Zhu was tired, hurt, and almost delirious with pain. A glaze of red blurred her vision, casting the world into a crimson haze. The afternoon light filtering through the tent cloth looked like blood-stained water. Smoke from the nearby campfires drifted through the air, stinging her nose. She could smell the guard's sweaty, unwashed body, leather, and the metallic tang of blood, her own.
For some reason, she didn't want to cry.
Instead, she had the strange urge to laugh.
The sounds of the camp drifted in and out of her awareness, the clatter of pots, the restless snarling of caged beasts, servants shuffling across dirt, men laughing somewhere nearby. The noise faded and returned like distant waves as she slipped in and out of consciousness.
Seriously, she thought cynically, who did I offend in a past life to deserve this existence?
Suffering. Pain. Humiliation.
That had been her bread and butter ever since she was a child.
Ah… she was convinced she would die here.
There would be no help from Faral. No miracle rescue.
Her strength was nearly gone, but the stubborn fire in her spirit refused to extinguish quietly. If she had to die, she would make sure someone paid for it.
Blinded by pain, she did not struggle when Grant's rough hands grabbed at her intimately. His fingers pawed at her like she was an object instead of a person. Zhu endured it silently, her body limp, her breathing shallow.
She waited.
Waited until the moment his guard dropped.
Then she struck.
Using the last of her strength, Zhu surged upward and sank her teeth deep into her attacker's neck.
Grant screamed.
But Zhu did not let go.
He struck her. Hard.
She did not let go.
His fists pounded against her head and back, but Zhu only bit harder. When he tried to pull away, she lunged forward and clamped onto his shoulder instead. Her legs wrapped around him like a feral monkey clinging to a tree.
Grant staggered, roaring in pain.
Her strength couldn't last long.
When she was finally ripped away from him, she tore a chunk of flesh free.
Grant cried out in agony and shoved her violently to the ground.
"You nasty bitch!"
Blood poured from the torn wound at his neck.
Seeing the blood flow, seeing the guard clutch his throat in panic, made Zhu smile.
Then she laughed.
A wild, hysterical laugh.
With blood smeared across her lips and teeth, she looked up at Grant with a crimson grin.
"Beautiful."
She spat the torn flesh from her mouth.
The chunk landed wetly in the bed of the tent.
A shiver ran down Grant's spine.
The sight of the small girl lying on the floor of the tent, face bruised, mouth bloody, eyes glazed red smiling like that… It felt wrong. Ominous.
"You crazy bitch!"
Trying to shake off the unease crawling up his back, Grant slammed his foot into the ground. Earth element energy surged through him.
The dirt beneath Zhu erupted upward tearing through the tent fabric.
A column of packed soil struck her like a hammer and flung her violently out of the tent.
She hit the ground hard outside, rolling across the dusty camp floor.
Grant stormed out after her.
The wound in his neck was serious, but he was a Level D Earth Elementalist. His body was tougher than most. He could endure it.
Without hesitation, he kicked Zhu hard in the ribs.
In the center of the camp, Guild Master Brian was lounging in the open instead of inside the tent. A half-eaten piece of roasted meat hung from his hand as he watched the scene unfold with idle curiosity.
Seeing his guard clutching his neck while beating the girl senseless, Brian burst out laughing.
He pointed like an excited child watching a street performance.
"Haha! Grant! The nasty cockroach bit you!"
"Urgh!"
Grant flushed red with humiliation.
Hearing his master mock him only made his rage explode.
He began stomping harder on Zhu.
But Zhu had already crossed the line between pain and madness.
Somewhere along the way, the agony stopped mattering.
When Grant's foot came down again, Zhu grabbed it.
Before he could react, she twisted her head and sank her teeth into his heel.
Grant screamed.
The sound echoed across the camp.
He tried to shake her off, hopping wildly as Zhu clung to his foot like a rabid animal. Losing his balance, he crashed to the ground and began kicking her head with his other foot.
But Zhu's teeth seemed to have lengthened slightly.
They locked into the vulnerable flesh like hooks.
Grant howled.
With a desperate, furious kick, he finally dislodged her.
But this time, a much larger chunk of flesh tore free.
Grant screamed as the meat ripped from his heel.
He rolled across the dirt, clutching his foot, blood pouring between his fingers.
Nearby, Guild Master Brian watched the entire scene as if it were a comedy play.
He laughed loudly, slapping his knee.
Around them, the other guards gathered, some chuckling, some openly laughing at Grant's humiliation. Servants continued moving through the camp carrying water, supplies, and animal feed, barely sparing the scene a glance.
The ground was stained with blood.
A girl lay half-dead in the dirt.
No one cared.
No one helped.
To them, it was just another form of entertainment.
Seeing the pain she had inflicted, Zhu felt proud. Without Faral's help, she had actually managed to damage her captor. She was in severe pain, she had definitely lost teeth; but she didn't care. She laughed hysterically.
"Good job, Zhu," she muttered to herself. "You can die in peace now."
"What die?! Are you crazy, girl?" Faral's voice streamed into her mind, his strength flooding faintly back into her body.
"Oh, Faral." Zhu gave no reaction to the sudden warmth in her limbs. "Welcome to my wake."
"Unfortunately, I can't let you die," Faral said, ignoring both her dramatic tone and her increasingly unhinged commentary.
Zhu made a face. "Why are you so late?"
"The healing paste just left your body enough for me to connect to you once more."
She coughed up blood. "Well, a lot of good that will do now. I'm dying, Sir Farts-a-Lot."
"Calm down, Zhu. I'm using the last bit of healing paste in your body to patch you up as best as I can." Another warm wave of energy moved through her chest and ribs.
In her despair and pain, she paused.
"Wait… Faral… did you just say my name?"
There was a brief silence in her mind.
Then slowly, very slowly, her eyes widened.
"…Wait."
Faral kept working.
"…Faral."
Yes?
"Did you just say my name?"
Silence. A long, judgemental silence. Finally Faral answered carefully.
…Of all the things you can concentrate on at this time this is what you choose?
Zhu forgot she was supposed to be dying and answered "Yes. You said my name!"
I might have mentioned it once.
"You've never said my name!"
That's not true. I just did.
"In all the time we've known each other," Zhu wheezed, "all the battles, the near-deaths, the monsters, the kidnappings, this is the first time you've called me by my name?!"
All this fuss seemed unnecessary.
"UNNECESSARY?!"
Her sudden mental outrage made her cough again.
Faral sighed in her mind.
Please stop yelling. Your lungs are currently negotiating with death.
Zhu ignored him.
"So what have you been calling me this whole time?" she demanded. Her mind was too battered to recall.
Girl.
"…Girl."
Sometimes 'idiot.'
"…Idiot."
Once or twice 'reckless fool.'
"YOU—"
She tried to sit up. Pain immediately slammed her back into the ground.
Faral's voice sharpened.
Do not move! I am literally holding your organs together with herbal paste and sheer willpower!
Zhu wheezed.
"…You absolute menace."
You are the one who started calling me Sir Farts-a-Lot.
"That was affectionate."
That was slander.
Zhu groaned dramatically.
"I cannot believe this. I might die and only now you decide to learn my name."
You never said it.
"Oh?"
I heard when you told Guild Master Brian.
"You heard that?!"
Of course I heard that. I exist in your head.
"…You could have said something!"
You never asked.
Zhu opened and closed her mouth.
"…You never asked either!"
You never offered.
"…That's because I assume normal people ask!"
I assumed normal people introduce themselves.
They both fell silent.
Then Zhu muttered weakly,
"…This is the dumbest conversation I've ever had while dying."
You are not dying.
"Debatable."
Stop dying. It's inconvenient.
"Oh, sorry," Zhu said dryly. "Let me reschedule my death."
That would be appreciated.
Another pulse of warmth spread through her body and some of the agony faded.
Zhu blinked.
"…Faral."
Yes, Zhu.
"Since you have different names for me I'll call you Earl of Wind…"
Faral groaned in her mind. "No"
Zhu laughed again; weak, breathless, but triumphant.
"Sir Windy-Lord."
"…That is worse."
She grinned weakly through the blood. "I'm glad you're back, Faral. But I don't think you can save me this time."