She found herself in a raging storm, wind blowing hard enough to nearly lift her off her feet. Liv grabbed Note, and her Song blunted the wind, but then it was back, stronger than ever. Immediately, she shut it off, pushing through the wind. It was steadily growing stronger in the direction she was going, so Liv turned around, walking away from the center of the storm. No reason to take unnecessary risks, right?

Then Liv stopped, standing in place, buffeted by winds. When had she taken the easy way out?

Had she told Durn she didn’t have parents, accepting the warmth of a new family?

Had he gotten a job under a merchant and paid for her life, even though she would get so little money she’d almost starve?

Had she surrendered to the soldiers outside the city?

Had she let Vera Pim walk all over her?

“I will not surrender,” she spoke, her voice coming out dreamily.

Turning around, she faced towards what she now was certain was the center of the storm, in a dreamscape created by her own mind. She pushed towards the center. The wind pulled tricks on her, changing directions and playfully pushing her in every direction. It would suddenly stop blowing at her head-on and rise again behind her, causing her to stumble and nearly fall.

And though the ground was coated with snow, she knew-if she fell, it was over. The wind started to get stronger, more dangerous. It started to cut, drawing gashes in her skin, as it moved fast enough that it should have blown her off her feet and yet she stayed on the ground, for reasons she did not know.

Suddenly, she sensed the biggest gust yet. A massive blade of wind came from her side, and she was about to duck under it before she felt another blade, coming from the other side, flying at where her head would be if she had ducked. Jumping, she barely cleared the top blade, immediately sidestepping another set of gusts from all around her.

Lightning started flashing within the storm, and a set of blades appeared all around her, impossible to dodge. Liv closed her eyes, grabbing her Note once more. She opened her mouth, and Storm came out.

This song was no amalgamation of Wind and Lightning. It was true Storm, with the perfect amount of Water added. It started raining, the storm refining itself to match her image. Liv unraveled the blades in front of her, starting to run.

The pattern was now visible to her-every storm had a pattern, a governing power that everything formed around. This one’s pattern was different from most, for it was within her mind and the pattern somehow created blades, but it yet existed, and if you understood it, you could manipulate it.

The heavy rain started bending around her, as the wind blades kept unraveling. She dodged the lightning before it even started building, the pattern dictating its strikes. Liv started making even more progress than ever, using the storm’s pattern to push her forward. She could tell. The eye of the storm was near.

The pattern parted, suddenly forming up into a massive wall, the last defense keeping her from the center. Liv gathered a plume of Storm around her fist, and on a crescendo, she punched through the wall.

It tore at her arm, chunks of flesh tearing off and flying around the stormwall, which was now starting to turn pink. Lightning charred her hand, but Liv kept it there. “I WILL NOT SURRENDER!”

Her other hand punched through. More blood flew into the stormwall, which was now simply a blender of flesh and blood, as her legs stepped through. She screamed, the pain almost causing her to fall back, but she steeled her mind. Liv stepped her other leg through, using all four of her limbs to pull her torso and head through the stormwall.

Her head hit the wall as if it was a solid wall, but Liv poured as much Note as she could into the Storm coat wrapping around it, and finally, gasping, fell through.

She groaned on the ground, just lying there for a few small moments before finally sitting up, ignoring the pain coming from her entire body.

The area was a small circle without wind, rain, or lightning affecting it. There was grass, green and lush, coating the ground. Liv looked up at the sky and found it to be blue, unaffected by the storm. She formed herself a coat of Storm, standing up somehow, even though most of her body was broken. Slowly, she rose above the storm and turned her gaze down.

The storm was a massive disc of gray, the central eye that she’d risen from where it seemed to be spinning around. It reached off into the distance, almost farther than she could see, and loomed menacingly. Lightning erupted constantly within, and Liv didn’t doubt it was just as dangerous as when she’d been running through it.

Slowly, she descended back into the eye and simply sat there, exhausted. Why was she here?

Eventually, the world wisped away into motes of light, slowly dissolving as she sat there. It didn’t seem harmful, so she let it reach her and wisped away along with the rest of the world.

Liv sat up in bed, looking around. Durn was gone-he was probably in the bathroom or something. Groaning, she stretched before getting out of bed, feeling phantom pains from her injuries in her… dream? She touched her face to make sure it was still attached to her skull before opening the door.

Liv walked down the wooden stairs, holding the banister lightly. They didn’t creak, though her shoes made tapping noises as she walked down them to the main room. There, she found a group of people, each holding a weapon to who she assumed were innocents’ necks. Liv froze as they turned to her. “Am… I crashing the party?”

Durn turned to her, sitting on a chair, maybe the only innocent left alone by the group. “Oh, hey! Nice to see you, Liv! You’re coming with us.” He gestured to the group holding hostages.

“And I assume you’ll kill the hostages if I don’t?,” Liv asked, her brain simply ignoring the fact that Durn had turned traitor.

“Correct! Get her and let’s go, boys.”

Liv was swiftly tied up, her arms bound behind her, and her legs were bound together. She was abruptly lifted and moved outside before being put down on a hard surface. Liv twisted her head to look at what she was on, and only saw wood all around her. Then a horse neighed, and she realized what it was. A wagon.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Oh, she was screwed now.

The prison was, all in all, not very comfortable. If it even was a prison. It could just be a random holding cell created out in the middle of nowhere, just to keep her here until whoever Durn was working for got to her.

Durn. How had she not noticed? Well, he’d been with her for most of her remembered life-and she’d trusted him and-

That line of thought wasn’t really helping her get out. Liv looked around at what she had here. There was a dingy cot, a hole in the side of the prison-probably for relieving herself-and the door. That was it. Looking out the door as far as she could see, Liv saw multiple guards. Though some were inattentive, they would definitely notice if she Sung.

Liv settled down. There wasn’t much she could do unless given an opportunity, at this point.

“Psst!”

Liv twisted. Whoever it was had called from behind- “You’re staring at me, by the way,” came another whisper.

Liv looked closer at the wall behind her. Could walls speak? “There’s a crack. Right below where you’re looking.”

Liv crouched until she was at face level with the crack, and then looked through. Someone was staring at her from the other side, though only an eye was visible. “Uh. Hello?,” she whispered back, as softly as she could manage.

“So, I’m assuming you’re not voluntarily in this prison.”

“Why else would I be here?”

The eye disappeared before being replaced by the other eye. “True. Want to get out of here?”

Liv shrugged. “Obviously.”

“Alright. When my extraction gets here, I’ll take you with me.”

Liv sat back. This was a bit too convenient. “Catch?”

“None, really. You’re just right here so I have the opportunity to help. The person in the cell on the other side didn’t want to leave, for whatever reason. There’s only three cells down here, by the way, and I’ve never seen all three full.”

Liv shrugged. “All right. I’ll probably be leaving you as soon as we’re out.”

“Counting on it, girlie.”

Liv lay on her bed. Now it was a waiting game. How’d the man get someone to bust him out of the prison? There were far too many guards for one person to handle alone.

“Get ready, girlie.”

And just like that, the back wall to their prison exploded outwards. Revealing… another hallway. The person in the other room strolled over to look into her cell, where she was sitting up, staring, dumbfounded, at the destroyed wall. “Come on, girlie. We need to get out of here.”

She quickly inspected the person. He was wearing a blue shirt and black pants, waving at her to run after him. He also had a slight beard with hair that grew far too much. As they ran, he quickly stopped at a door. “Armory,” he explained. “Where they put my weapons, most likely. Grab anything you want from there, but we’re only spending a moment.”

The man shoved open the door, and they went in. He grabbed a six-shot revolver with no cylinder, tucking it into a holster she hadn’t noticed before. He also grabbed another gun, some kind of rifle, strapping this one across his back. Liv quickly grabbed twin swords, sheathing them at her sides, before they left, running through the prison. Another door neared quickly, and the man started speaking. “Now, girlie. Through that door is a bunch of guards who aren’t from my town. Kill anyone who doesn’t wear black shoes.” For effect, he pointed at his own black shoes. “Anyone who does? Don’t hurt ‘em too badly, or I’ll hurt you.”

Nodding, Liv entered the room. Instantly, her swords scythed through a guard’s neck after she saw his shoes were white. The man came through after her, wielding the rifle masterfully. A single bullet was enough to take down each of his targets. Anyone wearing black shoes, he simply nodded to, then they were off again.

The exit was reached quite simply. Liv nodded to the man. “Thank you. It would have been a problem getting out of there alone.”

The man chuckled. “No problem, girlie. I don’t like any of these new guards any more than you do. Screwing up my town. Stealing our stuff.”

Liv nodded, and turned towards the end of the street they had just emerged on. The sides of the street had all sorts of shops on them, ranging from stores filled with fruits to stores filled with guns.

There was a woman standing at the end with another male figure standing next to her. They advanced. “You’re not getting away,” the woman said, just as the male figure got close enough for Liv to identify him.

“Durn, who’ve you partnered with?”

Durn turned to her, taking a moment before answering. “Lord Grimm-”

The woman turned to him and glared, cutting him off. “You’re not supposed to say!”

Durn shrugged. “Does it matter if she knows who’s after her?”

The man next to her spoke next. “Allie. Defecting to Grimm, eh?”

Allie tittered for a moment. “Yup!”

“Why?,” Liv asked for the both of them.

Durn shrugged. “If you’re with him, you’ve got yourself a good place in the upcoming world. If not? Then you’ll be thrown under the bus.”

Allie nodded in agreement, and they once again began to advance. “Durn’s abilities are Fear, Nightmare, and Shadow,” Liv got out. “Also, I’m Livianna, but call me Liv.”

The man next to her smiled. “I see we’ve got a partnership here. Call me Adrian. Allie uses explosives and only explosives. And Fire. Don’t forget the Fire.”

Liv nodded as he fiddled with his rifle, pulling back what she assumed was a bolt(from the little she knew of rifles) and removing the bullet. The magazine came out afterwards, and both the bullet and magazine disappeared, replaced by a new magazine.

It slotted in, and the man nodded, pulling back the bolt. A new bullet chambered, and he pushed the bolt back into place, taking aim. “I wish I’d gotten one of those fancy machineguns, but my old bolt-action should do for now.”

Liv spun her swords, a faint Song rising in the air as the wind started to pick up. “I don’t need any guns or rifles-just my swords. They’re better, don’t you think?”

”Girlie, we’ll need to have a talk about this later. Swords will never beat guns.”

Then they both focused on their enemies, the time for banter gone.