Oswin's eyes shoot open. He wearily looks around and sees he's still in the tower. A shot of pain fires in the back of his head and he groans, reaching up to rub the swollen bump and finding a soft cushion behind his head as well as one behind his back.
"Well, that was quite a hit you took there." Hrithika's voice causes a flinch in Oswin.
"God, you scared me… How long have I been out?”
"Three weeks."
"WHAT!" Oswin shoots up, a whirlwind of lightheadedness sending him crashing back to the ground.
"I'm kidding! Good Lord, do they teach you nobles anything about comedy? It's been about two hours. Viralia tried getting in a couple of times, but that obviously wasn't gonna work. You need a more secure bedroom door though. That passage isn't as hidden as you probably want it to be…"
"Right, thank you. I'll have to have some workers take care of that."
"Nooo. No. N-O, no. If Viralia hears even a whiff of this, she'll probably tear the whole room up and down."
"Ah. True. Why is she so… insistent about keeping track of me? It's ridiculous… I'm not a child, I know my way around and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Uh-huh, this isn't the first time I've had to move you while unconscious, sir. Are you sure about that last statement?"
"... No need to be so blunt about it." He gruffs and looks over the room again, seeing it halfway cleaned up. Hrithika cackles and continues picking up the havoc she wreaked on the room. "Thank you. For picking up, I mean."
"Pssh, I know how to clean up after myself. How do you think I slink around so well?" She shoots Oswin a sly grin.
"Fair enough. So… How long have you been under the kingdom?" Hrithika's body freezes in place, her eyes seemingly locked in space.
"It's been about eleven years, Oz," she says softly without breaking her gaze.
"Wow… What sort of… test did they give you?"
"Well… They tried just about everything. No one could hit me in the arena but I refused to fight and just dodged anything they threw at me, I could do basically nothing in the nature group because I have the worst green thumb. Manufacturing didn't do it for me either, felt too… inhuman. Nothing they really tried fit, but they couldn't exactly let me leave. Dunno if you've noticed but they're very strict about powers outside of the inner ring."
"Yeah… I've been forced to partake for twenty-nine years. It wasn't until the past few that I learned what was really happening behind those doors. I was…. Abhorrent. I knew I had to do something, but… honestly, I feel I don't have much choice in the matter. My time is dictated by servants, and I have no idea what my day has in store for me. I feel like I'm just sweeping through my life, brushing by anything that holds any meaning… I'm sorry, I'm rambling."
"No… please," Hrithika is immediately in front of Oswin, crouched down and making direct eye contact, "This is the first real conversation I've had in ten years. The last thing I want to hear is an apology."
Oswin quietly chuckles, "Understood. I'll try to refrain in the future." He palms the pendant around his neck, eyeing it and noticing the crack has grown to take up more than half of the gem. Before he can have any thoughts, as his thumb runs over the crack of the amethyst, a zapping feeling courses through his mind, sending him keeling over onto the ground. Hrithika jumps forward, unsure of what to do, but all Oswin can manage is to point toward a cabinet on the far side of the room. She runs over and swings open the small doors, only a few different packets of paper resting inside. Hrithika desperately holds all of them up and, even with his eyes closed, Oswin's finger hooks to the right. She shoves the other two back into the cabinet and runs over, pushing the stack into Oswin's extended hand. He slings the file open and begins reading, a searing pain fills his head and he lets out an exasperated scream of overstimulation.
His eyes shut for the briefest moment, opening to see a small field surrounding him, a distant hut on the crest of the horizon. God… why must this process get more painful every time? He first notices that five girls have huddled around, and then quickly recognizes that they're the same girls he's been watching this entire time. Wait, five plus this one makes six… where's the last one? What was her name again… Bela! That's right, where is she?
"Thanks for coming everyone, I've got something bad to share…" a voice resonates through Oswin's head, and he realizes he's seeing Cayna's view, "I saw something…"
"Well…?" Mira speaks up, tapping her foot on the ground.
Cayna shuffles in place for a moment before continuing, "It's about Bela… I think I saw her… her power forming…" The girls don't seem to notice Cayna's somber expression, showing more interest in Bela's Specialty than anything.
"Ooh, what is it?" Aisha coos.
"I bet it's something like light," Tesni's voice writhed with distaste.
"She…" Cayna's vocals trembled as she struggled to form words, "I saw her… consume another person…"
A cacophony of 'what?' followed this remark, everyone's attention focusing solely on her, all separate conversations dropping instantly.
"It's… hard to describe. I was following her and this stranger tripped as they got close to Bela, and she ran to help them up but…" Cayna's voice trails off as she vividly imagines what happened that day. Oswin gets a flashing memory of the pile of a body she saw before, twinging and trying to close his eyes but is unable to avoid the sight. "She took their hand, and they just… melted…" Cayna's vision blurs as she struggles to recall the horrible memory. A few of the girls' faces fill with shock and start trying to ask questions, but Mira hushes everyone and takes Cayna's hand.
"It's okay, take your time."
Stolen novel; please report.
Cayna sniffles, the first tears leaving her water-filled eyes, rolling gently down her cheek. "They melted… and Bela… she couldn't let go. The body was just… a blob." Looks of concern begin painting the faces of the girls, unsure of how to react. Cayna sees their collective reaction and with her mouth moving before she can think, she blurts out, "It's not her fault! She didn't get to choose her power just like we didn't!"
Mira pulls Cayna in and nooks her head in her twin's neck. "We know. It isn't that… it's more an issue of how do we deal with something like that…"
"Deal with?! She is our sister!" She shouts loudly at Mira, who recoils back.
"No, that isn't what I meant! You know that! I just… I don't know how we would help her handle it."
Cayna cools her head, taking a few deep breaths. "The worst part was… the blob .. the body, the person... It kind of… shrunk, and it was sort of… I don't know how to describe it. It was… pumping? I think that word fits… it was pumping into Bela's fingers. She was… absorbing them until there was nothing left… just a puddle of blood." Tears pour from her eyes.
Terra speaks up, rather bluntly, "Well, how long ago did this happen?"
Cayna sniffles irregularly and rapidly, trying to get out any words she can. "It was… a little over a year ago."
Terra's eyes widen and she nearly lunges at Cayna, restraining herself at the last moment. "What made you wait so long to tell us!"
"I- s-saw a- vision…" her breathing slows down, and she takes a small handkerchief, using it to wipe her face before continuing. "It was not long after what happened."
"Another one?" Mira nearly groaned, knowing that these visions were never anything too serious, but tried to stay supportive. "What was it?"
"This one wasn't like the others… It was in my dream." Cayna shifts uncomfortably in place, all of the girls exchanging glances of distress.
"But…" Nephele's timid voice wisps in the quiet air, "What does that mean? You only see them when you're awake…"
Mira looks delicately into Cayna's eyes, holding her twin sister's face, and asks gently, "Can you tell us what you saw?" Cayna meets her gaze and nods softly. Mira backs up a step to give her some room to breathe.
"I remember… all of us coming together. Everyone except Bela, like right now only… we look older. We were… in a ring, and all of us were using our power except… it wasn't our physical power… it felt… like this immense energy… an aura almost. Each one of ours was a different color." Cayna steps through the distant vision carefully, all of the girls silent, enamored by the tale. "I saw us all focus this… aura… into the center of the ring, a swirling glowing ball of pure energy started taking shape… and then a bright flash of light sent us all onto our backs. Once we sat back up, in each of our palms was… a gem." Aisha takes the opportunity to fire off some questions.
"A gem? What good is that gonna be? How will that help with Bela? And what ab-"
"Hush! Let her finish," Mira cuts her off. Cayna takes a deep breath, unsure herself what the vision means.
"I have no idea. I've never seen something this big before." As Cayna's sentence finishes, Oswin, who has been the silent observer, is slung forward in time, nearly a year but remains in the same place. The trees shifted from green to vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows in the blink of an eye, random people zipping by faster than the eye could see. As time slows down to normal, Oswin sees the five girls approach, his sight still gazing through Cayna's eyes.
"Thank you for trusting me." Cayna's voice was steely and hardened more than the last time she spoke. The girls all nod silently, a solemn cloud hanging over them. I know none of them want to do this… I know I don't. But it has to be done. Bela ran away months ago and that vision has only gotten stronger since… it's all I've been dreaming about. This has to work.
The girls form a ring exactly as Cayna had envisioned. They take each other's hands and close their eyes, letting all thoughts slip from their minds. As they stand in a circle, making one continuous connection of energy, their aura begins to grow until it permeates the air around them, colored waves of energy rippling out. Cayna is the first to open her eyes, seeing a swirling and clashing rainbow of color. Slowly the rest of the girls open their eyes, taken aback by the beauty of their energy being visible to the naked eye. Cayna leads the rest through a deep breathing exercise, and as they make their way through it, a glow emanates from each of their chests. The glow begins siphoning out of the girls, tendrils of condensed raw energy crawling toward the center of the ring. As they begin to entangle in the middle, they detach from the girls, slithering into the center and swirling faster and faster, the light growing blindingly bright. Cayna blinks and she is sprawled backward on the ground, and the light is gone. She feels something in her hand and just as she goes to look at it, Oswin is thrown from the memory. He jolts upright back in the tower, and looking around, notices Hrithika is nowhere to be seen.
Damnit, I shouldn't have told her so much. She's probably leading Viralia to me as we speak… I have to get out of here. He scrambles to his feet, and flings open the trapdoor, skidding down the stairs as quickly as possible. Skittering through the narrow passage, he lands roughly back in the Archives. Moving quickly, he reaches the secret shelf door, and frantically scours for any switch or lever to open it. Not finding anything he yanks desperately on one of the shelves, letting out a yelp as the door swings open, knocking him onto his back. Well, that works. Hurrying through, he sees a handle on the inside and shuts the door behind him, scampering quietly back to his bedroom. Reaching the underside of his bed, he hears a repetitive thudding sound coming from the door. Moving the fabric blocking his view, he sees a pair of feet facing the door frame. Who is that? What are they doing? As he tries to peer closer, his foot slips, creating an audible scratching sound, to which the knocking stops. As dull footsteps grow closer, Oswin hears two clicks and backs up into the safety of the dark passage. The bed lifts and the person steps down.
"Oz? Are you finally awake?" Hrithika's mostly monotonous voice snaps Oswin from his fear.
"Dear God, you scared the life out of me… what are you doing in here?" He shouts in a hushed tone.
"I was making your door harder to get through. We need to keep Viralia out, don't we? All they're gonna do is force you to finish the Ceremony and I think we both know you don't want to." She shrugs and pulls Oswin's arm, dragging him up the hidden stairs and into his room.
He sees that there are boards nailed in to secure the door, and with a slight eyebrow raise and head tilt, he lets out an impressed, "Nicely done. I don't think anyone is getting through that."
"Thanks, I'm pretty handy. I just tore out a few empty shelves from the Archives and pulled some nails out that were hanging some photos." She explains.
"Uhh… alright then, that works. Anyway, we need to head back… I… I need to know what happened."
"Ooh, will you finally tell me what's going on? You just keep going unconscious and I am so confused."
"I suppose I could, yes… You've been helping me greatly, after all."
They make their way back through the Archives to the tower, Oswin taking the time to explain the visions he's been receiving, how he sees through the eyes of someone else, and the recurring girls he keeps being shown. As they're climbing up the staircase, Oswin finally mentions the name of the girl he's been seeing the most.
"Wait… Cayna?" Hrithika's pace slows as her mind wanders. "I've seen that name before." As Oswin is registering what she said, Hrithika's body becomes a jelly-like blob and rolls upward between his feet, shooting up to the top of the stairs. Oswin almost loses his balance, being equally thrown off by her bumping him, and by the shape she took so suddenly. He steadies himself and hurries up to the tower, finding Hrithika scouring in one of the top corners of the room above the shelves, her legs extended to twice their normal length for her to see on top.
"Hrithika, what is it? What did you find?" He scampers over and frantically looks in the general area, unsure of what he's doing.
"This!" She whips out a piece of old beat-up paper, lengthening her arm so Oswin can reach it.
He takes it and doesn't feel any sort of energy from the paper. Just before he can say it isn't anything, he catches the first words.
~
Bela, I don't know how to tell you this, but I've seen what's coming.
~
"What the… what is this?” Oswin breaks away from the page and looks to Hrithika.
"Just… read it."
~
I know that we shouldn't have abandoned you like we did. You didn't deserve it. You have an unimaginable power and there wasn't anything that we could do to help understand it. Our powers pale in comparison to what you are capable of. What you will be capable of. By the time you've read this, I'll be gone, and it will be by your hands. But you must know, I knew this was coming, I knew it was my time, and I would do it all again for you. I was never able to forgive myself for separating us, but it had to be done for the sake of everyone, even you. Your time will come, I know it will. I believe in you.
- We'll meet again, Cayna.
~
Oswin stares at the page, unmoving. A drop hits the page, breaking his trance and he touches his eye, pulling back to see moisture on his fingers. Am I… crying? Why am I crying?
"Pretty sad, right? Now it makes a lot more sense knowing more of the story." Hrithika speaks softly.
"But what did she see…" Oswin scrunches his brow, burrowing deep in thought. As he traces back through his memories, he sees the tree the girls were working around. Why do I know this tree… where are you… Images flash in his mind, of the same tree, only grown much larger, more gnarled. Wait. He pounces forward to one of the windows, shaking his head and dashing to the next, Hrithika watching with a single raised eyebrow. As he runs to the third window, he gazes out for a moment before leaping in the air, "There!”
Out the window in the distance, just outside the farthest wall, stands a single tree growing taller than the rest, the gnarled branches barely visible from this distance. He turns to Hrithika with a fire in his eyes she hasn't seen before, "We have to get out of here. I have to leave the Kingdom."