Avarein: Vant

Where was this…

Feeling completely drained, the man took a few moments to gather his strength before pushing himself off of the ‘floor’, his legs still shaking like a newborn deer as he managed to straighten himself out. It was quite apparent that he wasn’t where he was before; from what he remembered, he was wrapped snugly in a sleeping bag as he closed his exhausted eyes. Where he was now, he couldn’t quite tell. The dark void that surrounded him didn’t quite have many easily identifiable structures for him to try to place himself in a mental map, after all. There didn’t seem to be much of a floor, more just him ‘existing’ in the empty space. The floor and ceiling did seem to have cool imagery though, realistic murals that slowly rotated and panned through to different areas. The massive ball of fire and a smaller brown sphere that somewhat intrigued him but they weren’t anything he recognised when he looked down. Looking up, the circle with a ring was particularly eye catching although again, he still had no idea what it was. The only thing he recognised was the array of stars in the background, twinkling in the skies like tiny diamonds, seeming a little more in reach than before.

He moved onto the first state of affairs. Could he take a step forward, or was he stranded atop a convenient, invisible platform? Carefully and slowly, he lowered his left foot slightly past where his right ended and found ‘solid’ ground. Next was backwards. With an equal amount of careful, slow movement, he…

“It’s fine. Just walk around, you baby.”

The man almost jumped from shock, but tried to hide his surprise as he turned around to face the being who had spoken to him. She, or more accurately ‘it’, wasn’t like anyone he had ever seen before; large eyes, sky-blue hair with absurd volume and a massive yet slim body which all summed to what he would describe as ‘distinctly off’. She wore a loose fitting gown, white with black dots, which was nothing like he had ever seen before. She towered over him, a little over double his size, bending down in a way that seemed physically impossible to meet him face to face. Making a brave front, the man straightened up his back and took the initiative, trying not to be bothered by the potential ramifications of her spinal contortion.

“Who are you?”

“Well, I’m not sure of that myself at this point. A prisoner, I guess? At one point I was a writer, if you were asking about my job. You’d probably know me as a... Vechi.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a pair of black, feathered wings sprouted from her back, stretching outwards and reaching out around twice the distance that her arms would. She grinned haughtily seeing the subsequent look of shock on his face, which was soon replaced by a determined look in his eyes.

“Oh, you humans are fun.”

He took a step back and leaned down, prepared to spring forward and strike at any moment. She retracted, straightening her back up once more and looking down upon him with curiosity and fascination. She had expected him to collapse and surrender, crying for his mother. Perhaps the next-generation were tougher than she thought.

“I’m going to have to bring you in. Surrender quietly.”

“Oh, relax. Aren’t you a little hasty, trying to axe me off after two lines? Seems a bit cruel, honestly.”

After a few moments of his silent glare, she looked down upon him for a few more moments, before an evil glint appeared in her eyes. Her smile wicked, she continued her exposition, anticipation bubbling up within her.

“Neither of us can die here, but we can still feel pain. I’d be glad to punish you for the next thousand years for your arrogance.”

Without speaking another word, the man formed a sword of ice in his hand, its blade as sharp as the steel of the finest craftsmen and as hard as obsidian. He quickly dashed in towards her, aiming to raise his blade upwards as high as he could, which was through her stomach. She simply raised one of her arms, prepared to take the blow and crush him. However, before his blade could reach her flesh, his magic melted right in his hands leaving a disappointing puddle on the floor. She clicked her tongue in displeasure. How boring.

“Hm? Is your magic that pathetic, boy?”

“I… don’t know anymore. I don’t know what I can believe.”

The man turned his back to her, accepting defeat. His conviction broken, he buried his head into his legs, not sure what to do. She leaned down once more, head beside his ear like a demon whispering lies to the weak and gullible.

“Believe? Believe in what.”

“I… everything, really. The council, my mentors, the people I looked up to."

“Why not.”

He couldn’t quite tell if the inflections in her voice were meant to be sincere or sarcasm, but he was too emotionally distraught to care.

“I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere. The mission was a trap. I thought I could trust him, but now I’m stuck in… some sort of sealing spell, I guess.”

She nodded to herself for a moment. His observations were pretty on point, although if he was awake for what happened it would have probably traumatised him more. Not that it mattered; he was clearly shaken enough already.

“The only people I can trust now are…”

He paused at the end of his monologue, trying to find his words before she came in and finished them for him.

“Your friends?”

Softly, he nodded, much to the woman’s amusement. She rolled around giggling while floating on the spot, keeping off the ‘floor’ without so much as a flap from her wings. Between her giggling fits, the man could make out “that’s so cliche” and “are you stupid?”, which didn’t exactly make him feel much better. As her giggling came to an end, she spoke once more, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“I’m glad I chose the memory module, that was outright perfect. I’ll be keeping that for a long while”

“Module?”

“Ahh, no sticking your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”

The man curled into his ball even tighter than before, much to the dismay of the woman. She had finally found such a wonderful source of amusement, it would be a shame for it to become depressed and disillusioned this early.

“Come on, cheer up. We’re buddies from now on, until one of us gets out of here. Besides, I’m sure with you here, I can fill my time pretty nicely. It’s been a few thousand years since I’ve seen anyone else anyway”

The man refused to respond, but she was determined. She was sure there was something that could entice him. He felt like her little brother when they were younger, so there was surely something...

“I’ll teach you about space! It’s the only interesting looking thing around here besides me anyway. Planets are cool, right? How about how to play games. I’m sure there are a couple of games you’d enjoy to help pass the time. If you want, I could even train…”

She saw the man’s grip loosen for a moment and a wicked smile crawled up onto her face. Bingo.

“I’m sure there are plenty of powers you mageborn don’t have yet. Aren’t you interested in Vechi magic? Maybe your body can handle a module or two if I can just co…”

At this point, he was already looking at her with the embers of motivation in his eyes. It wasn’t like she was completely trusted or even liked but for now, this was fine for now. She reached down, lowering her hand as if he was a child to the point where he could reach, looking for a handshake.

“I’m Ales Dumnenzu. Nice to meet you.”

Hesitantly, he took her hand with both of his, shaking it nervously. He looked up for another moment before deciding to simply bite the bullet and introduce himself. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Nice to meet you too. I’m…”