Archive File M777: Background

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Only authorized associates may read this file on Mender M-777, Designation Blithe.

Before Ines was a soldier in a supernatural war, before she picked up a brush, Ines was a delinquent. She was a product of following her childhood friends without question--loyal and obedient. Too focused on beating up rival schools to care about academics.

Ines might have stayed that way had she not started using half of the district's walls and alleyways as a canvas. Art, in its many forms, proved therapeutic. Her first famous mural was that of a towering mountain. It was not a means to provide a message or a moral but to let those who viewed it walk away with their own conclusions. It was something to perfect and improve, a worthwhile pursuit.

Yet, life didn’t seem to agree.

Despite a marked improvement in her grades, for once, she stopped to consider what came next. Not what she would enjoy but… one that would allow her to lead a comfortable life. Her parents had given her an ultimatum about living on the streets and several lectures to redirect her thinking to what they wanted. And she obeyed, not wanting them to be unhappy. It wasn’t long before reasonable thinking converted into a reasonable major: business---not the art her parents found problematic, dull, and unprofitable.

Even with the excitement college offered, the doldrums of a future devoted to some corporation hung high over her head. But it was the path of least resistance. Over time, it whittled her from a boisterous tomboy to someone who’d always be agreeable. Her selfless nature led to giving up–so long as she had a function to someone else, she would be content–even at the cost of her aspirations.

The only person who seemed to disagree was her roommate. They saw past the polite but reserved student to traces of what was there before. Ines left subtle evidence: sketches in the borders of her three-subject notebooks, personal pieces displayed on her side of the dorm, and even faded pictures of her victories in various martial arts tournaments during her youth. And they couldn’t help but wonder what happened.

Before long, inquiry broke into arguments on the subway every few weeks. Her friend tried to push Ines into showing grit. But Ines met the attempts with timid resignation. In truth, it only convinced Ines that her current state was better…even if it came at the cost of her happiness. Yet, it was in these interactions that her roommate became her closest friend—someone who would look past her achievements and successes, someone who would be satisfied with her alone.

///Note: the loose account is from a civilian testmonial. Details may be inaccurate.///

During one of these chats, the pair took a wrong turn down a side street. Then another. Then another. The same buildings began to overtake them. Reception worked enough for Ines to access maps. But the directions it offered kept changing. They rerouted and relocated—like a compass spinning in a storm. Shadowy figures blurred past their eyes, continuing to walk out of sight. Minutes turned to hours, yet the sky remained the same, a humid veil of setting sun…even as their clocks advanced well beyond midnight. Their level-headed attempts to track their position soon fell into infighting as the buildings began to fold into each other as the shadowy figures grew closer.

Without thinking, the wolf girl shoved her friend down the blinding light of one of the alleyways and sealed her fate.

Soon, the indistinct took shape—fangs and claws attached to unnaturally long limbs. Shrill, rattling cries stunned Ines in place. Immobile, she watched as their paralytic touch rendered her companion helpless. Ines’s vision filled with bleak, monochrome vistas. The plateaus became clearer as the beast’s fangs grew distinct. She wasn’t on the street anymore. No, she was sliding. Vanishing between the cracks in the cement until her feet hit something solid.

Peering up, one thing obscured her vision—a towering figure—a mountain—one she now stood at the base of. Following an instinctual compulsion, she moved closer and received her next order.

Ç̸̟̹̹̓͋̽̃l̵̨̟͉̤̓̏̀̐́̆ỉ̶̩̈̆̓̎͜m̴̛̖̲͂b̶̹̫͇͕̼̈́̈́͗

Nails breaking, her uniform tearing, Ines summoned the vestiges of her dormant strength to reach the summit. Her hands remembered every detail, every bump and ridge. She had created this. An almost perfect organism. An impression as realistic as she could muster from a photo. All until she reached the summit.

It awaited her at the summit. It was hard to…tell what it was. A chrysalis…a shell that seemed almost metallic despite the beating, organic pulse ringing throughout the area. Unsure of what she’s encountered, she pressed closer until it spoke.

“Seeker, is this how you want to be remembered?”

It explained her situation in disturbingly clear detail—that her friend's safety will be ensured should she die here. Dying the way she lived beneath the flow and chaos of life. She would get everything she desired. Immortality as a martyr. A hero in the eyes of those who loved her. An end to the coasting. A purpose completed.

Yet…uncertainty gripped Ines. That’s…not a real legacy. Not a path her choices forged. She abandoned the spark of who she was for comfort and an easy life—not the burden of free will and consequence. With its questions answered and the toll acknowledged, a long, spindly limb emerged from within the sinuous cocoon. The creature offered its hand--another path…which she immediately shook.

It’s hard to describe the sensation that consumed her next—as though every fiber in her being was routed through a live wire—every cell alight with motion, sensation, and power as she returned to the anomalous street. Clarity gave way to new insights as she waved her hands like she was painting a picture. Every brushstroke severed limbs, her hands rearranging the building’s very geometry to forge meaning into the liminal, understanding into the uncanny…and freedom to someone who hasn’t realized its gift.

But…what about her friend?

In her desperation to live—she had forgotten about her friend–caught up in the maelstrom of her destruction that she hardly noticed the creature from beyond ebbing him away, leading to him being trapped in a new catalyst. A prisoner—until she blossomed to the heights and notoriety it desired. A fact that brought her to her knees. One doubt about her fulfillment was all it took to rip her friend away. A sign she still wasn’t there yet. That this being was right. One that taunted her to

She had to earn worth, forgiveness, and her right to satisfaction while the mountain was here where her friend was captive at the summit.

Her master’s unseen fingers beckoned. The command seared into her vision as its inhuman voice bellowed again.

Ç̸̟̹̹̓͋̽̃l̵̨̟͉̤̓̏̀̐́̆ỉ̶̩̈̆̓̎͜m̴̛̖̲͂b̶̹̫͇͕̼̈́̈́͗

The mountain had turned into a vision of a mountain of corpses—her fingers burned as they clawed through mounds of putrefying victims, the air searing her lungs apart as she pushed herself on fumes. Again. It rang out. She didn’t scream when her fingers began to break. The potent acids were breaking her body apart, yet she continued to crawl despite that.

Whatever she had known before was gone. She was inches from the summit...and slipped.

As her vision returned to the alleyway, she found her body hale and whole—and her friend’s bracelets clattered to the side—which she put on immediately. Staring at the ground for a second…the wolf could only laugh as clarity came to her.

The path to her purpose was UP. A fixed path to perfection, uneven through the mounds of those who had come before, who failed to gain the ground she rushed over. Nothing was an obstacle! Just a delay in the rescue of her friend.

Ines had completed her metamorphosis into Blithe, becoming someone completely different. The boisterousness of her youth returned, sharpened into confidence and grit. After graduation, she ditched her prospects as a desk jockey and embraced her new life. That of an artist and a Mender. Something new.

Archive File: Abilities

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Only authorized associates may read this file on Mender M-777, Designation Blithe.

Following contact with entity [REDACTED], subject M777's combat capability increased expotentially. Below is a detailed assessment of her primary skills, capabilities, and other properties.

Combat Skill:It's evident that at this point, she's no longer considered a rookie fighter. Her bonded condition to the entity seem to enhance her fighting abilities. Despite the untamed, entropic nature of the power granted to her, her use of deception, tactical analysis, and offensive abilities have allowed her to master her weaknesses.

Primordial Magic:M777's concentrations in the magical blend with the use of her weapon. Most of the raw, primordial energy she controls is channeled into blasts--concentrated through mimicking a firearm using her fingers. While humorous, the effects are pronounced--targets often end up gravely wounded or incapacitated when hit with these blasts directly. This same magical energy allows her to concentrate it into her strikes.

"The Pact": This is the most anomalous of M777's abilities---an ability to revive from previous destruction--though it's only been observed to have happened a handful of times. Mender M777's toll often comes at a hefty price--requiring the sacrifice of another (typically a monster or other entity) in some way, shape, or form to clear her debt. While the debt only kicks in when the subject perishes, it's implied a failure to pay said debt promptly will result in M777's demise--noted by a pattern of erratic, ceaseless behavior the longer this "debt" accumulates. Analysis suggests a week without said debt being claimed would be sufficient. M777 seemed hesitant to bring up this matter--implying the subject is a source of severe distress based on previous behavior patterns.