A Tavern Full of Tyrants

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 1st, 2014, 4:00 pm

41st of Spring, 514 AV

Sleep evaded the woman, her eyes wide with energy coursing through her veins. She wasn't tired, her mind too awake to become exhausted.

It was now that she had walked into a bad situation. Her brown and green eyes were staring down a man's only mere feet in front of her. His were cold and hungry and they sent shivers down her spine and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to raise on end.

The woman heard her heart beat several times, her surroundings heating up although it was in the middle of a spring night. She glared at the man and he glared at her.

He was persistent and he dared to make his next move. The woman was ready for whatever was to come.

Some might wonder why such a woman would want to stay in such a place. Some might even question said woman about her reasons behind residing in such anarchy. She would, in response, simply look into the inquirer’s eyes and shrug.

The truth was, Lenz didn’t understand her reasoning behind staying in Sunberth. There were so many drastic things that had occurred to her whilst she was living in the city, but after all had occurred, she hadn’t wanted to leave.

Of course, that wasn’t to dismiss the idea that she had thought it over herself multiple times a day. She was always doubting herself and wondering why she continued to live under such terrible circumstances. The same answer kept popping up after every personal conversation.

There was nowhere else to go.

It wasn’t that the woman was trapped. She most certainly had a way to escape all of the violence and cruelty. It was the fact that she was too scared to leave.

The area hadn’t become a part of her. She tried her best to refrain from being corrupt from such hate, but she was afraid to leave. She had embraced the city and braved through it for half a season. It was a sort of accomplishment and she was terrified of defeat.

Her defenses were up every bell of the day, and she was no longer open and passive to every on goer and bystander. She was wary and suspicious of everyone that looked at her, and she was well acquainted with what would happen if she let her guard down for a mere second.

It was a difficult thing to explain and some days she didn’t even understand it. Her logic was off and her mind had been spiraling end over end since day one. Yet, she didn’t want to leave. Someday, however, she planned to escape, but for now, she was perfectly content with where she was.

With her head slowly drifting downward from out of the clouds, Lenz found herself walking down an empty street, with no particular destination held in mind.

Where was she going?

She looked to the sky, her glorious red locks cascading down her back. The curls looped and flailed in the mild breeze that was blowing. The air was warm for an early spring day, but it was soothing. It kissed her pink cheeks and caressed her heavy heart.

She was in the mood for some freedom, something to take away the stress. However, she had brought along no money with her, only her dagger for protective reasons. As she trekked along the side of the street with no idea where she was going, she began to muse to herself.

She added a few words and suddenly found her voice. The words that left her lips were melodically pleasant. They wafted through the air without effort.

With a voice like honey being drizzled over a rare fruit, she sang, “The skies are dark, yet hark! I have no fear. The world is cruel, yet all’s cool! My defense is real. I traipse through the streets, my heart full and pleased, I run through the woods, nothing of defeat blanketing my woes.”

Suddenly her voice was cut off, but for no particular reason. She just stopped singing, her gaze grasped upon something she had never seen before. In all her time spent in Sunberth, she had completely overlooked such a building.

The sign read ‘The Drunken Fish’. For whatever reason, the place was lured Lenz into investigating. A small smile of mischievousness ignited her lips with a passion. She strolled into the establishment with high hopes, yet an opening for such to be easily dismissed.

She was not an easily persuaded woman, but sometimes things could get increasingly difficult that a challenged couldn’t be helped. One had to lay down the sword and admit their defeat, the white flag waving in surrender.

Survival was smarter than proving oneself right.

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 1st, 2014, 6:24 pm

41st of Spring, 514 AV

Almost instantaneously after she walked into the building, she was greeted with heated air and a strange odour. The entire place was packed with both men and women, the men overpopulating said women. This made the butterflies in her stomach fly out of their cages involuntarily.

So many men in one place was never a good thing, especially in Sunberth. She had come to realise this and understand it after much debating. Her denial no longer ruled over her sense of truth.

Her smile was still latched onto her mouth with feint pride as she marched over to seat that wasn’t taken. She sat down, politely addressing her presence with a small cough and clearing of her throat.

One should always draw attention to oneself, but not too much attention. One should be noticed and not walked over, but never the centre of attention for all eyes to stare at. she thought to herself, going over all the advice she had picked up along the way.

She smoothed out the wrinkles in her pristine white dress and lowered the hem of her collar so that the top of her breasts were visible. She adjusted the coat that hugged her mid-section and then leaned against the bar on her elbows.

A burly man with messy brown hair and striking blue eyes waltzed up and took the empty seat beside her. His breath was coated with alcohol, yet he managed to walk regularly and speak without so much as a mild slur.

“What’s a beautiful young woman like you doing in a nasty place like this?” he said, his voice like gravel that had been rubbing against the soles of someone’s feel for too long.

Lenz tucked a stray lock of scarlet red hair behind her left ear and shifted her position so that she was facing her converser. She looked him dead in the eye, a smirk hinting at her lower lip.

She focused intently on the man and only the man that sat in front of her now. Her pupils dilated and then expanded as she continued to use her attentive skills to observe him.

He was already vaguely interested in her and that was not a secret. His body language was open and it didn’t matter if it was because his mind had been corrupt by the powers of a few drinks. He was weak and she sought out the gaps in between his mask of stoic behaviour.

She leaned forward slightly, her elbows now on her knees rather than the bar. She titled her head to one side and thought over her tactics and how she would go about doing what she planned to do.

She knew magic was prohibited and naturally frowned upon in most places, Sunberth being one of them. Although, she had come to the conclusion that her hypnotic skills posed much similarity to persuasion and seduction. No one could tell what she was doing unless they were an expert themselves.

She continued to hint at the air, her mind set on achieving on thing and only one thing. She wanted a drink, but she had no money, therefore she was willing to try her luck and have the man in front of her purchase one for her.

She shrugged in response to his question and did nothing more but wait, her line of sight never wavering from the man’s. Green hazel meets crystal blue, like a battle between good and bad. It was a stare down and she knew she was winning.

Once she knew she had him captivated in her grasp, she sent out a suggestive idea. Order me a drink, she thought, her knowledge in hypnotism playing its part as she continued to show more revealing aspects of herself.

The brief idea entered the man’s head and then left in an instant, but he recalled what it suggested and he obligingly thought it was the right thing to do.

“Would’ja like a drink?” he asked her, his head lolling to the side, his breathing becoming more aggressive and forced. She didn’t know what that act meant, but she knew it wasn’t good.

“I would love one,” she replied.

He turned and leant over the bar, commanding the bartender to serve up a rightful mug of their finest ale. Lenz couldn’t help but smile wider.

“Why thank you,” she breathed, her eyes no longer narrowed in deep concentration. She found a more comfortable position on the chair and rested her head in her right palm.

“You never truly answered my question,” he said, trying to make conversation.

Lenz glared at him. She didn’t want to say another word to such a creep, but he had ordered her a drink, the least she could do was say a few simple words in response.

She shrugged just like she had the first time he had asked her why she was doing where she was. Only this time she added, “I felt like taking a walk and wound up here.”

He sighed and clucked his tongue, a spray of saliva landing on her arm. She inwardly gagged before noticing the bartender’s outstretched hand.

She gracefully took the drink he handed to her. She took a few sips of the ale before setting it down on the bar table.

“Well you’ve come to the right place,” he continued, his body language throwing off the woman.

What was he doing anyway? He had adjusted himself so that his legs were spread apart, a lump was positioned in between. A bad taste filled the woman’s mouth as her lungs were significantly resistant to let her breathe.

“I don’t think I understand,” she whispered, taking a few large gulps from the mug, almost downing half of what she had been given.

She looked inside the cup and noticed the liquid swirling, mixing itself with her spit. It was an easy distraction, something she tried to focus on, but the man was resilient.

“This place is fun, ya know?”

She snapped her head up, her neck cracking in various places. “Fun?” She had a bad feeling by what the meaning was behind the man’s words. The innuendo was latent, but obviously strong.

The woman, her hair continuing the flare like the shades of the sun, quickly drank the last gulps of her ale before jumping off her seat.

“Well, I really must be going,” she muttered, rethinking what it was she was doing. Where was there for her to go?

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 2nd, 2014, 1:06 am

41st of Spring, 514 AV

The entire reason she had been out and about at such an unruly hour, the skies darkened with age, was because she was unable to sleep. She had snuck out of the tent, giving Ipisol a squeeze before she did.

And now, she had wound up walking the night time streets with so many thoughts whirling around in her mind until she had managed to arrive at the Drunken Fish, a poor choice if she had time to think it over now.

The current situation continued to blossom in worse ways. The man scooted closer to her and had begun to trace his fingertips over her jaw line. His breath stank incredibly, but she couldn’t say much without being a hypocrite, for her own was tainted with alcohol.

She took his actions to her advantage, making sure that her bosoms were more visible that she would have ever dared allow. She hiked up one side of her dress so that her left thigh was revealed more pronouncedly.

Her voice was smooth as it cooed out a partial warning and demand, “I could really go for another drink.”

Her eyes were determined again, her romantic façade continuing to play games with her victim’s mind. Again, she rummaged around inside his head, cracking the defense the man held up.

He might have been already weak, the mask everyone tends to wear dull and inviting, but she knew he wouldn’t willingly buy her such things. The two hardly knew each other.

No, she needed to act her part in getting what she wanted. With her body language vulnerable and tempting and her mind set on trying to hypnotize the man into doing what she pleased, things were going as planned, if not a little too well.

Everything had set backs, but she hoped that this one time wouldn’t be one on the already long list. Her hopes were high as she continued to stare into the man’s pupils. The blackness swarmed inside, parting ever so slightly as if she was being invited inside.

She had him now as she willed another suggestion, another vision, another hallucination even, to conjure itself inside what he was perceiving. This was all a dream to him, if she knew anything. He thought he could do whatever he pleased, which in turn meant that Lenz was in much trouble.

I want another drink, she thought, visualizing the metaphor of glaring into one’s soul. She was reaching her grimy hands into his chest and ripping out all he held like a sanctum to himself.

She flashed him a smile of white teeth, undoubtedly knowing that he had received her request if not for more than an instant.

“Would you like another drink?” he asked her.

Pleased with herself, Lenz accepted his invitation. He ordered her another drink, the bartender made it up for her and she quickly drank a few gulps of the tonic. The liquid flew down her throat seemingly fast, but that sensation wasn’t what she was worried about.

A warm feeling, like when you sit down somewhere after another person has sat there before you, was spreading across her stomach, crawling up her chest and creeping until it reached her neck.

It was a feeling she had been accustomed to since the first time she had practiced her reimancy. She knew the feeling all too well; she knew it well enough in fact to know that it wasn’t good.

She had heard it being mentioned as an act of over giving, something that could harm the user who produced too much magic. The magic would in turn shift direction and release its wrath upon the user. It was horrific and Lenz had experienced her share of “near close” situations.

She had been pushed back from the amount of force she had exerted into her control over air and she had become swarmed with strange voices and assumed visions from using too much of her auristic interpretation powers.

She had never, however, over given in the slightest when it came to using her hypnotism. However, there was a first time for everything and today gave her the idea that she just might experience said first time.

She tried to dismiss the strange sensation. Her hands started to shake and the warmth kept spreading throughout her body. She knew the difference between the feeling of drunkenness and over giving. It wasn’t easy to distinguish a significant difference, but she has had time to practice.

Interpreting things was a given talent she has had since she was a child. She always tried to see the positivity in certain situations no matter how terrible they actually were. She interpreted things in a better way than most, but she had knowledge of the truth each and every time she did.

Life was unfair and it was overall horrible and she knew that. No matter how hard you tried to escape that fact, it remained with you the whole time.

People spent their lives running away from the truth and it only gave them more sorrow and hatred for who they were or how the world they lived in really was. Lenz felt sorry for them, but she did not pity them like most did.

“Would you like another drink?” he repeated himself, a dubious sneer hinting at negative thoughts.

Lenz was confused. He had just asked her and she had received his gift, yet he was offering again?

A normal person would have simply accepted, not giving a second thought to the gesture, but Lenz was more intelligent than that. She was wary and didn’t understand what he was doing. Instead of declining the offer and rushing out of the tavern like a reasonable person would have, Lenz did the opposite.

She nodded, her crimson curls bobbing as she did. She tried to smile, but everything she had just thought over in her head came crashing back to her like an ocean’s plummeting waves.

The man’s eyes narrowed much like Lenz’s had been when she had been trying to use his thoughts against himself. His sneer grew larger as she finished the second round of ale she had been handed before the third had arrived.

What was he doing?

More importantly, what was she doing?

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 2nd, 2014, 6:36 pm

41st of Spring, 514 AV

The woman had an ambiguous recognition for the fact that she was becoming quickly inebriated. Her vision was becoming blurred and her head buzzed like a bumble bee’s purr. She didn’t stop drinking however. She was far too along to stop short now.

Her fingers laced themselves together as she stabilized her grasp on the handle of the mug. She lifted the rim to her mouth and swallowed several large gulps.

She felt her eyes cross momentarily as she strained to look straight. She saw the messy brunette in front of her, his sneer no longer classified as such. It was a malevolent grimace and it sent bolts of static running through her veins.

Her eyes burned, her mouth briskly turned arid until her head thumped in rhythm to her heart beat. He was planning something big and she knew it. Even with her mind consumed by the alcohol, she knew that nothing good could become of what she was seeing unfold in front of her.

His hand stuck out. Lenz subconsciously took it in her own as he willed her to stand. She stumbled in response, but regained her composure, taking a few steps in the direction he was leading her.

The woman with her cheeks flushed to the colour of ripe tomatoes, traipsed with the stranger until they were alone together in the middle of an abandoned alley way.

Suddenly, everything came back to her in a rush. It was like she was being run over by a stampede of horses. Her forehead and cheeks felt like they were boiling and she had a severe headache.

With her vision tainted by the evilness of the many drinks she had consumed, she tried her best to take in her surroundings. To her left were a few empty barrels. One was knocked over precariously as if someone was in a bit of a rush and hadn’t been looking where they were going.

To her right was the back of a building, most presumably the Drunken Fish, but of no help to her incase she needed someone’s aid immediately. She was surrounded on every side, the man standing in front of her, blocking her only possible escape.

“So now we’re alone,” the man’s deep voice grumbled. She could feel the vibrations of his voice tremble underneath her feet. Her stomach flipped.

“You’re so pretty,” he said, closing in on her. His hand trailed her nose until one of his fingers rested gently on her lips.

“Let me go,” she commanded, taking a step backward, ending up with her back against a brick wall. There was no help for her unless she did something and did it rather quickly.

“Why would I let something as beautiful as you stray from me?” His entire demenour changed before her eyes. He no longer had an accent, his words were no longer shortened to slang and he no longer appeared drunk like she had previously assumed.

She tried her last resort to use her hypnotism. Her mind was already heavy and close to exploding in pain, but she focused and strained her eyes. She felt the Djed rising to her aid as she willed a thought to entre the man’s thought pattern.

Let her go, she thought, her pupil’s expanding to make room for the lack of light that accompanied her in such a dark area of town.

The moon wasn’t even out; its glowing rays invisible to her. The clouds have chosen a rather perfect time to cover my only sense of hope, she continued to think to herself, sarcasm presented in her voice.

The man twitched, a cringe replacing his dominant grin.

“Stop it!” he shouted, “I don’t want you playing any mind games with me. Just be your beautiful self and show me the true animal you hide so repulsively.”

He lowered his arm and drew down the thin collar of her dress. She closed her eyes as she tried to reason with herself. What would be the best strategy of escape?

A sharp sensation pierced her upper thigh. It had just occurred to her that she had brought her dagger along with her in case she found herself amidst some sort of danger.

Although she despised using violence and often resorted in trying to negotiate with the opposing party, sometimes aggression was a wonderful voice read by everyone loud and clear. It was easy to understand that the terms meant to ‘back off’!

She felt his rough hands caressing her now bare breasts until she summonded up enough courage to go ahead with her plan.

She quickly dodged the man, his balance no longer stable. His footing gave out on him as he fell forward to where Lenz had previously been standing.

She reached up underneath her dress and withdrew her weapon. She held it in front of her face, only partial knowledge on how to operate such a dangerous tool.

Grunting, the man stood back up, a seething frown as replacement for the sneer of pleasure he had only moments before.

“What the petch?” he shouted, and then upon noticing the glinting blade held firmly in her hand, he softened his voice and let his mouth fall into a warm smile.

“Put that down now will you love?” he said, taking a few steps forward. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt now do we?”

“Back up,” Lenz retaliated, sending the dagger through the air in the shape of a ‘Z’. Her dramatic motions sent the man taking several steps backwards.

“Put down the knife!” he said again, his soft voice louder and more demanding than before. His eyes pierced hers. If they were lasers, she was sure that her eyes would have been burned out by now. He was so engrossed in a stare that she wondered if he was even paying attention.

She had taken a few steps backwards, planning on running away once she had made some ground between the two.

The man obviously saw this coming and lunged forward, grabbing for the blade. Lenz pulled it out of his reach a second before he was able to wrap his fingers around the hilt. Instead of grabbing the dagger, he grabbed a piece of Lenz’s dress instead.

Before she knew it, she was falling to the ground, the man pinning her arms underneath him. A puddle of melted snow seeped into the back of her clothing, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

“Get off me,” she shouted, glaring at the man as hard as he had glared at her.

“I will once you give me something,” he replied, his eyebrows raising in mischievous desires. There was no need for clarification. Lenz knew exactly what he wanted from her.

“No!” she screamed, thrashing about as much as she was able to.

She had already gone through a similar situation last season when she was snowed in a building with two male strangers. One was kind; the other was an evil bastard. The evil one had pinned her to the ground like this man was doing right now. Although, the man back in the snowed in building had gotten much closer to raping her if it weren’t for the other man coming to her rescue.

There was no man to protect her now, however, so it was up to her to save her own skin. She was not going to let this brute get as close to sexually assaulting her as the other man had back in the winter season.

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 2nd, 2014, 10:35 pm

41st of Spring, 514 AV

She took a split second to check any possible openings. Instantly she noticed that her legs were somewhat freed, one on either side of the man who kneelt on top of her.

He was taking off his trousers with one hand, the other hand holding Lenz’s hands above her head, when she decided to make an effort to pain him.

She sent a wild hit to his groin. Instinctively her reached for his hurting private area, releasing his grip on Lenz’s wrists. She was freed, but only for a second.

With determination smeared across his face, he let go of his wounded groin and took off after his prey. She dodged to the left, sending him sprawling in front of her, her exit now blocked once again.

He got back up in a flash before lunging towards her again, his fist rose in an attempt to knock her unconscious and rape her when she was down.

Instead of taking the hit, Lenz stepped to the side and raised her left hand to block the attack. With her other hand, she punched the man’s solarplex.

The wind was knocked out of him for a few moments before he unexpectedly slapped the woman across the side of the face. The pain seared her cheek as if she was being branded a slave or as livestock. Lenz blinked rapidly, tears falling from the pain she felt.

The man dove in and wrapped his arms around the woman’s neck. No longer able to breathe like she should, she struggled to fight for air. In attempt to free herself from suffocating to death, she lifted her leg and sent another blow to his groin.

He was becoming accustomed to her combatant techniques and it was becoming pretty easy to predict. She needed to mix things up if she wanted to escape unharmed.

Whilst she was taking large gulps of air, the man took his precious time to come up with a strategy of offense. He no longer had the dagger, and neither did Lenz. She tried to find it on the ground, but came up empty.

“Looking for this?” the man growled, lifting a small dagger at eye level. “It’s a rather beautiful weapon,” he admitted. “To bad it hasn’t been used to do you any good. It’s a shame that it will be put to use to end the life of its owner.”

The woman’s stomach churned as she tasted vomit coming up. Forcing it down and pushing the gruesome pictures that had been pasted into her mind, she clenched her fists.

“Give it back and I won’t have to hurt you,” she warned, trying to sound tough.

“Hurt me?” The man laughed, mocking her words. “You aren’t going to hurt me. You’re far too weak and juvenile. You couldn’t make a mark on me if you tried.”

Lenz’s face flared and her eyes ignited like they were being set on fire. With her entire body feeling like it was smouldering next to burning building, Lenz jumped forward, making sure that she couldn’t be cut by the blade if the man had attempted to defend himself.

Lenz dropped to the floor and spun around on one foot. The other foot was used to kick the man’s legs out from underneath him.

Just as she had planned, he lost his grip on the knife. It was knocked out of his hand and Lenz cautiously caught it in mid-flight, thankfully and luckily by the handle and not the blade.

“I guess I didn’t have to hurt you after all, did I?” she asked him rhetorically, rolling her eyes with much ferocity. “You were right after all.”

She laughed darkly, frightening herself as she did. What was she becoming? Was Sunberth corrupting her and transforming her into a dark figure?

She shook her head and started to walk away. This was a huge mistake on her part as the man she didn’t finish off and deprive his life from, had stood back up and had run towards her.

Character sheet · by **Lenz** on March 3rd, 2014, 1:13 am

41st of Spring, 514 AV

She whirled around and unaware of her actions, stuck the blade into his stomach. She flipped the blade in the air, spinning it around until she was grasping it the other way, the blade parallel to her lower forearm.

She seethed through her teeth and sliced through his upper arm. Whirling around to gain momentum she used the same hold on the blade to slice his other arm.

The man was clutching his stomach, kneeling over on his knees. For the grand finale, she took her other hand and grabbed the handle, the sharp portion of the dagger facing downwards. She drew the weapon over her head and then propelled it down until it punctured the back of the man’s neck.

Blood squirted out of the wound, but the woman was startlingly unphased by the sight of such morbidity. She simple took a step backwards and inhaled deeply.

She tucked the dagger in her underwear under her dress again, the blood still marring the cleanliness of the weapon. As she did, she heard the last attempted gasps of air that passed through the man’s lips.

She had just killed someone.

She had just killed someone!

She had just KILLED someone!

The walls started to close her in on all sides, even the one side that didn’t even have a wall. It was as if she was being strangled to death all over again. Her lungs were expelled and wouldn’t inhale another drop of air. Her peripheral vision was distinctly lessening as darkness closed in on all angles.

She had only meant to harm him enough to get away. She hadn’t meant to kill him. It was as if she was being possessed to do such a horrible deed. It was almost like someone else was using her skills against her. She was being framed and the denial she felt pulsing in her veins was strong.

She didn’t kill him. He simply fell and hit his head. And bled out from the back of his neck? she spat inwardly. That didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Her logic was off and so was her balance. She fell to the ground, the melted snow slowly staining her white dress with its murky dirt.

She shook her head vigorously from side to side. She didn’t kill him; he wasn’t dead. He was just sleeping. That was it. He was just taking a nap, resting from all the drinks he had had back at the Drunken Fish. That sounded most logical of all things she had considered besides the truth.

For once in her life, she refused to accept what had actually happened. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind where it will most likely fester for seasons, eating away at her conscious until she dared to spill the truth.

But who would care? Who would mourn for the death of a rapist such as the man she had just murdered? If anything, she had done a favour for all the victims of such crime. She shouldn’t be wrongly accused and instead should be handed a medal for her outstanding achievement.

Even she thought that was rather harsh. She took back such cruelty in a flash, making sure that she apologised, but with only half her heart. She meant what she said, but knew that it was wrong. At least that was something good about her in comparison to some people.

She continued to stare down the bloody corpse, memories of her past when she was trapped in by a tempest flooding her emotions. She couldn’t help but let a few stray tears fall.

This isn’t happening! she thought, fighting to stay calm and collected. She was always an overthinker and overthinking caused her to get caught into some pretty tough positions. She was not going to over think things this time.

She came to the conclusion that what was best for her was to get away. She turned and ran, not looking back at what horrors she had bestowed upon the man. She had been the victim, but things had turned around in an instant, the man becoming the victim and Lenz, the predator.

She squinted, trying to see through the veil of tears that kept cascading down her face. She wiped her eyes so that she could see where she was going. She did so just in time too, as she almost ran into some drunken busy body on his way home.

She didn’t even apologise as she continued to run through the city.

She didn’t know where she was going, or what she was going to do once she got there. All she knew was that she needed to run away from her problems just this once. She would face all of this mishap when she was strong enough.

Let the haunting begin, she threatened, shortly becoming out of breath. Her pace slowed, so that now she was only jogging. Her arms pumped on either side of her belly as she turned around corners and dodged various obstacles.

It was apparent that she was lost, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t in the mood for more issues. She made sure she was free from worry for the rest of the night, so she just kept on running.

She had never truly run before until she had escaped from Xy. She could remember back to that time if she wanted to, which she didn’t. She had run for an entire day, trying to escape the region where the Zith roamed.

She had been chased once as well. The Zith flapped its wings overhead until she and Ipisol were hidden by the canopy of a forest. They were shrouded, shielded by the reign of terror the creature would have possessed upon them if they had been caught.

Now, however, she wasn’t running from anything in particular besides her own fears; her own mind. She was trying to free herself from all the fright she had cast upon herself.

It wasn’t until she was barely able to let in a gasp of air that she collapsed, hugging her knees to her chest. She sobbed quietly, her back pressed up against another random building.

Flashes of memories protruded into her mind, causing pinches of pain to blossom. Her head throbbed even worse now as she was forced to relive images of her friends and family from Kenash.

Like lightning, she saw and felt everything. It was all overwhelming, but she had no control over anything that was happening. If this was another sign of over giving, and she knew it must be, she hated it.

Although it was cold and it was rather unsafe, Lenz couldn’t help but let her heavy eyelids fall.

And then she slept.

_____________________________

After what felt like a few chimes had passed, Lenz found herself awake and wet. Her hair was stuck to her face by sweat, their cries obviously heard as they tried their best to cling onto any strand of hair.

The woman had no entire clue where she was. She had no recollection as to how she wound up where she currently was sitting.

Her rear was wet, her pants ripped slightly at the bottom, frayed where the seams. Her head throbbed frantically as she struggled to stand up.

She managed to get to her feet, woozily struggling to maintain her balance. Her mind reeled with an infinite number of possibilities to how she could have wound up in an alley way of such appearance.

Barrels were thrown to the ground beside her. The floor was damp with what appeared to be melted snow, but could very well have been rain.

Her eyes felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets as a pungent smell of liquor filled her nostrils. An acidic taste lingered in her mouth, threatening to release the vile that built up in waves inside her stomach.

She fought, but lost, vomit spewing out her mouth in discoloured streams. It was grotesque and just the sight made her vomit again.

"What the hell?" she said aloud, involuntarily cursing without caring.

She felt vulnerable and embarrassed as she caught sight of two strangers walking by and eyeing her with confused faces that portrayed rather disgusted emotions.

She bowed her head, feeling ashamed with herself. How dare she go out and drink until she could no longer remember what she was doing only to lose consciousness and wake up in such a despicable location?

She tried her best to not dwell on the reasoning behind why she did what she did and instead, propelled herself forward, using the wall in front of her as support. She regained her composure and put one foot in front of another, her destination set and stone, meant for ‘home’.

Subconscious tears started to fall quietly down her cheeks. Lenz squinted, hoping to relieve her blurred vision of the salty substance.

“Please, stop,” she groaned as she continued to stumble through the town. “Stop.”

Finally she had emerged from the depths of the commotion that had already began to take place in the city. She walked as sneakily as she could until she found her tent. She unzipped the door and slipped inside, not bothering the zip it closed again.

“Please stop,” she breathed, her temples feeling as though they were about to burst. She didn’t have much time, however, to continue to complain and sob, for she had fallen asleep once again.

Goodnight, she thought to both herself and to the child that still slept soundly beside her. Good petching night indeed.

The End