Day: 72

Days Left: 5408

Lives Saved: 0

It had been a week since the blood moon and Corinna's hearing had not yet fully returned. A ruptured eardrum usually took about two months to heal; however, as she was in The Eternal Abyss, this would be quicker. Although she was no longer deaf, she could not pick up any noises from the other side of the house if they weren't extremely loud. Hence, Corinna positioned herself on the side nearest to the door to detect any intruders.

The young woman had decided to stay in the house ever since what had happened. She had lied to Harmony, saying it was because she wanted to improve the fireplace, but she had managed to do that within one day. Her feet froze at the door whenever she tried to go outside, her mind remembering the headless horseman and the imps. The very fear of losing her memories overruled even the fear of Harmony escaping without saying goodbye. Corinna knew that she couldn't stay inside the house for the entirety of her imprisonment. It was just for another day, she promised herself. She had said the same thing yesterday, and the day before... and the day before that.

Another lie she had told to Harmony was how much food they had collected. As she was in charge of it, Corinna had hidden how little there was. Though the chimaera had traded to get some more from Ivette, it still was not enough for both of them. Thus, Corinna only ate every other day, making sure that Harmony received enough food to regain her strength.

Though in The Eternal Abyss, hunger grew slower, Corinna was starting to feel the effects, her movements slow and sluggish, her stomach growling for attention.

Whilst she preferred to be in the presence of Harmony, she did value the time alone as it provided little distractions so that she could concentrate on her notebook of memories. Currently, she was writing a passage about her second-cousin Henry when she heard something from outside. She dropped her pencil and shut her notebook, stashing it on the bookshelf. Creeping low to the window, she carefully peeked behind the curtain.

It was the angler-fish creature and two others, a man and a woman, neither which Corinna recognised.

The amphibian stood at the bottom of the porch stairs, hissing at the two figures, its glowing antenna sticking upwards. The man stepped forward, mesmerised and ensnared by the warm light but was quickly pulled out of his trance by the woman. She drew back on her bow and released an arrow. It pierced into the porch steps in between the amphibian's legs. Scared, the fish creature scampered away, making one final snarl before disappearing out of sight.

"Yeah! And we claim this house as our own!" the man cheered in victory. He raised both of his arms, prepared for a high-five but the woman ignored him as she retrieved the arrow lodged in the porch steps.

"I just hope that it has a toilet," she grumbled.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad. It's just like camping."

The woman looked at him. Corinna imagined that there was a deadly glare behind her mask directed at the man. "You can go wherever you want. You cannot understand my suffering."

The two continued to talk amongst each other, arguing more about toilets for a good three minutes. All the while, Corinna watched them, listening in as best as she could with her damaged eardrums. They didn't seem like much of a threat as the man was only slightly taller than Corinna and the woman was shorter. Even under all of their oversized and baggy clothes, she could tell that they weren't muscular either. The only concern was the masks that they donned for that was the true measure of power in the Eternal Abyss.

Worn by the man was a red waxy mask, speckled with a few orange dots and splodges. At the very bottom, where his chin would be, was a set of large circular eyes with slitted irises. Meanwhile, the woman's mask was white and perfectly sculpted to her face. Numerous black words and letterings in a foreign language were scattered across the mask, always moving and morphing into new ones. Corinna could not imagine what either mask would transform into, but it was still best to remain cautious.

Corinna peered outside and saw that the man and the woman were now heading to the door. Remembering back to what happened with the spectacled woman, she didn't want a repeat. This time, she would solve it peacefully.

"Wait, what if someone already owns this place?" The masked woman stopped the man from climbing the porch steps.

The man paused in thought. "Then, let's just knock on the door politely."

"Are you insane!" the woman hissed, shaking her head as she watched her friend knock.

"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone home-"

Corinna opened the door, spear in hand.

The man and the woman screamed and retreated back, their weapons pointing at Corinna. Regaining his composure, the man then lowered his sword and put it back in its sheath.

"Hey, there." He made a small wave, laughing. The man said aside to his friend "see, that's why we should knock. Otherwise, she would have stabbed us with that spear." 

Turning back to Corinna, he took off his mask, revealing his face. He had warm walnut skin with dark curly and unruly hair that stuck up in tufts wherever it pleased. "Appears you've already claimed this place. I assure you that we mean you no harm. We're very nice people. Well... I am. She's not so nice-" He stopped and grinned guiltily as his friend glared at him. She then seemed to whisper something in his ear. "Oh!" the man exclaimed. "Don't worry!" he yelled at Corinna. "I've only killed one or two people. I'm not that bad-" The man grimaced, seeing the horrified expression on Corinna's face.

"What are you doing, you idiot!" snapped his friend.

"You said that she was a mage and she could read my brand-"

"I said that I could sense magic on her!" The woman pointed to Corinna's wrist. "She made a contract with someone."

"Great!" The man flipped his hands in the air in frustration. "I just told her that I'm a murderer! It was only two people!" he yelled at Corinna. "And I don't remember any of it! I'm sure they deserved it-"

The woman hit him in the shoulder. "Stop! You're making it worse."

"Oh, come on. Everyone's probably a murderer here. What are you in for?" the man asked Corinna.

Her grip on her spear getting tighter, Corinna hesitated before answering, "treason." She gazed down at the two strangers, unsure what to do next. One had just calmly stated that he was a murderer, and the other still kept her mask on to hide her face. Although the man said that the house was hers, the two had still not left. What else did they want?