Saki

  I made my way down the hallway and found myself in a large area . To my left was a massive lake dozens of miles wide; to my right, a massive glittering wall of gemstones. The wall did not quite reach the ceiling, but based on the outline, it was clearly a city wall at one point. That meant that this used to be a city or town of some kind. Based on the size, I was aiming for a large city or a small metropolis .

  “Actually, it was considered a metropolis during its time!” Anna added helpfully.

  “Can you not read my thoughts?” I asked, annoyed.

  She giggled. “Sorry, it is literally automatic.” She did not sound sorry.

  I sighed and walked into what appeared to have once been a city block. Massive gemstone-encrusted buildings along with waterways going down paths into the city proper. Most likely a water city.

  “Yup, it was called Muosil. The ruler was High Priestess Truza. She is long dead now, and her city is only a memory,” Anna said in her sing-song voice.

  I paused. “Anna, how old are you exactly?” I asked with hesitation. If she was old enough to know this city’s leader and what it was in its heyday…

  “I am not sure. I have been asleep for a very long time based on my surroundings,” she stated simply.

  I sighed and asked, “Anything else you would like to mention?” My ear twitched in slight irritation. She was helpful, but in an annoying way.

  “The pastries on third street were to die for!” she said and giggled.

  “Oh? They were that good, huh?” I asked absentmindedly. I was trying to come up with a plan to find Tama in this massive city. She had to be here somewhere. The staff could not have taken her far.

  “Oh, no! I meant literally to die for!” she said as she swirled around me.

  I was pulled from my thoughts at that. “What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly feeling a bit nervous.

  “Oh, you just had to be there!” she said absentmindedly.

  I sighed and started mapping out the city grid in my head from what I could tell. It seemed to follow the waterways through the center of the…

  “Based on the strength of that skeleton guy’s staff, most likely an A-tier and where you ended up, if she was first to get hit, then she is most likely across the lake. Funny you mentioned grids, actually! If you follow basic magical mapping of the grid system, you can easily see where she would end up.” Anna spoke rapidly and in doing so dropped a lot of bombshells that gave me quite a bit of information, like her first lie.

  “You told me you could not read my mind! Surface thoughts only!” I said in horror.

  “I mean, technically, I said I was only reading your surface thoughts, sadly. I never said I could not see them all!” Anna responded cheerily.

  “GET OUT OF MY HEAD, ANNA!” I screamed at her.

  She responded quietly, “Of course, but if I leave, the voice returns.”

  I froze at that. I really wanted her out of my head, but the silence from the void was quite possibly a gift from Earth itself. If her leaving made it come back…

  My ears twitched, and my tail lashed as I responded, “You can stay,” I said weakly.

  “Oh, no, it is fine, I can leave if you want!” she said as I felt her start to leave my body. “You clearly prefer the erase thing to me. It does not even make your clothes!”

  I pursed my lips, and my cheeks reddened as I spoke. “Please stay with me, Anna. Just please stop reading my mind.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “I mean, if you really want me to,” Anna said in her sing-song voice. I felt the urge to stab her.

  “Keep pushing my buttons, and I will take the void over you!” I snapped. I did not mean itI would take a rock to the face every minute of every day rather than hear that void of a thing say ‘erase’ one more time. I knew Anna knew it too. But I was beyond pissed, and I knew she sensed it.

  She meshed back onto me quickly and said, “As long as we can get along, right?”

  I grunted at her in annoyance and looked at the lake. “How do we get across? Is there a boat or bridge, maybe? Tell me we do not have to walk all the way around?” I frowned at the massive lake. It might as well have been a chasm. Earth only knew what was in there.

  “Technically, most fish life is harmless. At least during the time of the metropolis’s heyday. But who knows what is in there now!”

  I rolled my eyes at Anna’s antics. I was getting used to her mind reading.

  I walked over to the water’s edge and looked into the water. It was dark, but I could still see through it. I watched a shadow bigger than me swim past, and I took a few steps back. “Yes, no, we are not going in there.”

  “That is Reedril! He is the behemoth that destroyed half the city when it fell!” Anna said happily.

  “I mean, he is big, but he is not a metropolis-destroying big,” I said, confused.

  “Oh, that was just one of his children’s tentacles,” Anna said in a chipper tone.

  I took a few more steps away from the water and began looking for a way around. I kept glancing at the water, expecting this Reedril to suddenly fly out of the water and grab me. The thought caused me to walk all the way to the gemstone wall, just in case.

  After a couple of minutes of deliberation by the wall, I decided I would walk along the outskirts of the city blocks, making a point to have the destroyed buildings block me from view as I made my way around. With how fast Tama was, there was a good chance she was probably exploring the entire place and would find me first.

  I made my way through the once great metropolis, wondering what kind of dark secret it must have held.

  “Oh, Muosil had many dark secrets. Possibly thousands, but one of the darkest had to be the High Priestess herself!” Anna said in a storytelling tone.

  I sighed as she started her story. I managed to mostly tune her out until she said something that caught me off guard. “Of course, that is where creations like me came in. Possess a family member, lure them into a sense of safety, then kill them. Friends worked as well, but family was usually closest.”

  “I am sorry, what!” I snapped at her. She recoiled as if she had been struck. “What?” she asked.

  “You were created to possess innocent people and kill their families against their wills!” I said in abject horror.

  “Yes, not the best time for me,” she said in a slightly melancholic tone before perking up. “But that was a long time ago, and I have atoned for my sins. I also made sure the high priestess did as well. All of the people suffered for their sins!”

  “What are you!” I said in horror as I looked down at Anna. My dress, the form Anna had taken, shimmered, but she was not giggling. There was a long silence, then Anna slowly detached herself from me. I heard the void’s ‘erase’ return in full force, and I winced painfully.

  “Why…” I asked with tears in my eyes. I fell to my knees as the pain returned, and I had to readjust.

  She did not respond. Instead, she kept shaping, and after a moment, she took the form of a little girl. She looked no older than eight. She had deep blue eyes and vibrant blonde hair. She smiled sadly at me and spoke quietly, her cheerful facade gone, replaced with bitterness, and possibly something else.

  “This was my first victim. She was only eight. I did not understand what I had done,” the little girl said. “When I learned many years later… I… I…” Tears filled the little girl’s eyes, and she clenched her teeth. “Death was too good for that witch. But I had a choice to make, and she needed to die.” Anna pointed at her own little girl form and said, “I cost this little girl her family, and her life. I felt as she struggled and begged to be free.”

  She looked me in the eyes, and I realized what she was saying. “You did not know any better,” I said weakly.

  “And you did not have any control back then either, did you?” she responded quietly. “It does not change what we did and what we must do to make things right.”

  She turned and looked out at the lake as she spoke. “This place was built on lies and deceit. I am the living embodiment of these crimes. The greatest thing I ever did was bring that monster to her grave, and this accursed place with her.”

  “What about the thousands of innocents you killed!” I snapped, having finally readjusted to the void’s presence.

  Anna smiled weakly as she stared out at the ocean. “Oh, but Saki, to make an omelet…” She turned back, and a wicked smile crossed her lips. “You must break a few eggs.”