Spiritborn ✦ AVENGERS

𝟔 | Here to Help

"RANI? RANI, WAKE UP. WAKE UP, RANI."

My eyebrows scrunched together as a soft groan escaped my lips. Rolling my head to the side as my eyes squeezed tight, I winced before opening my eyes. I was greeted with harsh white light almost immediately, and I raised a hand to shield my gaze from the light. It took a moment, but once my eyes had adjusted slightly, I sat up, still squinting as I kept my hand up. Then, I looked to my right. Nemarra was on her knees beside me, a look of relief on her face as she met my eyes.

"Oh, thank Akyrr," she said, her shoulders sagging. "I thought they'd killed you."

I frowned, glancing around at our surroundings. We were in some kind of glass cylindrical cage, in a large empty room of some kind. The walls of the empty room were metal, the floors made of thick stone. And the whole area itself was cold - a chilly wind blew through the air, yet there was no snow or clouds of any kind.

"Where in the Burning Hells are we?" I asked.

"I don't know," Nemarra said. "But I think it's some kind of..." She looked around. "Prison."

My frown went deeper. "Prison? What did we do to get us put in prison?"

"Who knows," Nemarra said. "And quite frankly, who cares?" She looked around again with a scowl. "This is exactly why we stay out of the Mortal Realm, and why we don't involve ourselves with humans. They're completely insane."

"I don't understand." I rubbed the sore spots on my shoulders and stomach - the spots where those darts had hit me. "All I was doing was asking you if we should put our weapons down to show we weren't there to hurt them. Why shoot us for it?"

Nemarra shook her head. "We arrived unannounced, and we're from another realm." She scoffed. "In their eyes, I guess that constitutes as a threat."

"But we're not a threat!" I said, shocked by her words. "We're here to help!"

"Yes, but they don't know that," Nemarra replied.

"But they didn't even give us a chance to explain!" I said. "They just looked at us and decided to-"

"Rani, hush," Nemarra suddenly said, cutting me off as she looked around.

I frowned again. "Why? What's going on?"

"Just be quiet," Nemarra said, then added quietly, "We're not alone anymore."

My heart began to pound as I looked around, nerves flooding through me. Then, I heard it. Footsteps. But they were odd ones, as if they weren't bare feet. Almost as if the coverings on their feet were thick and heavy.

Then, moments later, a man emerged from the shadows. His clothing was strange - thick, dark, and black, covering almost every part of his body. He had dark skin and no hair on his head except for a thin beard and mustache. But what confused and worried me the most was the strip of cloth wrapped around his head, with a larger, round patch covering his eye.

"Whatever you do," Nemarra whispered to me, "don't let them know we speak their tongue."

I glanced at her in surprise and confusion. But the look she was giving me told me that I should not question her. So I nodded faintly before turning my attention to the man.

"Good," the man said to us. "You're awake."

I glanced at Nemarra, the two of us feigning confusion, before she looked at him and said in Nahantu, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

The man frowned. "What was that?"

"We don't speak your tongue," I added, also speaking Nahantu as I shook my head, then gestured to him. "Do you speak ours?"