Unobtainable

Unforgivable

     The sounds of screams and chants echo the bustling streets of the kingdom of Adrea, more specifically on the outskirts of the main city. An area where a large wall separated it from the more wealthy parts of the kingdom. At the bottom of the wall, which people called the Liberator Wall, was a statue of the current King Oz Zyrachtiel. Today, a "protest" erupted, the sounds of large groups of angry, hard working people could be heard for miles along the outer towns at the west wall. Inside of the town flower shop, a young girl with red hair and blue eyes stood, locked in a back room, she was in her teens. Her body was lean but much more of an athletic build than the average person. She had clearly spent most of her life handling some sort of handwork, as her hands held small marks and cuts on them all the time. Prominently, there was a decently sized noticeable scar on her left arm, just below her elbow and extending down closer to her wrist. Only recently 18, she sat with her arms crossed, still being treated like a child, kept in the dark when it comes to the more serious thing in her life. It has always been that way, she was always told to hush when she questioned why her parents were never home. Why did her brother die...specifically why won't they tell her what happened? All these questions brought her nowhere, and always annoyed her when she was treated like she couldn't handle it. Her name was Astrea Nethers.
     "What is even happening" She thought to herself. Curling herself up against the wall, one arm wrapping around her knees as the other grabbed onto a rubber stress ball she had kept with her, she bounced it before hearing a voice and stopping, listening closely to the sound of her fathers close friend, the one who had her locked in this backroom now. He seemed to be having a conversation with someone. Their voice was familiar to her, it had to be someone she knew but she couldn't put a pin on it just yet. She pressed her ear to the cold wooden door and listened closely. She heard the two voices, one of Gresskar Urtebub, the owner of this flower shop and the one she was normally given to when her parents were gone; just called him Bub like most people who visited this flower shop. The other voice was too familiar...it was definitely a feminine voice, a kind but old one. Unfortunately, its familiar sound only stumped her more, as she had no clue who it was. The conversation went like this as she heard it:
     "I'm sorry..I really don't know what we can do...things like this happen. Is Astrea alright in there...?" The women spoke. Her voice sounded a bit soft, worried and sorrowful, but at the same time she was clearly upset, and that soft undertone of anger seemed mostly directed at Bub.
      "Yeah..yeah..I know. How am I supposed to tell her..." Bub replied with a sigh. He seemed to be exhausted: mentally exhausted that is. "She's not..she isn't confident enough yet..she's unstable and her gift hasn't even kicked in yet...this is too much for-" Before he could finish he was suddenly cut off.
     "Stop that..she's an adult. We should tell her. We shouldn't just keep her locked in a room...okay?" The woman's voice turned to one of disappointment..as her footsteps neared the door Astrea was listening from.
     The door handle turned after it unlocked, Astrea backed away to act as if she hadn't been listening, and soon after the door opened. Her gaze was greeted with a soft smile from a woman she had never met before. Who stepped forward and introduced herself as Polly Mallowferd. It was certainly a strange interaction...as the tone of voice was clearly one of pity. Astrea didn't like being pitied so much. As well as the fact she could still recognize this woman even though she was certain she had never seen her before. Her slight annoyance was interrupted when Bub stepped into her field of view. She looked at him, his rather large head and big black hat on top, he wore a long black robe-like shirt with white stripes around the collar. He stepped forward to her and started to speak softly- "Astrea..." He said. His voice spoke slowly and softly, as if he was nervous. "I have something important to tell you. About your parents..." Those words alone were enough to spark worry in Astrea's mind, and as she listened to Bub that worry only grew a lot more. The story was simple. Astrea was kept in the dark from something her parents believed in. A rebellion that she was kept away from, for her own safety. Bub and Polly slowly escorted her to a wooden bench inside of the shop, sitting down with her as Bub began to speak and Polly watched for Astrea's reaction.
       She wasn't being kept in the dark because she was unable to handle it. Unexpectedly for her, she was only being kept from these things because of the gift that had yet to show itself within her. A gift being slow to appear was normal...an affinity for an element didn't always show up at puberty. What was bad was that gift forcing its way out due to a stressful situation. Worrying about her parents being on the forefront of a building rebellion would be too much. It was difficult to understand, but what was even more confusing was what this had to do with anything. Why was this being treated so strangely? The moment those questions entered her head they were answered, as Bub explained that her parents had been caught, and were now facing prosecution by the King. If there was anything she knew, it was that this king wasn't going to take kindly to any treason. The thoughts of what could happen rushed through her mind, every possibility ended horribly. She couldn't be so useless as to sit around and let it happen. She jumped to her feet, Bub and Polly immediately jumping up as well, reaching for her since they both could assume what she was going to do. Astrea was no weak girl, her gift hadn't arrived and it only made way for different skills to blossom as compensation . Her agility was incredible, showcased as she dipped down, sliding underneath the overhead attempt at a grab from Bub. She wanted to apologize but there was no time, her leg swept as she moved, tripping Bub on his forward momentum and knocking him into Polly. The two of them stumbling but not falling, standing up, sighing but not chasing, almost as if they were ready to just accept this for the better. She sprinted out of the flower shop, stumbling over herself and panting as she was greeted by the colorless streets of the kingdom. Buildings of wood, with little to no decor along the outside of each dark wooden building. Some homes had large cracks and rotting wood on their foundations, the streets were made of broken concrete with large enough potholes to injure someone trying to run through if they weren't paying enough attention. There were a lot of people, all walking in a single direction. All wearing around the same style of ragged clothing, shirts and dresses. Almost none of them were completely clean, all full of dirt and some rips. She watched them for a moment, before starting to sprint in that direction. She bumped into people and shoved them, getting a flurry of less-than-kind words from many annoyed people as she did. She knew where they were headed, it was the statue by the Liberator Wall. The statue that loomed down at the less fortunate as a sign of who owned them and who held authority over their lives. She knew they were headed there, that was usually where public trials and executions took place...especially ones of treason. As a way to send fear into the minds of everyone living here.
     Her mind was racing with the worst of possibilities, she rushed only to come to the point where her rushing wouldn't get her anywhere: a large crowd of people gathered, all eagerly awaiting with mixed emotions amongst the crowd, even though everyone shared the same opinion. An opinion they weren't afraid to voice as they chanted "ANXON! ANXON! ANXON!". Anxon. It was a word she was familiar with; a word for a call to action. A call to rebel. And a call to destroy. It was the battle cry of the founders of the city, now used as a battle cry for the end of it. Astrea listened as they all said it, her eyes darted around, the small wooden buildings of shops and even a bit of a two story hotel-like structure to her right. She rushed toward it, her hands gripping onto the frame of the door and pulling herself slightly up, her muscles strained as she gripped as tight as she could, lifting herself enough to catch her foot on the frame of a window. She pushed up, starting to climb her way up with a look of determination. Her finger nails being pulled back and breaking a bit as she did. She managed to bring herself to the second story, panting and grunting as she used all her strength to bring herself up to the roof. She looked down at the crowd. Separated by only a few feet of ground from a large collection of armed guards. Wielding their metal shields and long spears that ended in a double spiked point, like a pitchfork with two prongs instead of the usual four. They were lined up in a sort of half-box shape. With one large commander in the middle in larger armor that made him look much taller. Standing next to him was someone she had never thought she'd see. It was the King, in the flesh, standing with his royal black robes on and a large black and red sword that curved to a point, underneath his robes was his golden light armor, and the front of the blade with an orange red tint to it. His eyes were full of confidence and dominance. His riches were on display for everyone with his earrings in his ears, and golden rings with various gems on them on every one of his fingers. She watched on top of the building, before looking to the building ahead of her, as she needed to get a closer look to truly see if the horrors of her mind were to come true. With a swallow and a grimace, she gave herself a bit of a large running head start, leaping off her dominant right leg into the air and landing clean on the other roof. After that accomplishment, with a slight pant on her breathing her eyes darted back toward the standoff, or at least what she assumed must be some sort of standoff below her. Figuring she could use a bit of rest for a moment, her knees bent as she squatted down and watched, close enough to listen now but also keep her distance in case things got a little violent. On the ground, it was clear to her that these people were very angry, as well as the fact that two people she knew as her parents were in cuffs, standing before the king and that commander in the middle of the box-shaped formation. The crowd continued to chant and scream, various insults and obscenities, "ANXON! ANXON! DEATH TO YOU! UNJUST!", words like that. Things that were impossible to simply ignore, but still the king seemed to remain unfazed. Astrea's eyes focused on him and his threatening aura, as well as glancing at the two people she knew as her family, amongst all the shouting and chanting the king drew his sword. It's black and molten orange blade glistened, a few pieces of what could only be molten rock coming off of it and landing in a small area around him. At the sight of his weapon the crowd grew completely silent, some prepared to flee, others stood their ground and clenched their fists. After a few moments of silence the king's voice echoed, his voice was deep, but held the undertones of someone who was withholding a lot of suppressed emotion within them. Astrea could feel that in his voice, it was strange but reading things like that was something she was always good at.
     "People of my kingdom. Your gathering has shown me you all hold a lot of pride in yourselves. And a lot of hope for these two..." The King exclaimed, his voice trailing off toward the end. The people grew restless at those words, as they were all too used to the way the King spoke. Astrea herself wasn't the most familiar with his speech, but she could still clearly tell this was heading in a direction that would upset the people. Astrea stared down at her parents, noting that their eyes were focused on each other and not at anything else. Just as her thoughts began to wander as she was about to attempt to devise a plan to help them, her mind froze at the sound of the King's voice yet again: "Hope that I will show mercy to the treason of these two! Audrey and Philip Nethers. I promise any other family that is not amongst this crowd...or hiding in the shadows. Will all be given a chance to correct the thoughts and lies you've imprinted into their minds. ALAS. I declare you both guilty of treason and conspiracy against the King. And I will personally be your executioner." His voice came to an abrupt yet powerful stop, the people immediately erupting into a flurry of shouting and cursing directed to him. Astrea's heart dropped at the word executioner, her parents were going to be executed. This feeling was nothing like she felt when her brother died, her mind remembered that moment. It wasn't all sadness, it was a sense of relief, knowing he would be with the great goddess above. A sense of joy that she had known everything she could know about him; but this, this was something different entirely. Her life hadn't been around her parents much, she'd been around other people. Mostly Bub and her brother, she hadn't spent much time learning who her parents even were. It felt as if losing them now, she was going to lose a lot more than just a family member or a friend; she was going to lose the chance to ever even have that relationship. She stood up on the roof, she had to do something right? She couldn't sit here and watch this happen, but there was no way she could fight there...she had no gift...no power...no weapon. She wasn't included in her parents life, not because they were trying to protect her, it was because she was weak wasn't it...? Tears already began to stream down Astrea's face as she stared on helplessly, it was like everything was in slow motion. The crowd threw rocks and things at the King, the commander jumping in front with a large shield to block them. Astrea's parents were clearly aware of what this would mean, as they looked into each other's eyes, feeling the King line up his blade with the fathers neck first. Astrea watched as the blade was reeled back, the guards around starting to grow closer as they pressed forward as the crowd threw things and shouted in anger and desperation. The blade melted, but kept its shape, showing everyone the King's gift in weapon infusion. His sword was made of magma, lava now that it was on the outside. Astrea stood stone faced, tears pouring down her cheeks to her chin, dripping off the roof to the ground below as she watched the sword finally swing forward with power and strength she had never seen before. It brought with it a wind current that blew the crowd harshly for a moment. The sword easily pierced through her fathers neck, melting everything in its path as well, not only cutting but melting all of the surrounding skin and even hair as it went straight through one, then the second. Like butter the sword tore through skin, muscle and bone. Life immediately left the two almost as soon as the sword was even close to them, it was as if they died before the sword even touched them. It wasn't a messy execution at all, Astrea stared in horror as both partially melted heads hit the ground, their bodies slumping over shortly after. The crowd began to grow a lot more violent, many of them starting to invoke their gifts, shooting balls of fire, ice, even rock at the guards, who all pushed forward. The crowd began to disperse, many of the ones who weren't ready to face that wrath running away, but still a considerable dozen or so of people stood their ground, fighting back in memory of the Astrea's now deceased parents. Astrea watched on, the world around her blacking out as her eyes focused on the King. After killing them, his sword just glazed over the bodies. Melting them to ash as he simply walked away. She couldn't fathom this, how could this be allowed to happen...just because of rumors? Just because of opinions? Her parents didn't do anything to deserve this...they couldn't have. Her mind broke back into reality as she heard a scream, her eyes looked toward the crowd, someone had been stabbed by a guard, it was now a violent fight. People managed to subdue a guard, smashing the guard's helmet with a flurry of earth attacks, only to kill them with those same attacks shortly after. Astrea looked away, back toward the wall, catching the king's exit, followed by a spell caster spewing a gas into the crowd. The people coughed as they fought, some of them collapsing. Astrea couldn't tell if they were dead or unconscious from up here, but she knew some were dead. Such as a group cornered by guards, even with the gas coming the guards still pushed their spears into the bodies of the group. There were four dead there, another killed in the corner. The group of guards sustained casualties as well, but not nearly as much. Astrea watched in horror, people screamed and ran into their homes as this massacre continued. Her spectating was cut off, as gas was shot in her direction, she panicked, backing away from it but breathing some in in the process. After a few moments of panic, Astrea lost consciousness, at least now she knew the gas didn't kill. The small fight would continue below her for what seemed like hours, in the end word would spread around all corners of the kingdom, calling this the "West Wall Massacre". An event that the people of the west wall will forever see as an unforgivable act of war by the king.