11 years ago...
At the end of a vacant, empty food court stood the two brothers, looking over the ocean from the tall, angled windows.
"It's so pretty," Ian says, mesmerized by the view.
"Isn't it?" says Barley. "Grandma told me they're gonna tear this place down...but I don't want this to go. This place is so empty, it's ours at this point. This window could be our place to hang out and watch the ocean."
The younger elf smiles. "Yeah. Ours."
Numb.
The young wizard felt something surging throughout his body...but it wasn't magic.
It was numbness. He couldn't feel any part of his body other than the terrifying feeling of numbness, and the imminent urge to throw up.
Too tired to even open his eyes, he feels as if he's laying down on a hard carpet floor. Softer than wood or tile, but still uncomfortable to sit or lie down on. The kind of carpet that's too easy to burn your knees on. Ian knew he wasn't in a safe place.
Even with his elf ears, he couldn't hear anything. Maybe he was left in a room to rot and die? Maybe his kidnappers are just waiting for him to wake up...
Maybe his brother is looking for him...
...maybe he's about to finally meet his father.
He gradually loses his numbness the more conscious he becomes. He notices that he can't move his arms - they're tied together. He can't move his legs - they're either tied or chained together as well.
But then he realizes he can only breathe through his nose. He feels something inside his mouth - and that's when the panic starts.
In an instant, Ian's brown eyes were wide open. He tries screaming as loud as he could through his gag. Sweat begins to drip from his forehead.
The elf began retching as whatever was stuffed in his mouth begins to reach his uvula. He then chokes out a crumpled, saliva-soaked rag. He takes in a big breath and tries to stay calm, but he immediately retches again, and soon after he throws up his dessert onto the rag.
Every part of his body shakes once he finishes. He looks up from the mess he'd made on the ground and wipes his mouth on his shoulder.
He catches his breath and slowly manages to sit up, trying to make sense of where he is. From the looks of it, he's in an empty, abandoned department store, one that would be found in a mall. His legs are chained to a column. Right beside him is the tile floor that would've guided the foot traffic back when this store was operating.
Absolutely no furniture was left behind. The store is dimly lit, with only certain lights being on in certain places. One of these lights just so happens to be right above Ian.
While the room itself was nothing special, he wonders if any other victims have suffered the same fate as him. He doesn't want to find out if there are blood splatters on the walls or knives with dried blood sprawled about on the carpet...
Then, to his horror, he sees a shadowy figure across the room, gradually making its way towards the poor wizard.
As they get closer, Ian's breathing becomes rapid and he sweats bullets.
But through this rush of anxiety, he puts on the angriest face he can manage while breathing heavily through his teeth, wanting to show his kidnapper that he was not afraid.
And soon enough, his anxiety had been replaced with unbridled rage.
He would love to give the kidnapper a taste of their own medicine...but deep down he still knew he wouldn't win that battle.
"Oh look...you're awake. And you've made quite the mess."
The elf's anger only triples when he hears the individual's sickly voice. Now under the light, Ian can clearly see what they look like - a female elf-orc hybrid around his age with grey-dyed wavy hair and dark amber eyes.
"I've gotta say," she continues, bending down to look Ian in the face. "You're a pretty good swimmer. I mean, for someone as pathetic and twig-like as you, who can only - ironically - use a magical twig to defend himself, I expected you to be a lost cause the moment they grabbed you. But you were just too strong for them, were you? Or was it your brother that helped...?"
She lets out the most enraging snicker Ian had ever heard.
"I'm stronger than you. I'm stronger than your goons. I'm stronger than any of you will ever be," the wizard hisses.
The elf-orc quickly grabs the Lightfoot by his mop of curly hair and pulls him up to her face.
"Is that so, wizard boy?" she says in his ear.
"That's Ian to you," he growls.
She pulls his hair harder. "I'll call you whatever I want."
She throws Ian face down on the tile part of the floor and pins him down.
"Are you really stronger than me? ARE YOU REALLY?" the elf-orc shouts, holding the wizard on the ground.
Ian grunts and groans as he tries to lift his head up. He can feel his nose bleeding...
After a minute, she lifts Ian up from the ground, revealing the splatter of blood on his face that came from his nosebleed, and leaving a small pool of blood on the title.
"Hmm...looks like you couldn't do anything," she says smugly, turning him back towards her face. "THAT'S BECAUSE I'M TIED UP, YOU WASTE OF SPACE!"
That outburst earned Ian three slaps on his cheek, but that didn't stop him from talking. "My brother will snap you in half if he gets the chance. I'll find my staff and I'll send a shock towards you that will end your life faster than you can beat me to a pulp-"
The elf-orc tightens her grip around the top of the Lightfoot's throat, and she stands him up and pins him on the column. She takes out a knife and holds it against his throat, which causes Ian to panic again, losing his tough attitude.
"I'm already tired of hearing you talk. I should've taped your mouth shut and had you choke to death on your own vomit!"
The young elf shuts his eyes tightly as tears fall, and holds his breath as the cold blade of the knife is held to his neck.
"Now that's what I like to see...such a pathetic little wizard. I'd feel guilty for killing you right now...because you're just that pathetic."
She takes away the blade from his throat, and Ian falls to the ground, gasping for air.
"Now," she begins, taking out a roll of tape. "not another word, or I'll cut open your throat and rip out your vocal cords."
Ian recoils at those words and feels the need to curl up in a ball. More tears rush down his face as duct tape is placed over his mouth, followed by his chains being undone. His hands stay tied as he's lifted up by the kidnapper and pulled away.
They walk out of the empty department store and end up in the interior of an abandoned mall.
Many memories flow through Ian's mind once he sees the interior; this is the old mall that still sits abandoned on the old pier. He went to this mall only one time when he was 5 and when Barley was 8. It was Winter Solstice, and they were there with their grandmother. The mall was already declining, and he only remembers that much. But he remembered the interior, with its flashy seaside theme reminiscent of the time his mother was growing up.
He quietly weeps thinking about how this warm memory will now be tainted by the fact that this mall is being used by a group of scumbags to torture him and his brother...if his brother is even here.
The young elf sweats thinking of just where this girl could be taking him. But more than anything else, he longs for his brother. He wants nothing more than to be back in his presence, wrapped in a brotherly embrace. He wishes they were still laughing and messing around in the bay, with no kidnappers near. But now, he doesn't know where he is. And he's terrified to find out.
They continue walking down the corridor, with all the former storefronts being terribly vandalized. Broken glass virtually everywhere, graffiti on the walls, letters fallen off old signs. Signs from as early as ten years ago hang from the ceiling, rotten and peeling. Dead palm trees lean over in the center court, blocking walkways.
After walking across the mall, they had reached their destination: the mall offices. The girl opens the frosted glass door, and behind it is a dimly lit room with only a desk and chair in it. A young female cyclops - who looks vaguely familiar to Ian - sits at the desk, a delighted grin entering her face.
"Amyeth, hello! Looks like he finally woke up," the cyclops says.
"I had to tape his mouth shut because he wouldn't calm his attitude," says the elf-orc, who Ian now knows is named Amyeth. "He says he can beat us up without that staff of his."
I never said that, Ian thinks to himself. He bumps Amyeth's side with his shoulder.
"Wow, look at him trying to fight back. I bet he wants his older brother to come here and save him," the cyclops taunts. "Well, Lightfoot, he's with our friends."
The two girls begin laughing loudly as the elf-orc throws Ian on the ground, causing him to hit his head on the desk.
The cyclops gets up from her chair and approaches the elf, who would love to kick them both right now, but fears what would come next for him. She bends down and rips off the duct tape on his mouth.
"You're taking the tape off, Div?" asks Amyeth. "I wanna hear him scream while I do this. It'll be funnier," says the satyr.
Ian can only stare horrified as he wonders what "this" could be. Div drags him into another room in the office by grabbing his collar.
"You fight back, I'll impale you with my own horn," Div says.
The wizard fails to appear calm as his hyperventilating can be clearly heard. Tears fall uncontrollably and create trails of droplets onto the carpet as he's dragged along. The tears gradually wash the drying blood off his face, although not by much.
"...I'm kiddin'," the cyclops continues. "I'm not gonna kill you. In fact, I need you..." She ends her sentence with a cackle, one that only further enrages Ian.
The young elf is thrown on the hard carpet floor, and his arms are finally untied.
"So, what's your grand plan? I don't see anything here," Ian says smugly.
He's then violently pinned to the ground by the cyclops.
"We're getting your blood rushing," Div whispers.
"What's that supposed to me-"
Div slaps the elf across the face multiple times. She then throws him back up and slams him into a wall.
Ian can only slightly hear the girls' cackling through the ringing of his ears. His arms shake as he tries getting back up, but Div quickly snatches him by his feet and hangs him upside down. She and Amyeth continue cackling as she swings him back and forth.
He usually gets thrown around like this by his brother. But not as violently or maliciously. In fact, he's found ways to playfully fight back during the impromptu brotherly wrestling matches. But he can't wiggle his way out of the cyclops' grip.
"Doesn't this remind you of home?" Div asks. "Doesn't it get you PSYCHED?"
She swings him back onto the ground, and he lands with a thump. Ian successfully manages to stand up before Div can try something else, and he delivers a punch straight to her nose.
Div is taken aback by the punch, but she still angrily picks him up and slams him into another wall. Amyeth quickly grabs the pained elf's hairand pulls a gun out of her pocket, proceeding to put it to his head.
Div crawls over armed with a knife, and slowly moves it towards Ian's forearm.
The wizard begins hyperventilating again, now knowing that his life could end the moment he makes one wrong move.
The cyclops makes a small incision in the wizard's skin, causing the poor elf to yelp in pain. Div collects the blood in a small tube and puts it beside herself. She then pulls a few locks of blue curly hair from Ian's head, to which he yelps again.
"Make one more noise and you won't have a head anymore," Amyeth hisses.
(tw: this is where the SA begins)
Once Div sets down the locks of hair, a devilish grin enters her face.
"Amyeth, scoot away for a bit, will ya?"
The elf-orc takes away the gun from Ian's head and steps back.
Ian stares at Div in bewilderment. "What...what are you gonna do?"
Div pulls Ian up to her face.
"Those magic genes of yours...I want them. And I want you."
The elf was not hesitant to yell "NO" in a shaky breath. He squirms and pleads to get away, but he was a stick compared to her muscular build.
"The moment I saw you in the hallway...and when I saw you fight the dragon...I wanted to love you. I wanted to be with you. I wanted to be you."
Div gradually creeps her hands under Ian's flannel and up his chest...
"Amyeth kinda just wants to kill every wizard...but me? I wouldn't care if every other wizard on this earth disappeared if I could just have you."
"NO!" Ian yells once again, this time doing so while pushing her away with the largest amount of force he could gather.
(end of SA scene)
He makes a dash out of the room, but not before Amyeth tackles him. Her gun slips out of her pocket, and Ian throws it far away. The two scuffle until the wizard breaks away, and he escapes with the two girls chasing behind him.
Ian picks up the gun again and throws it even farther into the mall, hopeful that it'll land in an area Amyeth wouldn't think to check. He admittedly isn't putting much thought into his actions; he only wants to find his brother and escape.
The elf sprints away from the offices, not knowing where to go next. Luckily for the girls, they were just as, if not faster, than Ian.
Ian begins running up the former escalator, broken glass from the skylights crunching under his shoes. He keeps sprinting down the corridor to his left, until he trips on a crooked floor tile.
He falls face down on the dusty floor and scrambles to get back up, until he's grabbed once again by Amyeth.
"Let me GO!" he yells. Amyeth disregards his yelling, and keeps pulling him back to where he ran from.
With Div behind her and Ian in her arm, Amyeth approaches back towards the center court, near the still-undrained fountain. Ian now realizes what she's about to do, but he's still taken by surprise when she flips him over and grabs him by his hair.
"Uh, Amyeth," Div says. "Before ya drown him, can I, uh...give him a kiss?"
"I HOPE YOU ROT IN JAIL!" Ian yells. He receives a punch from Amyeth for that.
"You can at LEAST-" "NO!"
Ian is punched again.
Div approaches him. "It's just one kiss..."
Ian feels his stomach churn the closer she gets. He feels something coming on...maybe,
just maybe-
"Come on, Ian...you'd be a great kisser..."
The taste of bile in his mouth...the saliva dripping off his chin...
Hope to the Gods above...
"AHHHH! EWWWWW!"
Ian catches his breath and feels numbness in his body again. He opens his eyes and is relieved when he sees Div covered in his vomit.
Amyeth glares at him, which lets him know that this was not going to be a fun time.
"Can you find a magic way out of THIS?" the elf-orc yells in the elf's ear just before dunking his head in the nasty water.
Ian squirms around with little breath, hoping she won't keep him down for too long. But it only goes on and on.
After what felt like 5 minutes, Amyeth finally lifts the wizard's head from the water. He brings in a deep gasp and lets out a singular heavy cough before looking at the elf-orc's face, who was enjoying every moment of this.
"You're lucky I didn't just leave you down there," she says.
"Your friend deserved it," Ian says.
He takes a deeper breath before she dunks his head back in once again.
He doesn't squirm around as much this time, trying to stay brave as she carries out her actions. But one thing she doesn't know is that Barley had taught Ian to hold his breath longer since their quest.
20 seconds pass.
"JUST DROWN ALREADY!" Amythe yells.
Ian keeps holding on as 10 more seconds pass.
Then 10 more.
Amyeth lifts his head up once again, and Ian takes in an even larger breath of fresh air, or air as fresh it could be in a devastated mall.
As he pants and coughs, he realizes just how long he was held under the water.
"Div, get over here."
Div follows her friend's command, now eager to help her kill off the wizard after he'd hurled on her.
Ian takes a deep breath in preparation, just before Div covers Ian's mouth and nose with her hand. Then, the two girls shove the elf's entire body into the fountain, pinning him down.
Under the water, he recalls memories he's made throughout the 16 years of his life.
Memories with his mother, his brother, the few friends he's had...
He remembers his quest with his brother, all the twists and turns. Learning magic, having the most dangerous driving lessons (complete with pixies hellbent on tearing him and Barley to shreds), walking over bottomless pits, running away from gelatinous cubes, and fighting off cursed dragons, all alongside the pair of pants that made up their late father, at least until they completed the spell.
He remembers a moment just like this...
At the end of the gauntlet of traps, in a tall room filling with water...
He was sure he wasn't going to make it to the top. He began losing his breath just as they were able to get the top hatch open...
But then Barley grabbed his collar. He threw Ian to the surface as soon as he had room to get through the opening hatch, then he swam up himself.
That moment stuck with Ian. His older brother was close to drowning himself, but Barley would still give his life to make sure his little brother made it out first.
But now...Ian doesn't know where Barley is. And now he doesn't think he'll ever find him...
Time passes slowly the longer he stays under the water. Eventually his vision begins to blur, he begins thrashing around...he thinks he's going to die this time. And there's no one to pull him up.
He hopes that maybe, just maybe they'll pull him up...
In his mind, he says his goodbyes, even though no one will hear them...
"Barley...I hope you're holding on, man...I love you. I love you more than anything, bro."
After he says goodbye...he faintly hears the calming voice of his brother...
"I love you too, brother."
Now ready to go, he shuts his eyes, and awaits for everything to fade away...
But it doesn't end up happening.
In an instant, just before Ian loses all his breath, all the force that was being applied onto him was suddenly lost.
As soon as he gets the chance, he pushes his hands on the worn tile bottom of the fountain and launches himself back up, finally above the surface. The girls were no longer near him.
He heavily coughs up water just before gasping deeply as he holds on to the edge of the fountain.
Then, after he regains his energy, he finds out what happened to the girls...