Worlds Apart

Chapter 41

W H E E L • O F • F O R T U N E

Nov. 05 2020 11:45 FGT

Cha-in Base, Province of Forseglet

Riona's skin was rot. The powers of death and decay thrummed in her veins. There was a reason so many Earth-side cultures viewed necromancers as an ill omen. She had proven why, time and time again, but refused to see the truth. She had vowed never to use it again but she had anyway and the cost of it had come hurtling towards her. It took just as much as it gave.

She was done. She would carve it out herself if that's what it took to stop. She was done.

Riona curled into her blankets, watching shadows flit through her room. The sun had filtered in through the clouds and gale and the slit between the drawn curtains to splay the trees on her walls. It didn't seem to reach her.

It was her fault. She had to fix it. Fix everything. But where would she start, if she couldn't even get out of bed? It was her responsibility but Riona was useless. Incapable of doing good. Pathetic. A complete imbecile to think she could've been a protector, someone people looked up to for hope and guidance and safety. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The lights in her room faded as her eyelids fluttered shut. She seemed to sleep so much these days, yet always felt tired when she awoke. Finally, as she entered the lands of sleep, Riona was weightless, unburdened by the world.

The haze of her surroundings solidified and she gasped as she found herself in a dark, dingy room, horrified. She wasn't supposed to be here—she hadn't meant to—

The stone walls split into trees and panting breath as leaves flitted by, stinging the girl's face. A face Riona knew. Twigs snapped, leaves crunched, and trekking boots thudded into the slippery ground. Adalina almost slipped but caught herself on a low-hanging branch.

The moon was high in the sky—Riona knew that as inherently as if it were her own dream—but no moonlight reached the ground through the thick canopy. Suddenly, the trees parted and they were in a clearing with a breathtakingly clear star-studded sky above them but Adalina did not stop. She glanced over her shoulder fearfully and dashed for the other side. Riona could make out shouts and heavy, plodding footsteps behind her. The foliage rustled and three people broke into the clearing. They were dressed casually but carried Evanisian guns—a small Las-14 each. It was standard for EI agents.

Riona's jaw dropped. Watchdogs?!

Adalina never stood a chance. She stumbled in the shrubbery and the trained men reached her in an instant, grabbing her arms as she kicked and screamed, drowning out their words.

"—arrest for conspir—breach of—Rundachtan la—"

Riona shot out of bed, back in her room in the mountains of Kaira. The dream had ended from the shock that woke Adalina. But it had barely been a dream, more of a memory, and if the dark room she had been in was any indicator, she was still with them. Here.

Oh, Àl help her, she was here.

It was Riona who had accidentally alerted the Guardians to her. She had found out that Adalina knew of the Gates, of Evanos, and had regularly interacted with and unintentionally abetted an Evanisian citizen and criminal.

This was her fault—if only she hadn't—

Riona could fix this. She had to.

‡    ‡    ‡

"I know who did it."

Wona stared. "What—that quickly?"

Daisha gave the two a wry smile. "I did say I'm good at what I do."