Book Three – Chapter Three – Part One – The Mad Dog Awakens

It was bad. No, it was worse than bad. It was terrible, shitty, and quite possibly the worst thing that could have happened. Servi's biggest fear and worst nightmare had come true.

“THE ONLY THING YOU FUCKERS HAD TO DO WAS LEAVE!  IF YOU HAD FUCKING LEFT, YOU’D ALL BE ALIVE!! WHY THE FUCK COULDN’T YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!!!!!” Servi wallowed and wailed to the moon. There wasn’t a spot on her body that was free of blood. It was as if she was made of the red crimson liquid that all living things needed to survive.

“FUCK!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!” her two bloody hands were raised to the night sky as Servi screamed her heart and lungs out. To her, the beautiful moon no longer looked so appealing in its beautiful luster. Instead, the blood covering her eyes tinted it red. Perhaps it was a soft reminder that she was a monster who could only kill and destroy.

“STOP FUCKING MOCKING ME!!!!!!”

She formed a fist and punched the ground, but her hand never touched the dirt. Instead, she was rewarded with a fleshy, sopping noise of a disembodied head being utterly crushed by her incredible strength. Bits of white teeth and pink brain matter scattered against her arms, and that did nothing but fuel her anger.

But only for a brief second.

A meek whimper came from behind, and the blood-covered girl crawled over to the source.

It was Momo, who slowly opened her eyes. She didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t the bloody form of a humanoid-like person.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Momo screamed and crawled backwards as fast she could.

“Mosie, it’s me! It’s Servy. I’m here.” Servi smiled, and her white teeth clashing with her bloody face forced Momo to cry out again.

“Eh… Servy… Wha—” after Momo’s brain had time to analyze her surroundings, she stopped and slowly spoke. But then the trouble began. Her hand had inadvertently landed inside Roko’s exposed chest cavity. She glanced back, eyes filled with horror and disgust at the gory sight.

Slowly, she lifted her crimson-clad hands. And that was when she noticed the other corpses that littered the area around them.

“S.. Servy, did…di—did you do…” Momo teared up then hunched over. A watery vomit with a mix of hardtack and chicken flowed out, dirtying the already filthy ground even more as she heaved.

“I protected us, Mosie. They were going to hurt you. I saved us. If I hadn’t, then we would’ve been hurt. I had to do this,” Servi did her best to convince Momo, but it didn’t look like it was working. Servi crawled towards Momo, but she kept retreating even though she had to crawl over Roko’s corpse.

“But…but…strong…wh—” she wiped her mouth with her hand. After looking around, the gore was far too much for her to handle, and she vomited again.

“Mosie, I didn't want to hide it because I didn’t know how to say it. I’m not exactly who you thought I was. I’m strong. Really strong. Mosie, it was this—”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!!!!!” Momo screamed and stood up, but she slipped against her vomit and almost lost her footing.

“Mosie…”

“Stop calling me that!!!” Momo stomped her feet in anger, splashing blood and vomit. Her face was a mess; tears and snot dripped from her eyes and nose. “You smiled at me, even though you killed all of these people. YOU MASSACRED EVERYONE!! So violently….”

“Mosie, I—"

“DON’T! CALL! ME! THAT! You had all of this power, and you never once told me about it? Was I not worth it? Did you do this to save me because you wanted to feel good?! I THOUGHT WE WERE BEST FRIENDS!!! YOU WERE NEVER MY FRIEND. YOU---”

“I am your friend. I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry….” Servi whimpered.

“Then why aren’t you crying like me? You should feel sad!!!”

“I AM CRYING!!!” Servi shouted back.

The following words Momo spoke were sharp enough to cut through Servi’s heart.

“No, you’re not. You’re smiling.”

“I’M NOT! I’M CRYING! PLEASE, MOMO! BELIEVE ME! Aren’t I your best friend?!” Servi had the happiest and cheesiest grin plastered across her face.

In a sudden turn of events, Itarr made a fatal mistake when she attempted to fix the problem. She was far too stressed out at the current situation and mixed up the emotions she was supposed to cage up.

“NO, YOU AREN’T!!! YOU’RE JUST LIKE THOSE PEOPLE WHO SAVED ME AND PRETENDED TO BE MY FRIENDS SO THEY COULD KIDNAP ME!!!! AND GRANDPA WAS HURT BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU. I HATE YOU!!!! I WISH I NEVER MET YOU!!!!!!” Momo stomped the ground, turned around, and sped off towards Arcton. Passing by the corpses, her body couldn’t handle the nauseating smell of death, and she vomited again. But this time, it was nothing but clear liquid. The food in her stomach had already been expelled from her mouth.

She stopped for just a second and yelled back. “I don’t need you! I NEVER NEEDED YOU! I know I’m worth something! I’M NOT THE SAME HELPLESS MOMO!!!!  You won’t EVER try to TRICK ME by SAVING ME!!! NOT ANYMORE!!!!! I DON’T NEED YOOOOU!!!!!”

Her voice, full of emotion, her eyes, full of a clear liquid that dripped endlessly down her cheeks, spoke and displayed the last remaining emotion she held within her fragile heart. With a quick heel turn, she ran for Arcton.

The sight of that soft pink hair, a cute pink tail covered in red blood, and those soft twitchy ears disappeared in the darkness as Servi fell to her knees.  A beastly wail escaped from her lungs and throat and cursed the world.

Cursing her inability to shed tears, Servi came up with an idea. “If I can’t cry, then it’s my eyes, right? They're broken...? That’s right! If something is broken, I only need to replace it!"

Wait, don’t do it!!

Servi ignored Itarr’s warning and jabbed three fingers into her left eye. Then, she made a fist and crushed it as an electric shock rushed through her body. Half of her sight went black. A moment later, she could see again. The bloodcurdling sight of corpses, blood, and the limbs she’d ripped off littered her newly regenerated vision.

“I’m crying, right? I have to be. Mirror…mirror… WHERE’S THE FUCKING MIRROR?!!”

One appeared floating in front of her, and she made an unfortunate discovery.

She was laughing and smiling as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“FUCK!!!!!” she screamed. “Then I need new eyes? New!! New!! NEW NEW NEW!!! NEW NEW NEW!!!”

Like a horrifying version of whack-a-mole, Servi crushed each eye ten more times before moving on to tossing them at the ground. But they kept growing back like an everlasting red fire that refused to go out. And the ones on the ground all stared up at her as if they were mocking her.

“Smile? Then mouth. I need a new fucking mouth!!!” Servi took out a dagger and began to cut her lips. A fire of pain erupted, but Servi’s mental state was so broken, she didn’t notice it. The tip of the iron dagger circled her lips before she used her fingernails to scrape them off, revealing the red flesh that was hidden.

Stop! Please!

Servi stared into the mirror and smashed it when the newly grown lips curled into a smile.

Servi, stop!  Please, calm down!

“FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!”

Raising her arms to the sky, she brought them down with frightening speed and snapped her ulna and radius. Near instantly, the broken bones inside her arms regenerated along with the pieces of skin that they pierced.

But that wasn’t enough to sate Servi. She was seething with anger over her inability to control her emotions when she needed to the most.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

STOP!!!

Raising her hands for the eleventh time, and thus ready to break them for the eleventh time, Servi’s body stopped in its place. A mysterious force froze her body, and she felt herself lose consciousness.

It was never supposed to come this far. All I wanted was to see you happy. Your smile is beautiful, like one of those pretty flowers we found when we took on Tarch’s quest. It’s something that I always want to see. No matter the weather or anything else like that, I just wanted to see you smile.

The day we met was a dream come true. For hundreds of thousands of years, I had nothing. My seal was a jail cell, and I was chained to the wall. Friends? Family? Love? I had none of that. I don’t even know why I exist in the first place. When you freed me, and even though I wasn't knowledgeable of the emotion at the time, I fell in love with you.

You’re my hero...my hero, my savior, my everything... Your enemies are my enemies, and your friends are my friends. Our souls are interconnected. We were supposed to help each other.

But I failed at that.

I’m not worthy of being a friend. I’m not worthy of anything. I did what I did out of love, but now I see the danger and problems too much love can cause. I knew deep down I should’ve told you the truth. If I did, then maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation. Wait, no, not we. I mean me. You did nothing wrong whatsoever.

I just wanted to hear your voice and see your smile. That’s all.

But maybe that was too much for a monster like me. Monster? That’s a better title than Goddess.

Servi, I’m the monster...and I’m the bad woman...and I’m the one at fault... Perhaps that’s the reason I was sealed up? Do I bring nothing but pain, agony, and hardships to those I bless? If so, then I understand why they would seal up a monster like me.

You won’t remember any of this, and I know I’m going to have to repeat it, so I guess this can be practice?

Maybe.

But I do feel happy that I was able to tell you.

Servi, I love you. I will always love you. Even if you hate and curse me, even if you force me to be quiet so I'll never annoy you, I will always, always, always love you.

Maybe, sometime in the far future, you will be able to forgive me?

I think I can handle it if you tell me you hate me, but that’s because I’m currently preparing myself for it.

Alright, good, that should be enough for right now. Servi, I’m going to let you wake up, okay?

Remember, I love you.

Lying face down in the blood-soaked remains of a battlefield, Servi slowly stirred back to life.

“Momo?!” she stood up and shouted as her mind played back the events of the past hour. There was red to her left.  There was red to her right. It was red, only red, and nothing but red. Oh, what Servi would give to catch even a tiny glimpse of pink!

She ran away after the fight.

“What direction? I need—oh, who am I kidding….” Servi dropped to her knees. “She hates me, plain and simple. And I can’t blame her. Best friends? Fuck that. She didn’t know even the smallest thing about me. Gods above, I fucked up so bad…Itarr, I think this might be the end of our friendship….”

Blame me!

“No,” Servi curtly replied.

But if you blame it all on me, a monster who’s possessing you, then she’ll hate me. It—”

“NO!!!” she shouted. “It’s not your fault. None of this was your fault. It’s all mine for being so fucked up. I mean, I remember doing this. I wanted to do this. Fuck, I even remember yelling ‘die die die die’ over and over again like some kind of fucking monster!!!” Servi pointed to Roko’s corpse. “I did that. I ripped his fucking chest opened and stabbed his head with his own rib. If that’s not something a monster would do, then what am I? A fucking demon? Something even worse?”  Servi ended her statement with a whisper and sat down.

A charming girl with red eyes and black hair surrounded by twenty mutilated corpses was definitely  a sight to behold, and Itarr was happy no one intruded upon the scene.

Please, Servi. Blame it all on me. I love you, so I don’t want to see you like this.

“No. I refuse.”

Then let’s go after her! It’s been some time, but she’s in Arcton. I know she is. We can find her!!

“It won’t work, Itarr,” Servi saw something reflect the moonlight out of the corner of her eyes. “Her sword? Bag? She left them here?”

Yes! She needs them, so let’s go! Itarr absorbed Momo’s precious items while waiting for Servi to get up.

But she wouldn’t move a single millimeter.

Servi!! We! Have! Got! To! Move! If not, then I’ll move you!

“I don’t care. Do what you want,” Servi lost the strength in her body, and she fell back, splatting a little bit of blood that had yet to be absorbed into the ground.

Fine!

Using Telekinesis, Itarr placed a few anchor points on Servi’s body and manipulated it to make it seem like she was walking. It was the hardest thing Itarr had ever done, both in the emotional and physical sense, and she failed many times, but she eventually was able to control the body like a puppet master would one of his creations.

But the trip was deathly silent and long. If Servi was walking herself, she could’ve made the trip in thirty or forty minutes if she ran at top speed. But Itarr didn’t have that level of control and had to settle for a quick jog, meaning it took a bit over an hour and a half for her to arrive at the front gate.  As she focused on that, she used Absorption to clean the blood off of Servi.

Itarr canceled Telekinesis when they reached the town gate, and Servi plopped to the floor like a piece of wet bread.

Get! Up! Servi! Please! I’m begging you! We have to talk to Momo! If you won’t, then I have to do this. Inside Servi’s soul, Itarr turned to face the hastily constructed cages and used her infantile understanding of emotions to flood Servi’s consciousness until she did what Itarr wanted.

“No, I don’t wa—okay. I need to talk to Momo.” Servi immediately stood up and began to run a light jog as she entered the city of Arcton.

Arcton was a place that used to be blessed by such beauty that it was almost considered a spot wealthy nobles would use if they wanted to go on vacation. From the colorful flower field and lakes to the vivid green forests that were nearby, the area was ripe with nature. Many different kinds of fishes monopolized the lakes, and it wouldn’t be strange for someone to catch ten or twelve to take home.

It was beauty in nature, and the people of Arcton respected that.

But that was before the Mafia came.

They infected the town and surrounding areas like a blanket of death and disease, and only the flower field remained as something unsoiled by their deadly touch. The lakes’ purposes were replaced. They were once a source of water and food, but now they had been relegated to become nothing more than areas to dispose of trash and corpses.

A good portion of the trees had been cut down for their lumber, and they hadn't been replanted. Trash and garbage were rampantly overflowing in areas that once belonged to deer and other animals.

And that was only the outside and areas around Arcton. The actual town itself suffered a similar fate, and it was visible from the moment Servi set foot in the city.

There were homeless people everywhere. To the left, right, front, and back. With ragged clothing and no shoes, Servi stood out as the only person in anything resembling clothes or armor in the general area. The ground was black with dirt and disease. Human waste was visible in the corner to her left that was probably designated as a public toilet.  Its rancid stench intertwined with the air, and it was impossible to smell anything else.

How awful! Was this place actually considered fine by Warden?

“Doesn’t matter,” Servi said. “Need to find Momo. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Ask around and see if people have seen her.

Servi did as she was told and tried to find someone who wouldn’t attack her on sight. Unfortunately, she didn’t have that much luck in accomplishing her task.

She saw the shimmer of moonlight reflect off a few daggers that were gripped tightly in the hands of those who seemed to be more well off than their homeless companions.

“Even if they attack, I can crush them. Hey!” Servi yelled and pointed to an old man who shuffled along. She didn’t know what was wrong with him or why he didn’t lift his feet when he walked.

That build-up of dirt and grime can’t be comfortable. Itarr thought.

“Ehh…” he turned his head and showed off his two remaining teeth stained black by neglect. A single eye stared back at Servi.

“I’m looking for a Singi. Pink hair and tail. Ring a bell?” Servi walked up to him.

“Eeehhhh….” he croaked like a frog and held out his hand like he was waiting for something.

Servi took out a ten dupla coin and held it up. “Pink Singi. Where is she?”

He pointed further into town, and Servi gave him the coin.

“Eeehhhh…” he replied.  Servi didn’t know what his noises meant, but that was the very last thing on her mind as she walked in the direction he pointed.

The houses and buildings to her left and right reminded Servi of the slums in Canary. Half didn’t have a roof, and some had had giant holes in the rotten walls. Some people chose to sit out in front of whatever building they wanted for their current home, and Servi saw that some of them had little pills. She saw white ones, red ones, and pink ones, but it seemed the women were more prone to the pink pills.

Servi heard a high-pitched, squeaking noise and halted when she saw a fat rat stop in front of her. One second it was there, looking up at her with big black beady eyes, and the next, it had a crudely made arrow sticking out of it. With no emotion, she glanced from where the shot came from and saw two young kids who couldn’t have been older than seven. The bigger one, with black hair, snatched the rat and ran away with the younger kid, whose hair was grimy and greasy.

Because of Itarr’s influence, Servi wasn’t startled or frightened at all. She somehow took it in stride as her mind wasn’t allowed to wander. The words ‘Find Momo’ acted like an immovable set of instructions, and she had no choice but to follow it. That goal had to be achieved, no matter the cost.

A couple of minutes later, Servi found herself in what could be described as ruined and trashed town square after passing by more shabby houses. A big building stood to her right, and it had the word ‘RASP’ written in bright red letters. It was in good shape when she thought about the rundown houses she passed. She couldn’t see any holes in the walls, nor were the windows broken.

Claire told us about RASP, remember?

Servi didn’t respond. Instead, she chose to walk towards a decently dressed man. Well, he was considered decent when compared to the homeless Servi saw before. But there was no one else to ask about Momo's whereabouts.

“A pink Singi? Saw one a while back. Went heading over that way,” he said.

Servi nodded and went to walk away but stopped when the man grabbed her hand.

“How about a little fun?” A greasy smiled formed on his lecherous face. Servi glanced around and realized they weren’t alone. A few people scattered about in the distance towards a second RASP building, but none of their attention was focused on Servi.

“If I kill him, does it go against finding Momo?” Servi said aloud. “Don’t think it does,” Servi gripped his hand hard enough to break it and used Telekinesis to sling the would-be sexual assaulter up hundreds of meters in the sky. It happened so fast he didn’t even have time to scream.

Servi turned away, not caring if she heard the splat sound he would make when he hit the ground. After all, her one goal was finding Momo. That’s what she needed to do.

She found another person, an Elf with a collar around her neck and a black bracelet around her wrists. Like a dog, the Elf was tied to a metal fence post stuck in the ground. It was connected to her via a metal chain that went to both the collar and bracelet. Two large earrings with the number ‘31776’ were pierced through both ears. A thick cord bounded her hands to her feet and her arms to her legs. Not wearing clothes, Servi was able to see all of her business, but that didn’t matter to her.

“Singi. Pink hair and ears. Where did she go?”

The Elf looked Servi up and down and internally scoffed. Thinking that she finally might have the chance for freedom, the Elf spoke. “I saw her. Free me, and I’ll tell—what?!”

All of the items bounding the Elf disappeared. Servi gripped her by the chin, applied pressure, and spoke slowly. “Singi. Tell me. Now. Or else.”

“Please don’t hurt me. Umm…I saw a Singi go in there... It's an inn called The Berrycanta Inn. She’s right there. I saw her go in….”

Servi removed her hands and walked away, leaving the naked Elf in a state of confusion. She should’ve been more embarrassed, but after standing outside for six hours naked and tied up like a piece of produce, she didn’t care. If anything, she was happy to finally have free use of her hands.

But her story and the path she would eventually walk down did not matter to Servi in the slightest, so she didn’t spare a second thought. Since she had a location, Servi jogged over to the building, which was down the street.

And there it was, in big blue letters, The Berrycanta Inn. Blue and white stripes covered about half of the building in a mesmerizing optical illusion that seemed to be moving, even though it was merely painted on. Brass handles, recently shined, adorned the doors, which themselves seemed to be cut from a most gorgeous mahogany tree.

This is it. Come on, let’s see if Momo is staying here.