The trek through the woods didn't take us a very long, but I was surprised as I began to smell smoke, and the faint scent of blood just up ahead. Cici quickened her steps. I had questions already, but I just followed her, and soon enough, I could see smoke above the trees. In only a few moments, we arrived, clearing the trees and out into the open, and Cici gasped, falling to her knees as tears began fo fall.
"Oh my god..." I said, seeing the devastation in front of me.
I saw countless little huts and wooden structures, but most of them were damaged, with chunks missing, and many of them were still smoking, apparently having been set on fire. The streets were bloody, with many bodies lining the ground, and I'm not sure if it was worse or not that there weren't as many dead as I was expecting, given what she told me about who attacked them. However, the blood, the bodies, even the smoking fire... it all seemed recent. I knelt down next to Cici.
"How is all of this still like this? Its been a month." I asked, causing her to look at me with tear stricken eyes. I held her to me, and she let out small sobs as she composed herself.
She pushed off of me after a moment, and cleared her throat.
"I heard a story passed down from my mother. Being one of the caretakers of the portal, she knew more than most. Apparently, time works differently in our worlds, but I never really put too much thought into it until now. She once mentioned that for every hour that passes here, roughly a day goes by on the other." She said.
I paused, looking at her incredulously, and then looked over at the carnage and destruction again, which again, still looked fairly recent.
"So... if that holds true, then it's only been about a single day here?" I asked, and she nodded, "How the hell does that make sense?"
"I don't know. That's just what I've heard, and after seeing this, it makes sense." She said, and then she began to walk forward into her village. It still did not make a lick of sense to me, but I didn't voice that.
Tears tracked down Cici's cheeks as she looked at the devastation wrought, and at some of the people she seemed to recognize.
"Matilda... Harris... Harold... oh Framework save us..." She croaked, and I held her hand, trying to help, but nothing could truly help a scenario like this.
"Monsters..." I seethed at the people that did this, and she squeezed my hand back.
Only a truly monstrous person could do something like this. And the fact that it was multiple people... it made my blood boil. We continued walking through the village, smoke causing us to cough, and the smell of blood making my nose twinge. The death and destruction of innocent people just trying to live their lives... I clenched my fists.
"Our home..." Cici said, causing me to turn and look in her direction.
It was a simple hut, big enough for maybe 3 or 4 people, but half of it was burnt to a crisp. She ran inside, and I followed after her. She began running around the house, screaming for people.
"Mother! Father! Hiago!" She cried, but there were no answers forthcoming.
She screamed her lungs out, before falling to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. I knelt down in front of her, and reached out for her. She looked at me, not even hesitating a moment before she rushed into my open arms.
"Everyone's gone! My parents... my brother... they took all of them!" She yelled, burying her face into my chest as her tears soaked through my shirt.
I held her, stroking the back of her head. Inside, anger was boiling over, making me grit my teeth as my blood ran hotter than the sun. Someone took Cici's family, destroyed her home, and killed her people. And for what? To just auction them off to scumbags that will just use and abuse them too?
"I'll fucking rip them all apart. I'll kill them all."
I blinked rapidly at my thoughts. Where the hell did that come from? No... no, it didn't just come from nowhere. In fact, that's what I wanted to do. They made Cici sad. They tried to take her too. I found that I wanted to kill everyone that did this. But what could I do? The Framework was still initializing, and there was no guarantee that it would give me a good enough class to help her... but I wanted to... so bad.
Suddenly, pain wracked my body once again, and I screamed as I fell to the ground, Cici grabbed me and gently layed me down on the ground in front of her.
"ELI!" She said, tearing falling on my face as she felt my face and my forehead.
"FUUUCK!" I screamed, as my body popped, and I felt things inside of me start to shift.
More words appeared in my head, and sounded throughout my mind.
[Initialization complete. Calculating...]
My head began to throb, and I felt wetness leaking out of my eyes, my ears, and my nose.
"ELI! NO NO NO! ELI!" Cici screamed, but her words soon faded out as louder words overlapped everything else.
[Primordial Detected]
[Divinity Detected]
[Ritual of Sacrifice Has Been Used]
[Processing]
[Estimated time till for full integration: 4 hours]
"What.... the hell...?" I groaned, my body popping, and my muscles and joints moving irregularly.
"ELI! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG? PLE-"
"Well, looks like we've got a couple of holdouts, eh? The boss was right. Good idea coming back here. That one's pretty." A gruff voice said, and even through the pain, my eyes widened and I began to panic.
Using all of my strength, I craned my neck towards the door, and saw a group of at least 10 men who were the most stereotypical looking bandits from any anime I've ever seen that I could imagine. No. No no no.
"Cici... run!" I managed to get out, but she stood in front of me, with her arms outstretched.
"YOU'VE ALL DONE ENOUGH!" She screamed.
"Not enough, aparrently. Hmm... that one's not looking so good. Don't worry little missy, we're under strict orders not to touch the merchandise, but that doesn't apply to deadweights." The apparent leader said, and I gritted my teeth at the absolutely shitty luck of the situation. Still, I was fucking furious.
"Leave! Her! Alone!" I said, my voice rough, but my tone even.
"I don't think you get to make those calls here." The asshole said, and then turned around to face a few others, "You three, grab her. You, just end him. It's only the one, but I think the boss will be pretty damn pleased considering how she looks."
Cici suddenly turned invisible, and I blinked. I could sense her... I could feel her, but it was like she was invisible to the naked eye. Good, she could use this to escape, and-
She grabbed a knife from her kitchen, and charged the leader, and my heart dropped. She should just leave me here and save herself... Her footsteps were silent, yet both of our eyes widened as the man seemed to track her, even while invisible, with a big grin on his face. He grabbed her wrist just before the knife met his neck.
"Shame I can't have fun with you. I like them with spunk. But the boss would kill me." He said, and then he smacked Cici in the face, making her cry out in pain as she fell to the floor.
"YOU MOTHERFUC-"I said, before a sharp pain lanced through my chest.
I wheezed, and then coughed, blood flying out my mouth. I looked down to see a massive sword slick with blood... my blood, sticking out of my chest. I slumped to the ground as my vision became blurry.
"Eli... Eli... ELI!"
I heard Cici screaming my name. I looked up, seeing her with tears streaking down her face as these fucking assholes chained her feet and hands together, and placed a glowing collar around her neck.
"STOP!" I screamed, putting my hand forward, trying to crawl towards her.
The sword then left my chest, before being plunged in second time, only to the left now. I coughed out more blood, and my head hit the ground hard.
"Tough bastard. Well, he's not going anywhere." The man said, pulling his sword out, "Let him suffer."
I've suffered my whole fucking life. Everything has been a struggle, and now that things had finally started looking up for me, this happens? I wanted them all to die. I wanted all of them to suffer... yet... I felt so weak, and now I couldn't even move.
I looked up to see Cici crying out for me, attempting to claw and bite her way free, but they were all too strong. She got smacked again, and they bruised her perfect delicate face. My want to end their lives increased tenfold. I reached a hand out towards Cici. Despite everything that has happened to me up until now, the thought of losing Cici was a pain worse than anything I've ever felt.
"Ci...ci..." I said, but then my hand fell to the floor limp, and the last thing I heard was one final heartbreaking cry from Cici, and then... darkness.