Free and Unfettered 127 Who Is She Really?

Psyber steeled herself from the gruesome scene she just witnessed. The change from the before and after was just shocking. Even Mildred's Wererabbit ears were completely gone. How was that possible? She finally released her grip on her sword's handle when it was over. The sight had deeply unnerved her, and she hoped that she would never see something like that again.

Rather than things like this which required her to use her brain, she much preferred to whack things with her fist (and her magic) and let them speak for themselves. In her opinion, there was nothing that a fist couldn't solve.

"So," Psyber said, her voice deceptively light. "This is… Mildred Hopcaper, huh? Or rather, this is Mildred Insert-Elf-Last-Name. I always wondered why the Elder had a female name, but…"

Chow audibly swallowed, realizing that the Elf had obviously slipped into unconsciousness once the pain abruptly stopped. "I guess that's why he – she – never got mad whenever someone made fun of her name, huh… Was there even a Mildred Hopcaper in the first place? Or was it all fake…?"

Nine studied the remnants of Elder Mildred's face on the floor, furrowing her brows. This was some very dark magic that the other had used to change her face.

"This is a Tier Nine Dark Ritual that was used to change her face," Nine said slowly. "Not only is this type of ritual detested, the knowledge has been buried for centuries. That is has been used again does not bode well."

Psyber frowned at the new information but didn't say anything. She stepped back, opting to just listen. She would leave things up to those who were able to comprehend the complexities of this. Should they need any muscle, she would not hesitate, but it seemed like it was not the time for that.

Nine continued to explain, seeing the uncomprehending expressions on their faces. "This type of ritual is considered 'dark' because it requires a blood sacrifice. That of the young or virgin kind. Not only that, they have to be sacrificed in a manner that usually requires the victim long periods of suffering so that the negative emotions seep deep within them."

By now, those who were still in the room carried grim expressions.

"This Elf, whoever she is, did not change her appearance lightly. Who knows how many were sacrificed in order to achieve this?"

Nine, though inwardly repulsed, did not allow any of it to show on her face. If there was one thing that she could never be able to excuse, it was pain and despair to innocents and young children.

With that brief bit of knowledge out in the open, it felt like the air in the room had changed. The room felt colder, drearier.

Thankfully for the inhabitants in the room, Mildred did not take her sweet time waking up. Their eyes sharpened as the blonde's eyelids twitched. Though they had been appalled earlier when they realized that the traitor to their tribe was an Elder, they had not expected that the so-called 'Elder' was in fact not even a member of their race.

Mildred woke up with a blink of her eyes. Immediately, her eyes sharpened as she took in the situation she was in. Her eyes subtly darted against the room as she took in the threats to her.

As she was only glancing to prevent them from realizing the vast amounts of information that was being processed to her, she only registered that there were four inhabitants currently in the room.

Mildred stopped herself from letting out a breath. Four people. That wasn't too hard. She would be able to neutralize the threats and get herself to safety. Unfortunately, it looked like her cover had been blown already, since she was here as herself.

No matter how hard she tried to, she currently could not dredge up any memories about her time has Mildred Hopcaper, which was a side-effect from the ritual, but that was no problem. There was another ritual that would allow her to recall everything.

Calculatingly, she tested her bonds, but unfortunately, they were tight and secure. The next step was for her to try magic, since apparently, these people should not know that she had magic at her disposal. As Mildred Hopcaper, she should not have had any access to magic whatsoever, so hopefully they would be slightly slack in that regard.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed that she was well and truly stuck. Her magic would not leave her body. The magic that she managed to subtly dredge up was stuck under her skin with no way to leave.

Mildred almost clicked her tongue in annoyance. She felt like she suddenly time jumped. She didn't even know what year it was now. Judging by the look of this house, the undead should already have been released for a long time. Hopefully, most of the world was already overrun so that their plans would carry out smoothly.

In that case, it didn't matter whether or not she died, since their plans were already well underway. Resolved, Mildred leaned back and discarded any thoughts of fighting back.

She smirked, looking for all intents like she was the master of the house instead of a captive. "What do we have here?" Mildred said mockingly. "A bunch of beatdown losers trying to figure out who the cause of the world's destruction is, right?"

The Elf's words were in direct contrast to her radiant looks. Had the inhabitants of the house not been disillusioned about how Elves would have acted, they would have been shocked, but as it stood, they were only faintly surprised before it went away. After all, judging from Matthew's memories, Helce had acted in the exact same holier-than-thou way, as if anyone other than Elves were below her notice.

With that said, the Elf's mocking smirk extended on her face. Her words would have been unpleasant to hear, had they not been completely off the mark.

Psyber and Chow exchanged a look, keeping their faces carefully blank.

Matthew walked closer to her, looking her dead in the eye. Other than that, he did nothing else.

The confident smirk on the Elf's face faltered the slightest amount, but they caught it all the same. Not another word was spoken in the house, leaving the Elf to stew in silence.

The longer she was left with her thoughts, the more her train of thought derailed. By this point, she was wondering whether or not what she said had been wrong after all. Could it be that the undead hadn't even been released upon the world yet?

How could that be? This house had clearly seen better days, and three filthy Weres she saw before her were dirt-streaked and unclean. There were dark circles under their eyes, and she could clearly see the bloodshot look in their eyes. They looked like they were on the verge of madness or insanity, which should have reassured her, but somehow she felt like something was off. Very off.

Nine stood up from her inconspicuous position, moving in front of Mildred. The Elf's eyes locked on the fourth inhabitant in the room and her breath caught.

God, was this really a human? How could that be?

Shocked, she let her thoughts slip. "How could there be a human that looks like this?"

Nine studied the Elf before her with cold eyes. She nodded at Matthew, Psyber and Chow, sending them a voice transmission to leave the house.

Psyber and Chow quickly left, but Matthew lingered in the doorway for a second. "Really, Mildred. You can't even tell that my Master is a Vampire, but you still want to plot and deceive."

With those parting words, Matthew stepped out of the house to join Psyber and Chow.

Flicking her fingers, Nine started to set up an extensive array that would not allow any sound of the house to leak out at all, whilst still allowing sound to trickle in from the outside.

Nine stepped up to the captive Elf, watching with satisfaction as her eyes widened with fear. It seemed like she did indeed have a preservative instinct of a prey meeting a predator.

The door of the house closed with a very final click.

Chapter end