The Wraith

Yvonne was startled by how readily she was accepted by the Vanguard after just a brief demonstration of her capabilities. Not only were they taking her with the kingdom’s Zoners instead of telling her to find a ride with the Commission, the amount offered to her in a contract was far more substantial than she would have dared ask for - something that she saw Lirena grinning about.

The blacksmith was swiftly introduced to a woman named Vanessa and the Zoners she led, and Yvonne was pleased that Lirena seemed to be getting along with them so easily.

“Pleasure,” Vanessa said nonchalantly. “Alright, Red, she’s in your tent at camp - we don’t have spares at the moment.”

Yvonne’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Lirena without turning her head. The paler woman had a hue to her cheeks that matched her hair.

When Yvonne looked back at Vanessa, the Windtouched woman was clearly examining the two of them. “Ah. So you know, the tents aren’t soundproof and none of the Windtouched I know can make them that way.”

“Vanessa!” Lirena protested.

“What? It’s practical advice,” she shrugged. “We’ll be moving out shortly.”

“I uh… apologize for her bluntness,” Lirena said as Vanessa walked away.

“Don’t worry, I uh… should have guessed I’d be bunking with someone. Seems the soldier way. At least it’s someone I know, right?” Yvonne said sheepishly.

That’s not going to make it easier and you know it, Yvonne berated herself.

“I… suppose so,” Lirena was clearly just as nervous. “Honestly, it has been weird being the only one at camp in a tent to myself. I think it just worked out that way and I was the most recent recruit.”

“Glad I could help solve that problem?” Yvonne said as they made their way toward the wagon. How do people normally respond in these situations?

The trip itself was pleasant, with plenty of conversations to be had among the crew of Vanessa’s caravan. To Yvonne, it felt much like being with those in the Zoner Commission. When she saw Lirena joking back though, a small twinge of jealousy filled her. Though it was very clearly the Lirena she knew, the banter was a sign that there were things she didn’t fully know about her companion yet.

It would be wonderful if I didn’t have to keep to the store so often and could take more of these trips with her.

When the caravans stopped for the night though, Lirena broke from the group and took Yvonne with her to the Commission’s group, where Yvonne was more in her element with Gaz and the others.

The feeling probably goes both ways though, I suppose, Yvonne realized as she chatted up the mercenaries of the Low Ward.

When the conversation hit a lull, Yvonne broached the topic that had been bugging her since the request was made to bring her along.

“So what exactly are Wraiths?” She asked.

Gaz quirked an eyebrow as he sipped from his canteen. “Surely you heard rumors fluttering around?”

Yvonne thought for a moment. “I always heard that they were just a product of the Zones. Just like we have calm Zones and chaotic Zones, sometimes we have Zones that spawn something… evil. That uses the element of the area to cause destruction, but are contained to it. What about you, Lirena?” She asked, looking to the noblewoman.

Lirena bit her lip. “Nothing… good. Certainly nothing logical. I’ve been avoiding the subject because the stories they tell children about them in the Upper Ward are… cruel. To the Touched.”

Yvonne nudged her and smiled. “If anyone here believed you were an embodiment of how some in the Upper Ward view us, you wouldn’t be in this camp.”

Gaz and a few of the others in the circle nodded in affirmation, to which Lirena could only manage a meek smile. “Well… the stories we’re told are basically to scare us into behaving,” she said. “Wraiths are supposedly Touched who were out to harm the kingdom and the Untouched within it. They died and now haunt the land, seeking to ruin it with their power. From what I heard after childhood, people guessed that a Touched who learned magic might become a Wraith or something similar.”

“It really is just a ghost story to them,” Gaz said with an incredulous laugh. “Well, we can definitely write off the nobles’ explanation. As far as we know, there’s no connection between the Touched specifically and Wraiths.”

“Yvonne’s a bit closer, but importantly, Wraiths are not confined to the Zone,” he continued. “They tend to prefer it, but some can and do try to leave it. And when they do, they extend the Zone’s border wherever they go. Anyone they come in contact with becomes a Touched. That’s why they are such a high priority.”

“Even if they’re not ghosts in the normal sense, the name ‘Wraith’ suggests killing one might not be as easy as cutting it down,” Lirena said.

“Right you are!” Gaz replied. “While they float around, they can’t be hurt by conventional means. Luckily for us, the things aren’t thinkers, and they can’t hurt us staying as they are. So they inhabit something else like a beast and take physical form with it, and that’s when we strike. Once their host is dead, they repeat the process, but lose strength each time, and eventually they can be dissipated with the Zone itself.”

“So it’s a battle of attrition,” Lirena summarized.

“Exactly. That’s why there’s enough of us to make sure we win such a battle,” Gaz said.

“And I’m here to find the thing in the first place,” Yvonne said. “Sounds like they aren’t so much evil as just another force of nature.”

“Well, anything causing as much damage as they can is bound to be viewed as such, especially when the ones in charge don’t care to become Touched themselves,” Gaz shrugged. “Still, it’s not going to be a simple as hunting them down. Wraiths are downright mean, no matter what they inhabit. So be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.” He knocked back the rest of his drink. “Part of that is going to be rest, so make sure you get plenty of it tonight.”

Yvonne looked at Lirena, who was once again returning the anxious glance.

“I… suppose we should?” Yvonne said. “I’ll take the advice of those of you who have done this before.”

Lirena nodded silently in agreement.

“Have a good night, you two,” Gaz gave a knowing smile. Yvonne stuck her tongue out at him before they returned to the Vanguard half of the camp.

The tent was fairly sizable, but was made to cover about three people. For just the two of them, it felt massive.

The camp quieted around them as they settled into their rolled bedding. Yvonne had expected it to be rather uncomfortable, but it turned out to be one of the comfier beds since setting out on her own.

The beautiful noblewoman off to her right, however, was making it difficult to relax enough to let sleep claim the Earthtouched.

“Hey, Yvonne?” Lirena’s voice rang softly in the darkness of the tent.

“Yeah.”

“Nervous about tomorrow?”

I’m nervous about tonight! Yvonne thought. “Suppose so. Hoping I don’t let everyone down after being brought all this way.”

“I doubt you could. You always manage to impress,” Lirena said, and though Yvonne could not see her face, the noblewoman’s tone betrayed a smirk.

“Flatterer,” Yvonne replied.

“But in all honesty, trust in the group. We’ll tackle it together. Should things escalate, I promise I will protect you,” Lirena said.

“I appreciate it.” Yvonne paused for a moment. “And… it will be nice seeing you in action.”

“I must make sure to put on my finest show then,” Lirena said.

Yvonne rolled over. Her heart would not stop racing. “Just need to actually fall asleep.”

“Need a hug to calm your nerves?”

Yvonne felt her face flush. That’s not going to help!

“Sure.” She heard herself say despite her thoughts.

You idiot!

The bedding rustled, and Yvonne froze as the taller woman pressed against her back, and an arm wrapped around her waist. Yvonne felt the rapid beating of Lirena’s heart against her after they made contact.

At least I’m not alone in my nerves.

Strangely though, she was starting to feel calmer from the embrace.

Several moments passed in silence before Lirena spoke up. “After we get back, there’s a place I want to take you, if you’re inclined.”

“That sounds lovely,” Yvonne said, her voice starting to waver from drowsiness. She rested her hand on Lirena’s as the two drifted off to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * *

The following morning, the two awoke to clamor in the camp. Lirena apparently moved very little in her sleep, as she remained in the same position. Yvonne had every intent to enjoy the position a while longer, but the calls through the camp to prepare to move told them there would be no such luxury.

With a resigned sigh, the two got up and left for breakfast, and quickly packed up their tent and supplies to get back on the caravan to the Zone’s perimeter. Yvonne watched as the Untouched mages set up around it, careful to keep their distance from the line where the grasses became clearly more verdant.

“Alright, we let Miss Darlain track the Wraith down,” Vanessa shouted as she debriefed her group. “Keep her safe, take down whatever form the Wraith takes, and we head back. No deaths, no injuries, got it?”

A resounding “Yes ma’am” echoed from the group.

“Then follow me!” Vanessa cried and turned to walk into the Zone.

They stepped into the field and Yvonne instinctively looked back to watch Lirena. True to her title, the Untouchable shivered a little as she walked through the edge of the Zone, but was otherwise unaffected.

“I’m not sure I will ever get used to that feeling,” Lirena muttered.

“Many would find it a fair trade,” Yvonne mused.

“They’re welcome to it if I could give it away,” Lirena said with a weak smile. “I suppose we should get started?”

“R-right.” Yvonne stretched in an effort to ease her nerves. This was a potentially dangerous assignment, after all. “Ok, let’s see…” She had been practicing a more widespread use of her gifted vision since Lirena’s request, but it was still something she was not used to except in close-up views for smithing work.

The area lit up in her eyes, with the world taking on brown and golden hues to let her know where concentrations of the Earth element could be found. The green grass became a glowing yellow field, and the people around her took on a duller brown as their metal equipment took on a similar glow.

Lirena stepped ahead, and Yvonne jumped at the sight - a pitch-black mass in the shape of the woman she knew.

“Ah, Vanessa told me how I appear when you all do that. I apologize for the scare,” Lirena said, the words not coming from any mouth that Yvonne could see.

“It’s… certainly unusual. Just startled me a bit,” Yvonne said as she collected herself.

It’s just the effect of the Sight, it’s still Lirena.

Yvonne knelt down and touched the ground, trying to get a feel for the area around her.In the ground, she felt tiny movements, likely from insects burrowing in the soil, but nothing that felt unusual to her; despite not knowing what a Wraith might feel like to this sense, she would at least be able to discern if something felt unnatural.

“Nothing here, I think,” Yvonne reported. “Though I supposed that would be expected at the edge of the Zone.”

“Plenty left to explore,” Vanessa said. “Let’s keep moving.”

The group moved inward, with Yvonne checking every so often in the surrounding area for signs of the Wraith to no avail.

Eventually the group came to a field that had clearly been disturbed, but by what, there was no sign. Bits of the ground appeared to have erupted, with debris and rocks scattered around.No one had to say anything, as it was the clearest sign of the Wraith’s presence yet. Yvonne immediately knelt down and started searching.

Come on, they brought you along, gave you a giant coinpurse for the trouble - make yourself useful!

Yvonne closed her eyes, trying to rely on the information her gift provided her without conflicting with what she could see. More insects. A small animal of some kind burrowing around. Expanding her vision, there appeared to be a rabbit or other small animal in the bushes. But nothing that would create current state of the field.

“What kind of animal do you think it possessed?” Lirena asked Vanessa.

“Bear or something to be doing this much, I’d imagine,” the Windtouched woman replied. “They enhance their host, but this is… something bigger than I’m used to.”

Yvonne felt something. There was a presence in the ground that was not an animal, but something both at home and foreign to the ground beneath her.

“Vanessa, can the Wraiths only possess animals?” Yvonne asked, her eyes remaining tightly closed.

“I suppose they could inhabit a suit of armor or household items, but most of the time they seem drawn to living things. Why do you ask?”

Yvonne tried to feel out the shape of the presence below her, determining what it could possibly be.

Then it noticed her, and a bright golden glow, harsher than anything else in the Zone, sped toward her from deep under the ground.

“I don’t think it’s a bear,” she whispered, then broke contact with the ground and backed away. “Back up!” she cried. “Move, dammit!”

The ground exploded where she had just been a moment earlier, and from the hole in the earth came a lumbering mass of dirt and clay, shaped vaguely like a person, but with no discernible features. It seemed to turn its head first toward Yvonne before it took in the dozen other people surrounding it.

“Living creatures my ass,” Yvonne said as she scrambled further way. Her focus lost, the world regained its normal colors as her Sight faded. Lirena came into focus as the swordswoman helped Yvonne to her feet.

“We’re supposed to fight… dirt?” Lirena asked, looking at the entity before them.

“This isn’t right, but we’ll take it down anyway,” Vanessa cried. “You three,” she gestured to two Flametouched and a Windtouched, “get a signal beacon lit, let everyone else know we found it. The rest of you, to arms!”

Yvonne watched the Flametouched splash a bottle onto the ground and strike a spark from a piece of flint, igniting the spilled contents into a massive flame. The two worked in tandem, moving around the fire and pushing the air with their hands. As they did, the fire narrowed in scope, but seemed to reach hire.

It was then that the Windtouched with them came in and pushed in a similar manner, and the wind kindled the fire further, sending the flame higher into the sky. At its apex, another gesture from one of the Flametouched caused the highest reaches of the fire to explode out, emitting a pop that could be surely be heard by the other groups.

Wait, maybe that’s how we fight this thing, Yvonne though, looking back at the earthen monstrosity. Lirena was dancing around the creature, her quick swipes of her blade taking off chunks of the material it was using for its form.

She was simultaneously filled with awe at the graceful display, and dismayed at the damage it was likely doing to the sword.

Nevermind that, she thought, and quickly scanned the chunks of soil left from the Wraith’s entrance. Picking through them, her picked up an armful of rocks and ran back to the group that had sent out the signal fire.

“You three, can you make that explosion happen in another way? Aim it perhaps?” Yvonne asked.

One Flametouched man looked to the rocks in her arms and then to her. “Aye…” he said, suspicious. “What do you have in mind?”

Yvonne nodded toward the Wraith. “Make it explode toward that thing,” she said. “On three.” She looked at the group battling with the Wraith. “Clear the area!” she shouted, though most of them looked at her as they dared while avoiding the brutish swings of the living earth. “If you don’t want rocks in your gut, move!”

That seemed to get everyone to distance themselves, starting with Lirena, leaving the Wraith with a wide area around it. Yvonne counted up, and on three, launched her rocks into the air, where the trio repeated their movements, and the ensuing explosion launched the rocks at top speed toward the Wraith.

The air whistled with speeding debris. Several rocks missed their mark, but loud thumps told everyone that many others had embedded in the target, and more tore large chunks from the Wraith, staggering it in the process.

“Alright, now we just do that a few time times, I suppose,” she said, admiring her handiwork.

“Going to need more fire to do that trick again,” the man behind her gestured to the dwindling flames. “That said, I’m sure we can scrounge up kindling to get it going again.”

“You work on that then, I’ll get more rocks,” Yvonne said. As she marched off, she saw the others taking advantage of the Wraith’s state and pushing it to the ground. Within moments they were hacking it apart, until suddenly the soil that made up its body fell apart.

Yvonne briefly heard someone shout “It’s on the move!” before she felt the ground beneath her rumble. She didn’t even have time to shift her eyesight to her Touched vision before the ground erupted once move, and the Wraith emerged, now in a completely revitalized body and mere feet away from her.

“Oh hells,” Yvonne whispered as the Wraith raised an arm. Rocks began to emerge in its extremities, looking like knuckles as it swung with startling speed.

Yvonne managed to cover herself with her arms, but heard a sickening crunch as the Wraith made contact. The last thing she knew before the world went dark was the sensation of her feet leaving the ground.