Cake [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczO0BT5BEgZIEvafr7mbjXbeXwcygllipq_KwYvyZSo0iA8XYA8rnkWDptg8IOyztY5AJkpGyOaHDPdvgHDHvoVuxLMN-YS4HQMJNHKAsJL90J_hqPNf-phNvTM-9jsG8BZya00AgV_kWNybhJvI5pI0=w661-h992-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
After a few moments of incoherent talking that she couldn’t fully make out with how many people seemed to be scrambling around her, the man ordered, “Slowly stand so we can secure you.”
“Why would I do that?” she retorted in annoyance. Did they really think she’d just let them arrest her? She hadn’t even done anything wrong! There was no way they could blame her for getting yeeted… well, wherever here was.
The older soldier-looking guy gave a slight upward twitch of his mouth before moving the sword to bring attention to it as he said, “Most do it to not get stabbed.”
She refocused on the blade and conceded, “Okay. Fair point. I’d rather not get stabbed.”
Steam was rising from her olive skin as she slowly sat up and tried to figure out what was happening to her.
She was outside and surrounded by people wearing strange clothing that vaguely reminded her of ancient Egyptian garb. The swords seemed to be bronze or something similar based on the color. Weirder than that, however, was that she didn’t see a single phone trying to take a picture of the stranger who had just fallen from the sky.
It turned out that the sticky moistness she had felt when falling had been from a cake, which she was mildly grateful for at the moment as the monstrous confectionery hid her apparent nudity. It made her feel gross, though, and she wished she had something a bit more protective from both the swords and the blazing hot sun shining down on them.
“Captain Gerrik! Hurry and seize this barbaric Chaosbringer and take it straight to the gallows!” a whiny tenor voice shouted as the young man it belonged to broke through the crowd.
“Prince Theodred, you know the laws regarding Wayfarers—”
“I don’t care! It has absolutely ruined my birthday celebration, and for that, only death is a fitting punishment!” the annoying prince proclaimed.
Jin hoped either one of them would die soon just so she wouldn’t have to keep listening to that whine. It was absolutely cringe to hear, and it made her brain hurt to think someone like this guy was actually in charge.
“My prince, I can’t—”
“Oh, by the teats of the Cow goddess, give me your sword then, and I’ll get it done with then,” the prince retorted, moving towards the soldier who took a step back in response.
With the sword out of her face, Jin took the chance to run for it. No way was she sticking around with the crazy, spoiled sociopathic prince calling for her head. She’d seen enough shows to know how that would go, and she was gonna nope right outta that.
“Woah there, little Wayfarer,” a feminine alto said in her ear as her momentum was stopped short. Unnaturally strong hands held her, and she glared up at the woman who grabbed her. She seemed only a few years older than Jin as she shook her head and added, “Trust me when I say there’s nowhere to run where you won’t be found or survive long enough to find safety.”
“Why should I trust the words of a complete stranger working for that psycho?” Jin retorted, gesturing from the matching soldier uniform the woman wore towards the spoiled prince throwing a tantrum.
“Because you just landed in a whole new world with a lot of rules that I’m sure you haven’t figured out yet,” the dark woman said with a look of pity, forcibly shifting Jin so that she was at least between her and the royal calling for her execution.
“I don’t really care about the rules if they’re gonna end with me as a tortured pincushion. So, if you’ll just let me go…” She tried yanking her arm away, but the other woman’s grip was like a vice, and she asked incredulously, “Seriously, what kind of steroids are you on? You know those are bad for you, right?”
“Calm!” a voice boomed over the murmuring crowd and wailing prince and a heavy pressure seemed to descend upon Jin. Glancing around it seemed like the others were being equally affected and many dropped to their knees.
Luckily, this made it easier for Jin to see the source of the order and oppressive feeling. It was a beautiful woman that seemed to be in her late thirties and was obviously royalty as well with the way she was dressed and carried herself, not to mention the slew of servants trailing after her.
“My son,” the woman firmly spoke with heavy authority, “the laws of the divine are there for a reason. She will be received properly and interviewed for placement just as any other traveler who reaches our borders. This is the will.”
The queen didn’t even look at Jin as she turned to the guard holding her in place. “Take her to the dungeons until the Sect Representatives can question her.” Then the noble looked back to the other guard. “Captain, I will leave her interview proceedings to you.”
“Yes, my queen,” the soldier instantly replied with a bow and began moving towards Jin and her captor.
“Now, someone retrieve a Servant to clean this up. Then let my son’s party continue as planned.”
“But mother, that cretin has ruined my cake—”
“My dear son, we will have another here before it is time to eat it, or you can punish the cook for not being quick enough. Alright, love?”
The prince seemed slightly mollified as he pondered the offer and admitted, “I have been wanting to try out that new assistant cook; she has huge—”
“Now, now, son, that’s what the Lovers or Servants are for, not the Workers. We’ve talked about this before,” she lightly scolded.
The prince gave an annoyed groan. “I know, ‘Sect before self’… but she should just get transferred to the Pleasure Sect then because those—”
Jin was yanked away and had a hood shoved roughly over her bald head before she could hear the rest of what the lecherous prince spouted. His words made her wonder just how screwed she was with this new world she’d been tossed in or if this was some terrible nightmare. Unfortunately, it was hard to convince herself that this was all a dream, given how real and vivid it felt.
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Why couldn’t it have been some cozy fantasy life of peaceful elves or something I got sent to? She ruefully pondered while she tried not to trip as she was half-carried somewhere. If she had truly been transported to a new world for a chance at a new life, why did she get the place with spoiled royalty that was giving her some serious Game of Thrones vibes?
Because life is just always gonna suck for you, Jin, her mind unhelpfully replied.
It was at least a half hour of eerie silence, which she wondered was either a really high-tech hood or magic when the hood was finally removed from her. She was instantly displeased to find herself already in a dungeon cell that seemed carved from sandstone, with a thin layer of sand covering the brick floor. There was nothing else, not even a place to relieve her bladder, and she tried her best not to think about that.
“Alright, Wayfarer,” the first guard who had originally greeted her, Gerrik, said. He gestured towards the door and began explaining, “It seems you were at least blessed with a translation Talent, so that’s a good start, but we’re going to be running some tests to see if there are any other promising ones that might favor you to a particular Sect. Then, each rep is going to question you further before deciding where to put you. Did you follow that so far, or did your Talent not catch something?”
“I’m guessing Sect is like a faction? Does everyone get split into one?” she asked, trying to better gauge exactly what kind of dystopia she was dealing with.
“Yes, normally they stick with their parents until they’re eight when they go through a similar process.”
“Do you often deal with Wayfarers? That’s what you call me ‘cause I'm from another world, right?”
Gerrik gave a slight smirk as he said, “Well, at least you seem to be a smart one. Hopefully, that will keep you alive longer than most. While they don’t arrive often, we know enough about them to understand that quick assimilation keeps them alive longer. Otherwise, they get crazy ideas like braving the dunes or overthrowing the Speakers.”
She glared at the older man and crossed her arms over her chest as she asked, “Do you enjoy talking about things that I obviously have no idea about?”
The Captain’s smirk grew. “Maybe a little. Now wait here until one of the Servants arrives who can wash you. I’m not going to explain how our society functions while you look like a Lover serving one of the hungrier Speakers.”
Jin rolled her eyes, not really bothered by her nudity, considering how many doctors and nurses had poked and prodded it over the years or the locker rooms when she was healthy enough to do sports. Right now, she was just glad that she didn’t feel as weak as she had what felt like less than an hour ago.
“At least gimme a list to work with, Speakers, Lovers, Workers, and Servants…” she gestured towards the soldier. “What are you?”
He raised a brow and amended, “Maybe not so smart if you couldn’t guess I’m a Fighter.”
“Oh, of course, how silly of me to think it wouldn’t be that obvious,” she said, rubbing a hand over her face in mild exasperation. “Exactly how many options are there?”
“Six,” he replied. “You’re just missing the Whispers, but they’re a quiet bunch that easily gets forgotten. You’ll rarely hear them complain about it, though.”
Jin rolled her eyes. “Apparently, not even this reality is immune to terrible dad jokes.”
The Captain simply chuckled as he turned to leave, and she called out, “Wait, won’t you explain what those Sects actually mean?”
The metal bars of the door scraped shut behind him as he called over his shoulder, “That’s what the reps are for.”
She gave an annoyed huff before she remembered his earlier words about her having some kind of translation Talent and she hurried towards the bars to call out her question.
“Wait! What’s—” Another door slammed further down the hall as she moved to look through the bars. “A Talent?” she finished lamely to the air of the deserted dungeon she found herself completely alone in.
“Well, shit,” she muttered, then looked around to see if there was any possible way out, maybe an unguarded key helpfully hanging from a wall…
Then she realized there wasn’t even a hole for a key to go into on the prison door, just some squiggly rune-looking markings engraved into a tiny circle where a key should go.
She tried touching it, wondering if she did get sent to a magic world after all, but the runes didn’t react to her touch at all. What did confirm that this was definitely a magic world, though, was the semi-transparent hologram that appeared in front of the lock that displayed information to her.
Item: Prison Runelock
An enchanted lock keyed to the aura signature of specific people.
Caste: Sapphire.
Availability: Uncommon.
Type: Tool, lock.
Requirements: Aura must be synced by the owner: Queen Theris.
Effect: Can lock a door.
“Well… that gives me a lot more questions to ask when they get back.” She slightly grimaced as she added, “If they don’t kill me for being a party crasher, that is.”
----------------------------------------
Captain Gerrik quickly retreated from the dungeon, knowing that to linger too long might reveal too much and raise more suspicion than he could afford. It made him even more annoyed when one of the guards he had specifically ordered not to be seen with him too often fell in line beside him and excitedly whispered, “Captain, do you think the Wayfarer is a sign that we—”
“If they are a sign from the beyond, Menna, it is one that you would do well not to draw further unwanted attention to,” he snapped at the woman.
She shrank slightly at the reprimand, and he added, “Good work keeping her from fleeing, though. Even if she had managed to get off the roof and through this maze of a city, she would have died in the desert within a day.”
Menna nodded. “I know she needs information more than freedom at the moment, but can’t we do something to help—”
“You will do nothing,” he cut her off. Gerrik stopped momentarily, glancing down the halls and expanding his aura to try and sense if anyone might be hidden nearby.
When he was satisfied they were alone for the moment at least, he turned to her and whispered, “I know you want to help bring about change and that the appearance of a Wayfarer is seen as a promise for exactly that, but we cannot move rashly and jeopardize her being slaughtered before she even knows that we need her.”
He gave a heavy sigh. “The fact that it’s close to the beginning of a new Season has me already concerned about what fate lies before her. It will be a miracle if we can keep her out of the Tower.”
“But couldn’t that be a good thing for us? For a Wayfarer to win the climb?”
Gerrik shook his head. “Maybe if she arrived a couple of years ago and we had time to get her trained as a Fighter before going in, but fresh from the sky?” He paused thoughtfully and gave a sigh before saying, “Well, let’s hope that she either stays clear of the Tower or had some fantastic training as a warrior in her last world.”