Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 668: On the rugs

Bixx’s blade punctured flesh. A thrill raced through her chest as her dagger bit into Emily’s chest, driving right into her heart and burying itself deep within it.

It was a perfect blow.

The girl didn’t even budge in her sleep. A soft wheeze slipped from her lips as the life slipped free from its mortal bindings. Her death had been perfect. Silent, painless. A blessing unto the heathens from the Herald himself.

It took a force of will to keep Bixx from letting out a euphoric laugh. Delight burned in her body like she were the wick of a candle. To kill after being denied for so long was a sensation like no other. There was no other pleasure in the Damned Plains nor the mortal realm that could ever even try to come close.

She ripped her dagger free. Her body begged her to pause, to revel in the delight, but she pressed the urges down. There would be time for that later. She would not stand in the way of the Herald’s will.

Two lambs had been shepherded into the light, but there were still more that awaited the sweet, euphoric release of her dagger. The tremors of pleasure racking her entire body could not stop her from letting others walk the path of the True.

Such was her burden.

Bixx allowed herself one final look down at Emily’s peaceful, sleeping face. At the beautiful flower of blood blooming across the sheets of the bed, wrapping her in a red blanket that would ferry her to the great beyond.

I envy you, Emily.

Bixx extended a hand, letting a finger brush gently across the girl’s cheek. The girl’s face was cold, lifeless. Her soul must have already met the Herald. She had been given her purpose. How Bixx longed to join her—

Her face is cold. Why is her face already cold?

The demoness froze. She stared at Emily, pulling her hand away. The dagger in her hand felt like a millstone dragging her entire arm toward the ground. Her heart started to pound.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Bixx took a step back. The feeling intensified by the moment. Her head spun and a throbbing headache pounded at the sides of her skull. The demoness’ stomach flipped as her body rebelled.

She took a second step back. Then another. The walls seemed to swim around her as a haze warped the air. Pinpricks of pain drove into her eyes; her mouth parched.

Her jaw clenched.

Her dagger grew heavier still.

What is this? Was I poisoned? Some manner of trap in the window when I entered? I didn’t feel anything. There’s no way I could have missed something so obvious. And why is my dagger so heavy? I’ve fed it twice!

It’s almost as if…

As if her dagger hadn’t drunk at all.

Reality cracked. A jagged shard of light cut through the air before Bixx’s eyes. A second crack followed after it. The fragments ripped through the room, surrounding her in an instant before shattering without so much as a sound.

Bixx’s vision swirled. Bile threatened to force its way up her throat as the world abruptly shifted and the room changed around her. The shifts were small, like tweaks to reality itself rather than a complete and utter shift.

She still stood in the same room that she’d been in a moment before, but it was not as it had been.

The flower of blood blooming on Emily’s bed vanished — and so did the girl. In its place was nothing but a small indent in messy sheets. There was a dagger puncture in the exact spot that Emily had been moments before.

And, standing to the side of the room, a sheet wrapped around her body and silver hair falling around her face, was Emily. She held her sheets with one hand and had the other ready before her. Frosty magic curled across the girl’s fingertips, readied to spring forth at a thought.

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But Emily wasn’t the only change.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning against the wall was a dead man.

James stretched his arms above himself, arching his back as he let out a yawn. Then he shook his head and reluctantly rose to his feet.

It wasn’t his appearance that unsettled Bixx the most.

No, it was the fact that the boy shouldn’t have existed at all. In fact, he still didn’t exist. Her eyes saw him, but the rest of her senses found absolutely nothing.

He had no scent. No magical presence. Even the air didn’t taste of him. It was as if the boy’s specter had risen from the afterlife. Nothing but his image existed… and even that felt difficult to grasp, like trying to drink water from a strainer.

“That was just weird,” James said. “I mean, the stabbing bit is one thing, but the tender face stroke? Really? Could you not? I just couldn’t anymore.”

“How are you here?” Bixx breathed. “You’re dead! I killed you!”

“Actually, you assaulted a very unfortunate rodent,” James corrected. He blew out a sigh. “Couldn’t you have just taken me up on my offer? Do you have any idea how annoying this is going to be? I had to break into her room while she was sleeping. Just look at her! She — actually, don’t do that. Weirdo. What matters is that I now look nearly as creepy as you. What are you going to do about that?”

He's trying to distract me. Perhaps he’s using his light magic to make an illusion of himself. That’s the only thing that makes sense. There may be some sort of poison interfering with my senses, but I taste the girl in the air. She’s in the room, and exactly where she appears to be.

I’m not tricked so easily.

Bixx exploded into motion. Her dagger carved through the air and slammed into Emily’s stomach for the second time that night. She ripped the blade upward, dragging it through the girl’s stomach. Blood spilled across her hand as a deluge of power rolled through her body.

A pained gasp fell from Emily’s lips as she slumped in the demoness’ arms.

“No!” James yelled.

A cold grin split Bixx’s lips. She’d been right.

“The Herald guides my blade,” Bixx said, dropping the girl’s corpse to the ground. Her dagger was heavy no longer. It felt light as a feather, its hunger finally sated. Whatever magic the boy had used was unable to —

The room shifted.

Bixx stumbled as her vision lost focus for a moment.

Then she froze. Disbelief pounded in her skull like a war drum. Emily stood at the head of her bed, still wrapped in her blanket, staring at Bixx with her lips slightly askew.

She was untouched. Uninjured. There wasn’t so much as a scratch on her body, but that was impossible. Bixx had felt her blade drink. She still had blood on her hands from its meal.

Her gaze dragged downward.

At her feet was a corpse, but it was not Emily’s.

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Before her was the body of the other Truthseeker.

“You got blood on the carpet!” James exclaimed. “I’m sorry, Emily! I didn’t think she’d just try to stab you like that! I thought she was going to do some stupid monologue shit!”

“What have you done to me?” Bixx demanded. Her dagger trembled in her grip. She could still sense Emily, but her senses were no longer her own. She could not trust them. “What magic is this? Some accursed technique taught to you by the False Prophet?”

“I’m going to be honest, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, and I really can’t be bothered to ask more,” James said. He blew out another sigh. “Emily, you mind if I get more blood on your carpet? It’s kind of already ruined.”

“James, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I don’t give a shit what you get blood on at the moment,” Emily said. The note of confusion in her voice made it clear she’d only woken up mere moments ago. Her eyes sharpened an instant later. “If there’s a demon here trying to kill us, then everyone else might be in danger too. We have to help them.”

“Damn it,” James said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re right. Ugh. I’m sure they’ll be fine, but we better be sure. Hold on. Give me a second. I’ll get rid of the pest.”

“You think the followers of the True can be defeated that easily?” Bixx bared her fangs and lowered her stance. “I—”

Something drove into Bixx’s ear. There was a wet thunk as her entire body went stiff. Hot, warm liquid poured down the side of her face, followed moments afterward by a searing pain. The world spun. Confusion tore through Bixx’s mind.

She tried to take a step forward, only to find the ground suddenly rushing toward her face. Her head hit the ground with a thud, but she barely even felt it. Her vision fluttered as darkness begun to swallow it.

The wet patch at her ear spread, soaking into the soft fabric of the rug pressed against her cheek. Some dim part of her mind quietly observed that it was blood red.

She was dying.

How? What happened to me?

“There,” James said. His voice was distant above her. “She’s dead. Sorry about your rug. It’s pretty fucked.”

I don’t understand. How did I die? I never even felt his presence. What kind of monsters does the False Herald have working for him?

“Evergreen gave it to me, so it doesn’t matter,” Emily replied. There was a soft thud as she dropped the blankets she was holding and stepped over Bixx, grabbing clothes from the closet and hurriedly starting to pull them on. “We need to go check on the others. And… did you just save me from getting murdered in my sleep?”

“Do I get points if I say yes?”

“That depends on why you were outside my room in the middle of the night, but you can answer that one later… along with telling me what in the Damned Plains that magic was. I’ve never seen you do anything like it. You’ve been holding back. Again.”

Bixx didn’t hear the rest of their conversation.

She was already dead.