First Blood

My throat had felt like it had swollen as I struggled to find the words the moment my eyes had snapped open. I scrambled to my feet and smelt something foul as the sea breeze billowed over my loose silver hair, whipping over my face without regard.

Wh... what just happened? Wait! Crowe! Where is...

I tensed, and my eyes narrowed.

Someone was here.

Having honed my senses since I was born, under Father and Mother's constant barrage of madness or Uncle and Aunties wild schemes. I'd seen it all.

I noted the leather casing Father gifted me, deep in the sand a meter away from my feet, but I did not reach for it. Doing so would leave me wide open.

"Who is there," I shouted. Taking a whiff of the air and moved with a feline cat's graceful step, leaving no signs of footsteps in the light caramel sand, my heart hammered against my ribs like a raging song.

'Calm yourself.' My inner voice warned—deep breaths.

My fist clenched, and from the shadows of the nearby coastal forest, the foul sour scent of rotten pine mixed with years-old cheese grew stronger, threatening my innocence.

What the hell is this?

From the shadows, my heart fell, then seized with fear, as I watched a small greyish thing, the size of a child no more than possibly seven, approach. Its face was deformed and hideous beyond anything I had ever seen. The bridges of its face were twisted like that of a beast as drool slipped from its brown rotten fangs that could not belong to a human.

A ping rang through my mind.

< Goblin>

[Str: 2]

[Dex: 3]

[Con:2]

[Int: -3]

"Ah," I yelped in surprise, taken back by the sudden azure blue screen that appeared just above the beast, and frowned.

Was this a game?

Quickly dismissing the idea, my eyes locked on the small dagger, barely glinting under the sun's glare with its tattered edge. The blade did not seem sharp in the least. Aside from the tip, that seemed to have been refined into a sharpened deadly point.

"Ah, Mr. Goblin, good day," I started to say. "Um, can we talk this through?"

Thick milky yellow drool slipped from the dulled creature's lips, following a grunt, and the liberal scratching of its lower half, shielded by a brittle-looking loincloth, where that sour scent seemed to linger.

Oh, god. Does he not wash his balls?

The Goblin gibbered, releasing a string of words, shrieks, and grunted, then suddenly, he lunged. Bolting towards me, without any form or skill, he covered a few meters of distance and thrust the dagger's fine tip towards my abdomen.

Coldness brewed beneath me as I studied the Goblin's many openings: Its poor grip, how his feet stood, parted at an odd angle that would allow anyone to trip him, the awareness it held. I saw it all from the moment the Goblin lunged.

I pulled forward to meet his thrust, my feet pivoting into a swift side-step, and my muscles tensed around my hand, and power erupted through me, a strength I never knew I held, rushed like monstrous waves. The coldness within me swelled to life, and with a swift chop, through leathered flesh, blood, red as a summer's wine, washed over my white uniform.

Two thuds fell in tandem, and an outpour of red gushed over the caramel sand, devouring it with endless hunger.

The ping of a notification rang.

"Mr. Goblin!" I cried, staring at his headless body, " My god! I only meant to knock you out!" Startled by this revelation, a surge of something strange coursed through me. It was warm and comforting, like Mothers and Fathers embrace. The sensation sprang through my veins, soothing my pounding heart. I froze, my thoughts not on the life I stole but on the sweet nectar of euphoria that tangled itself around me, crowning me its queen and then without rhyme or reason. It vanished, and I was alone, touched by the billowing winds that felt like shards of ice piercing my skin. I shuttered.

"Is this what crack feels like?" I meekly questioned myself, unsure what that was, but I wanted more.

Pulled from my thoughts with waves crashing against the sandy shores, I tore my gaze off my victory and then to the azure sea, then skies, where two twin suns hung, and then back onto the deceased Goblin.

A sliver of sadness slipped into my heart but was drowned by the ocean's soothing song, which seemed to calm my mind. I'd always loved the sea—the flow of the ocean, the tinge of its icy embrace crashing against the shore, withering it away year by year.

Pulling myself together, I reached for the leather casing, pulled it away from the bloody remains, and popped it open, revealing a sword, a katana to be exact, resting silently near an elegantly sleek onyx black mask that screamed grace and stature.

My fingers ran over its smooth bridges that seemed to cover only half my face, revealing only my nose and chin and, of course, eyes. It was exotic, and now it was mine.

"Papa truly does spoil me," I said, giggling with laughter when a small piece of paper caught my eye.

Unfolding it, I frowned.

"To my daughter, Izalith Snow.

"I don't know when you shall read this, nor if you will ever read it. But it seems even before you were born. Fate screwed us, more so you than me this time. It seems that's the fate of all of us, Snows. I am sure you are confused. Well, so am I. So many things need to be answered, but apparently, they are not for me to reveal. I have much to say, princess, much to say indeed, as does your mother. But none of that truly matters. The blade and mask you see will help hone your power. Use them well, and real shit! Like super real shit! Izalith Snow. NO SEX!"

"Baby, this is your mother. Girl, live it up! Don't listen to your father! He's a damn fool. Pop that puss—"

"Darling, this is your father. Your mother is crazy. Ignore her! Trust your Pop-Pop."

"Baby girl, do what you feel—"

"NOOOOO!!!"

Lifting my gaze from the letter that seemed to continue back and forth between these two dummies, I grew bewildered. This was utterly ridiculous! Do they know this would happen? That Crowe and I would someday be taken away? Wait, why did they wait till now to give me this weapon?

My brow tensed, and I recalled their last hug filled with worry, and the unease returned.

What is going on?

I took hold of my slick mask, and my fingers skimmed over the smooth surface of the Katana sheath when that familiar notification sprang into my head.

-Classification: Abyssal

-Rarity:???

-Lore: ???

-Skill: [Madness] [Infernal Wounds]

-Soulbound: Izalith Snow

[Malware Detected]