Prologue – Visions of Black

“How long has she been asleep?”

A bespectacled brown-haired man adjusted his gloves as he asked that question, his expression like unyielding stone. The young healer’s apprentice he was speaking to shook a little, intimidated by his mere presence.

“S-Six days, Mayor R-Reddington,” She squeaked out with some effort. “S-She won’t react to any of our s-smelling salts or herbal remedies.”

“Hm. How unusual,” He muttered under his breath, shifting his attention away from his conversation partner. The young healer quietly sighed in relief. “I was told that the ingredients you and your seniors use in your concoctions are particularly potent around the area near the White Tower.”

“T-They are. Truth be told, M-Mayor Reddington, my seniors and I are at a loss as well.” The healer turned her gaze downward, shamefaced. “W-We tried everything. Even the rare drugs that only have a minor inventory of, but it’s all been fruitless in the end. She won’t wake up. At this point, m-my seniors and I have resigned ourselves to waiting.”

“She’s in a coma, then.”

“...I’m so sorry…”

Silence hung between them as they turned their eyes to the subject of their worries, who lay still and unmoving in the hospice bed that cradled her form. Everything about her white, a pale white that almost glowed when caught in the shadows. She wore a simple white dress with a deep V-neckline held up by black straps that slid off her shoulders. Someone had folded her hands over each other above her chest and if not for the subtle rise and fall of it, one could have assumed that she was a part of the recently deceased.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” the mayor eventually said. “You and your seniors have done your best. Is she healthy, at least?”

“Yes!” The young healer nodded, happy to at least have one positive note. “No extraneous injuries whatsoever. She isn’t sick either.”

“What do you make of her… other appendages, then?”

Silence rang out again. The young healer pursed her lips.

“...They aren’t a condition or something that’s there for show, Mayor Reddington.” She started slowly. “Her tail is as bulky and flexible as any other limb and her scales truly are growing from her skin. The horns threw us all off– It looks like a circlet, does it not? But when we tried to check her head for injuries or a concussion, we found… bone stubs from where they connect to the top of her head.”

The healer didn’t see, but the Mayor’s expression had shifted minutely into one of unbridled interest. He leaned in closer to the sleeping girl’s cot, tracing the black of her almost ornamental horns.

The young healer continued on unhindered. “In all likelihood, she was born with those traits, making her a therianthrope. I don’t know any therianthropes that look the way she does though.” She glanced at the mayor. “Where did you find her again, Mayor Reddington?”

The mayor met the healer’s gaze, the expression of interest abating into a more neutral look. “Not me. It was the guardians who found her,” He explained. “She was leaning against the gate already fast asleep. No matter how much the guardians shook her or yelled into her ear, she wouldn’t wake up, so they feared the worst.”

“A traveler, then?” The healer moved to write something on her clipboard.

“...Perhaps not…” Her pen paused just as it touched the paper, the healer glancing up in surprise as Mayor Reddington folded his hands behind his back. “She was leaning on the East Gate, not the West.”

“From the Rift Valleys?” The healer gasped.

“Apparently so.” He nodded once. “She might very well be an Explorer. Those types are always the extraordinary sort.”

“It would explain how she passed through the Rift Valleys with nary a scratch…” The healer muttered. “But Explorers don’t come around these parts? Not since Fort Damocles was built and Ascalon City around it.”

“It is quite the mystery, but I’m certain we’ll get our answers when she wakes up.” Mayor Reddington leveled a stare at the healer, causing her to shrink back into herself. “Please continue to monitor her condition. Something in my gut tells me that whatever tale she tells will bring new opportunities to Cassius.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“O-Opportunities, sir?” The young healer internally cursed the return of her stutter.

“Think about it. A possible Explorer coming to our town from the Rift Valleys. Why would anyone ever go through there? The terrain is treacherous, and as one of the areas greatly affected by the rise of the White Tower, the place is teeming with dangerous monsters. No one wants to go through the extra effort, so the only reason anyone would is if something was in that direction.”

He nudged his glasses. “Granted, I might be hoping for too much, but Cassius needs any business it can get. Hard times have been falling on us ever since the office was passed to me, and I will not have my time as Mayor be defined as ‘the end of the good old days’.”

“Y-You’re doing your best, Mayor Reddington.” The healer piped up, sincerity in her words. “It’s not your fault that the Central Road exists. We still have time to reinvent ourselves!”

For the first time in their interaction, the mayor’s lips curled slightly upward, touched by his citizen’s concern. “That we do. I just hope we can find our way soon before the economy worsens.” He folded his hands behind his back. “Stagnancy will kill us long before any monster does and I must admit, my son has been getting antsy being cooped up in town.”

“Mr. Ignis, sir?”

“He’s at that age where he wants to go out and discover new things,” the mayor said. “Much like his mother. In fact, I believe that he and your patient here should be around the same age. I wonder if–”

A wooden clipboard clattered to the ground.

“You’re awake!” The young healer exclaimed, rushing to the unoccupied bedside. Mayor Reddington’s eyes widened, the man stepping back to let the healer do her job. “Don’t push yourself, alright? Stay with me.”

“Mhm…” A faint groan arose from the once-slumbering patient as she pried her eyes open. The sole outside witness to this moment felt a part of his freeze, caught in the tresses of her pale rose-gold and gilded pink.

Eyes he had never seen before. Almost unnatural colors of an almost inhuman girl.

“Drink this.” The healer brought to her lips a glass vessel shaped like a smoking pipe. “It’s an oral rehydration solution. Perfect for quenching thirst.”

At first, it didn’t seem like the scaled girl understood. She kept glancing between the healer and the vessel, gaze uncomprehending. It was only when the healer propped up her head and pressed the metal opening to her lips did she finally drink. Slow and tiny sips, so when she swallowed there was no sound.

“Excellent. Well done.” The healer praised once the vessel was half-empty. “I will be asking you some questions to stimulate your cognition. They’re very easy. Just nod once for ‘yes’ answers and shake your head for ‘no’ answers. Do you understand me?”

Mayor Reddington busied himself with picking up the healer’s dropped clipboard, handing it back to her as the patient nodded along.

“Wonderful. That means we share a language.” The healer smiled as she wrote that down, all of her earlier shyness gone as she stepped into her element. “Can you speak?”

The one in the bed blinked and opened her mouth. There was a wheezing sound like she was trying to breathe through it, but after a while, she simply shook her head.

“You’ve been asleep for six days now. I’m sure your vocal cords just need some time to warm up again,” The healer reassured. “Can you write? If so, we can substitute with chalk and a slate. It should also help you exercise your hands.”

The girl nodded once more.

“Great!” The healer turned to the still-silent Mayor. “Please keep an eye on her, Mayor Reddington. I’ll be right back.”

And before he could utter a word of acceptance or protest, she vanished out the door.

Silence hung between them, the stern and serious mayor unable to find any words for the current mute girl. She radiated quiet confusion, her slightly clawed hands scrunching up the blanket draped over her. It reminded him of the image of a sad, lost puppy.

“...Do you know where you are?”

A shake of the head.

“This is Cassius Town, northwest of the White Tower. You were found leaning on the East Gate, completely unconscious. Do you know how you ended up in that state?”

Another shake, more frustrated this time.

Something unsettling began to nestle in his gut. “You came from the Rift Valleys, which are full of monsters. However, you were completely uninjured and no toxins were found in your body. Do you know what you were doing there?”

She bit her lips as she once again gestured ‘no’.

“...Young lady.” He met her gaze, foreboding intuition pushing him onward. “Do you know your name?”

Silence. Piercing, ringing, devoid of life silence.

A slow, slow shake of the head.

“Do you know who you are?”

Glassy eyes that shed no tears were her only response.

“...You don’t remember anything, do you?”

Quietly, hauntingly, the girl from nowhere… nodded her head.

When the healer finally returned, the mayor had long since left. Horror and disappointment hung in the room like an oppressive specter. The girl with the scales had laid back down on the bed, a despondent look in her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling.

Concerned and confused, the young healer tried to inject some positivity in her voice, trying to infect the now listless patient. She handed her the slate, gave her some chalk, and asked for her name.

Nothing.

And for the next two days after, nothing was written on that slate.