Chapter 50: A Stranger Thing

Rune stared at the figure standing before him while she continued patting his head. It was the little girl, the strange child Obba and Sobek had brought into the facility earlier.

He hadn’t paid much attention to her when she arrived, at the time, he had assumed she would become another dead slave within a few hours.

She looked far too small and fragile to survive in a place like this, especially surrounded by people who treated human lives as disposable merchandise.

Yet now that she was standing directly in front of him, Rune couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Snow-white hair fell around her small body, the ends of every strand was stained with a deep crimson while two red horns protruded from her head. Her eyes were perhaps the strangest things he had ever seen.

They appeared to be bright blue at first glance, but the closer one looked, the more they noticed the pink star-like reflections scattering throughout them, resembling tiny celestial patterns trapped inside her irises.

Beneath her eyes were additional red markings that Rune couldn’t identify, almost as though someone had tattooed strange symbols onto her face. They gave her an appearance that was both beautiful and unsettling.

Rune had seen mutants before. He had even encountered several more since being dragged into this underground facility, but none of them came remotely close to this girl.

She looked out of place, like there was something wrong about her appearance, something that made his instincts reject the idea that she was simply another variation of humanity. She looked otherworldly, like some ancient horror had been forced into the skin of a child.

Just like him, she was also chained to the walls, but her own chains weren’t being used to pin her down. They merely hung loosely around her body allowing her to move freely, which explained why she was patting him right now.

This was the reason why Rune’s nonchalant expression began to crumble beneath genuine confusion. No, it wasn’t confusion. It was horror. He looked horrified by what was standing in front of him.

Was she even human?

Her lack of spiritual energy made him even more frightened.

His Patron Spirit made him exceptionally sensitive to spiritual energy and even without actively using his abilities, he could normally perceive the faint presence surrounding living creatures.

Humans, animals, plants, and even objects saturated with spiritual energy all possessed distinct signatures. Some were weak, some were overwhelming, but there was always something there.

But he couldn’t sense her spiritual energy because there was seemingly nothing there for him to sense. His enhanced natural senses were failing to register her too.

He could see her with his own eyes, feel the movement of her hand against his hair and hear the strange sounds coming from her mouth, but every other instinct insisted that there was nothing standing in front of him.

It was almost as though he was passively refusing to acknowledge her existence.

"What... are you?"

Rune asked, his eyes widening as he stared at her. However, he didn’t get a response.

The girl continued patting his head. Her expression was calm and solemn while she spoke in that incomprehensible language of hers again.

"Sha... morra nara, urrakai... nara shii?"

Rune paled. He couldn’t understand a single word of what she was saying. The way she looked like an eldritch horror, he assumed she was threatening to eat his liver or something!

He swallowed hard as his body began to shake in fear.

The hand resting on his head suddenly stopped moving. Her brows drew together and then she pulled her hand away.

She looked at him with a complicated expression as though uncertain of what to do next. At the same time, Rune watched her cautiously, unsure whether she had decided he was ripe enough to eat or not.

His lazy eyes widened even more when she suddenly spread her arms while staring at him fondly.

"Wait, what are you...?!"

The girl stepped forward and embraced him, causing his entire body to go stiff.

Since his arms and legs were still restrained by chains, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He was incapable of defending himself against the tiny creature now pressing herself against him.

For several seconds, Rune stared at the ceiling in complete shock.

"What?"

She continued speaking.

"Urr... shi’na... kai nara. Morra... nara"

Even though he didn’t understand her, her voice was quiet and soothing, completely void of hostility.

Rune considered being difficult, but the thought quickly disappeared. She wasn’t attacking or trying to do anything malicious that would justify retaliation.

She was just... hugging him?

’What is this? Is she comforting me?’

Despite the fear he felt, there was something oddly calming about the girl’s embrace. Maybe it was because she was the first person to treat him decently since his kidnapping. He suffered for 10 days straight in this place so it was odd seeing someone showing him affection.

Rune wasn’t accustomed to that.

He had spent most of his life avoiding unnecessary emotional connections or complications, and yet he somehow felt really warm and safe in this girl’s arms.

"You’re a weird kid"

The moment he said that, a violent metallic bang echoed through the room. The guard outside had slammed his weapon against the cell door.

"Hey, hey! What’s going on in there? Keep your hands to yourselves and behave. I’ll come in there and remind both of you who’s in charge if you don’t listen"

So said the guard whose face had appeared through the small opening.

Rune’s expression quickly returned to its usual tired annoyance.

’Right. I almost forgot where I am’

While he saw no reason to say anything, the little girl reacted. She turned around, her back now facing Rune. Her small body positioned directly between him and the guard.

Rune blinked.

Her small shoulders were squared, and although she didn’t possess anything resembling an aggressive expression, her posture made one thing remarkably clear.

She was shielding him.

"Are you serious?"

Had he seemed so fragile and pathetic that he needed a little girl protecting him? That really pissed him off.

The guard scoffed.

"You heard me, freak. Behave you–!"

There was a loud crash outside, followed by hurried footsteps and the sound of someone shouting. The guard’s face was no longer peeking through the small door opening.

Something heavy slammed against the stone floor and more sounds like that continued for a few seconds before suddenly stopping.

It was quiet. Rune continued to stare at the door while the weird girl remained perfectly still.

A moment later, there was a metallic clink. Then the iron door opened revealing a new figure...