A Lesson Learned Too Late

Thana giggled to herself.

It was not a comforting sound, or wouldn’t be to anyone that might have been close enough to hear it. She was not a woman that took pleasure in idle, innocent things. If she was being entertained by something, it was usually because someone was being hurt, used, or abused in some way -- or were about to be. In this particular case it was the latter.

It was quickly approaching night time where she quietly stalked her prey near the Phoenix Mountains. It was merely coincidence that she had landed this job. She’d been passing through some other town recently and overheard a couple of dark wizards complaining about a group of copycats that had been making life miserable for their illegal guild. Supposedly, this group had been running around and wreaking havoc, claiming to be members openly, and drawing unwanted attention to the guild. Incriminating them for things they didn’t do.

And that just wasn’t fair at all, now was it? Thana had told them as much, sneaking her way into the conversation so quietly that they’d all jumped and nearly turned on her when she’d spoken. She offered to find the vagabonds and deal with them, for only a fee of jewel. It would keep the guild’s noses clean of the incident, and she promised to make sure that by the time she was done with them everyone would know that the rogue wizards weren’t affiliated with any guilds. Most of them seemed creeped out by her, but the leader of their little gang was just intrigued. The agreement was made, and off she’d gone following the clues to catch up to the group in question.

They honestly weren’t hard to find. They made a commotion near about everywhere they went, leaving a path of destruction behind them that was rather easy to follow. Thana had to admit, she rather liked their style of unashamed bravado. They weren’t afraid to be seen or followed, and that was certainly a trait she could admire. After all, it was one of her own best features. Unfortunately for them, it was also going to be their downfall. Once they’d made their way up into the mountains and off the regular path, there was an easy trail to follow of broken branches and boot tracks in the soft dirt, smashed grass and bushes, all sorts of things the group didn’t bother to cover up.

She had caught up to them before nightfall, shrinking her size and sprouting a pair of wings from her back so she could move more swiftly and be less easily noticed. From the trees she perched above them, her legs dangling gaily off the branch upon which she sat. Sure she could have just jumped right down and slaughtered them in a blink… but what was the fun in that? Death hardly allowed one to learn the error of their ways. Besides, she had been told to deal with them as she pleased, all her employers had wanted was for their false advertising to stop.

So she was going to enjoy herself a bit.

They were an unimpressive group for the most part, which was a total surprise given how much damage they’d left behind them. There were five of them in total, and only one was a girl. She didn’t look like much, but after observing them for a while it was obvious that one of the guys had the hots for her. A real shame for him, because he was ugly. Not only was he unattractive from an aesthetic standpoint, but Thana could smell him from up in the tree. It was like he’d never bathed in his life. Half the teeth he had left were definitely rotting, and the only thing that had clearly ever kissed his face was acne.

One of the men looked like he was actually good for something. He had a much larger build and had a hefty sized hammer sitting next to him where he rested. It didn’t take long eavesdropping to figure out that he was the ugly one’s brother. The two remaining men appeared fairly average on the surface. It was difficult to tell just by looking what kind of challenges they may or may not bring her in a fight -- same for the lone woman -- but that make it all the more interesting. Particularly the one that liked to refer to himself as “the defiler”. Oh yes, she was going to have some fun with that one later on.

Once night hit and they were all tucked in, Thana began her game. She started with the woman. Flying down from the branch, she landed in front of the sleeping woman and walked right up to her face. At her current size, Thana was little more than half a foot tall, and with her wings formed she practically looked like a pixie. She gently roused the woman, who blinked her eyes open and quickly sat up, only to find herself mesmerized by what she saw: a tiny, beautiful little fairy with pink and brown hair, a mismatched pair of eyes, and a set of soft white wings. “Hello there!” Thana said softly, her voice soft but bright.

“H-hello,” the woman replied in a whisper, unable to believe her eyes. “What are you?”

“I’m a pixie, of course!”

Her eyes widened. “A pixie? I didn’t know those lived in these woods. I didn’t know they were even real…”

Thana giggled. “Of course we’re real. Can you help me with something?”

“What did you need?”

“Well see, there’s a stream nearby and I can see something at the bottom of it. I don’t know what it is, but it’s sparkly and a golden color. But because it’s in the water, I can’t get it. The stream will carry me away.”

That certainly caught the woman’s interest. Thana had noticed that this particular lady had an interest in doing zero work but loved the bounties that came from all the work the men in the group did. The idea of something valuable lying in a nearby stream was quite tantalizing to her. “Absolutely!”

Without even bothering to rouse any of the men to let them know where she was going, the woman crawled out of her sleeping bag and followed Thana a bit away from their camp, where there indeed was a stream. “It’s right here,” she told the woman, pointing at one spot just a couple feet into the water.

The woman stepped up to the bank and peered at the shallow stream, her eyes straining in the dark. “I don’t see anything.”

“I forgot you humans don’t have great eyesight at night. It’s right here, look closer in the moonlight.”

Leaning closer, the woman was practically bent double over the water. Frowning, she said, “I still don’t se--”

It was all she would get out. With a cruel grin, Thana returned to her original size just above the woman and pushed her head under the water. The woman flailed violently, struggling to push herself up but finding herself no match for the wizard. “Yes, it’s quite alright my dear… Just take a nice, deep breath…” she crooned, more to herself as her victim wouldn’t be able to hear her. Thana admired the woman’s form as she fought for freedom to no avail, her body twitching with more and more desperation the longer she choked for air and found only cold liquid, her screams muffled by it.

A pleasured shiver went down her spine as the woman finally breathed her last. Her body slumped into a dead heap. Pulling her from the water, Thana rolled her onto her back. With a calm smile, she stroked the dead woman’s cheek. ““Don’t worry, my pet,” Thana told her, leaning down so close that her lips were almost on hers as she whispered, ““You’ll be of use to me still, tonight.”

A few minutes later, Randy woke with a start. He could have sworn he’d heard Kim say his name, but as he blinked out into the dark, eyes trying to adjust to the dim light, he realized he must have been dreaming. Again. He looked over to the woman’s bedroll and frowned. It looked empty.

“Randy…”

This time, he knew he’d heard his name. “Kim..?” he whispered back, not wanting to wake the others.

Kim, or at least a person that he perceived to be her, peeked mischievously out from the trees a few feet off. “Come here,” she said with a grin, coaxing him toward her.

“Kim, what are you…” His voice trailed off as she shifted a bit. He couldn’t see anything from here, but he saw enough to know that she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Without even stopping to think about it, he scrambled out of the bedroll as quietly as he could and made his was over. But, when he got to the tree behind which she’d been hiding, she wasn’t there. “Where did you go?”

She giggled, drawing his attention a little further away. “Come on. We have to make a little distance or they’ll hear us.”

Randy couldn’t believe his ears. Was this really happening? He moved after her again obediently, and when he eventually caught up he stopped dead at the sight of her. She giggled. “Do you like what you see?” she teased. He nodded vehemently, unable to take his eyes away. But then, his fantasy turned into a nightmare. It was hard to tell at first because of the darkness of night, but her beautiful skin started to become grey and sullen, sinking against malnourished muscles as her form became little more than skin and bones. Her hair turned white, thin, and greasy. Her eyes lost their pupils and her nose grew long and pointed. Dirty fangs sprouted from withered lips.

“How about now?” Thana asked, still using Kim’s voice.

A man’s screamed pierced the night sky, cut off quickly. The three remaining men in the camp sat up in a panic. A quick look around told them that two of their number were missing, and that something was clearly wrong. They scrambled for their weapons just as Thana slinked back into the camp. There was blood all over the front of her body. They faltered as she giggled, the manic sound filling them with dread.

The lone man that seemed to actually be a mage threw a wind spell at her. She grunted from the damage it did, but her Aspect of the Hag was a very strong take over spell, one that had heavy resistances to magic. As the pain quickly subsided, her grin returned once more. Thana loved violence, and it didn’t really matter whether it was to or from her. That only seemed to set them further into a panic.

By the time all was said and done, only one of the original five remained. The other two men were laying in pools of their own blood, long deep gashes across their bodies from her claws. The final man was trying to crawl away, both of his legs broken. A shadow passed over him, and he looked up just in time to see Thana -- still in her terrifying and grotesque hag form -- standing over him. She kicked him onto his back mercilessly and pinned him down to the ground. “So you call yourself the defiler?” Thana asked, drawing her blood soaked claws down his chest. “Such a fancy name for a man who didn’t even know how to use those daggers. Let’s see how well you live up to that reputation…”

The next day, the most recent -- and final -- town that had been ransacked by the copycat gang woke to a terrifying sight. The group that had destroyed their home and stolen their most prized possessions were found dead in the middle of the street, each of their faces stuck in horror and agony from whatever nightmare had befallen them. Most of the bodies were covered in crimson plasma, and all of them were naked. The people gasped in shock and fear, but those brave enough to examine the bodies quickly discovered that none of them bore the logo from the guild they had claimed to be from.

And on the ground, drawn in blood like a red finger painting, was a single name with a bloodied heart drawn beside it: Trinity.