Wind ripples across my face.
Soft, steady. Faint.
Brushing over my closed eyes.
My arms feel heavy. Chest tightened slightly.
I force my eyes open. Blinking a few times to adjust to the light.
A ceiling? Where am I?
It's white. Cracked in the corners. The room smells like medicine. Though the faint scent of smoke still lingers on me.
I try to sit up, but my whole body protests. It feels like my head is spinning.
Aric: "Oh shit your awake"
He hushes himself before accidently yelling
Aric: "Take it easy. You're seriously injured."
His voice is a bit rougher than before. He's slouched slightly in a chair beside the bed I'm in. His hair is messy and there's a noticeable mark on his cheek. His arm is tightly wrapped in white bandages.
Kareth: "Where.."
I force the words out of my throat.
Aric: "An infirmary. The closest one to the training grounds."
He exhales slowly.
Aric: "We rushed you here after we found you passed out on the brink of death in that burning building. You've been here for two days."
Two days?
I exhale slowly. Trying to not aggravate the pains in my chest.
Aric: "We nearly didn't make it out. That massive explosion took out the entire area you were in and the upper section all at once. If we had been even a minute later you would've been buried and we all wouldn't have been able to escape."
Kareth: "How about the others?"
Aric: "Alive. Both are doing better than us. Thyra took a bad hit when some of the ceiling fell and she blocked it for us, but she's doing fine now. Rhovan is pretty much fine. His thread allowed him to dodge any attacks before he could get seriously injured."
A faint knock comes from the door before it opens.
Thyra and Rhovan step into the room.
Thyra's only arm is in a sling, hair tied messily to keep it from her eyes. Though she's still standing tall and doesn't have any other noticeable injuries.
Rhovan looks fine aside from a small burn mark on his left arm.
Rhovan: "Finally decided to wake up."
Kareth: "I didn't choose to wake up."
Rhovan: "You chose not to die at least."
Thyra lets out a quiet laugh before stepping closer to the bed.
Thyra: "We were starting to think you either wouldn't wake up or would take forever to do it."
Aric: "You nearly got cooked in there idiot."
Kareth: "It would've been worth it if I had actually managed to kill him."
The room goes still for a moment
Thyra: "The Rigger… Got away?"
I nod
Kareth: "So that's his name. I was fighting off him and his puppets in that massive arena."
Rhovan narrows his eyes
Kareth: "I stabbed him clean through the heart at the end."
Aric: "Then how did he supposedly not die?"
Kareth: "It was a puppet. The whole time he wasn't even there."
Rhovan: "The bastard."
Thyra glances between Rhovan, Aric and I
Kareth: "You two know who he is don't you."
Rhovan nods
Thyra: "Rhovan. Are you sure?"
Rhovan: "There's no point in hiding it. They deserve to know what they fought. And they'll probably have to fight again."
Rhovan pulls up a chair next to my bed.
Rhovan: "Like I said to Aric in the building. Me and Thyra never learnt his real name. We only know that he goes by the alias The Rigger. He attacked the military branch me and Thyra used to be a part of."
The air in the room feels heavier.
Rhovan: "His 'Thread' is turning any living creature into a puppet that he can explode on command. The amount of damage they can take before exploding seems to be proportional to how strong the person or thing he turned was prior to being turned."
Aric's jaw tightened.
I guessed that much.
Rhovan: "We don't know how he does it. Or why he does the things he does. But if he's in Esmourne now there must be a reason. And a lot of people are in danger because of it."
Kareth: "I- I might know why he does what he does. Aside from being insane of course."
Thyra seems more interested than ever. Aric and Rhovan share a similar look.
Kareth: "In my fight with him he kept mentioning something about a woman. A woman I think had a very close relationship to who is now dead."
Thyra: "What makes you think that?"
Kareth: "When I first found him he was dancing. Incredibly fluid. A dance to a song only he could hear."
Aric nods
Kareth: "The only thing is. It was a dance made for two people. It ended with him having his arm extended out towards me. As if he were meant to be holding the hand of the person he was dancing with. He also talked about how she would've loved to see him dancing again and how she was watching from the stars."
Rhovan: "I haven't heard anything about that prior to this. Have you Thyra?"
Thyra shakes her head.
Kareth: "I think it's connected to the reason he is in Esmourne."
Thyra nods
Rhovan: "Anyway. You both deserve to know about mine and Thyra's past with the Rigger. And I guess our past in general."
Thyra settled down in a chair next to the door.
Rhovan speaks up. Settling in for a long story.