Act 2 - Part 1

Somewhere very far off from Malojin town lies Midra; a fairly circular town on the more high-end side than the latter.  Inside that town is a small clinic.  Dark brown wooden walls and floors. Plain twin-size beds lined perpendicularly against the walls.

It’s a slow day at the establishment; aside from a few Assistants, in white lab coats, tend to a couple of patients laying on those beds who are exhibiting coughing symptoms.

The clinic is owned by Dr. Klint; an average built middle aged man, donning a moderately thick chin strap beard, and a white lab coat.  He sits by his wooden desk in the room adjacent to the room where the beds are; only divided by an archway and white curtains.  On the desk are various beakers and flasks connecting to one another with boiling fluids in various amount.  His feathered brown hat lay off to the side of that desk.  He uses a feather pen on his papyrus notepad to jot down information; something he’s been doing for more than a decade in order to achieve a certain breakthrough.  However, he feels he’s nowhere close to that solution.

He is so focused on his research that he is unaware his own 16-years old daughter, Briet, enters in. She is 5 ft. 2 in. and wears glasses.  At one side of the lenses, there's a small chain with a seashell-like pendant that dangles at her upper lip level.  Her outfit is a mostly light pink top and pants and dirty blonde neck-length hair that curls inward at the bottom.

Briet has a newspaper in her hand and holds it up to her head to the side.

“Today’s paper came in, Father.”

Again, Klint is so focused on his work to be able to hear her voice.  That does not offend Briet. She exhales through the nose.  She plops onto the singular sofa by the opposite wall from the desk. She opens the newspaper.  She skims along it until a particular headline catches her attention and she brings her face closer to it.

"You’ve got to be kidding me!"

Briet quickly gets up and rushes out the door, taking the newspaper with her. The headline that caused her behavior is titled “Blood Crow Strikes Malojin.”

That abruptness in Briet’s voice snaps Klint out of his concentration. He looks in her direction.

"What's the matter, Brittney?".

"It's Briet!" she irritatingly yells back from a distance, correcting him.

The door slowly swings to a close. That habit of her old man is the one thing she can't stand about him. She isn't sure whether that's a curse of some sort or he has a serious problem remembering peoples' names. No wonder her mother left them when she was a child.

Inside a tavern, a large group of Midra Knights sit at multiple tables. The Knights have on light blue cloth that drapes over their armor, white lines around its edges; each of their helmets are placed on the side of them. On the front center of each of their cloth is the same emblem as Atina's pendant; 2 pairs of spikes on both sides of a shield and a fancy "M" in the center. They clang full mugs of beer with one another and are merry all around.

Briet enters through the tavern door then puts both hands on each side of her mouth.

“Lyner! Uncle Lyner!” ,

She spots him among the group of Knights, chatting along with them. The Captain of the Knights, Lyner, an early 40s; slightly muscular body; smooth, straight dark brown hair that reaches down slightly past his neck and scores an A+ in the looks department. Around his waist is a long dagger that is identical in length to the Ice Conduct including the other half of a yin-yang symbol at the base of the hilt.

Briet dashes past Vi who sits alone at a nearby table to Lyner’s. Vi is an early 20s androgynous female; has an emo-like appearance with short white hair and black tips that covers part of the right half of their face. Around Vi's neck is a choker with a pendant in the form of a claymore. Tied to Vi's belt is a short sword that looks like it's been chipped evenly along the blades. Unlike the rest of the Knights, Vi doesn't have much armor on their own body.

A map of the region with X-shaped-cuts at various parts lays on the table in front of Vi’s eyes.

Briet comes to a stop in between Lyner and one of the Knights. Lyner rotates his head slightly to her.

“Something the matter, Briet?”

Briet lays out the same newspaper in her hand onto the table. Lyner and the 2 Midra Knights on each side of him look at it. Briet has her fingers below that Malojin incident headline. The town’s name is familiar to Lyner but he can’t place his finger on it. Most law enforcement groups would turn a blind eye to a small town like Malojin. But the Midra Knights aren’t like that.

Lyner blink as he glances at the headline. “Men, we got a job to do!”

He stands from his seat and firmly walks out. A few of the Knights glance at the newspaper then get up and follow him. The rest do the same. Vi also stands up from their seat with their back turned to the map on the table. The tip of Vi’s shortsword detaches itself, makes an X-shaped cut over Malojin’s location on the map then floats back to its original position.

Some of the Knights have already gone out ahead. Lyner gets to the door. Briet gets up closer behind Lyner.

“I’m coming with you.”

Lyner glances at Briet from over his shoulder.

“A civilian shouldn’t get involved.”

Briet narrows her eyes.

“I wouldn’t be saying that if it does. Besides, this concerns you as much as it does me.”

Lyner has no idea what Briet is hinting at. This is not the first time Briet brings up this kind of talk to him; yet, each time, he doesn’t understand why. He gets a sense there’s no persuading Briet to change her mind. Whatever the case, Lyner makes a mental decision.

“Keep close then.”

Lyner goes out the door and so does Briet.

*****

Atina walks along the outer edge of a main road. Other people walk past her without a second thought. Malojin is quite a distance away the farther she walks. A horse-drawn wagon comes in her direction from behind. She turns her back to the road, quickly lowers herself into a standing-curled up position and has both hands over her ears. She is trying to control her whimpering as the wagon goes perpendicularly past her. She lowers her head, closes her eyes and has her fist to her chest. She takes a deep breath in then breathes out; the wagon goes farther and farther away from her. No doubt more of those wooden wheeled vehicles are bound to cross her path and that’s something she can’t handle. She moves farther away from the main road, into a tall forest area.

While she walks along the forest, she questions herself why she left the confines of her hometown. After all, she doesn’t quite have a destination in mind. While lost in her own thoughts, she hears a rustle of leaves and swift movements from the branches above her head; making her stop in her tracks.

"Little girl shouldn’t be out here all alone." says a male ominous voice.

A second, unfamiliar male voice rings out.

“Or else it will be her last!”

A Blood Crow, different from the group that attacked Malojin town, emerges from the treetops and dive-bombs at Atina with a dagger pointing at her. She does a side-flip away from it. The previous one, with a short sword out, also lands in front of her then makes a diagonal and horizontal slash at her. She swerves her body away from it, takes another step back, unsheathes Riley’s dagger then holds it out center front with the end of the dagger point diagonally upward.

The Blood Crow pair straightens up then slowly walks toward Atina. She takes another step back for each step those 2 makes. As they walk, one of the Blood Crows leans forward, side of his index finger under his chin, sizing her up.

"Say, let's take her to Lord Zar. I'm sure he'd love to add her to his harem."

"Not a bad thought, brother!"

Atina lowers her head, her expression doesn’t change.

“Harem? What did he mean by that?”

Her back nearly comes into contact with a tree. Darius, with his revolver in one hand, drops down and wraps his arm around her. The other 2 Blood Crows stop moving.  Atina lets out a gasp then she begins to squirm.

"Let go!"

Darius moves the nozzle of his gun up to the side of Atina's head. His intention here isn't to actually shoot her. His gun only has one smoke round. Darius plans on shooting the ground when the other Blood Crows least expect it then make his getaway with her under the cover of smoke.

Seeing that gun, Atina fears he'll shoot her. She brings one knee up then jabs her heel into his chest. Darius gags as he leans forward. He releases his grip on her and falls on his side. Atina runs off. The 2 Blood Crows give pursuit. Atina is fast, but they're faster. The Blood Crows bounce from one tree to the next until they get ahead of her, stop and turn to face her. Atina halts too. The pair lunges at her while she lowers herself.

Naiven, with broadsword in hand pointing diagonally downward, slides to a stop diagonally behind Atina then speaks very close to her ear.

"Don't move."

It feels as though he places a command spell on her. Atina's eyes move toward him. Naiven raises his sword. A strong gust of wind whips up and she shuts her eyes. It curves past them, pushes the 2 Blood Crows up higher into the air then slams their backs into trees. Those 2 fall onto the ground on their stomachs. Atina opens her eyes and glances at the scene; speechless what just occurs in front of her. One of the guys laying on the ground groans in pain. Not wanting to stick around and find out, Naiven grabs Atina's wrist with his free hand then dashes off with her; which takes her off guard.

"Naiven...you traitor..." one of them grumbles under his breath.

Atina glances at that Blood Crow on the ground who said that; then she looks at Naiven. She keeps that name in her mind.

A bit later, Naiven and Atina make out of the forest area and near the side of a main road. Naiven continues to sprint with Atina in tow.

"Wait," Atina says. Naiven ignores her. She speaks a little louder, "I said wait!"

Naiven comes to a stop. He lets go of Atina's wrist but still has his back to her. Atina pants while having both hands on her knees. It was the first time she ran so much in a while.

"Naiven, was it? Why did...Why did you save me back there?" she questions him in between breaths.

'Why' indeed. A guilty conscience? Naiven isn't entirely sure what went through his mind when he did that.

"There's only so much that time will give," is all he responds with. He walks ahead. Atina looks up at him, trying to make sense of his statement. A horse-drawn wagon goes past her. Next thing she realizes, she drops to that cowering position again and whimpers.

About a minute later, wind gently blows past her. She looks up and glances in the direction of the wind's flow. She does see Malojin town in the distance, but not Naiven anywhere. She is tempted to return to that town, considering it's a dog-eat-dog world out here. She stands up then walks off.

Naiven stands beside one of the trees and watches her go. He turns and about to head off, but he gets the case of the coughing fits then falls onto his knees, covering his mouth and continues to cough.

He uses his other hand to reach into his hip pouch and takes out a white, sphere pill. It lays on the center of his palm. He swallows it as he raises his head upward. A quick, raggedy exhale escapes his mouth. He pounds the side of his fist against that same tree; internally cursing at a certain 'poison' that's been eating away his insides for years. A familiar voice speaks out to him from behind.

"Are you alright?"

When he looks behind, Atina glances at him with concern in her eyes.

"Go home," he states.

"But..."

Atina takes a step toward him. Naiven quickly raises his shortsword at Atina. Her hair flaps as a gentle breeze blows past both sides of her face. The tip of Naiven’s sword is in between her eyes and a few centimeters from her face.

"I won't say it again." Naiven says in a slow, stern voice.

Normally, that would send anyone running for the hills.  Atina, through sheer willpower, stands there; not budging an inch.  She could go back. Yet, at the same time, she feels obligated to pay him back for saving her.  That's what she decides to do. If there's anything Riley and Atina have in common, it's stubbornness.

Naiven faces straight, closes his eyes and stands up. He sheathes his sword then walks past her.

"Do what you want."

Atina watches him go past her. She exhale-sighs and relaxes her guard in that brief moment. The tree Naiven pounded on earlier timbers to the side.  Atina's heart skips a beat and she takes a quick inhale as she holds a loose fist of hers up to her chest. She jogs after Naiven.  She doesn't know where he'll go, but she'll stick by him until she pays off her debt to him.