For Sight

It had taken months of brutal trial and error, so many lives had been lost to the foul beasts. The ones that clawed through the ever growing rift, gnashing pointed, desperate teeth. At first it was a coincidence, an attack within the kingdom from a strange creature was nothing out of the ordinary every now and then. But one small fissure was all it took for the beasts of the Hells to smell the stench of sin crawling its way through the kingdom streets.

The rift, which had started as a hole no bigger than a mouse at the base of a great willow tree, had grown to split the tree in two. A rotten stench accompanied stringy red sinew webbed across the opening as if spun there by a spider. The queen’s guards who stood post at the rift regularly stuffed their helms with fresh lavender and mint in an attempt to bear the nauseating smell.

Yet still, as the party approached the site, they could all astutely determine, by sight and smell, the bushes that the guards got sick in. Yevah was shocked as she felt herself recoiling. When you spend most of your life living in a swamp, you smell all kinds of rot in the damp hot air, but this was nothing of rot, it was unnatural. Her brow furrowed at the thought of how the others were handling themselves. With a flick of her wrist, Yevah sprouted heaps of herbs from the ground. More mint and lavender for the guards as well as rosemary, sage, and a bit of patchouli, which she knew was Astryn’s favorite.

Yevah bent down and pulled the herbs from the ground in big handfuls, dusting off bits of dirt as she went. The others turned to her with desperation, hands outstretched. As Astryn graciously accepted the patchouli, Yevah’s hand brushed her own. Astryn quickly brought the patchouli to her nose and turned away in hopes of disguising any redness rising in her face. With the other hand she pulled out her smallest knife and began to fiddle with it.

Sorren accepted bundles of rosemary and sage with a smile, placing a few fronds of rosemary into the scruffy braids of his long beard. No matter how much his cohort taunted him for rebraiding his beard every morning, he would hold onto this moment of unique usefulness forever.

Val took as much rosemary as they could fit in their hands and began to crush it. Once they had condensed the mass into a ball the size of their palm, they whistled a small birdlike tune and the rosemary caught ablaze. The fire they held popped and cracked as the moisture within escaped. In many other circumstances, this is the kind of trick that would get them roaring applause. Well, not always roaring but applause nonetheless.

Karyk dismissed Yevah’s offering with a wave of his hand. Though his senses protested that he get any closer to the rift, his duty demanded it. He heard the guards muffled voices as they tried to address him, but he was too focused on studying the substance. Right now the area was quiet, no monsters to be seen. No imminent threats to the city, or to his team. It wasn’t his team, he had to remind himself often. Though that mattered little to him now as he continued to analyze the rift and visualize a plan of attack.

Leo gingerly accepted what remained of the herbs. Using one hand to gently pull on the dark veil that covered his face, he brought the herbs close to his nose. He thanked Yevah and was grateful that she could not see his worried expression. Leo decided to give his cracked lips a break and bit off a few mint leaves to chew on nervously. His nerves were not new, but had bothered him since they had been sent on this mission days before. He was not afraid of the battle, augurs in training are not allowed to participate in battles with the parties they follow. He chewed on the leaves, replaying the images in his mind over and over again.

One of the party members was going to sacrifice themselves to close the rift so that the rest of them, and the kingdom, would be safe. His vision was foggy, a smattering of feelings and colors and blurred figures. He couldn’t figure out who, nor could he mention his vision to anyone. An augur in training is forbidden from sharing their visions, as their skills had not been proven yet. He thought perhaps that he had been wrong. At age 20, he was much older than most still in training, he thought perhaps the act of seeing the future just wasn’t for him. But he was born into a pure bloodline of those with futuresight, there was nothing for him to do but keep trying. He never thought he would wish so desperately to be wrong.

Leo was to send word to his mentor about the outcome of the battle by sunrise. If he was right, this would likely be impactful enough to earn his title as an augur. He would leave this party behind, one member fewer than he joined it.

Leo looked over them all as they began to huddle up around the guards, whose voices wobbled with thanks as Yevah had offered them herbs as well. When the party had been called upon this mission, they were told that there would be more information given upon their arrival, and it seemed like now was that time as the guard produced a handful of scrolls from a travel pack.

The party looked from the empty spot in the huddle to Leo, stood a few feet back, observing as he often did. Yevah and Sorren were smiling gently, Karyk and Astryn steal eyed, and Val with a gaze that seemed to pass through Leo entirely.

“C’mon kid,” Sorren gestured vaguely with a shoulder shrug, “you know you’re one of us.”

Leo blinked back tears, the mint leaves began to sting at the cuts he had bit into his lips. He stepped forward to complete the huddle and everyone turned their attention to the guards, ready for their mission to begin.

After the party’s options, none of them ideal, had been explained, they had gotten to work setting up camp as they always did. Five tents and a bundle of blankets for Leo who preferred to sleep under the stars.

They were now gathered around a roaring fire, conjured by Val. Sorren was gazing over one of the scrolls given to them by the guards when Karyk ripped it from his hands.

“No, absolutely not,” he held the scroll tightly, but he couldn’t bring himself to crumple it. The scroll sent by the Queen’s scholars contained a spell that could close the rift instantly, none of the wretched would have time to sense the attack, let alone respond to it. It was fool proof, but the magic was too powerful. To wield it would kill the caster.

If Leo could have seen his own face, he’d have seen the color drained from it when the guards explained this. While there was another way, he knew that wasn’t what was going to happen. The scholars had also sent a second spell. One that was less tested, more challenging to cast, one that would take more time.

Once the spell began, the creatures of the hells would sense it, and have enough time to swarm the site. It would be a bloody, grueling battle while one person had to focus all of their energy on maintaining the spell. Even if they managed to do so, the scholars could not guarantee if the effect of closing the rift would be permanent. It may have only been a temporary solution.

The guards had explained that since the party had been away the situation had worsened. The Queen refused to force anyone to their death, but the wretched had swarmed the streets almost every night. Even worse, they began to spread across the kingdom into neighboring lands. If something wasn’t done, there was no telling how many of them would pour out. Making the world a living hell.

The party had been hired to attempt to close the rift, but how they did so was up to them to decide. They had remained sitting around the fire in tense silence for some time, but in refusing Sorren’s consideration, Karyk had broken it.

“We already agreed, we’re not doing that,” Astryn added, although her mind was still miles away. Her leg bouncing nervously as she snuck glances towards Yevah.

“Exactly, we did all agree,” Karyk glared at Sorren who returned his hands to his lap innocently. Karyk did feel slightly guilty for being so harsh with him. Sorren was technically the team leader, if the party had to declare one. He was the one who recruited them all three years ago, and he was the most experienced fighter out of them all, but Karyk worried for him. Sorren was getting old, he was getting injured more frequently and taking more time to recover. Karyk couldn’t help but think about Sorren face to face with one of the beasts. The vision turned red and gruesome, and he forced it out of his mind. Turning his attention again to the fire blazing in front of him.

Val couldn’t help but roll their eyes as they took another swig from their wine bottle. It was a bittersweet thing, sweet the wine, which they had been saving for an extra special occasion, and bitter the fact that the extra special occasion turned out to be their impending demise.

Yevah continued to stare into the fire, her mind miles away, stuck in the swamp that was her home. In some ways it was a victory, knowing that her hag mother would never find her. Knowing that her friends would never know her for her past, or what had been chasing them throughout all of their journeys together. She couldn’t remember how many nights the fear had kept her awake. The closeness she’d sacrificed to protect those she loved. It was particularly difficult with Astryn, but for the same reason it was equally important to keep her at arms length, even though Yevah definitely didn’t want to. Anyone close to Yevah was at risk of her mother’s wrath. If anyone suffered at Yevah’s cause, she feared it might eat her alive. Yet still, now the story could change. Yevah would finally stop running. The thought of it brought a faint smile to her face despite the tears welling in her eyes.

“You alright, Thorne?” It was Astryn who snapped her out of it with a concerned nudge to her shoulder. Yevah blinked back to the present, feeling a tightness in her chest at the concealed worry in Astryn’s voice

“Just this once, could you call me by my name?” Yevah said with a light chuckle as she tilted her face to the sky.

“I- Yevah,” Astryn replied. She spun her small knife in her hand nervously. It was the first one she was given as a child, and the years of unpracticed use out of desperation in the streets of the city had left it useless for anything other than maintaining a nervous habit. She did hope that she didn’t look nervous, because definitely wasn’t. She had been fighting her whole life, alone. Back then she was never afraid. But now as she looked around, with Karyk pacing a trench into the ground, Val spilling wine all over their fancy linen clothes, Sorren rubbing a hand over his shaved head, and Thorne- Yevah staring up at the sky with blank empty eyes, Astryn had never felt more afraid. Yevah had still remained silent, her lips turned upward in a sad smile, and she let her gaze fall to Astryn’s. Astryn couldn’t handle seeing the woman she loved look so resigned to her own mortality.

“What if we just run?” Astryn said, eager to wrench her mind away from the thought of never seeing her smile again, “We could all just disappear, go beyond the city.”

“And be traitors to the crown? I promise you,” Sorren passed a hand over a scar that ran down the side of his cheek, covered partially by his beard, “that doesn’t end well.”

“So we fight, Val casts the spell while the rest of us cover them,” Karyk was still pacing, working his thumb over the paper in his hand.

“You want me to do what?” Val’s words were slurred as they had finished over half the bottle. Even through the drink, the thought of having such a vital role to the mission made their heart pound in their chest. They felt briefly like they might be sick. Instead they kicked back and gulped another swig of wine.

“No way,” they said with hiccup, “Yevah’s way stronger, have her do it,” this earned them a scathing glare from Astryn, but as this was a common occurrence, it had little effect.

“We need Yevah to help us hold back the damned,” Karyk was growing ever less patient with this conversation, but seeing the hurt and fear on Val’s face made him take a breath. “Besides, Yevah’s magic is centered around nature, not study. You’ve read more scrolls than any of us.”

Val pulled their knees up to their chest, “Yeah, but anyone could do it,” they buried their chin to hide their mumbled response. It always seemed as though the party forgot who Val was, they were just a magic school dropout who was earning pennies for parlor tricks at dive bars. Nothing about the past few years had changed that, nothing tomorrow would either.

“I know the plan,” Sorren said gruffly, he got to his feet and put a hand on Karyk’s shoulder to stop his pacing, “I’m no martyr, son, you shouldn’t be either.”

There was truth in Sorren’s words. He never wanted to accept this mission, but the queen had promised him a full pardon. He would get to see his family again. Sorren had been the one to gather everyone because they all had one thing in common, they were all running away. When the group accepted this job, he couldn’t help but feel like he had let them all down. All he wanted was to make it up to them, to give them a home. He often settled on the fact that he had at least brought them together, but now he was leading them to die.

Sorren gently took the scroll from Karyk, who wasn’t sure why he let it go. Without another word, Sorren dropped the scroll, letting it fall into the flames. Sorren turned then to Leo, eyes squinted as if to try to see through the veil.

“It’s a shame we may never know your face, son,” he brushed his hands together too casually for what he had just done, “you think this is going to earn you your title?”

Leo searched the man’s face, and he wondered if he knew that magic scrolls of the scholars are enchanted to be fireproof, “I don’t know,” he responded honestly.

“Do you feel ready for it?” Yevah spoke softly while the others furrowed their brows in Leo’s direction.

“I… don’t know,” he said again. An augur is required to wear a thick veil from birth, so that they never see their own face. Augurs being able to predict their own future had led to corruption and malpractice. So to prevent that, you prevent the possibility of a vision entirely. One cannot have a vision of one they have not seen. Once training is complete, an augur is blinded. It is painless, but permanent. They then spend the rest of their days being tended to by servants, usually under the employment of nobility. The problem was that Leo quite liked looking at the world. He would remove his veil in secret to watch a sunrise, or watch a downpour of rain through a forest, or to watch a small creature run through dappled sunlight.

Leo suddenly felt overwhelmed with thought. He politely excused himself from the camp to clear his head, grabbing with him his journal and charcoal to prepare to write to his mentor.

Leo had found himself a spot nearby camp that overlooked a large pond. He had rewritten his letter nearly a dozen times. Torn pages from his journal scattered around him.

One will pull power from the ashes, and wield it to save the city, destroying themselves in the process. They don’t know why they chose to do it, it just feels like what they are meant to do. The others will mourn and forever remember them as the savior of the kingdom.

He had been awake all night, replaying the vision again and again. It still wasn’t right, it still wasn’t enough. Just as he was about to rip out the most recent attempt, the sun began to peak over the horizon. He froze, letting the journal and charcoal, now worn down to a nub, rest gently on his lap. He removed his veil and watched the sunrise, appreciating every bit of color that reflected off of the surface of the still water. He thought that maybe it was ok, in fact maybe everything would be better if he was wrong.

Leo carefully tore the page from his journal and folded into a neat square. With a quiet whisper and a puff of smoke, the paper disappeared from his hand, and onto the desk of his mentor. Leo knew he wouldn’t hear a reply until after the battle was done, but he felt confident that he didn’t need one now. Instead, he wished only to spend time with the troubled souls he’d been privileged enough to know.