Speech = ``...´´
Thoughts = [... ]
ºº
``When is this going to be over…?´´
Annerose heard her companion mused through his teeth the same way an old man would curse about the weather,tired and apathetic..., the young man shrimping into a corner with a pained groan once his back leaned against the cold touch of the wall of stone. Sweat trickling down his face down his neck.
His clothes were dirty and covered both in mud and dust that seemed to cling to him with a life of their own. His once carefully treated hair was left unkempt, specks of dried blood gluing stray patches of hair together against his skin. The look of his eyes was gaunt, tired.., as if he had aged a century in a matter of days.
In a few words: He looked like shit...though not like she was any better off than him.
Her chest heaved up and down slowly inside the confines of her chest-plate, her heart felt like burning like the rest of her limbs yet she felt cold all the same. She tilted her head back a little, her eyes becoming lost as they stared at the blue shaded horizon above their heads.
No matter where she looked at.., the palette of colors was rather nice.
Warm
Calid
Peaceful...
Ah…., it was a rather nice day to have and close your eyes for a while, wasn't it..?
The skies were clear and the air was so fresh, albeit with a tinge of salt mixed in between that it clouded whatever stench the city had before. It felt as if she was inside a painting of the first days of summer.
The birds like the dead didn't have to worry in the slightest what happened down in the ground.
The ghost of the smile that had slowly tried to morph around her lips vanish with a swift brush. Leaving behind a bitter grimace as her eyes slowly receded from their solemn admiration of what laid beyond her head...and took a good look at what was left beneath it.
The ground was flooded with water, walls either broken down or in the process as leaks slowly slipped through the cracks that had been left behind. No windows had survived, allowing the cold air to come and go as it pleased through them...
If this was indeed a painting, the skies would be the heavens while the city was more akin to a hell in the making. Battered and destroyed as it was, nothing more now than a husk of what it had once been.
"When is this going to be over…?"
Thinking about it, that was a good question... wasn't it?
Her eyes searched around her, through the remains of what had been a market brewing with life, now devoid of it so much that it literally felt wrong to gaze at.
Mud, broken windows, the carcass of many buildings and the wayward remain of some fruit or meat that had not been dragged away by the tide.
Would it be in a month? A week? Today? In a few minutes..? After all the effort they had put through to reach this point, the answer was not any clearer than it was the first day.
Her eyes then switched towards the sound of footsteps approaching from the left side of the street, where a group of men where carrying away a family in hammocks. They looked bruised and battered, bandages covered with grime and blood.
But alive...
She felt the tension that had been building up slowly vanish once again, allowing her to once again slump back to her laid back position. Relief washing over her...something that she had not been allowed to enjoy for too long.
One thing that they did not tell you when you tried to become a knight was that though the bloody plate and mail was meant to protect you and it could be personalize to your own personal desires...wearing it day and night, day after day….was like trying to climb out a mountain ridge with your thumbs.
It was extremely hard to find a spot to lean down where your body did not ended up in a strange position, or some part of the armor bumped with the ground. She had been fortunate enough that most of the time she had been too tired for such things to deprive her of any rest.
With the occasional need to tug the loose strands of cerulean blue hair away from her eyes when the wind decided to brush playfully with them.
Everything had been clear and simple, then everything had been thrown down into a vortex of chaos and right now she did not know if right was wrong and down was up.
She weakly rose her hand, cupping her head. Fingers still covered in mail that had a few days shone brightly under her chosen colors now dented and covered in grime caressed her skin and blue hair. Her face almost grimacing as she did, no matter how much she tried to ease the ache she felt, it refused to leave her for too long...
She sighed again, it just couldn't be helped…her head still hurt, the hit she had taken leaving a far more pressing and deeper pang of pain inside her skull that magic had not been able to wipe out from her senses for good. Not yet anyway.
It was something she had come to dislike each time she was reminded that magic sometimes was not the all ending solution to everything you came across, sometimes you had to let things ran their course and not push it.
She was aware of it…
She was no stranger to such needs, but that did not meant that she was happy about the present heaviness of her body that was pulling her down and sipping her strength. A sensation of tiredness, of hollowness inside her limbs as the aforementioned sensations seemed once again to try to assert themselves.
She bit her lips...
She hadn't had a proper night of rest since it happened. There was always something to do, someone to rescue. Someone that was worse for wear than she was and needed help asap.
Not everyone could do what she could…
So she had to do it.
Even if that meant pushing her body further and further and ignoring the worries of others to take it slow she still did it.
Searching, pulling debris away and healing anyone that she came across. Not stopping, not slowing down... she couldn't for she knew enough about the human body and their limitations to know that they were more fragile than they would have liked.
And if she was still reeling from this mess, how worse for wear would the common civilian be..? How long did they have before critical condition became terminal..?
….
By the goddess, she really felt tired.
And here she thought that swinging a sword to the point of mastery and getting into the seven blades was tiring enough. What a fool she had been.
``I don't know...to be honest I don't have the slightest idea. I...its too soon to say anyway´´
She muttered at last, raising a subtle eyebrow from her companion. Something that she should not have been able to tell given that she was looking away from him, but she had the feeling that he was.
She was rarely wrong...
He scratched the back of his head. ``I don't want to sound obnoxious, but that is not exactly comforting..´´
She tried to chuckle, to laugh if only bitterly at that..but she couldn't. Only a sigh left through her lips as she gave him a weak nod.
Yes, that had not been exactly comforting.
But she would not debase herself to lie even if that meant to make herself feel better about it. Her head started to hurt more and more as her thoughts delved deeper into that particular notion.
Lies…
Oh…, how she hated those blasted things.
If it wasn't for them she would have already be in her home. She could have been delighting herself with a set of cold tea after a long day of training at the barracks. She would have not been in the middle of a natural disaster blast zone..
``You think things will go back to what they used to be..?´´
This time her lips stiffen, her lips pursed downwards as her face folded into a frown. Not in disagreement, but rather taking his words into consideration and spinning in her head.
The simple answer to it would be yes..
They had to, tragedies happened everyday and the world did not stop for them. Life...just went on.
That was the gist of things, wasn't it? In theory there was nothing for them to do but just that, and as a soldier if there was a problem that had no answer..why worry about it..?
Now that was the simple answer, the real answer though...was very different. Could the people who had lost their homes and families here do so..? Did they have the strength..?
She bit her lip, her hands clenching tightly, her knuckles under the pale turning painfully pale.
She knew the answer…
And she did not like it, not one bit...
One moment she had been just about to leave the obnoxious realm of politics and schemes of the empire into a more calm and peaceful change of scenery only for the next moment to find herself slaving away into helping reconstruction efforts and helping the wounded from the calamity that had happened.
How the sea itself had pulled up and then slam against the coast with its wrath.
She grimaced at the memory.
The first line of the city coast had been literally wiped away, the port becoming nothing than a wayward memory when the waves struck with all their strength onto the wooden pillars. Turning sturdy wood into powder in a matter of seconds.
Goddess knew what such force could have done to a human body, her heart almost seemed to try to leap from her heart as she remembered what cry of warning she had uttered back then, how her throat had become hoarse and rough by the unexpected, fearful fright had taken over her mind and body as she felt something awful coming her way.
Coming for all of them..
She had not known what it was, what could have brought such a reaction from her.
She was glad she had decided not to wait there to find out.
And yet there had been so many who had been mesmerized by the sight of the sea receding from the coast and then coming back in a massive wave to run fast and far enough to actually have a chance like she had.
She had not seem what had happened to them, but the results were all too predictable in her head.
And if having tons of water slamming their way into concrete and wood was bad, then seeing the ships that had been anchored to the port now becoming massive battering rams had easily topped that notion.
``You want the long answer, or the short answer?´´
``I..I would want the one with less bullshit..´´
Now, that made her smile...
Her eyes shut for a moment as they tried to regain some strength before her lips grew a little more stiff, her mouth becoming a little more dry..
``No, I don't think that is going to happen...not any time soon at least´´
He was silent for a moment, before he nodded.
``Yeah, with all things considered I can see that...´´
The damage had been substantial if not down right catastrophic.
Luckily, the war like nature of the empire had proven this time a correct choice as the layers and layers of walls that had been erected to maintain the enemy away from the city and the inner keep for as long as possible acted as sturdy barriers to dull the blow nature had delivered so mercilessly.
Now what was left was the clean up…
A thankless task, one that carried no honor or glory like the songs of the bards were all too keen to laud over and over.
With a huff she started to stood up. Ignoring the way the joints of her limbs cried out in response.
``W-what are you doing?´´
She heard her companion ask in bewilderment, she would have too if she had the energy to do so.
Not that it mattered much if she could actually voice out those thoughts as she slowly stumbled away from her resting place and stood out on the street. The humid stench of blood and sea water still strong in the soil, yet her eyes were more focused on the people around her. The folks who had been living here without a care in the world..
Some looked at her, curiosity in their eyes. Most did not…
Not when the haze vanished when they took notice of the plate-mail. Turning blank stares into squinted looks of suspicion and hostility.
That was not good...
Especially since she was aware that some of those people had been cordial to her not that long ago. So why those looks? Why that veiled resentment..? What happened..?
She bit her lip, confused at what she was trying to understand and with a small pang of indignation at the galls of such ill intentions sent her way for no apparent reason. While she did, her companion started to stir himself up from the ground to follow her.
She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
She could have just left.
She should have done so a while ago when she had the chance…, but she didn't.
She had survived by a hair, even if it was little...she should try to honor those who did not by helping those who remained. It was the least she could do…
Or at least that was what she wanted to believe. The soldiers of the empire had yet to arrive in force to help and finish what the own people of this place had already. So that was a bonus of what she had stayed here for this long.
But now...
Had she overstayed her welcome...?
She finally managed to tear away her attention from and back to the boy that was now standing right behind her, clearly limping from one of his legs. Not wounded, just his limbs failing him for the moment.
She had not forced him to stay here, let alone help aid her to help the people of the city.
He had done so anyways, even though he was clearly not prepared for this.
Perhaps she had pegged him a fool too soon. These last few days had been anything but normal, so who would know..?
``Why did you do that?´´
``I don't know...´´
``You don't know why would you stand up and stand here in the middle of the street..?´´
She looked to the side, in a way...it was a bit embarrassing to be asked that.
``Fine, whatever you think you are doing…. is not my problem, not like I could stop you if I tried´´
``I guess you are right..´´
``Yeah, but... you are making me look bad..´´
``I suppose I am..´´
She muttered, her voice for once in a long while dragging a hint of amusement with them. One that pricked a little more when she heard the way the boy huffed with annoyance at her words.
``Fine, have it your way….but if you fall to the floor I don't think I will be able to carry you to the closest healer..´´
``I know...I will take that into consideration´´
``For your sake rather than mine I take…, My feet hurt enough than to add the thought to have to ran after another of your excursions..´´
She knew that, though he had tried to try as an aid he was not a warrior, nor his body as a pencil pusher were prepared for this kind of physical exertion.
She would not blame him for that.
What he had done was enough.
``And lets not say anything about of having to go carry another damn box of debris.., I am not a goddamn miner for gods sake!´´
``Don't think about it, it will make it worse..´´
``I suppose you know that better than I.., but it doesn't make me feel any better about it.., or my body´´
``I don't think it would even if I liked that to happen´´
She answered back as her hand stretched forward to get a hold of her sword that she had left hanging from the remains of pillar. Her fingers grasping onto the handle, clenching tightly around it, finding a sense of comfort as she felt the iron once again in her possession before she placed it on her hip.
Though not before taking a good look at her reflection through the still pristine blade and making a silent oath to herself.
Perhaps that was why she had not realized that her companion was talking to her again.
What she instead felt was a sensation of wrongness that should not have been there to begin with where they stood,
Not of tiredness, not of hollowness. No, that was not what was happening, after all these days she would have known if she was feeling that.
This...this was different, a foulness that was all too new, yet..somehow...feeling all too familiar.
Encroaching around her.
Like the blade of a hiding foe, waiting to land the blow...
``Hey, what is happening there?´´
``What..?´´
``There, at the central square...you see them?´´
She turned on her heels in a flash, ignoring the ace of her body or the nausea that such sudden action provoked. Her eyes already trying to search whatever could it be that had drawn the boys attention. Not out of curiosity, but rather believing it to be related with that forbearing sensation that was burning at the back of her skull.
She would not have to look far.
There, in the center of the square, standing close to one another in a tightly knit group were a bunch of men or women wearing white robes. Their single monochromatic hues speaking of a set of uniforms, their emblems sewed onto their white tunics for all to see.
A symbol that reminded her of something she had saw many times before-
``The church...? What are they doing here?´´
There was no doubt about it, the black red crossed that they showed with so much pride could only be that of the church.
She doubted there were other people as devoted to the goddess than them.
``Since when the church wear beak-masks...?´´
[Bird masks..?] She thought a bit confused, but squinting her eyes she realized what he meant.
They did not bore the red colors of the temple guards..because they were not Templar's. They had never been for they were their dark counterpart.
The inquisition….
``Its them...´´
``You..know about those guys?´´
She nodded weakly, her eyes still glaring in their direction, refusing to look away.
``Heard them more likely…, but yes.´´
It was not the whole truth, but a half truth would suffice for now. The less one knew, the better...
It was not like she did not trust him, but...these were things that only in secrecy could be shared, and this was not it. The bitter realization of what she was doing was not lost on her though.
He did not press her for answers, choosing to tilt his head to the side to get a better look at the church mooks.
``Strange group of fellows aren't they?´´
``You have no idea…´´
``I mean..why bird masks? They look...excuse my language my lady but-.´´
``You are excused..´´
``They look quite goofy, no?´´
Well, he wasn't wrong…
Wearing beak masks was quite...bizarre for the church, but as far as she was aware those things did not hamper much their abilities. Not much..
``So...I take they are bad news..?´´
She wanted to snort at the question, but held her composure. Still, to say that those guys more problematic than they were worth would be to put it lightly…
She finally broke off her stare from group of men, switching her attention towards the boy. His eyes meeting hers in the air.. Worry brewing in their depths.
She bit her lip.., then shook her head.
``Not something that you will have to worry about.., as far as I know they could be here to help the people of the city. Templar's or not...they are duty bound to aid those in need´´
Or at least, that was what she wanted to believe.
Her answer seemed to appease the boy, the lines that had been forming on his face softening as a result.
``I guess that you are right..´´
And with that whatever worries her companion held were pushed aside into the sentiment of normalcy as he went back inside the house they had been staying.
But not her…, because she still felt it.
The wrongness….and it was growing stronger.
Strange, given that she had not seen any of them do something fishy...like scream bloody heretic or set this ruins ablaze in their zealotry. But what could it be if not the inquisition...? What could make such a reaction come out from her?
Her answer appeared in lithe white and gold…
Small of size and covered completely in white cloth with golden garments, a girl trod the ground of the square with a grace and authority that was hard to attribute to a child..
Her blond, brownish hair fell over her shoulders and her back, covered with another layer of white cloth that had been styled to resemble the petals of a flower. Her face was youthful and cute from the distance, like a child, her appearance was the essence of purity and calmness
Yet it was not the fact that her very presence disturbed the chaotic scenery around her.
It was not the way the fanatics were kneeling in the ground and listening to her, nor how the people around them in the square started to chant hymns and give praise to the goddess..
But rather the way the girls obscured eyes had been staring at her this entire time. As if trying to peer into her very soul.
And then she smiled.
Annerose felt her blood ran cold, her body shiver even as the girl walked away from her sight. She could not but stare where the strange little thing had been.
For even though her appearance was one of a saint, she could not help but shudder at the thought that something far more sinister laid underneath the cloth that covered her eyes.
Perhaps it was time to pack her things after all...