(Blume)
My body is walking naked over the burning roads surrounded by dry dirt turning like sand.
I don't want to wear out my nice clothes, so they're packed in the bag I carry over my back now.
A persistent child is still following me against all odds.
She could be another Rose...
Obstinate as if she would never give up until she dies.
Her most primal instinct isn't always to value her own life and survival.
How odd these beings can be.
I don't really care...
But I'm a little curious now though.
Still I never slow down, wondering how long and how far she can go. That's my instinct, playing with life, whether it's my own or others is irrelevant.
I notice a storm rising over the horizon. One so strong I should find shelter, or my clothes and my life may get damaged.
I head into the closest putrid city. Putrid in aura, not in smell. The city has been cleansed by the wind years ago.
I find a deep underground structure and settle there as the storm rages above.
I climb down many flights of stairs until I reach a peculiar abyss. Everything has collapsed into a cave below, wide and dark.
These stairs lead to death in an underground pit. Interesting sight. I wonder what was built here before.
As I turn around and climb back up, the child is there.
I think she's human, though she doesn't look like it.
Her face and body are deformed. She's tiny as a child, even though she's old enough to be mature I think from the smell. She looks like a mistake of human biology in more ways than one.
Me, I look gorgeous no matter how you look at me. Yet again, I'm not human.
My lack of modesty intimidates her as I step by step get closer. She didn't follow me to kill me anyway, that had been obvious for a long time. I've known that since the beginning.
I offer her my hand. Her deformed palm accepts it, sweating nervously. We walk a little further to camp and sit. The storm is noisy and strong outside, so we won't be leaving this place for a while.
I lit a fire and then I dress myself.
The young woman of some sort is boiling with various emotions. Envy, disgust, hatred, joy, jealousy, pain, sadness, hope, and so on. She is a colourful being, filled with passion, and a drive to go further no matter the costs and risks.
Furthermore she knows I'm not human, and followed me also for that reason.
She's a curious one, reminding me of a rose I've known.
However we don't speak the same language. Yet...
I focus on my hand, growing cerebral tissues inside of it and softening the flesh to prepare it.
She doesn't realise what's coming to her.
I push her down, holding her breathless under my weight.
She thinks the worst is happening as I smile or grin, getting a weird liquefying hand to her face.
She screams in horror and what feels like agony for her.
Meanwhile, I slide my fingers across and through her flesh and bones, reaching her brain with my nerves and linking it to mine.
I read it. I copy the structure, learn the patterns, mimic the exchanges and processes. I duplicate rapidly her mind next to my own. And I extract all there is she knows and thinks.
It starts with language over thoughts I recognise.
Soon, all the associated words and meanings, the vocabulary structures found corresponding patterns to my previous knowledge and I can release her. I've got what I needed.
The tips of my nerves inside her brain recede like slugs as I pull away my hand from her flesh.
The pain she felt fades. She's coughing and crawling away from me, frightened by the experience.
B - So, shall we discuss? I can speak your tongue now.
W - I... I thought you were killing me!
B - That's how beings like me learn to speak human, along with reading most of your memories. So you were born shortly after the white day, as your mother died. That's quite a tragic beginning for you.
W - I... I don't care!
B - You're interesting. I thought you were small for your age, because you smelled like a teenager human. You're actually much younger in age. Still small and with a metabolism even more abnormal.
W - Fuck you!
Oh? Now I want to tease her.
I grin. I step closer to her.
B - Oh? Fuck me? You want to?
She's terrified, while I'm laughing.
W - You weren't like that before... Why?
B - I didn't notice you while I was there. And you're amusing me. I'm a demon my poor child. What did you expect from me? A wish in exchange for your soul? Why are you following me?
I will admit to her later how impressed I am with her tenacity and resilience. She managed to survived for so long in following me so far, she's a strength of nature to reckon with. I will acknowledge it after I'm done teasing her.
W - Because I want to travel with you.
B - Obviously you don't need me nor my help.
W - I said I want!
Oh? I step forward to look at her more closely. There's something else I detect.
B - So you do want to have sex with me. I can smell it you know? Your metabolism is completely wrecked, poor child.
She slaps me. She's excited, but mostly angry at me.
W - You're nothing like before!
B - My whims can vary a lot. If there's one thing you should know about things like me, it's that our mind and our emotions follow slower and different patterns from yours. I call it psychological inertia. And unlucky you, I'm in a teasing mood currently. Back when I met your relatives, I was in a more sociable mood.
I pause, thinking about something distant.
B - And someday... I will be in a mood to kill humans and eat their heart... No, I'm joking, this one is quite unlikely.
Though not entirely ruled out either. Of course my joke didn't really make her laugh. And Rose isn't there to scold me.
B - You really have the most peculiar body I've ever seen... And that's saying something coming from someone like me.
Her childhood growth was anarchic. Her body matured too fast on some parts, and too slowly on others. The result is a chaotic mixture of a human and a child, with the resiliency of a monster though. Strange flesh.
W - can you really grant a wish in exchange for my soul?
B - No, because you don't have a soul.
I'm cackling at her deception.
B - Relax. No one does... I can grant wishes though. But the price will depend on my current whim. One day it could be a sacrifice, another one dominance, another day... Who knows?
W - How much to fix my body then?
B - Today... It would cost you... Five coins of pure gold.
W - I'm not carrying any money!
B - I know.
She calls me a bitch and goes a little further. Did she understand? I don't want to desecrate such a fascinating body just yet. I call her back.
B - Say, don't you have another wish?
W - Not really...
B - I haven't accepted yet your wish to travel with me you know.
W - I have to wish for that too?
B - Ah ah. Of course.
W - Then??? What will it cost me?
B - Be my pet as we go.
W - Your pet... You mean slave?
B - No, pet. Human pet. My living toy if you prefer.
She's unable to answer, more horror perspiring from her entire being.
B - That's clearly your first time dealing with a daiûa. Another piece of advice therefore, when dealing with us, you should never...
W - I accept...
B - ... Oh... Oh?
She kneels down with tearing eyes.
And I pout as it didn't go the way I wanted.
B - Oh come on, that's not fun if you just accept the deal without resistance! You have so much to learn little one...
Humans can be so frustrating at times.
~