Buried in the wreckage of a Compound meant to imprison her, Faine awakens a shell of her former self. With no memories and a growing taste for revenge, she is given the ultimate decision.
She must save the city, or herself.
Round One 》✅️ 2k 》✅️
R...
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People were delicate creatures, it seemed.
Huddled together underneath a street lined with awnings and travel-stops as wind and rain ripped through the city streets. Flower petals waved and fluttered violently, spreading nature's confetti down the sidewalks and in an array of reds and golds.
One woman was particularly disheartened by them tangling her hair up, spewing a flurry of curses into the dreaded locks.
Faine felt horribly out of place as she skirted the streets of Mithlis, trailing after a flickering shadow.
Karras would disappear from one building only to appear on the next as the shadow of a bird or beneath the stairs of some foundation. He was confident, gliding from place to place as though hundreds of people weren't cowering away from the turbulent weather.
She felt herself frowning as she considered the humanity surrounding them. Faine's chest tightened as people laughed and shoved each other into puddles, those weightless sounds striking a hollow chord in her heart.
She wished, if only through empathy, that she might feel something so carefree.
Her only memories were lined with pain and confusion, let alone creatures these people knew nothing of. Only joy and the acceptance of a protection some likely took for granted.
The farther they walked, the more that conflicted sadness morphed into an anger Faine had never experienced. The sensation of her throat tightening around vengeful words only furthered the trembling of her body.
Faine didn't even notice when Karras manifested into a solid shadow and bounded up the stairs of an old victorian townhome. The fading ocher siding and onyx trim struck her odd until she remembered the certain eccentricities he'd mentioned. Still, between his blatant disregard for solidifying and the haunting hum of magic thrumming from the inside, Faine was thoroughly distracted from her anxiety.
The rage vanished completely as Karras' gentle knocks quickly plummeted into annoyed pounding.
"Stupid witches," he grumbled to himself. Karras paused for a moment, allowing a reasonable amount of time for someone to answer the door. After a few deep breaths, a growl rumbled in the back of his throat and he was pounding again. "Saesin, I know you're in there! I can hear you breathing."
Two things struck Faine oddly.
She couldn't understand how those who passed by didn't blink an eye at him or even look in their vicinity.
Nor did Faine consider it possible for magical applications to apply to the world around them.
Karras only grew more disgruntled and bitter as he hissed curses through gritted teeth and threatened to knock the door down.
Faine thought carefully over the Shadow Wraith terms. His avoidance of silver and iron, not to mention the training they'd done together. If Karras could hear Saesin through the wall, why couldn't she?
