Solo Until Death Do Us Part

[Lenz]

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91st of Spring, 514 AV

She couldn’t tell if she was catching a cold or was just sore all over, a consequence from something she must have done the previous day. Lately, she hadn’t been sleeping very well. She’d toss and turn in the middle of the night and accidentally end up bonking Ipisol on the nose.

“Sorry,” she’d say before wrestling with the blankets and trying to give getting some rest another go. This morning, when Ipisol had woken up she was greeted with her guardian’s blank stare. Lenz’s eyes were glazed over and her curly hair that often resembled autumn leaves was just the way it had been the day before.

“You didn’t sleep at all last night did you?” the child inquired, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Lens’ eyes faltered from her look, grazing the ground as if it held more important value. She allowed a sigh to escape from the chains that bound it inside her mouth.

“What’s up?” Ipisol continued, honestly concerned for her elder’s wellbeing. If anything seemed the matter, she was on top of it, questioning as if she was the interrogator, Lenz, the suspect.

“I’m not certain,” Lenz sighed again, grabbing her forearms and brushing them with the palms of her hands. “It isn’t necessarily nightmares like they used to be. I just can’t sleep well anymore.”

Ipisol frowned, her eyes slanting in sadness. She hesitated before going over in terms of comforting her friend. She stroked Lenz’s hair, something she had always had done to her. It was time to pay her back for her kind deeds.

The woman didn’t know what was on her mind, much less what to do for the rest of such a warm spring day, so when the little girl popped the question, she was entirely dumbfounded.

“I’m not much certain of that, either,” she admitted, rolling her eyes in defeat and falling to the floor of the tent. Her spine throbbed slightly from the fall. He ground wasn’t as comfortable as she had wanted it to be.

“How about…”’

It was antagonizing just waiting as the suspense hung in the air like a rank odour. Lenz was near close to nudging the child to continue when her latent annoyance was heard loud and clear.

“…we go to the park?”

“Ips, I don’t think this park is the kind of park you think it is,” the woman explained somberly.

The girl instantly felt dejected, all her hope drained out of her. Her craving for the need of action and adventure was sucked dry as if from a parched mouth. Her eyes looked like they were going to well up with tears, although she made no motion of sobbing.

“But,” Lenz continued not being able to handle such a sour expression. “We can go if you’d like.”

And so here they were, many bells later, wandering aimlessly throughout the streets of Sunberth after having a somewhat exciting adventure at the city’s park. They didn’t have any destination in mind, but their hearts were satisfied and no longer writhed in the boredom they were often cast into.

[Lenz]

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.It was growing dark and the streets had grown far too barren. They looked almost inhabitable. Lenz shuddered, a random cold breeze caressing her body with its rigid fingers. Eventually those fingers transformed into knuckles as the breath was stole from out of her lungs.

“It’s time to go home,” she announced abruptly as she watched the sun disappear behind the horizon. The sun was no longer wounded with streaks of blood marring the sky. It had disappeared completely, leaving only a small patch of faded pink to see with.

When had she noticed the sky’s fatigue? Why did she only recognize the signs of night now? When had she let herself lose track of time?

“Do we have to-?”

“-Yes.” Her voice was quick and cold, much like the wind that had started to blow. Why was it so cold? It was the end of spring turn the beginning of summer, was it not?

Ipisol immediately picked up on her guardian’s tone of voice. She heard the fear held inside and knew the bravery and calmness so often portrayed with a heavy heart had been imprisoned deep within the caverns of her mind.

“Alright,” she said with a squeaky voice, acknowledging the woman’s desperation. The two were soon walking at a relatively quick gait, so fast so that Ipisol struggled to keep up. “Slow down!”

“Sh,” Lenz whispered sternly, her face contorting into a mask of fear. She had heard something only moments before the child demanded slower pace. It sounded like a whisper, a man talking or was it two? and the sound of glass shattering against a brick wall.

“What was that?”

“I told you to be quiet did I not?” Lenz hissed, not even glancing down at the child.

Ipisol nodded frantically, fear gripping her as well. What was that noise? Was something or someone out there? Were they waiting, ready to pounce on their newly found prey?

And then, “Well, well, well.” The voice was dark, a deep tremor that sent cold ripples crawling over both females’ skin. Gooseflesh erupted over forearms and ignited sorrow expressions upon faces.

Lenz’s body had frozen, her heart had stopped beating and she could feel a strong metallic taste welling up inside her mouth that had become arid.

“What’s a pair of beauties doing out at such an ungodly hour?”

Lenz could feel Ipisol tense up beside her. A hand slipped into hers, fingers feeding through the spaces in between. Two emotions of fear intertwined together, prevailing in the battle between ‘stay calm’ and ‘run away!’

“Mmm,” the man murmured. “Red heads.”

He staggered over to the couple, obviously drunk and out of his mind. He didn’t perceive the things he was doing as wrong like he should have. This wasn’t to say that Lenz expected him to even if he were not drunk like he was.

“Please,” Lenz begged. “Let us pass.”

She took a deep breath of cold air and waited to see how things would turn out. Please, she whispered to herself. Let this night end well.

How stupid could she have been?

[Lenz]

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.“Don' 'chya worry lassh,” he slurred. He had come close enough to the woman that she could smell the liquor on his breath. “I jus’ wanna shhee wha'ch yer made of.”

She didn’t like the sound of that at all. He was pressing himself against her, or at least trying to. She was being forced to the side of a building, her hands bracing herself against the heavy brick material it was made of.

She closed her eyes for only a split second, trying to rack her brain for how to get out of such a situation.

She knew unarmed combat, but given her position, and still little experience in the art, she doubted she would succeed against such a tall and bulky individual as the man standing before her. He appeared to be at least six and a half feet tall with muscles as large as Lenz’s thigh.

“Please,” she whined. Her voice came out strange and frail, unlike how it usually was. However, she was frightened beyond belief at this current moment in time. Her stomach buckled under the torment of fear that succumbed her to deign pleading.

“Shh,” the man breathed, his breath causing the woman to gag.

She still felt the child’s finger nails pressing into her knuckles. She could feel small pricks of blood growing larger and larger on the tops of her hands.

She grimaced at the pain that was starting to affect her judgment. What was she going to do? Why was she in the situation she was in right now? What had caused this to happen? Why was she always in the wrong place at the wrong time?

“I’ll give you money. I don’t have much but I will-“

The man silenced her by placing his first two fingers over her mouth. They were grimy and dirty and Lenz could feel the detritus entering her mouth through the small cracks. She grit her teeth and squinted, not daring to close her eyes, but wishing she could see less of the monster before her.

Suddenly the man’s attention was shifted. He diverted his motivation, to mess with a beautiful woman, to look at Ipisol. His eyes held a hunger so powerful that it would have made anyone fear for their life. Lenz’s eyes were on fire as he looked the child up and down.

“Yer a beauty, ain’tcha?” he asked rhetorically. Ipisol squeaked, jumping slightly at the being recognized.

Lenz opened her mouth slightly and bit down on the man’s finger. He yowled in pain, grabbing her finger, but keeping a hand on one of her shoulders. She wasn’t necessarily completely held captive by his grasp, but as she struggled to free herself, he regained his composure and slammed his other hand on her other shoulder.

Pain radiated up her clavicle, to her neck and down her side. It burned, it stung and it tortured her self-esteem. She wasn’t anything compared to the amount of strength this man possessed. Was he some sort of wrestling champion?

“You’ll not do that ‘gain, a’right?” he commanded with a stony expression, his eyes as dark as coals. They held no emotion but the craving of sexual desire. Lust brimmed the edges and threatened to corrupt any sense of good conscience he had left.

“Please!” Lenz shouted, pleading again only with a much strong notion in mind. She needed to be free, she needed to keep Ipisol safe. If anything were to happen to her, Lenz’s life would crumble before her eyes.

“Please…”

[Lenz]

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.The man neglected to acknowledge Lenz’s request. Instead, he made a rather drastic move toward the girl, throwing Lenz to the side. She landed in a heap, her arms hitting the ground a little harder than she had first anticipated. She had braced her fall, but she felt the throbbing ignite fires within her tendons.

She cried out in pain, but only remained still for a mere two seconds before hoisting herself up. She watched closely as the man made his way over to the little girl. She looked frightened, scarred by whatever outcome was presenting itself in her mind.

“Ips,” she whispered, jumping up all too fast. Spots of black littered her eye sight, blinding her for only a few moments.

However, these moments were gravely needed, for she witnessed the man brush his hand across the child’s face. His middle section was inappropriately positioned too close to hers and his eyes were lingering near her chest.

His fingers drifted down to her shirt and tugged at the hem, starting to reveal something intimate and private. This was when Lenz had sprinted at full speed. She lodged her knee in the man’s side, and used her hands to try to push him off her.

Alas, this didn’t work. Sure, he cringed at the pain, but he did not double over as initially suspected. Instead, he simply turned and growled at her. Lenz took this second to her advantage, gaining some ground as she planted her feet in a proper position of defense. She then lifted her hands in the form of fists so that they were directly level with her breasts. Then, she heightened her gaze and ran into the man’s solar-plex.

This time he definitely was taken aback. He raised his arms to try to stop the attack, trying to balance himself in the process. His left hand ended up smacking Ipisol in the nose. Her head bashed against the side of the building, a loud cracking sound resonating as echoes off the surface.

Lenz’s peripherals noticed this immediately as it happened. Tears started to well up, threatening to release themselves from the protection of the barricade inside. They spilled over to edge of her bottom eyelid, streaming down her cheeks in the process.

“No!” she cried, falling on top of the man as he fell to the ground.

His head hit the earth with such might than a crack was anticipated as well. However, her assumptions were fallible as he simply brushed it off and attempted to throw the woman from off of him.

She helped him out, by tossing her legs to the side and propelling herself forward. He quickly got up, but while he was struggling to maintain higher ground, Lenz used this moment to attack.

She thrust her leg forward as it connected with the man’s face. He was sent backwards, grasping for his nose, now damaged by the woman’s slightly powerful kick.

“Why you little vagik!” he shouted, releasing his hands from shrouding his face.

His nose was bloody, the liquid draining from out of his nostrils in relatively thick streams. It was grotesque, but Lenz couldn’t bother to look away. She needed to finish with the rubbish that had attacked her and the one she loved.

But she couldn’t. Something was keeping her grounded, disallowing her the freedom to move about as she pleased. She was held prisoner to whatever element her mind was depicting. She was bound, unable to release herself from the power of hatred, sorrow and immense unjust she had been thrust into.

She felt broken, the pieces of her psyche fractured beyond repair. This day was the worst in her life, and that was no opinion but a fact as cold and cruel as the truth is spoke of.

Her heart no longer beat with pride and hope, but was quickly succumbed to the darkness of despair. It was drenched in the stuff and she couldn't breath.

She was utterly alone now.

[Lenz]

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.She stood there for a few more seconds, her mouth partially ajar and her hair flowing wildly in the wind of which was growing stronger by the second. Her curls were hectic, resembling much like a fire having grown out of control.

Her mind had gone elsewhere; it had dispersed by the rage that had started to boil inside of her. It simmered and steamed as she felt her eyes ignite from the initial spark of anger. No longer illuminated was it, transmuting into an inferno blazed upon her skin.

It tainted her heart more so than it already had been, correctively adding its malice in undertones of euphoric pleasure. It was dark, yet not displeasing. She felt overwhelmed with wonders of knowledge she had not yet understood until this very moment in time.

Her emotions were insidious, representing cold reminders of horrific past depictions. They played in her mind, reeling at any thought of opposing power. She didn't dwell on the aspects of pain and torment. Instead, she reveled at the thought of the strength she was bestowing upon someone such as the thug before her.

“You know you want to kill him,” a soft whisper cooed into her mind. Lenz remained unphased by the voice inside her head. The subtly was surreal, yet unlike most, she didn’t appear to be taken aback.

“I want to,” she muttered, yet she was torn in two by opposing thoughts battling against each other for dominance. Did she really want to kill this man?

Deep down inside of her she knew she had just been deprived of the last thing she had of which she held close to her heart.

After taking a split second to glance behind her shoulder, she watched the motionless girl. She knew her assumptions were most likely correct. The child laid still, blood tricking out of the back of her head and into a small pool on the ground, staining her auburn hair with the scarlet liquid.

“Then why don’t you?” the voice persisted.

She didn't know where the voice was coming from, if it was a personality she held deep within herself or if it was something communicating to her from a distance.

Lenz was in a state of turmoil, however, she knew well enough as to what she was doing. She had full control over her motions, whether or not her moods were enflamed by the agony and irritation that insisted inside.

“I-“ she stuttered, but was soon cut off as her left hand grew warm.

“Kill him!” The voice persisted, cold and unfriendly.

Lenz did not question, for she didn’t truly know how; she was in full compliance to the voices orders: to hurt this monster more so than she already had. She obligingly took a step forward, earning a gut wrenching growl from the man before her. His nose was still bleeding prominently.

Instead of what the woman had initially anticipated, the man reacted with more than a simple growl in terms of scaring her off. Instead, he full on lunged at her.

Because of his size in comparison to hers, she was gifted with the advantage of agility. Her nimble figure simply stepped out of the way, although she kept her right foot in his path. He tumbles over it, landing face first in the dirt, another crack resonating into the woman’s ears.

She smiled wickedly, for some reason taking pleasure in the sight of his pain. She envisioned him writhing in pain on the ground, clutching his nose with the agony that possess his every action, whether it be on a whim or not.

She felt empowered and even enthralled to feel so alive for once. Her normal calm and protective demeanor had changed, her most recent disposition of fright and cowardice had shifted drastically as it was replaced by the need for control, for vengeance. She craved revenge and it brimmed the top, threatening to implode past the surface of which it was diligently being pushed down.

“Kill him!” the voice shouted, resulting in the pounding of her eardrums with its incredulous force. It was so loud, she couldn’t even manage to hear her heartbeat of which should have been pounding in its place.

Lenz watched as the man flipped over, holding his hands to his face as blood continued to spurt out in large amounts.

She grinned. This was going to be fun.

[Lenz]

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.She did it. She leant forward over the mass of male that lay prone to her malice. He squirmed for her entertainment but it was short lived as the man’s façade was debunked. He sprang up toward her, his hands open, fingers extended as if to mimic starfishes. He was aiming to choke her, but his precision was off by a large degree. His palms of his hands hit her breasts instead, sending her sprawling backwards, limbs flailing wildly in response.

She landed on her back hard, pain shooting up her spine. She cringed, but didn’t have much time to stay vulnerable. The man was up and ready to lunge at her again, so she retaliated by rolling to the side as soon as his foot smashed into the ground right where he head would have been had she not have moved.

Lenz hoisted herself up, using her hands to push her to her knees. Once she was on her feet, she paused.

She may have been outmatched physically, but she couldn’t possibly be outwitted. He was tall, muscular and fairly large obviously opposing without challenge to Lenz’s rather short and slender physic. Yet she was not easily swayed. She never had been, all her life, through everything she had been forced to live through.

The lever in her mind was stuck lodged in the zone of despise and dejection. She felt quenched in misery without a life line to be rescued by into the hopes of happiness. She narrowed her eyes and took a step forward, her face construed into a mask of intimidation. She raised her lip so that she looked like a monster gnarling at its prey. Whether it was frightening to look at or not, she didn’t cease her expression.

The gruff man responded with a few steps of his own and another growl before charging at the woman with the most speed he was able to muster.

Her back was to the wall, her body only mere feet from the empty vessel of the child that used to be. She blocked her sorrowful emptions and contemplated her plan of defense, adding hints of offense here and there like spices to a pot of boiling water.

He propelled himself forward and all Lenz had to do was slide to the side in terms of avoiding the assault. The man’s fist clipped her shoulder, causing pain to radiate through her chest. However, she did not falter, her composure remaining unobtrusive.

The brute slammed into the brick wall, his force attacking as his own enemy for the time being. She used his vulnerable position to her advantage, kicking his knee in so that he lost his balance and fell onto it, his legs buckling underneath the massive weight he held.

Once he was at a lower level, Lenz quickly grasped the back of his head in between her fingers and smashed his face into the wall.

He was no true fighter with intelligence and there was no doubt about that. He only used his brute force and terrible strength to win his battles. This was ignorant to assume would work everything. All Lenz had to do each moment of defense was step to the side and watch the scenes unfold before her very eyes. It was fool proof and now here she was holding the higher ground, hair underneath her nails as she proved her strength.

She slammed his head into the wall again crying out with the rage that boiled through her flesh.

“You monster!” she shrieked. Her concentration depleted, her train of thought diverting to images of the horror she had been subjected to for so many years. She lost her hold on the man’s head and he took that moment to free himself from the chains she latently bound him with.

He had escaped from her dark wrath. The blood no longer spurted from his nose in the thick streams of grotesque red liquid. He clutched his nose with both hands, his vision blurred by tears as he fled the scene, leaving the woman alone to her torments and haunts.

[Lenz]

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.She fell to the floor, crushed of all hopes and dreams. Her heart had shattered into an amount of pieces far too explicit to count with accuracy. She was drained of all faith, her mind crumbled upon the weight of sorrow too grave to climb out of.

On her knees, the woman shuffled over to the child empty of lively essence. She just lay there, exposed without a beating heart, devoid of a working mind. She was done for and had been deprived of any future, had she made one for herself.

“She wasn’t given a chance!” she cried, leaning over the girl and pressing her lips to her forehead. It was cold and the chills licked the woman’s mouth, sending shivers down her spine.

Lenz watched as the blood ceased to flow out of her head. A large puddle had formed around her head, and she was now kneeling in it. She felt the liquid seeping into her pants, tainting the flawless skin of her shins.

She didn’t want to say goodbye. She didn’t even want to speak. She couldn’t pray for her save travels to the afterlife. She just couldn’t, and it wasn’t because she wasn’t willing. She wasn’t allowed to. There was something that was holding her back and forbidding her to say any words of meaningfulness.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered instead, bringing the child’s head closer to her breasts. She leant back on her knees and began to rock the empty shell.

“I apologise for not being able to save you. It’s my fault.” In that instant something snapped inside of her. She was no longer herself and would never be for as long as she continued to live.

Lenz decided to make a vow to herself. From that moment on she would decapitate, disintegrate and murder all those that posed any sort of wrong doing. She would take it upon herself to rid such a terrible city of the condemned souls of the despised. She would be hated, her head would be wanted on a stake, but she was forcing herself to do what she thought was right, for she had tremendous motivators.

She was no longer going to be taken advantage of. She was no longer going to be manipulated and sought as a pathetic individual. No longer would she be protective and motherly and sensitive and shy. She was going to be the beast that had been writing inside of her for so many seasons.

No longer worthless and quiet, she was going to shout her words, and show everyone the monster she could be. There was nothing in her way and she was going to make sure that was made clear.

However, for the time being she was still bubbling over, boiling, the water searing her skin until she almost cried out in pain. She still clutched the child to her chest.

What was she going to do? The first thought that popped into her head stuck like adhesive. She hoisted Ipisol into her arms and stood up, bearing no pain in the heaviness the child possessed.

She took one step and then another and before she knew it she was walking through the city, leaving behind the puddle of crimson liquid and the events of that night behind her.

[Lenz]

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.They were not behind her at all. Frankly, they were just starting to transmute, form themselves into wandering ghosts and spirits in terms of haunting her in both her dreams and the waking hours of her everyday life.

She could run, sprint, fly away from her problems, but they wouldn’t cease no matter how hard she pushed herself to forget.

She was still walking, grasping the child in her arms until she had managed to trek into the woods. She was growing weak, the strain on her forearms and back starting to become unbearable. She needed to set her down before she gave out and hurt herself worse than she had been.

Finally, she found a decent spot several hundred yards into the forest, where no one would come across them. Lenz set Ipisol down and tested the ground to see if it was warm enough to be moved.

Once she was satisfied, she began to dig. She used her hands, scraping her fingernails under the surface of detritus until she had managed to create a hole large enough to suffice fitting a tiny child in. She had created a grave. It was perfect and it definitely didn’t suite her, for she deserved far more.

She should have died when she was of incredible elderly age. She should have had a ceremony of peace and tranquility, someone speaking vows and prayers to her with family and friends encircling her casket as it was lowered into her grave of proportionate size. Instead, here she was, a grave being dug by someone of no relation to her. She had died when she was not much older than nine years and it was in the middle of the night, her passing crafted by the hands of a drunken thug.

Lenz started to cry, letting the salty tears cascade down her face, staining her cheeks with their sorrowful substance.

She picked up the child again and gracefully set her down in the hole in the ground. It was deep enough so that no animal or human would have the potential to incidentally or purposefully unearth her corpse.

Once she was situated relatively well, Lenz stood up and looked down at the body, her head bowing in mourning. She started to toss dirt onto the child until she was covered entirely by the debris of the forest.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t already sent good thoughts to her spirit elsewhere, but she was an overachiever and without anyone else to wish her good thoughts in the next life, the woman was willing to take extra precautions.

“This should have never happened,” she whispered, looking into the lifeless face of someone she used to love, take care of and greet every waking morning. “You were too young. You had so much potential. You were special to me and I hope you know that.”

“I bid you farewell to where ever you shall go to next. I hope you are in the great hands of Lhex. You’re safe now. I know I couldn’t look after you forever. I couldn’t save you like I should have been able to. I’m just glad you didn’t have to bear much more pain than you were already in, my dear.”

Another tear escaped from behind her eyelashes. She brushed it away with the back of her hand, dismissing the depression that was slowly creeping in and daring to shroud her with its dark cloak.

“I will avenge you,” she added darkly, her demeanor changing frantically. She was rushing her words now, placing meaning behind each and every letter that left out from between her teeth.

“I will kill your murderer and all those who are harmful to others. I will seek my vengeance and you will not have died in vain. You can’t count on my words, for they are a promise to you and everyone who has died from the hands of another.”

And with that, Lenz turned around and stalked off into the rest of the night, as a completely different person.

[Zandelia]

Lenz :

Skills
Unarmed – 3
Rhetoric – 3
Observation – 4
Negotiation – 1
Running – 1
Acrobatics – 2
Endurance - 2

Lores
Ipsol: I’m Sorry I Couldn’t Save You
Ipsol: Never Given A Chance
Ispol: A Shattering Loss
The Un-Ignorable Promise: Vigilante Justice

Notes :

Well written, emotional, developmental. An excellent thread. I am sad.

Any problems with my grade? Please me at any time. Keep Writing!