Ability exchange

"Rain. Rain…" Nephis' voice echoed on the headless statue, snapping the pale girl out of her thoughts.

Rain jerked upright, a sharp gasp escaping her lips, as she noticed Nephis and Cassie watching her—the latter having a worried expression etched on her beautiful face.

What she noticed next was that the jet-black, starless void of the crimson labyrinth had disappeared–In its place stretched a gloomy expanse of grey, making the labyrinth appear dead and forgotten.

'Why did I suddenly think about the past? I promised myself that I would never look back on it.' Rain thought, the memory a shadow that still haunted her to this day.

Suddenly, a salty taste invaded her mouth. When she brought her lithe fingers towards her face, she realised that the taste came from her own tears. 'Why am I crying?'

"Why are you crying?" Nephis asked, her tone flat and direct.

Rain quickly wiped her face with the back of her hand, feeling embarrassed that she had been crying in front of people she just met recently. "It's nothing." Rain hitched.

Nephis stared at her for a moment, her eyes calm, before turning away. Cassie, however, wasn't that convinced. She took a cautious step forward, her blindness still something she struggled with. "Is everything really fine?" She asked with a soft voice, a hint of concern tinted within it.

Rain forced a smile, pushing aside her feelings and memories. "Yeah… Just thought about the past." She said, her voice under more control now.

Cassie nodded, deciding to not pry any further.

The silence that followed was heavy, but thankfully, short-lived, as Nephis spoke up. "When are we going to continue? Here, you know your way better than me, so I'll trust your judgement."

Rain took a deep breath, regaining her composure. The memories of her past still hurt, but right now there was no time to dwell on it—she had more important stuff to do. "Soon." she replied, feeling the anticipation of exploring a place she never dared to before stir up. "First, there's something I've been meaning to ask for a while now."

Nephis turned towards Rain, while Cassie tilted her head in curiosity. "What is it?" Both girls asked in unison.

"I've shared a lot about how my powers work, but neither of you have. Since we'll be working as a team in the future"—she scratched the side of her cheek—"I feel like it would only be fair if you both do the same." Rain murmured.

Nephis stayed silent, regarding if she should tell Rain about her Aspect abilities, her expression as calm as ever. Then, with a slow exhale, she said: "My ability is simple. I make things burn"

Rain held Nephis' gaze, a deadpan expression on her pale face. "I've seen you fight, remember? I know that your abilities are connected to flames." she sighed. "So would you be so kind as to explain a little more?"

The silver-haired beauty blinked, confused. For a moment, she had forgotten that Rain observed her fight against the Carapace Scavenger, and that she had seen her use her aspect ability. "Oh, right… My flames allow me to strengthen myself and or memories. They can also be used for healing."

Rain raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the potential of Nephis' abilities. An Aspect that allowed its user to heal was rare, but one capable of healing and attacking was pretty much unheard of. However, powerful Aspects also came with harsh flaws—and Rain was pretty sure that she knew what hers might be.

"Is your flaw the reason why you had a pained expression while using your flames?" Rain asked bluntly.

Nephis narrowed her eyes, hesitating for a fraction of a second. She didn't entertain the idea of sharing her Flaw, but since Rain had already shared her own— and correctly guessed Nephis'—there was no point in it being a secret at this point anymore.

"Yes, my Flaw makes me feel pain when using my Aspect." Nephis spoke. Rain nodded, satisfied for now, before shifting her stance towards the blonde girl. "And you, Cassie?" Rain asked, her voice softer than with Nephis. She hadn't forgotten that the blind girl had yet to share her ability, but she also didn't want to pressure someone that already had it so hard in life. "What's your ability?"

Cassie, already having prepared herself to answer, quickly gave Rain what she wanted to hear about. "You've probably already guessed, but I'm a seer. From time to time, I get visions about the future, just like the one I had with the castle full of people. I can also read the runes of others."

Rain frowned as she processed the new information about Cassie's abilities. She knew that the blonde girl could look into the future, but her also being able to read runes was… problematic. Not because there was something she wanted to hide—a flaw for example—but because of her Innate Ability, [Dream Vision]. Dream Vision allowed Rain to perceive the emotions of others through eye contact. At first, this ability didn't sound too useful, but it had one detrimental way of usage… detecting lies. However, if someone knew about her ability, they could easily deceive her by controlling their emotions, which didn't sound that alluring to Rain.

Rain shook her head, pushing aside her lingering distrust. 'Someone as fragile and cute as her wouldn't manipulate me.'

Before Rain could dwell any further on her thoughts, Nephis shifted, her cool grey eyes gleaming with ambition and confidence. "Since we've exchanged now, are we moving?" She asked, her voice quiet yet strong.

The pale girl nodded and crawled towards the western edge of the stone plattform.

"Alright." Rain said, her voice steady. "Let's climb down then."

As Rain peered over, her heart sank at the sight of something unusual. Down at the labyrinth, amidst blades of crimson coral, lay the remaining half of a shark-like monster.

Around the corpse, dozens of Carapace Scavengers were biting and clawing their way through the thick flesh of the shark, greedily eating as much as they could. Hiding under the mud, were 2 transcended soul shards, but Rain's fascination and greed quickly disappeared, as she noticed two large shadows stepping out of a particularly wide passage.

And then, the creatures casting those shadows appeared in sight. They looked like scavengers, but way more twisted and gruesome. They were much larger than their weaker counterparts. Their carapace was thicker, colored in a deep black and scarlet, like an ancient armor drenched in blood. Sometimes, vicious-looking spikes grew out of their armor, making them appear even more brutal.

On top of that, their arms ended in curved, terrifying bone scythes, instead of heavy pincers.

Rain watched as the two monsters approached the carcass. The scavengers, visibly afraid, rushed out of their way, as the two superior beings killed every scavenger in front of them.

As the monsters finally reached the corpse of the shark, each of them took one of the transcended shards. However, instead of absorbing them, they simply turned around and carried the crystals away.

Rain had faced one of those monsters in a ferocious battle before, and the memory was something that made her bones shake every time. As the terrified girl crawled back towards the middle of the platform, she could feel her body growing weak.

Nephis of course noticed Rain's change in demeanor, making her tilt her head in confusion. "What's wrong?" Nephis asked, her tone more demanding than what a question usually sounded like.

The pale girl rubbed her temples, calming herself down, before answering. "There are two strong bastards down there. I've seen one of them before and I barely made it out alive by sacrificing a handful of my scavengers." Rain shook at the memory, before sighing and laying down onto the cold stone. "We should maybe wait one more day before continuing our trip.