Falko walked off to his wagon. Violet stayed where she was. Meia would continue to watch her, but she was distracted, because in the meantime the fairy had arrived and it seemed as if she wanted something. She had just put her bowl on the bench, but hadn't sat down herself. She looked at Meia and said nothing. Meia had already recognized it from a distance: The fairy looked as if she hadn't slept for days. Dark shadows hung under her eyes like rain clouds. There were red veins in the whites. She looked completely exhausted.

The fairy floated away from the square and came in front of Meia. At the same time, Meia noticed that Violet had looked up at them. When the fairy was in front of her, she looked into her eyes and then suddenly smiled. It was the kind of smile that made you embarrassed when you got it. Meia swallowed. What did she want? She still didn't say anything. She just looked into her eyes.

It was strange. Meia felt like she was drowning in a lake. The stars shimmered on the surface. The water was bright blue. - It was not a good feeling.

The lake seemed infinitely deep. The blackness stretched out its fingers. And there was a shadow above the surface.

Meia drowned out of fear. A flap of wings stirred up the night sky. The stars fell into the lake and drowned with her. The air was exhausted and Meia caught her breath. At that moment, she felt a tingling sensation on her tongue and in her nose, then down her throat and all the way into her lungs. She bent over out of reflex. Then she did nothing anymore. Her body stopped moving. The stars sank into the blackness like grains of sand in a watch glass. Everything vanished into it. All her problems. All thoughts. The whole world. All that remained was darkness. Was that how it felt to drown?

Meia was not alone. In the blackness, the shadow lurked. But Meia was no longer afraid. Why should she be? Had she ever been afraid? This place was where she belonged. She was where she was supposed to be. A deep inner peace filled her. She waited quietly. Little by little, the shadow filled with colors. It was as if the colors were being poured into a mold. They were all the colors there were. They were precious, since there were no others. After a certain amount of time, the body was complete. Giant wings emerged from the darkness. Glittering dust gently trickled from them. They were the most beautiful thing Meia had ever seen and she recognized them immediately - the wings of her master.

Meia was overcome with joy. It seemed her master had an order for her. Any would do. She would do anything to make her master happy. The wings flapped inwards, right towards her. Meia caught a breeze and waited eagerly to hear the words the wind brought her. But she couldn't hear anything. She hadn't heard the voice. Something had distracted her. There was a small crack in the world beneath her knees. Where had it come from? Nothing should be here. It had colors Meia didn't know. Nothing should have colors.

Meia put her hand on the crack to feel what it should be. As she did, the crack got longer and longer. The crack spread out abruptly. Meia panicked. It was unstoppable. The world was like a broken mirror. She had betrayed her master. Why hadn't she obeyed as she should? Someone had seduced her, but it was her mistake. It was an unforgivable mistake. Meia spat out blood and collapsed. With the last of her strength, she reached out for her master. Meia died.

The light shattered the darkness. The wings disintegrated like dried leaves. The blackness dissipated like black smoke in the wind. Meia sat on the carriage again.

"Fufu, looks like she resisted you."

"Don't get any ideas."

Meia was threatened. She didn't even really know where she was. She felt as if she hadn't been in control of her senses for a moment.

"Subjugation was probably a bit much. Why don't you try it the other way around, Lyr?"

"Probably rusty. Hahaha..."

"Fufu..."

Violet and Falko laughed.

Lyr's head turned bright red and her face shook with rage. She looked like she was about to explode.

"Shut up down there! Especially you in the back. Or do you want to give it a try?"

Falko immediately fell silent and went back to turning his wagon.

The fairy sat down on the far right side of the bench. She sat as far away as she could. She didn't want to be near Meia.

Meia now understood that she had been influenced in some way. During the effect, she only had a numb consciousness. It was as if a copy of her had taken control of her body. She no longer had any control over it. She was pushed into the farthest corner of her consciousness by the copy and was forced to watch in silence. She still had all her senses and could feel every movement, but could no longer do anything. She could feel the emotions of her copy and hear its thoughts. Meanwhile, her own thoughts were nipped in the bud and her own emotions were overlaid by the strangers. It was like a nightmare that was only faintly remembered after waking up.

Due to the persistent foreign impressions, she had slowly built up a connection to her copy and adopted some of its guidelines. But when Meia saw the light in the crack beneath the copy, she wanted it. She screamed to her copy as loud as she could, then the copy grabbed the light and died. But what if she hadn't managed to persuade it to do so? At some point, she might have forgotten who she was. Would she then have resigned herself to being just part of someone else's mind? Would she have disappeared into her copy? It was a terrifying thought. It sent a shiver down her spine. That such a small being possessed so much might... Even if the copy would always grasp the light, they could have done whatever they wanted to her in the time until then without her being able to defend herself. It was truly terrifying.

"But pretty impressive. Meiandra, was it? Come down here."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Violet came up to the carriage. She suddenly seemed interested in her. Meia had wanted that. But she had an uneasy feeling about this. Since she war asked, she put her bowl on the bench and climbed down. As she did so, the fairy was already stealing her seat. It certainly wasn't about the piece of bench, but probably more about being able to see better what would happen down by the carriage. The fairy seemed curious herself. At the latest now, Meia had a bad feeling about this.

"You were a swordsman."

Meia wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question.

"I- I just had some teaching."

"Mhm... Some... One second."

Violet left Meia standing and strolled over to the wagon, more specifically to the masked woman who was still standing there, as if she had been ordered and not picked up.

"The man will turn his wagon around, then we'll rest for fifteen minutes. In that time, I'd like to give the girls something to eat."

"Um."

"And can I have your sword for a moment?"

"Um."

The sword was strapped to her belt. Meia was sure she had heard a slight discontent in the sound. Nevertheless, the masked woman immediately began to untie the sword.

Violet stopped her: "Without the scabbard is fine."

The masked woman stopped. "Um." She pulled the sword out of its scabbard. It was so long that she had to stretch her arm fully to draw it completely.

Meia could tell from the sound alone that it was an expensive sword. When she saw the silver sheen of the blade, she felt confirmed. This was anything but a cheap sword. At that moment, no one seemed to be surprised except her. That surprised her even more. The sword type was a mass-produced war sword. The design was inconspicuous. The belt was the wrong one. Who would expect an expensive sword? On the other hand, Violet probably already knew that the sword only looked cheap.

"... Don't break it." the masked woman asked quietly. It was so quiet that it wasn't even really addressed to Violet.

Violet took the sword. "Don't worry, I won't divide you for too long." she spoke with emphasis on the last word. "Fufu." Violet smirked to herself.

Meia was confused. Such a long sword would be held close to the blade, but Violet held it in the middle of the handle. Perhaps she wanted to change her grip later? What did she want with the sword anyway? When Meia listened again, she was even more irritated. Suddenly everyone was quiet. Had she missed something? Why the silence?

The silence persisted. Yuri stood motionless in front of Violet and stared at her. No one did anything. No one said anything. Only the wind breathed wearily through the leaves of the trees, as if it were a yawn.

Finally, the fairy called out from the carriage: "Violet, you're confusing charm with shame again!"

With that, the masked woman turned away and raised her hand to the mask. She made a soft noise that sounded like a mixture of suppressed laughter and giggling.

"Pfff..."

"You're laughing at that now? - You all have no sense of humor. I've gotten a laugh for the same line in the pub before."

"Was anyone else there?"

Falko raised his hand. "I found it very amusing." He took sides.

"But I didn't hear anything from you either."

"I just didn't want to steal the spotlight."

"Oh, shut up!" Violet cut him off. "And turn your wagon around!"

"It's just very cramped here."

"Do you want me to help?"

It sounded like a threat.

"No, I'll get on with it."

The carriage was still horizontal. The horse didn't really want to. The road was sloping at the rear wheels. It probably wasn't that easy.

"Your sense of humor is just non-existent."

"Better than yours in the red light!"

"Did you see him there at work?"

"Pfff..."

"Dammit, Yuri!"

While all this was going on, Meia mainly looked at the sword. Now that she knew it wasn't just junk, she was a little interested.

The sword was something like a kriegsmesser (war knife). A kriegsmesser was a sword from Jena. It was single-edged and straight with a rounded tip, like that of a sabre. There were other swords that were called messer, but the kriegsmesser was the most well-known in Jena. Basically, all messer were easily recognizable. In contrast to other swords, they had a handle that was constructed like that of a knife; hence the name. In addition to a crossguard, messer had an additional distinctive hand guard called a nail. A nail was a protruding piece of metal, usually at the height of the crossguard, the end of which was often bent towards the hand. The nail protected the back of the hand. There were certainly swords with a nail that were not messer, but it was still a typical distinguishing mark for messer. They were called messer because they looked like knives, but the name was also self-ironic. They were usually not small weapons. Kriegsmesser were two-handed swords. They were heavy, hard, strong in cutting and with high penetrating power. They were good swords if you wanted to chop something to pieces without breaking a sweat. Despite their advantages, kriegsmesser were not often seen nowadays.

Due to their high hardness and shape, war knives were strong in cutting, but due to their high hardness they were also prone to breaking and strong cutting also meant high wear and tear and high susceptibility to damage. It was not a suitable weapon for beginners in particular, as quite a few swordsmen were trained in weapon destruction. The cutting power was due to the size and not the thickness of the material. Every two-handed sword was heavy, but single-edged two-handed swords were usually relatively light. If you really wanted to have some oomph, then a double-edged sword was often better. It was therefore not a suitable weapon for beginners in particular, because one of the first things every swordsman learned was how to break guards. It was easier if you had more oomph. But the biggest disadvantage was the lack of flexibility. Speed was everything.

Kriegsmesser may have been called kriegsmesser, but the name came from a time when soldiers were farmers. War knives were neither specialized enough nor flexible enough to still play a role today. They were well suited to cutting through softer materials without much effort. The cutting ability was impressive in a demonstration, but in a real battle that was only important when you landed a hit. The saying among soldiers was that if you wanted a kriegsmesser, all you had to do was search in the grass.

The sword of the masked woman was the foreign equivalent of the kriegsmesser. It came from Ceramare and was called tachi. It was also a peasant weapon, but there were very clear differences to the war knife. Today, tachi were mostly remnants of mass production for use in war. The material was cheap. The quality was low. Costs had been cut at every corner; even more so than with the kriegsmesser. Even in concept, a tachi did not even have a crossguard. In a derogatory way, you could say it was sharpened steel with a handle. That was not meant as criticism. After all, it was intentional. War knives and tachi were both designed not for highly trained swordsmen, but for peasants with light armor fighting peasants with light armor. A peasant didn't live long on the battlefield and then the sword was left abandoned. If it was expensive, it was a pity.

In contrast to the kriegsmesser, the blade of the tachi was curved. As a result, the tachi cut a little deeper when struck with a pull and was somewhat easier to align with the edge. It cut through armor more easily and was easier to wield. Single-edged swords were easier to wield than double-edged swords. Curved swords were easier to wield than straight swords. A tachi was very easy to wield. There was no need to think. You simply struck your opponent with the side that was sharp. But after that...

A tachi was very easy to wield, but it was absolutely not a weapon for beginners; even less so than a kriegmesser. A tachi was designed for killing, not for survival. The metal missing from the crossguard was to the emperor already more valuable than the farmer's hands. It didn't matter if the farmer died as long as he took more lives than one.

.../ End Part