(Uh, slight warning: I think I may have gone a little too graphic with a few actions close together; I have censored it from my original draft, but I thought I'd still give this warning just to be safe. -Spydro)
"Fallen, Rhea, Siph, you in there?" Connor shouts into the clinic. "I'm sorry to pull you away like this, but it's time."
"And here I thought I was hiding well enough," Fallen mumbles under his breath as he leaves his clinic, followed by Ms. Misha, Ms. Rhea, and lastly, Father and Mother.
"Sorry, but those are the rules. Make sure you have your proxies if you want them."
"Where are we holding it?" My Father asks
"Just outside of the main gate, don't really have a good place for an execution otherwise. You guys need a ride?"
"Yes, my lord," Ms. Misha speaks up, "If that wouldn't be too much trouble to ask." She gives a slight bow in Connor's direction.
Mother turns to us, kids. "Stay put, Jace; you need your rest, you hear-?"
I don't have the chance to respond to Mom
"And a way... we... go!" Connor shouts
With a snap of Connor's fingers, the adults snap out of existence, leaving the four of us in the street.
There is a crowd funneling towards the direction of the main gate
That was fast, I think?
I can feel myself swallow as my mind swirls
"Jace, where are you going?" Kienan says, interrupting my jumbled thoughts
"Huh?"
My feet had gained a mind of their own, shuffling towards the crowd
"You want to watch this?"
"I... I don't know"
Rider strides past me. "C'mon, let's go"
I turn to look to Kienan before reluctantly following Rider. After a second, Kienan jogs up next to us
"What are we going to do with Mary?"
"I don't know," I mumbled.
I hadn't even thought of her, even though she is now grabbing my hand harder than before, trying to keep up
"We should hurry, if we don't want to be lost in the crowd. I'll carry you, Kienan." Rider says, squatting down for him.
"Alright," Kienan says after a moment.
"C'mon, Mary, you want to go on a ride like before?"
"Alright." She says with a smile that melts my heart a little
I have not tried this without my grey blade yet, so I guess, here we go.
Pushing mana into my feet, a wall of wind pushes Mary and me up a little, sliding on the ground.
"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Rider shouts as he goes off with an unnatural burst of speed. Kienan yelps in surprise as he desperately tries to hold on.
I stand in place for a second before chuckling to myself
"Alright. Hold on tight, Mary, let's go."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We speed through the side alleys, the faces of townspeople flickering by as we snake towards our destination.
This is actually kind of fun; it feels like I forgot this a little in the last twenty-four hours.
So far so good. I can feel my gut get familiarly tugged as I continue to pour mana downwards.
What should I feel towards this?
Should I feel triumphant towards those bastards' deaths?
Or sick to the stomach about the fact that there is going to be a public execution? How are they even going to do it?!
It does not take very long to reach the main gates. A horde of people is clogging up the entrance, being funneled out by a group of guards.
We slow down as we approach. "How are we going to get through this?" Kienan asks, his eyes visibly wide
"We could go over," Rider offers, looking to me.
"I don't have any better ideas," I say, dissipating the wind and stumbling into a walk, making sure Mary doesn't lose her footing.
"Let's jump it"
"What?"
"I bet I could jump over the wall"
"Pff, no, you can't"
"Watch me"
Kienan seems dazed, but perks up at Rider's last comment. "Wait, wha-Whoa!"
Rider dashes off towards the wall off to the side of the gate
"God," I mumble under my breath.
"Can you do that?!" Mary asks excitedly
"Well, we'll see."
I crouch in front of Mary, and she clambers onto my back, standing back up with a groan.
Kicking off, I try pulling on that familiar muscle
My mana starts to crackle as that familiar feeling returns
Arched electricity licks my legs and the ground. The strands that reach Mary crackle and pop out.
I rush forward even faster as I catch up to Rider and Kienan
Rider crouches down and launches himself spectacularly up onto a nearby roof. Following suit, I jump up with a burst of wind.
I make it up about halfway before I begin to fall. My mind begins to drop with my body.
Hurriedly, I push off with a little wind, and we stumble onto the roof
Rider is just barely in front of me. He bursts forward even faster than before and bounds surprisingly onto the wall around town, taking a moment to look back and smile at us.
I push myself faster to the edge of the roof, jumping up with a gust of wind once again.
As we rush through the air, I begin to fall weightlessly, Mary and I letting out a joyous laugh.
I stumble once again onto the rampart. The view, a totally new perspective of the rolling fields I gazed out upon through my window.
At this height, I can see the gnarled pink willow out in the distance. I can even see past it into the fields of the unknown. Out in the distance, trees begin to sprout from the earth until it creates a dark green curtain, a mountain sprouting from somewhere in it, almost touching the sky.
It is beautiful. My head seems to flush every thought out the drain to take it all in
"Hey, what are you kids doing up here?" A guard yells at us as Rider rushes past him with Kienan
I can hear footsteps gather behind us
"Hold on tight, Mary!"
With one of the worst ideas I have ever had, I jump off the wall
Reaching out with one hand, while holding onto Mary with the other, I make a gripping motion towards the wall
"Twisting and spiraling grime, come forth from the soil. Pierce thy foe with: Earthen Spikes!"
Grabbing hold of nothing, I tear my hand away from the wall. Spirals of rock pierce out from the wall.
I land harder than I meant to on each step, walking down my makeshift staircase.
A blur falls quickly past me, horrifyingly; Rider jumps straight down from the wall and continues running as if nothing happened. I make it to the ground relatively more safely than he.
Three of us laugh with joy as the endorphins pump through us
Off where a crowd is forming, the earth begins to shake. Rising from the ground, walls begin to form.
"That must be it!" Rider yells to me. He rushes off once more and leaves me in the dust. I can start to feel nauseous as I drain more and more of my mana.
I really should learn to rest more. Nonetheless, I push myself faster.
We slow down as we make it to the crowd, filling in.
We let our respective riders off.
Kienan is wobbly when his feet touch the ground. "Please never do that again."
"What?" I say, a little out of breath, "You never go plummeting towards the ground on the back of a lunatic before." Chuckling a little as I say it.
I kneel to Mary. "You ok?"
"Can we do that again?" She says with a smile
"Maybe on the way back
Guards are motioning us into different lines, into the structure. I grab Mary's hand as we shuffle our way in
It is solid stone, with flecks of dirt painting the walls, luminescent motes of fire lighting up our path. This entire thing is magic, no doubt.
Finally, we shuffle out back into the open, revealing the inside as a whole.
It resembles that of something like a coliseum or football stadium. Seats rise in concentric rings, all set around a platform in the center where what must be almost thirty figures stand.
We muscle through to the front row. Sadly, no seats, though.
Many figures stand on the stage. The Arch-Angels make up most of them: Father and
Mother, Ms. Rhea, Fallen and Ms. Misha, and the blue-skinned man, along with some guards dressed in black armour.
Kneeling in front of them, thirteen figures are chained to the ground. The fat man who attacked Mary and me does not seem to be among them.
It feels a bit staged, unreal.
There is a loud pop from the stage as Connor appears on it. From what I can tell, he is now dressed in what looks like a mix of a black suit or robe with purple and silver accents, his sword set at his hip.
There is a pair of dwarves standing beside him; the gruff, tattooed Arch-Angel, I believe his name is Theo, wearing his martial arts gi-like clothing.
The other dwarf is like a statue. He wears a white Greek-like toga, loosely draped over a silver-grey metal chestplate. A white blindfold rests on his neck
"Settle down! Please!" Connor says with surprising force, echoing throughout the area
There is mumbling from the crowd
"Enough!" He yells again, a little more forceful this time
He seems to mumble something before a silvery circle forms around the stage.
"My people, two of our beloved children went missing, and from that search, we discovered an infestation in our grand town."
Connor begins to pace back and forth on the stage. "The hunting wolves, Jaeger's dogs, were found skulking beneath our town, abducting a family seeking solitude behind our walls."
He stops in the middle of the stage.
"Upon our assault on their compound, we found the children and their efforts to save that family. We pursued the enemy, capturing those we could, though many fought back against us. Those that you see before us are those that surrendered to us, pleading for their life."
He turns to address the prisoners. "And you have been brought here under the gaze of one of The Avenger's Judges"
Connor takes a step back, motioning for the grey-white dwarf to step forward.
He seems to accept Connor's invitation, though begrudgingly. Taking a step forward, he ties a blindfold around his head
"I give my sight to the sword so I may see clearly. In honor of "The Avenger", today I act as judge and jury. First, restraint is in order"
His gruff voice booms, echoing around. His form seems to flicker, growing taller, more feminine in an instant before reverting back to himself. Raising his arms, an ethereal scale forms above him.
He removes a knife from his belt and hands it to Theo
Theo takes the knife and slides it across his palm.
In an action that almost makes me hurl, he goes to each one of the prisoners. The guards march to each one and hold their mouths open. Disgustingly, he pours some of his blood into each mouth.
The grey-white dwarf continues. "We speak in accordance with imperial law; you all face trial for your crimes. Is there anything you wish to say before we continue? Confession or otherwise?"
There is a palpable silence, sitting heavy in the air. It lasts for an awkward amount of time.
"The crimes of those present include: Assault, kidnapping, thievery, conspiracy, treason, and murder-"
More guards dressed in black march onto the stage.
I feel a bit unnerved by the list, especially how short it is. My hand feels clammy holding onto Mary's. Rider seems to be on the edge of his seat
"By divine decree, the punishment befits the crime, by the laws of the land". Those include beheading, hanging till death, imprisonment, and dismemberment. He points to one of the prisoners as he says each one.
"Words may be spoken before delivering the sentence; may be permitted at this moment."
Many of them mumble words, but it gets drowned out by the rage of the crowd, throwing things, just falling short of the stage.
I can barely focus on their words, but they seem to echo in my head in gibberish.
"Minor punishments will now be enacted."
Two pairs of guards ready themselves, some drawing their blades
"For those who have enacted thievery and kidnapping, the sentence will be dismemberment of their thumbs, followed by incarceration. Do any of the perpetrators wish to enact their sentence by their own hand?"
One of the prisoners hesitantly raises their hands to one of the guards, who places their blade in their hands.
The man places his hand on the ground, with the blade next to it. After a moment, and what must be an immense amount of will, he digs the blade into his thumb with a scream. We are too far away to really get the details, but I almost retch at the pained screams. The guards help him up and cut off his other thumb.
"No! You scheming bastards! We will kill you, and all the filth in this town!"
The guards place a rag in the other man's mouth and push him to the ground, pinning his arm.
They hack at his hand until he lies still. They push him back into a kneeling position, where his head sways
The guards lift the next prisoner, dressed in black, who now largely resembles the rest of the guards. They seem to shove him up more forcefully than the others.
Everything feels to be happening too quickly; there are people around us complaining about the lax punishment, but those on the stage do not seem to pay them any mind.
"For those who commit treason, for betraying your own institution, your sentence shall be incarceration, with the possibility of confinement in the black stone prison. Take them away."
Along with him, the guards shove up the two men who lost their thumbs and escort the three figures away.
"Now, for the crime of assault, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, thievery, and in some cases, rape. Your crimes are seen in this land as more treacherous than your peers. The sentence is beheading, enacted by the highest-ranking members of the town or their designated proxies. Final words may be given."
None of the remaining men and women say a word as their executioners get into position.
Each Arch-Angel takes up position next to them, with the exception of Father and Fallen, where Mother and Ms. Misha take their place, along with Sullen and a couple of what look like high-ranking members of the black armoured guards. Connor does not seem to be one of them.
They draw their respective blades and ready themselves
The prisoner next to Ms. Misha speaks up
"Yes," he says, "I have something I would like to say to the lovely Lady Reinhart, if I may?" He speaks with bravado.
Ms. Misha tightly grips her axe; though I could be wrong, I think it is a little too far to fully tell.
"You may speak"
"I do have one regret: not witnessing her stunning beauty in person; the delicacy of her figure, and her strength- that is something to die for."
He looks up to Ms. Misha. "Or that of your little light, has she bled yet? I couldn't check while we had her-"
I can feel the rage radiating off from the stage, the tension turning sour as purple, ethereal horns grow from Ms. Misha's forehead.
There is something strikingly familiar with this image, something that nags at me in the back of my mind. Have I seen this before?
In one fluid motion, she brings her axe up, then crashes down onto the man's head.
His crown slides off his head as he twitches, before his body slumps over motionless.
Ms. Misha stands, panting.
For what feels like the hundredth time, the place goes silent
She falls, crippled by some unseen pain, Fallen rushing to her side.
"Improper execution of the sentence will be punished, unfortunately, Lady Reinhart, but even those who have been sentenced deserve the palindrom's justice."
He turns back to the prisoners. "The rest of the sentences will be enacted. Are there any perpetrators who wish to enact their own sentence?"
I...
I feel around my clothes for my booklet, quickly searching for a page.
"Stall the wind, lose the words. Constrain the magic and mute the wise: Silence."
I place my hand on Mary's head, a pale, transparent skin forming a bubble around it. She looks around before looking up at me, confused.
But I am unable to console her.
A few of the remaining prisoners take a blade from their respective guards, driving it into themselves in their own respective ways, falling slumped to the ground, dead by their own hands.
"With the fall of the gavel, the sentence is given."
The guards push the prisoners down, holding them in place
I feel a little lightheaded, so I can not tell what the exact signal is. I put my hands over Mary's eyes.
A blade falls on all six of the remaining prisoners' necks, swiftly ending their lives.
It all happened too quickly; it almost feels like the crowd didn't even matter
The crowd erupts in voices. Some cheering, others yelling for crueler punishments.
Pieces of food go flying over our heads. As the first few fall to the ground, it is answered by hundreds of angry villagers, sending wave upon wave of items flying towards the stage. Fruit, bread; I can even see some articles of clothing, along with some strong choices of words.
Kienan reaches over and tugs my sleeve. I look up, and our eyes meet
"We should leave."
"What?!" Rider yells to me
A stale piece of bread slams into his head. There is a brief look of surprise, but it seems like that was the key for him to connect the dots. "Right! But where?!"
"What's going on? Why is everyone yelling?"
My hand is still over her eyes
"We're leaving now."
The voices grow louder around us, some in anger, some in worry
Everything begins to devolve into chaos
People clog up the way we came, all trying to muscle their way through it. Arguments devolve into brawls. Like us, others are looking wildly around for an escape.
"Mary, I need you to do something for me, do you hear me?"
She nods her head
I try talking in the calmest voice I can. "I need you to close your eyes and keep them shut until I tell you. Do you promise?"
She nods again
"C'mon! Let's head to my parents'!" I yell to the others.
"Right!?" Rider cheers, though I don't think he fully heard me
I can start to feel my heart thump
I grab Mary and climb over the seats, channeling mana into my legs once more. Rider seems to have swooped up Kienan in the commotion, who now seems to be muttering something under his breath.
As we pass, there is a family that clumps up together, the father muttering some kind of incantation as he tightly holds his wife and two sons. Eventually they disappear with a pop
Is that?... Not right now, me!
We climb up onto the lip of the colosseum, launching ourselves onto the grass, rushing over to the stage.
But as we run, it feels like the stage gets farther and farther away
Rider Blitz passes me in a blur
I stop halfway, dropping to my knees, my electric speed fizzling out as I pant. Mary feels as if she is dragging me to the ground.
Why now!
I try to plant a foot, but it seems to slip from under me
"Are we there yet?" Mary asks.
Gritting my teeth, I stand without answering, breaking into a slow run
Healing magic doesn't restore mana, I guess?
No time for that
I drag my feet towards the stage, towards salvation
It is a very crudely made structure, just planks of wood haphazardly nailed together.
Footsteps come towards me. As I look up, I can see Connor barreling towards me, his form shifting ever so slightly.
He reaches into his coat and grips a mask. It is rather small, only seeming to cover the lower half of his face. It is of a wide, grinning mouth, baring triangular, almost cartoonish white teeth. The rest of the mask is black, with the contours and accents highlighted by purples and silvers.
It looks very familiar, almost like that grinning demon that saved us from the caves. But that felt almost like a dream.
Connor's pale right eye seems to flicker for a second as he sees me trot over towards him.
His form seems to stretch and boil until he splits off right in front of me. Copies go left, then right. Hundreds, maybe thousands of clones running around me towards the stands. I can only fall onto my behind in shock.
He can do that?!
I can feel a pit begin to bubble in me
He could do that this entire time?!
"Whoa!" Mary exclaims in excitement
"Mary! Close your eyes!" I respond, maybe a little harsher than I meant.
Again, I pick myself up
Eventually, we make it to the stage, climbing up the stairs onto the platform.
The remaining bodies lay slumped, blood pooling and dripping through the slats.
I hold Mary tighter
"Jace! I thought we told you to stay behind. You brought Mary?!" Mother says, exasperated
I can feel my head sway as I become woozy looking at the gore
"Jace?" She says again, kneeling and setting her stained sword on the ground, holding me by my shoulders. "Jace, are you alright?" She has a worried look on her face
"I should have stayed in bed," I say with a gulp
"Yes, you really should have. Did the last time teach you nothing?" Fallen says, Misha's arm slung over his shoulder.
She looks even worse than she usually does, a paleness that wasn't there before
"Siph, send them to Fallen's clinic." Mother says with a surprisingly commanding tone
Ms. Rhea and Rider start walking over to the little crowd we were forming, Rider rubbing the back of his head
"What about me and Mary?" Kienan asks, practically sneaking up from behind me and making me jump.
"Don't worry..."
"Kienan."
"Don't worry, Kienan, you guys will be able to come with." My Father says, sort of awkwardly
He reaches out into the air, his hand shimmering a bit, pulling out his staff, seemingly materializing out of thin air.
It begins to buzz as he traces an oval in the air, crackling-blue lines following the tip. He writes something in the center, a mix of boxy lettering and swirls. With a brief flash, the semicircle seems to fold into itself until the image of Fallen's clinic appears inside it.
Fallen helps Ms. Misha into the portal, turning back to us once he's through. "C'mon, let's go!"
Rider is the next to go, marching through.
Kienan gingerly reaches his hand through. The portal snaps a little, but nothing really happens. Rider grabs his hand and yanks him through, letting out a yelp as he does
Cradling Mary's head, I pick myself up and walk through
It is a strange feeling; for a moment, I feel almost weightless, along with a strange mix of deja-vu and vertigo. But once I set my foot firmly on the other side, it vanishes.
I look back through the portal. Mother is rushing towards the stands, going to help, I guess.
Father is reaching out to the bug like an Arch-Angel. They disappear with a pop.
He looks back through the portal to us, like he is about to say something, but the portal closes with a pop, leaving us in the empty street in front of Fallen's clinic.
We sort of just stand in silence for a moment
"All of you, go home." Ms. Misha says to us. Fallen must have left her at some point, because he reappears from his clinic with a flask of greenish-red and hands it to Ms. Misha.
She takes a deep swig of it before she continues. "I mean it." She turns to Kienan. "You boy can stay here until we find that woman, wherever the lord has placed her."
I try to say something, anything, but Ms. Misha cuts me off.
"Go home! Now!" she yells at us, her face turning a slight hue of red
"I get to see big brother's house?!" Mary squeals excitedly. For a moment, I had forgotten about her
"Right, you haven't seen it yet, I guess. It's actually your house now too." I say quietly
"My house? I get a house?!"
"Yes! I don't know if you'll have your own room yet, but we'll figure something out."
"But-" Rider tries to say, but Ms. Misha cuts him off, too.
"No, go home! You especially, boy, don't go getting yourself into trouble!"
"Alright," he says sheepishly, surprising all of us. He quietly turns around and starts heading to his house.
It takes a moment, but I begin to follow him too. But I stop.
"You better rest, boy. The only thing the magic healed was your hand, so unless you go to a priest, stay home, listen to your doctor's orders."
Fallen raises an eyebrow at her statement
I turn away from her. "C'mon, Mary, let's take you home."
And just like that, we start walking home
I am a bit sore, but I think I'm alright
I think
Everything happened too fast.
I don't even know how I am supposed to feel about this; I don't even know how I actually do feel about this, but I guess I have plenty of time for it- doctor's orders.
A part of me tries to shove the... "event" out of my mind, but it keeps trying to worm its way through. But another thought can muscle it out of the way, a question I have for Ms. Misha.
That of the demon-like girl's name, shackled in those tunnels for who knows how long, and of her mother's sickness.