The Tragedy of Renya

6.4 Wanting to Escape (Final)

The western gate of Renya had statues poking out of the stone. The Pegasus, spirit animal of Kresida, was a motif that returned on a regular basis. There were some guards standing next to the gate, refusing to let anyone through the gate.

It surprised Erica how few people actually wanted to leave through the gate. She and Nick had been standing there for almost an hour, watching the guards and looking for a way to leave, with only one person asking. For a city as big as Renya, with as many merchants in the city as there were, it was incredible to believe nobody wanted to leave.

"Part of the curse, probably," Nick remarked.

"The merchants won't leave until they sell their wares, and most of us have no reason to leave," A familiar voice said from behind them. Erica turned around to see Alice standing there.

"I took the afternoon off," Alice smiled, tilting her head a little to the side, "I want to leave this city as soon as possible."

Erica nodded and looked at the guards. There was no way they'd let anyone through. Sneaking through could be a solution, or they needed a diversion.

Then she saw it. Next to one of the pillars of the gate sat an old man, coughing, then suddenly the man stopped moving.

"I'll cause a diversion. Nick, you break the curse." She said, running towards the beggar.

"Mister, mister, are you alright?" She asked. The beggar didn't move or breathe anymore. Erica pretended to be in panic and called the attention of the guards.

"Are you sure it isn't an infection? What if everyone here is infected?" she asked, as loudly as possible. The guards dismissed it but Erica kept insinuating, each time a little louder, that the people in the city could very well be suffering from a deadly disease. Slowly people started to notice her and come towards them. Panic started to spread, as Erica tried to remember what little she knew about diseases to get more people to panic.

Eventually enough people were talking to the guards, worrying about what happened, and if they were going to die, that the guards were completely distracted by the mass. Through the group of people surrounding her Erica saw someone run past, out of the gate. It was Nick, she realized. She slowly snuck out of the group and headed towards Alice.

"Did anything change?" she asked. Alice shook her head and said that Nick had simply disappeared as soon as he stepped through the gate.

"Maybe it needs a human to leave?" Erica asked, stepping towards the gate. She stopped as she felt Alice take her hand.

"I want to go too." Alice said. Erica nodded, and took Alice's hand.

"Together."

The two of them stepped through the gate while the guards were still distracted. At that moment a large explosion sounded from behind them.

Erica looked behind her and saw the city of Renya with the people still inside. Yet she was outside of Renya, and she could see Nick again. There was someone with Nick; a man with a scar over his left eye and red-brown hair. The man was pointing a weapon, some kind of dagger, at Nick.

"Michael!" She heard Alice shout, and the hand she'd been holding left her as Alice ran towards the man.

Erica looked behind her and saw that the people of the city were slowly disappearing. She looked back at Alice and saw that Alice too was becoming see-through as she ran towards the two men.

"Alice!" Erica shouted, running after Alice. Before she could reach Alice, and before Alice could reach the men, she disappeared into thin air.

"Alice!" Erica shouted again, hoping that the girl would return soon.

Nick smiled and then disappeared as well, leaving only Erica and the man behind.

A few weeks later Erica was sitting behind Professor Sother's desk, writing down what had happened to Renya. She hadn't seen Nick since that day, nor had she seen Leandra. Alice had disappeared as well as all the other inhabitants of Renya, leaving all people who had seen anything confused. Professor Fieldsten was pissed, and had come into Professor Sother's office several times. Erica had each time feigned ignorance, both to what had happened to Renya that all people disappeared, and to Professor Sother's disappearance. She hoped the professor would return one day to his office, but until that happened she'd taken his good chair to work on her graduating assignment. People hadn't asked questions as to why she was there; it was presumed normal that she'd be working there until the professor returned.

She looked up as two people entered the office. The two, a man and a woman, both with purple eyes and a gem on their chest, carefully navigated the maze that professor Sother had made of books.

"You need to clean this place up," Nick said. Erica smiled.

"It's not my room." She answered, "So what happened to all the inhabitants of Renya?"

"Nobody can live for over a hundred years," Nick answered, "All that remains of Renya is a legend."

"And my engagement? And the professor?" Erica asked.

"I've taken care of that. The professor's in jail, for attempted murder. Everything is as it should be."

"So," Erica whispered, "You two will leave now?"

Leandra laughed: "We'll be back."

Then the two of them disappeared, leaving Erica alone in the office of the professor.

She smiled and wrote down the final sentence of her paper.

Now all that remains of Renya is its legacy.