"Just a simple request though – do you think you could call it again?"
Hanum then starred at her showing no emotion on the pale face of the corpse. She was not even trying to hide that this body was deceased, she had no reason to, and it made it quite freeing for her to use.
"Tell me this. Why do you think I'd call that thing again?"
"well, I'd like to make a deal with it too."
"Oh, do you?"
"Yeah – it can take my soul for all I care."
"I know it will take it – deal or no deal. What is it that you think you have for it anyway."
"I know who the priestess of the Divine is!"
"well, that's quite the bold-faced lie now isn't it."
…
"I thought that you said you only know something?"
She smiled, simple and calm.
"It's not quite that simple you see. Remember when I told you there are a lot of decoys?"
"Yes."
"As it turns out, there is no real person amongst them. Funny don't you think? They're priestess is the messenger/guard for one of the decoys. Even that decoy doesn't know. One would think that all of this was orchestrated by a committee and some grit, right? But nope, all of it her work – all of it. She's nothing like the decoy personas we were given."
"You expect me to take anything you say at face value, and how would a mere decoy know anyway? And what changed, why tell me now and so easily even."
She squirmed and sat upright – kind of hard to do in her worm like state.
"I'm going to just have to ask you to trust me too, like how I have. And what changed? Well, I'd say it's because now you have something I actually want, more accurately, you know someone or something that can help me."
"You still didn't answer the first question – how would you know this."
"Oh – that… my special skill – I'd rather not tell you. But it lets me copy faces. Let me explain before you get confused. As a shapeshifter or Malform as you know us… we can do this freely, but no-one ever tells you that we have to remember the face – and this is why forgetting our own faces is such a problem.
To rectify this, many learn skills to increase their likelihood of remembering. The one my mother taught me is [Copy Image]. It lets me copy any image onto a piece of paper, or anything really. Then I use that as a reference for faces I forgot. You must have seen a creepy book in my bag, with pictures?"
"Yeah – I thought you were an artist."
"I kinda am, but that's not the point. I tried copying her face but couldn't. The thing is that me being unable to copy her face wasn't strange at all – it usually happens with people with strange attributes due to their manifestation, powers, or even skills. The strong are also immune to this copying.
Well, I didn't investigate it and chose to not pay it any mind. But because of this, I started to notice her presence everywhere. Sure enough, she remained nothing but a distraction at the corner of my paintings. There were no patterns to her, no suspicious activity, and nothing out of the ordinary.
And no mistakes either."
"Then how did you figure her out?"
"I never did, because I wasn't trying to – why would I even try to look for the priestess, this was just a job for me, I'd rather not place myself in hotter waters. And even if I was, there was nothing tying her to any of it. She was clear of any suspicion, but she acted with a level of suspicion inherent to all, because being clear of all suspicion just made one more suspicious.
I tell you, there really was absolutely nothing, not a clean record, not a lack of history, not anything. I didn't stubble on anything – I felt it. Since I already remembered her face, that didn't mean that I couldn't turn into her – it just meant the [Copy Image] skill didn't work, but I only needed it for remembering, I could still shape my face into hers.
So, as a decoy, I used her face as it happened to pop into my head one day as I was thinking of a face I knew but haven't used. I was known as one of the 'Malform' decoys, so it was known I'd use random faces. But the day I had hers on, because I had been running out of faces, just before I changed, she passed me and looked at me – directly.
She had done everything perfectly, and flawed to a degree, to simulate a flawed strategy. The whole scheme was deliberately made to make people like you think, that if everyone is connected, you'd eventually make it to her, but you wouldn't. No skill, power, or mind could ever track her down. She had blended in but also stood out.
There truly was no discrepancies in her role or the plan – which made the whole thing seem more like a sad rouse than a truly perfect plan. But as she stared at me, was the only time I even thought it was out of character for her. This was because it was the first time that someone had ever looked at a copy of their face and smiled so joyfully."
"was that really it? I don't see how…"
"I can't believe you sang that song and still don't know. That joy was familiar to me. It was the joy someone experienced when they felt that they didn't have to hide – this liberating feeling. Most, if not all Shapeshifters have this fear of being forgotten, and knowing that someone was thinking of them, the real them, made them really happy.
She was no Malform, but I thought it quite fascinating that she would have this expression. So, I began to think more about the whole situation, but mostly about her face. And just as another thought occurred to me, I immediately and unnaturally forgot her face. I woke up one day, unable to remember it at all.
Not because she had wiped my memory either, since she was no-where nearby. It had nothing to do with the fact that I thought I needed to remember her no matter what – as a sign of my empathy towards her.
It was the thought the struck me after. It made me realise she was the priestess because when I thought: 'with that smile she really ought to be the priestess decoy not me.' – the entire trail of thought that led me to that conclusion vanished. Her face, her smile, her voice, I almost completely forgot about her."
"why would she put something like that in her oh-so-great plan."
"Because the thought would have never crossed someone's mind, this smile just happened to touch a soft spot in me personally. It reminded me of my mother, and I've always thought my mother's real face was special – it had nothing to do with her actual smile – it looked rather normal and forgettable."
"wait just a minute. This still doesn't help me, you don't know her name, her face or her location, so how could you possibly know where she is."
She smirked and said: "well you see, I said I was an artist earlier, remember? I also said [Copy Image] didn't work on her, but I never said I couldn't draw it by hand. I happened to draw her face the night before I forgot it – it's one crude drawing so don't judge."
"I won't, so where is it?"
"First let me finish my story, you did this to me too, I had to watch you eat before you said anything remotely helpful."
"Take your time…" She then leaned back; the storm clouds were clearing up.
"when I was going through my book, I found a drawing I didn't recognise, but just ignored it, there at the corner of a page, just some mindless scribble. Later I came back to it, and then I realised I had forgotten about it or why I drew it. I jumped many logic steps and just assumed it was her, it could be no-one else, and through some thinking I concluded she had to be the priest – it made the most sense.
For safe keeping, I stashed it in the room I was staying in at the time I saw it.
In fact, that's where I was headed, to fetch the drawing. I may not remember her, the drawing is bad, and it might not be her anyway, but it is the best thing you got right now. And about its location, that part I'll be to trading to you. And for the probable location of her other decoys – I'll need something from that something of yours."
Hanum sighed.
"If your story even is true, I don't know if this is a trap? Whether you actually have such a picture? If she's still even part of her system, or somewhere else?"
"It might be a trap – but you have nothing else to go on. I actually do have the picture, trust me once more. I also thought about her abandoning the system altogether and going elsewhere, then I realised something.
The fact she had been a messenger instead of something else to begin with, meant that she was needed to maintain the system to keep it continuously adapting. This is also how I figured out that this was her plan alone. Sure, she was risking it by being a part of it, but the risk only exists if someone like me knew, which shouldn't even be possible.
So, if you ask me, she's still in there, it'll just take some time to find her."
I really think she might be throwing me for a loop, she hasn't been this talkative since ever, she must really be desperate for that request of hers.
"I give in. I'll consider making another call, you just have to tell me what your request is first. Even if it answers, I doubt it'd oblige you anyway."
Yolha lied down; the excitement having left her. It was morning yet dark because of the clouds.
"I guess, I was wondering if it could help me find and kill the one who took my mother from me – scratch that, I think I can find them, if it could just do me the pleasure of killing them for me. It'd ought to have more resources at hand than I – right?"
"Sure, but really – I doubt it would go out of its way for that."
"Don't worry about it. Just call it, I'll still lead you to the paper and send you on your way to places where I think you'll find her, even if it still says no, that I promise."
"It really means that much to you? I won't promise anything though. Try to be mindful of your words, and should any misfortune befall you – you have been warned. Also, it despises wasting time, that's how I also picked up the habit, so try to be brief."
…
They didn't speak – and instead a ringing noise rang. Both listening for a response.
[Speak!]
After brief silence, she spoke. "I have someone here who has information I am looking for and will give it to me if you could do her sort of favour."
The call was about to be cut because the Knight had no interest at all in doing any more favours, but Yolha spoke up quickly.
"I need you to kill a dark knight for me."
…
The rest was history – unbeknownst to them, the Knight had actually accepted because it had a personal interest in the dark knights and had wanted to size them up before going to the void. So, this request just happened to lucky coincide with its agenda.
A few hours after the call, with it having gone so smoothly, they became more co-operative with each other. So, she untied her and helped her up, being the temporary partners, they were.
"You didn't tell me you had a vendetta against the dark knights; I guess you could say we have something in common."
"Huh?"
"It's going to be a long journey… and I guess that means we'll have a lot to talk about, doesn't it?"
They packed, and as she got ready to put her soul back in the black wolf beast, for easer transport, even if it meant no communication for a while. As a sigh of her faith in the partnership Yolha raised a hand as she hoisted Hanum's temporary body onto the wolf's back, before she went inside it. Then she said, as her face changed into her actual face.
"well, my real name is Gydil."
She took a bow and smiled.
"Hello Gydil, you can call me Arduo."