WICKED GAME [shadow and bone]

and so it began

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄:

"boring journey my ass"

Katerina remembered how dissatisfied she was when Aleksander came to her rooms and announced that they are to get ready for the trip to Kribirsk where a skiff is getting ready to go through the Fold. She remembered how she cursed all Saints for that was not in her plans for that day. The man had laughed at Katerina for her brooding the whole road there which prompt the red-haired girl to brood even more.

Katerina thought that this is going to be another boring journey to the Fold, and she even predicted that this one will fail miserably. It was not that the girl wished bad onto people, she was merely expressing what she felt is going to happen.

She and General Kirigan were standing outside, the Fold right in front of them when that happened. Flashes of blinding white light were trying to get through the black matter. It disappeared as fast as it appeared and for some, it may seem like a trick of the light or just a mere hallucination.

Katerina took a deep breath and glanced to her left where Aleksander was looking at the Fold, then he shifted his head and shared a look with the redhead beside him.

"It couldn't be..." Katerina was shaking her head not genuinely believing what she witnessed, yet the look on General's face made her think otherwise. "... or could it?"

The man turned his head to once more look at the dark and impenetrable wall trying to once more capture whatever they saw, yet nothing happened.

"I don't know." Aleksander then turned around. "Now we wait for whatever comes next." He placed one gentle hand on the girl's shoulder before going in the direction of their tents. Glancing at the Fold one last time, Katerina turned around and followed Aleksander.

"Boring journey my ass."

Katerina didn't know what she was expecting to see when the skiff returned, but what she clearly was not expecting was that a girl around her age would be considered to be the cause of the blinding white light. When General Kirigan cut the Mapmaker's skin, it seemed like the girl will shatter from all the light that she radiated from her.