Beyond the Void

Chapter 53, Power draws in power

of Shattering 182 - The war between the Draig'yar and Humans really takes off as Humans assault forbidden lands even further east. The Draig'yar retaliate in kind by laying waste to not only Humans now, but Alyar and D'yer as well.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

VAERA

Three moons and two tens since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Everything was wet and muddy. Even the small boardwalk along the riverbank was caked with mud. It made no sense worrying about it, but somehow there was more mud up there than on the gravel road.

As Vaera pondered weather and geography, Clarissa marched past and bumped into her. She barely missed a puddle stumbling about.

"I am not invisible!" Vaera barked.

"I am so sorry. I must have mistaken you for a stranger. What a coincidence we would meet here." Clarissa mocked her.

"You have been following me for two moons now. I gave you coin, so you can travel where ever you would want to." Vaera growled.

"I didn't ask for your money. And I am going to the same place as you. It's the wet season. There are only so many caravans traveling between towns."

"You took it all the same, it would have been polite to leave me alone."

"Who dragged me along in the first place?" Clarissa did not back down.

"Who was it that was so eager to get away from me and die?" Vaera spat, with poison in her voice.

Clarissa turned around and marched back towards Vaera. She made to back away, expecting violence, but the girl stopped and looked her in the eyes.

"I do not want to die, Vaera. I do not want to die. I wanted to, but now I do not want to. And I hate that. I hate that I cannot go after her." The girl pleaded.

"Well, there is nothing I can do to help." Vaera crossed her arms.

"You dragged me along! Is it that wrong for me to hope just a little more compassion from you?"

"You blackmailed me, nearly cost me my life for a fool's errand." Vaera reminded Clarissa.

"I had to try! She was my sister!" Tears were falling down Clarissa's cheeks.

"Sure." Vaera shrugged.

"Fine! I followed you because I was scared! Is that what you want to hear? We're in the middle of a war zone! Girls get kidnapped, sent to flesh markets!"

"Actually, Ildar has held these areas for more than a decade now and they are pushing further and further into Telred's territories. You should be relatively safe here." Vaera drawled.

"Vaera, please. I promise I will pay you back." Clarissa pleaded.

"The best way you can pay me back, is to leave me alone the first moment you get. What do you want from me? I got you out of harm's way. You are free to go anywhere you wanted to."

"I don't know where I want to go. There is nothing out there. My home was in Whitefall, now it's gone." Clarissa spread her arms out, as if to draw Vaera's attention on the bleakness of her situation.

"Then you need to build a new home." Vaera rolled her eyes.

"Please help me, please, I am begging you." Clarissa was gesturing and seemed to be just short of falling on her knees. "I will pay for the inn tonight." With my money, Vaera thought. "Just let me follow you until I can figure out a place where I might want to go."