Feldheim

“Aizawa,” the familiar, ethereal voice called out to me in the darkness. The voice rang in my ears from all directions. I tried looking everywhere as the darkness enveloped me once again, but this time, I couldn’t see anything.

“Aizawa,” the voice grew louder, pulling at the edges of my consciousness.

I tried looking in every direction, but just then, the taste of metal returned to my tongue, and the nothingness that surrounded me quickly turned into a piercing pain in my gut.

“Aizawa,” the voice called out one final time, before my eyes finally opened to reveal Amber’s face directly over my own, tears streaming down her face and dripping onto mine.

I woke to find myself lying on a bed, the ceiling above me unfamiliar, a brass chandelier hanging overhead. My body was tightly wrapped in cloth and bandages, stained with dried blood. The air was thick with the scent of antiseptic herbs and something metallic.

Amber picked me up and held onto me tightly, burying her face into my chest as she sobbed like a child. I winced as her hug sent a shockwave of pain through my entire being, but I managed to lean my head over hers. “Missed you, too,” I murmured.

“Do you have any idea,” her words were faint, pausing between her sharp hiccups as she sobbed, “what could have happened?”

“Died?” I offered lightly, a joke that fell flat.

“Stop being stupid,” she cried, sobbing for a few moments more before regaining a semblance of her composure. She wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffing silently.

“What happened?” I asked, placing my less injured arm on her shoulder as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“By the time I got to you, you had passed out. I healed both yours and Jaeger’s wounds as well as I could have... but your wounds were much worse,” she said, touching the bandage wrapped around my stomach gently, a soft, fearful touch.

“What about Jaeger?” I started to leap up, before wincing back in pain and collapsing back onto the pillows. “Is he okay?”

“Careful,” she scolded softly. “Yes, he only got a slash wound on his leg and his arms; he’s sleeping in the room opposite to ours.”

“But... he knows now,” I said, almost whispering. “About your magic.”

“Mhm, but don’t worry, I told him I was the daughter of a former soldier of King Wilhelm, and he bought it for the most part,” she explained, though her tone lacked conviction.

“Where are we right now?” I finally asked, looking around the room. Paintings of mountains and fields adorned the maroon walls around me, suggesting a room in a moderately wealthy inn.

“We’ve made it to Feldheim, and we’re staying here for another week,” she said, looking out of the window behind my bed. “Apparently, one of the local nobles wants to ask us about what happened, and you need time to recover.”

I tried to sit up slightly, attempting to leverage my weight with the elbow of my good arm, only to be pushed down effortlessly by a single finger from Amber. I sighed before turning to her once again. “Those men, the last two, what did you even do?”

She opened the palm of her hand and looked into it, lost in thought, the silence lingering over the both of us as a distant rumble of thunder started to crackle outside our room. The sudden downpour began to lash against the windowpane, mirroring the turmoil in the room.

“It was a spell that instantly stops the heart,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

She closed her hand, making a fist, and pressed it close to her chest. “I—I took a life, Aizawa...” The tears started streaming down her face again, heavier now, not of fear, but of profound guilt. “I killed someone, and—and I didn’t want to, but I don’t know what else I could have done.”

I grabbed her hand and clasped onto it firmly. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here to have this conversation with you,” I insisted, trying to convey the simple truth of the situation.

She shook her head, pulling her hand away slightly. “No, Aizawa.... I could have paralysed them, I could have bound them with vines that grew from the ground... but,” her voice cut off, the tears coming in an unstoppable torrent. “But I killed them! When I saw what they did to you, I couldn’t control myself and I—”

She broke down entirely, crying aggressively. I pushed myself to sit up despite the excruciating pain and hugged her, letting her sob into my arms as much as she needed. “It’s okay, you did what you thought was best. You protected us.” The moral weight of her choice was immense, a heavy burden in this new world.

Just when I had thought there was a moment of calm, heavy footsteps echoed from outside the door, followed by confused shouts that made their way through the walls. The door suddenly swung open, revealing a group of heavily armed guards standing in the hallway.

Upon closer inspection, they all seemed to be clad in polished, heavy silver armour. A two-headed eagle was engraved prominently into their chestplates—the unmistakable symbol of the central kingdom. A group of nearly five guards stood armed with swords, with one guard at the center, the only one who had no helmet. His eyes reminded me of the elf girls, glimmering even in the dark of the night, and his blonde hair, long and straight, was tucked behind his distinctly pointed ears. He was an Elf, and clearly an officer.

“Mr. and Mrs Aizawa?” he spoke, his voice soft yet authoritative, cutting through the silence of the room.

“Yes,” Amber replied, quickly wiping the tears from her face, attempting to regain some dignity.

The guard at the center, whose presence commanded attention, unsheathed his sword and held it up to his face in a formal salute. “Upon suspicion of using unauthorized magic,” he stated, lowering the sword and pointing it directly towards the both of us, “you are being arrested by the royal guard.”

 I immediately tried to leap up from my bed, but the wounds still felt fresh, stinging with every minor movement. I hissed, pressing a hand to my ribs, before forcing myself to stand fully. I walked to the front of the room and looked the guard in his eyes, him towering over my bandaged, wounded form. Despite the pain, I met his gaze with a defiant glare.

“What proof do you have of any use of magic, Mister—?” I asked, forcing my voice to remain level. I didn't care if I was half-broken; I wouldn't let him see my weakness. My mind, at least, was still sharp.

“Faelar,” he responded simply, his voice a low, steady rumble that offered no trace of emotion. He did not elaborate, but the single name hung in the air, heavy with unspoken authority and a history I did not yet understand.

“Mr. Faelar, we were attacked by bandits mere hours ago outside this very city,” I said, pointing towards the visible bandages on my chest and arm. “And we were on a vital expedition on the instructions of Lord Remus himself!” I winced in pain for a moment, almost collapsing to my knees, but I waved a hand towards Amber, signaling her to remain where she was. Faelar’s eyes peered down on me, completely unmoved by my suffering or my words.

“The royal guard couldn’t protect a diplomatic mission but comes to arrest us upon mere suspicion of the use of magic?” I challenged him, putting every ounce of my fading strength into the accusation.

Faelar’s lips curled upwards as he let out a thin, unnerving smirk. “Mr. Aizawa,” he said. He then knelt down, recited something I couldn’t understand in a rapid, flowing Elvish dialect, and briefly placed his hand over my wounds. A sudden wave of cool relief washed over the worst of the pain, startling me. He then stood up. “I apologise for the wounds you suffered.”

“But our scouts indicate that two of the bandits that attacked you were killed by magic,” he replied, placing his heavy armored arm on my shoulder, a gesture that was both supportive and utterly restraining.

“We shall escort all of you to the capital,” he said, his voice calm, yet his eyes piercing into what seemed to be the very existence of my soul. “The King expects to see you.”