NOVEL WEB 48. A ‘Good’ Corrupted?
The little spider was never going to be found again. No matter how many eyes Frost had there was no possible way she could track the little critter. After briefly scouring the entire bathhouse, she had reason to believe that it was gone.
Then again, it could be hiding somewhere amongst the sea of clothes in the changing room. For now, Frost ordered them to change back and return to the hall until they had a better understanding of the situation.
She wrangled the group to the best of her abilities.
“Do you think this Corrupted is the reason why all the Screaming Galleries are dead?” Jury asked quietly to not alarm the others as they hurriedly dried themselves off before slipping on their attires.
“I don’t think so. It’s incapable of damage. The only thing we know it can do is capture photos. For… some reason. Nav.”
Nav, sensing Frost’s question, promptly answered.
“Cameras exist but they operate differently from your world. The internals are quite simplistic and consists of only a light-capturing crystal and a lens. Though I will say that they are obnoxiously large for what they do.”
From what she gathered, there wasn’t much thought in the ‘process’ part of how the camera operated. Not that it mattered when they had materials dedicated to doing things that took humans on Earth centuries to figure out. How convenient.
“Is the Corrupted deadly!? Dangerous!? Should we warn the others!?” Anna bombarded her with an array of questions.
“I want to say that it’s not, but I’m not so sure. Just stick close. And… you, can I show you something?” Frost held out the polaroid towards the cat-girl as they all followed her lead.
“Y-yes. What’s this?” She asked, catching up as they burst through the doors, following a winding corridor that eventually met with the lobby that split the men’s side from the women’s.
It was here where Calfasio and Furio waited, also having heard the commotion from the other side.
“A paper? H-Huh? Do you want me to write something for you?”
“You can’t see it? Never mind then. Don’t leave my side.” She ordered.
So she doesn’t see it either. What a strange creature… creating photos for people that can’t even see it. Nav. I’ve appraised it and everything. Are there any other anomalous properties I should be aware of?
“Nothing. It is just a regular polaroid.”
Bizarre…
“I heard there was a Corrupted somewhere. You deal with it yet?” Furio immediately asked.
“No. It’s still on the loose. But it’s not a dangerous Corrupted as far as I can tell.” Frost revealed, waving the polaroid around. “Just to be safe we’ll gather at the hall. Or we can stay here and figure this out.”
“Not a dangerous Corrupted? Frost. If someone other than you told me that I would have charred them on the spot. Corrupted are insidious creatures. You should know that better than anyone. Blessed. What do you think destroyed Paradise in the first place?” Furio scoffed.
He was right in many ways. However…
Jury was an outlier. She was a Denizen of the Black Forest. A Corrupted born from the One Thousand Eyed Bird’s existence. But still… she was a Corrupted, nonetheless. This was why Frost felt conflicted. It did not help that it was impossible to communicate with a Corrupted.
The Language of Judgement did not allow her to speak with them. Only to understand them. She also didn’t hear its voice. In the end, Frost had no way to gauge whether this critter had good intentions or not.
She eventually sighed before noticing that Calfasio’s eyes were glued onto the polaroid.
“Dangerous? Potentially. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s incapable of harm. Besides, I doubt anyone would be able to harm it in the first place either.” Frost announced before the girl suddenly yelled:
“Frost! I think… I think I feel like I’ve seen this before. But I don’t know why.” The cat-girl’s hands naturally clasped onto the blank photo dearly. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “It feels nostalgic. Where did you find this um… Frost?”
“The Corrupted made this. It has a picture of you when you were younger.” Frost disclosed, causing the girl’s eyes to widen. “You’re surrounded by people with cat-ears like you. In a hut I think – ah!?”
The girl was crying. The tears fell spontaneously without any warning. Her silent sob instantly became a fit of sniffles as Frost quickly embraced the young girl, trying to calm her down.
“… is it a painful memory? I’m sorry for making you remember.” She said motherly as the others shuffled in to help ease her poor soul. But to her surprise – these tears were not of sadness. Rather…
They were of happiness.
“No… that… is…” She sniffled, clutching the polaroid close to her chest. “One of my… happiest moments….” The warm memory caused her eyes to twinkle as a surge of emotion burst forth from the girl’s heart and gushed from her emerald eyes.
It was unreal.
A Corrupted capable of picking out people’s fondest memories hardly fell in line with their sinister nature. This confirmed that perhaps good Corrupted did exist out there.
“Frost… I also have one too. What – what is shown on this one?” Calfasio pulled out a similar-looking object deep within his pocket and presented it to her.
The very first time the creature took the photo was not of her and Jury; but was of this man. How and when he received the polaroid was unknown and did not matter the slightest to her. He already had it, and he must have felt that it was important in without even realizing why.
Just like how the girl described it as being nostalgic.
Frost’s eyes mellowed as she uttered what was depicted in the photo.
“A girl with red hair and cat-ears. She’s waving at someone at the front door of a large house by the sea. It looks like the person in question just returned from a long trip.” She ended up warmly smiling, knowing well just who that person was to Calfasio.
“Ignis!?”
Frost realized that this Corrupted was as friendly as the Jury she first met back in the Black Forest.