Chapter 3
Mortal
The sky was a sick, unearthly brown. There were noxious red fumes in the air. It was hard to see, hard to breathe. Clare was looking around, frantically. She knew that her daughter was here. She could feel it.
"Lucia? Lucia!"
She ran through the red fog. Her throat hurt, just breathing it in.
"Lucia?" she called.
"Mommy?"
Clare looked around. She could hear her daughter, calling to her, just beyond the next hill. She ran toward her, but the fumes were getting thicker. She wasn't sure if she could go on.
"Lucia?" she called out.
She could feel her throat scrunching up inside of her neck. She tried to call out again. No words came from her mouth. She screamed as loud as she could. No sound. She could hear laughing, hideous laughter coming from in front of her. It was Vivec.
"Clare, are you looking for someone?" Vivec said.
She tried to say something, but only coughed. Vivec lifted her up by the neck and smiled. He smacked her across the face. It hurt. Clare tried to hit back. She punched Vivec as hard as she could. Her fist collided with his face. Her knuckles hurt. He didn't feel a thing.
"Easy, mortal. I just want to help. After all, I found that daughter you were looking for," Vivec said.
He threw Clare down to the ground. She saw something next to her, something round. She waved her hands to clear away the red smog. What she saw shocked her. Vivec laughed.
"You like it, you worthless mortal?"
It was Lucia's head. Clare tried to scream. Tears flowed from her eyes. She ran up to Vivec, ready to punch him again, ready to make him pay for…
"Clare! Clare!"
"What?"
Clare opened her eyes. She was in her bed, with Jason standing over her. She had both of her hands in fists. They hurt. She stood up, out of her bed.
"I was having another nightmare," Clare said.
"I know. It was about him, wasn't it?" Jason said.
Clare nodded
"It was. That bastard," Clare replied.
She turned to the wall by her bed. There were a few damaged spots where she'd hit.
"It's okay. It was just a dream. It's okay," Jason said.
He wrapped his arms around Clare. She broke from him.
"I'm fine," she said.
It had been a few months since Clare lost to Vivec. She was strong enough to move again. She could walk, run, climb in and out of bed, and even cook. Her burns were still bad, but they didn't hurt anymore. She no longer needed bandages either. She wore normal clothes, a normal shirt and pants. She tried to live like she did before, back when she had a family. It was difficult, not having Lucia or her husband, Marcin.
Jason had also been training Clare, ever since she could stand up again. She wanted to feel like she could protect herself, especially after everything that had happened. Secretly, she also wanted to kill Vivec. Clare didn't care how much she had to train or how many lives she'd have to take, she was determined to get her daughter back.
Clare stood up and headed for the door.
"I need to practice some more," she said.
"More? We spent all yesterday training," Jason replied.
"I need more. I need to practice every day, all the time if I need to defend myself."
Jason admired Clare's enthusiasm. He sometimes wondered if he could get her to join The Imperial Guard at times.
"Let's go then, shall we?"
Jason grabbed his sword and went outside. Clare grabbed her's and followed. The training was about to start.
"Let's go over this again," Jason said.
He assumed a stance with his sword.
"If I come at you like this, what do you do?"
Jason charged at Clare. She bolted out of the way.
"What about here?"
He thrust his sword just below Clare's neck, careful not to hit her. She sidestepped it.
"Good! Now counterattack!"
Clare thrust her blade toward Jason. He dodged it and punched Clare in the shoulder. She cried out in pain.
"Remember, your arms and legs are weapons too," Jason said.
Clare nodded. She started to slash him, but stopped and instead kicked him in the ankles. Jason fell down. She raised her sword, ready for the final blow.
"Remember! Magic!"
Jason cast a shielding spell, the only magic he knew. It blocked Clare's blow and gave him a chance to get up. He slashed at Clare, who was also ready.
"Magic, yes!" she said.
She cast her shield spell as well. It blocked Jason's attack, which gave her an opening. She thrust at Jason, right for his chest, but stopped. If this were a real battle, Jason would have died. They both set their weapons down.
"Well, you won. Nice job," Jason said.
He was impressed. Normally, their training ended in Jason besting Clare.
"You taught me well," Clare said.
She sat down and wiped the sweat off of her head, satisfied with her skills. Jason gazed at her figure. Sometimes he'd think about her body, what it once was before it was burnt.
"I wonder what she looked like before I met her?" he thought.
Jason liked to imagine that Clare was once beautiful, far more gorgeous than she actually was.
"Forget it. That's in the past. Besides, she used to be in prison. She was probably one of those weird muscled up girls, anyway."
Clare gave him a concerned look.
"Is something wrong?" She said.
Jason snapped out of his daydream.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just still surprised that you beat me. That's all."
Now that she had bested Jason, Clare decided that she was ready. She decided to make her announcement.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," Clare said.
"Where?" Jason said.
"To… A city," she said.
"Which city?" Jason said.
Vivec City was unfortunately named after the being that took Lucia.
"It's a city to the south, filled with canals and pyramids. I don't know what it's called," Clare said.
"Oh! You mean Vivec City. I've been there a few times. They have some interesting things there," Jason said.
"That's where he took Lucia. I'm going to go there and find him. Then, I'm going to kill him," Clare said.
On some level, Clare didn't want to go. She didn't want to continue. She wanted to move on with her life and accept that she was never going to see her daughter again. Her thoughts echoed through her head.
"She's probably dead."
"Move on."
"This isn't courage. This is stupidity."
"He didn't kill you. He was merciful."
Clare clenched her fist.
"No. I'm doing this. I don't care if I die. I'm going to kill him."