Anew
She has a kind heart. In the moments where no one is watching, she does the right thing. Except, unfailingly, the world seems bound and determined to punish her. It is not hard to imagine why she feels there is only one way out.
Iwake to a soft light overhead. At first, it’s difficult to discern if the light is Affliction in nature, but the subtle flow patterns cast shadows if you watch closely enough.
When I’ve stared at the light for the appropriate amount of time, I finally let my brain process everything else.
I first notice the five lines of tubing that trace into my arms and shoulders. It’s possible that the fixation with the overhead light is because I’m filled with enough drugs to take out sixteen orphans.
Whoa, weird thought.
There’s a ruffle of clothing beside me.
“Jesus Christ, are you a fucking bear?” I chirp, my voice slurred but coherent-ish.
The man freezes but gives me what I think might be a look, though what kind is hard to discern.
“She’s awake,” his voice is like a growl and I’m fairly certain now that he’s a bear in a skin suit.
Or a guy in a bear suit.
“Am I in an animal hospital?” I ask, glancing around at the medical equipment. It’s the most logical conclusion between the bear man and the beeping machines.
The room is outfit with tech with a name I don’t recognize: Ozymandias. There isn’t a single DAEMON brand amongst them.
But the rest of the room might as well be straight from a woodland resort. Maybe like something from the Western Alliance.
“Oh, shit,” I look back at the bear guy. “Am I in the Western Alliance?”
“No,” he says, voice holding confusion and slight exasperation. “Just hold your questions till the queen gets here.”
“The—” did he say queen?
A knock sounds at the wooden door and the bear guy lumbers over to it, knocking into something expensive looking as he does.
“I won’t snitch,” I promise, and he definitely gives me an exasperated look now.
He pulls the door open and—
“Oh fuck,” I yelp and try to move, but pain shoots down my back. “Oh, fuck me that hurts.”
Warm, soft hands push me back into the bed and Mary’s hauntingly beautiful face bends close as she examines me.
“Stop,” she whispers, and I do my best not to look anywhere but directly at her. “How do you feel?”
“I think there’s enough drugs in me to kill sixteen orphans,” I say, nodding with confidence. “And I think that guy might be a bear.”
Mary glances back to the hulking man who just shrugs.
“Thank you, Gregor,” she says, though her voice sounds sterner than normal.
“Definitely a bear,” I nod.
The man snorts as he leaves the room, pulling the door softly behind him.
I look back and find the rigidity has left Mary’s spine, her eyes on the floor. She looks exhausted as she traces an idle pattern along my forearm. The motion is soothing and oddly mortal of her.
“There is Red Magic running through you,” she says, finally looking up at me. “It’s non-addictive and should simply dull a lot of your pain sensors but should not give you the effects that human pain medications do.”
“What’re you saying?” I ask, trying to figure out if she said magic or not.
“I mean that your relaxed state currently is just you. Pain has been so normal in your daily life that it seems to have masked your natural charm.”
I blink at her as she gives me a quirked smile.
“Is that why I feel so good?” I ask, and Mary’s smile turns somewhat sad.
“And likely why you seem more unguarded, too. The magic also dampens your natural abilities, so there should be no one else in the room with us.”
It takes me a moment to realize what she means, but she’s right. The shadows are quiet. Hell, the entire room is quiet.
And she definitely said magic.
“Why?” I ask, feeling breathless as Mary’s idle tracing stills.
“Why what?” she asks, titling her head.
“Why me? Why wouldn’t you just let Darkrend kill me? Why go through all of this trouble to save me? Why did you take my knives?”
Mary nods slowly, as if getting my point.
“If you’re strong enough to walk, I can answer those first few questions. I have no desire to lie to you. Though how much you can handle at this moment is my concern. As for the last question,” she hums softly as she studies the bedding.
She looks up with what almost looks like am embarrassed smile.
“I took your knives because it became more than a directive to me. It became more than a duty to my people. You became more than a mission.”
Mary reaches out a hesitant hand and cups my face, drawing a thumb down my cheek and jaw.
“Did you kiss me?” I ask, not moving away from the touch.
She freezes and her hand falls, leaving my face colder than it has ever been.
“I apologize for that,” she says, staring down at her hands now, looking meek and small for someone who could annihilate a country on her own.
“No,” I shake my head, trying to figure out what the feeling in my chest is. “I just didn’t know if I hallucinated that or something.”
Mary seems to take me at my word and nods once, her strict posture and expression returning.
“Can you stand?” she asks, looking at the tubing with a much colder, analytical expression.
“I guess we can find out,” I hum and strain to swing my feet over the opposite side of the bed.
They move; despite the last thing I remember being the lack of feeling below my pelvis. Slowly, I press my feet to the cold wood below and brace gently as I stand. There’s no real pain, but the unsteadiness is evident in the slight wobble at the base of my spine.
There’s a huff of breath behind me and I turn slightly to see Mary’s relieved expression before it turns stern again.
“How long till—” I frown and turn to look at her fully. “Did you say magic?”
I don’t miss the quick look of panic on Mary’s face before she schools it.
“There’s a lot to explain, Arya,” she moves to a closet by the door and pulls out a pair of joggers, a shirt, and a dark cloak.
I glance down at myself now and realize I’m only in a hospital gown and underwear.
“Do not be embarrassed,” Mary says, voice soft. “You nearly died fighting Darkrend. There are only two people who have survived an encounter with him—and they’re both in this room.”
I take the offered clothing and pull on the pants quickly. I turn to face the corner and let the gown fall then quickly pull the shirt over my braided hair.
Braided?
I massage the tail. It feels sturdy and solid—pulling just enough to feel exactly like how I would do it.
Except I definitely didn’t.
“I didn’t fight him,” I whisper, shame flooding my chest. “I just took it. There wasn’t much choice, I suppose. He broke my powers.”
Mary is quiet for a beat before I feel her behind me. She presses a gentle thumb to my taut neck muscles, and I almost melt into the ground.
Neither of us comment on the soft whimper I let out.
“He only suppressed them. The ankle bracelet must have broken in the last few days. Probably before your fight with me since you hardly put up a fight then, either.”
I turn to face her, and she lets her hands drop to her sides.
“The bracelet?”
Mary’s nose crinkles a little as she frowns.
“I will have it fixed. It should make you resistant to our powers.”
“Our?” I squeak, feeling a pang of alarm start low in my chest. And then realize the shadows aren’t amorphous anymore. “Oh, shit, it’s wearing off.”
Mary nods once and wraps a gentle hand around my arm, directing me through the wooden door. And not for the first time in my recent memory, I’m at a loss for words.
“Are you a mole person?” I ask stepping into what has to be the largest cavern to ever exist.
Mary lets out a soft chuckle as she directs me off the deck of the cabin I’d been in.
Buildings of various designs are scattered across a vast rock hillside that spans further than I can make out. Some look like New Chicagoan copper and gears, while others look like what I’d seen in photos of the Western Alliance.
Winding between them all is a stone path that looks well maintained despite the rest of the place looking ancient.
The path winds up the hillside to what looks like an elevator tucked far off into the corner. And there’s no sky. Just rock.
“This is just the residential area,” she says, following my gaze. “The commercial district is on the other side of the mountain. And, no, we are not mole people.”
“We?” I ask, turning back to her. “Can you start explaining, or do I need to start begging?”
She gives me a worryingly meaningful grin, but nods.
“Let’s walk,” Mary says, gesturing to the path that goes left off the deck.
I nod and fall into step beside her.
“What do you know of the supernatural?” Mary asks, giving me a quirked eyebrow.
“Like vampires and werewolves? Only what I’ve read in the last few years.” I tap at my head and give her a self-deprecating grin. “I’ve got amnesia if you didn’t know.”
“I do know,” she says, but doesn’t expand. “I ask because what you are about to experience will likely be overwhelming.”
“I think ghosts exist, if you can believe it,” I say, giving her a sideways glance. “Though it took a while for me to comprehend that what I see and hear isn’t just my slow descent into madness.”
She puts a hand on my shoulder, and we stop short of rounding the first set of deserted buildings.
“You will have questions, and I will do my best to answer them. When we are done here, I would like to discuss next steps,” she sounds so formal. So different from the woman a few moments ago.
I hate it.
“I will do my best to hold until after the tour,” I say, giving her a look that I hope conveys my confusion. “Though I haven’t forgotten you’ve said the word magic twice now.”
Mary lets out what might be huff of laughter, but ushers me forward. The path dips low before widening considerably. At the basin of the cavern is a huge stone field with buildings that surround a center courtyard.
And that’s when I see them.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, slowing to a stop.
The courtyard vibrates with life. Except these aren’t humans. And I’m pretty certain most of them aren’t Remnants either.
“In 100 A.D., this place began a means to protect the supernatural world from the expansion of a new breed of humanity. It was only a few years later that we began to protect Remnants as well.”
My mind races as I take in the various shapes and figures. Like the bear guy from before, there countless large, biped beasts that mingle in one corner of the courtyard. Near them are what look to be dragon-like creatures.
And those are just the two groups that are easy enough to discern from this distance.
I swallow thickly before turning to look at Mary.
“What—” my knees buckle and I sit roughly on the stone floor overlooking the party.
Mary squats beside me, a hand coming to rest on my shoulder.
“Just breathe,” she whispers, breath feather light as it tickles my ear. “And do not be angry with me.”
“For what?” I huff out in a choked laugh.
There’s a shout from down below and the entire field falls into an uncanny silence.
“For introducing you to Tempest.”