" I whispered to myself.
"I smelled that too..." Gena said softly, we huddled into the village nonetheless.
"He smelled like thousand garbage bags at once! Oof..." HELP me NOT throw up, Gena. I hoped she had something in her magic purse.
I thought the funny man's breath was worst.
...This village's ambience was...worse-er.
"Oogph!" Cyrus held in the cough-vomit combo. His stomach churned like a grinder.
"I can't take this. I wanna pass out." He said softly to Akira who only nodded. How are Akira and Gena even bearing this stench!? It REEKS! And when I—DEVIL'S DAUGHTER HERSELF—cannot bear this smell, imagine it.
I passed out unannounced, too. Seemed like the best coping mechanism.
Hours later, I saw dark clouds above me. But the clouds weren't the only thing blocking my view to the sky. These people were so dark, draped in such midnight clothes, they blended into the dark clouds above them. Eugh!
"Has she eaten?" A deep voice asked. He was stirring a pot of...something.
Akira shook his head, "She didn't. But she'd be fine—"
"It is not food." The villagers said, not taking his gaze off his death soup. Not once.
"Um...I'm good—ugh..."
The moment I sat up, my head was hammering like the end of this world!
"Shit man...it didn't go away?" Akira held my shoulder gently. I rolled his hand off, feeling extremely discomforted by everything. .
"I need to get out of here for my own sanity. I'm so gonna throw up." I declared.
"I threw up twice already. But this soup..." he looked over. That was when the villager finally met our gaze...
"Your headache...The hypnotic monster did that to you. This is medicine." He whispered. My brows furrowed.
"Why are you whispering? We just killed it. It won't bother anyone around anymore." I stumbled on my words but spoke.
"Shush!!!" Suddenly, he held his finger to his dark, chapped lips.
"They have ears..."
Right...
"You guys are paranoid. Cyrus has the Shifter's core. Show it to them for proof, will you?" I asked Akira irritatedly.
"You think I didn't try?"
We both sighed.
"Hmm," quite rudely, the villager shoved the coconut bowl of soup towards me.
"What's...this..."
This was my first time saying...
"Oh my fucking God.. "
PUTRID WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!!
I threw up across my lap unexpectedly! Everything emptied out of my stomach!
"WHAT IS IN THIS—...?"
My question faded out when the villager innocently crawled over to me, picked up my vomit like it was nothing, added my own goo in my bowl of death soup.
Grrr...grr...
MY STOMACH WAS GONNA GIVE UP ON ITSELF!
"Roxy...quick tip...don't throw up again, or they'll make you eat it all over." Akira mentioned casually, but his face was twisted with disgust in a way I've never seen. Akira was the toughest, nonchalant guy over such things.
Well...I had to go through this.
Fuck it...
It had started raining, and we huddled into a hut made with pure animal poop. I've seen cow poop on walls. That was normal.
But this hut was especially made with snake poop, lion poop, tiger poop and...hippo poop.
Now don't ask me how I could tell which was which.
"OOF!" Another person barged in. It was Cyrus! Gena and Akira were already with me alongside the brilliant cook.
"Cyrus, did you have the soup—"
"Let's not talk about that. Please."
I swore I could see tears roaming his eyes when he answered.
Hours of marinating in poop flavored walls, I started feeling dizzy with the smell. As the strongest being myself, I was growing weak by this thing. How are these people even handling it?
It chops down to one of the best human instincts, I'd say— Survival.
"Is this village cursed or something?"
I could go talk to a witch and lift this curse. After all, witches and wizards kill and be killed for worshipping us anyway, right?
"This isn't a curse from the living." The village cook said. His staff aided support. His Butt never touched the ground. On his feet, he sat for hours. And we sat on the poop ladden floor anyway.
"Who is it from?" Cyrus asked, choking back on hazardous stenches and tears.
"A Shifter."