How Not to Stay in Your Own Lane
“Lin, please!” The boy laughed as his minder’s voice sounded from somewhere over to his left.
“Come on, Ge!” Lin whined. He slipped down another embankment. “Lighten up! I’ll only be gone for a sleep! That’s not so bad!”
“The Commander will kill me if I let you wander off and get hurt again!” Ge’s voice was sounding more and more distant.
“I won’t get hurt!” Lin spun around to face the abyssal coming up over the hill. Their lion-like head shook in dismay. “I’m human, Ge. They wouldn’t even think to hurt me!”
“Yeah, you’re human.” Ge furrowed his brow. The bullheaded abyssal’s ears twitched back. “That’s the problem. You can go through the barrier, but I can’t. Commander Azun told me to stay with you! How can I follow you through that?!”
“You can’t.” Lin shrugged and continued for the beacon of light shining in the distance.
“Lin!”
“Ge!” Lin grinned over his shoulder. “If Uncle finds out just tell him that you couldn’t stop me. He knows exactly what that’s like.”
“He’ll make me run laps until my hooves bleed! Lin, please!”
“Sorry, Ge!” He tossed out as he turned back around. “Bibi told me to explore human culture when I could! Bibi’s request trumps Uncle’s commands!”
Ge’s wail followed him out into the open mushroom plains that surrounded the human city. The tiny glowlight abyssals that swirled around him made his smile widen until his cheeks hurt.
He stumbled to a stop when he reached the barrier’s edge. He gasped when he took in the beautiful tapestry of runes that made up the barrier’s wards.
Lin raised a hand up to touch the glowing symbols and blinked when his hand passed through as if there was nothing there. The glowlight abyssals gathered around his wrist, flashing feelings of curiosity into his skin. They scattered as he pressed further into the barrier until he was all the way through.
He turned and gave the swarming glowlights a tiny wave before cautiously making his way into the city.
He had never seen so many humans in one place before! Lin hugged the side of the street as human after human trudged along one after another. He grinned at the little baby humans that were giggling together by a shop stand and the adult that was speaking to them.
He slowly began to make his way through the marketplace, following new smells and sounds until he found himself in front of a large gate. The gate doors stood large and opposing and when Lin looked up he could see people walking along the top of the wall.
‘Now what’s in here?’
He began tracing around the wall, stepping off of the path and walking amongst the carefully curated flora that littered the dark soil. Surely enough, as he glanced up during his walk, less and less humans wandered the upper areas. Eventually he found a place with no humans in sight and began his climb.
Hand over hand he climbed, clinging to tiny outcroppings and little divots, until he reached the top. There he paused and took in the gossamer threads sticking loosely to the stone. He touched the faint runes and winced when they immediately shattered into nothing.
A quick shake of the head refocused him into crashing through the threads, completely destroying a small section of the lacy something that clung to the wall. Once on top of the ramparts, he paused to take in the castle that stood beyond the walls.
The place was a creation of beauty, white stone delicately glowing with mined shimmer gems made the building look ethereal, like something out of a dream. Lin couldn’t recall ever seeing something like this before, even from his former home in God’s Eye. Perhaps this city was wealthier than God’s Eye.
He shrugged before leaping off of the ramparts and catching himself on the castle’s gem covered wall. He found he had a much easier time scaling the castle and soon found himself climbing over the edge of a balcony.
He perched himself on the edge of the railing, intent to explore the room that was open to him, only to pause when movement caught his eye.
“Why weren’t you with him?!”
Lin blinked as he took in the scene within the room. A group of people were clustered around a bed. A woman was pacing the floor, her face twisted and red. A young man stood near her, head tilted to the floor. Two more men sat directly beside the bed were a young man slept, each grasping one of his hands.
“Darling,” the older man by the bed sighed, “Arjun has his own duties. He can’t be by Zhen every minute of the day.”
“No, Dad. Mom is right. I should have paid more attention.” The standing man (Arjun?) mumbled.
“The blame doesn’t rest only with you.” The younger man by the bed said, voice shaky. “He had been asking to train with me. Maybe if I had agreed-”
“Kishan, you were training soldiers! It wasn’t some little spar!” Arjun yelled. “I should have been with him.”
“What’s done is done.” The older man’s tone was hard. “We can only wait for Zhen’s swift recovery.”
“It’s been two days, Jaiben.” The woman turned to glare at him.
“We’re all worried, my dear. The doctor said we could only wait and-”
“Who the hell are you?!” Lin jumped, almost falling off his perch as Arjun suddenly yelled spearing him with a glare.
Lin looked up and let out a nervous laugh when everyone’s eyes snapped to him. “Um, just passing through?”
The yelp Lin let out when Arjun threw a pot at his head was frankly embarrassing. He leaned backward to avoid a bloody nose before yanking himself forward and onto solid ground. He jumped up to run but froze when he found a blade pointed at his throat.
“No sudden moves.” Kishan’s voice was calm even with his knuckles white around his spear’s shaft.
Lin swallowed, nodded, and slowly raised his hands. Kishan directed him into the room, shutting the balcony doors behind them Lin winced when the lock clicked into place.
“Who are you?” The woman growled, her short stature doing nothing to hide how strong she was.
“Uh,” Lin’s eyes traced the room but the rustle of cloth brought them back to her. The knife in her hand stamped out any thought of escape. “My name is Lin, ma’am. I’m a traveler.”
“How did you get in?”
“I climbed over the wall.”
“How?” She demanded.
“What do you mean?” Lin frowned.
“There’s a privacy ward over the perimeter.”
“That’s what that was?” Lin tilted his head. “It was so flimsy, I didn’t realize.”
“Flimsy?!” She yelped. “That’s been there for generations!”
“That’s probably why then.” Lin looked away as her face went red again. His eyes strayed to the person on the bed. His frown deepened as he took in the pink glow emanating from the person’s core.
“You little-!”
“Why haven’t you told her to leave yet?” Lin nodded toward the bed. “That can’t be good for him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The abyssal possessing him.”
The room went silent. Lin looked around at them.
“What?” Jaiben breathed.
“He’s got an abyssal possessing him.” Lin’s head tilted. “You didn’t know?”
“You’re lying!” Arjun snarled. “There’s no way an abyssal could get past the barrier!”
“They could if they were riding a human.” Lin shook his head. “I could try to get her out for you?”
“You’re out of your mind!” Arjun scoffed.
“Do you think you can?” Lin blinked, turning back to look at the woman when she whispered.
“Yeah.” Lin shrugged. “She’s not in there very deep.”
“Kishan.” She commanded. Lin grinned when the blade withdrew, moving to hover at the ready by Kishan’s side.
“Alright, let’s see.” Lin placed his pack by the window and moved to the bed. He gave Jaiben a small bow. “Excuse me, sir.”
Jaiben nodded back and moved from his chair.
As Lin sat down he studied the spell hovering just above the person’s body. He rolled his eyes at the overly complex runic symbols and raised a hand. With one quick strike the spell shattered to bits.
Many things happened at once.
Kishan lunged to stop Arjun from clocking Lin with another pot.
The woman shrieked.
Jaiben shot forward and grabbed Lin’s shoulder.
The person on the bed came alive and moved to claw at Lin’s face. Lin blocked each hand, caught them in his grasp and pinned them to the bed.
“Let go of me, Lin!” The person’s voice was forced so high it squeaked.
“What are you doing, Sherry?” Lin gentled his own voice.
“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ This body is gorgeous!”
“Sherry.”
“It’s beautiful, Lin! I had to have it!” Sherry wriggled her borrowed wrists.
“It was in use.”
“It was being wasted!” She pouted. “All this beauty lost on some man who didn’t know what to do with it.”
“Sherry. Leave. Now.” Lin’s tone hardened.
“I don’t want to!”
“Do it.”
“No!”
“Sherry, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way, you are going to leave.”
“No!” Sherry lifted her borrowed nose and looked away.
“Have it your way then.” Lin shrugged. In a second his hand closed on the place over the person’s heart and light flashed between them.
“No!” Sherry shrieked, screaming as Lin slowly pulled a pink light from the person’s chest.
The light vibrated wildly in his hand. Lin places the light to his lips and blew. The light dissolved with his breath, banished away from the city.
A groan from under him made him turn to take in two soft hazel eyes.
“There you are.” Lin smiled, getting a split second of a return smile before being firmly shoved off of the chair by several hands.
“Zhen!”