I arrived back at the estate with the stolen cutlery in tow and felt ridiculous. I clanked, clattered and clunked toward that old oak door. I didn’t have a free hand to knock and kicked and elbowed at the door. I was angrier than I intended to be, but what is a seeker to do in such a moment? How would anyone not be taken over by fits of their passion? I felt humiliated that I have became denigrated to whipping boy in such haste. My humors were clearly off balance after that pointless errand I was assigned. The door remained sealed and added to my compounding frustration. I gave it a final hit before I managed to reign my emotions in. I decided that I could fetch the only servant I know and hope that they could paw the door open. I called out to Churn to open it for me.

Asking Erwyn for entry felt irresponsible to me. I couldn’t pin down exactly why. I don’t think my refusal to ask was from being bashful. Yet my voice failed me at the thought and the words never left my lips. While Churn took its time I kept doing what I was after my shouts. The assault on the door was less aggravated and a masked emotional outburst but instead a final composed knock. Churn, that charming vermin shoved open the door somehow. It was quivering and shaking lightly. I was uncertain as to why. Immediately it started jumping at my leg. It didn’t stop and incessantly continued despite my gentle shoves. Raising my knee to block it from gaining purchase on my leggings. Eventually the creature moved to full on nips and I knew something was wrong. They had just enough force to escape the realm of playfulness. After it dawned on me I gently lowered my looted dinnerware. The sniffling creature led me to the staircase and I followed it.

It broke out into a run and I struggled to keep up. The little creature darted up the staircase and I heard its nails clack on the stone floor. I thanked a divine for how threadbare Erwyn decorated places that didn’t have chairs. Hallways feel strange here in how devoid of anything they are. At the clip I was running I’d have slipped on carpet if any adorned the staircase. I used the railing, pulling me up the stairs as my feet thumped as hastily as I could make them. I made it to the top floor, and was panting from exertion but dug deep. Nothing obligated me to Erwyn beyond circumstance. Desire drove me forward despite my body starting to rebel as my wind became a wheeze. I was never good at sprints, instead always opting for distance. I hit my limit the time my hands wrapped themselves around the lever to the door. I hastily shoved the bar down and wrapped a hand around the frame.

Before I even crossed the threshold I smelled a thick, pungent odor that reeked like rotting seaweed. Churn dove toward it’s masters side and nudged Erwyn with its pointed nose. Churn sniffled and looked toward me desperately. My headwrap had come loose and obscured my vision. I hastily threw it off and my hair flowed out. I normally veiled my hair or hid it out of the utility of it not being in my face. When I swept my locks from my face I saw Erwyn on the ground. He was in some style of ritual pit. I didn’t know precisely what this was but I knew I wouldn’t be safe the second my feet descended the step down. I had expected a dais and the ability to walk around the ritual area. Yet instead I found it sunken and swore a curse to myself. I reached for where I’d normally have kept my necklace when I was still permitted ownership of my symbol reflexively and felt nothing. It wouldn’t have comforted me even if it was there.

I saw Erwyn on the ground. His breath was reedy and thin, and his eyes were closed. He looked like he’d been burnt! I almost broke the circle in my haste. I didn’t see anything that looked imminently dangerous yet I couldn’t ascertain what ve was attempting. I couldn’t make sure it was safe and began looking around the room for things I could use to disturb the salt ring. As far I knew it contained something that would be equally like me to scorch myself. Churn heeded no such caution as it hurried forward and began kicking the salt.

As it did steam billowed out of the openings. Charged mana, coded and ready to enact whatever foul sorcery Erwyn cursed into the night. I evaded it by turning my body. The thick plume made the cloud easy to dodge with my remaining haste. The critter desperately kept moving the salt until the circle was fully broken. I saw the Vignettes at what was the first division of the circle. After it was cleared by Churn I hurried to Erwyn’s side.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I fell down with no grace. My knees hit the hard cobblestone floor and the shock bounced up my thighs and back. I didn’t care as my heart beat in my throat! I scooped him in my embrace the best I could. I didn’t know what to do! I was panicking and uncertain. My body fought every command my mind could create to focus. My first guess was to tilt his head back the best I could and felt for a pulse. I felt foolish, since if he was breathing he’d obviously still have one. His eyes fluttered weakly as his lids slowly parted. Those yellow eyes I’d previously feared looked at me and were scared. Those yellow oleander eyes flitted until they finally realized it was Churn and I he saw. Faintly, ve murmured to me, “The Vignettes. You must read to me.”

I reached for them and firmly held on. I opened the scroll as much as I could. Letters spun hypnotically on the face of the magic document. The ink then formed into a black blob and it communicated with me by slowly draining into proper words. The unused ink welled into a reservoir on the bottom of the page. The first sentence:

“First you must feed him if you want him to live.”

I trusted the Vignettes. I’d need too for this to work. I couldn’t escape the feeling that if there was a betrayal imminent it would be now. The documents are linked by some means and Erwyn wove a spell on his copy. I could only assume that his lament of a spell involved the Vignettes and it’s communication. If there was ever a time to shake things in a way it wanted it would be right now. Maybe whatever gambit Erwyn just took here would be a bust. I collapsed the scroll and shoved it into a fold in my pants while rising to my feet. I felt the fear that gently wafted off the document in a garish contrast. Back the larder I went. There was an apple left and I hoped it’d be enough. I didn’t see the tray the food was on. I held onto what I could in my wasteful haste. A single apple. Even if the tray was here I don’t know what else there’d be to place upon it.

I knelt down to him and raised him again. I slowly rose him once more and cursed at my limited strength. I cradled him as if he was a baby. I held the apple to his beak and he pecked at it. It started to shatter and break in my hand as he fed himself. Relief washed over me!

While he fed himself I took time to look closer at the room. I looked diagram of his ritual and had to infer what I saw between the salt kicked all over the brunt of the circle. I looked at this in curiosity and tried to understand what he was attempting. What foul magic did ve weave in my absence? I knew I’d have to ask him later after I calmed down. I wouldn’t be able to make anything out beyond my sudden rising indignity. Why didn’t he dispose of the bucket of my blood and water? What purpose did it serve in this spell? What did the old tray he had up here have to do with this?

He finished the apple and his breathing became more stable. After ve was fully aware again he moved his talons around me. Gently he places his arms around my torso and I saw his face move to a faint smile.He was committed to being in my grasp and held tighter when I softly began easing my hold. Softly he spoke to me with a whisper to my ear, “I didn’t expect.... You...” Feeling his voice strain I hastily shushed him. I put the fruit closer to his mouth and he took another bite. Even though it was the core ve cared not. After his feast he closed his eyes again and I gently laid him down back onto the stone floor. I fetched a pillow from my quarters and a blanket. I saw to it he was as comfortable as I could feasibly make him. I reached for the Vignettes and wondered what it would demand of me next.

It stated I needed to read. That Marissa’s tale would aid in his recovery. I didn’t see the design of how that would come to pass. I chose not to argue with the living document. Fate spun me so that the document must provide me with a solution. I willingly exposed myself to whatever betrayal I foresaw by it. Having no other choice I shifted until I sat in as relaxed a pose as I could. I leaned and slouched forward a small degree and tried to read. The Vignettes offered me no text, not any letters nor words at all. I thought of that possible pending betrayal. I feared once more and bit my tongue. Eventually the ink spun and began to communicate with me.

It was my first time doing this and Erwyn was unable to assist me. I suppose that it was fitting. I was poised to be some usurper. An upstart that challenged the order of things. This was a first major hurdle to seeing if my co-conspirators could depend on me as I them. I felt resolute in my situation and cleared my throat. I licked my dry lips, and got Churn to fetch me a cup of the water. Erwyn filled the bucket initially from a source in this house and I knew Churn could come through for me. The rat fetched me my glass as the letters began forming. I looked into a strange time and saw that gorgon I had previous glimpses of. Wherever this portal went it wasn’t two way. She made no reply to, nor an inquisitive look toward where my words would have come from. Instead I saw a world I didn’t understand as well as I’d like. I voyeuristically watched unknown to her as she tended to herself and her despair privately. I was uncertain what this document desired to show me but stayed stone eyed in my resolve.