The Peculiar Alchemist

18 || Ugly

The world was sometimes a terrible place.

Sammy sat there observing just how people sank so low sometimes as he watched how living humans – humans who had their own will – obeyed Briar's order without question. They were doing things they normally wouldn't have done. They all were normal people once, but Briar knew how to control both the living and the dead.

And with the living, she used her convincing words.

Which is why three people were untying the member who failed the initiation. Once a shy healthy-looking woman, now looked so frail and emancipated. If she could see or hear him, he would have kept her company from time to time, but sadly she couldn't and nobody cared much for her. Not when she had no value alive.

It was almost funny to see common everyday people slowly forgo their morals and excitedly drag someone they knew was starved and imprisoned away to wherever Briar wanted that woman to be. They were following her commands, and so Sammy followed them watching as the poor woman kicked her feet weakly and cried.

"Let me leave." She pleaded with a scratchy voice, but nobody paid her any mind as they continued to drag her. The woman looked around at them wondering how she allowed herself to believe that joining their group would be wise. Her wants blinded her, and her eyes watered as she dreaded her fate. "Where am I being taken?"

There still was no response given to her, and that made her cry and flail even more until she was taken into a room with a slab of stone in the middle of it.

It was dark there, and barely anything could be seen in the dim light, and the woman felt the stinging cold touch of the stone table-like slab against her skin. Nobody said anything, and nobody reacted when she sat up as she looked around the place. The three members were looking at a certain corner where their leader sat on an old wooden chair with a book in her lap.

"This is truly horrid." Briar was not addressing anyone with her words, she was merely reacting to what she was reading as she flipped the page, and that relaxed nonchalance made the captive woman furious.

All it would have taken was a single wave of her hand to attack the white-haired woman sitting there. She wanted to cause harm more than escape, she wanted Briar to regret ever locking her in a room making her endure cold nights as she starved. Her wants materialized in the form of a spell in her hand, and she thought of the worst curse she could think of before she lifted her arm to cast it.

Within split seconds, one of the loyal followers reacted and grabbed her hand firmly, canceling her spell in the process. A frustrated sound came out of her throat as she tried to yank her hand away, but the grip did not relent before she heard Briar stand up from her seat.

The woman found her head slammed back on the table so harshly that her vision became filled with dark spots for a few moments due to the impact. At first shocked, the woman stayed still for a moment before the pain was finally processed by her making her sob.

It was Briar who slammed her head so heartlessly like that with a single flick of her finger. "What are you standing here for? Restrain her."

"O-oh." One of the followers awkwardly moved to find the ropes while one of the other two held the woman down. They all were oblivious on what to do, and it was clear that they were surprised that a captive prisoner would be hostile or try to escape. They should have retrained the woman without Briar telling them to, but they were fumbling.

Thankfully for them, Briar decided to forgive that as she approached the table with the woman still groaning in pain.

"The three of you are here because you're the only ones I could trust." She told them after she was sure that the woman was finally secure, making the three turn towards her with hidden pride. They thought they were special, but they never noticed what Sammy had noticed a very long time ago.