Unobtainable

Unimaginable

     The city was dark, engulfed in flames, the sky covered by thick clouds of ash as Astrea looked around. Everything was crumbled, but where was she? She turned to look down at her feet, below her she saw blood, lots of blood. Her leg seemed injured, very injured at that; yet she didn't feel a thing. Her eyes roamed around, in more detail to her surroundings, and she noticed some of the larger pieces of rubble had designs on them. Royal architecture from what she could tell, this place she was in was the castle. But how? Why? What was this? As she questioned her mind grew more and more crowded with wonder and curiosity. Only for all her thoughts to vanish at the sound of a voice. She looked up immediately, her gaze coming into contact with a tall woman, with slightly purple skin, a large black hat of a witch, a long cape draped on her back, her body almost exposed from the waist up,  with what only looked like some sort of bra on her chest, yet her lower half was well covered with deep black leggings, armored leggings. She recognized this woman, and she recognized the sword in the woman's hand. Although she couldn't quite put a finger on who it was, she knew them, they were in the picture, there was no mistaking that. They spoke in the same voice she heard before this sudden dream, saying the same words she heard before.
     "Astrea, come. You did well. Better than anyone could have imagined. Come. Astrea, come rest." The lady spoke, holding a hand out toward Astrea. Before she could do anything, the place was overtaken with darkness, and soon the dream became a relic of the past. Astrea woke up on the floor of her parent's room. She quickly jumped to her feet, looking back at the box and the picture that was now on the floor next to her. Wherever she was to go next, she needed to find that lady. She looked at the now empty box and thought about taking it with her but deciding not to. She can come back. First, she needed to ask around, maybe someone knew who this woman was. She thought for a moment before concluding, she knew exactly who she could ask first. Someone who's been in this town for the longest! She was bound to know something, after all, she was a witch too. Without any further hesitation, she stood up and ran out of the room, to the door, bursting out of the front door and pausing as she noticed a large number of people who seemed to be in a panic. Someone ran right into Astrea, knocking her down to the ground, her hands scraping from trying to catch her fall. She looked up at the man who ran into her, as she helped her up, apologizing profusely before starting to take off again. She stopped him this time, holding up a finger to tell him to wait, she then took out her notepad and pen, writing down in it before showing the page to him. She asked, "what are you running from?". His answer was sudden and startled even her, he sounded extremely panicked. He yelled to her that a fight broke out at the west border, it was closed and people were trying to flee and climb the walls. Guards began attacking and now there seemed to be a fight between some armed citizens and guards. Another fight? Astrea couldn't believe what had gotten into these people. If only she had the voice to lead these people. She can't stand by and let another fight happen but, what could she do to stop it? She was powerless, yet still, she couldn't bring herself to ignore it. She had failed to do anything to stop her parents or the fight that came after, and she couldn't fail again. She sprinted, not noticing the glow her legs had now, allowing her to sprint even faster than ever before. Faster than possible. Running against everyone else's paths.
     Within seconds, Astrea reached the fight. She watched as guards and civilian men clashed swords, before she could think to do anything, she froze up. All of this chaos, people screaming, being stabbed and cut on both sides of the fight. She couldn't get the image out of her head, she couldn't move or fight. Why did she come here? Completely frozen, the fighting around her continued to escalate. People ran and screamed as their guards moved forward, soon surrounding Astrea was nothing but battle. It seemed like the citizens were losing as well. So many lives were wasted so soon. This fight was becoming much bloodier, as the guards yelled at civilians to get back, some taking notice of Astrea and yelling at her. Yet she didn't respond at all, stuck in shock, only for a flash of golden light to streak past her vision. She almost let out a gasp at the sudden motion. Her eyes turned to see where it came from, it was a boy. He had slashed with a sword of gold, sending a golden beam of light at the guards surrounding her, did it kill them? Her eyes turned to check, only to be met with a splatter of blood from them, it went straight through them, cutting some in half diagonally, taking off an arm of another, and instantly killing two others. Astrea stood motionless, the sights of death around her shook her to her core. Soon, guards began to step back, looking toward Astrea, or just behind her as Astrea felt a hand on her shoulder. Her head turned quickly, catching sight of a boy, his age around the same as hers, his eyes a deep red and his hair a golden blonde. She had never seen someone like this before, it was clear he wasn't a normal human, but what demi-human race was he? He was like nothing she'd ever seen before.
     He spoke in a soft, kind, and caring voice as his hand removed from her shoulder, and extended down to offer to her;  "You aren't hurt are you? You need to get out of here...Astrea." She took his hand and stood up, finally snapping out of her still state. With her eyes wide and staring straight at him, she shook her head in response to his question, taking his hand and being helped to her feet. Reality had settled back in, so now she knew she shouldn't have come here, and she needed to get out. An opportunity had granted her an exit, but how could she speak to him? How was she to tell him what was happening? She thought saddened her; after all, was truly left all alone with no voice to help her make any sort of friend. Yet somehow, he answered her thoughts with his words, "You aren't alone. Come, I'll protect you. Let's retreat to town." The boy gave Astrea a reassuring smile, and with a slightly surprised look on her face, she nodded and the two of them began to step away. This fight was not over, but it was not one she needed to be a part of. She couldn't fight, not like this, not now. The two of them ran to the back of this now, much smaller group of armed citizens, and from there, Astrea followed behind the boy. She couldn't protest, she couldn't ask where they were going or wish to go somewhere else; instead, all she could do was follow as he brought her to a large building. On the outside, it looked as if it was abandoned, and even as they stepped inside, there were few signs of life. Dust and dirt covered everything, yet somehow this boy was walking through it as if he'd been here many times before.
     The party of two walked to the very back corner of the building, where the boy knocked on the wooden floor in a pattern; possibly a code of some kind. There was a long moment of silence now, as Astrea just stared at the boy in confusion. She reached to pull out her paper pad and writing utensil, writing down the simple question of "what is happening...? Why did you help me? What's your name anyway?" and getting ready to show it to him when suddenly he interrupted her writing with his words.
     "I'm sorry I haven't explained much. I'm a little shaken up, to be honest. I'm just taking you to my friends, it's better for you, Astrea. I know you, despite the fact you've never seen me...your father told me much about you. You look as beautiful as I expected. It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Aneirin." The boy politely bowed as his speech came to an end. Astrea stared at him dumbfounded, now she was certain that he could read her mind, and that only became more certain as he spoke once again. "Forgive me, I can't read your thoughts. I can see a few...moments in the future, or at least a possible one. I've learned it's almost identical to our own, the only difference is my interference." Aneirin smiled, he seemed so used to such a scary magic ability. Astrea never knew such a thing could even exist, yet it must be true with what he was doing.
     "For example. Someone you may recognize is going to open the hatch for us in five seconds." Aneirin put up five of his fingers, counting down until he got to 2 and suddenly the wood he had knocked on opened up a magically hidden hatch. To make matters much stranger, the one who opened the hatch was Marcus, the same kleptomaniac thief she had just gotten away from. Astrea was very surprised, as she stared at him and he stared back with a look of surprise and annoyance. All the while, Aneirin stood next to Astrea with his innocent smile. "Marcus! I brought us a princess. The princess of the revolution!" Aneirin claimed with a joking tone and a small chuckle.
     Marcus immediately replied with a sigh, "Her? She's the one you've been talking about? She made me pay for paper and a pen so she could talk...I guess this is karma huh? Come in." He climbed down the ladder he had used to open the hatch and let them slowly descend it, Astrea first and Aneirin slowly behind her.
     Reaching the bottom, Astrea looked around the room, it was a rather large space. Inside were many faces she did not recognize, and the area itself seemed like some sort of brothel or pub. People were drinking, playing cards, and talking to one another, none of them batting an eye to the two who had just descended upon them. Aneirin took hold of Astrea's hand suddenly and dragged her along with him past the desk of the bar itself, and into what would be an employees-only room at a normal place. Instead, this place had what she thought was an entire home, and on a dirty old couch in the middle of the room was a girl in a lavish purple dress, with massive butterfly wings on her back that had a magical purple glow to them.
     Aneirin was quick to introduce the girl, "Astrea, that is the beautiful Dawn. Marcus has his eyes set on her so don't go looking too long. She works at the local whorehouse, and much like Marcus has a knack for thievery." The girl looked toward them and didn't say a word until she saw Marcus come in now as well. Immediately the two approached each other and talked, asking how they were doing as if they weren't probably already in the room together before Aneirin and Astrea interrupted. Aneirin then took her over to a small room at the very end of a slim hallway, with a table, chairs, and a map of the city on it; supposedly, it was some sort of planning or meeting room. This is where Aneirin wanted to speak to her, but not yet. First, he showed her a room on the other side of the slim hallway, in this room, there were four beds. Astrea immediately didn't like what she was seeing, they were sleeping in the same room. And why were there four beds? Were they expecting her? Before she could ask any of these questions, Aneirin already spoke,
     "Yes. You will be sleeping here, I know this is all a little confusing for you. Hold your questions for a moment, and let me explain. You...put on a ring didn't you? Made for your father by an unknown witch. I know, and...all I know is that I can sense a lot of magic inside of you, like...the amount that I'd expect to see from someone like the King." He paused for a moment as if he was listening or looking at something behind Astrea. Currently, Astrea's mind was going crazy. She wanted to know a lot, but the first thing was how on earth he knew all this. Before she could even move to grab her notebook and write to him, he answered her thoughts again. "Well, Astrea. I know this because...you told me...or at least you were going to."