The Toys of Children
Allena was no stranger to death. She had been around it all her life. It was one of the great ironies growing up in a house of healers. No, it was not the body at her feet that had shaken her. Nor was it the fact that the corpse still convulsed several minutes after the life had left the body of her attacker.
Allena felt tears running down the face and forced her eyes closed. She couldn’t take it anymore.
No
She needed to see this. She needed to remember this. Steeling her will, Allena forced her eyes open and took a deep and leveling breath. Allena entered her Mental Realm, a sprawling house of hallways and doors behind which she kept her most precious and important memories and experiences. Focusing her mind, a new room sprang forth for this memory.
“That is getting harder” she admitted begrudgingly. “I am over extending myself. Too many rooms… This pain isn’t helping either.”
She turned to face the two rooms without a door. One was to keep the contents in. The other, the newer of the two, was to keep her out. She hated it so much. There was a hole in her mind she could not excess. And she had done it. She had locked a part of herself away of her own volition.
Allena unclenched her fists that she had no recollection on making and turned her back on the rooms deliberately. “Another time.” She had to store this memory before it became unreliable. Allena entered the fleshly created room and watched it play as it became a part of this place.
She was tired of being in the Death Realm. She was Tired of the unanswered questions. She was tired of chasing shadows. It felt like cycles since she had been in the Realm of the Living or had any contact with anyone. But that had been her choice. She had to get away to escape those stares and her own guilt. Allena had told her herself that it was to discover the truth and to fix things, but her had long ago come to terms that that had only been a pretext.
She had long since begun to run low on supplies. Allena straightened her mask on her face. Maybe it was time to call an end to this ridiculous façade.
“No, not yet.”
“Not yet?” came a voice from out of the darkness “To who are you speaking, lost little girl?”
Allena jumped back in surprise “Did I say that aloud?” she thought before shaking her head. “Wrong question”.
“Who are you?” She managed
A tall Nolthrir stepped from the shadows. His black cloak’s hood was pulled up and swayed behind him to reveal a dark tunic and grey cotton pants.
“Ah, He still slumbers. Shame” responds the dark stranger
In a fluid motion, the Nolthrir drew his Galkard from beneath his cloak, raising it to Allena. Reflexively, she somersaulted backward, drawing her own knives as she landed.
“My, My” sneered the Nothrir “Those are not the toys of children. You could get hurt.”
Allena danced back as he took a lazy swing through the air she had just been standing. That was fine with her. She could play that came and wait for an opening. A small whole was all she needed and then she could turn the tables. The Nolthrir whirled his sword in front of him before taking a quicker swing, followed by a sweep at her legs. Allena rolled to the sit and prepared her counterattack. The Nolthrir was ready as she came out of her roll with a thrust at her shoulder, forcing her back again. He pressed forward, moving with her, quickening his assault.
“This is no good. He isn’t even attacking me in earnest. All attacks would have been glancing blows or to the limbs. He is just toying with me and it was all I can do just to keep up. “Allena grimaced. How long could she keep this up? A few more minutes at best? She needed to change the terms of the engagement. Allena rolled to the ground, grabbing a handful of sand and came out of the roll throwing the fistful at her attacker. He took a half step back. That was all she needed. She reached for her glyphs and shot a blast of Dark Way energy at him. The attacker smiled and smashed his sword into the sphere of energy, sending it hurtling away.
“Is that the best you can do, little girl? I was hoping for some sport”
She was in trouble. There was something deeply unsettling about this man. “Besides the fact he is trying to kill you,you mean?” she snapped back at her own thought. “Don’t be a hero. Know when to run” ran through her head, snapping her out of her malaise. Not her own voice, but the Snitch’s. Her first lesson.
So she ran. She turned her back to the Nolthrir and sprinted for all she was worth, only daring to look back after a good ten seconds of a dead sprint. He wasn’t there. Turning her head back around, she saw a dark haze before her. Before she could stop, a flash brought the galkard into her face, sending Allena to the ground and her mask into the air.
Allena looked around, garthing her barrings and spoted the mask. That blow had left its mark. It would never be the same. “The Snitch would be upset with her,” she thought. Allena smirked. That dusty old mask had saved her life. For now.
The Nolthrir grinned as he stood over her “Ah, now isn’t that better. Why in Yliakum would you ever cover up such delicious markings?” Yes, defiantly unsettling. But that voice… and that face… No, it was more than that. It was… familiar. He stood tall, resting his sword on his shoulder. “My you sure have gotten good at running away, haven’t you? Or maybe it is that you never stopped?”
Allena crawled backward. “To your feet fool. He is giving to a last gasp. Take it!” her voice scolded her. Mindlessly she stood up.
Allena gasped “Larntuna?”
The Nolthrir’s eyes burned for confirmation he pulled his sword down into a ready stance. This was it. Her last chance. She was outmatched. She had to put everything on one last gamble. Maybe she could catch him off guard. Nearly all fighters favored their right, even the dual weapon fighters. But she didn’t. Something she had been groomed to hate about herself. Maybe she could use that. Feint with the right, attack with the left. It was all she had.
Allena screamed as she charged swinging in with the feint. She pulled her left hand behind her, readying the strike. He didn’t move. He wasn’t going to block her feint.
A spray of red mist filled her vision as the Galkard tore throw her. Her eyes contracted as she stumbled backward, falling unto her back. He stared breathlessly at the sword that had just cleaved through her chest so effortlessly.
“Do you like it? It was a gift from… a mutual acquaintance. Pretty isn’t she. Been enchanted. Your wound there won’t be closing properly. Not any time soon. You’ll just keep bleeding and bleeding until you die and keep on dying until the mistress of this realm give up on you and you are gone forever. Tough break. Of course, I would be giving you that chance to see Her pass on you.”
Larntuna moved beside the mangled girl and picked her up by her neck “Oh how I LOVE this part. I want you to beg. Beg for forgiveness for all that you have done.” Allena gasped for air as her feet tangled below her. She gargled a reply at the man with her life in his hands. He loosened his grip “What was that, Little One?”
Allena spit up her blood as it ran down from the corners of her mouth. “I am not done yet!” Allena reached up and grasped him by his wrists as a dark aura surrounded the two of them. If she could take, she could give. Allena sent all that she had. All that she was holding in. All the pain, grief and sorrow she had been trying to hide. The pain she carried with her. It was hers and not hers that flowed into Larntuna.
“Not done ye–” Larntuna started as his voice falters, his eye growing and begins to choke, gasping for air. He stumbled backward, clawing at his head. Dropping to his knees, he let forth a bloodcurdling howl before falling unto his side to convulse. Allena stood up slowly and watched him die.
Allena slipped out of her mental Realm. The body had stopped its quivering and was still, unmoved. He was gone. He turned the decessed over. On his tunic embossed was something that looked vaguely like a letter B, but there was small details and intricacies that had morphed it into something else. She took up her now discarded dagger and cut the symbol out and clutched it in her hand.
Allena blinked as she looked down. There was so much blood. “Well, at least you took him with you.”
She began to cry as she balled up the remains of her dress and pressed it into the wound. She would never see them again. The Snitch, Evirea, Yenida… None of them. She had left them without a word and was going to die. So much unsaid… So much undone. So much regret. Who was going to build her pyre?
“You fool” she called to herself. “You have been building it all along. You build this pyre yourself.”
Allena shivered. There was nothing to do but sleep. She could finally rest.
“No.” said the voice in her head.
“No?” she replied. Was that her? Was her talking to herself? “Dehydration and blood loss. That is what you are. Just shut up and let me sleep.”
“So you are just going to give up? Now? After everything they have done for you? You are just going to throw that away?”
“Look at me. I am a mess. The only thing holding me together is the worn down armor.”
“Yeah, I am looking at you. You have seen worse. You have healed worse. You have had worse”
Allena paused. She was right. She had to try.
“Everything has its use” the two of them quoted together. “And mine is not yet met”
