A Villain's Survival Guide

The room carried a dark blue that gave it a rich feel throughout. The bed rested in the middle, a canopy overhead that made the mirror on the ceiling feel almost romantic. A dressing table hugged one wall and a polished wooden wardrobe the other.

No pipes were showing on the walls, and the clock by the bed was keeping good time. The washroom came with a spread of soaps, each labelled with instructions on which worked best for each skin type and the sort of smell one might want, or not want, to go about with for the day.

Without a doubt, it was fit for a five-star hotel. Raine, however, hadn’t had a moment to enjoy any of it since she’d walked in some ten minutes ago.

Night had already crept in, and she’d decided it was time to get down to business. She sat cross-legged on her bed, eyes closed, nerves well and truly calmed.

A few hours prior, she’d clocked Marie doing something suspicious. Her circumstances, however, meant she couldn’t use her ability to confirm whether Marie had actually cursed Leomaris.

To make it worse, Marie had stuck to him like glue, a few metres away at most, from the shore all the way up to the floating island. More suspicious, she’d even used the same spirit creature as Leomaris to make the trip over.

Hours of sitting on her curiosity, and Raine had finally had enough of it. It was time to check whether Marie had truly cursed Leomaris.

Her ability, Vision, gave her the means to locate people, items, whatever she needed, though it told her nothing of what they were doing or their living conditions. It also let her see things most wouldn’t and could undo weaker spells besides.

She’d undone one of Leomaris’s curses in the past but she wasn’t here to do that again. She wanted to nab Marie in the act, giving herself sufficient reason to kill her. The moment she undid the curse, Marie would know she was being watched. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

In no time, her ability activated.

The moment her ability activated, an overwhelming presence settled over the room like a weight.

At the top of her head, a massive glowing blue eye floated in a stormy void. The iris looked mystical, with intricate circular patterns around the pupil radiating cold light into the room.

Beside it was a terrifying red eye, much more violent in tone. Its pupil was narrow and intense, surrounded by rough, blood-red textures that gave it a demonic appearance.

She focused on determining whether there was a curse on Leomaris. The floating eyes darted about violently, as though reaching for something they couldn’t quite get to.

And yet, she felt them pull her along. Her mind tore through one corridor after the next at a frightening pace, each one drowned in darkness.

She couldn’t make out anything, but the narrowness of the paths and how long they stretched, and that was what gave it away.

Her mind moved through the dark with nothing to it but the sensation of her consciousness reaching for something.

A few moments in, she found him. In his room, and though she couldn’t make out what exactly he was doing, where he stood made it obvious enough he wasn’t near his bed.

For a moment, all seemed well; then something changed. Her throat went thick; her chest drew tight. The darkness she’d been cutting through only moments ago began looming over her now, like it had set its mind to doing her in.

’Fuck it...’

She deactivated her ability in an instant, gasping for air with her hand at her throat. She got to her feet without thinking and necked water until she started to feel alright again.

"That was definitely a curse, but there’s nothing ordinary about it."

Her teeth ground together in irritation. Marie could be the one behind it, but she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that whoever had placed that curse, it was too powerful to be Marie’s doing.

"The last time, her curse wasn’t nearly this aggressive. Something has changed."

She turned it over in her mind. Knowing Leomaris and his elusive ways, she couldn’t rule out the chance that he’d foolishly gone and got on the wrong side of someone powerful. Someone who’d cursed him for it.

Her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. Thirty minutes to eleven at night.

"I’ll have to ask Leomaris whether he knows he’s been cursed. If he doesn’t, then Marie is undoubtedly the culprit."

She stroked her chin for a moment. According to Leomaris’s intel, Marie always went out at exactly eleven at night, the Goddess only knew why.

Raine intended to use that window to locate her. If she were truly outside at that hour, it’d only add to her reasons for believing Marie was her culprit.

She sank back onto her bed and let her muscles and nerves rest.

Five days and a bit since she’d started having Marie in her sights, but with Marie having gone home for those few days and her ability to carry a range limit, she hadn’t had the chance to act on it. This time round, she was going to make proper use of the time they had together.

The moment eleven struck on the clock, the massive eyes returned, hovering above her head. She focused all of her concentration on locating Marie.

Once more, the eyes moved aggressively, horrific in the way they did. Raine’s consciousness was hauled through the corridors again.

This time, something felt strange. Most of the paths she followed kept hitting dead ends, and her sense of direction began to slip, a sign she’d gone down the wrong road.

That was well beyond strange. She’d made a point of knowing where Marie’s room was before she’d come back to hers. It was almost as though something else was muddying her sense of direction on purpose.

That was when she felt it. Something dark, almost shadowy, hung over the corridor that led to the balcony. She didn’t waste a second, she moved toward it.

One corridor to the next, and soon enough, the balcony came. Her heart skipped a beat as she clocked Marie standing there in the dark.

Her face went pale. She couldn’t put what she was seeing into words. A great shadowy smoke loomed around Marie, almost as though she stood within burning dark flames that made no sound.

She deactivated her ability and rose to her feet, but she couldn’t shake the pull of wanting to see it with her own eyes.

What she’d seen looked like energy, piled and coiled, with the potential to swallow the entire island. If it were curse energy, she wouldn’t waste a second killing her on the spot.

She grabbed her sword and legged it out of the room, heading directly for the balcony she’d spotted Marie at.

"Hehe... don’t worry. Tomorrow, I’ll gather my courage and finally have a conversation with him."

"Are you sure? You’ve been saying that for ages now. Time is of the essence... we can’t afford to waste any more of it."

When she drew close, she heard voices. One she had no trouble placing as Marie’s. The other was familiar enough, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember whose it was.

She didn’t manage a halt. She pushed straight for the balcony, and the moment she set foot on it, her expression fell.

No one was there.

The voices had no source.

Marie wasn’t there.