„Who… who are you?“ Mina asks.
„That’s not particularly important right now :)“
„What…?“
„Well, that pendant should shield you from demonic forces, though I'm not certain how effective it will be when you're already possessed.“ He said.
„I… didn’t ask?“ Mina replied, „Why… why are my eyes like this…?“
„I’m not too sure, I haven’t seen many demonic possessions and none quite like this. Is your vision fine?“
„Yes? Well, no. It’s blurry? I think i may have gotten something in my eyes….“
„I suspect whatever entity it is may be using your eyes to see, stealing your sight.“
„Are you thirsty? You sure did run quite the distance." He says, fetching a bottle from a grungy messenger bag next to him.
Mina replied, catching the bottle "Sure.... Hey, where are we?"
„You'll find out eventually."
Despite the mask, Mina could hear the smile in his voice, and it was making her blood boil.
"Yes yes, I'm aware I'm being quite irksome right now, but I don't feel like telling you too much"
Mina was starting to really want to smash that damn mask right about now. Standing closer to the man, she could see the mask was coated in black velvet and had eye holes, though the wearer's face was in shadow, so she couldn't see the eyes.
Mina rips the necklace off and runs out and into the forest. She expects the man to follow her but when she looks back, all she sees is the hazy image of his black hair from the dusty window. She runs for a some ten or twenty metres before slowing down to a trot. Mina thinks the forest is quite unfamiliar. The air feels heavy and dark, and the trees seem weirdly twisted.
There's a body hanging from a tree. Mina breaks into a sprint. She's still not sure where she's running, just to get away from the death. She nearly bumps into another corpse. She turns around and there's suddenly two more carcasses hanging from the distorted trees. Mina falls to her knees and starts sobbing. What's going on. Where even is she!
Mina wakes up screaming. She sees the same man from before sitting on the ground next to her, holding out a cross and chanting... something.
"So... how's your head feeling?"
"Where am I...?" Mina just noticed her head is pounding.
"That question again! You're in a house. In a forest. Does that answer it?" He's dropped the cross.
Mina thinks he sounds way too cheery. "No."
"Oh well. Quite frankly I can't explain it in any more detail."
"What... what happened. Why.... I saw so many dead people..." Mina starts to remember what she saw before passing out,
"Why were there..."
"Did you notice any of their faces?"
"Huh...? No?"
"They weren't real."
"What?"
"They weren't real. Figments of your imagination! This is why I gave you the pendant." Mina sees it's back on her neck.
"Did... did i get possessed again?"
"You are possessed, still." Mina grips her head. The pain is horrible. "Oh, so do you want an ibuprofen?"
"...Sure...?"
He digs through the bag, pulling out a small sheet of pills and the same water bottle, and hands them to Mina.
"Oh, right! I haven't told you my name yet," he says.
"Yeah. Or explained who you are."
"Well I'm afraid I can't answer that question of yours, but you can call me Gabriel." The individual supposedly named Gabriel extends his hand and Mina accepts the handshake reluctantly.
"Well, hey, I should clean up those scratches you have, before they get infected and all."
"What..." Mina now remembers the falling, and, brushing her hand against her face, feels the dried blood."Oh"
Gabriel takes a bottle of what Mina
assumes to be disinfectant and a handkerchief. Gabriel now sits next to Mina and starts cleaning her face with the disinfectant-soaked handkerchief.
She can see his eyes now, through the holes in the mask.
"OW" Mina hadn't realized the cuts were so deep before feeling the sting of alcohol penetrating deep into her flesh.
"Yes, they're quite extensive wounds, arent they? Have you noticed your nails growing sharper or have they always been like this? You almost cut my wrist open earlier!"
Mina doesn't truly get what he's talking about, though looking at her nails they do seem to have grown to almost claws. Gabriel must've noticed the look of confusion on her face.
"When I came up to seemed to be clawing at your own face, and I thought I'd just throw a crucifix at you and let you calm down but you leaped at me quite posthaste!
"What." The disinfectant really stung, she realizes her face was a lot more scratched up than she thought.
"You don't remember that, do you?" Gabriel fishes a pack of gauze and some tape from his bag.
"Why do you talk like that." He's cuts a section of gauze and folds it into a long rectangle.
"Like what?" He places it on Mina's cheek
"Wait... Did you say you wanted to throw a crucifix at me?" Gabriel rips pieces of tape and places it on the gauze. "How do the symbols and stuff work?"
"Well, certain symbols have negative effects on demons" He's shrugs while holding the roll of gauze in his mouth.
"Like... which...? Is it just the christian ones?" Gabriel has folded another piece of gauze and places it on Mina's eyebrow.
"It depends on the demon."