Angel Of The Damned

Angel IV | Into The Woods

CHARMAINE'S POV :

Extra food. Checked.
Enough drinking water. Checked.
Clean spare clothes. Checked.
Armed with weapons. Checked.
Backup basic remedies. Checked.

After a number of rough mental reassurances of all the things I might possibly need along the undecided length of my expedition, I finally felt prepared to leave. Due to my consistent but not so critical absentmindedness, I feared my tendency to forget even the most important things.

So, to avoid such inconvenience throughout my supposedly independent voyage, I had to ensure all my needs and necessities were equipped and available at any time. For that, a perfect checklist and several times of reviewing were compulsory. Satisfied with my own preparations, I decided to depart. Sliding the quiver across my back, I grabbed my bow in one hand and my bark tanned leather bag in the other.

Just then, my eyes fell on the two new golden vials which rested amidst my basket of remedies and herbs. One was the deadliest poison, which I derived on my own from every toxical herb accessible in the Serene Woods. Without my parent's acknowledgement of course. Although the various forms of martial arts taught to us were defensive enough, I always had a personal opinion that Healers should possess their own version of self-defence without the reliance on lethal weapons alone.

So, I decided to create my own potion of protection without anybody's concern.

While one vial was embodied with the deadly poison, the other one was holding the elixir of life.

It was the latest medicine my father had invented. It was something he had been working on for years and he claimed it to be the only antidote that can heal any illness on the face of the earth. Considering how Xavier Montgomery was actually a rather humble person, I was pretty surprised by his oddly unnerving confidence in the miraculous function of his newest invention.

Regardless of my father's extraordinary gift, there was still one single discomfort that kept bothering me from believing his latest creation. That's because he hasn't even gotten any chance to experiment and prove the function of his most recent medicine to me. However, he had gotten that untested elixir stocked in quite a large amount, for his latest journey.

Whereas in the norm, Xavier Montgomery had never once applied any medications before witnessing its complete results, and that too, in my company. He never once did administer his inventions without my approval. Not until now, at least.

Unaware of the reasons behind his abnormal change in procedures, I chose to ignore them all. He declared it as the Elixir of Life, then so be it. Perhaps, I might be offered a chance to test that theory on any ill-fated souls along the way. I withdrew my dagger and coated it with my poisonous potion before slipping it back in its sheath safely. Dropping the vial of elixir with the rest of my belongings, I moved out of my room in utter silence.

The internal environment of the house was calm and quiet, just like every other early morning. The only audible sound was the soft snoring of my grandmother from her room, not far from my own.

Cautiously, I moved on my tiptoes towards the backdoor. Since most of the well-trained healers had accompanied the crew's journey, the ones left to guard the house were only the amateurs. Whom I can take down with relative ease and as though the universe was in my favour too, they were all asleep. I sneaked out of the house, and closed the door back in my ever so slow and gentle motion and stepped away.

No movements.

I took a few more steps from the house.

Still... no movements.