Ghost Road and Metaphors: How a Recent High School Graduate Realized that "Big Moments" are Kind of Bullshit
In my last few weeks of high school I found myself hitting, quite literally, a roadblock. If youâve ever been masochistic enough to listen to any two-cent, radio-regurgitated country song, youâll know that country folk love their back roads. I, Podunk gal that I am, am no exception. It was always nice to know that in the bleary-eyed scramble that was getting ready for school every godforsaken morning I had the cushion to run a couple minutes late. This cushion came in the form of Mohawk Road, a conspicuously cop-free back road that I often raced down in my pursuit of an education. Mohawk Road is a short stretch of unregulated pavement that my little brother has always referred to as the âGhost Road.â It is lined on both sides with uncomfortably tall grass and eerie, dilapidated farmhouses. Despite its foreboding appearance, Iâve always tried to explain to my brother that the only ghosts that may be haunting âGhost Roadâ are those of the squirrels (and possibly a bunny, Iâm not one hundred percent sure) that Iâve maimed in my sad attempts to drive like a human being with some semblance of vehicular knowledge. Perhaps this is the reason I was punished in those last few weeks â squirrels are way more vengeful in the afterlife than I thought.
This punishment came in the form of an annoyingly blue car and a girl with a nail-meets-chalkboard voice and a mane that is the hair equivalent of a seven-layer dip. Before the great Cargate incident of 2014, Iâd always regarded this girl â letâs call her Lea â with nothing more than mild annoyance. She was a year younger than me and weâd long been in the same abysmal volleyball program at our school. Appallingly uncoordinated, Lea was always more interested in gossiping and trying to rock the spandex for whichever unattractive boys were polluting the bleachers on any given night than actually attempting to improve at the sport. Despite all this, I rarely gave her a second thought.
           That is, until the morning when everything came to a halt. Literally. I was cruising to school in my cheap old car (affectionately known as Black Thunder,) when I came across Leaâs ridiculous blueberry of a vehicle stopped on the right side of the road. Parked on the left was the obnoxious truck of certified country boy Archer Kelly, a spectacled asshat who apparently wanted to sink his chips into Leaâs seven-layer dip.
           I fumed in Black Thunder as I waited for Lea and Archer to stop talking and get their respective cars down the road, and I spent the rest of the day exploiting the hell out of my residual indignation. âWho the hell do they think they are?â I ranted to my very bored friends, âThey donât own the goddamn road. Itâs, like, illegal to just stop! If they want to get it in, they need to do it somewhere thatâs not the middle of a fucking road! You know?!â They didnât know.
           This pattern continued over the course of the next few weeks. I would race down the road in Black Thunder, sweating through my t-shirts at the thought of being tardy, only to be halted by Truck Boy and Hair McGee. My frustration mounted. One morning I did my best âfrustrated mom in a mall parking lotâ impression and just completely laid on my weak horn, only to have Archer honk back at me as if I was the one breaking the law. I told myself every morning that I would confront Lea after school (in a hilarious twist of fate, her parking spot was right next to mine.) However, by the end of the day I was always so thoroughly soaked in teenaged ennui that I never had the energy to bitch her out.
           It was only after I graduated that I started to wonder why this whole affair had been such a big deal to me. Sure, itâs rude as hell to stop in the middle of the road (and if youâre a person who does that, then youâre the actual worse), but it isnât the end of the world. In fact, I actually had an alternative way to get to school. It was slower going, yes, but had I woken up and left my house at a reasonable time it would have been fine.
           It has taken many a mid-shower think session to reach the conclusion that my angst wasnât derived from the situation in and of itself. If I were John Green, I would say it actually stemmed from that situationâs metaphorical resonances. Iâve spent at least the last ten years of my life looking forward to graduating high school. Surely, reaching the end of my public schooling experience would culminate in a grand explosion of feeling and dancing and craziness and nostalgia worthy of every wonderfully bad nineties teen movie ever. I waited for this feeling of paramount finality to wrap itself around my chest and jostle me until I, and everything Iâd been for the past thirteen years, was nothing more than a delightful, emotionally powerful blur.
           But thatâs a feeling that Iâm still waiting on. Even though my time was coming to an end in those last few weeks, high school carried on as it always had. My brain knew that everything would soon be changing, and that those weeks would be my last chance to see most of the people Iâd grown to know and love, but I never felt the frightening immensity of that. I still donât, honestly, and sometimes I wonder if I will spend the next several years of my life walking around in this deluded haze, believing that change will never happen even as itâs happening.
           Lea and her blue car of death made me keenly aware of this lack of emotion, and I hated that awareness. I was supposed to be swept up in this supernova of loss and transition and possibility, and here was her stupid car parked in the middle of all that. It was the physical manifestation of the block within me. A big, blue block.
           I still donât know whether my inability to feel much about graduating high school is due to me being emotionally stunted or because those BIG MOMENTS in life are completely exacerbated and a little overrated. Still, I hope that as I leave Mohawk Road and the rest of my small town for college in August, I will feel a least a little wistfulness. I also hope that one day I will view Lea and Archerâs middle-of-the-road rendezvousing as not an incredibly inconsiderate minor crime, but as a meet-cute worthy of a countrified Mindy Kaling. Most of all, though, I hope that Lea learns to physically get her ass down the road and metaphorically get out of the feelings of vulnerable soon-to-be graduates.  Â
Hey guys! I know I donât have many followers and this wonât get very far, but if you could read and repost this, I would appreciate it so much.
In the last few months, my mom and I have lost our only big source of income, so we have been living off of about $300 a month. Our car broke down in...
Find a friend or other loved one to record this piece for you, or do it yourself. Take a moment, and follow along. Maybe before a shower, after, 4 in the morning, 7pm. Stand in front of the mirror. Stark naked. I know, I know, but bare with me and give it a try. Ready? Clear your mind. Don't think about anyone, anything. Don't even feel right now, if you can help it. Just look. Closely. Turn around, bend over, dance, do what you want. But don't think. Observe. Try to detach mind from body. Now, stand still. Close your eyes. Do not open them until I say the word "open". Recreate the image you were just seeing in that mirror. Got it? Good, now scrap it. Now, picture yourself in a museum. Clothed, don't worry. You are staring at a painting. Maybe it's a landscape, maybe a portrait, maybe it's just brush strokes. Whatever it is, its a masterpiece. Breathtaking. Now look it the way you looked at yourself a moment ago, with no thinking. What do you see? Not the colors, or shapes, or symmetry, or lack there of. None of those things matter at the moment. What do you SEE? What took your breathe away at first glance, if not its visual appearance? Turn around. What you now see is a sculpture, of what, you do not know. It is covered. Once more, take in the image before you. This time, however, I want you to think about one thing. Do you know what is under that tarp? Can you create any visual representation of what is being covered up before you? You might. You might not. But you cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, say with 100% certainty that you know. To know for certain, you must pull away the tarp. Open your eyes now. Look. Look at yourself. Do not think. Look. Now, let the feelings pour through at their own pace. Do not force them, do not cut them off. Continue to look, and let yourself feel. As you feel, you may now let yourself think, but only about what I've just told you. And consider what I am about to say. Don't stop looking. What you see before you is a work of art. It is not a color, or a shape, nor does it have symmetry, or a lack there of. What you see is an uncovered sculpture. Don't close out my words. Just listen. You are sculpted. By God, by genetics, by whatever power you believe to have been sculpted by. You are an original. Not a single other work of art on this earth looks like you. Embrace that thought. You walk through life covered by a tarp, whether that be your clothes, or your self image; insecurities, perceived faults and imperfections, even discomfort in your skin. Now know this: You show the world no more than you want to show them. No more than you have to. Your body belongs to you alone. It is your own private piece of art that only you can view at your leisure. So look at yourself. Look, and don't think. Because you are looking at a masterpiece. The only one in the world. Please, do not deface it, do not damage it, do not pick it apart and find its unimportant flaws. It is one-of-a-kind, and so, so special. Allow yourself to enjoy it. - Shelby (nuggiesandfreets.tumblr.com)
This job was turning into more of a mess by the minute. The whole point of it had been to investigate and catch a bandit ring currently up to something in the fair port city of Denyze. I never expected for them to have captured a Basilisk of all things. Big one too, close to King or Queen sized. Which explained why there was a bag over its head. At least the bandits weren't complete morons... although that could prove troublesome later.
Well then, better let the others know what the situation is.
As I stood from my perch in the rafters of the warehouse I glanced down below at the Basilisk. It wasn't as obvious as it would be with most mammals - reptiles generally didn't show a lot of emotion - but the little wheezing sounds I could hear it making couldn't be from anything but pain. I made my way over to the back wall window with quiet leaps across the rafters. My paws were the best suited for this sort of thing; Skye was small and could be silent but on very rare occasions and Ariah was better equipped for forest and wilderness reconnaissance. Kal was a natural at making himself disappear, as well as blend in, but he reserved that for eavesdropping and spying in less lit places.
"So how's it looking in there?", Ariah asked the moment I rejoined them on the roof of the warehouse.
I shook my head and sighed. "I understand why the client is the Kanoa Park Rangers now at least, they've got a Basilisk in there and the only place on the continent that still houses them is Kanoa."
"You're shittin' me? They went in and caught a Basilisk? No wonder the Rangers didn't mention the reason they wanted these bandits apprehended.", Ariah grumbled and glared up at the darkening sky.
Skye looked between Ariah and me with confusion. "I don't get it."
"If the Rangers said they wanted someone to go get their Basilisk back it's highly unlikely that anyone in the League or the Order would've responded, because of the high risk of collateral damage and stuff.", Kal explained, he tapped his chin with a finger in thought. "Though I wonder how we're supposed to get it back to the Park, unless it's a young serpent..."
"It's not, it's almost the size of a young adult blue whale."
"That is such a weird metaphor though...", Kal complained but smiled slightly in amusement nonetheless.
I shrugged. "Eh, was the first thing that came to mind."
"A young adult blue whale?", Ariah reiterated flatly. "I remain ever impressed by your imagination Zo."
"Shaddup and let's figure this thing out already.", I glared at my longtime friend, something she of course ignored as always.
"Nothing left to figure out, we go in, kick some bandit ass and then use the Recall Rune we got from the Rangers to go finish our assignment and then we'll head home. Nice and simple.", Ariah said and held up the little blue stone with an R rune carved into it.
"Oh yeah, I forgot they gave us that thing. That's convenient."
A collective sigh from my three teammates made my hackles rise.
"What?! You guys forget things too!"
Ariah chuckled. "Well whatever, how do we wanna do this thing?"
"Don't ignore me you!"
A while later I found myself on the same damn rafter observing the bandits below me.
"This is stupid."
I raised an eyebrow, mainly out of habit rather than for anyone to actually witness.
"If you don't like it you can always just go home kiddo.", I respond through the Thought Link the four of us established before splitting up. It had a time period of about twelve hours unless it was cancelled beforehand, and it was fairly ingenious in that it could serve as a conduit for someone to lend their own psychic abilities to others with it.
There was a mental grumble that sounded like something between a groan and animalistic hissing.
"Just-! Why do I always get the stupid jobs?", Skye asked, clearly pouting.
I sigh through the Link. "They're not stupid, if you didn't get them done everything would be a lot more bothersome you know? So it's actually really good that you do them."
My sibling kept grumbling things mentally but only fragments of them made it through the Link. This made me smile a bit fondly, it was kind of nice having the kid with the team now. It made being away from home for longer periods of time a bit easier.
Ariah had snuck in the back to cover for our youngest teammate while Skye did her thing, Kal was waiting outside under one of the side windows as backup for when things inevitably got hairy. My job was pretty simple, watch and make sure the ground troupe weren't discovered prematurely.
That turned out to be far easier said than done when Skye wouldn't listen to my instructions and almost gave us all away several times, Ariah had to improvise ways to make sure the two of them on the floor would stay hidden at all times.
"Are you doing this on purpose you idiot?!", Ariah finally snapped.
I wasn't able to see them from where they were hiding under a table close to our target, but if I knew Skye like I thought I did then the brat was probably giving my best friend her best innocent puppy look.
"Of course not.", was the reply.
Had to give the kid credit for having the guts to piss Ariah off. That was braving a storm that I for one avoided as much as humanly possible.
"Could we get back to business before-", I cut myself off as I heard something outside the front doors of the warehouse.
"Before what?", Skye asked, sounding as bored as could be. "We get caught? Please, I'm too fast for these morons and I could kick their asses in any form I have."
Kal, Ariah and I all made varying grunting noises at that. Yeah Skye could kick some ass alright, but she was still seriously inexperienced and overconfident. You'd think she'd grow up more during the time she was doing jobs with us, but apparently a year wasn't long enough for that nope.
"I heard something...", I tell them, pressing myself further into the rafter and gazing more intently at the two large front doors. My ears fluttering as I tried to catch more of what was going on.
What was that? A fight?
"You two should get to it... I think we've got trouble incoming.", even as I was telling them this a flash of silver and gold let me know that Ariah and Skye were on the move again.
"Don't worry about it boss, we'll get it done.", Ariah laughed through the Link. "You just focus on getting their attention if something starts going down."
That teasing tone of hers really just ticked me off so much sometimes.
"Yeah yeah, I'm good at the attention getting thing remember. And don't call me boss."
Even though I didn't terribly mind it, that was far from my position in the group. Hell we probably didn't have any kind of leader in our team... we didn't really need one.
The sound of an explosion forced me out of my thoughts and brought my attention back to the doors of the warehouse. They were on fire.
"The fuck...?"
"You guys didn't do that right?", Kal asked, concern evident in his mental voice.
"Nope. It would appear someone else has a beef with these bandits...", Ariah replied, ever the quick analyst. "Be careful Zo, don't expose yourself unless you absolutely have to."
I had to smirk in response to that. "Are you trying to tell me not to be reckless? Because we all know that just aint my style."
Kal chuckled good-naturedly while Ariah just grunted, her mental feedback sounding like her mumbling offense under her breath. Which is probably what she would have been doing aloud if she could've.
This was a good opportunity to get closer to the doors, as Ariah and Skye had gotten to the target and so they were in no need for a lookout anymore. How considerate of the bandits to put boxes and furniture close enough to the lock of the basilisk cage that it provided adequate cover for those two.
The bandits had gotten pretty panicked about the burning doors, they were swarming around it yelling about water and buckets as well as cursing whoever dared to mess with them. I had to sigh. Crooks like these were all the same, lots of bark with little to no bite to measure up.
A sudden roar from outside made me jump slightly, it sounded decidedly inhuman and thoroughly pissed off.
"That wasn't your stomach, was it sis?", Skye inquired innocently.
"Of course not you brat!", I may have yelled a bit louder in my head than I intended but that wasn't really what I was focusing my attention on at the time.
"What is going on? Can't you people tell when someone's tryin' to sleep?", a woman barked at the bandits scurrying around fetching buckets and knocking things over.
"Sorry Chief, but the doors are on fire and if we don't put it out the whole warehouse is gonna-!"
"Oh is that all?", the woman snorted and waved her hand nonchalantly. "Like the warehouse matters, not like we're paying to stay here remember? And where the fuck is my idiot brother at?"
"He went out a while ago, said something about wanting to take in the smell of the ocean or something.", a buff-looking bandit said, completely calm and relaxed from his - or her? - perch on a table at the far wall of the warehouse.
The woman sighed and rubbed her forehead. "That moron probably bumped into someone and lost his temper again..."
"If that's him out there and he's lured someone here, wont that draw the Knights to our location Chief Allegra?", the brutish looking bandit asked, ripping a hefty chunk of meat from what could only be a turkey leg.
"Meh, the Knights in this area aren't as vigilant as they would have people believe, I wouldn't worry about it Janice.", Â the woman, Allegra, said and gazed at the now burning front wall of the warehouse with disdain. "I suppose we should put the fire out though, that will definitely draw the Knights here and we need to avoid them still, even if the ones in this city are all chumps."
Before the bandits could get to work with their chief's command however the doors burst open, or rather exploded into burning splinters that spread out on the floor. The cause of the broken wooden barrier was a large body that landed in front of Allegra's feet. It was a man from the looks of it, he was getting to his feet again soon enough.
"Oh?", Allegra raised an elegant eyebrow and sneered. "Is that you dear brother Hani? I was just wondering what trouble you were up to."
The man grunted and stood to his full height, brushing off dust and wood splinters from his shoulder. "I didn't do nothin'! This maniac chick just started yelling from out of nowhere and then there was all this fire-!"
"Yes yes.", Allegra sighed and waved her hand in the same manner as before, I was starting to suspect she liked to wave things off like that.
"Where?", a deep, gravelly sounding voice spoke up from the still very much burning doorway.
"Whoa."
"Yeah, that magic is almost suffocating.", Ariah agreed.
"Such powerful rage...", Kal remarked, sounding almost awed by it.
It felt almost as if the air itself was on fire. Whoever this person was must've been a pretty strong fire mage, and a very furious one at that. Thanks to Ariah's ability to read auras, an ability she was sharing with the rest of us through the Thought Link binding us together currently, we were all able to sense the auras of everyone in the area.
"Where?!", the person asked again, this time louder and accompanied by a ball of fire shot to the side of Allegra.
A warning shot. It hit the far wall, whereupon it exploded and thus that wall was burning as well.
"Well aren't you a temperamental one...", Allegra smiled, her voice dripping with venom.
"Where is he?", this time the person's voice took on a dangerous edge. "The wolf you kidnapped?"
"Kidnapped? Wolf?", Allegra hummed in mock thoughtfulness. "Hm... oh you mean that monstrously massive one we caught? Ah yes, that one was too much of a bother so we got rid of it."
This woman... the way she spoke was so cold in regards to living things. But something was off, it felt as though she was lying. Exactly what part of her words were lies was hard to tell though I could estimate a guess as to what was untrue.
Somehow, the immense aura that the still unknown person was radiating diminished into something like shocked silence. Then just as rapidly it burst up again, larger and more heated than previously. This wolf must've been someone important...
Allegra and her brother both took steps back as the fire mage gathered power. I had to swiftly move to a different rafter when a wave of flames shot out from the mage's form, lest I be hit with it as well. Fire was nice and all, but I preferred being un-burnt.
"Oh dear me... it would appear that we have a real temper tantrum on our hands everyone."
I stiffened, Allegra was up on the rafters in front of me laughing with too high a pitch and she was sneering down at the mage. How did she get up on the rafters so quickly from down on the floor? Fortunately she had her back to me so it seemed that she hadn't noticed me yet, but I didn't even dare let out the breath I was holding despite that.
"Hani, Janice, I believe we have a rare opportunity to have some fun.", the way she said that word made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end.
So there are people like this too, huh...
The man named Hani was still standing down there, his hands in a defensive position in front of his face and body. "Hoh? You mean we actually get to play for real for once?"
"Did he... take that blast straight on?", Skye's voice whispered at the back of my mind.
"Quit using the phrases with the same word in them one after another like that Hani it makes you sound like an idiot.", Janice grumbled as she tossed the bone of the turkey leg over her shoulder.
Hani made an annoyed noise. "I can talk how I want damn it!"
"Now now children, shut up and play.", Allegra commanded, and almost instantly the two large-bodied bandits were in motion.
Damn, I should act right about now right?
Hani lifted his huge fist to slam it down on the fire mage, but the mage avoided it and moved onto some crates at the opposite side of the front doors from me. Pretty nimble that one. The mage had to move again though because the crates had started moving, and when I glanced around I spotted Janice holding her hand out towards where the mage was now dodging crates and Hani.
Telekinesis, eh?
The mage leapt up and over Hani at one point, landing gracefully behind the large man and subsequently incinerated a crate aimed at the mage's head. Hani's fist connected with the front wall of the warehouse instead of his intended target, and I more or less expected the cracking noise of bones fracturing but what actually happened was something else entirely. The greater part of the wall on the right side of the front doors gave out and fell to pieces.
"Oh good, it's one of those...", Ariah muttered sarcastically through the Thought Link.
"One of what?", Kal wondered, this time his presence seemed closer and when I looked I could see his shape behind one of the thicker pillars in the place.
All of the bandits appeared to have either fled to the back of the warehouse or stood in stand-by behind Janice as she kept sending crates and rubble at the fire mage.
"Well, without conclusive evidence I can't be truly sure but be careful not to get hit by him. We may all have sturdier builds than ordinary humans but if he can do that to a wall of wood and cement then we'd probably be pretty screwed if he got a hit in on one of us.", Ariah replied.
As I stared wide-eyed at the devastation of this man's single punch, I vaguely heard Ariah and Skye exclaiming a victorious "Yes!" in my head and then the sound of a lock clicking. I could see the basilisk cage opening, but the giant serpent itself wasn't moving. Either they knocked it out at some point without us noticing, or it passed out on its own...
"Oh what's this? A kitty all the way up here?"
I froze. Allegra was staring straight at me, the noise the cage had been making probably made her take a more thorough look around.
Shit!
"Hm, you don't look like any cat I've ever seen before...", Allegra made a pondering expression for a moment, then she smiled wickedly. "Ah, you look kind of like one of those little jungle cats from the southern regions, I forget the name of them though. Bit too exotic an animal disguise for these parts, don't you think?"
Careless of me, getting caught off guard like that. But it didn't really matter, our objective was achieved and all that was left was to use the Recall Rune and be done with this whole thing.
"Maybe so, but I wasn't using this form for disguising purposes.", I retort with, briefly reveling in the look of astonishment upon Allegra's viper-ish features before I stood up and prepared to drop down to the floor below. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be going before my better half starts yelling in my head."
With that I let myself fall, and while in the air I shed my fur, fangs, claws and tail to land on the floor on my two human feet with a graceful flourish for dramatic effect. Only to lose my balance and footing momentarily; it was always a bit weird to get around right after I switched between forms. The looks of awed surprise of the bandits who had actually seen me transformed into something like befuddlement.
When I looked up I found that everyone in my vicinity was staring at me, which was essentially most people in the warehouse. Damn it.
"So much for not attracting attention to ourselves...", I heard Ariah grouch from somewhere.
My eyes found her golden ones in no time, she was sitting on top of the basilisk cage still in her fox form with Skye inside the cage skittering around on the giant black serpent making noises at it - who hadn't changed out of her ferret self yet - and I more sensed rather than saw Kal standing next to the cage. He was almost impossible to find purely by eyesight when he was invisible.
"Well... there was really no point in hiding anymore.", I replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"Oh so we have thieves on our hands now too?", Allegra sniggered from her perch up in the rafters.
"Hey! We are nothing of the sort, I can assure you, we're only here to liberate what you stole in the first place.", I glared at the bandit chief. "And by the by, I was told that after your little poaching activities were alerted to the League it was decided that Kanoa was to be put under complete League jurisdiction besides the Rangers."
The League of Mages was the collective to which all Magic Agencies belonged, and if you were a mage you most likely worked for an Agency somewhere. Agencies helped the League with monitoring and maintaining the magical community, they also provided work for mages that weren't in the Order of Justice. Which was really just a fancy name for the army and law enforcement. If an area signed a contract with the League then Agencies within that area were obligated to protect and maintain that area alongside any Knight brigades assigned to the same place.
That of course sometimes caused more problems than it solved, but nonetheless I loved my job. Most of the time anyway.
"So basically what you're telling me is to stay away from Kanoa Park, is that right?", Allegra said, raising her eyebrows skeptically. "Because unless you hadn't noticed, we're bandits and we don't give a shit about how many prissy little mages you've got guarding that place. Or any place for that matter."
"Yeah, pretty much and unless you hadn't noticed, four prissy little mages just snuck in and freed your loot right under your noses and another mage literally broke in and set your crappy hideout on fire. That about cover it?", I replied with as much sarcasm bleeding into my voice as I could manage.
I'd promised to keep the attitude down, but damn it this bitch was asking for it.
Allegra made a face like she was chewing on a lemon. "You should be careful who you choose to fight kid."
"So I'm told. My judgment's always been questionable.", I grinned, wide and with too much teeth but who cared.
Before Allegra could respond the rafter she was kneeling on was hit with one of the crates, successfully distracting her so I took my chance to start moving towards my team awaiting with the basilisk. I stopped however when I heard a pained yelp and a heavy thud on the floor behind me, the fire mage appeared to have been unable to dodge Hani's fist that time. Hesitating I looked between Ariah's impatient expression and the fire mage on the floor, the mage was moving and slowly trying to get back up. No doubt shaken and hurting from the blow. So question was, did I jeopardize the team to help a very violent mage I probably didn't even know? Or did I heed the shouts from Skye and Ariah for a quick getaway? It wasn't as though I could be certain that the mage was rogue or not...
It felt like I was wavering there for a long time, as my eyes finally met the fire mage's I came to a decision. Dark crimson irises with black slits as pupils struck a chord in me, and before I realized it I was moving to help the fire mage. Why the hell had I even been hesitating; had my grandmothers suspicion finally rubbed off on me?
Scolding myself I took one of the fire mage's arms and I heard a grunt as I pulled the mage's rather significant frame up, now that I was closer I could finally distinguish that this person was - indeed - a woman. A rather sturdy and muscular one at that. Her hood hid her face, but I'd seen her eyes. The rest her aura was already telling me - the sharing thing of the Thought Link was really handy in times like these, even though it gave me obnoxious headaches once the Link expired. There was no malice or ill-will in her, right now there was only pure anger and despair.
My head cocked to the side before I could help it. Despair? She lost something perhaps?
"I don't need your help...", she growled at me, jerking her arm out of my grasp.
"Oh really?", I raised an eyebrow and just stared at her, Ariah liked to tell me that when I did that I was the very picture of skepticism. "'Cause me thinks you're kind of outnumbered here."
A noise brought my attention to a veritable cloud of crates and rubble hovering in the air in front of us with Janice and Hani standing behind it looking smug.
"Oh well if it's gonna be like that.", I said as I cracked my knuckles and stepped out in front of the fire mage.
She was non-too amused about that, but I felt like it was my turn to make a bang. Metaphorically speaking of course, crystal wasn't supposed to explode after all.
When the mass of blunt and sharp objects alike were sent our way I summoned my own magic - it was as easy as breathing really - made a little overdramatic gesture with my hands and a wall of crystal cut us off from the bandits. The rubble and crates broke against my crystal and I couldn't resist smirking at Janice and Hani's dumbfounded faces before I grabbed the fire mage's wrist and pulled her along after me as I ran for the cage.
"We're taking a stranger with us now too?", Ariah asked, now in her human form on the floor in front of the cage with a visible Kal standing next to her.
Kal had his arms crossed over his chest and an amused expression on his face.
"She did provide us with a distraction you know, now activate the Recall Rune so we can get the fuck outta here!", even as I spoke my best friend was activating the rune, enveloping her, Kal, the cage and Skye in bright blue light.
I just barely managed to leap into the light with the fire mage in tow before it started the transportation process and the earth opened up beneath us.
 "Okay, were you trying to cut it too close there buddy?", I inquired exasperatedly once the light settled and my feet were on solid ground again. We were on a dirt road in the middle of a heavily vegetated forest.
"Well! You did say to activate the Rune, and so I did. So sorry if that caused you trouble, dear.", Ariah smirked in a way that just screamed that she wasn't sorry at. All.
I was about to retort with something amazing and witty - really I was, no joke - when the Basilisk made this high-pitched wheezing noise that made me almost jump out of my skin because shit when did I get so close to it. The rest of my crew seemed to share my sentiment as we all took a collective step back from the giant black serpent.
The fire mage got up from her crouch and made a show of glancing around at each of us before pushing her cloak out of the way so she could put her hands on her hips. "You all do realize it's still too out of it to even move on its own, right?"
There was a beat of awkward silence.
"Okay, so we did the thing and escaped with minor to no injuries for a change, that's always nice.", Kal said, ever the cheerful and positive of us.
"That makes it sound like you usually get really hurt.", the fire mage pointed out, equal parts incredulous and amused judging by her tone of voice.
I cleared my throat. "It really isn't that bad."
Ariah snorted. "Oh sure, says the one who practically throws herself in the line of fire."
"Excuse me, but do you see any other Vanguards around here to make sure your asses don't even reach the line of fire? Yeah I didn't think so.", I said as I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at her.
"Alright kids break it up!", Skye stepped in between me and Ariah and put her hands out to stop us, like we were going to have a showdown right then and there.
Ariah and I both stared at the kid for while - who was now also in human form - then we looked back to each other, shrugged and turned to the fire mage again.
"Introductions are in order, I suppose. Considering you did sort of save us some trouble with distracting those bandits there.", I began and held up a hand when Ariah opened her mouth to object, no doubt. "And yes Ari dear, I'm aware shit got kind of screwed up but we were gonna wing it in the end anyway so shush."
Ariah's jaws clicked shut and she fixed me with a withering look before she turned and walked up to a boulder and sat on it, crossing her arms and legs and looking the very picture of affront. This is what she did when I got one in on her, and so she had to at least look like she was sulking even when she may not be. Simply to make me feel bad, I think.
Didn't work however, that act stopped working on me when we were teenagers and that was years before.
"I'm Zoya, but Zo is generally what most people call me.", I put my hand over my heart as I said this, then pointed it to each person in my team to indicate who I was referring to. "This is Kal, our most esteemed Tracker.", Kal bobbed his head slightly before going back to staring at the road behind us. "This here is Skye, the newest member of our little team and miss Sulky-pants over there is Ariah."
The fire mage stood unmoving for a moment. Evaluating her options, perhaps?
"Fflamddwyn.", she finally said and pushed her hood off her head, almost instantly trying to shrink in on herself. "People call me Wyn 'cause my name is so hard to pronounce..."
The way her voice suddenly turned soft was a surprise, but what was more so was her appearance. Dark crimson scales covered the sides of her throat and traveled up the sides of her face all the way to her temples, her ears were pointed but not in the way an elf's would be. No, her pointed edges were scales instead of cartilage and she had a pair of golden rings in her earlobes with what looked like a single canine dangling from each of them. Wyn gritted her teeth slightly and I could see her own canines were a tad sharper than what would be considered normal. Most eye-catching of all were her bright red irises and black slits for pupils.
Holy shit but that was cool.
I rolled the name around on my tongue before making any attempts at pronouncing it. "Fflamddwyn, huh? That's a pretty badass name.", I said with a gentle smile.
It was hard to say what Wyn had been expecting exactly, but it wasn't what I gave her. That much was obvious, from the way her eyes snapped up to meet mine and the rather stunned look on her face.
"You're a Drake aren't you?", Ariah asked, now leaning back on her hands on the rock she was seated on.
"What's a Drake?", Skye looked between the fire mage and Ariah with bewilderment and curiosity lighting up her countenance.
"The child of a dragon. One of your parents was a dragon, right?", Ariah said, staring at the fire mage with intrigue in her eyes.
Wyn blinked slowly and nodded once. I glanced back in time to watch as Ariah got up from the rock and unclipped her vest, as it fell to the ground she shook out her shoulders and a pair of semi-transparent, thin insect-like wings spread out from Ariah's shoulder blades. The pale white tint and sharp, oval shapes of them always reminded me of snowdrop petals for some reason. Sometimes there was a spark of a faint electric current that surged over them.
Ariah picked her vest up before she walked the few steps back to stand with the rest of us again.
"You're... you're a Fae?", Wyn asked carefully.
"Yup!", Ariah chirped, she put her fists on her hips and pushed her chest out proudly, her wings fluttering slightly.
"Oh yeah, cause your mom's a fairy right Ari?", Skye pondered aloud and scratched at her chin with an index finger.
Ariah sighed and deflated. "Yes Windy-brains, my mom is a fairy and my dad was human so that makes me a Fae. The same principle works for Drake's, where one parent is human and the other is a dragon."
Skye nodded along with bright eyes and grinned cheerfully. "That's really cool though right?!"
I shook my head and smiled in equal parts exasperation and fondness. "Yes kiddo it is, it's really cool."
It was easiest to just humor Skye when she was doing this, I had no idea whether it was meant as a way to lighten the mood in heavy situations or simply for dramatic effect. The brat was annoyingly difficult to read sometimes, while other times she was more of an open book than I was. And according to pretty much everyone, I was a very easily read person.
"Alright, back to business. So you're looking for your friend, who escaped from those bandits at somewhere? And your friend also happens to be of the wolf-y sort? I get all that right?", I asked.
Wyn appeared to mull something over briefly, before shrugging and looking at me with heavy-lidded, tired eyes. "Yeah that about covers it."
"Do you know if they had the basilisk before or after they kidnapped your friend?", Kal inquired, he met my eyes and nodded to somewhere behind me.
When I looked I could hear the sound of hooves and saw two shapes fast approaching. Ah, the Rangers sure were quick about things, weren't they.
"Well... they didn't have that huge snake with them when they took Kieran, or at least as far as I know. Couldn't smell that-", Wyn waved a hand in the general direction of the basilisk. "that basilisk thing when they took him."
The basilisk made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a disdainful snort. We all stared at the enormous black serpent as the Rangers closed in and stopped right at the basilisk.
"Centaurs?", Wyn proclaimed, eyes wide and baffled.
"Yeah, they took it upon themselves to create and protect these nature reserves. It's not really common knowledge.", I explained, observing as one of the Rangers, a gray centaur with a black mane and tail, bent down to check on the basilisk - he'd introduced himself as Hekili if I recalled correctly.
"We have some humans among us as well, they are the ones that deal with outsiders when necessary as we seem to spook normal humans with our grandeur.", the other centaur said, she was larger, dark brown and had thicker hair, with some tufts covering her hoofs.
I met her halfway as she strode around the basilisk that Hekili was now petting and murmuring to.
"Are you insinuating that we're not normal Ranger Kekoa?", I shot back, but there was no aggression there.
Kekoa snorted and smiled. "I don't have to insinuate when it's so blatantly obvious Vanguard Zoya."
I chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Got your friend there back in one piece at least. You could have told us what we were looking for you know."
"Yes, but you were the only ones who responded so it seemed best not to frighten you away before you even got started. But I am sorry for the deception.", she apologized and did a little bow before gazing intently into my eyes again. "I suppose we should've known we could count on you of all people."
"Me of all people?", I scowled quizzically. "What's that mean?"
The Ranger smiled wider and squinted knowingly at me, then she turned around to join her partner. Leaving me standing there with no clue what to think.
"Um, excuse me? Ranger Kekoa?", Kal piped up and Kekoa turned to him. "You wouldn't happen to have noticed whether or not the bandits had a wolf with them when they took the basilisk?"
"Hm.", Kekoa hummed, tapping her chin in thought for a moment. "You know, I do remember thinking it was weird that I smelled wolf around the trail the bandits left on because there are no wolves native to that area of the reserve. They keep to the mountainside and rarely get close to the more open areas of the forest."
 After scouring the part of the reserve that the Rangers pointed out to us, we found two things. First Wyn picked up the faint scent of her wolf friend, she was significantly brighter when she announced that this was indeed something she could follow. Second thing we found wasn't nearly as good as that.
We followed the wolf's trail to a mountain pass that marked the border of the reserve, but that wasn't all there was to it.
"Tell me that isn't what I think it is.", Ariah mumbled as we all stared in astonishment and horror at the dark patches of dead earth and nature spread out across the pass.
"Okay, I won't tell you.", I muttered back, because we all knew what this was.
We may only have heard rumors and reports told over Cube news reels, but this couldn't be anything but Corruption.
Not the kind we hear that parts of the Government is, plenty has been said about their handling of the world at large and their treatment of all people middle class or lower. None of what's been said is particularly good or encouraging. Our village was fairly fortunate by how far from the rest of civilization it was.
The increased restrictions and laws hadn't left anyone in our world unscathed however, and it kept getting worse. Which is the reason for the growing Resistance I think, people tend to band together and fight when they're cornered and forced to do something about their misfortune.
But the Corruption growing under the earth was very different from all of that...
Despite the Government's precious Knights' best efforts, as well as that of many Mages, as of yet nothing has been discovered to counteract the spread of the Corruption. I'd heard some reporter interview a Sage privy to what information there was on the Corruption on my grandmothers Cube one time, and according to this Sage the Corruption was essentially a planetary disease. Slowly killing our planet from the inside out, manifesting on the surface as these dark patches of death. They only affect nature so far it would seem, but if a person or animal stays in a patch for too long they will most certainly become sick from it.
There was no-one who wanted to test out this theory of hers, so we couldn't be sure but it seemed like a pretty damned astute assessment. One patch covered the ground underneath a lone tree on a more flat area in the mountain pass.
The tree was blackened and withered beyond recognition.
"I'll lead, walk only where I've stepped. We should be fine as long as we keep moving.", Wyn said resolutely, sliding down the hill we were stood upon.
"You've seen this kind of thing before?", I asked her once I fell into step behind her walking carefully through the mountain pass.
Wyn nodded. "Yeah, the forest my mother and I were living in is completely covered with this shit now."
"Oh...", I could feel my eyebrows shooting toward my hairline. "I'm sorry."
"I don't need a pity-party.", Wyn snorted, stepping around one of the bigger corrupt patches. "It's fine, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Is what mom told me."
I said nothing, just shot her a concerned look when she met my gaze. She shrugged and kept walking.
"Well, at least she's opening up a little.", I tell Ariah when she stops next to me and just gives me this sarcastic eyebrow twitch that she does sometimes.
As we make our way through the pass - it wasn't that big so it doesn't take very long to reach the other side - I fall to the back and bring up the rear. It's second nature for me to do that now, as that's usually what I'm tasked with when we're out. As Vanguard it's my job to keep everyone from getting hurt, quite trying sometimes when you have a sister that loves to run around and get into trouble.
Ariah would probably say that my dear sister and I are very similar in that aspect.
My excuse is that trouble always seems to zero in on me for some reason. I had yet to figure out why that was. Maybe people just don't like my face or something. This line of thought made me kind of self-conscious so I reach up and bump the side of my fist into my forehead a couple of times.
There's more important things to worry about than appearances after all.
A rumbling noise brought my attention to the left, where the rocky ground was visibly cracking and twisting. The crack traveled up the mountain, by now all of us had stopped walking to observe the bizarre event. Mountains didn't just crack open on their own, did they? None of us had sensed the presence of any creature around either so what the hell.
The ground under our feet shook slightly as the wall of the mountain kept cracking and groaning. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize that we should move. Something broke high above us. Something large.
"Run!", I yelled as I turned around and saw the others do the same.
We ran and leapt over the ground where it started to crack under us, we held our arms above our heads to block any rocks falling on us and the ground just kept breaking. It was falling apart faster than we could run to get away from it. The others were making do it appeared, Ariah had taken flight and was hovering next to Kal to prevent him from falling should he misstep and Skye simply ran in the air when there was no ground to step on. Something I noticed Wyn found the opportunity to gawk at, which subsequently took her attention off where she was setting her feet.
I reacted before I had time to think about what I was doing, my hand shot out and violet magic sparked around it as the void underneath Wyn was covered with sparkling, purple crystal. Wyn kept running but I saw her shoot a glance at me over her shoulder.
Oh.
Well I really should've thought of that from the beginning, huh.
I had to smirk a little as I continued covering the openings in the ground with crystal, creating some solidness for us to put our weight on. When we finally reached the end of the mountain pass we didn't stop running, even long after the ground stopped breaking behind us and I could cease crystallizing the earth.
"That was fun.", I panted out when we finally came to a stop in a forest glade.
We'd entered a forest at some point, but I couldn't quite recall when or where.
"We almost got swallowed up by the fucking earth, sis. What part of that is fun?", Skye mock-grouched from where she was floating in the air above us, her short hair and clothes moving slightly from winds that didn't reach the rest of us.
"Like you have to worry about that brat, you could've just flown off at any time.", I raised an eyebrow at her and she just shrugged.
"So you have two people who could fly and you didn't think that may have been useful a minute ago?", Wyn asked incredulously.
"It wouldn't really have mattered seeing as how the mountain was falling down on top of us besides the ground opening up below us.", Ariah explained matter-of-factly.
The Drake looked liked she was going to argue, but she shut her mouth again with a painful sounding clack and visibly chewed on her unspoken words. Wyn stood there and waited for someone to speak, when no-one did she looked around at all of us, quite obviously confused.
It reminded me a bit of a child shutting down when their parents were yelling at them, and then they were bewildered as to why the shouting stopped. I knew a little bit about that, my own parents being on bad terms with each other.
"It's okay, you can speak your mind here.", Kal spoke gently, he must've noticed the same thing I did.
Wyn hesitated only briefly. "I just... why aren't you guys afraid of me?"
A pregnant silence spread over the glade.
"Why would we be?", Skye inquired, fluttering down to eyelevel. Upside down. "Cause of the scales and stuff? Is that supposed to make you scary or something?"
Wyn stared at Skye somewhat flabbergasted, mouth opening and closing a few times but no words coming out.
"What my dear sister is trying to say is that what might freak other people out doesn't really get to us the same way.", I smiled and wrapped an arm around Skye's head, mainly to mess with her.
The brat immediately started struggling and whining. Loudly.
Wyn blinked at me a few times, working her jaw for a bit. "This kid is a chick?"
"Yeah, I know she looks like a dude. She gets that all the time and it's kind of hilarious in my opinion, but she doesn't seem to mind.", I said, grinning now while Skye muffled out curses at me into my forearm.
"It doesn't bother you?", Wyn raised an eyebrow.
"Nah, it's her body, she can do what she wants with it. Long as she doesn't hurt herself of course.", I squeezed Skye's head lightly before I let go.
"At least I don't hurt myself on purpose if I can help it like you do, Zo.", Skye grumbled and floated up further to get out of my reach. Still upside down.
I snorted. "I don't hurt myself on purpose you brat."
Skye rolled her eyes. "Sure you don't. You don't leap into the line of fire without a thought for your safety either or anything."
"Is that sass I hear? Are you giving me sass you little shit?", I put my fists on my hips and glared up at my sister.
Oh it's so on now.
"Maybe? I don't expect you've ever heard of it, being old and all.", Skye was goading me now, and that was fine. Two could play at this game, little one.
"I'm barely into my twenties not a fucking geezer, and you know... Wyn was right about the flying thing. You could have easily blasted us out of there if you were more skilled with your air magic."
I could actually see a vein throb in Skye's temple at that.
"Oh yeah?", Skye came closer, almost close enough to get in my face but she knew to stay out of reach. "Well if you had any brains you would've thought of that crystal flooring thing from the beginning."
My eyebrow twitched, while I knew exactly what set Skye off, she knew what buttons to push to trigger me as well.
"Alright kids, that's enough.", Ariah leveled us both with a cold stare that had Skye flinching, but I was fairly used to being on the receiving end of Ariah's intense stares so I just snorted and crossed my arms over my chest.
Skye stuck her tongue out at me and then spiraled in the air to land on her feet on the ground next to Kal. Show off.
"Okay so we should probably keep going right? Still got your friend's scent Wyn?", I asked, because we needed to move on.
Not only the Corruption and crumbled mountain we'd left behind, but I also had a sense of urgency about leaving that I couldn't shake.
Wyn looked slightly dazed for a moment before nodding and scratching the side of her nose. "Yeah... it's still pretty faint, but it's stronger than before."
"Good thing we seem to have run in the right direction then!", I proclaimed cheerfully and sauntered over to our new friend to clap a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find him."
"Yeah...", Wyn smiled weakly, shaking off my hand she went to stand a few steps away from me to face all of us. "You guys really don't need to help me at all, you don't know me and I don't know you."
"Maybe not.", I shrugged. "But whether it was intentional or not, you did actually help us out back there. So the least we can do in return is help find your friend and give you a share of the reward."
"Wha-! No, no that's not something I can-!", Wyn cut herself off, no doubt from seeing the earnest expressions I was fairly certain my team and I were all sporting.
"It's just as much your reward as it is ours.", Kal said honestly. "You did the work with us, so you get to have a share of the reward with us."
He wasn't going to yield on this, I knew. Kal had a strong sense of justice and fair was fair, he never backed down until everyone was happy and had what they deserved.
Wyn barked a laugh. "You guys are so weird... but I'm not gonna turn down a free reward I suppose."
"Awesome!", my grin was broad, and I could spot Kal's toothy smile out of the corner of my eye.
"But.", Wyn held up an index finger. "If you all come with me to find Kieran you might spook him. He's not overly fond of strangers. Especially human ones."
I nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, got it. I'll come with you.", I told the Drake in a tone I hoped allowed for no arguments, I then turned to my teammates with a smile. "You guys go on home and report to the Mistress, we'll be around once we find Wyn's buddy."
"We will?", Wyn eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Well yeah, if you want some of that reward you're gonna have to come back with Zo. Also, you look like you could use a hot meal and a safe place to spend the night.", Ariah said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Wyn was looking between me and the Fae, blinking rapidly before she righted herself and stood up straight with a suspicious expression. "And how do I know that you're not bandits yourselves, luring me into a trap to rob me blind and then kill me or something?"
It was understandable that she was unsure of us and that we were strangers to her, but that accusation was hazy at best. Surely something she must've realized herself.
"Don't you think we would've already done that by now, if that was the case? And bandits wouldn't have looked out for you back there when the mountain was falling apart around us.", I pointed out with an eyebrow raised, somewhat amused.
The Drake squinted at me. I sighed.
"Fine, I promise and swear upon my life and honor as a Mage of Ainsley that we mean you no harm and only wish to help. If that happens to turn out not being the case, you have permission to burn my face off should you so desire.", I recited a tad sarcastically with my hand covering my heart.
Wyn's eyes widened and her eyebrows went up once again, then she squinted at me some more before shrugging with a little scrunch of her nose. "Eh good enough, I can work with that."
 Later it occurred to me that perhaps going with a person who is half dragon to look for said person's wolf friend by myself, with this half dragon person having permission to burn my face off should she sense a trap or something of the like may have been a dreadful idea.
But it also occurred to me that it was probably a pretty damn good idea too. Because if nothing else, a new friend or two in this world was always nice.
Wyn seemed like she had few of those, from what I could glean out of her reactions previously at least. Then, I could speculate as to why that was.
As she led the way through the forest after we'd said our goodbyes to Ariah, Skye and Kal, I frequently caught her glancing back at me with a guarded expression. Her shoulder were tense, hands fisted and while her back may have been to me I got the feeling that she knew exactly where I was at all times.
"Are you expecting me to jump you?", I finally asked when we cleared the forest and started crossing a grassy field.
Wyn cringed slightly and didn't stop or turn around. "Don't take it personally. You seem like a decent person, but I've been fooled before."
"Yeah... people are afraid of things that are different, aren't they?", I replied with a rueful smile aimed to the ground.
When there was no response I looked up to find Wyn staring back at me, face expressionless and eyes searching mine. She raised an eyebrow contemplatively and gave a small nod before she turned back to her front. Apparently she found something, but what that was I couldn't say.
"I was really surprised when you and your friends didn't run away screaming when you all saw my face before..."
Her soft tone made the corner of my lips twitch into another smile, gentler this time. It sounded like an attempt to make the conversation a bit lighter.
"Well, as Ariah showed you, we're pretty different too."
"All of you?", Wyn enquired, jumping over a ditch that ran the length of the field.
I nodded solemnly once I'd made my way over as well. "All of us."
We were standing on a road of some sort, it wasn't particularly big and it was just barely distinguishable from the shrubbery around it because it was so overgrown. No people in the area to tend to it or was it just very rarely used?
"So what's so different about the rest of you? I wasn't really able to observe a lot before, because you know. Fighting and stuff.", Wyn made some obscure gesture with her hand, and then scented the air a bit before setting off down the road.
I chuckled and jogged to catch up so I could walk next to her now that we had room for it. "Yes well, we all have our peculiarities."
The look Wyn shot me made me reconsider trying to steer the topic away to something else. A sigh escaped me before I could stop it, and I smirked a bit at the thought that this was the first time in a long time I'd really talked about this with someone new. Someone different.
"It's really not that interesting... Ariah you already know about. Skye and I are sisters and our mother was an Elementar, and Kal is our cousin. His father's an Undine and Kal can go invisible because he can take an Undine form."
"Undine's are water elementals aren't they?"
"Yeah.", I nod and watch a group of birds fly over us, make a turn and then go to land on the field next to us. "It's really rare that elementals have kids with mortals, Undines especially."
"That's pretty cool.", Wyn noted, awe etched in her voice as she kept an eye on the horizon. "What about Elementars then? I feel like I've heard of them, but I don't know much..."
If my smile took on a grim edge, if Wyn noticed she didn't show it.
"Elementars...", I took a deep breath and released the air all at once. "I can only really tell you what my mother told me when I was a kid. Elementars were the ruling race of this planet long ago, and then the great majority of them just vanished. Apparently they had some pretty spectacular abilities, but most of them have been lost through the ages for us few descendants."
The Drake was listening intently, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye every so often.
"One of the few things most of us have retained is the ability to take an animal form, from what I understand. To help us be closer to nature, or something like that. Other than that, I don't know if we're really anything special. We may have been at some point in the past, but...", I trailed off and frowned, taking in the shape of a few buildings close to the road a ways off from where we were.
"So you can become an animal if you want to?", Wyn asked and I nodded as I scratched at my brow. "That's pretty cool too. Skye can do it as well?"
"Yeah, and Ariah uses an animal shape sometimes too but all fairies have shape shifting abilities to some extent.", I reply and kick a larger piece of gravel on the road.
"Like trolls?"
I sniggered. "Yup, but don't ever compare fairies to trolls in the presence of either one or you might be in trouble and I'm not even sure I would want to help you then. Contracting the wrath of tricksters is not in anyone's best interests, trust me."
"Oh I believe you. I've heard enough stories to know that much."
We share a short bout of laughter, enjoying our newfound camaraderie before a flash of lightening and the subsequent roar of thunder silenced us.
"Crap."
"What?", I looked from the sky to Wyn to see her eyebrows knitted together in worry.
"Kieran doesn't like thunder, he gets skittish when there's thunder.", she explained, scenting the air again and then setting off at a faster, more determined pace than before.
"Most animals don't like thunder, and I don't really blame them."
We stop speaking after that. There's really no need. Wyn appeared to have located Kieran, as she was headed towards the buildings that at closer inspection looked to be an abandoned farm. As we passed what could only have been the farms fields before, I understood why it'd been left.
The fields here were completely covered with dark, dead soil and vegetation. Little flakes of something black drifted up from the earth, reminding me of ash and yet not. It felt vaguely familiar, this view. But I was sure I'd never seen a Corrupted area this big before. I reached out to touch one of the flakes, wondering if it'd feel like touching the ashes in my grandmothers fireplace or maybe-
"Hey!"
I flinched back like I'd been burned when Wyn called out from behind me. She smiled apologetically when I turned to face her.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you but I think we should check these buildings out. His scent is really strong around the stables and the barn."
"Yeah.", I agreed and try to swallow down my heart, which felt like it was beating somewhere in my throat instead of in my chest like it was supposed to. "I'll go over there to check the barn then, you take the stables and we'll meet up in the middle when we're done."
Wyn nodded and without another word she entered the stables and disappeared in the darkness within. I shook my head at myself when I moved to walk to the barn, which was just next door to the stables.
Wow, really Zoya? One edge much?
I didn't really understand why, seeing as I was getting along pretty well with Wyn. In my own humble opinion at least...
The door to the barn was rusted shut, so the farm must've been abandoned for longer than I first thought. I was about to take a walk around the barn to see if there was another entrance when there was a noise from the roof of it.
My scowl quickly transformed into a shocked yelp when suddenly there was a big, heavy and furry body colliding with mine. When I opened my eyes next there were two fricking large paws on my shoulders pinning me to the ground, a mouth full of sharp fangs and a pair of bright green eyes glaring down at me.
All of these things belonging to one massive and angry looking wolf.Â
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Due to unforeseen personal circumstances, I will not be writing this paper.
That being said, I still think that this is a great project. And now that I no longer have the restrictions that come with having to use this for academic purposes, I can open it up. You're now welcome to write whatever you'd like. Non-fiction, chapters from books, fanfic...Whatever!. You're also welcome to reblog other people's work, quotations, images for inspiration. Anything you'd like as long as it stays on the topic of women.Â
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.
I have a great family. My dad has the best (or arguably worst) sense of humor, and he has heavily influenced my taste in movies and music throughout my life. My mom has diligently followed me to riding classes since I was very short, and happily helps build up the jumps our horse decides to trip over instead of jump over. My sister is my best friend. She is beautiful and smart and amazing in a way I hope I can ever be. I have few close friends, if any. The ones I see on occasion are all great though. They are beautiful and funny and smart and I could just stare at them and listen for hours, because they are wonderful.
I fucking hate you all.
I hate you because you stop me. Just the realization of what it would do to you if I died, stops me. I hate you so much for making me stay and endure. When I hear the train approach, your faces flash before me and I stand still. When I stand on top of the bridge, I see how devastated you would be, because you care, and I stand fucking still.
I hate you so much it hurts to breathe.
In which I actually mean that I love you more than I would love to leave.
May your features be delicate your skull a lace work pattern of sinuous symmetry smooth as glass and hidden by a stretch of skin, as rocks beneath new snow. May your bones not twist in offensive mistakes of nature may they not be blunt in shape nor course to the senses, rough as wood and sharp enough to cut. May they be that of small birds silk spun of spiders slight as scales. And not claws of a bear twisted curl of horn a tiger's jaw. But as bones are still only bone may they be lovely but may they break quickly.
âYouâre a woman of few words, a real lady, exactly how I like them.â Thatâs what he told me today with that so over-confident smirk on his face. Like he just expected I would let him walk all over me like a piece of gum on the ground because Iâm a real lady.
So I asked him as calm as I could, being that I was already offended by this misogynist and my day was not going well. I went into an appointment at the beauty salon and didnât get seen until an hour after my appointmentâthatâs only after I went to go complain to the managerâbecause they had over-booked themselves. Now how is that my problem? If I have an appointment at 3, I want to be seen at 3ânot at 4. Then because that took up so much time, I was late in running my errands. I had to run around town to pay bills before business shut down. I canât afford to pay no late fees in this economy. Iâm working two jobs and got no support from anyone else. And now Iâm waiting in line at the grocery market with only a cart of milk, bread, and peanut butter because I couldnât pick it up yesterday because I had to go get little Charlie sick from school. And this gentleman behinds me has the nerve to say that Iâm a real lady for not talking and yapping his ear off? I have already put up with too much today to be dealing with guys like him. And if Iâm a real lady, then what in the world is a fake lady?
So I asked him, âWhat exactly is that supposed to mean?â And I had a tight grip on my purse, getting ready to swing it at him if he said something that I didnât like. But I canât hit him because I canât go to jail over the likes of him. I have to work tomorrow to feed little Charlie, and Iâm pretty darn sure that it is impossible to wait tables in a jail cell.
The boy had the nerve to laugh. He laughed and said, âYou know, nice ladies arenât supposed to just talk to men as if they are equal. In fact, they shouldnât talk at all, nothing good ever comes out of their mouths.â
I really wanted to swing at him. In fact, I pictured myself cracking a glass wine bottle on his head. He thinks he can just insult me and every other woman. He thinks that being a man is so much more respectable so he can just degrade us woman to being nothing servants. Heâs probably one of those men who just expected his wife to fix him up a sandwich and beer as soon as he steps into the door. He shouldnât trust anything food coming from me if I was his wife, something more deadly than spit would end up in it. I wouldnât even regret.
âAnd you would just expect your daughters to be oppressed by any man because sheâs not supposed to speak up?â I questioned, one eyebrow raised high. âWhat if a guy is forcing himself on to a lady, is she just supposed to lay still and take itâbecause thatâs what real ladies do?â
He was taken aback, almost dropped his cheap beer on the ground. That would have been funny. âThatâs different!â he sputtered, as if I had threw out some absorbed idea. Like his idea of a real lady, being one who just complies without question, wasnât crazy. Every lady talks. It might not be at you, but they are going off in their heads or with their friends, gossiping worse and Old Miss Sally Pickles from church. Old Miss Sally Pickles from church knows everything about everybody and shares with anyone who will bother to listen to the old bat.
âItâs no different than a wife telling her husband that she doesnât want to cook dinner,â I faced forward and placed my basket onto the counter. Old Sam, the owner of the market, greeted me with a âhow do you do?â
The punk followed behind me. âItâs completely different,â he claimed, as if just because he said it itâs true. I could say I was a millionaire and had sexy men waiting outside for me with a limo, doesnât mean itâs true. But oh, how I wish that it could be true. Maybe my back would be hurting for overworking myself and I wouldnât have to worry so much about providing for little Charlie. His father left us when he was nothing but two feet tall. Iâm just trying to make enough money to make sure he gets out of this dump and go make something of himself.
âHow so?â I questioned. âBecause the lady isnât your daughter and your family is too good to follow any social standardsâeven your own? Or is it because the girl is being oppressed in the privacy of her home and not in public?â I chuckled when he couldnât come up with an answer. âI bet Iâm no real lady now, since Iâm running my mouth like this.â
I stand before the reflection of a person Iâve come to know over the years.
After years and years of looking hard, I know her so well.
I know her every thought, every detail and every last one of her faults.
Empty eyes stare back at me and though it is hard to recall what it was like before, I know there once was more than this blank gaze, more than these drooping eyebrows and the expressionless straight line of a mouth.
I donât wonder when that started changing. It isnât important.
This girl in front of me shifts her eyes, her gaze laid upon me as I watch her.
Tears, I wonder, what do they feel like again?
Right on cue, one glistening droplet caresses her cheek, slowly making its way down to her chin, where it holds on for dear life before dropping down, down, down into the sink.
I lift my fingers to my own skin and let my fingertips trace over the deep gash the water has left in this stony mask Iâve worn, but havenât really been trying to shed.
Gathering my courage, I get ready to do what I know needs to be done, to do what I have talked myself out of doing over and over and over again.
I gather my courage and I hold my breath andâŠ
I breathe the words, over and over.
I breathe them onto this mirror that shows this person Iâve hated for so long.
I breathe and breathe, then trace my fingers over the words some more.
And behind the words, I see a pair of lips
Not quite smiling, but trying to, trying so hard.
Trying so hard just to maybe look like the ghost of this girl I used to be before.
But itâs okay.
Because for today, I have come one step further than the day before.
Not quite happy, not quite there yet,
but definitely on my way.
So once more I say, that itâs okay.
Once more I say:
"My whole life, I've been told to talk to things that can't hear me, So that I never feel alone. I don't have to worry about that. The voices in my head let me know how they're feeling often enough. No, I know now why they told me to do this. It's so that no one else has to feel the pain that I feel. I can't hurt anyone if I'm quiet." By Shelby
The view from where Britt was standing sent cold chills of terror down her spine. She could see the entire battlefield unfold before her - she could hear how the cries and clashes echoed into a cacophony of horrors. The air surrounding the battlefield was misty with blood, and she could imagine smelling the blood that colored the air. Was her brother still alive? She trembled with fear for him. He could not possibly survive the nightmare below. She clutched her chest, fighting to breathe through the wall of horror that pushed against her. How could she live if he died? They had stuck together since they were born, one after the other. She could not live if he died.
"Help me then," his whisper was soft against her ears, and shattered the terror as if it was made out of badly baked clay. Tied together since birth, he had felt her fear and spoken to her, he had thought of her despite being in the midst of battle below. She felt determination take the place of fear, and she stood straight, gripping tight of her wooden staff, the snakes and cats carved into it boring into the flesh of her palm. She would not cower in fear, standing safe where she was, while the men below her died in the name of all she believed in.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then as she opened them again she started. The Galdr came naturally to her - this was what she was born to do. Words infused with power seemed to take the shape of swirling colors before her eyes, settling over her fighters, giving them strength and vigor beyond that of mere humans. She felt a hand take hers, and then the voices of her fellow sisters and brothers, priestesses and priests all joined in with hers. Colors swirled in the air and settled over their warriors, men and women. Power sank into their limbs, transforming them into beasts of power and might that plowed through their enemies like wheat on a field.
Never did they stop singing, taking power from the earth, as it was bloated with power from its still ongoing sacrifice of blood. Their throats and mouths dried out and their lips cracked and bled, but not once did they stop, for the might of the enemies was great even still. They sang through the day, and when the sun set and the full moon rose, howls of wolves, hoots of owls and cries of cats joined in with their singing. The power of the goddess in the moon strengthened the fighters further, and the power infused singing, coupled with the cries of the wildlife drove them into a frenzy, obliterating anything before them. Britt trembled with the forces coursing through her, her bones felt hot to the point of being cold; she was certain this singing would burn her, and she welcomed it gladly. She drank more of the earth's and moon's powers, serving as the connection through which the magic flowed and she burned in the process.
When the moon sank and the cold blue light of oncoming dawn settled over the world, their singing voices echoed like the whispers of the DĂsĂr, thin and eerie in a way that brought chills to their enemies bones. They rendered the enemies motionless with fright, as a whisper of a woman terrible and beautiful caressed his ears. Blinded them with hallucinations more terrifyingly beautiful than anything in this world had to offer.
When they stopped singing, the priestesses and priests fell down one by one, Britt being the last to feel her knees hit the ground. Her ears roared and she tasted blood in her mouth. She knew her goddess was calling her home and while she did not fear death, she would be loathed to part from her brother. As she faded from the world, the battle field was before her eyes. She saw her warriors, victorious and glowing with the remains of the magic still in their veins. There he was - her brother stood covered in blood and grime, his clear eyes awake and his stature proud, despite the weariness she sensed in his soul. He, together with the other victorious men and women, raised their weapons above their heads and cried in victory. Her spirit reached out to him and touched his. He stilled and his eyes went wide with realization. She could feel how he understood her fate and tears made clear streaks on his soiled face. She sent him comfort and whispered to him songs she knew, songs he could learn before she felt the pull of her goddess and she left him. He would be alright. So would she.Â
"He's all creamy skin, and soft hair and hard bone, and strong limbs; Cold hands and hot lips. I can taste the ocean on his chest and the Milky Way on his tongue." By Shelby
It had been about three and a half days since sheâd taken a shower. That was the strange thing about showers for her-she knew once she was in, it would be the greatest sixteen and a half minutes of the day, but it was getting in that she dreaded. It was just a wholly unlikeable process-taking off her clothes, piece by piece, setting them on top of the closed toilet lid, trying to avoid staring into the mirror lest she be trapped for the next five minutes wondering if sheâd always looked like that. And then there was the cold air around her as she waited for the water to get hot, raising on the gooseflesh on her arms and legs.
But she really couldn't get away with another day of dry shampoo and hats. She doubted she smelled much in the dead of winter, but it was that fact that made her push the limits of avoiding the shower past the usual every-other-day. Finally, it was time.
She got in when the water was painfully hot, rotating briskly in place under the shower head to try and keep from scalding herself. Her dark hair grew heavy with water and rather going straight for the shampoo- lemon and honey- she just stood under the slightly too small spray of water and waited. She couldn't be sure what she expected, but it wasn't to begin dissolving.
The interesting part was the lack of pain or fear even as she watched the water do away with her outstretched arms, like sand dissolving into the surf. She felt herself grow lighter and lighter, while her vision blurred like sheâd gone underwater. An overwhelming dizziness came over her, and the last thing she remembered was the map of the underground printed on her shower curtain, in a tangled ball of colored lines.
After that, there was only drifting. There was no sensation to speak of, but if she had to describe it, it was scattered. She could see light and dark at the same time, and a great pull in several directions at once. At one point, she saw the moon, hanging full and enormous above her, as if it was floating a mere step away. She saw the craters and valleys like sheâd never seen them before, forming a lacey design of shadows across the glowing surface.
Suddenly, she became the tide coming in on the beach. She was propelled, so far and so fast and then she broke against the ankles of squealing children and their watchful parents. So light she was when she became the sea foam that built up in the early morning, in iridescent clumps on the sand.
The sun bore down and bore her up, she fell as the rain to the bottom of valleys and she drifted as the snow upon the tops of mountains. She froze as ice upon the face of a river and rolled as the tears down the cheeks of a child. One time she was the fog that rose up over the sea, shrouding a tiny beach town for hours. She floated on until she condensed into the dew on a sagging plastic slide.
Another time, in some unknown place, she was the sweat on the back of a pair of lovers, caught in a maelstrom of certain desire and blossoming life. She coursed down between the trembling shoulders and into a rushing creek pouring itself into a river. From the wide banks of a silent river, she found herself in a pipeline, pulsing through the veins of a city that slept, albeit fitfully.
And then she was whole again, wholly her former self, with arms and legs and dark hair clinging wetly to her back. She was sprawled on the smooth bottom of a bathtub with the water running over her, but looking up at the shampoo bottles and the shower curtain depicting an array of garden herbs,, she realized this wasn't her bathroom. She could hear movement beyond the curtain, a shadowed figure attending to itself by a running sink. Any second now that person was going to pull back the curtain to discover a stranger in their bathtub. How deeply she wanted to melt away again and slip down the drain in that moment, but in the next, as she looked up into a round, bewildered face sprinkled with light brown freckles across the nose, she was glad that she hadn't.
