"How do I stop the silk from leaving my body?" Lara asked as she had her breakfast, her face etched with concern. "All you have to do is calm down." Her response to her question calm as Andrew joined her after he was done with the bathroom. "You said back then that I had broken into the first league, what does that mean?"
Andrew watched her before rising."Could you come with me?" His hand gestured towards her, inviting to which she was forced to accept. The two made their way to the back of the mansion where a beautiful garden was revealed. "Can you look into the sky and tell me what you see?" Lara complied and when she looked up, it was a completely different world that she saw. The sky was still cloudy but that was the least of her concerns.
All around her colors swirled around her and Andrew. Some in gold, some in red while the black seem to gravitate towards her. But far beyond that was an eye that glared back at her. "I see colors like I'm on a bad trip and a huge eyeball in the sky. It looks like it's in space rather than in the sky." Her response filled with shock and disbelief.
"Good. From now on try to absorb as much of that black strand color as you can for you to grow stronger." She looked back at him, unsure of what he meant. "Do you believe in fantasy because that is what this world is going to become." He reached into his coat to reveal his scalpel. "From now on feats like this should be of the norm however at first it will be rare." The scalpel began to float right before it was shot towards a nearby tree, embedding itself firmly in it's trunk before it was recalled back to him.
"I know that this may be a bit too much to take in thus I'll be here with you every step of the way to help you." The scalpel was returned back into it's case. "In the madness that will devour the world, there are three kinds of people that will emerge. But it's best to show you so freshen up and let's go for a drive."
With her focus on Andrew, she hadn't realized that her silk dilemma had stopped. After Lara took her shower, she met up with Andrew in a black SUV downstairs and the two drove into the city. Around them the streets were littered and bathed in chaos, Lara was still unsure of what was happening around her real or not. The two drove to a hospital in which was crammed packed with people of different ailment at the waiting zone.
Lara looked around, people with scales came into view, others with tusks and elongated necks. 'Looks like a freak show if anything!' Her mind concluded as paramedics rushed in before handing the patient to the nurses and vanishing. The two left the hospital shortly after and made their way to the numerous tents placed outside of the hospital. All kinds of groans and cries filled the air which disturbed Lara but Andrew walked through the screams casually.
There were people with animal like features, others however of a more unique symptom. People either letting out blinding light or fire. Some exuding ice crystals out of their pores similar to Lara with her silk. But what stunned Lara was a patient sweating gold and others copper. Their skins changing to a light gold or green respectively which only filled Lara with more questions than answers.
"What is going on with them?" She couldn't help but ask as the two began to make their way back to their car. "What kinds of symptoms did you see?" She recalled, her mind finding the hallway and tents jarring. "There were freaks no doubt! Some with animal like features, others elements like light, fire, water and others minerals coming out of their bodies." Her face grimacing as Andrew brought the car to life.
"In this game, there are three kinds of people that will be birthed. People who have animal based abilities, people with element based abilities and people with mineral based abilities. What you have as I'm sure you've guessed is an animal based ability. A spider to be more specific." The car now snaking through the empty road of Stillwater city. "Those people unlike you don't have the pain reliever that is my blood so they have to endure the pain till it dims. For them, it could take a week or more while for you, it took a night."
She looked at Andrew before it dawned on her. The black strands seemed to be exuding from his figure rather than being absorbed. "Wait! Why are the strands coming out of your body? Not to mention, from you manipulating the scalpels, do you have a metal like ability?"
The car arrived at their compound. "I don't have a metal based ability but rather telekinesis. As for your former question, between the three doors that you saw, I made the black one. And later on, don't worry as you are the only one who sees this strand leave my body because you have had a taste of my blood."
His figure heading back inside before pausing at the door. "We'll be trying to help you manipulate your abilities till you advance to the next league. Not to mention there are some tips I wanted to give you later on after supper."
. . .
Brittany was still in her room, the heart now already devoured but now she didn't have any air semblance of humanity to her. She seemed more like a caged animal, her crimson eyes dilating in the darkness as the only source of light to her was now shattered. Her breathing was deep akin to a bear before the small door slid open revealing another heart. Brittany didn't have her earlier resentment as she quickly devoured the heart in a matter of minutes.
Andrew kept feeding her hearts till she had burnt through all of them. Lara found her and looked at the camera fixed in Brittany's room. "Is she even human with how she is? She even got rid of her clothes!" She grew uncomfortable the longer she looked at Brittany who ate hearts with no tire in sight. "She'll be fine if you think she's gone, after all Brittany isn't spared from the Loom effect, it's just that her's is far more violent in comparison to yours."
Lara furrowed her brows, a question leaving her lips. "What is she? I mean what kind of ability does she have?" Andrew mechanically throwing hearts through the door without glancing at Lara. "She has a vampire based animal within her but unlike you, she also has another weave as well." Throwing the last heart through the door, Andrew rose and pressed a button on his remote. "Lara kept on watching through the camera as blood began to trickle through the ceiling before flooding the room."
It wasn't long before Brittany was drowning in blood, beast like snarls filling the room. "I do have to ask, where did you get the hearts to be feeding Brittany?" A lump formed in her throat as she glanced at Andrew. "These are hearts from the people who went missing last year." His response casual which elicited a look of disgust and worry from Lara as she began to back away from him.
"You had something to do with this? When Kevin said that he had a hunch about you and the incidents back then I thought that he was crazy but it would seem that he was right! You- You really are a heartless monster!" Andrew didn't bother looking back at her as he watched through the feed of Brittany's transformation. "If you view my actions as cruel then I promise you that it only gets worse from here Lara. It won't be long till you claim someone's life, and once the guilt washes off, you will kill with no hesitation."
His words making her scalp tingle as her breathes got shorter. Looking at his back, it felt like looking at a serial killer or a beast that could kill her should he wish and yet he didn't. "I won't become like you! I won't kill for the sake of sport like a psychopath!" Andrew turned to face her, their eyes locking. "I don't kill for the purpose of sport, I kill because I need to. It is the most efficient way of dealing with a problem that will arise should the time come. You need to learn how to kill Lara whether you like it or not. The world that you knew about morals and ethics are gone, now it's nothing more than a game where people will do whatever it takes to come out on top. If you don't capitalize with what you have, you'll meet your demise."
She turned away, her face heavy with her hands clutching her chest. "So what if I die? I'll be reunited with my family!" Andrew turned away from her and with a press of a button began to drain the room. "Then kill yourself Lara. If that is what you so wish." His words weren't cruel, they were functional before he stepped into the room which was rancid with blood, his blood and in the middle of the room was Brittany's unconscious body. He picked it up and took it upstairs leaving Lara lost in thought.
. . .
Brittany was in the white void similar to Lara however her door wasn't the black one but rather the red door. In front of her a crack stretched both vertically and horizontally with no end in sight. Multiple smaller cracks began to form as well, the swirls of red in the red void calling out to her to lose herself. "Cough!" A mouthful of blood left her lips which sent chills across her body. Before she could process what was happening, blood began to bleed out of every orifice she had. Be it her eyes, her nose, ears, mouth and pores. As time ticked on, she lost more and more blood till she lost consciousness.
"Gah!" She shot her eyes wide awake, expecting the cage she was kept in but now she was in a bath tub fresh with blood. With some entering her mouth, she quickly deduced that it was Andrew's blood before the ecstasy hit her. 'I didn't think that bathing in his blood would be so good!' She mused in her head before realizing the torture she was put through. After a few more minutes, she left the tub and grabbing a towel covered her body before making her way into the bedroom where a figure was waiting for her.
"Andrew! I should kill you right now!!" Her teeth grit as she lashed out and dug her fingers into his neck. "Should you want to be punished once more, it would be best for you to drop this rage induced theatrics of yours." His words calm however Brittany pressed harder with her fingers to the point he began to bleed. "You won't be able to put me through something like that ever again if I rip your-"
A punch landed squarely on her gut that left her breathless and crashing next to him on the bed. "I can't believe that you have the guts to hit a woman!" Her eyes teary as Andrew adjusted his clothes, the bleeding from his neck ceasing. "Take a proper shower and meet me downstairs." His movements unhurried as he left the room giving Brittany the chance of lunging at him. "Gah! Do you think that I'm going to keep on talking with you like nothing never happened?! You're going to pay for putting me through that hellscape! You forced me to eat a rotten human heart not to mention drowning me in blood! What the fuck is wrong with you?!!"
Andrew crashed his back onto the door frame sending an unimaginable pain making her fall off to the ground. Andrew crouched and held her by her hair. "It would seem that you're forgetting something Brittany. I could kill you at any time that I please, I don't have to entertain your games so put on those clothes I've prepared and meet me downstairs."
The two locked eyes, Brittany's deadly glare meeting his half lid eyes before he let her go and left.