It was dark. As far Meryl could remember, ever since that portentous day, she was unable to see a single ray of light.
Days passed with her wandering around aimlessly â€" stumbling at every second step and banging her head against random things.
Had it not been for her kind Master, by whom she was saved from drowning, Meryl would've never been able to 'see' again.
What cultivation was, Meryl did not know back then. She did not even know who she was and what power she held, until her Master told her.
She was a beautiful young lady with ginger hair. Although she had freckles back then, it only served to add to her innocent charms.
Meryl could only take her Master's words at face value, for she had no means to picture herself or even see.
That however, changed. It changed after a hundred years when Meryl ascended to immortality and could make good use of her spiritual sense.
Even though she could not see through her eyes, she could perceive everything around her. The sound of birds chirping, the stepping of her foot on the wet mud, the gurgling sound of her stomach when she was hungry; all such things were one of the first few experiences of her perception.
Days passed and a disastrous plague struck Meryl's place. Her Master and her tried to run away, but the whole world was swept in the plague, and it even reached her Master.
"Live.. well…my… child."
Those were her Masters final words before she pushed her into an unknown gate. Space warped around Meryl and where she had arrived after that, she had no recollection.
Initially she felt nothing and wandered around in a rat form as there were people nearby and appearing in front of them would be suspicious, but as she moved smore, she realized that she was unable to shift back!
Not being able to shift back meant not being able to see. Her spiritual powers were not working either and she couldn't do anything about it. She was basically a normal rat at this point!
This horrified Meryl to no end and she ran around in panic, only to get sucked into a dungeon.
Here, she was met with sunruly beasts, but with her skills, she avoided them easily and stayed huddled in a corner.
This was until she felt a scary aura, and also a repulsive, demonic one.
The demonic one felt like Meryl was looking at a bloodthirsty killer. Even in her own place she had never felt such an aura. Hiding from this person was the best choice, so she ran in the opposite direction.
Meryl couldn't see or perceive the place she was in. Hence her only sense of direction was the aura. However, that soon changed as the aura suddenly disappeared. Where it had gone, she didn't know. Even the scary aura had vanished.
Meryl's panic had slowly settled down and she moved around in hopes of finding an exit, but much to her dismay, she soon entered a place where she could feel the two scary auras.
This made her panic again and she ran around, only to get crushed by something heavy. Thankfully, that something hadn't stopped itself from crushing her to death.
When that something walked away, Meryl realized the weight belonged to the person with the demonic aura.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSo… she ran.
She ran, and ran, and ran.
It was an endless darkness all around her. She did not know where she was going, but the repulsive aura had vanished again.
After catching her breath, she once again ran to find an exit.
But this taround, she once again got crushed. And it was by the person with the demonic aura!
Meryl was scared to death and ran again when the person let her go.
But curse the heavens! She got found out by someone.
The next thing she knew, everything turned dark again.
Where she was, what she was doing, nothing was felt.
It should be scary like she had hoped, but for sreason, she felt warm.
It was warm, comfortable, and so cozy that Meryl felt herself covered in a bed of flowers.
She had a lucid dream about her experiences and was still living through them. After a long chase, she finally went through srest.
However, there was something off about this.
Sniff… Sniff…
Meryl could smell a savory aroma in the air. There was also the scent of freshly brewing coffee, and this made her wonder, was her lucid dream so lucid that she could even smell things?
If such was the case, shouldn't she be able to see the things happening in the dream?
Currently, everything was black in her vision. The only thing she could sense was the aroma of food and coffee.
Seconds passed into minutes and this aroma got denser. It was to the point that Meryl felt choked.
"Huwaaa!"
Meryl woke up in shock trying to catch her breath.
Suddenly, in her spiritual vision, she saw three pairs of eyes staring at her.
All three made her sweat and gulp in fear.
The lady with dark eyes and horns on her head, she was scary!
The lady with gray and no look on her face was double scary!
And that…
The man with purple eyes…
Heavens…
Who was this man!? What was that halo on his head?! How demonic was he!?
Meryl finally understood the situation she was in and a sense of dread took over her.
'It's over. My life's over. Sorry Master… Icouldn't survive for longer…'
…..
Lith, Mayzin, and Sylvia looked at the ginger-haired girl with visible surprise.
She was so startled as if she had seen her parents' killers.
"I-I-I…"
"Don't be so scared." Mayzin said in a calm tone. "We're not trying to harm you."
The girl gulped again and tried to crawl away from the three, only to hit the wall behind her.
Lith rubbed his chin and asked with a thoughtful gaze, "Do we look like bad guys to you?"
Just like how others could perceive Lith as someone with a high amount of negative energy, he too could do the same, but with people possessing positive and virtuous energy.
He didn't know about it until the Druid girl in front manifested in her real self.
This was a really pure soul. Untainted, unblemished, and there wasn't a single speck of corruption within her.
If there was a halo for positive energy, the complete opposite to what Lith had, this girl would definitely possess an angelic white ring on her head.
Her soul was as pure as Emilia's. No, it was even more pure.
Emilia killed people she felt were bad. She may be an angel, but she had blood on her hands.
This girl, however, possessed nothing of sort.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe could understand why she must be scared. If Lith could sense her as pure, she could sense him as the worst scum in the world.
'What a headache…'
Meryl closed her eyes in fear and whimpered like a puppy. Tears soon trickled down her eyes, making Lith and Mayzin frown even harder.
"She'll be scared if we stay here for longer. It's best if we find someone with a holy and sacred aura."
Mayzin said softly while brushing her purple hair behind her ears.
'Holy and sacred…'
Lith only knew of one person. It was his cute angel Emilia. However, she had gone MIA for a while and he couldn't contact her.
'Who else could there be who hasn't killed anybody and is a virtuous so..ul… hm? What about her?'
Lith suddenly remembered someone who, if he wasn't wrong, hadn't killed people yet. Or was he wrong?
Lith couldn't properly remember.
"I know someone. Letgive her a call." Lith said and dialed a number.
Soon, after a short talk, space fluctuated around him and out of thin air a dignified lady with shoulder length blonde hair appeared out.
Unlike before, she wore high waist black trousers with her white shirt tucked inside it.
Her trousers gave an appearance that she had long legs, which may be true compared to her height, but she was really as short as Miwa, and also petite.
This was the cute Yellow Phantom, Fei, and she was someone with a clean kill history.
She was sealed for most of her life in a dungeon. Even after waking up, she was taken directly under Lith. Ever since then, Lith didn't really remember asking her to kill anybody.
'Maybe she might've killed someone, but her kill count should be less than even Emilia's.'
Lith thought as he saw Fei.
Fei bowed as she saw Lith. "How may I help, Master?"
Lith pointed at the trembling girl and said, "Can you calm her down?"
Fei turned to look at the girl. She saw a ginger-haired girl with gentle bearings. However, that only lasted for a second as a splitting pain shot through her head.
"Ouch!"
…..
A/N: Chapters have been a bit slow as I've got an exam coming up. I know I need to publish the bonuses, I'll do it together as a mass release in the first or second week of May.