Three Against the Morning

This landscape held a beauty in the sunlight, the darkness of night had covered it in a fog of uncertainty but now it all opened up. But no birdsongs or cicada woke the woods from their slumber, it was a slow, heavy exchange.

Arata trailed behind Mayumi and Elara as they wandered the thick brush, the undergrowth muffling their steps. He was pouting, his hands in his pockets and his hood covering his face, trying to not look like the dead weight he felt like.

That night came to a close after their truce was sealed, and the decision was made to regather their strength for the final hours to come. Of course, in such a dangerous place, someone needed to stand guard. It felt like a kick in the teeth however, when the two competent members of the alliance decided on shifts between themselves, leaving out their loveable third wheel.

“Arata, keep up” Elara urged, seeing him trailing further back than was safe.

She was so graceful in these woods. Avoiding lifted branches and loose footholes like she’d walked the paths her entire life. He wanted to mimic her, but every snapped twig under his boot felt like a dinner bell for any foes that may or may not have been close by.

Mayumi too was having no difficulty moving forward without noise. She was their scout, her talent as an archer gave her greater farsight, and it was her nod of approval that they relied on to move forward. There was more to her role however. Arata was fresh out of rations after leaving them behind like a sacrificial lamb, and though Elara was kind enough to share some of hers, they wouldn’t have enough. “An empty stomach makes for an empty mind” his editor always told him, and an empty mind with lunatics around every corner was a death wish they had agreed to avoid. So, Mayumi looked for death, whether that be theirs, or their prey’s.

“Say.” Elara spoke just above a whisper. “You said Agnar and I were from stories right? Are any of the others here the same?”

“We’ve only seen one other person, the Hammer.” It had clicked last night as he tried to sleep, he had seen such a person before but the name was still hazy. “I think he’s called Martel… an executioner from another world that was thrown into a sea of acid.” He explained

Elara playfully placed her finger against her chin. “Ah, so if we see him we just need a big tub of acid.”

“Good luck with that.” Arata laughed.

Once their conversation ended it was silent again. That awkward silence that causes both parties to start to think of a topic to mention but coming up with nothing. “Don’t mention the weather.” They told themselves.

Mayumi gave the okay ahead, and nocked her arrow silently. A second later it was gone, and the death cries of an animal behind the thicket followed. It was still hard to hear… Arata immediately thought of the mousey monster Niedlich and his heart hurt. But, this was survival.

Elara’s mind however was still on their conversation from the night prior, of Arata’s knowledge of her world, of things she had no knowledge of but a yearning to learn of.

“You knew about him, about Dolos, and me.” She muttered, and Arata tensed slightly. “I loved him with all my heart… and then he was killed, by a man that was supposed to be a hero. While I was mourning him the world celebrated.” She had tilted her head enough that he couldn’t quite make out the emotions. “I want to know why. Why Elysian took him from me. Why he was called a hero instead of a murderer.”

She was correct the night before, he did know more than he was letting on. Dolos’ story was fractured in two, two versions of the same character. One, a hardworking man that did everything he could to better his, and his lover’s lives. And the other, a man of great darkness. Elara had died believing he was wrongfully killed, and no one in the world would stand on her side. She didn’t know the truth… and so her vengeance was righteous. Still, Arata was hesitant. “Will knowing make it better?” He asked.

“Don’t do that.” She responded, her playfulness drowning in a growing ocean of deep, unsettled anger, like a rising torrent. “I agreed to join you both to learn what happened.”

“What happened, was a villain being defeated by a hero. Look, you may want to believe your Dolos was the real one… but for others he was far from your ideal.”

She stepped forward, cracking a branch underfoot, sending echoes across the forest. She had grabbed a handful of Arata’s shirt, pulling him slightly higher. “Does killing make you a hero?! Regardless of what Dolos did, he didn’t deserve to be killed in cold blood.”

Arata swallowed the moisture from his lips. “So does that make you the villain? If you complete the revenge you want?”

She was surprised to hear such a response from him, her lips tightening around the words she wanted to speak into life, her balled fist unclenching. “You want to know what happened? Dolos was in a bad way with some bad people. He owed money he couldn’t pay, so he found a way out of it.” Anger kept him talking, but the want to not see Elara hurt burned his throat as he spoke. “He was a trafficker.”

A crook, a thief, hell even a mercenary… she could find a little bit of good in them. But trafficking. Faces of young girls swam around in the ocean of her conscious, girls her mind had conjured up and may never existed but, they were all she could think of. Her eyes narrowed, the disbelief written on her face. “You’re lying…” She wanted him to react, desperately so, but he denied that hope, a betrayal of all she believed in.

“He was stopped by Elysian, but every time he got free he continued on. Eventually he found Elysian’s sister… he died the day he tried to take her.” Arata’s voice harboured no malice, just pure sorrow. Even Mayumi stopped in her tracks as she overheard the conversation, unsure if she should turn away or not.

Elara’s face dropped slowly. “And, that’s when Elysian killed him…”

“No.” Arata replied sharply. “He cornered Dolos in the city. Dolos’ plan backfired and he slipped over the edge of a roof. Elysian caught him… but his grip slipped.”

The words were like arrows, firing from all sides and digging into her skin. “An accident.” She muttered. “Elysian wouldn’t come out of his home following it… instead of guilt, it was… regret?” He realised. Elysian’s existence was burned into the back of her mind, forever a target of her vengeance…

She grit her teeth, lifting her head and revealing the eyes of one that did not believe the words she spoke, of someone in bitter, agonising pain. “You’re lying!” Her scream carried across acres, vibrating against the trees.

In the shadows of the trees behind them, the moment her scream had been swallowed by the air, a sound that shouldn’t have been there quietly reached them. It wasn’t that of some small animal darting through the bushes, or the wind catching on stretched out leaves… something had been tracking them since the break of the branch. Arata, who was now caught with his back to the noise had only Mayumi’s reaction to go off, and she was wide-eyed, motionless like a terrified hare in the eyes of a python.

Elara had heard it, lifting her head enough to see the misalignment in the shadow, a figure watching them beyond the boundary. Tall enough to hide the slopes beyond, wide enough that the path below was swallowed behind it. A frame that did not belong to an ordinary human. And with the sound of the branches quietly moving against their will, it slid away from their view. It was there, watching unseen.

“Arata…” Elara whispered, voice sharp.

He couldn’t answer. His focus was on Mayumi still, unable to draw her arrow properly as she watched the treeline, quiet as if it was holding its breath.

“Run.” He mouthed.

*-*-*

Mayumi ran at the front, keeping an eye on the pathway, hoping no pincer move was planned but also ready to spin and shoot at a moment’s notice. Elara forced Arata forward, keeping her grip on her spear so tight it began to sting.

Their path was uphill, eventually collapsing away at the cliffside. Mayumi slid to a stop and kept her aim on their rear. Arata looked over the edge, his panic overflowing. They all watched the treeline, knowing it was still there and then down to the waters below.

“We’re trapped!” Arata cried. But Elara’s mind had calculated the next step at the speed of lightning. “No, we jump”

“Are you crazy?!” Arata squealed. But she wasn’t taking any chances.

Mayumi leapt off the edge and before Arata could turn to refuse, Elara had jabbed the blunt end of her spear into his chest, pushing him from the cliff, following him soon after.

The creature following them stepped into the light, holding a hammer too large for any man to swing… he creepily smirked, “The hunt continues…”

Once they surfaced, the waterfall offered a safe haven. Stepping onto dry land left too many mistakes to track, and, luckily, there was an open space behind it.

Arata coughed up half the riverbed, still trying to stop his soul from taking a long needed vacation. “I hate water parks…” He gasped. But as he did, Mayumi almost exploded into laughter. Not the cutesy giggle he wanted her to have when he designed her, a full on belly cackle, pointing and everything. It became apparent that though he had tried to slick his hair back down, he had missed a good chunk that was now standing on end. “Oh god… I can’t breathe…” she wheezed through the laughter, “Looking good chief!”

His cheeks reddened and his scowl grew larger. “I just want you to know I hate you.”

“Quiet!” Elara blurted out just above a whisper.

“What?” Arata asked once the silence had taken over.

She shushed him again… and a shadow covered the falls. The Hammer, stood there, arm outstretched to the running white waters.

Instinctually, Arata drew another clone, quicker than he had ever done before, and brought it to life. It leapt from the waters past the Hammer, running frantically beyond the treeline. “Please work!” Arata pleaded. “He’s seen it before, but please let it work again!”

Moments later, it was gone. They counted the seconds, five turning to ten, ten turning to a minute… and the breath held in was allowed to escape.

Arata fell upon the rockface, his legs unable to keep him standing. “Thank you…” He groveled to the shadow man. Mayumi continued her chuckling like nothing had happened and Arata snapped at her but Elara, she was reliving the words that were spoken before the fall. “It was an accident.” She repeated to herself… “He was a monster…”

Mayumi’s chuckle had trailed away, and the roar of the falls filled the space again.

“What does that make me?” He wondered.