I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?-Chapter 325: Unrecognisable
Conjuring up a flame in my hand to get a better look at the basement, it made me realise that this entire room is covered in blood. The floor, walls and ceiling were coated in red completely. Malinda gagged at the sight of all the blood and almost threw up, but she barely managed to hold it in.
Bringing my focus to the cage that was in the corner of the room, I focused the light onto the two kitsune that were chained up.
It was one female and one male who roughly looked middle aged and only had rags for clothes. I couldn't see their full face because of their messy hair, but it looks like they have been down here for a very long time. They were malnourished and barely breathing, which made me wonder how the hell they were still alive.
However, when I looked towards the end of the cell, there was a table with meat on it.
'Don't tell me.' My thoughts went straight to the worst case scenario.
"AHHHHH!!!!" Malinda suddenly screamed, prompting me to quickly spin around.
"What the fuck?" Turning to see what Malinda had encountered, my eyes widened in shock. Hanging from the roof were a bunch of naked female bodies, making it crystal clear why Malinda was screaming.
"N-no, this is how you ended up." Malinda fell to her knees, sobbing at the sight of her predecessors. It sickened me to the core to see such a display. Between all the blood, the mystery meet and the hanging bodies, the true depths of Teivels depravity were revealed before us.
He was feeding the bodies of the maids to these two kitsune in order to keep them alive. Assuming they have some vampric traits, they were likely sucking the meat dry and letting the rest rot.
I should probably help these kitsune out or at least see if they are even responsive. Depending on how long they have been down here, they are most likely mentally broken.
I approached the cage, focusing my flames to my hands and pressing them against the bars, heating them to their melting point in mere seconds.
Entering through the newly created hole, I stepped onto the cage's blood soaked floor, sidestepping between old pieces of decayed flesh. It made me want to puke, but I knew that burning the whole thing would only make the smell worse, so I forced myself to endure it.
When I arrived at the wall where the two kitsune were chained up, I waited to see if they showed any reaction to my presence. If they had been eating people all this time, then they might just think of me as food.
"El…y….sia."
I wasn't able to quite understand what they were saying, but at least I knew they were alive.
"Hello? My name is Elysia and I'm here to free you. Teivel is dead so there isn't anything to worry about." Testing to see if they could hear me, I intridoduced myself, only for both of their heads to shoot up immediately.
They both hung there, blankly staring at me, which weirded me out, but at least I could see their faces now. Reaching my hand out, I moved their messy hair out of the way.
"E-E-El… y-ysia!" The male kitsune called out my name in a raspy, broken voice.
"D-d-daug…h-hter." Then the women spoke, and it hit me. When I looked at these two kitsune, the image of my parents flashed before my eyes. It was difficult to tell, but there was no denying it... These are my parents.
"M-mum? D-dad?" My eyes welled up with tears, and panic began to set in. I had long accepted their death and did not know how to respond.
'W-wait hang on, use the system.' I quickly opened my parents' status screens, only to confirm their identity.
[Tarvin Dahlia]
[Hanabi Dahlia]
"T-this c-c-can't be." Seeing their names right in front of me pushed me over the edge. I kneeled down on the bloody floor, my mind reeling between shock and disbelief.
'I need to heal them quickly.' I frantically looked through the shared inventory to see if there were any healing items that could help them. Meanwhile a thousand thoughts were rushing inside my head.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that could provide immediate help, but then I remembered the healing properties of my flames.
"Please just hang on." I quickly covered my hands in my blood-red flames, making sure to use them for healing only as I moved them closer to my parents' bodies.
[Life force: 498/500]
When my hands made contact, I could see my stored life force ticking down, indicating that it was working as intended. As I waited for them to be fully healed, or at least to the point they would be able to speak, my heart was filled with hope.
My optimism did not last long though, as suddenly their heads dropped not long after I started healing them. My hope-filled expectations evaporated as panic filled my heart. However, I still didn't let go of their hands, channelling my energy like my life depended on it. It felt like if I stopped healing them now, then I would truly have lost them.
*
Looking back, I saw Malinda still on her knees, sobbing for the loss of all the other maids. No doubt she recognised most of the bodies hanging there, so I'll let her do as she wishes with the bodies.
Compared to her, though, I wasn't any better myself. I was still crying and praying that my healing would be enough to bring my parents back. So far, they have returned to looking normal, but I have yet to get a response from them.
"Please speak, don't leave when I only just found you!" Although they looked better, the panic I felt only got worse. I didn't have much life force remaining. The more time went on, the more it felt like I was too late.
However, right before my reserve of life force ran out, I finally noticed some movement from my parents. My tears halted for a moment as I waited to see what was going to happen.
'Please, please, please be fine.' I was begging inside my head that they were okay and that this wasn't a dream. It felt surreal seeing them here in the first place, making me wonder if this entire day wasn't just all in my head.
"W-where are we?" My mother's voice echoed throughout the basement, clear as day. A wave of relief washed over me after all my worries that my flames were proving ineffective.
"Urgh, what happened?" My father then spoke and tried to move, but was stopped by the shackles. Seeing that they were both okay, I quickly cut the shackles with my flames before there are any misunderstandings.
"M-mum, Dad?" Tears streamed down my face when I called out to them. They quickly looked up upon hearing my voice and stared at me in shock.
"Who are you?" My excitement was once more turned to fear as my parents quickly hugged each other, terrified of me.
"..."
I was left utterly speechless.
'How did they not recognise me, it hasn't been that long since I ran away.' I looked down at myself, scanning for any changes in my appearance. There was some blood here and there, but not to the point of leaving me unrecognisable.
"It's me, your daughter... Elysia." I needed to know for sure whether they truly didn't recognise me. I was jumping to conclusions way too fast and needed calm down and ascertain the situation. After all, it has been years of torture for them, so they must be in shock.
"Daughter? She died years ago, you can't be her." My father spoke up, refusing to even give me a glance. He was doing everything in his power to shelter my mother in order to protect her.
Standing up from the flesh ridden floor, I kept staring down towards the ground, trying to hide my tear-filled face.
'Maybe now isn't the time.' My hands trembled as I felt my heart shatter to pieces. To not be recognised by my very own parents made me furious and my dark thoughts began to resurface.
'Kill them. Put them out of their misery. Kill everyone here already.' It was like an echo chamber in my own mind, making it impossible to ignore.
'I need to leave before I do something stupid.' I knew sticking around will only cause them harm. I'll need to send a maid down here to help them, but right now I can't face them myself.
"No matter, you are free now." I turned on my feet, but just as I made to leave, my mother spoke up.
"Elysia? Is that really you?" I froze where I stood, unsure if I should turn back around.
"M-mum." Struggling against the darkness that was trying to consume me, I finally turned towards them once more. This time however, when I made eye contact with both my parents, they no longer had a look of terror in their eyes. Instead, it was filled with tears and disbelief.
