Vitae Memorandum

48-Tracking Shadows

Even after everything that had happened, the day itself had still not yet ended. It was in fact still early evening, with everything preceding much like it would have normally.

Khaexyn had in fact not let a sense of panic disturb his fortress. The only ones who knew of the situation were himself, the staff assigned to the situation, the staff assigned to his explicit care, and the staff assigned to Yhse herself. As a result, hidden under a guise of normal, the day continued without any commotion or incident. Hidden under this tranquility, Yhse's mind raced in her sleep.

Yhse may have only been dreaming, but it was very hard to tell. She got up from her same bed, wearing the same clothes, clutching the same blossoms. Her room looked exactly as it had when she was last awake, and she herself felt like she had only woken up. As such, at first, Yhse herself didn't know that she was dreaming, not until she decided to leave her room.

Yhse opened the door to her room, and stepped into.. her room. There was no out, there was no escape. She turned around to try the door again, only to find it locked this time. She tried to break down the door, but nothing happened. She was trapped.

"Look at you, look what you got yourself into." A strange voice was behind her, so she spun around. Before her stood a face she knew all too well. Small, blonde hair, purple eyes, wearing a hooded cloak with blouse and pants in a mixture of reds and golds, carrying a complex crossbow, wearing even more complex gloves.

"Yhse, no hard feelings, but you've put yourself between me and the Celese I'm here to save. As a result, you're going to have to die." Lwyn pointed the crossbow at Yhse, aiming to fire. Yhse dove out of the way, barely in time, her own movement dramatically hampered by the dress she still wore. The bolt missed it's intended target, but still struck her left shoulder, drawing blood painfully.

Yhse picked up the blade with her empty hand, which had fallen nearby, and threw it back at Lwyn. The blade struck Lwyn in her right arm, having not even really tried tododge the blow at all, with her using her gloves only after the blow connected. Meanwhile, Yhse winced in pain, her same arm now bleeding from another slash, causing even more pain.

"Don't think you can escape this so easily. If you fight back, it's only going to hurt you. Maybe you forgot, but I used to be you." Lwyn demonstrated the point further by stabbing her own left leg with the blade she held. Yhse fell to the floor, her own legs crumpling under the pain and agony. "If you're me, why do you look like you aren't suffering at all?" "Not suffering? Do you know how long I've suffered? Do you know how long I've had to pretend I'm not? Of course you do, you still remember." Yhse realized that this Lwyn was just that good at hiding her own pain.

"But, if you are here to kill me, won't you just die too?" "And? Do you really think I have anything to live for? Do you really think you have anything to live for? Are we both not ready to die as is?" Yhse winced at Lwyn's words, echoes of her own thoughts. Maybe death wasn't such a bad idea after all?

Lwyn took aim once more, but not aiming to kill. Instead, she shot Yhse's hand, forcing her to drop the blossoms she was carrying. The blossoms scattered to the floor, drying and wilting dramatically fast. Yhse struggled despite the pain, her concerns shifting instead to the blossoms, the symbol of her friends. She reached out with her other hand, grasping the blossoms now covered in blood. Fed her life energy, the blossoms recovered a bit, but were still only holding on. Lwyn fired again, this time at Yhse's other hand, forcing the blossoms to fall once more.

The pain was an agony, the back of her hands were a fountain of red, and yet she gripped the blossoms as tightly as she could. "Don't you dare take my friends from me!" "Your friends, but you gave up on them, you let them go." "I will never let them go!" Yhse was seething with rage and determination, Lwyn mocking her all the while. "You don't deserve them, not only for what you've done to them, not only because you're so different from them, but mostly because you're only just a half-elf." Lwyn set her crossbow down, shooting Yhse with words instead of blades.