>>5205624The first sensation that came to Susan's mind was pain. Her body was super saturated with pain. Even worse, she couldn't feel her limbs nor could she comfortably breathe as her body felt forcibly pinned to the surface she was apparently laying upon. However, her ears, nose, mouth, and eyes were still functional. Is it a blessing? Or a curse?
"You're finally awake." said Sathriel. The Arbiter was looking into the distant village, seated on a slab of bone next to the bed-ridden Wolf-woman in a manner not dissimilar to a doctor consulting a patient.
"The hell happened?" asked Susan looking around "Am I dead?"
"No, you aren't." said Sathriel as a matter of fact. "You are simply...mostly dead."
"What the hell did you do?" asked Susan. "One moment me and the girls were on you, but then how-"
"Skintalking."
"Skintalking?" choked Susan despite the immense pain as her body convulsed and seized under the many scriptures of eldritch runes carved into her flesh keeping her down. "You never even screamed a single syllable of that crazy alien gibberish!"
"Skintalking doesn't have to be spoken aloud in order to be cast."
The effect of the statement was profound to stun Susan into silence. Sathriel took it as her cue to continue speaking.
"The way I see it, skintalking is simply a fancy language capable of telling a convincing lie to the universe. Like any language, if it has a syntax and a set of characters, it can be decoded and transcribed. And like any good court of law, its prudent to have a 'record' on hand to show to the world as 'evidence' that the 'lie' is in fact a 'truth'."
"I lost, didn't I?" asked Susan, the reality of the situation finally dawning upon her as she looked back into her memories of the fight. "No...I didn't just lose, I never had a chance to begin with. Those monoliths were already there from the start."
"Mm-hmm."
"And the others?"
"Many of them succumbed to the hunger shortly I had incapacitated you, so I had to give them a merciful execution. It's rather poetic in a way. All that remains is you."
Sathriel turned in her seat to face Susan. "There is however, something in this case that remains unanswered. Namely, motive. Yours to be precise. And I would like to hear your testimony."
"And what difference would me talking have? Huh?"
"It matters very much to me. One way or another, I will have your statement regardless. So we can make this easy and have you give a private confession..."
The Arbiter leaned forward, and smiled a dark smile that made what's left of Susan's hackles rise.
"Or we can go the painful way, whereupon which I consult the world for all of your dirty secrets and have it broadcasted throughout the world."
Thus began the testimony of Susan Loupe.
(cont.)
