195 Gambit of the hollow child (1/2)

Mia was standing in front of the door to the dark void while wondering about her current life choices.

Not too long ago she found herself engaging in a long conversation with Knucker, a really weird tourist guy who seemed to have the same kind of ability to see that future as Evlin's friend named Lilith, and with said ability, he informed Mia about a couple of interesting routes her future could take.

Among these futures, there was one that really grabbed her attention for just how unlikely but appealing it sounded.

Knucker guaranteed her that this one future was indeed possible, but only if she did a small favor for him.

Mia was tempted, but also suspicious. Kuncker's offer was a little too good to be true and she demanded a small bit of proof to find out if she could really trust him.

This lead to the weird-looking tourist having to provide Mia with a small bit of information that could solve one of her problems right now, and to confirm it for good, Mia needed to enter the dark void one more time.

The girl opened the door and took a good look at the place. Just like before, it was a large endless area where no light could be found aside from the faint glow of the souls of all her victims floating aimlessly around the air.

Mia entered the dark void and began to make her path following the instructions Knucker left for her while trying very carefully not to touch any spirits again.

She kept walking, sometimes making a few detours to avoid a couple of approaching souls, but always keeping track of the words Knucker left to her.

'You will find the Evlin girl's soul if you just follow this specific path' he said while giving full detail on how she should advance. Mia tried her best to remember his directions in the hopes of finding the crossbow girl somewhere around here. She for a moment considered the idea of just killing Knucker so she could absorb his soul and have him guide her, but for some reason, part of her was starting to reject the desire to harm others for no reason.

The more time passed the more Mia began to feel like she had no idea what she truly wanted or who she was. She was getting more lost by the second and she needed someone besides Drya or North to help her find herself, someone she could trust.

And just as she was thinking about it, there she was, the young Evlin sitting on the black ground covering her face with her arms to avoid looking at any of the hundreds of souls there present.

”Evlin!! Evlin!!” Mia just approached her and tried to call her name, but it seemed like the girl was in the middle of a trance, ”Evlin, I'm getting you out of here...”

Mia placed Evlin in her arms and began to walk towards the exit when she suddenly felt something grabbing her leg. The ponytailed child looked down and noticed that it was a vine.

Mia just glared at Drya. She hadn't forgotten what the plant girl had done to her.

”I'm taking Evlin out of here... Now get lost!”

”It seems that I didn't make myself clear last time... YOU, DO NOT, ACT, UNLESS WE TELL YOU TO!!”

”I think I missed the part where I turned into your lapdog...” Mia declared while cutting herself loose from the vine with her free hand, ”you do know that the reason you are here is to just be my power source right?”

Drya just grinned and made a pair of blades with her arms, ”it also seems like someone needs to be re-educated...”

Mia placed Evlin on the ground and returned to glare at Drya.

”You do know that the dark void is the opposite of the white void right? You can't get hurt in there, but you can definitely get yourself hurt in here!!”

”Yeah... I found that out the hard way...” Mia commented while rubbing the spots where she was wounded before.

Drya launched herself towards Mia with both blades raised in an attempt to stab her but the girl just dashed to the side to avoid her attack.

The moment she stopped running, Drya began to shoot spikes of the size of a batton at Mia from her nails. Mia used her superior speed to catch one of the spikes and used it to repel the rest by striking each one down.

Drya began to release several of her vines towards Mia to tangle her up, but Mia just grabbed them all and pulled Drya closer to sock her in the nose.

”Wraaghh!!!” the demon cried.

Drya kept trying to either attack or grab hold of Mia, but the girl just continued to easily escape all of her attempts which in turn made Dya start to lose patience.

”How are you doing this???” the plant demon asked in a demanded.

”How long do you think I've been using your powers until now? I know all your tricks... Besides...” Mia shifted her gaze towards the crying Evlin who just kept releasing negative emotions of fear, anger, and panic and boosting Mia's power, ”I just feel like I'm in a good mood right now!”

”You!!?? In a good mood??”

”Yeah... All because of my little talk with my good friend Knucker...”

Drya made a face of utter confusion as if someone had just asked her to name all the countries of the globe backwards, ”who the hell is Knucker...???”

Mia became a little lost with Drya's comment, ”what do you mean who is Knucker?? The guy that I was talking to not too long ago??”

”...” Drya remained silent.

”You didn't see him??”

”I haven't been able to see a damn thing for a while now... Something has been blocking our view from the dark void to the outside.”

”What...?” Mia replied perplexed. She was really starting to wonder who exactly Knuncker really was.