Chapter 217: Wounded

"...ce." A soft voice screamed in the distance. It was so quiet, but Alice looked up, recognising it as Chesh’s, even if it was quiet. In the distance, she could make out the faintest outline of a person, their hands raised towards their mouth, trying to act like a megaphone. "...ice!" Screaming again, even if it was quiet, Alice could make out a slight desperation in her voice. It was similar to when she had first looked at the quill with her glasses and fainted.

"pl.....al...." The terror and desperation cleared as Chesh’s voice got louder. Rolling her eyes, Alice stood up, annoyed that she even had to approach Chesh, wondering why she was so far away in the first place.

"Huh." A sharp pain stabbed into the side of her stomach. Looking down at it, the true pain of such a wound didn’t register instantly in her mind; rather, a shaky hand rose, moving around and touching the area around the arrow sticking out of her body. Her vision blurred as tears welled up, the feeling of her body being ripped apart with each breath and movement. Her green robes started to get wet, stained red as the taste of iron filled her mouth.

Although it hurt, Alice turned her bottom lip, bouncing it up and down as she held back her tears. Looking at the scarred woman, she saw her breathing heavily, staring at Laice with wide eyes, almost in disbelief that she had even fired the shot herself.

"Chesh." The words slipped out of Alice’s mouth, unsure what to do, not completely sure of what had happened.

"ELVA!" The large man’s voice boomed as he rose, awoken by the sound of the arrow cutting through the air. Turning her eyes to see him, Alice saw his hand reach for the sword, and he looked between her and the woman. "What have you done?"

"She’s too dangerous, Rando..."

"IT WAS LORD RAVEN’S DECISION! NOT YOURS!" The large man screamed and hurried towards Alice, his hand digging through the bag on his side, pulling out a small knife. Cutting away at her robe, Alice mobilised all the strength she could and pushed him away, her breathing getting heavier, sending waves of pain each time as the arrow was pulled deeper with each breath. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Ahhhh." A low moan escaped her lips, and as she placed a hand on her stomach and felt the blood through her fingers, it began to dawn on her. Statically, she turned her head towards the scarred woman and back down at herself, repeating the motion over and over, her hand turning more red with each second she left it around the arrow. Her breathing got heavier, and finally she could see Chesh standing there, looking at her.

The tears that had refused to fall suddenly broke like the dam had been released, and as she stepped towards Chesh, the two voices became static in her mind. "Chesh. It hurts." With a mischievous smile and a loving hand, Chesh reached up, grabbing Alice’s cheek, her touch having an effect in itself in calming Alice’s mind.

"It’s okay."

"Why?" Staring into Chesh’s eyes, Alice couldn’t understand why anything had just happened. "Why would she shoot me? I didn’t do anything. This isn’t right."

"Shh." Sweetly shushing, Chesh took a deep breath and rubbed Alice’s face with a loving stroke one final time. "This is just a little hiccup. Nothing to worry about."

"It hurts." Her voice choked as Alice desperately tried to suppress the feeling and keep up her powerful display before Chesh, not wishing to embarrass herself and lose her confidence in front of her friend.

"You don’t need to remember." Chesh didn’t say anything to embarrass her. "This never happened."

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"ELVA, DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!" Randolf said, a mixture of desperation, fear and anger in his voice as he looked at her, her shaking hands still holding the crossbow.

"Randolf, you must understand. I had to; she doesn’t care about any of us. I mean...." Elva paused, looking towards Alice, and eye widned. It was a subtle change at first,the green robes turning black, nothing too strange considering she knew she could freely change her outfit. Randolf could see and slowly turned his hand, grabbing the hilt of the large sword.

Next was Alice’s hair. The fiery red hair began to morph. The red dyed black, with a tinge of purple. It was a beautiful colour, if it was terrifying to witness someone who had been crying suddenly change. Slowly, Alice turned back to face them, and both felt their hearts stop.

Her face, the childish look, full of baby fat and freckles, became sharper. The air shifted, a wave of arcane power spreading from Alice’s body as the arcane power leaked over her to force the change to take place. What was once a childish girl who looked fourteen when she was seventeen was gone. Although her body remained the same, not growing taller, nor did her body shape change, her face was that of a woman, a beautiful woman who invoked a seductive playfulness.

Tears continued to streak down beside the grin that adorned her face. Her green eyes, like the finest gems, were the last to change, turning black and purple, much like her hair. Twirling her hand through the air, she stared at Elva and pointed the tips of her fingers towards her.

"This isn’t allowed." With her other hand, Alice pulled the quill from her belt and carefully cut around the arrow wound, creating enough space for her to pull it out without tearing off more flesh than needed. Her body shook with pain, but the playful grin on her face didn’t vanish. The squelch of flesh filled everyone’s ears as the arrow came free, and, putting the quill back, Alice pulled out a potion, drinking its contents before placing her hand over the wound, a wave of arcane power filling the wound.

After the most basic treatment to speed up the body’s natural recovery, Alice refocused everything on Elva. "Why would you hurt her so badly?" It was weird to hear her speak in the third person. Randolf and Elva gulped, and it took Randolf back to the camp with the Krystal Clan, the fears the girl and her father spoke about.

’She wasn’t just insane.’

The thought was followed by a sharp breath. His grip around the hilt of his sword tightened as he wondered what to do. "She did nothing to you." Alice said again, a deep anger and pity in her voice, "She’s too kind for you all."

Diving to the side, sensing the danger about to come, Elva saw numerous icicles fly past where she had just stood, each sharper than any of their arrows, all of them flying with the sole intent to kill. Alice’s hand moved, pointing to Elva on the floor. Reaching for her crossbow, she loaded another arrow and rolled, icicles piercing the ground next to her.

Pointing the bow at Alice, Randolf moved. "STOP!" Before she could block the attack with his sword, the arrow was loosed. Waving her hand to the side, the arrow flew to the side, a powerful gust of wind throwing it off course.

"RANDOLF! PLEASE!" Elva screamed towards him. Randolf didn’t move as Elva rolled and stood back up, diving to the side once more when more ice-claws flew out to try to kill her.

"We have orders." Saying to himself, his body shook. He fought himself, wondering what the right choice was. It had already gone too far. He knew Alice had every right to want to kill Elva, but could he accept that?

"PLEASE!" Elva fired another arrow, another gust of wind knocking it off course, misdirected as Alice pointed towards her again. Unlike before, no icicles flew; instead, a powerful, invisible wind hit her, throwing her to the ground and knocking her dodge off course.

"Lord Raven..

"RANDOLF!" Elva cut him off, loosing another arrow, unsure what to do. She could see nothing she did would hit; whatever was controlling Alice was nothing like the girl herself, anticipating everything, not allowing a single attack. Blood still poured from Alice’s stomach, but Elva could see it was less with every second; whatever she had done was healing her body rapidly.

With a deep breath, Alice moved again, her hand not focusing on Elva but instead pointing towards the sky. Drawing an arc over her head, fire followed her finger as a burning crescent formed atop her. Firing it towards Elva, she knew it would be impossible to avoid it completely and dove again, letting go of her crossbow to get more room. The burning crescent caught the bottom of her feet and, like glue, attacked itself to her, refusing to come free as it wormed its way up her body.

"AHHHH!" Elva’s screams travelled the endless plain as she rolled over and over, trying to kill the fire, unable to do so as it climbed up her body. "RANDOLF! I’M BEGGING YOU!" Through her screams, she managed to get the words out, and in the few gaps she saw him; she could see him struggling to decide, his body shaking, desperately trying to intervene, held back by the pure willpower of faith.