She had me. I was a mere sheep, and she was my shepherd. I was sandwiched between several buildings in a shared courtyard. Behind me were open barrels, trees, and shrubbery. And as much as I loved barrels, trees, and shrubbery, it wouldn’t help me here.

She was closing in, time was limited. I moved left and right to try and shake her off, cleverly, she reacted in kind, following my every movement. Her face curled into a smug grin as she announced, “I swear I won’t let you escape this time.”

She was probably right. I needed to form a plan and fast. The surrounding buildings were towering, with vertical wooden pillars, intricate balconies, and lines of rope that hung from building to building, probably, for drying clothes; it was climbable, maybe.

However, turning my back to her would have been a mistake, and her look gave me the impression that she was waiting for any chance to pounce. I think the reason she hadn’t already was because of my reputation for escaping. Now, the problem was that every second I spent thinking she would only get closer in, and her smug grin showed she understood that. I wasn’t giving up yet; I had a plan forming, and all it needed was to distract her for a few moments. Hopefully, a few moments was enough.

I looked somewhere behind her and with a face of surprise. I gasped, “Is that Mr. Garthe?” Instantly, her posture changed as her head slowly and carefully turned to glimpse behind her. She had taken the bait.

Faster than I’ve ever run before, I sprinted towards the streets of Rivaelet. Worryingly, my distraction hadn’t lasted long, and it took her only a few seconds for her to gauge my betrayal. Turning to me, she lunged in my direction.

She was faster than me, and while the distraction hadn’t lasted long, it might have been enough. The street was just a few steps away, and she was already on top of me. Her hand was beginning to reach out to grab me.

She began to cheer out the words I feared the most, “You’re… I…t---.” Somehow, my jump into the streets caused her tag to miss, and for her to tumble into stonework behind me.

Now, I had the advantage. The cobbled streets clicked and clacked as merchants paraded the streets with their magically-propelled carts. Ophelia wasn’t giving up, and like a wolf stalking her prey, she followed every step I took. I couldn’t dodge forever, and eventually, she would be back in striking distance of me.

Although, I had one last trick in mind. I knew the location of my dearest and greatest friend, Ulfred. His sacrifice would be a necessary loss.

I weaved between the merchants and their carts. Each in their own way cursing, growling, and sneering curses in my direction. Unbothered, I tore across the bridge that separated the village in half and sprinted toward the central garden where our game had begun.

I was not alone in this endeavor, as Ophelia had made it clear in her insults and her explosive steps. It sounded like from her insults and her exhaustion that she was maybe five to ten feet behind me.

As I ran through the streets, my vision turned behind me goading her further, “Ha! Even if you had a headstart you still wouldn’t have been able to catch me~!” Just from the few glimpses I had taken, her face was red with anger, and it caused her to clip a poor merchant's stand sending its contents flying. Laughing, I turned my focus back to the roads ahead, narrowly avoiding a merchant stand of my own.

Just ahead of me, the buildings became more organic, that is to say, they were slowly being overtaken by vegetation. The green thorned vines that webbed across the shops and homes alike were reminiscent of the Central Garden.

The Central Garden was a place of delicate flowers carpeting the ground between trees and bushes. Its perfectly carved stone walkways led passersby through tunnels of vines and circled a central pond. Its druidic guardian, if she was awake, would wander the garden and guide its growth.

Today, however, I will not be respecting its beauty, and instead, every shrub, tree, and slightly vibrant flower will be used to throw off my assailant. After several minutes of circling trees and diving through bushes, I found myself nearing the central grove.

Getting to the grove before Ophelia could see me was all that mattered and she was gaining ground. I followed the winding path as it curved around the central pond. I could see the grove through the trees, it was within grasp.

The vines and living wood sculpted the central grove. It was elegant, alive and its architecture flowed like a waterfall. It also happened to harbor my dear friend Ulfred.

Carving through the stone archway that separated the grove from the garden I looked behind me. Ophelia wasn’t in sight yet; I still had time. Past the stone arch was a delicate grotto and in its center a living wooden hovel with arching windows on every side overlooked the pond behind it.

Ulfred, when I last saw him, was hidden somewhere behind the hovel. Hopefully, he was still there. As I glanced behind me Ophelia had past the stone archway and was carefully scanning for me. Her eyes locked with mine and the race was on again. I scrambled around the hovel and I nearly tripped over Ulfred.

I had noticed Ulfred a second before nearly tripping over him; he was crouched down and hugging the hovel. He looked at me quizically while I skittered around him, “Allay, hey! Where is Ophel-” Behind me sounds of injury pierced out from Ophelia and Ulfred. As Ophelia tripped over the Ulfred going head over heels into a patch of nearby Lilies. Ulfread, while crying out in pain, flopped along with her as the impact carried him.

“I-gotchu!” She yelped with glee while currently face down in the dirt. Uncontrollably, laughter spilled out as I looked down at the dog pile. Ophelia, flipping over and now realizing she had not caught me, took in a breath of defeat. “Why…” She heaved, “Are you… So difficult to catch?”

“What can I say? I am just that cool,” I stated rather matter-of-factly. She turned, her eyes staring into mine, “I swear on my name, I will drown you in the Lumen Ocean.”

Ulfred, finally joining the conversation, said, “Ophelia, your new name from this point on is Oaf,” as he spoke his hand rubbed an injury on his head and slowly he picked himself up. “I hope that wasn’t loud enough to alert Nima.” He worriedly scanned the grove.

Equally as worried, I swept the sanctuary, and only after confirming that she was not close by I whispered, “I am pretty sure she takes a nap around this hour, she is extremely old.” That got a laugh out of Ophelia and a worried smile from Ulfred.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Nima was in her own league of the mean. As the current guardian of the grove, she ruled it with an Iron fist, which in her own right was worth respect. However, if you dare decide to have any fun within the grove, she will crucify you.

The grove to her was like her personal magi-vault, but instead of holding ancient magical artifacts, it instead contained flowers. Although, to her credit, Rivaelet’s Central Garden was beautiful beyond words.

I glanced down at Ulfred and smirked, “Well, anyways, you’re it. Start counting.” His eyes glanced upwards into mine and with desperation, he hesitantly responded, “Yeah, well, I am on base.” What. ”No, you weren't! There is no such thing as base!” I blurted out.

Before the argument could continue any further; a wail, whose volume only increased, propagated the valley. “Is that the storm alarm?” Ophelia questioned. “I think so?” I guessed. “Do they use that alarm for attacks?” I glanced at Ulfred looking for any answer. “I don’t think so. I think my dad may have mentioned something like this happening this morning.” Ulfred cautioned.

“Ophelia!” A rough voice filled with worry called out from somewhere in the central garden. Ophelia, recognizing the voice, yelled back, “I’m right here!” A few moments passed before a figure walked through the stone arch. He was a large, extremely burly man, who wore hunted leather skins and had pouches strewn all across him. His face was dirty, his hair was a mess. He looked relieved as he saw Ophelia. However, that quickly turned to disappointment and then to anger.

He looked each of us up and down as he approached, and with a satisfied look, his deep voice bellowed, “You know damn well that yall are not supposed to be here.” His hand shifted down into one of his pouches as he pulled out a stone of glowing runic circles. “I’ve found them in the central grove. I’ll wait here until you get them.” He grumbled.

The stone vibrated, and the normally sweet voice, now filled with venom, emerged, “I’ll be there as soon as I can. A lot of the southern wards still need to be refilled. Please tell Allay, that when we get home we are going to have a very long conversation.” Welp, this was it, I was dead.

…

We were being watched like a hawk, Mr. Garthe made sure we were as silent as a mouse. Well, he didn’t directly tell us to be quiet, instead, his intense gaze pretty much simplified to, “If you say or do anything I will kill you.” How friendly.

Ulfred was the first to be picked up, and it was by a servant who wore his house’s emblem. The servant was an older man who was groomed to perfection. He gave the air of elegant noble refinement. The servant was swift in arriving settling matters and departing.

…

My mother, however, took a lot longer, and by the time she arrived, the sky had gone from a beautiful radiant day to a rolling storm of ominous dark clouds. The garden was being blown left and right with leaves being torn from their branches.

As If I had a sixth sense I could almost literally feel the upcoming judgment before she even appeared. She passed the stone arch and like a dragon swooping down to ruin a village her eyes of eternal hatred and radiant anger scoured my entire being. The wave of emotion it caused immediately dropped my head and eyes to stare at my feet.

“Allay, you have a lot of explaining to do.” Her words were cold and filled my entire being with endless disapproval. “This morning, when I told you to stay home and finish your chores. What had I explicitly told you not to do?” Still looking at the ground I whispered back, “You, told me that under no circumstances was I to leave the house.” She scoffed, “Do you also the remember reason why I said you were under no circumstance to leave the house?” She echoed back. I stared deeper into the ground, my gaze nearly drilling to the Lumen Ocean, I hadn’t been listening. “no…” I squeaked. “Oh, that’s great, then let me remind you. Today there is going to be weather that will cut, slice, and drag you into the air.” She snapped. “I am sorr-” I began before she cut me off, “Sorry? No, no, no, sorry won’t cover it this time. Now say your goodbyes because you won’t be seeing your friends until the day of Radiance.” Finally, I looked up appalled at her suggestion, and paled, that was months away, practically forever!

She turned her attention to Garthe, “Thank you for finding him. I’m going to take him home before the storm gets worse, could you please inform Mayor Richet that I will be late for our meeting.” He gave a curt nod and led Ophelia away. I waved a solemn goodbye, knowing it would be a long time till I saw her again.

My mother swiftly grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the Central Garden.

…

Overlooking the town of Rivaelet was my favorite pastime. From the living room’s front window, I could see the entire town of Rivaelet. Each side of the valley and even the Southern Gates were within view. The Southern Gate’s stone walls looked so small from this distance, and I could barely make out the various vines that climbed across its wall. The creek separated the town and aimlessly flowed toward the southern wall, unfortunately, buildings blocked most of my view of the creek. The town’s amphitheater just barely climbed above its surrounding townhouses; making it just barely visible. Although, nothing was as cool to see as the farms built into the valley’s walls. The gardens were my favorite part of Rivaelet. A portion of the mountain was flattened, turned to farmland, and then repeated a few feet above it, and while they didn’t climb up the entirety of the mountain, it harvested enough food to feed everyone in the valley.

I am, surprisingly, really grateful that my mother found me when she did. As we got home the winds had ramped up and were probably enough to drag me into the air. Thankfully, I had the town's only first-rate mage by my side, and she was able to easily divert the wind around us. However, if it had been any later I have no idea what she would have done because even now, the wind was continuing to pick up. The skies were dark and rolled with intense pressure. The only light able to pierce through the clouds came from the auroric Leyline of Air.

When we got back to the house, my mother let loose. I’ve been yelled at before, but this time, I wasn’t getting off light. I had really upset her. Anyway, now I can’t leave the house till the day of Radiance, which is 3 months away. This also wasn’t something I could escape from. I was forced to sit and watch her remove me from our Alarm ward.

So here I was, sitting in our living room, staring out our front window. My list of chores had doubled, studies my mother assigned tripled, and my access outside was nowhere to be found. I looked around the living room, its arched doorways, fancy furniture, and bookshelves filled to the brim with books wouldn’t keep me forever! Maybe, just maybe, I could convince Dad to give me some freebies.

…

It was late that night when I was awoken by the sound of shattering glass piercing my dreamless sleep. Groggily I climbed from bed and stood with my drowsiness shifting me from side to side. My room was shrouded in darkness and my bedside window hadn’t the faintest bit of light shining through. It took me a second to shake off my sleep and reach for my bedroom door.

A howl of wind flooded my room and drowned the hallway with its frigid bite. I shivered in place, eagerly awaiting to find whatever was wrong and return to bed. The hallway wasn’t long and because of the lightless corridor, I could barely make out the living room. I pushed against the wind and used the arched doorframes to steady myself as pulled myself into the living room.

The mana lamp responded to my entry and its light, slowly, filled the room. Our front window was broken, a rock of ice had shattered it into hundreds of pieces. The couch under the window was shredded by glass shards, which dangerously stabbed out. The hardwood floor was splintered and a glowing rocky sphere of ice sat in its crater.

There was stirring behind me; most likely the sounds of my mother and father waking up. But, something wasn’t right. The glass shards and portions of the ice were wrong, somehow. Hesitantly, I reached down and picked up the largest glass shard I could find. As I picked it up a sliver of it pierced my skin and caused me to whence in pain as red ichor began to stain the glass. I watched the blood trickle across the surface, but I found no reflection of blood nor the room. Instead, an otherwordly vision had found its home.