“Hold on Hayden!”

“I’m holding on. Don’t be scared.”

“I’m not scared!”

“Alright I believe you. Shale’s a very brave girl.”

“I’m going to pedal, don’t let go!”

“Hey. Hold on one second. Take a deep breath.”

Shale breathed in and puffed out her cheeks.

“Let it out.”

“Phewwwww can I pedal now?”

She bounced up and down on the bicycle, impatient.

“You can pedal now. I’m right behind you.”

“You’re holding me, right?”

“Yep, yep, don’t worry.”

Shale moved her legs up and down, the wheels turned, and Hayden jogged behind her with a single finger on the back of the bicycle seat.

“I’m doing it!”

Hayden grinned and stopped jogging. He put his hands behind his head as he watched his little sister ride freely up and down the paved riverbank, her black hair blowing in the wind.

She brought the bike back to a stop next to him after a while, breathless.

“When did you let go?”

“Hmmmm, I wasn’t holding on from the very beginning.”

“Hayden! You liar!”

“Haha! Sorry, sorry. Forgive me?”

“Hmf. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

Hayden grabbed her and tickled her all over and Shale squeaked and giggled.

“Hahah! Hayden stop! I forgive you, I forgive you haha, Hayden!”

“Ha..y... st...p”

I heaved deep gasping breaths as I sprinted down the road, holding Shale on my back. The countryside was quiet, and the sun was beginning to set. Sweat poured down my back as Shale’s small head bobbed up and down on my shoulder.

“We’re almost there, don’t worry Shale, we’re gonna make it!”

Shale’s arms suddenly clamped around my neck. She heaved and struggled on my back, kicking and seizing. I struggled with her and we both fell to the ground, and I fought to keep her from hurting herself as she thrashed wildly.

“Shale? Shale hold on!”

Her eyes rolled back in her head and a frothy black foam spilled from her lips.

“No! no no no, Shale!”

I rolled her on her side and shoved my fingers into her mouth, trying to scoop out the liquid filling it.

She bit down and I bled, but I kept digging the black tar out of her airway and ignored the pain.

She coughed loudly and a spray of black hit the ground, then she went still, and something beneath her skin struggled, twisting along her arms and neck before vanishing. I forcibly repressed my urge to scream, pulled her up onto my back and kept running.

“Stay with me, Shale, you’re going to be okay. Shale it’s going to be ok, you just have to breathe.”

I blinked back tears as I ran, and as a beautiful manor appeared on the horizon ahead of us, I felt Shale’s muscles start to seize up again. Black drool poured from her mouth and onto my shoulder.

“Take a deep breath, Shale! Breathe!”

The clacking sound of hooves and the rumbling of wheels suddenly came from behind us.

I turned around and saw an elegant horse drawn carriage driving towards us, and my heart leapt to my throat.

“Stop! Stop stop stop!”

I jumped in front of the carriage, waving my arm wildly.

The fiend driver pulled back on the reins with a curse, and I backpedaled quickly as the horses slid to a stop in the mud, rearing up and whinnying.

“Move, fool!”

“My name is Hayden Waltess, my sister Shale is sick.”

“I don’t give a damn who you are! Get out of the road!”

“I have to speak with Lord Moddity. He’s a doctor right? The best doctor in the country. He’s in there, right? Doctor! Doctor Moddity, my sister needs your help! I ran here from Lecliss to see you!”

The passenger in the carriage was silent.

The fiend dropped the reins and jumped down to the ground, boots kicking up mud. He reached up to the flame that sat between his two horns, and pulled out a long, wicked whip made of pure blue fiendfire.

“Move.”

I backed up a little but didn’t get out of the way. I screamed at the carriage behind him.

“I’ve taken her to every doctor we could afford, they can’t tell what’s wrong with her! Please! They say you’re from another realm, that you know things that other people don’t!”

CRACK!

I jumped as the whip snapped right next to my face, searing my eyes with superheated air. I stumbled backwards, seeing stars, tears streaming down my face.

“Tell me what’s wrong with her! Please! You’re the only one who can help!”

The driver growled.

“The Lord doesn’t have time to diagnose every filthy, broke, peasant that decides to come die on his property!”

He flourished the whip, ready to strike me down, as I staggered backwards and screamed.

“I can pay! I CAN PAY!”

“Hold.”

A cold voice came from the carriage, and the driver stepped back instantly, coiling his whip.

The carriage door opened, and a thin, delicate looking gaian man stepped out, shielding his eyes from the sinking sun. Skirting around the carriage driver, I shuffled over to him.

“Payment.” He spoke one word.

I pulled the last four claws I had out of my pocket. Blood from the bites on my hand left red streaks on the shiny gold coins.

“This is all I ha-”

He waved his hand, and the coins vanished.

He turned his head to Shale and snapped his fingers. A silvery floating orb appeared above his hand and I stepped back in shock. He pointed lazily at the ground in front of him.

“Lay her down there.”

“That thing’s not going to hurt her right?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at me. He just waited for me to set her down, disinterested.

...I don’t really have a choice but to trust him here, do I?

I put Shale on the ground and stepped back, wary.

The orb floated over to her, and flashed a blinking blue light over her that scanned up and down her body.

Lord Moddity snapped his fingers again and the orb vanished, and a bright blue pane of light appeared in front of him, covered in symbols I couldn’t read. He looked over it briefly, then looked back at her. He worked his hands in a set of strange gestures and a complicated magic circle appeared above his finger. He pointed, and it vanished into Shale’s chest. She shivered.

“What did you just do?”

He didn’t answer, and turned his palm, and what looked like a clear crystal ball appeared in his fingertips. He crushed it in his fist and opened his hand again, and at the center of his palm between the broken shards of crystal, a black mass wriggled like a ball of black maggots writhing on top of each other. He waved his hand and it all vanished, then he spoke.

“She’s not sick. She’s incubating.”

“What? Incubating? Incubating what, I don’t understand!”

“Wasps, I would presume.”

“Wa-... is she going to be okay? Is my sister going to be okay?”

“Ah, ha ha ha.”

I’d never heard a drier laugh. He looked at me the way one might look at a puddle of vomit.

“She absolutely won’t be okay. A Souleater Wasp laid a clutch of eggs in her soul. They’ll grow, multiply and multiply, feeding on her soul, memories, and willpower, until she’s a mindless sack of meat. Then, millions of Souleater Wasps will burst from her body and, most likely, kill everyone in this country.” He flashed a gentle white smile.

“W-what! Fix her! Can you fix her?”

“Easily.” He looked bored again, and he stared off at his manor wistfully.

“Then do it!”

The Lord looked down at me with distaste. He opened a palm.

“Payment.”

“I already paid!”

“You paid for a diagnosis. I diagnosed. Treatment is obviously separate.”

I grit my teeth. Is he not even listening to the things he says? If he doesn’t help her, everyone in the country will die!

“I can get more money, how mu-”

“Six hundred golden claws.”

My blood ran cold.

“That’s insane! How am I going to get that much money?”

“You won’t.”

He closed his hand and turned back to the carriage.

“Wait! Wait, just WAIT!”

I reached out to stop him and a line of blue fire wrapped around my wrist.

CRACK!

I screamed and screamed and screamed and thrashed on the ground, clutching the burning ring carved into my arm.

The driver simply stood and watched me impassively, coiling his whip.

The Lord looked back at me over his shoulder with amusement.

“Aigoo.”

He walked back over, squatted down next to me and spoke.

“For you, 600 claws is an insurmountable amount of money. But the numerous lords and ladies of this country would pay that amount in a heartbeat to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Honestly, they’d probably pay DOUBLE. Think about this from my perspective for a moment.”

“For you, the imminent death of your sister is a terrible tragedy.”

“But for me it’s... a quite welcome windfall.”

I stared at him in fury. I’ve never wanted to kill someone before, but now I know the feeling. I scowled and spoke.

“I’ll get the money.”

Lord Moddity smiled.

“And I’ll treat your sister back to perfect health if you do.”

He stood up and turned around.

“But I’ll be hoping you fail, in all honesty.”

He put a hand out and the driver helped him step back up into the carriage.

“Ah, you probably have about two days, give or take, before she’s beyond saving.”

“What!”

The carriage door closed, the driver cracked the reins, and the carriage rolled along down the road towards the beautiful manor, leaving me and my dying sister behind.

I took a deep breath, mind racing, and I ran a hand through my hair as Shale took sudden, twitchy gasps on the ground.

I pulled Shale up and on to my back and was greeted with a sharp shot of pain from my wrist.

“Fuck! Aisshhh!”

I cursed and my hand shook, but I didn’t drop her. I held even tighter to the girl on my back and set my jaw as I turned away from the manor and began to sprint back down the road to the city of Lecliss.

As the cooling air rushed past my face as I ran, a plan began to form in my mind. No, not a plan, an insane gamble. A gamble with Shale’s life on the line. And... mine too, I guess. I shook away that thought. Shale must not die. Shale WILL NOT DIE. As the sun set below the horizon, the beautiful city of Lecliss appeared in view. Sparkling lights winked into existence in windows and within the low streetlamps along the tree-lined roads, casting beautiful reflections into the river along the waterfront. I dashed across the bridge and through the gates, drawing a couple of strange looks from the guards, rounded the corner and took off towards the east-

SLAM!

And slammed my wounded wrist straight into a person in a long black cloak that I didn’t have enough time to avoid.

“Aghhhh!”

I dropped to the ground in pain and nearly dropped Shale, while the person I bumped into simply paused their step, and turned to look at me as if they had barely even felt the collision.