The Ultimate Regressor System

Sera groaned, rubbing sleep from her eyes, "Wha— Mark?"

"When I said you could wake me up if something happened, I didn’t think you’d actually do it..."

Mark kept his voice low and his eyes fixed on the treeline. "Believe me, I didn’t want to. You looked like when you sleep..."

"Focus."

"Alright. Alright.. I’m focused."

He exhaled and looked around again.

"What’s the problem," Sera asked, already reaching for her blade.

"Something’s out there. Something’s coming...."

Sera scanned the darkness, sleep leaving her eyes completely. "Bora?"

Mark shook his head. "I’m not sure..."

They didn’t have to wait long. A figure emerged from the treeline a moment later — a young woman with long black hair with pale skin. She was dressed in tattered, unfamiliar clothing. She was moving in a strange was that made both of them tense.

"Please," the woman said, her voice low and shaky, "I’m lost. I don’t know how I got here. Can you help me?"

Mark relaxed slightly at the word. "Oh."

He straightened his posture and moved closer. "It’s fine... come sit here."

Mark moved to a spot and made a small fire before turning back to her. "What’s your name?"

The woman stayed silence for a little longer than needed before answering. "Wisp."

"Okay, Wisp. I’m Mark, and this is Sera. You’re safe here, alright?"

She nodded. "Thank you..."

Sera didn’t relax at all. She watched the woman settle down and her gaze lingered. Her movements were a bit too deliberate.

From what she saw, it was like someone unfamiliar with the basic movements of sitting down.

"Where are you from," Sera asked, keeping her tone light but her gaze sharp.

Wisp’s eyes flicked toward her, and the pause before answering stretched even longer this time. "...A camp. East of here."

"Which camp?"

Another pause, longer still. "I don’t remember the name."

"You don’t remember the name of your own camp?"

"I don’t." Wisp answered. "The last thing I remembered was being attacked by a beast and I got separated from the other people not long after."

Sera raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. What kind of beast?"

Wisp’s expression widened into something that looked like confusion. "Beast?"

"Yeah," Sera replied calmly. "Beasts. Was it an Avallion, a Bora, or a Makara—assuming your camp was next to a river that is..."

Wisp stayed silent. She was looking genuinely lost...

She stayed quiet for several moments as if thinking of what to say when her eyes met Sera’s, and she saw that she was staring directly at her...

"Were you even attacked by a beast at all?"

"Hey now," Mark interjected. "Let’s not be too hard on her. Who knows what she went through before making it here."

Sera narrowed her eyes and stayed quiet, watching Wisp instead...

"It’s been a difficult few days," Wisp said.

However the way she said it was too normal... too flat — essentially lacking the emotions needed to convey how hard it was supposed to be.

It made her skin crawl.

"She’s just shaken," Mark said quietly, glancing at Sera again.

"Cut her some slack."

Sera didn’t argue out loud, and folded her arms watching again.

Mark busied himself lighting the fire back up, sparks scattering as it caught.

However, one spark that had been lit flew out of range and landed on Wisp’s hand.

The woman didn’t flinch.

Sera’s eyes narrowed immediately, tracking the spot where it had landed. There was no burn, no mark, nothing at all, as if it had never touched skin in the first place.

"You okay?" Mark asked, glancing over, but he had no idea of what Sera had just seen.

"Oh?" She looked confused

"Your hand." Mark said. "Does it burn?"

"Oh... I’m fine," Wisp said, closing her hand and putting it behind her, placing it out of view. "Just cold."

Mark nodded and turned back to the fire, but Sera kept her expression neutral even as every instinct in her body screamed that something about the woman sitting across from them was very very wrong.

’Cold?’ she thought, watching the woman carefully. ’Isn’t it supposed to burn?’

She studied Wisp a moment longer, and it only made her look more suspicious.

’That wasn’t nothing. Fire doesn’t just not burn someone.’

For as far as she knew, Wisp was supposed to feel it even if it was a little bit. Even Lucas who wasa fireproof said that he could still feel the warmth of flame whenever a fire was lit.

So something was seriously wrong here...

She met Mark’s eye and tilting her head slightly toward the treeline.

Mark understood and after a brief look of confusion, he nodded.

"Hey, Wisp," Mark said, "give us a second, would you?"

The woman nodded, her expression unreadable, and Mark followed Sera a short distance away out of earshot.

"What’s going on," he asked, his voice low.

"Something’s wrong with her," Sera said, urgent but quietly. "The fire you lit. It landed right on her hand and she didn’t even flinch. What’s more, there was no burn Mark. No scar, nothing."

"Maybe she just didn’t notice—"

"She hid her hand the second you looked over, Mark."

Mark ganced back toward the fire where Wisp sat, she stayed still watching the fire with a blank expression.

To him, there was nothing off about her. As far as he knew, she just looked like someone that was shaken by a traumatic experience.

Then he looked back at Sera. "You’re probably tired. I don’t see anything—"

"I know what I saw."

She couldn’t let it slide. Her instincts were screaming at her that something about this woman was terribly off.

Not to mention that her name was Wisp. What kind of name was that anyway?

As far as she knew, it didn’t sound like something someone would name their child.

There a brief moment of tense silence before he spoke again. "Okay," he said, crossing his arms. "What are you trying to say then?"

"I don’t think she’s lost," Sera replied. "I don’t even think she’s human."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!