Monster (Chaelisa)

01| In her High Castle

As usual, she was wondering how much it would hurt to tear out her useless white eye.

Her clawed hand brushed against her jaw, wicked pointed black tips inching up the damaged side of her face and stopping shy of her opaque eyeball as she teetered on the edge of indecision, watching herself in the mirror. Her shadows, formless but sleek and lean, swirled around her feet restlessly like phantom serpents.

They had given her the idea to call herself Serpentine.

The skin on the ruined side of her face was mottled, forever stuck in a state of decay, like a snake's skin that hadn't shed and started to flake off. Thankfully it didn't smell, but the obscene sight, coupled with her eye nestled among the rot like a glistening white maggot, and her wicked claws, and her dark shadows, was enough to send people screaming and running in the other direction.

Her reflection stared back through one baleful eye, long black hair pushed behind her shoulders so that Serpentine could observe her features carefully. Even her bangs, usually hiding a pitiful amount of her ruined face, were swept aside.

She couldn't see properly out of her white eye except for shadows, but it wasn't the Reveal's entire fault, as she had her henchwomen believe. That eye had long borne the brunt of incredible cruelty.

The Reveal simply worked backwards for her: corrupting instead of enhancing, reflecting her brokenness. And more than anything, that unnatural milky eye was a hateful reminder which she craved to destroy, yet was never able to bring herself to do so. Inflicting damage on her already tortured body seemed too cruel, even for somebody as black-hearted as she was.

"Serpentine?"

She lurched away from the mirror in an instant, almost tripping over her jet-black cloak as her shadows reared to attack. Serpentine spun around to face her henchwoman.

"Jisoo, how many times do I have to tell you to knock?" Serpentine growled. "I could have attacked you."

"Sorry, my bad," apologised Jisoo. She looked breathless. "I just have some important developments to show you and I forgot."

"Well?"

Jisoo straightened up, tablet in hand. "Catalyst has vanished."

Serpentine blinked. "You mean...she's missing?"

"Yes." Jisoo scrolled through her tablet as she spoke. "It has been four days now since there was any reported heroic activity. I didn't pick up on anything being different because they didn't even mention in the news."

"Not even Hero 24/7 News?" Serpentine said with mock shock. "Are those incels tired of speculating what colour bra and panties she's wearing every single day?"

"A shame, right? I know you're always looking forward to that segment in particular."

"Jisoo," Serpentine growled.

"It's a joke, sheesh."

"You know I don't appreciate those."

"Yeah yeah anyway to answer your question, I don't think they're very concerned. No channel has covered her disappearance. No hero has stepped in to fill her role so far, so we know she's not dead, at least?"

Serpentine took little comfort in that last statement. "So maybe they're aware she's left," she reasoned as she paced, ignoring the knot of anxiety that was welling up in her chest. She didn't care for her arch nemesis but something about the whole situation felt odd. "Maybe she's on holiday."

"You know heroes don't do off days," Jisoo said as she tapped on her screen. "Heroics is a soul-sucking full-time gig, like an office job, until they just break down and someone else steps in their place. You know there's no vacation for them."