Title: Pacts of Life Part 2
Author: Nyx Seshat
Xyra ran through places she couldn’t remember. Hallways she felt as if she should know. Polished black stone seemed to stretch forever. Tapestries barely registered in her vision, streaks of golds, reds, and blues as she rushed past. Ancient battles, she vaguely thought as her brain tried to piece information together. There was a fog, inside this world physically, and filling her mind. This fog, she knew by now, was the reason the dream would end. It would press more and more as the dream progressed. She could feel the damp sensation it was leaving on her existence. Even here, in this dream world, she knew the secrets lie buried. She just had to beat the fog to get to them. That, however, was a battle it seemed fate would not allow her to win.
She could feel their magics clashing stronger than they had before as she closed in on where she knew they would be. She dreaded going, knowing how the fight always ended regardless of how the dream formed it each time. She approached the too familiar intersection in the hallway. One direction led to a beautifully carved glass door. Beyond this door, she could see brightly colored plants shining through the frosting on the glass. Some leaves, larger than her entire torso, pressed defiantly against the glass, screaming to be seen and noticed in their own way. She had a vague memory of fighting that plant specifically. She remembered its large, dark purple leaves. The specs of blue variegation scattered across its leaves and stems, giving the plant a slight shimmer in the right angles of light. She had vague memories of a light, bright purple colored seedling when she had planted it. She had first explored that direction when she realized she had a bit of freedom here. Most of the things she came across were unfortunately distorted, their appearances blocked from her view. She focused on the visible objects, most of the time, desperate for something understandable to cling to in this dream world of confusion, depression, and buried secrets.
The other direction led down a significantly shorter hallway to a second, larger doorway. This one was less decorative. Made of steel, wood, and magic itself, the door was opposing and rippled with dark magic in deep purple clouds of rolling smoke. She felt insignificant next to it, a feeling that she somehow knew had always persisted from childhood till now. She knew this door well, and could find no clues to why. She had seen it countless times in many of the dreams of this dream world. She felt more than heard the clash of their magics against each other. The shock waves vibrated through the floor, up her feet, and into her very skull. She heard the glass doors rattling from the vibrations as she pulled the large doors open. Maybe this time, the dream would let her see one of their faces. She knew, as soon as the hope crossed her mind, that that the dream world would crush that in an instant.
Two figures came into view. Indistinguishable images flashing in front of her so quickly she couldn’t focus on them. She only saw them as streaks of colors in the shapes of their bodies. One was a deep, blood red, the other was the shade a blue she had only seen in bodies of water. Bodies of water so deep, light could not penetrate. An almost black blue it was so dark. She could see the magical weapons they wielded as they dodged each others attacks. Both had chosen swords for this particular display of the battle. A battle she did not understand why she was forced to watch every night for the past five years.
Her eyes drifted to the flecks of the colors scattering along the ground, watching them join into large, blended puddles. The blues and reds mixed together en masse, painting the ground beneath their feet. It splashed up as they ran through it, covering their legs and feet in specks of the opposite body’s color. She felt the fog growing denser, a faint pressure that seemed to build all around her. She could feel the pressure focusing on her neck. She watched as one of the colors materialized in front of her, mere inches away. She felt his hand grabbing her skull as the opposite color rushed over. His large hands covered her eyes, blocking out the sights of the dream world. She could feel the fog pushing into her mind. She registered a distant noise. Someone laughing, maybe? It was distorted, jumbled up with the sound of wind rushing in her ears, seeming to fill her head.
She could hear a faintly familiar voice screaming her name as something darkened around her memories. She struggled to breathe, the pressure in her skull stopping her from inhaling. The burning feeling of that things hand on her face lingered through the darkness that began to swallow the world she visited.
She woke with a gasp, sweat rolling down her face into her hair. The campfire was almost out she noted, trying to distract herself. She didn’t notice Morvigar watching her from higher up in the trees, keeping a lookout while she slept. She looked around, noting his absence, but thinking nothing of it as she crawled towards the fire, poking it with some of the spare sticks as she layered them in. She curled her legs to her chest, feeling bereft as she always did after her dreams. They weren’t all the exact same, but she knew they were all related somehow. She couldn’t remember how the voices sounded every time she woke, but she could always remember the stabbing, gut wrenching loss, she felt. She knew in her gut, it was related to her lost memories. But the dream had never revealed anything definitive. Sometimes, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was only putting reasoning into her dreams as a way to deal with her own internal struggles. She chased the doubt down as easily as she would drop a torch into a bucket of water. She knew the dreams were real memories. She knew it deep within her bones.
She looked up at the sky, wondering if she would ever figure out what they meant. Something horrible must have happened to her five years ago for it to still be plaguing her dreams and blocking her memories. Maybe traveling north, leaving this land, would make them stop. Maybe she just needed distance. Or, could it be she just needed to be closer to her home to understand? Was there some kind of key thing she needed to see to jog her memory? She noticed movement from the corner of her eye, but turned to find nothing there. Maybe, she hoped, resting her chin again on her knees. Maybe she could find something along the way to trigger something. Something that would give her even the smallest piece of a clue. Something that told her she wasn’t crazy for having these dreams. Something that could lead her home. Something that would finally fill that black hole she felt inside. Something that could stop that swirling darkness from consuming every ounce of her being.
Morvigar watched silently as Xyra slept beneath the trees below his current perch. His tail was wrapped around the trunk of the tree, holding on so he would not fall. It wasn’t the pain of the fall he was concerned with. It would be an embarrassment for one in his position to simply fall from a tree. He pushed thoughts of the fight with his rival from his mind. Their recent near encounter with his harvesting spell had him revisiting his past unwillingly. He shoved the thoughts deeper into the cage within himself, noticing Xyra was having another nightmare. He watched as she twisted, knowing from trying before that trying to wake her was no use. It was the magic. Ever since he had found her under the oak tree, she had radiated with the curse. Their pact had been a way to help her discover the truth. Observing, he watched as she opened her eyes with a gasp, her breathing frantic. He held firm as she gathered herself and crawled to the fire. He followed her gaze up, letting his eyes soak in the night sky. Memories of another night sky flashed across his eye, the haunting memories that would never leave him alone. He felt his eyes sting and forced himself to check their surroundings.
The next morning, Morvigar was woken by a rock landing directly on his forehead, knocking him off balance so he ended up hanging upside down like an opossum, his tail being his only salvation. Xyra stood below him, tossing another rock in her dominant hand, grinning like a mad woman. A face he unfortunately had to see quite often aimed at him. “Mornin’ sunshine!” She called from below, her voice having a sickly human ring to it. Yet, she was the only human thus-far who he did not truly mind being around. He sighed, knowing if she ever knew this she would use it against him. So, he kept it to himself. He didn’t need fuel added to her wildfire.
“What?” he responded, keeping his voice cold, distant as he folded his arms across his chest.
“You could at least say morning back, ya know.” She sighed, pouting a bit, still holding onto the rock as she put her hands on her hips, “You don’t have to be so grumpy all the time. We’re on another adventure!”
He uncurled his tail from the tree, letting himself fall. Flipping in mid air, he gracefully landed on his feet. Returning her stare, he met her eyes, keeping his own as blank as a sky covered in storm clouds. Her smile only widened, as if she could somehow see through his facade, “This is why I call you a cat. You land on your feet and you act like royalty, but you’re really just a little bit of a goofball.” He ignored her comment, noting instead that she had already cleaned up the camp before waking him. The fire lay smokeless, covered in dirt. He could see the lines in the sand where she had drug sand onto it. Her satchel hung from her shoulder. He noted briefly as he looked over in his observations, that she was sliding the spare rocks into her bag. Mentally, he sighed. Outwardly, he gave no impression he had seen her. She hadn’t missed anything for once, he found himself proud of her and immediately shoved that horrible feeling deeper into the box, slamming the lid down quickly.
“Ready then?” She shrugged, heading back towards the road they were taking before he could respond. Morvigar quietly fell behind her, his eyes lingering on their campsite to double check. As he turned his eyes away, a shadow rippled through the clearing, darting from the shadows of the trees on one side. It rushed through, quickly melting into the shadow from the other trees. It lingered there momentarily, judging the distance, before rushing forward to rejoin Xyra’s shadow.
They had only been walking for two hours when they first noticed the smoke in the distance. Billowing up above the distant tree line in large, dark clouds. Not pausing in their momentum, both of their eyes traced the trail of the smoke up. “It’s probably the next town,” Morvigar mentioned casually as he noticed it had gained her attention as well.
“Should we check it out, or pass it by?” Xyra responded, sounding indifferent on the matter though her hand subconsciously moved to cling onto her amulet for comfort.
Morvigar looked away and shrugged, “May as well. If there is trouble at more than one town, knowing what’s going on could be beneficial. Want me to go check it out first?”
Xyra stopped walking then, pressing her finger to her upper lip as she stared at the smoke in concentration. Finally, she nodded, and Morvigar’s body disappeared as he left. She stared quietly at the space where he had been, suddenly feeling exposed. She sometimes forgot how heavily she relied on him being there. Even when he was back in the demon realm, she found herself feeling vulnerable when traveling alone. This typically caused self-irritation as she wrangled with the knowledge that even alone she was capable of defending herself. Sure, she may not be as powerful as a demon, but she wasn’t useless either! She was fairly good with her daggers up close. Though, her best skill was throwing them.
Sighing, she told herself to shut up. She hummed quietly as she continued on, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked up at the sky. She took in a deep breath, noting the lack of smell of smoke. It might hours for humans to travel the distance to the fire. Morvigar, though? Even in his bipedal form he was faster than any human. If he switched to his true form, a human stood no chance. Her thoughts drifted back to her dream. The fog she found herself surrounded by in her dreams, persisted through to her awakened state. Less empowered when she was awake, it felt more like a distant haze of fuzz in the back of her brain.
She had never confessed the true depth of how the curse caused her to feel in her head to Morvigar. There was nothing he could do, and thus no point. He had already said as much on their first meeting, that he was incapable of curing curses. Curses, he said, were below him. All he needed was a blade in his hand, or his claws and teeth. She really was beginning to feel like there would never be a solution to her loss of memory. Sure, she had new memories now. But she simply could not get rid of the nagging feeling that something important had been left behind with her memories. There was an empty hole inside her she could not fill. No amount of meditation, herbs, or hobbies had filled it. She had tried. Besides, he still complained about being in a pact with a human. There was no way she was about to try to vent to him. She once again focused on a single thought that floated through her mind: What if I really do need to go North for answers? She wasn’t sure why North was the only direction that would pop into her head, but here she was. It had just … felt right. She shrugged, maybe she really was from the North. Maybe that was why it was the only direction that she could think of. Maybe that was part of her subconscious mind trying to guide her home. She had always heard stories from various other travelers of the North. Those who had gone further than she always mentioned how the air was ‘just different’ in the north. If nothing else, going there might at least make her understand what they were talking about. She smiled, a feeling of hopeful curiosity bubbling to life deep in her gut. Maybe, just maybe, she would finally find the answers she sought. She closed her eyes, imagining finding family who welcomed her home as they rejoiced over her return. She never saw her shadow tremble, splitting into two. She never saw it rush to join the other shadows within the trees.
Morvigar finally returned well over an hour later in his beast form. She saw the manticore casually walking down the path toward her. His dense black mane bounced with each step. The stinger tail he so loved in his more bipedal form was relaxed, casually hanging low behind him. He stalked towards her, and she finally noticed the blood dying his muzzle a dark brown-red. He must have run into something, she thought, wondering what he had discovered at the burning city. Or maybe he had encountered an extra large mouse, she thought hopefully as she waved at him.