The Creatures that We Are

“Ahhhh—”

Followed by her sudden scream, Sarah’s limbs went taut for a moment, her eyes widened and her pupils dilated with earthworm-like vessels emerging in the whites. Dark blood streamed down from her nostril. Then her chest bulged like a balloon to the point that it threatened to burst.

Colorless was stunned into inaction.

“Move it!” War Tiger and Azure Dragon immediately rushed up to pull Colorless away.

Sarah’s head snapped back, her neck almost broken. She opened her mouth and uttered a litany of syllables that blurred together, her throat shifting violently.

“O omniscient and omnipotent Heavenly Godbearer the great and merciful overlord of all forgive my ignorance and purify my blood save me from this weakness and these sins of mine grant me the sacred blood and great power I swear to forever follow you submit to you devote myself to you I will give you my all and follow you to the blissful otherworld…”

No pauses, no emotions, like a machine voicing words in fast-forward.

She soon finished the prayer of the Godbearer Cult.

During the process, her bulging chest slowly deflated like a leaking beach ball. The utterance coming from her throat lost all forms and morphed into strange groans.

Sarah’s body went lax, and she slowly closed her eyes with black blood coming out of the corner of her mouth.

Her pale face was drained of all life.

Colorless couldn’t believe it. She went back up to the woman and put a hand under her nose. Then she put two fingers on the woman’s neck to feel the pulse.

“She’s dead.”

Without hesitation, War Tiger opened the door and walked into the violent embrace of the snow storm.

Azure Dragon stayed where he was, keeping an eye out for threats and enemies that could emerge.

After close to a minute, War Tiger returned to the cabin, dusting snow off him. “The perimeter's clear.”

Meanwhile, Colorless had checked on Sarah. “She’s likely to have died of a curse, one that triggered when she spoke a keyword.”

War Tiger and Azure Dragon nodded. They had guessed as much.

Some Miracle-type Talents inflicted curses through speech. There was usually a time limit, ranging from three days to a week. The longest was usually no more than ten days.

During the period of time, as soon as the target uttered a specific keyword, they would be hurt, dominated by the caster, or even killed.

“This doesn’t feel like a Talent of awakeners,” Azure Dragon said.

“It can be a monster’s doing, or a Spectre’s.” Colorless frowned slightly. “The energy is insidious.”

She looked at Sarah with a hint of pity flashing through her eyes. “Moreover, when I hypnotized her, I established a weak, temporary psychic link with her. Sarah was likely a human, although I’m not 100% sure.”

“Human?” Azure Dragon was surprised. “Do you mean…”

Colorless added, “Unawakened human.”

Through the open door, a gust of chilling wind swept in, bringing along snow. Even the last remaining warmth in the cabin was drained.

The winter boots Colorless was wearing did nothing to stop the chill from shooting up from the soles of her feet.

Many years ago, she spent about six months in the Snow Nation for a mission to identify the borders of the Mist World. It was a nation of beautiful aurora, relaxing hot springs, snowy mountains and natural skiing sites, potent alcohol that made your heart burn and delicious sausages, and good-looking men and women with blonde hair, blue eyes, and unbridled passion.

However, Colorless had never developed any affection for the place. For some reason, she always disliked the nation; she would even go so far as to call her feeling hatred.

Awakeners around her with greater psychic power shared her feelings to varying degrees, but they couldn’t explain why.

Azure Dragon took out his phone and called White Tiger. “I’ll have White Tiger bring Sarah’s body to Vermilion Bird for questioning. As long as it’s within the next twenty-four hours, she will get something out of the body.”

“Why not tell Vermilion Bird to come?” War Tiger asked.

“She has her mission.”

“This is a corpse we’re talking about,” Colorless said with surprise. “How is he going to take her on a flight?”

Azure Dragon wasn’t worried. “White Tiger’s Talent could be used to conceal it. The security won’t notice anything.”

…

Private Water Villa on the Falling Star Island, Naldives.

Two o’clock in the afternoon the next day, Vermilion Bird got a call from White Tiger.

She had finished lunch with everyone else and would soon set out for a visit to X. With a sheet mask on her face, she sat on a lounger applying sunscreen on her long, straight calves as she waited.

She was busy with putting on sunscreen as she talked lazily into the phone pressed between her face and shoulder, “You’re coming here today? Arriving in the evening…why? Giving me a surprise? Oh, what surprise?”

“You xxxxxxx!”

Vermilion Bird snarled, her good mood down the drain.

Everyone in the living room looked over at her.

Feeling awkward, she peeled off the sheet mask on her face and rose to walk to the balcony with her phone.

She said in a lowered voice, “Why, thank you, Old White! Do you think I don’t have enough on my plate? You’re bringing me a body? And a cursed one at that… You better explain yourself…”

Vermilion Bird scowled as White Tiger gave her the rundown from the other end of the line.

“Fine, fine, fine, I get it. I’ll be at the villa after ten o’clock tonight. Just come straight here.”

She hung up and took a deep breath against the ocean wind. “How refreshing the air is, and how beautiful the scenery! You shouldn’t be this angry, Xia Li. It’s bad for you, bad for you…”

Having regained composure, she returned to the living room and looked over at everyone. “It’s time. Let’s go.”

…

Waterfront Villa, F Island.

Gao Yang and his family slept in until eleven in the morning. They leisurely enjoyed their lunch, courtesy of the hotel. Then they discussed what they were going to do in the afternoon.

Gao Yang, who was rarely the decision-maker, made a suggestion today. “Let’s go surfing!”

“Surfing?” Gao Xinxin wasn’t interested. “Don’t you do enough of that on the internet?”

“It’s different,” Gao Yang insisted. “This is the beach. Real men should surf on real waves!”

“You’re right, Son!” His father was the first to voice support. “Real men should conquer the ocean!”

“I get all that, Dad, but…” Gao Xinxin glanced at his wheelchair. “You can’t conquer the ocean now.”

“Haha!” His father didn’t seem mad as he took a sip of the chrysanthemum tea with goji berry in his thermos. “I can always enjoy the wind on the beach, watching the ocean, the waves, and the…”

He shut his mouth.

“And the beautiful blonde women in bikinis, right?” His mother gave his father an ‘understanding’ smile. “Keep going. Why did you stop?”

“Ahem…” His father choked on the tea and vehemently defended himself, “Don’t you know me, darling? Foreigners aren’t really my type…”

“Ha.” His mother’s smile grew cold. “Then who’s the one always watching international women’s volleyball?”

His father hurriedly gave Gao Yang a look. Save me, Son.

Gao Yang steered the conversation back to the main topic. “Let’s split up, Mom. Dad and I will go to the beach in the afternoon for some surfing time. You should do what you want to do. In the evening, we’ll meet up at the villa and have dinner together.”

“Oh, right, right!” His father was quick to agree. “We still have a few more days here. No reason to stick together all the time.”

“I’m good with that,” his mother said.

“Fine.” Gao Xinxin winked at his grandmother. “This afternoon, we are having a women’s day!”

Success!

Gao Yang sighed in relief.

Houseau3's Thoughts

The problems with naming people with animals and colors. We've got War Tiger and White Tiger. Then we've got White Tiger and White Rabbit. And we've got Dragon and Azure Dragon.

Sometimes my muscle memory gets confused😂

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