Chapter 1. Greenest in flames

a little wicked, a little conflicted, welcome mera the twisted 

Breaths softly.

Gathers thoughts and rearranges in perfect order. 

Smiles slowly, humming to the arranged melody in her mind.

we belong to the earth

I am a thief of reality.

I will steal all you know. 

Your mind is my prisoner. 

And all you will believe in is me. 

Dont let my appearance scary you for you will soon find out I am no more than a child inside.

COSIMA

You sit in the local inn, reading the small note again.

"Cosima,

Its been many years and I am sorry for the lack of contact. If family still means anything to you then you must meet me in Greenest urgently. Wait for me at the inn- The Drowning Wench.

Leosin Erlanthar.

You fold the note back up and slid it onto your inner pocket, the Inn was starting to fill up now. It was just past sundown and the local patrons were slowly making there way into the establishment. It is your second night here and despite the name of the Inn- it was actually a decent place to stay. The food was good, the rooms clean and the owner kind. You couldn't help feeling tug of frustration though- were was your old Master Leosin and why had he called you to this lazy town so urgently?

You hadn't seen him for years but he was like family and you would do anything for family without questions.

A young serving maid approaches your table, she was barley older than 12 but was already pretty, the owners daughter you guessed.

"Excuse me ma'am" she says with a kind smile.

"Would you be after any food tonight, the meat is almost ready to be served, we have chicken or lamb on the spit tonight and papa also has his famous pumpkin soup on the fire." She smiles again, her bright blue eyes innocent and sweet...something rare for you to see these days.

MERA

You sit up fast, to fast, your head beings to spin as you try and steady the world around you. A few seconds past and you breath in deep and exhale, the world slows around you and eventual stops.

You slowley push the shutters open and peer outside, its just past sundown. Ever since you had gotten to this town you had become more and more drained, you feel better now but why were you so tired? And the dreams...they felt...closer?

You pull the thin blanket of you and swing your legs of the side of the bed and look down and your feet. A single drop of blood dripped to the floor from your nose...followed by another...

There it was again...that feeling of being watched..haunted..you look up to were you feel your watcher is, only to stare at a cloudy mirror with your reflection staring back at you, no one else.

Noise from downstairs brought you back to reality, you were in The Drowning Wench, it was your fifth night here and it smelt as if supper was ready.

mera sighs, wiping the blood from her nose. she glares at her reflection, ‘of course it’s you’. breaking into a smile she shrugs and retrieves her journal, determined to sketch before the image in her mind vanished. she had already filled up 1 journal since being in this town and now, 3 pages later she was satisfied with the transfer. getting up, she skips to get ready, she would put off sleeping for as long as she could. perhaps tonight she could explore some more.

‘mera is hungry, so very hungry. mera wants some fun, just a little wicked hum’ 

she steps out of the room and follows her sense of smell. 

Cosima smiles back at the young girl, her golden eyes shimmering at her. "You have more to offer than this" she leans in close, moving a loose piece of the girls hair behind her ear. "knowledge is power blossom. Dont leave your books".

She sits back, closing her eyes and inhales deeply.  "Papa's soup will do fine".

Eyes still closed, she brings up Leosin's image in her mind and chuckles. "If family still means anything....?"

She hums softly to a new melody forming in her minds abyss. 

The girl smiles back at you and nods before rushing off to another table to take some orders.

Your deep thinking is broken by loud bangs on another table and roaring laughter. Although the inn was busy and had the usual noises you would expect- this particular group of 5 men were being inconsiderably loud. 
If you open your eyes- you would see 5 middle aged men. They appeared to be adventures or possible sellswords judging by there weapons that they had, they definitely weren't locals. The largest one leaned forward, laughter roaring out form his open mouth, cheap ale flowed out from his mouth, into his thin curly beard and dripped onto his leather that stretched across his bulging stomach.

Him and his men were laughing at a serving boy who was tripped by one of them on his way past. The clay pitcher he was holding had smashed across the floor spiling its contents everywhere. Some of the locals looked annoyed but no one said anything, they must have seen plenty of people like this past through the town.

Someone passes you and sits on the table across from you, one of the last remaining empty tables.

You make your way down the stairs and to an empty table just in time to see the young boy fall flat on his face, you hear a dull thud, then a smash as his pitcher shot broken shards of clay across the inns floor. As you sit down, you watch as the boy tries to stand up only to slip on the ale that spilled from his pitcher, behind him a fat man roars with laughter again, wheezing as his eyes bulge and the veins in his head stretch the skin on his forehead.

Se’air takes another calculated step as he throws the nectarine in the air and catches it delicately. Taking a bite, he breathes in through his nose, the evening air was light as the soft wind danced through his oaken locks. A tingling feeling in the pit of his abdomen told him the excitement of what was to come had begun to set in. Smiling, he tunes in to the sounds coming from the inn he passes .... The Drowning Wench, ‘hmmm creative’  he thinks as he rounds the corner, refocusing on the task at hand

SARIYA

You pull at the iron bars again but they still would not budge.

"You should save your strength Sariya, even an oxen would not be able to pull those apart." Alexis voice came from behind you.

Turning to face her, you see her holding a spoonful of sludge to one of the other girls mouths, she gently feeds it to her before wiping away at the corner of the girls mouth. She turns to face you and smiles, a tired smile but still a strong one. She was pretty, much prettier than any of the other girls in the wagon cage. Her blue eyes and high cheekbones made her feel older than she actually was. Her long blonde hair tumbled past her shoulders to the small of her back, it was now covered with dirt and had leaves and twigs entagled in it but you didn't care- you still thought she looked pretty, plus your hair always had twigs and leaves in it..you couldnt really understand why she would go around picking them out from everyones hair..

Alexis was nice but sometimes she didn't really make any sense..she would often talk about her father, who she said was a "Lord" of "Candlespire" or something...and all the other girls refered to her as "my lady" even though her name was Alexis....

You just pressumed that they had hit there head hard or maybe had some rotten berries or something...

You were just older than Alexis but she had confidence that made her feel older. She was the first one to approach you when they took you and ever since then you have been both tending to the other girls together. With your skills and her help you formed a unusual team that made sure the other girls in the cage were fed and cared for...

‘why can’t people just be nice’ mera frowns. To say she hated rude, ignorant, bullying people was an understatement. she wished them the worst pain imaginable. she wished them to be haunted, to never have a second of peace. to be cursed and in pain forever.

she makes her way to the boy and offers him a hand. she wanted to help him clean up the mess and she told herself she would do just that. ‘just help him mera’ but the more she heard the man’s laugh, the more she couldn’t control herself.

mera glared at the man and focused on the ale in his cup, on his lips and dripping into his beard, the ale in his throat and each little droplet left in his open mouth. she focused on how it slid down into his stomach. she imagined it as ice that never melts. she willed it to be so cold it numbed the man’s insides until it hurt.

1...2...3...conglacior   

12

Cosima frowns at the sight of the fallen boy. As she moves to rise and offer him a hand, another female helps him up.

Her gold eyes narrow slightly as she watches the filth of a man bellow. She takes in the sight of his appearance, letting herself get slightly disgusted- but only slightly. She tilts her head to the side and raises both eyebrows, very unamused by the sight of his tongue moving about as he laughed.

Hmmmm hmmmm la la hmmmmm hm. Smiles coldly.  Ha hmmmmmmmm

Cosima removes a tiny pin from the dragon scale bracelet she wore, twirls it around on delicate golden fingertips.....and in one flick, sends it flying, aimed right for the centre of the mans throat- just above the tongue that had slightly disturbed her peace for a moment.

Eyes shimmer. Smile widens.

Hmmmmm hmmmmm ha la hmmm.

10

Sariya looks around at the dreadful camp sight, if there was one thing she hated more then being caged up it was the innocence getting hurt. Cinniquar was right men are evil.
She moves closer to Alexis "Perhaps it is not the strength of an oxen we need" she says in a calm whisper "I've yet to find a cage to keep me trapped, why should this one be any different" she smiles cheekily at Alexis before reaching through the iron bars and pulls a large leaf out of the girls hair. Closing her hand tightly around it she looks to check no one is watching as a faint purple glow begins to dance around her clenched fingers. She takes the spoon out of Alexis hand and in its place she gently lays the leaf which is now nesting some small berries "I will make more when I can" she scoops up a small amount of the sludge and holds it out infront of her friends mouth "Please don't forget to look after yourself too"

COSIMA and MERA

Both of your attacks don't seem to have effected the fat man and both of you are oblivious to what the other just did.

The serving boy does not take your hand Mera and gets himself up

"im fine" he says angrily while cradling a bleeding nose. He goes to storm of before relising that he shouldnt be taken out his anrgy on you. He looks at both of you for the first time and quickly mumbles thanks before pushing past to the kitchen.

The fat man seems to be no longer interested and has turned his attention from the serving boy back to his companions in conversation.

You are both left standing in the mess, looking at him.