"Uncle! Uncle! Can I see that sword?"

"That one?" the little girl's uncle asked while pointing to a fine steel blade with a golden hilt that was on sale in the armory's window.

"Yeah! That one, Uncle! Can I see it? Please? Pretty please?"

The girl's uncle, a tall broad-shouldered man with a thick mustache and beard, laughed heartily, "Alright, alright. We can go look at the swords."

The little girl cheered happily and wandered into the armory with her uncle close behind. The uncle held the little girl up so she could get a better look at the sword.

"Wow!" the girl cooed, "It's so pretty! I wanna be a swordsman when I grow up!"

The uncle laughed, "Well, you'd have to be a swordswoman, not man. But. . .are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Yeah!" the girl cheerily replied, "You're a swordsman, aren't you Uncle?"

"Yes, I am," the uncle replied, but the happiness in his voice had faded.

"Uncle. . ." the girl asked thoughtfully, "Have you ever. . .killed anyone?"

The uncle set the little girl down on the ground. He was silent for a moment. His niece looked at him in curiosity.

"Yes," the uncle said after a moment, "I have killed people before."

"Did it make you sad?" the girl pressed.

"Yes, it did."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I had to. Because if I didn't, then the people I love and want to protect would have been hurt and possibly killed. Because there are things in this world worth killing for. . ."

There was an awkward silence. The little girl's uncle was confident that she hadn't completely understood the meaning of his words.

"Come on," her uncle told her, "Let's go home. I'll play a game with you when we get back."

The little girl cheered happily and strutted out of the armory with her uncle close behind.

The little girl screamed, but apparently no one had heard. It was right next to her. What was it?

"Quiet!" it commanded forcefully, then upon discovering that apparently that approach wasn't going to work, it more gently said, "Please be quiet! You don't want to disturb your parents in the middle of the night, do you?"

The little girl stared wide-eyed with horror at the creature that sat on her pillow.

"Come on now, I'm not going to eat you or anything like that," the thing tried to comfort her.

The girl just continued staring. What the hell was it? It was too dark to clearly make out what it was.

"Do you want to see me?" the thing asked; somehow it knew her thoughts, "Alright, I'll show you. But you have to promise me you won't be scared. I don't want to look like this, but someone turned me into this and I want your help to turn me back to normal."

The small creature that sat on the girl's pillow used some sort of sorcery to create a small light in front of it that barely allowed enough illumination to see its features.

The girl gasped. Whatever the thing was appeared to be an eyeball the size of a person's fist with a light blue iris and four wiry legs sprouting from each side. There were two fang-like mandibles hanging out of the front-bottom of the eyeball like where a mouth might be, but there was no mouth.

"Don't be afraid," the eyeball told her gently, "Like I said, I need your help to turn me back to normal. We need to find the person who did this to me."

The girl's fear seemed to be subsiding a tad, but she was still cautious of this oddity.

"How'd it happen?" she asked carefully.

"It was Old Man Warren," the eyeball told her.

"Old Man Warren?" the girl asked perplexed since the old sorcerer was a kindly man to everyone he met, "But Old Man Warren is so nice and friendly to everyone in town. I can't believe a nice old fuddy-duddy like him would do something so mean. Why would he do something bad like turn you into an eyeball?"

"I don't know, my dear," the eyeball replied, "But we have to go see him so he'll turn me back to normal."

There was something different about this strange being that enticed the little girl. She suddenly became fascinated with the fate of this person. Any other situation where someone had asked her for help in the middle of the night she doubtlessly would've refused, but there was something different here. What was it?

"Let's go," the little girl directed as she opened her window and slid out onto the wet night grass outside. The eyeball leapt on her shoulder for a ride. The little girl didn't seem in the least bit bothered by it.

"Did you hear?" one townsperson asked another, "They say that the little girl from the Aster family murdered Old Man Warren!"

"Preposterous!" the other person replied, "First of all, how could a little girl like her kill an experienced sorcerer? Second, what motive would a little girl have for doing such a thing? And third, we never have murders in a little town like this!"

"Well, believe what you like. All I know for fact is that she isn't in her home, her family is grieving at something, and there's some kind of closed investigation going on over near the windmill where Old Man Warren lives. All the rest I've heard are rumors. . .though you know. . .there's a lot of truth to rumors. . ."

"Oh, go soak yer head," the other man replied and walked off.

"Why did you do it, kid?" the local both guardsman and investigator asked the little girl who was being suspended inside a shack for questing while the investigation was being conducted. The girl's parents, sisters, and uncle were outside a distance, grieving in disbelief at what she had done.

The girl said nothing. Her eyes were wide and her pupils small. Her nightgown was soaked in drying blood. Her long black hair was tangled and blood dripped from a few strands.

"Dammit! Answer me! Why did you kill Warren?!" the investigator shouted angrily.

The girl was silent for a moment longer. The investigator was about to shout again when she suddenly spoke.

"I did it because I had to,"

"What?" the investigator asked confused, "Why did you have to?"

The girl's eyes stared off blankly into space. She whispered the quote of her uncle, "There are some things in this world worth killing for. . ."

"You're making no sense. Listen, little girl. You're going to be punished severely for this. You're punishment might be a bit less if you tell me everything,"

"It needed me to do it,"

"It?" the investigator shook his head, "Dammit, girl! Speak in sentences that make sense!"

"It needs me to do the same to you," the girl stated while shifting her blank gaze to the man who questioned her.

The investigator suddenly seemed uneasy. The girl stood up from her seat on the ground and walked towards him.

"S-Stay back!" the man commanded while backing up a few steps.

"It's actually kinda fun. . ." the little girl told him, "It's a new desire for me. . ."

"Stop! I'm warning you!" the man told her.

"You want to know why I killed Warren?" she asked, "I'll tell you. . ."

Suddenly there seemed to be two voices coming from the girl's mouth, her voice and a demonic voice. Both voices spoke at once, but their words were slightly different. The girl said, "I have now completed my test and proven my worth," the demonic voice said, "She has now completed her test and proven her worth,"

"Don't make me hurt you," the investigator said while drawing a sword. Apparently the bravado didn't intimidate the little girl.

"There are some things in this world worth killing for. . ." the girl whispered again.

The investigator recoiled in horror as he suddenly noticed an eight-legged eyeball perched upon the little girl's shoulder. Why hadn't he noticed that thing before? And what the hell was that disgusting monstrosity?

"Stop! Please!" the man begged as he slumped into a corner.

"Don't worry. . ." the combination of the little girl's voice and the demonic voice stated, "It won't hurt. . .for that long. . ."

A scream pierced the small village.

"Why? Why did you do that?" the girl's mother sobbed in the privacy of their small house. The other family members had left the mother alone to grieve by her request.

"How could such an innocent child commit two murders at such a young age? Oh, Ceiphied, if you do exist, tell me what I should do next!"

"It's okay mommy. . ." a voice whispered from behind the mother.

She turned around at the sound of the voice, a smile of joy on her lips. This had all been a nightmare, right? Her little girl was as innocent as the day she had been born, right? Everything was as it should be in the world.

The mother's smile immediately faded as she saw that behind stood not her little girl, but some sort of large spider-like eyeball that hung from a web of blood connected to the ceiling. The mother was silent for a moment in complete astonishment.

"So. . .it wasn't a dream was it?" she asked no one.

The eyeball creature hissed loudly and lunged.

Another scream pierced the small village.

"Do you remember it?" a woman asked the little girl who was now, years later, a young woman.

The two women stood on the edge of a cliff that overlooked a river in the valley far below.

"How could I forget?" the young woman replied with a cruel smile on her lips, "It is the desire I possess. Now I must find the only way to sate that unquenchable thirst. I must find and kill her. I must kill Lina Inverse. . ."