Bound Evil

The fire crackled to itself as Emily watched the wood popping and shifting. Poking at its edges with a branch sent sparks rushing up toward the stone ceiling, along with faint grey smoke. The mouth-watering smell of raven eggs sizzling on a flat rock had Emily’s stomach grumbling. That along with dried meat they'd gotten from the cultists was their dinner.

The little den was surprisingly warm, even with the comparatively small fire to hold the chill at bay.

Emily’s eyes turn to the cave's open mouth, staring out into the night. Past the tree tops, the skies were aflame with glimmering stars and faint hues of whites and purples streaking through space. It was a phenomenon long since lost to the light pollution in most cities, and beautiful as it was, none was as eye-catching as the moon.

Its faint aquamarine tinge reminded Emily she was no longer on Earth, but it was the giant crater blown into the side that really drew her attention. It looked as though a colossal being had taken a neat bite out of the hunk of rock. At first, Emily thought the moon was just in a different phase, but the jagged craters near the site disillusioned her of this idea.

Turning away from nature's raw beauty Emily looked across the fire at Alex. The man was testing the edges of all his knives and then sharpening them on a small stone if they didn’t meet his standards.

Deciding to rip the band-aid off Emily inspected her nails

“So… seeing as we’re going to be fighting together we should know each other's strengths. That being the case, what's your title?”

Alex stopped sharpening his most recent dagger to look at her with narrowed eyes.

Emily was aware it was probably a sensitive subject, or the wandering fangs would not have needed to check her for ‘active titles’. By now Emily had come to assume these titles were something similar to superpowers, only everyone seemed to have them.

“Now I know you’re fishing. Eva would have known what mine were.”

Emily grimaced and glanced briefly down at the fire and back up at Alex.

“Well… I do know, but certain things are fuzzy. When I came back I found I was missing a whole lot of basic information. I’ll get there, but help would be appreciated?”

Now it was Alex’s turn to look away. He stared off into the night, but eventually, he began speaking.

“For the most part, people don’t mind one knowing their titles, but if you can help it don’t make it known to your enemies It can give one insight into how they fight.”

Emily shrugged.

“And so yours isss…”

Alex seemed to work his jaw but said nothing.

“Ah, you’re still not sure whether to trust me.” Emily nodded.

The fact that Alex silently held her gaze was enough of an answer.

“I can respect that. So titles do give abilities.”

Alex’s eyes flicked outside as though he were searching the night too.

“In a way sure, but when you switch over to a title you are donning more than just their strength, it’s their path. The further down it you go, the more of their knowledge you can access”

The way Alex said this carried a sense of weight. In the short time they had been together, Emily had seen he was normally a pretty serious guy but this subject seemed to hold a certain significance with him

“Who’s path?” she asked quietly.

“Every person who walked it before you.”

The words hung in the air for a moment, plunging the cave into silence, the sounds of the winds howling outside the only whisper.

Unable to take the heavy atmosphere, Emily rummaged through her bundle and took out the pieces of chalk she’d ‘acquired’ just hours ago.

Getting up she began to scratch lines of glittering chalk onto the wall of the cave.

“How does one go about acquiring a new title?”

Alex didn’t answer for the longest time, but then.

“After one reaches a certain rank, they enter their first sleeping. Most children hit this at around ten years old. After that, one can change their passive titles daily to ones they’ve earned throughout their lives. As for how one earns them that is a mystery people have been trying to figure out for the longest time. There are theories, but none that I’m interested in going over now.”

Emily stopped drawing and turned back to look at him.

“So you’re saying one just needs to sleep?”

Alex shrugged, but Emily realized she had yet to close her eyes since arriving in this world. It had never seemed safe to let down her guard so she just hadn’t, but now he was saying that was exactly what she needed to do.

Alex looked like he wanted to ask his own question but seemed to think better of it. Instead, his eyes moved to the words Emily had been scrawling on the wall in large bubble letters.

“You are aware that that chalk is worth almost three tri a stick right?”

She looked down at the chalk and finished coloring the escalation mark of ‘Emily’s Pad!’ in.

Shrugging she threw the last piece back with her things.

“Of course, I knew that, but come on it's human nature to mark where we’ve been.”

Alex’s brows rose.

“Is that what that is? I thought you were drawing a ward I’d not seen before.”

Emily glanced back at the fun lettering and realized she’d written it in English. She’d gotten so used to talking in Eva’s language, that she had forgotten she didn’t know how to write it yet.

“I mean, it sort of is?”

“You don’t sound confident about that, hand me a piece I’ll draw a proper one.”

Emily pouted and pulled the bundle closer.

“You told me not to bring it, plus you said the Wyrm scent would keep things away.”

A wrinkle appeared on the corner of Alex’s mouth but he didn’t press the issue, shrugging and turning over so that his back faced Emily.

“Well then I’m going to sleep, you take the first watch. Wake me in around four hours.”

It only took a few moments for him to adjust his pack as a pillow, and a couple of minutes later Emily heard soft snoring.

It was only when Alex fell asleep that Emily realized just how tedious keeping watch could be. It was mind-numbing. Initially, she meticulously organized her belongings, checked her supplies, and tended to the small fire with their reserves. Her potion of the raven scrambled eggs and dried meat was surprisingly good, it needed salt though.

Then, she idly drew in the dirt of the cave, smoothing the chalk to create a more even gradient. But soon, she found herself at a loss, she would have died of boredom if she hadn’t remembered the notebook she’d pilfered from the illusionist. and upon opening it discovered it contained not a lick of English, just some rather interesting diagrams and formations drawn out. It killed her that she couldn’t look more into it but Eva’s memories were sealed so tightly she wouldn’t be getting access to the written word tonight.

Finally, the time came for a shift change and Emily went over to shake Alex awake, who was up and moving before she could even lay a hand on him.

Grabbing her pack, Emily moved to one of the corners and settled down. Trying to fall asleep. There was a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her to keep an eye on Alex, but on the other hand, they needed each other until they got to the settlement.

If he was going to slit her throat while she slept, she would show him just how bad an idea that was.

Minutes ticked by and Emily struggled to relax, since arriving here she’d taken everything in stride because she had to, but that didn’t mean she was okay with it.

Emily had little attachment to her old world but to be ripped from one’s reality like that was unpleasant, to say the least.

She already had a list of people and gods that would pay for all this, but in the meantime, she balled her fists and brought them up to her chest.

For the first time in years, the jitters were back, threatening to crawl their way up her spine and break out into a full-blow tremor episode but there was no way she would allow anyone to see her like that. So moving into her breathing techniques, Emily stemmed the emotion and forced her mind to fall into a shallow sleep.

It rose like a dream, Emily felt herself sinking in a pool of warm shadow. When her feet touched down in a field of vibrant green grass, she knew something was off.

Her dreams were never this pleasant. The area around her was full of life, yet empty of any other identifying marks. Stretching out into infinite darkness, Emily was not scared by the expanse, for it carried a familiar feeling with it.

Upon looking up she could see a gentle purple light breaking through the skies above. The hue brought with it pinpricks of light that dotted the horizon. It would have reminded Emily of a night sky if it weren't for the fact that the stars were in a constant state of shift. Moving around like distant fireflies.

Their patterns were mesmerizing.

Over time Emily noticed they were gathering together and forming letters, or in this case a number followed by words she could understand.

‘7 - First threshold released at rank 10’

Emily frowned, the first number was probably her current rank, so she just needed to get to ten to get her first title.

If she were to guess, kids would normally hit rank ten at ten, so a rank per year?

What determined rank was still unknown but luckily Emily had a great source of information nearby.

The interesting part was that Emily’s rank must have started over when she took over from Eva. Which meant she had been doing things to increase her rank, but had not felt any change.

If she could pinpoint the circumstances then she could power through the early ranks.

Of course, one thing came to mind, she’d been doing it since she got here, but it couldn’t be that easy.

The space around Emily shifted as the stars moved back in chaotic jumbles of shifting lights. The soft grass began to warp as though the land were becoming quicksand. Pulling her downwards, and yet Emily felt no threat from it as her conscience grew fuzzy. She absent-minded realized that she was falling into a deeper state of sleep and that whatever that space was, it existed on the upper layers of her mind.

Blackness swallowed her and the next thing she knew, Alex was shaking her shoulder into the waking world.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Emily saw the light outside, which had barely touched the sky.

Having never been a morning person Emily stretched her tender spine, trying to blink her sluggish brain into activity.

“Damn, I’ll be so much happier when we can find a proper bed,”

Alex nodded.

“That's why we’re up now, if we can make it over the siren’s gorge before midday we may even be able to make it to a way station before today’s out.”

That woke Emily almost as fast as a strong cup of coffee would have, almost.

“And these waystations have beds?”

Alex tilted his head from side to side.

“If they’re not full, yes. They can be a place to sleep. They’re travel hubs and offer the fastest route, but they’re anything but safe. The keep is only secure because of its current ruler; the waystations are lawless”

Emily found a grin spreading across her face.

“Sounds like my kind of party.”

Alex looked her up and down with a weary gaze.

“Well regardless, we need to get there first.”

Emily gave him a thumbs up and started packing, but then a thought from last night came to her, and she had to know.

“Hey does killing shit increase my rank?”

Alex was kicking out the embers of the fire when he looked back at her.

“If it falls under your title, yes. But there is a theory that even a Farmer would get a rank if he killed enough creatures out in the wilds.”

After that, they headed out into the chilly forest. The area did not look like it had been disturbed, save for the fresh snow covering the grounds.

Emily could still smell the stench of the wyrm, but it was a good deal weaker. Perhaps another day and it would fade almost completely.

Turning in a particular direction, Alex moved towards the treeline. Emily was equal parts cautious and excited for this trek, there was so much to discover, and frankly, Emily felt a burning desire to know it all.