Golden ichor poured from Cutlery's mouth and onto the ground. A long jello worm of the stuff slapped onto the ground. Prodito hopped down from his crate. His six-fingered red hands plunged into the golden slime. Cutlery simply collapsed to the ground and heaved.
Ripping it apart he shoved alleyway refuse, a dagger, some of his own white hairs, and other objects too small to catch, into the ichor. As Cutlery retched Prodito grabbed her by the throat. Her mouth opening reactively, Prodito shoved the slime back into her.
Vision clouded as Cutlery gagged. The golden ichor seemed to writhe in pain as it moved down her throat. Then she blinked.
Like a dream, the scene ended without warning. She was now looking through a golden shell. It was semi-transparent and Cutlery could see the armored man standing outside. The shell cracked loudly. The memory of Prodito and the golden worm faded from her mind till it was a distant dream.
The armored man was smashing against the shell with his sword. Energy sparked in Cutlery's muscles. Gaping wounds sealed throughout her body.
Cutlery shifted and found the shell solid. Then the sword smashed again and a large crack ran up, it seemed to be cracking itself as well. Cutlery pushed with her legs and the back of the shell gave way. With unnatural ease, she folded out of the small hole.
The armored man looked at her. Fire welled up in his eyes.
"What have you done? Turned to heresy!" He said. Cutlery looked at herself. She was leaner, and her muscles were super-taught under her skin. They gave her hard angles in her arms, stomach, and legs. The armored man looked like he was expecting a response. He was unsure of what to do. A little shake hid within his eyes. Fear. The man didn't know what had just happened and was afraid.
Cutlery pulled her rapier out.
"I turned to nothing. I turned away from the tower you bitch baby." Cutlery said. Nice. Even she wasn't sure how well she matched up to him now.
"Then I have no qualms." The man said. He brought up his long shield and pointed his blade forward.
"Never had a single one." Cutlery retorted. Then she stepped back. She kicked a small set of pebbles up at the man. The plinked off his shield. She did a new trick her sliver was still teaching her muscles. A knee drop. She loosened her legs and fell low. A sudden push slid her just above the ground. To the armored man, she would simply disappear and then reappear right in front of him.
She jabbed her blade forward at his throat from below the shield.
-
Cutleries new body was limber beyond anything she had seen. While it was flexible like an acrobat's, it was also blindingly fast Cutlery pulled away from a brutal exchange of blades. The mage's spells couldn't find a target around the wide-armored man, and the man's slow blade barely nicked her even on the fastest of swings.
Cutlery ate that shit up. Prodito could have as many fucking whatever he had said in the dream not dream world if this was the result. The fight went on for some ten seconds of quick exchanges when Cutlery realized she was being chipped down. The edge of a fireball, the sword nicking her scalp, and a small trail of blood slowly hurt her.
She needed to finish this now. Cutlery flicked a vial of poison into the air. With a swift kick, she again moved away from the swordsmen. She flicked her foot and a chunk of crate smashed into the bottle with surprising accuracy. They shattered and splattered across the air in front of the armored man. He jerked back in fear and Cutlery launched forward. The vial was practically harmless unless you swallowed the whole thing. A jab pierced through the stumbling man's armor as Cutlery felt the snap of muscles in his arm and then side as the place went much deeper than usual.
The man roared and grabbed at her. She let go of her rapier and he missed. Cutlery drew two daggers as he began to glow again. He lifted his arm, tearing the rapier out. His sword began to absorb his glow and then smashed into her side.
A second magic impact followed the first mundane one. She smashed into the hard alley wall with great effect. The stone cracked as her body rebounded off it. A streak of white electricity ripped through her sackcloth clothes and into her chest, her heart shuddering as it passed through her.
Everything slowed for an odd shell-shocked second. Heaving breaths filled the air. Blood poured out of the leggings of the large man's armor. The mage's hands quivered from use. Cutlery herself felt like a wet bag of soup all of the sudden.
A set of scratches came into her focus. They said, hole in prodito's secret criminal language. Looking down through a pile of refuse, Cutlery saw the wall had a wide crack in it. As the armored man heaved with a great metal clink to his full height once more, Cutlery's knee dropped.
This time the man lowered his shield against the ground with a resounding thud. The drop was not to attack him though, it was to escape. Cutlery pushed off the ground and launched backward, face up, into the hole. The back of her head slammed into the far side of the hole and her legs bent up to her forehead as she began to slide down the rough stone. The top of the hole flashed with sparks and lightning as Cutlery was suddenly sliding to safety.
A groan escaped her throat as the tunnel finally let her unfold. Her back was raw from the rough descent. She had slowly slid down about two floors she would estimate. Only some real subbasement-level things could be at this depth underground. Above her, the armored warrior was hacking away at the hole. From what she could hear the mage refused to crawl in there and fall into her trap!
Perhaps safety was at hand. Now on her butt in the short tunnel, she contorted. Eventually, she made it onto her hands and knees and began to move forward. The sackcloth dress was torn up and barely covered her so even if the mage did come down they would instantly die of embarrassment at her revealed undergarments.
This was the reality of adventuring. Unless you had magic armor or clothes, superpowered attacks often left you half-naked. After a good thirty feet, the hole opened up into only darkness. The air was warm and damp.
Cutlery slid out of the tunnel and slowly lowered herself into the dark. With her arms fully extended her feet still dangled in the air. She let go. A heartstopping half second passed. The floor met her feet. Cutlery yelped but her body simply crouched with the landing in perfect control. Still weird.
Carefully she stood in the darkness. She felt for the wall. It was still moist and she followed it around its full length. It fell away from her hand. A set of stairs revealed itself to her scouting feet and she ascended.
At the top, a flicker of light showed under a molding wood door. Cutlery lowered herself to the floor and peeked under. A room of trinkets and spaces for more trinkets was on the other side. A sign hung over a far door. Gradually she made out the one word on it, 'trinketville'. Huh.
Nothing stirred inside. Cutlery found the door was unlocked. Small candles lit a low table in the center. A large stuffed blanket hung over something square. It was a short square and the blanket went all the way to the floor.
The blanket stirred and a small face peered out from under it. Cutlery saw a red glow coming under the soft cloth.
Cutlery blinked at the child's face. They blinked back. They slid back under the blanket. Cutlery crept in a few more steps and looked about. No one was hiding amid the tangle of shelves, loose drawers, or hanging curtains. A slightly older tighter skinned face peeked out of the blanket suddenly.
