When I came to, my friends were looking at me with a mixture of concern and relief. This was most obvious when I looked at Sallia and Anise, who looked as if they were the ones who had survived a life-threatening crisis, rather than me. Felix looked more stoic, though I could still see worry etched into his face.
I groaned, and then winced as I realized one of my shoulders wasn’t moving properly. I couldn’t tell what was wrong with it, because our Market biology only loosely correlated to regular humanoid biology. However, I suspected that whatever was replacing my shoulder blade was cracked, if not outright shattered. My head was even worse - it felt like it was underwater. When I tried to stand up, my surroundings tilted and swirled, which nearly caused me to drop back to the floor. I felt drunk.
Something was seriously wrong with my head. I stopped trying to stand up, and instead used most of my remaining alteration essence to heal myself a bit. A good chunk of the alteration essence I had used went towards my spine, my shoulder, and my head, where I felt a variety of wounds bend and warp back into place. However, to my delight, I noticed something else. I could detect a faint sense of wrongness in the connection between my body and my soul. It wasn’t like a physical injury - it was more like I was observing a bridge between two completely different things, and confirming that the bridge was filled with cracks and potholes.
Was this what it felt like to observe the connection between the soul and the body? I felt myself grin. If that was the case, then the ability I had taken was as useful as I had hoped it would be.
After confirming there were no threats in the room, I decided to try walking again. This time, I felt much steadier, but there was still a great deal of unsteadiness in my footsteps. I didn’t feel drunk anymore, but I still felt like my movements were off.
<Miria? What’s wrong? You look kind of like a duck. You’re waddling around instead of walking,> said Anise. <Did she hurt you so badly that you couldn’t heal all of the damage?>
I smiled. It looked like my efforts had paid off. This was far better than before.
After I finished healing my body and the connection between my body and soul, I did another experimental walk around the room, and confirmed that there were no major issues anymore. I could walk, talk, dance, and jump with no problems again. With my healing finally out of the way, I turned my attention to the girl my friends had captured. She was partially encased in a block of metal, likely made by Felix, and her arms and legs were restrained. She was also surrounded by faint walls of fire, which Anise was maintaining even as she watched me toddle around the room.
I gave my friends a quizzical look.
“I was trying to keep her from mist-stepping towards us to keep fighting,” said Felix. “We’ll see if it actually works, though. The metal is a type of experimental metal I made on the spot. If it goes well, it’ll prevent her from channeling essence into her body as fluidly as she did during the fight. If it fails… then we should be ready for another fight.”
I glanced at the walls of flames, and then raised my eyebrow at Anise. Anise shrugged.
“Plan B,” she said. “If the girl turns into mist, I’ll incinerate all of it.”
I nodded, and then eyed our captive with interest. Especially after Sallia sent an explanation of her actions via the communication bracelets.
<She referred to us as ‘transmigrators’ and displayed intelligence. We decided we might be able to learn something if we captured her alive and chatted with her,> said Sallia. <We’ll see how good I am at getting information, but… at least I can try.>
I felt a flicker of unease at the thought of trying to extract information from a prisoner. I wasn’t… necessarily comfortable with the idea of torturing someone for information. Killing monsters or people trying to kill us was one thing, but torturing a prisoner felt very different to me. I wasn’t sure if it was a line I was okay with crossing.
However, before I could say anything, Felix seemed to sense my unease. He grinned at me.
“Relax. We’re going to ask her a few questions, but we won’t torture her. I’m not comfortable crossing that line either. We’re going to try the same method I heard that guards used to interrogate criminals in our third world. I admit, it has been quite a while since I last heard about things like that… our last world was way too internally supportive and low on crime.” Felix sighed. “We’ll see how my idea goes. Still, it’s worth a try. During the fight she seemed chatty, at least. So we might get some information pretty easily.” Felix also glanced at the hallways leading out of this room, and I realized he had added in a few soundproof doors to the sides. “I also soundproofed the room a bit. Nothing too crazy, but it should stop her from calling for reinforcements.”
I relaxed. Felix’s soundproofing was a good idea - something I hadn’t thought of, even though I wished I had. I was also glad that my friends were just as uncomfortable crossing certain lines as I was. I wanted my friends to live, but I also didn’t want to lose my humanity in the process - if I could avoid it, at least.
We waited nearly an hour for the strange girl to wake up. When she found herself encased in a metal prison, she hissed at us like a feral raccoon. Her mouth twisted and warped, like a snake unhinging its jaw, and she tried to gnaw on the metal - only for Sallia to interpose her blade between the girl’s teeth and the metal block.
“Stop it,” said Sallia. “We want to ask you a few questions, but if we see you try to escape, we’ll immediately kill you.”
The girl looked at Sallia’s sword, and then glared at Sallia. For a moment, I found myself doubting the assessment of my friends. This girl didn’t seem very rational - she seemed more like a venomous snake, poised to strike. Could this woman somehow turn the tables on us? I wanted information too, but if it risked the lives of any of us, it wasn’t worth it.
“Not willing to talk?” said Felix. “Why did you attack us?”
The girl sneered. It was the first expression she had made that didn’t seem like a prelude to an attack.
“Do I need a reason to attack transmigrators? Everyone hates you fuckers anyway. Going from world to world, slaughtering as you please, claiming it doesn’t matter as long as the souls escape. Stealing a branch to make the ship. Interrupting the peace of the dead.” The girl snorted.
I resisted the urge to wince. Transmigrators seemed to have an awful reputation.
Still, two of the girl’s sentences intrigued me. Interrupting the peace of the dead… and stealing a branch to make a ship? I had no idea what that meant.
Could these two facts be key information behind how and why the Market had ended up like this?
“What do you mean stealing a branch to make a ship?” asked Anise.
The girl snorted, and her lips curled into a twisted smile, before she froze. Then, she started laughing.
“I was about to say that you must be lying, but I get it now. You’re new transmigrators, aren’t you? You don’t even know.” The girl’s laughter become deeper and stronger, until she started wheezing in sheer, unbridled delight. Then, her eyes blazed with red light as she locked onto my body.
“Well, I’m not one to sympathize with a member of the Market. Die for the sins of your civilization.”
Then, without another word, the woman exploded into red mist. She rushed straight towards me. However, the speed of her mist seemed far slower than before - likely a result of Felix’s special metal.
Anise reacted instantly, slamming all of her walls of fire into the woman’s mist sheet. I heard a distant, distorted scream, before the ball of red mist puffed away into nothing.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and then frowned.
We had gotten a few more hints, but far less information than I had hoped for. Worse, our main source of information had died.