Sector Break: Battle of Ratikstead

Embers Of Trust

"H-Hello?" Cecilia asks gently as she opens the door to a home. Her throat hurts from the cold, and no matter what clothes she wears, the wind blows right through it.

After waiting a few seconds, she assumes that the house is abandoned like all the others. It looks like Rex's home did when they left. The wooden roof is in disrepair, and she can smell the moisture in the walls. Cecilia begins to look through cabinets and closets and finds some clothing and food that she can use. It's not much of a shelter, but it's all she has for now. She goes to the bathroom to get herself cleaned up and notices that there's a mirror.

"Odd, a Northmen with a mirror. I thought it was taboo in these places," she whispers as she waves over the fogged glass. She inspects her face, which has begun to break from the cold. Her eyes are blood show, and her skin is nearly as white as snow. She notices blood streaming from her right ear and quickly sits against a wall. She sits there quietly for a moment, unsure of what to do next.

A sound comes from the living room that wakes her up from her drowsiness. She hasn't been sleeping for the last three days or so. Her dreams are haunted by the screams of her friends. She wonders where they are. She can still remember Rex and how he tried to keep Civilar sane. Lesnyr how she broke when she had to kill him. She knows Rogdas was eaten by the creature that took Civilar. She smelled his blood and heard his screams of pain before they went silent. As she arrives in the living room, she sees a crow pecking at something covered by a rug.

"Hey..., easy now..." Cecilia whispers as she tames the crow. She lifts the rug, and the scent of rot lifts up to her like a cloud. She falls to her knees and begins to vomit.

After a while, she gets back to her feet and looks at the corpse. It had already begun to bloat, and an infected bite wound was seen on its neck. She also smells blood all of a sudden. She finds the man's heart lying in a puddle of blood as she looks under the wooden table. She also notices that other organs are missing. As she looks back up, she sees the crow looking at her.

"Go ahead, all yours. I don't think I'll be hungry for...well, the next year..." Cecilia chuckles as she turns away.
"I can't believe for a second I was considering it. I know what'll happen to me if I do..." she whispers to herself.

"Don't let it take your prey..." a voice echoes around her.

"Shut up! I won't give in to you," Cecilia yells out before locking herself in the bathroom. She grabs her dagger and puts it against her throat. Fear fills her mind, but something much worse quickly takes its place. Hunger. The blood on her hands from the corpse suddenly smells like a nice soup. Cecilia corrects her mind quickly and begins to clean the blood off using some ice inside the house. The smell doesn't disappear, and soon she realizes it's her own blood that she smells and now tastes. A nosebleed started, and with it, she fell to the floor motionless.

An hour maybe two, goes by before she regains consciousness. She sees the house covered in feathers, blood, and remains of the crow and the man. She tastes the smell of rot at the back of her...

"A beak? H-how?" Cecilia whispers. The pain in her throat is gone. The cold is too. She heads to the bathroom and finds it covered in blood and feathers, and the mirror has completely melted.

For a moment, she ponders about her situation. If this form ends, she has no clothes since they burned away. She can't touch anything either since it will likely instantly combust. After a while, she shakes her human worries off and decides to journey to the Fog Wall. Whatever happens during that time will be up for fate.

She steps outside, and even in the blizzard, it feels like the sun is shining. The cold wind heats up as it reaches her, and the snow evaporates immediately. Beneath her bright orange talons, she hears the snow sizzle before it disappears completely. Her hunger is still there, though. If she wants to stay alive, she needs to find food quickly. Without her morals being added to the equation, she grabs a bird that flies by. After finishing, she sees what she has done and what she is becoming. The sense of disgust quickly changes to something else.