Legacy Guardians of the Arcanus Region

[II] Believer

It was a simple word that many wouldn't think much of. One word that should mean nothing if said alone. However to Niminah, that one word was everything horrible that could possibly be said. It was a burning insult that struck her to her very core. It had all started back in junior high when Coral found out about her childish fascination with Arcanus. She could remember that day as if it were merely yesterday. She had been making her way to the restroom after excusing herself from class.

She had almost turned the corner when she heard Coral's voice. It was no secret that her and her boyfriend would meet up every now and then. There wasn't a pattern to this really, so Niminah couldn't avoid them. Though she hardly knew the girl at this point in time, she knew the girl wasn't very kind. She could see it simply from the way she carried herself. Just when she decided it would be best to go to the other set of restrooms down the longer hall, she heard a small part of their conversation that made her stay. "Really? You mean that dumb little fairy tale?" She heard a grunt of conformation come from the male. "Hm... Now that's something. A believer of Arcanus. A little kid in middle school." She could plainly hear the smirk in her voice. "Now this will be fun." A laugh then slightly echoed in the quiet hall. One that sent shivers down Niminah's spine. She then quietly but quickly began walking towards the other end pf the hall. She later got in trouble for taking so long to get back to class.

Believer. Given the word's usual positive outlook, one could conjure up the image of a rose against barren land. However, Niminah held an entirely different image. Instead of a rose, it was poison. It is like a deadly curse—a virus even—to her visage. Something that when you hear the word being spoken you flinch, knowing how badly it can affect something or someone. The word, the insult, their scorn for her, was the poison vine wrapping around the rose of enthrallment to the lands she had long stood for. It was no word of hope.

Dylan frowned. It wasn't too long ago he had learned about the insult. In fact, he might have never learned of it if not for Lacey referring to his friend as such one day in class with disgusted look on her face. The girl looked like she had sniffed something terrible. Niminah had been hoping they'd dropped the name once they had entered high school. Sadly, such a thing had obviously not happened. Now it was evident that they had merely taken a break for a cruel and specific reason. They had done so in order for their notes to make a larger impact.

It was then that Niminah discovered a name was written in the corner of the small piece of paper. In a messy handwriting that suited a 6th grader was the name Johnathan in red marker. She could recall hearing the name during role call of her first period, though she couldn't be certain if it was the same boy. Either way, she never had any sort of interaction with a Johnathan. A sigh escaped her lips and she then saw that upon closer inspection, a lot of the notes had names written on them. Some were left blank but the vast majority had the names of many she hadn't even known were in her grade. 'Are they in my grade?' She then frowned and came to the conclusion that the three girls had gotten numerous people to write her that one simple word regardless if they knew who she was or vice versa. This was a definite answer because everyone knew those girls would have rather died than forge the hideous handwriting of some other being.

"Hey," said Dylan in a shaky voice. Though he knew his friend was fairly strong mentally, there was only so much one could take. Indeed he has seen the girl persevere through much taunting but he had also heard from Maxene that she had cried on occasion to her late at night or even right after school after running home. Tears had begun to well up in her eyes and he reached out a hand but retracted it in the end when he found that no words could be formed. A sigh was let out before trying again. "Come on, Nim. Let's clean these up. We can burn them later and roast marshmallows. Sounds like a pretty good use, huh?"