They continued walking silently, eventually reaching the slew of abandoned buildings that made up a small section of the city. There were a few signs talking about how they would be dismantled soon by mages and workers in order to construct new, more stable structures that fit the city’s current needs. Alice ended up having to drag her away as she got absorbed in thinking about it. She should be focused on the task at hand rather than thinking about city remodeling.

Shaking the thoughts away, she kept a lookout for the building that Tuzmuc and Evelynn had said would likely contain Malori. Everywhere she looked though, she kept seeing people. In the broken windows of the crumbling, moldy structures. Huddled in tattered blankets on the streets and passed out next to piles of garbage.

A young orc boy holding a puppy that was skinny enough to count its ribs stuck out to her. One of his tusks was broken, and he seemed almost as thin as the dog. Even still, they sat in their overturned wooden tub, and the boy held the puppy close. Her heart hurt looking at them. It reminded her of when she held Mattias after Cecilia had gotten hurt. They were both far calmer than she would have expected, just blankly holding each other. As she tried to take a step towards them, she felt a hand grab her arm. She looked back to see Alice, her scarf lowered, shaking her head.

“Don’t,” she said quietly.

“Why not? I can at least give them something to ea-”

“Don’t,” Alice said, just a little bit more assertively. “Look around, Princess. There are people all around just as hungry as those two. Unless you plan to feed every single person here, you’re only making a problem.”

Ingrid furrowed her brow. “How can you say something so heartless?” she whispered, trying to pull away. Alice’s grip tightened.

“Which one of us is being heartless?” She hissed.

Ingrid froze, her entire body tightening. Alice clearly noticed it too, as her face went from vitriolic to apologetic just as quickly.

“I- Um, sorry,” she muttered. “Just, we should really keep going… Please…”

Blinking, Ingrid stood there for a second. Alice had never taken that kind of tone with her before. One that sounded like her sister. She felt a tiny bit of fear that had formed in her throat subside as Alice apologized. All she managed to give was a small nod as she kept following Alice and a remarkably unphased Kallen, who either somehow didn’t notice everything around her or didn’t care. Ingrid gave one last glance at the boy and the puppy before facing forward and struggling to ignore every instinct telling her to go to him.

Her attempts at trying to focus on something else were met with failure for the rest of their walk, until Alice held up a hand. Kallen kept walking forward until Alice reached out and grabbed her by the back of her tunic, almost causing her to stumble backward.

Kallen opened her mouth, presumably to ask why, before she was quickly shushed by Alice. The dark elf pulled Kallen back to a wall with Ingrid following suit. She pointed around the corner. As Ingrid peeked around, she saw a series of large warehouses in varying states of disrepair. She leaned back to look at Alice.

“Do you think she’s in one of those?”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t exactly see any other warehouses. Issue is telling which one,”

Ingrid thought for a moment, then looked back around the corner. The fronts of the warehouses were facing a wide street, devoid of people. That was good, others wouldn’t get hurt if things got ugly. It posed the problem of cover though. Regardless of which building it was, there were no places to sneak in. She clicked her tongue, scanning further, when she noticed something.

The three of them were hiding around a corner at the intersection of the wide, open street. On the opposite side of the street was the warehouses, but directly across from where they were hiding was a series of buildings that were likely meant for living. One of them came remarkably close to the first warehouse in the line. The other warehouses were fairly close to each other too.

“How are you at freerunning?” She asked, looking back at Alice.

“Um, if it’s what I think you’re talking about, then pretty good. Didja get that from a book?” she asked, crossing her arms in amusement, “We usually just call it ‘getting places you aren’t supposed to be,’ but I guess having a term for it could work.”

“Not the point,” Ingrid rolled her eyes, blushing at the teasing. “But those buildings are pretty close to the warehouses. Do you think you can make that jump? There are probably windows or openings for ventilation on the roofs, and you might be able to look through them. You’d just have to jump from roof to roof between them. You get a good view of the layout of the building, I can use my magic to sense how many there are and which building they’re in.”

Alice squinted at Ingrid. “What do you take me for, some kinda flying squirrel?” She asked in disbelief. As Ingrid opened her mouth to protest, she was quickly cut off. “Because Keaton compared me more to a cat. Alright, let’s do this, I should be back in a little bit,” she said confidently, pulling up her scarf.

Ingrid didn’t get a chance to argue or respond before Alice dashed across the street and started climbing. The speed and grace of it was far from what Ingrid expected, but she wasn’t exactly sure what other outcome she had been picturing. Alice lept nimbly from any handhold on the side of the building to the next, at points even jumping across the alleyway to a windowsill or supporting pillar of wood on the opposite building.

The thing that baffled Ingrid the most was how silent it was. If she wasn’t there staring directly at it, there wasn’t a single hint of it happening. Well, she could sense Alice’s presence due to her being a living thing, but that wasn’t the norm for people. She couldn’t help but feel slightly confused at why Alice had run off before Ingrid searched for life, but she chalked it up to one of those seemingly obvious factors that Alice liked to forget. Two in one day though? Today must have been an off day for her. Ingrid made a mental note to try and do something nice for her later.

She reached into the bag, then looked up at Kallen. “Hey, do you think you could do me a favor and kind of block view of me a little bit?” She asked.

“Sure, can I ask why?”

Ingrid pulled out the head of the staff to show her. “I’m… A druid. I don’t want to get a bunch of people asking questions, or worse, reporting that they saw me,” she explained.

Kallen’s eyes went wide. “Woah, one of those people who control plants and the ground and stuff?” She said in awe. “That’s so cool! I’m glad I’m helping you, I probably wouldn’t have ever gotten to see one of you guys in action.”

Blushing at the flattery, but quickly shaking it off, Ingrid removed the rest of the staff, “I’m just going to try to sense what building they’re in, and hopefully, whether or not Malori is there too. I can recognize her specifically since I know her.”

“Huh, that’s a pretty handy ability! Well, just let me know which one they’re in and I’ll do my thing,” She chimed, pointing a thumb at the glaive on her back.

Ingrid took a deep breath, then gently tapped the staff to the ground. In its own way, the district was teeming with life. Weeds, animals, people, insects, her senses were filled with the signatures of the heartbeats and pulses of those around her. She furrowed her brow as she sifted through them all. All of the warehouses had people in them, but she needed to find a specific person.

There was an irregularity with the third closest warehouse. There were far more pings of larger creatures, humanoids, in it. She focused in on it, continuing to examine each individual creature. Then she found her. A small, meek life force that she could sense the anxiety in. An esper.

She opened her eyes. “The third warehouse, Malori is in the back left corner of it,” she said.

“So should we start heading there?” Kallen asked.

Ingrid shook her head. “We should wait for Alice to get back. I could feel about forty people in there,” she grimaced. Three against forty. That was not an even matchup in the slightest. She’d likely have to wait here herself to make sure Malori wasn’t moved while Alice tried to find more help. Who would she even ask, mercenaries? They’d likely be expensive, and could she even do it short notice? Guards were probably a bad idea. Alice didn’t trust guards as far as she could throw them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kallen waving a hand in front of her face. “Hey there, you still with us?” She joked.

“Ah, sorry. I just got caught up in my own thoughts. I’m trying to figure out how we do this,” she sighed. “There’s just too many to deal with on our own.”

Kallen tilted her head, “I think you might be overthinking it.”

“Huh?” Ingrid blinked, looking up at her.

“Think about it like this. There’s a bunch of them, but you have magic. Alice is really sneaky from what I saw. I’m strong. We can cover our weaknesses!” She said confidently.

Ingrid wanted to agree, because technically she was right. The issue came from the fact that it didn’t really change the fact that they were still hopelessly outnumbered. Maybe they could take on more people than average guards or soldiers, but forty had to be too much. Was this confidence bravado, stupidity, or just plain lying?

The thought briefly crossed her mind that Kallen could have been a double agent trying to lure them into a trap, but she didn’t seem smart enough to keep that kind of thing quiet.

“I just want Alice to get back soon. Once she has the layout we can come up with some sort of plan. I just…” she stopped. “I want to make sure Malori is alright. She’s a good friend.”

Kallen nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I think that’s really sweet. Caring about people is something beautiful. We do all sorts of crazy things for it,” she chuckled. “Like one time when I was little, I ended up fighting a raccoon for a loaf of bread when my dad was sick. It only bit me three times!”

Ingrid gave an awkward smile. “Oh, um, well, that’s very sweet of you. You had to fight animals for food?”

“Yup! I grew up in a place kind of like this one. It was just my parents and I. We never had a house or money or anything, but it was happy. I think that was enough.”

“Why did you leave?” Ingrid asked, tilting her head.

“Well, my mom and dad always said that helping people was the best thing anyone could do. So I wanted to do that,” she said fondly. “They got sick and died a little over ten years ago now, so I didn’t really have anything holding me down. I kind of just, wandered.”

Ingrid felt a little guilty at bringing up the topic. Strangely enough, Kallen seemed unfazed by it. “Isn’t that kind of sad? Do you miss them at all?”

“Well yeah, I loved my parents. They loved me. But they died together with smiles on their faces, saying how much they loved each other,” A smile crept across her face. “And how much they loved me. I miss them, yeah, but how can I be sad when they were happy, and wanted me to be happy?”

That had certainly not been an expected response. Ingrid had never really known her parents. Cecilia had raised her for as long as she could remember. She had even taken in Mattias as an infant. The person Cecilia used to be was probably the closest she had to a parent until Chimsley, and thinking about that… hurt. It just reminded her of where her sister was now. It reminded her of the things she said and did, all the panic attacks she caused. Was that better or worse than if Cecilia had died in the attack?

Ingrid mentally kicked herself for thinking something like that. That was her sister. She couldn’t have thoughts like that. She couldn’t allow that.

Kallen must have noticed something off, because she felt a few pokes on her forehead from the taller woman. “Did I say something wrong? You started staring at a wall and there’s nothing there.”

“Oh! Sorry, I kind of space out sometimes. Getting lost in my thoughts, you know?” She chuckled nervously. A quick glance around told her that Alice wasn’t back yet, which meant more small talk with Kallen. “So, that glaive you have, you use it a lot?”

“This? Well yeah, it’s my pride and joy!” She said giddily. “It just fits with the way I fight.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Fight… You said you wanted to help people, right? Like, help them fight? Or in general,” She queried. She tried to keep an eye out for Alice, but at the same time wondered if she’d even be able to see Alice coming if she tried to be sneaky. Sure she had never actually seen how good at it she was, but her other skills had been impeccable. Why would this be any different?

“I like to help people in any way I can! But the way things are, sometimes that means fighting,” she explained. “I don’t exactly like doing it, but if people are getting attacked by bandits and begging for help, what else can I do? All they have to do to surrender is put down their weapons. If they don’t, then it’s their choice, isn’t it?”

Ingrid found herself surprised again. For a self proclaimed ‘not-very-smart’ woman, Kallen said some oddly insightful things. In her first battle, Ingrid struggled to bring herself to kill that one raider directly. She would have died if she didn’t. It felt kind of cowardly how easily she summoned the tree, like it was easier when she wasn’t directly doing the killing. For someone like Kallen who presumably didn’t have magic, and wielded that glaive, any killing she did would have to be direct. Even so, she managed to keep this demeanor. She couldn’t tell if that was admirable or worrying.

“Alright Princess, here’s the plan-”

It took everything in Ingrid’s power not to scream at the top of her lungs when she suddenly heard Alice speaking directly into her ear. She did however feel her heart jump into her throat, “Alice! You just scared me half to death!” she gasped, a hand on her chest. It was hard not to feel bitter about Kallen giggling behind her.

Alice flashed her same old charming smile. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. If it makes you feel any better, your surprised face is adorable. Anyway,” she laughed. “Third warehouse has Malori in some sorta backroom in the corner. There surprisingly aren’t too many guards around, most of them are posted up at the entrances. There’s good news though!” She spread her arms like she was giving some sort of grand presentation. “Nearly everything in there is flammable!”

Ingrid blinked. “I’m sorry, that’s good news?” She asked in disbelief.

“Yes!” Alice said proudly. “I go back to the roofs, set a couple nice fires, and bam, a distraction for you two. I already picked out the perfect spot for them. Just make sure to beeline it for Malori and you should be perfectly fine.”

“And… What about the people inside?”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “You sure you wanna be worried about them? We’re gonna have to kill the ones that get in our way if we wanna get outta there. I love the whole caring about people thing, but make sure you don’t misplace it in these situations.”

“Don’t worry, you can hang back if you’d feel better,” Said Kallen, putting a hand on Ingrid’s shoulder.

She clicked her tongue. “I’ll be fine, I’m just still getting used to all this.”

Kallen nodded. “That’s okay. It took me a while too. If someone is in trouble though, you have to push through it. Malori is counting on us, right?”

“Yeah, yeah you’re right,” Ingrid said, closing her eyes and taking a breath. When she opened them again, she had a determined look on her face. “So, Alice, I take it we should wait for you to give some sort of signal?”

“Right,” she nodded, grinning. “The signal will be that the warehouse is on fire. Sound good?”

“Um, I was thinking like a bird call or somethi- Oh she’s gone,” Ingrid sighed in defeat. She had looked away for what felt like a second to glance back at the main entrance of the building, and when she looked back, Alice was nowhere to be found. That girl really did cause trouble wherever she went. It was charming in its own way, but Ingrid just wished there would be a little more communication when she was causing it.

She took another breath to calm her nerves as she gripped her staff. All she could do now was wait for the smoke.

Things were a blur for Malori over the past few hours. She was with her friends, chatting about plans going forward and eating rations for supper. They all went to their separate rooms, with Alice hounding her and refusing to leave until she was absolutely sure that Malori had remembered to lock her door. After Alice had left, she said some prayers to Carys, telling the Mistress of Love what she had been doing, and asked her usual questions.

She didn’t cry as much as she usually did when she went to sleep, which was good. She had to be careful to drink lots of water and not get dehydrated when she cried too much. Settling into the only semi-comfortable bed, she wiped away some of the tears that were left before shifting onto her side and staring at the wall in the dark room.

This whole journey was stressful. She still found herself shaking at night from the battle and the terror that it entailed. After getting separated from Ingrid and Alice, she tried to catch up, but was only met with the burning gates and bodies. Oddly enough, the blood and gore had very little effect on her. She had spent lots of time volunteering at the hospital, and became numb to that sort of thing. She couldn’t help but be thankful for that. Like she needed another thing to get anxious about and freeze up at. What that made it hard for her was the emotion of it.

Espers had a knack for empathy due to the way their minds interacted with others. Coming across a grisly sight didn’t do much to her, but imagining how it must have felt and how scared they must have been had an immense effect on her.

Just thinking about all of the people she healed there and the fear and despair running through their heads made her feel so, so small. It made her feel scared. It had made it even more difficult for her to fall asleep in the following days, and this night was no different. It was difficult not to curse her overactive imagination at times like these, as every time it felt as though sleep was finally taking hold, some hypothetical or scene from a book or song would go through her head, and she’d be wide awake thinking about it. She found herself wishing to go back to the first days of the journey, when she’d fall asleep almost instantly from how tired walking made her. Why was it that when one thing got better for her another had to get worse?

She curled into herself more, pulling the covers tight against her chest and shoulders so that she was in a little cocoon with only her head poking out. At least she could be warm. Despite having so much physical warmth over the past year, she could never get enough of it. It was hard to believe she had gone for so long without it. She never wanted to go back to the time when she didn’t.

Despite the overabundance of intrusive thoughts, she actually managed to find sleep, though far too late for her liking. No matter how many times she had the nightmares, it was better than the period where she tried to go without sleeping. No matter how bad the nightmares got, at least they were localized to night time. Anything was better than starting to see them in her daily life. The learning experience of sleep deprivation causing hallucinations was not worth that week.

Tonight was particularly bad. She found herself feeling like she was being jostled around, dragged and carried places. The dark figures doing so spoke in hushed voices that she couldn’t make out. It wasn’t long before she started feeling like she was going to panic, struggling to remind herself that it was just a dream. It was just a dream.

Just a dream.

Like that statement meant anything.

Dreams meant fear and anxiety. Her worst insecurities being validated. Her worst fears being realized. Others, normal people didn’t have to go to sleep every night dreading what awaited them. Why did she? No matter how many times she begged Carys, she never received any response.

It was okay, she had to be strong. She had only been a cleric for a year. Some priests went decades before their respective deity gave them a vision. She needed to keep going, to prove her dedication.

None of that mattered in the moment though as the dark figures continued to roughly maneuver her around. She couldn’t even fight back. Her body just felt limp in their clutches. She couldn’t wake up. No matter how hard she tried to open her eyes they simply refused like they had so many times before.

That made it all the more shocking when something slammed into her stomach, making her feel like she was going to throw up. She cried out in pain as it happened, suddenly wide awake.

She felt her body go limp again, groaning in pain as she tried to keep last night’s meal down. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to look around, but everything was so bright that she couldn’t get a good look at what was around her.

“Jeez, you’re a heavy sleeper ain’tcha?” A cocky voice from in front of her laughed.

A small whimper escaped her throat as she struggled against, apparently, bindings. It felt as though she was tied to a chair, the ropes grinding into her wrists and burning them. Her ankles weren’t much better, and she could feel them slowly cutting off blood flow to her feet.

Her heart raced almost as quickly as the questions shooting through her mind. Where was she? Who were these people? What did they want from her? Where were Ingrid and Alice? Were they okay? She hoped they weren’t hurt. Best case scenario was that they weren’t there with her at all.

Squinting, she slowly opened her eyes, shying away from the bright white light shining directly into her face. Before her she could barely manage to make out the form of an extremely tall man hovering close to her face. Roughly seven and a half feet tall, he was clearly a half-giant, with dark blue tattoos formed like war paint on his face, drifting down to his neck and his exposed torso. He was extremely muscular as well, even for a half-giant. His biceps looked like the size of her head. She made a mental, terrified note to try to cooperate, as if she angered him there was no doubt in her mind that he could snap her like an average strength twig.

“W-W-Where a-am I…?” she muttered weakly.

Laughter erupted from around her, and as her eyes adjusted to the sudden blinding light, she noticed several other people around her, about five in total with the man in front of her. Said man was currently doubled over laughing.

“Chomjir’s horns! Girlie, you sound like a lost puppy!” He cried, wiping a tear from his eye as he struggled to contain his laughter enough to speak. “Where you are ain’t important, just that you’re here.”

His voice was too loud. She flinched away at it, which just made those around her laugh even harder. Her shoulders sagged. While it wasn’t a feeling that was unfamiliar, it was one she had actually managed to go a decent stretch without feeling. She didn’t like that it was back. Keeping the tears down was hard, but she managed to do it. They would only make the situation and everything about it worse.

“Aw come on now, no need to be scared! We’re just playing around, right friends?” His voice boomed again, looking out at the few around him. The overt laughter died down, replaced with a few amused chuckles, but she could feel their sneers burning into her. It made her want to scream. The man squatted down, resting his elbows on his thighs. “There’s a thing I want to ask you about, Girlie, just to make sure. That hair of yours, and those eyes. They look like the real deal, and Donovan checked to make sure they were all natural. Pretty rare traits you know? Most people won’t bat an eye, but there are a few who know a bit of a fun correlation between the two.”

Her blood began to run cold. The only other people who recognized her as an esper were Ingrid and Alice. They were good people, they didn’t use that to make fun of her or hurt her like the other kids at the orphanage. She vaguely remembered from somewhere that being an esper could be dangerous, but why did these people want to steal her out of her own bed for it? Did she make something angry? She thought that the advice about hiding her identity was just something that her anxiety dreamed up. Why was one of the only times she had actually been able to banish one of those intrusive thoughts turning out to be one she should have listened to?

She tried to open her mouth, but all that came out was a nervous rasping. She quickly closed it, staring at the ground. Anywhere but his eyes. Anywhere else was still scary, but those hungry, sadistic eyes terrified her. They made her throat feel dry and her heart drop. Already she could barely look people in the eyes in most conversations, but those ones felt like an impossibility. She needed a moment to calm down, but he reached under her chin with one finger and lifted her face up to meet those eyes once again.

“Now now, Girlie. Didn’t your parents ever teach you proper manners? You look someone in the eyes and give them a clear, concise answer when they ask you a question,” He teased. It wasn’t like Alice’s teasing. This just made her scared. “So I’ll ask a bit clearer this time. Are you the real deal? You know, a real life esper?”

The look of terror that arose on her face must have been enough of an answer for him, judging by the grin that formed on his. “Fantastic!”

She flinched away again as he shouted, a small yelp of fear escaping and causing a little part of her to die inside. Loud noises were something that she could never handle well. They made her feel small and overwhelmed, especially when coming from this close to her face.

The man laughed again. “Well, you heard her! Esrana, get a hold of those two clowns I mentioned to you! Let them know we’ve got the genuine article up for grabs here!” He shouted at a half-elf woman wearing beat up leather armor and sporting a scimitar on her belt.

“Sure thing. You think they’ll pay extra for her being young? Like, I don’t know what they do to them, but maybe it works better with kids you know?” The woman suggested.

Malori felt her heart squeeze at the comment. Why did everyone assume she was a child? It wasn’t her fault she was short. The only thought in her head was one of the most ironic things she had thought up in a while, yet it was something that kept crossing her mind in bad situations.

I want to go home.

Where even was home? Back at the church where no one spoke to her outside of the head priest? The orphanage where she was picked on every day? Besides that, where else was there? There was never anywhere else. She couldn’t even go to sleep to escape it like most people. Then there were just the nightmares.

Alice and Ingrid are home.

Her eyes snapped open. She felt tears in them. She felt more surprised than anything. Was that a thought that she had ever had before? No, surely it wasn’t. Even still, it felt like one that was… Warmer? That might have been the right word for it. Everything didn’t feel so cold anymore. For all she had read about psychology and thought patterns, she had never read the word ‘warm’ used to describe any of them. It just felt so accurate.

Alice and Ingrid make you feel like you belong.

The thoughts were involuntary. They simply appeared in her head like plenty had before. Those ones would say things that were less than polite. Even as she started crying, she didn’t feel as scared as she did before. She took a deep breath, trying to ease the shaking in her hands. It didn’t work, but it did steady her breathing. The people in the room didn’t seem to be paying all that much attention to her anymore, which she took as a good thing. The way they looked at her reminded her of a predator looking at an easy meal.

She just had to keep thinking about Alice and Ingrid. They’d definitely come to save her. She did have to swallow a part of her wanting to say that to the people holding her, wherever this was, that they wouldn’t stand a chance against those two. Alice would surely be angry if she did something like that. A light shiver went down her spine at the thought of the scolding.

You told them we were coming? Now they’re ready for us! Come on, Shortie, you can’t keep doing this!

It was hard not to wish that Alice scolded her less, but she knew it was from a place of care. The tears still began to tumble down her cheeks due to how overwhelmingly stressed and scared she was, but she held onto the hope.

Even when the people holding her continued to laugh and taunt her, she forced herself to bear it. Having faith in others had never seemed so terrifying before now as she struggled to fight off all of the thoughts saying that they’d never come to save someone like her.

She didn’t know how long she waited, or what she was waiting for entirely, but she started paying closer attention when her captors began rushing out of the room she was in aside from two of them. They both looked on edge, hands on the hilts of their weapons.

Before she had a chance to process the smell of smoke wafting into the room, there was a deafening crash filled with the splintering of wood.