❝how do you kill a monster without becoming one?❞
In the last city ruled by man, fish soar in the skies above and monsters lurk in the alleys below. Ten years ago, Jase lost both his legs and his mother to one such monster. However, tragedy couldn't...
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Huraira's hands trembled as she cast judgment upon them.
There had never been anything special about Huraira's hands before. Her fingers were long and slender, her palms rough from years of beating against things harder than her. In Primary, Huraira was stronger and faster than the other kids, even the boys. They called her a Smile. So Huraira got into fights and beat them up. They were afraid of her and so she had no friends. Just a sword and the will to prove them all wrong.
Jase was the first person who ever saw her strength as something wonderful. And when Jase thought something was wonderful, it became a sin for anyone to question his often poor judgment. Jase was Huraira's first friend. Someone who saw Huraira's hands as something more than a tool to swing a sword around. He dreamt of revenge and liberation and Huraira couldn't help but feel as though she'd failed him in some way.
She's failed them all.
Now, all she saw when she looked at her hands were the crimson stains that would haunt her until the day she died. They were the hands of a monster. The hands of a murderer. The hands of a Smile.
Huraira ran her thumb across the rough patch on her palm. Her long fingers curled and wilted, her once well-kept nails were bitten down. Patches of dried blood peeled from Huraira's chin as her tongue ran along the sharp fangs she couldn't force away. Huraira leaned against the brick wall behind her. She was a monster, all alone. Wax tears slipped from Huraira's eyes, scarring her flushed cheeks. She had killed Bonnie. She had slaughtered and devoured the only person she might've believed she loved like livestock. Choking on a laugh, Huraira shook her head.
Everything hurt so much.
She could remember when she first heard Smiles didn't have emotions and she thought that it made sense. How could a creature who killed others for sport be able to feel? Now, Huraira was certain she was a Smile, but she was also certain that the feeling of being stabbed in the chest by grief wasn't an illusion either.
There were so many thoughts inside Huraira's head it felt like it was going to explode.
However, it wasn't too full that Huraira didn't hear the footsteps.
She instantly knew they were women, from the way their heels clicked and the stench of their perfume. Behind them, their clothing dragged and Huraira picked out the distinct sound of an already ignited blade humming in the dark. If Huraira was lucky, these women would be smart enough to kill a monster like her.
Finally, the heels stopped and Huraira looked up at two women. Two women wearing red cloaks that smelled of human blood. Each wielded a humming Phyite sword along with twin masks to hide their faces. They were... they were Smiles.
"Looks like Red was right again," the larger Smile said. "Another piece of Chimera shit lying about." Her words didn't make any sense, but the underlying disgust and hatred did. Those were two emotions that Huraira was very familiar with.
