That F**ker!
That was all Mira An could think in that moment when that creature bit her arm. It wasn't that she hadn't seen this coming, she was just much slower than this creature. Her intuition had picked up on it, after all. The pain was unbearable and so was the sight of it. Her whole entire arm was in the creature's mouth, and its teeth were baring into her flesh, blood dripping out of its mouth.
She was already halfway through the rift when it came in. Seeing how it didn't bite off her arm ---something she was sure it could easily do --- the creature seemed to be trying to pull her back. Unluckily for her, she had no weapon of sort on her to cut off her arm. All she had was a fire and a defense spell, neither that would help her out in this situation. The only thing working in her favor was the rift's pull --- it was keeping her from becoming the creature's next meal.
Although, she couldn't really lie to herself, could she? Things weren't going to end well if that thing kept biting her. The worst case scenario was that she would get ripped apart by these two anomalies. It wasn't a pretty picture to think of, and neither was having the creature so close to her face. It smelled. Its breath was foul, coppery and spoiled, clinging to the back of her throat until every breath felt like swallowing decay.
"rrraaaaakkkk"
Suddenly, her view shifted. The surroundings had tilted at an angle towards her. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck or misfortune, but her and the creature were falling into the rift. What annoyed her more was that it was still biting her arm. Then, darkness came next.
***
The first thing she heard was distant crying, and the first thing she saw was a kid biting her arm. Oh. She had thought she had lost her arm, since that creature had the whole thing in its mouth. Yet, her arm was here, though, it was notably smaller --- like a child's arm. Her mask was missing as well. She looked down, she wasn't wearing her suit anymore. Instead, she was wearing just a white T-shirt and black shorts. The boots she had on earlier were gone. Her legs were smaller, much smaller, than usual. She was shorter and smaller --- that wasn't right. Had she become a child?
Moreover, who was this kid that was biting her arm? He was glaring nastily at her too. What was this kid's problem?
"Hey, who are you?"
"grrrhhkk!"
Great, the kid was snarling at her now, and her arm was starting to hurt. So, she kicked the kid off, hard. Looking at the kid now, it seemed like they were both wearing the same clothes. She looked at the surroundings next, it seemed like they were in some kind of cave.
Suddenly, the hairs on her neck stood. Her intuition was telling her something, she focused the kid again.
Oh. The kid was charging at her. In a split second decision, she ducked left.
Mid-charge, the kid looked confused --- then slammed headfirst into the rocky wall. And, well... he was knocked out cold.
Weird kid.
She stared at him for a moment. She noticed he had pure white hair, pale skin, and looked about six years old. Additionally, she was confused why the kid seemed hostile to her. While she couldn't answer that question, she could bring the kid with her. It wasn't like she was heartless enough to abandon a kid.
That's why she tried carrying the kid behind her back. Damn! The kid was heavy! Although it was probably due to the fact that she had a child's body. Still, she managed to get him over her back. Her steps were slow as she made her way out of the cave.
***
Leslie Wraiths didn't know how his life ended up like this. From a short B-rank awakener to now an even smaller child, it was if fate was telling him he was always going to be short. It wasn't just that, though, Ms. An had pushed him down the rift, and he had no idea if she was even alive or not. After entering the rift, he was transported to a cave, and went outside to only see an empty grass-field. It had been two hours and no one else came out of the cave.
His entire life was over. Everything he had back in New York was gone: his charm collection, Teddie bear collection, and hisapartment. The sacred place he could rest and be himself was gone. That, however, wasn't the only bad news. The system wasn't working. He couldn't access the system interface and his spells. He had spent countless hours and effort developing his abilities, and now he couldn't use a single one. At this point, he was bawling his eyes out. What the hell was he supposed to do?
That's when he saw a shadowy figure come out of the cave. Could it be...? He got up and ran towards the figure.
It was her! Only that she was shorter and much youthful she used to be. The same thing that happened to him had happened to her, and oddly, she was carrying a child behind her back. When Leslie came within her view, she didn't recognize him and instead questioned him.
"Ah. It's another kid. Hey, who are you?"
He was stunned for a few moments, before he responded back. How could she not recognize him?
"Ms. An! You don't remember me!"
She analyzed him momentarily before addressing him back. Soon after, her eyes widened.
"You're the kid I pushed!"
"That's how you remember me!?"
He couldn't believe it. How could this woman not recognize any notable facts about him? There were plenty of..... things he never told her. For instance, he never told her his interests, what he could do, and even what his name was.
Thinking back on it, her depiction of him was perfectly reasonable.
"Uh. You ok, kid?"
"Huh, yeah." Leslie replied, still lost in thought.
Anyways, there were more important things to discuss about rather than the fact she nothing about him.
"So, physically there's nothing wrong with you, right? I mean we did just come out of a world rift." Mira asked, interrupting his thoughts.
"No, nothing. How about you, Ms. An?"
"Everything's good on my end."
"So, who's the boy behind your back?" Leslie asked.
"No clue."
Looking at the unconscious state of the boy. He looked at her before asking, "Do you know him, Ms. An?"
"No, I thought you would recognize him." she responded back.
"He isn't the other inspector?"
"Nope, that guy had black hair and wasn't violent as this kid."
"Wait. Violent?"
"Yeah, he was biting me when I first woke up in that cave."
"That's odd."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too."
"I didn't see anybody in the cave when I first came, Ms. An. So, he must have came with you."
"With me?" she pondered on his words.
Her faced slowly drew from indifference to shock. Instantly, she dropped the boy to the ground and backed away from him. Leslie was confused.
"Ms. An, why d-"
"That's the creature or the monster, whatever you want to call it, kid."
That didn't make any sense to Leslie. How could a monster turn into human?
"Are you sure, Ms. An?"
"Yeah. That creature fell into the rift with me."
"It did!?"
"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure why it's human now."
Leslie looked at the unconscious boy again. That boy was a child. Could this truly be the monster? The one that killed Gilbert, the one who slaughtered the escort party, and the one that nearly killed him.
"Kid, should we kill it?"
It was a question, Leslie could never consider when looking at the boy. Leslie had killed monsters before, but never a human, a child no less.
"Ms. An! We're not even sure if this boy is the creature. We would be killing an innocent boy who had nothing to do with the dungeon!" Leslie exclaimed.
"Or, it is that boy. If we don't kill it, and let it live. You really think it's not gonna kill again?" Mira stated, her tone flat and cold.
Leslie Wraiths couldn't answer. What happened in the dungeon was already too much. To kill a boy to ensure he wasn't a monster that would kill again was something Leslie couldn't do. Leslie gagged at the idea of it. Unexpectedly, Mira patted his back. He hadn't noticed her get close to him.
"Kid, I'm sorry." she apologized.
"That should never have been something I said. My years of experience in the dungeons have made me blind from reality." Mira said, sullenly.
They both took a moment to consider what to say next. Leslie went first.
"We should probably head out to see if there's any kind of civilization to help us, Ms. An."
"Yeah, you're right."
Mira An looked at the boy on the ground for a moment before carrying him again. She turned to look at Leslie.
"Call me Mira. It would be weird if adults saw you calling me Ms. An."
"Alright, then call me Leslie. Being called kid isn't exactly the nicest thing to hear."
She laughed at Leslie's words and then spoke.
"Alright, Leslie."