The commander speaks up “wait, three of you stay back, I need you to check the surrounding area, teleport home when you’re done”
My heart sunk so far into my chest I felt like I could puke it out. “Of course sir!” they responded, marching off together.
If they find her she’s dead, if they find her I’m dead. Oh gods.
One of the soldiers gets into the back of the carriage with me. I feel the jolt of the carriage moving. The soldier takes a seat across from me, staff in hand and ready. Obviously sending a message.
At this point I notice that I Don't have my staff anymore, those fuckers took it, and right after I got it back too. What the hell…
“Hello, Mr. |||||” The soldier interjects the silence That's been looking over us for the past 15 minutes. “My name is Yahi. I have a few questions for you”
Why is it that every time I deal with these guys it'd always shit.
I just stare, waiting for him to continue.
“First off, why is it that you went here”
“If you cooperate, it will be easier for the both of us.”
“I was looking for my sister.”
“And what made you think she'd be here?”
He writes something down in his notepad. And looks me up and down. Obviously not believing me. “A hunch… nothing else?”
“I mean it's the closest dravian city to where me and my sister live…”
“I see…” Yahi keeps examining me, specifically my clothes. Loose fitting poncho adorned with with decorations alongside the trim. “Your outfit… It'd obviously not Litian, where’s it from?”
That was the last thing I wanted him asking about. I try my best to stay calm. Think of a lie, any sort of lie. Being silent will only make me more suspicious. “I… got it from my friend across the border in Tiathan a few years past.”
He’s not buying it. “Mhmm, but you were spotted heading this direction in your sister’s armor. “
“It was… a spare I brought”
He just silently writes down more. I feel fucking sick. He knows, he’s going to fucking kill me, he’s going to find sasha and exile her. I’m never gonna be able to see my sister again…
“Okay, I think I’m done with questions for now. “ he says, getting up and heading to the entryway to the front of the carriage. “we will let you out when we arrive at your house.”
Yahi passes through the barrier set at the entryway with ease, one that I’m not allowed through, not even allowed to see through. my surroundings are pitch black and I’m trapped here alone with nothing but my thoughts and my worries…
I tried getting sleep, I tried just calming down, but my surroundings are terrifying, everything is an unknown. Empty darkness fills my surroundings, surroundings that still have the vague shape of somewhere unworthily familiar. the dark sheen, deafening silence. It’s all reminiscent of a place I’ve only ever been warned about.
The hell dravians are brought to when we’re exiled by a faette. Did Zrishra… No… There’s no way… Maybe Lourne is where all faette power is drawn from? I don’t know. But…
She told me to trust her. I will trust her…
I take a deep breath, inhaling the purified air around me, somehow the air ducts are still working.
It’s only been 4 hours but… at this point it’s felt like 4 days… My ears have been ringing to drown the silence.
I… I try to get some sleep.
Hours in this carriage, alone,
Atleast it feels like hours,
Time has warped past point of recognition
My anxieties all piling upon each other.
I need to find her, I need to get back to her. I really hope she’s doing ok. It must be scary, terrifying…. I feel so bad about what I had to do, but if I didn’t they’d kill both of us…
The carriage pulls to a stop, noise can’t pass through the barrier so I could only tell by the vibrations stopping below me, a guard walks through the barrier and grabs me roughly yet again
“You need to come with us, sir”
“What the fuck are you doing??? Why did you lock me in there?”
“Shut up” the guard said bluntly, hitting me with the end of his staff in the stomach
“You should be glad we haven’t just killed you, traitor”
Traitor… how did…
My poncho… shit shit shit…
They grab me, dragging me out into the street and shoving me into my house, before putting another barrier up
“Stay here until we figure out what to do with you, this might take a couple days tho”
He leaves the house
I take a look around the living room, a cake of dust ontop of everything. How long have I been away? It feels like it was atleast a week, maybe two? It smells like shit. I finally move my legs again, instead of just standing and staring.
Everythings normal, well, I’d say that but…
Ema.. where the hell is she?
Ugh, whatever, I need to find a way out of here, I don’t want to end up in jail, or even dead.
My room should have some plants, and most of them shouldn’t be dead, atleast I’d hope so. It’s only been a week, I need to make a counter spell for this trap. Passing by the restroom I notice a foul moldy smell. God the towel ii left on the floor is covered in mold, gross. Whatever.
I get to my room and look around, a wall lined with plants in terracotta pots. All different kinds, only now starting to wilt, I always prided myself in keeping plants alive and happy, it honestly kind of hurts to see them like this. Before I do anything, I go to the kitchen, grab some water, and bring it back to my room to water my poor plants, I don’t know how long it’ll be, or when, or hell, even if i’ll ever get to come back.
But now it’s time to start thinking through a way to bypass this wall. I grab some soil and press my finger against the wall, slowly writing a sigil, one that’ll tell me the composition of the spell. I grab a few flowers and light a match, before pressing the match up against them, burning them up.
The sigils form changes, a barrier sigil, simple. Unencrypted.
They really didn’t think of me as much of a threat huh? Atleast I’d hope so, hopefully it isn’t heavily guarded outside. This should be easy to get through, though. I don’t imagine I’ll be stuck here much longer.
I just have to wait a couple of hours until dusk breaks, so that I can sneak out of here… Sasha’s cloaking spell should be finished by then too. I really just hope that she’ll be alright until then.
God… she must be so scared…
Night comes around eventually, only way to tell is by the clock I’ve been staring at over the past three hours. I go to the window in my sisters room that’s facing the back of the house. I just need to hope that there’s no guards directly outside. Looking around the room, a flood of memories just hits me like a tidal wave. The blanket I gave her when I was 13 as a gift, the uniform she used to wear when we were younger.
The jewelry mom gave her for her 17th birthday…
I place my hand on the wall
Wall enforcement, 36, 43, black, 39, 39, 39, connect to 42, remove 42, connect to 39, remove, remove, connect to 40, remove at 3, shift 10, end
My hand burns for a second, the flowers held in my hand wilt within it as a sigil appears on the wall. Burning onto the wall as the entrapment breaks. As fast as I can I jump out the window and sprint, making sure to hold onto my staff, breaking line of site with my house and another as quick as I can, I hear a commotion coming from there,
I can’t stop, I need to keep running.
My goal is to reach my friend yatra’s house as fast as I can. Make as much distance between me and the guards as possible. The blanket of night covering me. My panicked panting echoing through my skull. I’m getting closer…
I get to her door and bang on it as much as I can. Looking around, no one is here, no one I see.
I hear the door unlock, slowly creaking open
“The fuck do you want it’s 3am….”
Without even thinking she just yanks me inside, bringing me to her cellar
“Okay okay, whats, what’s going on????” she says to me, she looks tired, bags under her eyes. “What’s with all the scars? You look like absolute shit”
“I… ugh…” I press my hand to my forehead and groan, the pain of the magic finally processing in my head “It’s… It’s so much…”
“Who are you running from?” she says “you literally never get into trouble this really isn’t like you.”
“I…. the uh… Litian government? I guess?”
She gets up, eyes wide, staring dead into mine “what????? What do you mean????”
My heart starts racing, my eyes darting everywhere, I feel like a wound might reopen. Uneven breathes take over me. “I’m sorry I… I didn’t. I didn’t mean to I just.. It…”
“|||||, ||||| please, calm down, it’s ok, they can’t find you here” she says grabbing onto my shoulder. “Just take a deep breath, I’ll get you some water”
I try, breathing in…. Letting it out… it’s… ugh…
She heads up stairs, closing the door behind her. I hear some banging on the door. Then quiet chatter, indistinguishable. Then the door slams closed. A few minutes later I hear the cellar door open and see yatra come down the stairs with a glass of water. “Hey, here’s your water!”
“The pigs chasing you, I sent them the other way”
“Did… did they believe you?” I say, my throat tightening u
“I don’t know, seemed like it” she took a seat next to me on the couch “I think…. I think you should get some rest my guy” she says looking me up and down, my scars, my torn, bloodied clothes, my broken and tattered staff, messy hair. Lack of a mask. “I don’t know what the hell you’ve been through, but I can tell it’s been a lot.”
I look down at the ground, I’m so tired, I haven’t slept in a few days it feels like.
“Sasha… ema… I hope you’re ok…”
“hmm? “ yatra only vaguely heard me
“Nothing. I’m gonna get some sleep”
I lie down on the couch, staring up at the boarded ceiling above me, supports beaming across the ceiling
It’s nice, finally being in a faette house, the lights above not glaring at me, a blinding off white.
I take off my poncho, placing it on the side of the couch, staring deeply at the scar on my chest, running a finger across it.
I should have died that day… the gods wanteed me to die that day. But sasha changed that…
Faette can use their magic to predict a lot of things, easily, up to the next ten years.
Atleast, everything except for dravians. Something about them is, chaotic to our understandings.
I ask any fortune teller what would happen a day before. They would tell me that I was destined to die tomorrow
I’m different, but I’m here…
Maybe. Maybe I did die that day
Maybe ||||||| died that day
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