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“Before you came along with your funny tricks, the elves left us all alone,” he replies. “Now they’re breathing down our necks, ruining lowtown. You couldn’t even stand with us when we needed you.”
I hear the deep whinnying and hard steps of an equu, seeing a mounted elven guard approaching the district. Immediately, the men and women around me avert their eyes, shifting their focus from me to anything else in the vicinity. They know that if a fight breaks out, the dark elves will only quell it, and that will lead to greater loss of life.
“You don’t need to worry,” I say, fighting to hold back more tears. “I’m leaving the town tonight.”
He scoffs. “Good riddance.”
I live on a steep hill next to lowtown, on the outskirts of town. During my spare time, I used to look out the window and ponder what was happening in the town below. The lives of humans and dark elves alike both fascinated me.
Just when I think I might experience a moment of peace, I notice from a distance that streaks of red paint cover my beautiful, small brown house.
“No,” I whisper.
Trying to hurry up the hill, the words
Never Leave a Witch Alive
become clearer in my sight, coating the house facade.
Who would do this? I think to myself. Until I realize that the better question is, who wouldn’t?
When I finally reach my home, I rub my hands over the exterior walls, feeling that the paint has already set. Looking over my shoulder for possible stalkers, heat tingles in my hand, and I mutter an incantation to myself.
Blue light appears on my fingertips, and I press my fingers against the walls, the painted letters vanishing before my eyes in a streak of blue.
I take a deep breath, my heart rate spiking as the anxiety sets in that somebody must have seen me. I double-checked multiple times, but I know better than to trust my judgment.
It isn’t right that I must fear for my life like this.
It isn’t right that I’m being cast out of my own home without a shred of evidence.
I wipe my tears as I collect my belongings, using a couple of small compacting spells to ensure everything fits.
They were willing to take everything away from me without asking even a single question. There must be more suspects in this town than just me, so why am I the only one under scrutiny? What stops a dark elf from framing me?
My despair becomes righteous anger as I haul my luggage out the door.
I know that people will challenge me on my way out of town. They may scowl, even insult me, but I know something they don’t.
I’m innocent. And from this moment on, as I leave the comforts of my own home and venture into a less civilized world, I’m going to spend every minute of my time proving it.
2
RUKH
“To the strangers I’ve yet to reap… thank you.”
I look out over the surrounding countryside, still groggy with my eyes half-shut. In truth, I don’t know who or what awakened me. Perhaps it was all of them. There are many disembodied voices in my head, all crying out for attention.
The forest around me is black, with leaves and pine needles shaking from stray gusts of wind and animal whims. I am alone out here, not like before. It is a strange feeling.
The solitude is peaceful but also deafening.
I can hear the hearts of the wicked screaming, begging to be purged of their abuses. There are too many to count. I wish I could peel into their skulls and understand what makes their brains tick because from here, they are nothing more than echoes, the underbelly shadows of larger beings.
The mystery makes me salivate.
“I wonder. How long have I slumbered?”
