Amber’s rush sealed off the far side of the tunnel just before we reached the bridge to Don Gaal.

“You are certain that there is no way for us to cross?” The man that had called himself Cres asked when he reached where I stood an arm length away from the rush.

Like a silent river of variegated glass that had been shattered into uncountable slivers, it passed by without a single shard falling from the torrent.

The man that had called himself Sol threw his pack off his back and took two hard steps towards Cres. “This is your fault. We should have left yesterday.”

“Unless you wish for pieces of yourself to be scattered through chaos, I do not suggest you try,” I answered Cres, trying to prevent the two men from coming to blows again. “All we can do is wait. It should pass in an hour or two.”

The two men I had met by chance and agreed to travel with by choice seemed more like enemies than friends.

Cres was tall and pale, with long black hair and dark clothes. Sol was short and tan, with wild white hair and light clothes.

On our first meeting the two could not have seemed any more different. They had fought twice before we reached the tunnels. It made me wonder why they were traveling together at all.

When I had asked for their names however, without any need to discuss it, the two had lied to me in unison. The names they had given me were not truly theirs and that had been interesting enough for me to agree to serve as their guide to Don Gaal

Since I had spent several hours in their company, I had become certain of why their obvious hatred had not driven them apart.

They were family.

Of all the souls in chaos, I most of all understood how much someone would forgive when it came to their flesh and blood.

“Where did you two say you were from?” I asked, letting my own pack slide off my shoulders and loosening the straps of my sandals.

“Somewhere you’ve never heard of.” Sol said from where he stood watching the rush. Every moment I had spent with him had given me cause to believe that he could not help his obstinance and impatience because they were a part of his nature.

Cres sighed and gave me a more reasonable answer. “I will tell you where we have come from if you will tell me how you were able to pass through the gateway without a single guard questioning you or Sol and I. You are a sorceress? They are spoken about like small gods in these parts.”

I decided to agree to his offer. Despite the strange power I could feel shining within the two men, they were no threat to me.

“The guards are my guards. The gateway was placed there by me. Everywhere you stand until we cross the border into Don Gaal is under the aegis of my sisters and I. Now, where are you and your brother from?” I said, ending my explanation with a guess that I was nearly certain was correct.

“How do you know that?” Sol said in a tone that told me I was being given a demand and not being asked a question.

“I didn’t, but I do now.” I said with a smirk.

Cres shook his head and sighed again. “We are from a place that you could not reach if you walked towards it for the rest of your life.”

“Your brother was correct. I have never heard of a place that I could not reach.” I said, wondering how I could ask after their power without provoking the volatile Sol.

On your guard. Aurantius warned me in my mind, his voice a familiar and bracing thing.

“Come on, I’m not going to just stand here and wait. We never broke the tie last night.” Sol commanded his brother as he snapped into a posture that looked like he was prepping for battle.

“Excuse us, he will not leave this alone until I give him what he wants. He is like a child in that way.” Cres said, giving me an apologetic smile.

“What does he want?” I asked. If the two were about to fight again, and it seemed like they were, I would place myself between them and Amber’s rush to avoid disaster.

“To play points,” Cres said as he prepared himself for whatever points was. “It’s a game that hunters play to pass the time.”

Without a moment passing, the brothers attacked each other in a vicious exchange of strikes. Sol was predictably wild and aggressive while Cres moved with grace and measure.

I did not understand the rules of their hunter’s game and I never got the chance to see who won. Amber’s rush, the two brothers, the tunnel, all of it left my sight and I felt myself fall. . .

As soon as I opened my eyes and found myself in the warm water of the marble pool, I rose to my feet and began to climb out of it. As it always did, my familiars deep voice rumbled his questions in my ears. I answered the first two in quick succession as I dried myself off.

Every part of my body was sore and aching from the sheer amount of points I had played over the last two days. I did not dislike the discomfort. Every time I moved, it was a small reminder of the fun I had experienced.

Sam asked his third and final question.

“Who was Autumn Aubrey?”

“I do not know. A Mother, I think, but I never learned her name. She was trapped in a tunnel because of something she called Amber’s rush. I think it has to do with a shift or a split,” It had become a small pleasure of mine to watch Anna furiously scrawl the things I said after a memory. Her nose scrunched the same way it did when she thought something was truly funny. The way her eyes moved across the page reminded me of the blurry days after my first punishment when all she cared about was being near me. “She was with these two brothers. Except, they didn't want her to know they were brothers. They played points, but it wasn’t like how we play it. They said it was a game from where they came from.”

“Is that all?” Anna asked, keeping her pen to the page.

“Yes,” I sighed. It had been a very frustrating day. Coming back from The Well without anything useful only added to that feeling. “I’m sorry, It’s hard to think about anything else.”

I had woken up brimming with excitement for the tournament. One more night and I would be in the city with the siblings, playing, eating, seeing.

I could not wait.

That excitement had made it nearly impossible to do my work. After my first failed attempt at entering The Well, Anna had told me about one of the disciplines my mother had mentioned to her for absolutely no reason. By happenstance, I thought it could be useful and a cycle had been born.

I would dip into the pool, try and fail at letting myself slip into The Well, get out and practice the new technique, and then start over again.

Having finally found my way into a memory and come back with nothing, I sat cross legged on the stone floor right next to where Anna sat on the bench and closed my eyes.

I found my aura within myself and began to let it build.

Bending branch. Like a bending branch.

I thought about the choker locked around my neck and how it was a constant reminder of how little control I had over my life. I thought about Azza threatening to take Anna away from me like she was a toy I had been allowed to play with. I thought about the bindings that had been placed on my mother and the fact that she had to stay away from me to avoid them.

Every single thing I hated, every source of rage I could summon, I fed to my aura and felt it grow.

I thought about Anna and how there was never a time that the sight of her made me feel anything other than loved. I thought about my mother and how safe I felt when she hugged me. I thought about Arthur and all the times he made me feel like I had a brother.

All of things I loved, all of the things I would fight for, I poured into my aura and filled myself with the color of my soul.

Red, in my against the seal and against my palm. More, I poured more of myself into it and spread it to my left hand. Then, through my legs and down to my feet. When there was no where else for it to go and I could feel my power tingling behind my lips, the discipline began. There would be no loss, no afterglow, if I could only hold myself together against the tension building within me. The first teeming seconds were the most difficult. Like the fireworks from the first nights of Amoranora, I felt like my aura would burst out of me in explosive red streams

I resisted the initial rush and a calm came over me. I did not relax, the calm was the opposite in truth. The feeling inside me was so overwhelming, so absolute, I could not focus on anything else. The tension remained, and I began to count against it.

One. Two. Three. . .

Like I had held my breath for a moment too long, I let out a ragged exhale and my grip on my aura slipped. It did not burst out of me or escape through my channels. It receded, taking everything I had given back with it, and left me panting for air.

“I got to three that time,” I smiled up at Anna as I tried to catch my breath. My first two attempts had ended before I could fill myself. Every time after had ended shortly after the first second. “I’m gonna try for The Well one more time before lunch. I'm starving."

“I think we missed lunch by a couple of hours.” Anna said, closing her notebook and placing it on the bench beside her.

The pink marble door swung open and I turned around just in time to see my familiar step into the night air and disappear into the dark without a word.

I took my night shirt from Anna and pulled it over my head. With a pained groan, I used the bench to pull myself up so I could dress the rest of the way.

“I think Samsara is offended that you changed the skull,” Anna said once we were walking back to three manor. She held the aura streaked bone in her fingers, the pearl pink ribbons I had created taught around her neck. “He didn’t come out and say that, but he has asked me what I did to it twice now.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I could not care less if he was offended or not. If the roles were reversed, he would spend no time worrying over my feelings.

“Do you like wearing it?” I asked, feeling a kiss of nervousness run down my spine.

“I haven’t taken it off since you put it on me. I love it,” She smiled. “This might sound dumb, but when The Green Mother took you, it didn’t feel like you were as far away as the first time.”

My nervousness evaporated from Anna’s warmth.

“I wish I knew how I did it. I would make you all manner of things.” I sighed, knowing it was true. If the skull and the ribbons made her feel closer to me, I would drape her in my workings so I could always be with her.

“You will. It’s just going to take time.” Anna said. She placed her hand gently in the small of my back as we walked.

“How can you say that with so much confidence?” I asked, sharing none of her certainty.

“Because I believe in you, dummy. You have a habit of doing things that you have been forbidden to do. Because you aren’t allowed to learn or be taught, it’s basically a guarantee you are going to end up knowing more than any other sorceress.” She answered as she held open the back door of the manor for me.

I was still smiling when I found Arthur waiting in the kitchen.

“I didn’t spend all afternoon in here cooking for you two to make me wait all night to serve dinner.” The tall man said with a furious scowl on his face.

“What?” Anna asked, opening the cabinets she usually found her wine in and coming away empty handed.

“You cooked for us?” I asked. Immediately, I began searching the kitchen for any kind of food that was hot and ready to eat.

Arthur laughed and his usual grin spread across his face. “No. The guards are roasting chickens, but they aren’t done yet. I have been waiting though. I thought we were gonna train more?”

Anna left the room and went through a door in the hall that I had never noticed before.

“I did not know it had gotten so late, I’m sorry.” I said, feeling bad that I had kept my friend waiting for so long.

“Doesn’t matter, we can get a few matches in while we wait for dinner.” Arthur said as he walked towards the back of the manor.

“She can’t, Arthur,” Anna said. Her arms were stacked high with the bottles of wine she had retrieved from wherever the door led to. “She’s so sore already that she can barely walk. She needs rest.”

“Autumn?” Arthur asked me, evidently unwilling to take his sister’s words as truth.

“I am sore.” I said sheepishly, hating that I had to disappoint him.

“We can just play another game then. I know if you two go upstairs I won’t see you again until tomorrow.” Arthur said with a shrug.

Anna uncorked her wine and took a drink. “That sounds like a nice night.”

“You know, she’s not yours. She can hang out with me if that’s what she wants,” Arthur said with a vicious glare. “What game do you want to play, Autumn?”

“I don’t know any games besides points.” I admitted, casting my eyes down in embarrassment. Twice in too few moments had I been reminded about how little I knew. I’m sure there were games that maidens played when they were young and in school, I had just never gotten the chance to learn them.

“You don’t know tag or hide and seek?” Arthur asked me.

“She didn’t grow up like we did, idiot. Don’t be so insensitive.” Anna snapped.

“Sorry,” The tall man shook his head. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just know how much fun you would have. Let’s play hide and seek. I’ll be the looker first.”

Anna rolled her eyes and took another drink. “Fine.”

“How do you play?” I asked, wondering if I should drop into my stance like I did with points.

“We hide. He seeks. We used to play all the time back home when we were little. There were tons of good hiding places.” Anna said.

I had to agree with her. The boarding house was where I had hid myself away in after all.

“You can’t go outside. I count to one hundred and then come looking.” Arthur added.

“And if he finds you first, you have to help him look.” Anna finished the explanation as she moved towards the hallway again.

“Ready?” Arthur asked, covering his eyes with his hands.

“Wait! I just find somewhere to hide and wait?” I shouted, anxious energy running through my body like a chill.

“One.” Arthur said.

Anna abandoned me. The same instance that Arthur began to count, she bolted up the stairs and left me alone.

“Two. Three. Four.” Arthur continued.

Your room. You can hide in the closet or under the bed. No, that’s the first place he is going to look. His room, Anna’s room, your mother’s room. The thoughts ran through my mind in a panicked blur.

“Nine. Ten. Eleven.” Arthur counted, his eyes still covered with his hands.

Go somewhere he would never think you would be. The door, the fucking door!

I sprinted towards the door in the hall and took it without another thought. Closing it behind myself as quietly as I could, I turned to find somewhere to hide in the room I had never been in.

It was not a room. It was a stone staircase. With no floor for my foot to meet, I fell, skinning both my knees and shins on the way down.

I landed in a heap, but I did not give myself time to hurt. In a matter of seconds, I would be pursued and I could not allow myself to be caught.

The stairs led to a hall that split to either side of me. On my right was an alcove lined with small recesses, almost every one of them was filled with a different bottle. Unless I suddenly discovered a way to shrink myself down to the size Sam had been upon our first meeting, there was no safety for me there.

On my left was another door. I took three quick, painful, steps towards it and found it unlocked.

Big wooden trunks, each of them large enough for me to fit in, were stacked along the back wall of a small room. Letting instinct carry me forward, I pulled open the top of one and threw myself in.

Soft fabric met my back. I let the top of the trunk close after me and waited in the near perfect dark.

Time passed. I do not know how long I waited, but eventually I heard voices.

“Autumn,” Anna whispered. “Are you down here? Arthur is upstairs.”

Lie. The Autumn I liked warned me.

Sure enough, when I closed my eyes and listened, there were two sets of footsteps coming towards my hiding place.

The door opened and I held my breath, pushing pressure on the inside of the lid to try and keep it closed.

One of the siblings approached and I felt them try and open the chest.

I pressed harder and fought against my need for breath.

“Locked.” I heard Anna sighed.

“I told you she wasn’t down here. She likes tall places like Sam does. She has to be in her mom’s room.” I heard Arthur say.

“It’s hilarious that you think you know her better than I do.” I heard Anna’s voice grow quieter.

The sound of the door clicking shut found my ears and a wicked smile spread across my face.

Yes! Fuck yes!

I threw the lid open and climbed back out, something hard digging into my back as I went.

Clothes, of every color and material, filled the trunk. Underneath it all, I found what had left an aching spot right above my ass.

A rectangle wrapped in thick brown paper lay at the bottom of the trunk. It was nearly the same size, and surprisingly light when I dug it out.

I unwrapped the brown paper and uncovered a framed painting.

Over a bright background of blush pink and pristine white brush strokes, the faces of three women stared back at me.

The woman on the left had wild black hair that draped down from her head in a wavy mess. The painting was so detailed, it gave the impression that the patterned robe she wore was made of silk or some other horribly slick fabric. She had a soft, shy, looking face that was partially concealed by her black locks. Pale blue eyes brought an innocence to her that made me feel like she hid behind her hair intentionally.

The woman on the right could not have been more different. Her features were sharp, severe, elegant. Where the woman on the left’s silken robe had been patterned, the woman in the right’s was pure white. It was the same color as the hair that fell just below her ears. She had green eyes that were a much lighter shade than mine or my mother’s, like unripe apples instead of emeralds. The contrast with her pale skin almost gave them a glow of their own. Something about her, I did not know what, gave me the impression that she was not shy like her opposite.

The third woman, painted higher than the first two, was difficult for me to look at.

Knowing I shouldn’t while I did it, I gently ran my palm over the slight texture of the paint, feeling every unseeable ridge and bump.

Her opulent robe was embroidered in gold and patterned with blush pink flower petals. Both the colors and position drew my eyes to her own. They were white, haunting, and seemed like they were actually looking back at me. She wanted something. It was plain to see. And, when I looked at her, it felt like she wanted it from me.

I covered her face with my hand and looked away.

What is true will always find its way to the surface. The Autumn I liked spoke again.

I remembered when I had dropped my glamor in front of Anna for the first time. There had been a near infinite amount of reasons I shouldn’t have, but I had only needed the one reason that I should.

Am I becoming wise?

No. I answered myself all too quickly.

I was probably right.

I ran my thumb over the small signature in the bottom right corner of the painting.

M.D.G

It was the initials of the painter. Whoever they were, they were a master. Even with my hands covering the faces of the three women, I still felt like I was being watching by them. It almost felt like they would turn and try and speak with me at any moment.

My mother had lived most of her life without me. The painting had to have been from then. Everything in the little room had to have been from then. What other things were there for me to find amongst the chests? Who were the three women?

Anna and Arthur. I should show them. I thought, gently placing the painting on the floor and heading back up stairs.

I heard them arguing before I ever made it back to the kitchen

“What is that? What does that mean?” Anna asked.

“If he gives me his recommendation, I’ll begin training with the Knights. When I am knighted, I can pledge my service to a sorceress I choose,” Arthur sighed. “If she will have me.”

I stepped out of the hallway unnoticed, me and the game forgotten evidently.

“You know there is a fucking war, right? You can’t fight people like Idensyn or that bird lady. Why the fuck do you want to do this?” Anna shouted.

“You sound just like Ma, you know? I’m not exactly normal anymore. I can do things. I’m strong.” Arthur shouted back, his fists balled so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.

The siblings bickered often. Most of the time, I found it funny.

What was happening between them then was different. It was not playful or good natured. It was real and angry and I could not take it.

I closed my eyes and reached for my aura. The hurt I felt in my bleeding legs and the angst that the siblings argument filled me with were given over to it. All the warmth and all the joy I had felt went as well. I flooded my body with my power, searching for the all encompassing calm that came with bending branch.

“Why, Arthur?” Anna demanded.

“Because I want to be with her the way the captain is his lady! Is it that fucking hard to see that?” Arthur shouted.

Filled with fireworks like those from Amoranora, I held myself against the explosive tension

My hold failed against the pressure.

The branch broke.

Sudden streams of red light streaked out of the seal on my stomach and sailed across the room. Striking cabinets, doors, windows and walls, wherever they hit, they burst into storms of scattered red dust.

One nearly struck Anna in her face.

I couldn’t stop them.

Arthur ducked under one and tucked Anna under his arm like she weighed no more than a feather.

The tall man ran towards the source of the destruction.

He ran towards me.

Just as the last of my built power left me, he took me to the ground. Shielding Anna and I both with his massive body, he waited until the bursts of my aura faded away before he rolled off of us.

Silence settled over the destroyed kitchen. All three of us lay on our backs, side by side, and watched the remnants of my power drift down from the ceiling.

After several moments, Anna laughed. “So you’re gonna be her knight, huh? That’s what you wanna deal with?”

“Autumn will be a sorceress, I’ll be her knight. Now we just have to figure out what you are gonna be.” Arthur said, reaching over and palming Anna’s head with his hand.

Anna yawned and placed her hand on her brothers. “Drunk. I’ll probably be drunk.”

The afterglow took me as suddenly as my power had burst from my navel.

“I don’t know any fucking games!”