Archive of Our Own ^beta

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(POV: Breaker)

Breaker muttered curses to himself as his torch sputtered out again for what was probably the hundredth time during his shift. His flint and steel had broken somewhere down the line, so now he was standing in the middle of a deep dark cave with no light.

Although his vision in low light levels was really good, he couldn’t see in absolute darkness, and without some light he definitely couldn’t see the glint of gold in the walls of the cave that he was searching for.

He knew that he was the only one down this far, so nobody to borrow a flint and steel from. Great.

He slung his rusty iron pickaxe over his back, flexing his fingers and wincing as he felt the bones pop and shift. Since, well, that’s all his right hand was underneath his thick leather gloves: bones.

Breaker was Netherborn, originating from that accursed land of hellfire, and had the absolute privilege of being a wither skeleton hybrid.

Luckily he had a series of enchantment runes that kept his flesh from withering away and revealing his unnatural bones (he tried hard not to think about them too much), but no matter how much food he ate or how many bottle o’ enchanting he drank his right hand was always bone.

It was annoying, especially when he came to the conclusion that Overworldians weren’t exactly fond of Netherborn.

But against all odds, he’d managed to flee the desert some matter of weeks ago and land himself a menial, no-questions-asked mining job in the badlands.

He’d heard that they were mining gold for the Valigneo Kingdom, but he didn’t care much for Overworldian affairs. He just wanted some coin for himself and the freedom to do what he wanted.

Right now, he really wanted a lit torch.

The Souls must have heard his complaints and heeded his call, since just a little farther down the tunnel a light suddenly shone.

Breaker immediately perked up, heading toward the light with one cautionary hand on the stone wall next to him. It looked like torchlight to him (although he didn’t know this at the time, but all wither hybrids were colourblind, so any light could be mistaken for torchlight, really), so he figured he could reignite his torch off of whoever was farther down.

Breaker stumbled a bit on the uneven sandstone beneath him, but eventually reached the bend in the tunnel where the light was coming from.

“Hey, would you-” he began, rounding the corner, stopping short upon seeing something completely and utterly unexpected.

The light he had seen was not, in fact, torchlight. Rather, it was emanating from a circle of glittering runes on the floor. Kneeling next to this circle was a girl, with long black hair and wearing a dark cloak, her hands stained the same green-yellow colour as the substance on the floor.

She looked up at Breaker in shock, violet eyes wide like an animal caught in a hunter’s sights.

Breaker had no idea what the Nether she was doing, nor did he particularly care. He was here to get paid, nothing more. She wasn’t his problem.

“Do you have a flint and steel I could borrow?” Breaker said, interrupting the tense silence.

She gaped at him, before snapping out of whatever she was in and muttering, “Um, yeah, here…” She dug around in her bag, Breaker noticing the distinct glint of gold from within, and tossed him her flint and steel.

He made quick work of relighting his torch, the girl continuing to draw… something on the floor. “So, thanks, do you want this back or…?” He awkwardly asked.

“Just put it next to my bag and leave,” she replied, glaring at the floor.

Breaker cautiously approached, slowly setting down the flint and steel next to her bag while staying as far away from her as possible.

He couldn’t help but look at the gold in her bag again, thinking about how he would definitely get a bonus for bringing back yet more of the valuable material.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t stolen before, it wouldn’t be a big deal. She wouldn’t even notice anyway.

He slid his hand into her bag and removed the gold, surprised to see that it wasn’t a piece or an ingot and shaped quite strangely. He backed away, just about to tuck it into his bag and leave when suddenly the girl whirled around, a diamond axe in hand.

“Don’t touch that!” She exclaimed.

Breaker, out of instinct, slipped his netherite dagger out of his bag and parried her strike, taking notice of how the strike itself wasn’t all that heavy.

She pulled away slightly, eyes locked on his dagger. “You’re Netherborn, aren’t you?” She growled.

“Uh…” Breaker had been trying his best to keep himself hidden, but barely anyone in the Overworld besides those in power or those with ties to the Nether had netherite weapons. He knew he was caught.

“Give me my totem, and let’s just pretend we never saw each other, yeah?” The girl suggested, a threatening undertone to her voice as her grip tightened on her axe.

Breaker nodded, tossing the gold to her (totem?) and putting away his netherite dagger. He lifted his torch and turned around to leave.

He had just rounded the corner of the tunnel when he heard a mysterious sound, the light coming from the room flashing briefly before going dim.

Out of curiosity, he poked his head back around the corner, watching as a square of starry blackness appeared above the circle the girl had drawn, elongating to the size of a small door.

The girl gathered up her things, dusted off her hands on her pants, and stepped into the blackness, completely disappearing.

“What the Souls…” Breaker couldn’t help but approach after that, completely dumbfounded at what he just saw.

Where did she go? He wondered if it was like a Nether portal, transporting you to a different dimension or place.

The markings on the floor stopped glowing, and began to fade.

Breaker cautiously walked closer to the speckled portal, tilting his head. It began rapidly shrinking, and thinking it was like a nether portal in that you needed to fully enter it and stand in it for some time before being transported, reached out a hand to touch it.

He was quite wrong in his theory. The portal near instantly pulled him in, causing Breaker to drop the torch in his other hand with a yelp, falling through darkness.

The markings on the floor faded completely with the disappearance of the portal, leaving nothing but the dwindling torchlight in the cave - the empty, silent cave.

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(POV: Ernaline)

They needed more gold.

It was not unusual, but what was unusual was Ernaline being tasked with retrieving some on her own. Normally, she wasn’t allowed to leave the mansion without some kind of supervision (or babysitter as her friends complained), but this time the Master had trusted her enough to go on her own.

It was a simple task, easy enough, with the hardest part being the teleportation spells.

She was always a natural with teleportation spells, and had spent hours in the mansion library studying the runes to perform them. It was advanced dark magic, but Erin had been practicing for quite some time.

Dark magic was a constant within her life, present everywhere she looked within Evokia Mansion, her home. She hadn’t seen much of the outside world, hadn’t heard of the warnings and dangers of the use of dark magic, how it would eat away your soul no matter how small the spell.

The legendary Totems of Undying that her people produced always had such warnings however, with not a single evoker claiming them as perfect to use.

Speaking of Totems, that was the reason Erin needed to collect gold.

She used the teleportation rune that had been pre-set by one of the senior evokers the week prior, since she had a hard time visualizing a location she had never seen before.

The familiar glow of the Ender runes shone on her as she whispered an incantation, standing up to gather her things and head through the portal.

Erin was transported to the deep confines of a cave somewhere within the badlands in the northeast, shaking off the mild nausea and fatigue that came with teleporting with Ender runes. She hefted her diamond pickaxe and got to work.

She spent a few hours in the caves before deciding that she had more than enough gold to return home. Everything was going according to plan, and when she returned to the mansion the Master would surely be impressed with her.

Erin excitedly thought that maybe if she did this mission successfully, they would start letting her go on larger missions, or even let her go off on her own every once in a while.

And then he walked in.

She was always told to stay hidden, never leave a witness, never reveal herself. It wasn’t her fault that stupid Netherborn walked in the tunnel!

The senior evoker told her that nobody came to these parts of the caves yet because of how dangerous the tunnels were farther up, but he was wrong.

Erin should have killed him then and there. He was Netherborn, after all, beings whom she was told were prone to violence and little emotions, justifying the kill in her mind.

Something about the look in his dark eyes, the way he didn’t question her and moved on, caused her to hesitate.

She came up with a solution after he swiped her totem: just pretend like it never happened, and go their separate ways.

He wouldn’t say anything, she wouldn’t say anything, and they would never see each other again. Win-win.

After he walked out of the cave, Erin sighed with relief at her solution working. She sheathed her axe on her back, returning to the spell ritual she had been preparing.

Everything would be fine. She would return to the mansion as planned, present her gold to the Master, and be rewarded for her good work.

She quietly muttered the incantation necessary for the runes to activate, keeping her eyes closed as they glowed and flashed brightly, reopening them with an exhale as she felt the dark energy leave her fingers.

The familiar starry blackness of the void portal met her eyes, and she carefully watched it as it expanded to the proper size.

Erin picked up her pack from where she had left it on the floor, securing it over her shoulders, and walked through the portal.

It was disorienting, but next thing she knew she was standing back in the teleportation rune hall in the mansion, startling one of the vindicators standing guard nearby.

They were quick to right themselves however, steeling their expression to look professional in front of Erin, a junior evoker.

Erin blinked a few times as her eyes painfully adjusted to the sudden light now in the room, her vision briefly filling with dark spots before clearing.

As soon as she was readjusted and reoriented, she straightened out her robes and brushed the dirt off of her cloak, and headed out of the rune hall.

She walked down the tall warmly lit hallways of the mansion she called home, holding her head high. There were others in the halls, of course - vindicators, the knights of Evokia; evokers, the sorcerers of Evokia, of all classes and ascendancy; acolytes, apprentices, younglings, mentors - but Erin paid them no mind, only nodding to those who acknowledged her and staying out of the way of those who didn’t.

Eventually, she reached the tall double doors leading to the Master’s study, two vindicators standing vigilant.

“You here to report?” One of them grumbled.

Erin nodded.

Suddenly, the ghostly form of a vex apparated in front of the door - vexes were small little monster-like creatures summoned by senior ranking evokers, translucent winged demons no larger than one’s hand. They could carry objects like weapons, packages, and letters, but eventually will decay and disappear after an indeterminate amount of time.

Erin always knew to listen out for the quiet hisses and shrieks they let out passively, as that meant a vex was nearby and watching, listening.

The vex shrieked, as expected, and then proceeded to fly through the door (which was still closed, vexes could go incorporeal and fly through solid objects. creepy.)

Moments later, the door was opened from the inside, a senior evoker nodding respectfully before brushing past Erin and continuing down the hall.

“My, my, back already? Come on in, young acolyte,” Master Ingonchawa, leader of Evokia, beckoned.

He sat at his desk, vials and glasses containing all sorts of different and unknown substances, a few books written in ancient Ender script laying open in front of him. He wore the gray and gold lined robes of Evokia, a circlet of emerald and gold atop his bare head.

Erin walked in the room, bowing before the evoker. The door closed behind her, a quiet echo of the slam reverberating through the room. She ignored the hissing vexes above her head, refocusing on ensuring she came off as collected and respectful to the master.

“Now, no need to waste time on formality-” Master Ingonchawa waved away a vex. “Did you retrieve enough?”

“Yes, sir.” Erin took her bag off of her back, opening it to reveal the dull gold ore she’d collected out in the badlands.

“That you did.” He nodded satisfactorily. “Take those to the furnaces, and then you’re on patrol on the east side tonight as usual.”

“Thank you sir,” Erin replied, putting her bag back on.

“You are dismissed.”

She bowed again, before quickly leaving the room. Her very first solo mission ever, and not an ounce of approval.

She had completed the task in incredible time, but yet was just simply dismissed back to boring guard duty as usual.

Guard duty wasn’t even exciting! They often had wayward mobs, yes, but considering the few senior archers and vindicators that were often on duty, many of the mobs were taken out from a distance by even a single shot from one of their enchanted crossbows.

Had she done something wrong? Was there something she needed to do better?

Erin remained in her thoughts the entire way to the furnaces, worriedly wondering to herself if the master knew about her run-in with the Netherborn in the caves.

He shouldn’t, but the master had eyes and ears everywhere, and as most said, “the Master knows all”. After depositing the ore with the younglings working the forges that day, Erin walked back to her room on autopilot, absently biting on her nails.

A hand on her shoulder caused her to jump, startling her out of her thoughts.

“Didn’t mean to startle you, sorry!” Erin spun around to meet the pale blue eyes of her friend Kigami, standing behind her with a large tome in one arm. “You were zoning out again, thought I’d bring you back to the Overworld.” Kigami grinned.

Erin smiled back at her. “It’s okay, it’s fine.”

“You headed to your room?” Erin nodded. “Cool, I’m headed that way too, I’ll walk with you.”

Erin resumed walking down the hall, Kigami keeping pace with her at her side.

“How’d the mission go?” Kigami asked, cheerfully.

“Pretty good, actually.” Erin hummed. “I’ve still got guard duty tonight, so I don’t really know what this means.”

“Oh, what? That’s dumb, you spent like all day mining, the least you should get is a time off your normal duties!” Kigami shook her head, scoffing.

Erin shrugged. “I dunno, maybe I should’ve brought more back or something.”

“I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong. The master wasn’t angry with you, right?”

“No, not really.”

“Then I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about. The master knows what he’s doing.”

But I do have something to worry about, Erin almost replied. The Netherborn who had seen her. The mistake of letting him too close to the runes, to her gold, to her totem, for Notch’s sake.

She didn’t kill him, she even let him borrow her flint and steel! She felt the urge to tell Kigami all about it, to maybe get rid of the growing knot of anxiety in her stomach, but resisted.

She couldn’t risk Kigami telling someone about it (the girl was always bad with secrets), since if someone found out, then the master would know, and surely she would be punished.

Evokia was her home, the mansion was all she’d ever known, and if they found out she had put her people in jeopardy by breaking the rules, she wouldn’t have anything left.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Erin replied with a tight smile.

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(POV: Breaker)

Breaker had made many mistakes in his lifetime. Touching that portal was what he considered to be an astronomical oh shit kind of mistake.

He was instantly hit with a familiar wave of nausea that he recognized as his body being pulled and stretched through dimensions, and instantly found himself face first on soft leafy ground.

For a moment, Breaker just lay there, breathing slowly to assure himself he was still alive. Then, something clicked as the shock wore off: wait, leaves?

Breaker shot up from the ground, quickly moving to a kneeling position and taking in his surroundings with wide eyes.

This was nothing like anywhere he had ever seen. All he had known was the heat of the Nether, the sands of the Overworldian desert, and the dry stone of the badlands.

This incredible sight before him, painted in shades of colors (grays, but new and extraordinary grays) unlike any sort of place he could have imagined.

Tall trees with thick dark trunks towered over him, the light of the sky barely visible through the thick canopy.

He had heard of Overworldian trees, seen paintings and drawings, but nothing could compare to the way that the dwindling light of the sky filtered through the leaves that trembled in the breeze.

Large mushrooms sprung up from the loamy ground, some towering over Breaker and even over the trees. These mushrooms were different from the ones in the Nether, he realized, as he saw their unusual shape and interesting spotted and dappled colors.

Thick grass and moss coated parts of the forest floor, and to Breaker’s amazement, was soft and cold to the touch.

He didn’t dare touch any of the life around him with his decaying black bones, knowing all too well that the wither essence of his blood ruined everything it touched, and he wouldn’t ruin such a thing like this.

He couldn’t help but stare at the sights around him for a while, gaping at this newfound environment.

He would have left the Nether years sooner, ran from the desert years earlier, if he knew the Overworld held this kind of raw beauty.

Breaker was ashamed to admit that he spent far too long admiring the forest before actually thinking about where the hell he was.

Considering he had never seen real trees before, he really had no idea where he could be. He didn’t have a map of the Overworld, and all he knew was that the desert was in the east and the badlands were north of the desert.

Other than that, the rest of the realm was completely unknown territory from him.

Breaker sighed, realizing he’d have to try and find another job that would actually take Netherborn. He was told he got lucky to get hired in the badlands, and now… now he didn’t know what he’d do.

It was hard to see the sun through the trees, but Breaker figured he should probably get moving regardless so he doesn’t get caught by the creatures of the night in an unknown forest.

They had always been particularly bad outside of civilization, hordes upon hordes of zombies, skeletons, creepers, and spiders stalking his every move, with the occasional enderman warbling from afar.

It’s not like Breaker couldn’t defend himself - he was raised in the Nether, forged by its fires - but there was only so much one person could take without a proper weapon or some kind of respite.

Breaker was now standing, looking around to pick a direction to walk in. Eventually he settled on the gap in the trees to his left and began walking.

As he walked, the first thing he began to notice was just how cold it was compared to the mines in the badlands.

Breaker couldn’t really feel too many things like pain or temperature per se, but he was familiar with the shivers of cold creeping down his spine.

It was frustrating that he had dropped his torch before the portal pulled him in, especially as he realized the amount of light in the forest was dwindling. He needed to find shelter or hopefully civilization, fast.

Luckily for him, almost all Netherborn have what is usually regarded as a sixth sense for picking up traces of smoke - although it wasn’t a true ‘sixth sense’ in reality, this heightened ability to identify the smell of smoke from inhuman distances while in the Overworld was a trait Breaker possessed.

He smelled smoke, coming from somewhere far up ahead. Smoke meant fire, and fire meant people, and people meant shelter.

Breaker instantly perked up at this thought, picking up his pace through the steadily darkening forest. He could still have a chance, after all.

He grinned, taking his netherite dagger from its hiding place in his bag as a precaution, and carried on.

He still had a chance.

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(POV: Ernaline)

Erin was absolutely exhausted by the time her guard duty rolled around.

She had tried to get some rest beforehand, but found her mind far too restless to accomplish that. Instead she had spent her evening reading, paying more attention to her own thoughts than the words on the page.

Erin would need to study more, she presumed, if she ever wanted to become an apprentice Evoker.

She was always told that she had a natural talent for the arts of magic, but she was still stuck as an acolyte, a low level student, and was rarely trusted to perform missions on her own like many of the other Evokians her age.

Everyone told her it was just because she hadn’t been properly trained as a child due to the misconduct of the Elders, the former leaders of Evokia, but Erin didn’t like to think about that.

Erin sighed, making her way through the darkened halls of the mansion to the armory, where she pulled on her assigned layer of chainmail and took a crossbow and a quiver of bolts from the rack, quickly pulling her long hair back into a messy bun.

She already had her very own shield and diamond axe in their rightful places strapped across her back, gifted to her upon the completion of her combat trials.

She moved through the regular motions and through the familiar routes without thinking too much, used to her late night guard duty on the east side.

Exiting the gates and taking in a deep breath of the crisp night air, she made her way across the courtyard and out to the treeline, where tall fences and log posts encircled the perimeter around the mansion.

The dark brown bark of the posts were engraved with runes, enabling various wards and other effects around the mansion.

Erin, as usual, paid no mind to the warm tingling she felt as her hands grip onto the runes laid into the handholds of the post as she hauled herself to the top. She stood straight and at attention, loading a bolt into her crossbow and holding it in her hands.

Erin watched the dark woods, not expecting anything to come out of them. She rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes with one hand, sighing as she knew this would be yet another long night.

Less than three hours later, Erin had zoned out multiple times, recited the entirety of the Ender alphabet in her head, cleaned her axe at least a dozen times, and never once did a single mob from the forest come stumbling into her part of the clearing.

She almost had the opportunity to shoot a zombie, but it was far enough out of her range that it was easily taken care of by the archer standing watch on the post several meters to her right.

Movement from the corner of her vision startled her back into attention, crossbow raised as she watched what appeared to be a dismembered skeleton skull roll across the clearing and coming to a stop with a dull thump at the fence.

Erin stared at it in confusion, brow furrowing. What?

The crunching of leaves and snapping of twigs from the forest where the skull had come from caught her attention, and she trained her crossbow on the spot.

She waited…

Waited….

There.

A dark figure emerged from the treeline and Erin squeezed the trigger, letting her bolt fly into the target.

“Shit!” The figure cried, dropping to a knee.

Hold on, mobs can’t speak. Did she just shoot a person?! Erin’s eyes widened in panic, tightening her grip around the crossbow to stop her hands from shaking.

She just killed someone, oh Notch what if they were Evokian, they would punish her, what had she done-

Her spiraling panic abruptly ended as the figure stood back up and limped out of the dark treeline and into the warm light of the Evokian perimeter fence.

Erin blinked a few times to ensure she was really seeing this.

That Netherborn from the badlands gold mines earlier was standing before her, leaning on his pickaxe and gripping the bolt that was protruding from his side, the ratted fabric of his shirt stained a dark color. The lower half of his face was still covered by the mask he wore, making his expression unreadable to Erin.

“Oh, it’s you,” he stated, his accented voice devoid of emotion.

Erin stared in shock.

“I mean, considering we’ve already met, could you tell me where-”

“How the hell did you get here?!” Erin hissed, finally snapped out of her shock.

“You just shot me and that’s what you- nevermind. Got here probably the same way you did.”

“You followed me?!”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? It was a stupid thing, just point me to the gates?”

The quiet shrieking of a nearby vex caught her attention, making Erin stiffen and her blood run cold with fear.

The vex would hear, it would know that she was seen by the Netherborn, it would report it, she would be punished-

She couldn’t risk them knowing. They had given her everything, and she couldn’t let them know she let Evokia down.

She had messed up.

This wasn’t just another lost book or missed lesson, no, this was an actual risk to the safety of the mansion, a disregard of training and failure to do the one simple task she was assigned.

“And remember Ernaline, don’t let yourself be seen, no matter what.”

Her mind in a panicked fog, Erin withdrew another bolt from her quiver, her hands shaking as she reloaded.

The Netherborn was still waiting, he said something, Erin ignored him.

“If you are seen…”

He it was a Netherborn, a nobody, a creature, a liability, a threat, she told herself, raising her crossbow and aiming it at his its chest.

The Netherborn’s dark eyes widened, and it took a single step backward, hands raised and pickaxe on its back.

Erin took in a shaky breath, holding her crossbow tight, and refused to meet its eyes or hear its words.

“You know what you have to do, correct?”

Erin exhaled.

“Yes, sir.”

She pulled the trigger.

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(POV: Breaker)

Breaker never suspected he would get shot by a living thing that night.

Considering the sheer amount of monsters that began emerging from the darkness of the forest as the sun gave way to night, it was significantly more likely for him to be shot by a skeleton instead.

However, Breaker was no stranger to combat; after all, he was Netherborn.

He wielded his dagger in one hand and his pickaxe in the other, neither being the most optimal weapon for the situation but both getting the job done.

The groan of a zombie behind him caused Breaker to quickly whirl around, immediately ducking to avoid the creature’s mindless swings and lashing out with a strike to its head.

Breaker grimaced as he twisted his dagger, not particularly fond of the sound and feeling of his blade tearing through rotted flesh and bone.

He tore out his dagger, grimacing at the gore coating the purple metal.

With the sounds of monsters closing in, Breaker couldn’t spare a moment to clean it, instead opting to continue running toward the smell of smoke he’d been following.

Light began to become visible from between the thick vegetation. He was getting close.

A familiar rustling of bones made Breaker turn to his left, narrowly dodging the arrow the undead creature shot at him. As the bleached bones of a skeleton archer became visible, Breaker scowled.

He was part wither skeleton, so one would think he would have some aversion to slaying something so close to his own kind, but that was not true in the slightest.

He hated the way the creatures mindlessly attacked anything around them, hated the stagnant stench of death they always carried, and hated how much a soulless creature could sound like him.

Knowing it wouldn’t let him get close enough for a strike from his dagger, he sheathed it in favor of his iron pickaxe, ducking out of the way of the monster’s next arrow.

As it began drawing back its bow for another shot, Breaker swung his pickaxe in a wide arc, knowing it would sidestep and he would hit his mark.

Skeletons were strange creatures: they couldn’t be killed unless you attacked their head, either severing it from their bodies or destroying it.

Breaker’s pickaxe cleaved right through the creature’s neck, sending its head flying through the tree line and leaving its body to fall to the ground with a sickening crunching and clattering of bones.

The corpse would dissolve into green light and smoke soon, as all monsters did upon defeat.

Breaker exhaled, rolling his shoulders and wincing at their popping, and returned his attention to the tree line, the exit of the forest.

Adrenaline still running high, he walked out of the tree line, keeping an eye out for any strange mobs or people-

The twang of a crossbow sounded, and something pierced his flesh, the only feeling being the sharp pain of it grazing his ribs, causing Breaker to stagger backward and lose his balance. Breaker cursed loudly, dull pain coursing through his bones.

He dropped to one knee, taking a moment to force away the admittedly minor pain before gripping his pickaxe and using it to pull himself to his feet, not particularly fond of the uncomfortable way the bolt embedded in his abdomen moved against his flesh and ribs.

Leaning on his pickaxe, he looked up, seeing a mansion not too far off surrounded by a tall wood and iron fence with even taller log posts placed periodically.

Seeing someone atop the post nearest to him (likely the one who shot him, his mind supplied, but he really didn’t have another option, did he?), Breaker walked over to it, instinctively keeping a gloved hand pressed tightly to the arrow wound.

It was bleeding sluggishly, black blood staining his already worn and stained shirt and gloves, and if Breaker wasn’t so sleep deprived he may have considered how this would instantly give him away as not quite human.

He stepped out into the light of the mansion’s clearing, looking up at the guardsman holding the crossbow above him - hold on, that was her, the girl from earlier, in the gold mines.

Dark hair, purple eyes.. She was wearing leather armor now and staring at him with an expression of pure shock and horror (because oh right she did just shoot him-).

“Oh, it’s you.” Breaker stated. He internally winced at his words, knowing there were probably a million other better things he could have said in that moment, but oh well.

The girl said nothing, still standing frozen atop the post and gripping her crossbow tightly in both hands, violet eyes flashing with confusion.

He waited a moment for her to respond.

She didn’t move.

Breaker didn’t really have time to wait for her to snap out of her shock and respond; he was running off of residual adrenaline and was bleeding all over the place, and with his blood being wither essence he was leaving small patches of dead blackened grass at his feet.

She obviously worked at the mansion that was behind her, so she should probably know where he could find shelter for the night and maybe some bandages.

“I mean, considering we’ve already met,” he awkwardly began, breaking the tense silence. “Could you tell me where-”

“How the hell did you get here?!” She snapped out of her initial shock, obviously, and had lowered her crossbow.

Breaker was a bit surprised that she recovered from shooting someone that fast, especially since a wound like his would be near fatal to a human.

“You just shot me and that’s what you-” task at hand, Breaker. He sighed. “Nevermind. Got here probably the same way you did.”

“You followed me?!” Breaker winced. He did follow her, and by her tone of voice, she also knew just how much of a mistake it was for him to do that, even if he knew he did it by accident.

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? It was a stupid thing, just point me to the gates?” The fatigue was really starting to hit him now, and he really didn’t want to have to talk about the damn portal incident right then.

He kept his gaze focused on her, waiting for a response, and she looked as if she was about to retort but suddenly stood up straight, her eyes widening in fear.

Breaker didn’t say anything at first, raising an eyebrow to look at her in confusion.

Then he recognized the look that was in her eyes, the shakiness that was in her hands, and her white-knuckled grip on her weapon. She was panicking, and panicking badly.

“Hey, uh, you still in there?” He tentatively asked, unsure of how to deal with the situation. He didn’t know her, he didn’t know why she was so scared, but could only assume it was his fault.

Still, she didn’t seem to snap out of whatever panic attack she was caught up in, instead reaching a hand to her belt to withdraw another crossbow bolt.

“I’m not going to say anything, I just want to go inside, okay?”

She didn’t appear to hear him, eyes trained on her crossbow as she reloaded it. The string was pulled back into place with a click, and she raised the crossbow and aimed it at Breaker’s chest.

Breaker’s eyes widened. Every instinct was screaming at him, to fight, to dodge, to eliminate the threat- but she looked absolutely terrified.

He slowly slung his pickaxe back over his back, and raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“I’m not a threat, I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured her, but a part of him knew from her expression and body language that his words fell on deaf ears.

He took a slow step backward, intending to create some distance between them so she would maybe calm down.

And suddenly, she fired.

The bolt pierced his chest, right around his heart, painfully scraping past his ribs on both his chest and back.

Breaker let out a startled and strangled cry, falling back down to his knees and closing his eyes tightly in pain. The runes lining his spine burned, rhythmically flaring as they tried to counteract the damage done.

I’m losing a life today, he thought. He had three lives to spare, but he didn’t know what would happen when he died, or if he would respawn the same way he was before - hybrids, especially unnatural fusions like him, were fickle like that.

An unwanted memory resurfaced, from a time he wished to forget, in which a man with shining eyes yet with dull and cold blades told him he was more monster than human, his interior betraying his exterior.

“You’re heartless, Bonebreaker. Use that against your enemies, don’t let them use it against you.”

Breaker refocused on his present, falling back from kneeling to sit on the ground with a curse. He pushed back his thoughts and compartmentalized the pain, keeping his head as clear as possible.

He opened his eyes to see the girl, still shaking slightly, standing on the ground in front of the fence and her post, shocked, and another man jogging over from somewhere further down the fence.

“Nice shot,” Breaker commented, grimacing at the arrows in his torso.

The girl was completely taken aback by Breaker’s lighthearted comment (he didn’t blame her, she did just shoot him twice while having some kind of panic attack), but in all honesty it was a pretty good shot.

If Breaker had been a normal human, a shot through the heart like that would have had him dead in seconds.

Luckily, he was designed to survive more than just a few crossbow bolts. A quick survey of the arrow damage revealed that the initial shot wasn’t bad, not too deep and only embedded in his lower ribcage.

Operating on autopilot, Breaker braced himself and snapped the shaft of the bolt. He’d worry about the arrowhead later.

The other bolt was far deeper and probably required pulling through, judging by the way the sharp tip of the arrowhead was protruding from his back. That was… nasty, and not at all ideal.

The girl remained silent until the other man, another guard by the looks of his armor and crossbow, arrived, obviously still in some kind of shock.

“What’s the-” the man hesitated, locking eyes with Breaker. “-situation?”

“Intruder,” she responded, her voice wavering slightly. “Netherborn.”

“Oh, interesting!” The guardsman looked back over at him, eyeing him like he was inspecting him or something. “Looks like you got it good.”

She nodded, looking at the ground rather than Breaker.

“How’s it still alive?”

Breaker scowled, expression hidden under his mask, as the archer approached. He hated it when people called him it.

He was still a person too, he still had three red hearts on his wrist that represented his lives, he could still think and feel and fight just like any one of them could.

It was upsetting to admit how many instances he had been dehumanized, even though he hadn’t even been in the Overworld much longer than a few years.

“I don’t know, sir,” the girl replied.

“Hmph.” The guardsman looked Breaker over again before turning back to her. “Tell the master’s vex of the situation. I’m sure he’d be… intrigued by this.”

She hesitantly nodded, walking over to the fence where a small glowing thing flew down, before it flew away again shortly after.

Breaker had absolutely no idea what that thing was, but considering the girl had done magic right before his eye before, he wasn’t really all that surprised by the strange sight.

The guardsman had approached him in the meantime, stopping right in front of where Breaker was sitting and keeping his crossbow aimed point blank at his head. Breaker looked up and glared at him.

“Don’t try anything. Not even a Netherborn can survive a headshot,” the guardsman growled.

Breaker rolled his eyes, earning him a light hit to the side of his head with the end of the crossbow. He still hadn’t quite gotten a hold of his senses after being shot twice, so he was bound to make some impulsive actions.

He knew he couldn’t survive a headshot, obviously. It was one of the few things he knew would always kill him instantly - it was likely this had something to do with the rune layout or his wither skeleton code, but the causes of his being weren’t as important to Breaker as the effects.

He heard a quiet otherworldly shriek, and tried his best to suppress his urge to take cover and find the source of the sound. Looking around, he spotted the girl approaching them again, another one of those blue-white floating things flying around her shoulders. He assumed that magic thing was the source of the sound.

“And?” The guardsman demanded.

“The Master wants us to take it up to his study, sir,” she responded monotonously.

Breaker could not ignore the cold pang of fear he felt at that. Who the hell was ‘The Master’?

“Alright,” the guardsman grunted. “On your feet, Netherborn. Hands in front.”

Hyper aware of the feeling of the crossbow against his head, Breaker shakily stood, ignoring how the arrow still embedded in him pulled and moved. Dark spots filled his vision, making it nearly impossible to focus on the sights around him.

He barely noticed the girl being ordered to tie his hands, the runes on his spine still burning. He was taken toward the mansion, keeping his gaze lowered and breaths shallow.

He didn’t see how the girl hesitated as she saw the three hearts on the inside of his left wrist, momentarily doubting herself.

It seemed as if no time at all had passed and Breaker was standing in front of a tall gilded door within the mansion, the many twists and turns of the halls lost to his addled mind.

Breaker was surprised he was even still standing; although he can’t be instantly killed by flesh wounds due to his fusion’s design, he can still bleed too much and die from the stress that the wounds place on the runes.

There was only so much someone could handle, fusion hybrid or not.

He felt the crossbow prod against the back of his head again and - oh, the door was opened - moved into the room as best he could.

It was a large luxurious office space of some kind, with bookshelves lining the walls and large curtained windows standing behind a wide desk.

Breaker was guided (read: forced) to the center of the thick red rug on the floor directly in front of the desk, noticing there was definitely someone sitting on the other side of the wood.

Before his mind could properly process this person however, he was roughly pushed to his knees, leaving him grimacing at the floor. He was certain that they were speaking, but Breaker was far too close to the void of unconsciousness to hear.

Grey fingers with gold painted nails snapped in front of his face, causing Breaker to jolt back to attention. He looked up to see a strange looking man (were they even a man?) with strange gray skin and wearing long regal black and gold robes looking down on him with an intrigued look on their face.

“Ah, there it is! Now, healing or harming?” They said with a smile - the kind of smile that sends shivers down your spine, the kind of smile that holds so much more behind it.

Breaker just stared for a second before his mind registered what the person was asking. Certain monsters, usually the undead ones, often took the reverse effects from healing and harming potions respectively, and depending on one’s hybrid percentage of that monster, they could also heal from harming and hurt from healing.

Breaker was majority wither skeleton, and was well aware that he was one of the cases of hybrids that took on the trait of reverse potion effects.

“Harming, sir,” Breaker replied, adding on the formal title as both a habit and a precaution. This guy looked important, and he knew that if you were respectful to the important guys, things were usually less hellish in the long run.

“Interesting.” He moved away from Breaker and toward the desk, picking up some vials off of where they were standing on the desk with a loud glass clink. One of these vials was held out in front of him, viscous dark red liquid swirling in the glass.

“Drink,” they demanded. Breaker wasn’t stupid, he knew how potions were brewed and what one could do with the strange somewhat magical properties of the drugs - but the tone of his voice suggested Breaker didn’t have a choice in the matter, and at that point it was either that or die.

So Breaker hesitantly accepted the vial, gagging slightly as the viscous sour liquid was poured down his throat.

Instantly he felt a wave of euphoric relief, the potion’s effects easing pain Breaker didn’t even know he was feeling.The runes throbbed warmly instead of burning, the potion’s energy enough to sate their drain on his energy for now, leaving his head feeling clearer.

“Now as for that arrow…” The strange man set the vial back on the desk and circled Breaker again. Breaker felt him experimentally push on the arrowhead protruding from his back, gritting his teeth at the sensation.

“Ah! Oh my, how interesting!” They exclaimed, dashing over to their desk and retrieving a handkerchief and an empty vial.

Breaker didn’t understand what had him so excited until he smelled the all too familiar stench of withering flesh - great, this guy just discovered that Breaker’s blood was wither essence.

This couldn’t mean anything good for him. They cleaned the wither essence off of their fingers, walking back around Breaker as he did so, eyes shining as bright as the circlet on their head as they observed the blackened fingertips.

“Vindicator!”

“Yes, Master?” The guardsman - Vindicator, Break supposed - from earlier replied, tone respectful and serious. So this was the Master, Breaker noted, unable to see what exactly was occurring with the Master observing the arrowhead on his back.

“Come here and hold it down, I need this sample.”

Wait no no no no-

There was no time, no way, for Breaker to resist, and when it came down to it he knew that resistance would only make it worse. So, internally panicking, he allowed himself to be restrained by the vindicator, focusing on his breathing.

“Alright, now stay still-”

Breaker choked back a cry as the crossbow bolt embedded in his chest was abruptly removed, barely having any time to regain his bearings and breathe before another dose of potion was forced into him.

The vindicator released him, leaving Breaker coughing and gasping on the floor, shaking arms holding him up.

“This is so much more exciting than I originally expected! Ooh~!” The master returned to his desk, holding up the wither-covered bolt wrapped in thick fabric to the lantern light, a bright grin on his face.

“All due respect sir, but what about the potential security risk?” The vindicator asked into the uncomfortable silence following the master’s excitement.

“Oh, right, that is a concern, isn’t it…?” The master hummed, before kneeling in front of Breaker again. “Netherborn, how did you find this place?” He demanded, the light tone of voice completely replaced by a cold threatening one.

At that moment, Breaker had a thought. Yes, he could tell them the truth, that the acolyte in the room behind them created a portal in the badlands that he followed her through.

Part of him wanted to tell the truth, to spite her after she shot him twice, but remembering how afraid she was when she laid eyes on him he couldn’t help but to hesitate for a moment.

He’d been there before, fear overriding morality and mercy. It would only hurt her more, make her fears come true.

“I was just looking for a place to take shelter from the mobs, sir.” Not a lie, but not the whole truth. That would work.

“Which portal did you come from, hm? Don’t lie, I’ll know.” Notch, he was creepy. It even looked as if his eyes were glowing green...

“Firescale… I’ve been in the Overworld for a long time…” Again, not necessarily a lie.

“Hmph, and you somehow found your way all the way to Evokia?”

“Is this Evokia, sir?”

The master sighed defeatedly. “Well, it seems as if it hasn’t compromised our security…” He stood, looking at the vindicator. “In that case, this one looks so very interesting. Acolyte, Vindicator, escort it to the basement and secure it there. If you are needed for any further research I will send a vex to alert you.”

“Yes, master.” The vindicator grunted, before pulling Breaker to his feet. As tempted as Breaker was to fight the guy, he also wanted to get out of the situation alive, and if that meant sacrificing his dignity then so be it.

“Good. You are dismissed.”

With the creepy green eyes of the master watching him, Breaker was escorted out of the office and back into the mansion proper, bracing himself for the worst.

Situations like these don’t ever end well, not with people who use magic and have a crazed love for experimentation.

In the end, he was a prisoner, and he hoped that he could find an escape soon, or else he had no idea what could happen to him.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Chapter Text

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

(POV: Ernaline)

They don’t know.

She closed the door to her quarters that night with a sigh, sliding down the oak to sit on the floor with her back against the door.

The Netherborn had gone to the holding cells in the “basement” without complaint or resistance, making the entire situation awkward and stifling.

The entire chain of events around that passed as a blur, Erin struggling to keep herself focused on present tasks amidst her thoughts.

For some reason, the Netherborn decided to withhold the truth about Erin’s portal mishap, instead opting to lie about wandering here from a Nether Portal somewhere Erin hadn’t heard of outside of brief mentions in books.

Why did he do that? Why did he cover for her mistakes? What did he have to gain from all of this?

The questions spiraled around in her mind, anxiety still rampant from the secret she held. At least the master had bought the lie, but that still didn’t explain why.

Erin wracked her exhausted mind for answers, finding nothing, and with another heavy sigh, dragged herself off the floor to continue her nightly routine.

She switched robes, pulled her long black hair out of the simple ponytail she had it in, and put her diamond axe on its stand beside her bed.

Her necklace remained around her neck, enchanted with a curse that prevented her from taking it off. The necklace had an iron chain with a large pendant on it, an eye of Ender inlaid into the silver and obsidian casing.

The pendant shined with enchantments, and Erin always ran a finger over the textured lines of the metal as a nervous habit.

She didn’t remember who exactly gave it to her; the necklace was just another mystery in her life, another thing to keep her up at night.

She couldn’t get her mind to quiet, even with how exhausted she was.

It felt like eyes were constantly on her, the darkness of the room closing in at every angle, every unanswered question echoing in her anxious mind.

Matters were not helped when the distinct screeching of a vex was heard from one of the darker corners of the room, shattering all of Erin’s sense of safety in her room.

At some point, the fatigue must have triumphed over the paranoia, for the next time she opened her eyes, it was to thin rays of light filtering through the slitted windows.

Erin groaned, stretching uncomfortably. She remained in bed for just a few more moments, eventually getting up before she was chastised for missing breakfast (again). She straightened her robes in the mirror, taking a deep breath to gather her composure.

Luckily she hadn’t had any more nightmares last night, but she still found herself shaken over the events that occurred yesterday.

Nevertheless, she still continued her morning as if nothing happened in the first place, heading out of her chambers and to the mess hall to grab breakfast.

Erin took the food she was given, sat in her assigned seat, and pocketed one of her biscuits for later, all as she normally did.

Too tired to deal with other people that early, Erin quickly went to leave the mess hall and go to the library for her studies, but as she was walking toward the door, a hand grabbed her arm.

She whirled around to see the vindicator from last night, the one who had helped with the Netherborn.

“Acolyte, the Master has indicated that not all are to know about what you apprehended last night,” he muttered, an air of secrecy to his voice.

Erin nodded.

“Yes, and since you already know about it, well, you’re going to need to help out a little to prevent us from having to tell anyone else.”

“What- what do you need me to do?” Erin nervously replied, wanting to distance herself from the man but knowing it to be disrespectful to do so.

“Just take some food down to it, there’s already trays of scraps and things in the kitchens, and if anyone asks, you are on an errand for the Master himself, got it?”

Erin enthusiastically nodded. An errand for the Master himself. Yeah, she could do this.

“Alright. Go, a vex will come and get you if more food needs to be delivered.” Finally, the vindicator stepped back from Erin, returning to his post.

“Yes sir!” Erin turned on her heel and speedwalked to the kitchens, respectfully nodding to the kitchen staff as she passed by them. She picked up the nearest tray of scraps on the far counter, knowing where they were from when she used to be on ravager duty.

With confidence in her stride, Erin retraced her steps from last night toward the basement, the twists and turns of the large wooden mansion no problem for her.

It seemed the guards at the stairs were already informed of her job, as they only nodded at her as she passed by. Erin let out a relieved breath, thankful that she didn’t need to explain herself.

The floors turned from wood to stone on the staircase, her boots clacking against the brick. Why did the narrow stone stairwell make Erin anxious?

She was over that by now. She shook her head as if to shake out the thoughts, steeling herself as she continued down the stairs.

Eventually she reached the bottom, navigating through the torchlit halls to the iron bars of the cell she sought.

The cell was nothing much, just like all the others in the hall, having a small iron encased fire pit in the center of the room so as to not kill the Netherborn that were so used to the harsh heat of the dimension.

The Netherborn in the cell was huddled closely to the fire, a thin blanket around his bare shoulders and his back to Erin.

From her position at its back, she could see a line of tattoos that appeared to be in Ender Runic along the parts of their spine visible, but what soon dragged her attention away from that was the arrowhead it pulled from its back, right then and there, without so much as a wince.

She gaped as it twirled the black covered arrowhead with fingers of blackened bone.

Wait that’s a sharp object, that’s a prisoner, I have to confiscate that-

“Um-”

The Netherborn startled, dropping the arrowhead and whirling around in surprise. Erin was met with the same dark eyes and white irises as earlier, but without the mask she could see their whole face, including the right side of their jaw that had no flesh (much like their hands) and was just blackened bone.

There was a moment of silence as Erin stared and the Netherborn stared back.

“That for me?” The Netherborn pointed to the tray of food.

“Wh- yes.” Erin set down the tray on the floor before going to retrieve the keys to the cell, keeping an eye on the hybrid at all times.

She picked up the tray, balancing it while she unlocked the cell and opened the door, the Netherborn not making a move to run or anything of the sorts. She set the tray down a few feet in front of it, eyeing it suspiciously.

“Thanks.” The Netherborn slowly reached out and took the tray from where Erin had left it. “Strange we keep running into each other, hm?”

Yeah, she was not going to interact.

Erin said nothing, instead going to retrieve the arrowhead from where it had been dropped earlier. She bent down to pick it up and-

“WAIT, DON’T TOUCH THAT-” The Netherborn shouted.

-and picked it up just fine, her fingers tingling strangely from the black blood covering the arrowhead.

“What?!” The Netherborn exclaimed, standing up in shock. Erin put a hand on her axe handle, backing toward the door.

“I just picked it up. No big deal, but no sharp things for you,” she snapped.

“No, no, that’s not what I-” It sighed. “My blood is wither essence. You just picked up something covered in wither essence and nothing happened.”

Erin laughed at that. No, that’s not right, surely. She looked at the arrowhead in her hand, the black substance coating it and- oh, yeah, that’s wither essence alright, she’d seen enough samples from her classes to know what it looked like.

However, nothing happened. Her flesh didn’t start dying and rotting away, and she didn’t feel any acid-like pain.

All of her books and teachers always said that nothing is immune to the effects of wither, so what was happening?

“What..?” She murmured.

“I didn’t think anything out there was immune to wither.”

“Nothing is,” Erin agreed.

“Then what are you?”

“Human,” she instantly answered, eyes still locked on the arrowhead. “Or at least, I should be…”

“No offence, but like… I don’t think humans are immune to wither.”

“Well no!” She snapped, walking back toward the door.

“Well, this is certainly something,” the Netherborn sat back down in front of their food, looking at Erin as she left. “I’m Breaker, by the way, if you care.”

No, she in fact did not care. Why was everything happening so fast?

“I have to go,” she mumbled, quickly closing and locking the door, leaving the arrowhead in one of the boxes on the nearby tables meant for test samples.

The Netherborn said nothing in response as Erin scurried back upstairs, hoping to the gods that the entire interaction was just a dream.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Later that day, Erin sat in the library, scouring a book about potions and Nether substances to see if there were any documented instances of someone being immune to the wither poison.

“Wither is a highly dangerous substance that kills living things upon contact, including plants and animals of all kinds. Certain forms of undead monsters are immune to the toxin, but nevertheless all living things are affected-”

Hold on, Erin wasn’t dead, right?

That’s absurd.

Actually, everything about this situation was absurd.

“Acolyte, you’d better be studying your runes as instructed,” the senior evoker, who was now standing right in front of Erin’s table, reprimanded.

Erin startled, before closing the Nether substances book and returning to her notebook to continue repeatedly writing runes as practice.

“Good.” The evoker hummed, taking Erin’s extra book as they passed by her to check on the other acolytes in the room.

She winced, hoping she wouldn’t get written up for being distracted again. It wasn’t her fault the books in the library were always far more intriguing than the studies!

Erin sighed quietly, and kept doing as she was told.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

It should not have been any surprise that at supper that night, a vex screeched in her ear to signal her to feed the Netherborn. She resisted the urge to swat it away like a pesky fly.

Just as she had that morning, she retrieved a tray of scraps and made her way to the basement, counting her steps to keep her mind occupied.

Erin moved mechanically as she went to slide the tray through the designated gap in the cell, not wanting to get too close to the Netherborn like that morning. She attempted to keep her eyes off of the prisoner, but a rattling cough drew her attention.

Those dark eyes with sharp white irises looked back at her, unreadable.

“Thanks, cave girl," he rasped, shuffling across the floor to the tray.

“I’m not ‘cave girl’,” Erin muttered, turning away to leave.

“Then what are you?”

Erin did not answer him.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

This strange routine continued, Erin unsure about her own state of being and dreading every time she had to go and feed the Netherborn.

She noticed after the third day she began internally referring to him as Breaker, the name he gave her, and no matter how hard she tried to shut down those thoughts the name had already been associated with the half-skeletal face she was growing far too accustomed to seeing.

It was just so hard to completely banish all thought of the Netherborn when he was one of maybe four people she interacted with on a daily basis.

He just acted so painfully normal for a hybrid as monstrous as he was, and what was worse was that Erin couldn’t even openly admit these thoughts to anyone because his existence was kept secret from the majority of Evokia.

Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to lie on her bed with Kigami on the floor and rant about all of this, but she was bound by orders from the master himself to bear the secret.

And on top of all that, she might not even be human at all.

The wither essence incident still confounded her. There was no written record of anything of the sorts, and if there was, it was in the Archives, a library for Senior Evokers only.

Erin would have just ignored it, pretended it didn’t happen, and moved past it, but having a physical reminder of the incident (Breaker) every single day made that difficult.

On the evening of the fifth day, she made her way down to the cells as usual, counting her steps.

To her surprise, she wasn’t greeted that evening by some comment from Breaker, just silence as he sat near the fireplace, the threadbare blanket he had pulled tight across his thin form. One of his skeletal hands was resting on the grating of the fireplace, fingers curled into the iron.

Erin wordlessly walked over and went to deposit the meal, hoping to just leave.

“I doubt you know,” he began, his voice strained and cracking. “But do your people plan on keeping me alive?”

“You’re right, I don’t know,” she replied, attempting to keep her tone cold and neutral.

“That’s fair. You don’t look like you’re the one calling the shots around here.”

Okay, she was about to leave, but what the hell was that supposed to mean?

“What?”

A short, mirthless laugh. “You’re not in charge here. You’re only doing this because some big powerful person asked you to, right? And you don't want to refuse because you don't want to look disobedient or make them hate you.”

He was strangely accurate with his words, and Erin’s hesitance must have given that away.

“Yeah. I get that.” He stood, leaning heavily on the wall for support.

Erin averted her gaze and made for the exit. She wasn’t going to entertain him any longer.

“Just know that no matter what'll happen to me, I don’t blame you for any of this, cave girl,” he called after her.

Erin didn’t reply.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

“Why do you talk to me?” Erin snapped.

“Who else am I going to talk to?” came the sarcastic reply.

“I’m not the only person that comes down here.”

“True." Breaker tilted his head toward her, adding, “but you are the only one who comes down here bringing something good.”

“That’s what you consider good?” Erin scoffed at the measly tray of scraps, the same scraps that are also fed to the ravager beasts in the stables.

“I mean…” he shrugged. “Better than sand.”

“You ate sand.”

“I did.”

“...why?”

“Hunger.” He turned back to his food. “Sometimes you just have to take what you can get.”

His tone was somber there, and a silence fell over the hall. Erin took that as her cue to leave, and turned on her heel to the exit.

“See you tomorrow morning, cave girl.”

“Not my name!” She called back over her shoulder.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

The morning after that conversation, Erin remembered the biscuit in her robe pocket as she walked down the stairs, stopping a moment to slip it out of her pocket and onto the tray. Notch forgive her, but she couldn’t help but pity the Netherborn.

No words were exchanged that morning as Erin quickly slid the tray into the cell and left.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

That evening, however, was different.

“You do know that your food is laced with enchantment essence, right?”

Erin froze halfway through the action of sliding the tray through the gap. “What?”

“The bread thingy, I know it was yours, tasted like it’d been dipped in it for Notch’s sake.” Breaker shrugged. “Not like I’m complaining - I need it - but why?”

“Why what?” She slid the tray through.

“Why are they lacing your food?”

“I don’t- they’re not! I-” Erin stammered. “How do you even know that?”

“Oh, I used to drink enchantment essence by the bottle.” He gestured to the strange runes on his spine. “Fusion hybrid magic bullshit. Anyway, the stuff always has this like… really bitter aftertaste, I guess? Yeah, and I recognized it instantly.”

“Really? And I’m just supposed to take your word for it?”

“Makes no difference to me. Just thought it was worth mentioning. Good conversation starter.”

“Good conver- You know what, no.” Erin turned on her heel and made for the exit. This was too much to deal with right now.

“See you tomorrow, cave girl,” Breaker called cheerfully.

“Not. My. Name!”

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Maybe she should just ask someone. She’d need a coverup story for why she decided to ask about enchantment essence in her food, however, since the truth was that she conversed with a prisoner, to whom she had given some of her own designated meal.

Erin would rather die on the spot than admit that truth.

“Asking questions makes you a better student, but know your limits,” she was once told.

The real question lingering at the back of her head was why.

Why would they even need to lace her food? Enchantment essence was primarily used to influence one’s ability to properly inscribe and enhance enchantments, and also to power certain large Ender runes (such as the fusion hybrid runes Breaker had. She didn’t know what they did exactly, and she didn’t think Breaker even knew either).

“...Erin? You’re thinking so hard I can feel it. Calm, you don’t even have guard duty tonight!” Kigami scolded. She was seated comfortably in a chair in Erin’s chambers, a worn library book in her lap and her glasses low on the bridge of her nose.

“Sorry.” Erin sighed and flopped back onto her bed. “Kigami?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever eaten enchantment essence before?”

“Uh- that’s a weird question- yes, I have, it was a part of an apprentice exam a while ago. Oh, it was nasty, somehow worse than some potions!”

Erin snickered at her friend’s dramatics.

“I’m serious! It had this terrible aftertaste, all sour and dry, and I swear I could still taste it days afterward.”

Erin’s facade of laughter almost dropped at that. The Netherborn had been telling her the truth. At least, a portion of the truth.

“You’ll probably have to drink it too at some point, so don’t laugh now.” Kigami feigned a stern tone, a smile on her face.

“Sure, sure.” Erin waved her off.

“Wait, did you ask me if I had eaten it? It’s a liquid you silly-”

“I messed up! I know it’s a liquid!”

“Sure, sure,” Kigami mocked.

“Oh, you-!” Erin was abruptly cut off by the screeching of a vex, making Kigami snap her book shut and stand, smoothing out her robes.

“That’s likely curfew. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“See you tomorrow.” Erin smiled.

Kigami gave her a bright smile over her shoulder in return, and exited the room to go to bed for the night.

Erin wished she could tell her about everything, about the wither essence, about the enchantment essence, about the sarcastic Netherborn in the basement, about her nightmares, about anything at all, but she knew that for as nice as Kigami was, she couldn’t keep a secret for the life of her.

Kigami was far too talkative and amiable to be able to keep secrets like that, not to mention being an absolute stickler for the rules.

Erin sighed, rubbing the textured edges of her Ender eye pendant with her thumb. She’d just have to keep carrying her own burdens for the time being.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Chapter Text

(POV: Ernaline)

It was breakfast in the Evokia Mansion, and Erin had her mind set on asking someone about the enchantment essence.

She wasn’t going to ask any of her mentors or teachers for fear of embarrassing herself in front of them, and besides, they were far too intimidating. Instead, she planned on just asking the kitchen staff directly.

As she retrieved the tray of food labelled with her name, Erin politely addressed one of the staff behind the counter. “Excuse me?”

They perked up, walking over. “What is it?”

“Is there, um, is there enchantment essence in my food?” Erin nervously asked.

The chef looked surprised for a second, blinking a few times before responding, “what’s got you thinking that?”

Erin shifted on her feet. “I just thought I’d recognized the taste or something, I don’t know…”

As much as Erin wanted to just turn and retreat to her table and eat as if nothing happened, she always hated it when people avoided her questions.

Tons of people in Evokia avoided her questions, and typically anxiety kept her from pressing further. But for some reason, today was different.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you know if it is in it, or…?”

They shook their head. “I’m pretty sure it isn’t, as far as I know. I don’t personally make all of the food, but I’m certain if you asked one of the head chefs they would say the same thing.”

Erin nodded respectfully. “Okay, thank you.”

The chef smiled and returned to their work in the kitchens while Erin went and took her seat and ate her breakfast, the distinctive taste of enchantment essence lingering on her tongue now that she was aware of it. Notch, how did she not notice this until now?

She momentarily froze as she was eating. The chef had literally just told her that there wasn’t any enchantment essence in her food, why was she tasting it? Was the Netherborn just messing with her?

Erin mechanically finished her meal, forcing herself to swallow the last of her eggs as the taste of the enchantment essence remained in the back of her throat.

As she had been doing for the past few days, she reentered the kitchen after her meal, navigating to retrieve food for the Netherborn in the basement.

“Young Acolyte?”

Erin swiveled to face one of the head chefs, set apart from the other kitchen staff by the gold seams of her dark apron.

“Yes, ma’am?” She politely responded.

“Were you the one inquiring about the enchantment essence? I was informed of it by one of my people.”

Erin nodded tensely.

“Ah, alright. I just thought I’d answer your question, as an ordinary kitchen worker would not know such things.” She waved her hand dismissively, continuing, “we often put enchantment essence in dishes that go to young people, it helps in building up their magic and abilities with runes.”

“Oh, okay, thank you very much ma’am.”

“Anytime, Acolyte. Those who are observant and ask questions often excel, after all. You may go.” She nodded to Erin with a smile, and returned to barking orders at the kitchen staff that had stalled in her short absence.

Erin took the tray of scraps and began walking down the hallway, absolutely confused. She had heard two different things from two different people, and no matter which way you put it, she had been lied to.

If enchantment essence really was put into food of young Evokians, then how come Kigami never mentioned anything about it?

Sure, considering Erin’s less than ideal childhood in Evokia (don’t think about it don’t think about it-) she might not have known, but Kigami surely must have known, she was born and raised conventionally in Evokia.

Erin resolved to ask her about it when she saw her next.

“Morning, cave girl!” Breaker greeted, his voice strained but annoyingly cheerful (to annoy Erin, of course) anyway.

Erin was not really in the mood to entertain him today.

“Ever find out what the essence thing was about?” he said, voice lowered.

“Why do you care?” She snapped.

“Something more interesting to think about than these four goddamn walls,” he scoffed.

“...I’m sorry.” Erin wasn’t sure if she was truly sorry, but the nonchalance with which he spoke of his imprisonment was slowly but surely making her feel somewhat guilty.

“Don’t be. I know you’re not calling any shots, and besides, I’ve had worse.”

“Uhm, okay…” Erin remained in that uncomfortable silence for a moment before saying, “I’m still not sure about the enchantment essence thing… One person told me there shouldn’t be any in the food but another said it was routine for them to put it in the young ones’ food, so….”

Breaker seemed to ponder that for a second. “The first guy was lying, obviously… But if you literally had no idea about it then there’s no way the second guy was telling the truth either.”

“Exactly,” Erin agreed.

“Do you have proof they put it in all of the young peoples’ food? I mean, surely you aren’t the only one who’s noticed.”

“I don’t. I mean… my friend didn’t mention anything and she’d tasted the stuff raw before.” Erin sighed. “I really have no idea what any of this means.”

The Netherborn hummed in understanding. “Sounds like you’re in a little over your head. Did you tell your friend about it all?”

“I wish! She can’t keep a secret to save her life, and she would probably tell someone and then I would get in trouble for it!” Erin threw up her hands in frustration.

“Yeah, that’s fair. Oh, right, especially since you’re not supposed to be interacting with me.”

Erin startled. No, she wasn’t supposed to at all! Why was she talking to him still? She hated to admit it, but telling someone about the things that were happening felt good, as if part of the burden she carried wasn’t as heavy anymore.

But she was literally talking to a prisoner, a Netherborn, a dangerous fusion hybrid trapped in the basements, not someone she should be confiding in.

“Relax, cave girl. I won’t say anything about it, if anything I owe you for the extra food.” Breaker smiled at her, or at least the best he could manage considering the withered away part of his jaw seemed to be larger than it was before.

Erin narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like the part of her that felt assured at his words, he had no reason to not go back on his word.

“I’m not ‘cave girl’,” she mumbled, preparing to leave before anyone thought her prolonged absence suspicious.

“If you don’t like the name, then give me something else to call you.”

In a moment of impulsive (stupidity? Trust?), Erin blurted, “my name is Ernaline. Erin.” She fled to the exit immediately afterwards, unsure if she was feeling shame or fear. Probably both.

Left alone with an intriguing mystery and a measly meal, Breaker hummed. “Erin. Nice name.” He glanced at the exit. “But strange. Very strange.”

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

It was at lunch that same day that Erin decided to find proof of what she had been told, as the Netherborn suggested. It wasn’t because she liked him or anything, just because it was actually a good idea!

She knew that Kigami would often save pieces of her lunch much like Erin did at meals on most days, typically smaller things like an apple or a piece of her bread.

Kigami didn’t do it nearly as often as Erin, typically only on days where she was feeling particularly stressed and tired. Erin was just hoping that this was one of those days, so she could find out the truth once and for all.

Her idea was simple: she would try some of Kigami’s food, and if there was no trace of enchantment essence, then she was being lied to about it being a standard with the young ones.

Although Kigami was an entire rank higher than Erin, she was still about the same age physically and as such required the same amount of nutrition that Erin did, meaning her food should logically be the same as Erin’s.

“Hey Kigami!” Erin greeted, walking up to her friend in the halls shortly after lunch.

“Oh, hi!” Kigami smiled brightly. “What’s up?”

Erin lowered her voice. “Okay, so I know you save some of your food sometimes, and I didn’t do that today and I’m still hungry and was just wondering-”

Kigami gasped quietly. “Oh no, it’s okay, here, you can have a piece of my bread, I don’t want you feeling faint again!” She quickly reached into the pocket of her robe and slipped a small piece of homemade bread into Erin’s palm. Erin pocketed the bread with a grateful smile.

“Thank you so much Kigami, you’re amazing.” Erin felt bad for lying to her best friend, but once she had enough proof so she could convince Kigami to stay quiet she’d understand. It was only a white lie, a small harmless lie that hopefully wouldn’t do any harm.

Erin reminded herself to breathe, keeping her calm facade up in front of the other girl.

“No problem at all. I’m here for you, alright?” Kigami gave her a small smile.

Erin’s stomach twisted with guilt. She couldn’t tell her, she couldn’t risk punishment or being demoted after she’d worked so hard to finally be acknowledged as a true Evokian. “Alright,” she responded, a fake smile on her face.

Kigami smiled, reaching out and squeezing Erin’s hand. “Good luck with your afternoon studies, see you later!”

“See you later.” Erin squeezed back, letting her hand go and parting ways at the fork in the hallway. She was going to find out the truth, but at what cost?

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

“Excuse me sir, may I use the restroom?” Erin asked her instructor, bowing respectfully before the senior evoker.

They studied her for a moment before replying, “indeed you may. Return in no more than 10 minutes.”

“Thank you, sir.” Erin nodded in agreement before hurrying out the door and down the hall to the bathroom, closing and locking the door after entering.

She chose now to do this since the bathrooms near this study hall weren’t public restrooms with multiple stalls, just single person rooms with lockable doors.

Erin let out a breath of relief, slightly shaky from anxiety. The moment of truth.

She removed two pieces of bread from her robe, the one in her left hand from her own meal, and the one in her right hand from Kigami’s.

They looked about as identical as seperate pieces of bread could be, same color and texture.

With a deep breath in and a shaky exhale, Erin took a small bite of her own food first, hyper-aware of the almost unnoticeable sour taste it left in the back of her throat.

After a moment, she then took a bite out of Kigami’s, instantly noticing the subtle change in taste. There was no enchantment essence in there for certain. It tasted so much sweeter than her own bread, and had no aftertaste at all.

Time seemed to stop for a small moment. Granted, it wasn’t even that big of a deal. It was just a small difference in her food.

But it was yet another secret she knew, another thing that could potentially get her in trouble, and another lie.

She just couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she had been lied to. After they rescued her she was told that they wouldn’t lie to her like they had, but then what was this?

Her stomach churned and she sat down on the floor to stop the dizzying feeling overtaking her.

It dawned on Erin that she didn’t know the truth as to why they were even putting enchantment essence in her food in the first place, now that she had debunked both of the reasons the kitchen staff had given her.

Even if it was for strengthening her magic, she was already the top of her class with innate magic ability, always had been, and surely didn’t need any more assistance with that of all things.

She wasn’t an enchanter either, but even then the few times she had been tasked with enchantment she was a natural at interpreting the runes and applying them to tools.

What was the purpose, and why didn’t anybody ever tell her?

Were they just using her? Was she just another asset, another experiment? Was she even human?

There was still the wither essence incident to think about, which probably had ties to the enchantment essence thing. What did this all mean?

Erin suddenly realized that she was panicking again. She breathed in, breathed out, pressing her palms against her eyes. Everything would be fine. She wasn’t in danger, they wouldn’t find out. Everything was fine.

The shriek of a vex from above her caused Erin to startle, yelping in surprise.

She hated how the apparitions would just fly through the walls and scare her like that, the threat of them always looming, always watching, always listening.

Heart pounding with the adrenaline from the jumpscare and the lingering panic from her revelations, Erin stood up from the floor, and hastily splashed her face with water from the sink.

The vex was likely summoned by her instructor, as they were a senior evoker, meaning her ten minutes for the bathroom break must have already come and gone.

Pulling herself together the best that she could, Erin took a deep breath, held it, released it, and exited the bathroom to return to her studies.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

It was hard for Erin to eat her food at dinner that night, knowing that it was laced with magical essence and that she didn’t know the true reason why.

What if she was some kind of fusion hybrid, like Breaker, who needed to power magical runes to keep her alive?

That train of thought brought another idea: what would happen if she stopped ingesting the enchantment essence?

Like all good students and researchers of Evokia, she knew that the only way to prove a theory is to test the variables.

Now that Erin was this far into the mystery and held so many secrets, she wasn’t nearly as apprehensive to the idea as she would have been a week ago.

There were so many things about herself that she didn’t know, and now that she knew those in charge were lying to her, she was able to comprehend the fact that they were probably lying to her about how much they knew about her and her past.

The thought of her past only made Erin’s nausea worse, and she ended up not being able to eat anything more of her dinner besides a few measly bites.

She discarded what remained of her meal where others wouldn’t see, and went about her evening task of delivering food to Breaker.

“Something happened, I can tell,” Breaker said when Erin entered the hall, his voice hoarse and cracking, somehow worse than it was that morning.

Erin looked into the cell, finding the hybrid sitting in the back corner of the cell leaning against the wall, looking worse for wear.

“What happened to you?” She countered.

“I fought back, nearly got free.” He met her eyes, white pupils glinting in the low firelight. “Emphasis on nearly.”

“Okay, but why are you all the way back there?” Erin tilted her head in confusion as she slid the tray through the slat.

“For one, a few of my bones are probably broken, and for two-” Breaker raised his arm, blackened bones visible all the way up to his shoulder now, but what he was really showing off was the shackle on his wrist.

Erin paled, feeling slightly horrified at his words. The brokenness with which he spoke only proved what he said to be true.

“How- why-” she stammered.

“Does it matter? They’ll probably heal me with potions tomorrow if I don’t die tonight.”

“How can you just… say that?”

“Say what? That I might die tonight?” Breaker scoffed. “I don’t know. I don’t want to die, but I think I’m just beyond giving any shits.”

“But you have more lives, right?” Erin distinctly remembered him having three red hearts on his wrist, before the flesh there had withered away to just the bone beneath.

Breaker shrugged, the chain rattling as he did so. “Fusion hybrid respawns are… unpredictable. Yes, I’ve got three lives, but I could die and simply… not respawn.”

“I didn’t know that.” Erin lowered her eyes, feeling… pity? Guilt? She wasn’t sure.

“Your people do.” Breaker chuckled. “Seems there’s a lot they know that they’re not telling you.”

Erin stiffened. Back to the topic of the secrets again. “I tested the enchantment essence thing today.”

“Oh?” Breaker perked up, interest evident in his voice.

“Yeah. There wasn’t any in my friend’s food, but there was plenty in mine.”

“That’s certainly interesting,” Breaker hummed. “But, uh, speaking of food, would you mind like, moving the tray closer..? Broken bones, and all that…”

“Oh, um, sure.” Erin moved to open the cell so she could bring it closer to him. “As long as you don’t attack me, that is.”

“I owe you, remember? If there’s one thing you can trust about Netherborn, it’s that they can honor a favor.”

Erin eyed him warily. “Alright then…”

She slipped inside the cell, knowing she wasn’t supposed to do this, but also knowing that Breaker could very well die if she didn’t.

Erin hated that after talking to the Netherborn for so long she grew a little attached to him, and as much as she wished she wasn’t associated with him, wouldn’t wish for his death.

Up close, he looked truly wretched, large portions of his flesh completely withered away and blackened at the edges, his entire right arm and half of his left nothing but the bone of a wither skeleton.

His leg was definitely broken, bent at an odd angle below the knee. Erin felt sick looking at him and his injuries, with a part of her mind reminding her that this was all her fault.

Nevertheless, Breaker still gave her a crooked smile when she placed the tray within arm’s reach, leaning over with a grimace and sliding it toward himself.

“Thanks, Erin,” He quietly said as she left the cell.

Erin startled slightly. Right, she had given him her name. Stupid. “You’re welcome, Breaker.” She replied, using his name to repay the pleasantry.

She closed and locked the cell as quietly as she could, sparing the Netherborn one last look over her shoulder as she left. He’d be alright, surely.

Surely.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Chapter Text

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

(POV: Ernaline)

Erin had taken to smuggling the tiniest bits of food as she could from her own meals as well as any other source of non-enchantment-essence-laced food she could get her hands on.

Although it left her far more hungry than she ever remembered being, the less enchantment essence she ingested the better it made her feel - at least, mentally.

(She couldn’t bear the thought that they were drugging her, in a sense. It reminded her too much of then.)

While worried that her superiors might discover her discarded food in the trash bins or composters, Erin decided to instead leave the majority of her food in the ravager bins, which she then would take down to Breaker to cover it up.

He would benefit from the enchantment essence more than she would anyway, according to what the Netherborn had said.

When she first started giving him more of her laced food, he didn’t say anything about it, but something about the look in his eyes told Erin that he knew what she was doing.

As each meal passed, Erin could visibly see the admittedly sorry state of the prisoner improving, the decaying of his flesh stalled and reverted in some places and she began hearing more of his dry comments.

With her additions to his meal along with the potions he was given to heal himself, she was relieved to know that he wasn’t on the brink of death every time she left the room.

About three days after she started avoiding her meals, she was on her regularly scheduled guard duty in the evening, struggling to remain alert and awake through the quiet monotony of the night.

She completed her shift without a single problem, and tiredly marched back through the mansion to her room. It was exhausting to avoid eating like she was.

The screeching of a vex near her ear made her startle, snapping back to alertness abruptly.

She whirled around, her hand gripping the handle of her sheathed axe in fright, to face the little ethereal creature that hovered before her.

In a frightening mimicry of the voice of the Master, the vex whispered, “Acolyte Ernaline, your presence is requested in my study. Quickly, if you would.”

Erin stared at the creature in shock as it screeched again before turning nearly transparent and disappearing through the wooden wall nearest to her, shuddering slightly at the sounds it made.

Then what the vex had reported to her seemed to sink in, cold dread seeping into her bones.

What did the master want from her, and from her specifically? Had he found out about her unorthodox interactions with the Netherborn, or her incident with the wither essence, or how she was avoiding her food?

Just how much trouble was she in? What would be her punishment? Oh, it could only be something awful for how much she was hiding…

Quickly, he had asked, Erin reminded herself. She had no time to worry about what he wanted her for. She could worry while she walked there.

The faster she arrived, hopefully the less irritable the master would be with her!

She had this totally under control. Totally.

Her hands were shaking by the time she reached the tall doors to the Master’s study, and the anxious twisting in her gut had yet to subside.

Before she gathered the nerve to speak to the vindicators or to knock on the door, the doors suddenly swung open with a slow creak. Erin startled, but fought to maintain her composure.

“You may enter, acolyte.”

Erin swallowed past the lump in her throat, responding to the master’s beckoning with a tense nod.

She stiffly walked into the room, keeping her head bowed respectfully.

“Take a seat.” The master motioned to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Erin nodded, taking a seat. “So- so what is it you needed, sir?”

“Well, I needed to speak to you about something of importance.” The master steepled his hands, leaning forward in his chair.

Erin spared a brief glance up at him to see him smiling down at her, and quickly averted her gaze.

“We have a meeting with the delegation of the Republic of Oakendale, the country north of our woods, in about a week,” he continued, “it’s for the border negotiations… I would like you to come along with our delegation.”

“Me?” Erin exclaimed in surprise. The master really did think highly of her! She must have been noticed for all of her good work, or maybe her studies had shown some improvement-

“Why yes! You look innocent and ‘normal’ by their standards, it’ll put them at ease!”

What?

“Don’t worry, nothing will be expected of you, you’re coming along just for looks.”

Erin felt that tiny bud of pride within her wilt and shatter at their words.

No matter what she did, she was still just nothing to them. She thought she finally had earned her place, but no, it was just a coincidence that she looked the part for the meeting.

“It’s being held near the Oakendelian town of Southfield, which takes a while to get to, so remember to pack for a few days when we tell you we’re ready to leave.”

Erin nodded, still reeling.

“Do you understand, acolyte?”

“Yes, sir.” No, no she didn’t understand, she wanted to shout. But she remained silent, as she always did.

“Alright. That is all, you are dismissed.”

Erin walked out of the study with mechanical steps, feet carrying her to her quarters without thinking. She sat down heavily onto her bed, staring blankly at the floor.

Her breath hitched. What more did she need to do?

She was trying as hard as she could, she was aceing all of her studies… They still only saw her on the surface. They would never truly accept her as one of their own, as a true Evokian.

She brought her knees to her chest and silently sobbed, crying herself to sleep.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Erin slid the tray of scraps through the gap and into the cell, startling and jumping back when Breaker accidentally brushed against her hand, his own hand nothing but black bones.

He startled as well, drawing back his hands and holding them close to his body, eyes wide.

A tense moment passed between them.

“I- sorry. Lucky for us you’re immune to wither, I guess,” Breaker apologized.

Erin glanced at her hand, seeing that she was still completely intact. “It’s no big deal,” she shrugged. “It just… felt weird.” That was no lie, it did feel weird, just cold and solid bone.

The Netherborn snorted, posture relaxing slightly as he began picking at his food. “I’d imagine so. Nobody typically, you know, touches the bones of a wither skeleton.”

“Yeah…” Erin nervously turned her gaze to the floor.

A pause.

“I’m going to be leaving soon.”

Breaker perked up, a quizzical look in his eyes. “Where to?”

“They want me to go to some negotiation meeting.”

“By your tone, not a good thing?”

“Yes! Well, no! Ugh, I don’t know.” Erin ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “I’m only coming along for looks.”

“Wait, seriously? That’s stupid.”

“It’s not that bad…”

“I wouldn’t know, but being ‘only for looks’ sounds pretty bad to me.” Breaker shrugged, before stilling. “Why bother telling me anyway?”

“I don’t know… Just to let you know that I’ll stop showing up for a while.” Erin thinks he deserves at least that much, to know that she didn’t leave him because he did something wrong.

Just an unfortunate circumstance, after all.

The hybrid blinked in confusion, but still nodded as if he understood.

“I should go,” Erin said, glancing at the stairwell.

“Alright. See you.”

“Bye.”

Erin was somehow on friendly enough terms with a Netherborn, a wither skeleton hybrid who had poison for blood and violence in his bones, to treat him with familiarity and civility, and he did the same.

Thinking of the situation like that was jarring and strange, and Erin was still not quite sure how it progressed as far as it did without someone putting a stop to it - that someone being Erin herself in most believable scenarios.

She had made physical contact with him today. It was all just… strange.

She found herself looking forward to seeing him every day, if only to ensure the witty Netherborn was still alive.

They weren’t quite friends, but Erin certainly didn’t wish for him to die. It was discomforting to think that any day he could be killed, and that he might not even respawn.

She hoped that by the time she returned, he was still alive.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

It was tiring trying to go about her daily routines and duties while on a partial hunger strike and constantly on edge from anxiety and paranoia.

Erin was zoning out more frequently and was constantly jumpscared by the vexes floating through the halls, but she kept up her facade as best as she could to avoid suspicion.

Nothing was wrong.

Everything was fine.

Of course it had to be the Netherborn who tested her temper. The less food she was eating, the snappier she got, and he was quite good at saying what she didn’t want to hear from him.

Breaker was tucked as close to the fire as he possibly could be with the iron grating in the way, and he startled to attention when Erin set the tray down on the floor.

“Morning already, how time flies,” He commented drily.

Erin scoffed. “Yeah, sure.”

“You seem thrilled,” Breaker said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Yes, just absolutely thrilled to be hungry and paranoid all of the time!” She snapped, before recoiling at her own tone. The stress was getting to her.

Breaker blinked, white irises looking her over. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Erin sighed, rubbing her temples. “Just stressed.”

“That’s understandable.”

“I just don’t know what to do, you know? What more do they need from me?”

“For some people, no matter what you do, you’ll never be enough,” Breaker replied, melancholy. “And the longer you keep trying to be ‘enough’ the more miserable you’re going to be.”

The words struck a chord within Erin. “So what? What then?”

Breaker shrugged. “Why don’t you just... leave?”

“...What?”

“Y’know, leaving? Walking out of here? Going away?”

“I- Evokia is my home! I can’t just-”

But she could, The small voice of doubt in the back of her mind insisted.

Erin huffed, turning on her heel and exiting the room. He didn’t understand her, he didn’t have any right to just assume what was best for her.

But a small part of her wondered...

Maybe... she could leave.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

A few days later

The Evokian representatives were set to leave the mansion at dawn the next morning, leaving Erin with an uncomfortable knot of anxiety in her stomach.

But what was even more uncomfortable was the rash on the back of her neck.

She wasn’t able to see what it was, only that when she woke up that morning it itched and itched no matter how much she scratched at it.

At first she thought it was a simple bug bite, acquired on guard duty or down in the basement.

But it burned when she scratched it too much, and no amount of cooling salve helped the issue.

The logical thing to do in this situation would be to go to the medicinal wing and ask for an examination of the rash.

However, Erin feared that if she went and admitted the problem she would not be allowed to travel with the delegation to Southfield, and everyone would see her as a scared little acolyte making excuses.

Of course, much of this fear was blown out of proportion, but Erin still chose to remain silent and strong.

Her long black hair rubbed against the back of her neck uncomfortably, making the rash even itchier, so Erin was forced to put her hair up in a loose bun that morning.

Maybe she'd ask Kigami if there was anything on her neck, like a bug bite, when she saw her next. That would work.

Resolved to ignore the sensation and ask her friend later, Erin steeled herself with a deep breath and exited her quarters, making for the mess hall for her morning meal.

She kept to herself, taking her meal and sitting in her designated spot, and hiding her aversion to the laced food as best she could.

Her stomach growled at the scents of the savory breakfast, but nausea wound its way through her abdomen at the thought of consuming more enchantment essence without knowing why.

She’d had to eat some to keep herself from going hungry, but at the morning meals she could barely stomach anything at all.

The quiet murmur of voices washed over her as white noise, irrelevant to her thoughts and the ever persistent rash on her neck.

Erin followed her routine, placing her leftovers in the tray she was going to take to Breaker, and left the mess hall for the basement.

It was infuriating to have both hands occupied as she went down the cold stairwell, her neck itching terribly.

She and the Netherborn hadn’t talked much since Erin snapped at him, but at the very least the silences didn’t feel hostile. They had seemed to both wordlessly agree to not bring it up.

“G’morning,” Breaker rasped, inclining his head while remaining seated in the corner of his cell.

“Morning,” Erin muttered.

She slid the tray through with one hand, using the other to scratch furiously at her neck. Notch, it was making it hard to focus…

“Are you alright…?” The Netherborn hesitantly asked, moving forward from his corner.

“Fine,” she snapped.

He shrugged. “Okay. Thanks for the food.”

Erin frowned and turned away, making her way to the stairwell. She was too tired for this.

“Wait, there’s something on your neck.”

Erin froze. She felt along her itching neck with her fingertips, finding no raised skin or blemishes.

“What do you mean? Where?” She demanded, her voice raising in both pitch and volume.

“Uh, right where your hand is? It’s like a big dark mark.”

“What?!”

“I’m serious, it’s there, I’m not blind.”

“I didn’t- what is it?” Erin stammered.

“I can’t see it from over here.” Breaker had moved to crouch in front of his cell door, his left arm resting on the bars while his right was behind him with the chains on his wrist extended to the full length.

Erin turned to walk over to him, but paused. “You’re not going to attack me, are you?”

The Netherborn scoffed. “Really? No. Hurting you would literally get me nowhere. Besides, you talk to me. Remember what I said with Netherborn and favours?”

She did remember that bit, yes. As stupid as it may have been, Erin simply needed to know what was on her neck, especially if it was harmful.

She couldn’t count on anyone else in the mansion to answer her honestly, and in case it actually was dangerous, she didn’t want to risk Kigami.

...

Screw it.

Erin walked over to the door, turning her back to Breaker. She leaned her head down and lifted the stray strands of her hair so he could see it.

“What is it?”

Breaker hummed in confusion. “It looks like a tattoo.”

“I would be able to feel a tattoo,” Erin refuted.

“Okay, um, I have a suspicion, but uh…” Breaker hesitated, apprehension in his tone. “Can I touch it?”

Erin already knew she was immune to the wither poison that his bones were coated in, and the itching was bothering her so much and she couldn’t think clearly because of her hunger-

“Sure, whatever, just figure out what it is.”

The cold feeling of a boned finger tapped lightly on the back of her neck, causing Erin to tense and shiver.

She felt as he traced something, the burning itching sensation giving way to cooling relief, and then he abruptly pulled back.

Breaker’s chain rattled as he moved away, and he took in a sharp breath.

“What? What happened?” Erin demanded, voice rising in panic.

“I- I mean, I’m not sure, but it’s coming off now, and it’s glowing green a bit, and-”

Erin immediately straightened, pulling a handkerchief out of her robes and wiping off her neck. She looked down at the white fabric, startled to see a sparkling green-black residue, slightly sizzling from wither poison.

Her neck didn’t hurt, implying that the poison didn’t hurt her, but then what just came off of her neck?!

“It looked like Ender Runic,” Breaker supplied.

Erin whirled around to face him. “Ender Runic? Are you sure?”

Because Ender Runic meant runes, which meant enchantments, which meant magical tampering.

It meant something had been done to her and she might have been a fusion hybrid all along.

Breaker met her eyes and gestured to his back. “I think I’d know what Ender Runic looks like, considering.”

Fusion hybrids. Right.

“What did it look like? I might know what rune it was…”

Breaker nodded. “I remember what it looked like, I’ll just draw it on the floor or something.”

Erin crouched down close and watched as he scratched out a symbol on the floor, unsure if he was using wither essence (his blood-) or charcoal from the firepit to make it.

After a few moments, the Netherborn leaned back, looking at Erin in anticipation.

“That’s…” Erin furrowed her brows. “That looks like a rune for invisibility or concealment.”

“I don’t know that much about runic but that seems right, yeah.” Breaker looked down at the symbol, then back up at Erin again. “But why would it be on your neck?”

“I don’t know,” Erin honestly replied. Runes like that were quite difficult to cast and use, not to mention that she was taught that they conceal the item they’re drawn onto, and as far as she knew she hadn’t been invisible.

“It didn’t make you invisible, so then…?”

“I have no idea.” Erin was on the verge of a panic attack now that the implications of the rune were sinking in. Someone had put that rune on her neck, and she didn’t know when or who or why-

“Erin, breathe,” a sharp Nether-accented voice cut through. “You’ll figure it out, but right now you have to get out of here before someone sees you. You’ve been here for a while.”

She blinked, inhaling deeply. He was right, she couldn’t spend much more time down here.

“Yeah. Yes, I’ll- I’ll be going now.” Erin rose ungracefully to her feet, clutching the rag she had used to wipe off her neck tightly.

“See you later,” Breaker said.

Erin just nodded to him, stowing the rag in her pocket with shaking hands.

What more was being hidden from her?

How much had the Evokers lied to her?

Erin shook off the thoughts, pulling her hair out of its bun and letting it spill across her shoulders again, thankful that the itching had stopped but not pleased with what she found instead.

Just a little while longer.

It’d be okay.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

“Acolyte, are you ready for our departure at dawn?” A senior Evoker prompted as Erin was going to dinner that night.

“Almost, sir,” Erin replied. She just had a few extra things that needed to be put into her bag but otherwise she was completely prepared to leave.

“Good. I was instructed to inform you that you don’t have to do any of your nightly tasks after dinner, you only have to return to your quarters to prepare.”

“Understood, sir, thank you.” Erin bowed respectfully. The senior evoker inclined his head slightly in return before gliding past Erin to the dining hall.

Erin sighed. At least she didn’t have guard duty tonight so she could rest, but Breaker was also a part of her nightly duties, and she’d been waiting to talk to him again one more time before she left for Southfield in the morning.

She’d just have to talk to him when she got back. Maybe by then she’ll have figured out what the rune meant, or why it was hidden from her, or what it was hiding.

She didn’t want to tell anyone else about it, fearful that they would find out about her eating habits and her talks with Breaker.

It was far too late to go ask any of the seniors, she had far too many secrets and far too little trust in them.

”Why don’t you just… leave?” Breaker’s question lingered in her mind, as it did every day.

Erin ran a hand through her hair, blinking away the thought.

Dinner and sleep tonight, Southfield tomorrow.

Everything else could wait a little while longer.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Chapter Text

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

(POV: Ernaline)

The morning began with a flurry of motion, early meals, packing up the ravagers for travel, and double triple checking belongings and axes and crossbows.

It was all a little overwhelming, so Erin was grateful in that moment that she wasn’t responsible for doing anything past ensuring her own belongings were packed adequately and the ravagers were well-fed for the journey.

Her stomach twisted with hunger and anxiety, her laced meal long ago given to the hulking steeds to devour. She was only there for looks, Erin reminded herself, and since nothing was expected of her then there was no way she could possibly mess this up for herself.

What could possibly go wrong?

“Acolyte, are the ravagers ready?” a vindicator asked, emerging from within the mansion.

“Yes sir,” Erin replied, patting the rough hide of one of the creatures next to her. It shook its head to startle the flies buzzing around its face, the chains on its tusks jingling.

“Excellent. I’ll help you lead them to the north wall, and then we shall be leaving momentarily.”

Erin nodded in agreement, moving to help the vindicator.

Breathe in, breathe out.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

As nervous as she was, the actual journey itself began incredibly mundanely.

She was doing nothing but sitting on a ravager amongst the Evokian caravan as they trudged through the thick dark oak forest. Since she was toward the middle of the caravan, most of the more exciting tasks like picking off the monsters that crawled out from the shadows of the trees were left to the more experienced vindicators on the edges of the group.

Erin sighed, looking around the forest for the hundredth time in an attempt to occupy herself. It was nothing but the same dark trees, thick canopies, and occasional large mushroom. Very little wildlife made itself known while the ravagers were about, their heavy footsteps and loud grunts warding off other creatures for the most part.

Left with nothing to do but exist with her own thoughts, she knew that this was going to be a long trip.

There was so much to think about, yet she didn’t want to think about any of it. Like how she probably has been lied to for as long as she could remember, which to be fair wasn’t that long but it’s the principle of the thing-

Needless to say, Erin was beyond relieved when they stopped to make camp.

She stretched her aching legs and hips with a grimace, pins and needles in her limbs from sitting on the ravager’s saddle for so long. They had made it to the outskirts of the dark oak forests, the dense forest thinning to begin to reveal grassy hills.

“Attention!” a senior evoker called, silencing all the Evokians in the clearing and turning their attention to the centre, where Master Ingonchawa stood atop a stump to be seen by his people.

“Thank you, Evoker,” the Master began, nodding to his subordinate. “Now, we are making camp for the night, but we will depart at dawn to make Southfield before sunset. I expect all to follow the orders given, and this will all happen without a single problem.”

A chorus of “yes sir”s and ‘yes master’s and varying affirmations rumbled through the camp.

“Good. Ensure all belongings are secure and watch shifts are properly established, and I will expect you all to be ready at dawn.” The Master bowed to his people, and they all bowed deeply in return.

Erin felt lightheaded as she straightened from her bow, keeping her breathing controlled.

She had to assist with the meal preparations, which mostly consisted of heating a tasty gruel over the campfire. For once, she found herself actually able to stomach the food, finding that this camp food was made without any palpable enchantment essence.

If only the anxiety for the day to come didn’t interfere with her appetite.

Inhale, hold, exhale.

They departed at dawn, and so she prayed to Notch she would get some sleep that night.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Erin slept restlessly, the cold ground beneath her bedroll reminding her subconscious of something she couldn’t remember, making her wake up with a pounding heart and gasping breaths far too often.

At least she was awake before dawn, she reasoned, sitting cross legged on top of her bedroll, head tilted up to see the few stars that shone between the trees. She turned her necklace over and over in her hands, constantly rubbing the inscriptions on the sides to occupy herself as her mind drifted.

She’d never really met anyone from another nation before, and Erin didn’t know what to expect. Would they look like her? Would they look like the portraits of hybrids in the books she’d read? Would they look like Breaker, a foreigner himself?

Erin had to stop that train of thought, not wanting to think about the Netherborn wasting away in the cells of Evokia. He’d still be there when she returned. She had better things to worry about at that moment than whether he would be alive to see the dawn she waited for.

The camp around her steadily came to life in the pre-dawn light, fires being extinguished and belongings rolled up into saddlebags and backpacks.

Before she knew it, Erin was back in the saddle of her ravager, emerging through the thick forest to see the sun cresting over the plains, painting the grasses golden and orange.

It was a truly beautiful sight, she had to admit, staring with wide eyes at the landscape.

Sparse trees dotted the grassy plains, with shrubs and tall grasses spread throughout. In some places the grass was so tall that she could reach down from the ravager and trail her hand through it as they moved, smiling at the coarse texture.

The atmosphere felt calmer than in the forest, most monsters in the open plains burning in the light of day and the wind blowing through the grasses. It was a welcome change to Erin, who often had to stop herself from dozing off with the rhythmic steps of her steed.

While in the plains, the Evokians only stopped to make camp once, around noon, to have a meal. Erin once again assisted in the meal preparation, silently following directions and eating her food. None of the others made an attempt to converse with her, so she made no attempt to converse with them.

They probably all knew she was only here for looks anyway, just a little girl worth nothing more than her pretty face.

Erin scowled into her gruel. She’d prove them wrong someday.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

The sun was hanging low in the sky when the Oakendelian camps came into view.

The little town of Southfield was visible in the distance, smoke spiralling into the clouds and deep green banners hung proudly from their watchtowers.

There were a few large tents atop the hill, white fabric contrasted by the green Oakendale flags hung around the camp. As the Evokians approached, a small group of Oakendelians exited the largest tent to meet them, a group of four dressed in long green coats flanked by lightly armed soldiers.

A man stepped forward from the delegation, an obvious hybrid (sheep? goat?) with sharp eyes and a bright smile.

“Welcome, Evokia! The knights will help lead your… steeds, to a safe area where they can rest until negotiations are complete, and the rest of you can come with me.”

The Master dismounted, motioning to the rest of his people to dismount as well.

“Thank you for your hospitality, sir…?” The Master nodded to the hybrid.

“Vice President Ivory Stanton,” he supplied, reaching out a hand to shake, which the Master hesitantly accepted. “And you are?”

“Master Ingonchawa, of Evokia.”

“It’s a pleasure, Master Ingonchawa. Please, follow me.”

The two leaders walked ahead, the majority of the Evokian delegation as well as the rest of the Oakendelian delegation following behind. Erin was told to stay close to a particular senior evoker, Evoker Iruzin, whom she was following at the heels of. She didn’t pay too much attention to what was being exchanged between the vice president and the master, instead surveying the camp.

The majority of the people in the camp were humans, she noted, and the Master was correct in that most of them looked more like her than like the other senior Evokians. None had the grey pallor to their skin that the Evokians had, and most had long hair or at the very least some hair instead of the customary shaved head style of the senior Evokians.

The flaps of the cream-coloured tents fluttered in the wind, overshadowed by the tall green Oakendale flags that hung at every entrance. The golden tree on the flags shimmered in the waning sunlight, the exact design of the branches inconsistent between flags.

Erin followed Evoker Iruzin into a large tent, ducking under the cloth of the entrance. Inside there was a long table with seats at either side, with one side marked as the Oakendale side by two flags bookending the table. Erin waited respectfully as two vindicators placed Evokian flags into the dirt next to the Oakendale flags while the nations’ leaders found their seats opposite one another.

The warm lantern light illuminated the room as the golden light of sunset waned, and Erin took her seat as a part of the Evokian delegation.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

About two hours later, Erin realised she severely overestimated the excitement of the event.

The master and the senior evokers had been doing nothing but talking about trade agreements and border maths with the vice president and the Oakendale representatives, most of the political talk too complex and boring for Erin to understand.

She was only there for looks however, and she’d play her part as best as she could.

Erin tried her very best to sit still with perfect posture and keep the most unassuming expression on her face, fidgeting with her Ender eye pendant or the hems of her robes under the table.

Quite some time passes by, and it seems as if the two delegations are getting along quite well with one another, if the laughs of the vice president are anything to go by.

"I'd like to propose a toast," VP Stanton declared, motioning to one of his fellow representatives. The other representative retrieved a bottle of wine and some extra glasses from somewhere near the corner of the tent, setting them on the table.

“This,” Stanton lifted the bottle of wine, “is certified Aubervale rosehip wine, one of Oakendale’s many alcoholic exports.”

There was a murmur of agreement amongst the Evokian delegation as they all received glasses or finished the water in the glasses already sat in front of them. When the Oakendelian representative hesitated in giving Erin a glass, Evoker Iruzin assured him that she was indeed old enough to drink and there was nothing to be worried about.

(Erin was not old enough to drink by Evokian standard. They rarely ever indulged in alcohol, and it was usually only reserved for those over the age of 25 as to not corrupt the mind.

They told Erin she was probably in her late teens.)

“A toast is a fine idea indeed,” Master Ingonchawa responded.

VP Stanton smiled as he began uncorking the bottle, struggling slightly before the cork relented with a pop.

“And I know you’re concerned this is poisoned-” Stanton poured a small amount into his glass. “I assure you, it’s not.” He downed the wine with a smile.

The rose-tinted glass bottle was passed around the table until every glass had at least a little bit of wine in it.

Vice President Stanton stood tall, lifting his glass. “To lasting peace, clever compromises, and the start of something better.”

Master Ingonchawa stood from his seat, raising his glass to clink against the VP’s. “To the start of something new.”

Together, the two delegations drank to the health of the new alliance formed.

Erin sipped tentatively, gagging slightly on the sweet alcohol but downing it anyway to keep up appearances.

She wished she could have seen the moment it all went wrong.

Suddenly, the vice president coughed harshly, a confused expression on his face as he tried to play it off as drinking too fast. But then the rest of the Oakendale delegation began choking, clutching at their throats and stomachs.

Erin stood with the rest of the Evokian delegation, looking on in shock and horror. She couldn’t seem to look away as the foreign nationals choked and writhed, falling to the grassy floor. She could smell it, hear it - the sizzling of wither essence, burning through blood and organ as the Oakendelians were decomposed from the inside out.

She couldn’t look away.

She couldn’t look away.

The councilman across from her collapsed onto the tabletop, and Erin saw the light drain from her eyes. Sizzling and blackened blood spilled from her mouth and onto the wooden tabletop, soaking into the wood grain. Erin saw how her body began to dissolve into green light, soon to be reawakening at spawn.

An Evokian warhorn sounded, but the loud call sounded so far away, drowned out by the ringing in her ears.

Erin felt numb, transfixed by the horrors in front of her.

Vice President Stanton lay motionless on the ground, chair toppled over in his death throes. His eyes were still open, his veins blackened and mouth parted. Why wasn’t he respawning?

Why wasn’t he respawning?

A hand gripped Erin’s upper arm, leading her out of the tent. She could barely feel the vice grip.

Outside of the tent, the ravagers were doing what they were made for: ravaging. Tents were trampled and soldiers impaled by the war beasts, vindicators riding atop them and firing off flaming crossbow bolts.

The sounds and the sensations whirled around Erin as she was dragged along, eyes wide and heart pounding. Her mind couldn’t process what was happening, it was all so sudden and unexpected.

It felt as if she was no longer in her own body, as if she had taken flight, as if there had been poison in her drink too, as if she was the one with the glassy eyes and the still chest and-

Erin was hoisted up onto a ravager, the arm that was around her waist keeping her steady was barely felt beneath the haze.

She could hear it: the screams, the fires, the Vexes, the great beasts crunching bones beneath their hooves-

She couldn’t breathe, this wasn’t real, it wasn’t-

Erin blinked, and she was atop a hill far away from the Oakendale camp, the dark sky shining bright with stars. The camp was a beacon of light and smoke in the distance as the fires were spread to the long grasses nearby.

The Evokians crested the hill atop their ravagers, blood and soot staining their hooves.

Why was it that upon seeing that, all Erin could think about was how difficult they would be to clean later? There was blood, blood of other people who had laughed and smiled and offered peace and-

Erin blinked, and she was back in the roofed forest, being tugged off of the ravager as the Evokians made camp. They congratulated each other, they cleaned their axes together, they gave the ravagers extra treats, as if they hadn’t slaughtered all those people-

Erin opened her eyes, and they were moving through the forest again, at high speeds and high vigilance to stay safe from the monsters lurking in the shadows of the forest.

She didn’t know how long had passed.

It was likely that she had fallen asleep at some point on the nonstop return trip, since the next thing she knew she saw the sun shining down upon the Evokia Mansion.

Erin still felt numb. Her mind wasn’t given enough time to process and her head hurt with every glance. There were still senior evokers, senior vindicators, and high ranked Evokians all around her and some instinctual part of her couldn’t let the facade drop.

She was walking back through the doors from the stables and into the mansion when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder tugging her back.

She turned around to face the Master himself, who looked upon her with a smile. Erin hastily bowed as her mind caught up with what she saw.

“You performed excellently, Acolyte,” the Master said. “I would expect you to be tired. Go, you are relieved of your duties for the next two sunrises. Rest, and catch up on your studies you missed.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir,” Erin weakly replied, her own voice sounding foreign to her.

The Master gave her one more approving nod before brushing past her and into the mansion. Erin stood in the doorway for a while before turning and going inside as well, feet automatically taking her to her chambers.

She closed the door behind her and relished in the silence. Erin sighed, mechanically removing her straps and gear, dropping them in a pile at her bedside, before collapsing onto her bed.

Even though it was still morning, Erin fell asleep quickly in her own bed.

Notch, she was tired.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Erin awoke with her heart pounding and stomach twisting, the memory of the slaughter fresh in her mind. She stumbled out of bed and to the washroom, dropping to her knees and retching into the toilet.

All those people, dead. Died from what she was taught was one of the most, if not the most, painful ways to die. Withered from the inside out, as they choked and screamed and their bodies burned-

Erin retched again, stomach long since emptied. She rested her forehead on the cool porcelain, chest heaving.

Why had they done that? Why had Evokia - her people - killed the Oakendelians? They were there for negotiations and peace talks, and it sounded like it was going well from the snatches of conversation she paid attention to.

She looked too similar to the Oakendelians. She was there to put them at ease, to make them lower their guard. Erin gasped as she realised that killing them all was probably the plan all along.

The Evokians killed all those people. They killed them for no reason.

Erin was lied to again.

She was scared, she realised - what if the Evokians turned on her? What if they were planning to kill her too? Clearly it didn’t matter what one’s intentions were, as the Oakendelians were peaceful and were still killed anyway.

Her breathing quickened, panic clouding her senses.

At some point as she was gasping on the washroom floor, a single thought occurred to her: she needed to leave.

Everything seemed to sharpen back into focus as the thought echoed through her head. It wasn’t safe. She needed to leave. It wasn’t safe here. She needed to run.

Erin stood quickly, nearly falling back over again from the black spots in her vision, and hastily returned to her bedroom. Her travel bag was still packed from the day prior, untouched at the foot of her bed. She snatched it up with shaking hands, adding a few other items from her bedside drawer like her journal and her purse that contained all of her savings.

She needed to leave before they found out what she was hiding and killed her or made her kill someone else or put her back where they found her, back in the dark-

Erin stopped what she was doing, clutching the straps of her bag tightly and closing her eyes. She focused on her breathing, running through simple exercises in her head. She kept breathing in and out until she could no longer feel her heart beating so fast.

With a shaky exhale, Erin opened her eyes. She grabbed her cloak from the floor and clasped it before slinging her bag over her shoulder.

It was nighttime, so there were few people patrolling from within the mansion. There were vexes, sure, but their quiet shrieks were like howls in the silent halls.

As Erin silently walked down the red rug in the corridor, she began plotting out an exit route. There were Evokians stationed on guard duty on all sides of the mansion. Maybe she could use the flood tunnels that were supposedly sealed off but probably weren’t because who knows what Evokia had been lying about-

Erin froze as she passed by a doorway.

The doorway to the basement, cold air wafting from the stone stairwell.

What about the Netherborn who was in the basement of Evokia? The Netherborn who talked too much for his own good, who kept to his word, who could die any day now and be gone forever.

Gone forever just like those councilmen, bodies cold and not respawning-

Erin was going down the stairs before she even realised what she was planning on doing.

She swept into the room, hearing no vexes. Cloak swirling, she sprinted over to the side table outside of the main cell and rummaged through the papers and vials to find the keys to the cell.

Some of the vials were filled, she noticed, pausing. After all, where did Evokia get the poison from that they used to kill the Oakendelians-

“I was just trying to fucking sleep this time, seriously,” the Netherborn groaned, chains rattling as he shifted.

“Quiet,” Erin hissed, voice too shaky.

“Wait- Erin?!” Breaker whispered, white irises reflecting the dwindling firelight.

“Yes.” Erin slotted the key into the lock with shaking hands, turning it and opening the door. She let it open slowly to keep it from squealing, and then quickly walked into the cell.

Breaker flinched away from her and rose to stand, his blanket held tight around his shoulders. “What’s going on?”

Erin stopped. “I’m leaving.”

“Okay?”

“I’m not going to leave you here.”

“Oh. Oh.” Breaker stepped forward and held out his shackled arm, Erin drawing back slightly at the sight of his withered arm.

Erin fished through the keys on the iron key ring until she found the one that would open his shackle, fitting it in the lock and twisting until it released with a click.

Breaker removed the shackle, setting it lightly onto the ground. “Any reason why? Just curious.”

Erin turned on her heel and walked out of the cell, Breaker hesitantly following behind her.

“I’m not going to leave you here to die. I know now that they-” Erin choked on her words, feeling panic rise up her throat again before swallowing it down.

“Okay.”

Erin whirled around, eyes narrowed at the hybrid. “Just… that’s it? ‘Okay’?”

Breaker walked around her to the table, looking through the items cluttered atop it. “You’re getting me out, I’m going to take what I can get.” He tied the blanket around himself like a shawl, covering his still bare torso, and took what Erin recognized as his own belongings from before they captured him from the table.

He turned to face her. “I swear to you that I won’t hurt you if you help me. I’m already indebted to you as is.”

Erin could practically feel the weight behind Breaker’s words, and still not thinking straight, she nodded.

Breaker nodded back. “So, what’s your plan?”

“I- um- I was going to try and see if I could take the old flood tunnels.”

“If you’re sure it isn’t guarded, then it should be fine. Just lead the way, I might be a little slow but I’ll catch up.”

“It’s not guarded, no,” Erin affirmed. “I once followed a kid down there to play.” She vividly remembered that day. It was not a particularly fond memory.

“Great.” Breaker stood there staring at her for a moment before Erin realised he was waiting for her to lead the way to the exit.

Erin thought for a moment, mapping out the tunnels in her mind. There should be one down here in the basement if she was right…

She turned the corner, ignoring the few other cells and workstations in the corridor, and then she saw it.

A grate in the floor, barely large enough to fit through, rusted and welded shut.

“Oh my souls, it’s literally just the sewers,” Breaker muttered. "Can you even fit through that?”

“I have to,” Erin responded bluntly, striding toward the grate and dropping to one knee beside it. She ran her hands along the edges of it, disappointed to find that it was actually decent welding rather than a shoddy job and some screws like the tunnel upstairs.

“Can you open it?” Breaker asked from behind her, moving to crouch next to her.

“I don’t think so.” Erin felt herself beginning to panic slightly again. She couldn’t be caught, she had to get out of here!

“Oh, I can probably open it,” Breaker said after a moment of examination. Erin looked at him incredulously. “What? Your people kept my shit, which included this-” he flicked out his netherite dagger from… somewhere, and twirled it in the withered fingers of his left hand. “-this is enchanted with fire aspect.”

Erin’s eyes widened, and she scrambled backward to let the Netherborn work. He snorted in amusement before taking his dagger and plunging it into the metal, slowly melting it with the low-level enchantment. Erin watched in fascination as he steadily made his way around the sides of the grate, dagger glowing violet from magic and red hot from the heat.

When the red hot circle of metal was completed, Breaker stood and gripped the top of the grate. He pulled and it shifted slightly, and he turned toward Erin and jerked his head in a silent call for assistance.

Erin rushed back over to him, standing next to him and gripping the warm iron and helping to slide it off of the drain.

Panting slightly, the two looked at each other.

“You should go first.” Breaker started, cutting Erin off from saying something similar. “No, seriously, just… give me your bag and I’ll throw it down to you. Go.”

Erin looked at him, then the drain, then back to him. He was right, it did make more sense for her to go first, especially since she wasn’t supposed to trust him. With how skinny Breaker was, he’d make it through for sure, but for Erin, who wasn’t a literal skeleton, it might be a bit of a tight fit.

She sighed, and handed him her bag. She kept her axe strapped to her back, however, needing something to protect herself with.

As she carefully lowered herself through the narrow hole, she was grateful that she had been eating less lately, having to hold her breath slightly to fit. Once the main part of Erin’s body was through the drain, she dropped down, landing a few metres below the entrance with a stumbling landing.

It stank down in the unused damp passageways, and Erin landed in a shallow pool of water that splashed up and dirtied her face slightly.

“You good?” Breaker called from above, his head blocking out the limited light coming in from above.

“Yes!” Erin whisper-shouted.

“Alright, dropping your shit!” Breaker whisper-shouted in return.

Erin easily caught her heavy bag, backing away a few steps and slinging it back over her shoulders. While she waited for Breaker to descend after her, she brought up the edges of her cloak and tied them around her waist to keep it out of the gross water.

Breaker dropped through the hole in the ceiling gracelessly, landing in a bit of a heap with an unpleasant crunching sound. Erin winced.

“Ow- fuck, shit- I’m fine, let’s move.” Breaker stood, shaking out his limbs.

“Yeah.” Erin turned to the dark sewer tunnels, pausing. “Which way…?”

“Well, where were you planning on going after you got out?” Breaker inquired, moving to stand next to her.

“I… I dunno, spawn maybe?” Spawn was really the only idea Erin had. There, she could find new people, new opportunities, and get a communicator from the Heart Terminals. The strange devices allowed people to communicate with registered communicator IDs from across the world, and in Evokia they weren’t allowed to have them until they completed a particular coming-of-age ritual that Erin missed out on.

She also heard that you could change your name at spawn, and she wanted to know what her officially registered surname was. Erin was never told whether the names were registered by one’s parents or a result of strange magic, but for her it never mattered.

“That’s a good idea, we’ll be safe there, probably,” Breaker agreed. “So I have no idea where Spawn is in relation to wherever we are right now.”

“I do. Spawn is east of here. Should we try to follow the tunnels east?”

“That was the idea. I’m assuming you didn’t run away without a compass?”

Erin rummaged through her bag, producing her compass. “I’m not stupid.”

“Never said you were,” Breaker easily replied, walking back over to the wall near the grate. He pulled something off the wall, a crack echoing through the tunnels.

The hybrid turned to Erin, an old musty torch in hand. He stood there for a moment, letting the silence drag on, and then asked, “do you have a flint and steel I could borrow?”

And Erin smiled, a real smile, for the first time in what felt like forever.

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Chapter Text

Mondihir, the capital city of the Valigneo Kingdom, was a city near the mouth of the Valor river, built around the dormant volcano that was its namesake. The royal palace was within the mountain, carved out long ago and home to the ruling families of the Kingdom for the many centuries they had been ruling the mountain nation.

It was within this mountain palace that a different set of negotiations were taking place.

Little did the delegation of the Norahail Empire know, the King of Valigneo had not intended to reach a peaceful resolution that day. In his twisted mind, there was no other option besides war, a war in which he was certain the long-standing Valigneo Kingdom would emerge victorious. After all, the snowy empire of Norahail was still a relatively new nation, only having been founded less than two decades ago.

The northern delegation had sealed their own fates the moment they walked through the heavy iron doors of the meeting room.

The Crown Prince of Norahail, as clever as he was, would not have enough time to call for help before his people were executed before him.

He would not be able to defend himself as he walked into his own execution, his life nothing more than a bargaining chip and a spark to the flames of war.

The mad king of Valigneo, turned executioner in his own throne room, makes a split second decision that will give him the war that he so desperately pushes for.

A boy watches from the shadows, as a friend is killed before him by the man he calls his father. Never before have the halls of the palace seemed so silent, even with the empty echoes of his tears.

The message is sent north.

A letter is returned aloft a raven's blue-tipped wings.

War is upon us.

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