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[REND] 5.5 - A Monster Among Monsters
🕑 Added 2025-05-23 07:36:46 +0000 UTCWell, she wasn’t exactly me. I am me!
This must be some Adumbrae mind trick to make me lower my guard or something. Not sure if it was working because she looked like a spooky version of me. Uncanny and odd. I didn’t feel any connection to her at all. Still, I preferred this to an abstract monstrosity.
Or was she showing what I’d look like when I’d fully transform someday?
The ghostly hair. It could be connected to the strands of white hair I was getting lately. Staying humanoid was much better than turning into a hulking tentacle monster like Fidgeting Hoodie. But some parts of Ma’am Adumbrae’s appearance would be a challenge to hide.
The white hair, I could dye that black. But what about her skin tone? It had a shiny marble texture, almost artificial-looking, reflecting the cacophony of lights around us. Caking myself in makeup couldn’t completely disguise that. And would contact lenses work to cover the glowing red eyes? I bet they’d still glow through the lenses. Red eyes were cool and all, but I’d rather not get shot by the police.
Her outfit was fire, though. I’d look wicked awesome in her outfit, floating through space, sitting on an ancient magical chair. Did it come with the transformation? Were there Adumbrae stylists in charge of fashion?
I recalled thinking earlier that this Adumbrae was a guy because her breasts weren’t that noticeable under her suit. Couldn’t really say that an Adumbrae was a gal or guy anyway. I glanced down at my not-so-ample bosom and giggled. At least she got that department right. Immature, I know, especially the abnormal situation I was in.
Speaking of the outfit… my eyes wandered to her golden gauntlet studded with crystals. Would that cumbersome equipment also grow on my hand? Was it not a piece of armor but an actual body part? There was no way to hide that!
The Adumbrae—I’d just call her Spooky Erind, because she was exactly that—grinned at me. Her bunny teeth, which I also had, and were super-duper cute, by the way, showed in her smile.
You’re noisy. Spooky Erind’s words popped into my head, forming images and feelings.
“I’m noisy? But I didn’t say—oh, are you reading my thoughts? I can’t understand what I’m thinking at times, so have fun deciphering my brain. Anyway, I have a very important question: am I dead?”
Spooky Erind giggled for some reason. It irritated me that this Adumbrae thought the situation was funny. She waved her mask at me. Why would you think that?
“Because my last memory before getting in this dimension was getting buried alive in concrete. I couldn’t breathe. Then I blacked out. I was dying, for sure. Given your response, I may still be alive. Can you save me before this ‘dying’ turns into ‘death’? You did it last time.”
And what did you do after that last time?
“Okay, I walked right into that question,” I replied, chuckling. “Just a few days later, and I’m dying again.”
Inexplicably, I felt comfortable talking with Spooky Erind. We had briefly conversed before. But shouldn’t I be afraid, cowed, or intimidated by an Adumbrae, especially while floating in Supernatural Outer Space Theme Park? Not that I could feel those emotions. Still, I expected to get stressed; I was literally dying in the real world. Instead, there was a sense of familiarity with her. Maybe this is her goal in using my appearance.
A concerning possibility. Spooky Erind could’ve been inside me for a long time already. That’d explain a lot, if true. Was she the reason I was different compared to—?
No.
“Huh?” The Adumbrae read my mind again.
We were like this from the start… the ultimate start to this endless loop I want to end. I didn’t affect anything.
I groaned. An interdimensional entity speaking profound shit that I couldn’t understand. “Anyway, back to the business at hand. Are you trying to teach me a lesson by not helping? This isn’t my fault. I was minding my own business when they took me. Is it not about that? Then I bet you’re letting me die so you can take my body.”
Amusingly, dying wasn’t that big a deal to me now compared to the previous time. I’d rather not die, obviously. But if it came down to that, then so be it. I had already cheated death once. I was on borrowed time since then. Let’s see if I can extend it more.
Spooky Erind was silent, so I continued, “Are you going to claim my soul now? My mind or something?” I needed to know why I was here and the goals of this Adumbrae to be able to bargain. Quite a challenge since she could read my mind.
Spooky Erind tilted her head while wearing an innocent smile. Even her spooky eyes glinted with mischievousness in them. What are you on about? You mean our mind? I’m not claiming anything.
I sighed, though no air exited my nose. “I get it. We’ve already merged. I accepted your help, whatever that was, and my soul is forfeit. My body has already changed. And you’re now going to take over my body in the real world. Is that it?”
Spooky Erind shook her head. I’m not taking your body, because it is… our body. I am you and you are me. Meyoumeyoumeyou, she cheerily sang as she left her throne and floated up to me.
Why did it feel like I had heard her singing before? I paddled through nothingness in an attempt to move away from her.
“You’re really controlling me, huh?” Didn’t feel like it. Though, how would I know? Spooky Erind must be influencing my thoughts.
I had seen a lot of movies where the main character gets turned into an Adumbrae. An overdone genre by now. Oftentimes, the protagonist grappled with the option of offing themselves before they’d completely turn into a monster. Something about better dying as a human. Better to go out with their own minds.
Was that how it should be? Most of my life, I had been copying how people acted so I wouldn’t get outed as different, even if I didn’t understand the rationale. I wasn’t sure about the appropriate response to this situation.
Why do you care? Spooky swirled around me, gently kicking with her feet, as we both drifted away from her chair. What difference does it make if your actions are truly your own, or me controlling you? As we always say…
“It’s the actions that count,” I said. “But, but…that doesn’t apply here. Outwardly, people would only see my actions, not knowing my actual thoughts behind them. But those are my thoughts. It’s a whole different thing if it’s the thoughts of someone else behind my actions.”
I’m not someone else. I’m—
“Me. Yeah, yeah. How about this? Let’s take Deen as an example. She’s a quite friendly person. I am, too. Outwardly. People wouldn’t know the difference between our type of friendliness because they only see our actions. We’re both friendly.”
Exactly. People will never ever see inside our heads, so there’s no difference in their perspective. What they see is what they get. That is their reality.
“This is different, the thing between us.”
Oh yeah? How so?
“Because we’re inside my head? I mean…” Despite myself, I threw my hands up, at a loss for words. Spooky Erind smirked at me. She waved her mask around as if egging me on to understand it. I did understand it; I just didn’t want her to win. “You bitch.”
Come on, none of that. Don’t go cussing ourselves, she said with a pout.
“Fine, you win. There’s no difference if you’re mind controlling me or not because, yeah, you’re already in my mind. I wouldn’t even know what’s happening. It’s not my reality anymore.”
Correct. A futile exercise to discern if you’re controlled. That’s like wondering if you’re insane or not.
“Am I insane?”
Insanity is relative, said Spooky Erind. And you shouldn’t think too deeply about this, or you’ll really go insane. It’s just that we’re the same, so I know that you know that if I were taking over your mind, your stance on that matter, and mine as well, is that there’s no point thinking about it.
I rolled my eyes. She was correct. Either this proved we were one and the same, or this proved that it was pointless to argue with her. “That’s such an Adumbrae thing to say. Anyway, I’m kind of dying in the real world. We’re short on time and—”
Time? Spooky Erind was in front of me, her hair snaking around her. She looked me in the eye. There’s no… time… in this place. It doesn’t exist here. No rush. We should enjoy our little reunion.
“Reunion? We didn’t meet last time. Just talked. And what was that about time not existing here? Don’t tell me… you’re going to keep me here for ages? Even if time doesn’t pass, I’m perceiving the passage of time. This is going to be so fucking boring! No offense, Spooky—oh, no. I was going to—”
Noisy, noisy, you. Spooky Erind reached out with a finger. I didn’t know if I should avoid it or not, so I ended up not doing anything. She poked my cheek. Her finger felt warm. Why are you here?
“I’m dying… I think.”
And?
“I need help. Just like last time. You gave me super strength and super regeneration. Thanks for that. But it’s not enough now. I’m fighting this asshole with a purple—wait, can you see what’s happening in the, um, outside world?”
Spooky Erind looked at me smugly while needling my cheek. I can see what you see because—
“You are me,” I said. “Okay, okay. Then you should’ve seen I was getting my ass handed to me out there. Help me once again. Purple Mohawk has this special ability to liquify solid non-living stuff. At least, I suspect that’s how his power works. That’s on top of being stronger and tougher than me.”
And…? She repeated, grating on my nerves.
“Don’t you care about it? They’re artificially making Adumbrae. That’s what the bastard told me. You’d want to take out those fakes, right?” I wanted it to be Spooky Erind’s initiative to give me powers. Wouldn’t want to owe her that much.
Spooky Erind shrugged. I scarcely care about your world. I only care about you. And me. And you. And meyoumeyoumeyou.
“Meyoumeyoumeyou,” I unenthusiastically sang with her. She wanted me to ask directly. “If you care about me, then give me a special power. Something on top of just superstrength.” I noticed her wiggling the mask while smiling at me. A hint? If she were me, then… “I need a new face. Not like those I present to other people.”
And what face is that?
I pointed at the mask she held. “That’s a face, isn’t it? I don’t know what that does, but that could probably help me out. Can I borrow it?”
Yep, this is a face. Very good. Spooky Erind put it on again. But I’m using this one.
“Hey, I thought we were one. Why can’t I have that?”
There’s only one of these, and I’m using this in here. This face can’t leave this place. And I hope you won’t use this one again.
“Again? This is the first time I’ve seen that. Can you pretty please not do riddles? I suck when it comes to not-so-plain talk. Eh, whatever. Give me a face, unlike any I've ever had before. A face to punish those who bother my peaceful, Rule-abiding life.”
And so, it shall be. Spooky Erind stretched out her right hand, the one wearing a massive golden, clawed gauntlet. There was a glowing white gem sitting on the gauntlet’s palm, radiating a kaleidoscope of colors.
Out of the gem rose a stream of golden liquid that formed a floating blob. The gold started to turn red.
“Red…” The liquid began to take shape into a mask with a snout lined with fangs. A predator. I had to be the predator instead of my usual timid face, the unassuming girl, the side character. I’d have the face of a main character that fucked up everyone else.
Was it a wolf? Red. Wolf and red. Little Red Riding Hood. My favorite fairy tale as a child and the story that started my thing with faces.
The wolf disguising itself to gain the trust of others tickled my brain as a child. That was the logical thing to do. Mom told me about the dangers of the world faced by an innocent little girl, and not to trust strangers, even if they looked nice. But that wasn’t my takeaway from the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf. The face of the dumb wolf slipped and resulted in its death.
Since then, I have been careful not to let my face slip off. I was different. I had to lie low, or else I’d be hunted down like the wolf. This face with fangs that Spooky Erind was about to give me was different. I wasn’t hiding. I’d be front and center.
Come. Spooky Erind beckoned at me with her claw. Take the new face you’ll wear as you cross the forest that is the world of violence and death.
I reached out for the set of fangs. “As the wolf lurks in the forest…”
Lying in wait, wearing the face of gentleness, of guile, of danger, of death…
“I’m the girl crossing the forest, draped in a red cloak…”
…wearing the face of innocence, of weakness, of a prey…
“I wait for the wolf to bare its fangs, to attack me…”
Its ignorance will be its downfall. For as the wolf attacks…
“…it will come to know…”
…that the true wolf…
“Is me.”
I opened my eyes in the darkness. There was no air. Pressure from all sides. I was back in the real world and encased in hardening concrete. But death seemed so far away. Overwhelming strength made my muscles tingle. I was raring to rip someone off. Kill the bastard who did this to me.
I forced my arms to move, breaking the concrete that was yet to completely solidify. I chomped whatever was in my way as I climbed up to kill Purple Mohawk.
My prey.
Comments
Temple (REND)
- Good quote. With possibly being dead, Erind can only laugh. - Could be the other way around. The Erinds make up Spooky Erind. - True. Hmmm, in that case, we require a better formulation of that no-breaking face rule. I'll add that in when Erind is meeting Dario and the gang. I'll think more about it because it can present some issues, like when Erind tries to save Deen in the parking lot in the original version. So far, though, Erind hasn't been forced to think about breaking a face. Thank you for your insights!
Temple (REND)
- Yep, I was inconsistent with that. I've decided now to change put space in Spooky Erind - And thanks for help proofreading other stuff! - It'll be fun if Deen helps with Erind's disguise. That said, Erind could just say it's the side effects of the artificial Core or something? Hmm. There are other possibilities here with branching plots. - Oh, right, the gauntlet was supposed to be a backscratcher haha - True, with the artificial Core, it'll be really different. SE wasn't doing much in the previous run because it was sort of "normal" for the most part. Perhaps with this run, SE can be more invested. - If you think about it, all previous Erinds have used that mask. - Maybe Blanchette did swallow the concrete XD - In arc 2 and 3, SE appeared in the middle too. But I want more here. - I'm still thinking about what to do for Erind's Corebring face, if it'll be Pino, Domino, or Blanchette. In this world, Blanchette is not the enemy of Myra. Dario's gang doesn't know about it Blanchette at all. Blanchette sucks with a group though. But I originally did intend Blanchette to be with them in the original story. - It'll be fun to have upgrades from the Core. And maybe power up the core too. REND will have more progression fantasy elements, lol. Thanks for the suggestions for the upgrades! - Right, there was that face too. In total, there were supposed to be six faces, I think? We can have that in the future depending how this goes. - Erind is already adjusting her face to the situation, so it can be more of a personal thing rather than a Rule. Take that situation with Bianca, the old Rule wouldn't have allowed it without some stretching. But if she has to stretch the Rule, then better not have it. I feel like I might write myself into a corner with it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Temple (REND)
Well, more like alternative dimensions rather than a timeloop. Even before, it was that, there were multiple Erinds. I suppose we'll just have more reference to it now because we have a canon "previous timeline".
Temple (REND)
You mean in the future when some do know she's an Adumbrae? Hahaha, yeah it doesn't really suit her. Maybe Erind can just wear a suit and attend a ball with Deen or something lol.
Temple (REND)
Thanks for your support! :D
Temple (REND)
Hmm, that's true that that rule locked herself into Domino. I'll think about this more. I'm also going to tone down Domino a lot. Make her more like a normal Erind than a suicidal Erind. Thanks!
OmniHumanist
Typos: The Adumbrae—I’d just call her Spooky Erind, because she was exactly that—grinned at me. -> There are a couple instances where SpookyErind has a space between Spooky and Erind, and other instances where there's no space between them. I don't mind adding the space, since it makes it look more grammatically correct, but I would recommend keeping things consistent I can see what you see because— -> Missing the underline like the rest of SpookyErind's dialogue. My prey. -> On mobile, the spacing is messed up, there is no space between the previous paragraph and the next. My favorite fairy tale as a child and the story that started my thing with faces. _ -> Not sure if the underline is supposed to be there? ----- It had a shiny marble texture, almost artificial-looking, reflecting the cacophony of lights around us. Caking myself in makeup couldn’t completely disguise that. And would contact lenses work to cover the glowing red eyes? -> Deen could try. Maybe we could have a fun makeup chapter where Deen tries to cover Erind in makeup after she finds out Erind is an Adumbrae. And for the red eyes, maybe she could say they are augs like her mother's. Was it not a piece of armor but an actual body part? There was no way to hide that! -> It'll be a cool backscratcher though! I’m not taking your body, because it is… our body. I am you and you are me. Meyoumeyoumeyou -> One of the things I found sad about the original version is that once Erind declares that she'll try to take control of her body, SpookyErind doesn't really try to challenge her at all and kind of strays from the bit where they are the same. It'd be interesting if SpookyErind would push back against Erind's claims that she's taking over her body. Especially after Erind becomes a Corebring. How can an Adumbrae takeover a Corebring? There’s only one of these, and I’m using this in here. This face can’t leave this place. And I hope you won’t use this one again. -> SpookyErind throwing shade at the previous Erind. Sad. I chomped whatever was in my way as I climbed up to kill Purple Mohawk. -> Does Erind swallow the concrete lol? It'd be a funny change for Blanchette. She can eat anything now, but can only grow when somebody harms her or she eats somebody that harms her. I'm planning to add a couple more encounters with Spooky Erind in Book 1. -> Hyped to see her more appear. She really only appeared at like the beginning or end of each arc in the old version. I'm planning to have the other masks available earlier than last time, but for each mask, we'll take time developing it. Meaning, Blanchette won't immediately get the giant werewolf form, for example. -> They should probably be separate from the Corebring missions right? Because if Pino has to become Erind's Corebring face then that wouldn't work if she uses it and the group learns of Pino. Maybe Erind can try exploring herself, and she finds some 2M's trying to kidnap some people, so SpookyErind gives her Pino to try and be the main character and save them (or just use their bodies as puppets). Yeah, I think for Pino and Domino they should be used when Erind is acting alone. Also, when Erind becomes a Corebring, we could see the cool changes that each of the faces gets. So like I mentioned last chapter, Blanchette has a tail that she can use as an extra limb. And Blanchette also gets stronger and gets a six pack lol. Maybe Pino looks more Corebring colored (if I remember correctly, Pino had dark visible joints, when Erind becomes a Corebring they become golden). I was also thinking about some of the upgrades Erind's faces could get from the Core. For Pino, the spike arms she has people grow, maybe they can launch them, and it would be ironic that after getting nearly killed by a spike, Erind can now give people similar spikes. For Domino, instead of replacing Erind's main body, it creates a clone body of Domino, so Erind doesn't have to worry about harming her main body, but Erind still gets the conflicting thoughts of Domino. That way, Erind has a way better justification to use Domino, since she is very outclassed by Pino and Blanchette. Also, I remember reading the comments a while back on the old version, and I think you intended to have a 4th Adumbrae face, and that it would allow Erind to grant like wishes, and it was based on the Little Mermaid Fairy Tale. Maybe that could be a good face once Erind is forced to leave behind her human life due to SpookyErind's gauntlet. On the one hand, it can be the source of tension and suspense. On the other hand, it sometimes feels too contrived when Erind is stuck to a face because of a Rule. It can be annoying at times, and comes off as a plot device to shove in conflict. In any case, it might be too restrictive. It might result in writing myself into a corner. -> Maybe you could make the rule more flexible, like Erind can't just purposely break a face, but she can modify it to suit the situation. Like people aren't static, they change over time, and Erind's faces need to be adaptable. But Erind shouldn't just act like a completely different person, unless in the rare emergency that someone finds out her face is a lie. And in the rare emergency it gets exposed (like when Bianca exposes Erind as an Adumbrae), she has to build a new one. Thanks for the chapter!
DANTE
Tyftc! have to ask, is Rend now a proper timeloop story? reference to timeloops keep popping up
Karp Paul
"Immature, I know, especially the abnormal situation I was in." - What do we have left but to laugh?... "I quickly laugh at everything for fear of having to cry." - a quote from Pierre Beaumarchais. "I scarcely care about your world. I only care about you. And me." - If my theory about Erind being a part of Spooky from the beginning is correct, that explains her psychopathy. "By the way, we no longer have that Rule about not breaking the face, no matter what." - I think that rule is a cornerstone of Erind's image. She has been playing a role her whole life, and she cannot just break the face because that would mean not just outing herself, but also she would stop "playing a role" -> stop being the main character. That rule creates some tension but does not limit her very hard; the point is that no one can see her changing faces (like no one can see how Clark Kent changes into Superman), but faces exist and she uses them.
Metal(Liz)ard🏳️⚧️
I imagine the rule about not breaking masks was part of why erind hated domino so much since she essentially locked herself into feeling proper emotions until the task was done and we all know those suck. Also the whole tried to kill herself thing
Vaporus
Excellent writing, good stuff!
Endoles
Nice chapter. I really like spooky (this will be forever her name in my mind). I had just an idea since Erind likes spookys Outfit. Erind should use it in the real world. That could be really funny down the road, when some people know that Erind is an Adumbrae. Because they might think that this Outfit doesn't really suit erind.
