A Traitor Among Us

I ruined my own life.

I ruined my friends’ lives.

I ruined the whole world.

And I can’t say I’m sorry.

* * *

“Okay,” I announced to my small group. “Today should be our final day in the wilderness!” Everyone cheered. I held out my hands and they all went silent like I was a queen or something. “But it will also be our most treacherous day.” They all groaned. “We’re passing through the Jagged Mountains, which are infested with goblins and dragons and monsters of unimaginable horror.”

My friend Leonard raised his hand, and he asked, “Can’t we just go around the mountain?”

“No,” I replied flatly. “We can’t. The whole mountain is taken, but so are the lands surrounding it. Honestly, we might be in bad territory right now.”

“Then why are you talking so loud?” Leonard snickered. “The goblins will come for you and eat you, Sylvia.”

“Shut up, Leo,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Shut up or I’ll make you be the one who scrubs the deck.”

“We don’t have a deck,” Leonard pointed out. “And we’re not pirates, and who said you were the captain?”

I ignored him. “Here’s the game plan: We all head up at the same time. We stick together unless something horrible happens and we are forced to split up. Goblins fear big groups, by the way. That’s why I’m doing this. And dragons are less likely to attack when there are multiple people. Meeting adjourned."

“That’s your plan?” Raya asked, cocking her head to the side confusedly. “Are you kidding me? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, Sylvia. You’re all, ‘If we’re all best friends, everything will be fine forever!’ You’re completely ignoring the fact that goblins and dragons are only scared of groups if they’re ALONE. Goblins on that mountain are also in groups. There are plenty of dragons. You’re not the only genius here, Sylvia. Listen to the group!”

“We can fight,” I said confidently. “We’ve done it so many times before; we can do it again!”

Everyone but Raya clapped and whistled. Raya crossed her arms angrily. “This isn’t fair, Sylvia,” she pouted. “I just gave you some valuable information and you’re disregarding it like trash. Which is basically saying— my ideas are trash.”

“That’s not what I said,” I scoffed. “Don’t you know anything? You just came up with a dumb analogy and decided it was true, which it—”

“Guys,” Leonard groused. “Let’s go. Enough arguing; this is getting old.”

I nodded. “You’re right, Leo.”

“I told you not to call me that—”

“You think I care? Because I don’t. We have a mission to complete. I don’t care if you’re annoyed, I just care if we all get through safely.” I began walking towards the mountain, full of courage.

Leonard, Raya, and Livina followed, looking around to ensure that no goblins were watching us.

* * *

“We’re almost halfway there,” I called over my shoulder. I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. “Just a little further, we can do this. Oh, and don’t get eaten by a goblin if you can help it.”

“Why are you so bossy?” Raya wondered aloud. “I mean, we’re already doing that… hey! I just realized you said ‘just a little further’ SIX MILES AGO!”

I didn’t respond. Whenever Raya was being annoying, I did my best to ignore everything she told me. It might not have been the best choice, but really, what else was there for me to do? If I replied, it would become an argument.

She’s such a perfectionist, I thought grouchily. If even one detail is wrong, she’ll get exceptionally aggravating and there’s no shutting it down.

That’s when the usually silent Livina shrieked, a piercing sound in the eerily hushed mountain path. Leonard, Raya and I all whipped around, and Livina was gone. All that was left was her black shoe.

Leonard gasped and lifted the shoe into his hands. “What happened?!” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” Raya responded, her voice finally shaky after all this time in the wilderness. “Sylvia?”

“I don’t know either,” I said with regret. “But we have to find her. Leo, calm down. Your sister will be fine.”

* * *

Thankfully, finding Livina wasn’t the real challenge.

The real challenge was her captor.

The very person I had been searching for all this time, the one I was seeking, the single human being that I truly needed to know— right in front of me. He could grant me powers that people can only dream of, powers that would help me and my friends so, so much.

Then it struck me— my friends didn’t know that this was really what I wanted. They never knew how power-hungry I was.

“Leonard,” the man recognised. “Raya. Sylvia.” When he said my name, I shivered with anticipation— and dread. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Expecting us?” Raya asked, cringing. “What kind of creep are you?”

The man let out a raspy chortle. “Sharp wit. Just as I expected from you, Raya.”

“It’s not wit,” Raya hissed. “It’s called survival skills, genius. I have survival skills. You have skill issues. It’s just simple logic.”

“And Sylvia… you’ve been wanting to meet me, haven’t you?” he pondered. Raya’s eyes widened.

“You WHAT?!” Raya and Leonard shouted at the same time.

“He’s just playing with your heads,” I lied. “Trying to turn us against each other. But it… it won’t work, don’t worry!”

“I heard the hesitation in your voice,” Livina said quietly. “You really do want to meet him even after what he did to me.”

“What did he do?” Leonard asked.

“He chained me to a wall, trying to get information out of me,” Livina shuddered. “And right before you came, he sensed it and took me down and pretended to be a good guy…”

“YOU DID THAT TO MY SISTER?” Leonard shouted, enraged.

The man ignored both of them. “I can give you power,” he told me. “Power beyond anything in human existence. There’s only one thing you have to do.”

“What?” I asked, intrigued and excited.

“You have to leave your friends and family. A war is coming, and you can’t do anything about it if you accept this power. It’s a survival thing.”

“Why on earth would I do that?” I inquired incredulously.

“If you go with them, you’ll die as well,” he said darkly. “It’s either you stay with them and die painfully, or you leave them and survive.”

Leonard cried, “Sylvia, you can’t possibly accept his offer!”

Go with them, my brain told me. Protect them. They’re a family to you. Go with them. Go with them. Go with them. The worst yet smartest part of my brain whispered, No, leave. Leave them. Live to fight another day. Don’t go with them just to pass away, useless to the world. They never strived for anything more than what you told them to do. You, on the other hand, had goals. Achieve them while you have the chance, Sylvia.

“I accept,” I quavered, tears streaming down my cheeks as my friends cried and shouted and tried to fight me. I hadn’t just accepted power— I had accepted and encouraged my friends' deaths.