《Harvester Wolf》 Chapter 1 – The Hunt Chapter 1 ¨C The Hunt ¡°There it goes! Don¡¯t let it get away!¡± A voice shouted from the distance. What¡¯s going on? A group of people are chasing me and I don¡¯t know why. This doesn¡¯t feel right, but I don¡¯t have time to think about that right now. I need to get away from them as soon as possible. I¡¯ve been running for what feels like hours but I know it¡¯s only been a few minutes. Ok. I need to calm down. All I need to do is loose them in the trees, that should be too hard right? I mean I¡¯m in a forest so¡­ wait when did I enter a forest? Everything is so confusing. ¡°Fan out and Surround it!¡± Another shouted, closer now. Great. Now they have me cornered. They are closer now and all around me. They all have on white robes. That made me pause for a second. Seriously, why would someone give chase in a robe? Idiots. They have weapons too. Swords mostly but I can see some others in there too. Daggers, spears, bows, and one even has a war hammer. I could take these guys on anytime but I¡¯m so weak right now. What the hell is going on? I should be able to run circles around these guys and they wouldn¡¯t even be able to see my shadow. My legs are starting to shake, I¡¯m loosing strength fast. I must have been poisoned. Shit! I¡¯m out of options, I can¡¯t fight them as I am now. I need to get out of here. ¡°Ha¡­ HAHA!¡± I let out a laugh that sounded more like a growl. ¡°You think that I¡¯m just going to give up?¡± The hunters jump at the sound of my voice. They slow down for a moment looking astonished. What is that look for? Did they not expect me to fight back? ¡°S-Sir¡­ it can TALK!¡± a women with a spear shouts to her leader as she takes a step back. The man with the war hammer is shaken but years of battle are not just for show and he quickly calms down. ¡°Don¡¯t let it escape.¡± He shouts. ¡°Just keep the circle. It is weak with a Soul Poison, it shouldn¡¯t be as strong right now.¡± This calms the rest of the group and confirms my fears. ¡°I¡¯ll take it down with one swing of my hammer.¡± The leader boasts. ¡°All we need to do is keep the body intact.¡± He lifts his mighty war hammer and rushes his enemy, me. Dammit. I guess I¡¯m going to have to use that. I don¡¯t have time to make it safe, but it¡¯s better than the alternative. I gather power into my front limbs and rise up to meet the leader, and I slash my claws down with everything I have. Letting out a roar as all my strength leaves me. Riiiipp!!! ¡­. ¡°Yaaaa!?!?¡± I wake with a start. Cold sweat running down my back. What kind of dream was that? Swords, a forest, a-and claws? Breathing heavy, I wipe my hands up and¡­ there normal, normal human hands. I force myself to breath slower as I continue to stare at my hands. ¡°What are yo¡­¡± a soft voice next to my ear asked. But before they could finish asking I immediately jump at the sound. Wiping around to see who was so close to me and fall out of my bed in the process. With my cat like reflexes I twisted around to land on my feet. Is what I tried to do? Instead I landed on my face. I stay still for about 10 seconds and just think. I had three thoughts. One what the fuck was that dream, two my face hurts, and three who would be so cruel to push me out of bed. (her fault) ¡°That was real smooth lil¡± said the mysterious voice that I swear is too blame for my misfortune. I look up and see my sister. Dam it! Ok think of something clever to blame this on her. ¡°uhh I meant to do that.¡± I said immediately regretting it. My face pales. Fuck! How was the clever at all? I look back up at her she looked less than impressed with that. I let out a sigh and ask her why she¡¯s in my room. ¡°Just wanted to tell you that you have ten minutes before I leave for school. I didn¡¯t see you down stairs so thought I¡¯d check on you. Only to watch you slam your face into the floor.¡± She said as she walked out of my room. I could only hear her laughter down the hall before I could get up. ¡°Ugh.¡± I said. Did she really have to say it out loud? I¡¯m embarrassed as it is. Seriously Lora, you could have given me just a little pity. Lora is my older sister. She is older than me by a year and is about to graduate from high school. She¡¯s so lucky. We have a good sister relationship. Fight over pretty much everything but stick together when things get rough. We go to the same school so she drives us there. Shit. Did she say ten minutes?Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°I¡¯m going to be late!¡± I yell. As I rush to get changed and do my hair I try to remember what I was dreaming about but it¡¯s gone. Guess it wasn¡¯t that important. Anyways I finished in just under 8 minutes. A new record I think. I give myself a once over in the mirror. I see a shor¡­ ¡®height challenged¡¯ girl with pitch-black hair that trailed down to her shoulder blades combed over to one side of her face covering one eye. With stunning light blue eye, a slim nose, and full lips. She also has killer boobs¡­ she does¡­ ok fine. She is flat as a board. She¡¯s wearing a black and red school blazer and skirt. As I finish checking myself out I noticed that my skin was a little pale. Maybe I should go outside more. I¡¯m looking a little emo. I hear my sister honk her horn. So I rush down the stairs. Only to slip on the last step. For the second time today I end up on the ground. I make a face. I should know not to run down the stairs. Doing a quick body check. Everything is good, all green. I jump up and run out side, to Lora and got in her car. She gave me a stare. ¡°Did you just fall down the stairs?¡± Lora asked. ¡°¡­how did you?¡± I asked her in surprise. She just gives me a concerned look. ¡°You need to be more careful Lil. One of these days you going to get hurt.¡± She starts the car and we head to school. On the way she gave a small sad smile and whispers ¡°And we both know how fragile you are.¡± She drops me off so that I wouldn¡¯t be late and goes off to park. I made it to class with seconds to spare. I take my seat in the back of the class. As class starts I already start to zone out and daydream about summer. There is only a few more weeks before the end of my junior year. Then I¡¯m free. Now if I could make some friend to hang out with, that would be great. I only really have one ¡®sort of friend¡¯. I say sort of because I don¡¯t think she counts me as one of her friends. She doesn¡¯t really open up to me and I feel like she¡¯s hiding something. I¡¯m working on it. Anyway I want to be her friend because she has the same problem as me. We are both lonely people. I¡¯m just not good with people, they just make me nervous when I try to talk to them. I want friends but when I have any interaction with them they just give me weird looks and then I lose my nerve and run away. But I don¡¯t get that from Jade. Well¡­ I do but something just makes me want to be close to her. I can¡¯t explain it. I just feel like there is a connection. I don¡¯t know why Jade doesn¡¯t have friends, but maybe if I could get closer to her, she will tell me. Its break time, we get a few minutes between classes to do whatever. Some students get up to stretch their legs and socialize, but I just stay at my desk. I don¡¯t have a reason to move so why force it? No! I slam my fist onto my desk. This is my problem. If I give up now I should forget about having friends. I need to be proactive. I get up and look around only to meet the eyes of everyone in the room. I¡­ guess I slammed my fist to hard. This is where my primal instincts kick in, Fight or flight? I booked it out of the class room blushing fiercely and ran down the hall. God. No, No, NO. What was I thinking? Obviously people would look if you just jump up and punch a desk. I don¡¯t think I can go back. It¡¯s just too embarrassing. I slow down and let out a sigh. This day is just not my day. Class is starting again but I don¡¯t what to go back. I think I¡¯ll go hide out somewhere till school is over. The library seems like a good place to hide. Lots of shelves to stay hidden from the teachers. I nod my head and sneak around the hallways until I get to the library doors. I creep up to the windows next to the door to see if anyone is in there. Nope, all clear, let¡¯s go~. I push the doors open and walk right in. I head to the farthest shelves on the second floor to lay low for a while Crap. Someone is already there. I jump back to hide myself behind a shelf. Out of all the places why would someone hide back here? Are they antisocial? (Ignoring the fact she was there for the same reason). I take a peek around and I see a wild looking girl. Her hair is short, dark red and spiked back. She is taller than me, but really who isn¡¯t? She looked a little tan but not by much. I lower my gaze seeking what I know will defeat me, but I must look. If I don¡¯t then I lose. Yup, I should not have looked. I jump from around the shelf and yell. ¡°Stupid boobie monster what are you doing hiding over here?¡± she looks up from what she was doing and just gives me a blank look. Not at all surprised that I was there or fazed by what I called her. ¡°I have a free period so I¡¯m checking out a book. What are you doing here, Lilith? Shouldn¡¯t you be in class?¡± she coldly said. Yup same old Jade, Nothing gets past her. ¡°ya, I¡¯m not having the best day today and just wanted to get away from everyone.¡± I told her as I look down at my feet. ¡°First my sister ¡®pushed¡¯ me out of my bed onto the floor.¡± She makes a surprised grunt but I continue. ¡°Then I was almost late for class and to top it all off I embarrassed myself in front of the whole class.¡± I look back up at her for support only to see she had a look of surprise on her face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a sister. Who is she?¡± This time it was my turn to look surprised. ¡°Her name is Lora she is a senior this year. She is on the swimming team and track. How do you not know who she is?¡± I stare into her bright violet eye looking for answers. Wait violet eye? I look again but they were her normal green eyes. My head starts to hurt. That was weird. ¡°I¡¯m on the swimming team and the captain of the track team, there is no girl by that name on either team.¡± She looks at me concerned. What is she is she talking about? ¡°That¡¯s not true she drives me every day to school, she¡¯s been going here longer then I have. Why would she lie about being on those teams?¡± her eyes are flashing from green to violet then back again. What¡¯s going on? The headache is getting worse. ¡°Lilith, I¡¯ve only ever seen a women drop you off. She looked like she was in her twenty¡¯s and way too old to be going to high school¡± ¡°W-What?¡± I stammer. It is getting hard to focus now. *tring*
Your Mental Defense has increased!
¡­ ¡°What?¡± I said in surprise. Before I could think about what that meant I was hit with a rush of information and blacked out. Chapter 2 – Lies Chapter 2 ¨C Lies ¡°uhh¡± I let out a moan as I regain consciences. I slowly open my eyes but it hurts. Everything is blurry and out of focus, there is a pain in the back of my eyes. As my vision clears up I can make out someone standing over me. Jade, why does she have to make it look so awkward? When someone passes out shouldn¡¯t you help them and not just stare at them? I¡¯m still in the library but laying on the floor with something under my head. I slowly lean forward and turn around to see what I was resting my head on. It was a book that looked suspiciously like the book Jade had moments ago. So she did help, not that helpful but she tried in her own way. I guess. I couldn¡¯t have been out long then if we are still in here though. ¡°What happened?¡± I ask, looking back at Jade. I gasped seeing that her eyes are violet still and not green. So I wasn¡¯t imagining that. She studied me for a moment then said. ¡°Well you called me names and then without asking me, unloaded all you problems onto me.¡± I wince at that. She continued. ¡°Then you started talking about some imaginary girl you said was you sister, when I told you she didn¡¯t exist you had a fit and fell over. That was ten minutes ago¡± ¡°Sister?¡± I ask in a shaky voice. It¡¯s coming back now. I remember her still, Lora. But it¡¯s like her image is overlaying on another. When I think about her I remember two people. One of my sister Lore who I grow up with, played games with, and told all my problems too. The other is of a women that looks similar to Lora only older. She is around 25. Younger Lora is still there but fuzzy like a dream. I think back and yah it¡¯s like two sets of memories. The one set that is more solid and real is the one with Older Lora though. Even today, when I try to remember what happen this morning, it was that other women that woke me up and drove me to school. Like she does every day. I¡¯m starting to freak out and hyper ventilate. Who is that women? I don¡¯t know. Where is my sister? Is she real? Is she the only one? I think back. Oh god. There are two other people I know who I have double memories of, my parents. But this time its backwards, instead of them being older they got younger. They both were in there fifty¡¯s and dad was starting to show some gray hair. I even started calling him old man and he would just smile at me like he know something I didn¡¯t. Now though, I get what it was. Now when I think of him, he is not a fifty year old man with graying hair. No, he is a young man in his twenty¡¯s. It is the same for my mom, she got younger as well. Still a little older than the other women, L-Lora. Why are they lying to me? Lora is too old to be there child and so am I for that matter. They are still my family right? I¡¯m starting to lose it now. Just as I was about to go into despair, I was slapped. Hard.
-5 Health
¡°Dammit that stings! What the hell was that for!?!?¡± I glared at Jade. Holding the side of my face. With tears in my eyes. I meet her eyes and pause for a moment. That is another thing that changed. Jade is different too. But only her eyes. Does she know what¡¯s going on? Is she a part of this? ¡°You looked like you were starting to lose It.¡± she said passively. I just stare at her, waiting for more of an explanation, but it looks like that¡¯s all I get. Did she really have to slap me in the face? No, that makes sense that sounds just like her. Should I tell her what¡¯s going on? Would she know what¡¯s happing to me? When I look at her I still feel that weird connection, only stronger now. I¡­ I think I can trust her. It¡¯s not like she is going to make fun of me. That¡¯s not the kind of person she is. ¡°Jade¡± I say quietly and look into her eyes. They are a little intimidating now. I think they even glow a little. She just waits for me to continue. ¡°I think my family is lying to me.¡± Then I told her. I just let it all out. About my sister, my family, and her eyes. She listen to me but I don¡¯t think she believed me. That is until I mentioned her eyes. Then she really started to pay attention and started to look worried. When I was done, there was a moment of silence and we just stood there, staring at each other. I must have got up while I was talking, I didn¡¯t even notice. ¡°Mask¡­¡± she whispered. Mask? What Mask? ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked. She jerked a little at that. I don¡¯t think she realized she said that out loud. She just looks at me trying to make a decision. After a minute she nodded and made a determined face.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°You just broke through the mask.¡± She said looking serious.
You have left the Mask¡¯s protection and influence. You can no longer be effected by the Mask.
Getting a little tired of that. Yes I know your there, but I¡¯m having an important conversation right now. Yes, I know what the blue screens that keep popping are. They are my notification. But I don¡¯t have time for that now I need to listen to Jade. Oblivions to my inner turmoil of blue screens, Jade continued to explain. ¡°The Mask is a type of mass illusion. It is a divider from the natural world and the supernatural world. It protects normal people from the monster that lurk around.¡± She didn¡¯t say monster right? ¡­Right? Before I can ask her what she meant, she grabbed my arm and starts pulling me out of the library.
Jade has placed you under her protection.
¡°h-hey! What are you doing?¡± I ask. While I try to keep up with her. Damn these short lags. Without turning back to look at me, she starts explaining. ¡°I need you to stay with me and don¡¯t let go. We have to get back to my place to get something that can protect you.¡± I stare at her. ¡°Why would I need protection?¡± I ask timidly. ¡°You broke through the mask. Which means that you¡¯re out in the open now. The Mask only works if you don¡¯t know about it.¡± She said. So is it something like if I can¡¯t see it, it can¡¯t see me type of thing? That sound kind of stupid. We are out of school now and are heading for the parking lot. We stop at the Black Beast. The Black Beast is the name I gave to the black ford Charger that is always in the school parking lot. It has to be the best car around. I was wounding what we were going to do with it. Jade isn¡¯t thinking about stealing it right? I know this is a despite situation but this is going too far. I don¡¯t know what teacher the car belongs to but I don¡¯t what any one of them mad at me. As I was starting to panic, well panic more, the car unlocks with a solid click. Wait! What?!?! The black beast is hers? ¡°Get in.¡± she told me simply. ¡°Oh. OK.¡± I say a little numbly, and start walking around to the passenger side. Only to be yanked back by my arm. Oh right. She is still holding onto me. I give her my best ¡®are you serious¡¯ face. ¡°You¡¯re going to need to let me go for that.¡± I say. ¡°No, the only think keeping you hidden is by me holding onto you. So just crawl over the seat.¡± she says with a little urgency now. She opens the door and shoves me into the passenger seat. She gets in and we take off. I want to ask her more about the mask but it doesn¡¯t look like she wants to talk until we get to her place. It¡¯s a little awkward. She is driving with one hand and her other hand is now on my shoulder. I guess I have a little time to think now. Ok so the blue screens, they have always been around me, I just could not see them. I think it¡¯s the mask thing that Jade was talking about. If the mask is what I think it is then it hides things that are not normal from the general public. She said monster so maybe like ghosts and zombies, stuff like that. Oh No. please. Tell me there isn¡¯t land sharks. I don¡¯t think I can handle that. Anyway I already know about the screens. Once I ¡®broke¡¯ the mask I learned all about it. That is one of the reasons I passed out, well that and gaining back my real memories. I just doubled the amount of memory¡¯s I had, so yah, I had a little headache. The reason I¡¯m not freaking out about the screens is because I know what it is and what it does. It is always with me keeping track of what I do and records my progress. It works like a game. I have stats and a health bar. But I¡¯m the only one that can see it. I also get skills as well. I do have levels but it¡¯s not what you would think. When I level up I don¡¯t get anything. No stats increase or rewords, nope. The only thing level tells me is the amount of threat something is. But I can at least see other people¡¯s levels as well. I look above Jades head. Flouting above her head are word that say her name and what level she is, well it should but all that is above her is ?????? I think she is too high of a level for me to see. I can get skills too. You would think that I would have a bunch of skills by now, seeing as I have had this power my whole life, but no. the only way I can get new skills are if I try to get them. Let¡¯s say that I spend all my time reading, my reading skill should be really high by now, but nope. Because I didn¡¯t think about gaining the skill it did not unlock. It¡¯s kind of frustrating. I should have been awesome by now with a lot of skill but because of the Mask it took what was special about me and made me forget about it. I don¡¯t even feel like me anymore. Although it does not make me powerful right away, given time to grow,I could be incredible. Even though it looks like a game, I don¡¯t get any experience from killing thing. Err that¡¯s not right. If I had a skill that was for fighting then I would get experience. So the only way to raise my stats are by working for them and train. Skills also play a big part of it. What is good about my skills is that my skills only ever increase. Normally people have to work out to stay in shape, but if they stop for a while then they get worse, not able to run as fast or lift as much. Not me though, I could stop working out for years and jump right back into it like I only stopped for a few minutes. That is, if I have the skill for it. It was actually my only skill that I had that broke the Mask¡¯s hold on me.
Mental Defense: lvl 25 X1 The ability to resist outside influences on your mind. +25% resistance +2 INT
Mental defense has been slowly raising since the moment I got it. Because I was under the effect of the mask it increased the skill until it was strong enough to combat the Mask¡¯s influence on me, and thus braking it. Now that I¡¯m no longer under the influence of the Mask, I¡¯ll will have to find other ways to raise it. It is a scare thing for someone to be able to control your thoughts and I am absolutely terrified that I am not immune. Something already blinded me from my true self. The fact that I will be able to brake any illusion given enough time, is the only comfort I have. It is weird that I have that skill. I wonder how I got it. Now is the time I have a look at what my power thinks of me. Something that I could have seen since I was a kid but the choice was taken away from me. That¡¯s right it¡¯s time to look at my stats! Chapter 3 – status and explanations Chapter 3 ¨C status and explanations
Name: Lilith Fen Age: 17
Race: Mutated Astral Projection Gender: Female
Level: 15 Titles: The last Piece
health 60/65 ? ?
Strength: 5 Vitality: 3
Agility: 4 Dexterity: 2
Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 12
Taking a look at my stats for the first time, I was a little depressed. Ok, so I don¡¯t really have anything to base these off of but I don¡¯t think they are all that good. It kind of makes sense now, why I¡¯m always so clumsy. I mean how can I not be with a AGI of 4! I let out a sigh. I need to find a way to see other people¡¯s stats when I get a chance. Now to look at my skills or rather skill. What? You say I missed something? Race? No nothing wrong there. I¡¯m a perfectly normal ¡®human¡¯ (she¡¯s in denial).
Skill List:
Mental Defense: LV 25 X1
It¡¯s pathetic to just look at, so empty. When I get a chance I¡¯m going to fill this baby up. If, that is, I don¡¯t get killed by monsters. ¡°No!¡± I shake my head. Nothing¡¯s going to happen to me! I¡¯m going to be ok. I¡¯ve made it this long and nothing¡¯s happened yet. Well besides getting a little mind controlled that is. Ok I¡¯m getting anxious again. ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s going to be ok.¡± Jade tightened her hand on my shoulder. She gave me a reassuring glance. How did she know I was freaking out again? She must able to read emotions or something. I never noticed but she is so reliable. ¡°Thanks. I got caught up in my thoughts again.¡± I give her a smile to show I was ok. I wasn¡¯t but she doesn¡¯t need to know that. She didn¡¯t seem convinced but didn¡¯t say anything more. I look at my skills again. Skills are going to be my bread n butter, so to speak. It is the way I¡¯ll be able to get stronger. Every skill I have gives me a status increase, depending on what it is. For every level of skill I raise I¡¯m also getting my stats increased. The problem is every 25 levels of a skill, the amount of work I need to put into a skill increase. It doubles every 25 and at level 100 it is multiplied by 10. That¡¯s so intense. But it is rewarding as well, after every increase of difficulty the attributes I get per level increase as well. I also have a bit of a cheat. That X1 is my talent for the skill. Everyone has things that they are good at and things that they are bad at. People with talent in something usually pick up that skill a lot faster than someone who doesn¡¯t. That¡¯s why not everyone can be a pro-athlete or be able to learn multiple languages at the same time. It¡¯s not impossible to be good at something without the talent for it, you just have to put in more time to learn it. It is not normal to be able to increase your talent or learning speed for a skill. That is were I¡¯m not normal. I can increase my talent. Or to say it a different way, I can get a better multiplier to increase the rate I learn a skill. But it comes at a huge cost. I have to reset the skill back to level one. The ratio is 1:0.1, for every level of the skill I reset I am given a 0.1 multiplier to that skill. That¡¯s awesome and stuff but I would still have to grind the skill back up and I also lose all the attributes I get from that skill. Risk and reward. Also there is no way in hell I¡¯m going to do that with Mental Defense. While I was lost in my thoughts, I noticed that we were pulling into a drive way. I thought we were going to Jades house but we stopped at a Flower shop. The shop is in one of the nicer parts of town, just on the edge. The shop name was The Healing Flower. The building had a modern look to it and look decently new. Probably only built three or four years ago. We get out of the car (I had to crawl over the seat again) and head on in. The inside wasn¡¯t all that big but it gave off a very welcoming atmosphere. I¡¯ve always loved plants so coming here really did wonders to my anxiety. It feels so normal, I think I could spend a lot of time in here just breathing in all the scents. Then I looked at the clerk and all my good feels were gone again. The clerk looked normal enough. She looked to be about early thirty¡¯s and gave off a motherly presence. She had a round face and light brown hair. That¡¯s not what crashed my normalcy about this place. No it was the antlers on her head. Yup, she has dear antler on her head. I give a questioning glance at Jade. She noticed my look and looks back at the clerk, trying to find out what was wrong. After a moment she looks like she realized something and leans down to my ear. ¡°Don¡¯t mind her. That¡¯s completely normal.¡± She whispered and started towards the back of the shop. How is that normal? You know what? I¡¯m just going to roll with it. I follow her in. As we walk passed the clerk, she gives Jade a huge smile and said. ¡°Welcome back miss Sune. OH! You brought home a friend! That¡¯s so Great.¡± She looks me over then nodes. ¡°Would you like me to bring up some refreshments for you and you guest?¡± Jade looks a little flustered at this bubbly deer women. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary Hana. We will be fine?¡± Hehe, that last part sounded like a question. I don¡¯t think Jade can handle this woman¡¯s personality all that well. I think I just found one of Jades weaknesses. I¡¯ll have to talk to this Hana when I get the chance. I take a glance above her antlers but she also had ????.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We go up the stairs that were in the back room and arrive in what looks like a living room. So this is her house then? It¡¯s not bad. After seen her car I imagined her place to be all modern and black and white. But I was wrong, most of the furniture is made out of wood and gave off a nice pine wood smell. Flower and ferns are dotted around the room as well. See this is why I know I should be Jades friend. We have like the same taste in decoration. ¡°You did a great job in decorating the place.¡± I commented. She just gives a non-committed noise and continues to lead me in further. ¡°Wait here. And don¡¯t touch anything.¡± She let¡¯s go and leaves me at the door. The room she led us to looks amazing. The amount of herbs growing everywhere and vines creeping up the walls, are just stunning. They are all being grown in planters. It¡¯s weird, I don¡¯t get how they are growing. There is no natural light in this room at all. I¡¯ll have to ask Jade about that. I didn¡¯t see that I left Jades protection so I take a peek at my effects.
Jade¡¯s protection:
While under the protection of Jade Sune, your territory will be suppressed.
I thought I needed to be touching her? Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m in her house? That¡¯s the only reason I can think of. The plants aren¡¯t the only thing in this room. She has what looks to be a professional chemistry set in the back of the room, with glass tubes of various shapes and a few Bunsen burners. There were all kinds of different colored liquids in the glass bottles some being boiled and what not. Jade is in the back messing around with the equipment at a desk. She looks very focused right now, so I think I should be quiet. She has on an apron and what looks like wielding goggles. She looks like a mad scientist. Yup. I¡¯m just going to stay where I am and not move, I don¡¯t what to be turned into a frog or something. Wait. Isn¡¯t that witches? What do mad scientist do too poor innocent people? Umm. Turn me into an android? With laser coming out of my eyes and jest in my feet. You know what. That sound really cool!
*Jade POV* In the library I was grabbing a book on herbs that I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve gotten too yet. When I heard something sneaking up on me. I think I know only one person who would approach me like that. ¡°Sigh¡± Lilith Fan, she just won¡¯t leave me alone. She follows me everywhere. I know she wants to be friends, but it¡¯s not going to work out. Don¡¯t get me wrong, she¡¯s nice and all, if just a little loud, but I don¡¯t think being friends with a masked human seems like a good idea. While I was thinking, she jumped around and called me an inappropriate name. I almost smile at that, it¡¯s kind of cute how she always compares us, but I keep my composure. I have to be cold with masked humans so that they don¡¯t get attached. It¡¯s just easier that way. I wonder what she is doing here. Doesn¡¯t she have class? Is she skipping? I didn¡¯t take her for that kind of person. Education is important. Should I scold her? Maybe she has a good reason. I ask what she is doing here and she just starts complaining to me. I only wanted to hear why she wasn¡¯t in class but I guess I get to hear about her whole day. I listen to everything she says. It¡¯s important to listen to people when they confided in you, you know. Sounds like a normal day for her until she talks about a sister. Huh, didn¡¯t know she had one. Maybe that¡¯s the one that drives her to school. I must have been making a face because she asked what was wrong. When I told her about what I was thinking she seemed to get confused. She tells me all about her sister but she said it was a girl who goes to this school. That¡¯s not right. When I denied the girls existence I think she fainted. Oh no! What do I do? She¡¯s falling! I catch her and ley her down on the floor. I think I should prop her head up. Ok good. Now what? Should I call someone? I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not good with these kind of situation. I think I¡¯ll just give her a few minutes and see if she wakes up on her own. I wander what happened. I think she had a mental break down. That a real shame, she was a nice girl. Don¡¯t worry Lilith Fan ill visit you in the hospital. Oh she¡¯s stirring, I think she¡¯s waking up! When she wakes up she looks around until she noticed me standing over her, protection her from danger. When our eyes meet, hers go wide. Oh no. it must be worse than I thought, she must be terrified. She asked me what happened to her. I told her all about it, and ask her what she remembers. All she did was mutter ¡°sister¡± then I think she was about to lose it again. I can¡¯t have her relapse! It¡¯s dangerous, but what should I do. Oh I know! I lightly slapper her, that always works in those movies. She lets out a yelp and stares angrily at me. Isn¡¯t that what normal people do? Did I put too much strength in to the slap? I don¡¯t think so. Maybe she is just delicate. I wouldn¡¯t put it passed her she looks really weak. She so tiny, seriously girl don¡¯t you even lift? Anyway the slap worked but then she starts talking about her fake sister and family. She seems so fragile right now so I think I¡¯ll just listen for now. Then she said something she shouldn¡¯t know about. My eyes. How does she know about that? That¡¯s impossible. What a minute! I know what this is. She didn¡¯t have a mental break down! It was the mask! She broke the mask. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± she asked. I jumped at that. How did she know? I don¡¯t have time to think about this. She¡¯s in danger. I grab her and put her under my territory to hide her from others. she isn¡¯t in any danger for now. Ok what is the steps for people that brake the mask? Ok, hide them, got it. Then protect them until they are not in immediate danger. Doesn¡¯t that mean I have to teach her? Or I could call mom had have her take care of the problem. No, this is my responsibility, she is my responsibility. Plus knowing mom there is a 50-50 chance that she will just eat her and turn her. OH! I know what I can do. I need to go home though. But I have class soon. No. That¡¯s fine, this is more important than school anyway. We get to the shop. When we enter it¡¯s like a flip was switched for Lilith. She really relaxed after that. Hey, that great! Everyone should feel like this. That why I built this shop. Flowers should be able to heal any wound! Maybe we can be friends after all. She tensed up again, what now? She was doing so well. I look for what she is staring at, oh it¡¯s just Hana. Ya I get uneasy with her too, she is hard to handle. But Lilith doesn¡¯t know her so why would she get effected by Hana? Oh wait. I know what it is, it¡¯s her antlers. Duh. How could I miss that? She is seeing something that¡¯s not human for the first time, of course she would be scared. I tell her not to mind it and try to get past Hana so that she doesn¡¯t scare Lilith too bad. Hana offered to bring up some drinks, it sounds nice but I know what Hana is thinking. She wants to know who Lilith is and why I¡¯m holding onto her. I decline, she would just scare Lilith anyway. I take her to my lab once we got into the shop I could have let her go but I just didn¡¯t want too. She¡¯s just so small, I felt like I was walking with a kid or something. It¡¯s no good. She¡¯s bring out my maternal instincts, I just feel like I want to protect her. She is a dangerous individual for any female. But I had to let her go to make her a protection charm. I told her not to touch anything because some of the plants are poisonous. I got to work right away. Luckily protections enchants are a lot easier then defense enchants. What should I put it on? Let¡¯s see. I think I have a pocket watch on my desk. I use it to keep track of the time when I¡¯m doing my experiments. Although I really like it, I think I can put it to better use by giving it to Lilith. I root around the desk for a moment and found it under some papers. I hold it up by the chain to examine the watch. The chain is made of iron and the watch its self is made of silver. It was an ironic joke from my mother. This will do perfectly. I open it up and lay it back down on the desk. I grab my tools, put on my goggles and get to work. I put the enchant on the inside to keep it safe from any kind of damage it may get from day to day. It only took about five minutes to finish. I turn back to Lilith and gave her the watch. Now it is time to open her eyes to the world. Once we get that out of the way I¡¯ll have to think up a training plan to get her up to standers for self-defense. She is under my care after all so I can¡¯t leave her to fend for herself.
*Lilith POV* It didn¡¯t take long for Jade to finish with what she was doing, she came back with something in her hand. It was a beautiful pocket watch. She holds it out for me to take. Is she giving this to me? ¡°That looks really expensive, I don¡¯t think I could take it.¡± ¡°Take it. This will hide your territory for you, until you learn to suppress it yourself.¡± She demanded. I guess I can¡¯t refuse. I take the watch and attach it to the back of my skirt and put the watch in my pocket so that the chain looped around the side. I have to say that I love the look. She takes me back out to the living room and sits me down so that I sat across from her. Then she told me about everything that been happening to me. It took hours but she didn¡¯t get tired and answered all of my questions seriously and as best as she could. The Mask is an illusion that protect the monster from the human¡¯s. The Mask was designed to be a catch all spell. It hides anything considered abnormal by altering the memories of those who seen it. The mask is not all powerful though given enough push, people will be able to see past it at times, that is way there are monster sighting all the time. They only see it for a brief moment before the mask can hide them again. There are also rare cases where someone can break the mask all together. This is what I did. Why this makes it dangerous for me is because I broke through I am aware of the monsters around me. I release a thing called a territory. A territory is a type of sense that reach¡¯s out around me to keep track of the threats. This helped save people from monster before the mask. The problem is that the monster also have it, but they don¡¯t hide it, not anymore. After the mask was put up, people affected by it didn¡¯t use territory anymore, so monsters used it to identify one another. When they don¡¯t want to be found they suppresses it. Because I can¡¯t control mine, monsters are going to come find me and when they find out that I am so week they will do terrible things to me that I would rather not think about. Not all monsters are bad though. Some help people that brake the Mask, like Jade. Although I don¡¯t know what Jade is, I think she is safe. I never asked, for some reason I feel that it is rude to ask what race you are. When I asked her about my family, she told me she didn¡¯t know them, only that if they were hidden by the Mask then they must be Monsters of some sort. I can¡¯t think of what kind of monster they would be though. I¡¯m scared to ask them, or even let them know that I know. If I have the watch, they won¡¯t know that I am no longer a prisoner of the Mask. I then asked about what was real or not. Dragon, pixies, unicorns, slimes, harpies, and just about everything else. I dreaded to ask but I had to know. ¡°Are land sharks real?¡± ¡°Land sharks? Um. I think there is something like that.¡± I paled a little hearing that. ¡°But they are more like lava sharks. They can jump out and move on land but only for short distances before they have to get back into the lava. I think it has something to do with it being too cold anywhere else for them.¡± I breathed a sigh of relief. After our Q and A Jade had something else to tell me. ¡°Starting from now, I will be your teacher until you can defend yourself and suppress your territory. We will start your training tomorrow, and I want you to be ready because I¡¯m going to work you hard.¡± She gave me a big smile. I¡¯ve never seen her smile like this. I think this is her true smile. I¡¯m afraid though. She seems a little overeager for this.