Closed Trapped in by a Tempest [Roy Kingsfield]

[Lenz]

After Lenz had spilled the little she would about her history, she sat back and waited anxiously. The man leant in as if waiting for her to hand him the secrets of the world, but she didn’t say anything else. His sigh was most unnerving. She felt bad for not telling him more, but what was he hoping she’d say? It’s not like she’d tell him she was a goddess’s earthbound servant or anything.

Looking around the room as if trying to find some sort of object to start a conversation with, she couldn’t help but sigh too. This sucks. she thought, taking her index finger and running it through her curly hair. She wound a strand of the scarlet locks around her finger and played with it, trying to amuse herself by any means necessary.

This is so stupid. Why do I have to be the one to get stuck inside a building for who knows how long with two complete strangers. Why couldn’t I have listened to the common sense I had and stayed in the tent? It would have been better snowed inside the tent with Ipisol than alone here.

No matter how much she pleaded inwardly or outwardly, for that matter, no good came to her. She was stuck in between a rock and a hard place, with no escape route.

An uncanny silence hovered above the two. They were sectioned off in their own little corner of the room, as if trying their best to get as far away from the out casted man as possible.

Her eyes couldn’t help but land on him again. He was freaking her out, his clothing torn, his muscles stretching against the fabric. His eyebrows were too bushy, probably making him seem much more ferocious than he really was.

Although Lenz’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room, shadows from out of the corners started to creep up on her. They seemed to crawl closer and suffocate her as they wrapped their black claws around her neck tightly.

She couldn’t breathe and was feeling rather claustrophobic. Questions gnawed all over her, affecting not only her breathing, but other vital organs as well.

Her stomach began to hurt, the saying of having butterflies in your stomach being an understatement. Her head began to ache, her temples throbbing in rhythm to her heart which had now picked up pace.

It was a feeling of longing that she continued to sense. She longed to be safe and sound and she longed for all of this to never have happened. Of course wishes were never made to come true, so a dark mood was cast upon the woman.

Darn it all, she screamed inside her head. Darn being the closest she’s ever come to mentioning a vulgar word. But she happened to be angry and angry people did stupid and irrational things.

She hadn’t realised that she was still looking at the man. She didn’t know what her facial expressions showed, but when he raised his lip slightly and then licked the fronts of his teeth, she started to feel a little queasy.

He was starting to really freak her out again, so she quickly shook her head and pinned her eyes on something else. Thankfully another unavoidable awkward moment passed as Roy’s interest in Lenz continued.

“Tell me about the outside,” he said, his eyes locked on her again. “I’ve never been out of Sunberth. Well, I mean I’ve been out to the surrounding forest once, but nothing farther.”

The man seemed to tense up a little as if asking her questions would somehow send her over the edge. He looked like she was possibly going to attack him.

“What’s it like out there?”

It seemed like she was being forced under a really bright light, the heat causing her to sweat. She wasn’t one to be interrogated and although Roy had asked her a few simple questions, she wasn’t in the mood to answer them.

It took her a few chimes to finally come up with a reasonable answer. She made sure her voice sounded patient and calm and not crazy and afraid like she was feeling right now.

“Honestly, it’s really boring.” Her answer might have surprised him, but if it did she didn’t notice. She had her mind reeling out words and the words played into sentences already done up and at her disposal.

“When I was travelling, all I kept seeing was trees; trees and shrubs and snow once winter had come around. It was rather scary actually, being out there all alone besides my horse and…”

She not dare speak about Ipsiol shall she? What if someone got ahold of this information whilst Ipisol was still alone and went to do something indescribable to her? Lenz couldn’t bear thinking that, so she avoided the name entirely.

“…and myself. The nights were dark, the mornings were tiresome. I’m sorry this doesn’t sound as exciting as you would have thought, but it wasn’t like some other people’s tales.”

As if by habit, she began to play with her fingers again, her front teeth biting down on her lip harder than last time. What else should she say? This man was obviously trying to start a conversation, yet she wasn’t being helpful in keeping it flowing.

It wasn’t like she was antisocial or anything, and this man seemed really nice, but there was just something that didn’t let her talk. Whether it was fear or not, confusion took ahold of her quickly thereafter.

It was like a dream, the way her mouth moved without her knowing. She continued to tell him things and similar to a nightmare, she had no control over what she said.

“It was hard for the first few days. Ipisol and I, we were still new to each other so it took a while for us to fully trust one another. We were paranoid most of the time, afraid that someone would take us again. We spent so many days on edge that we lost sleep. Travelling was difficult and the memories from back then are still too hard for us to handle.”

Like reading from a book, all the words already written down for her, she rushed on, spilling most of her secrets just to clear the air while she was still absent from her mind.

“I lost so much, so I kind of just let my horse lead us through the wilderness. After a few seasons, we finally made it to sea. We finally made it to Sunberth, of all places right?”

Once she had finished and once she had regained control over what she said, she leant her head back against the wall behind her. A sad smile crept up onto her lips as she sighed softly. She felt tears starting to well up, but she held them back.

She wished she could take back everything she had just said to Roy, for he was still a complete stranger to her! At least she didn’t mention anything else about her past. She might have left little hints here and there, but it was a puzzle without all the pieces. It would be impossible for him to connect all the dots.

She shrugged.

“Sunberth wasn’t all what I expected it would be, but it’s better than nothing,” she finished, concluding her sob story. She made a vow to herself to never speak about her life that way again.

What was wrong with her?

[Roy Kingsfield]

Day 84 of Winter in the Year 513 AV

The words that rolled off of her tongue were like sweet honey to a starving man. He absorbed everything she said, barely managing to conceal his excitement upon hearing someone’s perspective on the outside, vague though it was. But the excitement was slowly drowned as a feeling slowly began to burn in his chest, fighting to free itself from the confines of his body.


She might say life on the outside is boring but she doesn’t know what it’s like to be trapped. Held against her will by something you can’t see. Imprisoned by walls that you can’t can’t touch, can’t escape. It’s like being chained down and having a window a few inches from your face. Knowing your freedom just off in the distance, mocking you. So tantalizingly close but pulled just out of reach. Knowing in the depths of your being what the sweet relief would feel like but knowing you may never get the chance to experience it.


Roy was dragged back to reality, the melancholy mood settling upon his persona as the silence weighed heavily upon the room. She had finished speaking for the moment. Roy felt his mind slowly suffocating him as its cloying nature was bent on drowning him in its darkness.


You can’t escape your fate. You’re trapped here. Sunberth will always be your prison. You will be forced to live a meaningless existence. Having no purpose. Never amounting to anything. You’ll turn out just like your parents. Nobodies. In a city that swallows the worthless. Throw away the thoughts of rising above. Just accept the corrupt nature that slumbers inside of you. It will make you great. It will make you into someone that matters. Someone who will change the world.


Roy fought the voice in his head, the corrupt nature that did its best to leave an imprint inside of him. It toyed with him as it tried to entice him to give in, reject the morals his parents had done their best to teach him and take the easy road. It promised adventure, wealth and most of all, freedom.


I’ve seen what you’ve done to people who accept you! You twist them, turning them into people they aren’t! You turn them into drunkard fools, corrupt, immoral, thinking of no one except themselves. They all that’s wrong with this city. Look at what you’ve offered the people who live here. Look at what it has down to them. The city boasts of freedom and the ability to do whatever it pleases without the constraints of law. But it is nothing but a cesspool of deceit and it is slowly self-destructing. What you offer leads to nothing but death. They just don’t know it. You can try to take me but I won’t go down without swinging.


Roy battled with the voice in his head. He could almost hear it mocking him, its seductive voice trying to lure him in.


Ahh, but don’t you know Roy…I’m already winning. You just don’t see it yet…


The sultry voice turned into a sneer but it finally left him, leaving the turmoil of emotions in its wake, leaving him feeling defenseless, vulnerable. Roy felt like he was suffocating, not really aware of where he was. Opening his eyes he saw he was stilling sitting on a makeshift table, Lenz beside him. A layer of sweat coated his body, causing his body to shake as the cold slowly cooled his body temperature.


“It was hard the first few days…” Roy focused on her voice, grabbing onto the life line that felt like was the only escape from the tide of emotion that wanted nothing more than to control him. As she spoke, her words soothed and caressed his rapidly beating heart, stilled the raging thoughts that coursed through his mind.


He listened to her story, slowly calming down. He gripped the table as if his life depended on it. He realized she was really baring her soul to him. She told him some surprisingly detailed events in her life. She either didn’t care about who knew about her life or she was very comfortable with him, he couldn’t tell. But when she finished, he felt a tug in his conscious that demanded such a display of emotion and vulnerability deserved an equal replay.


Roy was reluctant to give such intimate details of his life, but after what had just tried to harness his mind, he would do whatever it took to feel like a normal human.


He didn’t know where to start. But as she finished speaking the last sentence resonated in him. “Sunberth…its dangerous here. Just look around, the people are broken. We boast of freedom but all it has done to us is break us. Look at that man for example.”

Roy jerked his head in the direction of the third party of their snow in. “He wasn’t always like that, the city corrupted him. Just like it does everybody. It’s stronger than most people. Those who don’t have family or strong role models who know what’s right and wrong, the city just forces them to conform to what it wants, breeding immoral, selfish people. Until it becomes all they know.”


Roy was silent for a moment.


“I was raised differently. My father is a simple candle maker, chandlers as they liked to be called. My mother is a seamstress. We barely manage to get by in Sunberth but too poor to leave. They want nothing more for me to take the family business.”


Roy looked away, his expression hardening. “But that’s not the life I want. There has to be more than barely surviving.”


Roy sighed and looked back at Lenz. “They always taught me to stand up for the weak. The ones the criminals try and crush beneath their boot. The ones who are taken advantage of. They have no one to protect them amidst the city of corruption. My parents are good people, the best actually. We just have different ideas of what life looks like.”


Roy finished talking, the room encased in silence and snow. He had never spoken so much aloud to anyone in his life. The words left him with mixed emotions. He wasn’t sure if he made a mistake in opening up to her.


Time would tell.


“I think it’s time we hit the hay.” He looked around and smiled briefly at her. “Sadly there is no hay to soften the ground. But in all seriousness, I think we should get some shut eye. We might be able to get out of here tomorrow.”


With that, Roy swung his feet, careful to avoid Lenz and jumped off the table. He made his way across from the other man and sat down against the wall, propped up. He crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.


He didn’t trust the man but he had no choice but to sleep and hope he woke up the next morning.

[Lenz]

It was very uncomfortable for Lenz, watching the man’s facial features contort as it went through many different emotions. It was as if he was trying to figure out whether he wanted to be elated or depressed, aggravated or content. It frightened the woman a little as she had told her side of the story.

It was only fair that he elaborate on his, but Lenz thought it wasn’t a good time to pressure him. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead, the woman saw. She straightened up a little, eying the man on the other side of the room as she did.

With Roy acting strange and the pervert still plotting his actions with a smirk plastered on his face, the female was stuck. It was like she was in the midst of a battle, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to be on the good side or the bad side.

But what am I fighting for? she thought, pondering a little more in depth at that question. The idea of fighting at all, and having to be stuck choosing between two opposing sides was the worst feeling one could ever have to experience.

Besides loss, hate and betrayal, Lenz had never felt so terrible in all her life. It was supposed of that from her stomach pain and her head ache, all together the contribution wasn’t helpful.

When the man’s knuckles turned white, the woman’s eyes widened significantly. She was concerned for not only herself but for Roy. What was going on inside that mind of his? She had simply told him a story, yet he was acting as if she’d told him she used some magical powers to play with his soul.

She was about to ask him if she was alright, and had actually gotten out the first word in a small whisper when he interrupted her, his voice hurried in the beginning, but soon settling down as he continued.

It was truth that exited Roy’s lips. The people in Sunberth were dangerous. She often had one sided debates with herself on whether or not Sunberth would last much longer given the lawless freedom its locals had.

Without someone controlling the city, the ending sentence wouldn’t just be a simple ‘the end’ but a ‘and it ended in fire, destruction and hatred’.

When Roy jutted his chin in the direction of the bulky man who still leant against the wall a few feet away from them, Lenz understood the reference. He was a very accurate example, but there were different categories of people in Sunberth.

She was still new to the city, but during the first few days she spent in it, she had noticed different sorts of people as if there were different levels a person had to progress through.

There were the thieves, Lenz’s hatred for them so great she wished she could jail each and every one of them. It was especially miserable to think of it in the big picture. Upon observing every criminal act of theft she had ever observed the idea kept itself lodged in her mind.

Someone had worked so hard for that money or those supplies only to have some poor, wasted, washed up soul go and steal it from them for their own. It made her angry that someone would deprive another of their hard-earned property.

Among the thieves there were also the whores. Sure, without being judgmental, Lenz didn’t have much thought into this. People had to make a living somehow and most whores she had ever dared to meet always had a terrible history.

There were also the rapists, and Lenz thought this over as her line of sight was directly targeted on the man by the door.

These people were the ones who not only take away someone’s property but also robbed them of their virginity and sense of dignity. It was terrible how someone could be so cruel and desperate to hurt someone for a ‘good time’. And in the end the rape victim’s life was shattered from that traumatic event and the rapist walks away free with a smile of pleasure smeared across his malevolent face.

And to save the best for last, Lenz pondered the killers. Some people had jobs as assassins or mercenaries and although she didn’t quite understand that entirely, she disliked the idea of it anyways. Some, however, didn’t have a job as a mercenary or an assassin and instead simply killed because they want to.

Even those who don’t kill because it makes them happy or because they enjoy it make her sick. Just because you despise someone doesn’t mean you have any right to kill them.

Just because you lost a bet doesn’t mean you need to seek your revenge in a hostile and potentially deadly way. It sent shivers down her spine and made her heart feel like it was on fire whenever she thought about such sinful individuals.

There were many other categories of criminals, but at the moment, Lenz was too overworked to continue to think about such negativity. She had blanked out on the next few words Roy said, but resumed listening intently on the rest he had to say.

He began to explain how he was different from the rest, how he was like a tree stuck dead centre in the middle of a clearing. She smiled partially at the metaphor.

“I was raised differently,” he said, his voice like gravel. It was deep, yet soothing and with the exhaustion from worry already settling in, Lenz found it easy to fall asleep to.

“My father is a simple candle maker, chandlers as they liked to be called. My mother is a seamstress. We barely manage to get by in Sunberth but too poor to leave. They want nothing more for me to take the family business.”

So he’s stuck in Sunberth because of his parents. After a little digging about the small town, Lenz had come to the conclusion that it was like a sink hole. Once you arrive in Sunberth, it’s almost impossible to leave. There is always something holding someone back and it keeps you from leaving.


Lenz had put her full attention on the man speaking, and when he turned his head to face the other direction, she knew that this must be hard for him.

She was correct when he continued, “but that’s not the life I want. There has to be more than barely surviving.”

It warmed the woman’s heart to hear Roy talk about standing up for the weak, the poor and the helpless. She now understood his reason behind protecting her and coming to her defense with the other man had tried to make a move.

She smiled and was tempted to take his hand in hers in terms of comforting him, but held back. Out of a habit she strongly disapproved of, she bit her lip.

Sleep. Her eyelids were slowly falling as the word popped into the air. It was like a child hearing the word ‘ice cream’ after a day’s play in the summer. She wanted it, but more importantly, she needed it. Sleep was a wonderful thing she loved more than anything at a time such as now.

Roy was already off of the table and sleeping sitting up against the wall, his eyes closed and his breathing slowed when Lenz had opened her eyes. Wait, when had she closed them?

She too, stood up out of the chair and walked somewhat close to where Roy sat, her eyes locked onto the man on the other side of the room.

He sneered at her, but appeared tired as well. A few feet away from Roy, feeling that he was a nice and protective guy, Lenz lay down, using her forearm as a pillow. She curled her legs so that her knees were close to her chest before her breathing slowed and her eyes snapped closed.

It felt like a few chimes went by, but sleep did funny things to a person’s perception of time. The woman happened to hear some strange noises coming from across the building. Thinking that it was either the wind or apart of her dream, she ignored it and went back to sleep.

Then all of the sudden she heard a zipping sound, so loud that it frightened her, her eyes snapping open. She was met with the sight of a large man, his trousers already halfway down, his eyes as cold as stones.

Upon seeing the woman’s responding expression one side of his lip went up in a malicious grin. The sight startled her as she opened her mouth to scream.

The man instantly recognized her plan to scream and clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her. Lenz’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as she became fully aware of the situation she had been put in. This wasn’t going to turn out well if she continued to play as a passive victim.

What had she just gone over in her head about her disgust for rapists and sympathy for their prey? Was she just going to let this guy get away with it and leave her alone to suffer throughout the rest of her days? Oh, no she wasn’t.

The woman struggled to release herself from under the man. He was crouching over her, both of his legs on either side of her midsection. He was much larger up close than Lenz had expected. This put a spin on things that sent it in the wrong direction.

He was overpowering her as he took both of Lenz’s wrists and held them in only one of his hands. His grip was tight and starting to send pain up her arm like a bolt of lightning rippling through a tree.

“Shh,” the man quieter her, his smile even wider as his eyes darkened with both lust and the sense of power. The female wished more than anything that she was able to not let the man get what he wanted. He wasn’t just after the sensation of pleasure. He was a gold digger who got the adrenaline from doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“You’re really pretty my love,” he breathed, his lips trailing down her neck.

With her hands bound by the one of the man’s hand and her mouth shut tight by the other, she was defenseless and rather vulnerable. With the man’s pants already halfway off, he tried to think over how he was going to get off Lenz’s pants with his hands already occupied.

Lenz cast a glance over at Roy, his eyes still closed, his mouth twitching as if he was in mid dream.

This isn’t happening! she screamed, but no words left her mouth. It was as if her lips had been sewn shut and no sharp object could rip out the seams. The material the thread had been made out of was immune to all destruction thrust upon it.

“Please,” she tried to say, her voice muffled and barely audible through the fingers of the monster keeping her still.

A fat tear made its way out of the corner of her eye as it slid down the side of her cheek. She closed her eyes and prayed for a better outcome.

This just isn’t fair! But at a moment like this, it wasn’t her who could decide how things would turn out. She just hoped that someone would take it upon themselves to rescue the weak, the poor and the helpless.

Perhaps someone like Roy?

[Roy Kingsfield]

Day 85 of Winter in the Year 513 AV

Roy stood in the center of a room. Four bleached white walls surrounded him, their spotless interior seeming to glow. No doors. No windows. No escape. Roy looked behind himself. A single rose sat in a vase on a pure white table. Roy stared at it. Suddenly the flower began to wither, the life draining out of it. It withered and turned black, petals slowly falling to the table.


All of a sudden the bleached walls, slowly began warping in color. They turned a dark yellow before changing into the same color as the rose. The once white walls of the room turned into a ghastly black, all light sucked away.


“I told you, you couldn’t escape Roy.” A malice laugh slowly rang throughout the room, growing louder and louder. “You’re mine.”


***


Roy’s eyes flew open, gasping. The nightmare was fresh in his mind and his heart pounded furiously in his chest. He tried to calm himself down as his blurry mind slowly came back awake. It must be the noise. He froze.


What, what the shyke…


Roy lifted his head from his chest and looked around, confusion twisting his face. His mind went blank as he tried to process what he was seeing. Lenz was pinned down by the lewd man who was straddling her waist. The confusion disappeared in a fury as Roy leaped to his feet and crossed the gap in a whirl of white hot rage.


Adrenaline coursed through Roy’s bloodstream, banishing the last of his sleepiness. Before the man had even registered his presence, Roy wrapped his hands around the man’s shirt and heaved him backwards with a roar. The man let out a grunt in surprise as he was lifted off of Lenz and tossed. He rolled over, cursing and began pushing himself off of his hands and knees.


Before he was able to rise from the ground, Roy charged him and slammed his foot into his stomach. The boot met with a whoosh as the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He fell over sideways, gripping his stomach and grimacing.


Roy pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with his body weight. Roy balled his fists and began reigning blows down on his face. The rapist’s nose crunched in a burst of blood as Roy’s fist connected. Roy swung again, smashing into the man’s jaw, jerking his neck sideways.


Roy was bringing his hand up again to continue the beating when his opponent’s knee was jammed into his back, knocking him forward. The rapist suddenly brought his head up, connecting with Roy’s face. His head exploded in pain.


The gruff looking man shoved Roy off of him and stumbled to his feet, growling. He wiped the back of his hand against his bleeding lip and pulled out a dagger from his waist band. He brandished it in front of him, glaring at Roy balefully.


Roy circled him warily, hands held extended from his sides, ready for anything. He was at a severe disadvantage, having no weapon. But he thrived on the challenge. And that’s exactly what was presented before him.


The man snarled and lunged, blade extended forward. Roy side stepped and grabbed the man’s wrist, battling for control. The blade gleamed in the near darkness as it was shoved in the air, two hands fighting for possession. The rapist suddenly jammed his knee forward into Roy’s manhood and he dropped like a rock.


Roy gasped and curled up, trying to stop the mind numbing pain. The man above him glowered, “I told ye’ to watch yer’ self, kid.” He crouched down beside Roy and ran a finger over the edge of the blade.

“Now I’ma kill ye’ and then I’ma have meh way wit dat girl.” The man lifted the blade and brought it down towards Roy’s chest.


At the last second, Roy managed to raise a hand through the receding pain and deflect the dagger just enough to avoid it piercing his heart. It sliced through his shirt, cutting into his side. Blood instantly welled up and dyed the shirt red.


Roy grunted as pain radiated from his side but he ignored it. He grabbed for the hand holding the knife and slammed his other fist into the jaw hovering just over him. The rapist was knocked off balance and Roy ripped the dagger from the hand simultaneously. He pushed himself to his knees and lunged at the figure who had landed on his arse from the blow.


Roy crashed into him pinning him to the ground once again. Roy brought up the dagger and held it up against his enemy’s throat. Roy leaned up and shoved a knee into the man’s chest as he stared down at him. The blood started seeping down the side of his white shirt as the blade dug into the rapist’s neck.


Roy hesitated.


The man tried laughing but began coughing as the knee dug into his chest even harder. “Ye’ can’t even kill meh, can ye’ boiy?” He wheezed as he mocked Roy.


The blade in his hand began to shake.


I can’t kill him. I can’t turn into the people in this city. Killers. Murderers. Lowlifes. But we’re still trapped in here. If I let him go, he’s just going to come after us.


Roy released the blade from the man’s throat and let it hang by his side, shaking.


The man snarled and glowered at Roy, “I knew ye’ were weak. When ye’ least expect it, I’m gonna-“


The man couldn’t finish his sentence, the blade snaked through the air and pierced his throat. The man gurgled as warm blood began trickling out of his mouth as he coughed.


Roy leaned down towards the man’s ear. “I am not weak. I protect the weak. You’ll never hurt anyone ever again.”


Roy ripped the blade out from the dying man’s throat, blood gushing from the open wound. Roy tossed the dagger to the side and staggered to his feet, staring motionlessly down at his dying opponent.


The room tilted sideways and Roy collapsed.

[Lenz]

It all went so fast. At first, Lenz was near close to closing her eyes, accepting the defeat of the battle she was struggling to win. And then all of the sudden a hand whipped across her attacker’s abdomen and yanked him off of her.

The man’s hands left her mouth as she fought to breathe. During the last few moments until her release, his hand had covered her nose as well as her mouth. The out corners of her eyes had begun to darken and she could hear the blood pulsing in her ears.

Thankfully something or someone had saved her in the nick of time, or else she would have been an unconscious victim of sexual assault, and that was the worst kind, she was sure.

Streaks of dark colour flashed in front of her eyes . A foot connected with the man’s stomach, sending a large woosh of air from out of his mouth. His eyes rolled back in his head for a second before he tried to retaliate, but Roy was on him like a cougar claiming its meal for the day.

He was hungry, and something inside of the woman leant to thinking that it wasn’t all for her. It was as if he was angry in general, but Lenz couldn’t pin as to why that was. Had it been a past experience? Had he witnessed something similar, yet had not been able to save the victim? Was this way of making it up to himself? To her?

Lenz was divided into two separate feelings. One side wanted the man to get what he desvered. She watched as the man’s nose fed blood to Roy’s awaiting knuckles. However, another side of her wanted Roy to stop what he was doing.

“Stop,” she whispered, watching the terror unfold in front of her.

“Stop, please,” she said again, but her voice was muffled beneath the sounds of fists, moans and groans.

Suddenly her words didn’t matter much anymore. The man’s head cleared from the pain as his sense of being in danger finally made through to his mind. Roy was punished for his violence with a knee in the back and a head butt.

Lenz cringed as she heard a soft cry from her friend. Friend, Lenz thought, realising that all he had told her, had done for her, he was considered a friend to some extent. And what did friends do for one another?

They help each other.

But the woman was frozen in place, her head still reeling from the fact that she had almost been raped. All she could do at a moment like this was watch what was happening like she was an audience member watching a play.

It was all fun and games, like two kids wrestling each other in the sand when the man abruptly pulled out one of his tricks. A dagger glinted in one of the rays of moonlight that had snuck in through a hole in the boarded up window.

Lensz gasped as the man lunged forward. She prayed for everyone’s safety, even for the hostile enemy that was trying to kill Roy. She wanted to jump in and negotiate with both parties so badly, but knew that doing so would only be foolish. It could also get her killed, and what would be the logical sense in that?

It was almost like she had been blindfolded during the climax of the play. Things went dark, her mind shutting off until she was able to turn it back on. She regained her composure and suddenly Roy was ontop of the man, the dagger in his possession.

“No!”

Was that her screaming out? She knew she couldn’t distract her saviour from his attempt at ending a threat, but did that man really deserve to die? Couldn’t something be settled or was that the welcome here in Sunberth?

Of course, Lenz said to herself, mentally smacking her forehead as she did. There is no law here, therefore there is no government, hence no place for the criminals to go in order to pay for their crimes.

What was she thinking in the first place?

But still, she kept wondering, biting her lip as she ran through her options. Does he really deserve to die?

The insults and threats that left the man’s throat weren’t very smart. Roy was the one currently with the higher ground. If Lenz had a knife to her throat, she would have shut up right then and there.

When Roy withdrew the blade, a gasp of air was released from the woman’s lips. Whether it was relief of disbelief, she wasn’t sure. She continued to watch, hesitantly turning to her fingernails to chew.

In a blink the knife had misplaced itself from in Roy’s grasp to inside the man’s throat, blood spurting from his neck like a leaky fountain of pressured water. The sight was so gruesome, it churned Lenz’s stomach. She held back a gag as she mentally saw the words ‘the end’ starting to appear on the stage.

Tears started to well up in the woman’s eyes. She wasn’t sure why she was starting to cry, other than the fact that she had just witnessed someone die right in front of her. No one wanted to see such a sight, not even those paid to do so.

“Roy,” she whispered to him as she watched the blade he had ripped out of the man’s throat being tossed to the side. “Are you-“

But it was too late for her to finish as her rescuer fell to the ground, his eyes snapping shut.

Instantly, Lenz felt obliged to help him. It was in her blood, and instinct she had grown to admire and accept back in Kenash when many people became sick or physically exhausted. She was no doctor and probably never would be, but she knew a little thing or two.

“Roy?” she asked him, her voice quivering. She leant over his still body and leant her head to his chest. She still felt his chest rise and fall, but the motions were shallow.

As she lifted her head, she felt a wet liquid stain her face. She went to touch it, surprise to see blood on her fingertips. When had he been cut? During that time must have been when Lenz had blanked out, or else she just wasn’t observant enough.

“Don’t worry,” she breathed, racking her brain for ideas on what would be the best way to handle the situation. Over her shoulder, she saw the dead man, his body as still as a rock.

She rushed over to it, and went to hold her nose, but braved through it instead. She leant over the body and took his shirt in her hands. She pulled, the fabric ripping as she did until she had a decent amount of what would be considered ‘makeshift gauze’.

As swiftly as she could, she returned to Roy, her eyes no longer blurred by tears. She went to his side and stuck the ripped shirt onto the wound. She applied pressure as she wound the material around his body. She had to lift him up slightly, but had just enough strength to manage.

After she had wrapped it around twice, for that was all there was for her to use, she sat back and took a breather. What else should I do?

To make sure he was still alive, she stuck her first two fingers under the man’s neck. She still felt a pulse as feint as it may have been.

Deciding that there wasn’t much else to do, she placed both of her hands on his wound and pushed. This would help stop the bleeding. She was always told by her mother that whenever you had a cut, putting pressure on it would help it stop bleeding.

She just hoped it was accurate advice.

Lenz wasn’t one for being able to maintain proper patience. Sure, she was a patient woman, but when she had to wait whilst under challenging situations such as now, she couldn’t.

“Why isn’t it working?” she shouted to the building. A frown appeared in between her eyes, causing a crease to form.

Blood was soaking into the fabric and staining her hands red. Thankfully, she continued to stay calm and kept from making any irrational decisions. Panic hadn’t set in yet, but she didn’t know if it was because she was still numb from previous events or for some other reason.

“Please be okay,” she whispered to him, a sad smile replacing the frown that had been a few moments ago.

Letting out a sigh, Lenz took a risk. She stopped applying the pressure to Roy’s wound and rushed back over to the body of the man he had killed. Once there, she went ahead and started to strip another layer from the man’s shirt.

There was a shimmer caught from out of the corner of the woman’s eyes that stopped her. She turned her head, straining her eyes in the darkness. There was a bloody dagger sitting on the floor a few feet from her.

Curiosity welled up inside her like a balloon. With the fabric held firmly in one hand, she went over and picked up the blade with the other. She cleaned off the blood with the material and then slowly tucked the dagger into her pants.

Directing her attention back to the current issue at hand, she wrapped this piece of cloth around Roy like she had the first one and pressed down on the centre of the wound again. Only this time, Lenz’s eyes grew heavy.

She hadn’t been able to have much time asleep, what with being almost raped by a malicious man with lustful desires. So, it wasn’t unexpected to have her slowly fall asleep, her head resting a top her liberator.

She was a survivor, but would Roy be?

Those were the last thoughts that ran through Lenz’s mind as her consciousness left her for the night.

“You’re going to be fine,” she mumbled as dreams replaced the fear.

[Roy Kingsfield]

Day 85 of Winter in the Year 513 AV

The first thing that registered, was the intense pain in his side. Roy’s mind, like a dying fire, slowly being brought to life, began to awake. He couldn’t tell if he was waking up from an unconscious state or was waking up from sleep. Or if there was even a difference between the two. The only thing he knew was the dull ache in his side.


Roy blurrily opened his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings. A pinprick of light streamed through one of the boarded up windows, its beam piercing through the room. Everything else was surrounded in darkness. Roy tried getting up, but the sharp pain in his chest flared to life. He gasped in agony and froze, praying for the pain to go away.


It slowly faded back to a dull throb. Roy tried breathing shallowly, limiting the movements of his chest. Memories slowly played themselves back as to what happened during the night.


Man. Attempted rape. Knife. Stabbed. Dead.


It all came back in a rush and Roy struggled to get to his feet. But the pain drove him back down to the ground. Shock swiftly set in, numbing his mind, distracting him from his injury.


I…I killed someone. I took another man’s life. I stole someone of their lifeblood. I did something I despise others for. I’m no better than the rest of Sunberth.


The weight of what he had done fell upon him like a fifty ton rock. He gasped for air, feeling the crushing heaviness of his actions.


I told you I would get you, Roy. You’re no better than anyone else in this city. You’ve become corrupt, vile, immoral, scum of the earth. How does it feel? Did you like the rush of power you had when you drove the point of the blade into the soft flesh? Watching the life drain from their dying corpse? Feeling the exhilaration of taking something that didn’t belong to you? The most sacred possession of all? A human life?


Roy shook, chills running up and down his body.


No, you don’t understand. I did it to protect Lenz and myself. If I didn’t stop him, he could have killed both of us-


Roy argued with the voice in his head, defending himself but was cut off as it continued mocking him.


Don’t be so naïve. You didn’t have to kill him. You could have stopped him in so many other ways. You could have knocked him out, tied him up. No Roy. You WANTED to kill him. You’re a murderer.


Roy shook his head violently, trying to shut the voice up but its chanting grew louder and louder.


MURDERER. MURDERER. MURDERER. MURDERER.


“NOOOOOO!” Roy screamed. “I AM NOT A MURDERER!”


The voice’s laughter echoed in his head.


“I DID IT TO SAVE US! I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE!” Roy yelled. “LEAVE. ME. ALONE!”


The voice cackled one last time before disappearing. Roy panted raggedly, curling himself up into a ball. He ignored the pain as the wound twisted with the curve of his body. He wrapped his hands around his legs. Tears streamed down his face as the enormity of what he had done settled. There was blood on his hands. This wasn’t just another fight that he was in to release aggression. He had taken another person’s life.


He didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was suffocating. But then he remembered. His lifeline.


“Lenz…”

[Lenz]

Small beads of sweat crept down her cheeks. Lenz found herself running, but she didn’t know what she was running from.

The sky was clear, but no stars were in the sky. The moon was titled into the shape similar to a Cheshire cat’s smile. It shimmered in a contrast of blankness. There were trees on all sides of the woman as she sprinted through the forest she had somehow wound up in.

She was lost. Her heart beat pounded in her chest until she was panting. Her breathing was strained and her eyes were quickly growing heavy. She could no longer move her arms and soon she collapsed from the numbness that had taken over her legs.

She lay still in the cold snow underneath her until dark shadows started to swarm overhead. She fought to maintain consciousness as malevolent deeds were practice above her. She waited impatiently for the torture to subside.

Piercing aches and pains ignited all over her body. She couldn’t move as if she had been restrained against her will by metal chains or thick ropes. It felt like she was being held captive until she spilled her deepest secrets.

Her mind was reeling and she had no sense of where she was or what time it was. She tried to find the moon, but soon the luminescent rays disappeared and pitch darkness consumed everything in its path. She was completely and utterly alone, strapped down without a sense of what was happening.

She tried to scream but no words left her lips, for they had been sewn shut. Things were happening too quickly as images of blood and death and murder invaded her mind. Terrible memories she had thought she had totally repressed came back more vividly than ever.

She screamed again, but her lungs soon filled up with water. She was choking, her chest heaving as she struggled for another fresh breath of pure air. Both her body and her mind had been corrupt by malicious forces and she had no idea how to free herself from their vicious grasp.

She was losing her touch of reality, everything coming in blurs. She could only hear garbled messages and she had completely lost feeling in all of her limbs. She was dying and she knew she it.

The best thing for her to do would be to just accept that fact and close her eyes. So she did just that, but she started to close them…



…she ended up opening them to a dark room, only slivers of sunlight pouring in from various angles found throughout the room.

At first, she was panicking, her breathing coming out in loud, short gasps. Frantic thoughts made her scream for help, but no sound came out. Her voice was far too dry for any words to formulate. She thought she was still in the nightmare until reality slowly crawled back to her.

She was lying on a man; a strange substance had been caked onto the right side of her face. As she remembered everything that took place before she had fallen asleep, she realised what her duty was in helping him.

Roy. The name came back to her with high priority. He was the one who rescued her from being raped by the horrors the thug on the other side of the room had almost caused her.

Roy struggled to get up, but the pain he must have endured sent him right back to the ground. He almost hit his head on the hard floor from the momentum.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to him, her voice like honey through all the stagnant air surrounding them.

There was a bad smell wafting around her. She turned her head to the bloody corpse still lying over by the boarded up window and gasped. She remembered everything, yet was still startled by the sight as if realising for the first time that everything had actually been true.

There was no doubt in her mind that he was the source of such foul odour.

Suddenly Roy jerked, as if he had been struck by something too cold or too hot for him to handle. His abrupt movements had startled Lenz into falling to the floor.

“No! I am not a murderer!” he roared. His voice was so deep and dark that the tremor made the woman lose her breath and make her heart skip a beat. A feeling like many spiders crawling up and down her back made her try to wriggle out of her skin.

He sounded terrified like no one should ever sound. It was almost as bad as the many innocent souls she had met in Xy as they were being beaten or tortured until their screams were the last sounds they made until Death stole them away and into the darkness.

“I did it to save us; I had no other choice!” He continued to scream, tears glistening as they fell down his cheeks. He rolled to the side, his back no turned to Lenz. Her breathing had almost become as ragged as his was, her fear level increasing with each passing moment.

“Leave me alone!”

Lenz rushed over, so that she was facing him and took her hand to his forehead. Please don’t be coming down with something, she prayed as she bit her bottom lip and nibbled at it until she drew blood.

Her eyebrows stitched together as she parted the dampened hair that stuck to his forehead. She didn’t know what to do and frankly, she wished that she could just go home and pretend all of this had never happened.

“I’m here,” she coaxed to him. “You don’t need to worry. I’m here and no one is going to bother you again.”

She sounded like a mother to one of her children who had just been bullied. She felt embarrassed that she had just said all of that to a full grown man, but it couldn’t be helped. It was instinct and he was in need of comfort. She wasn’t going to turn her back on that.

When he called out her name, it tore at the only heart strings she had left. It made her stomach churn and she found it relatively challenging to swallow. This was something she really didn’t need to deal with right now, but she would.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked him.

[Roy Kingsfield]

Day 85 of Winter in the Year 513 AV

Shadows teased around the edges of his vision, their finger-like wisps blinding, hiding, confusing. The voice threatened to drive him towards insanity. The urge to give in to it was almost irresistible, it promised him peace; calm from the voices in his head.


But Lenz’s voice cut through the fog and he clamped on to that lifeline. He felt the cool touch of her hand across his brow and he focused all his energy on that sensation, trying to drive the voices that did their best to overwhelm him from his mind.


Roy grabbed her hand and held it against his face, feeling the warmth of her touch. He opened his eyes blurrily and saw Lenz looming over him, worry borderline panic, etched across her features. He realized his shouts must have scared her to death. Or the stab wound. Either way, she couldn’t have been very thrilled with how her night have turned out.


He felt a stab of guilt penetrate through the swirl of emotions as he realized what Lenz must be feeling at the moment. “Lenz…” His heartbeat began slowing down as he locked onto Lenz and the distraction she presented. “I’m…I’m sorry for…this.” He waved his free hand around weakly.


The day was just getting worse and worse. They were trapped, no way out. The snow had piled up so they couldn’t force the door open, the windows were boarded shut and a dead corpse sat in the corner of the room. He was laid out on the floor, a bandage wrapped around his chest, keeping the blood inside his body. The day had gone from bad to worse and they still had no way out.


Roy sighed and then winced as the inhaling of air caused pain to radiate through his torn side. He slowly uncurled his legs and gingerly pushes himself upright against the wall. He did his best to ignore the pain but the movement caused him to gasp and grit his teeth.


Finally reaching a point where he was able to sit upright, he stopped moving, the pain turning to a dull throb in his side, distracting himself from their current predicament.


“Lenz…” Roy paused hesitantly, trying to process his thoughts. He realized it might be a silly question but he had to ask. “Have you ever…killed anyone?”


He didn’t know why he asked, murder was common place in Sunberth. He was used to it or so he thought. He realized it was a completely different story when it was at your own hands.

[Lenz]

It made the woman’s stomach flip and her breath stutter when Roy grasped her hand and held it near his face. She titled her head to the side and let a sad smile give hope to the man.

He had done something stupid, but she knew that sometimes doing something stupid was the only thing one could do. He had saved her life by acting irrationally, but if he hadn’t, she would have been scarred for life caused by the actions the savage man who now lay dead would have done.

And Lenz was proud of that. She knew that anyone else probably wouldn’t have done the same. She knew that in Sunberth, a different person would have sat back and watched like it was a play being put on and they were sitting front seat at the theatre.

Her stomach churned at the thought of such harsh cruelty. Her thoughts clashed and formed major conflict as she once again recalled back to why she had wanted to stay in such a terrifying city. Of all places she could be right now, why did she have to be here?

Was it because she was too tired and far too worried about travelling farther toward Zeltiva or even Ravok? Was it because she thought she could hold her own against all the evil people here? Was it because she thought it could toughen her up if she surrounded herself with such a terrible environment?

Frankly she didn’t know, and in rethinking all of these questions, they gave her head a good whipping. It began to pound and hurt as if a brick had landed on it. She rubbed her temples with her free hand before she heard a feint voice call out her name.

“Lenz…” Roy’s voice whispered with his eyes half closed from exhaustion. “I’m…” The words were strained as he tried to apologise to her for his actions. “I’m sorry for…this.”

What he did next almost made the woman cry. She didn’t know why she started to tear up. Whether it was from relief, sad humour fighting with her happy emotions of anger raging inside of her, but when he waved to her his free hand, a teardrop left her eye and rolled down her cheek until it landed on the weak man’s face.

This was where she apologised and smeared the tear with her fingertips. Suddenly Roy thought it would be fine if he sat up. This was where Lenz would have intervened and disagreed with what he thought. She would have smacked him to the ground again and scolded him. She would have demanded he rest so that he could maintain his strength, but she let it go.

He would do as he pleased.

A question rang through her ears, causing her eyes to widen with both suspicious and confusion. Had she ever killed someone before?

She bit her lip so hard that blood started to drip down her chin. Tears started to well up in her eyes until the blockade that kept them at bay broke, a flood spilling out and onto her cheeks.

She blamed herself for the loss of her baby and she blamed her mother’s death on herself. If she would have been smarter, stronger and had more leadership in the events that led up to their deaths, they wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

As she sobbed, incomprehensible words left her lips. “I think so,” she choked, bringing her hands up to her face to rub the stray tears from her eyes.

“I killed my baby,” she continued, apologising for her behaviour in between words. “I killed my mother. I let everyone die.”

She was probably not making much sense right now, but she couldn’t help it. She was so emotional right now from being trapped inside a building with not much chance of survival. She had just witnessed a murder, and now she was sitting next to someone who was in so much pain and she couldn’t help him.

Who wouldn’t be frightened and sad at a time like this?

“It all happened so fast,” she blubbered before a yawn escaped her lips. She hadn’t slept very well the previous night. Horrendous dreams attacked her as she tried to rest. She sniffled until her cheeks were dried and no more tears dared to leave her eyes.

“I don’t know,” she said, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. Her eyes rolled to the side, away from Roy’s perplexed expression.

She didn’t want to tell him. He had no right to know. No matter how long they would stay in here and get to know each other, it wasn’t necessary for him to know what had happened to her.

“Never mind,” she shook her head before adding quickly, “I haven’t killed anyone before.”

And then just to direct the attention away from herself, she mentioned, “But you have.”

OOC :

I'm glad this thread is still rolling smoothly. I'd like to have a few more conversational posts before the day passes and then the "incident" happens.

So far this has been an amazingly fun thread to write with you. Thank you for doing this with me in the first place!

[Roy Kingsfield]

Day 85 of Winter in the Year 513 AV

Listening to Lenz’s heartbroken sobs made him instantly regret his question.


Really, Roy? Why would you ask that?


He hadn’t realized that he could potentially be jumping into dangerous waters when he foolishly opened his mouth. Not everyone he came across was a seasoned killer.


Look at yourself and look at how you reacted to having killed a man. Regardless of the reason why, murder is murder.


The memories flooded back as his train of thought reminded him of what he did. He looked down at his hands that were resting lightly on his lap. They felt sticky, as if they were still covered in warm blood. The staring eyes of the dead man seemed to float in front of his vision, mocking him.


Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.


Roy clamped his jaw shut and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to reject the image. But the face loomed in his mind, leering at him, black and yellow stained teeth gaping at him. The memory of the blade plunging into the soft flesh of the man, the warm fluid oozing out from the death blow, covering his hands, glistening on the knife. The look of surprise that froze on the rapist’s expression as the light slowly faded from his eyes. His face went slack as his life blood drained from the jagged wound. It seemed to grin up at him like a second mouth as Roy stared at the image, horror stricken.


No! Focus! You saved her, Roy. She would have been brutally raped had you not saved her. You did what your father always told you to do. You stood up for the weak and defend those that can’t defend themselves. You did what had to be done.


But I killed. I am no better than the rest of Sunberth. What sets me apart from the rest of the criminals in this cesspool of crime?


They do whatever pleases them. They do it for money. They do it because they are cruel. You killed to save someone. You acted selflessly. That man deserved justice.


Who’s justice? Mine? What makes mine better than anyone else’s? Where’s the line?


The voice was silent and Roy was left to wrestle with his own thoughts. He was distracted as the woman began pouring out portions of her story.


Roy was at loss for words as the woman cried quietly to herself, managing to choke out a few words. He only understood a little of what she said but he caught the gist of what she was saying. He wasn’t the only one who had killed it seemed. Though from what he understood, it wasn’t the same thing. One rarely killed their own families for malice reasons. Well, he hoped so. Sunberth it wasn’t exactly unheard of. But he was willing to give other cities the benefit of the doubt.


He lifted a hand, hesitantly, feeling obligated to comfort her. No one wanted pity. It was the worst thing one could feel. But it had its place and maybe she needed it. She didn’t meet his eyes as she spoke. “I haven’t killed anyone.”


Her next words cut him to the core.


“But you have.”


Any amount of sympathy he had was instantly extinguished at those three words. All emotion drained from his being, a cold ball forming in his chest. It quickly began to heat as anger began to surge through his body.


He kept his voice level, his words seeming to drop the temperature of the room. “You’re right. I am a killer.”


His blue eyes flashed as barely suppressed rage blazed in them. “But congratulations, you’re officially a citizen of Sunberth. You met the requirement. You don’t give one shyke about other people.”


He struggled to rise to his feet, ignoring the flare of agony, the anger momentarily overcoming any physical pain. Finally getting to his feet, hand griping his blood soaked bandage, he looked at Lenz, livid.


“Now you understand why people don’t help other people out here. All they do is think about themselves. They don’t care about anyone else. Let their fate be damned they say. Why help someone out, they won’t appreciate it. I just saved you and all you can do is throw that back in my face. No thank you. You don’t think I feel guilty enough? You don’t think I am beating myself up over and over again on the inside? Why don’t you just go pick up that knife over there and take a stab at me as well?”


“So like I said, congratulations, you’ll fit in just fine here in Sunberth. Enjoy your stay.” Roy curled his lip in disgust and staggered over to the boarded up window near the dead body. Rage threatened to explode from his chest. He breathed shallowly, trying to calm down but defenseless against his own fury.