One hand clutching the stone corner of the roof, my other scrabbled for purchase on the slippery red tiles to either side of it. I realised the futility of it when a tile came loose and tipped over the edge. It seemed to take more than the few seconds in reality to to fall, turning over and over before it smashed itself to dust on the stone far below me. No, I couldn't let myself follow it, even though I hated most of my life, I did not want to die, and least of all like this. Like a fool who took on too much. They'd tut and shake their heads at my story for years and I didn't want that. I wanted to be a name people would recognise for the goo I did, for the heroism and daring deeds against the Wraith. I wanted to be a hero, and for that I would have to live through this.
The word 'Hero' echoed through my mind, the sound of the strange woman telling me I was destined for more adding to it to form an unreal chorus in my mind. My whole being seemed to resonate, to hum in harmony with the voices in my mind and I felt, once again, that new feeling of electricity flowing over my skin, outwards from my heart to fill me with an unreal power. As it reached my fingertips, I could feel my grip become stronger, my arms seemed to forget the pain of holding me there and only feel strong. My muscles bunched again, tensing my body like a spring before the inevitable release, throwing my weight upwards in a rush of air against my ears.
My feet hit the stone of the roof with more force than I thought possible from my lean frame and I felt no jolt through me when I landed. It was like I had simply materialised on top of the roof. I blinked rapidly, things were really getting strange this past week. Could that weird woman actually be right? It couldn't be, it was just the adrenaline, it did that sort of thing to people. Made them seem superhuman, yeah, that was it. Nothing more than adrenaline.
The chest was over the other side of the roof to me now, down on a bridge that spanned between the tower I was standing upon, and its twin. I took the two paces to the other side of the roof, and sat down on its edge and looked at the chest, the gold decoration still shining in the bright sun. With a thought to how I had landed on the roof, I took a deep breath and let myself slip off the roof and down the short drop to the bridge. Again, I felt nothing as I landed, my feet making barely a whisper in my soft soled shoes, my muscles still burning with a fire that wasn't entirely unpleasant as I moved to the chest and lay a hand upon the sun-warmed wood.
The pleasant warmth of the chest seemed to run up my arm, merging with the electricity that still coursed through me to make me feel more alive than I ever had. I found my fingers working towards the lock, a simple pin between me and knowing what this mysterious chest contained. The metal was cold against my skin, so charged with this new power and the heat from the chest that it was almost painful. I slipped the pin out with my fingertips and it tinkled as it fell from the lock to dangle from it's gold chain, the sound seeming loud against the rush of my blood in my ears.
Finally, here I was with my fingers worming under the lid of the chest, this was it, I thought to myself, savouring the final feeling of suspense, before I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply, the scent of rosewood filling my lungs as I flipped the chest open. A bright light hit my eyelids, turning my world red before I slowly opened them, blinking rapidly before my eyes adjusted to the sun shining off the contents of the chest. It was filled almost to the brim with small gold coins that reflected the bright sun, casting a bright yellow gold over my face.
I slid a hand into the chest, taking one of the coins and bringing it up to look at it more closely. It was inscribed with an intricate design of an orchid in full bloom, surrounded by what looked like a border of vines with tiny leaves all pointing into the centre of the coin. Yet it was no money that I'd ever seen, turning it over, the design was copied on the other side, no mark of currency or value on it, just the orchid and twisted vines.
Puzzled, I stared at the coin in my hand while I used my other to close the chest, some part of me not wanting anyone to know about it, the golden glow fading and bringing me back to reality with the click of the lid closing. I was intrigued as to where the coin had been made, as there were no identifying marks from a maker, as I knew most smiths and craftsmen used and feeling the weight of it, resting in the palm of my hand I knew that it had to be mostly gold. Who in these times could even afford to make coins like this, let alone leave them in a chest for anyone to find? Maybe there was a rich merchant behind this, maybe he'd give me something for finding one of his coins. Unlikely, but what else could explain a chest of unusual coins in the middle of a city?
Standing smoothly, I tucked the coin carefully into a pocket and looked out over Etherblade. I would contemplate where the coin had come from later, right now I had a more pressing problem. The sun was creeping steadily towards the horizon, and I was still all the way on top of the city. Fang would be disappointed if I was late for dinner, not to mention that she'd keep me up all night cleaning the shop and doing all of the dishes to make sure I was sorry. But how was I supposed to get down from here? I decided there wasn't going to be an easy way down, seeing as how I probably wasn't supposed to be up here in the first place. How in the good name of Pan Gu did someone get this chest up here was anybody's guess.
It had to be a wizard, or a great hero that the merchant had hired. No average man could haul that up on his chest and make the jumps that I did. Hell I was a thin girl for my age, underdeveloped and overworked, and I barely made it. Now I had to get down, before the sun set, and before anybody saw me up here. So, I sat myself on the edge of the wooden bridge and looked downwards, seeing a large platform below me and the only way down that I could see.
Steeling myself, I turned and began to slide myself downwards and towards the platform below me, slowly letting my weight begin to rest onto my arms, until I was hanging still around ten feet above the cold stone. Swallowing my heartbeats back down from my throat, I thought of the jump that I had made earlier. Surely I could do it again now, just drop and let my body absorb the shock with this new power. Well, it was worth a try, there didn't look like there was any easier way down. So, taking a deep breath, I let my fingers slip from the bridge, and felt myself falling. Not daring to look down, I braced myself for the impact, bending my knees and clenching my jaw, I held my breath as my feet impacted with the pale stonework.
A jolt shook my eyes open, knocking the breath from me as my legs were forced from under me and I landed on my hands and knees. I stayed there, panting, for what seemed like an hour, the new power that I had used to get up onto the tower had gone, now replaced with an empty, weary feeling. I was drained, but I was still only halfway down. I picked myself up then, or crawled to the edge, I don't quite remember. That fall took the last of my strength and the last thing I remember is sliding down the rock wall that I had first climbed.