The Doll could vividly remember the last time she had felt a pain like this, a pain that made it feel as though she was going to die. Just as it had back then time seemed to slow in these moments that felt like they would be her last. Similarly to back then The Doll would have found this moment where the world seemed to slow enjoyable if not for the pain that accompanied its every second.
Lukaz brought his hand out and said something that came out as a muffled scream to The Doll’s ears. Shortly following this scream was the appearance of a serpent that jolted towards where The Doll formerly stood at speeds that seemed fast even to her slowed perception.
Briefly The Doll allowed herself to wonder what had even happened. But these wonders were quickly removed as The Doll lost feeling in her body, the cold breeze and searing hot pain vanishing completely. It was only now that it had truly set into The Doll that this may in fact be the end.
The Doll attempted to gather any form of strength to stand; she thought of the Ashencroft lineage, she thought of the problems she had yet to resolve, she thought of Lukaz and Lila, and she even thought of Malina last for reasons she didn't quite know.
But despite her struggle, her attempt to find something worth standing for, there was nothing left in her body to fight with. It seemed The Doll would be a disappointment to her last breath.
With no feeling left to fight with and no way in which to fight something that seemed so inevitable The Doll allowed her eyes to fall shut. When her eyes fell shut, all of The Doll’s worries that she had allowed to pile up seemed to get pushed to the back of her mind. This would likely be the last time The Doll could fall into the embrace of darkness.
“No no no no no no no NO.”
The Doll opened her eyes and was met with a familiar darkness. In the distance The Doll could hear the faint weeping of a voice that sounded identical to her own. This was undoubtedly The Strings; it seemed even in death The Doll could not escape its influence.
Seeing the other option The Doll began walking in the direction of this weeping, taking advantage of her ability to move within the darkness for now. Walking in this darkness made The Doll unsure if she was even moving at all. Every step she took led her to surroundings that looked the same as the last.
Not intending to stop, however, The Doll continued to move forward until she saw the shape of a girl with long dark tangled hair curled into a ball on the floor. Dark, nearly black liquid stained her—no, not her; that was incorrect.
This was The Strings.
Dark, nearly black liquid stained its shoulder coming from the hole that The Doll had made with the scissors three days ago. Another hole pierced straight through its back, spreading more of the dark liquid across the void. It looked as though since that moment The Strings had done nothing to maintain its appearance, though The Doll was unsure how The Strings even did maintain itself in this darkness.
Maintaining her distance, The Doll asked, “Why am I here?” The Doll's question was met with the sound of The Strings weeping. In frustration The Doll took a step forward and asked another, “These strings on my wrist were they caused by you?” To emphasize her point The Doll brought her wrist up and rolled down her sleeve to reveal the cut along it.
However, to The Doll's shock, her wrist held no cut nor strings; instead, her pale skin remained entirely untouched. Confused The Doll brought her hand down to her chest and felt for the hole that had been stabbed through it only to find nothing but the silk of her pajamas.
While The Doll’s body was in pristine condition as if she had suffered no injuries as of late The Strings appeared to bear all the injuries she should have. Meanwhile these very same wounds had been covered by strings outside of the void…
The Doll’s eyes widened.
Had The Strings been somehow taking The Doll’s wounds away from her?
No, why would it do that? The Strings was a malevolent creature; there would be no reason for it to do that. It had to want The Doll to be indebted to it; that was the only explanation. But if this were true, that would mean The Strings had taken The Doll’s stab to the heart. Perhaps The Strings had saved The Doll’s life, and that was why the searing pain she previously felt disappeared while she fell.
Was the reason for The Strings weeping the amount of pain it was in?
Hesitantly The Doll walked closer to The Strings she needed to see its wrist. If there was a cut on her wrist, it would be undeniable that The Strings had been taking her pain. The Doll didn't want to believe it, but if this was true, she didn't know what to think.
Reaching The Strings The Doll leaned down and said, “Show me your wrist.” The Strings didn't reply; it only continued to weep loudly. With its lack of reply The Doll slowly reached out and grabbed The Strings by the shoulder, intending to force it to acknowledge her presence.
The moment The Doll's hand touched the fabric of The Strings' Dreadwood uniform, The Doll's body froze. The Strings vanished, leaving The Doll's hand grasping at nothing but darkness. Almost immediately, The Strings reappeared inches from her face, and the void vanished.
Despite the suddenness of the action, one fact was undeniable to The Doll. One thing that The Doll had seen before The Strings forced her out of the darkness, The Strings wrist was jaggedly cut with a dark liquid running freely from it.
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The Doll’s eyes jolted open, her vision filling with the bright moon of the night sky. The first thing she noticed was a tightness on her neck caused by a snake that was tightly gripping it. Panicked The Doll reached over and attempted to rip it off only to meet no resistance finding that it was dead.
This lack of resistance allowed The Doll to easily pull the snake carcass off her neck as she slowly sat up and looked down at her chest. As The Doll expected, her pajamas were still bloodied, but the hole that should be in her chest was now tightly closed by dark strings identical to the ones on her wrist. Even with the knowledge that this would likely be the case, it still left The Doll shocked.
Before The Doll could make sense of what had happened to her, the sounds of fighting drew her attention. The sound of Lukaz's voice saying various spells followed by the cutting of flesh was undeniable.
Turning her gaze to the sound, The Doll saw Lukaz with a snake hanging off his neck engaging in combat with a figure that The Doll didn't recognize. A figure cloaked in entirely black clothes with a flowing black cloak that made any form of identification impossible from this distance and likely any distance. In the figures hand was an odd weapon comprised of a thin chain with a single blade that they swung around gracefully.
Even from this distance it was clear to The Doll that Lukaz was struggling to keep any footing in this fight without a weapon of his. As The Doll thought this, she saw Lukaz attempt to cast a longer spell before the masked figure interrupted him by slashing their chained weapon towards him. Narrowly, Lukaz stopped the cast short, moving to dodge the weapon, allowing the blade to only graze his cheek.
Despite the minor injury, Lukaz’s expression immediately twisted to one of pain as he ripped the snake that was hanging off his neck away and jumped back to create significant distance. With this new distance, Lukaz moved his mouth to cast a new spell, something this attacker evidently didn't want. Fortunately, Lukaz managed to finish casting, a new snake latching itself onto Lukaz’s neck.
The implication of what was happening became clear to The Doll almost immediately, considering her knowledge of Lukaz’s magic. The figure's blade must be laced with some form of poison. Lukaz was just using the snakes to suck out whatever poison the blade was leaking into his body. This meant that if Lukaz hadn't put that snake on her neck The Doll likely would have died regardless of The Strings intervention.
But how long could Lukaz keep creating these snakes to suck out the venom before he experienced backlash?
The Doll had no idea how long it had been since she collapsed on the ground, but even if it was a short time, it was clear this fight would be unsustainable. Despite the fact that all the cuts Lukaz experienced were minor, the blood loss from them was accumulating while Lukaz lost more magic. Furthermore this figure hadn't even used a spell yet from what The Doll had seen, yet they were still evidently forcing Lukaz on the backfoot.
Lukaz needed a chance to cast a big spell that would take this figure out in one shot before backlash caught up to him. But with the constant pressure, Lukaz would never get the chance, at least that’s what The Doll thought; admittedly, her knowledge of combat was lacking.
Maybe if The Doll could stand up and say something to get this figure's attention, it would give Lukaz the chance he needed.
But what if The Doll was wrong? If The Doll was wrong and this wasn't what Lukaz needed, she would be risking her life for no reason. Even worse, she might instead distract Lukaz who was undoubtedly hyperfocused on simply staying alive while keeping the attacker away from The Doll.
No, The Doll couldn't think about that; this was the only solution she could think of in the moment. Finding help at this hour would be unlikely, and this figure didn't seem like they would give up anytime soon. The Doll didn't have the time to think of a better solution.
This had to be the right answer.
Gritting her teeth The Doll attempted to stand up only to find her legs unmoving. But that wasn't quite right; her legs were moving; they were just shaking beneath her. The Doll was unable to even stand in her current state.
Of course The Doll would be unable to stand; she had just been stabbed through the heart. Even after The Strings healed the injury The Doll had still lost far too much blood. Perhaps if The Doll were more competent, she would find the strength to stand.
But The Doll was far from competent.
The Doll was a disappointment.
The blade cut Lukaz again, snapping The Doll out of her self-loathing. The Doll was a disappointment, but she didn't have to make that Lukaz’s problem. Even if The Doll couldn't stand, she could still shout, and she could still get the figures' attention.
Dwelling on her own incompetence would accomplish nothing.
Steeling her nerves The Doll shouted out, “STOP THIS AT ONCE!” As soon as the words left The Doll’s lips both Lukaz and the figure looked over to her, both evidently shocked by her recovery.
The figure acted immediately upon seeing The Doll was alive, diverting their attention from Lukaz entirely and dashing towards The Doll. Seeing this, Lukaz’s eyes widened as he began speaking; after a moment of the speech, a large serpent appeared to the side of the attacker, intending to interrupt their path.
As the snake barreled towards the figure The Doll suppressed a smile of satisfaction that her plan had actually worked. That she had actually been useful.
However, this feeling of satisfaction was short lived as the figure diverted the chained blade to the large serpent, wrapping its blade along its length. While the blade wrapped around the serpent, the figure continued to run toward The Doll, their speed not dropping before giving the chain a tight tug that effortlessly cut the serpent to pieces.
The figure redirected the chain towards The Doll's neck, stopping only to adjust the weapon's aim. Still unable to move her legs, The Doll threw herself down. To her shock The Doll felt no impact from the blade but heard a heavy thud beside her.
Daring to turn her gaze upward The Doll saw the figure backing away from The Doll clutching the stub where their arm that held the chained weapon used to be. Hovering in front of them were several black strings poised to strike that appeared to be coming from The Doll’s back right where the wound that had been recently closed up was.
Strangely enough The Doll didn't feel as though the strings on her back had left; in fact, she felt nothing on her chest, not even the itch that she typically felt from her wrist. The Doll didn't have time to think of the reason for this right now; instead, she stared daggers at the figure watching to see what their next move would be.
Rather than fighting, the figure quickly turned around and began running at breakneck speeds. In the corner of her eye The Doll could see Lukaz running towards the figure in an attempt to catch up.
But before Lukaz could reach them, another figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere, a dagger already buried in the attacker's neck. This newcomer pulled the dagger from the figure’s neck, allowing them to fall to the ground clearly dead.
As the shock began to fade, The Doll's eyes widened in recognition. A familiar chestnut-skinned girl stood over the body, her long hair flowing in the wind.
Cecilia Umbra.