What was once a refuge, filled with weary souls and whispered sorrows, now pulsed with an unnatural light—thin strands of red-gold sigils twisting across the sky like ancient veins. The symbols flickered ominously, repeating a chilling error-script:
> DEFICIT… DEFICIT… DEFICIT…
The evil legacy of the fallen Auditors.
The very curse that had latched onto Warden Erezia Ashmantle.
She walked alone through the veil of smoke, which recoiled from her as if in fear. Her steps didn’t stir the ash; it simply parted, as if it had a will of its own. With every breath, a distant, eerie sound cut through the silence—like the tearing of parchment, reverberating through the air—as if someone was trying to wipe a name from the sky.
Her eyes shone, darker than the void of night, sparking with shades of crimson and the fierce gold of the Auditors.
She was the Warden.
But within her, something else lurked.
Something the world had long since forgotten to name.
Veyron jolted awake at the unsettling crack of stone. The floor of his cell trembled for a brief moment—just a fleeting breath—but it was enough to send icy needles racing up his spine.
Ntshuxeko, startled, stood up as well, clutching her cloak tightly around her.
“Another glitch…” she murmured, her voice barely cutting through the heavy air.
Veyron’s jaw tightened. “Since she returned from the abyss, this camp feels profoundly wrong.”
“Wrong” barely scratched the surface. The Refuge was shifting into something much darker: a haven being twisted into a domain of palpable dread.
The guards stationed outside suddenly stiffened as Erezia approached.
She appeared, a wraith from the smoke, cloaked in shadows.
Her hair burned like white fire, while black sigils glimmered faintly against her skin—markings of the Auditor—but they were cracked, as if they resisted her very essence. Each movement lagged, as though reality itself struggled to accept her presence.
“Prisoners,” Erezia declared, her voice steady yet carrying a weighty echo of the past. “Prepare for your interrogation.”
Veyron swallowed hard, the air heavy in his throat. “You executed ten refugees last night.”
She blinked, her gaze steady.
A piece of parchment, delicate as a whisper, flickered from the corner of her eye before dissolving into nothingness.
“I executed ten anomalies,” she clarified coldly. “Failures in behavioral flow. Threats to our established order.”
Fury churned within Veyron as he stood, shaking. “They were frightened souls! Hurt! Starving!”
Erezia tilted her head, the motion abrupt and slicing.
“Fear does not mean innocence,” she stated with a chilling calm. “Fear is just a seed of instability. Instability leads to rebellion. Rebellion brings destruction. And destruction? It results in mass death.”
Her gaze glimmered with a golden light, a fleeting shift that suggested something unnatural.
“Preemptive culling is simply mercy,” she continued, her voice like the breath of a frigid wind.
Ntshuxeko stepped defiantly in front of Veyron. “And what, pray tell, are we? Just anomalies in your grand scheme?”
This time, a smile flickered across Erezia’s lips—a small, chilling grin more like a soulless automaton than a living woman.
“You are disruptions,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“And all disruptions must be documented.”
Her hand twitched slightly—a surge of ash erupted, forming chains that glinted ominously.
Then—
A ripple sliced through the air, sharp and disturbing.
A shadow, deep as a void, blinked into being within the doorway.
Fitran’s jaw tightened, a muscle twitching beneath his skin. “Auditor residue,” he declared, his voice laced with annoyance.
“No, it’s not just residue,” Erezia replied, her voice unwavering. “It’s integration. Evolution. I have been chosen.”
“You’re wrong,” Fitran hissed softly.
“You’re infected.”
Her expression darkened, shadows stretching like tendrils across the earth at dusk.
“Do you think you understand what I’m becoming?”
Fitran stepped closer, their breaths intertwining in the still air.
“I’ve fought the Auditors,” he said quietly, each word heavy with sorrow. “And I’ve killed them. You haven’t become one of them. You’re being consumed from within.”
The camp fell into a palpable silence, a dense shroud that suffocated all sound.
Refugees clung to the darkness, their eyes filled with terror. Guards shifted restlessly, their discomfort evident. Even the crying infants fell silent, as if an unseen force was suppressing their wails.
Erezia inhaled, the ash swirling around her, choking her lungs like a thick fog.
The ash shimmered inside her, flaring for a brief moment.
Then she exhaled—a shimmering wave of distorted reality that warped the metal bars confining the prisoners, twisting them as if they were made of molten wax.
“I am beyond your cautions,” she whispered, her tone almost derisive.
Fitran’s gaze honed in on her, slicing through the tension. “Are you?”
The air crackled between them, thick with unexpressed thoughts.
The ash surrounding Erezia shifted, rising like wings preparing for flight.
A sharp scream shattered the tense silence that loomed over the camp.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Warden! I implore you! Help us!”
A young boy sprinted into the square, terror written across his face, escaping the clutches of smoke-wreathed creatures—ashfolk, grotesque remnants of souls sacrificed to Gamma’s vile rituals. They crawled and squirmed on misshapen limbs, their faces empty voids.
Erezia snapped her fingers decisively.
In an instant, the ashfolk froze, caught mid-stride, their movements halted as if by death itself.
“Harm protocol breached,” the frigid voice of the Auditor echoed within her. “Initiating containment.”
She tightened her fist, a fierce determination igniting within her heart.
With one final, devastating flicker, the ashfolk disintegrated into mere dust, echoes of their previous menace.
The boy wept at her feet, his small body trembling.
The refugees gasped, their expressions a mix of disbelief and terror.
Veyron leaned in closer, his voice a shaky whisper filled with dread:
“She didn’t even say a word… she rewrote what they are.”
Ntshuxeko shuddered beside him, her voice quaking with fear. “She is a walking death sentence, a bringer of despair.”
But Erezia had yet to finish her grim display.
She lifted the boy's chin, her gaze piercing through the depths of his eyes.
> SCANNING EMOTIONAL STATE:
FEAR: 89%
RESENTMENT: 22%
LOYALTY: 1%
OUTCOME: CORRECTIVE INTERVENTION.
Her hand blazed with a fierce radiance, a searing white light pulsing with an unnatural power.
Fitran stepped in front of the boy, unwavering.
“That’s enough!” he commanded, his voice hard as stone.
The Warden’s eyes shifted—filled with ire, judgment, an unsettling charge.
“This child teeters on the brink of violence, merely days from descending into madness,” she asserted, her tone icy and void of compassion. “If not swiftly amended, his path will lead only to destruction.”
Fitran’s stare intensified, dark emotions churning in the depths of his eyes. “And what method of correction do you find justifiable?”
Erezia answered, her voice lacking all warmth:
“Erasure of harmful inclinations.”
Fitran’s presence darkened, a tempest brewing just beneath his surface.
“If you erase him, Warden,” he warned, “I will ensure your own erasure.”
Silence fell upon the camp like a crushing weight.
Guards stumbled back, fear etching deep lines on their faces.
Refugees dropped to their knees, trembling under the gravity of the moment.
The very ground seemed to hold its breath, awaiting the inevitable.
Erezia let out a laugh.
Not the laugh of a living soul.
But a broken, fluttering hiss like pages torn apart by a raging torrent.
“Acknowledged threat,” she whispered, her voice a rustle of dry leaves.
“Dismissed.”
She released the child from her grasp but remained close.
Leaning toward Fitran, her voice dropped to a soft, almost intimate whisper,
“Do you truly care for these souls?”
“Do you still believe in mercy?”
Fitran remained silent, the weight of his emotions thick in the air.
Erezia’s smile twisted into a chilling grin.
“Then it is you who will collapse first.”
Later, in the oppressive shadows of the interrogation hall, Veyron and Ntshuxeko found themselves forced to sit across from Erezia. Fitran lingered nearby, arms crossed tightly, his gaze sharp as a hawk watching the scene unfold.
Erezia moved with a chilling elegance, pacing behind them, her steps faltering—suggesting that the dark parasite within her demanded a painful moment to weigh each movement.
“You dared to breach my camp,” she declared, her voice thick with contempt. “You spun lies and played with the lives of the innocent. You have endangered our very existence!”
Veyron, barely restraining his rage, retorted, “We aimed to stop Gamma’s destruction, not to butcher the innocent!”
Her head jerked, an unsettling indication—two opposing thoughts seemingly clashing within her.
“Your understanding is misguided,” Erezia responded, her tone disturbingly calm.
“You are the very civilians you profess to protect.”
She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing with a predatory focus.
“Gamma is the essence of this world.”
The air behind her trembled, as if stirred by something unseen.
Shadows stretched menacingly, threading through the dim light like wraiths.
Bells, corroded and weary, chimed softly—a chilling echo of Auditor artifacts resonating in the silence.
Fitran's brow knitted, a flicker of worry crossing his features.
“She’s losing control,” he murmured, urgency creeping into his voice.
Erezia’s gaze shot to him, sharp and piercing.
“You are unlogged,” she stated, her tone as unyielding as iron. “Your very presence disrupts the fabric of order. You veer away from Zaahir’s carefully crafted design.”
Fitran's face was a mask of indifference, unyielding even in the face of her declarations.
“My path is mine to forge,” he shot back, his voice low and threatening.
“But your existence,” Erezia murmured, her voice slipping into a low, secretive tone, “is like a ledger, endlessly rewriting itself.”
She extended her hand, fingers outstretched like a tendril seeking light.
The air around Fitran twisted and distorted, an attempt to categorize him, to define his very essence, to tether him to the unyielding laws of reality.
But the effort failed, coming apart like a worn thread.
> ERROR.
SUBJECT NOT RECORDABLE.
VOID SIGNATURE DETECTED.
Erezia flinched, disbelief clearly visible on her face.
“You… you have no record. No sins to redeem. No virtues to earn you mercy. No destiny to tie you.”
Fitran stepped closer, the gravity in his stare reflecting her shocking truth.
“That terrifies you, doesn’t it?” he said, his voice edged with bitterness.
Her face fractured, literal cracks spreading across her cheek, with streams of glowing gold seeping through.
The parasite within her stirred, a sinister power rising.
She screamed, her hands clutching her head, as if trying to suppress the turmoil raging inside.
Light burst from her chest—sharp and jagged, a golden shard from a shattered sun. Auditor glyphs twisted and curled, rewriting the air itself, bending matter, and reshaping her very being.
Refugees fell to their knees, dread carved into their features.
Guards dropped their weapons, spears clattering to the floor.
Even the ashfolk, cowering among the tents, curled into tight balls, their breaths shallow and filled with fear.
From her mouth, the parasite hissed:
> WARDEN EREZIA: CORRUPT.
PERSONALITY FILE: OBSOLETE.
EXECUTING OVERRIDE.
Fitran surged forward, driven by impulse.
“NO!” he bellowed, his voice thick with urgency.
He lunged at Erezia, pulling her back just as a beam of destruction erupted down the hall, tearing apart the table between them.
Veyron and Ntshuxeko rolled aside, bodies stiffening in terror, choking on the acrid air.
The beam cut through a guard, a mere remnant of life.
Still, the guard remained silent.
He simply faded away—erased into a swirl of white dust.
“STOP!” Fitran shouted, his dark aura clashing against the Auditor energy, warping its monstrous shape.
Erezia shook, her body bending in ways that defied nature.
The parasite screamed from deep within her:
> ERASE THE UNLOGGED
ERASE THE WITNESSES
ERASE—
Fitran tightened his grip around her wrists, unwilling to release her.
“COME BACK, EREZIA!” he begged, heart pounding in fear.
For a brief instant, her eyes glimmered—a flicker of the human spirit fighting against the overwhelming tide of cosmic law.
“F… Fitran…” she whispered, her voice trembling with urgency.
Then—
The Auditor fragment surged again.
With a violent explosion, ash spewed in every direction.
It twisted into writhing tendrils, sharp spikes, and grotesque figures that mimicked humanity. The insatiable parasite sought to embed itself, draining life from the very essence of existence around it.
And the nearest living soul was—
A guard, unknowingly standing watch.
The ash lashed around him, consuming him entirely.
His scream echoed, a tormented sound that cut through the tumult.
His flesh turned charred black.
Then a sickly grey.
Then so thin and frail, as if made of parchment.
In agonizing defeat, he collapsed into mere dust.
Refugees surged into chaos.
Some dashed into the darkness.
Some stood motionless, paralyzed by fear.
Others clawed at the ground, sobbing and pleading with the heavens for mercy.
Fitran let out a primal roar, his void aura igniting with a foreboding energy.
He slammed Erezia against the wall, pinning her with a force that shattered stone like it was nothing.
“RESIST IT!” he shouted, desperation lacing his tone.
Her mouth opened—
And three voices erupted together, a cacophony of despair and urgency:
Her human voice trembled, small and pleading: “Help me—”
Her dying essence cried out, trembling with dread: “Please—”
The Auditor shard commanded harshly:
> NEUTRALIZE HIM
NEUTRALIZE HIM
NEUTRALIZE—
With shaking hands lifted toward Fitran, she sought to reach him.
Law sigils flared to life.
Ash swirled around them like wraiths in the gloom.
Fitran stood rigid, an immovable monument in the terror.
He allowed her to grip his throat, a strange calm amidst the turmoil.
Her grasp tightened, the heat of the Auditor burning against his skin.
He spoke softly:
“I’m not your enemy, Erezia.”
She shuddered, her body mirroring the storm raging inside her.
For a heartbeat—
Just one fleeting moment—
The Auditor's energy seemed to falter.
Her eyes softened, revealing her vulnerability.
“Fitran… I’m scared.”
And then—
Her body trembled violently, shaking hard, glyphs ripping across her skin like molten cracks.
The parasite screamed in agony:
> ERASE ERROR
ERASE ERROR
ERASE ERROR—
And thus, the chapter comes to an end with—