The Villain's Ascent

Chapter 2

Faye walks down the corridor to her room. It's located in the Eastern wing; the farthest room from the rest of her family's allocations. She's tired from a long day of conforming to noble etiquette and putting on a display for her family. She slowly enters her room and takes off her jewelry: rings, a pair of earrings, and a teardrop necklace gifted from the only family member who loved her unconditionally, her grandfather. "I don't know what I'd do without him," Faye whispers gently.

"You know talking to yourself is a sign of madness," a lilting voice breaks the peaceful silence. A silhouette with red hair. A boy with vivid red hair lounges on one of the window seats. Faye throws a book at him. It hits its mark dead in the center. The boy named Mirio flinches in mock pain.

" You know breaking into someone's room is a crime right?" Faye fires back. "Don't you have anything better to do".

"It's not a crime if the person in question is your best friend, and the only thing I want to do today is lounge around with you," Mirio says as he caresses his forehead. Mirio gets bad headaches at times, and no amount of medicine cures them.

"Your logic isnt sound at all," Faye continued the conversation.

Faye hides her smile behind her hair. Mirio Agnello has been her only friend for as long as she can remember. Although her family is not of noble class, his parents have a good reputation throughout Averna for being knowlegale scholars. Mirio didn't take after them in that regard, he was quite intelligent, but preferred weapons and the outdoors, to books and studing.

"Nevermind all that. Your birthday is soon. It it going to be just us again".

"No. I'm thinking of holding a ball this year."

"Will your family let you," Mirio asks looking her in the eyes.

"They dont have a choice," said Faye. "Its my sixteenth birthday, it's time for me to offically debut into society. It would make the Dunaways look bad if they witheld a longstanding tradaition."

Mirio jumps up and paces back and forth around her room. He makes a stunning mark on the canvas of a rather drab room. They had met as kids, and would go through many hardships together. He was the only one beside her at her very first sword-fighting duel. Faye had stood beside him when his family had hit a rough patch, and helped rebuild their home. No one would be able to replicate the bond Faye and Mirio had. Theirs was a friendship that would last beyond the grave.

Mirio walks up to Faye and crouches down until he's face level with her. "I have to leave. You should know the Gaurd is going to meet up in a fortnight. Join me for dinner tommorrow if you can. Without letting her get a word in edgewise Mirio climbs down her window, and scales the wall of the Dunaway Manor. Anyone else would have broken a limb trying to climb to and fro from her room. Mirio is the only soul brave enough to try.

Comapny gone Faye washes up in the adjoining bathroom, and changes her clothes. A bell echoes the manor signaling dinner time. If the Dunaways had been a normal family, Faye would have gone downstairs to join them for a meal. But the Dunaways had no room in their hearts for her, so all she could do was sink into her bed, and pray for dreams that would never come true.