❝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 sat between Kova and Lilja, sipping tea as Tamīka made dinner in the kitchen.
Her eyes traced Kova's thin arms which were wrapped neatly in bandages. She had done that. She had let the fight - the anger - blind her. Huraira had sparred with her father before, under the same ruleless terms. And when she lost, there were consequences. So, like a dog trapped in a corner, she had done whatever it took to make sure she wouldn't end up bleeding on the floor.
Instead, she made someone else bleed.
But not every person Huraira sparred against was her father. In the heat of battle, she had forgotten that. Kova wouldn't hurt her. Give her a couple of bruises, sure. But that was just sparring. Blood was not meant to be spilled.
And for some reason, Huraira hadn't noticed it. She hadn't noticed the scars that crisscrossed Kova's arms and wrists. She wondered why she hadn't noticed before. She'd always considered herself more observant than most people. She had noticed Kova never wore short sleeves. He was always hiding his arms. Hiding the scars.
The more that Huraira thought about it, the worse she felt. But that didn't stop the questions from raging in her mind while she silently sipped her tea. Cinderella's whole thing was jumping in front of the others and giving them time to escape. How was Kova able to do that when he was just as vulnerable as a human?
A shudder went down Huraira's spine. Her thoughts were scaring her these days. Since when did she think humans were inferior to Smiles or Chimeras or whatever she was?
"I'm sure you have questions, Huraira," Lilja said.
Huraira swallowed the nerves that made the tea seem bitter. "I just... wanted to know how Cinderella... Kova can jump out in front of gunfire and walk away if she... he doesn't have any strong points."
Lilja smirked, setting her teacup down. "That would be Parthēna's greatest invention," she said. "Parthēna does much more than just design dresses. She made the Cinderella suit from the skin of dead Smiles." Lilja's goat-like eyes were filled with pride. "It's impenetrable, with no weak points."
That was insane but amazing. If Stingray had that technology... the casualty rate would plummet. But no one had figured out to harvest and preserve the skin of dead Smiles yet.
"So... how can a Smile not have any strong points?" Huraira asked though she was beginning to wonder if she had any strong points either. Her body felt just as squishy and human as before, even when she was Morphed. She had sat in front of a mirror for a long time, examining herself in that form. She had the talons and the fangs and the black sclera - only on her right side, though Lilja said that was common for Chimeras.
Kova fidgeted in his seat. Lilja looked away. "To understand that, you must first understand that Smiles are not born able to Morph," she said. "At about eleven or twelve, we go through metamorphosis - similar to human puberty - where we gain access to our fangs, talons, and the chrysalis ah, the layer of hardened skin."
