I remember the first time my father ever looked at me with that look. That same look you give to a criminal in the act. That same look you give to a monster.
I was eleven then; it was my little brother's fifth birthday. A very special day, one that is celebrated more than a normal birthday. Five, ten and fifteen. Those were special days of celebration here in the west city. I remember all the attention he was getting from mom and dad that day, and I got jealous. I stole one of his gifts from him simply because I wanted something as well, and when I was told by my dad to give it back, I threw it. I threw it hard and without looking. The small wooden toy struck little Billy in the head. A wooden corner of the toy hit first, right into his eye.
I don't even remember what the toy was or really why I wanted it so much; I don't even remember why I threw it. All I really recall is the sight of brother's bleeding face, and mom slouched onto him. How their heads turned to look at me, that look in their eyes. I never wanted to see that look again.
Naturally, I was beaten for what I had done, and beaten hard. I can't blame my dad; if I were as old as I am now, I would have beaten myself as well. For the next four years, I had to recall that night every time I looked into my brother's eye, and every time I did, I was wracked with guilt. The eyepatch worn on his face was a reminder of what I had done and the consequences of it.
I behaved well since that day. I listened to my parents, avoided old friends who had fallen into thievery or crime for money. I started learning which times of day certain roads were safe to travel, and I made new friends who were kinder and had more noble aspirations. However, there was little to amount to in the west city aside from working for the crown in the mines of the Golden Mountain. Some of my friends wanted to become guards or traders; most wanted to leave the west city. Though they never will. It's just that kind of place.
As my fifteenth birthday approached, I was curious why every fifth birthday was celebrated more than the others. The first is a celebration of life, apparently in the outer city, infant and child death is common from disease, but once the age of five is reached, the child's body can handle these diseases. The second is to celebrate purity, as apparently, children from eight to nine are often targeted by gangs and recruited to kill people. I asked what happened if the parents knew their child had killed someone before turning then, the awnser was turning them over to the guards, in short, death. And fifteen, the most common celebration, even outside of the slums, the day you're considered an adult. For me, this day was fast approaching.
I awoke on my own for the first time in years. Usually, I would be woken by my mother's soft voice, but not today. There was light shining through my window, making it difficult to open my eyes right away. I wasn't used to the sun beaming in my eyes when I woke; I normally was woken earlier than this.
I got out of bed and dressed myself before exiting my small room and descending the stairs into the one large open room where we spent most of the day. My mother stood at the kitchen stove where a sweet smell lingered in the air as she stoked the fire underneath. As I descended, the creaking of the wooden stairs grew louder until one was loud enough to be heard across the room.
"Ah, good morning, Noah" My mother turned to me, walking closer and outstretching her arms into a hug. "Happy fifteenth birthday". I returned the hug with the one arm that wasn't pinned in place by her hug as I glanced around the room.
"Where's dad? And Bill?"
"Dad went out to buy some things, and Bill is out back." She released her embrace and returned to her cooking, pointing towards the back door of the house as she went. "I'm cooking some pancakes, so breakfast will take a little longer than normal."
I grew slightly excited upon hearing the sweet lingering smell was pancakes being cooked. I was wondering if I should ask why I wasn't woken earlier, like usual, but forgot about it. I assumed it might have something to do with me now being an adult, or perhaps I was to be working once breakfast was ready. Either way, I went to the back door and opened it.
The back of the house was little more than a small fenced path of mud and dirt. There was no green in the west city, nor any fertile land for home gardens; even so, the space was small, about the size of my bedroom. Beyond the rear door, the timber floor continued for a small bit before giving way to the dirt, where in the middle, a lone tree grew.
Bill was sitting on the wood with his feet hanging down onto the dirt. He was nine years old now, and next year we would have another large birthday for him when he turned ten. I approached from his left side and sat next to him, the sound startling him slightly as he turned his head fully. His eyepatch was on the left, so he didn't see me. I would have tried to sit on the other side, but he was leaning against the fence. With a soft smile, he leaned his head against me and softly said, "Happy birthday, Noah". Was this meant to be a hug? It seemed colder than the years prior.
"Breakfast's ready." We heard our mother's voice chime from inside, prompting us both to scramble for the door. Neither of us had eaten pancakes for four years… ah… maybe that's why he's being like this today?
As we came inside, the front door swung open, and our father returned home. It was a strange sight that stopped both of us in our tracks. His beard was clean-shaven, and his hair cut shorter. The drastic change is apparent, which made us question who this person was for a brief moment. That was until he opened his mouth, "Happy Birthday, Noah!" He smiles and holds up a scroll. "I got you something special today."
We sat around the small table by the front window that was half boarded over as we all ate the pancakes and drank plenty of water. The food itself had a softness to it, like biting into a pillow or a pile of clothes with a pleasant warmth, but it did quickly dry out the mouth.
After we had finished breakfast, my mother called Bill over to help with the dishes. My father and I remained at the table, sitting across from each other as he unfurled the paper and slit it over to me.
"I managed to get you a training position at the mines, if you want it of course. You're free to turn it down and pursue a different courier path ifin you so desire. But it would be nice to have ye working alongside me."
I looked down at the paper. Now it made sense; no doubt he groomed himself in order to look presentable to his boss in order to ask for this. It was common in the West City after all. Sons worked with their fathers in the mines, they grew, found women of their own and repeated it all over again.
"No… no, I don't think I want that. I think I might want to do something different."
"Different? Like taverns or inns? Or being a merchant?"
"Honestly…" I looked over towards my mother and brother, who had slowed in their scrubber in order to listen in on the conversation. Seeing my brother's eye, there was a single desire that came over me. "I want to leave."
"Leave? How?"
I thought for a moment about his question, noticing that he didn't ask why but how. How would I leave? I either needed money or skills, and I possessed neither. "I don't know, I could train with a blade, maybe? Be a guard for travelling merchants?"
"And who would train you how to use a blade? How would you afford this training? Son, I would like to help you, truly. Allow me to think on this for the day. We will talk at sundown. In the meantime, we should enjoy the celebration of your coming of age in the traditional way." He smirked and pulled from his pocket a small bottle of brown liquid atop the table. As he opened it, I knew instantly what it was: liquor.
I remembered the taste of it being foul and causing me to recoil instantly. The day went by peacefully as the normal chores I would be asked to do were instead taken care of by my brother and father. He had gotten the day off work as is customary for a larger birthday celebration such as this one. After a few hours in the morning, I didn't know what to do with my time. Shortly after, I decided to go out since it was still work hours and the roads were safe.
I went to a nearby park that I like to spend time at. It was small, but actually had grass and a playground with a few simple things like swings and climbing equipment. There were a few other kids around, most a bit younger than me, but a few around the same age.
I looked slightly older than my actual age, so I figured that actually playing around with the younger children might be a bit suspicious with a few parents nearby, since there have been a lot of abductions around lately. I noticed that the climbing equipment was mostly unused. The thing itself wasa large cone-like shape made of large, thick rope woven through metal and tied to other pieces of rope to hold it all together. As I looked up at it and realised that I had never once ascended to the top. If I had to guess, it was slightly taller than our home. Maybe if I climbed it, I could see over the building that surrounded me for all my life? But every time I looked up at it, I always thought that it was far too high, and I was scared.
I climbed up the large netting towards the top, keeping my eyes locked at the peak and not looking back down. One hand above the other, one foot above the next. Before long, I reached the top and wrapped my arm around the pole as I stood atop it, like I was standing atop the mast of a ship looking out upon a sea of roofs with the occasional three-story house jutting up like a spiked rock in the sea.
"Ooooiiiiiiii!" A voice called out from below. "You up there? What you doing?" I looked down to see where the voice was coming from. It was a girl with blonde straight hair that went down to her shoulders. She looked around the same age as me, maybe a little older.
"Enjoying the view", I said as her face lit up with a smile as she started to climb up as well.
"Is it that nice? I gotta see."
She climbed up to meet me, her pace was twice as fast as mine, and didn't contain a hint of fear or hesitation. Before I could even think, she had already reached the top and wrapped her arm around the pole, crossing over mine. I was awestruck as I watched her look out over the sea of roofs, her face lit up with the kind of smile that you don't see in the outer cities. She turned to me and smiled, introducing herself as Sera.
We climbed down a rung and sat on a rope next to each other and talked for a bit. I asked about her as I was so curious about who she was. It turned out she was an orphan who was adopted by a baker and helped with cooking and cleaning. I told her about how I wanted to leave this city and about how I wanted to learn how to fight in order to get out of here. She laughed and made a joke about how she could come with me, and I could protect her. Even though it was a playful joke for a moment, I thought about how that would be, and it seemed like something I would enjoy.
Before I left to go back home, she told me where the bakery was and invited me to come and visit sometime. Before long, the whole park cleared out as soon as the workers from the mines would be returning to town and the streets wouldn't be safe till tomorrow.
When I returned home, we had dinner as a family. There was an awkward silence in the air, no doubt due to what I had said, I want to do with my life being unconventional. Many other kids dream the same, but everyone gives up on it eventually, but not me. I was serious about this, and I had a reason sitting right next to me.
As the sun started to set and candles started to be lit around the house, my father asked me to join him in the backyard. We sat next to eachother in silence for about two minutes before he finally broke the silence.
"So I've been thinking about what you said this morning. I think you should take my offer of an apprenticeship."
"I told you."
"I know what you said, just please. Let me finish. I know a swordsman who would be willing to trade you for a cost, but you'll have to pay for it yourself. You can earn the money in the apprenticeship to pay for that. You'll work less than I, so you'll have the time to do that. Also, it'll build your strength and your swinging arm. You'll be rock-breaking. You can think of that as training as well. Does that sound acceptable to you?"
I thought about it for a while. It seemed like a solid plan, nothing that would change overnight, but maybe after a few years of work, it was possible.
At this point, the sun had long set, and the soft glow of the candles and moonlight was all that was left to light our gloomy corner of the world.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine as I felt the temperature drop. I looked to my father, who was experiencing the same thing. We exchanged a glance that shared the same thought. What was that? Then, suddenly, a gust of wind from the south rattled the tree in our yard, causing the leaves to fall.
"Let's go back inside, shall we? I can bring you to the worksite tomorrow and get you to the apprentice area to see how you feel about it." He stood up and moved to the door as he spoke. The sudden cold chill of the air caused my body to start shivering as I stood and started to rub my hands together. As I rubbed and rubbed, I felt my palm get warmer and warmer, and after a few moments, light, fire, my hands were on fire. I looked down at my hands, confused as the flame didn't burn me at all.
"Dad?" I asked hesitantly as I held my hands out, the fire lighting the yard brighter than the candles inside the house. He turned and looked back at me, confused. His face began to sweat, his eyes grew wide with fear and confusion. Then, from inside the house, a blood-curdling scream.
Dad rushed inside and bolted up the stairs, driven by pure instinct; he rushed towards the continuous, horrific sound as I slowly walked into the house, still baffled about the fire in my hands that didn't hurt. It was warm but comfortably so. As the screaming continued, I walked upstairs as well to see what was going on.
As I rounded a corner, I saw my brother's bedroom door open, the source of the horror inside as the screams had turned into a deep and struggling gurgle. My parents were huddled around the bed as Billy had blood streaming from his face. His eye, mouth and nose streamed blood down as he was choking on it. His bedsheet had been ripped away, and I saw the blood pooling atop his chest and stomach, as if the liquid itself was pushing out from inside him. I stood in the doorway and could only watch as my brother's skin turned red with blood, as his body was being pulled inside out. Once his horrid gurgles and choking stopped, my parents turned to look at me with that look, that look I never wanted to see again, the kind of look you give a monster.
I didn't know why they were looking at me like that. I hadn't even done anything. This wasn't my fault. The room was bright, far too bright, like there was a raging fire in the room. It felt as if the fire was coming from behind me, or maybe under me? Looking down, I noticed a fire. The wooden ground of the room was ablaze, as well as my pants, my chest, my whole body was alight, and I couldn't even tell. It felt like a warm embrace, something I felt like I needed, considering the sight I had just seen. But all I saw was that gaze, that look in their eyes, that look I hated.
Before I knew it, the floor under my feet gave way, and I fell into a raging inferno. The crackling of the fire and buckling wood deafened me to the faint and distant agonising screams of the dying.
I crawled from the wreckage into a world at war with itself. Fire, deaths screaming. Pain and agony echoed through the once still night air as brothers butchered eachother, parents strangling their children. It was nothing short of madness.
All the while, I felt the comforting embrace of the flames upon my back like a mother's hug, among such chaos, it was comforting even if only a little. Many who ran up and down the street with weapons in hand would give me a wide berth as I started to walk westward; their eyes had that same look in them, the same as my parents had the last time I saw them. Some threw rocks towards me, and one came out with a small crossbow, though before he could fire, the wooden weapon exploded in his hands and fragments of wood pierced his face like a thousand needles. Then I saw the wall behind him buckle and bend, opening like a clenched fist as a woman came out, littered with arrows. She failed her arms wildly as the wood from the now deformed house walls splintered apart and flew into the stomachs of those in the street with weapons, and those who were throwing rocks before she bled to death herself.
I halted my walk to watch the strange sight; it was unnatural. Everything that was happening was unnatural. Fear and chaos had gripped most, and the rest, for people like myself and her, what was truly happening? Was this some form of divine punishment thrust upon the world? Was this because my brother, whom I harmed, wanted to be a doctor, while I wanted to run from my problems? Was this punishment for my sin? Then I wonder, why was she pushed as well? I finally averted my gaze from the woman's body that was slumped over the bent wooden structure as a high-pitched scream caught my attention.
Running towards me from the west was a girl who was being chased by three large men. I recognised her instantly, her blonde hair and cute face that had been stained red by blood that streamed down from her head. It was Sera. She ran towards me as the men pursued her with weapons raised high. Was she being punished by the saints as well? How? How could someone who seemed so innocent and pure be deserving of such hate?
I stood and watched, wondering what I could do to help. She came to a stop only a few meters away from me and turned to face her pursuers. The smallest of them raised a blade to bring it down, and as he did, Sera swiped her hand as if to push it out of the way. I did not see her hand make contact with the blade. I did not see the blade even come near her, but the man who gripped his blade tightly was tossed to the side as if kicked by a horse and smashed into the side of a building. The second drew his sword back to thrust it forward into her, and as he lunged, she pulled her arm back. The blade flew from the man's grip and towards me, but it stopped in midair; nothing was touching it, no force was acting upon it, not even gravity. In the blink of an eye, the blade had turned and been tossed back towards the man who was holding it, piercing his neck clean through to the hilt. Whatever this was, it did not seem like divine punishment; no, this was something more.
The third man, larger and more burly, stepped forward and lifted a large wooden rolling pin. Sera once again raised her hand as she did the first time. As I started to walk towards her, I heard a loud thud as she was knocked to the floor. What was it that she could fend off armed men, but not a rolling pin? He stepped over her body and held the rolling pin aloft with two hands, ready to bring it down like a miner breaking rock. The strike would no doubt crack her head open and kill her.
"Stop!" I called out against my will. I don't know what spurred me to intervene. I was always taught not to when seeing thighs like this. I was taught to move on and be grateful it wasn't you on the floor. But when it's something like this, how would I not?
He looked up at me, and after a brief pause, he marched towards me without fear or hesitation. The bright light that was coming from my back had long faded as my blood ran cold from the grisly sight. "You one o' them is ye? One o' em fucking freaks like er? I'll fuckin kill ye to ye, little runt." He raised the pin high and went to bring it down atop my head hard enough to spill its contents over the road. But before he could, my hands raised up and gripped his wrist. He was bigger and stronger than I was, and both of us were surprised that I managed to stop his blow. His face contorted in annoyance and disgust as his weight shifted back slightly. I anticipated a quick kick to the chest, but one never came. As I opened my eyes once again, his face had sifted into that look, that same damn look.
He started to scream and pull away from my grip, but I was unrelenting. I saw the light and felt the soft warmth from overhead. Fire had once again combusted from my hands and had set him alight. It spread quickly over his hairy and oily arms and onto his clothes and what little remained of his hair, creating a screaming, writing human bonfire in front of me.
He pulled away from my grip and fell to the ground as his screams quickly gave way to silence and the crackling of the fire and the smell of burned flesh. Sera stood and rushed towards me, not looking down at the body once as she commanded me to take deep breaths. To calm myself. I did as she asked, and the fire that engulfed mybeing faded quickly. It was only now in front of her that I had noticed my clothes had also burned to ashes, and my body was covered in little more than dark soot. Even so, she didn't pay it any mind; she grabbed my hand and pulled me away, towards the west and the edge of the city.
As we ran, we passed by countless sights of violence and death and plenty of things that were unnatural or inexplicable. Why was this happening, I wondered, what sin had we committed to warrant the wrath of the saint so? My mind was racing with these thoughts as my legs moved without any, pulled along by Sera, who only had one burning desire: to survive.
As we neared the edge, we stumbled across a shopping district that was being looted amid the chaos and joined in. Managing to scavenge some clothing, food and basic supplies in a bag before taking off, just as the city guards were making their way to quell the riot, the only way they knew how. As the unrest turned to war, we fled, finally escaping the edge of the city and past the streets of tents, the mines, the golden mountain itself. We ran until our legs would allow us to run no more and gave out in a small thicket of woods to the south-west of the golden mountains' slopes.
We both sat against the trunk of a great oak as he panted and coughed, trying to catch our breath. After a few minutes, I had finally recovered enough to force out a singular word. "Why?"
Sera looked at me and took a few deep breaths before her panting stopped. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense, and it's not fair… but magic exists now."
Magic? I wondered. Like from old stories and myths? It was meant to be nothing more than a fairy tale, something to make you think the world was a more mystical and wondrous place than it was. To spur the imagination of children, but this… this wasn't magic, it was torture. "Now what?" I managed to mumble out between long, deep breaths.
"We can't go back, probably ever. We should go west through Green Pass. Smaller towns and villages have lots of trade."
"How… how did you do all that?"
"I don't know, it was like using a limb I never knew I had. It felt natural after a bit… You feel that to… don't you?"
I held up my hand and focused on the feeling; it was as if I could feel the air in my hand, touching my skin. It had a texture I could touch, like moving your hand subtly in water to create large ripples or movements, so it was with the air in my hand. I felt it moving, vibrating faster and faster until it turned to flame in my palm. I relaxed my hand, and both the feeling and fire vanished in the soft wind. I felt as if I could control it, whatever this was.
"You have fire, I have iron," Sera spoke as she pulled a small dagger from the backpack and, with a bit of focus, made it hover above her hand, her fingers twitched as if the blade was being balanced atop invisible wires that needed constant correction. Then she flicked her wrist and the blade flung into a tree, she reached out and gripped the air, and the dagger flew back as the handle landed in her palm. "Let's go to Green Pass, see if what happened in the city also happened everywhere else. For now, though." Her sentence was cut off with a yawn. All of the energy drained from our bodies from the frantic running, and it was still late into the night.
"Should I make a small campfire?"
She shook her head as she lay down in the thick grass. "That might attract unwanted visitors. Others like us might be out this way, and they might not be as friendly."
I nodded and leaned my head back against the tree, opting to sleep in a seated position while she lay in the grass next to me. Quickly, we both drifted to sleep. When I awoke the next day, I found that Sera had moved closer to me in the night; rather than sleeping in the grass, she had sat up and leaned her body against mine. When I stirred awake, that in turn woke her. She looked up at me and blushed, turning away and apologising, saying she was just cold before moving away.
We continued down the road for a time before our rumbling stomachs wouldn't allow us to continue further. We moved off the side of the road and made a bonfire. I intended it by holding a wooden log and tossing it in once it was alight.
"Do you know how to cook?" She asked as she rummaged through the backpack for food.
"No, not really."
"Really? You know a merchant guard ought to know how to feed himself, but lucky you. I'm here." She resumed rummaging through the bag/ "Managed to snag some meat, vegetables, and other such stuff. Too bad we don't have a proper cooking pot. This'll have to do," She pulled out some meat and handed it to me.
"What am I to do with this?"
"We've nothing to place it on, and you seem fireproof. Would you hold it above the fire?"
I took the slab of meat in my hand and held it over the fire. I watched as the flames washed over my hands from below like water as the meat began to slowly change colour, and I felt the juices pooling in my hand. She was right, I really was fireproof. After a few moments of the two of us looking intently at the cooking meat, she told me it was done. I pulled my hand out of the fire as she opened a small sack and reached inside, pulling a pinch of salt that she scattered atop the steak.
"Do we have a second one?"
She shook her head. In response, I ripped the steak in half and held it out to her. She reached out and poked at it, retracting her hand quickly from the heat. After rummaging in the backpack, she pulled out a small, smooth wooden cutting board to use as a plate. I placed her half upon it as I started to eat mine.
"It's a small piece, but it should be enough to hold us over until we reach a rest stop. Then we can make use of a cooking pot and make some actual food." She spoke as she watched the steam rise from the cooked meat.
"This is actual food", I mumbled through a half-full mouth.
She smiled and giggled softly, "It's not bad, but I can do much better. Also, I managed to find a coin purse last night. I think it has a few crowns in it."
"Can we buy more food with that?"
"We could, if you don't mind sleeping on the side of the road, that is."
I thought about what she said as I chewed. We were poor, so poor we had to choose between full bellies or a decent night's sleep. On the upside, if she hadn't snagged that purse, we would be so poor we couldn't afford either. "Even if we get an in, I struggle to sleep when I'm that hungry."
"Food it is then." With a soft smile, she gently tossed the bag upwards and snatched it out of the air before shoving it back into the depths of the backpack before she to began to eat.
As we walked further west, we sipped water from a shared leather sack and chewed on slightly stale bread. We took shelter at a rest stop, and to our surprise, the owner knew nothing of what was happening in the world. It was only two buildings along the side of the road after all, and we decided not to tell him, lest he tell others who told him, lest there were already those out there hunting people like us, we simply bought some travel rations, and the owner was kind enough to let us use their cookpot to eat before we continued on our way.
More days of sleeping outdoors and endless walking passed us by until we finally came upon the small town of Green Pass. It was a shock that we managed to make it here so quickly. The days had blurred together, but it must have been one or maybe two weeks of travel. We found a town that looked as if it had survived a siege. There were half-crumbled buildings and many men rebuilding the town.
As we approached the newly erected gate, we were stopped by a guard. "You two, what brings you so young this far west? Are you from the city?"
"Yes," Sera interjected before I could even speak. "We're from west city, near the gold mountain. We fled amid the chaos."
"Chaos? So it happened there as well?"
We glanced at each other, our suspicions confirmed that whatever had happened had happened everywhere.
"What was the reason you fled?"
"Fire," I said. "My father suddenly caught fire, and my brother also died unnaturally. Our house burned to the ground. Only I survived…" The guards glanced towards Sera. "And my sister", I continued. Sera nodded along as the guard's face softened.
"Right, well, that building over there's the inn. Go there and tell em' Nick sent ya. Tell him the truth and be polite, ifin your strong enough, you might be able to earn a keep here for a time, help us rebuild, and we'll feed ye well."
Sera bowed her head. "Thank you, your name precedes your generosity. Thank you dearly." She said as she pulled me along and out of earshot of the guard. Tugging my arm close, she leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Sister? Really?"
"I panicked," I whispered back. "It made him lower his guard, did it not?"
"Fine, let's just go in and see what's happening here."
We entered the inn and told the man behind the counter that Nick, the guard at the gate, told us to come here. We told him we were siblings from West City near the mining district, and we had fled in the chaos of whatever it was that happened. He told us that others have started calling it the awakening. As if magic had woken up from thousands of years of slumber all at once. Word had spread around the western pininculia, messengers sent from every town to every other town. Though we were the first from the city to arrive here.
After hearing our story of half-truths, he made us an offer. If we needed money, food and lodgings, we could stay here and help rebuild. Sera touted that she was a baker, and I was to work the mines.
"Good, we'll have use for you both her ifin you would like to help us. Though since I won't be making any money off ye, I can only spare my smallest room. I trust sharing a single bed won't be an issue for siblings as close as you?"
"O-of course not" I lied through my teeth. "We'll be happy to have it. Thank you." I said as I took the key.
"Now you can both start as soon as you put your belongings in the room. Both of you can come back to me, and I'll show you where you're needed."
Sera nodded, smiled and pushed me along towards the rooms.
It was small, little else in the room aside from the bed. Without that, one could mistake this space for a tiny stable space or a large pantry.
Sera dumped the backpack on the bed and turned to me with an upset look. "You just had to say sister, now we have to deal with this." She took a step towards me, which was all that was needed to close the distance fully. I expected to be struck, even playfully so, but to my surprise, I instead felt a warm and slightly wet sensation upon my cheek. As I opened my eyes, her head was pulling back from mine. "Not that I mind all that much, though." She smiled and quickly left the room, leaving me there with a hand covering my cheek and redened face.
Over the next month, we worked in the town to help rebuild it. Sera worked to cook food for all the workers, and I helped them with moving timber and fetching tools. It felt almost like a normal life again despite the horrors we saw in the city that night. But we were from the outer city, death did not faze us; it was a common sight when one wandered down side streets. As the time passed, we found our bellies full and our bodies well rested, though we knew the rebuilding effort here wouldn't last forever. Soon enough, we wouldn't be needed anymore, and besides, I fear that some are growing suspicious of Sera and me. Not as magic users, but as an incestuous couple, as he had recently gotten closer. I deeply regretted the lie that we were siblings.
One night after some enjoyment together, we lay in bed, in each other's embrace as we pondered. "What's going to happen once the last buildings are done? They won't need as many hands then."
"I think we'll manage."
"Easy for you. You have skill; you're a baker by trade. Finding work as a baker in a place like this should be simple. But me? What can I do, truly?"
We lay in silence for a time before Sera leaned up and whispered. "You can start a fire really easily".
The poor attempt at humour made me crack a smile. "Yes, I suppose I can. Just as you can move metal."
We both felt the silence shift to a different kind of silence as our minds thought of the same thing at the same time. "Blacksmith." We both understood that the fire needed to be hot, and keeping it at the right temperature was difficult for a normal man, but me? Then Sera could manipulate the metal easily, fold it, bend it, smash it. With the two of us working together, that was a skill we had, a skill we could use to live. Though we would need to keep it hidden somehow, the true nature of it all. Even in this town, in every town, there is a resentment and hatred of magic.
At this point, it had been a bit over a month, and a few travellers had come and gone. One I recall was particularly interested in wine. Not too surprising that some people would need something like that to drown out the memories of that night. Though before long and halfway through hoisting a framed wall, a small contingency arrives clad in arms and armour, and at their head a robed man, a priest.
After some commotion at the gate, everyone had stopped what they were doing and watched as the robed man stepped forward and would loudly proclaim, "By the rule is His Holiness and the blessing of Emperor Kor, the church has enacted the fifth crusade, our holy mission as decreed by the church is to hunt down and exicute these new heritics also known as users of magic."
As he spoke loudly and verbosely, we all looked at each other. If I had fooled these people, there was no way they could find me out. As we look around, one worker approached the priest. "Oi, clothmen. This is the West; we do not worship the saints as blindly as you. The marking of the third crusade still weighs heavily on our northern lands. You and your kind are not welcome here."
"Ah, yes, the third crusade, over a thousand years ago that was! I see you've all been taught your history well… not well enough. As you see, since then, church doctrine hasn't changed." A fully armoured knight took a step forward, and with a single, swift motion, he both drew his blade and decapitated the man before him. "Heresy!" The body slumped to the ground. "Is a sin."
The robed man turned his gaze towards us as we started to place our tolls and happers on the ground. He took a few steps closer before stretching his arm out wide while the other gripped onto a book that was clutched to his chest. "All of you are to return to your homes until our investigation is complete. Anyone seen fleeing is a heretic! Our order will conduct visits to each house to weed out this evil from the land and cleanse it as per our holy doctrine." He clutched the book tighter with his closing words. The workers all looked at each other and quietly resigned to their fate, surrendering and all dispersing.
I walked in the middle of the crowd back to the inn, trying to hide amongst the taller adults so as not to draw attention to myself. As I got back to the room, a few minutes later, Sera entered. "So…" She calmly sat on the bed. "What do you want to try and do?"
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"Whatever you think gets us out of this alive. I don't care if we lie, run or kill all of them. I'm not dying in this fucking town, neither are you, got it."
"Could we kill them all?"
"Easily. They're all in full plate armour. I could crush them with a look, if they don't die from that, cook them in their suits."
"I say lie, but keep that as a backup option. Be ready to do that as soon as one of them goes to draw a weapon, okay?"
"Got it, I'm behind you all the way." She stood up and grabbed the scruff of my shirt, pulling me closer into a brief kiss that was shortly interrupted by a knock on the door.
Upon opening, we were met with a knight in full armour, white and ridged, adorned with symbols of the church. "Follow", he ordered simply as he turned and walked. We followed behind him and into the main hall of the inn, where the priest sat at a table, being served some water by the owner, who glanced up apologetically as we entered the room.
"Sit please." He gestured across from him at the table where Sera and I sat as knights hovered behind us. "So young looking, are you two newlyweds of the village?"
"We eloped here, actually, but we said our vows before the saints."
"Oh? I didn't know that was custom in this part of the world. I thought you Westerners preferred consummation, unless you're either from a religious home or the East?" The priest interlocked his fingers and leaned forward, resting his chin upon his fingers as he eyed us down, awaiting a response for a moment. When none was given, he smirked and sat upright again. "You two are from West City, no? I heard they had some of the worst of it in the Capitol. Truth be told, I care little where you come from; I only care that you aren't unholy abominations."
"Abom, a.. A what?"
"Magic users. You may be wondering how we tell them apart. They look just like everyone else after all. But it was the grace of his holiness that led us to our answer. For we found a way, a foolproof way to find those with magic power and force them to reveal it." He placed a hand atop the tome he was carrying with him and slid it forward to the middle of the table. "Naturally, to normal people, this does nothing." He opened the tome to reveal not pages, but a compartment. It wasn't a book at all, but a container, inside a small sack. He picked it up, reached his hand into it and then pulled it out. "Apologies, this may cause you to cough slightly." He raised his hand in front of his face and opened it, blowing a fine red dust towards us.
The red dust blew into our faces, and we shut our eyes tight. It felt like flour, but coarser, though not as rough as sand. The substance entered our noses and caused us to cough. I felt it irritating the inside of my nose, like the burning you get from spicy food. I felt the burning feeling spread through my body; it was so uncomfortable that I clenched my fist and slammed it on the table. By the time I managed to force open my watering eyes, I saw that my hand was alight. Without even realising it, this red mist had exposed me. Everything around me was moving slowly as I looked up, the priest's expression was of show as he tried to stand up nd move back quickly, the guard behind him, drawing his blade, a looming presence behind my back. I reeled my head back and sneezed, though to my own shock, what left my mouth was a stream of flame. The sudden burst of fire engulfed the priest, who screamed and stood up as his robe caught fire. The guards around us hesitated for a moment, just a moment. And that was all we needed.
Sera reached her hand out and clenched it, and suddenly the guards could not draw their blades; they were stuck in place. She twisted her wrist around, and the guards stopped moving. She clenched her hand into a fist with great effort, and the loud cracks and crumbling of metal filled the room, quickly followed by the panicked yelps of the guards as their own armour crumbled around them, crushing them inside. The now immobile guards fell to the floor as I grabbed Seras's hand and pulled her out of her seat, and we ran towards the exit.
I thought for a moment about setting the guards alight, maybe burning the whole building down. But inside were all those builders that I had been working alongside for a while now, I had known their names, where some are from, what they plan on doing with their lives… I couldn't take that away from them, as it got taken from me. So we ran. Ran out of the inn and towards the west. Some guards spotted us and gave chase, but Sera caused their armour to crumple inward and lock up at the knee, causing them to fall and be unable to get back up. We made our escape from the town and onto greener pastures as we followed the road towards the next town over, Ashenfort.
We had nothing to our name as there was no time to take our belongings. We were right back to where we started months ago, though now our faces were known. How long would it take until wanted posters with our faces were plastered over every city? As the days dragged on, we decided not to stay long in Ashenfort, nor did we have the money to do so. Begging on the streets for a day netted us just enough to feed ourselves that night, and the next morning we set off once more, further west.
The more distance we could put between us and the church, the better, so we decided to travel to a town with a rather odd name. World's End, they called it, though in truth the name was actually longer than that. It took days for us to reach only halfway, as our legs grew weak and our stomachs were too empty to sleep well. But coming the other way, we happened upon a merchant travelling with a cart, without any guards, as the two of us trudged towards him weekly.
As we trudged to the side of the road, we moved out of the wagon's way as we whispered among ourselves about whether we should rob him. Before we could make up our minds, the wagon had come to a stop, and the man lowered his hood to reveal his old, wrinkled face.
"Now what are two kids doing all the way out here? And the state of ya as well. By the grace of flame, it's luck we crossed patched. I have bread, salted meats, please, take what you need."
Both of us were awestruck at the man's generosity, as if Saint Nicolas himself had crossed our path.
"Hello?" He waved his hand at us. "Don't tell me you're dead already?"
"No! No, ah, yes, thank you. We have nothing. Any food would be much appreciated." I blurted out, afraid he might change his mind and move on.
"Well, climb in, rummage round, take what you need. Missing a little of this and a little of that won't do me much harm. Just don't take too much of the same thing, alright." As the old man instructed us, we both climbed into the wagon and began to rummage through the various containers. He also stood and turned to the back of the wagon, lifting the lid of a barrel and pulling some bread from it. He rumaged through and found some cloth and told us to pile food into them and tie them up so we could carry more for the days we had ahead.
"You're not from around here, are ya?" We shook our heads in response as he tied the cloth up into a sack. "I'm guessing you two are magic users?" The air stopped dead as our heads slowly raised to meet his. "Look, I'm too old to really give a shit. I see kids starving, so I help. I don't care if you're one o' the magic users, a bandit, or whatever. As I said, I'm old."
"So… why help us?"
"Atonement, I suppose. You kill as many men as I have; you start to want to save lives rather than take them. It's not my duty anymore to kill those who are deserving. If I did that, I would have to start with myself, so… I'm in no position to judge."
"Th-thank you, kind sir." Sera muttered softly as she backed away with her sack of food and stepped off the wagon.
I then stood and jumped off the side of the wagon as the old man turned and sat, grabbing the reins. Before he left, I linked up with him, "Who are you… Who were you?"
"Just a ghost lingering before my time in the great white takes me, nothing more." With that, he whistled and flicked the reins and set off towards Ashenfort. The two of us moved off the side of the road, opened the sack and began to eat a long-awaited meal.
We finally made it to World's End after two more days of trekking and found the small town. It was by the sea and seemed focused on fishing since half the town itself was effectively a port. I asked if there was a blacksmith in the town, and there was, but not accepting apprentices. I was told I could be of use on a fishing vessel if I intended to make a life here. An offer I had no choice but to accept. Just as I thought things might be turning around, we decided to check the local inn, where any wanted posters we hung up, and sure enough, we were there. Not a picture or drawing of our face, but a description of our appearance. Clearly rushed and most likely sent by bird rather than rider. It seemed our worst fear was realised; nowhere here was safe for us anymore.
We once again set out, though this time we had no destination. Green Pass was the only way in and out of the western pininculia, north was an old military base that was still in use, and south was little more than a giant swamp. We wandered aimlessly and ended up where we met that old man in the wagon, where another traveller was coming the other direction on foot with a large backpack stuffed to the brim. Once again, we were hungry and desperate, but this man walked past us and spat at our feet. Sera and I exchange a glance of understanding. We both knew what was going to happen next. After all, we're from the west city slums.
We found a small cave just a bit off the road, slightly downhill. We lit a fire and rumaged through the backpack to see what we had. There were basic camping and cooking supplies, and some food, but little else. We had left the corpse outside the cave, but the sudden downpour of rain slicked the bank with mud and carried it away. For the best, if found, it'll look like he fell and bashed his head on a rock; if not found, he'll be a feast for the animals.
We spent what must have been a month in that cave. It's not like we could go and live in a city, but thankfully, there was regular trade along this road. Every time someone came along, we would hear them and rush out to ambush them on the road. We didn't kill, nor did we take them for everything they had; we only took what we would need until the next wagon came along. Each night in the cave, we would set a fire and huddle close to keep warm and before long, Sera became pregnant. It was barely noticeable from just looking, but we knew.
With this, we needed more food, and trading had slowed due to our actions. The caravans that did come just offered us food willingly rather than hiring guards anymore; it was far cheaper, and what use were guards when they couldn't draw their blades? Sera kept that part subtle, always standing behind me when she used her power. We hoped to pass as simple lowly bandits that were more of a hassle than they were worth, so we had to hide our magic well.
This worked, for a time. It wasn't until one day a wagoncame with a lone guard walking alongside it. We stood in the road like usual, and the wagon came to a stop. The guard who was walking alongside the wagon stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the merchant. "This man has lost too much money from you, much more, and he won't be able to trade or find a different route. You will take no more from this one, or you'll answer to me."
The guard stepped forward confidently. "More fearsome men than you have said the same." I watched as he placed his hand on the hilt of his blade, and I pulled out a dagger we had stolen from the man we first killed and pointed it at him. "We need food to survive, and you have plenty to go around."
"The guard looked back at the merchant and then back to me. "Would you be willing to compromise? Half your usual take?"
"No."
The guard sighed and looked down. "Very well." His hand had gripped his hilt tightly. I stood, eagerly anticipating the look on his face when he realised he could not draw his blade.
"NOAH!" Sera yelled out from behind. I glanced back and felt a sharp pain in my wrist. I looked ahead once more and saw a blur of gold and red. The gold, his blade swiftly moving through the air, the red… blood coming from where my hand used to be but a moment ago.
Before I could even process the pain, I saw my own dagger suddenly fly upward from below and pierce the man through the bottom of his jaw. Blood spurted from his mouth as his body fell, and I dropped to my knees, clutching my severed wrists. I yelled in agony as I set the red wound alight to cauterise it. Then I turned to rage at the body before me, reaching out and turning it into a raging inferno of crackling flesh. I channelled all my power into it to make sure his body burned to nothingness, and before we even knew it, he was nothing more than ash.
When I finally turned around, Sera was kneeling beside me, he face wrought with concern over my severed hand, but I noticed that behind her, in the distant morning fog, the wagon was trotting out of sight. He had run off in the commotion, and we didn't even notice. Sera waited until the fresh subsided before lunging at him with a hug as she wept, she apologised over and over, she kept apologising and said she couldn't do anything as his sword was made of bronze.
The sword was spared the flame, and we took it with us back to the cave. Sera was right, so matter how hard she tried, she could not move the blade just as much as she couldn't move rock, or fire or dirt. We sat in silence for a moment, pondering what this meant. We thought we understood our own powers, but it seems that at every opportunity, we have been proven wrong, that someone else knows more about us than ourselves. First the priest, now this. We tossed the blade into our fireplace and hoped that, over time, it would melt away as I kept the fire lit, day and night, forever.
Even fewer wagons passed now and soon, none at all. The one merchant has seen our power and knew our location; no doubt, we were intentionally being avoided now. If they had just given us the food we needed, all of this could have been avoided. We didn't want to kill anyone; we just wanted to eat. It was they who forced our hand.
A few more days of silence passed as we talked about the possibility of moving to a different road or perhaps hunting wild animals for food. As we discussed, we heard the distinct sound of glass shattering.
We emerged from the cave and ascended the hill to find a man stumbling down the road. He had reached into his coat and pulled out an unopened bottle of wine with the glass shards of his last still at his feet. He dug the nail of his thumb into the cork and pulled it out with a satisfying pop and took a swig. His head was thrown back, making his hood fall away, revealing white hair and a young face. An unnatural combination. Weirder still, the face was foreign, his skin a strange, lightly tanned colour, his eyes slightly slanted and a deep red colour. I knew not where this man had come from, but it was nothing like I had seen or heard from in the past. He had over his shoulder a large leather sack full to the brim, no doubt with food, food we desperately needed.
"Long way from home for a drink?" I called out to him as it seemed he hadn't noticed our presence. I looked back at Sera, who had her arms outstretched as she tried to use her power, but then she lowered them and shook her head at me. This man was not armed nor wearing metal armour. His clothes were black and gold, but mostly black. A long, glowing cloak at his back that reached down to his ankles. The arite looked almost regal, like something one would see in the imperial city's inner districts.
"Yes, yes, I know, shut the fuck up." The drunkard mumbled to himself. "I'm not fucking stupid, just drunk." It was as if he were conversing with someone who wasn't there.
"Are you alright?" I walked towards him to try to close the gap. "Here, sit, you're stumbling all over the place." I walked closer and outstretched my right arm as I tried to reach for the leather sack slung over his shoulder. All I wanted was to separate that from him; he was so drunk I could rob him blind, and he would probably not notice.
With one stumble, he stiffened up as if suddenly coming to his senses, as he locked eyes with the stump on my arm. He lanced up at me, then back to the stumb. "Your hands gone."
"Ah, sorry." I lowered my right arm and instead raised my left. Just as I was about to put my hand on his shoulder to guide him to a seated position, he took a half step back and started to remove the leather sack.
"Hold this, will ya, things heavy." He held out the sack for me by the hem of the rope. I reached out and grabbed it; it was indeed heavy.
With his hands freed, he leaned down, placed his bottle of wine on the floor and started to stretch. First his legs, then his upper body and finally his neck. As he did, I juggled the sack in my hand and found its response to be strange. It was a bounyness to it, quickly I realised, this leather sack contained only liquid. Was I holding this man's whole stock of wine in a sack? I held it up slightly to him. "What is this?"
"That? Water." As he spoke, he reached both his hands out to either side of the sack. But rather than taking it, he clapped his hands together with such speed and force that the contents of the sack burst out like a fountain and drenched me in water. In shock, I dropped the sack on the ground and took a step back, coughing as some had shot up my nose.
"What the fuck?", I blurted out between coughs, but was cut short. As I wiped the water from my eyes, I felt an agonising pain in my stomach. As my hands fell away limply, I saw this white-haired man's eyes glowing a faint red hue; his arm was below my chin, his hand against my stomach. Did he have a dagger that he thrust into me? No, it felt like multiple. As he pulled his hand away, I was no dagger at all, rather a clawed hand of abysmal night, drenched in my blood. I collapsed to the floor in a pool of my own blood that grew rapidly. I was unable to move, barely able to breathe, and all I could do was watch as Sera ran over to me.
The stranger swiped his hand as one would swat a fly, and I watched her head tumble one way, and her body tumble the other. He turned back to me and raised his foot above my head. I tried my best to ignite my body with fire, to explode that flame outward as powerfully as I could to kill this monster before me, but I couldn't even make a spark. "Why?" I coughed out. "Why can't I kill you? Why are you killing us?"
"Fire, right? You can't light a wet log. As for why I'm doing this… this is my atonement." He brought his boot down, and I felt pain for the last time.