'I really don't find her all that amusing...' Jarren couldn't help but think as he made his way out of the Arcane Archives. His mind focusing on Meryln. Sure it was passable for him to have someone else to toy with given that Clomere wasn't around but his interest in Meryln had already started to waver.
Before he could focus more on the matter, he was intercepted by Orissa, her face stern. "I hope that you're aware of the mock tournaments that will be unfolding soon so you better prepare." Her demeanor cold however he remained unbothered, still lost in his thoughts.
"Hey!!! Did you hear a single word I just said?!" Her voice now louder that threw him back to the real world. "I'm aware of the mock tournaments and I'm already dealing with my problem. With Serrant lurking about, I'm sure that he'll make my experience one to remember."
Orissa was baffled as to what could have caused a rift between the two as they were great friends from what she has heard. "What did cause you two to have a fall out however if you're not in the mood you don't have to answer my question." The two stood under a cool shade, the sun already at the horizon making streaks of orange hue in it's wake.
Students breezed by however they seemed distant to the two. "He was simply weak and the truth was something he wasn't ready to come to terms with." His voice flat with his hands pocketed. 'Weak... Have you taken a long look at your attributes for you to be calling others weak?'
Her mind brushing it off as his hubris was ready to leave. "Before you leave, I do have to announce to you that my offer is closing. So what would it be? A slave or damnation?" A look of contempt flashed on her face, her eyes sizing at Jarren.
"At what point in time do you think that I would ever submit to you as a slave much less a maid of yours? I'm here to get stronger, not engage in frivolous acts of "romance" or such. Don't bring this up again." He didn't seem bothered with her agitated state of mind and without a word left the scene.
Orissa was puzzled that he didn't let out his signature smile that she had come to hate. 'It's rather impressive that he managed to break through into the Silver Vow rank so fast. It took me a week to do the same.' She classified his growth as remarkable before making her way to her affairs.
***
Cleaning herself up, she made her way out of the Arcane Archives and back to her dormitory. Meryln's throat was sore, her hair disheveled and her overall composure unraveled however with a spell she managed to mask most of this.
"There she is, Jarren's lover." Her friend Sarah commented. A smile plastered on her face. "So what did you two talk about? Did he buy you any gifts perhaps?" Trizah added making a smile she didn't want to project form on her face.
"I... let's just say he had a strong first impression." Her tone rough as she had yet to fully recover from the experience. "Well I'm sure you enjoyed being his cum bucket." Sarah spoke flustering her face. 'Wait! What?! I'm sure that he wouldn't tell these two so how do they know about that?'
"The way he ravaged your throat, I'm sure you enjoyed every second of it you fucking slut." The more she heard the less familiar it felt. "Huh? What... are you okay?" Stumbling back, she could feel the air in the room felt off. Not ominous or alien but wrong in all the right ways.
"Since you enjoyed it so much I'll kill myself to it." Trizah spoke. "Here here." Sarah added and without pause forming blades with malcore slit their throats. Her scalp tingled, her hair rising as her breathes grew shallow. The two fell to the floor in unceremonious thuds, blood coaleseing at their figures till the whole floor was drenched in their blood.
"What is going on?!?" She wanted to scream but her throat had yet to heal. Without delay she shot out of the room that she was in and dashes down the halls. Empty as if abandoned and left to rot. 'Weren't there students here just a few minutes ago?' Her mind couldn't comprehend what was unfolding.
Scared she opted to make her way to the central spire of the academy where the teachers were only to find that the sun was lacking. The very same that was setting a couple of minutes ago was now completely gone and the sky was now filled with stars but the more she looked at them, the more she felt as if she was being observed at.
By now her body had fallen to the madness that was unfurling around her. "Oh there she is,the slut!" Her friend from before rang only to be followed with a barrage of ridiculing laughter. "I bet that she'll happily spread her legs for anyone!"
A figure from the crowd added only eliciting more madenning cackles. "What? No! He forced me into it!!" She screamed but the laughs persisted. "From the looks of it, you had a good time!" The firmament shifted to replay the scene of how Jarren mutilated her throat, her eyes lost in the heat.
"No!!! What is happening?!?!?!?!?" Her cries tore through the sky only to be reciprocated with mocking laughs. "Aww~~ Look how you seemed to enjoy it, as if he actually cared about you~ You should just claim your life." Her state of mind was in shambles, she couldn't tell whether this was a hallucination or a spell cast by one of her fellow students.
The night starry sky instantly lost all of it's glamour and now replaced with beady eyes of different shades. Some bore into her soul, others merely latched onto her figure offering mocking gazes as the laughs kept on flowing. "Would all of you shut the fuck up!!!"
As much as she shouted, in the ocean of laughter, it merely drowned into obscurity and then she felt it all. The weight of the gazes, the laughs and the madness from the eyes above that existed only to judge her. Her fingers clung onto the cobblestone floor only to end up with fractured fingernails.
Her wails of madness broke into a frenzy, digging into her head and trying to rip her hair off. 'No! This is merely a dream. It's quite clear that I fell asleep at the archives.' She sullied herself however the pain felt more than just real, it felt surreal and amplified adding more burden to her soul.
"That's it!!" A crazed smile formed onto her face as she bashed her head onto the ground. "This bitch! I'll help extinguish her pitiful life!" A sharp kick landed on her skull ramming her onto the cobblestone. The pain never once wore off but rather amplified.
More people circled her figure and closed the distance. A wave of barrages, kicks and punches landed all over her body. The sounds of laughs never once ceased, only growing louder as they thrashed her figure onto the ground. More eyes appeared, her madness grew as the smile on her face stretched from ear to ear.
"You may now remove your existence out of my presence, toy..." The voice came from an eye. Bigger than the rest that seemed way too mythical. Her mind unable to comprehend what she was looking at, the endless circles that defied logic, the screams of beings echoing her to end her existence and the judgment that the eye bore was too much for her.
"Hahahahaha!!!!!!" In her frugal state of insanity, her eyes began to bleed gold. Her soul slowly slipping from the suit of flesh and multiple ethereal tendrils shot from the eye that bled anti logic and latched onto her.
It was then that she realized that the pain she experienced much earlier,the shame or guilt was nothing in comparison to what coursed through her soul. The tentacles weren't gentle as they tightly wrapped her existence, the pain unfathomable and like a twig finally snapped her soul and devoured her whole.
Her body was now bashed and mangled beyond recognition and yet the mob never stopped beating her body. Their fists drenched in blood, bones bent in ways that shouldn't be and her skull cracked open like a coconut.
And just like that Meryln lost her life, not to absurd circumstances but at the hands of something she never fully quite understood.
***
"It is a shame that we have to announce the death of our own students. Three of them. Meryln Graelborne, Sarah Blokeheart and Trizah Harlow." The mood was heavy however two faces seemed uninvested. "We can't conclude as to what drove them to such a point but it would seem that Trizah and Sarah beat Meryln to death before slitting their own throats. Their minds however were liquefied"
It truly was strange news however Jarren remained unbothered, the orchestrator of the trios death. Meryln, he had already lost interest, the two were merely his hands. As for the other person was Veriyal who was tense rather than somber. 'There's no way that it's a coincidence that it's Meryln. He has to be behind this somehow...'
Her eyes locked onto Jarren's figure who seemed aloof, his head supported with his hand. Coming off as inconvenient by the event rather than bothered. Some acquaintances stepped forward to give their speeches and so did some professors.
Ending the statement with promising to ensure that such an event wouldn't repeat itself. 'How will they promise something they themselves don't know what they're going against?' Meryln's end was horrifyingly sweet for him, could have been sweeter however his interest to care was lacking.
As for the two, controlled their bodies to beat Meryln to death and had them slit their throats. As for liqueification of it all, a means to do nothing more than startle the professors and instructors. Besides it was a good smile screen to help mask his results on the test.
After some condolences offered to the three, they were allowed to head back to their classes. Most still discussing about the death of the three making Jarren fade into the background and fall into irrelevancy with minimal ease. Harven came in with the test results however didn't dwell on them too much.
"It feels like an insult to my work however I applaud the student that managed to score a perfect grade in my test." His voice vague however few felt as if he was addressing Jarren only to dismiss it with the notion that he was new to Darkness as an element. As for Jarren, he looked at his perfect score before putting it away without care.