Chapter Text
Pain. Sharp pain. This was her first thought. Everything else was a blur.
She tried to move her body but nothing would respond, even her thoughts wouldn’t form coherently. She heard whispers. Or maybe that was just the sound of blood rushing to her head as she willed some sort of physical reaction out of her limbs.
Then the pain again. She couldn’t tell what hurt, or more precisely, what didn’t. She groaned. She felt her weight shift abruptly and suddenly felt like she was falling. Falling forward, she noted, but something caught her. A hand? She was being moved.
Blurred shapes came into focus and whispers turned into raised voices. A bright flash blurred her sight once more, followed by the pain, which was fast becoming too familiar. Someone screamed, or was it her? Again, that hand caught her. Almost gently, but not quite.
She realized she was on her knees, weight dangerously swaying as she started to make sense of what was happening. Her hands were cuffed before her as she knelt on cold stone. The voices, they weren’t addressing her but she was fairly certain they were about her. She tried to get their attention but her tongue felt too big for her mouth so the words jammed in her throat.
She must have made some noise because there was a pause before heavy boots took measured steps towards her. A firm hand grasped her shoulder and pushed her slightly back, keeping a tight grip on her to stop her from falling too far. She looked up at the woman before her. A soldier. No, a warrior. Maybe it was the scars on her face or just the way she could move her with as much effort as a child handled a doll, but the woman before her was a force to be reckoned with.
“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now.”
A spark followed by intense pain cut off all sense of confusion as her mind turned to figuring out where it was coming from. As it melted away she followed the pain down her arm to her hand but when she managed to unscrew her eyes all she saw was green light. Her hand was blurred before her as she tried to focus on it, focus on the source of the pain. It didn’t make sense.
The warrior waited until she had ridden out the last wave of pain before removing her hand from her shoulder, seemingly unperturbed by what was happening. Was she being tortured? Was that it? What did they want from her?
The warrior slowly circled around her. “The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead.” She came back around to her. “Except for you.”
The Conclave? She remembered being there. Remembered the anticipation, the tension as everybody waited side by side. Hands hovering over sword pommels and staves. A single spark could have set the place alight. But she didn’t remember a spark, not then.
“You…” She tried to speak and found her voice cracked when the words forced their way out. She concentrated as she reached for the sentence she all but wanted to scream. “You think I… I did it?”
The warrior reached forward and grabbed her cuffed hand to hold it up before her, the green glow following. “Then explain this.”
As if prompted, her hand sparked and shot a lancing pain up her arm and into her chest. She couldn’t tell if it was becoming less painful or if she was just growing accustomed to it. This time, when the pain faded, she saw the spark form a crude fissure on her hand, emanating a pulsing light. A threatening reminder that it was still there.
She stared at her hand, mind reeling. She tried to follow through on the different thoughts that came unbidden into her head. Each of them presenting new theories, but none leading to a rational conclusion. The only thing she could say for certain was that this was not the magic she was used to dancing along her fingers.
“I can’t… This isn’t-”
“What do you mean you can’t?” The warrior almost spat the words at her. She released her hands and they fell uselessly back into her lap following the weight of the cuffs.
“I don’t know what it is! I… None of this makes sense!”
Before she knew it the woman was on her again but this time her grip was in no way gentle. She felt the metal gauntlets bite into her arms as she shook her. The image of the doll graced her thoughts again.
“You’re lying!”
Suddenly there was another voice. The tone was no softer but the words were. Another accent too. “We need her, Cassandra.”
The new woman stepped forward, pulling Cassandra away from her. She was different, dressed in scouting boots and light armour, hood pulled up over her head. She crouched before her, a cold blue stare watching her. “Do you remember how this happened? How this began?”
Something about her made you want to answer quickly and honestly, demonstrating cooperation. She racked her brains for the answer and found no clues except… “I remember running... Running from… Something and then… a woman?”
“A woman?”
The words were coming out as the memories came back to her, blurred and distorted. “She reached out to me but… I can’t… I don’t remember.”
The woman swiftly stood and turned to Cassandra. They exchanged words in hushed tones.
“I’ll take her to the rift.” With that the warrior concluded their conversation and the other woman left.
Cassandra turned to back to her and took three long strides before reaching down and pulling her to her feet. Her legs felt weak but the warrior held her firmly. After the initial head rush subsided the supporting arm was removed.
“Your name.”
She looked up at the woman warily, oblivious as to what might happen next.
“Rhana.”
“Alright, Rhana. Let’s go.” Cassandra turned on her heel and headed for the door the other woman had left through only moments ago.
“Wait! No. I don’t understand. What’s going on? What happened?” She was aware of how painfully shaky her voice sounded, layered thick with desperation but there was nothing she could do to hide it.
Cassandra paused and watched her. There was something in the way she looked at her. Was it pity? Sadness?
“It will be easier to show you.” The words felt heavy, full of warning. Suddenly, Rhana wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
She followed her on shaky legs but kept the pace up nonetheless, following in the warrior’s long strides. They walked down a torch lit hall and up a steep staircase, soldiers stopping to turn and look. Rhana kept her head down and focused on keeping her body upright. They came out into a small hallway where Cassandra strode over and pushed open the heavy wooden doors.
The light flooded the hall and Rhana wrenched her cuffed hands up to shield her face. The second thing she noticed was the panic. Everywhere. Everyone was shouting, barking orders, running around, it was as if the world was on fire.
Cassandra stopped further along the bridge that led from the hall. She turned to motion her forward. Rhana took measured steps out into the open and stopped almost immediately.
The sky above them was torn open into a vicious wound, which bathed them and the surrounding valley in a sickening green glow. Jagged streaks flashed into existence, reaching down to the ground and disappeared just as quickly as thunder would. And much like thunder, it never struck twice in the same place.
“We call it the Breach. It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour.” Cassandra’s voice seemed distant as Rhana fixated on the swirling torrent in the sky. “It’s not the only such rift. Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave.”
That caught her attention. “An explosion? An explosion did this?”
“This one did.”
“Unless we act, the Breach will keep growing until it swallows the world.”
Matching a particularly violent pulse in the sky, her hand sparked and lit up to match the bright hue of the emerald Breach. The pain brought her to her knees and she let out an involuntary cry. She kept her eyes on the mark as the fissure in her hand cracked up her wrist, smaller streaks spreading along her fingers and across her palm. When the pain dissipated she flexed her fingers and tightened her fist as if that might contain it.
“Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads… And it is killing you.” Cassandra knelt by her side. “It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”
“It may be the key? The key to what?”
“To closing the Breach. Perhaps. We’ll find out shortly. It is our only chance. And yours.”
Rhana closed her eyes. Squeezed them tight against the tears that came into her eyes without permission. None of this made sense. She spoke through gritted teeth, “You still think I did this? To myself?”
Cassandra wavered. “Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong.”
Rhana dropped her head in exasperation.
“You want to prove your innocence? This is the only way”
She looked up at the warrior after a heavy pause and squared her shoulders. “What do I need to do?”
She thought she saw the hint of a smile on Cassandra’s, but it faded all too quickly.
“Come.”