The Innkeeper

Chapter 1851: Her past II

The seriousness with which Lex had answered, the subtle expression on his face that showed that he was trying to show off, was what made his incorrect answer funny. Truthfully, what the name was hardly mattered in this case - what mattered was what the organization did.

"Well, for the sake of this conversation, let’s just continue to call them DC," said Giselle, not dwelling on the matter. "Generally, Defilers and DC are considered to be a part of the Path of Chaos, but if they operate within the realms owned by the Path of Chaos, they are hunted even there. No one wants the influence of Defilers in their own home, yet many want to sponsor them in the realms of their enemies.

"My history with them began... at the very beginning. My oldest memories are of a colony maintained by DC, raising us for... Well, I can’t imagine what they were raising us for. It was me and many other children from various races.

"I was probably an orphan, or maybe I was just kidnapped. Who knows? Back then, I didn’t even know that anything was wrong. We were trained from birth, educated about cultivation and the whole universe, taught about secrets.

"Then... at age five, we started to be sent out into the universe. They would send us to different realms for weeks at a time, and tell us to interact with as many people as possible. Most of the kids... failed their missions the first time. They weren’t able to survive, and had to be brought back. But the price of failure... it was not pretty.

"I survived, though. I lived as a beggar in an inconspicuous town, meeting people and surviving. Every time they called me back, they would show me statistics of who had the most interactions, and I was always near the top. Every time that happened, they would reward me. More food, more training, more education, more praise... until I became the best."

Giselle paused for a minute, and sighed, as she thought back to those days. She revealed none of the pain she felt, if there was any, though it was clear that she did not often think back to those days.

"Looking back, I guess I was just a child, starved for attention and praise. So when I got it, it motivated me to be the best, and so I became the best. Until, on my 12th birthday, in front of all the kids, they brought me up on stage as if to recognize me. Even after all that they did, I never realized that there was something wrong with DC... until that day.

"My birthday gift? They brought on stage all 11, 231 people I had ever interacted with... all of them turned into Profanites, all of them giving me a demented smile as they named me... the herald of misfortune. They called it a gift... that anyone I would ever meet was destined to become a Profanite.

"All the children clapped for me... as if they were jealous. But I... that was the day I realized that there was something seriously wrong with DC. As I looked in the eyes of the aunties who gave me food and money, as I looked at the faces of all the uncles who gave me their lunch..."

Giselle paused so that she could adjust her emotions before continuing with the story.

"That was the day I decided to destroy DC," she said, her voice level, as if she were merely commenting on the weather.

"I studied all that they gave me to study, and then I studied even more. I accumulated all the secrets that they had learned, and looked into every enemy and friend that DC had. All the while, I did not reveal my thoughts at all, though I doubt a mere mortal could have kept secrets from them. Maybe they just never thought I could do anything against them, and that was their greatest mistake.

"I was 14 years old when they dropped me in a world that belonged to a dragon - filled with dragonoids. I used my knowledge and deep understanding of dragons to trick the dragonoids into bringing me to their ancestor, the dragon himself. From there, it was easy. I did not even need to lie, and just had the dragon read my memories. As soon as he discovered that the DC had turned even young, newborn dragons into Profanites... it was over.

"The dragon marked me, and followed me when I was returned to the DC. Then... there was no then. That branch of the DC was destroyed by a joint group from the Path of Order, and all the kids were rescued. In exchange for my assistance in bringing them down, the Path of Order sponsored my recovery.

"They... checked me thoroughly to make sure that the herald of misfortune title was merely a lie, and that I had not been marked in any way. Furthermore, they gave me a lot of resources, and helped me train so that I could continue my hunt for Defilers. Because of my time at DC, I’ve interacted with a lot of Defilers, as well as countless other people who were used just like me. Unfortunately, whether I’ve been marked or not, because of my history, someone is always paying attention to me... whether it’s from the Path of Order, or from DC."

Lex leaned back in his chair, and then sighed. He could tell that Giselle had glossed over a lot of details. How could all her struggles be compressed into a simple sentence as ’trick the dragonoids into taking me to their ancestor’ or even ’the Path of Order sponsored my recovery’? How could a few simple sentences summarize the years of pain and struggle she went through, trying to earn praise from her own captors? How could one line simply describe the pain of betrayal she must have felt when she realized the truth - or how she was forced into thinking that she was causing the destruction of so many families.

The fact that she could so easily quote the number of people who came onto stage on her birthday... was enough to reveal just how much that incident had harmed her. The fact that she didn’t even know if she was an orphan... meaning she never even looked into her past, or her family. What kind of fear must grip her heart for her to not even look?

Was it the fear that searching for them might reveal that they were already dead, or maybe that they were alive, but if someone noticed her searching for them, they may be harmed?

She had not lived an easy life, that was sure - just as she had not let her past or her pain stop her from achieving her goals.