❛power isn't everything. it's the only thing.❜
[complete]
wattys 2018 winner ❧
Lin is a hunter, one of the magically enhanced witch slayers that roam a flooded world. Under the laws of four Kings and Greymark, who rules them all, Lin is unto...
"Malicious fortune seldom spares a man Because he is courageous. No one courts Danger so often with impunity. Follow death long enough, and you will find it."
— Seneca, Hercules Furens (trans. Diana Gioia)
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Lin woke up with the dim sensation that she ought to go back to sleep. Being the contrarian that she was, she pried an eye open. The room shifted. She blinked harder, the familiar smell of old sweat and rotting deadwater filling her nose and placing her at Sirenita. She exhaled as yesterday's memories floated back in.
"You okay?" Hadrian asked.
He laid in the couch across from her, arms folded under his chin as he angled his head to look at her. Lin grimaced. "Awesome."
He gave her a soft smile and nodded, pushing himself up with enough fluidity that she was sure he hadn't fallen asleep there. He probably hadn't been sleeping at all. Lin rubbed at her eyes and stretched as far as the cluttered couch allowed her. Razo hadn't cleaned in what seemed like years. She felt gross, like a film of -- wait. She was covered in blood and sweat. She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair, unsurprised to find chunks of it solidified with gore.
She rocked her head to the side, lips pulling down as the barest hint of a headache leeched through. "Are you hungover?"
Hadrian gave her two sleepy blinks before shrugging. "Are you?"
She scoffed and stood up. Sirenita still had her engine on, rumbling through the waves dutifully. The light that managed to seep in through small, grimy portholes was a dark blue. Just before dawn, then. Fun. Lin popped her neck and patted Hadrian's shoulder as she passed him. She fought a yawn, struggling with the sliding door before shoving the frail plastic aside. Cortez was still in the bridge. It wasn't surprising, there was nowhere else for him to go, she'd just been hoping that the man would disappear on his own. Three people was too many for her to deal with at a time.
Lin squinted out at the sea as she approached Razo's chair, frowning. "What the--"
"Been like that all night." Razo's finger tapped staccato beats against his knee. "Don't know what to make of it."
The sea was dark and flat as glass.
Not a breeze or whisper of tide broke the perfect stillness.
The two men had been up all night, then. Probably staring at the sea and wondering what the hell was happening. Lin pulled her lip into her mouth and gnawed on it. "Have you seen anything like this?"
Razo shrugged, eyes still focused on the sea. "That witch you just killed was stronger than any we've seen in decades, but she can't've done this after she's dead. Likely not when she was alive, neither."
