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Audra

Sleep was ever evasive, as always. Audra would never sleep under the current circumstances. The morning sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon from her window. She could already see the destruction just outside the window. Trees in the distance had fallen over, the building that was next to the docks had a large chunk missing. She wondered how people could fight off something so monstrous, something capable of such destruction. She stood up and stretched before deciding to start her day, whether or not she would be able to head to the town or not was unclear, she just wanted to make sure most of it was still intact then she could get some sleep.

After getting dressed and locking the door behind her she heard some cheers coming from within the tavern. She was too tired to be running for joy, so she opted for staggering towards the main room to see what the damage was. A myriad of smells invaded her senses, ale, sweat, food, and blood. Whether it was from people or the Daosr wasn’t clear.

The open room was full of people, some were bruised, some were mourning, others were unharmed, all of them were drinking for one reason or another. Cabana wasn’t among the people celebrating, her scent was nowhere within the vicinity. Audra gave a sad smile at the scene before her, she knew that the Monster was slain, but she didn’t know the cost of it. That was when caught the sight of the Royal Knight insignia, three men and one woman sat together, all of which were injured some way or another, they looked mournful. Audra’s heart began to race, Cabana wasn’t with them, neither was the man that had entered last night. Mai was serving them each a mug before making her way back to the bar. Audra quickly made her way to the bar to speak with Mai.

“Hey Audra, can I get you anything?” Mai offered.

“Not just yet, what’s the news?” Audra asked. Mai shook her head.

“It’s bad...really bad, thankfully I was out of town when it all happened. I heard the roars and decided to steer clear of here until it was over.” She audibly gulped. “It’s...most of it’s just...gone.” She claimed.

“What do you mean by that exactly?” She questioned.

“You’ll...have to see it for yourself. Vasuki’s already went. There will be a burial tonight.” Audra shivered at what his reaction might be.

Audra ran to the town as fast she could. Dirt flew up as her feet slammed against the ground with every step. She knew it wasn’t going to look good but what she was going to find was worse than she could ever imagine. The tree’s zoomed past her as she began to see the clearing that withheld the town, like a bird nest that had been invaded by a hungry snake. After clearing the distance between the Dragon’s Dinn to the shopping district she could finally see what happened to the town. The shopping district had been reduced to little more than rubble. A few buildings still stood, if only partially. The clothing store Audra had gone to the day she arrived here looked as though it had been destroyed from the inside-out. An odd amount of buildings had trees smashed through the ceilings and walls, the teeth marks embedded within the trees told her a terrifying story of a powerful beast swinging a tree around like a weapon. Walking down the road she almost didn’t notice the fountains were missing, simply a puddle of water remained where they had once stood. Perhaps the most horrifying thing was the amount of people walking around in a daze.

Slowly making her way to the housing district, next to the shopping district, Audra found homes battered to the ground. Bricks embedded with runic writing lay, scattered, on the ground.

‘Even this didn’t hold it back.’ Audra thought to herself. Nashatalian was a powerful language, at least from what she could tell. Some buildings had toppled, others had been crushed underneath a giant pressure. A few had been burnt to a crisp, quickly followed by a new clearing littered with the charred remains of trees. The smell of death was one she didn’t welcome but it was one that needed to be accepted by the people that had been lost by the tragedy.

‘Still no sign of Cabana.’ There was only one last place to look.

Audra made her way to the path that would take her to Cabana’s cabin in the woods, only to find the path blocked by the body of the Daosr. Countless cuts covered it, some were long and deep, others were shallow and small. She knew that Royal Knights were dangerous, Felix had made sure she knew that, but this was so much more than killing a few people.

Standing next to the Daosr, Audra could see the muscles that built the creatures stature. Up close made it look much more intimidating, the only thing taking that away from it was the fact that it was actually dead. Muscles lined it’s entire body, not bulging, but running her hand over it’s body let her feel the power each of it’s limbs had once contained. She shook away the shiver that ran down her spine before making her way around the Daosr.

Where the town had been solemn and in mourning, the forest was serene and calming. Audra usually walked quickly to get to where she was going, but the fresh scent of nature and the singing of birds made her slow down to enjoy the scene that danced in the wind. Eventually Cabana’s cabin came into view, it was perfectly fine, no damage to it all. She breathed a sigh of relief but there was still a knot of worry in her chest.

As Audra’s foot hit the bottom step that led to her porch the door slowly opened. Cabana stood before her, she wore a simple tunic and breeches, her left arm was wrapped in bandages and the faint scent of blood was coming from it. She looked at Audra and groaned in aggravation before walking inside and gesturing for her to come in.

“Someone’s cranky.” Audra commented.

“You actively try not to die for 14 hours. It’s tiring!” Cabana yelled from her bedroom. She seemed to muffle in pain.

“You okay in there?” Audra asked.

“I’m...I’m in a bit of pain.” She claimed walking into the living room and sitting on the cushioned chair.

“Your arm?”

“No...I was bitten by Hellhounds a long time ago. When you get bit by them your wounds don’t heal. And their venom stays right underneath the skin, it burns. Really. Fucking. Bad. I have some medicine coming in for it.” She said. There was a small silence between them, this was the first time she was alone with Cabana, but she didn’t seem like herself.

“What was it like? Fighting the Daosr I mean?” Audra queried. Cabana looked her right in the eyes, there was no smile, there was no joy, only a deep sadness that had hardened over time.

“Reminded me of who I used to be. And if that was the only thing it had done, it’s death would be just as accepted as it is now.” Cabana claimed her voice reminded her of Felix’s. Monotonous and serious.

“I’m...sorry, you must have went through a lot.”

“A hell of a lot. Vasuki knows what I went through, he knows why I am the way I am. Him and Igon are the only two people I trust enough to give that kind of information to. Whoever told fate to take his mother away from him deserves to be tortured. He’s a good kid.”

“Kid? He’s in his 20’s right?” Audra asked.

“Yeah he’s like...23? No he’s 22 he’ll be 23 next month. So he’ll be distant during that time. He’ll probably want some peace and quiet and to let him stay in his room.”

“He’s going to stay in his room for his birthday? That doesn’t sound like a good way to celebrate.” Audra pointed out.

“You tell him that, he knows it but he hates his birthday. He always claims that he just wanted his mother there so that she could enjoy it with them.” Cabana pointed out.

“He’s in a lot of pain.” Audra said, remembering the events that he had recently went through. Then Cabana said something that took her by surprise.

“So are you. There’s a reason the mirror will speak to you, will act on it’s own. No one is mentally okay. And your Ascender will make sure it gets their message across.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“Go get some sleep, you obviously didn’t sleep well last night.” Cabana said, “But first” she said getting up and entering her bedroom once again. “take this.” She finished, handing her a small circular leather box.

“What is this?” Audra asked popping it open to reveal a cushioned interior and a circular mirror on the bottom of the lid. “Why do I need a pocket mirror?” She asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough, I can tell you that much.”

After giving Audra the mirror, Cabana ushered her out of her home and slammed the door closed behind her, not out of anger, but out of exhaustion. She hadn’t thought of it at the time, but as the finality of the door closing she wondered where Vasuki had been. She had went all over the town to see the damage, yet didn’t find him, nor was he at Cabana’s home. He was either in his room at the Dragon’s Dinn, the lake, or somewhere in the woods and if he was she wouldn’t be finding him any time soon.

Thankfully Vasuki had decided to seek refuge at the lake, sitting on the grass as fish picked at the bugs on the water’s surface.

“What’cha doing?!” Audra asked, abruptly. He jumped in his spot and looked at her in fear before breathing a sigh of relief.

“Fuck...don’t do that to me!” He said slightly smiling.

“That isn’t an answer to my question.”

“I’m just...trying to ignore what’s happened. Get lost in my head for a second. Not think about…” He turned behind him and gestured around. “that.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look too good.” She added.

“It’s just hard to believe that this happened. And the time to rebuild everything will take months. If not years. And there’s so many dead, a lot of families lost someone because of this.” Audra knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, and losing a loved one was a wound that time can’t heal, that kind of pain simply scars and the memory of it lasts forever.

“The world isn’t as happy a place as I think it is sometimes.” Vasuki claimed. “It’s funny really. I’ve had the world crush my soul into dust, and I still have the thought that it’s a good place.”

“Guess you’re as stupid as you look.” Audra teased sitting next to him, her joke was dry as sandm causing Vasuki to look at her in surprise, he was greeted by her wide smile and expectant face. He smiled and lightly shoved her.

“Asshole.” He replied smiling.

“Bitch.” She playfully retorted.

“Dick.” He added. “Have you got a place to work lined up?” He asked.

“Well I mean...no but I doubt that’ll be an issue for a while.”

“Why do you say that?” Vasuki asked. She gave him an incredulous look before gesturing towards the town.

“If it means keeping that fucking bathtub I’ll work my ass off for it.” Vasuki couldn’t help but laugh.

“You really got your priorities straight!” He pointed out.

“You bet your ass I do!”

“You are absolutely ridiculous!” He claimed. A wide smile on his face, and for a moment both of them had forgotten the terror the Daosr had brought everyone. A single ray of sunshine in the storm of sadness.