Redemption: Brace the Tide

Welcome to Redemption. Know what awaits you:

*Triggers: Graphic violence, cult vibes and brief references to implied sexual activity.*

Tropes: High Fantasy, Slow Burn, No Spice, Found Family, BIPOC.

Mother always says, “Just when you think you’re strong, that’s your sign that there’s more work to be done.” She’s constantly in my head, her cold tone forever on the brink of rebuke, her icy stare and that frosty frown. Mother’s love chafes at me, even now, as I race down the road cutting through the evergreen forest. I’d rather let the sensation of flying sweep me on my run, not wondering whether I’m good enough.

So much she knows, I’ll get better. I’ll be more than good enough one day.

Grandma said, “When you think you know yourself, Nadheera, realise that you’ve barely scratched the surface. Don’t stop. Keep digging for the gold within.”

My guardian, my light, and my muse—she was one of the wisest women I knew. The power of her blood courses through my veins; every spell she ever cast, everything she ever knew, is locked away in my blood. At twenty-two years old, I’ve got my entire life ahead of me to find that knowledge, live up to the Lehtkist family name, and unleash my potential. That dog-gone, stubborn potential.

A charge surges through my body, and I sprint harder. This is why I love morning runs: the kind of exhilaration I need to start the day. As the world blurs past me, I am fully present. Fully alive. Nothing and nobody can touch me. Nothing but the golden sun gilding the melanin in my skin.

Every hue in this bright summer palette stimulates my senses. All around me is a wonder—orange, pink, and purple-coloured birds with teardrop tails play in a blameless sky. Every stream before today was frozen. Every breath I took was cold and biting. The sky has always been grey and glum. To see a blade of green grass through the snow was to reach the end of a rainbow.

That place never gave me permission to believe that any moment could be different, that any day could be an adventure. But this place won’t be the same. I know that Allov, my new home, will do for me what Lyria could not—

Some impossibly fast thing blurs past and tears up the road, causing me to halt so abruptly that I nearly topple over.

What in the hell was that? A bear? A mountain lion, maybe? But with that kind of speed? Impossible. No animal on Geeros can run or disappear that fast.

Dropping my gaze to the Azurite crystal amulet around my neck, I find it sound asleep.

No Daezh here; that’s a relief. I wipe the sweat off my brow, heart pounding, breath stabilising. Besides, Auntie said I’d be in the clear.

It’s only been a day since I set foot in Allov. They couldn’t be hunting me down already, not with the amulet around my neck meant to suppress my accursed mark. The one that draws them in.

It’s back!

And it’s gone again—blurring by in a blink. The pull of its motion makes me stumble, leaving me choking in a cloud of dust.

“What the fuck—?” Doubt creeps in.

I’ve never seen one of the Daezh in the flesh, and with only stories to get by on physical descriptions, I need to be sure. Maybe it’s too fast to have triggered my amulet. That’s probably why it won’t light up. I have to think, I have to—

Trap it.

Using the mana from my Eunakite ring, it only takes a second to conjure a water spell under my breath. After all this running, casting one from my energy alone isn’t ideal. Like a poised and seasoned conductor leading my orchestra through the perfect symphony—the unfurling and waving motion of my hands and fingers impels the river’s water to yield a portion of herself to enact my will. I utter the final part of the spell, bending and easing the body of water over the dirt road.

Steady now.

It hardens into a translucent sheet of ice, the perfect thing to slip up the beast when it comes barrelling through again, hopefully before any wagons or carriages roll by.

At my summon, a lethal shard of ice manifests in my hand, crackling and hardening into formation. It’s smooth and cold under my fingertips. The mana burgeoning in my grasp thrills me. As does the prospect of using it against something other than a grizzly bear this time.

A grin curls my lips. The second that Daezh—falls for my trap, I’ll deliver the slow and excruciating death it deserves. Stabbing through every one of its tentacles and savouring its cries of agony as they permeate the woodlands.

A life for a life—

“Hmm. Something tells me you’re trying to kill me.”

My soul leaves my body at the sound of a man’s voice in my ear.

Leaping back, I keep my dagger poised and ready. Had I been so rapt in thought that I did not hear his footsteps?

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” I clamour.

The chuckling man with long dark locks is as stunning in looks as his sudden appearance. He’s a head taller than me, clad in a forest green shirt with dark trousers and leather boots. His tawny-brown skin is a shade lighter than mine, and he boasts a goatee and beard trimmed to fit the square of his jawline.

“Alright, instead of just standing here laughing, you should probably get out of the way,” I warn him. “There’s something strange going on here, and I’m about to get to the bottom of it.”

He folds his arms across his sturdy chest and smirks at me. He has a confident posture and a fighter’s build. At least, that’s what my gut says, and my gut is rarely wrong.

Well, he won’t be smirking for much longer when he gets knocked off his feet and falls on his butt. Or worse.

Good thing I’m here to prevent what could certainly mean his demise.

Before I can repeat myself, he says, “I think that ‘something strange’ you’re waiting for is me.”

Who is this man? Why can he move with impossible speed? And what does he mean by saying he’s the “strange thing” Nadhya’s been waiting for?