Chapter Text
Chapter One — The Witch Hunt
Throughout all of history, the heretic act of witchcraft has always been a sin punishable by death.
"Thou shall not suffer a witch to live."
— Exodus 22:18
And in the case of the Pifa Empire, a nation governed under confessional rule, burning at the stake was the traditional method of execution employed to punish a criminal of such act.
"For the crime of blasphemous conduct, you hereby are condemned to death by burning."
What…?
You rouse from restless slumber as the consuming darkness grew faint with the gloom of daylight.
Brows knitting with countless questions — all of those which remained unanswered in your state of your confusion— you blink with weary as the sight of an unsettled crowd entered your bleary vision.
"Let the witch's death mark the end of the Pifa Empire's suffering."
Wait— what?!
The final verdict resounded with a deafening echo. It rung with ear splitting finality, giving rise to the thunderous cheers of the ever elated audience— or more accurately, your audience.
"Tighten the sinner's bounds!" One man shouted through cupped hands.
Heeding to the man's demand, the bounds enclosed around your wrist tightened against your will. A searing pain instantly shot up your wrist, those of which were rubbed raw from your unforgiving confines.
"Hasten the execution!" Another shrieked with immoral thrill in his reverberating voice, finding cruel amusement in your suffering.
"Burn the witch and her spell-book!" This time, a woman spat with warning. Her tone lilted with beguiled worry and marred with equal amounts of disgust.
"Burn the witch!"
"Long live the Pifa Empire!"
Their chants soon filled the silence of the execution ground. Mirroring an eerie, cult-like ritual that stilled your bound figure in place with paralysing fear.
Faces you do not recognise, voices that address you with strange familiarity, and speech unusually archaic in their manner; it didn't take a full blown genius to figure out what kind of situation you were in.
Something was— something was seriously wrong!
A lump of unease lodged itself in your throat as you frantically searched for something— anything, to anchor yourself with in your plight of vulnerability.
You could not hear them— nor could you see them, not against the ricocheting of your frantic heart and the blinding light that deprived you of your blurring sight.
STATUS UPDATE:
[You have failed to gain the affection of the love interests.]
Huh?
The bright words from the strange, system-like notification snapped you out of your ceaseless frenzy. Offering you the slightest fragment of nostalgic comfort in a world brimming with the unknown.
The foreign entity pinged with another following message.
And this time, rather than the warmth of solace you sought desperately to seek, you were consumed with unbecoming dread.
STATUS UPDATE:
[For failing to complete your original task, you have been assigned a new one.]
"I'm sorry that it has come to this…"
That same voice from earlier, the one that had announced your execution with calloused detachment and apathetic purpose, spoke once more.
Nearing your proximity, his voice lowered several octaves, reaching a quiet whisper that was adorned with wistful guilt.
You couldn't place a face to his voice, not when the system's tab kept you blind of your surroundings, but one thing was for sure, I'm going to di—
"But you are a shining light, brighter than any flame that has graced the world with its existence."
No…! No, no, no—
"A symbol of hope for the hopeless, and a figure of despair for those unknowing of it."
Just as the flame from before approached you menacingly, its heat licking at your bruised skin with perilous promise, you finally found your voice amidst the turmoil plaguing your mind.
"No—!"
It hurts…!
STATUS UPDATE:
[TASK: Survive the execution.]
You tried to move— to escape from the confines of your cruel fate, to flee from the rising flames that consumed you with its searing heat— to survive.
But alas, your efforts were futile. They were for nought.
The flames were faster. Much faster.
Their blaze kissed welting blisters upon immediate contact. Your skin peeled, shrunk and melted all at once, exposing your raw nerve endings to direct heat.
Argh! It burns…!
My body's… my body's burning…!
It burns— everything burns!
STATUS UPDATE:
[You are burning to death.]
Muscles contracting from the inferno, you stilled helplessly in your restraints, unable to move as your limbs grew unresponsively taut.
A splitting and cracking pain, followed by the noise of uncanny sizzling and bubbling fuelled the flame of ceaseless fire.
The remnants of your blood boiled with gruelling horror.
You inhaled against yourself, unknowingly lodging your throat with hot ash and ember that silenced you short of any screams.
I— I can't breath!
Agony embraced you wholly, leaving not a silver of yourself untouched from its unforgiving fury. The moisture from your organs was ripped out of you, leaving you to cruelly shrink in your suffocation.
"Fair well, my Lady."
AH—!
STATUS UPDATE:
[You have failed to complete your task. Failure to complete your tasks result in instant replay.]
[GAME OVER.]
Gasp!
The phantom burn awoke you from the void of consuming darkness. A trail of goosebumps marring your skin in the place of the unforgiving heat as cold sweat clung to your trembling figure.
You let out an unbridled scream in response. It was about the only thing you could do.
Raw, shrill and desperate.
The noise eventually registered from the bounds of hysteria to the realm of your reality. It echoed with resounding terror, finally perceptible and unpleasant against your ringing ears.
The noise was tangible at last.
Real.
It was real, your screams were real— you were real, alive. Somehow.
Somehow, you had managed to escape the hands of certain death— miraculously surviving the doomed trial by a hair's breadth. Or was it just… a strange dream?
The noise of your vitality anchored you for a short moment, albeit only for a short moment.
Your screams were real, not just to you, but to others as well. And in your stupor, against your clamorous thoughts that followed endlessly, you failed to hear the restless pounding of the door.
"My Lady! I'm coming in!"
The door burst open with no other warning, not that you would've noticed even if the intruder had clarified further— at least not in your current state.
It was not until a bright flash and familiar ping, that you snapped out of your unresponsiveness. The horrifying realisation of your situation finally dawning upon you.
STATUS UPDATE:
[You have encountered 1/?? love interests. Play the role of the heroine and gain the affection of the love interests.]
Oh.
This… was not a dream, was it?