What Makes A Monster - Chapter 10

On Imyra’s fourth week at the Residence, she was brought to a large practice hall by Unani to meet with Chennae.

The Ancient Witch was dressed in her signature white robe and her wild red hair was tied into a bunch at the back of her head. She glanced around from her lounging chair and drawled, “Her Imperial Highness va Arslynia is here, but I don’t see our resident Underworld Heiress of Misfortune.”

“I have called for her, she should be here at any moment now.” Unani spoke with deference.

An impatient frown marred Chennae’s delicate face before soon, the wall opposite them split apart and Leyla entered carrying a struggling Olivia. Leyla’s colouring was as peculiar as Olivia’s though they could be considered direct opposites. Leyla had stark white hair and cinnamon brown skin with eyes that looked black, framed by white lashes. What really made Imyra blink twice was the pink winged rat clinging to her shoulders as Olivia wriggled about.

“Leyla, if you don’t let go, I’m going to hurt you.” Olivia complained as she tried to escape Leyla’s grasp.

“Try it.” Leyla chuckled, “My body’s sturdier than yours.” With that, Leyla put Olivia down and pushed her towards where the others congregated.

Olivia glared at Chennae and said, “I’m a pacifist. I’m against violence.”

Chennae smiled and nodded, “Yes, I heard you’ve been telling everyone that bullshit.”

“It is not bullshit. It is my policy. Violence is never the answer. So if we understand each other. I will be going.” She said and turned on her heel. Before she could make another step, she became airborne and struggled there against invisible constraints.

“You will be going nowhere. Stop spouting nonsense and do as I say.” Chennae proceeded to explain what they were to do for the rest of the day after placing Olivia back down onto the ground before giving her a hard stare.

First, they were made to wear a bracelet that put zorne output into measurements. It was a tiny thing in comparison to what the army had for the same purposes.

Next, they were made to strike identical boulders of rock. While Imyra could strike at it with her zorne, Olivia was made to strike at it with her bare hands.

That was when the extent of Olivia’s physical strength finally dawned on Imyra.

The cavern room with the holes she’d been made to cover up on her first week, everyone’s panic when Olivia was drunk and out of control, the broken things that kept being blamed on her clumsiness. For somebody who had such clumsy zorne, Imyra had been confused at how much everyone perceived her as threatening and dangerous. She had thought they’d meant her large zorne pool or the thickness and strength of her zorne streams, but perhaps the real reason they teased her as a monster was because of the monstrous strength packed in her arms and legs.

The boulder that took Imyra a strike of her thickest zorne whip before cracking and breaking apart, took three consecutive punches from Olivia’s knuckles to crumble into pieces.

While Imyra stared dumbfounded at this result, Olivia, rubbing her fist and biting her lip, asked Unani hopefully, “Can I wear boxing gloves?”

“No.” came Chennae’s curt but smiling reply from the other side of the room where she was reclining and observing her experiment.

Unani shrugged at Olivia and asked, “Why were you asking me anyways? As if I have a say in this.”

They were made to do this several times for various types of boulders of rock. Then they had to repeat the whole process, but instead of fists, Olivia had to use her zorne. And Imyra was wary to note that her own zorne strength was barely double of Olivia’s. She, Imyra, whose zorne was hailed by all as a once-in-a-millennia talent.

After this exercise, was a break for afternoon tea and then Chennae took them to a hall larger than the last and ordered them to spar. She wanted to “see how Olivia would fare against people who were trained outside” and not by herself. A spar where Olivia used only her physical strength and no zorne while Imyra was allowed everything at her disposal.

Imyra thought this was a bad idea and Olivia agreed.

“What if I accidentally kill her? She’s not a sturdy sort like Leyla.” Or so said Olivia. Clearly their reason for it being a bad idea was not the same,

Chennae replied with, “Control your strength then. I didn’t ask for a death match. Just a friendly spar.”

“Those things don’t end well for me these days.”

“Even if you have supernatural strength, you can’t possibly think you’d win against me when you’re not even allowed to use your zorne.” Imyra felt the need to point out.

“Kill you, I probably could. Don’t know so much about winning when I’ve got to control the output of my strikes.”

Their bout was a difficult one for both sides. They both learned the difficulties of fighting in close quarters without killing the opponent. But it did help that they were both quite tired from striking dozens of rocks into pieces earlier so a full output of their power was impossible to begin with. Chennae probably planned it this way, Imyra thought in retrospect.

Olivia was fast, Imyra noted. Very fast. There were numerous times she was grabbed from the air and pulled down onto the floor and restrained; numerous kicks and punches she’d had to endure. The low ceiling of that particular practice hall did not aid her at all. But more than the number of times she’d been hit, she’d dodged or hit back.

One time when she feared she’d put too much power into her zorne whip, Olivia flew through the air into the far wall behind her with a loud smack and lay motionless for a few moments. Imyra thought she heard something break. But when a worried Imyra flew forward to make sure she was still alive and breathing, the moment she got close enough, Olivia’s hand snaked out and grabbed her neck at the base of her head before pulling her down onto the floor. Imyra’s head was on a path to collide against the stone floor and she could not pull free without slicing Olivia’s arm apart.

The second to last thing she saw before she lost consciousness, was the scarlet blood staining the floor and Olivia’s side.

The last thing she saw was Olivia’s angry bloody smile as she pulled her down with her.