Arknights : the broken fate

Chapter 16: The Cursed Hand

The Watcher clapped his hands slowly as a way of expressing his amusement. The aura around him was still as dreadful as when she first met him. But surprisingly, it did not bother her this time as much as it used to be. Instead, she felt a little happiness when she realized it was him.

"Watcher! What are you doing here? Did you...lose control?" She feared what his answer might be.

"Ah! So you realize that you are very, very late hm?"After shaking his head disappointingly, a sigh left through his mask. "Rest assured, I did not lose control...yet. Due to what is happening in Lungmen and the high number of deaths, I was able to hold on for a far longer time than I was supposed to. But that is not enough."

"I still need a new body, a new host. I still need you to help me."His figure became increasingly recognizable as a dark purple aura outlined it." That's what I wanted to say, but it seems that you are the one who needs help more than me. Your hand, how did it get corrupted by the mist?"

To say the least, Galena was not in her best state. Her face was still as pale as ever, and also covered in tears. She looked like she could lose her balance at any moment from how weak she seemed to be. However, her right hand got the Wathcer's interest the most.

Looking at it, nothing seemed abnormal. But he knew that was not true. He felt it, the cursed energy flowing through her hand. He had an idea of what had occurred before he came. But he hoped that he was wrong about it.

"...Corrupted...What do you mean?" Even though she asked, her mind was already trying to connect the dots between what the Watcher said and what had happened to her. "The mist, and also shadow-like creatures...I've seen something like that, it took me to a place like the void and talked about something."

"What did they say?" The Watcher pulled an ancient-looking book from his belt and then held Galena's right hand to inspect it after opening it. 

"I did not understand much of it. Too many voices were talking, each saying different things." Her eyes focused on what the old being in front of her was doing to her hand. "But I think the most, talked about someone...about how that person chose me for some reason they did not understand. They wanted me to prove myself...or that was what they said."

The Watcher flipped the pages of his book trying to find something related to what happened to Galena. As for her, it seemed that no matter how many pages he moved, the book never came close to ending, as if it was endless or new pages were getting created from thin air.

"Did they do something to you?" He continued asking her while focusing on the book in his hands.

"They said that they gave me a gift. After that I lost consciousness, and when I was awake...I found out in a horrible way what they did to me. I had gained a great amount of strength that had helped me in surviving." She touched her right hand with her left one. "And then my hand just stopped working."

"I see...so that is what happened." The Watcher finally stopped moving from page to page after stumbling on the one he sought. " I found it."

"What have you found?" Galena asked.

"On this page of paper is written what had happened to your hand, or to be precise, your whole body." After reading its needed content, he closed the book and returned to its place. "Ah, this is complicated."

"Then explain it to me. Tell me what happened, tell me who these creatures were." The researcher wanted to get her chance to get an explanation.

"Then focus on what I will say." He started talking.