The ground quaked violently. A vast sound as powerful as an avalanche filled the purple woods and shook its trees. A blackstone meteor had struck the road leading through the woods, leaving a moat of dirt and buried trees.
From seat of stone Syndra rose and rubbed her eyes. Red if not for the deep purple colouration that filled her eyes, as though her mind contained a violet sun. It was cold here, being both higher up and further north. A different kind of cold than by the sea. She did not touch upon the ground, instead gliding across the courtyard. From this vantage point, the village was easy to spot, small pillars of smoke rising. A small clearing at the foot of the mountain she had made.
Passing over the trail leading up to what was once a temple of learning, down to what was once a refuge, she came to the palisade walls that had closed its doors to lost child. With a though she turned the might trunks to kindling, as she pushed her way through, hovering above the mud of the village grounds.
The people of the small town looked upon her in horror, as she floated through what was an overgrown hamlet. She recognized none, nor did she expect to. Passing through the market, she picked up food items she had missed for many years. Cheese, root vegetables, breads particular to this region.
Taking her seat on a merchant’s wagon, she now truly felt the hunger accumulated. She breathed deeply taking in the nostalgic feeling, and all the dread that came with it. With a solid bite of the cheese, the bittersweet flavour filled her mouth. With each bite and swallow of the foods she had gathered, she gathered a larger and larger audience, though she truly did not care about their presence.
They on the other hand had heard the terrible impact, seen their walls be torn asunder, felt the presence of vast power. Now seated, eating like a normal woman, albeit in imposing clothing and radiating an aura of pure danger. Like seeing a predator devour a carcass, the fascination somehow overcoming the very human instinct of self-preservation.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
With the last bite, she sighed contently, and hopped off the cart. Looking around the village seemed so much smaller than when she was a child. The houses, the streets, the confines of the walls themselves. She wondered how she could ever get lost here.
Walking along the cobblestone, to a familiar wood-woven house. The same house, older than she left it, but still very recognizable. The still-living wood still standing. As she stared upon it, it dried out, shrinking, twisting, groaning in pain. Snapping, until finally sundered and destroyed. She stood there for a moment, considering her work. She breathed out.
With a turn, she floated down northward passage, along the forest in the village, barely more than a park. Passing silently along the winding path, singing the leaves slightly as she passed. Moving through until she reached an old, wizened tree. An ancient priestess stood in white-gold robes, barring Syndra’s way to the tree. Syndra barely recognized her as an obstacle, pushed aside by the sheer force of the young sorceress’ presence.
Syndra stood in front of the tree, paralyzed. She had expected an ominous presence, an adversary. Instead a withered tree stood in its place. Weak, dry, and much smaller than she remembered. She had come to exact vengeance on the spirit, she had come to prove to herself she was beholden to none. That she was free. Standing there she felt lonelier than all the hours spent by the pond, all the nights spent training, and all the ages spent in that terrible, repeating nightmare. With all the power in the world to sunder the conduit before her, she instead felt impotent.
She had come to make a world where she had no past, masters, or peers. Without any responsibilities or allegiances beyond those to herself. Without a road tread before her. Her own fate.
Sovereign.
She took a deep breath.