Chaos had felt a strange artifact within the underground area of the city, he didn't knew exactly what it was, but it was definitely something special. It emanated a dark aura that seemed to transcend within the boundaries of mortals and seemed even deeper and profound.
If it wasn't because of this artifact, this old pig wouldn't had died in the most unexpected way possible, crushed by debris suddenly falling over his head. Indeed, he just died when he and Natalia came here.
Chaos looked at the man's crushed body, as he took away the eye-shaped artifact on his hand, the only part of his body that ended saving itself from him.
"Oh, shiny…" said Chaos, looking at the item with great detail. The item in specific held a powerful dark aura from within, making it seem mysterious and powerful.
He tried to appraise it but wasn't able to find any other info about it other than this thing being named "Eye of the Forbidden One"."No! My artifact! It is very important! Give it back to me! Give it back!"
However, the soul of this pig whose name Chaos didn't knew about began to protest against him.
"No, it's mine now. Finders keepers." Said Chaos.
"What?! B-But it was mine!" cried the man.
"You're annoying…" sighed Chaos, his tongue extended out of his mouth to an immense length, wrapped itself around the man's soul, and slurped him into his mouth!
"GGUUUAAAGGH…!"
Crunch, crunch, crunch…Chaos munched the soul and swallowed it. The soul was barely nutritious, it didn't gave him anything. But he did gained the old man's secrets, his memories, which emerged like files or documents inside of his mind he could take glances at. He saw several awful things too, horrible things the old man did to the women he had, but thanks to Chaos ability to be immune to mental damage, which included traumas, he seemed fine.
"W-We killed him? Was this a civilian?!" asked Natalia concerned.
"No, it was the one behind this entire thing, like the Mafia Boss." Said Chaos.
"O-Ohh… Is my mother here?" wondered Natalia.
Chaos had already seen someone very similar to Natalia in appearance, and nodded.
"I think so, come with me."
Chaos led Natalia across the underground facility, all the servants that tried to run away were stopped by an hypnosis attack, forcing them to sleep.
After reaching the depths of the underground there was a dungeon where he went inside. In there, there was a single woman resting over the cold and mossy floor.
"I think that's her…" said Chaos.
Natalia looked at the woman, she wasn't recognizable. She seemed to have grown old in this little time, dehydrated, and she was on the bones already. Her hair seemed nasty and dry, and her lips were just as dry as a mummy's.
She seemed to be looking at the ground, lost on her own darkness. Her eyes were devoid of light.
"Are you… my mother?" asked Natalia, slowly walking towards her, breaking the jail open with her claws and looking at the woman's face. She seemed too weak and was in between conscious and unconscious states…
"Mother?" Natalia asked, as she raised the woman's face. Her face seemed scarred, one of her eyes was missing, and a few of her toes too… her body was scarred and filled with painful marks.
She was most likely used as some kind of torture toy for the fat pig when he realized she wasn't pleasing him enough…
But that face… she recognized it.
Even after this whole time. Even with her empty eye socket.
Her only eye looked at Natalia, a faint light emerged from such a despairing glare.
Her mouth moved a little bit, faintly… a slight voice began to come out of her, barely being able to muster a word or a sound.
"Na…"
"Ah…!"
"Nat… Nata… Natalia…"
Natalia's eyes began to flow with tears, her lips started to tremble, and her oppressive presence faded away quickly, a vulnerable girl emerged from the shell she had created for herself, she hugged her mother while crying desperately.
"MOM!!!"
Natalia hugged her mom as she cried, her tears touching the mossy floor, as his mother faintly mustered some words…
"You've… grown…" she muttered.
"You will be okay from now on, okay? I will help you recover… I-I… I will never let you go away! I will… I am strong now… I can fight… I can defend you…" cried Natalia.
"My daughter… I wanted… to see you… for all… this time…"
"Me too!"
Natalia's mother eye suddenly began to release a tiny tear, the last tear she could muster.
She recalled all the suffering she had gone through, without even deserving any of this, just because she was captured and used… just because of the whim of another person.
Used, ravaged, and even tortured to entertain a completely rotten human being…
Many times she felt like committing suicide… many times she felt like dying. The pain, the suffering, the despair, it consumed her heart.
At some point… the only thing keeping her from dying was her daughter.
"Natalia…"
Chaos slowly walked towards the two.
"Natalia, she's in a critical condition. She will die if we don't do something now." Said Chaos.
"Eh?" asked Natalia.
"I inspected her while you were hugging her. Her vital signs are incredibly faint, her body is falling apart, and her brain… it is traumatized to the point of being broken. She… the only thing she can say is your name… Apparently, her entire being has been broken, but the only thing that keeps her from becoming a vegetable is… you." Said Chaos.
"M-Mom… You didn't… deserved this…! Sniff… Why? Why?! Who did this?!"
"I devoured his soul, the man we crushed to death when we arrived was the one behind it." Sighed Chaos.
"Ah… I-I see…" sighed Natalia.
Chaos used the Light Magic Spell "All Heal" and began to bathe Natalia's mother with warm light.
However, although it alleviated her pain, it was far from a full recovery… she was way too weakened. Healing magic wasn't able to rejuvenate and heal such old wounds, scars, dehydration, nor malnourishment.
"Natalia… Na… talia…"
"S-She's not recovering…?"
"Hmm… There's another thing we could do…" said Chaos.
