Fantasy The Pact (SamWard and Andalusite)

[SamWard]

Andalusite

“So, this is the ritual site, huh?” Demetrius, my brother, remarked coldly as he swung open the wooden door of the old cabin I’d set up in. “It doesn’t quite look….like the book drawing, does it?”

At the creaking of the door, I paused what I was doing, setting the small piece of chalk in my hand aside and glancing up the tall, statuesque form of my oldest sibling. Dressed in a form fitting leather tunic, and with rugged good looks, Demetrius would have looked more natural as the head of an army than a miner. Nevertheless, his face was covered in soot and his hands were black from a hard day of work digging coal out of the mountains.

“I think it looks pretty good,” I lied, trying to cover the book that held drawings of the ritual behind me. The open pages showed a six-sided pentagram and a perfect circle, with each tip of the star connected to wooden poles. What I’d managed to scrounge up were six wooden sticks and a… semicircular shape. Demetrius was right; I’d made a complete mess of things. But I wasn’t about to admit he was right. Not after having spent six hours setting all of this up. “And the book never said it had to be precise. It should still work.” I forced as much fake confidence into my voice as I could. “Probably. Look, I’m not an artist, okay? A dirt floor is hard to draw on.”

Demetrius was not impressed.

“Fuck,” He cursed quietly, shutting the door behind him as he entered. “We should have just gone with my plan.”

Turning, I rolled my eyes – careful to make sure Demetrius couldn’t see me do so – and finished connecting the ends of the encircled pentagram. As soon as news had come to the village from Fort Banks, Demetrius and I had been brainstorming what it was we could do to get out of the predicament we were in. Running away had been the first thought we’d had, but those plans were soon dashed by the Governors men. With no real escape, fighting back in some form had seemed like the natural course of action.

So we had set up camp in this small abandoned cabin. It was set up well away from the road and, if you had no idea it was here, there was a good chance you’d walk right by it without a second thought. It was the perfect place to set up a magic ritual that was… frowned upon by the villages older people. Not that magic was taboo or evil. It was more that old traditions and superstitions died slowly out here in the boonies. Telling a group of elders that you were attempting to summon a creature from a different realm was a step too far.

“Look,” I stood up slowly, wiping my hands on the secondhand ceremonial robes – a good two to three sizes too large for my body and covered in stains – before turning to face my brother again. “I know you and your friends are convinced you can slip in and do some killing, but a few miners with axes just isn’t…” I paused, unsure of what exactly to say.

To be honest, trying to summon a goddess - or whatever it was we might manage to get - was not the first idea for fighting back we had come up with. My brother was a tall, muscular man, capable of handling himself in a fight, and he had quickly gathered a good twenty or so volunteers who were more than ready to die in order to change the status quo. They were convinced that they could storm the castle, capture the governor and force him to repeal some of his most recent proclamations. But despite my brother’s bravado, we were miners in this village, not soldiers. Storming a Fort in an attempted revolt was even less likely to work than this fucked up ritual was.

Unlike my brother and his friends though, I was anything but battle ready. My arms were spindly, my legs a bit too awkwardly long for my body and, where my brother had strong features and good looks, I was plain and bookish. Asking them not to go wage a noble battle had seemed cowardly on my part, and maybe it was. Honestly, I was no hero and didn’t want to be. But I hadn’t been the only one begging Demetrius to come up with a nonviolent plan and, somehow, he had been convinced to give me a shot.

Demetrius’ glare was sharp and intense, and his gaze never seemed to leave me. But we’d had this argument before, and he knew as well as I did that time was running short. There was no more sense in rehashing old arguments. Now was the time to act; no matter how half-baked it might be.

“This will work,” I said confidently, my voice only slightly wavering under his stare. “I’ll make this work. For all of us.”

A pregnant pause filled the air as we stared at each other before, finally, Demetrius relented. His hand reached up, running through his thick black hair as he let out a deep sigh. “If it doesn’t, we’re going back to my plan. You understand that, right?”

I nodded, gripping my fists tightly as I tried to make my fake confidence real.

“Fine,” He nodded. “How much longer until you’re ready? The village elders are meeting in two hours.”

“I only need half that time,” I said, turning back to the circle and setting the book down next to it. From the folds of my robes I pulled out two vials of liquid, specific types of oil that I spread generously on the ground at the center of the pentagram. Once the two oils had mix and saturated the ground, I produced a flint and steel.

“Alright, let’s give this a shot” I muttered, trying to psyche myself up as I struck them against each other.

 

[Andalusite]

“Why…Why did you guys come here!?” My brother Noel asked, spotting me in the crowd as I forced my way past a group of soldiers with our allies Dantarg, Bokhohn, and Kzinssie, to meet Wagnas, Subier, and him at the center of the unfolding chaos.

Why? What do you think? I came to save your butt! I wanted to say, but I didn’t. Now was not the time for such bickering. The kingdom had us surrounded in front of the two towers where they planned to hold the wrongful execution of Wagnas. They had seen through my brother’s attempt to rescue him and now all seven of us were at their mercy.

As more soldiers closed in on us, I heard a shout coming from the hills. I tried to look in the direction of the man’s voice, but an intense white light flooded my vision. I could sense the beginning of a magical field forming around us.

“Look, good people of the kingdom! These are your heroes! Look at their true forms!” he cried sharply. I immediately recognized the gruff voice as the father of Orieve, the royal priestess whom my brother denied having any feelings for, despite my long list of evidence of course! – But all thoughts of our quarrels over this matter were quick to flee my mind when I realized the worst of the old man’s diatribe had yet to come.

Orieve’s father proceeded to denounce the seven of us as nothing more than a band of monsters who would do anything to attack their own people in cold blood. I felt betrayed. Why was he so hellbent on slandering us? Hadn’t framing Wagnas for the king’s murder been enough? I shook my head. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing both my brother and the man I loved to this priest’s calumnies.

"Big brother! Wagnas! Where are you!?" I called out, shielding my eyes with the back of my arm as I attempted to feel my way toward the two most important people in my life. Something jagged grazed my right shoulder. Most likely a rock, for all around me, I could hear the voices of onlookers booing us.

“The Seven Heroes are monsters!” the voice of a woman observed in shrill outrage.

“And monsters should be exiled!” the voice of a man quickly added.

“Exile them!”

With that, the crowd broke out into a steady chant.

“Exile them! Exile them! Exile them!”

The unanimity of their censure left me without a voice. My heart sank even further when Wagnas suddenly broke down into bitter tears. Through the intense rays of light, I managed to catch the outline of his robed figure collapsing to the ground, crushed by the weight of the hatred spewing forth from the mouths of the people we swore to protect. I bit the corner of my lip. I could not bear to see my beloved Wagnas like this.

I felt as if this were all my fault. If only I had been able to help Wagnas. If only I had been a little stronger, then maybe the seven of us wouldn’t have needed to absorb so many monsters to save the kingdom! No matter how much I wished to shout back at the crowd and defend our dignity, I could not find the strength within me to do so. These people no longer saw me as a hero so what good would it do anyway? And so, I stood there letting them pelt me with their stones and their words.

My attention returned once more to Wagnas when he suddenly burst out in anger, assuring the wicked priest and the onlookers that he would find a way to return this world to shed tears of hatred and revenge upon everyone who betrayed us. It then hit me: They lured us here to send us away to another dimension.

The strength of the magical field increased. I could feel the air compressing around my body. I shut my eyes and braced myself. The light intensified. My ears filled with a sharp ringing noise, and then, in a single flash, the world around me suddenly faded to black. I no longer knew what was happening to us.

Just when I lost hope of surviving this journey across space-time, the sensation of life returned to my body prompting me to open my eyes. To my surprise, I was not in the desolate hell to which I imagined the kingdom might banish us, but rather a cramped dwelling with two rather filthy-looking inhabitants. I rubbed my eyes. Was this…intentional?

My first instinct was to call out to my brother and Wagnas for a second opinion, but I stopped myself with a reminder that I was not alone. Instead, I quietly stared up at the two unfamiliar men standing before me, studying them almost intrusively with my amber-colored eyes. They seemed to be related.

Still not convinced that they existed beyond my imagination, I reached my hand out toward the shorter man in the stained robe and gently touched him on the arm. To my surprise, he radiated warmth much like the souls nested within my body. I flinched a little and adverted my gaze. It was then I realized that I was kneeling in oil on top of a misshapen pentagram, each point curiously marked with a stick. My weapon nowhere in sight. However, laid out before me on the dirt floor was an open tome.

As my uneasiness grew, I felt the pretas of the creatures I’d absorbed seeping from my long blue hair in anticipation of another fierce struggle. Many questions rushed to my head. What happened to Wagnas? To Noel? And to the others? Who even were these men? What were they planning to do to me? I wanted to break down and cry, but the monsters in my heart spared me nothing more than a feeling of indifference.

 

[SamWard]

“Holy shit,” I screamed, almost jumping up in joy. “It actually worked!”

From behind me Demetrius gave a loud snort, brushing some dust off his clothes and walking forward to stand next to me. As magic had filled the air and the summoning circle activated, the ground had begun to shake and the wood panels on the walls sounded like they were about to rip free from their bindings. If I’d been given another moment to think, it was very possible I would have run from the shack screaming, afraid the entire thing was going to collapse on top of us.

I’d never been given that chance though. With a flash of light and a puff of smoke, the ritual had ended, and the creature had appeared before us. After taking a few deep breaths, I pushed myself to my feet, turning to face my brother.

“I told you this would happen,” I said with a shit-eating grin on my face. My brother didn’t spare me a glance though – though he did flash his middle finger briefly - his gaze fixed only on the thing before us.

“Congratulations,” his voice was monotone and flat. “You accomplished the easiest part of your plan.” My grin turned into a sour frown as Demetrius jabbed his finger in the thing’s direction. “But what now?” He asked. “What do we do with it? Can it talk? Move?”

“Well theoretically it can’t do anything without being told to,” I took turns shifting my attention between my brother and the creature. “Dolls are inherently lifeless, and don’t possess more than the needed sentience to serve their purpose. At least, that’s what the book says.”

Demetrius only grunted as he stared, fixedly, on the girl in front of us. “And why is she dressed so oddly? I thought you got to decide what she looked like.”

“Well yeah, I should have been able to,” My hand ran nervously through my short black hair. “But I kind of just winged everything at the end there. Some stuff was bound to not come out right. We can just strip her down and throw something else on her though, no big deal.”

My brother grunted. “And what about that?” He asked, pointing down to my arm. “Is she supposed to grab onto you like that?”

“Ah!” I shrieked a little, surprised that the doll had grabbed onto me without command and, somehow, I didn’t notice it. An oddity indeed. Just how badly did I mess up. “Don’t worry about that,” I tried to glaze over the problem, slapping her hand away forcefully. “She might be a little stupider than we hoped, but she doesn’t really need to be smart to do her job. Now listen here,” My attention turned back to the doll as I put on my best tough-guy voice. “You’re to follow orders and do nothing without being told to from now on. Understood?”

 

[Andalusite]

After briefly acknowledging my presence with a fixated stare, the two men began to speak to one another, gesturing towards me and discussing me as if I were some type of unknown object or creature.

Granted, I was more monster than human thanks to the power of assimilation magic. From the inside, there was no denying the human to monster ratio of my body was one to many. But on the outside, I looked no different than your average 17-year-old girl – and an exceptionally pale and pretty one I was with my dainty hourglass figure and my long flowing hair, its light blue hue as vibrant as the sky on a cloudless day, graced by a lovely red lily on the right side of my head. And like other girls my age, I mostly wore dresses, my favorite being the orange and purple one that I was currently wearing, cinched in place with the black corset at my waist.

Save for the handful of souls accompanying my person, by no means did I resemble a monster. A doll? Maybe, but not a monster.

As the two continued to deliberate among themselves, I found it difficult to maintain my composure. They wanted to strip me down and put me into some different clothes? What the hell? The implications of that alone sent the blood rushing angrily to my cheeks. I did not even know where to begin processing such a statement, and I felt that I might burst a blood vessel if I thought any harder about it. The small assemblage of phantoms around my head expressed my anger for me instead, writhing and hissing like a steaming kettle. Although I managed to suppress myself from outright shrieking like a banshee at the two babbling buffoons, I could not prevent the phantoms’ reactions to my bottled-up emotions: We were one and the same being, after all, and they felt the need to protect us from my feelings.

In the moments that followed, the lanky one who appeared around my age finally noticed my hand on his arm. He wailed in surprise and smacked it away quite hard, causing me to wince and let out an equally startled gasp. How dare he strike me like that! I thought in annoyance as I proceeded to massage away the stinging pain from the back of my hand. I was not expecting him to reject my touch with such force.

“She might be a little stupider than we hoped, but she doesn’t really need to be smart to do her job,” I heard him comment to the taller man. The two of them must have been quite distracted by their conversation to have missed the intense pout forming on my lips. Stupid? Job? What were they even talking about?

My patience with these bumbling bumpkins finally snapped when the lanky one went ahead and addressed me in a manner that suggested he only knew how to sound tough by talking down to me as if I were a child! I jumped to my feet and looked him dead in the eyes with the nastiest glare I could muster. Clumps of oil and dirt clung to my boots and dress in an unflattering manner, but I did not care enough to brush them away. For the moment, I was more interested in challenging this young man’s self-proclaimed authority over me.

“And what makes you think I would willingly listen to the likes of you? – Let alone some stranger who wants to undress me and stick me into an ugly over-sized robe?” I retorted, resting my hands against my hips after gesturing with a cringe to his outfit. My attempt to sound threatening came out a lot sweeter than I intended, but my choice of words was far from lady-like: “What the hell do you maggots even think I am? Your plaything?” I let out an exasperated sigh, shaking my head in complete disbelief at their stupidity. “Have you even seen a girl before? Because you sure aren’t acting like it!”

 

[SamWard]

A pregnant pause filled the air as both of us just kind of... stared at the girl in front of us. So, something did go wrong after all, I thought to myself. Horribly wrong. Though summoning was a rather obscure art only practiced by a few, it was well understood enough that whatever had happened here should have been impossible. Humans only existed in one plane, after all, and everything outside of that was known to be creatures, gods, monsters, and so on. Summoning human like beings was possible, but they were little more than imitations; gifted enough intelligence to be treated as laborers and slaves, but without anything that would set them aside as sentient or truly alive. Then again, this person in front of us didn't exactly look all that human, did they? Their clothes were ornate and strange and plus they had... something in their hair? Were those souls? What the hell was this thing?

Those types of thoughts filled my mind as I stood motionless, unable to move or speak or do anything but desperately try to explain what was going on in front of my eyes. In practice, I should have been the least shocked about what was going on - having read the book and all - but it was Demetrius who recovered first, breaking the awkward silence with a loud, rumbling belly laugh.

"Well, isn't this something," He managed to say between fits of guffaws. "Seems like you're more "talented" than I thought, Birk." Another silence fell over us as Demetrius decided what to do before, finally, he just gave up. "Fucking hell," He muttered before heading towards the door. "Guess we'll go with my plan after all, won't we?" The smile on his face had turned from one of pure entertainment to a solemn, snickering grimace. "Clean up your mess and then meet me at the hall. We've wasted enough time as it is."

"No, no, no, wait," I almost yelled as he headed towards the door. Don't-" The door slammed behind him, his feet crunching on the gravel outside as he headed back towards town. "Don't leave me here alone with it..." I pleaded uselessly as he disappeared. To be honest, I was awkward as it was around people I knew, let alone strangers. This situation was my nightmare.

But standing here silently wasn’t going to solve the problem, and I couldn’t just… leave it here to do as it pleased. It had ghost hair after all. Who knew what it was capable of? With a deep sigh, I mustered all the bravado and courage I could, turned back to the “girl”, and began to try and make sense of everything.

“So…” My voice came out shaky, despite my best efforts. “I see you have ghosts in your hair. What uh…” I paused, trying to think of the best words to use here. “What are you?”

Yeah, those probably weren’t the right words to come up with.

 

[Andalusite]

It seemed my shouting had stunned the two into silence – well, that was what I had thought until the taller one suddenly erupted in laughter. What? Did he think my misfortune was some kind of joke? My eyes narrowed cynically at him as he addressed the lanky one by name and told him to clean up the mess, but those details weren’t as interesting to me as his brief comment alluding to some plan he had devised.

“Plan? What plan?” But before I could interject with a full-scale interrogation, he turned away and headed towards the door. “Wait! Don’t you dare walk off like that without explaining to me what is going on,” I called out, extending my arm in the direction of his retreating figure. Great. I thought, glaring at the door as it slammed behind him. With nothing else to do, I turned to the awkward guy, Birk, who seemed opposed to the idea of being left alone with me, and shrugged my shoulders. An offended scoff escaped my pursed lips when he referred to me as an it.

“…Really?” I sighed. This was his first time alone with a girl, wasn’t it? Frankly, I did not wish to be stuck here with him either, but I had no other choice – at least not until I had a better idea of where I was. A long, uncomfortable silence lingered between the two of us as I awaited some form of explanation or apology from Birk for whatever magical meddling that had dragged me away from my companions and to this place instead. After a timid murmur, Birk finally spoke up. First, he brought our attention to the phantoms nesting in my hair. Then, with an awkward pause, he wondered what I was.

“What am I? I’m a human!” I fired off my response with less than a second’s worth of consideration. I expected the question, and it hurt to be regarded as anything other than human. “Why? Are you not?” I asked, raising a puzzled brow. At least, I did not consider myself a monster because doing so meant submitting to the lies spread by Orieve’s father, and that was not something Wagnas would have advocated. No matter how many souls I absorbed, I was no monster. And that was that. I thought stubbornly to myself.

As I crossed my arms, the spirits drifted in front of me and let out a weak howl, seemingly taking offense to the thoughts now plaguing my consciousness, all thanks to Birk’s question. I let out another sigh. Oh right. I almost forgot. How to explain the essence of my being in a way that would not get me killed.

“Look,” I began with a stern gaze, taking a step closer to the awkward young man as I attempted to remain calm. “I learned some magic just like you to help my brother and his acquaintance. These ‘ghosts’ are merely a consequence of that.”

Naturally, I omitted the bit on how absorbing monsters taints the heart and how I went a tad overboard with the magic, using it more than once to improve my own beauty after noticing Wagnas’ lack of interest in me. An explanation like that would not set right with most people, including my own brother. We were not aristocrats like Wagnas, so as far as my brother was concerned, my romantic endeavors were nothing more than a pipedream. And using assimilation at the expense of other lives – sentient or otherwise – was selfish. But I did not care all that much if it meant Wagnas noticing me and realizing that I would do anything I could to help him and make him happy. Besides, how was that selfish anyway if I were doing it all for Wagnas?

I fell into my own bout of silence, pondering the answer to this question of morality to the point that I almost forgot about the man standing in front of me. Realizing my mistake, I turned my attention back to Birk and feigned a brief smile, hoping it might distract him enough from potentially overanalyzing my abnormally long pause.

“…Now are you going to explain to me what is going on, or do I to need to go after that man on my own?” I asked, gesturing towards the door.

 

[SamWard]

Her explanation was anything but satisfactory. Humans didn't have ghosts in their hair, and no magic I'd ever heard of allowed somebody to conjure or change themselves in this way. There was body-altering magic, of course. As long as human kind had existed they'd been searching for ways to make themselves stronger, live longer or be more attractive. Magic was just another tool in the arsenal to achieve those goals. My mouth flapped open to say these objections out loud, but I quickly shut it. Whoever or whatever this person may be, they seemed quick to take offense, and pretty sure they were human. And while I was dumb in a lot of ways, I was wise enough to realize that calling questioning her existence any further would serve no purpose. I sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Demetrius is the people person. He should be here."

But he wasn't, and I couldn't fault him for that anymore. "Alright, look," My chest heaved with a sigh again as I regarded the girl. "Let's assume you're human, and all that stuff. whatever." I waved my hands in the air, trying to dismiss anything that had happened before this. "You shouldn't be here. I don't know what you did or how you did it, but we weren't trying to summon... you. Hell, summoning a human shouldn't even be possible."

"It is true, though, that there are methods for moving humans across distances nearly instantaneously." I began to murmur quickly to myself, looking down at the floor in an attempt to escape from this situation. "Though it's hard to call it true teleportation - more like the destruction and rebuilding of a person at two different points - there have been tests that show it is possible using the same type of summoning circle that I drew on the ground. At least, that's what my book said. Ah!" My fingers snapped together before pointing accusingly at the girl.

"You must have tampered with the ritual somehow. Instead of allowing us to summon the doll, you interposed yourself in order to ruin our plan and have Annah delivered to the Governor. Is that who you work for? Or is it his guard? Did they hire you to come after us? And how did they even find out?" My words were coming out fast enough to cause me to pause and take a deep breath of air. This was my coping mechanism; a way to deal with intense stress in social situations. Usually it would work, and drive the person I didn't want to talk to away. But neither of us really had anywhere to go. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to stop it either.

"But no, that can't be possible, because a movement of a human being across distances requires two circles of the same shape and quality to be drawn on the floor," My eyes dropped from the girl to the ground again. "And I doubt anyone would have been able to copy my exact drawing even if they tried. Ah, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have worked. " I drew my attention back to the person in front of me. "In fact, technically it did work, didn't it? There you are. But then if you are not a doll, and are indeed human or something close to it, why did it happen and where did you come from? Who are you? Why are you here? You're dressed oddly enough, so you can't be from somewhere nearby. Not that I'm well traveled in the world, you see, but I did spend some time in the city a while back and didn't notice anyone dressed quite like you. Not that you look bad of course, but it just isn't really the fashion of the day. I mean, not that I know fashion of the day," I waved my hand at my robes. "Though these aren't really mine, I kind of borrowed them. Though my normal clothes aren't really much better, but they aren't reallyfor looks but more for... function I guess? There's really only one job in this town after all, so you don't really have to worry about your dress. In fact the elders are always saying-Ah! wait!" My fingers snapped again. "You said you do magic stuff, right? are you good at killing people?"

 

[Andalusite]

I ran my hand through my long blue hair and sighed. As expected, this Birk guy still did not believe me. How annoying.

“I didn’t do anything. What happened to me was beyond my control,” I muttered below my breath as the young man in the over-sized robe opened up to me about the current situation. The pout returned to my lips when I realized "opened up" was an understatement. His mouth flapped on and on and on and on, drowning me in a deluge of words. It sure surprised me how much he was willing to reveal to a stranger – let alone admit to something like drawing circles and summoning dolls, which prompted a curious glance from one of my spirits. At the very least, the two of us were even in terms of taboo magic and rituals, but that did not mean I trusted him enough to speak up and correct him on what had happened to me right before I found myself on top of his summoning circle. If he knew the details of assimilation or that my kingdom exiled me to his dwelling of all places, surely he would kill me – if that was not already implied by the taller one’s exiting statement: “clean up your mess.”

Besides, I could barely keep up with his rambling as is. By the time I managed to process the allegations and formulate snarky reply, Birk had already discredited his own accusations and moved on to wondering why I was dressed so differently before bombarding me with a series of questions, including if I were good at killing people, which I never really considered. – Although, given what happened to me back in my world, I would not be opposed to annihilating those who betrayed the Seven Heroes if it would make Wagnas and my brother happy.

“Enough already. Your babbling is giving me a headache,” I pointed out with a slight grumble. This guy sure knew how to talk an ear off. My head felt like it would burst if he asked me anything else. I let out another sigh. Where to even start with all these annoying questions? I was never fond of nosy people, but maybe if I gave him a brief introduction, it would at least get him to stop calling me an it or a doll—or whatever else he thought I resembled.

“My name is Rocbouquet, and the last place I stood before ending up here was in front of the two towers in Teratuva, the capital of the—” I hesitated for a moment as my mind revisited the execution site and the events from earlier this morning. I tried to forget about the onlookers and the denunciation, but it was no use. I clasped my hands to my head and shook it in frustration. “–Agh. I don’t have time for this! Wagnas and Noel are in trouble and need my help.” I declared with a sense of urgency in my voice.

Without another word, I pushed my way past Birk, my eyes set on the door at the opposite end of the cabin.

 

[SamWard]

Panic raced through my body as I saw her posture move towards the door. Not that I was against leaving this room or having her out in the world; on the contrary, that was the easiest way for me to achieve my overall goals. But a foreign lady with ghost hair dressed odd wandering around my very small, conservative, magic-fearing village? We'd be hunted like monsters, whether or not we really were. My mouth flapped open a couple of times a as I struggled to find the right words to say before, finally, I gave up and rushed at the door, hoping to block her exit until we could get a few ground rules going or - at the very least - some sort of disguise or head covering for her. But as I neared the doorway, the old wooden slab swung open, allowing a harsh gust of cool air to blow into the room. The last few shreds of light had disappeared with the sun over the horizon and a cold, damp chill hung on the wind as night took over.

I stumbled backward at the shock of the cool air and the fact that the door had opened so suddenly, managing to catch myself before I fell flat on my ass. A soft chuckle from the doorway filled the room as I tried to collect myself, and I looked over at the new person to intrude on this clusterfuck of a meeting. There, hand on hip and with a cocky grin on her face, stood a blonde woman - all of five feet tall - swiveling her gaze between the both of us. A soft white tunic draped over her frame - a hand-me-down that hung off her loosely - and a few pins had been stuck in her shoulder length hair, implying the - modest by other standards but rich by ours - wealth that her family held. I felt the breath in my throat catch as I froze in place; she was the first and last person I wanted to see here right now.

"Yes, this is just about what I expected," She muttered in a low, gentle voice. With a deep sigh she stepped into the hut, shutting the door gently behind her. "I assume you haven't gotten around to explaining anything to her yet?" Her piercing gaze moved towards me and I shrunk back, shaking my head side to side. She sighed again, though the look on her face wasn't entirely harsh, before clasping her hands behind her back, turning her attention back to Rocbouquet. "Well then, I suppose it falls to me. Hello there, dear." Her face lit up in a warm smile. "My name is Annah, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what exactly is going on. I will do my best to answer them for you, but we do not - " Annah paused, looking over her shoulder agitatedly. "We do not have the most time in the world right now. So please, let us get into the matter quickly," She waved her hand at a bench near the wall and sat down.

 

[Andalusite]

I still could not believe I was stuck here in this shack with this awkward robed guy who seemed to be in anything but a hurry, nor could I fully accept the fact that my companions and I were betrayed by the father of my brother’s lover and then publicly shamed in front of the entire kingdom, and then somehow, I was blasted to this unfamiliar world by myself. Thinking back on it all was so overwhelming that it caused tears to well in the corners of my eyes. With a disheartened wail, I finally overcame the monsters in my heart and broke down into frustrated sobs.

“Big brother… Wagnas… Where are you!?” I choked softly to myself as I marched across the room toward my only way out of this dwelling. It just wasn’t fair! Why should I be free to roam this new world while my brother and the others suffered an unknown fate?

“…!? Wh-Hey!” I swung my head over my shoulder and glared at Birk, who suddenly found the need to race me to the door probably because he wanted to prevent me from leaving. I stopped and followed him with my teary eyes, watching as he just about got himself knocked out by the sudden entry of a confident blonde-haired woman in loose-fitting garb. I winced. Had my pace been a few seconds faster, that would have been me on the ground. The phantoms around my head stirred with unease as my feet shifted into a defensive stance the moment the intruder’s glance fell upon me. A fierce hiss emanated from their gaping maws.

The woman was surprisingly unfazed by both my physical appearance and the fact that Birk had yet to explain a single thing to me. After sighing, she briefly introduced herself and motioned toward a sitting area along the wall. She seemed to be in a hurry, and yet she wished for me to sit down and speak with her. I shook my head.

“I…There’s no time for this! I need to return to my world at once! For all I know, they could be dead! Dead!” I exclaimed between punctuated sobs. With the setting of the sun, I grew more anxious. Every moment spent away from my brother and Wagnas felt like an eternity to me, and my phantoms agreed. The faint traces of their wispy tails became more prominent and so did their whimpers as they trailed behind me worrying about the same things racing around in my head.

Fortunately, making my way over to the door in the darkness was quite easy thanks to the weak glow emitted by the restless souls, which provided enough light to unveil the contours of the objects they passed over as I made my final steps toward the exit. I eagerly grasped onto the door handle, but when I went to open the door itself, I hesitated. Where could I even go? I did not know where I was, let alone where my companions ended up—and on top of that, this morning’s hunger and fatigue were finally catching up to me.

My fingers slipped away from the handle as I shook my head in frustration and punched the wooden slab with my other hand. I needed to pull myself together. Crying was not going to bring Wagnas and the others here, but I did not know what else to do from this unfamiliar plane of existence. Then, I was reminded of Annah’s gentle expression. Even with my back turned, I could still picture that friendly smile of hers and it made me shudder a little.

Right. [Her], I thought. She [did] say that she intended to answer as many of my questions as she could. It would be foolish of me to turn down such an offer.

Defeated, I released my grip from the door handle and dragged myself over to the bench. When I sat down next to her, I left an arm’s length of distance in between us and I positioned myself with my head turned toward the window so that I would not have to look at her face. The phantoms, on the other hand, had no awareness of their surroundings, and found it appropriate to occupy the same space as her. I did not feel like reeling them back in, so I pretended not to notice. With a disheartened sigh, I began to speak.

“…Why can’t I be with them?—My brother and Wagnas, I mean,” I attempted to clarify as I struggled to swallow the knot forming in my throat. “This couldn’t have been where the kingdom wanted to send me.”

 

[SamWard]

“This couldn’t have been where the kingdom wanted to send me.”

"No," Annah's voice was little more than a whisper as she regarded the back of the young woman in front of her. "I would imagine this is not what they had in plan." Whomever they were, Annah did not need to add. Speaking in generalities was all that could really be hoped for in this situation, where none of us knew anything. Among the three of us in this room however, Annah was uniquely positioned to understand what was going on the best. Maybe that's why she was unfazed - or rather un-disturbed - by our visitors appearance, mannerisms and, well, everything. I envied her poise even as I tried to shrink myself into the corner, feeling very awkward and out of place suddenly amongst the conversation.

"I guess," Annah continued after a few moments of silence, glancing over at me in my little corner. "It would be easier to try and explain what is going on rather than wait for you to come up with questions, mm?" A grim smile crossed her lips as she glanced towards the door, then back at Rocbouquet. "Though we truly are short on time, so maybe we'll make this the short version."

With one hand Annah pointed towards me, then to the book that lie discarded on the ground. I gathered it up and handed it to her before taking a seat on the ground near the two women. There really was nothing of value I could add to this conversation - they both had shown to be much smarter than I was by now - but I still was technically involved in this whole debacle.

"I'm sorry for what you've gone through, dear. And for being ripped away from wherever you were," Annah lowered her voice as she reached out to stroke Roc's head. "We really did not mean to bring you here though, truly. This was all..." She glanced at me, but all I could do was give an awkward shrug. Annah paused mid-sentence before taking a long, deep breathe. If time really was a s short as she kept saying it was, and she still wanted to give some sort of summary of our situation, there was a lot of the story she would have to cut down into bite-sized chunks, and it seemed as if she was trying to best choose what was necessary to say and what wasn't.

After a long pregnant pause, she began to speak again; this time the gentle smile on her face replaced by a hard, determined stare. "My name is Annah Friedricks and, basically, I come from a long line of very important people. When I was little, my father sent me here to study, but recently my teacher passed away. To try and seize power, an important man in the area sought to forcefully marry me, and some of us, "Her eyes darted towards me "took exception with this idea. We were hoping to create a sort of body double of myself, to fool the man and give us time to escape but..." Annah's expression softened. "We were given you instead. Obviously you cannot perform the same functions so.." Annah chuckled. "It really was a silly plan, but we were dreadfully desperate. All I can offer is my apologies and the knowledge that.."

My back stiffened. It would have been obvious what Roc would want even if she hadn't said it out loud multiple times. In fact, as soon as she had appeared you could say that our desires and goals were aligned. Unfortunately...

"There is no way to send you back.... right now" I interrupted Annah, willing to be the bearer of bad news in this situation. "When something is summoned, its usually understood it will simply die or disappear once its usefulness has expired. The book I used, "I held it up and shook the tome. "Doesn't mention how to return something to where it came from. We don't - "I glanced between the two of them, "We don't know how to send you back right now."

 

[Andalusite]

My heart sunk at Annah’s reply. No was my least favorite word. It meant I was not going to hear or get what I wanted.—And being dragged here by accident was far from what I wanted.

I recoiled toward my chest when Annah reached out and stroked my hair. The response sent my pretas into a hissing rampage. The ghastly wisps tried multiple times in vain to sink their razor-sharp teeth into her flesh. It would have lifted my mood had they managed to bite her. With a heavy frown, I intervened, brushing both the phantoms and Annah’s fingertips away. I wanted that comforting hand to be my brother's, not hers.

“…Forced marriage? How deplorable," I muttered, doing my best to numb my emotions as I looked between Annah and Birk. For the time being, I could not decide what was worse: the man plotting to seize power through coercive matrimony, or Birk and Annah dragging me away from my own problems in hopes of solving theirs.

No number of apologies or explanations were about to satisfy me. When Birk finally decided to chime in with the bad news, I reached out toward him and forced his dusty tome shut. I would have loved to slam the book into his face, but I refrained.

"I think I understand what happened now—no thanks to you—And I don't think that killing people would solve the problem, so consider yourself lucky," I murmured under my breath, crossing my arms as I turned away from him like a stubborn child. I gave him a moment to let that sink in before continuing:

“…How…How could you do something so careless if you knew there was no way to undo it? I bet you didn’t even read that book, did you?!" I looked over my shoulder at Birk and glared as I chastised him, hoping he would realize how inconvenienced I was by his mistake. Before he could offer me a reason, I waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “No. Don’t actually tell me. I don’t want to hear another ten minutes’ worth of excuses. If you cannot send me back, then you must bring them here where it’s safer! I don't care where I am as long as I am with them. That’s the least you can do for me. Right? Right?!”

Having traveled no further than the length of this makeshift dwelling, I did not know for sure, but I was willing to bet that anywhere was safer than the coordinates selected by the kingdom. That wicked priest wanted the seven of us dead after all.

 

[SamWard]

My body shrunk back under the strangers glare and harsh tone; being chided was something I was well used to, being a bit of a fuck up my entire life. This type of admonishment usually came from either Annah or my brother though, and neither one of them did so with quite the same... vitriol as the person in front of me. It left me motionless, unable to speak or think clearly; after all at my core I still was just a nerdy coward. "That isn't quite possible..." Annah's voice interceded, rescuing me from my frozen stupor. "Well, to be clear I don't know if it is impossible, just that no one has tried it before."

Standing slowly, Annah brushed dirt off of her tunic before glancing towards the door. Most of the evening light had vanished from between the cracks now as the sun finished setting in the distance. "Bringing you here was, well, a fluke. " Her gaze turned back to Roc. "Imagine two people trying to synchronize opening two doors, each on opposite sides of the world, without knowing if or when the other would open theirs. That is basically what happened here, I think." The corner of her mouth curled up in a sad smile. "It was a one-in-a-trillion happening. If we were to send you back or bring your friends here, we would need that type of luck to happen again. But - " Annah paused, her shoulders stiffening visibly as a knock on the door echoed through the room. She sighed.

"I am afraid we are out of time now, dear. Birk." The softness from her eyes disappeared as her gaze shifted to me, and my back straightened in response. Annah was normally a soft spoken, gentle person but I was well aware there was a bed of steel beneath that exterior. "A lot is going to happen now, and very quickly. I am..." Her gaze softened a bit. "Going away for a while now. This young woman is your responsibility now. If she can be helped, it won't be here in this village. In the back of that book is the name of a city and of a man. Go there, try to find him and see what he can do for you. I - "

The old door creaked with the force of another knock, this one much more urgent and strong. "Miss, we are out of time. We need to leave. Now," A gruff, male voice came from the other side. Annah looked at the door, back at both of us, and then sighed once more.

"Very well," She whispered as she glided across the door. As her hand met the wood, pushing it open gently, she paused. Her back turned to us, Annah offered only a few more words. "The village is no longer safe for you, Birk. Head to the lake outside of town, between the two hills. If-" Her voice quivered slightly, but Annah managed to clear her throat and steel herself once more. "If Demetrius still lives, he will meet you there. But do not wait long for him."

Seconds later, the door clacked shut, leaving only an empty silence and the memory of her last few words hanging in the room.

 

[Andalusite]

A one-in-a-trillion happening. Just my luck. I thought with a grumble and a disappointed headshake as I held back a second wave of tears. At this rate, I would waste away in this world without ever seeing Wagnas or my brother again. All my interest in the current conversation was suddenly lost when more knocking, and the urgent voice of a man, interrupted our conversation to let Annah know that she needed to leave. Great. Just great. Would I ever have a moment of peace in this world?

I took offense to Annah’s assumption as she looked back at us.

“I don’t need him to—” The door slammed behind her before I could finish, “—escort me like he’s my brother or something!” Realizing that she had other urgent matters to tend to, a pout formed on my lips. I hated being ignored. So what if the village was no longer safe? It’s not like I couldn’t protect myself!

My mind was a muddled mess trying to make sense of the instructions that she had left us: Head to the lake between the two hills? Demetrius will meet us if he is still alive? I felt my pulse increasing, the monsters within me stirring in a frenzy, but I reeled them back in with a deep, calming breath. Something bad was bound to happen if I ignored the woman’s warning, and having already experienced enough trouble for the day, I sure was not about to stay here and find out what. I stood up from the bench and made my way briskly over to the exit. As I reached for the door, I looked over my shoulder at Birk:

“…I don’t know about you, but I’d rather make trouble than wait for it to come find me,” I commented, opening the door.

I stepped out into the night and took a quick survey of the area, allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness, before taking off running as fast as I could on my own. The spirits trailed ahead of me, their eerie forms like little blue lanterns lighting the way. From what I could tell of my immediate surroundings, the new world seemed to be a suitable host for trees...and more trees. Dense and bushy with lots of branches reaching toward the moonlit sky. I did not make it far from the shack before I found myself battling branches just to move forward.

“Seriously?” I murmured as one snagged onto my sleeve and another nearly poked my eye out. This was so annoying!

In my short-lived struggle with nature, I caught eye of these big bushes of—Say, was that fruit? My stomach growled at the thought. No longer interested in running away, I strayed from my path toward them. My phantoms drifted over to the shrubs, curious as ever, enabling me to see thousands of little round orange berries dotting the branches. I plucked as many as I could carry in the folds of my dress and plopped down at the base of a nearby tree whose sturdy trunk provided me with a much-needed place to rest. Looking at the heaping pile of berries in my lap, it was then I realized I had not given much thought to the dangers that might lurk beyond Birk's abode.

“Think these are poisonous?” I asked, holding up a handful of berries for my phantoms to see. They gazed back at me with their usual unmoved expression. Shrugging, I tossed a few into my mouth. “That’s fine; I'll just find another body. I can do that, right?”

Much to my surprise, the initially pleasant and sweet berries soon turned bitter and pasty. What the hell? I wondered with a frown. They felt like they were trying to glue my mouth shut! I spat out what I could and dumped the rest of them to the ground. Maybe navigating this world on my own would not be so easy after all.

"Where's that fool from earlier? I thought he would have found me by now," I murmured to myself in mild irritation. Getting lost and dying of starvation would be most embarrassing given what I had already survived back in my world, so having an additional body around for advice and that book—I paused for a moment. “Right, that book has the name of the city and man that I need to find.” I clenched my fist and punched the ground. Dammit. I should have snatched that thing from Birk when I had the chance.

“Ugh. Once he finds me, I am telling him to give me the book, and that I want to eat, bathe, and wash my dress. I feel so filthy right now.” I mentioned to the ghosts floating around me. Once again, they stared at me without much interest in what I was saying, although this time around, one humored me with a weak howl. I crossed my arms and sighed. “What? Don’t you?” I asked with a raised brow. “What if Wagnas saw me like this! Do you realize how embarrassing that would be?” I asked, shuddering at the thought. I knew talking to them would not get me any answers, but it was comforting.