Mira woke up in a cave she didn’t recognize. She instinctively summoned her glaive and jumped from the bed she was in. Irae reached out and placed a hand on her arm. The half-elf’s puffy eyes and tear-streaked makeup caused Mira to protective guard her from the group surrounding them. Anger buzzed on her skin as she searched for the source of her friend's distress.
The familiar group of bandits immediately knelt to her. Mira suspiciously watched them as she waited for answers. The cave looked familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before. A human woman clasped her hand in repent as she looked up to the cautious warrior.
“Great leader,” Val looked away from her intense gaze, “We have failed you. I have failed you.”
Mira’s amber eyes stared into Val’s soul for a further explanation. The bandit was too terrified to speak. She looked to the other seven bandits for a clarification, but nobody spoke up.
“Explain.”
Irae stood and placed a hand on Mira’s shoulder. The healer pushed calming energy into her body. Mira felt a chill run down her spine and looked to the healer quizzically.
“We couldn’t reach the village fast enough. It –” Val shook as she spoke and sobbed, “They – they’re all dead.”
Mira’s eyes turned brilliant white as she grabbed the woman’s wrist. Black mist radiated from her skin as her rage boiled just beneath the surface. Irae’s spell could only do so much to keep her from exploding.
As Mira felt the wraith’s form burst from her skin, she sprinted from the bandit’s cave. Her skin peeled away as the dark, shadowy form ripped out of her. The dark mist surrounded her and grasped her skin like wet clothes.
“Wait!” Irae yelled as she chased after the forming beast.
Mira could not wait. She had to know what happened. She needed to know if there was still a chance. She needed to see if anyone was still alive.
“Together,” Encante’s voice echoed in her mind, “We do this, again, together.”
As the wraith’s form engulfed her, the physical pain subsided. Their movements became less fracture and their strides evened out. The sounds of pounding hooves and frantic calls behind her faded away as she ran to the crossroad village she dreamed to call home.
Smoke outstretched from the horizon and the rage inside of her ripped her apart again. The black mist she could once control lashed outwards to wildly fling any obstacle in her way. Her chest hurt as she ran towards the village.
“Slow down,” His voice ran through her mind, “Stay calm. You have to hold yourself together, Miradash.”
At the first sign of wreckage, she stopped in her tracks. Ashy snow fell from the sky and melted against her bare chest. She forwent a cloak in her moment of rage and only bandages covered her bleeding wounds. The pants she wore were tattered from a fight Mira had no memory of. The wraith’s form dissipated into black fog as her skin finished its fusion back into place.
She walked slowly in the snow and felt herself in a lucid dream. Haunting memories of ghost played in her mind as she passed each pile of burnt wreckage. She remembered who lived in the skeletal ruins that were once houses. She attempted to identify any of the indistinguishable withered remains around. This battle was a few days old, from the smell and look of the corpses. The stench of burnt flesh and rot burned at her nostrils.
“Where are they?” Mira growled, “Show them to me.”
“Very well,” Encante’s voice solemnly replied.
The mist traveled outwards from her and created a path for her to follow. Mira watched as it flowered through the wreckage and along the ground. Her eyes searched for any evidence of life. The lack of footprints in the snow and ash confirmed her theory of an old battle. Not even the footprints of small creatures or livestock had disturbed this mass grave.
The hair on her neck raised and she twisted around. At the far reaches of the mist behind her, Irae stepped off a horse. Mira watched as she entered the mist. She blinked as she felt the healer’s footsteps rush towards her. When she felt the mist swirl around something in her mind, she turned to follow the trail. The eerie feeling tugged her body towards the forbidden answer she sought.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Let the healer stop you, little one,” Encante warned her.
Mira elected to ignore him and continued to follow the mist’s guide. After a few steps, the trail dissolved, and the unnerving tug ceased.
“Bring it back,” She hissed.
Encante did not reply. She knew he guided her towards them. She had to see their bodies for herself to know. She had to find Tella and Pallik.
Irae ran to Mira and grabbed her shoulders, “Please! Try to stay calm.”
“I am calm,” Mira’s bright white eyes stared into the distance, “Why would I not be calm?”
The pink healer curiously watched the black mist cover Mira in a veil of shadow. She urged magic through the veil to keep the woman calm. When her hand touched Mira’s skin, the veil slowly shrouded her as well. She shivered at the icy feeling of her blood being pulled to the surface of her skin.
“You did not ask where you were when you awoke. You sprinted into the snow without proper clothes for nearly half an hour,” Irae took a deep breath, “I have never seen eyes so bright and cold. I fear if you looked at anyone wrong, they’d die instantly.”
Mira blinked, “I worry for –”
“Mira,” She rubbed the tears in her eyes, “We have been here before. I—we saw what happened. I don’t want you to react violently again.”
“Again?”
The eerie tug came back into her mind. She grabbed Irae’s hand as she followed the invisible pull in the mist until she saw the source. The only identifiable person she saw in the entire village hung from the well’s soffit. The slim teen with inky black hair was covered in burns caused by a familiar hand. A rusty sword impaled him into the wooden pole of the soffit.
A guttural sound came from her ribs as she sprinted towards Pallik. She reached over the well’s edge to grab the rope and pull him closer. The coldness from him caused the wraith’s form to erupt from her body. The monstrous form shrieked in pain and lashed about the well as the mist wrapped around the boy’s body.
Living shadow completely covered Mira’s face. Her white eyes morphed into pale lilac. The once stoic woman underneath this form was nowhere to be scene. Irae struggled to keep a hand on the wraith. The black shadow moved quickly and stiffened as she touched it. She struggled to grasp any piece of the wraith as it wailed horrifically. The painful cry echoed in the frozen air. The noise coming from the creature could reminded her of death rattles of wounded soldiers.
“Tella?” The inhuman voice radiated from the swirling shadows.
Lilac orbs stared into Irae as she froze in fear. Her entire body screamed to run but she couldn’t move.
“She wasn’t here, Great One,” Val stood by the well, “The orc grabbed her and ran during the attack. The boy refused to leave.”
Tentacles formed from the shadowy mass and held Val into place for her interrogation.
“Why didn’t you force him?” The lilac orbs shifted to Val as the creature surrounded her.
“He would not leave,” Val shook at the chill from the monster, “We lost nearly twenty men fighting off that damned elf. The orc grabbed the girl and ran when she refused to leave.”
“Isaan!” The wraith hissed as it moved back to Pallik’s body.
The blob of darkness slowly shrunk until Mira fell to the ground. Her chest felt shattered. She couldn’t breathe. Her body boiled with new feelings she only experience second hand in Encante’s memories.
Mira wrapped her arms around Pallik as she tried to calm herself. Irae knelt next to her and placed the calming spell against her neck. Her body throbbed with each heavy sob. She squeezed Pallik in her arms as she cried.
“It was supposed to be me,” She whispered, “It should have been me.”
“He refused to say where you were,” Another bandit spoke, “The blue devil was torturing him. Once we approached… his torture was ended.”
“Pallik,” She whimpered and examined his wounds, “Why?”
“He loved you, Mira,” Irae gripped through the black veil of shadows to grip her shoulder, “You saved his life. You helped him and Tella. His entire world was burning around him, and he wanted to keep you and his sister safe.”
“Keep me safe?” The words sounded foreign to her, “Nobody wants to keep me safe.”
Mira stared into Pallik’s glossy eyes before she closed them completely. The healer’s calming spell was the only thing that kept her in control of her body. She gazed into the wreckage of the village.
“When we came here the first time –” Irae looked to Val, “You were not yourself. Have you not noticed that the bandits know you’re the wraith?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” She combed Pallik’s hair out of his face and rubbed away soot on his brow, “They would have figured this out eventually.”
“You slaughtered half our team when we tried to calm you down,” Val looked at the rest of the bandits, “Nearly a dozen of us are all that remain. We will do anything to rectify this.”
“If Sunodagh has Tella, she is likely back at the temple,” Mira nodded, “We must collect everyone then return.”
“Everyone?” Irae looked to her.
“I know everyone’s name in this village. They deserve a proper burial,” She paused before looking back to the healer, “What if someone is missing? Will the next cycle be bad for them?”
Irae shook her head, “Our goddess is kind, Mira. I will help ease their souls into the next cycle.”
As Mira moved from Pallik’s side, she noticed a paper stuffed into his pocket. She pulled it and instantly saw her master’s handwriting. She couldn’t read the letters through the immense wrath in her blood and the paper lit aflame when she thought of it. Encante growled and their voices shook from her ribs.
“Isaan Naybellos is a dead man.”