Within an unknown location, a monster lay dormant.
Within a pitch black cave, a monster has slept.
Drip… drip…
Water drops onto the stone floor below, leaking from stalactites above. The beast lay still in its slumber, one of its eyes beginning to twitch slowly.
Then, it slowly opens the same eye.
A goat's eye, a red iris. The monster's breathing hitches as it begins to wake up, leaning up from the cave's floor and glancing around.
Jagged spikes lay around the monster, corpses strewn about, bloodied, gutted. Skeletons lay out across more stalagmites, pierced or hung.
A labored breath and a sigh echoes with power from the beast's mouth.
"Hm…?"
An eyebrow raises from one of its eyes. Three red eyes line across the monster's forehead, two slanted, one vertical.
It senses something… new. Something strange.
Its maw slowly opens, revealing a disgusting array of jagged, crooked, and sharp teeth. What one could call a grin spreads across its face, a delightful, ugly grin.
"Something… else."
It has sensed a presence.
As the beast stands on its hind legs, the world seems to distort and bend toward it. Chains clinking and echoing within the cave, its height nearly reaching the stalactites above, the chains laying about atop the beast's body, falling down to the floor, or hanging down from its horns.
An muscular torso with goat's fur, the same dark-colored fur lining down to its legs and its inverted knees. It stands on hooves, the muscles move with strength and aged effort after its many, many years of life.
The arms are scaled, a dark, velvet red color along its lined scales, moving down to clawed, three fingered hands. Its nails are sharp and pointed, and strong enough to pierce through a fortress's walls.
The fur moves up to the monster's neck, showing a goat's head with three glaring red eyes, and two dark red horns that spiral out into a jagged, bent shape.
"See…"
Its tongue licks its ugly, sharp teeth, hoping to consume the new thing it has sensed.
After all… nothing is more delicious than something new.
*****
■■■■■
Fault slowly opens his eyes, the pain he had felt before is gone completely, replaced with a serene, calm feeling. Though, the awful sound that sounds quite far away isn't the best feeling.
He's returned to the same grey plain of grass. The shadowless world he was in just before he had seen his Infusion.
Not this again…
He didn't particularly like seeing this place, not that it did anything bad, but it was just…
…uncanny.
Nothing natural was here in this realm. Just an endless, light grey plain with a few hills or mounds along the ground for as far as he could see.
Not to mention the 'stars' in the sky. Whatever they were.
Too many to count, too small to make out the details. Thousands and thousands of black specks that fly way too high in the sky.
Fault sighs as he lays in the grass, wondering what happened after he lost consciousness in the City Hall during Lake's part of his Infusion showing.
'What the hell happened?'
He recalled seeing Lake's infusion, then a horrible, burning sensation made him go unconscious from the pain.
Not that he could feel it right now, but…
…he shuddered while recalling what it felt like.
Fault touches along his jawline, tracing the black flame that makes up a small portion of the left side of his face.
'Was it my mark?'
Did he accidentally use it? In some form or way, had he activated its ability?
He couldn't tell.
*****
Some time passed in the grey world I was in, and I eventually woke up.
I found myself in a rather soft bed, the shining of the now-evening sun beaming through the white curtains. A sheet surrounds the bed I was in just to the side.
'Clinic?'
I lean up from the pillow begrudgingly and look around a bit more.
White room, some medicine on a countertop I could barely make the shape out of.
'Clinic.'
I was taken to the medical ward of City Hall, which makes sense.
"What… time is it…?" I speak to myself subconsciously.
"A little after seven."
"...!?" I jump at hearing the scruffy, deep voice to my left.
Quickly turning my head to that side, it's Grant.
He has a little smirk on his face, clearly having gotten a little kick after scaring me.
"E-Elder Grant…"
He waves his hand, "Just Grant, kid, you know that."
I nod back slowly, "Uhm… what exactly happened?"
He leans back in his chair, his large arms stretching around the backrest, and propping it feet up, one over the other.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Fault."
I blink.
'So they don't know what happened to me?'
"Doctor's out of town right now, went to go get restocked on his medicine and whatnot…"
His hands move in little circles as he speaks. Then, a knowing grin causes his lips to curl slightly on one side.
"I see you have your Infusion, kid." He stands up and offers me his hand, "Congratulations, but…"
I slowly reach out and shake his hand, then he yanks me toward him, causing the bed I'm sitting on to screech against the floor.
"...why didn't you wanna show it off, Fault? I mean, look at this thing…" His free hand reaches up to my face and he pries at it, as if inspecting the pitch black mark along the left side of my face.
"A-ah, Elder Grant, that's not-"
"This thing emanates like it has power, but it's pitch black! It's like it has no glow at all! Hah!"
He grins and leans closer, tilting my head to give him a full view of the mark.
My hands attempt to get him off me, but it's a feeble attempt at best. After all, Elder Grant is a large man.
"Not to mention, smack dab in the middle of yer face, quite the glaring character trait, if you ask me! It's like it's begging to be seen!"
I blink.
'Begging to be seen? Huh…?'
I don't have time to think before he stuffs my head between his tricep and chest.
"Seems you're all better now, too! C'mon! Let's get you back to Kain's place before dark, you know how he is about curfews."
"W-wait, I-!"
He drags me outside the clinic room without letting me say a word almost.
…
After basically manhandling me back to the tavern, Elder Grant tosses me onto the porch of the building and knocks.
"..."
After a minute or so, the door opens and reveals an old man. A weary face, bags under his eyes, and some silver hair that he swears was once as golden as the sun.
Kain.
"Well?"
Grant grins and offers me like a trophy to Kain, holding my shoulders.
Kain sighs and turns around to go back inside, "Welcome home, Fault."
I feel a hard pat on my back that I could've sworn was a punch, pushing me inside the tavern.
I turn around to complain, but Grant closes the door and I hear his footsteps leaving outside.
"...I'm back."
I hear a grunt from Kain as he heads to the side of the kitchen's entrance, grabbing a coat and hat to leave.
'He must be heading back home.'
As he puts on his attire and turns to me, he holds a sort of expressionless face. He walks in my direction and nods at me, a little, warm smile appearing on his wrinkled face.
"I see you got your Infusion," His face turns the slightest bit stern, "Doesn't mean you can slack off, though. Like when you were sick before."
I blink and open my mouth to retort, but he continues, "I'm just joking, but still, work or school tomorrow, don't skip."
My retort dies down and I nod slowly, to which Kain just nods back.
"See you tomorrow."
He walks past me and I hear the tavern's door creak open and the small bell ring, then…
"Oh, right, Fault?"
I turn back to him, "Y-yes, Kain?"
He gives me a small nod, "Look after Hale for me, he respects you a decent amount more than you think, haha…"
I reel back a bit, surprised at his words, "Uhm, sure…"
He nods once more before slowly closing the door, "My grandson is such a pain in my…"
Tak.
I blink a few times, stunned.
'I think he just sort of dumped the job of looking after Hale on me.'
Ugh.
I sigh and slouch my shoulders a bit, and turn to the stairs and head up to the rooms where me and the others sleep.
Reaching the top of the stairs, the hallway is separated between the boys and girls. The girls take the rooms on the left, and the boys on the right.
It wasn't a rule, but the girls insisted it be this way for reasons I have no idea why.
Twelve rooms on either side of the hall, each one holds between one to three people. Sometimes the younger ones hold sleepovers in their rooms, often inviting the older residents like me, but they only stop by for a few minutes.
I don't really get invited, though.
Sure, everyone knows me, but I'm not the most interesting person in the tavern, outside of my hair, that is. While everyone else's hair is either black, brown, or blonde of varying shades around here, mine resembles ash. Shades of black, white, and grey.
I walk down the hall and hear a couple of squeals from the room to my left. Ignoring it, I continue down to the last door on the right, my room.
The smallest one.
Not that I really mind, but I wish it was just a tad bit bigger.
I turn my door's knob and let it open with the creak of the hinges.
My bed, desk, and closet. That's all. All the room I can spare in here.
I take another step in and close the door behind me.
Another deep breath, "...I'm home."