The Dark Before The Light

Acacia rose silently from the floor, walking softly as she stepped out of the ruined building. The morning sun hit her with a dazzling brightness, making her blink and shield her eyes momentarily. With a sigh of contentment, she slipped off her worn shoes and stepped onto the cool, dew-kissed grass, a faint tickle dancing across her bare toes. She inhaled deeply, the fresh air carrying the scent of damp earth and distant woodsmoke, a gentle breeze playfully ruffling the dark strands of her hair.

A burst of youthful energy caught her eye as a small group of children rushed past, their laughter echoing in the quiet morning as they pursued a hapless bug. The settlement was already stirring; people moved with a quiet purpose, their hands busy salvaging what they could... straightening bent pieces of metal, gathering splintered wood, their faces etched with a blend of resilience and weariness. Acacia stepped further out, walking slowly, the cool stone pathways kissing the soles of your bare feet, each step a quiet exploration, an observer in this fragile rebirth. She watched as neighbours helped neighbours, sharing meagre resources and offering quiet words of encouragement.

The buildings rise around her like gentle giants, their aged facades softened by the vibrant green vines that climb and cascade from every balcony, a secret garden embracing the old wood and stone. The air is alive with whispers, a soft breeze carrying the scent of blooming flowers and damp earth. Sunlight filters through the dense foliage overhead, painting shifting patterns on the ground, guiding her path like a trail of golden breadcrumbs. She could almost feel the stories held within these walls, the echoes of lives lived amongst the blossoms and the weathered wood.

'So different from Encer… the Encer of now, at least,' Acacia mused, her gaze sweeping slowly across the scene, absorbing every detail. The air felt less strained here, the interactions more communal. Her attention snagged on a small group of people, their eyes an identical, striking shade of green, just as Jahir had described. They moved with quiet efficiency, each one attaching themselves to another individual, steadying a wobbly wall, lifting a heavy beam, offering a hand to someone struggling. 'They must be the people from the south,' Acacia realized, a flicker of unease stirring within her. Her steps faltered, a new question taking root in her mind. 'But how did they get all the way here?'

"Good morning! My name is Vincent," a cheerful voice called from behind her. Acacia turned slowly, her eyes landing on a man with the same distinctive green eyes she'd just been observing.

"...Hello," Acacia replied, her tone neutral, a hint of caution entering her gaze.

"You have a different energy about you," Vincent observed, his green eyes studying her intently. "Are you… one of us?"

'One of us?' Acacia's brow arched almost imperceptibly. She ran her fingers through her hair, a subtle gesture of distraction as she processed his question.

"Do I sound like I have a southern lilt?" Acacia countered, her voice carefully devoid of any regional accent.

"Ah, my apologies," Vincent said quickly, a slight flush rising on his cheeks. "You don't. My mistake."

"How did you manage to travel all the way here from the South?" Acacia asked, her gaze steady on Vincent.

"Oh…" Vincent's voice dropped, a shadow crossing his green eyes. "Well, we mostly just ran. And hid. Whenever we could. The South… it's been completely overrun by monsters now. It was horrific." He shook his head, a shudder running through him. "So sudden… like the world just… broke."

'If the South is overrun, are those monsters heading north? Or did something drive all the monsters away from here, leaving the path clear for them? What in the world is happening?' A knot of unease tightened in Acacia's chest.

"The heroes… they did everything they could," Vincent continued a note of despair in his tone.

"It must have been devastating," Acacia murmured, a genuine sense of sympathy in her voice. Just then, she felt Behemoth stir on her neck, a low, guttural hiss vibrating against her skin as it fixated on Vincent. Vincent visibly stiffened, taking an involuntary step back, his green eyes widening slightly.

"Hey, knock it off," Acacia muttered, flicking Behemoth's head with a finger. In response, the creature nipped at her neck, a sharp, fleeting pressure that she didn't even register.

"You certainly have… an interesting companion," Vincent observed, his gaze still fixed warily on Behemoth.

"Companion? I suppose," Acacia replied, a hint of amusement in her voice. She felt Behemoth cease its brief retaliation, its tiny claws now tickling her scalp as it navigated its way through her hair, finally settling comfortably at the very crown of her head, hidden amongst the dark strands.

"Alright then, I should be heading back. See you all around," Vincent said with a polite, if slightly strained, smile before turning and walking away, his pace quickening slightly as he put distance between himself and Acacia's unusual 'pet.'

"Well, you certainly made an impression," Acacia commented dryly, feeling Behemoth give a soft, rumbling hiss in response from its perch in her hair. "Hold on tight, you little menace." With a powerful beat of her dark wings, she lifted gracefully into the air, ascending with careful precision. Reaching a comfortable height above the ravaged landscape, she settled gently on the rooftop of a once-towering building, now just another jagged tooth in the ruined skyline. From her vantage point, the stark division of the once-proud city was laid out before her. Squinting against the bright afternoon sun, she scanned the horizon. As expected, the view was a monotonous expanse of collapsed structures stretching towards the hazy outline of distant mountains. Up this high, the breeze was noticeably stronger, whipping strands of her hair around her face.

"No large groups of monsters, no unusual activity," Acacia murmured to herself, her gaze sweeping across the desolate landscape. "Which feels more unsettling than an outright attack."

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She took a slow, deliberate breath, then angled her wings downwards, descending towards the ground with a soft, controlled grace. Reaching up, she gently touched the top of her head, her fingers brushing against the scaled hide of Behemoth nestled in her hair.

Acacia inhaled deeply, the familiar scent of the settlement a small comfort amidst her unease. She noticed a few pairs of eyes following her, their gazes curious or perhaps wary, but she deliberately ignored them, continuing her slow walk.

'Oddly enough, I find myself disliking the attention,' she mused internally, a slight frown tugging at her lips. The feeling was unfamiliar, a stark contrast to the way things used to be. She turned abruptly, retracing her steps back towards the relative safety of the ruined building, a soft, tuneless hum escaping her lips. As she approached, she saw Barcello and Bella just outside, their voices low. She couldn't make out their words until she was closer, noticing the cold, unyielding gleam of an iron prosthetic leg clutched in Barcello's hand. Dark circles underscored his tired eyes as he spoke, his voice carrying a note of weary urgency.

"Please, Bella, just try it on. You're the most… experienced in this area. If you can manoeuvre effectively with this, even for a short while, it means we're on the right track. It could drastically speed up the production of the collars."

"And what if it doesn't work?" Bella asked, her gaze fixed on the cold, metallic limb. She shifted her weight slightly on her crutches, a hint of apprehension in her posture.

"Then," Barcello replied, his voice firm despite the exhaustion etched around his eyes, "we try again. And again. Until we achieve a result. My understanding of prosthetics is rudimentary at best; I'm learning as I go. So, I apologize in advance for my lack of expertise. But you'll have to trust that I'm doing my absolute best with what I have."

"Might be a step up from those wooden stilts, though," Acacia suggested, a hint of wry amusement in her voice. Both Bella and Barcello turned their heads, surprised by her sudden presence.

"You're back," Barcello said.

"Yep."

"Fine," Bella sighed, a grudging acceptance in her tone. She eyed the prosthetic leg again. "Let's just get this over with. Library it is." She began to move, adjusting her grip on her crutches.

"Library?" Acacia echoed, a curious tilt to her head.

"It's our makeshift research lab," Barcello explained, a small, weary smile touching his lips. "Where we try to figure things out."

"Coming?" Bella asked, already starting to navigate the uneven ground.

"Sure," Acacia replied, falling into a leisurely stroll behind them, her hands clasped behind her back, observing the interaction with a quiet curiosity.

Their walk took them through the skeletal remains of the city until they reached what was once a grand library, now a hollowed-out shell. Jagged shards of glass framed empty window spaces, the stone walls softened by a creeping embrace of moss and tenacious vines. Stepping inside, Acacia's gaze swept over the chaotic landscape of fallen books and a colourful carpet of decaying paper and leather. Tiny insects scurried away from the disturbance of their arrival. Bella and Barcello made their way towards a dimly lit corner, their footsteps crunching on scattered pages. Acacia paused before a wall, its surface covered in a chaotic tapestry of hastily scribbled calculations, intricate drawings, and the remnants of torn papers littering the floor beneath. The air hung heavy with the musty aroma of aged paper, mingled with the sharp tang of dust and the faint scent of decay.

"Looks like you've been burning the midnight oil," Acacia commented, her gaze lingering on the sheer volume of notes and drawings. She turned, a slight startle flickering across her face as she took in the scene behind her: Barcello was already kneeling, carefully strapping the iron prosthetic to Bella's missing leg, while Bella herself sat perched on a sturdy, overturned table, watching the process with resignation. "And you didn't waste any time, either."

"My apologies," Barcello mumbled, a slight flush creeping up his neck as he adjusted the straps on the iron leg. "I do prefer to be… efficient." He looked up at Bella, his brow furrowed with concern. "Is it too tight?"

"A bit," Bella sighed, her gaze following his movements. "Doesn't feel quite right. Doesn't feel like it fits properly."

Barcello carefully detached the prosthetic and examined the point where it had met her leg. "Yes, it seems I'll need to create a more… accommodating socket. And definitely take proper measurements of your leg instead of relying on guesswork."

"It's alright," Bella said with a dismissive shrug, tapping her good leg restlessly against the dusty floor. "It was worth a shot."

"Still, I apologize for the discomfort," Barcello said, standing up and turning the iron limb over in his hands, his expression thoughtful and a little frustrated. He then sank onto a nearby overturned book crate, absently rubbing the silver band on his finger with a weary sigh.

'That band on his finger… is he married?' The thought flickered through Acacia's mind, a fleeting curiosity amidst the more pressing concerns.

"So, what's the grand plan with the leg?" Acacia asked, gesturing towards the prosthetic with a slight smile.

"Ah, well," Barcello began, his voice gaining a spark of enthusiasm, "the idea is to power the leg using the barrier crystals. If Bella can use it effectively, if it responds to her movements without significant delay or resistance, then we have a viable solution for others. The next step would be to engineer it so it can adapt and shift, accommodating Bella's leg in both her human and beast forms." He gestured animatedly, his earlier weariness momentarily forgotten.

"You're… surprisingly thoughtful," Acacia commented, a genuine smile gracing her lips. Barcello immediately became flustered, his fingers fidgeting nervously.

"She's not wrong, you know," Bella added, a hint of approval in her voice as she watched Barcello.

"It's really nothing," Barcello mumbled, avoiding eye contact. "I just… I've seen enough suffering. If I can help alleviate even a little of it…" His voice trailed off, a quiet sincerity in his tone. "Creating good working collars instead of...those ones that the Flow Society makes."

"Those collars that Flow Society uses…" Acacia began, a thoughtful frown creasing her brow as a memory of the waiter flickered in her mind. "Do they actually… work as intended?"

Barcello hesitated, his expression clouding over. "Well… not entirely. They seemed to have a significant negative impact on my wife's health. She was constantly weak and unwell while wearing one, until… until she was eventually taken away for 'going berserk.' It always struck me as odd that she was so ill with the collar, and then presumably 'better' without it. It was almost as if the collar itself was interfering with her mana flow."

'If Flow Society had some control over beast-men with those collars, why would they intentionally weaken them and potentially trigger a 'berserk' state? It doesn't make sense,' Acacia thought, a seed of suspicion taking root.

"I… I still can't believe my wife would have just turned berserk easily," Barcello continued, his voice thick with grief. "Her mana levels were always so low; it shouldn't have been inherently unstable. And she… she was the gentlest soul."

"High mana, higher likelihood of instability. Low mana, lower likelihood. Yet she still went berserk…" Acacia murmured, her mind racing. "Something must have triggered it. A specific event, a manipulation…"

"Well," Barcello said, his voice was heavy with remembered fear, "Lucian… he came to our house shortly after I'd visited him. He… scanned her. And then, when one of his guards shoved me aside, she… she just snapped. But even then… she begged me to run…"

'Lucian… he must have done something during that scan. But what could he have done to trigger it? And why?' Acacia's thoughts swirled with suspicion.