Corrupted Innocence - 2 The depths of...

Madness. The ultimate curse that lays itself across the lands of the plentiful and sane, it is a scourge to existence yet it is not deterred in its voracious purpose. Even when there is prosperity madness always follows tightening its cruel crutches around whatever it can get its hands on, its demented look always sending those into uncanny realities made of false gold.

This disease of life had washed its way over the world soon after the exercise as man and man; angel and angel; devil and devil; all raised the flags of war in the madness for power and domination tearing the earth asunder in their efforts. Their ceaseless efforts have now made a war brewed by madness grow arms to grip onto the world for three long years as it begins to ready its jaws over and over again. Millions have been ebbed away through this long war and with no end in sight the world continues to march forward into the jaws of madness.

The trench shuddered in response to the impact of shells upon the brave should that braved the charge to the opposing sides trench being slaughtered in the process. A scene from hell laid bare before those upon the front lines as men cry for their mothers and the gods look on with despair. Violet was in such trench, a military garb upon herself and her only solace being her helmet and rifle; she had been on the frontlines for three months now and so far it has proved to be a living hell, friends she had talked to minutes ago soon ended dead or insane from the charge and ferocity of the enemy. She aimed her rifle over the edge and carefully aimed for the heads of soldiers on the other side and fired. A splatter of blood covered the enemies comrades as they watched their comrades head virtually explode from the impact of the bullet. Violet ducked down into the trench and began to breathe into her hands in an attempt to relieve herself of this artic cold. Luckily she still looked like a child and people hesitated to shoot her or else she would have died by now, mostly what most people hesitate at is the thought of shooting an innocent girl and so she thanked the heavens for giving her such an annoying trait but also cursed them for making her the Primordial Angel as she was sent to the front lines because of her high power role.

*Boom*

Mud sprayed over the top of the trench as a steel detonated nearby worrying Violet from the proximity of the explosion she began to squeeze her way though the narrow trench as she made herself to another area and looked back to notice that more shells had landed where she was before painting the surroundings with the blood of the poor should that couldn’t get away, and the cries of those injured as well echoed throughout the trench. She pressed on until she reached what she thought to be a safe post and continued to fire at the enemy spraying the opposing soil with soil like she was throwing paint cans full of paint all over the enemy trenches.

*Bang*

The enemies bang to charge at Violets trench at the fire of a gun cheering in defiance as she shot down many of them with her allies dropping their corpses into the dirt to rot amongst the countless others that fell on no mans land. Soon their commander signalled a charge with a gun shot and Violet hopped over the trench and charged at the enemy as explosions echoed around her and bullets whizzed by injecting themselves into her allies until she jumped into the enemy trench and slammed her bayonet into a enemy soldiers torso before firing her gun shot the nearby soldiers. She slaughtered her way through the enemy trench and was soon joined by her allies as they mercilessly killed the enemy in brutal methods such as when she noticed a man using a blunt shovel to beat another to death.

Soon, however a volley of shells cascaded into her position turning the trench into a field of death as her allies were shredded around her before she lost consciousness when a shell had landed upon her launching her backwards. All she could hears were the muffled sounds of battle as gun shots and explosions reigned over all noises until cheering could be heard and the world went black and quiet.

She awoke in an unfamiliar room mostly white in colour and she noticed that in fact it was a hospital room and her left arm felt out of place, in fact she couldn’t feel it at all and looked over only to notice it was there but she couldn’t move it and there seemed to be bandages all over it. She also noticed her status update and opened it up:

———–

Name: Violet Evergreen

Age: 16

Race: Angel

Breed: Primordial

Stats:

Power = 560

Agility = 578

Magic = 598

———-

Her Stats had risen dramatically and she began to inspect herself from what she could see and noticed her wings were now cerulean blue with deep violet stripes running through them and she also noticed… she had boobs? She checked her status once again and noticed it had been a year since the battle which means she has been here for a year and grew these mounds upon her chest and unfortunately had not grown any taller. She looked around the room and noticed her vision was very blurry for a while until they began to adjust and the room was indeed a hospital room, however it wasn’t a war hospital but a royal hospital meaning they still value her life even if the send her to war. There was a folder next to her on a small white desk with her name written atop its beige cover and so she opened it discovering what had happened to her and the battle. It turns out the bombardment had taken off her left arm and shredded her right eye, however the battle was already won as allied forces managed to break through to and soon they collapsed the frontlines of the enemies pushing them back a few miles before being once again stuck in a stand still until this point in time.

According to the report her eye had regrew and her body changed upon its regrowing with her wings changing to how they are now and now she looked like a young woman. However, her left arm did not regrow and upon observation for a few months they deemed that it wasn’t going to grow back like the eye and gave her a metal arm to replace it explaining why she can’t feel or move her left arm. Further reading on says that she will return to the frontlines once recovered which worried Violet but it said in a different manner? What was they going to make her do this time?

Soon a doctor asked into the room and upon noticing her eyeing him, he ran out of the room and soon came back with a few more people similarly dressed all presumably doctors. They gathered around her bed and began to check her vitals and other such necessities before the original doctor began to speak “Hello Miss Evergreen. How do you feel?”

“Fine I suppose.”

She looked up at the doctors who all gave a nod to echoer before the doctor continued “As you know, you have lost your left arm. But I am afraid to inform you have also lost your right leg and that has been replaced with nerve gear rather than an adamantine limb like your arm.”

Violet looked down at her right leg and was surprised at this revelation and pressed her hand upon it, it felt like normal skin however she noticed the oddities in it such as the flexibility of her skin and the unnatural softness of the leg. They now began to unwrap the bandages off of her left arm to reveal in fact a metal arm and upon seeing this she sighed as she was soon helped to her feet by two doctors and sat on well chair that had been bought in by a nurse. She was pushed out of the room and down the hallway passing many wards full of injured and dying soldiers from the war all young and old, none were spared by the war.

Eventually, they arrived upon a lavish wooden door where she was pushed inside to a large office that seemed very out of place in the hospital due to its very home like feel compared to the sterile environment throughout the hospital so far. At the desk in the office sat a man in his late eighties and was an elf when she looked closer and noticed the large ears reminiscent of forest elves. He smiled at Violet as the doctors began to exit the room and soon a group of humans and other such species entered the room and gathered by the desk.

“Hello Miss Evergreen. I am the director of the medical effort in the war and I welcome you back to consciousness.”

Violet looked around her and noticed that all those who entered the room seemed to have smart attire as if they were attending a meeting or… politicians.

“Now then Miss Evergreen. These politicians are here to inform you of the war and other necessities and my role is to observe in case of any foul play or other such actions.”

Violet nodded and the politicians then handed a note to the director in which he kept acknowledging as he nodded as he read through it. He then stood up and began to push violets wheelchair and lead her out of the room with the politicians following close behind and she was greeted by what seemed to look like a board meeting room where she was set at the end of a large oak oval shaped table where each of the politicians took a seat around it and readied notes from cases they had bought with them.

The first to speak was an old lizard man who was accompanied by a younger lizard man who seemed to be like his errand boy as he took out his notes upon his request and stood by like a servant had when she lived at the manor before the war.

“We have come to propose a role for you in the war that is more than frontline infantry.”

Violet nodded and listened as the lizard man continued “We want you to act in a special forces unit that will be used to clear strategic areas and frontlines.”

She was pretty sure that it was the same thing but with a different name and comrades that won’t die as easily as the ones whom died in the trenches on the blood painting on the battlefield. She agreed much to the delight of the lizard man who then passed her a folder and the other politicians informed her of visits from others in her special forces squad will come to visit her and to expect it within the next week or so. She nodded in agreement once more before the director pushed her wheelchair again taking Violet into another very comfortable feeling room and the director told her it was her room until she recovered.

It had a king sized bed by a window facing out over the city outside and a living room with a lit fire and an arm chair; there was also a kitchen and dining room; the toilet was connected to her room. She was informed of the location of the nurse phone so she could call for help if needed and where the walking sticks were for when she attempted to walk until she is fully recovered and can move as she could before. He left her to the room saying he had to return to his duties and Violet took the initiative to sit on the armchair and turn on the radio that was at upon the coffee table and listen to music and news about the war as she shifted through her memories of the battlefield that had scorched their way unto her mind like madness.

It wasn’t long until a group of individuals likely to be in her squad arrive at the hospital, in which she was notified by a nurse and so she prepared herself by wearing the top hat stealth suit she wore before the war and waited for them passing time by reading a book based on the madness of man and the lead up to the war. She found the book remotely interesting upon seeing it and decided she would take it and read it to pass time when she was waiting and in between body adjustments. Soon their was a knock at the door and a mix of different races came, surprisingly none of which was an angel but there was mostly humans which shocked her even more. Which human country had defected to their side?

The group stood at one end of the room and they all talked amongst themselves before a high elf stepped forward and sat on the chair opposite her.

“Hello Miss Evergreen, I am Lucifer the-”

“Squad leader?”

“Yes, we have come to check your progress and will also do so individually as well as a group if you don’t mind.”

She looked across the squad then back at Lucifer “I have one question.”

“Yes?”

“Are angels a rarity now?”

“Y-yes the humans invented some form of eco suit that turned the tide of the war for a while due to their high kill rate of angels. However the other races started to contribute more and hence here we are.”

She nodded and put her book onto the coffee table and looked back at the squad and expected some form of conversation to arise but it turned out to be more of a staring match than a greeting. Soon she became uncomfortable as they kept staring her ceaselessly until she tapped the chair seemingly knocking them out of a daze.

“You done?”

“I-I’m sorry it’s just we haven’t seen an angel in so-”

She just shook her head much to panic of Lucifer who went over and talked to his squad as they kept trying to figure out what to do and what not to do. Hopefully not stare being one of them as she found it quite unnerving in how their eyes didn’t move and they also didn’t speak either. Grabbing a walking stick leant against the side of her chair she climbed to her feet and made her way into the kitchen whilst they continued their pep-talk and she decided she would make her lunch while they continued at it. However soon they began flocking to the kitchen signifying they were clearly after something to eat and as such she had to make food for all fifteen of them before they sat around the table happily eating soup. She continued to eat and monitor her comrades behaviour establishing who was friends with who and who didn’t like who.

Upon the finishing of lunch a lot of them passed their bowls down to Violet and she just gave a frown that said it all, she could barely walk what are they doing? She took her bowl into the kitchen and each one, one by one much to the guilty look of those sat in there until one finally decided to help in which she sat down upon their insistence. Once again a few of them was staring at her so she tapped the table and woke them from a daze and this began to annoy her as she thought she managed to get rid of this staring habit earlier but it seems some still want to go at it.

Soon they all left and in the end they all spoke very little but a few did stay behind namely a human boy, a elven female and a couple of dwarves both presumably male. They sat down at the table with her and the first to speak was the girl. “So how old are you?”

“16.”

“Ok, so how did you end up here?”

“I lost my arm and leg? You can see.”

The elf couldn’t answer her response as she didn’t think it would turn from a friendly conversation to a retort within seconds and again she attempted to talk with her.

“So how do you fell working with elves, dwarves and humans?”

“Delighted. Even if they all tried to conquer angels at some point and the fact that three out of three of these species are incredibly prideful.”

She was taken aback again by Violets honesty and this time began to think over what she could say before the human boy began talking.

“Hi I am Shuang Lu. You can call me Lu.”

“That is a very odd name, where are you from?”

“I was summoned.”

She gave a nod of approval towards what he was insinuating and continued be met by the intense gazes of the dwarves until she finally asked them why they kept staring at her. In which they replied they were simply imagining what kind of equipment she may request in the future but couldn’t seem to figure it out. This was strike one of pride from the dwarves, they always presumed one would turn to them for armour, weapons and other such necessities. She told them they may figure it out sooner or later if she ever does and then climbed from the table and went to her bed room where she fell down asleep upon her bed.

“She was quite rude.”

Shuanng Lu looked at Mia seemingly outraged by Violet’s way of talking and how she addressed all of them.

“You do realise that she is basically a supreme lifeforms you have no high ground this time.”

“Be quite dwarf.”

Shuanng Lu sighed as he showed his troublesome comrades out of the room as they continued to fight on their way back to the squad at the entrance, in which they stopped talked upon reaching Lucifer.

“How does she feel about us?”

“I imagine we gave a bad impression.”

“Why do we need to impress her anyway?” Mia exclaimed.

Lucifer turned to Mia with a face of disappointment “She is the Primordial Angel, we can’t afford to offend her. Remember what happened when she was initially injured?”

“Yes.”

They all left discussing routines of visit and came to the conclusion they would come in groups when they reached the car’s and from that point on began to decide the groups much to the squad behest, however after that failed attempt at being friendly with her with good impressions they must now build up high expectations for themselves as so to build a friendly relationship between her and members of the squad before they are all deployed together.

Violet watched them leave and further noticed the absence of angels, which began to spark distrust towards her situation. After all, not all angels were sent to the frontlines and they wouldn’t be reduced to such few and such an event could happen if God-leveled entities decided to attack and massacre the angel race. Meaning se she cannot believe that humans developed an eco suit capable of God like power and there is a likely chance they had found her on the battlefield and taken her to trick her into their ranks.

She stood up and began to practice walking once more and soon noticed that her ‘leg’ locks up when she moves it normally and upon inspection she does indeed find limiters disallowing her to move it to full capability. She tinkered with the lock and disabled and soon found the leg was made extremely fragile also to the point of it could be described as paper. She decided to tinker with the leg further until it was enhanced to an acceptable degree and now she could walk around uninhibited. Then she turned to the metal arm and too noticed many contraptions that are disabling the arms hence she cannot move and so she began to alter it also and used her powers to increase its durability and flexibility and also possible exerted power, she then proceeded to do so to her ‘leg’ as well.

Now she could move her ‘arm’ and ‘leg’ and could use them how she could before and now she had discovered and removed the limiters she began to dwell on why they would pretend she needed recovery. She decided she would interrogate someone from that ‘squad’ who kept visiting her the next time they visited but in the meantime she will pretend as if she is still limited and also act unaware of it as to turn away suspicion that she in fact knew and has fixed it.

Soon one of the nurses came in and she decided this would be a prime moment and looked over at the nurse “Do you know who Claudius Evergreen is?”

“Yes, he is a great man whom fought on the frontlines bravely.”

‘That settles it. He was in strategic command, he didn’t fight on the front lines.’

“Ok thank you.”

The nurse bowed after the thanks and left leaving Violet to her own devices, she began to plot a way to escape and to extract information from her so-called ‘squad’. She decided that after she deals with the squad interrogation she will go for the director if the place is indeed a way to try and lull her into attacking her own side. Soon she began to notice more signs of imprisonment such as armed guards and no actual visual of the screaming patients; she also noticed that the hospital seemed to have more security than medical officers that confused her with her even noticing nurses being a rarity in the hospital.

The ‘politicians’ were said to visit the director in a week to discuss Violets deployment and recovery and she felt this was deadline for finding the truth before escape or as a last resort to get the truth. It wasn’t long until Shuanng Lu and Mia visited and came into the room greeting her like they did at the initial meeting between parties. Violet had convinced the hospital she was now capable of walking around her hospital which helped alleviate suspicion if seen walking around her room. She stood up and took them into the kitchen much to the delight of the two who seemed to have no suspicions towards her sudden friendly behaviour. It was when they were half way into the roof that Violet threw a knife at the elf trapping her against the wall by her shirt and then she knocked Lu off of his feet before kicking him into the nearby counter rendering him unable to get up as he had been winded.

“Tell me the truth. The angels were never near extinction were they?”

Mia began to look panicked essentially confirming the situation for Violet as she then took Lu’s revolver from him and took out five of the six bullets before looking back at the two. She decided there was a much more effective way of interrogation that she could use. She tied each one to a chair in the living room and looked upon them revolver in hand.

“You two will be subject to a game of Russian roulette. Every time you refuse to answer or I catch you lying I pull the trigger once on the other person and this will keep going until I am told the truth or one of you is dead.”

“No! We didn’t lie!”

“One.”

She pulled the trigger at Lu and a click was head eliciting a sigh of relief from Lu.

“Who put the restraints on my new limbs?”

“We don’t know!”

“Two.”

She aimed the gun at Lu again after Mia’s outburst and pulled the trigger eliciting yet another clicker from the revolver.

“Who placed the restraints on my new limbs?”

“The director.”

Lu answered truthfully much to the panic of Mia and Violet continued.

“Are the angels really dead?”

“Yes, however humanity never made eco suits in fact they summoned and enslaved demons to fight for them. Though not all demons.”

Again Lu answered truthfully and Violet continued once more.

“Where is the rest of my species?”

He didn’t answer and so Violet cocked the revolver putting Mia into a panic “Most of them aren’t used in frontlines anymore angels are now an endangered species!”

“Finally the truth utters out your mouth.”

Soon the rooms door flew open as Lucifer and a few other s from the squad ran in with worried looks on their faces and upon seeing them Violet planted the Barrell against Mia’s head stooping them in their tracks.

“I am asking questions if you would like to join in I would suggest not damaging my door.”

She pulled the trigger again eliciting another click of safety from the gun and she cocked it again this time aiming at Lucifer. She signalled him to a chair where he sat down, sweat pouring down his face.

“Now you see, I really don’t appreciate being held against my will and told I need to recover when I don’t do I suggest you tell me the culprit of such plans?”

“The director and the board whom are posing as politicians. In fact this hospital is ran by rebels who are trying to overthrow the king of the human empire to help the shrinking population of angels fighting for their lives in the western continent.”

She aimed the gun at Mia and pulled the trigger this time however a bang echoed through the room as the bullet shredded its way through her knee causing her to cry out in pain.

“Why did you shoot I told the truth?!”

“She kept yelling it’s giving me a head ache. Anyway you still keep trying to claim you are on my side? That’s rather rich considering what I discovered you doing.”

“Subdue her she has no bullets in the chamber!”

An elf nearby lunged at her only to be caught and held in the air gasping for breath as she tried to kick at Violet before she eventually went limp and was dropped unto the floor. She looked over at Lu before kicking him in the face breaking his nose and causing a stream of blood to flow its way down his face. She kicked his chair onto its side before stamping on his head and pressing it against the floor.

“It appears you are more stupid than I took you for.”

Lucifer gets to his feet and begins to approach Violet “Look I know it wasn’t the most ethical solution but we had to make sure we could get you top support the rebellion.”

“Bring the director.”

“What-”

“You heard.”

He signalled to the rest of the squad whom all rushed out of the room presumably to find the director however her beliefs were set on they were calling reinforcements and she may have to kill her way out of the hospital. Soon they returned with the director who seemed to be no longer relaxed when he approached Violet with a remote in hand.

“Miss Violet please calm down.”

He pressed the button on it and with no reaction from Violet who still stared at him with uncaring eyes he began to worry as she began to move towards him. She planted her knee firmly in his stomach and a wave of blood came out of his mouth as he crashed against the wall, she had enough of this place and decided she didn’t even need to wait for their reinforcements she in fact just wanted to leave. She turned back to Mia and pressed her thing into her wound and Mia cried out in pain as Violet began to inquire about the exit, after being told where the entrance she went to leave when she was stopped by Lu who had gotten out of his restraints and blocked the door.

“Please help us! What the humans are doing isn’t right!”

“It doesn’t matter who is right in war but who is left.”

Violet walked past him as he stared blankly onwards as she left and the squad moved into action to free Mia and help the director. Violet began to set fires across the hospital on her way through and broke the bones of those whom resisted her passing and watched on as the flames caught upon their bodies causing them to writhe in pain as they turned into a blackened figure covered in ash contorting in agony. When she left the hospital she noticed that the city she saw outside of her window didn’t even exist and that it was just woodland past the hospital with the exception of a road leading away from the place.

Again Lu shouted out to her in desperation “Please the angels will go extinct!”

She turned and faced him once again “Prove to me that they will.”

“64% of your species died in that year after the summoning of the beasts by the humans which only means more are to die.”

“Are you stupid?”

“What?”

“For christ sake the majority of our species are common angels of course most of us died. In fact the weakest of us died first meaning the strong remain. The angels that actually kill dragons and Gods, not the common angel.”

“But even so these beasts have killed thousands of these powerful angels a day!”

“What type of demons do they use?”

“Ether and Abyss demons are their front liners!”

“Fine.”

She turned back and walked towards the burning hospital and found that the only survivors happened to be five of people of which were from the ‘squad’. They included Lucifer, Lu, Mia and two others who humans named Lilith whom was a child demon and Adam a very large and well built man. They all stood in front of Violets handiwork all disgusted except for Violet whom regretted nothing as to her they reaped what they sow.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Violet went and sat upon a bench next to the desk and began to read a book as the other five began to discuss their plans of movement and how they were going to do the rebellion with only six people. Though Lu kept saying they had Violet much to her behest upon his insistence that she will not betray them, wasn’t it them who tricked and betrayed her? She closed her book after Lilith had run over to her and began asking her about her book and she just sighed as she answered the child’s questions until Adam and Lucifer pulled up along the entrance in a steam car with proud looks on their faces which confused Violet due to their odd enthusiasm towards the situation especially after they were sent back into the groundworks after a pissed of Violet took a tour around their ‘hospital’.

Lu looked over at her and held his hand out “Come on we gotta get going.”

She swatted his hand aside and rose to her feet and helped Lilith into the car before seating herself next to her. Soon they were all in the car and they began to drive down the street as Violet began to question what drugs she was given that had put her in a situation that she actually helped them. Now all she needed to do was kill some humans and suss out another possible lie before she can finally sit down and relax like she had before the war.

She pulled out her book and began to read as the group of six began their long journey soon to be full of roses, thorn bushes and a Violet.