It was a path she knew well. The feel of the path worn beneath her feet from years of early morning runs. This was her favorite part of the day. The air rushing past her. The soft scent of wildflowers and mud. The burble of a nearby creek. The flapping wings of birds and the soft symphony of insects as they went about their day. It was comforting: nature’s built in lullaby.
A few miles down the path was a small field. Tall grass swayed under a breeze. Paradise. A calm amongst the chaos of the world outside. She had spent many mornings lying here beneath the sun watching clouds roll by and losing herself.
That day was different. She could feel the tension soon as she set foot on the path amongst the trees. The air felt rigid. No birds flew, and the insects weren’t chirping lazily. The silence was eerie, almost deafening. Yet she ran onwards, driven by impulse to that field- to her paradise. When she stepped into the clearing she faltered. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
The field was split in two. Not a split like when an earthquake pushes the earth apart, but like the earth had been pushed together pulling somewhere else here. The air was darker beyond the split. Smokier. The trees looked as if they were burned. Despair rolled off of that land in waves.
There was something familiar in the air there too. A scent. The salty smell of the sea. A haunting smell from her nightmares. There wasn’t even a substantial lake for miles. She grew nervous.
Movement nearby startled her. The rustle of the tall grass at the edge of the split nearest to her. She tensed, ready to run, but as the movement grew closer that haunting smell of the sea grew stronger freezing her in fear. She attempted to manage a step backwards, but fell landing on her back. She was exposed and unprepared.
From the grass leaped a large wolf. Its fur shimmered beneath the sun from this part of the world. The golden brown tone was only matched in intensity by the deep hazel eyes that were now glaring down at her. A low snarl escaped the creatures lips as it looked down at her. It sniffed, pausing as a flash of recognition crossed through those ensnaring eyes. She felt the change, shocked- somehow this wolf thought it knew her. It let out a low, grumbling growl- a warning, before retreating back to the darkness and despair of the other side.
Fear coursed through her veins, her heart pounding away at the inside of her ribcage. She laid on the muddy earth for what felt like hours- too terrified to move. When she finally felt her courage and rationale return to her she cautiously rose to heels, squatting in the tall grass. Looking across the field she was dismayed- there was nothing there. No split. No signs that anything out of the ordinary had even taken place. Had it even really happed? She began to question herself, doubt leading her to believe that she had finally started down the delusional path of allowing her nightmares to bleed into reality. The salty smell of the sea was still stuck to her, a soft reminder of the events of the morning. With a million questions and as many doubts, she ran home without pausing to look back at her now tainted paradise.
As she neared the edge of the forest by the house, she could tell that her guardian Emmeric was awake. The air was thick with the sticky sweet smell of maple syrup and the smoky scent of freshly fried bacon. Her stomach grumbled loudly, drawing her attention away from her eventful morning and focusing on the delicious breakfast awaiting her. She crossed the distance to pull open the screen door that lead into the spacious kitchen.
“Good morning! Have a nice run?” came the sing-songy voice of her overenthusiastic guardian. She swore that Emmeric’sconstant optimism could be fatal in the right situation.
Rolling her eyes she responded with an “Uneventful.” Her voice sounded more gruff than usual. Opting not to address the true events of her morning run, she jogged up the stairs before her guardian could question her further.
She was in desperate need of a shower, and quickly stripped to step under the too hot water. The heat washed over her skin, peeling away the remaining nervousness from her earlier encounter. Sighing as her muscles began to relax, she quickly scrubbed down before stepping out of the shower to get dressed. "Food will cure all” she mumbled as she got to work drying her thick, long, brown hair. Quickly giving up on her messy locks, she pulled it all up into a loose, messy bun to air dry. She then threw on a plain t-shirt and a pair of fresh joggers before hopping down the stairs to her awaiting breakfast.
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Her stomach rumbled loudly as the smells emanating from the kitchen soaked into her. Emmeric was seated at the breakfast bar, clearly not patient enough to wait for her to join him before eating. “I cooked you clean” he stated in between bites. She sighed but did not argue- that was their agreement. She filled her plate with fluffy pancakes, crisp bacon, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs before sitting down at the breakfast bar. Emmeric finished his food before she had eaten half of hers and pushed his plate aside.
“ I have work to do this week out of town. It will be a big journey, and I will be gone for a few weeks” he told her as he sipped his coffee. This was a regular occurrence for his job. She would always be provided the option to travel with him, but always chose to decline. She enjoyed the comforts of home much more than the tiring roughness of the road. “Care to join me this time around?” The inevitable question. She stuffed more of her food in her mouth forcefully pausing her answer. She thought about what life was like on the road, having gone with him only once before. It was rough and uncomfortable and oh so noisy. She was about to decline when a shiver ran up her spine. The events in the field this morning quickly flashed through her mind and she shook her head to rid herself of the reemerging fear. She sighed loudly before muttering “sure” and returning to her food.
Beside her Emmeric started his usual response before sputtering and turning to look at her wide eyed. “I’m sorry, did you just say sure?” he questioned. “You actually WANT to go out on a rough, uncomfortable, social journey with me?” His shocked face brought out a fit of giggles as she struggled to breath around her full mouth. He quickly put a hand to her forehead before gasping. “You don’t even have a fever so this must be genuine. Okay, spill. Why the change of heart?” Smiling gently while rolling her eyes she responds “I think its time for an adventure”. Refusing to give any other answer she quickly gathers the details of the upcoming journey, and ushers Emmericout of the kitchen to pack while she cleans up from breakfast.
Emmerics job was complicated. He and his team would travel to various locations across the continent to investigate odd “events”. These events often included unexplainable deaths, weird area-wide phenomena’s, anything with a suggestable tie to dark magic basically. The use of magic itself wasn’t illegal, but publicly accepted magic users were few and far in between. The lines between positive and negative magic were too easily blurred for most of the general populous.
The consequence of the public status of magic users left Emmeric and his team in what was an often dangerous field of work. He would often be gone for weeks to months at a time travelling to each location and then facing the work that needed to be done there.
When she was younger her guardian would often leave her in the care of their elderly neighbors. As she grew up and was able to take care of herself she would be left alone in their home with the occasional check in from the neighbors instead. They had an unspoken agreement that if she needed to travel away from their normal property she would ask one of their neighbors to accompany her to the local town.
The town, Stelera, wasn’t very big by any means, but held all of the necessary shops. They had a small open air market where she could buy any fruits, vegetables, and meats that she was unable to grow or procure from their small neighborhood. They had small vendors who would sell fresh baked goods, cloth and clothing, jewelry, and other miscellaneous items. The town bar was a hearty attraction as the evening approached, although she had never been brave enough to venture inside. The raucous laughter issued through the front door with ease, spilling into the street. It was inviting, but also nerve wrecking She didn’t do well with social gatherings with more than a few people involved.
She would regularly visit the small bookstore at the far edge of town before she returned home. Reading was one of the few hobbies she and her guardian shared. The types of books they enjoyed could not have been more different however. Emmericenjoyed tales of adventure, soft romances, and dramatic epicswhile she preferred technical books that taught her about the world. The store was owned by a middle aged woman who would regularly make soft passes at Emmeric. Watching his blushing face and listening to him stutter out a response was the comedic highlight of each trip the pair made. She felt that maybe her guardian also felt an attraction to the sweet woman, but was too uncomfortable with attempting to pursue her. This caused regular, disgruntled sighs to fall from her lips as she gently pushes the older male to make a move. Her efforts has remained a fruitless endeavor though. Maybe one day he would give in and ask the poor girl on a date.
With their bags packed into the wagon and Emmeric holding the reigns to lead the horses out of town, she gave him a hard jab in the ribs while calling out to the bookstore owner with well wishes as they headed out of town. Her guardian rubbed at his sore ribs before also calling his own well wishes to the younger woman. His face quickly turning bright red as she waved cheerily to the duo.
Their journey would begin at the edge of town, where a flutter pushed at her chest. She felt the constriction pass quickly, pushing aside any doubts she had about leaving their home. It wasn’t as if she would never return- this was only a temporaryretreat from her comfort zone. A chance to see a small portion of the world while she attempted to find answers about the weird incident of her morning run.