I sat up on the bed, seeing the lights had been shut off, the only light coming from a crack in the window blinds. I looked down, and Leta was hanging halfway off the bed, snoring. I quietly stood up and walked to the window, opening the curtains, expecting to let in some sun, but instead the sky was dark and cloudy, the light coming into the room making everything look gray; it looked like there would be rain. Today we had to continue our walk, and if it were to rain, everyone would get soaked, which would either put us behind as we'd have to stop walking or half of us would get sick, and it would still put us behind. I walked away from the window, closing the blinds as I did so Leta could continue sleeping. I walked over to the door and grabbed my shoes, sliding them on before quietly walking out into the hall.
I went into the entrance room, seeing it was perfectly cleaned and normal looking unlike how it was the night before. I looked around for any kind of information packet about the village or at least a map. I wanted to find a store that sold umbrellas, seeing that there was already a bit of rain coming down outside. I took a minute to walk around and look, but I found nothing, so I walked out, planning to find it on my own. I looked around as I walked, not seeing anyone around. It was strange how easily people could disappear like they did here.
It was all too quiet; it was eerie and made the whole place seem haunted. I wondered if the people we had seen the day before were all inside, sleeping, but it seemed unlikely—there wasn't a sign of anyone living here. I felt myself grow more anxious the further into town I went, and the random drops of rain falling onto any exposed skin I had didn't help it feel any less creepy either. It was the perfect setup for something to happen.
I looked around at all the buildings, trying to find some kind of store or any sign that could point to one, but I had no luck. I felt defeated, leaning against a wall to try and collect my thoughts, but I could hear someone talking; they sounded mad. I stood up and walked closer to where I heard the sound, but as I got closer, I recognized the voice; it sounded like Aspen. I peeked around a corner, seeing that it had been Aspen, and they were talking to someone who seemed entertained from their anger.
“I told you to stop showing up like this,” Aspen snapped.
“Calm down, Aspen. I'm only having a little fun,” the other said, amused.
“I told you to stay in one place and keep yourself undercover; running a hotel in one of the most populated villages is the exact opposite of that. You could be found, they could have figured out where everyone was because of you.”
“Oh relax, I only do this on the side, plus half the people here aren't even real, and the ones that are real are in a constant state of fear now because of all the demon attacks; they don't even leave their homes anymore, besides I have my ways of hiding.”
“You need to stay at the palace more now because of the demon attacks. What if something were to happen when you were gone? Do you even think about these things, Valen?”
“Then it would be Adelphia's time to go. You, out of everyone, should know there's no stopping death after your...what was it? Fourty deaths in the last eight hundred years.”
“You think I have any choice but to watch this happen? I've tried to stop it.”
“Yeah, you've tried, but you never succeed. You keep hunting her down and hurting yourself. She was my best friend, Aspen, but I had to move on, and so do you. Nothing can stop it, so you might as well just move on.”
“Move on? I couldn't just drop it all and move on. This was my fault, and it's torture for her. I hurt her, and if I could just fix it, she could go back to the palace and live out her life.”
“And what about you? Do you just plan to go back to how things were, like it never happened?” Valen asked quietly.
“Of course not, I'd disappear; I've caused enough damage to her, to her whole family.”
“So what? You'll run away?”
“I guess; if me being gone would mean she can be happy, I'll stay away forever no matter how much it would hurt.”
“You're such a hypocrite, Aspen; you sit here and talk about leaving, yet you continue to find her. Just leave her now and save the time. It'll be better for all of us; I chose to stop watching her, and I'm fine now.”
“You gave up, Valen,” Aspen mumbled.
“I didn't give up. I chose to not stick around and watch her die. It's almost as if you like it at this point.”
“You think I like this?” Aspen asked before laughing. “I just want to free her, even if it kills me.”
I could hear a loud smack noise as if someone had just been slapped. “God, you're so selfish! You think trading your life for her is right?”
“I'm not selfish; I'm tired. Out of the two of us, you're the selfish one; you only think of yourself,your feelings, and how you can get better. At least I've been here.”
They both went quiet for a moment. I wondered who Valen was and why they were so mad at each other. I heard the reasons, but it was all just so confusing; every single thing that keeps getting added onto this just makes it worse.
“Adelphia is having a ball finding someone to marry; it's in a week. If you want to be there to see your sister married off to a mortal she barely knows, you'll need to hurry,” Valen said quietly. “Sometimes I wish you had never brought her here.”
“Being here is better than what her life would be with our parents.”
“I'm so tired of your excuses, Aspen.”
The two went quiet once more. I wanted to confront Aspen about all of this, but I decided to pretend I heard nothing. I guessed the walk to the palace would be hurried now if Aspen really did decide to go before the ball was set to happen, even though the walk wasn't more than another day or two. I looked around the corner and saw Aspen sitting on the ground, covering their face with their hands. I had the urge to go to them and help them feel okay, to make all of the pain they could be feeling in the moment go away. Even if they did do something wrong, I couldn't just leave them like that. It was strange to feel that urge. We weren't close at all, and the last time we talked, it didn't end well.
I went to walk back to the hotel, giving up on my search and trying to ignore the urge I had, but as I turned the corner to go back, I turned around and rushed back to the alley where Aspen was. I looked over and saw they hadn't moved in the minute I was gone. I slowly walked over to them and leaned down in front of them, sitting on my knees. I wasn't sure how to comfort them. I had always tried to help people, but I never knew if it actually helped. Instead of trying to talk, I slowly wrapped my arms around Aspen and pulled them into a hug.
I could feel them drop their arms from their face, now hanging down at their sides as I hugged them. Just from sitting like this, I could feel they were in pain, a lot of pain. I didn't have to look into their eyes to see it. I wondered how much they must have suffered through to feel like this, but I could never ask that. All I could do now is help them in whatever way they needed it, no matter what they had done before. If it was bad or good, whatever it was was hurting them, and whoever was just here made them finally break.
“Why?” I heard Aspen question quietly.
“Why what?” I asked softly, looking down at them.
“Why help me? I know Leta told you I wasn't human, so why?”
“Why does it matter? I couldn't just leave you alone.”
I heard Aspen let out a soft laugh. “I'm a demon, Elva. I've had to kill people before because I was told to.” Aspen let out a sigh. “You weren't supposed to find out like this.”
“That's not true; you do care; I can tell you do. If you truly felt nothing about it all, we wouldn't be here. You're just hurt, really hurt.”
At first, it sounded as if Aspen would say more, like they wanted to protest what I had said, but instead they just stayed quiet. While sitting there, the light sprinkle of rain got heavier. Aspen and I both stood up, and I looked around for a place we would be able to take cover until it got lighter or stopped. As I looked across the stone path, I felt something hit the top of my head. I looked up, seeing that Aspen had bumped my head with the side of their hand, and instead of their usual calm look, they had a soft smile.
“Thank you, Elva,” they said softly.
We made our way from the alley, going under random buildings to hide from the rain and avoid being soaked. After the third one, I looked around and realized we were in a new place, one I hadn't walked by before. Across the street from where we were standing, there was a flashing open sign for what I guessed was a store; even if it wasn't, it was a place we could stay in until the rain stopped. I pointed it out to Aspen, and we both ran across the street. When we walked inside, there were shelves of all different things; some had books, some food. It was a strange store, but at least it had things.
Aspen walked off to go find some kind of thing we could use as protection from the rain while I looked around in the front, but when I got to one area, I saw the store owner. They had short lavender hair and were wearing all black, with the shoulders and chest area having what looked like diamond shaped cutouts in them, while there was also one red and one blue scarf, both tied across their waist. When I looked at their face, I felt as if I knew them from somewhere, but I couldn't figure out where. When they noticed me looking at them, their face lit up, and they made their way over to me.
“Hey, welcome in, the name's Valen,” they said with a smile, holding out their hand for me to shake.
“Uh…hi, I'm Elva,” I said as I shook their hand. “Do you sell any umbrellas here?”
“Yes, your friend will find them eventually; their name is Aspen, right?”
“Yeah—wait, did you say your name is Valen?”
“So you did hear us earlier,” Valen said as they put an arm around my shoulder. “Let me teach you a little something about how we all know each other.”
“What?” I asked, looking at them.
“Shhh, don't talk too loud; if Aspen were to hear us, then you'd never find out about your curse.”
“My curse? What do you mean?”
“Let me guess, you've already started having flashbacks, and you just think they're dreams, or that's what everyone's been telling you,” they said in a hushed tone.
“How did you-”
“Well, you're very wrong; those are your past lives you're seeing in tiny bits and pieces every day, and so far I can tell you don't know everything, so it's been showing you everything except where your curse is talked about, maybe a few more things too, but it will come eventually.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your memories; specific ones come when triggered. If you were to recognize something or be in a similar situation to something in your past life, then you're forced into a flashback, and your body shuts down. Your eyes also get all glowy, and it's really freaky to watch. Anyways, a few hundred years ago, you cursed yourself to save Aspen. They were a young, traumatized kid who had been through a lot of shit, and you were too caring and loved them. You cursed yourself to be mortal and jumped to your death.”
“That explains the one I had of me falling,” I whispered to myself. “Wait, but this doesn't make sense! Reincarnation can't be real, and I definitely have no chance of doing that. I barely know the basics of my magic.”
“Oh, it's very real. You do remember that one. Well, when you jumped, Aspen couldn't reach you in time. Your mother added a curse to your curse before you fully died, so you'd be mortal but always reborn when you died. Side effect is you die when you're twenty and there's never any way to stop it. Your mother also cursed Aspen; it was a whole mess,” they said in a rush.
“She did? What did she do?”
“Aspen's curse is to watch you die; they'll always meet you and always watch you die with no way to stop it besides finding a way to reverse your curse. They could of course return to their family, and it would end their curse, but they refuse.”
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“How long has it been?”
“Eight hundred years. After the first one hundred years, I gave up on helping Aspen; I just couldn't watch you die anymore.”
“Were we friends?”
“Best friends. I was from a lower family, so I was sent to be trained to be your personal guard based on my strength and ability. You were originally set up to marry Aspen's brother, Foxx, but once your mother saw how close you and Aspen were, she changed the plans. But that is also what caused your curse. Aspen has the wonderful magic ability of life, which is the highest family's magic, basically-”
“Whoever has it gets to be the new head of the top family, and a part of that is killing the original family with no mercy,” Aspen said from the side.
“Look who decided to join us,” Valen said, pulling me closer to them, now standing up straight.
“Why would you tell her all of that?”
“She has a right to know, even if she does die in a year.”
“I told you I was working on it.”
“You're basically keeping her memories suppressed. If you don't reveal them all to her, then I will.”
“I told you I'd do it at the right time.”
“I don't believe you.”
“Let her go, Valen.”
“Hmm, I don't think I will.”
I was confused by everything that was said; I wanted to question them, to get more answers on it all, but as I went to speak, something flew past me and hit Valen, black blood flowing out from their head as they fell back, making a loud thump when they hit the ground. I looked down at them in shock, wondering if they were dead. I went to lean down to check on Valen to make sure they were okay, but before I could, Aspen grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from them, pushing me behind them as if to shield me from a threat.
“Did you just kill them?” I asked quietly.
“No, they're just being dramatic.”
“It's not dramatic; it's called style,” Valen said as they stood up, the hole in their forehead now gone. “You used a coin this time, lame. Can I keep it?” Valen asked as horns appeared on their head and black and red wings behind them.
“You've never been able to hold in your form for long,” Aspen said, not answering their question.
“At least I don't hate my own form.”
“We come from different families; if you were in mine, you'd hate it too.”
“Your family would love me.”
“They would hate you; they hate anyone who isn't perfect, and you're like me with some things, so they would hate you even more.”
“I could change them,” Valen said with a shrug, putting the bloody coin in their pocket.
“It hasn't changed at all in the past, so why would it now?”
“Everyone loves me.”
“Yeah, that's not true. Go back to the palace before I really do kill you.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, your threats are meaningless. See you guys soon, oh, and Elva, we'll continue our talk later.”
I watched as Valen walked out of the front door, their wings stretched out, and with a gust of wind, they were gone. Aspen let out a sigh and handed me three umbrellas to carry back for the others.
"Don't mention any of this to Ben or anyone at all, no matter what they ask you. I promise I'll explain it all soon," Aspen said before walking out the door, leaving me alone in the store.
I rushed outside, catching up to Aspen before opening an umbrella for myself. The rain was still coming down hard, even though it seemed like it would go on all day. It made everything more peaceful than it had been before, plus it smelled good. Ever since I was a kid, the rain has been my favorite weather. I hated the sun, yet I loved when it would storm.
My mother would always be a bit weirded out because of that, but she never bothered to stop me. Ever since I could walk, at the sign of rain, I'd be outside until I had to be dragged inside. I'd even drag Rory to play with me even though at first she couldn't walk on her own; she would always laugh and have so much fun as she got older and we continued to go out together. It was the one time we got along before the disappearance.
I got lost in my thoughts and was snapped out of it when I saw Ben come running at me; usually when he did that, it ended in me getting hurt. I prepared myself for some kind of push or smack, but instead he pulled me into a hug. That was new. I stumbled back a few steps as he attached himself to me as if I had been gone for years. Were we gone for a long time? It was hard to tell. It felt like hours while also feeling like it had only been a few minutes.
“Is everything okay? Why are we hugging?” I asked.
“Because you went missing!” Ben cried out.
“I'm fine; we just needed umbrellas,” I said while awkwardly patting Ben's head, trying to be released from the hug.
“You shouldn't have gone alone; what if you passed out again?” Ben sobbed, now holding me away from him at an arm's length.
“I wasn't alone, but I told you I was fine; it isn't that common anyways-”
“We need to leave. Take an umbrella and start walking,” Aspen said from the side as they handed out the two umbrellas they had been holding.
Everyone nodded in agreement. It looked like they all had things they wanted to say but held back. We all walked like always in our own separate groups; no one talked much besides Leta and Rune. Well, it was mostly Rune talking and just praising Leta for random things in the most dramatic way. When Rune was around Leta like this, it was like everyone was basically invisible to him.
It was a bit strange how we continued in our groups; I almost expected Tex to join us this time, but they just went off by the tree line, lost in thought. It was hard to tell what they were thinking sometimes, as they always wore this black mask on their face, covering everything from the bridge of their nose down.
I looked down as we walked, wanting to think of something but nothing at all at the same time. My mind wandered to what had occurred that morning—was what Valen and Aspen said really true? It all felt like some big joke to mess with me, but maybe they were telling the truth; it was all so confusing. My whole life I've just been someone on the side doing nothing important; I was like a background character in a story. Someone only found in a small quest, who gave pointless advice to the main hero. Just someone to help others and then be forgotten.
Why now? Why did everything have to start happening now? Everything used to be so quiet and boring. It's almost as if all of this is a dream. Any second I'll wake up and be back at home with Rory asleep on her art and Ben with his food on the floor. I wouldn't know Aspen except for in my dream, and everyone else would just be people I met once while out walking around. It would all just be a dream that I would slowly forget over time.
How could any of this be possible? Reincarnation,gods, and demons; why did it all just show up now? Why now? Did I have other families before? Did I just disappear one day and leave them all behind to wonder what happened to me? I wondered if I had any younger siblings in past lives like Rory; did they die young too? I hoped not. I hoped they were able to live long lives and be happy without me.
If I did die in a year like Valen had said, would the others be okay? I shook off the question; of course they would. I didn't know Tex, Leta, or Rune for very long. Aspen has been through this a lot. Ben would be okay after a while; he has new friends now, so he could get over it soon with their help. When I thought of death before, it was scary. I never wanted to die, but now I guess I'm okay with it. My life didn't have a big impact on anything, it would just restart as soon as it ended, and I wouldn't remember any of this.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Ben whispered after poking my arm.
“What? Yeah, why?”
“You looked distracted, and your face kept going from blank to this sad look,” Ben said while trying to copy it.
“I was just thinking about stuff; don't worry about it,” I said with a smile, trying to ease his worries.
“Do you want any food? I have candy too,” Ben said as he handed over some bread and a lollipop.
“How did you keep this dry…?”
“I have my ways. Eat; you'll feel better.”
In the moment of holding some bread, I realized I hadn't eaten much the past two days. I had been so distracted with all of these other things that I never went to look for food like everyone else did. I quickly ate the bread. I didn't care that it was plain or that it didn't have much flavor; I was just glad to finally eat something.
As I finished eating, I noticed everyone else had stopped walking. Aspen had turned to the forest on the right of us, looking in after hearing a noise. We all walked up behind them, curious to see what was happening. Nothing looked suspicious, but in front of us, there was a bush shaking every few seconds as if there was something caught in it.
“Let's keep moving; it's probably just a wild animal,” Leta said from behind Ben.
Everyone silently agreed, starting to walk as before, but I looked back to see Aspen still looking down at the bush. I sighed, knowing everyone else would just keep walking, so I slowed down some but didn't fully stop. They could easily catch up once they were done; it would be useless for me to stay behind just to be slow when catching up again.
After a few seconds, I could hear Aspen shriek from fear, and as I was turning around to see what happened, I felt Aspen jump behind me and cling onto my jacket like something was coming to attack them. I looked around confused, then back to where they had run from, but instead of seeing some kind of monster, there was a small family of rabbits hopping after us.
“Are you scared…of rabbits?” I asked Aspen quietly while trying to hold in a laugh.
"I'm not scared, just…mildly terrified," Aspen whispered back.
“Wait, Aspen's scared of rabbits?” Ben asked loudly in shock before bursting into laughter.
“Really? Rabbits?” Tex asked quietly from the side.
“They don't scare me,” Aspen said as they took a step away from me and stood to the side, straightening their shirt.
“Aww, nothing to be embarrassed of, Aspen, we all have our fears,” Leta said as she put an arm around Aspen.
“I'm not scared,” Aspen muttered with a glare.
I watched as Ben summoned a rabbit to come to him as he was on the ground laughing. I felt like I should say something, but instead I grabbed one of the rabbits from Ben. We both snuck up behind Aspen, who was trying to defend themself against Leta and Tex's judgment. We both put them over Aspen's shoulders, so either way they looked, there would be the rabbits. I watched as Aspen basically flew forward with a terrified look on their face, running behind a tree and glaring at us from a distance.
“Why would you do that!?” Aspen cried out.
“I wanted to see if you were actually scared of them,” Ben said in between fits of laughter, falling back in the mud and causing the rabbits to run away.
I set the rabbit I was holding back on the ground and watched it hop off after the others. I could hear everyone else laughing with Ben as Aspen stood there. I looked over at them, seeing their face red from embarrassment, which made the situation even more funny. I did feel a bit guilty for scaring them, but we never had much time to actually take a break and all laugh, so it was hard to completely hate the situation.
“I hope you all get lost,” Aspen said in a cold tone after walking out from behind the tree and starting to speed walk on the path to get ahead of us.
Tex was the first to follow behind Aspen, with Leta and Rune next and me and Ben last. Everyone had all calmed down from their laughing fit; the groups were in silence once more, but I could tell everyone felt more relaxed. I never expected Aspen to be scared of rabbits out of everything, though; being scared of carved pumpkins would make more sense than this. I made a mental note to ask Aspen the reason for their fear later, when no one else was around, so it wouldn't embarrass them even more.
As it grew dark, we didn't stop walking. We usually would have a place to stop, but because there was no village nearby and the woods were too dangerous, plus it was raining, we couldn't stop to sleep. Aspen had lit a flame in their hand to light up the path in front of us. Every sound made some of us flinch, paranoid that something could be out there just beyond our view, waiting to attack. It could be one of those demons like before, or it could be another person. Both would be bad. The constant rain made the air cold. Leta and I were more cold than the others because of the clothes we were wearing, but when Rune saw Leta shivering, he ended up sacrificing his jacket to her, leaving him in his pale yellow long sleeve shirt.
I didn't mind the cold air too much; it did make my cheeks a bit numb, but it was almost fun being out with everyone while the rain came down in a steady fall. If we hadn't been walking, I would have fallen asleep right there. Half way through our night walk, Ben had summoned a horse, falling asleep on it and talking about food while anyone who needed a break could ride along with him. Since Ben was sleeping, that left me with no one to talk to, so I moved up to the front to talk with Aspen, seeing as it would be the perfect time to do so.
As I moved away, Tex went over to Ben, and the horse stopped for a moment so Tex could climb on, leaning on Ben to rest. I looked next to me as I moved up, and Rune was carrying a sleeping Leta on his back. He looked as if he were going to cry from joy. He always had that look when he was able to get close to Leta. I wondered if maybe there was something more between them than just Rune following her at all times.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” I asked Aspen once I reached the front.
“What?”
“Why are you scared of rabbits?”
“Yeah, no, you'll just laugh or tell the others.”
“No, I promise I won't. I'm just curious, I guess. I wanted to wait until everyone was asleep to ask, and since Rune is the only one awake currently, I think it's a great time to talk.”
“Fine,” Aspen said with a sigh and was quiet for a few seconds, “When I was a kid, my family would do some bad stuff, my brother specifically. He liked to shift into a rabbit at night when I was in bed sleeping, and bite my toes off. That mainly happened when I could barely talk, when my parents still seemed to care about me. They'd grow back in an hour, but for years he would say rabbits would always eat me because of all the bad things I did, and as I got older, the fear grew. He would also use the rabbit thing to do a lot of other things. Just seeing them or anything similar to a rabbit terrifies me. I always see him in them, even if I know they aren't him. It seems a bit pathetic hearing it out loud now.”
I wanted to ask Aspen more about what their brother did and what they meant by “when their parents still cared,” but before I could, they stopped walking, holding out their arm to stop me and pushing me behind them at the same time. We both looked out ahead of us at the dark path, and everyone else stopped behind us. I glanced back to see if anyone woke up, but Ben and Tex were still asleep, Rune looked confused, and Leta seemed to move a bit but not wake up.
“I know you're there,” Aspen called out into the dark ahead of us.
“Aww really? You ruined my sneak attack, little Aspen,'' a man's voice echoed from the dark path. It was hard to tell if he was in front of us, behind us, or somewhere in the trees next to us.
“Why are you here?”
“Mother wants you to come back, so I'm here to kill the girl and take you.”
“I told you this four hundred years ago; I'm not going back there. Go tell mother that she can drop dead for all I care. leave us alone, Foxx.”
“Aspen, mother would be so hurt by your words. You are her only daughter after the accident. Forget this new look and the people here; come home. Ever since you left, she hasn't been the same.”
“Leave, Foxx. I'm tired of dealing with you; no matter how many times you come here, I won't change my answer.”
“Yeah, yeah, I remember. Ever since you met that girl, you've been stuck on the idea that you can do what you want and disobey our parents and me. You gave up everything. You used to be such a cold blooded girl; it was so cute.”
I watched as a man stepped forward, glowing almost as if he were on fire; he had short red hair that was slicked back and green eyes the same color as Aspen's, but they weren't the same; they gave off a bad vibe. They both looked so similar, yet different at the same time. He had black and gold horns with blood red feathered wings. How could someone who looked this evil be related to Aspen? I recognized him though; he had been in one of my dreams before.
I realized who he was; he killed Rory. I wanted to kill him and it looked as if Aspen was ready to kill him too. They had this burning hatred in their eyes. It looked as if they both had a million things to say to each other but didn't know where to start. I went to grab my sword, but stopped when I felt something fly past my face. In between Aspen and me, the thing hit the man in his left eye. From the shape of it, it seemed like a dagger. I turned around to see where it had come from, seeing Tex standing behind us—that was the first time I had ever seen Tex show any emotion at all. They were normally so blank that it was almost as if they were a robot.
“Human weapons really hurt these days,” the man growled as he pulled the dagger from his eye, blood flowing out after it.
“Fuck off, demon,” Tex called out in anger, “You woke me up with your transphobic bullshit, and I don't need to deal with this right now.”
I looked back at Foxx; he seemed impressed yet annoyed. “I'll come back for you soon,” he said before he burst into flames, disappearing just as fast as he appeared.