Here's a little something I'm working on for fun (unrelated to my debut novel). I'm mostly using this to get myself "in the right head space" to work on my novel. Lemme know what you think! <3 Criticism should be helpful, not hurtful. <3
Title: Pacts of Life (Part 1)
Author: Nyx Seshat
The moment she woke up, Xyra knew something was wrong. Pushing thoughts of her dreams to the back of her mind, she tried to focus. It wasn’t the smell of smoke, that was typical by now. Burning cedar, pine, rosemary, lavender, and basil was not a fool-proof method. Some tainted flee from the combined scents, while some are pushed into a rage. That is why settlements are fenced in. If a tainted does become enraged, which in and of itself is rare, there is a line of defense against them. It didn’t seem like the fire had gone out or needed more herbs. The compound still smelled comforting. No, it wasn’t the smoke giving her goosebumps. It was the silence. She sat up, carefully inspecting the room before getting to her feet. It was too quiet. She couldn’t hear the chickens, or the goats bleating incessantly. Had all of the kids suddenly gone mute? The tavern owner’s little hellions were usually sprinting around like goblins. She pulled her silver hair into a tight ponytail and checked for her knives and satchel. Old Frank was always shouting at the tavern’s bar maids for something, yet she could not hear the usual bickering. Only the silence. The emptiness gnawed at her gut, an unease she couldn’t shake off.
She made her way through the now-familiar tavern, winding through the hallways as silent as her surroundings. With each step, her anxiety tightened like a coil in her chest. She had visited this tavern many times on her various jobs. Laundry baskets were dropped in the middle of the halls, their contents spilling across the floor with a faint, musty scent. A platter lay on the floor, partially covering broken teacups. If there had been any liquid in them when they dropped, enough time had passed for it to dry away. Various toys were scattered near the nursery, some were further down the hallway in the direction of the main hall. The sound of running water could be heard as she passed the bathrooms, its rhythm jarring against the oppressive stillness. She moved through the discarded things, wondering where everyone had gone in such a rush. Had there been a breach? Had something gotten through? How the fuck had she slept through this? Was it because of that damn dream? She reached the front entrance, noticing it had been left ajar. The door creaked as the wind nudged it open. The breeze against her face made her realize just how clammy she had become. Maybe she should summon Morvigar before she explored more. No, she told herself, if I summon him now and it’s clear, he’s gonna be pissy.
The amulet around her neck began to gently pulse, a soft ripple of magic emitting from it, slowly moving over her skin. Her heart rate quickened as the amulet’s magic glided across her skin. Her chest began to warm as the amulet’s magic spread. It wasn’t the magic or the amulet she was afraid of. The amulet only ever responded to protect her, what made her fearful was that it was responding to something. She scanned her surroundings for the source, the logical part of her brain honing in on the cause. Unsure of where or what it was, only knowing it was near, she made her way outside.
Outside
was just as silent. Even the wind seemed unable to make noise as it
blew through. The amulet still rolled against her skin, her constant
reminder and partial source of unease. Hand carts sat in the middle
of the main paths as if dropped mid-stroll. The sample trey little
Trent carried around to show off his papa’s cheese of the day lay
in the dirt, cheese bites scattered across the ground.
She
wasn’t incapable of empathy, entirely. Her heart was hurting, these
people may not have held a place in her heart as her own family once
did, but she had visited here often enough she knew everyone.
The gray sky moved silently overhead as she took in her surroundings. The wall, though far away, appeared to be untouched from what she could see. She noted the missing patrols, letting her eyes linger on the doors in hopes of seeing someone come outside. Her hope was for nothing. None ever came from any the guard doors.
She let her attention shift towards the market stalls. The stalls also stood unattended, yet still full of the various products offered. The more she moved her eyes about the market, the more unsettled she became. This was one of the major outposts. It was like everyone had simply vanished mid-task. Bags of coin lay spilled throughout the square, baskets of goods littered about. It was similar to what she had seen inside the tavern. Everything was a mess. Everyone was gone.
The livestock pens were all emptied, save for the blood and leftovers. Parts of the fencing were ripped apart. Pieces and splinters were scattered around. She knew then, that one of the tainted must have crawled over the wall in the absence of the guards. That could be the only reason she found no human remains. She knew she had to summon Morvigar. She could see bloody tracks from one of the tainted leading towards the back of the compound.
She raised her hands, the blade on her left finger unfolding with precision as she pressed it into her thumb, letting the blood drip onto the ground. “Come back to reality, bitch,” she smirked as the smoke began to curl from the drops of blood. She pressed her thumb against her pants as she backed up a step or two. The smoke curled upward, the smell of sulfur burning her nose as it billowed defiantly towards the heavens. Xyra curled her nose, stepping back further from the summoning spell. Watching the smoke, she saw the ripples as he stepped through with a scowl. His shaggy black hair seemed to bounce as he walked through the smoke. The red and brown leather pauldrons contrasted against the V-neck tunic he wore. As usual, when he was relaxed, he leaned his glaive against his chest. His scorpion tail swayed absently as he entered the human realm. His electric-yellow eyes scanned the surroundings before landing on Xyra.
“What could you possibly need now? Another back scratch?”
She shrugged, “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
His face, blank, merely faced her. Sighing, she explained the situation as he sat cross-legged on the ground, resting his chin on his hand as his scorpion tail swishing back and forth like an agitated cat. The sight of this sent her into laughter mid-explanation.
“What now?” He sighed, unsure if he wanted the answer. He had gathered enough from the fact that the usually bustling compound was deserted minus the bloody mess in the chicken coop beside them. He was glad she hadn’t summoned him in that mess.
She wiped the tears from her eyes, holding her ribs, “I can’t take you seriously with the agitated cat tail. What’s the matter kitty, are you upset?”
He stiffened, “I am not a damned cat and you know it. Now what is it you need?”
She shrugged, “Not my fault you’re acting like a cat. Everyone’s gone. I think a tainted got inside. My necklace has been going off since I woke up.”
“Wait just a minute now. You mean to tell me I was this close,” he held his index finger and thumb up, just barely apart for emphasis, “To being free of your inane personality?”
“Did I stutter?”
He closed his eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took deep breaths. Being bound by pact to this human meant he could not just drop her into a volcano and be done with it. Though the thought of dropping her and letting her fall for a few seconds did sound appealing, he looked around trying to sense what he could. Although he could detect the tainted, it was faint. He could also detect faint traces of an ancient spell. One he shouldn’t ever have been able to detect again.
She poked the tip of her blade against his exposed chest, the tip of the blade she always wore bringing forth a trickle of black blood, “Wanna share the thoughts zooming around up there or are you going for the brooding manticore demon beauty pageant?” He glared down at her bright violet eyes, noting the excitement she got over seeing him bleed. Some parts of the pact could be a good thing. Before his mind could wander, she pulled back, shaking off the demon blood from the blade.
“Seriously, I can’t go into this blind. What’s going on Morvigar?”
“I’m detecting a spell I haven’t seen in a very long time. The tainted is nearby, but I cannot pin down where. It might be that spell I detected interfering with my detection ability, or it’s another mutation of the tainted creatures. You haven’t found any other survivors?”
Xyra looked around, “Does it look like I’ve found anyone?”
Morvigar kept quiet, knowing that if he kept bickering with her he would lose focus. The traces he could detect of the spell used should have been impossible. That man was dead with no one to inherit his knowledge. That spell had died with him. Had someone recreated it? How were they able to get so close to it? Something had to be different about it but what?
He reached out, not physically, but with his ability to detect magics. He observed how the traces of the spell floated gently. Though invisible to the eye, his ability allowed him to feel how the particles left behind moved. He could sense no difference in how the spell was done comparatively. He did not understand. It had to be someone else, he himself had watched as the man who created this spell took his last breath. He was the one who had shoved his blade through his rib-cage. He was the one watching over the only relation, and this did not have their magic attached to it.
“You always get the same expression on your face when you use your detecting magic,” Xyra laughed, trying to hold herself together, but when his face dropped like that and he turned to look at her she couldn’t hold in the laughter anymore. “Let’s just get what we need to know and dip, this is not my problem. I was just passing through.”
“It might end up being all our problem in the end,” he said, “I’ve seen this spell before.”
“From where?”
“I can’t remember,” he shrugged.
She narrowed her eyes, studying his obvious “there’s nothing here” face. He was just being an ass. Neither of them noticed the shimmering of her shadow. She waited as patiently as she could, considering that she had little to no patience in general. Mere seconds passed before she opened her mouth, “Well?”
He shrugged, “It’s from another demon, a rival so to say, that I killed a few years ago. Someone must have found some way to recreate it. I just don’t know how yet.”
“That’s odd, so is that how everyone just vanished or something?”
“Yes. It’s a harvesting spell. It absorbs the bodies and souls of people within range.”
“It’s a what?”
“A harvesting spell.”
“I’m sorry. Wait a minute. You’re telling me, that some psycho came in and was like ‘kerchow! You’re my snack now?”
“I guess that’s one way to put it.”
“Gross.”
“If you dislike eating souls, then I guess it would be gross.”
“Again. Gross.”
She walked off, shaking her head. Demons were gross and that was that. “Let’s get out of here then,” she stated heading toward the front gate. Sometimes not having a specific place for a home worked to her benefit. While it was sad, what had happened to these people didn’t weigh on her as it might have others. She had no real emotional attachments to these buildings or the land. She had frequented the tavern enough to know those who existed in this space consistently, but she had no actual connections to this outpost. Seeing it all again, the dropped belongings, the scattered coins, she felt a kind of sorrow for the loss of it all.
As they passed the tavern, the pulsing from her amulet momentarily increased though she could see no danger, or anything for that matter. She wondered if her amulet could have been what protected her from that spell Morvigar had mentioned detecting? She wanted, now, more than she had yesterday, to keep going north. She was tired of traveling this kingdom anyway, and if things like this were starting, then she felt it was time to move on before she got dragged into it.
While Morvigar pushed the gates open for her, she took one last look at the outpost. How long would it take for a visitor to come along and find the destruction? Would any of the human mages be able to solve what had happened better than Morvigar had? She doubted that. Their detection spells were child’s play comparatively. No, they would probably just sell the buildings as quickly as they could. And if they couldn’t be sold? They’d probably just rot. She was glad she wouldn’t be coming back here. Seeing new people here would not sit right with her.
Noticing her thoughts were dragging her too far inward she looped her arm under and around Morvigar’s, “So, North then?”
“If that’s what you want,” He nodded, adjusting his arm so she could loop hers through more comfortably (for the both of them).
As they walked away, the amulet began to settle down, though the unease in the pit of her gut lingered. What had it been protecting her from?