The ground had stopped its shaking.
The trees, their leaves, and their branches, moved only according to the wind's will.
Bleugh-
A stench slowly started polluting the air.
From her nose to her lips, from her lips to her chin, and from her chin to her throat, dark lines stained Yarnha's fair skin.
Dried, the dark blood seemed like ink. The kind of ink one would expect to find on the face of a Spirit that dresses in bones and skulls.
The pond of dark blood at her feet had dried off too. Or perhaps, seeped into the ground below.
The collapsed Yarnha lay on the ground. Her arms supported her weight, allowing her chest to be raised off the ground and her gaze to focus on the Monster.
'Fuck...' The Spirit cursed internally.
It clenched its fists and lowered its gaze for a moment.
'Now that he has seen me like this, I-'
Cough-
Now that he had seen her in a position of weakness, now that she lay on the ground and that he stood, there was no way the Monster would step back.
The damage couldn't be kept hidden anymore.
His advantage couldn't be kept a secret hidden anymore.
And a Monster in a position of strength would never step back.
Right?
Yarnha manage, but not without great struggle, to extend a hand towards the standing Monster.
Mark stared, as the extended hand was retracted.
Confused, Yarnha stared at her palm.
The dark spots that had appeared on her body were slowly increasing in size. She could tell without having a look at them.
But more than the pain,
'It's affecting my ability to-'
The Monster stepped forward, and Yarnha shivered.
"Why won't you leave??"
The Monster took another step.
"What are you after??"
A third step.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT??" The pain stricken Yarnha screamed.
The Monster stopped its advance.
It raised its gaze slightly, and took a deep breath in.
The stench of blood and Corruption.
The Monster didn't mind that smell.
It didn't dislike the stench.
It would be an overstatement to say that he liked it. Or perhaps not, judging from the expression on its face.
The Forest Of Yarnha was quiet.
A stillness reigned over it.
A stillness that was disturbed by the wind and the wind only.
The Monster found the breeze refreshing.
"What... Do you want?" Yarnha asked. Her tone seemed like a pleading one, much different from the one she had during most of the encounter.
"What I want?"
The Spirit clenched its teeth, before slowly nodding.
A nod that told more than 'yes'.
It was a nod full of frustration. Of anger.
A nod that screamed of repressed anger and rage.
The Monster found that it didn't dislike being given that kind of nod.
What was it the Monster wanted?
It was about to answer.
But it was an ugly answer.
An answer he didn't want to give to the beautiful woman in front of him. An answer he didn't want to give to the bleeding woman in front of him. An ugly answer he didn't want to give...
Or perhaps not?
Perhaps he wanted to give an ugly answer.
After all, that would explain why the smile on his face had widened.
Despite her beauty? No.
"I want you..."
Because of her beauty.
"To suffer."
"You want me... To suffer?"
The Spirit's eyes were filled with confusion as its mind started racing.
Suffering, why?
The Monster had pleaded for the survival of those two.
It had fought to survive.
It wanted to leave earlier.
Why did the Monster want her to suffer?
Yarnha couldn't wrap her head around it.
Beasts hunt and kill.
They inflict suffering on others frequently.
But inflicting that suffering is never the goal.
Or rather, it very rarely is.
As the Incarnation of the Forest, Yarnha's views were extremely practical.
Nothing is done without a purpose.
Killing is done to defend one's self.
Killing is done to feed one's self.
I want to Devour you-
This, Yarnha would have understood.
But suffering...?
As the Incarnation of the Forest, Yarnha's views and thinking were also directed towards the future.
Always.
After all, the preservation of the Forest is the ultimate goal. The future of the Forest is what matters. The future.
Inflicting suffering... How would that help in the long term?
It was a desire devoid of meaning or purpose.
Selfish and short-sighted.
In a way, illogical and irrational.
How would her suffering help him?
Yarnha truly couldn't understand.
"Why-"
Before the Spirit could utter a sentence, mind-breaking pain went through her body.
But it wasn't the kind of pain that made you forget about the lesser pain, the way biting one's lip helped ease the pain of hitting one's elbow or foot.
No.
Corruption wasn't that gentle and forgiving.
On the contrary, the pain that had been inflicted earlier seemed to only grow more intense.
Unreal pain.
Were she simply a beautiful woman, the pain, alone, would have broken her mind.
"Why-"
Again and again, Dark Corrupting Spears pierced the ground and the trees surrounding the area.
Again and again, they were thrown and thrust as soon as Yarnha uttered a sound.
"Why, you ask?"
The Monster only said those words after the Spirit had given up on talking.
Yarnha clenched her hands until her palms bled.
Were she simply a beautiful woman, the pain, alone, would have broken her mind.
The pain, alone, would have forced her body to shut down.
The pain, alone, would have ended her life.
Yarnha clenched her teeth, as a dark foam exited her mouth.
Indeed, she wasn't simply a beautiful woman.
She was the Forest.
Using every ounce of power she had, Yarnha opened her mouth.
Doing her best to forget about the unbelievable pain she was feeling,
"Why..."
She couldn't forget the pain.
In fact, it had changed her question entirely.
"Won't you kill me?"
The Monster, who had remained a dozen steps away until now, started moving.
"I can't..."
It started walking closer.
"Kill you yet."
Yarnha clenched her teeth as her face twisted.
And the Monster halted its approach.
"Don't do that." It ordered.
But the words didn't seem to have an effect.
"Stop."
"I... I..." Yarnha's lips twitched.
"Stop that."
"I CAN'T!!" Yarnha shouted as a torrent of tears when down her face. "IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH! I CAN'T!!"
Clear translucent went down her eyes, before being tainted by the dark blood on the lower portion of her face.
The Monster's body started twitching.
Its breathing became unstable.
"AHHH!!! IT HURTS!!" The woman cried.
All of the repressed pain was suddenly let out and carried by her voice.
The most gentle voice the Monster had ever heard.
The pain was expressed and let known to all by her body's squirming on the ground and her voice.
"Don't cry." The Monster, who had resumed his approach, said sternly.
"I CAN'T! AGHHH! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, IT'S-"
Suddenly,
Bleugh-
Thump-
Yarnha, whose body had been launched away, hit the ground.
Fear froze and strangled her throat, muffling her cries.
"Don't cry." The Monster, whose leg was still raised, repeated.
Yarnha vomited on the ground, as the Monster's kick had landed directly on her stomach.
"You don't get to cry. Not yet. It's..."
The Monster approached once more.
"Too soon."
A terrified Yarnha tried to raise to her feet, but the pain forced her to the ground.
"This amount of Corruption... This amount of pain..."
With her butt on the ground, she tried crawling back and away.
"Isn't enough to justify those cries."
Temporarily, anger prevailed against fear.
"AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY PAIN??" Yarnha screamed as more tears went down her face.
For a bit, the Monster didn't take a step forward.
It scratched the back of its head.
"Do you know what it's like... To be trapped somewhere endlessly?"
Step-
"Do you know what it's like... To have your mind and memories toyed with?"
Step-
"Do you know what it's like... To have everyone you know and love die in front of you?"
Step-
"Do you know what it's like... To rely on your loved ones' killer?"
Step-
"Do you know what it's like... To be a toy, a pawn, in someone's game?"
Step-
"That's pain."
Grab-
"That's real pain."
Squeeze-
"That's..."
Raise-
"Her pain."
With a hand around her throat, Yarnha was lifted off the ground.
"You don't know anything about pain. But don't worry..." The Monster smiled sadistically. "I'll try to make you understand."
